A Visible Pathfinder for Increasing Blog Traffic in 2007

"The wise learn from their own experiences but the truly intelligent will learn from someone else's!" - Benjamin Franklin.

My 2007 resolution for return-on-investments in blogging is to have a two-way traffic. The prescription is, please:
1. post a comment--aka, visual signature--in this blog on whatever subject (spam and phishing EXEMPTED)
2. turn on your blog comments' button; I will reciprocate not once, but every post that you create in 2007. This is my own idea of live and let live. I do reciprocate; my 2006 ledger shows Bloggers, such as, Sukhdev Singh, K. G. Schneider, Nancy White, Nirmala Palaniappan, David Tebbutt, Peachy Limpin, Thomas Brevik, Steven Edward Streight, Neil Patel, Diane Levin, and more.


PUNCHLINE: Increasing Blog traffic is a major concern, even for many Gurus [e.g., Adrian W Kingsley-Hughes' Three simple actions that doubled my website traffic in 30 days]
Previous post:

Visualizing Comments on Blogs

Visualizing Traffic At My Blog Via Mapping The Pathways

Blog As A Teaching Tool

Idea courtesy: Bloggers Compose Their Yearly Ledgers, By Jeralyn; and How to Pay for Blog Comments, @ usability blog of John S. Rhodes; So what'd you get? by Ryan Block

Technorati Tags: blog comments   2007 blog   blog traffic   2007 resolution   2007 blogging     popular bloggers   popular comments   top bloggers   Reward-program   return-on-investments

Faith's purchasing power - USA TODAY

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY 12/13/2006
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — In the beginning was the book.

Long before Christmas became a retail explosion, before Christian-related toys, doodads and décor became a $4.5 billion industry, faithful Protestants needed their Bibles.

READING ABOUT RELIGION

When shoppers read books about religion, here's where they say they're most likely to get them:

A Christian bookstore: 15.9%
A general bookstore such as Barnes & Noble: 14.8%
Borrow from a friend or family: 12.2%
The public library: 9.2%
A church library: 5.6%
Other: 5.1%
Online retailer: such as Amazon.com: 4.4%

Source: Baylor Religion Survey

Continue reading the full story

Previous post from my blogs:

Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives

Video for the Voiceless: An Idea for Missionaries - Faithwise Review of the Week

Multifaith Stacks: Reading Between the Shelves

Introvert and Looking for a Job - You are not alone

There are lots of guides, gurus and googlers:
PS. thanks to Ahtisham (in chat) & Nirmala for a lead on this topic: Networking for the Introverts

NETWORKING TIPS, FROM ONE INTROVERT TO ANOTHER, LYNN SCHEURELL IS THE [Certified Feng Shui Expert ]

Introverts unite! Written by Brian Flemming

Networking for Introverts, by Rachel @ The Liminal Librarian

Confessions of an Introvert, The Shy Girl's Guide to Career, Networking and Getting the Most Out of Life, by Meghan Wier

Successful Marketing for Introverts
Beth Woodward, CPCC, Pinnacle Associates, Inc.

How To Network: For Introverts, by rob @ Businesspundit.com

Instead of feedback, how about 'feedforward'?

Better to focus on doing things better in future than raking over past, coach says

VIRGINIA GALT WORKPLACE REPORTER
Friday, November 10, 2006
Receiving feedback rarely ranks as one of work's more pleasurable activities.

Now, management guru Marshall Goldsmith has devised a concept he calls "feedforward" -- the focus being on how to do things better in the future, rather than raking over the past.

The fundamental problem with feedback is that there is nothing the recipient can do to change what has already occurred, Mr. Goldsmith, a California-based executive coach, said in Toronto this week at a convention of the Canadian Society for Training and Development. Continue reading

Toxicity in the library workplace - a survey

This is all aobut emotional or sense related inter-relationship in library as a workplace.

Any librarian, who thinks in-line with Ranganathan to conenct library with biological connotations, will find that concern for wellness, well-being and care of the staff is an essential component of managing the human capital. And the survey ...

"Some researchers have identified hostile, unreasonable and emotionally distressing work behaviors as "toxic" in that they poison the whole workplace environment. We are investigating the question of how much this happens in libraries and how severe it is. Please answer a few short questions to help us learn about your experiences. complete the survey

Studies have been done in business on the effects of emotional toxicity in the workplace, but few studies have been done on emotional toxicity in library workplaces. We are attempting to learn more about the amount of emotional toxicity in libraries, and ask that you take our survey at . The survey is confidential and takes only about ten minutes to complete. The results will be reported in a panel at next spring's ACRL conference in Baltimore.

Thank you.
Terrence Bennett, Mollie Freier, Ann Riley

Mary P. (Mollie) Freier
Chair
Library Instructional Services
Brookens Library, Room 233
University of Illinois at Springfield
One University Plaza, MS BRK 140
Springfield, IL 62703-5407
(217) 206-7290

My 2 cents worth: I just received a comment from Prof. Neelameghan on the above subject. Based on this, I think the bigger issue is about human relations in libraries and librarianship. Are there any surveys, yes. Too generic a subject.

How about managing related issues
a) isolation in library, as a workplace? Any studies? No idea. [PS. I have compiled a bibliography on the subject of Isolation in Chaplaincy. Ask me please.]
b) grief in workplace? Any studies? No idea. [read the existing literature in the following citations to understand how caregivers care for themselves]
c) counseling the library staff in times of downsizing, layoff, etc.? No idea

see also related literature

Bibliography of Emotion Research, zum Buch Mediale Emotionen
Bibliographie zur Emotionsforschung
[Note posted in [DIG_REF] Art, Media & Emotion: To those interested in research on Media & Emotion - The bibliography on Art, Media & Emotion, compilated during a project of the Young Academy of Sciences, Berlin is now online]

Reinhold, Barbara Bailey. Toxic work : how to overcome stress, overload, and burnout and revitalize your career, New York : Dutton, c1996.

Time to Treat Toxic Emotions at Work
Real emotional pain festers in every work environment and, if left unchallenged, can cripple an organization. Call in the "toxin handlers," advises author Peter Frost in Toxic Emotions at Work, from Harvard Business School Press. Read our interview and excerpt.

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. Recommended Resource List: StressMaterials indicated by call numbers may be found on site using the State Library's Online Catalog.

Menz, Robert L. A pastoral counselor's model for wellness in the workplace : psychergonomics Haworth Pastoral Press, 2003

Levinson H.. Emotional toxicity of the work environment. Arch Environ Health. 1969 Aug;19(2):239-43. Emotional toxicity of the work environment.

Lisa Cox-Whalen; Juliet Nurse; Mary F. Steele. Job Loss & Pastoral Counseling.

Goleman, Daniel (2003) "Destructive Emotions, How Can We Overcome Them?" A scientific dialog with the Dalai Lama Narrated by Daniel Goleman, Bantam Books, ISBN
0-553-80171-6. Book Review

Fostering Sustainable Behavior

Peace of mind for a sustainable future

My related post:

Carl Jung's Conceptualization About Thinking, Feeling, Sensation, Intuition

Emotional Communication Interface - Revisited

A previous, related post in my blog (about living and bio-organic sources in libraries): Library is a Growing Organism - Dr. Ranganathan's Fifth Law Revisited

Example of automated mis-matching info about libraries and books

Don't be surprised. What a co-incidence. Read, Read, Read....

