ACRL Poster Session: Libraries and Social Networks

The idea of libraries setting up profiles on social networks to meet students where they are is something I have not fully made up my mind about yet. I have profiles on both Facebook and MySpace. However, I joined MySpace because I'm a Millennial and my friends were doing it, not for library reasons. I think I joined Facebook partly to connect with students at my place of employment, but I've ended up connecting more with other friends there, too.

But anyway, a poster session I viewed at ACRL questioned "Do Students want Librarians in Their Turf?" The librarian, Jenny Emanuel from the University of Central Missouri, is a Millennial librarian, too, and is skeptical about libraries invading students' turf.

Here's what she found in the 50 responses to her survey:

• 80% have social network profiles, which is less than she (and I) expected
  
• "Only 34% of students would add a librarian as a friend; 18% would not; and 48% indicated a maybe"
• Students were asked to indicate what type of library-related information they'd be interested in receiving through a social network - links to resources in their major (68% yes), ability to ask a question of a librarian (63%), search for library materials (62%), links to other resources (59%). 15% did not want any linked content

So the results are mixed. And that's probably why I feel kind of skeptical but not opposed. For me, I think it's important to let them find you and not to seek them out. I have students request to add me on Facebook, but I don't request to add them. I may mention I have an account, but that's it.

I think we can be in the social networks, but I don't think we should force ourselves into their friends list.

Thoughts on Conference Blogging

Sometimes I feel like a sorry excuse for a blogger. I attended the ACRL Conference and also the Ball State Copyright Conference recently, and have I posted about the sessions? Not really - just one so far, and only because a coworker let me know that someone in the blogosphere was really interested in that particular session. And now that I have a little bit of free time and work is slowing down, I'm sure people have already posted about most of the stuff anyway.

Part of it is that, personally, I don't enjoy reading through people's conference session notes. I have no interest in reading a scattered outline'o'stuff. It's not coherent, I don't understand all the bullet points, and I don't get anything from it really. And if written in paragraph form, the summaries are often so long! Am I just an impatient Millennial?

I think another part of it is that I tend to prefer to research whatever I'm interested in at the moment. Excessively research it. So when I really want to know about a topic, I go out and find the information. Although I do stumble on a lot of interesting stuff in the blogs I read too.

So I'm torn about conference blogging.

However, I intend to start slowly going through all the handouts and such - to see what information I can apply to my library. I've already implemented a few things. I finally surveyed the students on a few things albeit very informally. And also created a student art wall - or rather, asked my student worker to display her beautiful photography on a wall of the library.

Maybe I'll just concentrate on the stuff I think is useful, as opposed to all the sessions I attended - there were so many!

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

Okay, so I realize this happened over a week ago. But I'm just now going through my backlog of emails. I remember seeing the email when it first arrived and thinking, I need to post about that. Ooops.

But anyway, Kurt Vonnegut has passed away. Very sad. :( I've quite enjoyed several of his books - Cat's Cradle is my favorite and one of those books you get forced to read in school that I actually enjoyed, and still enjoy. I also read Breakfast of Champions and listened to Slaughter-House Five on tape, and have probably consumed more over the years.

If, for some bizarre reason, you've never read Cat's Cradle, I highly recommend it. It's such a fascinating book and an easy read. Hmmm, perhaps I should revisit it yet again...

Humorous Library Questions

I am not a public librarian and do not get nearly as many humorous questions from library patrons as the public libraries do, but I have greatly enjoyed a recent thread from a listserv I am on (LIBREF - archives here), asking for funny reference questions. The Star Beacon in Ashtabula, Ohio recently published a story that included some of these questions. It's definitely worth a read.

And some other humorous anecdotes can be found in the main story about the job of a reference librarian at Ashtabula County District Library here.

Muckrakers at ACRL

ACRL Session: Muckrakers: Engaging Students in the Research Process Through an Online Game.
Presenters: Paola Ceccarini, Ann Brown, and Cathy Eisenhower of George Washington University

This is one of the last sessions I attended but interest has been expressed so I'm writing it up now. The only handout was a bibliography, so hopefully I'm deciphering my notes properly.

The goal of this project - the creation of an online game to teach research skills - was to "develop virtual instruction that encourages collaborative learning, peer evaluation, exploration, and critical thinking." They wanted to incorporate 3 teaching methods: Collaborative learning, peer teaching, and exploration and discovery.

The idea is that MMORGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games), such as World of Warcraft, have clear goals, clear and relevant feedback, and keep challenges in balance with user skills (the tasks are doable - you may have to try a few times, but eventually you'll learn enough to get past it). These things all help to maintain attention. I once heard that the test of a truly good MMORG (or probably any game) is how much time you lose track of while playing it.

