Outsourcing Libraries - Public Library as a Private Enterprise

"Once known as staid, quiet repositories for books, some institutions are copying business models on how best to attract and keep 'customers.' Jeff Overly "

Outsourcing Libraries: @ OntheCommons.org, Tue, 11/06/2007 , by David Bollier's blog
"There may be no more eloquent statement about the erosion of our civic connectedness than the news that public libraries around the country are starting to outsource their daily operations. Yes, public libraries are being privatized. This should not be entirely surprising, given how jails, highways and even military operations are being privatized these days. Yet it does raise the distressing question – If libraries are vulnerable, where will this momentum for dismantling our civic institutions end? ... http://faithcommons.org/feeditem/outsourcing_libraries

• Google for more on "Outsourcing Libraries" "library outsourced"

See also on the same shelf:

Outsourcing Library Operations in Academic Libraries: An Overview of Issues and Outcomes, by Claire-Lise Benaud, Sever Bordeianu

Outsourcing in private law libraries since the Baker & McKenzie action, Kevin Miles, The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 1996: 9:2

Meditating Librarian: Outsourcing libraries?

Libraries take a page from business world:
By JEFF OVERLEY, The Orange County Register

Union unveils plan to reopen libraries (The Mail Tribune): (Outsource your chores via the Net (Berkshire Eagle) @ Outsource-Hub.com

The Bottom Line: “library” includes a children’s library, but does not include a library conducted by private enterprise for profit. Source: LIBRARY BOARD OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA ACT 1951 - SECT 3

The Librarians - an Australian ABC Comedy Series

The Librarians Interview


[Info courtesy: Michelle McLean @ Connecting Librarian]

See also:

Criticism and Interpretation: 'The Librarians'Blog 2007

ABC TV TURNS A NEW PAGE IN COMEDY

The Librarians - an Australian comedy - in review

Google it

Bigotry by the book, The Age

Seneca Library Holiday Song

The Technique of Song and Sound Visualization: Blogga Song of Librarians

Silence Please: Mr. Bean, The Library

THE SAD SIDE OF REMEMBRANCE DAY 2006

November 10, 2006 [News from Ontario Library Association]

After the tremendous surge of support for Remembrance activities in 2005, it is sad to see the growing number of stories in the media involving the theft of donation boxes this year. These stories are being offset by people rising to the occasion to replace the stolen money but it is a measure of the shock. A robber made off with a Remembrance Day poppy box that had been set up at the circulation desk at the Elmvale Acres branch of Ottawa Public Library. In an Ottawa Citizen story, library spokesman Alan Roberts said Friday the staff were "mortified" by the robbery and they, like so many others, are pitching in to replenish the money that was stolen.

See also: ola meeting space › Community Blog › OLA Headline Stories

2008 Ontario Association of Library Technicians Conference

OALT/ABO: 35th Annual Conference
Up coming ConferencesDates:
May 7 - 10, 2008
Location: Kingston, ON
More details to follow...

• Past Conferences - themes and locations

A Course on Library 2.0 & Social Networking

Info courtesy: Sukhdev's World

LIS 768: Course Syllabus
Here is the updated syllabus: stephensl2syllabusfinal1.doc
Revised Course Schedule: lis768courseschedulerevised.doc

See also:

Tags Help Make Libraries Del.icio.us: Social bookmarking and tagging boost participation, By Melissa L. Rethlefsen -- Library Journal, 9/15/2007

Social Software in Libraries, by Meredith Farkas

New OCLC Report: Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World:
The practice of using a social network to establish and enhance relationships based on some common ground—shared interests, related skills, or a common geographic location—is as old as human societies, but social networking has flourished due to the ease of connecting on the Web.

This OCLC membership report explores this web of social participation and cooperation on the Internet and how it may impact the library’s role, including:

* The use of social networking, social media, commercial and library services on the Web
* How and what users and librarians share on the Web and their attitudes toward related privacy issues
* Opinions on privacy online
* Libraries’ current and future roles in social networking

The report is based on a survey (by Harris Interactive on behalf of OCLC) of the general public from six countries—Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States—and of library directors from the U.S. The research provides insights into the values and social-networking habits of library users. continue reading the report

Info courtesy:
Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

The Future of Electronic Paper

Monday, October 15, 2007 - Iddo Genuth

Home >> Articles >> The Future of X

Thirty-five years in the making, electronic paper is now closer than ever to changing the way we read, write, and study — a revolution so profound that some see it as second only to the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. Made of flexible material, requiring ultra-low power consumption, cheap to manufacture, and—most important—easy and convenient to read, e-papers of the future are just around the corner, with the promise to hold libraries on a chip and replace most printed newspapers before the end of the next decade. This article will cover the history, technology, and future of what will be the second paper revolution continue reading

Advice to future graduates

What's an MLIS Worth?

A picture of overall growth is marred by fissures in job outlook

By Stephanie Maatta -- Library Journal, 10/15/2007

"A final question on the follow-up survey—for advice they would give to future colleagues—elicited responses from the philosophical to the practical. But in general, graduates stressed a need to be able to “parlay” personal background into professional experience. They emphasized the need for experience in a library or information agency even if it's in the capacity of a volunteer or page. Additionally, they suggested polishing the professional persona before entering the job market. One advised, “Be sure your MySpace or other social networking web pages are what you want future employers to see. The first thing a department head does when she gets a résumé is google the person.” For those going the corporate route, another advised, “No visible tattoos! Before going to an interview with a reputable firm, take out the face piercings and nose rings. Dye your blue (purple, mauve, or green) hair something 'normal.' Invest in a professionally prepared résumé.” Such professionalism extends to attitude, as expressed in the final piece of practical advice the 2006 graduates issued: “Show your administration that your job is more than just a 'job,' that it is your career.” continue reading the full article

On the same shelf:

5 tips for recent grads looking for work CBC.ca

Lots of education but no experience? Learn to sell yourself Globe and Mail.

