Librarian Adrift

Library, a point of intersection

2010-09-01T08:59:00.001-06:00

This is, in part, a response to the Library in the Lead Pipe post entitled, "A View From the Neutral Zone," and partially a discussion of my own goals as a librarian and educator. I have to say that I strongly agree with Markus Wust's assertions that the library can serve as a space where professors and experts can come together and collaborate. And I love the idea of Librarians working to foster collaboration by recognizing shared interests among different disciplines.

In my mind I see the library as a place of intersection, where students, faculty and staff all come to find information. It is physical and virtual. And I see it as the center of a University, where the idea exchange begins. So I think that librarians and library services need to be pushed up and out in the Academic community. To move up, we librarians need to be serving on administrative boards and committees, helping to redefine the library's place within the University structure. And to move out we need to go out and "hit them where they live." We need to be in close contact with students in their class rooms, on the quad and in their organizations. We need to communicate and work with professors by assisting in and perhaps even contributing to their research. I have seen some librarians credited for contributions to research in other disciplines, and I would love to see more of that. And we need to be reaching out to staff and finding out what kinds of services would help them perform their jobs better.

Ultimately, I would like to be one of those upward and outward reaching librarians. When I, eventually (someday soon, I hope) become an instruction librarian, I want to work closely with professors and students to design IL classes that really hit home with students and cover exactly what professors need them to know. And I want to work on university-wide committees where I can push the library agenda and help others to understand the importance of the library within the University structure. I guess when I really think about it, I suppose I would like to be involved in administration one of these days, which is a bit of a revelation to me, as I never thought beyond mid-management a few years ago. But now I want to learn the ropes and get my experience in so that I can move into a position where I can do the most good by promoting the library to a larger community. I'm excited and engaged, now I just need that first position to get me on my way.

An idea to try

2010-06-24T11:18:00.000-06:00

So I've been thinking about how I can apply active and critical teaching techniques to a one shot IL session. One idea that I have is sort of a free form exploration of the library website. Most library websites are designed to be a one stop shop for your information needs, but I find that many student do not know how to use it right off the bat. However, I suspect that many of them, if left to their own devices, could figure out how it works through exploration. So, I want to take this natural ability to learn through exploration and put it in the more structured setting of a classroom. Perhaps I could start with a few open ended questions like, What do you notice first about the page? Then, based on their response, I could cover the Catalog or the Databases or whatever struck them first, incorporating other research skills such as search strategy as we discuss features of the website. Thus covering the research tools and concepts at the same time, so that students can see how they work together. hmm....

Vocabulary Lessons

2010-06-18T09:08:00.000-06:00

I've been doing some reading on pedagogy, due in large part to a discussion I had with a new administrator at Texas State, where I worked as a temp librarian for about 5 months. She suggested that I read some work by Paulo Freire because of my interest in teaching and active learning techniques. Which lead me to my current reading material A Pedagogy of Liberation with Paulo Freire and Ira Schor.

The book is structured as a discussion between Freire and Schor. A structure which I find engaging and representative of the authors' styles of teaching. So far, I've only read 25 pages, but the text is rich with insight and the history of education. One of the major themes I've picked up on is that we need to communicate with students in a language that they understand. At first this may seem like an obvious and easy thing to accomplish, however, I find that the library is awash in terms that students unfamiliar with libraries are not likely to know: Database, Catalog, E-Journal, E-Book, Record, Call Number, etc. Therefore, to effectively communicate with students, librarians may need to completely rethink our vocabulary during reference transactions, information literacy sessions and on our library websites.

In restructuring library terminology, at least on the public side, Target #1 for me is the term catalog. A little personal background, I am 28 years old, and I do remember card catalogs. There was one in my local public library until I was around 10 years old, 1991. Now, stop a minute and think about that. People born in and after 1991 probably have little or no concept of what a physical card catalog was. They have no frame of reference for that term. Students born in 1991 are now college freshmen or sophomores. At the reference desk, I often have students come in and ask how they can 'find books'. Many of them seem to know that there is a way to find out what books a library has, online, but they don't know where to go.

