Ah, once again I’m attempting to get this poor blog back into shape.  Partly because I recently joined a group where I “advertised” myself as blogging here. But also because I recently shared my notes on an ALA LITA presentation (Isn’t it great to be in the library… where that is?) over at the LITA blog.  While I gave the rundown on the general presentation, it wasn’t until I was reading the live post that I noticed I had missed a point - and my counterpoint.

First of all, I have to say that I was extremely excited to hear Joe Janes speak.  While I was working on my MLIS, I think I read everything Joe had ever written on virtual reference.  And, most importantly, I agreed with it!  One remark he made during this ALA presentation was the power that libraries and librarianship have.  I failed to get the exact words down in my notes, and so I can only give the general context of his remarks.  But he was talking about how others try to gain the power that we have by including the word “library” in their services.  Well, here’s where I have to disagree with him. 

If we have so much power, then why do I have to work so hard to gain the trust of faculty members and students on my campus?  Why do I have to convince other departments that the library would make a good collaborative partner in their - wait for it - research projects?  If we have so much power, why did the Mesa Unified School District decide it would be a good decision to eliminate all of their school librarians over the next three years?  While vendors might see libraries as “powerful,” it isn’t until our stakeholders and users see us in this light that I’ll agree with this statement.  Sorry Joe!

It’s hard to believe that the last time I posted the semester hadn’t even started yet.  Now I’m posting as we enter finals week.  Hopefully I’ll have better luck posting next semester.

Just a few updates.  I didn’t get accepted into the ALA Emerging Leaders program.  While I was disappointed (I mean, who wants to be rejected for anything?), I was kind of relieved.  I’m so busy at work these days that I’m not sure I would have had the energy for the program.  Plus, the reason I really wanted to get accepted was simply to get involved.  My library’s budget can’t guarantee me a ticket to both mid-winter and annual (heck, it can’t even guarantee me a ticket to one), and since attendance is mandatory in order to get involved (I won’t get into this here, but suffice to it to say that many bloggers have much to say on this topic), I had hoped that the stipend provided would allow me to do so.

Instead, I’m getting involved in my local Arizona Library Association instead.  I’ve agreed to co-chair our Infotech interest group.  In addition to helping plan next year’s conference, the other co-chair and I are hoping to re-invigorate the group’s members.  I think the group has a lot to offer, but there hasn’t been much activity and we’re hoping to change that.

I’m also excited because I’ve been invited to post over at The Information Literacy Land of Confusion (ok, technically Michael asked for volunteers and I raised my hand saying “oh, oh! me, me!!, but still…).  I used to enjoy blogging, but I’ve stalled out here.  Hopefully by posting over at his venue, knowing that I’m not the only one in the discussions, I can get back in the groove here.

I’ve also decided to make this blog a little more on the personal side, rather than trying to keep in strictly professional.  I actually have a hobby blog that I’m really good about keeping up, but I think it’s because I delve into more than just my hobby.  So I’m hoping that by adding personal things here and there, I’ll stay more interested as well.  And though I won’t link to it just yet, I will admit that my hobby is knitting and that my blog is one of (what I’m guessing is) millions of knitting blogs.  Any other knitting/librarian/blogging lurkers out there??

I received an email from someone supposedly wanting to purchase my url, so I thought I should take this as a hint and actually post something.

I attended a focus group yesterday for the Arizona State Library.  They’re hoping to create a resource sharing portal for all of the libraries within the state, which is a huge undertaking.  The focus group was led by two consultants (of sorts) who will be submitting a proposal to the State Library in October.  While I think this would be an excellent resource, I can’t quite imagine where academic libraries might fit into this.  I also can’t imagine how they are going to deal with all of the various political battles they’ll have to fight just within the public library realm to get this off the ground.  I wish them the best of luck and I’m looking forward to hearing what kind of proposal gets submitted in October.

Speaking of undertakings, I’ve decided to apply for the ALA Emerging Leaders 2008.  I really wanted to apply for this last year, but at that time I didn’t feel that I was at an organization that would have supported me in this.  My current MPOW is a different story.  I feel empowered to take on new endeavors, including professional development, so I’m going to give it a try.  Because my heart belongs to community college libraries, I’m hoping to get sponsored by the CJCLS section. 

