2-Weekly Reader

Teaching Search Engine Literacy with a Google A Day
"A Google a Day is a great new way to discover fascinating information about the world around all while learning how to use the wealth of the web to satisfy one’s curiosity. Moreover, it’s a great way for students and library patrons to build search skills that allow them to better put the power of Google’s search engine to work for them in researching for assignments and discovering untapped avenues for further exploration." -- Peter Murray, Disruptive Library Technology Jester, 7/27/11

71% of Online Adults Now Use Video-Sharing Sites
"Fully 71% of online Americans use video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, up from 66% a year earlier. The use of video-sharing sites on any given day also jumped five percentage points, from 23% of online Americans in May 2010 to 28% in May 2011.Rural internet users are now just as likely as users in urban and suburban areas to have used these sites, and online African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely than internet-using whites to visit video-sharing sites." -- Kathleen Moore, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 7/26/11


New Tools for Handling Copyright on Blogger
"In keeping with Google’s public commitment to make copyright work better online, our team has been working on improving the copyright environment for bloggers and copyright owners alike. As access to the web grows, bringing new content and services online, it becomes even more important to ensure the rights of everyone involved are protected and understood. To that end, we’re happy today to announce the release of two significant improvements to Blogger’s copyright handling toolkit." -- Brett Wiltshire, Blogger Buzz, 7/25/11

How to Force Subtitles in an Embedded YouTube Video
"It’s been about three years since YouTube introduced improved automatic captions for some of the videos; in a year they became more common and last year they were enabled for all English-language videos.YouTube captioning is the way to help hearing impaired people to understand the videos and, coupled with automatic translation, it can also help non-English people around the world to access the video content. The feature uses Google speech recognition technology to transcript any uploaded video." -- Ann Smarty, Make Use Of, 7/25/11

5 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Apps and Ebooks
"When it comes to physical books and materials, librarians are confident reviewers and collectors. We can distinguish between a so-so beginning reader and a truly excellent one. We know what makes a particular work of middle grade fiction absolute shelf candy versus a hard sell. We can appreciate what goes into the creation of a brilliantly designed picture book.  The good news is that many of the same critical skills used to evaluate physical media are transferable when evaluating digital media.  Ebooks and apps, however, do present new challenges as well as new possibilities.  It can be helpful to go in armed with a simple set of criteria for evaluation." -- Kiera Parrott, ALSC Blog, 7/18/11

Are We Representative? About the Four-Fifths Minority
"The opening session at any ALA-affiliated conference is always a great way to build anticipation and momentum for the conference. Although hearing Dan Savage speak about the It Gets Better Campaign and his personal experiences resulting from coming out and adopting as a gay parent were intriguing, the one element that stuck with me was Roberta Steven’s discussion of the Spectrum Scholarship. The mission of the Spectrum Scholarship is “Improving service at the local level through the development of a representative workforce that reflects the communities served by all libraries in the new millennium.” Upon further digging, I found that Spectrum Scholarship applicants “must be American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.” I can support this as well, as these racial and ethnic groups have typically been underrepresented in the LIS profession." -- Kyle Cox, Library Leadership, 7/18/11

The All-In-One on Humor and Public Speaking: 10 Ways to Make it Work
"Speakers love to inject humor into their talks and presentations, believing it relaxes the audience (and themselves) and puts folks in a good mood. But that's not always the case. Humor, like a banana peel, can result in something funny--unless it trips you up. Use these tips from the blog to find the right places and cases where humor in public speaking will work for you." -- Denise Graveline, The Eloquent Woman, 7/18/11

Helicopter Parents in the Library

It has been a very long time since I've written a post on Library Cloud, but I didn't feel that I had much to add to the general library conversation and was busy with other projects. So I happily lurked in the blogosphere waiting for a topic to capture my attention.

I've heard of Helicopter Parents as I'm sure most people working in academia have by now, and read with amused interest the story that Time magazine did on the topic in November. I have mostly been immune to this emerging phenomenon due to my position in a rather specialized and small graduate school library. We have students of all ages so I am quite used to answering questions from student patrons ranging in age from late teens to senior citizens.

A couple of times over the last year, I have received reference questions that started off in a relatively straight-forward way until I began asking clarifying questions. In both cases, the truth emerged: "Well, my daughter wasn't clear on that aspect..." or "Yes, my son really wants more info about..." These parents were doing the research for their undergrads!