Many library websites that I've worked with make a stab at user friendly vocabulary, often having catalog search boxes on their homepages labeled with terms like 'Start your Research', 'Books & More' or 'Find Books & Videos'. However, many of these quick search boxes are keyword only, which offers users little control, and links to the full catalog are labeled with terms like 'More Library Catalog Options', 'Advanced Catalog Search', or simply, 'Catalog'. I think that libraries could make the purpose of their catalogs clearer by linking user vocabulary with library vocabulary on the homepage. So, if a user is thinking 'I need to find a book', the library web page should label the catalog search box with something like 'Find a Book - Library Catalog'. This would help the terms 'book' and 'catalog' to become linked in the user's mind.

This could work for other library jargon as well, 'Find Articles' connected with Journals or Databases, or 'Research Strategy or Skills' with Library Instruction or Information Literacy. Schor mentions that this alteration of vocabulary is perceived as a lowering of standards by some. However, he argues that some level of student understanding is necessary for knowledge to be attained. Once that basic level of knowledge is achieved, more specific or technical vocabulary can be added. In other words, once a student learns the function of the catalog, they can apply the official label, much like an infant who can signal the function of an object before they learn the word symbolizing that object.

I hope to do more research on these ideas in the future. I would love to measure how changing terminology affects learning during IL sessions. I also think that user friendly vocabulary will be very useful for library outreach. I believe that if more students understand the services the library offers, more students will feel comfortable using the library and its resources.

Is there an Information Literacy Gap to Be Bridged?

2010-06-04T09:46:00.000-06:00

One word: Yes.

Today I am reading:

DaCosta, J.W. (2010) Is there an information literacy skills gap to be bridged? An examination of faculty perceptions and activities relating to information literacy in the United States and England. College and research libraries, 71(3), 203-222.

"English faculty....placed a greater emphasis on student's ability to access and retrieve information and less on the ability to recognize the information need." (204)

This is odd to me, it seems that at the college level we ought to be teaching students to analyze and recognize the types of information they need. College is all about higher order thinking. We would be doing a disservice to students if we only provided them with the basic skills for finding information without also informing them how to evaluate the information that they find.

"The research confirmed that faculty expected information literacy skills to be largely acquired through what Clair McGuinness describes as "osmosis.""

This is surprising to me. I suspect that most professors probably had at least some research training from a librarian. Did they forget? I suspect that for faculty, as for librarians, research skills and habits become so ingrained that we forget that they are learned skills.

"Students demonstrate the use of a coping mechanism rather than an information strategy"

Interesting. I have seen this in action, students will go to Google and find anything that remotely relates to their topics, sometimes stretching a source to make it relate. This, instead of planning out which information sources and keywords will locate resources that are directly relevant to their topics. This type of information panic could be alleviated with instruction about subject specific resources and constructing a Boolean search strategy.

The conclusion? Yes, there is a gap between how important faculty thinks information literacy is (very) and what they are actively doing to promote literacy (not so much). Dacosta suggests, and I concur, that in order to close this gap, librarians need to promote information literacy services to faculty and administrators, and to give them examples of how embedded or collaborative information literacy can be successful.

Library: A Day in the Life, days 3 and 4

2010-01-28T18:12:00.003-06:00

So....Yesterday was day 3. It was also the 3rd day in a row that I had to be up at or before 6am and I had to work until 9. I will admit that most of Wednesday was a blur. All I remember is that the flurry of textbook questions was replaced by a flurry of E-ID/Word 2007/Computer access related questions. Many of the E-ID issues are frustrating and they take a long time to resolve. Most frustrating is the fact that, I AM NOT A TRAINED IT PERSON! I have enough knowledge to solve most access problems, but if the problem is beyond my ability, I need to call IT. But, unfortunately, the IT help desk only opperates from 8am-5pm and many of my reference shifts run from 5pm-9pm. So, occasionally, there is a student that needs access to blackboard or their school e-mail and I just can't do anything for them. And I feel just awful about that, especially when they have homework that they need to do. So day 3 was long and mildly stressful.

Day 4: I got to sleep in until 9am! So, naturally I feel a lot better than I did yesterday. I worked at Texas State today, so I took the shuttle bus down the hill to campus, with my boyfriend Collin, who was teaching his Comp II classes today. I spent the first hour or so reading over the operator's manuals for RefTracker and RefChatter, and then I met with the head Instruction Librarian, Lorin. She gave me a little overview of what they cover in instruction and then we picked out some times that I could come observe her and other Librarians during their sessions. I am VERY excited to start instruction, I have a lot of ideas about it, but I feel like I really need some experience to see if my ideas can be put into practice.

