I watched the presentation on New Librarianship by R. David Lankes.
Mr. Lankes made so many good points, I can't possibly address them all. I took three and a half pages of notes while I listened, and I can barely decide what to focus on.
He turns the conversation away from the future of libraries to the future of librarians, reminding us that it is the people, not the buildings or the resources, that make libraries and librarianship valuable to society. He suggests that we do not discover the future; we create it.
I really liked his rock illustration. "The geologist did not discover the knowledge in the rock. They brought the knowledge to the rock. . . . Knowledge is dynamic, it's living, it's human, it's how we understand stuff . . . we can not put knowledge on a stack." He went on to talk about how when one reads a book, one has a conversation, not with the book, nor with the author, but with the self.
That really gave me a lightbulb moment. I've thought of librarians as collectors and curators of knowledge, who provide access to information so people can learn independently. (Collection development, acquisitions, and cataloging.) And I've thought of librarians as guides who lead people to knowledge, who teach them to find and use information, if they are unable to do so on their own. (Reference and public services.) The underlying assumption is that knowledge is a thing--intangible, but still a thing--that people can get. But knowledge isn't in the books or the databases. Knowledge is in the minds of living people.
Lankes said, "The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities." That is a mighty tall order, but it's nobler than simply providing access to resources and directions on how to use them. I will try to keep that in the back of my mind, always, as I progress through life. How does my work improve society? How can I make my work improve society?
What does it mean to improve society? Society is made up of people, so improving society is improving people. What does that mean? I feel that my mind has been improved by listening to Mr. Lankes' presentation. So he has improved me, and thus improved society. So if I improve the knowledge of one person through a conversation (face to face or through my writing or catalog records), then I will have improved society. (That is in itself a major mind-shift for me--the idea that catalog records are not directional signs but conversations between librarians and users. Thinking of it that way really highlights just how bad our catalogs suck, even in the best libraries.)
It goes both ways. In the process of improving society, librarians must in turn be improved by society. Librarians are a part of society, after all. We are part of the community. (Forgive me for including myself in the "we" even though I'm not technically a librarian. But I do believe paraprofessionals practice librarianship, too.)
Lankes stressed that we need a deeper sense of why we do what we do. It's fine to know what you do and how you do it, but it's just as important to know why. This reminds me of the quote by Martha Watson, "I really like to know the reasons for what I do!" (This quote is used as the signature of John G. Marr, a frequent poster on the Autocat discussion list, so I see it often.) It's true. If you don't know why you're doing something, then you can't see if there is a better way to do it. And I've long considered process improvement an integral part of my job, so I'm often asking why things are done a particular way.
I am also reminded of an anecdote my friend Rev. Michael Burgess told in a sermon years ago. A woman always cut off the ends of the ham and laid them along the sides of the roasting pan. One day, someone asked her why. She didn't know, but her mother had always done it that way, and she'd picked up the habit. So she went and asked her mother. Her mother said she didn't know either, but grandma always did it that way. So they went and asked grandma, who said that she had such a small roasting pan in those days that a whole ham was too long. The only way to make it fit was to cut off the ends and squeeze them in along the sides. Two generations after her continued the practice, even though their pans were big enough for the uncut ham.
I’m sure libraries are full of cut-off ends of hams. What do we keep doing out of tradition, that is no longer really necessary because our tools have changed so much?
The future of librarianship is wonderful, so long as we choose the path and take each step with conscious awareness.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Webbies: 1000 Awesome Things
We're up to Thing #30, a lovely round number. And for this, we get to pick anything off the Webby list, anything that strikes our fancy?
I started with the idea of picking something practical, maybe something from the art section that might be of value to the KANEKO-UNO Library. But my internet connection is too slow to get any of those art sites to load properly. I had particularly high hopes for the Color Chart, and what I saw of it was beautiful. I'd love to explore it sometime when I have access to a higher speed connection. But I had to abandon it for now in favor of something a little more friendly to low-end DSL.
While there's a lot of potentially valuable stuff for libraries, I found myself drawn to the 1000 Awesome Things blog. I don’t necessarily see a strong library application for it, but I like it. Everyone needs a break from the nastiness and misery and meanness that permeates our world. This blog is like an antidote. It's upbeat and uplifting (without being saccharine or glurgy), reminding us to take joy in the simple pleasures life has to offer, like sleeping in our own bed after an exhausting trip or finding something you lost so long ago you gave up on it. I had my own experience with the latter this summer, when I found a turquoise and silver ring I'd lost over a year earlier. It was under the seat of my old car, which I was cleaning out to sell. I wore the ring every day until I lost it again last month. But I'm not worried. If it's meant to be, it'll find its way back to me.
