Library Annecdotes: Have Printer Will Travel

...this particular guy also brought along a full-size HP laser printer (in the box) that he wheeled in on one of those luggage carriers. He was quiet, did what he needed to do in about an hour’s time, then he packed-up his printer and laptop and left. … I never saw this before in the Library. Have Printer Will Travel

See also on the same shelf:

• Unusual Reference Questions - Globalism Visited


• Blogga Song of Librarians


• The Librarians - an Australian ABC Comedy Series


• Silence Please: Mr. Bean, The Library


• Thou shalt read on rainy afternoons
• True Library stories
• "Humor is allowed in reference desk answers"
• Librarian Humor in Classroom and Reference
• What do you do when the internet is down?
• Case Studies from India: Evidence-based Librarianship
• Funny you should ask: Humor at the Reference Desk
• Unusual Reference Questions - Globalism Visited
• How to kill a young librarian's love of librarianship (AKA. A Dispute Resolution Guide)
• A ‘typical’ library school student "By generalizing librarians to be a women with a buns and a finger up to their mouths ’shhshhing’ we simplify a complicated, multi-faceted profession."

New 3 Rs: Revolution, Reorganization and Renovation ~ Thought for the day

"One of the chapters especially caught my eye. It is by one of the Charleston Conference mentors – Susan Campbell (Director, York College Library, York, Pennsylvania). Her paper is called “The New 3 Rs: Revolution, Reorganization and Renovation.” In it Susan explains how Schmidt Library managed a reorganization that eliminated 13 clerical positions and created 11 new full-time and 2 new part-time positions as well as performing renovations in three and a half months with $3.5 million."

quoted in Rumor of the day by katina.strauch (For book chapters and much more 'Connection. Competition. Collaboration,' See: Defining Relevancy, Managing the New Academic Library, edited by Janet McNeil Hurlbert, Libraries Unlimited, 2007

Innovative Internet Applications in Libraries ~~ Book and Reading Lists

Note: This is an excellent categorization of the emerging trends in services and products.
Kathy Leeds @ Wilton Library needs to be congratualted for this creative resource.

"Reader's advisory has not disappeared from the list of functions libraries traditionally perform. The following are a few examples of Web versions of this service:

Addison [IL] Public Library: Readers' Resources
Austin [TX] Public Library: Good Reads
Baltimore County Public Library: Books and More
Canterbury [NZ] Public Library: If You Like...
Cleveland [OH] Public Library: YRead? for Teens
County of Los Angeles [CA] Public Library: Readers' Advisory Services
Essex [UK] Libraries: Ask Chris
Evanston [IL] Public Library: Reading Resources

Continue browsing: @ Wilton Library

Innovative Internet Applications in Libraries ~~ Ages & Stages

Note: This is an excellent categorization of the emerging trends in services and products.
Kathy Leeds @ Wilton Library needs to be congratualted for this creative resource.

"Special sections of sites designed for segments of the service population are increasingly part of library offerings."
Boston Public Library Extreme Teen Lounge
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Teens Real Life
Dewey Browse [Chesterfield, NH School Library]
eVolver [Denver,CO Public Library]
50 Plus [Phoenix (AZ) Public Library]
55+ [Hennepin County Library]
For Kids [Chicago Public Library]
For Teens, Kids & Parents [Winnipeg Public Library]
Kids & Teens [Tacoma, WA Public Library]
Kids @ the Library [Halifax Public Library, Canada]
Kids' Place [Newark, NJ Public Library]
Kidspoint [The Central Rappahannock VA Regional Library]
Children's Room [High Point NC Public Library]
Kids' Central [Waukesha, WI Public Library]
Kids Know It All [Harris County (TX)Public Library]
On-Lion for Kids [NY Public Library]

Continue browsing @ Wilton Library

Collection Development or Collection Building

Name (what's in a name, anyways): Collection Building is not a preferred term, rather Library of Congress has the blessings for Collection development (Libraries)

I am reading this book: Crash Course in Collection Developme...
Wayne Disher (2007).

This book looks interesting, educating and detailed. It must be a
required reading for library science students as well librarians
searching for meaning in their chosen specialization by the type of
library (oops! the book's orientation is towards
a public library).

