http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/sets/276674/ This afternoon was totally cool! There have been three big conferences recently so we had a group “debrief” for staff who attendded and other interested staff. Our Staff Development Librarian could not be here today so she asked me to facillitate. We had 15 folks who had attended either PLA Symposium, Computers in Libraries or the Indiana Library Federation State meeting. We began by going around the room, with each participant sharing top trends/learning/issues/thoughts from their conference. I wrote them on the whiteboard. By the end we had 25 different points. Equity of Access- The digital divide Info/Tech literacy […]
Monthly Archives: April 2005
70 posts
At the Chronicle: http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i33/33a03401.htm (Gorman’s in there too… do with that what you will…) Last night, I was almost in bed and I stopped to check a couple of things on the Mac. Suddenly I had 4 IMs even with an away message. I just told folks I was off to bed and we’d talk today. Balance. Breathe. Nice.
Intriguing article in the Indy Star: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050426/NEWS01/504260413/1006/NEWS01 The IMCCPL is changing as the new Main Library is renovated. Changes include more best sellers, more libraries open on Sundays (and the elimination of overtime pay for Sundays) and changes to the way the librarians do their jobs: Librarians themselves will morph: ? A clerical worker with a college degree will answer reference questions — basically taking over the role for which a librarian went to college to get a master’s degree. ? Librarians with expertise in a particular field no longer will order books for their area. ? Users will do […]
http://www.iamalibrarian.com/gallery.html I Am a Librarian My name is Cynthia Wilson. I received my Masters Degree in library science from Clarion University and I am a photographer. I have been looking for librarians and library school students in the United States who would be willing to get their picture taken, and answer a short interview for a book that I am working on, titled ?I am a Librarian!? Cynthia took my picture one sweltering day in Orlando last June with my beloved PowerBook. Here’s the image, which is one of many on display at the University of West Florida, Fort Walton […]
http://www.teachinglibrarian.org/weblog/2005/03/early-adopter-of-sms-reference.html I apoligize if this made the rounds back in March — maybe because I was at CIL I totally missed it! But this is intriguing. I wonder what their numbers are? How the librarians feel about it? And what the student perception of the library might be because of this innovative service? Take a look at their info page for the service: http://www.selu.edu/Library/ServicesDept/referenc/textalibrarian.html
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/22/text.iq/index.html?section=cnn_tech CNN piece about a study out of the UK that finds folks are too distracted by email, messaging, etc. Bit that resonated the most with me: “Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working.” Heck yeah! I need to ponder the implications here of the IQ stuff, but here’s another vote for balance in our library and information lives. Handle only the information you are comfortable with and know when to unplug. With that, dear readers, I am UNPLUGGING for the weekend.
I am loving this! A respondent says: “Kudos to linking to the Instant Messaging deifition in the Wikipedia from the Library’s website. It’s nice to know that UNLV’s librarians are up-to-date on things such as the Wikipedia. The idea of Instant Messaging for help sounds wonderful. If it isn’t a nuisance and is setup that a librarian at the help desk runs AIM in the background as she/he helps in-person patrons and then additionally helps online patrons, this could become a successful way to reach and help students.” Read all about it…http://blog.uwinnipeg.ca/schwagbag/archives/2005/04/imers_not_digit_1.html
Thanks FGL for such a nice bit to ponder this am. http://feelgoodlibrarian.typepad.com/feelgood_librarian/2005/04/the_beauty_of_d.html Are you reading this most cool Front Line Blog?
And guess what? Your library sounds the same way if you tell patrons (of any age) that they can’t IM from your library because that’s not a valid use of your public computers. You’re basically telling people that their choice of communication channel isn’t allowed and that they should go elsewhere because you won’t be serving them today. ROCK ON!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/sets/249806/ We meet with Brian again today: our Staff development Librarian, our Web developer and yours truly for another demo. The implications for training intrigue me. Here I’ve set up a session to run through a PPT on the Reference Interview.