The rest of the afternoon was spent going over the reference training sheet with the Head Reference Librarian, Lisa. Although I worked as an LA for Texas State before, some of the policies are a little different for librarians than they were for LAs. At 2 we went to a reception for the University Archives which just opened a new space up on the 5th floor. The space is really nice, but like most archives, even with a new space, they still need more room. We also visited another librarian on the 5th floor; she had just moved into her new office because her old office has been transformed into an suite for the new Director of Research and Learning, who will be hired shortly. Then, from 4 to 5 we had a meeting with the Information Literacy team where we discussed assessment. The University is being evaluated this year to renew their accreditation through SACS (Southern Association of Colleges......something). Anyway, there is an Information Literacy component, so the library is being pushed to evaluate their classes, as well as to find a way to assess the student body as a whole, perhaps by using standardized testing for in-coming Freshmen and out-going seniors. It was all very interesting. We also talked about having some sort of document that laid out specific outcomes and expectations for classes in different disciplines, with the goal of being able to assess all classes in a meaningful way.

Now I'm at the Reference Desk until 10. Things are really slow, mostly because, here in San Marcos the weekend starts on Thursday night. Many bars around here have specials and they call it college night. Actually, 2 years ago, the last time I worked here, Texas State did not have classes on Fridays at all. But they reinstated Friday classes because many students were going home on the weekends and attendance at games had gone down significantly. So that wast the last couple of days in the life. Its been an exciting week for me, but I'll be glad when the weekend comes so I can rest up.

Librarian: A Day in the Life, Day 2

2010-01-26T17:36:00.002-06:00

Today was not as hectic as yesterday. I started my new part-time job as a Temporary Reference Librarian at Texas State University. Most of the day was spent doing orientation type things, like learning about the electronic ref stats keeper, RefTracker and the new chat service, RefChatter. My orientation wasn't as extensive as it might have been, because I used to work for Texas State as a library assistant about 2 years ago. I still know the majority of the people who work there, and I remember many of the procedures, so it was a bit like slipping on an old glove. But also surreal.

So the morning started out with me trying to get my parking pass, which were $138 a semester or $5 a week. Ultimately, I decided not to buy one, as I live about half a mile from campus, I'm on a shuttle route, and my boyfriend can pick me up in the evenings. Then I spent about 2 hours on the Reference Desk, where the Reference librarians (Jerry and Jan) showed me how to use RefTracker, which is kind of cool, but I know I'm going to forget to use it until I get used to it because I'm so used to the paper stat sheets. RefTracker allows you to track more specific types of questions than you could on a paper stats sheet, and it also allows you to track the resources you used and any comments you might have about a particular transaction. I also caught up with a lot of my co-workers, which was fun.

The afternoon was spent learning about the various reference chats that we use. RefChatter, Meebo, and Docutek. They are in a transition time, so Meebo and Docutek will likely be phased out by the end of the semester. Ref chatter seems like a good progam, and seems a little more user friendly than the Live Person program that we use at ACC. I look forward to playing with it. The last hour was spent out at the Ref Desk where I got to answer a few non-textbook related questions and I got to hang out with two of my favorite Librarians, Hithia and Selene. I'd missed them during my misadventures in California and I'm extremely glad to be back at Alkek Library.

This evening I'm working my regular evening shift at the Riverside Campus of Austin Community College. It is much quieter tonight than it was yesterday, but still, most of the questions are about textbooks. I suppose, in 2 weeks, I'll be whining about all the APA and MLA questions I'll be getting when the students' first papers come due. I have to say that I love Reference work more everyday, I like the students, I like the staff, I like making people's information finding lives easier.

I really enjoy all the variety that my part-time jobs provide me with. My mind is always active, I'm never bored, and each campus I work at has a different personality. I think I'm going to enjoy working these 2 jobs, but I'm keeping my eye open for a full-time Ref position. I want to teach and contribute in a real way. As an adjunct or a temp, you don't really have the opportunity to work on projects or participate in planning, all things that I would really like to be able to do. Also, I would really like some health insurance. I'll get there, I have my foot in many doors and I'm building my resume as we speak!

Librarian: A Day in the Life, day 1

2010-01-25T17:18:00.002-06:00

Today started early. I got up at 4:30, not because I needed to (I could have slept until 5:30), just because I couldn't sleep anymore. But as a result, I had time to make some oatmeal before heading out for the day.