The posts on 1000 Awesome Things are kind of rambling, rather like the above paragraph. They remind me of The Tick's monologues, and starting about halfway through the third post, every word I read, my mind heard spoken in Patrick Warburton's voice. Go on, pick any post, and imagine Patrick Warburton standing by the bus stop coffee vending machine and telling you these things. Bonus points if you imagine him in a blue superhero suit with emotive antennae.
And that just makes me smile. I think that's the whole point of the blog. To cheer you up no matter what kind of day you're having. And who doesn't need that?
I started with the idea of picking something practical, maybe something from the art section that might be of value to the KANEKO-UNO Library. But my internet connection is too slow to get any of those art sites to load properly. I had particularly high hopes for the Color Chart, and what I saw of it was beautiful. I'd love to explore it sometime when I have access to a higher speed connection. But I had to abandon it for now in favor of something a little more friendly to low-end DSL.
While there's a lot of potentially valuable stuff for libraries, I found myself drawn to the 1000 Awesome Things blog. I don’t necessarily see a strong library application for it, but I like it. Everyone needs a break from the nastiness and misery and meanness that permeates our world. This blog is like an antidote. It's upbeat and uplifting (without being saccharine or glurgy), reminding us to take joy in the simple pleasures life has to offer, like sleeping in our own bed after an exhausting trip or finding something you lost so long ago you gave up on it. I had my own experience with the latter this summer, when I found a turquoise and silver ring I'd lost over a year earlier. It was under the seat of my old car, which I was cleaning out to sell. I wore the ring every day until I lost it again last month. But I'm not worried. If it's meant to be, it'll find its way back to me.
The posts on 1000 Awesome Things are kind of rambling, rather like the above paragraph. They remind me of The Tick's monologues, and starting about halfway through the third post, every word I read, my mind heard spoken in Patrick Warburton's voice. Go on, pick any post, and imagine Patrick Warburton standing by the bus stop coffee vending machine and telling you these things. Bonus points if you imagine him in a blue superhero suit with emotive antennae.
And that just makes me smile. I think that's the whole point of the blog. To cheer you up no matter what kind of day you're having. And who doesn't need that?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
FTC Disclosure
Since now the Federal Trade Commission requires all bloggers to disclose whether they received any payment or perks of any kind for reviewing products, this is my disclosure/disclaimer to apply to all of my previous reviews on this blog. It also applies to all of my future posts related to the Nebraska Learns 2.0 program.
None of the web services explored during the Nebraska Learns 2.0 exercises provided any compensation to the participants in the program. None provided me with something complementary for the explicit purpose of reviewing it. The only people who asked me to blog about these services are the Nebraska Library Commission staff members who select and moderate the exercises. I am under no obligation to complete the exercises. My opinions about the services are my honest impressions based on my experiences using them.
I would be eligible for continuing education credits for completing these exercises, but my library does not require them, so I have not filled out any of the forms necessary to receive them. My only benefits from blogging about these services have been knowledge and experience.
Early in the Nebraska Learns 2.0 program, during the original 23 Things, I had permission from my supervisor to do the exercises on work time, if other duties permitted, because this was considered professional development. These days, I do these exercises at home, on my own time, not because permission was revoked but because we are simply far too busy at work to spare any time for this. I expect to continue to do the exercises on my own time for as long as I continue to participate in the program.
I work for the Criss Library at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. My opinions here are my own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of my employer.
For that matter, no one asked me to write this disclosure. But I'm not entirely clear about how the FTC expects bloggers to comply with their exceedingly confusing rules, so I figured, better safe than sorry.
None of the web services explored during the Nebraska Learns 2.0 exercises provided any compensation to the participants in the program. None provided me with something complementary for the explicit purpose of reviewing it. The only people who asked me to blog about these services are the Nebraska Library Commission staff members who select and moderate the exercises. I am under no obligation to complete the exercises. My opinions about the services are my honest impressions based on my experiences using them.
I would be eligible for continuing education credits for completing these exercises, but my library does not require them, so I have not filled out any of the forms necessary to receive them. My only benefits from blogging about these services have been knowledge and experience.
Early in the Nebraska Learns 2.0 program, during the original 23 Things, I had permission from my supervisor to do the exercises on work time, if other duties permitted, because this was considered professional development. These days, I do these exercises at home, on my own time, not because permission was revoked but because we are simply far too busy at work to spare any time for this. I expect to continue to do the exercises on my own time for as long as I continue to participate in the program.