I just wish the application deadline was in September rather than August.  In just two short months (well, it’s really just a month and a half now), I’m attempting to get a redesigned website off the ground, prepare and teach public librarians how to find consumer and history information through government websites (thanks to the IMLS grant), assist in the creation of an Education module for the IMLS grant, prepare and teach incoming students through our Summer Bridge program, and the other various tasks that I’m dealing with in getting ready for the fall semester.  I keep telling myself that everything will fall into place, but I sure can’t wait for September to get here!

I initially started this blog because, fresh from graduating with my library degree, I began working at a law library where there was little talk of information literacy, freedom of information, and other topics I enjoyed discussing as a student.  In November, I began working for a college library where these topics are discussed on a daily basis, as well as the newer topics of social networking in libraries and such that are being discussed all over the blogs right now.  As a result, I think I felt that I didn’t really need to blog to keep up with these discussions.  I’ve continued to read blogs, but I didn’t necessarily feel that I needed to do the same. 

Then, a few bloggers brought up the question that always seems to make the rounds about once a year.  “Why do you blog?”  I realized as these bloggers gave their answers that although they work in environments not unlike my current one, they still enjoy blogging about these topics.  For me, it’s akin to talking out a problem.  You know how you start talking to someone about an issue, even if it’s an issue this person knows absolutely nothing about, but as you start talking it through the solution comes to you?  Then I thought about the fact there are all kinds of things I’d like to talk about on my blog and that I should start posting again. 

For example, I received one of the ACRL New Librarian scholarships to attend their conference at the end of the month.  I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about that!  I even agreed to be one of the conference bloggers, which is another reason why I decided to start posting again.  I was worried I might have lost my blogging voice… so to speak.

I’m also excited about a lot of the plans we have at my library.  We have an extremely diverse campus with a lot of students attending via distance learning.  Part of my job is to find new and creative ways to provide outreach to these students.  This is where I think talking out issues on the blog will help me come to creative solutions.  And, if others are hopefully reading, some suggestions on things that have worked (or not worked) for other libraries and librarians will help push me in the right direction.

Whew!  That was the long way of saying “I’m back,” wasn’t it?

Although this has nothing to do with my post topic, I just have to announce that yesterday was my last day at the law library, because I’m starting a new position as a librarian for a college library.  I’m excited at the opportunities I’ll finally have to teach students how to find and use information.  This is the chance I’ve been waiting for!

In any case, I started out my last day at the law library helping a Spanish-speaking patron that had been enrolled in a child support workshop through the Department of Economic Security.  The notice she had been mailed simply stated that she needed to come to the East Court Building.  It didn’t tell her which floor or provide a room number.  I’ve been taking conversational Spanish lessons, so between my broken Spanish and her broken English we were able to communicate with one another.  Unfortunately, I had less luck when it came to communicating with other court departments.  Every one I tried calling ended up with a recording or voicemail.  When I called DES, their recording starts out by saying that their menu system had been improved to provide easier access to a person, but I never did reach anyone. 

I finally gave up and walked with the woman to one of the departments, hoping that I could get an answer face-to-face.  No one knew anything and one woman sent us to the 11th floor of the building next door, because there was an office there for the Attorney General.  Once we got there, we discovered that there wasn’t an office.  I’m still wondering if she sent us there to get rid of us, or because she herself had been misinformed at one time.  I spent an hour with this woman trying to find a workshop that had started a half an hour earlier.  By this point, the woman found another Spanish speaker and she felt comfortable being left on her own. 

This whole experience taught me a valuable lesson.  Whenever you’re providing services to patrons, always look at the experience from the user’s point of view.  I can imagine the person at DES typing up the workshop notice, who knows that the workshop is always held in the same conference room… on the same floor… of the East Court Building.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out the brand new, online, Library Student Journal.  I haven’t had the chance to read through the articles yet, but it definitely looks interesting. 

First of all, I think it’s great that there is a journal dedicated to library student writing.  When I was in school, I thought about trying to get a couple of my papers published.  But I had no idea where to begin and the process seemed a bit intimidating as a “lowly” library student.  (By the way, the author of one of the articles attends my MLIS alma mater!)

Second, the publication is continuing the trend of peer-reviewed articles that are available for free (to both the readers and the authors) online. 

Finally, readers can comment on each article, providing a forum of discussion on each topic.

I would love to see more publications of this type in the library and information sciences field (and if anyone knows of any, please let me know!)

