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Arizona Convocation 2002

3-4 March 2002
Tucson, Arizona

The Fourth Annual Arizona Convocation was held in Tucson, 3-4 March 2002. Nearly 200 librarians, archivists, and museum professionals from around the state attended. They gave rave reviews to the program and for the opportunity to network with diverse professionals from a wide range of institutions.

The Arizona Convocations were begun in 1999 to promote collaboration and resources sharing among all Arizona cultural institutions working to preserve the state’s heritage.

Participants were joined by Senator Darden Hamilton and by Representatives Gabrielle Gifford and Linda Lopez.

GladysAnn Wells presented a Turtle Award to Rhian Evans for the Libraries for the Future Foundation’s work to help the State Library and Archives get its job done. The Statewide Library Development Plan, developed with support from Libraries for the Future, has been acclaimed as a landmark study. Wells also presented a Turtle Award for staff excellence to Carol Tapia. She has worked in a variety of places in the agency and always distinguished herself as someone who can get things done.

In addition to the summary report below, you can read transcripts of the Sunday evening panel and Beverly Sheppard's talk.

Sunday evening, participants heard a panel of professionals who do not work in the information professions talk about where they go for the information they need.

Neal Lester, a professor of English at Arizona State University and noted humanities scholar, talked about the sources he used for his own research, as well as the sources his students and children used. Lester observed that, like his colleagues and students, he used different sources for different kinds of information. Lester concluded by noting that “There’s something about talking to another individual about your research or your need for information that goes beyond what we can click in and sight-scan. Ultimately, there has to be some person that can somehow help us get information more easily and more credibly.”

Mark Söderstrom, a canine neurosurgeon, spoke about where he found the information necessary to treat his patients. Söderstrom noted that frequently his need for information was complicated by the fact that he needs the information rapidly to protect the life of his patients. Participants were surprised that a vet relied so heavily on medical libraries; he explained that most human literature was based on animal studies. Söderstrom also described the information challenges of medical research. Although much of the literature he needs is online, the charges for access to that literature is prohibitive. A preliminary review of the literature may require access to several dozen articles, costs several hundred dollars. Throughout his talk, Söderstrom noted the role that people played in helping him get information. Colleagues at universities or medical schools were often more effective in getting him articles than the Internet.

Clay Thompson, a reporter for the Arizona Republic and author of the Valley 101 column, talked about how the Internet has provided reporters with an invaluable source of information. Thompson also noted that at times he relied on people to provide him with information. For Thompson, nothing can replace a specialist to help explain complex topics to a generalist. Thompson concluded by noting that the Internet has revolutionized how newspapers gather information. It has not changed journalists’ fundamental need to approach everything with skepticism, to double check the information, and to check sources. “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”

George Paul, a lawyer with Lewis & Roca, observed that the very nature of information is changing in the digital era. He noted that lawyers spend a great deal of time challenging evidence in records. “What I do for a living is not only test what people assert, but try to attack it and test it in the most severe way possible.” Paul pointed out that people can use computers to make imperceptible changes in documents. A photograph can be changed to provide false evidence; the time on a clock or the license plate on a car is changed. Altered evidence could be used to incriminate someone innocent or protect someone guilty. This ability to make imperceptible changes in documentary evidence represents an enormous sea change in how society – and courts in particular – will come to test truth.

Peter Hirtle, Director of the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections and incoming President of the Society of American Archivists, offered his reflections on the other panelists’ comments. Hirtle was concerned that the panelists talked very little about libraries, archives, and museums as sources of information. They sought information wherever they could find it, and as more information is available on the Internet, the less they turned to libraries. However, he noted that as libraries, archives, and museums make their information available on the Internet, their base is expanded tremendously. Making collections available on the Internet helps libraries, archives, and museums reach new audiences. However, libraries, archives, and museums have information that distinguishes them from other sources. People may get the news from radio, television, or the Web, but they’ll get unique collections of Arizona history photographs from museums, libraries, and archives. Libraries, archives, and museums have a reputation for authenticity. People will turn to us when they need confidence that information is trustworthy. Hirtle concluded by noting that we are experts at helping people find the information they need, and people will need that help even more when navigating the flood of information on the Internet.

Read a transcript of the panel.

Monday Morning

Beverly Sheppard, Deputy Director of the Institute for Museum and Libraries Services, addressed the participants on Monday morning. Sheppard challenged the participants to think how libraries, archives, and museums will meet the needs of the information age, an age that places unprecedented emphasis on life-long learning. We must ask ourselves, How are we going to meet this challenge? How are we going to change? What assets can we offer to life-long learners that are truly unique?

Sheppard notes that libraries, museums, and archives offer objects and artifacts, authentic and first-hand experiences, that are widely regarded as trustworthy. They hold the real thing, which is a complement – and contrast – to the virtual world.

Museums, libraries, and archives have a diverse and broad base of users. They have the ability to work with all ages and cultures. They located throughout the nation and trusted to respond to their communities’ needs.

They are also extraordinary knowledge navigators. They have developed the skills and standards to provide efficient access to knowledge. Their staffs are experts and skillful teachers the public turns to for help with information overload.

Sheppard noted that libraries, archives, and museums have an amazing opportunity to become vital players in the 21st century by meeting people’s need for information in the information age. She challenged the group by arguing that the opportunity may be short lived as commercial interests try to control information.

To succeed libraries, archives, and museums must collaborate. Bringing together diverse institutions offers fertile ground that energizes creativity. Moreover, Sheppard believes that libraries, archives, and museums must partner with other organizations with educational missions. Often, those organizations have connectivity with people; they need the information content held by libraries, archives, and museums.

Sheppard concluded, “Social capital is developed only when all members of a community are offered equitable opportunities to grow and learn and share in a joint enterprise. . . . Who then, indeed, is in a better position to serve as a champion of these communities connected through social capital, as catalysts for the learning spirit and as compassionate human leaders for the 21st century, than libraries, archives and museums?”

Read a transcript of Sheppard's comments.

Monday morning concluded with a presentation by David Levy, a professor at the University of Washington Information School. Levy’s drew on his experience as a computer scientist at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and as a trained calligrapher to question the nature of documents and whether the digital world is so radically different from the past that we must come up with new names for everything.

Levy used the tragedy of September 11 and images of documents filling the streets of Manhattan to illustrate the role documents play in our society. Reports from the New York Times described ordinary documents – handwritten notes, reports, checks – that had been “transmuted, charged with meaning too sad and strange to keep, but too sad and strange to thrown away.” People used documents to communicate to the public with missing posters that became transformed into memorials when it became apparent that almost no one had survived the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.

Levy asked, What are documents? How can we understand them more deeply, appreciate the role they play in our lives? For Levy, documents are talking things. More importantly, they are talking things that go on saying the same thing over and over again. And that is the strength of a document. They are agents that we send into the world to speak for us. Bureaucratic documents reflect our attempts to control the world. Personal letters and greeting cards are an attempt to maintain intimacy. Books and newspapers help us maintain knowledge. Documents provide stable ground.

Are digital documents different? They are easily altered. They are often more than words, with images, sounds, and Java scripts that make them change right before our eyes. For Levy, the answer is no. Digital documents are made from new material that allows us to create new forms. But they continue to be talking things that we send into the world to speak for us and to help us maintain knowledge.

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