Intermediate Book Repair

So a lot has happened since my last update in September. I haven't exactly kept up with my reading. But I did attend an Intermediate Book Repair course at the end of October that really got me fired up about preservation. So now my goal is to get a job in preservation, even if I have to be a lowly LA for 2-4 years. I know now that I'm not quite ready to manage an entire department and I need more experience and trainig before I am ready. Plus, Collin will be pulling in a salary as well, so I can afford to take a lower paying job while gaining experience. I keep forgetting that I'm actually pretty young, and there will be time.....

citation

The citation from last night is:

Glaser, Robbin. (2007). To classify or alphabetize: The arrangement of print periodicals in academic libraries. Serials review, 33(2), p91.

Alphabetize or Arrange by Subject?

I don't have the citation for the article I read on this topic, but I will post it soon.

On the periodicals floor we get a lot of questions about the locations of journals on a specific subject. In the bound section, this is easy, as all the bound volumes are arranged by subject in LC. However, our current/unbound periodicals are arranged alphabetically by title which makes them easy to find, if you know exactly what you are looking for, but more difficult for our subject browsers.

So that is the question should the currents be arranged for browsers or for those who already know what they seek. My gut reaction would be to arrange them by subject, simply because of the numbers of people who come up asking for subjects. But, there are a number of logistical problems involved in this arrangement. The first is distribution of new issues. Currently, our serials check-in team does not include call numbers on new issues. So the call numbers would have to be looked up, in order to discover where the new issue goes. With the alphabetical system, the new issues are easily distributed using only the title that is prominately displayed on the issue's cover. The second problem with the subject arrangement is that journals often cover many topics, such as economics and social science, in the same journal. So it would be difficult to have all journals that address a particular subject in the same location. An example of this is the BFs which are for the most part psychology, however, journals about psychology and the brain are shelved with the Rs because of their biological components. So browsing by subject, at least with the LC system, isn't as easy as it first appears.

The alphabetical system works well for distribution and for those who know the title of a journal but not the call number. Our shelf labels for the currents shelves have the subject call number printed on them, so bound issues can easily be located in the bound section. This seems to work pretty well for most of our patrons. For patrons seeking to browse journals on a specific subject, we guide them to the OPAC which has a periodicals selection for most subjects. We also create lists of periodicals on subjects that get requested frequently. Right now we have a handout listing political journals and another that lists literary journals containing poetry and short stories.

I think that the desire to group or browse journals by subject is natural, since subject is the access point that people use most when seeking information. But the faults in the current classification systems, make it more practical, at least for our library, to arrange alphabetically and then prepare guides for those who wish to browse by subject. It also gives us the opportunity to provide instruction on the use of the catalog to subject journal seekers.

Thoughts on a couple of articles

Singh, G. (2002). Evolving space: An examinations of coffee shops in academic libraries. A master's paper for the M.S. in L.S. degree.

Stoller, M. (2006). A decade of ARL collection development: A look at the data. Collection building, 25(2), p45-51.

The first article or thesis, I should say, is part of my continuing research on coffee shops or food service areas in libraries. And I have to say that this article has assuaged at least on of my major doubts. Ms. Singh interviewed students at four major universities in North Carolina that had coffee shops in or near their main libraries. She found that the majority of students she interviewed were using the library for study or other library related reasons and only a small percentage used the library for socialization. The majority of the students drank coffee and found it very convenient not to have to leave the library or its vicinity to get coffee or other refreshments. So there goes my idea that the library would become a social gathering place. However, I still have preservation concerns. Ms. Singh did address, briefly, the issues of preservation but her argument was not extensive or convincing, to me. She said that evidence has shown that damage to materials is minimal, but I'm not sure what minimal means. And balancing the risks of attracting pests with the comfort of patrons is something that needs to be considered very carefully. The author also suggested that food and drink be restricted to areas immediately around or near to the cafe. This is good for containing food to a specific area of the library, but it doesn't prevent library materials from being exposed to food and drink when brought into that area. So I'm still on the fence about cafes in libraries. As a preservationist I strongly want to protect the valuable resources owned by libraries, but I can see the benefits to patrons in having an in house coffee shop.

