Hello everyone,
Here I am with another look at American Libraries. First let me apologize for this being late. Unfortunately April’s issue of American Libraries was late in being sent out, so I did not receive my copy until mid-April. So with no further ado, here is what is going on in the library world according to the American Library Association.
Of course as many of you know, April is when National Library Week is celebrated. This year was the 50th anniversary of National Library Week and American Libraries started off with a lovely opening from Julie Andrews, 2008 Honorary Chair. She starts off by thanking everyone who works in the library world for all the hard work they do throughout the year. She then goes on to say how important our profession is and how our profession “represents and promotes the kind of independent learning and thinking that equips children to take their places in the world as productive and fulfilled adults” (8). Julie Andrews also says how “a library takes the gift [of the joy] of reading one step further by offering personalized learning opportunities second to none, a powerful antidote to the isolation of the Web” (8).
The news in the library world ranges from library closures being challenged to terrorists strikes in Israel and Gaza. An arbitrator rules against the EPA when it closed 7 of the agency’s ten regional libraries over the past two years, saying that the EPA “engaged in unfair labor practices and acted in bad faith” when it abruptly ordered the closing of these libraries. Other news announced was that Southern Methodist University was chosen as the site for the George W. Bush Library. The university was chosen over seven other competitors and will be a “three-part presidential center will comprise the presidential library, a museum with permanent and traveling exhibits, and an independents public policy institute. The first two components will be operated by the National Archives and Records Administration” (19). In February the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider whether plaintiffs who believed they had been spied on without a court order could challenge the legality of such surveillance without tangible proof, even if the proof is classified as a state secret. This rejection came two days after the Protect America Act expired. This act legalized warrantless eavesdropping on phone and internet communications to U.S. homes, workplaces, libraries, and elsewhere from foreign locations if the government suspects that the discussion involves support of terrorism from August 2007 till February 16. Harvard University’s faculty in the arts and sciences voted unanimously to publish their scholarly articles online, which makes them available to the public. Copyright of their articles is still retained by the faculty members. In the Middle East there were two separate incidents where terrorists targeted two different libraries. In Jerusalem a lone gunman killed eight students in an attack on a library at a religious school. A library at a YMCA was bombed by about a dozen men, who overpowered and tied up two security guards.
OCLC’s WorldCat is being challenged by a partnership between Inter Archive, Open Content Alliance, and entrepreneur Aaron Swartz by creating a free online book catalog called Open Library. Open Library is a free online book catalog that is designed to be maintained by the public. The idea is to have information on every book so people can find where they can order a book, read a digital copy, or check the book out from the library. The idea came about when Swartz found books on his local library’s bookshelves, but could not find any information about them on the Internet.
In the article “Go, Team!,” Michelle Boule talks about how different tools on the internet can be used to help with team collaboration. She points out many benefits from using technology. One benefit is with document exchange. By putting a document on a wiki instead of using email, team members can make changes and keeps all other versions of the document separate, “ensuring that there is never any question of who changed what or which version is current” (30). By conducting discussion online, by using IM or on a message board, an instant discussion archive is created as well as saving time from face to face meetings along with providing an archive of completed work. These tools can also allow greater flexibility with team membership and participation because groups working online are not bound in the same building or geographic location. This also allows members to work on the project when the time is convenient to their schedule instead of waiting for a scheduled meeting. What is also helpful with using technology is that there are many free or cheap tools that can provide instant messaging, group chatting, group collaboration, project management, and even web conferencing available without having to spend lots of money. This gives you a chance to try out new technology and see what works best without the layout the hefty price tag, but also lets you find out what works best.
One of the main articles in this month’s issue is on libraries that have gone green, or are working their way on becoming green. The article begins about what the LEED Green Building Rating System provides as far as standards for environmentally sustainable construction by evaluating projects within six categories: site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials selection, indoor environmental quality, and innovation in design. In addition to these standards, the article goes on to explain that LEED certification is available in four levels- certified, silver, gold, and platinum. The article goes on to show how Durham County’s libraries have gone green. The article gives advice on how to get started on building a green library.
In continuing with this green theme, American Libraries showcases different library designs. The showcase shows pictures of different libraries that have built new buildings or have renovated their buildings, making them more green friendly. This is the place where our own Prince Frederick library is featured. It shows a picture looking up the staircase tower with the following description: “The new Prince Frederick Library building reflects the characteristics of Calvert County in a lighthouse-like stair tower connecting the two floors of the library with a café and a cast-stone fireplace, which includes fossils embedded in its face. Numerous study and tutoring rooms are featured as well as a meeting room that can be divided as needed” (48).
