"Searching" vs. "Finding"

So, it turns out that the class script I posted yesterday wasn't ANYTHING like what my faculty person wanted; fortunately, he called me at about 11AM today to clarify and I think I was able to give them something useful.

I always learn something when I teach, and what I learned is an idea that may not be groundbreaking for you, but which stopped me in my tracks when it occurred to me. I'm talking about the difference between "searching" and "finding."

Searching is what librarians are REALLY good at: we build strategies, use thesauri, cross databases, and generally think of every way we possibly can to get at information. The mechanics of searching are complex: using the Clipboard in PubMed is one of the mechanics of searching, and there are a lot of little technical minutiae just like that.

However, the mechanics of searching actually have very little to do with finding (and this was the Ah-ha! for me). Finding is getting to some piece of information that will actually meet your information need. It has absolutely nothing to do with the process of looking for what you eventually find. Good searching can help you find, and bad searching can keep you from finding, but searching is not and never will be finding.

What this means is that I'm REALLY TEMPTED to stop showing the MeSH browser in PubMed. I'm REALLY TEMPTED to tell people that for most searching, a keyword and limits and the "related articles" link will find them something useful. I'm REALLY TEMPTED to start talking about finding instead of spending all my time on searching.

Librarians in general and medical librarians especially scream at this sort of thinking. If there's a life on the line, by golly, you better be running the most robust search you can. Yes, of course you should. But, how many hospitals live without librarians these days? And WHAT CLINICIAN CAN ACTUALLY DO A DECENT SEARCH? I mean, really? I would rather have a half-assed search find something in PubMed than have a clinican with no access to a librarian stumbling around in Ovid (or worse).

I say, Amen! to NCBI for figuring out that finding is what we're trying to do, and making it as easy as possible to find something. Why aren't all library systems like this? Why don't they all map an incredibly sophisticated and robust taxonomy to an even more sophisticatedmetathesaurus?

Of course sophisticated systems that make finding possible without a lot of searching crap takes out the obvious need for a librarian, which might be a wee bit of a snicker, but otherwise it is pure genius. And frankly, once our obvious reasons for existence are gone, we can start looking for real ways to make a difference.

Outcomes Research in Health Care Script

In case anyone has ever wondered what I talk to the Health Policy department about, here's the script of a class I'm giving on Tuesday. At least, I hope this is the script. I'm not really clear on what exactly my faculty wants and I've asked four times. I'm frankly a little afraid to ask him again.

*******
Outcomes Research in Health
January 31, 2006
One hour (45 minutes)

Introduction
• Introduce self
• Just talking about resources, not search fundamentals; happy to do one-on-one for assistance with actually doing a search
• Launch browser
• Click through to library
• Use links on web site to activate proxy server (doesn’t work from the VA)

PubMed
• Open PubMed
• PubMed is really the place to start all heathcare research
• Can use OVID, too, but PubMed has some special features for this area
• Can run a regular search and narrow down, absolutely
o Use MESH and subheadings to really get into things
o Can limit to practice guidelines
o Nice tutorials linked from the sidebar
o Pneumonia[MAJR] AND “outcome assessment (health care)”[mesh]
• Open Special Queries page
• Special Queries page provides a goldmine of goodies

Clinical Queries
• Find clinical trials, systematic reviews
• Access to clinical information
• Pneumonia[MAJR], clinical prediction guides and narrow
• Narrow vs. broad

Health Services Research Queries
• Articles related to quality or costs (see handout for specifics)
• Pneumonia[MAJR], outcomes assessment and narrow
• Narrow vs. broad
• Surprisingly little overlap with the “outcome assessment” Mesh search above

“HealthStar” Subset Search
• HealthStar used to be a separate NLM database for administrative information
• In regular PubMed search box, enter: jsubseth AND economics
• Then “and” in whatever major topic desired
• This can be like using a flamethrower to light a match but can be useful
• jsubseth AND economics AND pneumonia


Books of Possible Interest
• Under the “Books” link on far right in PubMed interface
• Health Services/Technology Assessment Text (HSTAT)Show this one
• Health, United States, 2004

Cochrane
• Serious EBP resource
• Link on library databases page
• Open Cochrane
• Searching is a little less clear
• Click on advanced search, use the Mesh search
• Pneumonia
• Show what comes up in the different areas

Ebsco Health Business Fulltext Elite (if time)
• Very heavily administrative
• Link on library databases page
• Open EHBFTE
• Use subjects “outcome assessment (medical care)” or “medical care—quality control”

The Last Refuge of the Damned

Why did I do the worst case scenario first? I don't know, but it came to me almost fully formed.

