Library Talk

So....

2007-11-02T15:31:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking of dropping this blog. It didn't come together they way I had hoped, as a community place for "library talk." Which is fine, but I have 8 other blogs that I write/administer/team blog on, so I don't feel like I have enough time for this one anymore.

Or, does no one care if it doesn't get updated very often? Is anyone out there wanting to participate but now sure how?

I would love it if a few other people would post a topic from time-to-time - once topics are posted, we do seem to have some discussions.

Anyone? Bueller?

The Divide that Keeps on Giving

2007-08-20T12:25:00.000-04:00

Posts like this one from the Annoyed Librarian were tailor-made for Library Talk. Not because I don't agree with most of it, but because I do agree with some of it. It certainly is a conversation starter.

Key word here being "conversation."

I could say LOTS about this post, and I will after the ball gets rolling here. But I will start by addressing this: "...The Twopointopians contempt for their non-Twopointopian colleagues is palpable." I'll give AL this - the contempt between library colleagues IS palpable -- but I do not agree that it is the one-way street that AL thinks it is, as evidenced by AL's own post. But, yeah, "anti 2.0" librarians don't want to hear anymore about 2.0 (check the comments), and "pro 2.0" librarians are frustrated with those who are unwilling, or unable, to acknowledge a changing profession and the changing needs of patrons.

Your thoughts?

(And don't forget, you can now subscribe to comments if you'd like to keep track of this, and any other, discussion. See sidebar for the button link.)

Who Makes the Decisions where You Work?

2007-07-19T17:27:00.000-04:00

I recently bitched about not getting keychain cards for our patrons, which is, in reality, just one of the many ways our library ignores "customer service."

In this instance, though, my main bitch is that this decision was made, pretty much unilaterally, by one person - and that person is not a professional librarian (or a librarian at all, really). Now, in "fairness," we have been without a director for 8 months, and we have had no one really making any decisions for the good of the library - or our patrons. We've been in limbo. But we do have four librarians on staff, and not one of them was consulted about this - and I think that's a mistake.

So, my question for discussion is, "Do you think that at least one professional librarian should be consulted when it comes to decisions dealing with patron satisfaction?"

I know that it sounds - and perhaps is - obnoxious to pull the "MLIS card," and that paraprofessional staff often feel like they are not respected for the work they do, but isn't there a reason we went to library school and at the very least went through the rigmarole (and expense) of getting a professional degree? Shouldn't matters of collection development, equipment purchase, computer configuration, and yes, patron SERVICE at least have input from the librarians on staff (and especially when there is no director to oversee things)?

What do you think? Does stuff like this happen where you work? Do you have a "system" for decision making?

Oh, BTW - you can now subscribe to the comments on this blog - since comments are what this blog is all about!

Come on, tell us how you REALLY feel

2007-06-12T11:07:00.000-04:00

A little light reading from Michael Gorman:
The Sleep of Reason, Part I
The Sleep of Reason, Part II

This should provide for hours of discussion fun, and actually leads quite nicely into the subject-matter of a post I have brewing in my head.

Let the commenting begin!

Just when you thought I had given up on this...

2007-05-06T14:25:00.000-04:00

I admit I have been MIA on this blog. Between my other 75 blogs, my weird life, the explosion of the 2.0 community over at Ning, and the fact that it seemed to be just a few folks hanging out here, I sorta put it on the back burner.

But, according to my stats, people are still checking in here - daily - in spite of the fact that there hasn't been a new post in almost a month. So, I figured I'd toss something else out there.

I have been reading a new blog, The Effing Librarian, with great interest. I don't have any idea where I originally found the link, and I don't know who writes it, but it sure is interesting - and, um, "different" from much of my daily library blog diet.

This post in particular has lots to say, and while I don't "agree" (and I am not even sure that's the word I am looking for) with some of it, I found it very thought-provoking.

I am in the middle of a research project for someone right this minute, so I will hold my comments for now. But, hey, if you're reading this blog, feel free to discuss!

Interesting

2007-04-12T10:13:00.000-04:00

(Cross-posted from Cool Librarian - feel free to comment in either place.)

This tidbit of info popped up on a few of the feminist blogs I read, and I thought it was relevant to the "library world" as it is about search habits (I think).