So here you go. This is just a smattering of the articles that can be found in April’s issue of American Libraries. Hope you enjoyed this quick run through and happy reading!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Raising Money for Kenya Libraries, Digitizing Photo Collections, and Let's See What Exciting Things Happened at the Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia!
Here I am again with another interesting look at American Libraries. The March issue had many different and interesting articles covering lifelong learning, additional information of library related events throughout the world, plus a report on the ALA Midwinter Meeting that took place in Philadelphia. While my goal was to tell you about one interesting article each month, I found that in this issue there were just too many interesting things just to pick one! So since a couple of the interesting information found in this issue a rather small, I decided to highlight the many articles I found interesting. Enjoy!
One of the first things to catch my eye in this month’s issue was a one page article about two 16 year old high school juniors from Tampa, Florida who raise money for libraries in Kenya. The article is “Girls Raise Cash for Kenya” and appears on page 28. Believing in Gandhi’s words “We must become the chance we want to see in the world”, these two teenagers, Danielle Rodriguez and Megan Adams, started Literacy Leads to Hope, which is a fundraising initiative that supports the American Friends of Kenya (AFK) organization. Their goal has been to raise enough money to build and set up a library in Thika. So far they have raised $40,000 from a benefit fundraiser and $35,000 from a Canadian Baptist church towards their $120,000 goal that they hope to raise, which is the estimated cost of construction. There are already desks, books, a computer, and shelves that are waiting in storage fort he building. Not only have they raised money for their cause, but they have met the mayor of Tampa, who declared “Literacy Leads to Hope Day” on November 13 in the city. They are also continuing their fundraising by reaching out to schools by trying to raise money through t-shirt sales and sales of Tumaini (Swahili for “hope”) dolls that the girls created themselves. The money they raise and will raise goes to the American Friends of Kenya organization, earmarked for the library. For more information, visit their website at www.literacyleadstohope.com.
Looking at the technology news in the library world, the Library of Congress is teaming up with Flickr “to broaden public access to the 14 million photographs and other visual items in LC’s collections” (30). The project will begin with 3,000 photos that will be posted in an area called The Commons (www.flickr.com/commons) that will contains photos from the library’s most popular collections, the George Grantham Bain Collection and Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. Only images, which have no copyright restrictions know to exist, will be included in this project. There are hopes that the public will enhance the collections utility by helping with key caption information for the many photos that are missing this information.
The next interesting article I read called “Story Quilt: Poems of a Place.” It talks about the town of Galway, New York and the social history project of the Galway Public Library. The Galway Public Library received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, which was administered through the Saratoga County Arts Council. With this grant and many volunteers, they gathered a collection of poems and little stories “comprising the symbolic quilt of the town’s collective history” (51). They collected poems that people wrote, or material to create a poem, dealing with the past through the present of the town. Instead of relegating these poems to paper or being archived somewhere, they decided to have the poems performed “for the entire community to share and celebrate” (51). After the first year was a success, they applied for a second grant to continue collected poems and stories to add to the collection, ending up with close to 300 poems by the end of 2006. Eventually by 2007 they published a book containing 122 of the poems and artwork from local artists called Story Quilt: Poems of a Place. The whole community got behind the project and showed its support by funding the publication of the book themselves through contributions from individuals, businesses, organizations in Galway. By doing this, they were able to allow all the proceeds from the sale of the books to be put back into the library’s arts and literary programming fund.
Last, but not least, there was a whole section of information about the events and presentations the occurred at the Midwinter Meeting that was held in Philadelphia in January. In addition to all the information and brief overviews of the main events from the meeting, there is also information about the candidates for ALA President in 2009. Each of the candidates had a page to tell about their experience and what they pledge to do if elected. There is also an article where each candidate answers questions from the different people in the audience. Voting began March 17, so if you are an ALA member take this opportunity to vote.
Well that is all for this month’s American Libraries. If you are an ALA member, you can access the magazine for free through the website.