Reviews
Synopsis
Practical and informative, this book is designed to create awareness among people about commmon skin and hair problems and how to overcome them. She shares her secrets of 30 years in successfully solving problems related to beauty.

All the above info about a book on libraries @ Aamzon.co.uk.
Status of State Central Libraries in India (Hardcover) by R. Ramasamy

Then, no wonder, I found a quote at THNIKEXIST.com

“If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library.”

'Digitized in ways we cannot imagine'

'What's really changed things is the art of motion design.' -- Bob Lord, Avenue A - Razorfish eastern president: FP QUESTIONS ANSWERS
Diane Francis, Financial Post Published: Friday, November 03, 2006 © National Post 2006

Q Tell me about your Enterprise Solutions Practice.

A We are not all B2C [business to consumer]. This practice focuses on B2E and B2B [business to employee and business to business]. This is for large companies with 20,000 employees or more and is the consumerization of the enterprise portal.

For instance, Amazon remembers me and what books I bought. Google helps me search. But in my own company I can't find the human resources documents or department or specialist in the area I'm interested in. This will give employees benefits information, biographies about colleagues inside their firewall. We can also provide them with more collaborative tools to improve productivity.

This is a big market. Read the full article

Information Literacy Tutorial - Kognito

This post is regularly updated, Dec 02, 2006

Report: Students Struggle with Information Literacy, By Justin Appel, Assistant Editor, eSchool News, November 28, 2006 [info courtesy: "David P. Dillard" jwne@TEMPLE.EDU @ DIG_REF@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU]

Welcome to "Beginner’s Guide to Business Research", an information literacy tutorial developed in conjunction with Baruch College of the City University of New York.

This interactive tutorial provides students with hands-on, self-paced instruction on where and how to find the best, most accurate information via the Web when conducting business research.

The tutorial includes interactive activities, library database simulations, and an interactive quiz with customized feedback.

Previous post:

Library Technicians: Education, Training, Practice, Career, Jobs, etc.: Podcast of information literacy information from Curtin University of Technology Library and Information Service

Information Literacy (for all) - A useful gateway

see also:

"information literacy blog"

What is Library Literacy and how do you best impart this to public library users? Suzanne Yule @ THE LATERAL LITERAL LIBRARIAN

Technocrati Tags:
Information Literacy Students Lack Information Literacy , ETS,
Information literacy, Academic Libraries

Podcast of information literacy information from Curtin University of Technology Library and Information Service

Podcast of information literacy information from Curtin University of Technology Library and Information Service Podcasts @ your library

New (To Me) Library Podcasts David's Random Stuff, October 13, 2006

In doing some research for my ACRL Virtual Institute talk, I ran across a couple of interesting new to me library podcasts.

The Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology Library has launched a new podcast called TheBRAINcast. They've done three episodes so far including a library tour (featuring a student), information on reference services (including chat) and e-books. They're aiming to publish every two weeks and look to be on schedule so far. They've had five different people talking in the three episodes, which lends a great variety of voices. continue reading

Google for more Podcasts ... library

Learning Activities for Virtual Reference

Taxonomies in practice: Benjamin S. Bloom Taxonomy of educational objectives

Thinking Levels	Learning Activity
Knowledge	Define virtual reference services.
Comprehension	Explain how virtual reference services complement other library services.
Application	Think of examples of the types of library users served by virtual library services or the types of libraries that offer such services. Are there any patron or library types that are not suited for this approach?
Analysis	Describe the features of the virtual reference services described in the readings.
Synthesis	Develop a set of criteria that can be used to measure the success or failure of virtual reference services.
Evaluation	Using the criteria developed above, compare/contrast the features and relative effectiveness of services described in the readings. Submit the same question to three virtual reference services and compare the interactions and answers

Adapted from McWhorter, Kathleen T. Study and Critical Thinking Skills in
College, Fifth Edition. New York, 2003. in An Introduction to Reference Services in Academic Libraries

Job Pathfinder - Join the race

During my recent hunt, I learnt a few things; may be documenting this learning curve helps someone:

How to write a cover letter (2 column), resume (2 or three column, including what they say about you), networking (with 47 types of relationships), going to an interview with a BUSINESS PLAN, and be sure to send THANK U (in case they missed you), to those who interviewed--moral is don't burn any bridges behind, you may be called anytime later.

Click here for a full picture: [doc file] My Job Pathfinder

NB. Also know the mantra that WORKS, viz., SHARE [as says the Guru, Pul C Green, author of GET HIRED]:

[PS. depends on which agency trains you, some call it: Accomplishment statements; some call it: Skill benfits map (i.e., show and tell in resume & in Interview) -- follow any guru, but make sure your path has the following]

1. Situation (describe a scenario)
2. Hindrance (explain what you was the bug)
3. Action (what was the strategy to deal with the situation)
4. Result (based on your action, state what was the result, or reaction, positive or negative)
5. Evaluate (sum up the effect of your scenario)

See also an excellent resource for Job Hunt

Google for much more
Technocrati
Job Pathfinder
Pathfinders

Show Your Business Plan

Most frequent question in a job interview:

... 'How do you think you will go about this job?' This is a perfect opportunity for you to show your business plan. If the question is not asked, you should find an opportunity to bring the conversation to a point where you can show your plan, preferably earlier in the proceedings, rather than later.

Continue reading the whole strategy @@@ Copyright: seltekconsultants.co.uk; Second Interview Checklist [in Sales jobs, science vacancies, technical engineering recruitment ]

Business plan is also called: Proposal for service

Another scenario is if you have a clear idea of the position, a proposal for service, addressing specifics of the job, would be a strong follow up. (Be careful not to "give away the store"; in other words, don't be that detailed. Make them want more.) Of course, the letter will be carefully edited and look great.

Whatever is the name, show your skills, competency and interests (in precise way), and my include (in your resume or a project proposal for a task in an academic environment):

Description of Context.—Does the proposal describe the real-life environment and context in which the work will occur, particularly the client characteristics, organizational resources, state-of-the-art in the field, cultural milieu, unit mission, and personnel having particular relevance to the problem being addressed? Is there a relevant history of prior work regarding the problem? Are any assumptions being made about the present and future course of the situation, e.g., future funding? Which Career Center stakeholders are and are not impacted by the proposed program?
Continue reading from CAREER CENTER MANUAL, PHILOSOPHY, POLICIES, AND PROCEDURES

See my previous posts on Cover Letter:

A Cover Letter Pinpointing Their Needs and Your Skills

Interviews, Doing presentations at ...

Web Analytics - A Librarian's Outlook

Urchin & web analytics

A while back I’d ranted a bit about some of the troubles I was experiencing with our current web server log analysis package (AWStats) and a commercial package I was test driving at the time (WebTrends). Fortunately, with the installation of the geoip-free plugin for AWStats and a little help from my Perl guru husband, we managed to get a customized domain report from our free web log analysis package while managing to steer clear of a (not free) platform- and browser-specific solution. continue reading

E-Metrics: Measures for Electronic Resources

The E-Metrics project is is an effort to explore the feasibility of defining and collecting data on the use and value of electronic resources. Although ARL has some experience in tracking expenditures for electronic resources through the ARL Supplementary Statistics, there is a widely held recognition that more work needs to take place in this area.

