The Next Chapter

Goodbye Statistical Abstract

2012-01-23T09:55:00.000-05:00

I just read a post discussing Life After the Statistical Abstract which summarizes of a discussion that took place at ALA Midwinter. It discusses possible alternatives including commercial products from ProQuest, but points out that currently nothing rivals what was available through Statistical Abstract. Learning to Live Without the Statistical Abstract offers a discussion of alternatives including a link to the Guide to Sources of Statistics chart which is Appendix I of the Abstract. This is a list of primary sources of statistical information along with the agencies that produce those statistics.

What are we going to do at LCC to guide students to reliable credible statistics now that Statistical Abstract is gone?

Keeping E-Books Current - Charleston Report Part 5

2011-11-08T08:03:00.003-05:00

Most of the sessions I attended were those that I knew we are going to implement or undertake in the next few months. One of them is of course, weeding. This session hit home immediately because of our Netlibrary collection weeding project that was started last summer. This session is meant to be a "dialog" session with heads of collection from Texas A & M University, Ken Breen (Senior Ditector of e-book Products at EBSCO) and Matt Barnes (Vice-President of Marketing at ebrary).

They talk about the problem of ebooks that have outdated or superceded information and what we need to do to make them current. There are a few questions posed to the attendees and was the starting point for our dialogue:

Who is responsible for weeding ebooks?

Removing the titles from the library catalog is a pain (but doable), however, how do you removed those that are part of a shared collection such as consortium?

Who is responsible for weeding a shared collection?

How would libraries like to identify ebooks for weeding?

How can a library control access if it removed a title from the catalog but the item is still available in the vendor's database?

Why would you want to permanently delete an item?

What situation would work best for the library?

I spoke to the group about our dilemma with our Netlibrary records. I told Ken since they now own Netlibrary that it would be good if after we deleted the items in our catalog, they can in turn have a switch that can turn off visibility of these deleted records from our students. He said they have not thought about weeding when they moved the platform but now since there is a need for that, they would work towards that functionality.

We also heard from the research libraries' perspective, since they don't ever weed anything from their collection. They want to be able to identify those ebooks that they want weeded but still make it accessible for their faculty or researchers. They want to move these ebooks to a repository much like an online off-site storage so they can be accessed again. Again, these vendors have no way of doing this yet. Apparently, they were so caught up with producing books in electronic form, marketing them to libraries but neglecting the fact that one day some of them would have to be weeded.

In the end, the dialogue produced some lessons and recommendations, in particular:

Libraries mus evaluate their ebook collections regularly (especially if it is purchased)

Libraries mus work together to create best practices for evaluating and weeding ebook collections.

Librarians and vendors must work together to create workflow that is efficient for both.

Charleston Conference Report Part 4

2011-11-04T21:38:00.003-05:00

Today was another busy and jam-packed day full of keynote speeches, sessions, and lively discussions to attend. The morning started with a keynote speech from the legal counsels at U of M, Stanford University and another lawyer specializing in competition and copyright for libraries. The title of their presentation was "The Long Arm of the Law." It's basically a crash course on copyright, fair use especially in this digital age. They also brought us up-to-date with the leading developments in cases such as Skyriver versus OCLC, Google Books settlement, Georgia State University case against their e-reserves, John Wiley's case against first sale and FTC investigation on Google.

I also attended the lively lunch discussion about the results of ebrary's and Cleveland State University's "Global E-book Survey." It basically compares the 2008 and 2011 trends and perceptions on ebooks by students. We got a sneek peak into the results which would be made public on the ALA Midwinter meeting in January 2012. I plan on presenting the results of the survey to the library staff possibly during our Department meeting because I think the results will give us an insight into students' perceptions and attitudes towards ebooks.

I attended the session called "If You Buy It, Will They Read It" which is about the experience of the University of Utah Libraries in evaluating the purchasing patterns of their subject librarians. In particular, they examined the firm orders made by their selectors over 3 years (2009-2011) and compared the use statistics of the books they selected in print and electronic formats. The patterns they discovered provided me with an inspiration to go beyond the review I have started and drill more into the specifics by subjects.

I also attended the session called "Launching and ePreferred Approval Plan" which is a joint presentation by the Head of Collections and Acquisitions at Duke University and YBP. Duke University librarians talked about how they implemented an e-book only approval plan from their print approval plan at YBP. They talked about the challenges and success they achieved from implementing such a plan. I was already thinking of this anyway with my recent meeting with YBP and it just gave me the pus to try and pilot it in the Library.

Lastly, I attended a presentation from Doug Way and Julie Garrison from GVSU and Rick Lugg from Sutainable Collection Services about "Implementing a Disapproval Plan: A Case Study of Rules-Based Weeding." This is so interesting because this company is the first to develop a data driven deselection system for libraries. It is pretty much like an approval plan where you set the parameters for acquiring new books except it is the opposite because they created a set of rules for weeding their collection "scientifically." It is very inspiring and revolutionary, one that I hope to be able to do when we do our weeding next year.

Finally, we capped the day with the Firday night dine arounds. We RSVP'd way in advance for restaurants we want to go to dinner. And then the organizers put all those people who chose the same restaurants so we can have dinner together. Our group was a diverse mix of people and it was fun to just talk to each other and at the same time enjoy the good food that we were served.

Charleston Conference Report Part 3

2011-11-04T07:43:00.001-05:00

Thursday was the start of the conference and our day started at 7 am for breakfast. The opening ceremonies started at 8:00 am. Keynote speech was at 8:15 am with Michael Keller, University Librarian of Stanford University as one of the speakers. By the way, Charleston Conference organizers appoint a moderator who among his other duties is to watch the time so that the speakers do not go over their allotted 45 minutes of talk. Even the notoriously naughty speakers who go on and on tow the line. Hmmm, we should have that here at LCC (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Keller’s talk was about the “Semantic Web for Libraries and Publishers.” In this thought-provoking speech, he mentioned that there’s just way too many silos of information out there. The landscape of discovery and access is in shambles. Search results from Google offer little precision and offers a lot of ambiguity. This is what he refers to as the dark world of the web. He talks about the efforts at Stanford to build a web of data called the semantic web. His talk was followed by MacKenzie Smith, Research Director from MIT Libraries. She talked about “Data Papers in the Network Era.” It was way over my head but it is interesting to learn developments on this front especially from this top universities.

I don’t have the time to write a summary of each of the sessions I’ve attended since I’m going to head down to a session in a bit, but I thought I’d list them out here (this is only for yesterday, Thursday):

Let’s Get the Dialog Started: Keeping E-Books Current (speakers from EBSCO, ebrary, EBL, Texas A&M University)

Electronic Resource Assessment: Adventures in Engagement (speakers from Columbia University Library)

The Role of Reference in Discovery Systems: Effecting a More Literate Search (speakers from GVSU, Georgetown University, Credo Reference)
Is there a Future for the Collection Development Policy (speakers from University of South Florida, Tampa)

In the evening we head out for the grand Charleston Conference reception (from 7 to 9 pm) held at the College of Charleston gardens. It was yet again a chance to experience Southern hospitality at its best and get to meet more librarians. It was a fitting end to an otherwise long day.

Charleston Conference Report Part 2

2011-11-04T07:18:00.001-05:00

The conference started on Wednesday with preconferences and vendor showcases. I arrived in the afternoon so immediately after I went to the vendor exhibits. This is the only conference where vendors and publishers are only allowed to exhibit on the 1st day of the conference for about 7 hours. The idea is that these vendors are participants too in the conference and as such they should not be just standing by in their booths pitching their products and services. Also it allows the librarians to focus on the vendors they want to meet and not be distracted when the conference starts. I got to meet with my regular contacts from YBP, EBSCO. I met with the Gale folks, Proquest, CRCnetbase, Credo Reference and many more.

I got to attend the “Showdown at the Charleston Conference.” This is an annual tradition wherein vendors face each other much like a showdown in the OK coral so that they have a no-holds barred product faceoff. It aims to have an honest exchange between competing products in the library marketplace to get beyond the usual sales pitch, and explore the issues that concerns us and our libraries. For this showdown, they focused on ebooks and usage statistics. Three ebook vendors EBL, ebrary and EBSCO had a showdown (since this is a showdown, the Presidents and VPs of each company face off). For the usage statistics, PaperStats from Pubget face off with ScholarlyStats from SWETS. It was fun to see how all these vendors try to outdo each other mch like saying “I’m better than you so take that!” all to the amusement of the attendees.

In the evening, I attended the YBP/ebrary cocktails. I roomed-in with my friend Fran Krempasky, head of acquisitions from Cooley Law School. In there we met with the MI delegation from MSU, WSU, GVSU and U of M. I got to meet and talk to my counterparts from Yale University, U of Chicago, Columbia University, and many more. It is shocking to hear their stories especially those that involve layoffs. Over drinks (open bar but I didn’t drink though and confined myself to a harmless pineapple, cranberry cocktail) and Southern food like crab cakes and fried green tomatoes we chatted and laughed the night away.

Charleston Conference Report Part 1

2011-11-04T06:53:00.001-05:00

Before anything else, I’m going to categorically say that this conference is the best conference I have ever attended in my career as a librarian. It has lived up to the hype that my librarian friends have repeatedly told me ever since I assumed this position at LCC. They all told me “You better attend the Charleston Conference even if you have to take out a 2nd mortgage.” Why so? Well, this is the only conference where a librarian in charge of collection development and management, acquisitions, and serials in academic libraries get to converge, discuss, and network with each other. Add to that is the fact that vendors and publishers—CEOs, Presidents listen to us and demand that we tell them what we want about their products so that they can make it better. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they feed all the participants breakfast, lunch and dinner and coffee in between.

Anyway, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about the history of the Charleston Conference. In 1989, a group of acquisitions librarians (actually, they were only 2 of them), in Charleston got together led by Katina Stauch because they felt at that time that the needs of the “back-end” part of the library are not being met by ALA or any library conference out there. The next year, they had the 1st Charleston conference attended only by 20 librarians. Now 31 years later, it has since grown into a conference attended by 1,458 librarians and over 40 vendors and publishers.

In my next post, I’ll let you in on the sessions I've attended.

Suzanne's Thoughts about MLA Annual Conference

2011-10-28T09:34:00.003-05:00

Here is a summary of key points from the presentations I attended at MLA this year:

I attended a great presentation about Business Plan Research for Poets: How to Support Entrepreneurs. It was a reminder that a reference interview is important in working with all patrons. One of the librarians recommended asking "tell me more about your project" to get started understanding the information needs of entrepreneurs. I know Kim will be integrating some of the resources mentioned into our business plan research guide, but one resource that sounded especially interesting was Research on Main Street which focuses on finding local business information.

The other presentation I wanted to write about was Local vs. Cloud Based Discovery Systems. Librarians at Western Michigan talked about how they implemented VuFind (an open source, which the presenter described as "free like a puppy") and Summon (a serials solutions product that allows users to search multiple databases and the catalog).

I now understand the difference between the "federated search engine" that we have, MultiSearch, and a web scale discovery system like Summon. Federated search engines connect to each database individually when you perform a search whereas Summon is a database with metadata harvested from publishers and the library catalog. So, Summon doesn't have to wait to connect to each database, the response time is much faster than with a federated search engine.

The speaker at the Academic Libraries lunch, Barbara Jones, from the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom was excellent. She discussed how important it is to protect our right to freedom of speech and how this is tied to academic freedom and academic libraries. She mentioned the Muzzle Awards, given by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression to institutions that limit freedom of expression.

Someone asked an interesting question about balancing between new trends like patron driven acquisition and providing a balanced collection which provides access to scholarship even from those who hold unpopular ideas.