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION's Education & Careers Section

Make a living making a difference...

Consider joining the 400,000 librarians and library workers who bring opportunity every day to the communities they serve. If you're looking to enter the library profession or furthering an existing career in libraries, the following resources can help you on your way.

Explore a career in libraries:

• Career Overview
• Salary & Outlook Information

Interested? Start your library career:

• Education & Degrees
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Furthering your library career:

• Professional Development
  • Getting Involved in ALA
  • Continuing Education
• Employment Opportunities
  Includes information for jobseekers, as well as employment resources for existing library workers and human resource professionals.
• Recruiting others to the Profession
  Love your library career? Use these resources to usher in the next generation of library workers.
  

Click here for more info and updates

+ Practical Ideas You Can Use to Improve Your Library Program

Text from the AASL 2001 Annual Conference Session

Title of presentation: 101+ Practical Ideas You Can Use to Improve Your Library Program.

Presented by: Gene Hainer, Colorado State Library and Su Eckhardt, Cherry Creek School District.

(c) 2001, Colorado Educational Media Association and Colorado State Library. Permission to duplicate for educational purposes only, with proper credit to the above authors and organizations. All other rights reserved.

The following ideas were gathered from many sources or personal experience. Some you may want to do now. Others you may never want to do. There may even be things you know about that aren't listed here.

While reading, take a moment to commit yourself to doing something--anything--to improve your library, work life, collection, PR, communication, collaboration, instructional practices. Anything. Then take that first step and try it! If that's successful, try something else. You (and your program) will be better for it.

Categorized by the elements presented in Principles of Information Power: Building Partnerships for Student Learning.

LEADERSHIP

1. Realize that you do not have time to do EVERYTHING. Decide what is important and do THAT....

LEARNING AND TEACHING

45. Start curriculum mapping of the classroom content. Work with teachers to sketch out the major curriculum areas or units that they will be working on throughout the year. These can be displayed on poster board (if first laminated, can be written on, erased, and changed as needed during the year). It also reminds teachers that you and the library are there to help with instruction.

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION

55. Post copyright restrictions. Place on copy machines, VCRs, reproducible notebooks that request permissions, etc.

Continue reading the 101+Practical Ideas You Can Use to Improve Your Library Program

THE IMPORTANCE OF ERESOURCE STATISTICS

Sarah Houghton-Jan [San Mateo County (California, USA) Library] made a good point in this post on Librarian in Black.

in
eMusic says no to DRM -and- Sarah's lesson on the importance of eResource statistics

Hint to Libraries: “Please examine your online resource statistics. When you’re shelling out thousands a pop, it wouldn’t be too much of a burden to make sure those resources are actually being used. Right? You might be surprised that the resources your staff tell you they use all the time are actually the lowest-used in your collection...or what you think might be used, based on instinct, just isn’t. At that point, you have to ask yourself why, and make adjustments in PR, staff training, staff promotion of the resources to the public, and look at the barriers to access on your website or the vendor’s site. See if the numbers rise after making some changes, but give it at least 6 months; it will take time.”

URL: http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2007/10/emusic-says-

info courtesy: Judith A. Siess @ OPL Plus (not just for OPLs anymore)

Enhanced Speed Reading

PS. Interesting application news @ Factiva's "Researcher", info courtesy: Daniela Barbosa and Daniela says: "As promised on Lou's original post, Greg writes about some of the tools that he has been experimenting with which provide capabilities that he is calling 'enhanced speed reading'. His thoughts are based on conversations with information professionals and researchers about how to effectively manage the ever increasing volume of information they need to read."

The following is from Greg's blog:

Concorder Pro: This tool is a bit buggy but I still use it to navigate mini text archives using concordance to browse by words alphabetically or by count. Once you get beyond stop words, it gets very interesting. This app was last updated in 2003 and for OS X mac only. Concordance provides the word counts for every word my mini archive.
Other tools that are also very interesting include:

DEVONagent
Concept Q
RefVis

When considering the professional researcher we not only talk about expert search strategies but how the results are really used. Who scans, reads, annotates the ever-increasing overload of relevant information.

Librarian faces racism at trial if extradited, lawyer tells court

Sep 22, 2007 04:30 AM
Peter Small
Courts Bureau, TheStar.com
A Toronto librarian accused of shooting a white police officer in Chicago almost 40 years ago should not be extradited to face trial in the U.S. because as a black man, he won't get a fair trail, his lawyer has told three appeal court judges.

"Black men in the United States have been victims of persecution for centuries and that includes to the present day ... including state authorities in Chicago," John Norris argued yesterday.

Canada's justice minister turned a "blind eye" to this deep-rooted racism when he ordered Joseph Pannell to be surrendered for extradition, Norris told the panel.

But federal Crown counsel Janet Henchey countered there would be no particular risk to Pannell due to U.S. racism. "Frankly, there is racism in Canada."