I work for the Criss Library at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. My opinions here are my own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of my employer.
For that matter, no one asked me to write this disclosure. But I'm not entirely clear about how the FTC expects bloggers to comply with their exceedingly confusing rules, so I figured, better safe than sorry.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Visual Bookshelf
Oops, I kinda let Thing #29: Book-Based Social Networks slip by me. I did sign up for Visual Bookshelf on Facebook, but so far I've only added five books (and they were from the same series, so they really should only count as one). I just never had time to really get into it this month, and I had trouble working up enthusiasm because this thing seemed like a combination of two things I'd already done, LibraryThing and Facebook.
I might go back later and try to fill out my Visual Bookshelf. I'm more likely to use it than LibraryThing, because it's integrated into Facebook, so it's in a place I already go instead of another site I have to remember to visit. But since October is over, I'm afraid I flubbed this lesson.
I might go back later and try to fill out my Visual Bookshelf. I'm more likely to use it than LibraryThing, because it's integrated into Facebook, so it's in a place I already go instead of another site I have to remember to visit. But since October is over, I'm afraid I flubbed this lesson.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Nebraska Library Camp II
I had a great time at Nebraska Library Camp II today. If you've never been to an unconference before, the idea is that you gather with no pre-planned topics. Then you talk about what you'd like to talk about, and then you break into smaller groups based on those topics.
Why? Well, whenever we get together for a conference, the greatest exchange of ideas usually seems to be between sessions, in those hallway and lunchtime discussions where you talk about what your library is doing and hear about what everyone else's libraries are doing. The unconference tries to take that kind of passionate exchange into a slightly more structured setting. I think it worked out pretty well.
I participated in three breakout sessions: the future of cataloging, the future of ILL, and Google Books. If you're interested, you can read my notes on the Nebraska Library Camp II wiki. Remember, these notes are not my ideas, just a record of what the group as a whole discussed. I wish I had so many good ideas myself.
Looking forward to the NLA/NEMA Fall Conference tomorrow and Friday. Should be awesome!
Why? Well, whenever we get together for a conference, the greatest exchange of ideas usually seems to be between sessions, in those hallway and lunchtime discussions where you talk about what your library is doing and hear about what everyone else's libraries are doing. The unconference tries to take that kind of passionate exchange into a slightly more structured setting. I think it worked out pretty well.
I participated in three breakout sessions: the future of cataloging, the future of ILL, and Google Books. If you're interested, you can read my notes on the Nebraska Library Camp II wiki. Remember, these notes are not my ideas, just a record of what the group as a whole discussed. I wish I had so many good ideas myself.
Looking forward to the NLA/NEMA Fall Conference tomorrow and Friday. Should be awesome!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Google Reader
Well, I've been dissatisfied with the instability of Bloglines for a while now, so the switch to Google Reader seemed like the perfect thing for me. I'm glad this lesson came along to give me the nudge to quit procrastinating.
Likes:
Items are not marked as read until you actually scroll down to view them. This is especially wonderful when my browser hangs up and I have to relaunch. With Bloglines, every time that happened, any items which had loaded, but which I had not yet actually looked at, were lost forever. With Google Reader, they're still there waiting for me. This alone guarantees that I will stick with Google Reader and leave Bloglines behind.
I love the hotkeys, especially j and k. It's nice to have an alternative to scrolling.
I like the presence of links to open articles in a new tab. (Just after the title--look for the two arrows in a little circle, resembling a fast forward button.) That saves me the trouble of right-clicking and selecting "open in new tab" every time I want to look at the comments for a post.
Dislikes:
Google Reader loads very slowly, even on DSL. It's not as bad as Google Maps, which is almost unusable on my home connection, but it's still a little troublesome at times.
In Bloglines, I could order the feeds within a folder, and I could get all new items from site A, then all new items from site B, etc. So I could have a gradual and carefully planned transition from serious to silly, or vice versa. In Google Reader, it's always newest item first, so clicking on one of my folders gives me a mess like D, B, A, C, C, A, A, B, D, A. That drives me nuts. I'm going to have to create a lot of new folders and reorganize everything so that blogs of dissimilar tone don't get all mixed together.
Overall, though, the pros outweigh the cons. A good feed reader has become an absolutely indispensable tool in my day-to-day life, both at work and at home, and there's a lot to like with Google Reader.
Likes:
Items are not marked as read until you actually scroll down to view them. This is especially wonderful when my browser hangs up and I have to relaunch. With Bloglines, every time that happened, any items which had loaded, but which I had not yet actually looked at, were lost forever. With Google Reader, they're still there waiting for me. This alone guarantees that I will stick with Google Reader and leave Bloglines behind.