Finally, I wanted to post a link to the presentation Regina and I did at MLA (Free or Cheap Tools You Can Use to Improve Your Library Website) if you are interested. I put links on Delicious to the tools we discussed. The presentation slides should be posted on the MLA website soon.

Ethereal eBooks, The Cloud, & Library Collections

2011-09-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

I keep finding the most amazing articles in Searcher Magazine. In the September 2011 issue there is an article titled 21st-Century Lending Libraries: Books in a Cloud? which goes into some great detail about many of the issues involved in ebook publishing and the difficulties libraries face in collecting ebooks. Nancy K. Herther, an Anthropology/Sociology Librarian from the University of Minnesota Libraries does an excellent job covering consumer issues, major platforms, the future of publishing, the growth of ebooks, and it's impact on libraries.

20 Coolest iPad Ideas for Your Library

2011-09-08T10:49:00.004-05:00

Now that our new iPads have been delivered (it just came this morning after our RST meeting), we might want to look into this blog post about some cool ideas on how to use iPad for our library. At least we got one already going (see #3). If we can do much more than just roving reference, then we're not that far behind after all.

Enjoy!

Screencasts for Chat?

2011-07-13T11:06:00.003-05:00

Lauren DiMonte and Joanna Szurmak from University of Toronto Mississauga created an incredible prezi presentation for the WILU 2011 conference. It's not just cool, but it provides many great ideas for how to create screencapture tutorials and how to utilize Prezi to for that purpose. They also talk about using screencapture tutorials via chat/virtual reference...an interesting thought, no?

Browsing the stacks

2011-07-12T13:30:00.002-05:00

At first glance the title for this post would seem the farthest thing from "library 2.0", but based on interactions with two different students today, I believe, that no 2.0 library, or 3.0 library for that matter, especially at the community college level, can do without the stacks. Why? We will continue to have students come to our campus who are totally new to libraries, or returning after many years. We will continue to have students who are not sure exactly what they are looking for, but when you get them to a section of books that "clicks" with them, they immediately, and intuitively grasp the power of browsing the stacks.

In the article by Tim Newcomb: Is a Bookless Library Still a Library?, forwarded by Shawn, I thought the author did a good job of pointing out that most libraries, into the foreseeable future, will need to strike a balance between that which makes our institutions traditional, timeless even, and that which makes us cutting edge. It's clear we need to embrace new technologies, new modes of service, and new ideas for conducting all of our internal business. But, it's also clear that we can do all of those things while continuing to support services and techniques that are valuable to our patrons.

AL 2011: Innovate, Collaborate, Connect

2011-05-09T08:36:00.003-05:00

Colleagues and Friends,

I realize it's been a long while since we've actively engaged the Next Chapter blog but thought it'd be nice to use this space to discuss our time at the MLA Academic Libraries 2011 conference. When we have used this space in the past (for instance, in discussing LOEX), I found hearing everyone's insights to be very useful!

Some basic questions to get us started (Feel free to answer all, none, some):
Your favorite session and why?
Tell us something new you learned.. and is it applicable to us?
Any surprising sessions: i.e. you learned something you hadn't expected to? you realized LCC Library is already doing something like it?
Anything you take issue with?

Let the sharing begin!

-Rachel

Using Facebook to Explain What a Database Is

2011-02-22T09:39:00.004-05:00

From friending to research: Using Facebook as a teaching tool by Anne Pemberton - College & Research Libraries News

I ran across this article the other day and thought it presented some great ideas for using Facebook to help students understand what a database is. I tried using some of the concepts in a Writing 121 class yesterday and it worked surprisingly well.

First, I asked how many students use Facebook. Everyone raised their hand. Then I explained as the article mentions, "You know what a database is because you use Facebook." You can explain that students are records in Facebook, like articles are records in a database. Each piece of information about a person (name, birthdate, etc.) is a field, such as the article title, author, etc. in a database. You can also ask how many students are in MySpace, etc. to explain the concept that there is some overlap in content between databases, just as there is some overlap in social networking sites.

I also asked how students got into Facebook, and they replied that they signed up. Then I asked how articles get into databases and went on to explain that the database companies pay publishers to include articles from periodicals. Finally, I asked how pages get onto the web and we talked about how it is like Facebook, anyone can post anything.

I won't summarize the whole article here, but take a look. It contains a lot of great ideas to use in instruction!

I have to think more about using this with a class where there are students not familiar with Facebook, but I think you could use an online phonebook to explain the same concepts.

Web Improvement Team Projects

2010-11-11T16:30:00.003-05:00

Fall Projects

Library Nugget for ANGEL (see screenshot below)

LINKS Tutorial - update links to reflect new website & video tutorials

LibX Toolbar - install in computer lab in TLC and beyond

Google Analytics - use results from site search to improve website

Full-Text Options - make interface more user-friendly

Spring Projects

Library Catalog

Improving Forms on Website

Developing New Content - new LibGuides/webpages

Customized Nugget for ANGEL

If you have ideas or suggestions for future WIT projects, contact Suzanne B.

Online Students and the Library?

2010-11-11T15:54:00.004-05:00

Last week I worked with James Bender's CJUS 101 students to do a library instruction session in Second Life. You can the four students who attended here. The session went well and was a good exercise in thinking about how we can better serve our online students.

One idea I had after the session was to develop a brief tour of the library website in Camtasia highlighting resources for students such as the databases, our catalog, the citing sources guide... Kim and I also talked about inviting some online instructors to our IST meeting next semester to get their ideas. What other ideas do you have for better serving our online students?

The Future of Screen Technology

2010-10-25T16:59:00.002-05:00

This is pretty awesome eye-candy:

LibGuides for Information Literacy Tutorial?

2010-10-19T17:49:00.004-05:00

I just read Rachel's post from this summer (oops, I'm a bit behind on my reading) about Bloomberg University of Pennsylvania librarians using LibGuides to create an information literacy tutorial. You can see the tutorial, as well as the article Rachel mentioned in College & Research Libraries News.

Just this week I was thinking about adding an assessment portion to the Writing 121 guide because one type of box that can be added to the guides is a quiz box. I hadn't thought about an entire tutorial in LibGuides, but that sounds like an exciting possibility. What do you all think?

Subject vs. Keyword Searching

2010-10-13T12:14:00.003-05:00

I was looking at my quiz results from my Writing 121 sessions and I noticed that more students missed the question about the difference between subject vs. keyword searching than any other question. I was talking with Rachel about this at the Reference Desk last night and she gave me a good idea for explaining the concept. She mentioned that she asks the class how can you tell what an article is about without reading it? I thought this was a great idea, so I wanted to ask for other ideas from my colleagues. How do you explain subject vs. keyword?

LITA Conference Report Part 2

2010-10-11T14:31:00.001-05:00

For my reference and instruction colleagues, I’ve attended a session on “What can the cloud do for your teaching: using cloud technologies in library instruction” by Chanitra Bishop of Indiana University. In her presentation, she talked about free cloud applications that we can use to spice up our instruction sessions. Among the reasons she gave for why we should use these applications are: it’s accessible anywhere, facilitates sharing, free, no storage issues, and it’s easy to use. I think that the most important reason for using cloud computing applications is that it allows us to engage and introduce our students to new technology. Here are the tools she showed us:

Polleverywhere

It allows participants to turn in their response to a question so library instructors can have a live poll inside the instruction room. This is good for icebreaker questions like “have you gone to an instruction class before?” or “what do you think should be the answer to…”

Animoto

This can be used for photo and video creation and sharing. For example, students can create a library video tour to get themselves familiarized with the library. Aside from being fun, it also allows students to take ownership of the project because they’ve made it themselves.

Screenjelly and Screentoaster

Screenjelly is a screencasting tool that allows recording of your screen activity with voice which you can then spread via Twitter or email. Screentoaster is also an online screencasting tool that allows you to capture videos of onscreen action and embed them on blogs or webpages. There’s a lot of ways we can use but for instruction, it’s a good way for students to practice using a database. Instruction librarians can see what the students have learned in terms of searching databases. The students can then view the tutorials at a later time if they want to.

Google forms

This is also a good tool for creating free forms that we can use for workshop and library instruction attendance and even assessment of what the students learned.

Awesome Highlighter

This allows you to highlight text in a webpage to show others an important part of a webpage that you want to highlight. It’s a great tool for website evaluation. It’s easy to use and you don’t need to sign up and create an account.

LITA Conference Report Part 1

2010-10-11T13:37:00.003-05:00

I attended the 2010 LITA (Library and Information Technology Association) National Forum in Atlanta last October 1-3, 2010. The theme for this year’s conference was using cloud computing and other cloud services to provide, enhance, and host library services. Cloud computing is an “Internet-based computing whereby shared resource, software, and information are provided to computers and other devises on demand.” Cloud computing and virtualization has been one of the top technology trends in the last two years and it is only now where we are seeing “maturity” and real-life implementation of libraries that decided to take this route.

Among the sessions I’ve attended is “Making your IT Skills Virtual: Tools for Learning How to Implement and Administer Cloud-based Systems” by the systems librarians at Wake Forest University (WFU). In this session, they talked about their experience in moving their library system and infrastructure to the cloud. Essentially, they’ve gotten rid of their university IT and in so doing freed their IT folks the responsibility of hosting their library server, software, and network configuration. They utilized Amazon EC2, a service by Amazon that provides elastic computing capacity in the cloud and allows you to run and configure server instances in a snap. They also used Amazon EBS for to create storage volumes for their servers from 1 GB to 1 TB. Essentially, what Amazon now does is to provide Infrastructure As a Service (IAaS) to libraries and other institutions looking to save money and technical staff time maintaining these servers and storage devises. There are a lot of advantages of going to this route and among them are:

· Lower initial costsà you only pay for what you own

· Flexible and scalable as needed

· Solutions are tailored to fit specific service needs

In addition, they also changed their search interface to VuFind which is an open-source discovery tool designed by Villanova University that allows users to browse and search through resources available in the library by replacing the traditional OPAC. It takes a lot of programming and customization to implement VuFind and I was amazed at how these 4 librarians managed to undertake the scale and complexity that this project entailed. I think that if there’s anybody that can do it, it is them since not only are they librarians but they are also IT experts as well.

One of the keynote speakers in the conference was Roy Tennant where he delivered his presentation “Using the Cloud to Please the Crowd.” He got me on his first slide when he said “Shift Happens!” which is really true because cloud computing has the potential to change the way we manage services and resources in the library. What is good about the cloud is that is is on demand much like electricity. You pay for what you use and if you don’t use it, you don’t pay anything. Cloud computing provides infinite immediately available computer power that is:

· Inexhaustible

· No more RFP for vendors (yehey!)

· No installation and configuration

· Infrastructure becomes somebody else’ headache

· No server support requirements (good riddance college IT!)

· No upgrades to worry about (again good riddance IT!)

· No more dealing with system downtime because vendors take care of this for you.

Essentially, computing power has become a commodity which is good because then we don’t have to get stuck with an annual bill and worry about all those budget drama.

I’d like to illustrate an example that Roy used. If you are a small library, you can put your server infrastructure in the cloud to host your data and it would only cost you about $300 a year to do so. I was shocked at how cheap it is considering that servers cost thousands of dollars and has a very limited life span (5 years and you have to replace it again).

Of course this service also has its drawbacks but you may be surprised that security is not one of them. All the presenters pointed out that since they’ve put their services in the cloud, they felt more secure than they had before when their data is hosted in physical servers. Security is one area that cloud-based vendors have perfected because it is the number one concern.