I'm not talking about picking up an odd article or book for their over-scheduled offspring, but as both reference interviews progressed it was clear that they were doing everything beyond the basic Google search where their child got stuck and asked mommy to rescue them. (Yes, one of the mothers used the word "rescue.") Both of them seemed a bit embarrassed, but resolute to help their busy children. From what I gathered, the student was still going to write the paper (or so I hope), which actually made the interview more difficult.

As a professional, in both cases, I tried my best to guide them to the needed information and gently prodded that their son/daughter would be better served by coming in themselves, but was left feeling like somehow I was helping them to cheat in some way. Isn't part of a college education (and a research project for that matter) learning to do the research for yourself? Isn't that what professors are assuming and factoring into the student's grade?

I looked for advice in other library blogs (admittedly not an exhaustive search) and only found instances (mainly from 2008) where helicopter parents were discussed as a trend or as potential avenues to market the library (one example: Lorcan Dempsey), but I didn't see any posts about parents doing their child's research or thoughts on the professional ethics. So I'm appealing to other librarians (or non-librarians) for your thoughts or experiences with this.

Is this aiding and abetting cheating? Or just filling a need? What are the ethical obligations to the University and to the patron? I look forward to reading your comments.

The Journal of Library Innovation is seeking submissions for publication for its inaugural issue in January 2010.

The Journal of Library Innovation, one of the first journals devoted explicitly to innovation and creativity in libraries, is a peer reviewed, electronic journal published by the Western New York Library Resources Council. Its mission is to disseminate research and information on innovative practice in libraries of all types.

Innovation in libraries can include, but is not limited to the following:

• The discovery of unmet user needs.
• The introduction of new services or the retooling of traditional services resulting in a better user experience.
• Creative collaboration between libraries, or between libraries and other types of institutions, resulting in demonstrable improvements in service to users.
• Implementing new technologies to improve and extend library service to meet user needs.
• Explorations of the future of libraries.
• Pilot testing unconventional ideas and services.
• Redefining the roles of library staff to better serve users.
• Developing processes that encourage organizational innovation.
• Reaching out to and engaging library users and non-users in new and creative ways.
• Creative library instruction and patron programming.
• Finding new ways to make library collections or library facilities more useful.

The Journal of Library Innovation publishes original research, literature reviews, commentaries, case studies, reports on innovative practices, and book, conference and product reviews. The journal also welcomes provocative essays that will stimulate thought on the current and future role of libraries in an Internet Age.

For more information and submission guidelines visit http://www.libraryinnovation.org/ or contact Pamela Jones, the Managing Editor, at pjones@medaille.edu.

A great philosophy

A two-week holiday hiatus from work results in a backlog of necessary tasks and duties well beyond email (220+), blog feeds (1300+), blog posts, and library web site updates. Yesterday was devoted to scheduling graduate assistants and student workers for the spring semester in the IRC and making preparations necessary to begin the semester smoothly (including new stacks signage and update the wall collage).

Today, I've whittled the pile of journals perched in my mailbox down to two, the December 15, 2008 issue of Booklist and the December 2008 issue of School Library Journal. Since both of these are fun, I get to order juvenile books and the SLJ TechKnowledge sections never fail to have a great idea or two, in fact the December issue highlights Ohio Opens Schoolrooms, it is pretty much win-win for me.

But, I digress.

Taking Care of Business, an article by Christopher Harris, discusses how collection development policies and plans may help inform people what libraries have to offer students. What caught my attention was the accompanying photograph of Tracey Reed, a librarian at Clearwater Public Library, featuring a great sign:


Bother Me!
I'm here to help you ...

Bravo! Everyone is busy, but we are here to help.

Interested in the photograph? Use Academic Search Complete, or any other database that features SJL, the article is available in full text html and pdf with picture. Unfortunately, it is not available on the SLJ website.

History Comes Alive When a Teacher Cares

I recently attended a program, Successful Teaching, by Richard A. Jones II, a retired history teacher from my own high school, River Valley High School. This program was offered by our local chapter of Phi Delta Kappa. Rick was very entertaining to listen to and his enthusiasm and passion for teaching history was evident. He took us through how he taught an interactive history class and shared some of his philosophies. One in particular stood out for me, as I could see how this easily translated to our own profession. He called it the CPR's of Success:

Commitment (for your profession and to doing the best you possibly can)
Passion (for your profession and to never stop preparing and learning all you can)
Respect (I respect you, your ideas, your suggestions, and know that I am here for you)

He added Love as the fourth element because without that, the others cannot succeed.