Pannell, 58, has been in jail since July 2004, when he was arrested at gunpoint as he left his job at the Toronto Reference Library. continue reading

LIGHTSPACE: Paradigm Shift in Education

"In my student days I studied in some of the world’s most renowned libraries, such as the awe-inspiring library of the British Museum, — where supposedly the dream and the horror of communism was born —, or the much smaller library of Mackintosh’s Fine Arts School in Glasgow. Their difference in size was immense, but there was a common denominator shared by almost all the classical style libraries: that was their dark atmosphere, dim spot lights only, hardly any sound, only whispering; visually you were surrounded by stacks of mostly leather bound and dusty books looking all very ancient. Both buildings were center oriented, inward looking only. You were meant to be glued to your seat over your book. One had the feeling of being in a monastic setting with ancient editions of the Bible, the Greek tragedies and other heavy volumes of sacred wisdom. One wasn’t allowed to speak, forget about laughing. Libraries were conceived as castles of learning, education and ancient wisdom, as if education by default had to be directed backwards. And above all, the accent was on seriousness.

The results of this cloistered and serious paradigm of human learning, whether in the dark halls of Oxford, Harvard or Berlin, ultimately sanctioned by the “religions of the book” from 2000 to 2500 years ago and not derived from “religions of personal experience”, are not encouraging: the 20th century was the bloodiest in human history, and the 21st promises to beat the gruesome record. continue reading Architecture of the Month: 2006 April

"

Yahoo Answers on the Street

See also: Yahoo's New Reality Show:

Shifting Careers - Outside The Box Interactions

Blogging Your Way Into a Business

By MARCI ALBOHER

Published: August 12, 2007

New York Times

Extract:

When Ellyssa Kroski, who is in her mid-30s, completed her master’s degree in library science in 2004, she could not find a full-time job. She was working part time in the Butler Library at Columbia University and in technology consulting, the work she did before she started her master’s program. She decided that blogging about her expertise might be a way to build connections in the field that could lead to a job.

Befitting a librarian, Ms. Kroski’s posts are well researched and well cited, the old-fashioned way, using properly formatted footnotes rather than hyperlinks.

And the blog did lead to a job, an adjunct faculty position at Long Island University’s Palmer School of Library and Information Science. But in the meantime, her interests have changed: while the job is not full time, because of her blog Ms. Kroski’s horizons have risen even further.

“As a new librarian, no one would publish me,” Ms. Kroski said. Yet, after publishing her first article, “Authority in the Age of the Amateur”, on her blog, Infotangle, and circulating it to bloggers in her field, she discovered that she was cited everywhere.
Continue reading

ALA Tool Kit for the Expert Web Searcher

Developed and maintained by Pat Ensor

Tired of endless lists of Web search tools that give you no guidance as to which ones to use? Or that were last updated when Gophers were alive? I'm inviting you to look over my shoulder and use what I use every day for Web searching in an academic library. I keep up with this stuff so you don't have to! continue reading

Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians

Part One @ iLibrarian & OEDb

Librarians are experimenting with a wide range of Facebook Apps ranging from the productive such as the 30 Boxes Calendar, Meebo, Twitter, and Zoho Online Office to the silly with Zombies, Likeness, My Aquarium, and SuperPoke. Here are the first three Facebook Apps designed for the librarian in all of us:
Books iRead – With nearly 200,000 users, this handy app claims to be the most popular book application on Facebook. .



LibGuides Librarian – For those of you using Springshare’s LibGuides subject guides maker for libraries, you’ll be pleased to see this new app which lets you display your guides in your Facebook profile and also provides a search of your library’s catalog.


Librarian –This virtual librarian service provides links to books, scholarly sources, and reference resources which the community can add to and vote on. Those who access this application can access an “Ask a Librarian” service, as well as customize and build their own widget based on the original. Continue reading

“11 Life Rules”. This is not the work of Bill Gaets.

posted @ www.gaets.com

Did Bill Gates really say that?
Bill Gates: Life Is Not Fair - Get Used To olliebray,

(Alleged) advice from Bill Gates
As the story goes, "Bill Gates gave a speech at a high school in which he talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world."
I don't believe this actually came from Bill, but I like it anyway!
Originally from:
Dumbing Down Our Kids
Charles Sykes is the author of DUMBING DOWN OUR KIDS. The following is a list he created for high school and college graduates of things he did not learn in school. In his book, he talks about how the "system" may have created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and set them up for failure in the real world.

The 6th Annual Ohio Library Support Staff Institute August 5 – 7, 2007

at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio

Just added to the agenda:
“The Library Degree: Is It For Me?”
a discussion with Michael Bradshaw, 2006 OLSSI Chair
and Doug Morrison, OLSSI Founder
Keynote Address by Neal Semel of Diversity Matters - "Multiculturalism and Respect"

Classes include:
3-Dimensional Picture Book Art: Movable & Pop-Up Books
Assault Prevention and Self-Defense
Basic Animation Techniques in PowerPoint Presentations
Book Repair
Creating Original Records in WorldCat
Creating Your Own Blog...Hands- on Training
Etiquette and Greetings Around the World
Multicultural Communications and Holidays in a Diverse World
Sexual Harassment: Working With Respect
The Elixir of Librarianship. ..Maps
What A Difference A Generation Makes
Yoga for Stressed Library Staff
This year’s grand prize is an Amish Heartland Package for two at the Inn at Honey Run in beautiful Holmes county.
SPACES ARE FILLING QUICKLY! Register at: http://www.olssi.org [librarian-wannabes]

- posted by Rachel @ Beyond the Job

Reference Books Bulletin: Is Print Reference Dead?

in ALA Annual 2007: Day 4: June 24: Is Print Ref Dead?