Another interesting session I attended was “Cloudy With a Chance for Cooperation: Cloud-based Library Management.” This presentation was an opportunity for libraries that have migrated to OCLC Web-Scale Management Services (WMS). If you haven’t heard it yet, WMS is a new service by OCLC wherein they essentially created an integrated library system (ILS) in the cloud. The libraries that have migrated all their services to the cloud were Pepperdine University, University of Tennessee, Idaho Commission for Libraries (representing all academic, public and school libraries in the Idaho state), and the ORBIS Cascade Alliance. The WMS from OCLC essentially puts these library’s cataloging, acquisitions, and circulation functions via the Web with an interface similar to what you would normally see by using Amazon or Google but only better and more “intelligent.” They showed a lot of cool features and I was blown away at how much better we can do our job both at the technical and public services levels. Also, the way in which users can now discover and interact with resources available in the library is revolutionary. I guess the main thing that summarizes all their experiences was “we want to manage information, not technology.”

Second Life and Library Instruction?

2010-09-16T11:02:00.004-05:00

Next week I'll be trying out an instruction session in Second Life for James Bender's online criminal justice class. You can see a screenshot of our practice session. There is basically a big screen which you can type URLs into and give a presentation. I was able to get into ProQuest to search and also chatted with the RefDesk librarians with our chat widget on our Ask a Librarian webpage. I'll let you all know how it goes ...

Taxonomy of Collaboration

2010-09-01T11:45:00.002-05:00

I just read this article about intruction in libraries and attitudes of faculty regarding this. I hope most of our faculty belong to the "enthusiastic partners" category. here's the link to the article:

http://acrlog.org/2010/08/29/taxonomy-of-collaboration/

Interesting book vs. ebook graphic

2010-08-30T16:28:00.003-05:00

Recently ran across this very interesting graphic that was produced for Newsweek. It draws out some interesting points about books and ebooks. Give it a look and tell me what you think.

MCLS Inaugural Event

2010-08-23T14:32:00.010-05:00

MCLS put on a very nice inaugural event in the Southwest end of Indianapolis. I am so grateful I was able to attend! In this post I will focus on the keynote address by former State of Michigan Librarian George Needham. His presentation content and style were just excellent. His talk revolved around 5 assumptions, or myths about libraries.

1. Libraries are the "go-to" place for information

Anyone familiar with Project Information Literacy will be acutely aware of the fallacy of this assumption. Mr. Needham offered up a few suggestions that I think are valuable:

Eliminate barriers - make it easy to find the "good stuff"
Don't hide behind a firewall - our pages need to crawled
We need to "feed out" to bring our students in to our site and our building

2. Libraries are not all about books

This one threw me for a loop at first, but as he went on, I understood better:

When people think library they think books - we should capitalize on this not downplay it
Emphasize the "ing of the thing" - reading, learning, experiencing
Talk about results not commodities
Books are beautiful! Show off unique holdings.
Embrace new forms and formats - electronic publishing now permits the release of timely topics in book length
Emphasize abundance - not just the abundance of our own collections, but the incredible access we all have to so much information

3. People won't find the "good stuff" on their own

While we do need to continue our emphasis on teaching information literacy, Mr. Needham had some very good points:

Make our finding tools seamless and elegant - doing so is not "dumbing down" its making is smarter
Simplified way-finding - I think our tabbed search box on our homepage is a good example of this. It quickly gives students access to books, articles (from General OneFile), and textbooks (and other items) on reserve.
Redeployed reference - embed librarians in other departments to quickly show how great the library is and to provide valuable teaching and researching skills at the point of need.

4. Civilians Value library confidentiality

Librarians value confidentiality - most others do not understand our philosophies and practices in this regard
Patrons should be allowed to "opt in" to services

5. We need to educate these people

Once again, Mr Needham was not suggesting that we should give up on teaching, but he was suggesting that:

Our interactions with patrons should build relationships - they are not transactions
Only human beings convey meaning, only humans put context around information

To illustrate this last point we were asked to participate in an interactive exercise as follows:

Think of a favorite book, poem, song or piece of music, movie, website, etc.
Take two minutes to talk to your neighbor, then two minutes to listen to them about:

- What it is

- Why it is important to you

- How has it influenced your life

It quickly becomes apparent that the meaning, the context of these bits of information in our lives, this uniquely human characteristic invokes passion! It is this passion that we need to remember, to connect with when we are doing our jobs, when we work with our customers, when we think about our libraries, when we imagine our library's future.

Information Literacy Game

2010-07-19T22:07:00.008-05:00

Don't ask me how I happened to stumble upon this, but I had fun playing and thought I'd share:

The Information Literacy Game by Sharon Griffith, Librarian at Ivy Tech--a statewide Community College system in Indiana.
Note: the results page seems to be broken, so that was a bit anti-climactic, but still worth a look overall. Plus, maybe the problem is on my own browser/security settings.

I missed 2 - mostly because of the pesky timer ticking down on me!

She's also got a link to Library Jeopardy, which I'm going to go try out next! :)

[Update: Sharon says, "Thank you, but I’m afraid it was just up to test it—-and I never really got it working right. It is actually adapted from this site: http://library.uncg.edu/game/ so you may have more luck getting it from them. I left my library position a year ago and am just teaching now, so am not likely to work on it any more. But I wish you well!"]

Ahead of the Curve

2010-07-14T09:49:00.002-05:00

Colleagues,
Surfing through this month's C&RL News and found a lovely article entitled, Using LibGuides for an information literacy tutorial: Tutorial 2.0. The article itself tells us nothing we don't already know: LibGuides are easy to populate, easy for students to use, excellent customer service on LibGuide support...

What's interesting is that these authors, all at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, also added a library assessment. In a sense, they've turned out LINKS tutorial into a LibGuide.

Now, we already have content in LINKS. We already have a fondness for all things LibGuides. Do we want to combine the two? Or have a presence in two different formats?

Patron Driven Acquisition

2010-07-01T09:50:00.002-05:00

Look what I just ran across on the Collection Development listserv I follow...Free access to an issue of Collection Management, Patron Driven Acquisitions: Current Successes and Future Directions. I was just mentioning this topic this morning and up pops some excellent professional literature to help us explore the topic further!

Let's Get Sticky!

2010-06-15T11:17:00.008-05:00

a.k.a. Natalee's LOEX entry #1

Making Information Literacy "Stick": Finding SUCCESS in Library Instruction
presented by Dunstan McNutt (SUNY Delhi)

Based on the ideas & concepts in Chip & Dan Heath's Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (2007).

The best & most memorable ideas are:

Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Stories
(Stick!)

The Curse of Knowledge: Once we know something, we find it really difficult to remember what it was like not to know it.

Simple

Core & compact.
"Proverbs: a short sentence with a long education"

Unexpected

Break a pattern & create a mystery.
Gap theory of curiosity: highlight a knowledge gap.

Concrete

Use imagery
Avoid/remove abstraction; make it real.
Illustrate key information skills
Telling someone, "Don't accept drinks from a stranger," vs. 'Kidney Heist' story/urban legend.
Velcro theory of memory: the more hooks the better = sticks better in the brain "loops."

Credible

External credibility--cite authorities. (Anti-authorities can be more effective - ?)
Internal credibility: Details and stats on a human scale. Numbers don't stick.

ex. BBs in a bucket to illustrate nuclear warheads:

1 = Hiroshima
5 = nuclear sub
300,000 = worldwide.

Emotional

Make people care

3 million children affected by food shortage vs. 1 child's story

Make people act

WIIFY: What's In It For You
Appeal to people's sense of identity

How do we get students invested in the goals of information literacy? ...

Stories

As simulation - tell people how to act

Stories act as "flight simulators for the brain"

As inspiration - give people energy/motivation to act

Subway's "Jarrod" story of weight loss

Sticky ideas from Critical Information Literacy:

Curse of Knowledge - flattening the hierarchy
Emotional topics
Stories can highlight gaps & stimulate information needs

Dunstan's Wiki on this session/topic.

Also, here's Dunstan's Library Instruction follow-up eval form, just FYI. I don't know the inner-workings of Google spreadsheet-hosted forms/surveys, but I wonder if it's easier for students to access than Angel quizzes?

Finally, I found an article online the other day that, while not specific to library instruction, speaks to the idea of of "stickiness" in the library. Specifically, the author offers suggestions for how to go back to that point of "not knowing" to experience what a patron or student who is not well-versed in library lingo or "the way things are done around here," might experience the library: How to See the Library with Fresh Eyes

3 words - Lifesize cardboard cutouts

2010-06-10T09:14:00.004-05:00

I'm telling you, colleagues, this is the wave of the future. If you can't make it to homecoming, maybe Cardboard You could!

I met Lee at LOEX back in May at her session on library promotion and Lee's got a lifesize cardboard cutout of herself that has been sort of "adopted" by her business students. Fantastic!

Cardboard Lee is regularly kidnapped, shows up at school wide events, promotes NON library events and occasionally attends classes. Granted, Cardboard Lee was initially an in house promotion for drop in library sessions but wow, kidnapped Cardboard Lee is doing better library promotion then most flesh and blood librarians (myself included)!

As much as I would love a for all of us to be represented in cardboard form, I know this might be a bit out of our budgetary range. I had heard rumors when Natalee and I first started of possible Librarian trading cards... could we revisit this idea?

I'd love to hear about your creative promotion ideas.. even the ones that didn't work. Who knows, maybe it's time to revisit some of them!

-Rachel

Librarians do Gaga

2010-05-28T14:09:00.005-05:00

Instruction Session Icebreaker, anyone? ;)

"Students and faculty from the University of Washington's Information School get their groove on."
[The video won't embed properly, so here's the link.]

MLA/Academic Libraries May 2010 Session

2010-05-24T15:15:00.002-05:00

Some notes from a session I attended at MLA /Academic Libraries 2010

“Beyond the Homepage: Expand Your Library’s Presence through the Social Web” / Natalie Zebula/Lawrence Tech U

Ms. Zebula, a reference librarian, at Lawrence Tech was a very energetic presenter with a rapid fire delivery. She has devoted a lot of time/energy exploring dynamic social websites for students & faculty to use at the LTU library. She said that she tries to spend 2 hrs/day posting, updating posts and trying new enhancemts of different social network sites that LTU library subscribe to. What follows is a short compilation of some ideas that Natalie shared . See if there’s anything here that’s new to you.

Flickr- can be time-consuming to take pics, add tags, info, etc. but can have good stock photos of your library with fun current photos; can load historical photos too. Use WordPress.com and a scanner to build a nice library yearbook! Can use pics of library event signs & link those on Facebook. Can collect photos of LCC alum. Use photos with tags & info to promote library events.

Facebook- use it to share trivia, news, events, lite-weight discussion. Can put a Chat box on FB as we have on ours.

Meebo for Chat and IM- can use” Meebo Cleaner” in Google Chrome to clear ads! Other idea regarding Chat or IM software- consider using Google Docs to track Reference stats (in person, IM, phone, Chat )

Blogs- set up a library blog; have a link from library homepage to blog; use Polldaddy.com for polls and surveys

Twitter- updates from Google RSS Reader can be used via Twitter; can set up feeds for research at libraries with a 10 mi radius- experimental for now;
Lawrence Tech’s Twitter policy: “Be professional, kind, discreet, authentic. Represent us well. Remember that you can’t control it once you hit “update” since every post is live and public.”
Natalie's last suggestion- try to use different tags on FB and Twitter like wifi instead of books and databases.

LOEX - a sampling of ideas to try...