I would really appreciate comments on these; remember, this is the first of three and it is supposed to represent the worst case scenario. Did I miss anything? Is there some way the future could be even more bleak?

The Last Refuge of the Damned
“I never thought I would say this,” the director began, “but we are in a dangerous situation. We’ve done everything we possibly could to make the building and our services appealing to our end users, but usage continues to decline. On this year’s student survey, only one in five students had even visited the library this year.”

There were grim looks between the librarians around the table. They all knew what had happened over the last ten years: the library renovation, the move to provide outreach and department- or school-specific services, the push to expand the idea of what a library was and could do—nothing had stopped the slide in usage that had begun in the late 90’s. At best, they could say that all of their work had merely postponed the inevitable.

“Ubiquitous computing killed us,” said one of the librarians. “Once enough information really was easily available anytime and anywhere, people just didn’t need a library anymore.”

“I agree,” said another. “I think it was the Tablet PC rollout in 2006. “Once those kids got those machines in their hands, we never saw them again.”

“I don’t know that it was just the machines,” said the first. “The fact that there is so much out there that really is free on the Internet these days just makes what we have to offer less appealing.”

Several people replied at once: “But, the stuff on the Internet is crap!”

“You know that, and I know that,” said the director, “but our patrons don’t know and don’t care. The end result is the same.” She sent a stern look around the table. “We could also look at ourselves and say we didn’t look enough to patron needs, that we stuck with the traditional model of librarianship too long, and then it was too late to really do anything.”

One staffer piped up, “You could also blame administration for never fully funding us and for treating us like second-class citizens for the last 15 years!”

The director ignored this and turned on the overhead projector. The librarians saw the lines of an organizational chart appear. As what the document represented became clear in their minds, faces paled with fear or turned red with anger.

“What is this?!?” demanded one of the staff.

“This is the new reality,” said the director. “The remnants of the print collection are being moved to offsite storage. One clerical position will be retained to maintain the print collection and to fill whatever limited requests come in for access. Copyright compliance will be integrated into Teaching and Learning Technologies. I’ve talked with their director and she doesn’t anticipate needing more than two people for this.”

“Where’s reference?” asked the head of public services in a small voice.

The director looked over the top of her glasses. “There won’t be any more reference,” she said. “Once the print collection is gone, the building will be turned over to the schools for testing and study space.”

General groaning followed this announcement. “Even if the collection is all electronic, they’ll still need people to buy it and organize it,” someone commented. “Where are those people?”

The director looked around. “An Elsevier rep was at the last management meeting. With all of the financial savings from eliminating the library, the institution will be making the ConsultSuite available. They’re touting it as a ‘true virtual library’ and saying it will more than adequately meet the needs of faculty, students, and staff. All of you will be employed until the end of the fiscal year and then your positions will be eliminated. Those of you with applicable skills will have preference given if you apply for positions elsewhere in Information Resources.”

Silence followed this pronouncement. “I don’t see your name on here,” one of the librarians said to the director. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m retiring,” the director said, taking off her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Enough is enough.”

Scenario Planning

SLIM's theory-based curriculum has been berated by a number of people, and their online classes have gotten a lot of guff as well, but one of the best classes I took was an online management course on scenario planning. The basic concept is that you gather information, look at it, and come up with a best case, worst case, and middle of the road scenario. Then, you undertake activities that fit into all three scenarios. That way, everything you do will be "right," regardless of what actually happens--which is of course completely unpredictable.

I'm elbow-deep in the future of libraries right now, what with journal club (x2), the changes happening at our insitution, and the general buzz in libraryland, so I decided to do a little scenario scripting as I begin to make recommendations for the future of digital resources here.

Here are some of my basic assumptions, and I'll post my first completed scenario in a minute.