The second article is a discussion of the new collection development statistics from ARL libraries. On the whole it was a little dull, as some discussions of statistics can be. I gleaned from it that libraries are spending more on electronic resources (duh!) than they have in the past, libraries spend the majority of their budgets in many cases on subscriptions to serials, and monograph spending has been fairly steady but increase in spending doesn't match the increase in costs, so less monographs are purchased on the whole. But not that many less, on average about 5-8%. As for our library, I don't know the exact expenditures but I would bet that we are spending the most on electronic resources and serials and spending a smaller amount on monographs. I think this because our monographs collection is lacking in major areas like computers, engineering and English and many of our books are quite old and out of date. This has shown up in the comments on the recent LibQual survey that the library did, so I expect to see some movement to improve these and other monograph collections when money comes available in the new fiscal year.

Ye olde undergraduate library

Mangan, K. S. (2005). Packing up the books. Chronicle of higher education, 51(43), pA27-A28.

This article is of particular interest to me because it discusses changes to the undergraduate library at my Alma Mater, the University of Texas at Austin. I often used the computers in this library when I was a student from 2001 to 2003 and I had no Internet access at home. I also frequented the stacks for pleasure reading and for background material for several of the papers I wrote as an undergraduate. So I was disturbed when I learned that 2 years ago, all the books were removed from the UGL and it was transformed into at giant computer lab.

This article explains the changes that were made, justifies them and presents some opposing reactions from students and librarians. The UGL was restructured on the newish idea of an information commons. An "information commons" is a communal space that combines access to vast stores of electronic information (i.e. computer terminals with Internet access) with group study/social space. The idea is to encourage students to come to the library and study in a comfortable, social setting. To help students deal with the massive amount of information on the web, an internet-savy reference librarian is available to direct searches and suggest reliable sources of information. There is also a collection of reference books to refer to when the web falls short. The UGL at UT also includes a coffee shop. So now the library is a hang out spot as well as a place to study and check your e-mail.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. A student interviewed for the article complained that the UGL with books was much friendlier and easier to use than the much larger PCL graduate library. And my several of my UT peers have noted that the UGL had all the materials that an undergraduate would ever need. Materials at the much larger PCL tended to be much too specific for the needs of a student taking entry level coursework. I will say that in the year 2007, many of the journals required for paper writing are now available online, which wasn't the case in 2001 when I was in school. And as a periodical librarian, no one knows better than me that it is easier to print out an online article than to copy it out of a bound edition or, even worse, to print it off microfilm or microfiche.

My real concern is about the social space. I want to be clear that I am a big fan of group study areas and I do not believe that libraries have to be quiet places. But, I don't know if academic libraries should become places where people come exclusively to be social. Colleges have plenty of hangouts for students from the student centers, to the quads and dorm social rooms. The library should be somewhere where they come to learn and study, in a sense socialize with an academic goal in mind. I know that libraries want to increase the amount of people using the library but I think that can be more effectively accomplished by promoting services the library can provide like reference services or introductions to information on the Internet. I think it is more valuable to the library to have students using the library to enhance their education rather than as a space to chat with their friends. I don't know. This argument isn't very structured. I need to do more research on social space in academic libraries. I want to learn about what works and what doesn't in designing an information commons that promotes learning. I am considering writing a paper on the topic as soon as I get my ideas straight.

Graphic Novels

O'English, L., Matthews, J.G. & Lindsay, E.B. (2006) Graphi novels in academic libraries: From Maus to manga and beyond. The journal of academic librarianship, 32(2), p173-182.

I have been a fan of graphic novels for several years now, so I was interested to read about graphic novels in an academic context. This article begins by describing some ways that professors are incorporating graphic novels into their classes. English professors are using them to discuss topics like plot, theme and structure and media studies uses them to demonstrate how text and visual can work together to convey an action or idea. I was excited to read about these academic uses, and I will likely suggest that my boyfriend, a budding English professor and comic fan, use graphic stories or novels in his classes.