Whats making news:

Web Analytics - An Absolute Imperative, by Chuck Richard from OutsellNow on September 20, 2006,

A Study of Website Navigation Methods, Thomas S. Tullis, Ellen Connor, Lori LeDoux, Ann Chadwick-Dias, Marty True, & Michael Catani, Fidelity Investments

My previous posts

Wheels for Google, Google on Wheels

The Six A’s for Evaluating Web Content

God.com: Web Analytics Series no.2

Beliefnet.com: Web Analytics Series no.1

Infostructure Tools - eRider Starter Kit

eRider Starter Kit
July 2005

Tactical Technology Collective

A guide to starting, managing, and running an eRider project has been released by the Tactical Technology Collective with funding from OSI's Information Program.

A movement of technology assistance providers working in developing and transition countries has been emerging since 1997. Known as eRiders, their work is based on the Circuit Rider model used successfully in the United States to provide nonprofit organizations with assistance in using technology to build capacities. The eRiding model has been effectively used internationally to bring struggling organizations up to speed in the use of technology to fulfill their mission.Continue Reading...

Pull and Push Communications: Ranganathan's Laws re-interpreted

I strongly feel that Ranganathan's Second and Third Law of Library Science have a direct relationship with pull and push communications strategies. A clarification on this is necessary (to avoid any clash of ideas). There is a bit of overlap in the implications of these two laws. This overlap may sound logical, because, the Second Law is about the choice of information (including seeking behavior and end-user's priorities), and the Third Law is about the choice of medium (including skills) for outreach of the message.***

In short, in both these situations, whether you try to pull or push, you are aiming at establishing a network between the messenger, message, medium and end-user--albeit, with a balance (lest, the Guru, Marshall McLuhan said, message is lost in the medium)

And, here is an excellent piece on the pull strategies, in relation to library marketing situations:

In communications there are two primary models for reaching target audiences. One is called "pull" communications and the other is called "push" communications. We'll outline pull communications now, and in the next issue of Marketing Treasures, we'll talk about push communications.

In talking about the push and pull models, we are not referring to the underlying technology such as RSS, but instead, on the user experience. To embark upon a pull communications strategy is to allow members of your target audience to "pull" your communications at their discretion. In the brick and mortar world, pull communications are used by advertisers to draw customers into retail establishments to receive messages. People elect when and how they will act on the messages in the pull model of communications. In the virtual world, pull communications is exemplified by blogs, wikis, and web sites. Continue reading Marketing Treasures July 2006

Related approaches to understand Web, Marketing and the nexus:

The Five Laws of Web Marketing
1. The Law of Dead--End Street
2. The Law of Giving and Selling
3. The Law of trust
4. The Law of Pull and Push
5. The Law of the Niche [continue reading [pdf]]

The Five Mutable Laws of Web Marketing

[PDF] EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR INFORMATION EMPOWERMENT SPECIALISTS IN THE NETWORKED SOCIETY: INDIAN EXPERIENCE, C.R. Karisiddappa
... should therefore be seen to some extent as reflecting the ‘Pull-Push Effect’ of ... Ranganathan who infused scientific method in the field and that marked ...

Digital libraries, digital containers, “library patrons”, and visions for the future, Wallace Koehler
I am going to suggest that Ranganathan's five laws are as valid today and ... of automated push and or pull services from libraries and from a distance. ...

Library Media & PRs' 10 Tips for Marketing Virtual Reference Services

See my other posts:

Visualizing the Emerging Nexus: Five Laws of Ranganathan and the WWW Era

Market Research Resources via Libraries
--------
*** Thus spake the Law Giver, Ranganathan:
Second Law: Every Reader His or Her Book
Clearly, it is the business of librarians to know the reader, to know the books, and to actively help in the finding by every person of his or her book.

Third Law: Every Book its Reader
This law addresses the fundamental issue of open access. Open access means that the collection can be examined with as much freedom as if it was the reader's private library.
Source

Prof. A. Neelamgehan was kind enough to add a few words to this post:
Dear Dr. Md. Taher:
As you are aware in most library’s only about 75% of the collection get used frequently. Dr.S R Ranganathan’s Third Law is more concerned with those documents that are not frequently used; what measures that the library / librarian should undertake to push and bring those items to the potential users’ attention – including special exhibitions, lectures by scholars about these resources, etc.
Best wishes
A. Neelameghan

Blog: Vanity Presses or Archives of Human Thought

Librarians, archivists and other information professionals are getting interested in the debate. Here is one more live discussion:

Blogs: Vanity Presses or Archives of Human Thought? Nancy McCormack & Paola Durando. COLAJ:
Canadian Online Library and Archives Journal, Volume 1, Number 1 (2005 ? - )

Blogs, or weblogs, are a highly popular and influential means of communication. Should librarians enter the blogosphere to better communicate with colleagues and users, or are blogs a waste of time? Nancy McCormack, Law Librarian at Queen's University at Kingston and her colleague Paola Durando, a Health Sciences Librarian at the same institution, argue both sides.

See my previous posts on an information professional's perpectives:

Visualizing Traffic At My Blog Via Mapping The Pathways

Visualizing Comments on Blogs

Blog-to Show

Google Trend - Another Way to Visualize the Blogosphere

Blog As A Teaching Tool

The Technique of Song and Sound Visualization -- see also: the Laughing Librarian's Blogga song

Blogging Spree: Trends in Information Visualization

What's a blog - WYSIWYG

Infostructure Conferences

This will be a running post: Updated 6 Sept., 2006
Here, infostructure, is used in context of the a) digital libraries and b) search process (capturing, seeking, searching, browsing, matching, finding, sorting, storing, retrieving, etc.). Infostructure, all-ado-about information, per se, is much more important, than the infrastructure (aka technology).
Infostructure is gradually emarging with new faces, interfaces in today's information society.

DRTC/ISI announces International conference on Semantic Web and Digital Libraries. February 21-23, 2007 at Bangalore, India. contact details:

A.R.D.Prasad
Convener, ICSD -2007
Documentation Research and Training Centre,
Indian Statistical Institute,
8th Mile, Mysore Road, Bangalore - 560 059
Karnataka, INDIA
Phone: 91-80-28483002/3/4 extsn no. 496
Fax : 91-80-28484265
email: ard@drtc.isibang.ac.in
website:http://drtc.isibang.ac.in/DRTC/ardcv.html

Report of 2006 Search Engine Meeting, by Martin White, @ The Intranet Focus:

Until the recent arrival of the Enterprise Search Summit the Infonortics Search Engine Meeting was the conference to attend if you wanted to track what was happening in the technology and business of search. ...
Many of the papers at the conference were concerned with how to effectively search 'the long tail' a major issue in enterprise search because a searcher has to be confident that they have found all relevant documents, not just a sample. Which leads me neatly into an excellent paper by Steve Arnold on the way in which search engines are 'managing' relevance. An essay based on his presentation is an essential read. Steve may have slightly overstated the case, but not by much.
The main sessions at the conference were on Searchers and Search Behaviour, Faceted and Federated Search, Text Mining, the World of the Web and finally Web Tools and Intelligent Tools. Virtually all the papers (but not the Google paper) can be downloaded but many are quite substantial files. Continue reading

SHARP 2007 Conference: "Open the Book, Open the Mind,"
The fifteenth annual conference of the Society for the History of
Authorship, Reading, and Publishing (SHARP) will be held in Minneapolis
at the University of Minnesota on July 11-15, 2007. SHARP is the
leading international association for historians of print culture, enlisting
more than 1,200 scholars world-wide; its members study "the creation,
dissemination, and reception of script and print, including newspapers,
periodicals, and ephemera," as well as the history of books. The
forthcoming conference is organized in cooperation with the College of
Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota; University of Minnesota
Libraries; Minneapolis Public Library; Minnesota Historical Society,
and Minnesota Center for Book Arts -- a part of Open Book.