Extracts:

Reasons why print is dying:

• Catalog information for p-titles is limited to title in most cases
  e-ref is very browsable online--TOC, indexes, etc.


• Preferences of contemporary users who expect 24/7 access, searchability, full text delivery.


• P-content is invisible


• Print indexes are too hard to use


• MLS/MLIS students are not required to take reference. Most get out of school with only one (or fewer) ref classes


• Print is....print. E-resources offer interactivity and multimedia. Many resources are dynamic and frequently updated

Continue reading

Make sure your resume is noun-intensive

A thought for those who are looking for a job and sending a resume: Don't be insensitive

Scanning technology used by most companies tends to search by nouns, not verbs. For example, instead of writing "managed projects" on your resume, write "project manager." in 10 Ways to Stand Out From Your Competition, By KATE LORENZ, CAREERBUILDER.COM EDITOR

Who is Reading Books (and who is not)

PS. This is a quote posted by Bill @ Faith Commons: A Chasm Is Growing Between the Knows and the Know-nots

58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.

42% of college graduates never read another book.

80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.

70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

--Jerrold Jenkins via Dan Poynter's ParaPublishing

What are the advantages of e-books over print books

punchline:

3.2.6i: Why Librarians would like to purchase more e-books and encourage greater use of them, and their concerns
3.2.6ia: Access
3.2.6ib: Stock Maintenance and Administrative
Tasks
3.2.6ic: Quality of Stock
3.2.6id: Economic Considerations

3.2.6ii: Librarians’ prioritisation of e-book acquisition, with reasons
3.2.6iia: High demand
3.2.6iib: Material types sought
3.2.6iic: Target subjects
3.2.6iid: Specific user groups
3.2.6iie: Constraints
continue reading: What are the advantages of e-books over print books

see also:

Advantages of E-books www.ukoln.ac.uk

The Benefits and Advantages of Ebooks By Remez Sasson

advantages of ebooks

Google for more

The Top 10 Reasons to Be a Librarian

By Martha J. SpearLibrary media specialist Berkley (Mich.) High School
(with apologies to David Letterman)

As a high school library media specialist, I have the good fortune to work with, and sometimes mold, young people. If I’m lucky, I discover what they do after graduation. Recently, one of my favorite students informed me that after earning her humanities degree at a tiny private college, she was pursuing a master’s degree in museum studies. Congratulating her, I jokingly said, “Watch it. That’s awfully close to a master’s in library science.” She laughed and said: “Oh, I’d never do that.” Somewhat defensively, I replied, “You could do worse.”

Long after this brief conversation, I wondered, where did we, as librarians, go wrong? Why is there such an onus on this profession that a bright, young person would choose, well, any career but that of librarianship? I think it’s sad. Librarianship has much to offer, and I think we can do better in promoting our profession. Toward that end, I present my top 10 reasons for being a librarian.

Ever-changing and renewing
Romance
Useful skills
Great conferences
Time off
A job with scope
It pays the rent
Good working conditions
Cool coworkers
Grand purpose
In sum, I feel very much like Evelyn Carnahan in the film The Mummy. To refresh your memory, our leading lady is in the midst of describing—and defending—what she does for a living to a roguish male. They have been drinking.

Evelyn: Look, I—I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O’Connell! But I am proud of what I am!

Rick O’Connell: And what is that?

Evelyn: I am . . . a librarian!

I couldn’t have said it better.

This article originally appeared in American Libraries, October 2002, p. 54–55. continue reading

Finding a journal article is like hunting for a needle in a haystack

I have an excellent powerpoint presentation on information literacy. This was originally designed as an online tutorial.
Available on request.

Punchline:
"Unfortunately, database searching techniques are rarely taught inelementary secondary education and college and graduate education may often see little increase in this nil level of instruction. Hence information literacy in academia is perhaps the most neglected area of erudition and is after all only that minor aspect of scholarship that involves the methods one uses in electronic sources to find the
publications and documents that are on topic for research and specific subject learning." David Dillard


See also other PowerPoint presentations:

• Blog As A Teaching Tool
• The Six A’s for Evaluating Web Content

Library Technicians - Who are they?

From: College Grad Careers
CollegeGrad.com - Career Videos, Library Technicians. Library Technicians occupy the top spot on the Librarian support staff. They free Librarians up for other tasks, while helping to acquire, prepare and organize materials.

Library 2.0 - This network is for Library 2.0 Stuff

This network is for librarians and others interested in Library 2.0.

Quote of the Day - Good Library is ....

"The closest we will ever come to an orderly universe is a good library." Ashleigh Brilliant

Thanks to Gwyn Raven @ Myrddin Wandering for this quote, and for linking all my blogs.

PS. See more quotations on Library, books, readers, and reading habits @ my blog: Library & Information Science Quotations

Academics strike back at spurious rankings

Academics strike back at spurious rankings
D Butler, Nature 447, 514-515 (31 May 2007) doi:10.1038/447514b

Below are excerpts from the Nature article, followed by some
references:
Universities seek reform of ratings.

