Uncategorized 6:55 am
Greetings all - it is a new month - 2008 is more than half over.
Sorry for my blog-absence - there has been a lot going on personally and professionally. But mostly personally - my mom has been in the hospital for more than two weeks now and recovery is slow. Today is her birthday - she turns 83. Happy birthday Momma!
I’ll write more about libraries etc. soon.
Cheers!
Uncategorized 6:43 am
40 years ago this month some drag queens and other LGBT folks in New York City decided that they were tired of being harrassed on a daily basis and fought back in a big way. Their effort became known as the Stonewall Riots.
To be sure there were LGBT folks around for millennia, though many would never have used the term homosexual to describe themselves. And LGBT people can be found in all walks of life, cultures and economic levels.
Within the Library community there are many LGBT Librarians and for the most part the Library has been a welcoming community. Even the professional organizations have groups for LGBT Librarians - SLA has the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Issues Caucus (GLBTIC), and ALA has the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table
So it is surprising to learn merely being a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgendered person working in a library can be an issue for our fellow librarians. I guess some people feel threatened because we are comfortable with who we are. Or maybe being out keeps others from having leverage over us.
It is sad that 40 years after our brothers and sisters rioted on Christopher Street that we are still having to wage battles with our colleagues.
In the words of Frank Kameny - Gay is Good!
SLA 2008 10:48 am
Many of my colleagues are getting ready to go to the SLA Annual Conference in Seattle next month.
Alas I won’t be going this year, but I’ll be reading the blogs. For anyone who hasn’t been to the SLA conference - it is a great place to network and learn from other professionals.
And Seattle is a great city! I was there about 20 years ago. Next year everyone will be coming to my city for the conference!
Professional Development 7:56 am
Last night I had Chinese food for dinner - well, American-Chinese food. I’m sure that General Tso never encountered the dish named in his honor, but it is a favorite of mine. At the end of the meal came the fortune cookie. My fortune read You should be able to undertake and complete anything.
This put me in mind of an IQ test and psych evaluation I had almost 20 years ago. The woman who reviewed my results with me mentioned that based on my skills and aptitude I could do anything I wanted to. I had the capacity to learn how to do anything and the practical skills to accomplish it. Her example was that I should never have to pay someone to repair my car - I was capable of learning how to fix it myself.
While that is all very complimentary, it is also a bit daunting. So far I have not chosen to learn auto repair. I know how to do many things - like changing a tire, but I know a great mechanic who takes really good care of my car.
All of that happened before I became a librarian and as a librarian I am pretty competent, despite my bouts of laziness.
Back in high school - I had a teacher who was a brilliant man and very practical. I also knew people who were very smart, but lacked the sense to come in out of the rain. I knew I was smart, but I prayed for the grace to have common sense. A dear friend told me once that she had to work with a man who had not asked for the gift of common sense. He was really smart, but not very practical.
That being said - the hard part for any of us is deciding what it is we want to do. We can usually muster the ability to do it.
Uncategorized 1:08 pm
Greetings all,
For being such a short month, April dragged by. It started off well. The weather was nice. I attended Computers in Libraries and saw several friends.
A friend came to visit DC so she could say hi to Pope Benedict XVI. I got a ticket for the Mass at Nationals Stadium.
But when the Pope left, he took the nice weather with him and the rest of the month was mostly cool and rainy. Yeah, we needed the rain, but it has dampened my spirits. Other things have been at work too and I must remain patient.
Toward the end of the month the band I play in bid farewell to our artistic director after ten years at the podium. It was a busy week leading up to the concert - but the performances went well and it was a good send-off. There was a natural drop-off following the excitement. Sorta like that mid-Christmas day let-down when all the gifts are open and you realize that it is another year until the next Christmas.
This too shall pass. - as my father would remind me.
So here it is, the 2nd of May and it is sunny and getting warmer outside. And I’m not a 7 year-old any longer, so I know that moods pass and life goes on. A song from the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown came to mind.
Mrs. Margaret Brown was a remarkable woman and last year while I was in Denver to attend the SLA Conference, I took the time to visit her home and learn a bit more about her. I recommend visiting the house anytime you might visit Denver - it is a few blocks from the State Capitol Building and near Immaculate Conception Cathedral. One thing that I learned was that Mrs. Brown was a life-long Catholic who helped to build the local cathedral. At the Cathedral Mrs. Brown customarily sat in Pew 6 - the same number as her lifeboat from the Titanic!
But I digress - the song lyric that comes to mind is I ain’t down yet!. The lyrics in general don’t apply to me - I already know how to read and write. But the sentiment, the hope, the optimism - that is something that I won’t give up on. So, if you’ll pardon my grammar - I ain’t down yet, and don’t plan to be!
