Hello Everyone:

Library as Laboratory: Or, My first real post of substance.

Reading through  G.S. Choudhury & D. Seaman's, “The Virtual Library” (Blackwell Companion to Digital Literary Studies) (Found at: http://tiny.cc/8wr9iw), the section on "Library as Laboratory" struck me as interesting. I, like many of my English major compatriots before me, have had the "aha!" moment described--perusing for hours in the library stacks, finally coming upon the book, chapter, paragraph, or even sentence that locks an essay firmly in place. But the idea of viewing the library as scientists view their laboratories? Never thought about that one.

Choudhury and Seaman suggest that librarians can (and should) begin playing integral parts in assisting or spearheading new avenues of research, teaching, and general innovation within the field. A number of digital initiatives are listed, one of which intends to function for the humanities like the NSF functions for science (DO IT, for example).

I like the idea of utilizing the library's physical space as a place for invention and investigation. With most of the digital repositories and initiatives, I can access the data from a home computer, tablet, or smart phone--from the free WiFi in McDonalds for heaven's sake. I usually do my digital article database searches from home--why travel onto campus to log into a (potentially) slower computer, that may or may not be available, to search for digital articles when I can do the same at home?

I suppose I'm a romantic--I go to the library when it's crunch time, when I need to separate myself from the home-sphere when a deadline approaches. I'm a far-cry from taking notes down in a notebook after rifling through card-catalogs and handing in a written request for a physical journal to be shipped to me three weeks from the request, but the feeling of immersing myself that deeply into the research holds appeal.

I'm going to campus this afternoon to look up a digital article that's held locally but unavailable through the library online database (not sure how THAT works), so in a sense I'm putting the idea into practice: approaching the experts (the library staff, at least the full-time professional staff, ARE experts in their field, in many regards--archival, recall, investigation) for assistance in finding data.

I've heard a number of lectures (usually side-note stuff) on the "lone-wolf" approach to research--the image of Nash (played by Russell Crowe) in A Beautiful Mind comes to mind. Sequestering himself off from all outside influences, even to the point of not attending classes, so his "governing dynamics" idea of economics can be properly thought out and written down. It results in his achieving the highest honor possible, to include a coveted research position. It's a VERY macho way of thinking regarding research.

Here's a question: Why haven't I asked the library staff for help in every paper I've written? Why haven't I asked them for help in narrowing my dissertation field (just the FIELD for heaven's sake, not even the focused TOPIC!)? Why don't I utilize the laboratory--that's what it's there for.

Sheesh.

Also: I thought the conclusion was spot-on: making sure the digital encourages innovation in regards to accessibility, gather-ability, and use. We, as the researchers who partner with the research experts, need to give active input on how this innovation can be achieved.
 
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