2010-05-17T20:19:00.004-05:00

Ask This Librarian
This presentation was about a pilot project where librarians developed a widget that could be embedded by faculty into a course management system. The widget included an Ask a Librarian chat widget, search boxes for articles and books, as well as links to an appropriate research guide.

Each faculty member created their widget by filling out a web based form and then cutting and pasting the code in a course management system. The librarians were even willing to share the code used to create these widgets to be adapted for use by other libraries. I will definitely look into this further in the fall as it could be used by our faculty in Angel. The advantage of this method of creating a widget (as opposed to using something like our Google Gadget) is that it is customizable by faculty, they can select which parts of the widget to include in their version. The librarians did mention that some faculty had difficulty adding the widget to Angel, but this could be helped by a brief Camtasia tutorial explaining the process.

The Learning Cycle: Why Library Instruction Fails to Stick
This session talked about how the teacher’s role in the learning cycle is to figure out scenarios which will lead to disequilibrium. Disequilibrium makes us uncomfortable and forces us to come to a new understanding. The speaker explained that rather than defining library lingo for students, you should instead give them scenarios which will lead them to explain a concept in their own words. He argued that you should only give students technical words only AFTER they have invented a concept.

The example concept he gave was peer review. So, instead of defining peer review for students, you give them a scenario and have them figure out for themselves why peer review is necessary. Tell your students that they will be responsible for publishing in a magazine where they need to find only top quality articles to publish and they want readers to recognize that it is the best journal in the field. How will students decide what to publish? Working through this scenario will allow students to come to a definition of peer-review themselves, then you give students the technical term for this concept and it will "stick" because they came to the answer themselves. I might give this a try in Writing 122...

From Pre-Defined Topics to Research Questions: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Knowledge
Some fellow instruction librarians from MSU shared their approach to teaching introductory composition classes. They use a brief video to start the session and have students come up with research questions after watching the video. The example they shared was a video about global warming. Then the class selects a question to focus on and uses this as a basis of generating keywords and a search strategy. This could work really well in any of our classes at LCC, but especially Writing 121 and 122. I look forward to trying it. In the past, I have given the students a question to research and come up with search terms for, but this way is much more interesting and interactive.

Also, they assign each group to find books, articles, websites, etc. with no instruction about how to find these resources through the library. Then when students are presenting, they add to each group's presentation if library resources are not mentioned. They build on what students already know and add new information.

During the discussion, a member of the audience mentioned that she uses Google documents for group brainstorming of keywords. I was so excited to hear this because I have been searching for some online way to brainstorm together. I checked it out and in Google Docs there is a link to Share in the upper right hand corner, so you could add the link to your "online whiteboard" to your teaching blog for students to easily get to.

Break the Ice, Build Momentum - LOEX2010

2010-05-11T13:59:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite sessions, Break the Ice, Build the Momentum: Successful Strategies for beginning a library Instruction Session, presented by Carrie Donovan and Rachel Slough of Indiana University, was high energy, interactive, caused us (the attendees) to think and to think playfully!

While the presenters did provide a long bibliography of professional reading on the topic, they spent the majority of their time getting us to think creatively about the value of a warm-up activity and how to go about creating our own. They asked, for instance, "can you create a warm-up activity out of a teachable moment?"

Carrie and Rachel had us interacting in groups on several occasions, but the time I enjoyed most was where we had to design a warm-up activity based on a student "persona" and a particular class assignment. After some brainstorming our group happened upon a brilliant idea for our class with Karlie, a first-year student who has had a basic introduction to the library during freshman orientation, but beyond that, has little knowledge of the libraries' resources or services. Her research experience includes term papers for her high school classes and searching online to satisfy her own personal (e.g. non-academic) information needs. Karlie's introductory writing/composition course is expected to turn in a final paper that is a comparative analysis of two films of her choosing. So, for the warm-up we decided that each student would try to come up with a famous quote from a film and then the could read, or act it out for the class (or the instructor could too!) and everyone has to try to guess what film it's from, or who the actor is, and does anyone know who directed that movie. You could then relate how all those layers of information relate to the world of academic research.

Maybe not a perfect warm-up, but the idea is to quickly grab the students attention, get them thinking about something that they connect with, then stealthily add in (add value) to what they already know about finding information. All the ideas generated at the conference session will eventually be posted to a LOEX librarywarmups wiki.

Let's get going!

2010-05-06T11:33:00.002-05:00

C'mon people... post some LOEX insights! I want, nay need, to comment!

Otherwise, it's just going to be Kim and Rachel commenting on Kim and Rachel... and really, who wants that?

:)
Rachel

p.s. Hop to it!

For this I needed an hour long session?

2010-05-04T08:42:00.002-05:00

Lest you think I'm bellyaching, let me cut to the chase: I did need an hour long session!

Working Together for Students' Success: Collaboration among Faculty, the Library, and the Office of Learning Support Services - long title but worthy topic, don't you think? Of course. And as I sat in that little tiny room listening to Irene Ke of the University of Houston, I thought to myself, "Well I for one am all for it!" And I felt a little smug about it too. "Yes, I share the viewpoint of the speaker!" I nodded knowingly as she described her interactions with faculty; I laughed with the rest when she said she was too embarrassed to tell an instructor that he talked to much.

But at about the half way mark, I realized that I have created this total fantasy library world in my head. Because really, what collaboration do I do? And what do I do to foster collaboration? Not much, friends and colleagues, not much.

All is not lost... for myself OR for you, Dear Colleagues. Some of you are great at collaboration with faculty, but for the rest of us who just want to get started:

Mingle at school functions-introduce yourself! Luncheons, forums, etc.
Be able to explain clearly what you and the library can do for that instructor's class
Market your colleagues- maybe they're a better fit!
Meet a likely collaborator? Go to coffee or even lunch together! (They have to eat at some point!)
Follow up - don't let weeks go by without contacting a potential collaborator!

For this, I needed an hour long session.

:)
Rachel

2010-05-03T10:12:00.002-05:00

Greetings LOEX 2010 Conference attendees and fellow library staff!

If you know that you will need to teach what you are learning, you will learn it better from the start – Dr. Brian Coppola, U of M Professor of Chemistry.

How true! I know this certainly applies to me – case in point – the process I went through to learn about the nursing department’s evidence-based literature approach to research last year. I knew it was necessary for me to learn and understand PICO’s, levels of research, systematic reviews, etc. in order to teach nursing faculty and students, and librarians.

Dr. Coppola suggested having students generate the content and use rubrics to review others work. Also, have students explain how they came up with the answers. Have I done this? I’d like to say yes, but in reality I may have done a variation in past library instruction sessions.

As I was listening to this speaker I began thinking about how I might try this in my instruction sessions. I thought about using this approach in WRIT 122 with the topic of “vetted articles”. I might have students read about this topic and prepare to teach their co-students. To take it a step further, students could record their ideas as a podcast and we could post a representative podcast in the WRIT Libguides or on our library website.

This concept is applicable to both student and staff training, and library instruction. What do you think?

Conference attendees please contribute a post for at least two sessions you attended and include ideas that you might experiment with in future instruction sessions. Also, please be sure to respond to at least two other posts. Thanks, Kim

Great Conference!

LibGuides - RSS feed ideas?

2010-04-01T14:37:00.007-05:00

Hello everyone,

Today I have been working on my Career LibGuide and thought I would share an idea for using an RSS feed. I added a box (Career Trends) to the Career Guide based on a search in General OneFile. I did a subject search for Occupations and narrowed by subdivision to Forecasts and Trends. I took this RSS feed and added it to my guide. It will automatically update daily with the three most recent titles that match this search.

Other Ideas for RSS feeds

Government agency rss feeds
Links to recent issues of a specific journal.
Explore feeds used by other LibGuide creators. When you are adding a feed, instead of typing the URL, you can search for any existing RSS feeds in the system (including the Community site), to include. You just start typing the feed title (i.e. history) and the system will return the matching entries and pre-populate the Feed URL field for you.

For complete instructions for adding an RSS feed to your guide, see LibGuides for Librarians or ask Suzanne B for help.

What kinds of RSS feeds have you added to your guides? I'll add your ideas to our LibGuides for Librarians page to keep a running list of ideas...

More Folk Have Been Googlized than Baptised

2010-03-31T19:17:00.002-05:00

This kind of piggy-backs on Natalie's post, "The Cost of Google" (Mar 15).

As I browsed our New Books display today, I picked up and started to read, Googled: the end of the world as we know it / Ken Auletta. I can't say that I'll read all 384 pages of it, but 2-3 chapters of it will keep my interest.

Auletta, media writer/critic, explains the story of "Google's rise, its inner workings, success, massive growth, . . ."

So, even in Google's "adolescence" (2007-2008) Auletta cites that Google is too big (hiring 150 new employees/wk), it's lost its focus, and is going in 8 directions- images, Scholar, maps, iGoogle, YouTube, etc. etc.

Here's my example of Google trying to Googlize whole communities and moving in yet another direction: "Cities Try Silly antics to Grab Google's 'Golden Ticket' ".

Chronicle article:

2010-03-29T10:48:00.006-05:00

I've never personally liked the idea--nor the experience--of e-books or other forms of extended on-screen reading. Perhaps others really like it, but I don't. I figured it was some sort of repressed-Luddite character flaw in me. The headline alone of this article above made me feel just a little bit vindicated!A study at Arizona State University has found that students had lower reading comprehension of scrolling online material than they did of print-like versions.

Students Retain Information in Print-Like Formats Better

The report, "To Scroll or Not to Scroll: Scrolling, Working Memory Capacity, and Comprehending Complex Texts," described how two groups, of 20 students each, wrote essays after reading materials in either in print-like or scrolling formats. Those given the scrolling versions to read had poorer comprehension of the material.

It is harder to keep track of where information is located within an online document versus the more-apparent page markers in a print-style text, said Christopher A. Sanchez, a co-author of the study. He is an assistant professor of applied psychology at Arizona State.

But the scrolling interface of online documents had little impact on the students in the study with high working-memory capacity, or a good ability to process and retrieve information. Mr. Sanchez said such people could have more cognitive resources able to remember static locations within an online text.

More study is needed on the impact that scrolling has on learning, he said, especially given the prevalence of online tools in the classroom and in distance learning.

"What it could do is give us recognition of how to better design materials so all people learn well, so we don't have this group of low-working-memory-capacity individuals who are behind the curve and are for some reason failing to learn when this material is in this scrolling form," he said.

The Cost of Google

2010-03-15T13:20:00.004-05:00

Olivia Nellums is a Reference and Instruction Librarian at a community college in southern New Jersey. She blogs at The Librarian's Commute, and recently posited some interesting observations on Google that I thought I'd share here:

The Cost of Google

For the record, I think life with Google surpasses life with no Google.

But when reading The Case for Books by Robert Darnton last week, I had this tangential thought:

Google is not free. We act as though it is, because it certainly seems free (and fast, and easy), but there is a price nonetheless.

...

First, when we search using Google, a commercial interest is deciding how information is shown to us. ... inevitably Google's ranking is strongly related to majority opinion, and situations are often more complex than the crisp results page implies. Digressing slightly, I think this is where librarians and other information professionals are still relevant.

...

Second, I'm sure lots of people, like me, are logged into iGoogle all day, and so our web searches and online activities are neatly tied to our names and other Google services. This is a goldmine! Think of all the data that is precisely harvested with this set-up! In exchange for using Google's services, I blithely give all this information away.

...

For a while, I have been wondering whether Google will ever get too big. I worry that what it started out as (web indexer, page ranker, data miner) is fast becoming confused with something else (Truth Teller, oracle, gatekeeper). ... Even if we wanted to, I don't think there is a way to stop or slow much of this, but I hope the more we understand, the more we can choose to be willing participants (or not). I hope that is what Google ultimately wants, too.