I love the hotkeys, especially j and k. It's nice to have an alternative to scrolling.
I like the presence of links to open articles in a new tab. (Just after the title--look for the two arrows in a little circle, resembling a fast forward button.) That saves me the trouble of right-clicking and selecting "open in new tab" every time I want to look at the comments for a post.
Dislikes:
Google Reader loads very slowly, even on DSL. It's not as bad as Google Maps, which is almost unusable on my home connection, but it's still a little troublesome at times.
In Bloglines, I could order the feeds within a folder, and I could get all new items from site A, then all new items from site B, etc. So I could have a gradual and carefully planned transition from serious to silly, or vice versa. In Google Reader, it's always newest item first, so clicking on one of my folders gives me a mess like D, B, A, C, C, A, A, B, D, A. That drives me nuts. I'm going to have to create a lot of new folders and reorganize everything so that blogs of dissimilar tone don't get all mixed together.
Overall, though, the pros outweigh the cons. A good feed reader has become an absolutely indispensable tool in my day-to-day life, both at work and at home, and there's a lot to like with Google Reader.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Ugh. I’ve been dreading Thing #27: Facebook, Networking and You.
Over the last couple of years, an increasing number of friends and family members (coworkers, not so much) have asked me to join Facebook. I’ve been avoiding it because, frankly, it never appealed to me. I'm afraid it will be just another thing that I will have to remember to check periodically, and that I will end up neglecting, like my blogs, Twitter, and four of my five email accounts.
But now it’s an assignment. Now I have to do it.
I chose Facebook over the other options because it seems to be most popular (and thus, to have the greatest market penetration), and more people I personally know are already members. Also, my library is on Facebook, so it just seems like it will be the most useful all around.
I somehow became a fan of Criss Library's page without actually doing anything. As soon as I finished creating my profile, I looked at my library's page, and I was already there listed as a fan. So weird! I also made myself a fan of the Kaneko-UNO Library, and I joined the groups for the Nebraska Library Association and Nebraska Library Leadership Institute Alumni. I put out several friend requests, including the four Nebraska Learns 2.0 leaders. Michael Sauers responded instantly, before I even finished searching the next friend's name.
One thing that really amazed me was how many people I know on Facebook. So many friends I haven't seen or interacted with in months or years, many family members, coworkers, and professional contacts. Is there Facebook etiquette? If I send a friend request to one colleague but not another, is that considered a snub to the one who didn't get a request? I sent some friend requests before I figured out how to join a network, then canceled them (they had not yet been accepted) after I joined the UNO network. Is that considered a snub? I hope not. These are folks I like working with. I genuinely lost sleep over this, and then I apologized to them in person the next day.
Also, I had trouble figuring out how to join a network. Finding useful help files on Facebook seems to be impossible. I had better luck searching Google for help. In general, Facebook's interface seems to clunky, cluttered, and unintuitive.
I'm also underwhelmed by their categorizing of their applications. "Sports Bets" and "What Kind of Tractor Are You?" are listed under Business? Really? "Send Cute Animals" is under Education? Really? It makes it hard for me to take Facebook seriously as a potential business tool. The personal, silly stuff overwhelms the serious, business stuff very quickly. I guess if I really wanted to use a social networking account for work, I would probably not use Facebook. I haven't looked at LinkedIn yet, but it at least has the reputation of being professionally-oriented.
With Bloglines and Delicious, I created two separate accounts for each, so I could keep my personal feeds and bookmarks separate from my professional ones. But I use those services so intensively, this division works effectively. However, with Facebook, there's really no way to keep them separate. So work and personal get all mixed up, which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Okay, it makes me feel a lot uncomfortable. I couldn't even bring myself to log into Facebook at work to finish this exercise. For me, Facebook will be for home use only.
I think the biggest problem with Facebook is that it is trying to be everything to everyone. It is this enormous, sprawling, messy blob. It kind of sucks me in and makes me want to run away at the same time. I can see how it could become an enormous time-waster. ("Social not-working," as one of my coworkers described it.)
I think the most useful aspect of Facebook is its enormous user base, which lets you treat it kind of like a giant non-regional phone book. Also, the status updates seem very much like Twitter, except with Twitter you're tweeting predominantly to strangers and anyone in the world can read it, and with Facebook you're "tweeting" at people you actually know. Depending on your goal, either is legitimate, but personally I think I will find Facebook more satisfying than Twitter.