See also on the same shelf:
20 Maxims for Collection Building - 9/15/2007 - Library Journal
Contemporary collection development involves art, science, and business.
By Barbara Genco, as told to Raya Kuzyk

Facet 1: EMPOWERED PATRONS
>1 The user and the ILS > 2 Security and self-check > 3 Tagging, not MARC? >

Facet 2: MOBILITY AND DIGITIZATION
> 4 It's content, not containers, Stupid! > 5 Moving materials smarter > 6 Off-site storage and digitization > 7 Downloadable and digital

Facet 3: TRANSPARENT HOLDINGS
> 8 Power of the OPAC > 9 Logistics and process design are key > 10 If it's not cataloged, it doesn't exist > 11 “One big library”

Facet 4: RESPONSIVE ADMINISTRATION
> 12 Fewer librarians, more parapros? > 13 Measuring productivity, use, and needs > 14 Reference is dead; long live reference > 15 Policies are still primary

Facet 5: E-CONTENT AND THE WEB
> 16 It's a Google world > 17 Licenses and government documents

Facet 6: STREAMING SELECTION
> 18 Improving vendor relations > 19 Staying out front > 20 Libraries: The long tail writ large

Continue reading the article @ Library Journal

DeweyBrowser beta v2.0

Search for a topic, click on a Dewey caption, or try a Random Search

©OCLC Online Computer Library Center

• a project of OCLC Research

• Learn About DeweyBrowser
Access DeweyBrowser Beta v1.0

Hiring Manager’s Keyword Search Survey Results

A recent CareerBuilder.com survey found the following:

“…Hiring managers often use electronic scanners to rank candidates based on a keyword search of applications, so make sure to pepper keywords from the job posting into your resume as they apply to your experience. The terms employers search for most often are:
problem-solving and decision-making skills (50 percent)
oral and written communications (44 percent)
customer service or retention (34 percent)
performance and productivity improvement (32 percent)
leadership (30 percent) continue reading @ The Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarian’s Weblog

Amazing how mission drives an organization

"I was at the ARL "Library Management Skills Institute I: The Manager" session a couple weeks ago, and it was impressed on me how dramatically the values and perspectives of librarians changed depending on their respective organizations' missions.

I work for a library which has clearly articulated a strategic plan, mission, and values which says that service is one of our core principles. This "patron-first" vision frames the way we see things, and it comes straight from our Dean.

It is in this principle of service that our Dean has justified NOT moving toward ARL status as a library. This is a significant change from the previous administration which had placed ARL status as one of the library's priorities... continue reading: Adam Wathen @ The Thinking Library

Library Research Project 101

Things to think about as you approach a research project

@Ann the Librarian

"I’ve been playing around with making a worksheet to use when I’m working with students who are just starting a research project. “Research” in this context refers to library research to find relevant articles, books, documents, etc, about a topic.
So here’s my first draft:

1. What discipline or disciplines am I working in?

2. What type of literature or information do I need?

3. How and where will I search for the information I need?

4. How will I access the information that I find?

5. What keywords or terms will I use to describe my topic?

6. After running a few searches: What results am I getting?

7. What refinements should I make to my search in light of those results?

8. How will I use the results that I’ve found?

9. What am I missing?

THE LIBRARIAN'S PRAYER / PRAYER FOR LIBRARIANS

Our Chief Librarian at BNB,
Hallowed be thy Catalogue,
Thy Issues be increased,
Thy Books be Strict-Ordered,
In Fiction as they are in Non-Fiction
Give us this day our Overdue Books back,
And forgive us our Classification Errors,
As we forgive those who Misplace our Books
(as they know not thy Prophet Dewey)
Lead us not into False Subject Headings,
But deliver us from Categorisation
..........and cuts in Opening Hours
..........and reductions in the Book Fund
For thine is the Issue System,
the Date Stamp
and the Light Pen
For Ever and Ever
Amen (submitted by Sue Marsden) @IFLA' site

PRAYER FOR LIBRARIANS [From Biblia's Humor Pages]


Lord, grant me the Serenity
to accept that the book is lost forever;
The Courage to refuse
a loan when there's an overdue book;
And the Wisdom to know
when it's time to take a break.

One the same shelf:
Cyber Worship Resource of the Week is The Jewish Prayer While Logging Onto the Internet

22 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Get for Free

"Conventional wisdom holds that you only get what you pay for, but the real free geek knows that with the right knowledge (and maybe a charming smile) pretty much anything, even the good stuff, can be had for less or in the best case scenarios nothing at all. Despite this, there are a number of things out there that don’t seem to scream “free” majority of the time (MIT being one). Here’s a list of a few free things that might surprise you."