"Best Single Tech Idea of 2009"

2010-02-17T13:50:00.002-05:00

You may not agree with the title of this post once you read on, but I applied this little Web ap and really liked it.

"The single best tech idea of 2009, though, the real life-changer, has got to be Readability. It’s a free button for your Web browser’s toolbar (get it at lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability). When you click it, Readability eliminates everything from the Web page you’re reading except the text and photos. No ads, blinking, links, banners, promos or anything else. Times Square just goes away."

"Readability is a simple tool that makes reading on the Web more enjoyable by removing the clutter around what you're reading."

You can pick/choose the style (novel, ebook, newspaper) to transform your Web reading and remove ads, banners, promos, etc. as the quote above explains.

Learn about Readability and other Best Tech ideas of 2009 from David Pogue's NY Times (Personal Tech) column.

Academic Libraries- Collaborative Learning Spaces

2010-02-08T16:38:00.002-05:00

Several photos are here of collaborative learning spaces in several different academic libraries.

Do you see any that might work for our students/our space?

Socialnomics Video

2010-02-05T14:00:00.003-05:00

Until recently I was unfamiliar with the term/concept of "socialnomics".

I was reading a post on the "America's Best Business Practices" blog today, however, and came across a recommended video about how crucial the current social media is to marketing. As I watched this video I was thinking of the article that Karl had asked RST members to read- "The Millennial Muddle" in the Oct 11, 2009 issue of Chronicle of Higher Education and his Next Chapter post, "Text a Librarian . .. ".

While this video's message is geared more for small businesses I'd say it has a message or 2 for us as well. You be the judge. There's a longer & shorter version of the video.

Sentences in the longer video include:

Generation Y & Z consider e-mail passe. In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing email addresses to incoming freshmen.
Gen Y & Z value "word of mouth" communication b/c they thrive in a "world of mouth" environment
Soon we will no longer search for products & services, they will find us via social media.

Short or long version of these videos ask- do we like what our customers are saying about us?

"Social Media Revolution" - shorter version

"Social Media Revolution" - longer version

Showing Patrons the Door?

2010-02-03T17:49:00.005-05:00

Ok, two posts in one day? Lookout!

But seriously, I came across another good one I wanted to share:

Showing Patrons the Door by David Lee King

Showing patrons the door? Yikes – we’d never do that (under normal circumstances, anyway)! ... [L]ibrarians would never consciously walk up to a patron and tell them to leave if that patron was having trouble using something in the library … right?

I think we DO sometimes tell our patrons to leave when we make things difficult for them. We might as well be saying "here’s the door, don’t let it hit you on the way out."

[...]

Is your website confusing? Do customers have to puzzle out what they need to do next while on your site? If so … your website is showing patrons the door. Same with our catalogs – a confusing catalog might just steer customers away from checking stuff out – and that’s one of our major, must-have services!

[...]

Other ways to show patrons the door might include hard to find stuff on your website, hidden content, or even library services that aren’t mentioned anywhere on your website.

So – what do you think? What else shows patrons the door, and how can we fix that?

"Back-channel ILL"

2010-02-03T14:10:00.003-05:00

One of the Librarians I follow on Twitter (sorry, I don't remember who), tweeted the following blog post from Jessamyn West's blog Librarian.net:

When Good Librarians Go Bad: Genuine Options in Librarianship

Here's an excerpt from the final paragraph that sums it up pretty well:

...I often came across content that I didn’t have access to. I was also confronted with, in many cases, unreasonable fees requested [$9.95 for 100 words, really?]. Me being me, I could always find a librarian with access to, say the Times Online archive, or old articles in JSTOR. But I also felt it was cheating. But I was also annoyed that being resourceful is also somehow cheating. And I knew that many of my patrons with fewer resources would just pony up. Where do we draw the line between enforcing other people’s rules and solving problems with our patrons? Now that we’re getting more and more networked, this whole idea of local content works for some things [historical photos, town history] and not for others [journal articles that are held in thousands of libraries worldwide]. Do we have a plan for moving forward?

Well, do we? Just a little food for thought...

Text a Librarian - A convergence of sorts

2010-01-21T08:25:00.006-05:00

I recently began reading with interest the newest Horizon Report that was forwarded to us from Elenka and was caught right away in the table of contents by this, "Time to Adoption: One Year or Less - Mobile Computing," and by the following in the Executive Summary, "people expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to." This immediately brought to mind the need to incorporate a texting function in our reference services.

I knew that QuestionPoint was beginning to make some moves towards adding this to their service and so I checked their blog and what do you know, they just posted an update about it the other day. We will keep a close eye on this for sure, no? Will they make the one year or less to adoption deadline? Who knows? But, I do know that without their services it would take some real ingenuity to come up with an alternate solution (and we could do it).

10 Librarian Blogs to Read in 2010

2010-01-14T14:05:00.001-05:00

If reading The Next Chapter isn't enough for you then LISNews has some wonderful examples of librarian blogs to read in the new year. Yay!

Happy New Year....

2010-01-07T15:49:00.001-05:00

... let's fire up some new discussions!

2 Questions (gleaned from the ATLANTIS listserv)

-Rachel

Innovative, Fun & Exciting Reference Service Practices

2009-11-18T11:17:00.002-05:00

Recently I read an article in Reference & User Services Quarterly/ Winter 2008. Vol. 48, Iss. 2; p. 108 entitled, "A Personal Choice: Reference Service Excellence". Obviously, I'm behind in my reading (Winter '08 issue), however, this article contained several references to innovative, fun and (mostly) practical reference service practices that remain relevant.

The article is about the revitalization of academic reference service excellence and the rise (not decline) of library marketing, VR and F2F reference services. Of the ideas that the author (prof at Rutgers' School of Communication, Information and Library Studies) shared, these 3 caught my attention:

The "Ask Cart" with the Library Dude! at a branch library at Penn State- seeing is believing

Librarians at Franklin and Marshall College who make "house calls" to faculty and other campus bldgs. See their form for library users to make an apptmt with a librarian.

My favorite- The University College Dublin Library (as in Dublin, Ireland) "is involving students and faculty in their library blog. They have designed a cloth library bookbag that
sells for a pittance (£2) and have invited students to take photos of the bookbag in exotic places and post them on the blog! Students have responded enthusiastically and artistically in posting shots that display the bookbag all over the world." Check this out!

Use ProQuest Central, Wilson Select or Gale databases to access the full text of this article.

Notes from an MLA Workshop Presentation

2009-11-09T14:35:00.002-05:00

Of the MLA sessions I attended on Thursday (Nov 12th), I really appreciated some of the comments that George Needham shared in his presentation, “It Ain’t Necessarily So: Challenging the Assumptions of Legacy Librarianship”

I liked Mr. Needham’s presentation style (informal & humorous) and thought that the following “messages” of his were worth sharing. What do you think? :

Is what we do or how we “present ourselves” still needed or wanted?
Librarianship should present meaning because neither Google nor Amazon can.
We need to “re-deploy Reference”- collaborate with other departments (academic libraries) and collaborate with City Council or city/township services (public libraries)
Promote reading as a healthy activity; “Reading as an activity keeps humans out of nursing homes/help humans stay healthy. Promote, ‘Success through reading’ ”
Kindle, ebooks, e-audiobooks, books in print- it doesn’t matter. We need to promote our assets. Our collections are better than most bookstores.
As something becomes popular, we tend to ration it. Don’t ration new technologies/software in our libraries. When Internet access was first available in libraries we told our users that they had 20 minutes to use it.
Get ourselves (our presence) on other library’s blogs and/or websites.
Too often we expect our users to do things and find things using OUR way. Every time we ask our users to find our materials using OUR way, we’re asking them to make those left turns.
Simplify the work area- keep it clear of too many handouts, fliers, bookmarks, etc.
Keep our systems and signs free of jargon- the only people who know our systems and/or jargon are the people who don’t need to know!
Keep the “gate-keeping” to a minimum. Use fewer rules and simplify the rules.
Service desks should be placed in the stacks where they’re needed.

Sacred Cows & Library Technology

2009-11-04T15:49:00.007-05:00

Someone (sorry, forgot who) twittered this post today from the ALA TechSource blog, and I thought I'd share it here:

The Sacred Cows of Library Technologists

Hearing Rick Anderson's recent KLA talk, titled "The Five Sacred Cows of Librarianship: Why They No Longer Matter, and Why Two of Them Never Did," made me wonder what "sacred cows" exist in the field of library technology. I posed the question, "What are the sacred cows of library technology?" in Google Wave. What followed was a discussion about digital technology among library technologists that generated many ideas and was a great way to try out this new communication tool. Some of the ideas offered up were "sacred cows" to those in the field, but others challenged ideas held more widely in librarianship.

"Our users haven't asked for that."

Some libraries do not experiment with offering services and resources digitally because the patrons in the building say that they do not want them. Matt Hamilton writes, "When I asked our Reference staff if they'd consider IM reference I was told 'Well, our patrons haven't asked for that.' However the university up the hill actually tried it--and it was so popular they had to readjust staffing for it."

A good way to estimate whether a digital service will be successful is to ask users of your website, though even users of your digital spaces may not know right away whether they would use a service if offered digitally. For example, users might tell you now that they are not interested in asking information questions via Twitter or SMS, but when those same people get into Twitter because their friends do, your library will be there to met their needs. "A question is a question is a question," writes David Lee King, "in-person services should not be weighted as more important than using a similar service digitally."

"Library technology=Windows or Mac."

While the majority of the use of digital library services and resources takes place via desktop or laptop computers, mobile use is rapidly increasing. Computers are everywhere—our DVRs and cable boxes are computers, as are our in-car GPS units. Perhaps most widespread, our cell phones and other small-screen devices that can access the web, like Apple's iPod Touch and eBook readers like Amazon's Kindle, are computers.

What does your library website look like on these devices? Can your users send call numbers or phone numbers to themselves via a text message? Can your users chat with a librarian via SMS? Do you provide directions via Google Maps? Event information via Google Calendar, iCalendar or RSS? Is your library's Facebook page mobile-friendly? Is there an iPhone app that searches your library's catalog?

There is an important lesson here for library administrators, and it's not that every library MUST have all of these things, but rather that technology budgets must be nimble enough to arm your technology staff with the tools and training required to create mobile-friendly services. Robert McDonald asserts that libraries must "look at new communication tools and how we can partner with vendors to be viable in this area."

"Right now," he writes, "I am talking about SMS text and mobile devices—soon I guess I will mean wave or some other technology. Email and Chat are for old people like me, not for our current users."

"Cutting-edge is better; bleeding-edge is best."

Just because a shiny gadget or tool is available, it doesn't mean that there is a need for it in each library. "Anytime we fetishize the container over the information we're creating a golden idol," writes Joshua Neff, extending the "sacred cow" metaphor. Amy Buckland agreed, writing, "I'm always amazed that libtechs are so enamored of tools long before they come up with uses for them. Then we try to shoehorn library services into a tool just so we have it." Experimenting with low-cost or no-cost tools like Twitter will only cost staff time, but implementing expensive (think federated search) or complex-but-free technologies (think Drupal) because it's the cool thing to do can be a very costly lesson for a library to learn, in terms of budget, staff time, morale and user satisfaction.

" is the only way to go."