Some details about the game George Washington University is developing:
1. Research skills are a BY PRODUCT - if you conduct research, you gain more points.
2. Students can leave text messages in the game for their friends
3. They can talk to each other during the game.
4. The characters have PDAs for taking notes and other tasks.

The game is set up so that each player is working for one of three newspapers which each have different political slants. The players are expected to keep a log of their research. They come up with individual topics, research them, and then pitch them to their teammates. The teammates then pick one of those topics - the one that sounds the best - and pitch that to the whole newspaper staff.

I think scoring is done through how users rate each other's work? So if someone's topic is chosen, he or she gets more points. I think...

The cost to the librarians so far is 2 years, and at least 10% of their work time. And it's not done. The programming has been done entirely by one graduate student which can be problematic, because research shows that it's best to have at least 3 programmers to get the different perspectives needed. Plus, it really is too much work for one grad student. One example of this is that they had to go with 2D instead of 3D.

We were shown an excerpt from the game, and it looks pretty good. They included both text and audio for different learning styles. The dialogue was quite humorous and not cheesy (at least, as far as I can remember). However, they still don't have a working version to test due to technical difficulties.

Overall, what I got out of this session was this: It's just not really doable. They are two years into it and still going. The shared value of games is not very good because it's not cost-effective to customize it to your own institution. And it takes a lot of work and a lot of time. Libraries just can't compare to game companies which can afford to hire many programmers to design these things.

Stats about Internet Use

Well, I'm back from the ACRL Conference and will hopefully be posting about that soon, but for now, I'm reading a very interesting summary of the 2007 Digital Future Report from Center For The Digital Future. They survey more than 2,000 individuals in the U.S. and have interviewed the same people over 6 years in order to collect longitudinal data.

Some interesting statistics:

• 37% of those polled still access the Internet through a dial-up telephone modem. Yuck!
  
• 50% access it through broadband
• 51.1% are buying online
• 86.8% of those 16 and over express at least some concern about providing their personal info when buying online
• 69.7% of all Americans use email
• Users who use the internet for work say they are actively doing so for an average of 7.8 hours per week (that's it!?)
  

However, the statistic that completely horrified me, quoted directly from the summary [bolding mine], is:

Information on the Internet: is it reliable and accurate? -- The number of users who believe that most or all of the information on the Internet is reliable and accurate grew sharply over 2005, reversing a three-year decline. Well over half of users (55.2 percent) say that most or all of the information online is reliable and accurate – up from 48.8 percent in 2005, but still below the peak in 2001 (58 percent).

YIKES!

Book Jewelry

A must-have for any bibliophile: Book Locket Necklace

[Found on the most awesome blog Kimbooktu]

The Blight of the Modern Novel

According to a New York Times Sunday Book Review Essay by Erica Wagner [thanks Elizabeth!], the cell phone is the bane of the modern novel's existence and the reason that historical fiction is so popular.

How does one write a great mystery novel in the age of the cell phone? These days you can call the police from anywhere, track down a missing person by calling their cell, or speed up your sleuthing by searching for clues while making phone calls at the same time. It's tragic!

And it goes beyond just the novel. Our lives are too traceable and well-documented anymore (take Twitter for example - ack!) So let's add some mystery! Leave your cell phone at home while walking through dark alleys, let the battery run dead before you find yourself with an urgent need to call 9-1-1, and don't answer your phone when you know people are wondering where on earth you are. :)

Gmail's Delete Shortcut

I have been complaining for a while that Gmail has just about every keyboard shortcut under the sun except the shortcut to delete email. Well, Andrew recently forwarded me a Lifehacker post that says otherwise. There actually is one, but it seems to be kept secret.

So for anyone who may care, the keyboard shortcut is shift + 3 (or the # key).

Hooray!

Social Networks for Bibliophiles

Newsweek has a list of websites where book lovers can discuss the latest books they've read, connect to other people who've read the same books they have, swap books, and more.

The only one listed that I've tinkered with is LibraryThing, which is fun but not something I've invested much time into yet.

I suspect some of my friends over at Rage in the Page might be interested in a few of these.

Are machines too smart?

And the users too dumb?

Creating Passionate Users is one of those blogs I rarely read because her posts are so long and really, who has time for that with 80 feeds vying for attention? But this particular post, Are our tools making us dumber?, is pretty dang interesting.

My impatience with balancing a checkbook without the use of a calculator would indicate so. As frightening as it is to admit, my math skills have definitely declined because a calculator is so much more convenient.