[A] group of US colleges [called for a] boycott [of] the most influential university ranking in the United States...
Experts argue that these are based on dubious methodology and spurious data, yet they have huge influence...

"All current university rankings are flawed to some extent; most, fundamentally,"

The rankings in the U.S. News & World Report and those published by the British Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) depend heavily on surveys of thousands of experts - a system that some contest. A third popular ranking, by Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China, is based on more quantitative measures, such as citations, numbers of Nobel prizewinners and publications in Nature and Science. But even these measures are not straightforward.

Thomson Scientific's ISI citation data are notoriously poor for use in rankings; names of institutions are spelled differently from one article to the next, and university affiliations are sometimes omitted altogether. After cleaning up ISI data on all UK papers for such effects... the true number of papers from the University of Oxford, for example, [were] 40% higher than listed by ISI...

Researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands have similarly recompiled the ISI database for 400 universities: half a million papers per year. Their system produces various rankings based on different indicators. One, for example, weights citations on the basis of their scientific field, so that a university that does well
in a heavily cited field doesn't get an artificial extra boost.

The German Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) also offers rankings... for almost 300 German, Austrian and Swiss universities... the CHE is expanding the system to cover all Europe.

The US Commission on the Future of Higher Education is considering creating a similar public database, which would offer competition to the U.S. News & World Report.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bollen, Johan and Herbert Van de Sompel. Mapping the structure of science through usage. Scientometrics, 69(2), 2006
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11192-006-0151-8

Hardy, R., Oppenheim, C., Brody, T. and Hitchcock, S. (2005) Open Access Citation Information. http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/11536/

Harnad, S., Carr, L., Brody, T. & Oppenheim, C. (2003) Mandated online RAE CVs Linked to University Eprint Archives: Improving the UK Research Assessment Exercise whilst making it cheaper and easier. Ariadne 35.
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/Ariadne-RAE.htm

Shadbolt, N., Brody, T., Carr, L. and Harnad, S. (2006) The Open Research Web: A Preview of the Optimal and the Inevitable, in Jacobs, N., Eds. Open Access: Key Strategic, Technical and Economic Aspects,
chapter 21. Chandos. http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/12453/

Harnad, S. (2007) Open Access Scientometrics and the UK Research Assessment Exercise. Invited Keynote, 11th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics. Madrid,
Spain, 25 June 2007 http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.IR/0703131

Kousha, Kayvan and Thelwall, Mike (2006) Google Scholar Citations and Google Web/URL Citations: A Multi-Discipline Exploratory Analysis. In Proceedings International Workshop on Webometrics, Informetrics and Scientometrics & Seventh COLLNET Meeting, Nancy (France).
http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00006416/

Moed, H.F. (2005). Citation Analysis in Research Evaluation. Dordrecht (Netherlands): Springer.

van Raan, A. (2007) Bibliometric statistical properties of the 100 largest European universities: prevalent scaling rules in the science system. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology http://www.cwts.nl/Cwts/Stat4AX-JASIST.pdf

Stevan Harnad
AMERICAN SCIENTIST OPEN ACCESS FORUM:
To join or leave the Forum or change your subscription address:
http://amsci-forum.amsci.org/archives/American-Scientist-Open-Access-Forum.html

Seneca Library Holiday Song

See also from my blogs:

Funny you should ask: Humor at the Reference Desk

Unusual Reference Questions - Globalism Visited

Silence Please: Mr. Bean, The Library

The Technique of Song and Sound Visualization: Blogga Song of Librarians

2007 ALA Annual Poster Sessions Abstracts - Online!

26th Annual ALA Poster Sessions Abstracts - Online!

American Library Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC, June 21-27, 2007


Info courtesy:

Jody Condit Fagan
Chair, ALA Poster Sessions
Digital Services Librarian
James Madison University
E-mail: faganjc@jmu.edu

See related resources:

CALL Conference 2007 Presentations Online

Library Related Conferences - A Global List

Funny you should ask: Humor at the Reference Desk

"A short time after returning to librarianship after some years away, I was working at the reference desk . . . When I looked up . . . a young man (approximately college age) was standing there. I asked if I could help him and he said, "Do you have anything on eunuchs?"

A sample from "Funny You Should Ask: Baffling, Bewildering, and
Bizarre Questions from the Reference Desk" (Thomson, 2005) (a weekly e-mail column from Gale.com)

Janis Test of the Abilene Public Library contributed this:

"Somewhat taken aback, I decided to use my reference interview skills (however rusty) and began asking questions such as "Do you have any particular time period in mind?" and "Are you more interested in harem culture, or castrati?"

When I noted that he was looking at me as if I were from another planet, I sighed and fell back on the tried and true, "How do you spell that?"