This is a many-horned "cow" that deserves quick and painless slaughter. Roy Tennant was quick to offer open source software as one of our sacred cows, "Not that it isn't important and useful," he says, "I've been involved with open source projects myself, but it also is not our total salvation. We need to get beyond a religious-like fervor and view all possible solutions more rationally." David King offered the idea from a different angle: "Having a 'complete Microsoft shop,' meaning those IT departments that are proud of the fact that their server room only has Microsoft products, Microsoft operating systems, etc." Jason Griffey chimed in with the "belief that dealing with 'library vendors' for services is the way to go. I'm trying to find ways to get away from that, and go wherever the best stuff is (often NOT library vendors)." Whatever goes in that blank, it's important to realize that it's ok to diversify. Not all library systems HAVE to be open source. Not every server HAS to be Microsoft. Libraries can partner with vendors outside libraryland for tools and services. There is an awful lot of content delivered directly to users via Netflix, iTunes, Amazon—how can libraries become integrated into what Jason Griffey calls these "patron-level content distribution systems"? Should we be trying? Will libraries as we know them survive if we don't?

"Technology is the domain of the few."

Library staff who are comfortable with using and experimenting with technology are no longer solely in the Systems Department. The "technology-minded" can have a role in every department. A library organization whose librarians and staff are empowered to experiment with technological solutions or who are given tools to create their own digital content will be more nimble and able to respond to the changing technology needs of users. Ideas for meeting information or collection needs with a technological tool will be more widely accepted—and therefore more successful among staff—if those ideas originate in the departments that will use those tools. It's a wiser use of staffing dollars to allow technology staff to focus on programming, hardware, web design and systems administration expertise instead of figuring out how to day-to-day uses of Database X or Software Program Y. Of course, it's important for library staff and administrators to realize that technology staff time is finite; that systems and services that requiring technology staff time add up fast; and that thoughtful and strategic technology planning is more important than ever.

Information Overload

2009-10-29T15:24:00.004-05:00

I just had to post this wonderful slideshow

Information Overload is the Devil

View more presentations from Sarah Houghton-Jan.

created by Sarah Houghton-Jan.

Check out her blog where she has recently covered the Internet Librarian 2009 conference most excellently.

Journal Lite Club Submission

2009-10-22T14:13:00.002-05:00

For your reading enjoyment and hopefully to spark a little bit of discussion I submit for you the following article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, "The Millennial Muddle". We've all heard about Millennials, but what do we really know about them, or the people who have made a living off of describing their behavior, attitudes, predilections, and possibilities? What is it that we think we know about Millennials, or any other generation for that matter?

E-Readers

2009-10-22T10:49:00.002-05:00

In a recent story in Wired Priya Ganapati gives us "5 Things That Make Us Want Barnes & Nobel's Nook E-Reader". The article points out that while the market for e-readers is still relatively small, it is burgeoning, highly competitive, and with each new entry pushing the available features of a device in hopes that it will stand out. One can almost hear in Ganapati's tone just how limited these current devices are and how rapidly they are likely to change and become significant consumer/educational devices.

Maintaining Your Instruction Mojo

2009-10-07T14:46:00.005-05:00

Thanks to my Twitter feed (via the prolific @cclibrarian), I stumbled across the following blog post from ACRLog, and thought it pertinent to share here.

Happily, I feel like we are successfully doing a lot of the things as library instructors suggested & recommended by the author of this post. Kudos to us! :)

http://acrlog.org/2009/10/01/maintaining-your-instruction-mojo/

Maintaining Your Instruction Mojo

This post is somewhat of a follow-up to my last one on the involved library administrator. In that post I identified some reasons why an academic library administrator should consider staying actively involved in public services. That includes teaching instruction sessions.

There are many dimensions to being a great library instructor. Teaching regularly can certainly help to keep those skills sharp, and it affords the needed opportunity to experiment with learners, to try new things, and to stretch one’s capabilities in the classroom. While I advocated that academic library administrators should endeavor to continue their teaching role (BTW, there are college presidents that continue to teach regularly), having fewer opportunities to do so isn’t without consequences. For one thing, you become a bit rusty. In addition, since moving into administration is something you typically do in the latter part of your career, you’re a bit older, maybe less energetic and perhaps a bit less eager to try new things. Oh, and the students look much younger.

I volunteered for a few freshman instruction sessions this semester and I got to thinking about whether I’m going to appear too old or out of touch to the students. Using a cultural reference to the sixties that no contemporary student would understand is not beyond the realm of possibility for me. I’m certainly older than most of the lecturers teaching the courses. I’d like to avoid coming off as out-of-touch. On the other hand I absolutely don’t want to seem like I am trying too hard to be cool. I got to thinking about this a bit more when I came across an article in the August/September 2009 issue of The Teaching Professor titled “Why Don’t My Students Think I’m Groovy“. ~~(sorry not freely available online)~~. The author raises concerns about how to keep her teaching methods fresh so millennial students can connect with her.

The author suggests the five R’s for engaging millennial students:

1. Relevance – The big challenge is to connect course content to the current culture – learning has to be relevant to them.

2. Rationale – Today’s students were raised in a non-authoritarian manner. They won’t comply because the instructor is in charge, but will be more likely to do so when given a good rationale.

3. Relaxed – They thrive in a less formal environment in which they can interact informally with the instructor and each other.

4. Rapport – More than previous generations they are used to having adults in their lives and show interest in them. They appreciate it when instructors show interest as well or when we connect on a personal level.

5. Research-based methods – Millennials have grown up constantly engaged so they can tend to bore easily, so be prepared with active learning methods

These are good tips to keep in mind. Something else that can help is the ability to demonstrate comfort and flexibility with technology. Being a geek could potentially score additional points with today’s students. Again, trying too hard could be problematic, but showing some skills with the smart classroom technology or navigating the web could work in your favor. If you end up having to ask the students for help you may be in trouble.

So how have things been going for me? I now remind myself to dress more casually on days I teach an instruction session. For these groups, I don’t think a suit and tie makes the instructor appear as likable or approachable. I make sure I’m comfortable with the technology. In fact I downloaded our clicker software and spent time learning how to create slides that will work with the clicker technology we’re using in our instruction this semester. I can’t say for sure if I’ve got my instruction mojo working at full capacity, but things seem to be going well. No one fell asleep in the 8:00 am class I did last week.

Posted by StevenB on October 1st, 2009 under Teaching.
Comments: 6

ACRL Podcasts- Have You Used Them Before?

2009-10-05T09:58:00.002-05:00

Just an FYI here-

If you haven't used/listened to any of the podcasts from ACRL, you might want to peruse the list of them and check on a couple of them. Most of them are between 12 - 20 minutes long.

"Promoting Library Reference Services . . . What Works?

2009-09-24T11:39:00.002-05:00

What are your thoughts regarding Karen Sobel's article? What applies to our students? Should we consider surveying our students for their feedback?

Your thoughts, please.

Go Green!

2009-08-31T10:36:00.002-05:00

Ebsco's GreenFILE is one of Ebsco's Earth/Environment databases that has a lot to offer. In the near future we'll have a direct link to it from our list of research databases, but in the meantime, you can use the EbscoHost title link to access it. Hint: once you've accessed EbscoHost, click on "All databases".

Many (most) of the records in GreenFILE are to abstracts, however, there are over 4,700 full text records via Open Access.
GreenFILE can have broad applications to many of LCC's courses and programs- environmental studies, building trades courses, landscape architecture program, many sciences courses, etc.

Thing Green and consider checking out (and using) Ebsco's GreenFILE soon.

Mobile Trends in Libraries

2009-08-13T15:32:00.002-05:00

Late in July I attended a LearningTimes.org webinar, “The Handheld Librarian”. It was thought-provoking to learn of all the current mobile devices/software that many libraries (public, academic and special libraries alike) are already using. “The medium is the message; the audience is the content.” Remember? Marshall McLuhen

The webinar presenter, Gerry McKiernan, said that mobile technology/mobile Internet is “clearly pervasive now and a global phenomenon.” “As of April of 2009, 59% of U.S. residents have used mobile Internet.”

Examples of digital libraries and mobile apps now available include: Ingenta Connect Mobile and PubMed on Tap. DukeMobile is an example of a university whose digital materials are available via PDAs, iPhones, iPodTouch, etc.

How ‘bout the Kindle app for the iPhone- to access Kindle content w/o owning a Kindle?

Course managemt software is available on mobile devices. The list goes on and on.

During the webinar I posed a question about those who can’t afford these devices or the service contracts to them. The presenter admitted that “there’s a real concern about folks getting left behind.” However, “there are serious broadband initiatives out there to help narrow the ‘digital divide’ ”.

Finally, Gerry shared some ideas about how libraries can market/promote mobile services or work with mobile technology. But then cautioned attendees about libraries promoting the use of mobile devices for all- an ethical issue.

Our impending future?

2009-08-12T11:29:00.006-05:00

I've been reading a fascinating book by Jeff Howe called Crowdsourcing. It documents the history and current iterations of a phenomena that is influencing, transforming, and one might say revolutionizing everything from how ornithologists collect data to how t-shirts are sold. It would be foolish to think that libraries are not effected by this emerging reality of utilizing the "crowd" to accomplish infinitely more than can be done with our own limited resources.

In a great (albeit long) post on the blog In the Library with a Lead Pipe Ross Singer points to this:

Joe Lucia, the University Librarian at Villanova made an intriguing and provocative statement on the NGC4LIB mailing list two years ago with this:

“What if, in the U.S., 50 ARL libraries, 20 large public libraries, 20 medium-sized academic libraries, and 20 Oberlin group libraries anted up one full-time technology position for collaborative open source development. That’s 110 developers working on library applications with robust, quickly-implemented current Web technology…. Instead of being technology followers, I venture to say that libraries might once again become leaders…."

Singer goes on to expound on the idea within the context of public libraries, but I think what he adds to Lucia's statement is completely relevant to academic libraries as well. It seems to me that this kind of collective effort coupled with input from the "crowd" of interested, willing, and talented patrons will become imperative to creating tools that we could never dream of on our own.

For the Record

2009-07-22T14:21:00.002-05:00

John Potter, current Chair of the Michigan Academic Library Council (MALC) says it all in recent his letter, "Why Funding for the Library of Michigan Matter". See what you think.

Research can be so frustrating, so say students

2009-07-13T10:20:00.004-05:00

In a previous post I mentioned Project Information Literacy. They have produced a new video that I think is very interesting. Their project is one I think we all should be keeping close tabs on.

In These Times...

2009-06-29T16:32:00.003-05:00

In a post entitled The Pros and Cons of Reinventing the Wheel on the esteemed ACRLog Maura Smale gives us some very interesting food for thought about where to find high quality instructional tutorials in multiple formats. She asks us to consider the importance of locally created content and she also wonders, "must our online instructional materials have our own logo and library name...(and) do we spend too much time reinventing the wheel when we create local versions of tutorials on common topics?"

Internet Time

2009-06-01T15:30:00.011-05:00

Back in 1998-1999, I was working in at CyberSource, an e-commerce startup in Silicon Valley (before the "tech stock bust"). The CEO, Bill McKiernan used to have a favorite saying that he never failed to repeat at our frequent company and team meetings:

In Internet time, a day is a week, a week is a month, and a month is a year.

That maxim, for better or worse, is as true as it was 10 (calendar) years ago.

Are you ready for Web 3.0? No idea what I'm talking about? I'd never heard of it myself until just a few moments ago. As I'm writing this, there's not even a Wikipedia entry on it yet. *gasp!* :o>

Luckily, iLibrarian has made a quick & concise list of Web 3.0 Concepts Explained in Plain English:

[Click on the image above to enlarge for easier reading]

Digital Inspiration sums up the differences between Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 and provides six related presentations which discuss Web 3.0 in detail.