The list includes:

• Classes at MIT offers a majority of its curriculum
• Language Lessons @ BBC
• Business Education @ Local business centers
• Computer Classes @ offer workshops
• 411 Service @ (800-FREE-411)
• Used Books @ PaperBackSwap or Title Trader
• Comic Books @ free comics
• CPR Courses @ online
• Much more...
  

info cortesy: http://www.davelafferty.com

Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks

Best comment for those who love to look outside the box:

"Even your librarians learned something new from this article on the lifehacker web site:

10. Get the local time anywhere

9. Track flight status

8. Convert currency, metrics, bytes, and more

7. Compare items with "better than" and find similar items with "reminds me of"

6. Use Google as a free proxy

5. Remove affiliate links from product searches

4. Find related terms and documents

3. Find music and comic books

2. ID people, objects, and foreign language words and phrases with Google Image Search

1. Make Google recognize faces

Info courtesy: Dr. John Archer Library

On the same shelf:

18 expert tips which every Googler must know

How to kill a young librarian's love of librarianship (AKA. A Dispute Resolution Guide)

Thanks to Dr. Wilfred Drew for this inside-box news story.

His list of actions, messages and motivations, all coming from the box around, include many do's and don'ts. I like his do's, as guidelines to be considered by all the concerned (just-in-case they are looking for creative visualizations):

• Award only those that maintain the status quo
• Blame people for failures.
• Call young librarians "cute" and ignore what they can really do
• Maintain walls between departments
• Demand unquestioning trust in what you do
• Veteran librarians know best because that is the way it has always been done
  

Continue reading the list, and the comments of the experienced

PS. I need his help in drawing a list of such guidelines on how to kill a foreign trained librarians' love of librarianship (and de-humanize these in a very polished, friendly and courteous manner, not to lead him, but just mention in passing, find a sure-killer list that comes with sugar coated delusions).

Nine Free Apps Every Writer Should Consider

q10: A cool, minimalist full-screen text editor that includes a spellchecker and a couple other nice features. (Win Only; Alternatives: DarkRoom, also Win-only; WriteRoom, Mac-only but not free; Writer, online app)
Freemind: Java-based mindmapping software. Great for brainstorming and taking notes. (Runs anywhere Java runs)
EverNote: Capture formatted notes from any application to a single place. The new version (in private beta now) offers online access, too. (A paid version offers niceties like handwriting recognition.)
Zotero: Firefox extension that allows you to capture bibliographic information from web pages, organize citiations and documents, and create bibliographies in Word and OpenOffice. Essential for anyone who does research on the web.
yWriter4: Novel-writing software created by a working writer with writers in mind. Keeps character descriptions, notes, and other essential information at your fingertips as you write. (Win and Linux)
Sonar: Submission tracking software from the same guy who wrote yWriter4. Keep track of markets and submissions easily. (Win and Linux)
Foxit Reader: A super-fast PDF reader. Opens almost every document much more quickly than Adobe Reader. (Win only)
PDF Creator: Open source program to create PDF files from any application that can print. Installs a "virtual printer" under your programs "Print" menu; select it to save as PDF. (Win only)
Enso Words: Provides system-wide spellchecking and word count; simply select text and enter a keystroke combination ("Caps Lock" + s for spellcheck, "Caps Lock" + w for word count, etc.). (Win only)
Continue reading: The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource by Dustin Wax

[Info courtesy: Narrative and Storytelling @ How to Save the World by Dave Pollard]

Ten New Positions I'd Like to See

Dream come true of another library blogger?? Not yet.... says Laura Cohen:

My library just got a huge, anonymous donation to fund ten new positions for as long as we want them. We're now in the process of figuring out the basics of these new lines. It's an exciting time for us. I may have been dreaming this.

Dreaming about:

• Social Networking Support Librarian.
• Collaborative Publishing Librarian.
• Multimedia Publishing Librarian
• Coordinator of Student Participation
• Programming Risk-Taker.
• OPAC Transformation Librarian
• Testbed Technologist
• Digitization Librarian
• Remote User Librarian
• Exploration and Training Librarian

Keep reading and hope against hope: Library 2.0: An Academic's Perspective

PS. Same shelf: A librarian by any other name... by Mary Ellen Bates

FREE TOOLS & Software for Information Managers

FREE TOOLS/Software to Download for use in the Library, at Home or for your own Business @ LibrarySupportStaff.com

PLEASE BE AWARE! I DO NOT ENDORSE & AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY SOFTWARE OR ONLINE SERVICES That you may link to from this page!! Use, Download Software or Link to Individual websites at Your Own Risk.