One of the first things to catch my eye in this month’s issue was a one page article about two 16 year old high school juniors from Tampa, Florida who raise money for libraries in Kenya. The article is “Girls Raise Cash for Kenya” and appears on page 28. Believing in Gandhi’s words “We must become the chance we want to see in the world”, these two teenagers, Danielle Rodriguez and Megan Adams, started Literacy Leads to Hope, which is a fundraising initiative that supports the American Friends of Kenya (AFK) organization. Their goal has been to raise enough money to build and set up a library in Thika. So far they have raised $40,000 from a benefit fundraiser and $35,000 from a Canadian Baptist church towards their $120,000 goal that they hope to raise, which is the estimated cost of construction. There are already desks, books, a computer, and shelves that are waiting in storage fort he building. Not only have they raised money for their cause, but they have met the mayor of Tampa, who declared “Literacy Leads to Hope Day” on November 13 in the city. They are also continuing their fundraising by reaching out to schools by trying to raise money through t-shirt sales and sales of Tumaini (Swahili for “hope”) dolls that the girls created themselves. The money they raise and will raise goes to the American Friends of Kenya organization, earmarked for the library. For more information, visit their website at www.literacyleadstohope.com.
Looking at the technology news in the library world, the Library of Congress is teaming up with Flickr “to broaden public access to the 14 million photographs and other visual items in LC’s collections” (30). The project will begin with 3,000 photos that will be posted in an area called The Commons (www.flickr.com/commons) that will contains photos from the library’s most popular collections, the George Grantham Bain Collection and Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. Only images, which have no copyright restrictions know to exist, will be included in this project. There are hopes that the public will enhance the collections utility by helping with key caption information for the many photos that are missing this information.
The next interesting article I read called “Story Quilt: Poems of a Place.” It talks about the town of Galway, New York and the social history project of the Galway Public Library. The Galway Public Library received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, which was administered through the Saratoga County Arts Council. With this grant and many volunteers, they gathered a collection of poems and little stories “comprising the symbolic quilt of the town’s collective history” (51). They collected poems that people wrote, or material to create a poem, dealing with the past through the present of the town. Instead of relegating these poems to paper or being archived somewhere, they decided to have the poems performed “for the entire community to share and celebrate” (51). After the first year was a success, they applied for a second grant to continue collected poems and stories to add to the collection, ending up with close to 300 poems by the end of 2006. Eventually by 2007 they published a book containing 122 of the poems and artwork from local artists called Story Quilt: Poems of a Place. The whole community got behind the project and showed its support by funding the publication of the book themselves through contributions from individuals, businesses, organizations in Galway. By doing this, they were able to allow all the proceeds from the sale of the books to be put back into the library’s arts and literary programming fund.
Last, but not least, there was a whole section of information about the events and presentations the occurred at the Midwinter Meeting that was held in Philadelphia in January. In addition to all the information and brief overviews of the main events from the meeting, there is also information about the candidates for ALA President in 2009. Each of the candidates had a page to tell about their experience and what they pledge to do if elected. There is also an article where each candidate answers questions from the different people in the audience. Voting began March 17, so if you are an ALA member take this opportunity to vote.
Well that is all for this month’s American Libraries. If you are an ALA member, you can access the magazine for free through the website.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Let's Hear It From The Jury and New Year's Resolutions for the Librarian Professional
The first issue for this year covers both January and February, so I will be telling you about 2 interesting articles I read. So here it goes and enjoy!
The first article I thought was interesting was “Librarians in the Jury Box” by Nancy Kalikow Maxwell. The author of this article talked with attorneys and did research on trial technique handbooks to find out if her hunch that librarians make highly desirable jurors was correct. When talking with the attorneys, the author found that they feel that librarians make excellent jurors and are preferred when selecting a jury. One reason is because “librarians are interested in the facts and not generally swayed by innuendo or subjective beliefs.” Other reasons are because librarians “listen to reason” and “librarians are organized, practical, conservative, and careful…conservative, I don’t mean politically, but rather they are the kind of people who pay their bills on time. They would focus on the facts and not be swayed by the big picture a plaintiff tries to paint.” Much of the research of the handbooks show that librarians are potential jurors because they are described as intelligent, are seen as literary people, and people who can empathize.
Of course this being said, the article goes on to say how not all librarians are created equal when it comes to being desirable as jurors. Catalogers could be seen as too requiring of “everything in a case to fit together too neatly” while school librarians are “reportedly make good jurors because they are accustomed to making do with available materials.” Public librarians are preferred as defense jurors in criminal cases because they are exposed to a “variety of aspects of life” and are “less likely to be shocked by the details of a crime.”
The last part of the article talks about looking like a librarian. One of the things materials counsel lawyers to consider when selecting jurors is physical characteristics. One reference cautions against selecting a person who is frowning over half-glasses, thin people, and people with thin lips, thin hair, and angular features. Other sources advise lawyers to choose people that are heavy, round-faced, jovial looking as the most desirable for the jury as well as smiling jurors. I found this article interesting because it gave an incite to how we can be perceived by other professions and other people.