From Digital Inspiration:

Web 1.0 - That Geocities & Hotmail era was all about read-only content and static HTML websites. People preferred navigating the web through link directories of Yahoo! and dmoz.

Web 2.0 - This is about user-generated content and the read-write web. People are consuming as well as contributing information through blogs or sites like Flickr, YouTube, Digg, etc. The line dividing a consumer and content publisher is increasingly getting blurred in the Web 2.0 era.

Web 3.0 - This will be about semantic web (or the meaning of data), personalization (e.g. iGoogle), intelligent search and behavioral advertising among other things.

If that sounds confusing, check out some of these excellent presentations that help you understand Web 3.0 in simple English. Each takes a different approach to explain Web 3.0 and the last presentation uses an example of a "postage stamp" to explain the "semantic web".

Ready or not, here we keep on evolving!

Is technology worthless without kindness?

2009-05-27T12:05:00.004-05:00

A former colleague of mine, Amy Limpitlaw, posted this link to the ATLANTIS list serv. (ATLANTIS serves the American Theological Library Association.) It's originally from the ALA techsource blog.
http://alatechsource.org/blog/2009/05/plugging-in-with-kindness.html

What do you think?

"The New Normal"

2009-04-23T13:20:00.002-05:00

Every now and then I check ACRL's blog, ACRLog, to see what's being posted. Recently I read a post entitled, "A Guide to the 'New Normal' for Academic Libraries". What, you ask, is the "new normal"?

"The 'new normal' is a concept that signals that everything we've taken for granted over the last 20 years is being melted down, re-thought and cast into a new reality. The old rules are broken and new ones must replace them."

Can you guess who "the drivers" of the 'new normal' for academic libraries are? Yep, the economy, our students, and technology. No big surprise there.

For those so inclined to look over the complete report, "ACRL's 2009 Strategic Thinking Guide for Academic Librarians in the New Economy" you can read it here. Ok, so you don't want to read a long involved report. Suggestion: skip to the section on "Driver #3- Technology" and "Strategic Questions for Libraries" (toward the end of the report).

The Researching Librarian

2009-04-22T18:09:00.003-05:00

I may be late on this... I just read about The Researching Librarian http://www.researchinglibrarian.com/ in C&RL News (April 2009). It's part of a large article by Laurie Putnam, "Professional writing and publishing". What an interesting site! It's geared for librarians who need to research and publish for tenure or job advancement. The site feels sort of amateurish but it's great to know that resources are out there... other than ACRL's own mentor program.

UPDATE:
I looked over this site again. It's nothing new, unfortunately.

Customizing MultiSearch

2009-04-17T09:42:00.002-05:00

I ran across a recent article about how University of Wyoming Libraries implemented Serials Solutions federated search engine, the same tool we have renamed Multisearch.

It is not a long article, but I picked up some ideas that I think can help us in further customizing MultiSearch:

Comprehensive Search vs. A Few Good Articles

UW Libraries put a "Find It Fast" box on their homepage with the idea that federated search engines do a better job of providing a few articles to start with, rather than being a comprehensive way to search all of the databases. If you really want the best articles, you really need to use subject headings and the specialized search features available by searching databases individually.

Select a Few Databases and Test

With this in mind, the article points out that it is better to set up MultiSearch by being selective, rather than comprehensive. In deciding which databases to include in each subject category, subject specialists suggested a few databases and then tested to see what kind of results came up in sample searches. Some databases provided only problematic results, so they were eliminated from the list, even though they could technically be searched with MultiSearch. UW has over 200 databases, which was whittled down to 46 databases, and finally after testing, they ended up with a dozen databases that consistently provided good results in sample searches.

Default to Title Searching

Serials Solutions sets the default to TITLE search. This seems odd at first (I remember as a Reference team we changed the default to KEYWORD). But TITLE searching works better than KEYWORD searching with federated search engines for two reasons: 1- Time - it takes forever to search the full-text of so many articles and databases. If we are offering MultiSearch as a fast option for a few articles, KEYWORD searching defeats this goal. 2 - if the idea is to get a few good articles, not be be comprehensive, then title searches will offer up a few good results with fewer outliers. Of course, some articles will be missed, if the topic doesn't appear in the title, but the point is not to be thorough, but to provide a few articles that are on topic.

MLA Guidelines Update: URL's no longer required

2009-04-13T12:14:00.004-05:00

Just a heads up about this issue I heard in Twitter-land today. Wonder when this will impact us?... via

Times change: print no longer default MLA citation style

The Modern Language Association's (MLA) new handbook for academic citations does away with the primacy of print, along with the need to include URLs for Web citations. All hail the rise of the Internet.

By Nate Anderson | Last updated April 12, 2009 8:15 PM CT

In my former life, one in which the sermons of Bishop Lancelet Andrewes seemed inestimably important, the Modern Language Association's Handbook for Writers of Research Papers was my secular citation bible. MLA style reigns supreme in literature and various other humanities, so MLA's recent move to ditch its "print-centric" default style last month has been controversial. And URLs for Web content? They're gone too.

The changes are part of MLA's seventh edition of the Handbook, published last month, whose predictably soporific cover design belies the radical citation changes within. As Inside Higher Ed describes the changes, "print is the default no more" and the new edition suggests "that the medium of publication should be included in each works cited entry."

Even more interesting is the MLA's decision to ditch URLs in citations. URLs "often change, can be specific to a subscriber or a session of use, and can be so long and complex that typing them into a browser is cumbersome and prone to transcription errors," says the book. "Readers are now more likely to find resources on the Web by searching for titles and authors' names than by typing URLs."

The move set off a bloodless internecine war here at Ars, where (in the Harvard crimson corner) editor-in-chief Ken Fisher defended the honor and necessity of the full URL while (in the Carolina blue corner) I applauded the MLA's move on the grounds of aesthetics, ease, and utility. No one else on staff appeared to care.

For those in academics, though, the move is just further evidence of the Web's mainstreaming. Print, for long the superpower, now sees itself reduced to just one more format among others. As archives like Project MUSE and JSTOR continue to digitize old journals and projects like Google Book Search digitize old books, even information that originally appeared in "print" is increasingly accessed through electronic systems, read off of screens, or (rather ironically) printed again by the ream in campus computer labs.

LCC Library on Twitter

2009-03-26T15:50:00.003-05:00

I attended a workshop at the CTE yesterday that is making me think again about the potential uses of Twitter for the library. I just sent out an email to library staff about the possibility of starting a library Twitter account to promote services and events. What do you all think?

2009-03-26T10:11:00.002-05:00

Had an interesting reminder this morning about how folks understand databases and how they're compiled and used.
A returning student came in to do research for a writ 121 assignment... writing about the negative aspects of joint custody and in particular, fathers' rights. Clearly, this was an emotionally charged topic for our student... I got the whole story about the ex-wife, the son, the doctors and teachers "only listen to her."
We searched through Opposing Viewpoints and General OneFile to try to find articles.... only he didn't want articles. He wanted legal materials. I explained to the student that these databases will have articles ABOUT those issues but aren't the legal papers themselves.
That's when he got really mad.
He went on, rather loudly (not dangerously loud or anything, just angry) about how the courts are hearing reports from fathers all the time but "they don't care and that's why there's nothing in these databases!" Again, I explained that database usage takes time and patience and not everything is in every database.. that's why we looked in two different ones.
He left. His buddy was trying to direct him to the legal aide office as they walked out...
-Rachel

Library Instruction "to go"

2009-03-14T13:34:00.001-05:00

So far this session is really great. First off, the presenters are from Wayne State and that is where I got my MLIS! Secondly, they are incorporating really great interactive practices that we all should be using in our instruction courses. They kicked off the session by soliciting from the audience the challenges that they feel they might face in creating the learning objects to be used "to go". The presenters clearly defined what a learning object is and continued on to another exercise that got us, the audience, talking amongst each other about clearly defining a learning objective. Next they moved in to a discussion of "storyboarding" in order to create a learning object. The storyboard provides a plan where a clearly defined objective, a list of visuals/examples to include, and the attendant details associated with each example, ie. any scripts, highlights, or clicks needed.

The presenters next moved on to a discussion of their decision to attempt to utilize web 2.0 technology with their learning objects and the challenges and opportunities that this decision presented. In their first example they showed off trailfire and some of its linking capabilities. Their second example came from brainhoney and they utilized hot potatoes for their quiz assessments.

For community colleges who are beginning to explore the use of online learning objects like we are at my institution I think this session provided a lot of good food for thought in terms of the creation of these portable objects and how to make them socially interactive for the students.

Is there a tool that will change how students find information?

2009-03-13T15:07:00.002-05:00

When you look at the findings of Project Information Literacy and related research/literature, it quickly becomes clear that libraries are practically non-existent in the psyche of students wanting to start the research process. There appears to be some confusion about the fact that libraries have reliable, trustworthy sources and the level of difficulty in utilizing those sources. By in large libraries, their websites, are completely absent as starting points for research.

I went to a breakfast this morning sponsored by Serials Solutions where they had Alison J. Head discuss some her findings, so far, with the PIL. This afternoon I've been participating in a webcast called in part "The Web is My Library", both presentations point to the fact that students do not start their research at the library. These and other similar findings could be seen as disconcerting. However, Serials Solutions is looking at the opportunity created by the choice of students to start at Google and Wikipedia, by creating what they are calling Summon (caution: this link launches with audio), a unified discovery service. It is intended to answer the desire of students to have a "clear and compelling starting point" for their research, said Jane Burke, Vice President of Serials Solutions.

Library Website Redesign

2009-03-04T19:55:00.007-05:00

Please post any feedback you have about the library website proposal presented at the department meeting to the Web Redesign Ideas section of the library wiki.

Feel free to review the mockups of the homepage version 1, homepage version 2, section page, and sample internal page in the LCC files.

We are looking for feedback on:

1. Overall design

2. Additional features

e.g. more prominent search box on homepage

3. Names of Main Categories and Headings

Find Information (research? research tools?)

Help (research help?)

About (about the library, general information)

For You

Spotlight / Featured Resource

4. Additional content to add to website

e.g. page for faculty

If you would prefer, you can post your comments here instead and they will be transferred to the wiki.

Wiki Mania

2009-03-01T15:39:00.002-05:00

Until recently I was unaware of the (many) "sister projects" of Wikipedia. It's a real Wikimania out there with Wikinews, Wikispecies, Wikiversity to name a few.

See what you think at Wikimedia.org

Interesting Articles

2009-02-19T10:26:00.002-05:00

Here's some interesting articles from The Journal of Web Librarianship discussing Twitter, social networking, and the future of Library 2.0. If you have the time they are quick reads and very interesting.

Speaking of Twitter

2009-02-03T10:31:00.001-05:00

Check out this course wiki all about Twittering Libraries.

It was written for the fall 2008 LIS 5313 course by Lindy Brown, a MLIS student at Florida State University's College of Information. For questions about this article, please email Lindy at ljb06@fsu.edu.

File under inspirational

2009-02-02T14:14:00.002-05:00

Michael Stephens who writes the blog Tame the Web is also an avid Twitter user. If you aren't aware, Twitter is a microblogging tool where one can "follow", or be a follower of a person's posts, or "tweets" of under 140 characters. A recent "tweet" of his seemed so poignant and inspirational that I wanted to pass it along to everyone. Here it is: http://twitter.com/mstephens7/status/1156820124

Catalog and more

2009-01-27T20:42:00.002-05:00

So, I'm still thinking about the catalog as portal....

Why can't we take everything on our website and catalog it? If fish.lcc.edu is the portal, the links there could have our bookmarks, our helpsheets, everything! There's still room on that page...