My previous posts:

Searching Revisited: Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal, etc.

Searching Is Polarized; Will The Five Laws Get a New Revised ...

Visualizing the Web Infostructure I - Cites, Insights, Farsights

Visualizing the Innernet or Visual Display of the Website's Infostructure

Market Research Resources via Libraries

Book review from my desk:
Mary Ellen Bates. Building & running a successful research business: a guide for the independent information professional. Edited by Reva Basch. CyberAge Books, 2003 -- (new edition: Building & running a successful research business: a guide for the independent information professional, 2010) Information Resources Management Journal

Technocrati tags:
Internet Industry, Information Industry, infostructure, information society, Return On Investment, ROI, libraries, AltRef, Ubiquitous Reference, Reference Service

Google: Infostructure Conference
Infrastructure Conference

Top Ten Ways to Find a Law Library Job

Connie's Top Ten Ways to Find a Law Library Job (for students & new librarians)
Connie Crosby, a law librarian in Toronto, Canada, has a blog where she posted her "Top Ten Tips to Find a Law Library Job." Her tips are good for all job seekeers, not just law librarians.

Becoming an indexer

professional outlook series

Becoming an indexer, The Indexer The international journal of Indexing

If you are embarking on an indexing training course or considering turning to indexing as a career, why not take a look at Becoming an indexer. This is a collection of articles which appeared in the October 2005 issue of The Indexer under the auspices of the ‘Yellow Spots’ (a name deriving from the identifying stickers worn by those attending their first Society of Indexers’ conference). Contributors describe their very different experiences as they have taken up the indexing challenge. Do read what they have to say about why becoming an indexer is such a challenge, but why it’s all worth while. Continue reading

Read, Reading and Readership

What an interesting rhyme ...

First, from the library and information science perspective:

Rules for reading, well, if I followed rules, The Gypsy Librarian:

Joyce Saricks had a column on the April 1, 2006 issue of Booklist entitled "Rules for Readers--and That Means Librarians, Too!" I read it via the old library routing, which explains why it took me a while to get to it. Now, my two readers know that I pretty much prefer to throw rules out when I can, but I found the article to be a nice affirmation of things I do as a reader. When it comes to reading, I am a bit eclectic, a mixed bag. Sure, there are things I enjoy regularly, but I wander now and then. Since life is short, I don't believe in wasting time on a bad book. Saricks cites Nancy Pearl's 50 page rule. I will usually try to give a book the 50 page chance, but if it loses me on page 25, it's gone. I used to feel a need to read cover to cover. Not anymore. I am now a liberated reader. continue reading

At Leisure with Joyce Saricks: Against Rules
Having written a few months back about rules for readers and readers’ advisors, I’m having second thoughts. Not about the ideas expressed but about the whole concept of rules in relation to readers’ advisory—especially since our field is refreshingly nonprescriptive. One of the reasons for the current renaissance is that librarians who are practicing and writing about readers’ advisory advocate guidelines and suggestions, not rules. continue reading from At Leisure with Joyce Saricks: Against Rules

3-Minute Reader's Advisory Workshop
February 22, 2002 "3 Minute Reader's Advisory for the harried and hurried Held at Multnomah County Central Library. Presentions by Robin Beerbower, Salem Public Library, Ruth Allen and Allison Kastner, both from Multnomah County Library. Over 70 attended.

Five Minute Reads: Libraries hope e-mails entice readers, By ELLIOTT MINOR / Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — Patrons of the Dougherty County Library get an e-mail each day featuring one or more chapters from a selected book.
These "five-minute reads" may persuade the readers to check the book out from the library or go to a bookstore and buy it. If nothing else, they can share their thoughts on the book with other readers on the library's Web site.

Belgian Librarians Use Love to Get Readers

15 Readers in 30 Minutes (More or Less)
Once again we've taken advantage of our illicit love affair with RevolutionSF to get a podcast of our recent reading out there on that Internet thing. Give it a listen - each reading only lasts two minutes, so get over yourself already.

The Four Ages of Reading Philosophy and Pedagogy: A Framework for Examining Theory and Practice, Jan Turbill
Rules for journalists, writers, documentation specialists, etc. on readability:

BE A LARSONALLEN STAR:
Write the way people read.
The 30-3-30-3 guideline:
30-second reader skims bullets and short lists.
3-minute reader reads headlines, blurbs, captions and callout boxes.
30-minute reader reads short articles and searches the publication for more information.
3-hour reader wants white papers, research results… hefty reading material. keep reading about readership

Joint Board and Budget Committee Agenda:
the 30-minute reader who will read the full text,
the 3 minute reader who scans the material, and
the 30-second reader who reads only the headings as they put it in the trash. keep going here

Module 1: NEWS REPORTING AND WRITING:
Begin your discussion of news writing with a consideration of the different kinds of newspaper readers. For the sake of argument, we can identify three: the 30-second reader, the 3-minute reader, and the 30-minute reader. All of us fall into each of these categories at one time or another.
The 30-second reader is in a rush, possibly grabbing a quick look at the paper while eating a donut and rushing out the door to school or work. This reader has time only to scan a few headlines and glance at a few pictures.
The 3-minute reader is also in a rush, though she may have time enough to sit down while she looks at the paper. This reader does all the things that the 30-second reader does, plus she reads the beginning paragraphs (the leads) of a few interesting stories.
Finally, the 30-minute reader (get a life!) finds time enough to do everything our first two readers did plus actually read a few stories from beginning to end. This is where the importance of inverted pyramid writing (a topic we will cover soon) comes to the fore. continue reading

Building Our Talent in a World of Tough Issues:
"The Internet is for everybody. It's for the 30-second reader; the three-minute reader; the 30- minute reader and even the three-hour junkie. Like the rest of cyberland, though, it's full of branches and nests (and even nests within nests). Open (on home pages, etc.) with kernels for the 30-second reader. Break to bits for the three-minute reader. Branch to detail for the 30-minute reader. Link to verbal and visual feasts for the three-hour junkie." continue reading:

Reader advisory network tips

Spruce Up Marketing Materials with the 30-3-30 Rule

See my previous post on Reader's Advisory

Diversity Resources - Accommodation, Tolerance and Coexistence

This is a running post: Updated 16 July, 201:

SELF-STUDY GUIDE: CULTURAL COMPETENCE

DIMENSIONS OF FAITH AND CONGREGATIONAL MINISTRIES WITH PERSONS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES : A Bibliography and Address Listing of Resources For Clergy, Laypersons, Families, and Service Providers

BookCon-troversy: Uproar Over Lack of Diversity at BEA’s Consumer Day

Diversity in Librarianship | Consider the Source

Spiritual Diversity Collection at a local library, Sunday, March 31, 2013, infoZine--Kansas City, MO Cultural Crossroads, Inc. announces a major campaign to establish New Community Resource.