I also really wish I'd learned HTML before trying to use Dreamweaver instead of vice versa. It really would have helped with all those insane urges to tear out my hair.

I think this is also part of the reason I try to explain "why" to library users. Of course, my explanation isn't the most brilliant - "okay, the library catalog is dumb. Unlike Google, it doesn't think to insert 'and' between all your words, and it also doesn't eliminate all those extra words you don't need, like 'a', 'an, 'the', etc." Before one can really understand something, I think the "why" behind it is important, even if it's not exact. Don't just use the tool, get a basic understanding of it first.

I wonder how else this can apply to libraries...

Closing Oregon Libraries

According to this article from SFGate.com, Oregon's Jackson County Public Libraries are going to have to close due to a $7 million cut in federal funding.

The imminent closure or threatened reduction in services and hours has happened in other libraries lately, but they are always saved in the nick of time. Here's hoping that these libraries won't have to close their doors either!

Skimming Books is Just As Good?

I disagree. But perhaps that is because I cannot skim. That isn't to say that I am incapable of mastering the skill, but I just find it difficult. I feel I owe it to the writer and to myself to read every word. I do occasionally skim through work-related books though (there are so many good ones that I could never get through them all).

A friend of mine [thanks Elizabeth!] sent this NYT article to me. The author, a literature professor, argues that reading an entire book isn't necessary. Skimming it, reading reviews, or scanning the index provides enough information to discuss the book. He even says:

“To be able to talk with finesse about something one does not know is worth more than the universe of books,” he writes.

I've tried several times to read Moby Dick but I never get past "Call me Ishmael".

Perhaps that is enough?

Those book things, they are tricky!

A very amusing YouTube video shows an individual struggling to learn how to use that oh-so-befuddling device: the book. Pretty funny stuff!

Can you use a book? :)

Cheap Batteries and more!

Okay, so this is more or less a blogvertisement or whatever you want to call it but I like this company so far. EMTC is a great place to find cheap cell phone batteries, headsets, camcorder accessories, and more. I bought a new battery for my cell phone for only $10, and no shipping! And I've been using it for quite a while (several weeks anyway...) and it's functioning fine.

I just now ordered a new headset for my phone since my other one died recently. We'll see if it's any good....

March of the Librarians

Well, I've been berated by one of my... two? readers for not posting in such a long time (apparently she needs a means for procrastination...). I can't believe it's been a month. The beginning of the semester is always crazy. I'm teaching Library Research Methods again and that takes a lot of my free time.

Anyway, there is a most amusing mocumentary of the librarians at ALA Midwinter in Seattle. I don't know about the whole "mating" thing, but the lines for essential things like coffee and email are pretty funny. :)

I have not yet attended a large conference, but am registered for the ACRL Conference in Baltimore, which is quite exciting. I'm also contemplating the ALA Annual Conference in Washington DC, since I have friends (victims?) in the area who I can perhaps stay with. :)

Librarians not so dangerous afterall

Two posts ago, I wrote about a librarian in Montana who supposedly received a letter informing her that she'd been added to a "Watch List" for ordering two books through Interlibrary Loan.

Apparently that story was not quite true. The writer of the blog who originally told the story has a new post about it.

Unless of course the librarian was "shushed" by the government! heh heh heh. Okay, I'll stop with the silly conspiracy theories now.

Give your employees a librarian.

Stephen Abram links to this article in a recent blog post. Amongst all the other wonderful office gift ideas to give is:

A librarian. Yes, I know, much of what you need is available online and your staff Googles with the best of them. Still, corporate librarians operate with a level of nuance and finesse that technology can't match. They can uncover sources so obscure as to be practically nonexistent. And they know what's what--they not only tell people what is known but also warn them what isn't.

Excellent.

Librarians are DANGEROUS!

I am forever posting about articles and blog posts that my friends send me. But that's because they send me such fascinating things, like this blog post [thanks Paul!] about a librarian in a tiny little library in Montana.

To sum up the story: Said dangerous librarian orders obviously sketchy books written by Joel C. Rosenberg, receives books along with a note that she's been added to a "Watch List" for ordering them, and is told she needs to go into the big city before she can order more books.

I'll remember that, since I'm the librarian at my institution who is in charge of ordering books and articles from other libraries.... Hope none of our students go requesting anything crazy!

Gotta watch out for those librarians! As Michael Moore said, librarians "are subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them. You know, they've had their budgets cut. They're paid nothing. Books are falling apart...."

Never Too Late to Return a Book?

Really? I'm not so sure. 47 years late?

Actually, it's a pretty cute story. I want to know how he came up with the amount of fines that he did.