I was struck recently by hearing a talk of someone who has worked as an academic most of her life. I also work in academia, but I am a professional in the same field she is a theorist. The disconnect between the two is not always so pronounced, but in this case I felt it. I could ask almost any professional in my field and I would bet they have only a smattering of inclination as to who this theorist is, even though she is a giant in her field.
Day to day, theory makes so little difference to the person who is trying to do the work.
As I work on my dissertation, which is based on practical, day to day, matters, I wonder if more practitioners need to be voicing their reality. The reality for me is that theory does help me in my work, but I think it would be helpful for theorists to know more about the practice, as well. My reality tends to be messy. Did the student worker show up? Can I do some of the more esoteric parts of my job, or do I need to cover the desk?
I wonder if theory would have greater reach if it touched more working lives? Some theories do. The theories of Elfreda Chatman should be widely known and read by anyone working in libraries. It upsets me a little that I was never exposed to her work in my first library degree program.
The arguments about what information really “means” in terms of information literacy are less useful. Let’s get info lit theorists in a library realizing that students cannot distinguish between a journal article online and a webpage because they both have URLs.
Maybe we should have a little more discussion between the theory and the practice. Because as a practitioner who knows a little bit of theory, it shocks me daily how much the PhDs don’t know.
Art of Information 