American Airlines has introduced a new "women's" page, complete with "our own" search box:

Here's the search box on the main page of American Airlines (the one that, if I am understanding their implication, appeals more to men than women):

So, aside from the pretty pink color (cuz you know all we chicks just dig pink!), do you notice anything? Like, perhaps, that all of the advanced search functions have been stripped from the women's search box!?

Sigh.

OK, according to their women's page, American Airlines has, "...listened to women like you and recognized the need to provide additional information tailored to your business and pleasure travel needs and lifestyle." Is this true? Did their market research reveal that women would rather not have advanced search options in their search box? And, does American Airlines feel like removing those options provides us women with "additional information?" Really?

I fully admit that perhaps I am over-thinking this because I am an uppity feminist. But since I belong to a profession that is still somewhat dominated by women (79% of librarians were female in 2002 according to the Toledo Blade), a profession where "search" is what we do, this struck a chord with me. Maybe, though, we freaky librarians do not represent the mainstream American woman's search habits. But still...

And because I have nothing better to do until the American Idol Results show comes on, I'll toss out other thoughts, loosely related, as well. If American Airlines did indeed do a study that found women were more in tune with a "simple search," is that because the searching is computer (technology) based? Are women still more put off by technology than men? And if that's the case, should librarianship expect a surge in men joining the ranks now that times have changed and being a librarian is as much about technology as it is about books (or about accessing information via technology, if you are more comfortable with that)?

Naturally, I do not know the answers to these questions, though I suspect you could find "data" supporting both sides to each. And, here's some other interesting reading on the subject(s) for you.

In the meantime, if I ever decide to fly (not likely, though my fear of crashing may be gender-based as well), I will be using the "full service" search on the American Airlines website, thank you very much.

The Library 2.0 Community

2007-03-05T11:13:00.000-05:00

Has anyone not seen that Bill Drew created a MySpace-esque Library 2.0 social network community using Ning? It's really quite nifty. I'm just a li'l cranky that we didn't do it first.

But no biggie. I've created a page and here it is!

The Can't Do Attitude

2007-02-23T22:27:00.000-05:00

Is anyone out there working in a non-tech library? Is anyone else frustrated by this?

There are a lot of reasons I love my library. I truly like the people I work with, I like the patrons, and we have a nice facility. Most of the time the job is not stressful, and most aspects of my job are enjoyable.

But...

We are behind, in my opinion, in the tech realm. We have public internet computers, but we block all forms of chat and IM, as well as MySpace, which means that I am constantly saying "I'm sorry, but MySpace is blocked." Naturally, the teens don't come in to use the computers now. We don't offer any formal internet instruction classes, which means that a good deal of my 15 hours per week is taken up with helping people one-on-one with email, online job applications, and resume creation. We have a blog, but I am the only one who posts to it - I've been told outright that "No one reads it, so what's the point?" So, again, since I am only very part-time, it doesn't get updated as much as it should. Our website is in serious need of updating, but currently no one on staff has the skills to do that (except me, and, um, I simply cannot undertake that with my schedule), so there it sits with all of its dead links.

The reasons for these things run the gamut from, "we can't afford to pay anyone (like me) to do these things," to "the patrons in this community don't need/want this stuff" (not true). It seems to me that when a new program/idea/technology is introduced, if it doesn't take off immediately, it's deemed a "failure" and nothing more is done. And the final piece of the puzzle is that my coworkers are either knowledgeable-but-not-interested in pursuing these things, or they've never even heard of "library 2.0."

I can't be alone in this.

Help! I need a tester.

2007-02-14T23:09:00.000-05:00

If anyone out there uses TypePad and was thinking of adding the Library Links blogroll to their blog, please let me know if you run into problems working with the code. At least one person can't get it to work in their sidebar - apparently it messes up the other stuff in the sidebar. And since TypePad is one blogging platform I have not yet played with, I am at a loss in how to help.

The code on the page is javascript - and perhaps this is the problem. If it is, I can supply different code.

Thanks!

URL and RSS UPDATE!!

2007-02-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

Due to the change in publishing profile, please make sure your bookmark for this page is now
http://librarytalk.coollibrarian.com. Using www.coollibrarian.com/librarytalk will no longer work (even though it's technically correct) because the DNS redirect only attaches to librarytalk.coollibrarian.com.