NB. Library Suppport Staff's website has tonnes of stuff on Helpful for On the Job in Libraries

Talking Books Librarian: Who Needs Libraries?

Listen to this Article
It seems like these days, almost everyone is debating the purpose of libraries and printed books... and lots of libraries are facing budget cuts... in light of this, have you heard the online sound publication titled Who Needs Libraries? You can listen to it at SoundPrint

On the same shelf: Article: Cell Phone Reads to the Blind

HOWTO Make a bedside book-pocket

[PS. info courtesy: Posted by Cory Doctorow @ Boing Boing - A directory of wonderful things]

Much more @ Knitty, Vintage and Rosy

Obsolete Academic Librarian Skills

"A few bloggers were having fun identifying totally obsolete skills. You know, the sort of things we all used to do all the time that nobody has to bother with anymore. For example, dialing a rotary phone, using carbon paper to make copies, or changing the ball on a selectric typewriter. That got me to thinking that in the years I’ve been in this profession, for the vast majority of academic librarians, there are more than a few accumulated skills and practices that could now be considered obsolete...." continue reading
Posted by StevenB on February 20th, 2008 under Just Thinking. Comments: 38

PUNCHLINE:
"If Google and a librarian had an informational smackdown, who would win?"
"Today's librarians are shelving stereotypes" read more by By CAROLYN FEIBEL: Information isn't reserved for books @ Houston Chronicle

Bed built into an "igloo of books"

[info courtesy: Cory Doctorow]@ Boing Boing - A directory of wonderful things

Blog Search Contestants 1 and 2

Blog Search Revisited - Google vs Technorati vs Techmeme Andy Beard (Feb

Compared blog search at Google and Technorati, and explained why he starts at Techmeme.

Identifies some of the ranking factors at Google: title, order of words in title, keyword occurence in the text, site authority metrics.

He found Technorati fresher and with less spam. Ranking is really according to relevance, rather than the giving the user the ability to define an "authority threshold". continue reading [info posted by Gwen @ Internet News]

Digital Bookplates: A Creative Visualization

Info courtesy: New Jack Librarian

Demystifying the Technician/Librarian Relationship in Academic Libraries

Session # 605 OLA's Super Conference 2008,

Tanis Fink, Chief Librarian, Seneca College;
Mark Bryant, Reference and Information Literacy Librarian, Humber College;
Laurie Morrison, Librarian for Modern Languages and Visual Arts, Brock University;
Autumn Piette, Reference Technician, King Library, Seneca College.

Explore the nature of the relationship between librarians and library technicians. What is your perspective on these two similar and yet different groups that share common goals and values? How do we foster teamwork and relationship building? Can we uncover ways to improve and promote a healthy working and collaborative environment? A diverse panel of librarians and technicians will explore their personal experience. Come prepared to participate and share your thoughts.

Convenor: Jennifer Peters-Lise, Seneca College

This Week's Roundup for Library Technician Jobs: 02/09/2008

@ University of Toronto's FIS.

Library Technician (Part-time) Peterborough Law Association, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada; Posted: Friday, 08 February 2008
Deadline:February 20, 2008


Systems Library Technician, competition number 08-SSLT-RAF (Full-time) The Law Society of Saskatchewan Libraries, Regina, SK, Canada; Posted: Friday, 08 February 2008, Deadline:February 25, 2008


Information Services Technician (Part-time)Library @ Mohawk College of Applied Arts & Technology, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Posted: Wednesday, 06 February 2008, Deadline:February 13, 2008

@ The Partnership National Library Jobsite of Canada

• LIBRARY TECHNICIAN Lambton College of Applied Arts & Technology, Sarnia, ON, 2/1/2008, Deadline: 2/15/2008

@ http://www.fla.org/jobline.html

• Library Technician - Calgary Catholic School District - Calgary, AB CLOSING DATE: Until a suitable applicant is found

@ Saskatchewan Association of Library Technicians. None this week.

PS. Click here for previous job postings!

Disclaimer: The positions are as described on the above Website(s). This blogmaster does not accept responsibility for accuracy, reliability, etc. All clarifications / communications about a position should be directed to the respective source.