Computers in Libraries - 2008 10:46 am
Slides for David Lee King’s presentation
David Lee King asked the question –
Why make time for Web 2.0?
Someone said – It’s fun! but that doesn’t convince management.
There’s the argument to reach out to younger patrons – but he points out that lots of people are using Web 2.0 – there are communities and blogs on eBay and on Amazon – where people post reviews and comments. Most news sites – USA Today, etc. allow for reader comments on stories.
This isn’t just the under 30 crowd.
Teach older users how to use Flickr to share photos of their grandchildren. Show small business owners how to do research on competitors.
Make time for training.
Demonstrate the low cost of much of this.
Computers in Libraries - 2008 9:21 am
Gina Milsap – talked about Shared leadership.
Utopian Library blog of this talk -
Barriers to using technology – implementing Library 2.0
We need to support innovation:
Library Director 2.0 - (from Tasha Saecker)
Less hierarchy (more flexible)
Trust your staff
Transparency
Involve all levels of staff
Explain decisions fully & honestly
Structure for quick decisions and implementation
Train staff
Allow time for play
LISTEN
Offer structures for feedback
Face time with staff is important
Library Director 2.1 - from Gina
Focus on customers
Put your money where the mouth is
Avoid one-size fits all
Treat staff as customers - advocate for them
Build your leadership team
Understand the context of the community
Decisions based on data
There is no turf
No passive/aggressive behavior - this always gets a laugh at conferences
Our libraries are about people – not stuff – it isn’t just about the tools
When Gina became a library director – she met with staff in small groups and asked the following questions.
Key points to remember:
In talking to people after this presentation - I was amazed by the number of people who commented that it only takes one really bad boss to make one appreciate the truly good ones.
Computers in Libraries - 2008 2:40 pm
See their article in the April, 2008 Library Journal
It used to be that companies etc. released information in a very controlled way – from official spokesmen, the president or CEO or the like. Information was released in planned ways through regular issuances or speeches or press conferences.
Nowadays – information comes from throughout organizations in planned and unplanned ways – through blogs and other releases.
Communicating with staff:
Open conversation is important – conversation in all directions.
Visit the frontlines regularly – administrators have to be customers too,
Talking about public libraries – administrators need to get out and visit their branch locations to see what is going on – what is working etc.
Cross train staff so that people can help out in other areas and grow into new roles.
Consider the role of anonymity for employees and patrons to comment and provide feedback.
Don’t ask for staff input if you’re not going to use it.
Speak with a human voice.
See Remaining Relevant for another blog of this session.
Computers in Libraries - 2008 7:09 am
Mary Ellen Bates, Bates Information Services
Mary Ellen is a great speaker and independent researcher. I have attended her talks many times and always leave with new tips, tricks and tools.
For my purposes – the most promising are the last two!
Blog of alternative and niche search engines
Search across Web 2.0 sites: Technorati, Deli.cio.us, Twitter, etc.
Search for a specific brand, compiles reviews from other sources
Readable page, easy to scan, identify trends
Lower precision, but good fro obscure topics
Meta-search on steroids! Compare search queries, shows overlap between terms
Clustering on demand, choice of algorithms, choice of search engines
Find location-dependent content, based on the IP addresses of nearby Wi-fi signals. Find ATM, Starbucks, etc.
Add view:timeline or view:info to the search query to see results in a timeline or highlighted on a map.
Unbranded Google search – results sorted by web pages, blogs, images, Wikipedia, infinite scroll
Use advanced search screen or create your own by adding the following to the Search Results URL (in the browser location bar)
&as_qdr=dn where n is the number of days
Compare Google and Yahoo search results – set a preference for one or the other to demonstrate overlap as well as what one misses that the other finds.
Add prefer:word to query – ranks these search results higher
Both driving and walking directions
Allows for near/n operator – (solar or sun) NEAR/3 power
Wild-card – colou?r, globali.ation and other strategies
Limit to multiple sites, clustering and ranking tools
Based on Google – easy to navigate and visual search results
Metasearch engine, entirely visual
Good for dinding in-depth sites quickly
Information mining, looks for assertions
Source for national stats, graphical info, data from WHO, CIA World Factbook, World Bank and others
Finds relationships among URLs – uses Google’s similar pages function
Yale, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Johns Hopkins
Vertical search engine – excellent clustering, but limited at the moment to Health, Travel and Cars
Searchable documents from
Incomplete at present – but will contain all US Supreme Court Cases
Computers in Libraries - 2008 12:42 pm
Computers in Libraries
Keynote – Monday, April 7, 2008