1. Patron preference for digital over print will continue to increase
2. More materials will be freely available online although considerable content will still be within paid access “walled gardens”
3. Prices for print and paid-access “walled gardens” will continue to increase at a rate faster than inflation
4. Budgets will increase at a rate less than that of inflation causing ongoing shortfalls each year
5. Patrons are going to be increasingly less willing to come to the library for materials
6. Patrons are going to be increasingly less willing to wait or pay for ILL
7. Patrons are going to be increasingly less willing to learn separate database interfaces
8. As more information becomes available, the idea of “good enough” information will completely overtake the search for “the best” or “all available” information

Lazy Post

If Queequeg can do it, I can do it, too.

1. Name three things you can't live without:
Beatrice, sunlight, text

2. If you could hang out for a night with any fictional character, who would it be?
I have absolutely no answer for this! I just don't know!

3. As a kid, what did you want to be when you grow up?
Meteorologist, professional musician (string bass)

4. Right now what do you want to be when you grow up?
The big boss lady

5. What song always makes you cry?
"Stones in the Road" by Mary Chapin Carpenter

6. What's the best advice you've ever been given?
The way to manage your to-do list is not to do more but to manage the expectations behind the list.

7. Are you a good liar?
Absolutely not--my face shows everything

8. What still surprises you about your life?
I'm a suburbanite mommy librarian and generally happy being just that

9. What quality can make you instantly connect to someone?
Eye sparkle

10. What turns you off right away?
An "I deserve it" attitude

11. What's really difficult for you?
Managing the expectations behind the list (see #6)

12. What do you wish you'd done differently?
I wish I had demanded my parents buy me a bass for high school graduation

13. Desert island picks?
Swiss army knife and a semi full of sunscreen

14. Favorite spot at home?
Kitchen table--I just love to sit there

15. What emotion motivates too many of your actions?
Fear (see #6, yet again)

16. Favorite kind of extreme weather?
Wind without storms--it's a Kansas thing, and maybe a southern/western Kansas thing at that

17. Do you have any recurring dreams?
I have nightmares about tornadoes

18. Psychic or shrink?
Shrink

19. Vintage or modern?
Modern

20. Do you ever scream?
Not usually, although I yell more than I'd like

21. What are you most afraid of?
My to-do list (again, see #6)

The Clean Inbox: An Update

So, I dumped my entire inbox into a folder for "later" a few days ago and started over with a clean slate. I'm pleased to say that I have maintained the serenity of the clean inbox, now having just four messages which all require action this morning (that is, they should be gone by noon). I highly recommend this, as it's so easy to go ahead and tidy the inbox when there's only 10 to 30 messages instead of 100+.

Most interesting about this process has been watching the things that I let sit and thinking about why I let them turn into e-clutter. There was email about a project I can't make any headway on; there's guilt and annoyance attached to those. I decided to file them without even trying to take action, because there's nothing I can do and just looking at the the email upset me. I know what's next on that project and there's no reason to beat myself up about it.

Two that I held onto were negative responses to something I had done; when I really looked at it, I was holding onto them because I wanted there to be some way to go back in time or argue with the senders and change their content. That's not very likely, is it? I was keeping the email to remind myself to try something different next time. Yuck. Into the trash with those.

I read somewhere that there's always a really good reason we keep things beyond their use or time of intent, and I have realized that in this case, I'm not keeping email--I'm keeping feelings, and a lot of negative feelings at that! That's just not useful.

Maybe with this understanding I can make the change in my inbox permanent. My new mantra is that email is email; reply to it, act on it, file it, or trash it. A clean inbox is a happy inbox.

Now, I wonder if I can start going through my email backfiles five messages at a time?

WDT

Well, Maybe YOU'LL Be Interested In It

So, I says to myself I says, why not start a blog of all the stuff you see that might be interesting to the department you serve? Usually I email juicy tidbits to individuals, and I've gotten positive response, so blogging it seemed like a good idea. SEEMED.

I set it up (over at http://hpmmeta.blogspot.com, if you happen to want to look) and sent out an email announcing its construction. I get three responses, all, shall I say, underwhelming. I'm not sure if it's the medium, the message, or both.

Oh, well. I'm going to keep it up for a while because it's a useful exercise for me to ground myself in their area. And, if you're interested in the things that interest the people who teach the people who will evenutally be hospital CEOs (and thus, looking to cut your little budget), by all means, take a look and let me know what you think.