I see that this is so true for our library profession and how it can help us to be good administrators, directors, managers, librarians, etc.

When we constantly badmouth or downplay our colleagues and not support or offer ways for them to grow in the organization or profession, we are not ensuring a future workforce that is committed, passionate or even respectful. Have you done CPR today?

Rick has written two books and a third is in the works. He shares his teaching philosphies in the book Educational Pyramid of Success, published by PublishAmerica. His other book is Veterans' Voices: Central Ohio's Greatest Generation Speaks, Volume One: World War II.

A third book, dealing with Marion County (Ohio) veterans is underway. I admire the fact that Rick is still so involved in education and so passionate about history and teaching it after all these years. There is something to say for having the right attitude. Thanks, Rick, for sharing.

Love a Librarian

It seems almost redundant to post this to a librarian-run blog, but hey, we all know other librarians who might be deserving of this award - - -

CARNEGIE CORPORATION OF NEW YORK/NEW YORK TIMES
I LOVE MY LIBRARIAN AWARD ANNOUNCED
Nominations for public librarians open August 15

Carnegie Corporation of New York has awarded the American Library Association $489,000 to support the new Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award.

Administered by the ALA’s Public Information Office and Campaign for America’s Libraries, the award will launch this year and will continue annually through 2013. The award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of librarians in public, school, college, community college and university libraries for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community.

Nominations for public librarians run from August 15 through October 1. Nominations for school and academic librarians begin September 2 and continue through October 15.

“In our democratic society, the library stands for hope, for learning, for progress, for literacy, for self-improvement and for civic engagement. The library is a symbol of opportunity, citizenship, equality, freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and hence, is a symbol for democracy itself,” said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York.
"We’re thrilled to be working with the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the American Library Association to honor librarians who play such a vital role in our communities,” said Scott Heekin-Canedy, president of The New York Times. “What began as a local Times initiative in New York City seven years ago has grown to a national awards program and now we are proud to be co-presenting the award with the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the ALA.”

“This award will continue to raise awareness of the valuable contributions of today’s librarians and the ways they make a difference in people’s lives and their communities, schools and campuses,” said ALA President Jim Rettig.

Up to 10 librarians in public, school and academic libraries will be selected each year and each will be honored at a ceremony and reception in New York at TheTimesCenter, hosted by The New York Times. Each winner also will receive a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and a $500 travel stipend to attend the awards reception. In addition, a plaque will be given to each award winner’s library.

Nominees will be judged by a selection committee based on quality of service to library users, demonstrated knowledge of the library and its resources and commitment shown in helping library users.

Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

For more information, visit www.ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.

The Carnegie Corp. of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding." For more than 95 years, the corporation has carried out Carnegie's vision of philanthropy by building on his two major concerns: international peace and advancing education and knowledge. As a private grant-making foundation, the corporation will invest more than $100 million this year in nonprofits to fulfill Carnegie's mission, "to do real and permanent good in this world." The corporation's capital fund, originally donated at a value of about $135 million, had a market value of $3 billion on Sept. 30, 2007.

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2007 revenues of $3.2 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other daily newspapers, WQXR-FM and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 65,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.

Hard to Say Goodbye

In our profession, colleagues come and go on a regular basis - through new jobs, relocation of family members, retirement, death, etc. New librarians come and stay for awhile and then move on for better positions, new challenges, better pay - a whole host of reasons. I am fortunate to have worked in the same place for the past 20 years and was able to move up the ladder to become director. That is certainly not easy to accomplish at many libraries. In my time, I have gotten to work with lots of wonderful colleagues across Ohio and am fortunate to call many of them my friends, including my own staff. I have learned numerous things from them and have been able to grow into a better librarian and person because of that.

That's why it is so hard to say goodbye to one when he/she leaves. I have become attached on several levels, professionally, collaboratively, socially, and emotionally. I never want them to leave my circle. But leave they do - I am always happy when they move to a new job with more advancement opportunities or new challenges. I know that they are up for the challenge because I have worked with them on a committee or intereacted with them professionally and I know what they are capable of. Plus, I am a darn good reference and most of the time, they get their job!

