I’m enjoying the writing at this blog: http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/ From the About page: The Web is our Campus. This is an invitation to participate in the redefinitions of library school using the web as a collaborative space outside of any specific university or organization. Imagine standards and foundations of the profession that we will create, decided upon by us, outside of the institutional framework. Ideas like the democratization of the semantic web, crowdsourcing, and folksonomies allow projects like this to exist and we should be taking advantage of it. What will the information professions be next year if we define it […]
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My new “Office Hours” column is up at LJ. It’s about challenges: http://bit.ly/f0PuQe Slackers not wanted At a recent focus group for a research project for the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiatives conference, a small group of librarians and library IT support staff shared their insights about the changing educational landscape. They all agreed that the requirements for supporting a university’s mission are changing, just as our students are changing (see “Can We Handle the Truth?” Office Hours, LJ 1/11, p. 44). One librarian noted a particular challenge: “some librarians are coasting to retirement—they’ve checked out.” Coasting, in library school and in our jobs, […]
I’ve received some wonderful and challenging emails offering feedback about my column in “Office Hours” in Library Journal. A few folks keyed in to the statement I made in the first column: If the online world is not for you, then neither may be a career in librarianship. The most prevalent LIS jobs in the next few years will probably be ones where you’re not tied to your desk and you communicate well beyond the physical walls of the building. It’s not just students who should participate in this online world. Librarians must find their niche as well. Five years […]
https://twitter.com/#!/nypl/status/25616837626560512 Job description: http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/njslajobs/2009/12/geospatial-librarian-new-york.html Duties include: In collaboration with others, develops scaleable tools for delivering NYPL’s digital collections to the public using web mapping discovery technologies and advises on best practices for metadata schema Collaborates with Library Sites and Services staff and engages with users and researchers to provide reference and research services including individualized consultations; engages with users online to foster an interactive and creative use of collection content Promotes and interprets the collections through the use of online tools, classroom instruction, curriculum development, exhibitions and publications Expands outreach to local, national, and international audiences, including K-12 groups Again […]
https://twitter.com/#!/mickjacobsen/status/25217483560460288 I shared this with my Participatory Service & Emerging Technologies class. Skokie PL librarian Mick Jacobsen finds himself in the new reality: developing Web sites as part of his work but without the title or duties of web developer noted in his job description. It makes me wonder – are the proficiencies necessary to create online info environments (think Info architecture, if you will) and online communities becoming part of the greater skill set of the 21st Century Librarian?
http://bit.ly/fJDE6A My new column explores some recent studies about students, faculty and librarians. Ultimately, the authors of the report make a series of recommendations, including a few that librarians must heed. “We believe library instruction could benefit from some serious rethinking and re-examination. We recommend modifying sessions (in-class and reference encounters) so they emphasize…framing a successful research process…over research-finding of sources.” (p. 39) Librarians’ focus on sources over teaching the research process itself has probably contributed to these disheartening survey results. But they also make me wonder how most college students see librarians. Are they invisible within their libraries and […]
My newest “Office Hours” column is up at Library Journal: Not all students are ready to take this on. Some can only operate within the constraints of their own limited assumptions of what library work is. To conclude last semester, my LIS701 class walked a local labyrinth, as Pink describes, to engage the left brain and free the right to explore new ideas. “Think about your professional practice,” I said before the walk. “What can you do to encourage the heart of your library users?” I caught up with one of the students from that class, Tara Wood, and asked […]
My new column is up at Library Journal online: http://bit.ly/bD8ZOS This exercise helped me clarify my philosophy of LIS education. Some of my goals include: To prepare LIS students for a decidedly digital future in libraries. With titles like Digital Strategy Librarian, User Experience Librarian, or Strategy Guide, jobs being advertised speak to an evolving skill set that not only includes a solid understanding of the core values of LIS but a strong knowledge of information architecture, online user behavior, and the ability to build networked resources and services. We do our students (and programs) a disservice if they graduate […]
I am very happy to announce I’m writing for LJ again! I thoroughly enjoyed writing The Transparent Library with Michael Casey for over two years – hopefully Michael and I can continue writing again soon! Those columns are some of my favorites. Now, I’m happy to be exploring avenues related to educating future librarians. http://bit.ly/coCkbX WELCOME TO “OFFICE HOURS,” a new space in Library Journal where we’ll explore what’s happening in library and information science education. In the coming months we’ll talk about the ongoing discourse about LIS schools; research that informs us, our users, and our facilities; and stories from the trenches on […]
Note from Michael: This article & interview was originally published last year in Digitale Biblioteek. Seth Godin has been writing and speaking about marketing, the new landscape of the Web paired with emerging social media and the increasing power of consumer “word of mouth.” His books include The Big Red Fez: How to make Any Web Site Better, Permission Marketing, The Purple Cow, Small is the New Big, The Dip and most recently Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. I’ve been drawn to his ideas and insights for a long time, while working in public libraries to teaching library […]