On listening and reaching towards a dialogue

I find the dialogue and sometimes just listening to colleagues useful. Sometimes the problem might be to be able to listen. One may be tired or your mind may be elsewhere. It may be a characteristic of my personality but to really hear somebody out and to reflect upon and incorporate the said is really difficult. When I succeed it results in some sort of insight and learning. It is really great when it happens.

In fact a dialogue is a unique incident in daily life, still that is what the strive is about when supervising bachelor students on information retrieval.

Today was a classical one. The male student is really a bright one and I must try hard all the time not to underestimate the capability on his behalf. One could think it is a easy task to guide a focused and eager student. On the other hand is the fact that the information seeking process has just began and the problematization has nearly begun, any how it is still in the head of the student. It may be the first time the research question is articulated verbally in my room.

The first meeting with their supervisor is still to be held and this is a re-occuring phenomena; The chaotic days when the problem is not formulated, no literature is decided and ideas swing here and there and hopefully som brainstorm takes place. These are the most ungrateful sessions I hold as a librarian of in supervising database searching. Still the students really are not receptive for this at all, the quality of the dialogue seems to be crucial or rather that I am showing genuine interest and that I listen. The supervisor is going to have this role later on and then I can contribute. But if the student is satisfied, and this one today was, what´s the big deal?

It is my frustration of how much time that is lost; if search concepts are adequate and sources are reflected upon then the really interesting searching could begin. But that is a idealistic situation and it very seldom take place in the daily life of a university librarian.

I am of course indepthed to Carol Kuhlthau for the schematic but still useful formulation of the process of writing a thesis:
Kuhlthau, Carol (1993) Seeking meaning : a process approach to library and information services. Norwood, N.J. : Ablex.