I do find some of the privacy concerns about Facebook rather alarming, and I'm not talking about what people might see in an indiscreet user's profile. The ACLU is presently going after Facebook because many of the quiz apps not only allow the quiz's developer access to a user's personal info, even if their profile is supposedly private, but they often allow the developer access to all the user's friends' personal data. That's pretty scary stuff.
I plan to actually keep using Facebook (though I'll probably avoid the quizzes), because it has allowed me to get back in touch with some friends that I'd lost contact with. But I plan to only use it at home for personal stuff, so if you're one of my Nebraska library contacts and you want to unfriend me because you're successfully using Facebook for purely professional reasons, I won't be offended, and I will still be thrilled to see you at NLA or any other library event.
Over the last couple of years, an increasing number of friends and family members (coworkers, not so much) have asked me to join Facebook. I’ve been avoiding it because, frankly, it never appealed to me. I'm afraid it will be just another thing that I will have to remember to check periodically, and that I will end up neglecting, like my blogs, Twitter, and four of my five email accounts.
But now it’s an assignment. Now I have to do it.
I chose Facebook over the other options because it seems to be most popular (and thus, to have the greatest market penetration), and more people I personally know are already members. Also, my library is on Facebook, so it just seems like it will be the most useful all around.
I somehow became a fan of Criss Library's page without actually doing anything. As soon as I finished creating my profile, I looked at my library's page, and I was already there listed as a fan. So weird! I also made myself a fan of the Kaneko-UNO Library, and I joined the groups for the Nebraska Library Association and Nebraska Library Leadership Institute Alumni. I put out several friend requests, including the four Nebraska Learns 2.0 leaders. Michael Sauers responded instantly, before I even finished searching the next friend's name.
One thing that really amazed me was how many people I know on Facebook. So many friends I haven't seen or interacted with in months or years, many family members, coworkers, and professional contacts. Is there Facebook etiquette? If I send a friend request to one colleague but not another, is that considered a snub to the one who didn't get a request? I sent some friend requests before I figured out how to join a network, then canceled them (they had not yet been accepted) after I joined the UNO network. Is that considered a snub? I hope not. These are folks I like working with. I genuinely lost sleep over this, and then I apologized to them in person the next day.
Also, I had trouble figuring out how to join a network. Finding useful help files on Facebook seems to be impossible. I had better luck searching Google for help. In general, Facebook's interface seems to clunky, cluttered, and unintuitive.
I'm also underwhelmed by their categorizing of their applications. "Sports Bets" and "What Kind of Tractor Are You?" are listed under Business? Really? "Send Cute Animals" is under Education? Really? It makes it hard for me to take Facebook seriously as a potential business tool. The personal, silly stuff overwhelms the serious, business stuff very quickly. I guess if I really wanted to use a social networking account for work, I would probably not use Facebook. I haven't looked at LinkedIn yet, but it at least has the reputation of being professionally-oriented.
With Bloglines and Delicious, I created two separate accounts for each, so I could keep my personal feeds and bookmarks separate from my professional ones. But I use those services so intensively, this division works effectively. However, with Facebook, there's really no way to keep them separate. So work and personal get all mixed up, which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Okay, it makes me feel a lot uncomfortable. I couldn't even bring myself to log into Facebook at work to finish this exercise. For me, Facebook will be for home use only.
I think the biggest problem with Facebook is that it is trying to be everything to everyone. It is this enormous, sprawling, messy blob. It kind of sucks me in and makes me want to run away at the same time. I can see how it could become an enormous time-waster. ("Social not-working," as one of my coworkers described it.)
I think the most useful aspect of Facebook is its enormous user base, which lets you treat it kind of like a giant non-regional phone book. Also, the status updates seem very much like Twitter, except with Twitter you're tweeting predominantly to strangers and anyone in the world can read it, and with Facebook you're "tweeting" at people you actually know. Depending on your goal, either is legitimate, but personally I think I will find Facebook more satisfying than Twitter.
I do find some of the privacy concerns about Facebook rather alarming, and I'm not talking about what people might see in an indiscreet user's profile. The ACLU is presently going after Facebook because many of the quiz apps not only allow the quiz's developer access to a user's personal info, even if their profile is supposedly private, but they often allow the developer access to all the user's friends' personal data. That's pretty scary stuff.
I plan to actually keep using Facebook (though I'll probably avoid the quizzes), because it has allowed me to get back in touch with some friends that I'd lost contact with. But I plan to only use it at home for personal stuff, so if you're one of my Nebraska library contacts and you want to unfriend me because you're successfully using Facebook for purely professional reasons, I won't be offended, and I will still be thrilled to see you at NLA or any other library event.
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