The other article I found interesting is a short article on twelve resolutions for the New Year at your library. It is called “Be It Resolved…Twelve resolutions for the New Year at your library” by Mary Pergander. The article goes into some ideas/resolutions on making a difference in your professional career and your library. The resolutions on her list are:
The first article I thought was interesting was “Librarians in the Jury Box” by Nancy Kalikow Maxwell. The author of this article talked with attorneys and did research on trial technique handbooks to find out if her hunch that librarians make highly desirable jurors was correct. When talking with the attorneys, the author found that they feel that librarians make excellent jurors and are preferred when selecting a jury. One reason is because “librarians are interested in the facts and not generally swayed by innuendo or subjective beliefs.” Other reasons are because librarians “listen to reason” and “librarians are organized, practical, conservative, and careful…conservative, I don’t mean politically, but rather they are the kind of people who pay their bills on time. They would focus on the facts and not be swayed by the big picture a plaintiff tries to paint.” Much of the research of the handbooks show that librarians are potential jurors because they are described as intelligent, are seen as literary people, and people who can empathize.
Of course this being said, the article goes on to say how not all librarians are created equal when it comes to being desirable as jurors. Catalogers could be seen as too requiring of “everything in a case to fit together too neatly” while school librarians are “reportedly make good jurors because they are accustomed to making do with available materials.” Public librarians are preferred as defense jurors in criminal cases because they are exposed to a “variety of aspects of life” and are “less likely to be shocked by the details of a crime.”
The last part of the article talks about looking like a librarian. One of the things materials counsel lawyers to consider when selecting jurors is physical characteristics. One reference cautions against selecting a person who is frowning over half-glasses, thin people, and people with thin lips, thin hair, and angular features. Other sources advise lawyers to choose people that are heavy, round-faced, jovial looking as the most desirable for the jury as well as smiling jurors. I found this article interesting because it gave an incite to how we can be perceived by other professions and other people.
The other article I found interesting is a short article on twelve resolutions for the New Year at your library. It is called “Be It Resolved…Twelve resolutions for the New Year at your library” by Mary Pergander. The article goes into some ideas/resolutions on making a difference in your professional career and your library. The resolutions on her list are:
- Can you name three librarians colleagues working in similar roles in nearby libraries?
- Is there at least one professional journal you read cover to cover each month?
- Attend a professional conference, if you can.
- Subscribe to at least on RSS feed on a library topic of interest.
- Are you a technology superuser?
- Share your librarianship ideas more broadly.
- Vote, not just in the political elections but your library organizations also.
- Take a local or web-based continuing education class related to your own information needs.
- Serve on a committee in your library, school, or professional organization.
- Nominate a librarian for an award.
- Apply for a grant.
- Take a vacation, and visit a library.
She encourages librarians to complete at least two or three completely.
I hope you have enjoyed learning about a couple interesting articles in the January/February 2008 issue of American Libraries, a publication of the American Library Association. If you like what you have seen and want to read more or you want to read more interesting articles on the library world, check out the January/February 2008 issues of American Libraries!
What is going on in the library world?: American Libraries Goal
As one of my goals this year, I am reading American Libraries magazine each month and then emailing everyone that works in my library system about an interesting article I read. I sat here getting ready to work on the March issue and a light bulb went off. Why not only email my summaries, but also post them on my blog! So here it goes and enjoy!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make: Week 9, Thing 23
Yea! I have reached the end of my 23 Things. It’s very exciting to have the end in sight. Now for a summary about my learning. When thinking of my favorite discoveries or exercises, I find it hard to pick one. I really enjoyed doing the avatar. Flickr was fun to work with and to find out about the different things you can use it for. I also really enjoyed YouTube and learning about podcasts. I have learned a lot about different technologies that are out there. This program has definitely opened my eyes to how the Internet has dramatically expanded since I was in college and graduate and that wasn’t all that long ago, only about 2 to 3 years. Scary to think about it really. It makes me realize how much I really need to keep up with what is going on out there and what people are using on the World Wide Web.
