by I've returned from the annual CLA Conference that was held in Ottawa. While I couldn't attend the whole conference, I did manage to attend the Access to Government Information Interest Group (AGIIG) track, the first AGIIG track at a CLA conference. I was official notetaker, so I couldn't blog directly from the conference, but I will be posting highlights of the sessions I attended. Unfortunately, these postings may be a little late, as I try to get everything done before dashing off to the ALA Conference in New Orleans at the end of this week. Top on the list of things to do, is updating the course manual and exercises for a course I'll be teaching in the fall. Starting in September, I will be teaching (through Distance Education) Information Work 420, the second part of a reference course (dealing with directories, handbooks, statistics, government information, GIS and the reference process) for Mohawk College's Library and Information Technician's Diploma program. So, until that's done, the conference postings will be on the back burner (sorry). But, once done, there will be conference postings galore, as I will have all the details on ALA too! Stay tuned!
Better Than Beer
A CNN newsreport makes mention of a survey of 1200 college students that was taken to find out what they consider to be the "in" by undergrads. Tops on the list: iPod. Second Place: Tie between Facebook and Beer. Pretty telling as to what the students are into at the moment. The survey also provides support for those who want to see the library have a presence on Facebook (the students are obviously there) or introduce podcasting to the library. Oh, and the last time the 18 year survey saw beer dethroned from the top spot: 1997, by the Internet.
Reference Reflections
We are just finishing up a Reference Week where I work. It's been a wonderful week of getting back to the basics of Reference Service and a great opportunity to find out what's new and what's changed in the world of reference. In this world of fast-changing products and services, I recommend that all take a moment to think about the basics, as well as the best way to serve our patrons. It helps us remember why we wanted to join this profession and can help reignite our passions. This also comes at a time when major conferences are about to occur (CLA, ALA), another excellent means to reignite passions.
As a complete aside, take a look at this article from the New York Times about the US government considering the possibility of Website Companies keeping web use statistics.
Thought for the Day
Here's something I found at The Ubiquitous Librarian. I think it's a good simple thing to keep in mind:
"Instead of trying to make your library seem cool, be a librarian and do cool things."
Balance
Balance is important in life. We must work and play. Sometimes I wonder if we forget about balance. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement, flash, and potential of new technology. Yes, we must look ahead to our young and future users. We must accommodate them and many of the library2.0 possibilities will be appreciated by them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the L2 is a bad thing. I'm looking forward to seeing how we can best incorporate L2 services into our libraries. But we must not forget our longtime users who may not be as comfortable on computers. In our rush to look ahead, sometimes we forget those we currently serve. Now, I'm not saying that we aren't currently serving either group, current and future users, incorrectly or poorly. What I am stressing is that balance is important in all we do, so let's keep it in mind.
Info Lit 2.0
A recent post on the blog Alt Ref has gotten me thinking about information literacy in the 2.0 world. In his post, Brian stats that info lit is "very Un-Library 2.0 (the 'proper way vs. your way)". Why is this and how can it be changed?
The IL standards are broadly: Know, Access, Evaluate, Use and Ethics. IL should ideally help the students recognize when they need information, how to get that information, how to use it and do so ethically. The clash comes in the access/retrieval part of the process. Part of the problem is that the resources that we are trying to teach students to use in academic libraries are not library 2.0 oriented themselves. The 2.0 world is very social and database creators and vendors are not following suite with the library 2.0 trends that we see elsewhere (ie. they don't allow tagging, etc). In order to get half decent results, students need to be taught how to use the product. But does this mean that information literacy is un-library 2.0?
Web searching using Google and the like is not necessarily a bad thing. However, we do need to teach students how they can get the most out of the search engines and especially how to evaluate the sites they find. Many students don't look past the first page of returned results. I don't think it's not a bad thing to teach them how to search better. The proper way does not necessarily mean that their way of searching is wrong. Often times, their way of searching leaves them frustrated and in need of help. By teaching them how to search better, or perhaps properly, we are saving them time, frustration, and hopefully they can produce better papers. Furthermore, evaluation skills are incredibly important in the 2.0 world and information literacy is essential in forming this skill.
So how can we reconcile the two (library 2.0 vs. info lit; 'proper' way vs. your way)? Perhaps we can try creating wikis instead of pathfinders, which will help the students identify appropriate resources. Students can add to the wikis and tags can be implemented. We need to let vendors and database creators know that there products are not serving our patrons as well as they possibly could.
These are just some quick thoughts on the topic. I plan to do some more thinking on this. I've got lots of questions, such as: does information literacy need to be 2.0 and if not, is that a bad thing, if so, how can we achieve it? Look for more to come.
World Information Society Day
Tomorrow is the first World Information Society Day with a theme of Promoting Global Cybersecurity. The day was formerly know as World Telecommunication Day and has been aptly renamed. The Secretary-General of the United Nations states that everyone should work "to connect the unconnected and build a free and safe information society that will spur development for all the world’s people." Here here to that!
My Librarian
Here are a couple of things that have caught my eye in the world of librarianship.
A decision will soon be made regarding the opening of a Nazi archive. Previously, the archive was only open to survivors of the Holocaust, to allow them to track survivors. A panel of 11 international legal experts will be deciding whether or not the archive should be open to the general public. A wealth of information could be opened to historians and other researchers of the Holocaust.
The library marketing blog The "M" Word has a post about personal branding. More companies are pushing the "my" aspect (my card, my Coke). Libraries have often used the copyrighted phrase "@ your library". Perhaps in the age of library 2.0 we should be using the "my library" approach. Some libraries already allow customizable features. Many services that our patrons use now offer such features. Yahoo has joined the bandwagon and is allowing users to customize their page. Customization and self-centeredness are becoming the norm.
An idea I really like is the "my librarian" idea. This sounds very close to the notions of a liaison librarian found in academic libraries. The liaison librarian is associated with a department and the faculty often think of the librarian as "my librarian". Why not promote this notion? It helps promote an idea of personal service. Students of that department or faculty will know who to turn to for assistance. In some universities, librarians are assigned to a particular year of students (ie. all first years). By promoting the My Librarian idea that The "M" Word suggests, we may create a more intimate atmosphere and who knows, we may reach patrons who previously felt intimidated by the library and librarians. Definitely an idea I'd like to pursue.
Info*Nation
I'm helping spread the word. Info*Nation is in pre-launch at the moment (to be released around the time of the CLA Conference in Ottawa June 14-16) and so is aimed at gaining support from those in the profession. Once it launches however, it will be aimed at those thinking about becoming a library or information professional. I think there's some great potential here and will be interested to see how youth use the site. Take a look at it for yourself.
Podcasting 101
I thought I would pass this along for all those podcasters or future podcasters. Here's a link to a Podcasting Legal Guide from Creative Commons. I haven't done any podcasting yet but I'll definitely be looking at this more closely before I do, even though the guide is directed towards US law. Even those who don't know what podcasting is may want to look at this, as it does provide a section on what podcasting is and provides further resources for those with extra questions.