Library 2.0: Based and Debased

It is heartening to see that Library world is adapting the word: Library 2.0--adapting the word sounds more apropriate because adapting the technology & / or technique of Web 2.0 is not so much obvious. The Word-base is growing, at least if the following is any trend in a Web directory:

Home : Libraries : Library and Information Science : Weblogs : Directories Links:
BlogBib: Select
Librarian/Library Blogs - Annotated list.
BloggingLibraries - Lists by library type, from blogwithoutalibrary.net.
Library Weblogs - Directory categorized by geographic location, compiled by Peter
Scott.
RSS(sm): Rich
Site Services - A categorized registry of library services that are
delivered or provided through RSS/XML, Atom, or other types of web feeds.
The Blog - Overview of blogging for librarians by Rachel Mathieu and Robyn
Fleming. Includes a directory of library blogs.

Also read:

• Library 2.0 Debased by John Blyberg @ blyberg.net [info courtesy: Dr. Francis J Devadason]
• How to find out the best combination of web 2.0 tools and their suitable Library applications, About This Discussion
  Started Jan 6 by: F.J.Devadason

NB. Ask for more info about my own presentation on Web 2.0: Challenges for libraries.

This Week's Roundup for Library Technician Jobs: 02/02/2008

This idea of a Weekly Roundup is based on the trend set by Heather Matheson, Reference Librarian, Carleton University Library @ inspyration: recruit : retain : reflect

None this Week @ University of Toronto's FIS.

Other Job sites: @ The Partnership National Library Jobsite of Canada

• LIBRARY TECHNICIAN Sarnia, On --CLOSING DATE: 2008/02/04
• Branch Library Technicians (2 Positions) Richmond, B.C., CLOSING DATE: 2/15/2008

@ http://www.fla.org/jobline.html

• Library Technician - McCarthy Tétrault LLP - Calgary, AB; Date posted: January 29, 2008
• Interlibrary Loan Clerk - Grande Prairie Public Library - Grande Prairie, AB, posted: Jan 28, 2008
• Deadline Extended* Libray Technician - Westbrook School - Cochrane, AB
• E-Resources Library Technician II - Library, SAIT - Calgary, AB, closing date: 22 Feb., 2008

@ Saskatchewan Association of Library Technicians. None this week.

Disclaimer: The positions are as described on the above Website(s). This blogmaster does not accept responsibility for accuracy, reliability, etc. All clarifications / communications about a position should be directed to the respective source.

Strains and Joys Color Mergers Between Libraries and Tech Units

By ANDREA L. FOSTER, The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 18, 2008

Adrift. Dysfunctional. Desperately needing a change. The adjectives sound like descriptions of a bad relationship, but about three years ago Xavier University, in Cincinnati, applied them to two of its departments.

Both Xavier's library and its information-technology unit were in terrible shape. Xavier had hired four chief information officers in five years, its technology was obsolete, its library and IT staffs didn't talk to each other, and students had to jump through hoops to do online research.

David W. Dodd, the CIO who arrived at Xavier in 2005, said students and faculty members wanted three basic things: "Provide the services I'm looking for, in the manner I want, and get out of my way." They weren't getting any of them. full article

Same Shelf and aisle of my desktop:

• Librarians and IT Professionals and
• Librarians and Techies – A NEXUS

Readings between the shelf:

• Google Print vs. The Open Library vs. Project Gutenberg

"Today we saw yet another entry from The Library of Congress, as it
received 3 million dollars to start their own project, from a most
unlikely source, Google! It was suggested at today's Geek Lunch a
motivation of Google's might be to let The Library of Congress pay
the price in non-cash value, for opening the vast intercontinental
virtual prairieland to the virtual settlers, who just happed to be
an assortment of multi-billion dollar cartels, who have felt those
slings and arrows of their misfortune a little too much." Michael Hart


• Best Practices: Trainer, Train Thyself (Part 1 of 2)
  Carole Leita’s Infoblog post earlier this week draws attention to a myth-breaking report from University College London (UCL), the British Library, and the Joint Information Systems Committee: Information Behavior of the Researcher of the Future. Her post also makes me think about the current behavior of those of us who are or have been involved in staff training and development programs.
• British Study Says "Google Generation" a Myth; Libraries Must Step Up, Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 1/28/2008 [info courtesy: Sujatha.Thadakamalla @ Aucklandcity Public Library]

Two interesting articles review this British Library Report: Society Is Dumbing Down, by Zubin Jelveh @ ODD Numbers; and We're all information gatherers now, By Jeremy Wagstaff @ AsiaMedia

SIRLS LSO Job Series: Panel Discussion

Three guest speakers share their experience and perspective on the information profession and librarianship. The speakers, in talking order, are: Jan Knight (information consultant) at 3 minutes into the clip, Ann Dutton Ewbank (K-12, University librarian) at 19 minutes into the clip, and Mary Graham (Museum librarian) about 36 minutes into the clip.