Today is/was the first day of open textbook checkout. At Austin Community College, Student Services has a grant to buy textbooks for students. The library maintains the collection and checks the books out to the students for the entire semester. Which is awesome, it really helps out our cash strapped students! Textbooks are reserved for students with extreme financial need and those that are part of workforce programs, like nursing, for the first two weeks of check out.

But.....On the first day of the second week of classes, the collection is opened up to the entire student population. Which means, there is a major rush to get the remaining textbooks.

So that is why I had to be at work early(7:00 as opposed to 8:00). Students have to come into a campus library to get books, so there is always a line at Riverside, and from what I've heard, there were lines at other campuses, where the Reference librarian must call Riverside and request the books. We try to make a student's chances the same whether he or she comes to Riverside or has a librarian from another campus call. But the truth is, its probably faster to go to another campus than to wait in line at Riverside, because each campus has a designated line to call and a designated runner to pull the books.

My first duty of the day was to be a "sort-of" bouncer ("sort-of" because I'm 5'4" in heels) -- letting 5 people in at a time. Which was challenging due to my non-confrontational nature. But after an initial incident involving hearing impaired line jumpers, things went pretty smoothly, and the line was shorter than last semester. The shorter line was likely the result of a campaign by the Riverside staff to inform students that they could go to other campuses to check out textbooks.

When we got through the line, I returned to the reference desk, where I spent most of the morning and early afternoon checking for textbook copies, suggesting alternative editions, offering advice on where to get cheap textbooks and explaining the check out process. With a few printer problems, earphone issues and a few plain old book requests mixed in. In all, I probably answered 100 Reference and Directional questions this morning.

Then we had some pizza, I finished up my shift, and I headed out to the gym. Today I work 2 shifts, the morning shift at one campus and the evening shift at another. Evening shifts are slower which is great, I need a rest after this morning.

Tomorrow: I start my new part time job at Texas State, and I have an evening shift at ACC, so another busy day. Luckily, I don't have to be up as early. The Texas State job starts at 9 and its just down the street from my apt, so no long commute.

Information Literacy and Undergraduates

2009-08-29T14:53:00.002-06:00

Gross, M. and Latham, D. (2009). Undergraduate perceptions of information literacy: defining, attaining and self-assessing skills. College & Research Libraries 70(4), 336-350.

Cameron, L., Wise, S.L. and Lottridge, S. (2007). The development and validation of the information literacy test. College & Research Libraries 68(3), 229-236.

So I finally got around to reading the undergraduate perceptions article today, and it made me realize that I have a lot to learn about assessment, so I also read about the development of the ILT.

The one thing that really stuck out to me was that the surveyed student use people and the internet to meet their information needs in equal measure. I was surprised that the student used other people so much. When I was an undergraduate, I don't think I asked for any help regarding my information needs, not even those that I had a close relationship with. Relationships were another interesting aspect of the study. Students were more likely to seek help finding information from people they already knew and trusted, rather than going to a librarian or professor. This is really interesting, and it suggests to me that there needs to be further outreach by librarians into the class room and into the university as a whole. That is why I was intrigued by James Madison University's approach to IL. They have both a General Education class that teaches IL and study skills and a more focused IL component that is included in the course work of their major.

I have had some experience with the in-major type of IL. As an undergraduate in psychology, I took a research methods and statistics course that has been invaluable to me in my education and career. I do feel that every student, even those who are "proficient" in their information seeking behaviors, could benefit from a General IL/Education course. I was a little disappointed to read that JMU allows students to test out of their General Education class, because I feel like all new university/college students should have an opportunity to be introduced to the resources that the library has to offer both physically and digitally, and that they should be informed of and actively involved in the process of evaluating the information that they find.

I agree with Gross and Latham that over structured research assignments often do not accomplish their information literacy goals. They believe that the freedom to select a topic that is important or meaningful to the student is more likely to result in an increase information literacy. I would add that, that by specifying specific types of information or resources, it reduces the students' ability to learn about the evaluation of information resources. Freedom to explore different types of information can lead to a more developed understanding of what information meets their needs. I dislike it when professors define a certain information resources as wholly bad, and others are wholly good. This type of oversimplification does not serve the student.