Nevertheless, it is the nature of our profession to want to grow and develop and serve our patrons in different ways. Sometimes that means having to move on to do so. I have seen many Ohio librarians move from our state; and our loss is certainly someone else's gain. Ohio has many fine library folks both as librarians and staff. All are important to the work of the library and I hate to see them leave us for any reason.

I wish those who move on well; Kevin, I will miss you at Denison and I am sure that Tulane is very happy to be getting the benefit of your Ohio experiences!! Take care and represent us well! Don, have fun working for NASA! Remember all the good things we taught you at OSU!!! Doris, enjoy your retirement, you certainly deserve it!!!

Thinking Outside the Book

I received an email yesterday from Carol Smallwood, editor of Thinking Outside the Book: Essays for Innovative Librarians, with the information McFarland has given this book a tentative release date of June/July 2008. The reason this title is of particular interest to me is I contributed two essays to the book.

Below is the book description from the publisher:

"Professionals in all areas of librarianship will find inspiration in the essays collected here—each of them innovative tips for increasing circulation, enhancing collections, and improving flexibility. With extensive experience in the nation’s top libraries and media centers, the 73 contributors describe what really works based on their real-world experiences."

"Organized by subject, the essays offer succinct and practical guidelines for dozens of tasks. Topics include preparing and delivering distinctive presentations; forming a successful grant proposal; creating a traveling multimedia exhibition; organizing effective community partnerships; writing blogs; hosting authors; creating cybertorials; and preserving local culture." - McFarland Publishing

More information, including early reviews and a table of contents, are located on the McFarland web site. Promotional materials have been sent to various contributors for conferences and contributors have been offered materials for marketing, hence this blog post.

My essays? They are included in Chapter IV, The Internet (Outreach & Information: Blogs in the academic Library) and Chapter VI, Hosting Library Events (The Art of the Picture Book Conference: Partnership Beyond Library Walls). I am very excited about this opportunity and will undoubtedly be showing my copy of the book to all asunder.

Tags: Thinking Outside the Book, Carol Smallwood, McFarland, Librarianship

Dissention in the ranks

I've been reading folks' library blogs and they are interesting, to say the least. The names of the people who post are very creative and often bordering on risque. The topics that are covered range from informative and instructional to ranting and raving about lack of training, preparation or nasty coworkers/patrons. I must say, I would be curious to see how my staff might decribe their working conditions in our library. True, we are small and we often have to take in stride our quirks, crises and plain bad days. But I often ask in evaluations what is needed to be able to do their job - more specialized training, learn something new to enhance their professional development, going to school to to earn a degree, etc. I also ask what I could do to make their job easier or better - better directions, more communication, more flexibility, clearer instructions, leave them alone, jump in the lake, etc. Regardless, I try to allow the opportunity for input, even if it is during an evaluation.



I was reading the Annoyed Librarian blog on courses that people wished they had offered in library school. I found some of the "descriptions" to be hilarious and often on the mark. I found myself saying "yeah, that would have been a good one to have learned about" or "man, the poster really has had some bad experiences, work environments, etc." The entry obviously struck a chord - there were about 66 replies as of this morning. I certainly didn't have all the answers or the experience when I was hired; I learned many aspects on the job. I learned how to respond to people both in writing and verbally in a way that didn't raise hackles or cause ill will. I learned that I didn't know everything and sometimes the old way is just not better.

I hope that all our new library professionals keep that in mind - even years of being in the trenches does not always make you the authority just as coming straight out of grad school does not give you the right to criticize mindlessly without first learning how it works in the first place.

Yearly report

I am not an enthusiast of blog posts whose purpose is to lead readers to other blogs, unless of course that is the purpose of the blog in question; it seems to be an "easy out" for posting. This post is going to be one of those posts, apologies to everyone in advance but you will soon see why.

Yesterday afternoon, librarians received their yearly email from the library director asking for updates on our professional development to complete his report for the 2006-2007 academic year (ending June 2007). We were to forward information concerning our campus committee involvement, professional affiliations (ALA, ACRL, & ALAO), presentations, publishing, conference and workshop attendance, and anything else that speaks to our professional development.