Ring-a-ring o' EBooks

Trixie LOVES "Ring-a-ring of roses", and for some reason the froufrala we are having about ebooks right now makes me think of the rhyme. Perhaps it's because we're all holding hands, running around and around in circles, and we occasionally all fall down. It's not as much fun doing it metaphorically at work as it is doing it in real life with my beautiful girl, though.

Here's the deal: the School of Medicine wants ebooks for their new curriculum. Fantastic! The library is helping them select useful materials. Fantastic! Many of the faculty love AccessMedicine, which I shepharded through as a purchase last year for another purpose but which is proving quite popular. Excellente!

Then, why do we all keep "falling down"? It's a combination of communication problems, varying definitions of what an ebook is or can be, and a total lack of understanding of the how the process of collecting and aquiring of library materials works. These people have no idea that we're extensively experienced in looking at a resouce and dtermining the quality of both the information and the interface, and so we are having to constantly reinterject ourselves into probelm conversations where WE ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWERS, if someone would just bother to ask us.

Many people have decried the fact that librarianship has a serious Rodney Dangerfield aspect--"we just can't get no respect." I don't have any new insight into the phenomenon, I can just say that it's darned annoying to see it in action.

WDT

The Clean Slate

Today I did something that would have been unthinkable for me a short while ago: I categorically dumped all of the email sitting in my inbox into a folder to think about "later," and I unchecked the "keep new" boxes on the hundreds of items I was keeping new in Bloglines. So, I now have a shiny clean inbox and a shiny clean feed reader. It's scary, and I'm consumed with guilt for some reason, but I feel lighter somehow.

The simple fact is that I hoard electronic clutter. Emails, documents, news items, web pages--it doesn't take up any space, right? I might need it someday, right?? It's just too cool to let go, right???

Wrong. At some point the material ceases to be useful and just sucks up my time and energy. I would never consider keeping this kind of clutter in the real world (I'm a regular shredder of paper material), so why do I keep it in the virtual world, especially when the virtual world is where I spend almost all of my work time?

The question now is if I can keep the inbox and the feed reader clean. We'll see.

WDT

Take a Look at TechDirt

If you want to get a feel for what's going on in technology beyond the limited world of librariana, I would suggest adding TechDirt to your feed list. Since TechDirt already has about a million readers, you may know of it already, but if not, take a look.

Self-described as "easily digestible tech news," TechDirt consists of well-written items covering a wide range of technology-related topics, done in an engaging and often amusing personal voice. I find it's a quick, easy way to get quality info from outside my little box.

WDT

Long Time, No Post...

...and there's so much out there to talk about, I feel like I'm falling down on my blogging job.

However, I'm trying to cut myself some slack, as I have an absolute inability to keep any thought in my head for the requisite 31 seconds these days. So, go check out LISNews for all the libsci chatter that's fit to blog, and don't miss T. Scott's "Librarian 5.0" for your "yes, of course, THAT'S what I should be doing" fix, and check back sometime later for deep thoughts from me.

WDT

My Mental Snapshot

Not very librarian-y today; sorry about that.

1. Once two competing cognitions are held simultaneously, the individual can be said to be in a state of "cognitive dissonance"...Instantly, this conflicting cognition creates an imbalance between itself and the original cognition. This conflicted state of mind will, necessarily, seek to attain psychological consonance, i.e. a balance between competing cognitions.

2. CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fatter rear ends are causing many drug injections to miss their mark, requiring longer needles to reach buttock muscle, researchers said on Monday. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051129/od_nm/buttocks_dc).

WDT

LiveBlogging, Lame-o Style

Cool people blog live from conferences like Internet Librarian; here's my live blog from room 1040 Dykes Library, viewing the College of DuPage webcast happening right now.

First, I have to say that BCR gets major kudos for making these teleconferences available via the web for their members. Our cost for hosting this interesting event: absolutely nothing. There are four of us sacked out in our little cozy nook, getting updated and continuing education the easy way. If you don't usually make the time for the DuPage bradcasts, this is a great way to go about it.

Second, the quality is greatly improved this year over last, although that may be just because it is the Stephen Bell show this time and not a panel.

Finally, these shows are often aimed at the lowest common denominator and sometimes I come away saying, golly, I didn't get anything new out of that. Today's show is a nice mix of the basic and not-so-basic, and I've gotten a lot of good things for the module of my information resouces class that will be focusing on Google and web searching.