Graphic novels are also becoming more of a force in society. Authors are using the medium to express ideas about histroy, to record personal memoirs and to comment on the cultural climate, in addition to the traditional themes of superheros and their struggles.

If GNs are being used in classrooms, then of course they should to be included in library collections, but they also have a place in libraries as pleasure reading materials. Pleasure reading is valuable because it sharpens reading and comprehension skills for other reading, and some say that pleasure reading is better absorbed than other reading because the mind is engaged in the subject. It is also suggested that in reading linked text and pictures, more and different parts of the brain are utilized. This is the idea behind some indroductory texts that use words and pictures to explain academic topics like philosophy or staticstics.

A major challenge to includign GNs in academic collections is how to classify them within the Dewy or Library of Congress Classification systems. Traditionally, comics and GNs have be classified as cartoons in Dewy and as illustrated literature in LC, but this classification may not acutrately describe the themes and topics covered in different graphic novels. There are also several problems involving authorship. One of these is some GNs have different writers and illustrators, and because both illustrations and text are vital to the format, it is difficult to decided how to classify these titles. In addition, some authors are beginning to distinguish themselves as major contributors and therefore, may merit their own unique call numbers so that their works can be grouped with material written about the author or the works. Finally there is the problem of seriality. Many graphic novels are released serially in comic form before they are published as a single volume, and some like Frank Miller's Sin City are composed of separate stories with different titles under one series name. Each of these instances cause a problem for cataloguers. How should the seriality of a single volume be expressed? and How should a part of an ongoing series be expressed in the catalog record?

Other challenges to GNs inclusion in library collections are issues of how to select items for the collection and theft. Selecting items for the collection is made easier now that commonly used review resources are now beginning to cover GN. Additionally, academic libraries are not bound to consider age appropriate content, as school and public libraries are, and thus, are free to select from GNs geared towards an adult audience. Theft is a major concern, considering how popular GNs have become, but these concerns can be addressed by binding the titles to make them less attractive to potential theives, and it has the additional benefit of making the books more durable.

Once there are GNs in the collection, students, faculty and staff need to be notified of their presence. This is where an awareness campaign can be useful. This could be as simple as featuring GNs in a display or as complex as hosting a contest for student drawn GNs about campus life.

Graphic novels are becoming more influential in society, as they do, it is important for academic libraries to incorporate them into their academic and pleasure reading collections.

On the whole a very interesting article. I like that it adressed many aspects of academic librarianship from curriculum and collection development to cataloging and marketing. My university's library has some of the major titles, but perhaps it would be wise to broaden our collection to include all themes and topics covered in GN. Perhaps the most valuable would be introductory texts to academic subjects.

If you've done nothing wrong.....

Bowers, S. L. (2006) Privacy and library records. Journal of academic librarianship, 32(4), p377-383.

Today's article is a topic I am very familiar with, having been an active member of the ACLU at the time that the USA PATRIOT Act was passed, and also, having taken several classes in library school that discussed the issue of privacy in the libraries.

So everyone should know that the right to privacy is not specifically outlined in the US Constitution, but supreme cource cases have found that privacy is implied in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 9th and 14th amendments. That is the right to free speech, the right against unwarranted searches and seizures, the right against self incrimination, the right to unenumerated rights and the right to not have states pass laws that infringe on any of the numberated or unenumerated rights set out in the federal constitution.

Unfortunately none of these rights relate specifically to libraries and library records. Attempts were made in the late 1980's to pass a law that would protect library records from seizure unless there was a warrant from a judge, the proposed law also allowed library patrons to defend thier privacy in court, if a warrant was issued. FBI pressure against this bill ultimately caused the library sections to be removed from the bill and now it only protects video sales and rental.

Many states have laws that protect the privacy of patron's library records. Some of these laws protect not only circulation and computer records, but also extend to verbal exchanges between librarians and patrons. In addition, the American Library Association (ALA) encourages libraries to adopt a policies that promise to protect patrons records from invasion to the best of their ability.