Inter-Library Lending @ Brooklyn College, New York +

Brooklyn College: Borrowing Books from Other CUNY Libraries

This short video explains how the Brooklyn College community can use CLICS to borrow books from other CUNY campus libraries.

See also:

Interlibrary Loan: A How-To Guide

Journal of Interlibrary Loan & Information Supply

Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve

Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Information Supply

Resource Sharing & Information Networks : Innovations in Library Consortia, Systems, and Networks for Interlibrary Cooperation

Library of Congress Subject Heading: Interlibrary loans / document delivery.

Librarians and IT Professionals:

Ian said...
Actually, Ian only WORKS WITH the talented people who created the "Librarian/IT Professional" videos (Sean Robinson, our IT Department manager; Lynn Hoffman, Information Services Coordinator and Digital Collaborative chair; and Kay Gregg, videographer, among others).
But I did do the Miniature Mayhem one. With lots of help from Kay.




see also interesting comments [by Nick Dobbing, Meredith, @ davidrothman.net's Blog

Librarians and IT Professionals

A Fuse #8 Production

Librarians and Techies – A NEXUS

Is a Library Technician (LT or LIT) allowed to teach LTs?

I have received the following question, any response to this?

Hello Mohamed:

I found this blog post on Sunday and I'm sending it round to anyone I think might be interested. Do you know if LTs are allowed to teach LTs in your area or if a university degree is required? Cheers.

Julanne Hennessy, Library Technician

Suggested reading:
See also a blogpost by Derek Whitehead that shows concern (among others) at least on two related issues in the professional circles:

• it seems likely that we haven't got a systematic enough approach to articulation between paraprofessional and professional qualifications


• there is a strong preoccupation with the relative roles and status of librarians and library technicians, as one might expect

Quotes (for reflection): "As with teacher-librarian jobs, full-time library technician positions tend to be a secondary school phenomenon." Anybody home?Who's really left in Ontario's school libraries?Glenn Turner

"A library technician recently contacted me for advice on how to teach the school staff about the Focus on Inquiry document (Alberta Education 2004). Though I applauded her initiative in seeing the need to teach children using an inquiry model, I questioned why this job was being done by non-certificated staff. I am told by learning resources consultants from across Alberta that it is common for non-certificated staff to teach information skills." Almost extinct
Teacher–librarians are Alberta’s newest endangered species, Fern Reirson

And, the punchline is, if you wish to see the trend, as to how many LTs have teaching qualification, wait for the results of this survey: Australian School Libraries Research Survey

Uneasy tensions in LIS Education

This article covers the training and education of librarians.

Education for 21st century librarianship continues to face many of the uneasy tensions that have been present since its beginnings in the 19th century. Some of the tensions facing Library and Information Science Education:

Tension # 1: Generalization versus specialization

There's always been a tension between specialization and generalization in the history of the development of Library Science as an academic discipline (at least in the United States). I guess you could say both have won or maybe they co-exist uneasily? For example, one can still get a graduate degree in Library and Information Science with just about 12 courses. In some schools such as the University of Arizona's School of Information Resources and Library Science the generalization-specialization is exhibited in the following ways: graduate students can specialize in an area of study such as Knowledge Organization. The specialization is a core intellectual problem area of LIS - see this article in D-Lib Magazine for more. Or they can specialize in a particular information environment such asSchool Library Media certification.

Tension #2: Practice versus Theory

Tension #3: 1 year versus 2 year graduate degree

Tension #4: Education for Information (the I word) versus Education for Library Science (the L word) or is it LIS Education?

Tension #5: Cataloging education versus Knowledge organization (or organization of information) approaches

Tension #6: Distance learning versus classroom delivery

The Williamson report on library education chastised librarians and called them "prejudiced" even in this regard for failing to take advantage of new technologies that would provide access (to library education through DE - distance education) to rural areas.

Tension #7: Crisis Criers - if we believe some folks LIS education has been in crisis now for over a hundred years in the US (since inception in fact). continue reading @

Education - LISWiki