The next show isn't until February 3, but it looks like a showstopper ("three ways the library profession is broken and four ways to fix it"). If you're in BCR territory, register now with them; anyone else, you can pay up at the DuPage site.

WDT

CV vs. Resume

I've been asked for a copy of my CV, and fortunately I have one available that is only about (ahem) a year behind, so I can update it and whip it out without too much fuss. I am once again kicking myself for not keeping all this in a database that could then be used to populate the document, but that's not what this post is about.

I don't like submitting a CV, because it's so--so--sparse, I guess, compared to my resume. My resume is full of job activities and action verbs, and I feel like it is an authentic representation of my work life. The CV makes me feel inadequate, with its emphasis and teaching, publishing, and presentations. I feel like a lot of what is there is padding (small articles, presentations at local conferences, etc.).

My resume is substance; my CV is air. I don't like that.

But then again, one thing that my CV highlights about me that my resume almost totally misses is my commitment to sharing in the library field. Sure, I did a lot of my presentations under the roof of the NNLM, but I've been a private citizen for a year now, and a third of my CV content is from 2005. I present (and am trying to publish more) for the same reason I blog: I have all these thoughts up here, and it helps me clarify and understand to share them with someone else. It is a huge added bonus that maybe hearing my thoughts can help someone else think on their own.

So, maybe my CV is more substantive than my resume after all; from this perspective, the resume is about what I do while the CV is about who I am, and there is nothing airy about that.

The Luckiest Library Patron

I am IMMENSELY fortunate to have the good luck and good sense to live in Johnson County, Kansas, home to what absolutely has to be one of the best public libraries in the country. Many people scoff at the suburbs, and folks on the Missouri side howl at our tax rates (although the property taxes in Cass County, MO, and Johnson County, KS, aren't really that different), but money CAN buy happiness when it comes to public library services.

I was reminded of my good fortune yet again when I was reading Tim Roger's blog and marvelling that such a great mind is working for !me! the taxpayer. Tim wants a library environment where !I! have a say, and where !I! can connect and communicate with other patrons. He wants to take !my! library the next step, and I'm so lucky to get to come along.

Right there with him is Erica Reynolds, who I am certain will make sure that !I! have access to !my! library wherever and whenever I happen to be. I'm the luckiest library patron!

The amount of my taxes that go to JCL is WAY too small. Even with my regular donations in the form of fines, it's not enough. We're there once a week, if not more, and we use literally thousands of dollars of resources every year.

Not all libraries can be Johnson County, but all librarians should strive to be like Tim and Erica: tuned into the needs of their communities and the possibilities that buildings, web sites, and people can provide.

WDT

Happy Birthday to Me!

Updates:
Vegas=great, even for a square like me. Recommended for all persons over the age of 21.

Tablet=toast. Apparently the hard drive went all soft on me. Estimated return date unknown.

Birthday=happy. Happy day to Krafty as well.

Blog name change=coming up after this post is done.

Finally, a little bit on why I consider myself to be Gen X but not Next Gen. I think the easiest way to do this is in a list:

(Warning to any NextGens who might read me: you will most likely find this offensive. Broad generalizations are often offensive but can be useful. Apologies in advance.)

Gen X (me): Be underemployed for a while but consistently work up into positions with decent duties and pay.
NextGen (not me): Be underemployed for a long time while refusing to move, waiting for the "perfect" job, and complaining loudly about the lack of MLS jobs.

Gen X (me): Embrace self-directed learning, using the degree as a springboard.
NextGen (not me): Demand "more" from MLS programs, including "real reference" but dear Lord, not "real catalgoing."

Gen X (me): Desire to remake the library and the library world into a more flexible, open environment. Understand that to do this, you often must move into management.
NextGen (not me): Complain loudly about problems in the profession while saying, "I never plan to be a manager."

Gen X (me): As we are used to being ignored (between the Boomers and the Millenials), develop an understanding that everyone has something to contribute, even the crazy woman who's been in tech services longer than I've been alive.
NextGen (not me): Complain (more!) about not being "heard" without having the decency to hear others.
TRUTH IN LENDING STATEMENT: This is something I believe and strive for but do not always achieve. I'm working on it.

There's more, but I think that's enough. New MLSes: avoid the excesses of NextGenness by seeing opportunity everywhere. Talk less while seeing and hearing more. And don't ever, EVER, tell someone you want to work in a medical library "because I have a lot of medical problems myself."