Is all diversity good/bad – a taxonomy of diversity in the IS discipline 2009 ASIS&T Annual Meeting

Thriving on Diversity - Information Opportunities in a Pluralistic World, November 6-11, 2009, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

"Canada is a tolerant and accepting society, accepting diversity, however there's a limit," said Frederick Lowy, who heads the Montreal-based foundation. "There's a point beyond which Canadians ... will not feel comfortable with regard to value clashes. So where is that point?" continue reading the National Post, Beyond the veil, Allison Hanes, November 18, 2006

"(There is a need for) cross-cultural training and diversity management skills among management personnel (not HR departments alone)," Continue reading Indians in New Zealand face job bias: Survey, @ newindpress.com October 5 2006

Charter, gender equity and freedom of religion
Sep. 7, 2006. HAROON SIDDIQUI

Women are still not counted as part of the 10 people who must be present before prayers can begin. Only men count. I have had the extraordinary experience of sitting in a chapel and watching the leader of prayers count the men in the room, his eyes sliding over me as he counted. For all intents and purposes, not only did I not count, I was invisible.

Is Diversity Important?
America is sizably made up of immigrants, and it is not surprising that diversity has become a watchword. Whether in a workplace, in social meetings, or in public behavior, we are constantly reminded and admonished that diversity is what makes an institution, a country and this world a great place to live and work in. Having worked for major US corporations, I can safely say that all levels of employees are being constantly coached, prodded and trained in diversity. More importantly, all employees are expected to practice diversity in their life, not just around the workplace. continue reading: Birds of Different Feathers Can Flock Together By Shyam Amladi

If you are a librarian, or wish to understand the Multicultural, Multiracial, Multilingual, Multiethnic, Multifaith communities, just consider how important is our understanding of unity in diversity. And, how important is our education for accommodation, in such a diverse population today!

Managing Religious Diversity in the library, Joseph Romain and Mohamed Taher. Toronto, 2006
Librarianship-in-Context

Chu, Clara M. "

Education for Multicultural Librarianship," In: Multiculturalism in Libraries, edited by Rosemary Ruhig Du Mont, Lois Buttlar, and William Caynon. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994; pp. 127-56.

--- Multicultural Library and Information Services Education.

Dr. Donna L. Gilton. Course: Multiculturalism in Libraries [exhaustive material for teaching, training, practice, etc. ]

Montgomery, J.G. "A most delicate matter: religious issues and conflict in the US library workplace", Library Management, Vol. 23 No.8/9, (2002), pp.422-34.

Multicultural Studies Pathfinder. Palomar College Escondido Center

National Diversity in Libraries Conference.

Diversity Plans for Academic Libraries, Library Juice Academy

Pai, Ed. Community Networking. Course offered at the Fullerton campus of the California State University School of Library and Information Science.

[PUBLIB] The Real Outrage. ... And get your blankety-blank religious wars out of my public library...

Riggs, Donald E. and Patricia A. Tarin Editors. Cultural Diversity in Libraries. Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1994

Taylor, Rhonda and Lotsee Patterson teach the Multicultural Librarianship course at the University of Oklahoma School of Library and Information Science. Patterson also coordinates Summer in Santa Fe, an annual continuing education course for library professionals interested in library services to Native Americans in New Mexico

Bruce, Harry and Todd, Ross, “Cultural dimensions in reference services: Is there unity in diversity?” in Infobridges: Linking Australia and Asia. Proceedings of the Second National Reference and Information Service Section Conference, Darwin 9–11 July 1993. Edited by Murray Maynard. Darwin, N.T., Australian Library and Information Association. 1993. pp. 85-95.

Pnina Shachaf and Mary Snyder, "The relationship between cultural diversity and user needs in virtual reference services." The Journal of Academic Librarianship, May 2007, 33(3):pp. 361-367. [Full text - pdf]

MULTICULTURAL DAYS: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE, June 23-25, 2005 at Brock University
Multicultural Days: An International Perspective is the second multicultural conference to be held at Brock University. On November 13, 2002, the Canadian Government announced that Canadian Multiculturalism Day would be held every year on June 27 as part of the “Celebrating Canada!” schedule of events. Based on this announcement, the first conference took the name “Multicultural Days” and was rescheduled to coincide with the first Canadian Multiculturalism Day on June 27, 2003. The purpose of that conference was to explore the ways that Canadians
conceptualize, experience, understand, discuss, and employ strategies to address
multiculturalism and racism in Canada. The first conference also led to the development of an ebook,“Perspectives on Multiculturalism”, that is available on the conference website.

Library Collection Development - Reading List:

ARCHER, J. DOUGLAS “Serving the Religious Information Needs of Our Communities Without Blowing the Budget,” Indiana Library Federation Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN, April 31, 2002.

Datta, Suman. Cultural diversity and libraries: Today & tomorrow, PNL Press 1989

Donna L. Gilton, "Multicultural Review -- Dedicated to a Better Understanding of Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Diversity." Public Libraries. V. 30, no. 6 (November/December 1999): pp. 374-375.

Ellen D. Gilbert, Diversity and Collection Development, Library Philosophy and Practice Vol. 1, No. 2 (Spring 1999)

Gypsy Librarian's Article Note: On Outreach and Multicultural Centers

Marie Martin, Multiculturalism in Libraries: Working Toward Understanding, November 28, 2005,

Sandwell Libraries and Information Service Website: Multicultural Multifaith Resource Collection

10 Steps toward a More Multicultural Youth Library


Religious Accommodation in Workplace

Guidelines on Religious Freedom and Religious Expression in the Workplace.

Humphrey, Barbara G. Human resources guide to the duty to accommodate. Aurora, ON Canada Law Book Inc. 2002

“Individual Identity Issues,” in Religious Diversity in the Workplace, J. Harris,

Ontario Human Rights Commission. Human Rights At Work. Ontario Human Rights Commission.. Toronto. Ontario Human Rights Commission 2004

--- Religion and Human Rights

--- Protecting religious rights

Society for Human Resource Management, Virginia. Religious Holiday Observed in the Workplace.

The Tanenbaum Center and Society for Human Resource Management. Religious Diversity in the Workplace: Religion in the Workplace - 2001 survey of HR professionals

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [Religious Accommodation: Title VII requires an employer to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee or prospective employee]

Veit, Lori. “Religious Diversity: Consider employees’ religions in a diverse workplace,”, Contracting Profits February 2002

Wilson, Peter, 1947- Taylor, Allison. The corporate counsel guide to employment law. 2nd ed. Aurora, ON Canada Law Book Inc. 2003
See my review of the book: Building Websites for a Multinational Audience. By Linda Main

My previous posts in this area:

Globalization and the Politics of Belonging

Religious Education of the Young - Multifaith Resource Series no.1

Save the Time of the Godly: Information Mediators Role in Promoting Spiritual & Religious Accommodation

---Diversity is: Temporal Diversity, Spatial Diversity, Cultural Diversity, and much more. Read about this in educational perspective.

DIVERSION:

Who's Telling The News? Racial Representation Among News Gatherers in Canada's Daily Newsrooms, By John Miller. International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations

What is newsroom diversity? Faith Commons

Punchline:
Bhattacharya , Utpal and Groznik, Peter, "Melting Pot or Salad Bowl: Some Evidence from U.S. Investments Abroad" (May 2003). EFA 2003 Annual Conference Paper No. 650. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=290830 or DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.290830

Google for MELTING POT OR SALAD BOWL

A Cover Letter Pinpointing Their Needs and Your Skills

NB. For resume writing tips, insider advice, and any help contact me mt2222@yahoo.com and i will guide you.