I have been lucky in recent years with opportunities to work with our College of Education on search committees and as an adjunct instructor. With ALAO, the Academic Library Association of Ohio, I have been able to be an active member with Interest Groups (CMCIG) and the board. Committee involvement on a national level with ACRL/EBSS has been a recent development that I am enjoying (though winter meetings in Philadelphia?). As to presenting, after several state-wide presentations, I took the professional leap last year and was accepted to present two poster sessions in D.C. Those poster session led to potential publishing prospects that I will discuss more at a later date. I was excited to be able to send this information back to the director and show I had made progress with my professional development. However, I am cognizant of the fact every year will not have the same opportunity. I am grateful to have support from the library director in question enabling me to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.

That said, it was with interest that I read Are You Where You Want to Be Professionally? by Steven B. on the ACRLog this morning. In part, Steven mentioned:

"All of this may be a long winded way of saying that I urge you not to worry about where you are professionally. If you think your career needs to be progressing faster, I say think of it as a long run. You’ve got to pace yourself. And keep in mind that the road is a series of hills and valleys. Sometimes you will get things right at the right time and you’ll be on the hill. But then it will be someone else’s turn, and you’ll be in the valley. It’s much better to look at the long view, and focus not on one time recognition but developing the ability to acquire and nuture ideas and inspiration." (Steven B, ACRLog, 12/5/07)

The valleys are coming; I know this without a doubt. I plan (and hope) to weather them with a bit of aplomb and dignity ... and the knowledge another hill is ahead. Take a few minutes and read Are You Where You want to be Professionally, it is both a thoughtful and insightful view of librarianship.

Tags: ACRLog, Academic Librarianship, Academic librarian - professional development, Academic library

Training wheels aren't just for librarians

I just finished reading "Should we take off those training-wheels" by Meredith Farkas @ Information Wants to Be Free and it struck a chord with me. I do not think this is something specific to, or mired in, libraries and librarianship. Though unfamiliar with the term, training wheels culture, two graduate assistants and I have been struggling with a like phenomenon in regards to a lab course. This self-paced basic technology lab is delivered using WebCT; students are encouraged to "try" individual assignments on their own using instruction modules and tutorials (video and written). Each year, students taking the course are more technologically savvy regarding computers. Each year the attempts at completing the work using provided instructions suffers a decided lack of interest.

"As instructors and trainers, I believe we are doing our best work when we can push people to take off their training-wheels, because we are helping them to become better life-long learners. So next time someone asks you for an answer they should probably be finding themselves, think about what you’re really teaching them if you give them the answer." (Farkas, 10/7/07)

We want students to succeed; throughout their entire academic career, not just within the library. In fact, we owe it to them as educators to make this possible, hence the inclusion of video, audio, chat reference, blogs, and other web 2.0 technologies students are familiar with and comfortable using to academic course-work. It is one of the reasons applications to AU's technology faculty learning community doubled from 2006 to 2007. But where do we draw the line, encouraging and expecting students to try? Are we doing them any favors sending email reminders, updating calendars, and posting to blogs?


Tags: Librarianship, Training Wheels Culture, Instructional Technology

University of Michigan - Social Computing specialization

The University of Michigan's School of Information is adding six new specialty areas to their existing Masters of Science Information program that currently includes a Library Information Sciences (LIS) specialization. Of interest is the Social Computing Specialization (SC):

"Students pursuing a specialization in Social Computing learn to analyze online social interactions, both in online communities and in more diffuse social networks. They learn about features of social computing technologies so they can recognize opportunities to put them to use in new settings and make good choices about alternative implementations."(SI MSI Degree, 3/26/07)

With today's climate in librarianship, a course or two in social computing would definitely be beneficial to library information science students.

Tags: Library Information Science, University of Michigan, Social computing

Can You?

In 8 hours, 36 minutes, 37 seconds and counting it will be Shutdown Day 2007; have you heard about this? Their web page dares you to:

"Be a part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the internet. The idea behind the experiment is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate! Shutdown your computer on this day and find out! Can you survivve for 24 hours without your computer?" (shutdownday.org, 3/23/07).

Naturally there are accompanying YouTube videos and I finally succombed and created a YouTube account so I could post one of them. Unfortunately it seems I can not embed it within this post, so it has a post of it's own directly above this one.