We’re in the process of buying our first house.  The good librarian that I am researched everything before starting.  In theory, I knew how to find an agent, what resources to use in locating a house, how to prioritize our wants and needs in a house, and well… everything.  Then we actually started looking and eight long months later we’re finally in contract on a house.  Which is why I have been non-existent here recently.

While I haven’t been blogging, I have been keeping up with my listservs and such.  One item that jumped out at me was the Beloit College Mindset List.  I have several nieces and a nephew either in college or just starting college right now, and I’m extremely aware of the experiences they’re going through right now.  Plus, back when I was managing the development of websites for a consulting company, the teen and youth sites were by far the hardest to create.  It’s especially difficult to create a website for this age group that will retain its interest, because young adults change their interests so quickly.  This LA Times article, “Underwhelmed by It All,” also shows that this age group is hard to impress. 

Of course, libraries can also find it difficult to appleal to this group.  Libraries are competing with Google and the idea that everything they need can be found online.  Additionally, as I learned firsthand when working in academic libraries, that this age group often won’t go out of their way to look for assistance at the reference desk even when they’re in the library.  However, when I was shelving books and I happened to be working near students, I was often approached by them for assistance. 

With this in mind, I was brainstorming on ways to market the library to young adults, and one idea I had was to bring the library to the group.  Obviously, the library’s website does this.  But I was thinking more in terms of bringing the physical library to the students.  For example, in academic settings, students congregate in student unions, many of which now have wireless Internet connections.  For a few hours a week, the library could set up a table in the student union with a wireless laptop and a printer and staffed with a reference librarian.  Students might find it convenient to stop by and ask a question about an assignment they’re working on.  If the reference assistance proves successful, the librarian could then give the student a flyer with the library’s location, hours, website, and any other virtual assistance offered by the library.  This provides outreach and marketing in one package deal.  If anyone knows of any libraries that have put this theory into practice, I’d love to hear how it worked out.

I got busy a little while back and as a result I fell behind in my listserv and blog reading.  And, as a result of that, I’ve neglected my blog.  In any case, I decided to just stop reading these listserv and blog items where I’ve left off, mark all items as read, and start fresh (I love that feature!).  Because I’m a little behind the times right now, the first item I want to mention is old news by now.

As everyone knows by now, the Deleting Online Predators Act passed the House.  I had found out about the vote the morning it was to take place and made a feeble attempt at emailing my Congressman.  It doesn’t surprise me that he was one of the 410 to vote in favor of the legislation.  I knew that the bill was likely to pass, but I was dismayed at the fact that it passed by 410 to 15.  The bill has moved onto the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.  I know the Senate reconvenes in September.  This time I’ll be sure to keep a better eye on the voting schedule so I can try to be heard before the vote.  I’m thinking of including a link to Larry Magid’s article about DOPA.

*Note: If you want to take action against DOPA, check out the bottom of this post for some steps in doing so.  These were posted on the ILI-L listserv.

Speaking of legislation that should never have been passed… I found out that my state passed a statute requiring every classroom in public schools must contain a flag and a copy of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.  I don’t oppose this legislation because I’m not proud of my country or am unpatriotic.  But in reading this article, I discovered this law will have a costly impact on schools (community colleges are specifically outlined in the article) to comply.  Personally, I think the money would be better spent furthering the education of the students.

On a lighter note, there are two great articles on the, um, reliability of Wikipedia.  One is by The Onion and the other is about Steven Colbert’s influence on the site.  These articles could be helpful in showing students not to trust everything they read - especially on Wikipedia.

~~Posted on the ILI-L listserv on August 7, 2006~~ 

1. Contact your Senator before Sept. 5th to: 
a. Tell him/her your opinion of DOPA (see the Legislative Advocacy Guide for quick tips on contacting your Senator). 
b. Educate him/her about the positive uses of Social Networking Sites (use the information in the Teens & Social Networking in School & Public Libraries Toolkit). 

To find out who our Senator is & what number to call, go to www.congress.gov. To email your Senator, go to www.ala.org and click on “Take Action.”  
 
2. Sign the online petition opposing DOPA at www.saveyourspace.org
 
3. Host an information session at your library about DOPA and social networking sites (see the Toolkit on Teens & Social Networking in School & Public Libraries for tips and ideas).
 
4. Tell us how you’re using social networking technologies at your library. Go to http://teentechweek.wikispaces.com.  From there you can add a link to your library’s MySpace space as well as join in on the discussion about how you’re using social networking technologies in your library.
 