A cover letter with a two-column format: DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS?
Does your cover letter LIST need and supply?
Did you know that: "A cover letter is the story that brings your résumé to life and connects your ... connection between their requirements and your skills and abilities... continue reading"

I have developed a COVER LETTER [pdf] template. You are free to download or copy this format.
[NB.Thank you Steve for this creative visualization]

I found an intersting event, that guides information professionals. The details are:
Professional Pathways: Mapping Routes to Success in Career Development, September 23, 2005, Roycroft Inn, East Aurora, New York

"We're older than we think...the aging of librarianship. So?" Stanley Wilder

"Do you have what it takes? Library jobs: what potential employers are looking for" Melissa Jadlos

"We're all in this together: Support groups and the writing process" Cynthia Tysick

Mentorship Program: Connecting MLIS Students with Librarians and Information Professionals, Sophia Apostol

Book Publishing: Proposals and Permissions, Lessons from the Trenches, Suzanne Bell,

WNYLRC Leadership Institute, Tamara Butler,

University Community Initiative Resource Center - Solo Librarianship in a Departmental Setting, Corrine Koepf,

Academic Librarians’ Professional Portfolios, Norma Allenbach Schmidt,

Recruiting Science Librarians in the Post-Genomic Era: A synopsis From the 2005 ALA Midwinter Library Career Forum, Fred Stoss

Professional Trends in Health Science Librarianship: The Informationist, Sara M. Zwirlein

See also my previous posts:

Careers for Bookworms and Other Literary Types

Library Technician: Interview Preperation

Who is a Library Technician

The 'Librarian' Job Title - An Unending Marathon

If You Are A Library Assistant, So What?

Certificate vs. Certification

Promoting your grads: what all library schools should be doing

Technocrati Tags:
resume,
cover letter
Web cv

Other related resources:

Building a CV an e-CV or e-resume - Careersnet.com
Building a CV/eCV. Top 10 Things You Need to Know about E-CVs and Posting Your CV Online. The ECVÒ or e-resume, short for electronic CV

City of Toronto. How to prepare a resumé. A guide to preparing a scannable resumé

Cover letters issues in other blogs: "cover letters"' "library jobs"

Punch Line: two-column Cover Letter

A particularly effective way to deploy the specifics of an ad or job posting to your advantage is to use a two-column format (also known as a "T-formation" letter) in which you quote in the left-hand column specific qualifications that come right from the employer's want ad and in the right-hand column, your attributes that meet those qualifications. The two-column format is extremely effective when you possess all the qualifications for a job, but it can even sell you when you lack one or more qualification. The format so clearly demonstrates that you are qualified in so many areas that the employer may be willing to overlook the areas in which your exact qualifications are deficient.

The Ubiquitous Reference Service & Return On Investment

Reference Service is being challenged by twain: viz. invisible technologies and end-users' need for information everyware. What is this all about?
For an answer see the creative visulation, The Ubiquitous Reference Model by Brian Mathews at Georgia Institute of Technology

A comment on this model from The Distant Librarian (i.e., Paul R. Pival)'s mind, gives you a direct lead on what is the impact of this ubiquitousness:

He created an account at Xanga and LiveJournal - first as a library, but later as his human incarnation. For the purposes of his study he subscribed to the RSS feeds of 20 GT student blogs at those sites (explained in the paper). But what he's done that seems really innovative to me is that he's using the Bloglines keyword alert feature to monitor the postings in each of those student blogs for words such as assignment, library, help, paper, project, etc.
And this gets to the core of Brian's thinking that "we need to get out from behind the desk and help students when and where they need it." Surely in your physical library you don't just wait at the reference desk for poor souls to come to you. Every once in a while you wander around the computers, and even occasionally offer assistance to someone who looks obviously lost, right? What do you think of this idea?

Punch Line:

It never ceases to amaze as to what professionals in the internet
industries do not know about bibliographic databases and website
indexing sources on the internet that are free to the entire public." David Dillard

From the Future of Reference Services Papers:

A decade ago I posited a Sixth Law, an extension of S.R. Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science. At the time I conceived that Sixth Law--"Every reader his freedom"--as applicable only to the type of service (i.e., instruction or provision of information). Today it also applies to the mode of delivery-in-person, telephone, online-and tomorrow to holographic interactions and 3-D virtual reality ...
We have been serving the "Net Generation." The students who entered college as 18-year-olds in 1993 were entering Kindergarten when the Nintendo craze swept the nation. They could barely remember a time that they did not interact with and control images on a screen. Every year since then our entering students have brought with them greater comfort with technology as well as greater confidence, justified or not, in their ability to use it well. We are now serving the IM (i.e., instant messaging) generation. Some of them add SmarterChild to their AOL IM buddies list; they ask it questions, receive guidance to relevant Web sites, and play interactive games of Hangman with SmarterChild. Their familiarity with information technology has spawned values we dare not ignore. Those values are immediacy, interactivity, personalization, and mobility... Continue reading: "Technology, Cluelessness, Anthropology, and the Memex: The Future of Academic Reference Service," by James Rettig

See also my previous post on Search Engines and Information Professions

Searching Revisited: Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal, etc.

Searching Is Polarized; Will The Five Laws Get a New Revised Version: Every Search Engine Its Searcher

Visualizing the Web Infostructure I - Cites, Insights, Farsights

Information Visualization at Eurekster, a Swicki search engine

Visualizing the Innernet or Visual Display of the Website's Infostructure

Technocrati tags: Internet Industry, Information Industry, infostructure, information society, Return On Investment, ROI, libraries, AltRef, Ubiquitous Reference, Reference Service

Another LIS Pioneer: Professor Emeritus Norman Horrocks

Post updated, Remembering Norman Horrocks, Posted on October 15, 2010 by Louise Spiteri

It is a matter of great pride that professionals in the field of Library and Information Science are receiving honors from all over. There are many pioneers, who have been honored, and the list includes, Ranganathan, Shera, Sayers, Kaula, Neelameghan, etc.

The most recent to be honored is Dr. Professor Emeritus Norman Horrocks***

Norman Horrocks Named Officer of the Order of Canada, August 7, 2006: Halifax, Nova Scotia

American Library Association honours Professor Emeritus Norman Horrocks, March 29, 2005

Kaula Award to Norman Horrocks, 12 Mar 2004

Biography of Dr. Norman Horrocks

See also: A Booknote about Professor Norman's recent book, Perspectives, Insights, & Priorities: 17 Leaders Speak Freely of Librarianship
Editor: Norman Horrocks (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005)
This is probably one of the best books on the topic I have read so far. Professor Horrocks brings together 17 leaders of our profession to speak about librarianship. The list of names is pretty much a "who's who" of the profession with folks like John Berry III, Kathleen De La Peña McCook, Mary K. Chelton, and even Michael Gorman. Horrocks allow these professionals to write about any topic they wished. The result is a book full of ideas that reflect the diversity of our profession. I think this represents a good way for a librarian like me to hear these people speak about what they do best, for instance, Mary K. Chelton on youth services. The essays range from lectures to personal reminiscences to advice. Continue reading the review Read other reviews and Table of Contents


NB. See my compilation to honor Cyber savy experts in the Multifaith domain - Who is Who: Multifaith Hall of Fame of the 21st century

***I am deeply indebted to Dr. Horrocks for his cooperation in my academic and publishing activities. He facilitated my most recent book: Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives, by Mohamed Taher, Scarecrow Press, 2006.

