Like others contributing to this subjects’ blog I found it difficult at first to make the connection between the information provided in Colvin’s (2000) article and what happens within the school context. While it discusses management and its slow evolution it seems to be written more from a business perspective than being relevant to an educational institution. The connection I made is in Colvin’s interpretation of ‘Taylorism’ as forgetting the human element in management. Librarians are in an era of justification when it comes to their role being relevant and pivotal to students’ educational outcomes. As search and retrieve databases increase access to information the position of the TL becomes questioned. However, the human element is needed otherwise students are only accessing part of the information – the information ‘source’ and are missing the information ‘service’. Author Neil Gaiman perfectly describes what’s happening in digital times:
“Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.”
In a school environment just like any other business interaction, recognition and relationships are an important part of building success.
References
Colvin, G. (2000). Managing in the info era. Fortune, 141(5). Retrieved from http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/03/06/275231/index.htm?iid=sr-link1.