WDT

Tablet DOA

For those of you interested in my tablet PC doings, I thought I would share the news that for the moment it is DOA. It will start booting into Windows and then will go no further. I'm turning it in to for a visit to the Tablet Witch Doctor and hopefully it will come back good as new.

Fortunately, my counterpart in charge of this project warned me that these things were buggy, so I set GoBinder to do a daily backup onto the included 1GB secure digital card and saved everything else to our network drive. I won't lose anything except my preferences in FireFox, thank goodness.

I did drop the tablet the other day; it bounced nicely. I don't know if this is related or not, but it seems like the problems would have showed up sooner if they were actually caused by the incident. We'll see.

WDT

Sparse Posting This Week

Today: trying to get myself organized and prioritized
Tomorrow: nonstop meetings, final preparations
Wednesday-Friday: LAS VEGAS!

I am NOT taking my tablet and I WILL NOT be checking email for forty-eight glorious hours. I do plan to have as much fun as a light-drinking, non-smoking, limited-interest-in-gambling, limited funds, married person can have, which apparently is QUITE A LOT!

WDT

Another Tablet Update

Although I am not young enough that I learned to type and write at the same time, I am young enough that by the time I entered college, I was doing all of my intellectual work on the computer, so it has been YEARS since I have really done any substantial work by hand.

However, I have found that there are a number of things that I am more interested in writing now that I have the tablet and GoBinder. For example, I am mapping out the information resources in health policy and management class that I will be teaching next summer (if we can sucker enough students into it--I mean, convince enough students to participate), and I could be typing up an outline in Word (or OpenOfficeText), but I'm not. Instead, I'm hand-scribbling notes in GoBinder.

Cutting and pasting is possible but impractical in GoBinder, and so there are literally scribbles on my notes. Why would I choose this replica of a relic (handwritten notes) over the clean, clear typed format that I've known and loved for the vast majority of my intellectual life?

I think it has something to do with the creative nature of this particular work. Each session outline is evolving as I think through it, and changes in one session create changes in another. I had six notes pages open, and was able to pop through them in a very non-linear fashion, adding and subtracting, commenting and annotating as I went. Typing up an outline in MSWord would be a very dry substitute, and actually, I would probably print it out and write all over it anyway.

I will have to type up the outline when it's time to share, and I may get aggravated when I have 18 notes pages at the end instead of the six I am working with now, but for the moment it seems like a real perk to the machine.

Piled Higher and Deeper

If you're interested, here's the current version of my statement of research interests for my PhD application. What do you think? Useful to the profession? Silly? Full of typos?

WDT
**************
Statement of Research Interests and Career Goals
Whitney E. Davison-Turley
November 2005

How do libraries measure their impact? How do we measure and express our value? This question is becoming more important as libraries of all types face increasing resource competition, and simply reporting statistics like the number of children at story time, total annual circulation, or number of database hits does not at all represent what it is modern libraries do for and mean to the groups we serve.

I want to focus my research on ways in which we can make our impact more clear, drawing on quantitative and qualitative strategies from librarianship and the social sciences as well as business, health care, and education. In my current position at an academic medical center, the question may involve providing mobile information resources for students. Do the students who use the resources get better grades on rotations or do better on their exams? Can we determine long-term if this makes them better doctors? And the next important question: if there is some difference, is the involvement of a librarian at all important? Similar questions can be asked of almost any library service provided at any library. What is the true, endpoint impact of what we do?

I hope through my research to explore assessment and evaluation of this kind of endpoint impact, and to develop processes that librarians of all kinds can use. We experience our value in the smile of a child at story time, as a thank you from a student, or as an acknowledgment in a research article; how can we encode that value into quantifiable statements of “this is how I improved the world today and this is why it is important”?

Completing a PhD will allow me to pursue three career goals: first, it will provide the credential I need for promotion as I eventually hope to become a library director, and a PhD is a requirement for advancement to that level. However, the PhD will also allow me to teach; some of my most rewarding professional experiences have been teaching other librarians, and I want to find a way to integrate teaching into my professional life even as I plan to move up in library management. Finally, pursing a PhD will provide me with the rationale and the support structure to produce research which I sincerely hope will be of value to the profession. I have seen repeated need for this kind of assessment data and evaluation planing across library types, and I have a strong desire to contribute in this area.