Ultimate Debate 2009: Web 2.0

2009-07-24T13:17:00.002-06:00

I listened to the Ultimate Debate from ALA 2009 this morning. One thing that struck me right away was that this KGB company that has been advertising lately is a text reference service. I had no idea, I had been thinking how strange it is to name your company KGB and then making jokes about the people in the ads getting radiation poisoning. I had no idea what they were actually selling. And then I though, why would you pay for text reference, some libraries are providing text reference for free. Besides many of the new cell phones have internet access, so you can just look up the information on your phone. I don't expect them to be around very long.

Another issue that peaked my interest is that, librarians and libraries are spending a lot of staff time on creating content on Web 2.0, but all of this content is stored on 3rd party websites and servers, and there is no guarantee that the content will be preserved in the long term. If Flicker or Twitter goes out of business tomorrow, much content and discussion would be lost. So maybe libraries need to consider back ups for content that is shared on 2.0 media.

A big issue that was brought up several times is that you have to make time for 2.0. 2.0 demands to be updated on a regular basis. If you are using it for outreach, new events have to be added all the time, and if you are using it for reference, you have to add new content and resources on a regular basis. One librarian has a business resources blog at a university, and when there is a class with a major assignment, he will post answers to some of the most asked questions about the assignment, as well as pertinent resources.

One last thing that I really related to is that it takes awhile to really "get" or understand 2.0 technologies. Some 2.0 is pretty easy, like aggregaters, you get one and you never look back. I don't miss going to 13000 web pages everyday. But other 2.0 stuff takes time to understand. I have been using Twitter for about 4 months now and I'm just now beginning to understand all it has to offer. There is the social aspect and the informational aspect, but there is also networking, debate and discussion, networking and so much other stuff. Also, I have always been a sort of closed off person on the internet, but Twitter is changing that. These people want to be involved in discussion and debate. They welcome followers and messages and sharing, so I've been opening up and engaging in a way that I haven't before, and as a result, I have new blogs and articles and websites to visit on a daily basis. I think Twitter is an excellent way to engage in my profession and I feel a lot more connected right now, which is important as I head into a jobless period.

ALA Annual Part 2

2009-07-16T16:56:00.005-06:00

Saturday

On Saturday I went to 4 programs, ACRL 101, ACRL New Members Discussion Group on Publishing, Job Hunting in a Recession, and Collection Development 2.0.

ACRL 101 was interesting and informative, but I don't know that I really needed to go to it because I am familiar with ACRL and its sections from my last conference. I did meet some fellow young librarians which was valuable. And I asked some questions about the ACRL Immersion program, which I would love to participate in soon. The one big tip I got from this program was to volunteer to do instruction. I don't know why it never occurred to me to volunteer to teach, but it seems so obvious now. So I plan on e-mailing some former co-workers to see if I can assist in their instruction classes for a time, to get experience. I also plan on volunteering for some ACRL committees next year.

The new members discussion group was next. This program had 3 mini presentations on getting published in peer-reviewed literature. A lot of what was covered had been covered in a presentation that I saw at UCR, but there were several tidbits that were useful. One was that you have to write to get ideas and to help you get used to the process of writing. Another great tip was about collaborating. Look around and find other, more experienced librarians or faculty that will co-author an article with you. This makes the whole process a bit less intimidating. So for now I have a couple of good ideas that need to be fleshed out, and I just may have the makings of an article.

Job Hunting during a recession was okay, but a lot of the tips were either common sense or things I'd heard before. I did pick up a couple of new job search sites that I had not heard of, and I discovered that there is a recruiting service for librarians, because the founder of the service was one of the presenters. I left this one a little early so I could make it all the way south to McCormick Place. Things were really spread out in Chicago. I hope they are closer together in DC, especially because DC is unbearably hot and humid in July.

Collection Development 2.0 was by far my favorite program of the conference. There were 3 presenters, one from the University of Utah, one from a public library in Georgia, I think, and one from another university (I'll fill in the details when I have my notes near by). The first speaker talked about how they had moved to a centralized collection development department, with the liaisons having only recommendation responsibilities. CD handled all of the selection. They did this in order to save money and build a more balance collection. The speaker said that in the traditional arrangement of liaisons with selection responsibilities, some liaisons were better selectors than others, so some areas of the collection would be better developed than others. With a centralized CD team, each area of the collection will receive equal attention, so the collection will become more balanced over time. The speaker did mention some difficulties with centralized selection, such as the very high work loads that the CD librarians would have to take on. Not only would they be responsible for building the entire collection, but they also must complete all the evaluation and weeding tasks.