There have been many instances of the government seeking to investigate the reading habits of certain patrons. One example is in the 1970's and 1980's during the cold war, FBI agents asked to know the reading habits and circulation records of foreigners at many of the country's top science and technology libraries. Most refused to give out the information, but there were several librarians who were quite willing to give as much information the the FBI as they could, some even reporting the discussions they had had with foreign patrons. A more recent attempt to access library records was in 2001 when the FBI sought to moniter all the patrons who checked out an autobiography of Osama Bin Laden at a Washington library. The library fought the access and eventually the request was withdrawn.

In 2001, in response to the attacks on 9/11, the US Congress, in a knee jerk reaction, passed the USA PATRIOT Act. This act, in an effort to combat terrorism, gave the government unprecedented power to spy on foreigners and its citizens. Specifically important to libraries are sections 215 and 218. Section 215 allows government agents to request "any tangable thing" in an investigation of terrorist activities with minimal judicial oversight, and it includes a gag order which prevents investigated patrons from being alerted to the investigation. So patrons cannot protect their privacy by challenging the order in court.

Some say that this type of information gathering power is necessary to assist in the government's ability to fight terrorism. But with little or no judicial oversight what's to prevent the government from spying on innocent citizens and using the information in other ways. I've also heard people say that if you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to hide. But at the same time, most people wouldn't want the government to have access to information about medical issues or embarrassing problems. If the government can moniter autobiographies of Bin Laden, there is not much to stop them from monitering books about hydroponic gardening or STD's or any number of other books that may or may not indicate crimnal activities.

Libraries can protect the privacy of their patrons by not keeping circulation records past the point that the books are returned to the library and by making sure that computer records are erased regularly. The government can't request records that don't exist.

Scholarly Book Reviews

Dilevko, J., McMillan, B., et al. (2006). Investigating the value of scholarly book reviews for the work of academic reference librarians. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32, 5, p452-466.

In a fit of librarian inspiration I thought to take advantage of the resources available to me as a periodicals library assistant. So I took up a recent issue of the Journal of Academic Librarianship and found the above article of interest.

The article is a study of the usefulness to librarians of scholarly book reviews in determining traditional and emerging trends in a particularly field of study. For this study they used the fields of popular music and Southern literature. These were interesting fields to use because popular music, as a scholarly field, is just beginning to develop a concrete canon, whereas, Southern literature is in a current state of flux, with there being a debate about what constitutes Southern literature or whether Southern literature can be defined as its own literature separate from American literature.

The method of the study was to have library school students work in pairs to choose 20 book reviews each from a selection of journals related to their topic. The reviews had to be at least a page in length. After reviewing the reviews, the students worked in pairs to develop a discussion of the major trends in their subject area. These discussions were then sent to experts in the respective fields, who were asked their opinions on the quality and completeness of the discussions.

Most found that the discussions covered the relevant trends in each field well or adequately. A popular music expert found that the discussions could be improved by including the communication/media side of popular music. Southern literature scholars mentioned that because the discipline is in flux, to truly get a picture of the current trends, a study of new materials should also be made, because most books present the ideas that were common 2 to 3 years ago. Finally experts warned that librarians should be cautious when using scholarly book reviews as there is an intermediary in the form of the review author that may create a bias. Primary sources ought to be considered as well.

Overall it was determined that scholarly book reviews can be very helpful to librarians in collection development and in helping to gain a better understanding of a particular field of study.

A very interesting article, also of note is the fact that a study by one of my former teachers, Linda Schamber, was cited in the article. Kind of exciting. Anyway, I hope to post about any articles that I read, concerning the library field, if only so that I can remember what they are and what they said.

Special Projects

In order to keep myself busy and increase my knowledge of different aspects of library work, I have volunteered for two special projects.