Information Literacy (for all) - A useful gateway

One-stop Shambles Information Skills and Literacy Page

contents include:

Information Skills and Literacy related areas on "Shambles"

Specialist Search Engines and Directories

Information Skills and Literacy related areas on "Shambles" :
| Copyright and Plagiarism in Education | elearning | How much information in the World? |
| Info Literacy Articles | Info Literacy and Assessment | Info Literacy Definitions |
| Info Literacy History | Info Literacy general | Info Literacy Staff,School, Authority Websites |
| Information Sciences | Teaching Info Literacy | Info Literacy Models | Info Literacy Resources |
| Info.Mngmnt Software | Info.Tech. ICT | Knowledge Management | Library and Librarian |
| Questioning | Research Skills | Study Skills | Evaluating Online Materials | Eval. Books |
| Hoax Websites (maybe) | Learning Styles | Doing a Literacy Review | Media Studies | Mindmapping |
| Technology Literacy | Time Management | Visual Literacy | Web 2.0 | 21st Century Education |

Look it Up :
| Almanacs | Aerial & Satellite Images | Ask an Expert | Calendars | Biographies |
| Encyclopedias, Dictionaries and Thesauruses | Finding People | Homework Help | Images |
| Just FACTS | Maps and Atlases | News Online | Online Databases | Online Libraries |
| Online Museums | Online Newspapers | Online Zoos | Quotations |
| (Child) Safe Search Engines and Directories | Search Engines and Directories | Sounds and Music |
| Timelines | Topics | Visual Search Tools | Voices and Sounds | Weather |

Find Answers not links

© copyright, The Education Project Asia

Specialist Search Engines and Directories :
The following are single recommended search engines for individual subject areas suitable for schools and students,
iif you know of any others to recommend then please email me the details.
| Arts (dance,music,theater,visual arts) | Geography | History | Design & Technology | Food |
| Librarians | Mathematics | Music | Physical Sciences | Science |

Webkeeper's (Chris's) Favourites (fun and functional)

Listservs, Mailing Lists, Chat and Newsletters - talking with other Info.Lit. People

Information Literacy Associations and Organisations

NB. This page is cited at

--
Don't miss this:

Teaching InfoLit & Library Skills

Information Literacy Graduation Standard

Information Literacy Best Practices Characteristics The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group (TLT Group)

[PPT] EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING THEORY: THEY DIDN"T TEACH THAT IN LIBRARY SCHOOL
K. Jane Burpee, Manager, Reference and Information Literacy, Peter Wolf, Manager, Instructional Development, Teaching Support Services, University of Guelph.

Information Skills @ Mind Tools

Good information skills are essential for successful professionals.

Early in your career you must successfully study and digest a huge volume of information, simply to become effective. As you become increasingly successful, you will need to assimilate a vast number of documents, data and reports, as well as all the information you need to keep up-to-date in your field.

Readers Advisory Interview and Reference Interview

Are these two same or different?

The simple answer is no. They are not same.

While Reader's advisory is, in general, mostly about reading habits, the reference interview is, in general, mostly about seeking information about any thing.

More food for thought:

First, readers’ advisory is about public service;
Second, readers’ advisory is about readers and what they want to read/listen to/view, not about the last good book or DVD we enjoyed.
Third, readers’ advisory is nonjudgmental. continue reading, At Leisure with Joyce Saricks: Against Rules. [Thanks to The Gypsy Librarian for this citation]

What is Readers’ Advisory? in relation to Reference Service

Fiction & Reader's Advisory

Reader's Advisory Interview

The Readers’ Advisory Interview: REFERENCE INTERVIEW VS READERS’ ADVISORY (DIFFERENCES / SIMILARITIES )

THE REFERENCE INTERVIEW

Because of the similarity between the reference and the reader advisory interviews, it is useful to begin discussion of the reader advisory interview by reviewing some of the basic aspects of the reference interview. Note too that reader advisory work may be done in the reference department.

See also:

Setting the stage for the reference interview, @ Alaskan Librarian, The stand-alone blog of Daniel Cornwall

Rewarding Reading - Reader Advisory Training,

The reference interview revisited: Librarian-patron interaction in the virtual environment, Evelyn L. Curry, in SIMILE Studies In Media & Information Literacy Education, Volume 5, Issue 1 (February 2005), © University of Toronto Press
article number: 61

The 'Librarian' Job Title - An Unending Marathon

Much has happened since the age old bibliomaniac, bibliographer, indexer, cataloger, and the process continues from traditional to modern and post-modern ...

"Melvil Dewey wanted to do away with the mousy librarian image, but he was also
obsessed with efficiency and scientific management, which likely led to the image of the overly efficient librarian, who is concerned with order and even silence (e.g., the shushing librarian). Continue reading FROM OLD MAIDS TO ACTION HEROES: LIBRARIANS AND THE MEANINGS OF LIBRARIAN STEREOTYPES, Christine Ann Lutz, Master of Arts, 2005 p. 32.

The 'Librarian' Job Title - GEDOVERIT, An Editorial Rant, By Stephen Abram

The debate over a single, best title for practicing librarians or the word librarian is distracting and truly counter-productive. The ultimate, important task of a job title is to communicate your role within your organization in the context of its unique culture and style. Think carefully about your title and review if it reflects your status and role within your enterprise or if it's meaning is only clear to your professional colleagues. Does it cause your users to make assumptions that aren't in your best interest? It matters not that your co-workers and peers call you "librarian" but that they understand what you offer and do and the high value you add....
Many of the library titles in the corporate world seem to have been pulled from the academic or public library setting (Head Librarian, Reference Librarian, Head, Technical Services, etc.). I suppose is a result of our history, but I don't believe that this is the optimum strategy. Your job title should match your corporate or organizational culture in order that it serves the strongest internal communication function. It may be more appropriate to use a title like "Manager, Library" or "Manager, Competitor Intelligence" in a corporate setting or "Information Research Officer" in a banking environment or "Information Scientist" in an R&D Centre. Continue reading

Ah, the "L" word.
The profession has been debating whether or not to use the "L word"—librarian—for quite some time. The debate has found its way through the naming of graduate (library) schools, which have emerged with multiple permutations, including School of Information (no L word), Graduate Library School (traditional), and hybrid—School of Library and Information Science/Studies. Over the course of the past 3 years or so, the Special Libraries Association has engaged in a similar debate. The key issue: Does the word "library" adequately convey the utility and value of what librarians, in this case, corporate or special librarians, contribute to their organizations? Continue reading: The Information Industry Revolution: Implications for Librarians, By George R. Plosker, Online, Vol. 27 No. 6 — Nov/Dec 2003

"I can now do personal research online. Am I more productive than if I had to go to the library? Of course, I am."
"Information isn't powerful. Information isn't power. ... Hey, who's got the most information? Librarians do! It's hard to imagine a group of people with less power than librarians." [quoted in Redefining a Profession, by Richard A. Danner]

See also:

Don't Let Your Dream Job Be Just a Dream, by Smiti Gandhi

See my related posts:

A Job By Any Other Name - Finding Career Information

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

Library 2.0 Theory

This is a running post: Updated March 10, 2007:

Michael Stephens on The Culture of Trust
"The best libraries of the future will be those that...will seek to make that personal, emotional connection with users. It might be online, it might be in person, it might even be at Panera Bread. Walk through your library today and look at the story your library is telling with its space, signage, and ambience. Share yourself. Be human. Feel good about the difference you can make in your role as a guide for your users through this crazy, information-inundated world."
Listen to this article ...