Also, since I'm thinking about the catalog, let's look into the fun things we can do with it. 1. There's a feature we can turn on that allows users to write book reviews for our material. As far as I know, these comments come into a central place where they can be edited for content before being posted... no suprises. I would love to take on that! 2. Also, at GTU we used to do audioblogging... that we would then link to our records. So, as an example, I audioblogged a book review on the Encyclopedia of Swearing and then linked it to the GRACE record. Could we do something like this here? http://grace.gtu.edu/search/t?SEARCH=encyclopedia+of+swearing It links in one of the 900 fields in the records.

What do you guys think? I'd love to have instructors (and us!) do something like this... can we audioblog on blogger?

_Rachel

Portals with NetVibes

2008-11-12T11:39:00.003-05:00

This week Barb sent me a link to Morraine Valley Community College's Homepage and I saw that they had created a portal called Morraine Valley Info Central which includes library RSS feeds and links. A student can log in and create their own account to have a personalized portal. This is created through a free web 2.0 tool called NetVibes.

On a similar note, two students who participated in a card sort activity this week with Kim were entranced with the card labeled My Library Account. They thought that this meant they could create their own library starting page with personalized links, links to their syllabi, textbooks, etc.

Thinking about this, I did a quick search and found this article about creating a start page for library staff members with NetVibes. You can see a sample portal. It could include links to the library blogs, rss feeds, the library email reference account, our AskLCCLibrary AIM account....

This idea of personalized portals for both staff and possibly our library webpage is worth considering.

Creative Workspaces

2008-10-29T14:09:00.002-05:00

Something fun/creative this time. View this slide show (well, maybe not all of is since there's over 100 slides) and see what your new home or work office space can be.

See you at the office!

Post from your email

2008-10-23T12:46:00.002-05:00

Want to send posts to The Next Chapter blog via email? I think you can! Just use this address:

kericson.thenextchapter@blogger.com

Bring out the GIMP

2008-10-07T07:51:00.005-05:00

OK, for anyone who's seen PulpFiction that's probably a little bit tasteless, but it is appropriate I swear! I know alot of you are interested in image editing programs, but aren't necessarily interested in paying for PhotoShop. There are good free options out there, some of which have been posted on this blog in the past, but I thought I'd turn you another very feature rich option, GIMP. Here's a short description:

"GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc."

Check out the features listed on their website at: http://www.gimp.org/about/introduction.html

They also have some decent HTML tutorials on a variety of topics at: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

Text-a-Librarian

2008-09-30T09:32:00.003-05:00

The Librarian in Black wrote up a nice little post about a new service TextALibrarian.com created by the start up mobile Q&A service Mosio. I think this is good news for libraries that the market is beginning to provide tools for hosting this kind of service that would be difficult to create and support all on our own. This really is the next progression.

Just the other day I had a student, who was on a library tour, ask at the reference desk if we provided reference service via texting. I said, "Not yet, but that is where we are heading." He seemed pleased to hear that. I really feel that his query was just the tip of a might iceberg of service opportunity. Let's forge ahead carefully, but conscientiously, with full committment to serving our students as best we can.

Blurring the lines

2008-09-15T11:54:00.003-05:00

Here's an interesting discussion that Michael Stephens and Michael Casey had in their monthly column The Transparent Library that Library Journal runs. In their discussion it shows how two professionals, who work with Library 2.0 daily, can have differing viewpoints on how transparency, lack of privacy, or too much privacy, and the blurring lines between our personal and professional lives effect how we interact with the world and with our library customers.

The LCC Library (tres cool) Video

2008-08-22T11:02:00.002-05:00

It will be fun & interesting to see how often our very cool & new (and ready for prime time) video is viewed on YouTube and what comments are left.

In the meantime, I uploaded/posted it to my blog as well. I hope to use it in classes this year and when I collaborate with nursing, massage and/or dental hygiene faculty.

Kudos to all who were involved in the producing of that video.

ALA Read Mini Poster

2008-08-20T14:30:00.005-05:00

Have you ever looked at the ALA Read posters with the celebrity endorsements and wished you could be the star? Well now you can! Just use this little gizmo to create your own READ mini poster. So pick up your favorite book, or one that just happens to be nearby and snap a quick photo. You too can bask in the limelight!

Information Literacy Meets Library 2.0

2008-08-11T13:43:00.002-05:00

If you haven't used this blog, Information Literacy Meets Library 2.0, see what you think of it.
Some really good posts in this blog include:

info about a very interesting international Information Literacy logo contest; I like the winning logo, do you?
TeacherTubes- insightful professional videos that promote IL
"100 Unbelievably Useful Reference Sites You've Never Heard Of"
"Ten Social Networking Tips for Librarians"
a post entitled, "Evaluation, Evaluation, Evaluation" mentions a recently published article co-authored by Michael Lorenzen (CMU librarian)- evaluation being the key part of IL

And get this, the posts have an audiocast button to click on.

See what you think.

Gaming and Libraries

2008-07-02T07:54:00.002-05:00

I saw this press release from ALA today. Hopefully the study will yield some useful tools for librarians:

American Library Association receives $1 million grant from Verizon Foundation to study how gaming can be used to improve problem-solving and literacy skills
http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2008/june2008/verizon08.cfm

For the Geeks Among Us

2008-06-25T13:09:00.001-05:00

I read about a web site called Engadget where many new consumer electronics and tech gadgets are reviewed and demonstrated. Since I'm from a far away galaxy and different era, I'm no Geek, but for those who would like photos, reviews and video demos of what's "cool" out there, I suggest you check out Engadget!

Newbie Librarian Unconference

2008-06-13T13:37:00.006-05:00

Librarians, like many professionals, like to talk about trends. Today I'm attending an emerging trend called the unconference. This Newbie Unconference is kindly hosted by the Southfield Public Library and organized by Christine Ayar (Adam Cardinal Maida Alumni Library) and Elizabeth Bollinger (Michigan State University). This event seeks to bring librarians together for discussion and the exchange of ideas.

While being a face-to-face gathering of librarians some discussion has revolved around the need to facilitate larger gatherings like MLA and ALA annual conferences virtually, as well, using the internet to extend the interaction of smaller groups. Some of us wondered, wouldn't it be nice if these professional organizations made more of an effort to embrace new librarians, help provide a clearer path into professional service?

One of the sessions we organized revolved around the idea of networking for personal, professional, institutional, and political reasons. The conversation branched into the areas of mentorship, involvement in professional organizations, the value of networks and how to utilize them effectively both face-to-face and virtually.

Unconferencing is fun! It allowed all of the attendees (@35) to have a voice, feel included, and hopefully learn exactly what they had come to learn. I'm excited to unconference again sometime in the future and pleased that the conversation can continue on the New Librarians unConference page.

Got Voki?

2008-06-05T09:36:00.003-05:00

Earlier last month I had fun creating a speaking Avatar or Voki! I then put my speaking Avatar on my instruction blog. If you promise not to laugh (I need to re-record to eliminate an error), I will share my blog link and you can give "Barb" listen for yourself.

Go Green @ Your Library

2008-05-14T08:00:00.004-05:00

This isn't necessarily "Library 2.0", but I got approval to post it here anyways :)

Planning is already underway for National Library Week 2009 and I hope you can be involved. Our 2009 theme will focus on "green" initiatives and I am requesting feedback from all library staff regarding activities for our Event. A list of suggested activities has been started and is available in our workspace at: https://ocs.lcc.edu/content/dav/lcc/workspaces/SASSEM-Learning-Assistance/Internal-Communications/Library-Teams/Communication-Outreach/Events/National-Library-Week/2009/NLW2009-event-ideas.doc

Please feel free to add your suggestions for possible activities, topics, and/or partners for this event. You'll also notice that a list of suggested actions on how our department can be "greener" has been started. Feel free to add your suggestions to this list as well. I hope that we'll be able to talk as a department about becoming a model of "greenness" and sustainability for the rest of the campus.

As I mentioned, the Communications and Outreach Team has already started to plan for National Library Week 2009. If you would like to be involved in planning, presenting, or in another aspect please feel free to contact me (Tori).

For a list of other suggested future topics or to suggest a future topic for National Library Week events, please visit the Library Events page on our wiki at: http://tiburon.lcc.edu/LibraryWiki/index.php/Library_Events#National_Library_Week

IUG Opening Session

2008-05-07T12:22:00.002-05:00

The key note speaker at this year's Innovative Users' Group was Larry Irving. Mr. Irving coined the phrase "digital divide" but now he thinks the divide will be among the availability of broadband.

He shared a few statistics with us that I found interesting:

The United States generates an equivalent amount of online content every fifteen minutes as the entire content of the Library of Congress (gathered from the 1880s to 2007)
YouTube generates as much traffic in one day (7-10% of all traffic) as what was generated over the entire web in 2000
In 2010, 20 typical American households will consume as much technology as the entire world did in 1998
Previously, the digital divide was thought to be limited to race. This new "broadband divide" is now limited by income, age, and location -- race is no longer the primary factor.

With the "broadband divide" affecting over 50% of the US population, Mr. Irving said that libraries will continue to play an important role as bridging the gap between the haves and have-nots. Is our technology up to the challenge?

His closing thought was that the internet revolution is the only revolution that is happening simultaneously around the world.

Opening Speaker - LOEX 2008

2008-05-02T10:03:00.003-05:00

Laurel Ofstein, Asst. Director at the Center for Creativity & Innovation at DePaul spoke about the "Nine Dimensions of the Creative Environment": Idea support; trust & openness; discussion; challenge & involvement; idea time; humor & play; freedom; risk-taking; degree of conflict. In my summation it appears that having a positive, enthusiastic, and open attitude will go a long way towards fostering a creative environment. Now, the question is, how to extend the discussion, extend the environment virtually? Is that desirable?

Librarians and Stress

2008-04-25T08:32:00.001-05:00

I thought you might enjoy the tongue in cheek rantings about stress reduction from the Annoyed Librarian's blog:

http://annoyedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/04/library-stress-reduction.html

LCC Library Screencast on Library Website

2008-04-11T12:14:00.004-05:00

The IST team would like to announce that we have posted a short screencast on the library website that explains how to choose a database to get started with your research.

Check out the tutorial: How to Choose a Database Tutorial
The tutorial is 2 minutes 30 seconds long and 2.8 MB.

You can find the tutorial on the library website on the following pages:

Library Databases webpage Click on the link to "How to Choose a Database" at the top of the page.

Library Instruction webpage The tutorial is listed under "Resources for Faculty."

Here are some screencasts produced by other libraries.

University of Illinois Library Video Network

WakeForest University - Women's and Gender Studies

Have you seen any creative tutorials on other library websites? What topics do you think might be good candidates for future tutorials?

ProQuest Search Widget- What Do You Think?

2008-04-11T11:19:00.002-05:00

Earlier this wk, Elenka email us a link to an article ("Online Databases: Web Widgets Help Searchers") in the current issue of LJ.

I looked over this article to learn about the ProQuest search widget! I wondered how it works so I followed the link to the library that's mentioned in the article. I tried this new ProQuest search widget and it all seems pretty magical to me. See what you think.
Use the link to the Friedsam Memorial Library of St. Bonaventure University. Scoll down a ways to find/use the PQ search widget (left-hand side).

Monkeysee - See How the experts do it

2008-04-02T07:36:00.002-05:00

Ever wonder how to (see below) then this website might be for you:

Make sushi rolls
Fix a leaky faucet
Design a home wine cellar
Paint a room
Belly dance
Groom your dog/cat
Change a tire

http://www.monkeysee.com