I am not scheduled to work this weekend, so this would not be a work issue. Not using my computer on Saturday would not be problematic, but in the interest of full disclosure, I will be out of town this weekend and my computer will be here. Aside from the novelty of not using your computer for a day, the concept itself has interesting connotations for a library. Consider how difficult it would be to find books for patrons, conduct research, find journal articles, or check out books without the computer. Not that it would be impossible, but when was the last time a reader's guide was used? I used one for the first time in my academic career last term to help a student find a book review for a title published in the late 1970's for a project. I wonder how many libraries still have an updated guide.

Sure, we could easily get by for several hours or a weekend with a bit of work and complaints from patrons. I am left to ponder this on a Friday afternoon; is it a good thing or a bad thing that we would not be able to run the library without computers for an extended period of time? Or, is it neither and just how things have evolved? A sign of the changing times.

Tags: Shutdown Day, YouTube, Computers & libraries

The New Library Professional

"What does the growing generation gap among their employees mean for academic research libraries and for the profession?" This question is posed by Stanley Wilder in his recent article for the Chronicle of Higher Education, The New Library Professional (2/23/07).

No longer under 35, like many this is my second (or is it third?) career, I do have the dubious distinction of being the youngest faculty librarian here at AU. I also find myself immersed more in the hands-on technology (scanners, software, cameras) and Web 2.0 technologies (web pages, blogs)than some of my co-workers; some because of my job itself, more often because I am interested in the technology. However, I do find myself to be one of the more mature members of the audience when attending sessions on technology at various conferences. Issues of age aside, Wilder makes several interesting points in his essay, among them:

"The generation gap in research libraries begins with the large proportion of young people who work at jobs that either did not exist for their older colleagues, or weren't associated years ago with librarianship." (Wilder, 2/23/07)

I definitely agree with the observation that the nontraditional jobs existing in any library are changing as libraries must adapt to new technologies. Information Commons are a prime example of merging technology and library information. Add to that the changes made to library information science curriculum's in recent years, new library professionals are graduating with a different set of skills as well.

Is the new library professional really all that different? The more things change ...

Tags: Chronicle of Higher Education, Academic Librarians, Library Profession, The New Library Professional

Yes! We are important

The American Association of School Libraries (AASL) blog posted a link earlier today to an article titled Are Librarians Totally Obsolete? or 33 Reasons Why Libraries and Librarians are Still Extremely Important. I am not familiar with the web site in question, Degree Tutor, but do appreciate the arguments presented. Among the valid reasons discussed are:

• #4: The internet complements libraries, but it doesn’t replace them.
• #9: Libraries aren’t just books.
• #18: Eliminating libraries would cut short an important process of cultural evolution.
• #20: Wisdom of crowds is untrustworthy, because of the tipping point.
• #28: Libraries are stable while the web is transient

The article concludes:

"Society is not ready to abandon the library, and it probably won’t ever be. Libraries can adapt to social and technological changes, but they can’t be replaced. While libraries are distinct from the internet, librarians are the most suited professionals to guide scholars and citizens toward a better understanding of how to find valuable information online. Indeed, a lot of information is online. But a lot is still on paper. Instead of regarding libraries as obsolete, state and federal governments should increase funding for improved staffing and technology. Rather than lope blindly through the digital age, guided only by the corporate interests of web economics, society should foster a culture of guides and guideposts. Today, more than ever, libraries and librarians are extremely important for the preservation and improvement of our culture."

Interesting food for thought right before lunch.

Tags: AASL, Librarianship, Libraries obsolete?, Necessity of librarians

Libraries in the News

Wow this has been quite a week as the mainstream media has definitely been shining its spotlight on libraries and librarians. For librarianship as a profession the coverage has been favorable as the Wall Street Journal talked about our changing role which compliments the recognition given last month by the U.S. News & World Report naming it one of the 25 best careers of 2007.

Unfortunately, the news hasn't been so kind to all. The New York Times first reported on Tuesday about the Maplewood Memorial Library in New Jersey which has decided to close between 2:45-5pm due to crowds of Middle and High School students who hang out there after school until their parents pick them up after work. Apparently there have been multiple problems over the years with some misbehaving teens and the library feels that this is their only option at this time. The paper posted a follow-up piece today about the situation which indicates that the government in Maplewood seems to be trying to come up with alternative solutions.