The first of these is a collection development project. Texas State has a major creative writing graduate program, with visiting instructors like Tim O'Brien and Dagoberto Gilb, there are also many famous guest lecturers. However, the Texas State Library's modern fiction collection does not reflect the talent from the program. In fact, when the author Aimee Bender came to speak and present, the library did not have a single copy of her books. To remedy this situation, I have volunteered to go through short story, poetry and fiction indexes to determine which books we have and which books we need to flesh out the collection. I request the books through the library's online request form, and the books will be ordered. This project has awakened in me an interest in collection development that I was previously unaware of. It is exciting to be involved in developing a dynamic collection of literature. Now I wonder how I could become involved in collection development. What kind of training and experience do I need to be successful in collection development. Naturally I took a course on collection development in library school, but surely I need more training than that. Perhaps another masters decree so I can specialize, or are there general collection development librarians? With so much good information about books out there, and the advice of faculty it seems like you would not have to be very specialized to create a good collection. Hmm.

The second project that I am working on is for the University Archives. I am going through the University's morgue files, that is, files with news and information about employees, visitors and others connected with the University in some way. I am scanning all documents and 2 photos from each file in order to create digital files that can be accessed for ready reference. This project is fun and interesting and it even requires some independent thought and problem solving ability, so I have been excited to work on it. So far I have just been rehousing the files in acid free folders, but I plan on beginning the scanning process next week. I like that I have the opportunity to use my preservation and special collections training. I am considering attending a digital preservation seminar in November, in Seattle presented by the NEDCC.

A little background....

I graduated in August from the University of North Texas's School of Library and Information Science. While attending UNT, I worked as a student assistant and then a graduate assistant in the Preservation Department for the UNT Libraries. I have to say that my job as a graduate assistant there was my favorite job that I have ever held. I enjoyed the opportunities for problem solving and creativity that it afforded me.

As a graduate assistant my duties included the evaulation and repair of books from the Libraries' general collection (Rare Books had their own preservation and conservation squad). Repairs ranged from erasing pencil marks or mending torn pages to replacing the spine or creating protective housing. My boss, Ann Marie, was very hands on at the beginning, but she started letting me do more and more on my own as my skills improved. Ann Marie was also one of the best bosses I've ever had. She was very organized and she always let me know which projects were priorities. In addition she gave me the freedom to make repair decisions for myself, and she challenged me with different types of preservation projects. Such as creating a database to record scraps from a scrapbook, or making it possible for digital projects to scan some very brittle news papers.

During this time, I also volunteered my time to the Rare Books Room at UNT. Where I worked on several preservation and conservation projects, including preserving World War II posters and helping to clean and reconstruct a book from the 18th century. I worked with two great people there, Mary who was head of Rare Books and Edward who was head cataloguer. Both these people were wonderful to work with and learn from (I took several classes from each) as they were very knowledgeable on a wide range of topics realated to rare books and special collections.

When I graduated, I began looking for work in the Austin area for personal reasons. Central Texas, in general is not the best place to look for work because everyone, it seems, wants to live here. If I had had a choice, I would have looked outside the area, but that is how things worked out. So I applied for every library related job I came across, and I had about 4 interviews. One with San Antonio Public Library, one with the State of Texas, one with Austin Public Library and finally Texas State University Library. Only one of the positions I interviewed for was a professional library position (San Antonio), and I think they could tell my heart wasn't in public libraries, though I feel strongly about the services that public libraries provide. So I was hired as a Library Assistant II in the Periodicals department at Texas State's Alkek Library.

I wish that I could have found a professional librarian position, and I still look at the job postings on a weekly basis (More on the lack of pro positions in a later posting). But in the mean time, I'm getting some good reference experience and I'm building my resume in other ways as well (more on that later also). I do miss using my preservation skills, and I try to keep them up by repairing some damaged books at home. I hope to one day continue my education in preservation by completeing at preservation administration course of study.

A Professional Blog

I created this blog to document my journey as a professional librarian. I have had a personal blog for about a year, but I felt I needed some place to record my professional successes, frustrations and share information related to my field. I don't know that anyone will actually read this blog, but I feel it will be a constructive way for me to plan for the future. I will ask lots of questions, and I welcome advice from anyone who happens across my humble blog.