The second speaker, from the public library, talked about making the collection more accessible to the patrons by making it more visible. If people know what is in a collection, they are more likely to use it. She suggested having walls of books set up like book stores, with some books placed cover out. This type of presentation encourages browsing and circulation. She did say that librarians and clerks had to be prepared to rearrange these shelves several times during a day because the turnover would be higher.

The final speaker, from the University of Utah, I think. Had some really interesting things to say about going out of your way to get the patron the book or journal that they want. He started off by saying that CD is all a guess, and a staggering percentage of books that are purchased are never used. We can improve that percentage by buying books that patrons will actually use. One way to go about this is to actually buy the books that people request on ILL and get them to the patrons as quickly as possible. With an ILL request, you know that at least one person wants the book, which is more than you know about many of the books that you might select for the collection. So CD and ILL should work much closer together. I don't know why I had never thought of this before, but it makes perfect sense. Also, it goes along with my interest in how CD departments interact with other departments in the library. The speaker also suggested limiting cataloging and processing on requested books, so that they could be used by the patron as quickly as possible. Full cataloging records can always be added when the book is returned after use. Finally he mentioned that they were purchasing an Expresso print-on-demand machine that they will use to fulfill patron requests even faster. They plan on either selling the book to the patron or adding it to the collection when the patron returns it. It is interesting to me that some libraries are in the enviable position of being able to purchase or lease? very expensive equipment, while other are fighting just to keep staff. But it is nifty to see a library so driven to meet patron needs. Patron driven academic libraries are exciting to me, I like it when the needs of students get as much attention as the needs of faculty, staff, and librarians.

I will probably add more to this, or make it more coherent when I have my conference notes.

ALA Annual 2009 - Chicago

2009-07-16T13:05:00.004-06:00

I got back from ALA Annual 2 days ago, and I just now have enough energy to process what when on and what I learned. I am writing this in response to a tip I got at the ACRL New Members discussion on publishing. They suggested that I write everyday about my profession until I come with an idea that is worth writing an article about. So here goes...

The first program/meeting I went to was the Preservation Administration Interest Group or PAIG. This was a long one, meeting from 1:30 to 5. PAIG is always very long, but it was pretty interesting this time around so it didn't seem as long as usual.

We started out with a presentation by some Preservation folks from the University of Illinois, I'm not sure which location. They were working on a pretty comprehensive disaster plan and they presented one part of their research. Working with the engineering department at the university, they determined some of the most likely disasters that could occur at their mass storage facility. One of the most likely disasters is accidental or fire-related release of the sprinklers. So the preservation department set out to find out what sorts of damage occur to the the collection when the sprinklers are set off. The sprinklers are heavy duty, meant to extinguish fire, rather than just keeping it contained. So a large quantity of water pours out of the sprinklers in a very short amount of time. Anyway, they set up a test to find out how the water would damage library materials on a typical shelf in the mass storage facility. After the test, they found that the boxes that they stored special collections materials failed completely, basically they turned into pulp. So that was a major concern. Newspapers, of course, acted like sponges, and several of the paperbacks near the edges of the shelves also turned in pulp. Really interesting experiment, wish I could do it justice. Perhaps they will post their handouts on ALA Connect.

Other things we talked about at PAIG were National Preservation Week, which will be in March of next year, IMLS Fellowships at NYPL and Yale, NEH news and grant information, and a program to digitize books through BRC. All interesting, but not quite as interesting at the first presentation.

Intermediate Book Repair

2007-11-13T22:47:00.000-06:00

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

2007-09-26T14:32:00.000-06:00

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?

2007-09-25T22:42:00.000-06:00

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

2007-07-31T09:05:00.000-06:00

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

2007-07-20T12:22:00.000-06:00

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

2007-07-16T08:26:00.000-06:00

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.....

2007-07-09T11:03:00.001-06:00

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

2007-07-06T09:37:00.000-06:00

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

2007-05-29T07:44:00.000-06:00

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....

2007-05-25T11:01:00.000-06:00

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

2007-05-24T09:12:00.000-06:00

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.