He rolled his eyes and said patiently, "U-N-I-X." I said, "Oh, exactly," looked it up in the online catalog and directed him to the appropriate part of the library. Once he had gotten out of range, I began laughing and almost literally fell out of my chair. So much for the reference interview." [source: "Al Reynolds" ]

True Library stories

"Humor is allowed in reference desk answers"

Librarian Humor in Classroom and Reference

See also: Google

Unusual Reference Questions - Globalism Visited

Library Related Conferences - A Global List

Library Related Conferences

compiled by Marian Dworaczek
University of Saskatchewan Library

See also:

Information Seeking Behavior - Quote of the day

"In early days, I tried not to give librarians any trouble, which was where I made my primary mistake. Librarians like to be given trouble; they exist for it, they are geared to it. For the location of a mislaid volume, an uncatalogued item, your good librarian has a ferret’s nose. Give her a scent and she jumps the leash, her eye bright with battle" Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973), U.S. biographer.
source: http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/infoseek.html

see also related post from my other blog:

Information Seeking Behavior of the Believers

more Library & Information Science Quotations

SHARP 2007 - Open the Book, Open the Mind

Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP)
July 11-14, 2007 (pre-conference activites July 10), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

The conference theme, “Open the Book, Open the Mind,” will highlight how books develop and extend minds and cultures, and also how they are opened to new media and new purposes. However, individual papers or sessions may address any aspect of book history and print culture. Continue reading

PS. Info courtesy: Sarah @ Beyond the Job

A Job By Any Other Name - Finding Career Information

PS. Excellent taxonomy: Library, Information Professional, Knowledge Worker (see the image below):




Source: A Job By Any Other Name - Finding Career Information

See my recent posts:

Blog Taxonomy

Librarians and Knowledge Management

Leadership Basics for Librarians and Information Professionals

See my related posts:

The 'Librarian' Job Title - An Unending Marathon

How To Prepare For An Interview

Introvert and Looking for a Job - You are not alone

Job Pathfinder - Join the race

Show Your Business Plan

Top Ten Ways to Find a Law Library Job

A Cover Letter Pinpointing Their Needs and Your Skills

Nine Questions on Technology Innovation in Academic Libraries

In February, 2007, an invitation to an informal survey of "Nine Questions on Technology Innovation in Academic Libraries" was posted to the WEB4LIB, NGC4LIB, LITA-L, COLLIB-L, ACRL-NJ and New Jersey academic library listservs, and it was mentioned in the national ACRLog blog.

The following is a brief summary of the informal survey results with links to more complete information:
***
The survey received 136 responses in total, and 75% said that their library is not the center of technology innovation on campus, while 23% identified the library as the center of technology innovation on campus.

Overall, the majority responded that:

*Recent technology innovations in the library included blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, IM reference, and digitization projects.

*The driving force behind tech. innovation is student needs, followed by an Information Tech. Chief or Dean with vision, and the initiative of individuals.

*The biggest obstacle to tech. innovation in libraries is lack of money, staff, and time, with an unsupportive administration cited as one of the top four obstacles.

*The Library's approach and the Library staff's approach to technology innovation were both overwhelmingly described as "cautious but willing," though the staff were more often described as "resistant and blocking" than the Library itself.

*Faculty and librarians were most cited as the introducers of disruptive technology on campus, followed closely by students.

*The most disruptive technology for academic libraries today is "Web 2.0" or Social Computing technologies with Google/Google Scholar coming up second.

*The Top Ten Models of Technology Innovation cited by the libraries that answered that their libraries are centers of technology innovation were very similar to those cited overall. The Top Ten Models identified were:

1) North Carolina State University – Endeca Project
2) University of Pennsylvania - PennTags
3) MIT – DSpace
4) University of Michigan – Digital Library Production Service (DLPS)
5) University of Minnesota – Primo library system
6) Cornell University – Digital Library Research Projects
7) University of Virginia – Fedora Open Source Institutional Repository 8) University of California – California Digital Library (CDL)
9) University of California, Santa Barbara - Alexandria Digital Library Geospatial Network
10) Oregon State University – LibraryFind Project

For more information on these Top Ten Models of Tech. Innovation in Academic Libraries, links and abstracts are posted on the ACRL-New Jersey Chapter Website
Separate analyses for the libraries that answered "yes" they are the center of technology innovation and the libraries that answered "no"
The overall quantitative results of the survey and the text of the nine
questions are posted online

NB. Info courtesy: Mary A. Mallery @ [Web4lib] & College Libraries Section [COLLIB-L@ala.org ]

Technorati tags:
ACRL
college and research libraries

Mattering in the Blogosphere

"American Libraries asked 16 much-visited librarian bloggers why the medium continues to appeal to them and what keeps them posting. The 10 who replied are, in alphabetical order:"

Blake Carver, LISNews

Nicole Engard, What I Learned Today

Rochelle Hartman, Tinfoil+Raccoon

Sarah Houghton-Jan, Librarian in Black

Jenny Levine, The Shifted Librarian

Kathleen de la Pena McCook,Librarian at the Kitchen Table

Mary Minow, Library Law

Joshua Neff, Goblin in the Library

Jack Stephens, Conservator

Jessamyn West, Librarian.net

PS. All-of-the-above information courtesy: Tinfoil + Raccoon's Blog
American Libraries, March 2007

Blog Taxonomy

Annoyed Librarian Library Blog Taxonomy

Walt Crawford is preparing his new study of library blogs, and that got me to thinking about the wonderful world of bibliotekblogging. Inspired by his example, I thought I would come out with my own taxonomy of library blogs. I'm sure his study will be thorough and insightful, because he likes to work hard and do useful things for the profession. I, of course, don't. So what follows is my exhaustive analysis and classification of library blogs, arrived at by carefully scrutinizing Walt Crawford's Bloglines subscriptions for about 10 minutes.