Fairfax County Public Library has also sent the media into a tizzy with their new weeding program. It was reported on Tuesday in an article in the Washington Post and then lambasted in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Both pieces are quick to emphasize the elimination of "classics" for newer books. Due to the coverage, the library has posted a response on their website to help explain their position. I particularly recommend reading the responses to the Wall Street Journal piece as they represent the opinions of many members of the public. The issue of weeding has always been controversial when the public is involved, but it is also not without debate within the library profession. One response to this item worth reading (whether or not you agree) is at the Annoyed Librarian.

Tags: libraries, librarianship, libraries in the news, Fairfax County Public Library, Maplewood Library

How to Sabotage Your Career

November is a month when I look at my calendar, see an odd yet blissfully uneventful week ahead, and thank my lucky stars. This week began in that fashion, but no sooner did the words take form then a phone call and personal visit changed the landscape of my scheduled obligations. Altered in a good way, but changed none the less. Both commitments are important to me, one a search committee (the personal visit) and the other an accreditation committee (the phone call). I'm flattered, honored, and enjoy being a part of both processes, but both require some deft juggling of responsibility. Talk to any academic librarian this deep into a semester and you will learn this is all part and parcel with a career in librarianship.

So, why am I blogging about this topic instead of the promised ALAO conference session information? My bloglines account gathered an interesting article this afternoon posted on Insider Higher Ed, by Rob Weir titled "How to Sabotage Your Career." It ties in neatly with afore mentioned outside library interests and pays homage to the importance of fulfilling responsibilities.

After aptly describing several instances of career sabotage, one of which I lived through in graduate school (I will never forget the partner who withdrew from class one week before a collaborative assignment was due without fulfilling his obligations to the team), Wier closes with the following:

"But make no mistake: There is an informal and unpublished blacklist, one that emerges from conversations and in professional networking. I have sat with conference planners poring over proposals and heard them say, “She sent a proposal two years ago and never showed up.” I have watched senior colleagues glance at vitas, paper proposals, article submissions, applications, and grant requests, arch their eyebrows, and utter a single fatal word: “No.” I recall a Fulbright project rejected with the words, “not if God Himself commanded it.” If you find yourself running into dead-ends where there should be open doors, you should take stock and contemplate who you’ve dissed and what piles of garbage you’ve left for others to clean up." (Rob Weir, 11/7/06)

It reminds me of a piece of advice I got from my first boss when working retail; Be nice to everyone who comes in the store because you just never know. Common sense and common courtesy go a long way.

Tags: Academics, Academic Careers, Academic librarians, How to Sabotage Your Career, Inside Higher Ed

Reflections and questions

I worked two years as a children's librarian in a public library before starting my MLIS course work at Pitt, sorry, the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to beginning classes, I did not know anyone attending grad school for library science and was clueless as to what it might entail. I did know that to move forward with working in a library, be it academic, school, or public, I would need the library science degree.

While attending Pitt, I was blessed with Mary Kay Biagini, as an advisor and a library science faculty willing to patiently answer my unending questions. I can not count how many times I visited Arlene Taylor for help while taking Organizing Information. I still remember how Susan Alman helped me get my first job interview and has continued to field questions five years after graduation. Missy Harvey, computer science librarian at Carnegie Mellon University, taught the required technology class and after graduation email to Missy helped me create the first IRC web page and laid the foundation for continued web work. Margaret Kimmel taught children's literature courses and in one we were required to write a book review every week. When beginning the IRC Book Review Blog, I went back through my notes to refresh my memory concerning what I hope are well written reviews. Lastly, I did my student teaching practicum at Penn Hills Senior High School under the direction of Sally Myers who is now the Secondary Technology Coordinator, Penn Hills School District. I can only hope to be as good at my job as she was at hers. Like Sue Alman, Sally was someone who helped me get a school library job interview.

This short trip down memory lane serves two purposes; a reminder of how wonderful these people were during my schooling and to illustrate why I am an email sounding board for a friend who is a recent MLIS graduate. I had support, but did not have someone already in the profession to whom I could ask more questions. I continue to be surprised the number, quality, and thoughtfulness of the questions he asks me as he considers academic librarianship as a career path. With an email from him in my in-box at home, I am going to ask permission to post some of his recent inquiries here. He's not the only newbie with these questions and it might be nice to get other opinions on topics we have discussed because quite honestly, I get as much from the exchanges as he does.

At this point, he may now be looking at this post saying "No way, Diane." My mistake for sending him this blog address, but we'll see.

Tags: Library Cloud, University of Pittsburgh, Pitt SLIS, Academic librarianship, Mentoring