Library 2.0 : An Academic's Perspective
I am quite excited to see a fellow SUNY librarian and a nationally known librarian blogging about Library 2.0 from the perspective of an academic. I have known Laura Cohen for may years and have served with her in the SUNY Librarians Association. Her new blog, Library 2.0: An Academic's Perspective, will be worht the time to read it. Her introductory post provides a good introduction and overview of Library 2.0. She quotes this list, from LITA President Bonnie Postletwaite, of what Library 2.0 basic concepts cover:

Flexibility and nimbleness to enable rapid change
Commitment to continuous improvement based on assessment
Interactive and collaborative services driven by users needs
Taking the library to the users AND making the library a destination
Embracing radical trust
Use of new technological tools to accomplish the above
Laura then comes to the conclusion that "the last item is optional." I am in complete agreement.

Thanks to Bill Drew @ Baby Boomer Librarian for this reference

Interesting, thought provoking and synchronizing article by Maness. Thanks to Sukhdev for this info.

Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries, by Jack M. Maness, Webology, Volume 3, Number 2, June, 2006
Abstract
This article posits a definition and theory for "Library 2.0". It suggests that recent thinking describing the changing Web as "Web 2.0" will have substantial implications for libraries, and recognizes that while these implications keep very close to the history and mission of libraries, they still necessitate a new paradigm for librarianship. The paper applies the theory and definition to the practice of librarianship, specifically addressing how Web 2.0 technologies such as synchronous messaging and streaming media, blogs, wikis, social networks, tagging, RSS feeds, and mashups might intimate changes in how libraries provide access to their collections and user support for that access.

Michael Habib On Librarianship and the Information Sciences: Conceptual model for Academic Library 2.0

Library 2.0 Idea Generator citation posted by Dave Hook, August 02, 2006

I love this - if you are looking for Library 2.0 ideas for your library, be sure to check out the Library 2.0 Idea Generator. This site randomly generates such gems as:
"remix Ranganathan's Laws using del.icio.us"
"engage microformats using LibraryThing"
"re-evaluate Stephen Abram using the Netflix model"
"repurpose Inter Library Loans just to annoy Michael Gorman"

"A library service on the web that is a combination of LibraryThing, Netvibes, IM-reference and Aquabrowser adapable to the individual needs and of course it should not be library dependent, but could incorporate content and services from all kinds of library-enteties.... Library 2.0 = MyLibrary? by lib1point5, 12 Apr 2006
See Also:

Michael Stephens is collecting Library 2.0 definitions

Reference 2.0 (within the framwork of Stephen Abram's Library 2.0) in THE MYSTERY OF THE DISAPPEARING REFERENCE COLLECTION [ppt] K. Jane Burpee, University of Guelph. Barbara McDonald, McMaster University. Burpee/McDonald OLA Superconference 2006

Library2.0 following the meme

XML in Libraries, Dorai Thodla.

In an article, “Libraries urged to embrace Web2.0″, Mark Chillingworth makes the point that “that existing library catalogue standards, such as MARC and Z39.50, need to be replaced by XML technology “...

Here are some baby steps libraries can take.
1. Decide on what information a library wants to publish - catalogs, events, services, resources etc.
2. Design one or more Microformats for publishing the information
3. Integrate it into the current library web sites
continue reading

Web 2.0: Where will it take libraries by Dr. Wendy Schultz, On the way to the library experience of the future [incl: Library 1.0: Commodity; Library 2.0: Product; Library 3.0—Web 3D to Library 3D: Service; Library 4.0, the neo-library: Experience]

Technocrati Tags:
Web 2.0
Library2.0; and Library 2.0
Streaming media
Library Education

See also my previous post:

Blog As A Teaching Tool

Visualizing the Innernet or Visual Display of the Website's Infostructure

Isolatr Vis-a-Vis a Unified Theory of Web 2.0

Information Visualization Demystified - from a library and information science perspective

Nexus between Knowledge Management and Library Science

The reference list in KM and LIS literature in
knowledge management and librarianship resources, Maryam, April 13, 2005

Exploing the difference between Information management and Knowledge management

Wikis KM - All you need to add, share, edit, store, etc.

Welcome to KmWiki a collaborative persistent 'conversation' on all matters related to knowledge management.

My own previous post on KM - a librarian's perspective

Vertical and tacit: Multifaith and Knowledge Management in Perspective

Knowledge Management Society Wise - Webliography

Knowledge Management Applications in Multifaith & / or Multicultural Transactions Revisited

Knowledge Management Applications in Multifaith & / or Multicultural Transactions

Technology for the Rest of Us

A New e-journal: KnowGenesis

Institutional (aka Corporate or organizational) Memory Listmania at Amazon

Other Listmania! @ Amazon.com

Market Research Techniques for Libraries

I begin this post with my own effort to create a Webliography on:

Market Research Resources via Libraries and
Focus Group Technique for Research on Libraries

While the above two are extensive sources, I came across a term: Environmental scanning. Googled and found one interesting post in a blog, called, Science Library Pad, by Richard Akerma

And incidentaly, two different, albeit related resources, inspire me to write this post: First is on Environmental Scanning and the other is ALA's marketing Kit.

• Competitive Intelligence Workflow: The Self-Service Continuum from Ad Hoc Research to Environmental Scanning, by Arik Johnson
  
• Environmental scanning for libraries, by Richard Akerman
  [cites: OCLC staff 's article on environmental scanning, and Wiki's article on the subject, Environmental Scanning]

First thing first. Richard identifies the meaning and usage and how this term, environmental scanning (also known as business intelligence, competitive intelligence, etc.), has evolved. Nevertheless, there admit fact that the LCSH does use the subject heading competitive intelligence (and not environmental scanning).

NB: What surprises me is, there are many citations that have same and / or similar works in the literature (including works that deal with market surveys conducted to assess needs, log analysis to capture the tacit and tangible, etc., community surveys, and so on). If someone coins a term, does it mean that whatever was done in the past is all written off. At least one scholar comes to my mind, not cited by Richard and the OCLC citation, viz., Prof. Chun Wei Choo.

Based on this random citation behavior and usage of terms that look appealing, I wonder, like all other attempts to be innovative and creative, is this another attempt to present, old wine in a new bottle?

Any comments? What do the Library Marketing Gurus opine on my note? Any one would like to respond? Does scanning sound, better than research, search, and survey? [search for environmental scanning on the web and you will find medical, environmental, ecological, and other resources. Are we, then, short of terms that we are looking for more?]

See more on Market Research * libraries

The second resource, I came across today is:

Marketing @ your library, ALA

@ your library® Toolkit for Academic and Research Libraries

Google for pursuasion, pull, push, in marketing and libraries.

Industry Canada. Competitive Intelligence, see also: Competitive Intelligence E-Monitor
PUNCHLINE:

Marketing of Evil' opposed by the gay community is locked out of over 99% of college libraries
The Virginia Tech librarian ran a database search on "The Marketing of Evil" to see how many libraries worldwide had a copy, and came up with some surprising results. He searched WorldCat, an online database of the Dublin, Ohio-based Online Computer Library Center, or OCLC, which is accessed by more than 53,548 libraries in 96 countries and territories worldwide. "According to WorldCat," he said, "only 188 libraries worldwide report owning a copy of 'The Marketing of Evil.' I'm pleased that Virginia Tech is one of only eight libraries in Virginia that reports owning the book. I had requested it because I wanted to read it. One of my colleagues saw to it that it was purchased. We are now pleased to see that it is currently checked out."
"'Marketing of Evil' locked out of college libraries," World Net Daily, April 26, 2006 --- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49921
[source: Tidbits on May 5, 2006]