[view these taxonomies]
Library Blog as Personal Diary
Library Blog as Personal Diary Written by Andy Rooney
Library Blog as Professional Therapy
Library Blog as Personal Cry for Help
Library Blog as Pathetic Cry for Attention
Library Blog as Counter-Librarian Blog
Library Blog as Professional Self-promotion
Library Blog as Serious Library Report
Library Blog as Witty Library Report
Library Blog as Book Review Medium
Library Blog as Book Free Zone
Library Blog as Librarian Cheerleader
Library Blog as Cynical Library Critic
Library Blog as Informative Library Analysis
Library Blog as Unpaid Technology Advertising
Library Blog as Informative Technology Selection Tool
Library Blog as Future Manifesto
Library Blog as Business Manifesto
Library Blog as Left-wing Propaganda
Library Blog as Right-wing Propaganda
Library Blog as Fair and Balanced Political Analysis
Library Blog as Inoffensive Satire
Library Blog as Offensive Satire

BoleyBlogs! » A Taxonomy of Legal Blogs

A Taxonomy of Legal Blogs

My previous posts:

Citing a Blog, Wiki - Style for bibliographic notes and references

Blog As A Teaching Tool

Go to the library - ways to survive life without the Internet

An online search may be fast and effortless, but there is nothing like a reference library to make you really appreciate the world of knowledge. Surround yourself in books and get a taste of what it was like to engross yourself in research before the Internet. The process is far more challenging and rewarding." Source: 7 ways to survive life without the Internet

And, Then The Life Will Be As-Is:

Internet and the Future,
"...the Web’s days are numbered as the Internet moves to a second round of expansion beyond the browser... continue reading"

Living beyond Internet, by VAISHNAVI SUBRAMANIAN - Dil Se, The Hindu, Aug 06, 2007

To a Librarian Who Wants to Write - Outside the Box

"If I were in a position to recommend anything as an addition to the education of librarians, it would be that they write a novel." Michael McGrorty @ Library Dust: A small gift to the library world from Michael McGrorty.

See my LIS quotations' blog for more on writing, librarians, novels and the world of bookmanship.

see also:

Writing for the Library Profession Presented by: Stephen Abram - Vice President of Innovation for SirsiDynix and Chief Strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute
Judith A. Siess - Expert in one-person librarianship and interpersonal networking

Provision of Medical Information - Ask Cosmo, NLM’s Virtual Representative!

1. "Ask Cosmo" is an automated answer-my-question site at http://wwwns.nlm.nih.gov/
Many questions from the general public can be answered by Cosmo the Owl.

2. Questions may be directed by telephone at the following numbers:
(888) FIND-NLM
(888) 346-3656 Local and international calls:
(301) 594-5983
-------------------------------------------------
Background note: NLM usually received from 200 to 500 requests per day when I was there. Some were library questions ("How to I use PubMed?") but many were cries for medical help ("My daughter has cancer and the medicine isn't working, what can I do?").

Al Reynolds [ecumenical77 at earthlink dot net] wrote:

I served on the Customer Service staff of the National Library of Medicine for two years. Such questions are constantly being directed to NLM as a free and reputable source of medical information.

There are 7 or 8 full time staff members tasked with responding to such questions. Of course we are not clinicians, so we provide information found on such sites as MedlinePlus and PubMed, and we use directory sites, advocacy organizations and professional associations quite heavily.
You or your patrons may address queries to: custserv@nlm.nih.gov
A response will be sent within 4 working days. NLM does not send printed materials.
During my two years I worked messages originating in 106 countries.
Al Reynolds
Reference Assistant
Frederick Memorial Hospital
Frederick, Maryland
Former contractor at U.S. National Library of Medicine

P.S. This information is disseminated with permission from Al Reynolds.

From the Blogosphere:

Ask Cosmo, NLM’s Virtual Representative! by Jodi

Copyrights and Copywrongs - Responsibility of Media and Academia

P.S. This is not a sequel of Copyrights and Copywrongs: Interview with Siva Vaidhyanathan.
Rather, this is about media (MSN, Yahoo, Google) and academia

Belgian newspapers go after Yahoo, By: Nancy Gohring
IDG News Service (Dublin Bureau) (22 Jan 2007)

Google argued that it doesn't violate copyright because it only summarizes articles and displays the source of the content and the name of the author before directing users to the Web page hosting the content. The judge is expected to rule on the case this month. full story

EMERGING NEWS:

Google has pledged to tighten its advertising controls after some of the biggest media companies in the US accused it of knowingly encouraging copyright theft. in US media: Google 'encourages copyright theft' By Laura Clout, Telegraph, 13/02/2007

PUNCHLINE for the academic world (just-in-case):
Oh my god not more copyright stuff @ Playing with Technology
See also:
Public Domain Chart
Fair Use Checklist

Related posts from my desktop

Citing Sources - Electronic, Print, etc.

With Malice Towards None; And Citations for All

The Lessons of T Shirts to Marketers

"One of the problems all of us marketers has is that we lie to ourselves. We want so badly to reinforce what we think we know that we often miss the obvious.

We turn to focus groups and see what we want to see.
We turn to "experts" and hear what we want to hear.
We turn to research to read what we want to read.