5. Invite your Senator to your library while they’re home from DC between August 7th and September 4th.
a. Have teens on hand to demonstrate productive ways they use social networking technologies
b. Provide the Senator with a photo-op (e.g. giving a summer reading award to a teen or reading a story to kids)
c. Give the Senator information about social networking sites and show him/her what your library is already doing to keep children and teens safe online.

6. Personalize and send the following sample letter to the editor to your local newspaper, and encourage your library patrons to do the same.
 
LETTER:
Sample Letter to the Editor
(please feel free to make additions or changes so that it better fits any particular messages you want to get across)
 
Librarians care deeply about children and teens and are concerned about their safety online and in our community. While Congress’ effort to make children and teens more safe online is admirable, the proposed Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) that is currently being debated by our nation’s legislators, will actually do little to make our kids safer. What it will do is block access to critical Internet resources and communication tools in schools and libraries that our kids need to learn how to use in order to be successful in college and the workplace. It also takes control away from communities like ours, and leaves the decision making about what our children can access on the Internet to the politicians in Washington DC.
 
DOPA seeks to further limit kids’ access to online resources at school and in libraries. That means it would prevent librarians and teachers from instructing students and their parents about how to use all kinds of Web applications safely and effectively. Because it is linked to federal funding, DOPA also hurts most those kids served by schools and libraries in low-income communities.
 
DOPA would restrict online support groups, email programs through which family members can communicate with each other, and educational tools used to provide distance education, squashing kids’ first attempts at becoming acquainted with applications that will soon be essential workplace tools. Just one example of what could be lost in a rush to legislate is a recent online field trip to Carlsbad Caverns in N.M., in which more than 10 million students participated and First Lady Laura Bush took part.
 
Perhaps the most troubling part of DOPA is the false sense of security it gives parents who are seeking solutions to the problem of online predators. Like dangers to kids in the real world, dangers on the Internet are not easily overcome. Teaching young people to practice safe behaviors and guard their privacy online the same way they would in public is critical if we want to protect them.
 
Please join me in urging Congress to make a real commitment to kids’ safety by abandoning bad legislation like DOPA and funding our libraries and schools adequately so they have the resources they need to empower our community’s kids to stay safe on the Internet.
 
Sincerely,
[insert your name here]

Posted in Instruction, Legislation, Wikis | No Comments »

Wild for Wikis

July 22nd, 2006

I finally had the chance to watch Meredith Farkas’ presentation on Wikis through the SirsiDynix Institute.  My co-worker and I have been interested in starting up an internal wiki that we could use to replace our “cheat sheets.”  Currently the cheat sheet is available as a Word document and each librarian has a printed version with their own personal notes.  We’d love to find a way to share these notes and, after watching this presentation, I definitely think the wiki would be a great way to do so.

In her presentation, Meredith provides several potential uses for wikis.  Of those provided, I was especially interested in the ability to use them for training.  I’ve used Blackboard and WebCT, and while they technically get the job done they’re not exactly user-friendly.  I’ll have to experiment with a wiki training module.

If you haven’t seen this presentation, I highly recommend it!

Posted in Technology, Wikis | No Comments »

Knowing your customers

July 19th, 2006

When I was in school getting my library degree, I took an excellent course on designing websites for different cultures.  The course taught us how people from different countries interact with others, perceive information, have varying learning styles, etc.  Although the course concentrated on web design, what I learned from the course helped me in other areas of my work such as helping patrons at the reference desk and supervising employees.

I realized this past week that the concepts from this course also apply to local cultures.  I was in Sedona and stopped in at the “golden arches” to get a drink.  However, the arches weren’t golden.

The branding folks at McDonald’s must have done their marketing research and found something about the local culture in Sedona that told them to abandon the bright yellow and go with the green. (For those who aren’t familiar with Sedona, the area is famous for its red rock mountains and is a very nature-oriented town, hence the “green” arches.)

There’s an interesting lesson that libraries can learn from this.  Perhaps libraries should be branding themselves to their local culture.  A public library should be branded differently than an academic library.  And a library in a metropolitan city will be branded differently from a library found in a rural township.  Going slightly further, cultures within a single library be found.  For example, in an academic library, the student culture will differ from the faculty culture. 

Rather than all libraries trying to be everything to everyone, a library should take its local cultures into account. By doing so, a library can determine whether to offer certain services and how to design its website.

Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »

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