I was honored to present yesterday at CIL2008 with Michael Casey. We had not been on the same speaking ticket since 2006 when we helped launch Helene Blower’s Learning 2.0 program at PLCMC. The CIL presentation was in tandem and titled “Transparency, Planning & Change: See-Through Libraries,” created in part from our work on the Library Journal column we co-author. The slides are here. We asked the group to share roadblocks. Thankfully, David Lee King blogged some of the sharing: inability to use open source software we’ve always done it this way control-freak IT support No admin priviledges only making cosmetic […]
Categories Library Jobs & Careers
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Dominican GSLIS hosted a presentation a few weeks ago by Library Journal’s John Berry, as part of our Emerging Library Leaders series. John spoke about having a voice and participating in the profession. I thoroughly enjoyed his talk, even though it was one day after getting back from Australia. I captured a couple of his points through my jet lag: On becoming a well-rounded practitioner: Your professional development time will be more important than the time spent on your job. On writing/blogging: Don’t be afraid of controversy. On Blogging and putting yourself out there: For every error you make, you […]
Ouch! http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080321/NEWS01/803210340 SOUTH BEND — Indiana’s new property tax reform law may mean the elimination of Saturday hours at all St. Joseph County Public Library locations, library Director Donald Napoli said. As a result of the new law, the county library is looking at a possible loss of $790,000 in tax revenue in 2009 and a loss of $1.6 million in 2010, plus elimination of $750,000 in the library’s capital projects fund, Napoli said. “We’ll probably close on Saturdays come this summer,” he said. “We need to deal with it right now. We can’t wait until next year.” Reduced funding […]
Michelle Boule writes about her FPOW: The introduction leads me right into the first issue: lack of transparency. One of the most frustrating things about this issue was that my administration was usually under the impression they were being transparent. As long as things looked ok from the top they must be ok. The problem was often a communication breakdown somewhere on the totem pole and the people on the bottom are rarely asked if everything is actually going OK. When you have an organization of any kind that is large, transparency is hard simply because it must travel through […]
http://acrlog.org/2008/02/10/what-i-did-learn-in-library-school/ Melissa Mallon shares some of the things she’s glad she learned at Louisiana State University’s School of Library and Information Science: 4. How to Give a Good Presentation. Another thing we were taught in library school was to never underestimate the value of a well-done PowerPoint presentation. It won’t hold its own, but it will certainly make what you have to say a lot more attractive. I can’t even count the number of group projects, presentations, etc. that we were required to do. I can tell you, however, that my presenting skills have stayed well-maintained and I always jump […]
Cheers to the many librarians who have joined the local and global conversation via blogs, wikis, Flickr, and other social networks. The expression of shared ideas, feedback, and solutions furthers the professional discourse. Jeers to IT departments that still hide behind “it’s not secure,” “we can’t support that,” and technology plans/decisions made without involving librarians or users. We’re ready for an open dialog about security, privacy, and what resources we can realistically spend. We understand how busy IT can be. We simply want the discussions to be more inclusive. Cheers to libraries like North Carolina State University (NCSU) for the […]
It’s often a hurdle to get library administrators and managers to listen to your concerns and views. But there are ways. And we believe this advice holds true for everyone on the desk, from reference librarians to support staff….. ….Tap into reports. Some 30 percent of folks polled for OCLC’s 2005 report Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources didn’t know what “electronic databases” were, and over 80 percent were starting their own information searches at a search engine. Pew’s December 2007 Information Searches That Solve Problems tells us that younger people really do use the library. Use this as a […]
Via Karen Schneider on Twitter comes this link to a job description at San Jose State University: The Associate Dean for Digital Futures, Information Technology and Technical Services will provide leadership for the development of San José State University Library’s digital initiatives & the utilization of emerging technologies to better serve students and faculty. The Associate Dean may be in charge of the Library in the Dean’s absence and work as a member of the Dean’s Senior Management Team. The Associate Dean will exhibit leadership, solid management skills, effectiveness in resource management, and the ability to build partnerships within the […]
Some say that IM is on the verge of extinction and that forging into such territory for virtual reference so late in the game is a waste of a library’s energy. You can surely count me as one of those who agrees with that statement. I predict, as do many others, that virtual reference needs to fit in users’ pockets – in their cell phone. We need to look at the trends happening now (according to PEW, 2006): -47% can’t live without their cell phones -35% use SMS and 13% would like it added to their features The preceding stats […]
Maybe most libraries think about it differently, but Darien Library is sending more staff members to Los Angeles for BookExpo America, the majority of whom will be Circulation staff, two of them part-time, than to any other conference this year. It’s a major commitment on our part, but for nearly all our staff, this is the most important event of the year. They love it! Now I wouldn’t expect many east coast libraries to follow suit, but how many libraries out there will be sending part-time OR even full-time Circ staff to BookExpo, and when it comes east next year, […]