Needless to say, I was hoping to update on a regular basis about all that I’m learning, but my days are so full that it’s difficult to find time to post.  However, I attended the library fair and forum yesterday where I attended sessions on the digitalization projects and library instruction in the classroom and then met with the Tokyo University Library today and I can sum all of this up quite easily.  While Japan may be progressive in the technological tools it uses, when it comes to information technology and libraries, Japan and the US are very much alike. 

Our users want easy and immediate access to information (i.e. Google) and it’s difficult for us to find a single platform to reach these users.  In addition to the issues of information literacy, there’s the problem of electronic information and the lack of consistency – between the way information is digitized, who’s responsible for it, how much will it cost us, and how do we preserve it?

I still have many more library visits ahead of me and hope to post some more detailed updates in the near future.

(Not sure why, but my Internet access is back on my computer! Not sure how long it will last, but I’m taking advantage of it while I can.)

I’m a firm believer that building relationships is key to being successful.  General marketing is important in order to make others aware of your services, but relationships are essential to keep users coming back.  Judging by my visits today, I would say that the Japanese libraries fully understand this as well.

National Diet Library

The National Diet Library, which is Japan’s parliamentary library, is well-known for their digitization projects.  However, the focus of my exchange is on how libraries provide services to their users. 

Public users may come into the NDL and use the library’s collection in their research.  Users can search the online catalog for materials and then use them while inside the library.  They have special reading rooms (for example, one is for humanities while another one is for sciences) where visitors can go to receive research assistance.  Remote users are also able to use the collection by registering with the NDL and then make use of their copy services. 

They are also making use of technology to some degree, beyond their digital collections.  They have created a website that is a topic-based research guide to to assist users in beginning their research, which is common in our US libraries.  What I found most interesting, however, is a website where librarians can share information.  Although many individual library systems have something similar to this in the states, this website is open to all Japanese libraries.  Libraries can register for the site and then post experiences they have had in assisting their users and the solutions they used to help them.  Although the site can only be updated by registered libraries, it is open to the public to read, essentially making it a knowledge database for professional development but also akin to a frequently asked questions that the public can reference.

Chiyoda City Public Library

This library is very unique public library in many ways.  The Chiyoda Ward has 43,000 full-time residents.  However, they have determined that they’re daytime population is anywhere from 850,000 to 1 million people due to people coming in to work or go to school in the area.  The library’s mission is to be the “Gateway to Chiyoda” and has worked hard to build relationships with their users, but also the businesses in the area. 

First, the layout of the library is divided into two.  You enter the first floor of the library by elevator.  If you turn right you enter an area that is designed to accommodate the library’s many business professionals.  There is a designated cell phone area, couches arranged in a way to allow small groups to meet, and reference materials dealing with business subjects, particulalry the publishing industry (more on this in a moment), computers with research databases are available, and red paint has been used as an accent color.

Turn to the left and you enter the area that caters to the residential users.  Comfortable places to sit and read have been provided, a concierge desk is used in place of a reference desk, casual reading materials and computers with Internet access are available, and green has been used as an accent color.  In addition to this area, there is a second floor with a large children’s section enclosed by glass so children can play and have storytime.  The library also has its books related to parenting in this area so the parents can stay with their children while they use a collection area they are interested in.

The library has also built relationships with the area’s publishers and used bookstores.  First, there are 19 local publishers in the humanities areas.  The library has a large display dedicated to the books that they own in their collection from each of these publishers.  For each publisher, they have an overview or quote from the publisher themselves, the library’s books available for check-out, and then informational materials from the publisher (i.e. catalogs of books available for purchase).  The library is also down the street from the Jimbou-ka area, which is a used bookstore district.  Rather than compete with these booksellers, a website was created where the public can search for books that the sellers might have in stock.  The library recognizes that they have limited space, so if a user cannot find the book they’re looking for in the library, a staff member helps them use the Jimbou-ka website to see if the book is available for purchase.

Finally, there is the Chiyoda Web Library, which is their collection of eBooks.  Although I have plenty to say about this tool, I am running out of time and will discuss this in another post in order to do it justice.  There is so much to tell!

When I continue, I will also talk about an unexpected visit to the Goethe-Institut Bibliothek.

Right now, I’m running off to the Library Fair and Forum in Yokohama!

After a bizarre series of events, I’m now sitting in a Internet cafe in Tokyo on Monday morning and am looking forward to my first day of library visits.

As for the bizarre event… I was at the Phoenix airport Friday morning waiting for my flight to board.  They had made the pre-boarding announcement, but we continued to sit for some time.  Just as I noticed a group of people looking at our plane through the gate window, the agent made the announcement that the luggage ground equipment had “clipped” our aircraft and they were assessing the damage.  While it took them almost two hours to actually cancel our flight, it was obvious we weren’t getting out and passengers were going to be booked on other flights.  The problem was… the majority of our very full flight were international passengers.  By the time I made it to the counter, I had to re-book for flights leaving on Saturday.  While this would mean that I wouldn’t have any free time in Tokyo on Sunday, I did at least get to home and get a full night’s rest for my flight (as opposed to my few hours from the night before packing).

The other bizarre incident was when I discovered Friday night that my netbook is having problems accessing the Internet.  While there is a network connection, I can’t seem to load any websites.  What this means is that I’ll have to rely on Internet cafes for blogging.  So expect random updates and, unfortunately, no pictures until I get home – or get my connection working on my netbook (fingers are crossed!).

With that, I’m off to visit the National Diet Library and the Chiyoda City Public Library.

I’m preparing for the most amazing opportunity – both professionally and personally – and thought that this would be a good time to breathe new life into my blog.  (I’m also in the alumni spotlight for my program, where I link to my blog, so it might be a good idea to actually update it, eh?)

Back in April I applied for the Arizona Library Association’s Horner Fellowship, which is an exchange program with the Japan Library Association.  Every other year, a librarian from Arizona is chosen to go to Japan for several weeks to visit libraries and exchange information with our Japanese colleagues.  I was chosen as the Horner Fellow for this year (excited is an understatement!) and have the pleasure and honor of visiting Japanese libraries for two purposes; 1) to discover how they use technologies in providing services and instruction to their users and 2) find out if their users struggle with information literacy and, if so, how they deal with this issue.

Although I was chosen as the Fellow several months ago, I finally leave this Friday and the reality of my trip is hitting me.  I know that my time in Japan is going to fly by, so I’m going to try my best to blog about it here – in part so colleagues and friends can virtually be there with me, but partly so I can go back and remember the details that may fade with time.

For those who are interested, I’ll be visiting the following libraries:

National Diet Library (both in Tokyo and Kyoto)
Chiyoda City Public Library
International Library of Children Literature
Tokyo University Library
Waseda University Library
Nagasaki Prefectural Library
Nagasaki University Library
Kyoto Seika University Library
Doshisha University Library
Chuo University High School Library
Meiji University High School Library
Meiju University Library

Just a few libraries.  {grin}  I’ll also be spending a day at the Library Fair & Forum.

Wish me luck and I’ll update as soon as I can once I’m there!

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!)