Meszaros article “Who’s in Charge Here” opens with the views of librarians that blame themselves when students often do not take advantage of their expertise in that they ask their peers, parents, or even stranger-student for help rather than the helpful librarian. The article went on to discuss the notion that instructional faculty command more authority than librarians. Meszaros calls this authority “administrative authority”- an authority one has by virtue of occupying position.
Still, there is a crisis of authority- “The New Epistemology” says Tim Clydesdale. After interviewing 400 students on 34 campuses Clydesdale found only few were in awe of their institutions or faculty. And most ambivalent about anyone’s knowledge claims other than their own.
So, what does “questioning authority” means? Meszaros answers it this way “who do not get respect or who get less.” Yet, the more important question he says is how all of us can validate the notion of disciplinary cognitive authority so as to help students move beyond the unsophisticated epistemological positions of dualism or multiplicity. Thus, librarians can join hands with faculty by focusing less on issues of access and retrieval and more on students attitudes and beliefs about expertise and cognitive authority.