One unexpected outcome of 23 Things was giving me the idea of how to organize my list of reference websites as part of a project I was working on. While using Rollyo I thought it would be a great way to organize and access my list of reference websites and for staff and customers to use them. Well I had more than 25 websites on my list, but it did give me the idea to use Google’s similar service I had learned about at ALA. Now we have a great very own search engine with over 300+ websites and growing. Another great take-away was learning how to use a wiki and how to create one. I used this knowledge to set up a wiki for the Teen Team to use as a place to post book reviews on to help us discuss books that we could possibly use for our Teen Summer Book Discussions. I also even learned to be enthusiastic about podcasts. :)
I found the format for this program was very helpful. It was organized very well and if one truly explored the site for Thing 1, then one would know where all the information can be found about each activity to be explored. Any snags would be more from the implementation within each library system as far as getting things completed for this program. I enjoyed completing this program. If another was offered again, I would choose to participate. I use the Internet a lot and so do a lot of our customers. Whether we like it or not, the Internet is here to stay and is evolving at an ever increasing pace. We as librarians need to keep up with such technology. Even if we don’t personally use it on a regular basis, we need to be aware of what is out there and what our customers are using or could possibly use to help them access the information that they need and want.
How would I describe my learning experience? Fascinating at times, slow at times, dragging my feet at times, but overall it has opened my eyes to what is out there. Even as a 20-something adult who grew up using a computer and the Internet, there were still many things that I learned and I am glad I did. What doesn’t kill us, only makes us stronger. :)
One unexpected outcome of 23 Things was giving me the idea of how to organize my list of reference websites as part of a project I was working on. While using Rollyo I thought it would be a great way to organize and access my list of reference websites and for staff and customers to use them. Well I had more than 25 websites on my list, but it did give me the idea to use Google’s similar service I had learned about at ALA. Now we have a great very own search engine with over 300+ websites and growing. Another great take-away was learning how to use a wiki and how to create one. I used this knowledge to set up a wiki for the Teen Team to use as a place to post book reviews on to help us discuss books that we could possibly use for our Teen Summer Book Discussions. I also even learned to be enthusiastic about podcasts. :)
I found the format for this program was very helpful. It was organized very well and if one truly explored the site for Thing 1, then one would know where all the information can be found about each activity to be explored. Any snags would be more from the implementation within each library system as far as getting things completed for this program. I enjoyed completing this program. If another was offered again, I would choose to participate. I use the Internet a lot and so do a lot of our customers. Whether we like it or not, the Internet is here to stay and is evolving at an ever increasing pace. We as librarians need to keep up with such technology. Even if we don’t personally use it on a regular basis, we need to be aware of what is out there and what our customers are using or could possibly use to help them access the information that they need and want.
How would I describe my learning experience? Fascinating at times, slow at times, dragging my feet at times, but overall it has opened my eyes to what is out there. Even as a 20-something adult who grew up using a computer and the Internet, there were still many things that I learned and I am glad I did. What doesn’t kill us, only makes us stronger. :)
The Gutenburg Press to a New Level: Week 9, Thing 22
I can see the end in sight. I found this thing to be a fairly easy one because I have used Overdrive, NetLibrary, and Project Gutenburg at one time or another. I found all products fairly easy to use. Downloading a book off of Overdrive is so easy. I have downloaded books or more than one occasion and have had to opportunity to show our customers how easy it is to download books on to their computer. Searching could be a little bit easier, but I did find some interesting books just by browsing through the collection. NetLibrary, from what I remember, is very similar to Overdrive when it comes to searching, browsing, and downloading items. Setting up an account for both of these services is extremely easy. Project Gutenburg is nice if you are looking for books that are in the public domain and are no longer copyrighted. It has many books digitized and a handful of audiobooks. The one complaint about Project Gutenburg is the readability of the books. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult with the way they have the books set up. Other than that, any one of these services would be useful for our customers, plus I would use myself.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Radio Shows for the 21st Century:Week 9, Thing 21
Ah podcasts. This is one of the things I was most nervous about and was not looking forward to surprisingly enough. I listen to audiobooks all the time, but this "thing" I was nervous about and a little gun-shy to learn about. So I've had the chance to look around a couple of the websites of podcasts and I found a few podcasts that I found interesting and funny. I really enjoyed listening to some of them. I looked at www.podcast.net and www.podcastalley.net and found out that they were really easy to use and the podcasts seemed very well produced. I have found a couple podcasts that I will try and keep listening to. I added one of them to my Bloglines rss feed (Vegan Cooking School). It was a good thing that I was in the workroom on my own, because I keep laughing at the one podcast I'm listening to (Vegan Freak Radio). The whole process was pretty easy. I hope to try and add some of the podcasts to my mp3 player when I am on my own computer and can download. The one thing that really came to mind was the old radio shows from before the TV was around. This "thing" reminds me very much of this. I don't know why, but it just does, maybe because there are many topics that you wouldn't necessarily find on regular mainstream radio, at least of the topics I was looking up. So I'm sold on this "thing". :)
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