We even talk to our customers. Unfortunately, our customers perception of how they interact with our products and services don't alway match reality. No where is this more obvious than at sporting events." Full artilce

Wikipedia and Academia Hit News Headlines Again

Poor Wikipedia. Professional Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is suing one of its contributors for a defamatory cyber-attack. And last year, television host and comedian Stephen Colbert urged his audience to vandalize a Wikipedia entry about elephants to prove the point that in a model where any user can edit encyclopedia entries, those entries are only as good as their source. Look Who's Using Wikipedia, Mar. 01, 2007, By BILL TANCER, Time / CNN [info courtesy, David Dillar]

Current News Stories:

"...places like the blogosphere or the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, people no longer treat or respect each other as individuals." Web 2.0's 'digital mobs' attacked: Jaron Lanier tells BBC World Service's Culture Shock

Wikipedia not source for papers: College Sify News, Tuesday, 13 February , 2007.
Middlebury: Middlebury College history students are no longer allowed to use Wikipedia in preparing class papers.
The school's history department recently adopted a policy that says it's OK to consult the popular online encyclopedia, but that it can't be cited as an authoritative source by students.
The policy says, in part, "Wikipedia is not an acceptable citation, even though it may lead one to a citable source."
History professor Neil Waters says Wikipedia is an ideal place to start research but an unacceptable way to end it. Read another source

A Wikipedia WIthout Graffiti by CmdrTaco on Wednesday February 07,

A Stand Against Wikipedia: Inside Higher Ed, January 26, 2007
As Wikipedia has become more and more popular with students, some
professors have become increasingly concerned about the online,
reader-produced encyclopedia.

A Stand Against Wikipedia

The Death of Authority?

Tricky truths behind Wikipedia By Alex Beam, Globe Columnist | March 12, 2007 [or Stikcy Wiki, in Deccan Chronicle, India]

Wiki Etiquette [ Business Week has a good “do’s and don’ts” list for working with wikis. Worth a quick read. ]

From News Archives:

Wikipedia Revisited Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large, March 2007 v. 7 no. 3

RERERENCE: ENCYCLOPEDIAS: The Wikipedia and Serious Research

Rick's Blog without Clogs: Wiki Picki Poo Poo

When it comes to Computer Science, don't reference Wikipedia

Wikipedia And Academia in ACRLog - Blogging by and for academic and research librarians

Wikipedia "nofollow" aftermath Seth Finkelstein's

The Faith-Based Encyclopedia

The other side of the coin:

Wikipedia/Our Replies to Our Critics

Criticism of Wikipedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Related resources:

Blogging: A Reliable Academic Source?

The academic contributions of blogging?

The scholarly content of blogging

Academic Blogging Collection

My previous posts:

Citing a Blog, Wiki - Style for bibliographic notes and references

Blog As A Teaching Tool

Is this yet another Wiki in Library and Information Science

Thought for the day - Nicole Godin

- Nicole Godin, Manager/Technical Services Librarian Regulatory Information Services Bell Canada 110 O'Connor St., 7th Floor Ottawa, ON

Continue reading more at Info*nation:
At the Core
"Back in the days of sensible shoes, buns and shushing (and YES, those days are past) the library world held the same basic values it does today. If any of the concepts below inspire you with noble aspirations, you may have found your calling - in libraries."

Literacy & Education
Serving the Public
Intellectual Freedom
Access to Information
Information Intermediary
Preservation
Professionalism

How To Prepare For An Interview

This post is dedicated to Joseph Romain, my pal, who inspired me to develop my communication skills.



NB. In case the above video is not clear, check Youtube's How To Prepare For An Interview And much more on Job Interviews @ YouTube

See also:

• Monster Success Coach Robin Sharma

• Library interview questions @ Job Interview Questions

   

The Changing Role Of Library Science

By Aja Carmichael

From The Wall Street Journal Online
The librarian with cat's-eye glasses, a faded cardigan and gray hair twisted into a bun is getting a makeover.

source: Library Link of the Day

See also:

Jenny Levine addresses the SC Librarians

Re-defining the library by Lynne Brindley, Library Hi Tech 2006 Volume: 24 Issue: 4 Page: 484 - 495
Abstract: Purpose – This article was originally the keynote speech to the Bielefeld Conference. The article aims to explore the challenges facing libraries in the digital age and consider ways in which they need to reshape and rethink their services and skills to maintain their relevance and contribution.
Check for fulltext article and other interesting stuff, such as, Design / methodology / approach Findings Practical implications

Inviting Participation in Web 2.0 by David King, Digital Branch & Services Manager at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

Dewey, or Don't We?, By Traci Vogel

Interview (by Vinita Ramani) with Julian Samuel who made a documentary film, 'The Library in Crisis'

Picture database recognized as "Best Site"

101 Best Web Sites for Elementary Teachers.
The International Society for Technology in Education has named a Miami database as one of "101 Best Web Sites for Elementary Teachers." (Media-Newswire.com)
Valerie A. Ubbes ( physical education, health and sport studies ) created the Children?s Picture Book Database at Miami University in 1995 in partnership with the Miami University libraries.

The project now provides abstracts for more than 5,000 children's picture books and can be searched by topics, concepts and skills from eight academic disciplines. The key feature of the database is that books are organized by 10-15 key words, not only the few words provided by the Library of Congress. This gives users access to a broader collection of books for specialized purposes, in new patterns for interdisciplinary study.

The site's usefulness can be judged by the fact that thousands of users from the United States and seven foreign countries log into it weekly. "Googling" Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University, 25,000 links come up, including resource lists maintained by universities, schools, libraries, teacher groups, national literacy organizations and businesses catering to parents. Continue reading