You should also update your feed, especially if you used the Feed Burner version. I have updated the RSS button on the page, or you can use the "autodiscovery" employed by most readers. I would just go ahead and re-subscribe. If you are using a valid feed, your reader will most likely tell you that you already subscribe to this blog - and in that case, you're fine. If it takes you through the regular subscribe process, just be sure to delete the OLD feed from your list.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience - I hope this will be the last of the publishing quirks.

Publishing Issues Resolved?

2007-02-07T13:24:00.000-05:00

I am hoping that I have been able to resolve the publishing issues that have been haunting me all morning, and have caused annoyance for other people posting to this blog as well.

Blogger, especially since going BETA, has had a notoriously hard time publishing blogs via ftp that are hosted elsewhere. Most of the time my efforts to publish this blog, as well as my personal blog, have met with a string of publishing error messages, all of them inaccurate. And most of the time, the blog really has published, even though the errors have indicated that it has not. This morning, however, this blog was NOT publishing or updating.

So, I have decided to try Blogger's new DNS publishing option. This particular config allows me to use my domain name, but the files (from here on in) are actually hosted by Blogger (Google). While I would RATHER host the archives myself, in the end my priority is to have the damn blog(s) publish correctly.

Naturally, I didn't encounter publishing problems with my WordPress blog, which was also hosted on my server. This is one of the ways the WP is clearly superior. But since WP drives me crazy with it's heinous sidebar interface, I'm going to stick with Blogger for this blog (for now) and see how well the DNS thing works. So far, so good. Posters, please let me know if you run into problems.

Test

2007-02-07T12:49:00.000-05:00

Been having problems publishing all day...

Library 2.0: the Dark and the Light?

2007-02-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

On one side of the room, we've got Sarah Clark's two posts on the "dark side" of Library 2.0:

The Dark Side of Library 2.0, Part 1: "It's the Patron, Stupid!"

The Dark Side of Library 2.0, Part 2: new bridges...new divides?

On the other side of the room, we've got Laura Cohen's rebuttal to Sarah's posts:

Is There a "Dark Side" to Library 2.0?

Laura's overall argument is that while Sarah raises some good points, her concerns really have nothing to do with Library 2.0.

Not to sound wishy-washy, but I think both of them make important points. In the end, I'm inclined to agree with Laura that the "dark side" Sarah's worried about isn't really a dark side to Library 2.0. But I'm eager to hear what other people think about this. Is there a "dark side" to L2.0? If there is, is it what Sarah's writing about?

DOPA Won't Stay Dead

2007-01-23T12:09:00.000-05:00

The government is at it again, with Senator Ted "Tubes" Stevens introducing a bill that is pretty much DOPA redux, with some extra porn-hatin' written into it.

Personally, I don't think it will pass. But then, I've overestimated congress before...

Drupal, Anyone?

2007-01-22T12:51:00.000-05:00

Hello,

Is anyone using Drupal for either a blog or website?
Are you loving it? Learning curve?
I'm doing some freelance work, and I have a feeling that I will eventually be taking over the website responsibilities at my job (if I survive here that long), and I am interested in Drupal. Was just wondering what other librarian types thought.

Jessica

Update on New Jersery

2007-01-16T12:39:00.000-05:00

Looks like the Maplewood library won't be closing its doors after all. At least until the regular closing time. And the community is stepping up to help out, which is a good thing.

What's Broken? What Needs To Be Fixed?

2007-01-02T14:34:00.000-05:00

1. Look at these three posts in which librarian bloggers confess that they avoid their local public libraries because the library is an unfriendly, difficult to use place.

2. Read this article about how the Maplewood Memorial Library in Maplewood, NJ, will be closing its doors from 2:45-5 on weekdays because they feel a certain group of users (in this case, teens) are uncontrollable, making the library a place that is unfriendly and difficult to use. Also read these posts (and comments) on Jessamyn's and our own Jessica's blogs. (Edit: Also read this Library Crunch post on Maplewood and the problem of unruly teens.)

3. Discuss.

Beta Forever?

2006-12-27T11:59:00.000-05:00

Jessica had some obvious problems switching this blog from the old Blogger to the new Blogger Beta. She's not the only one who has blogged about Blogger Beta problems.

Now, I'm a big fan of the concept of "beta is forever," which has become one of the defining principles of Library 2.0. But releasing a product or service in beta that causes more frustrations, and more frustrated public blog posts, doesn't do anyone much good. I'm not saying everything has to work perfectly, but there should be more positives than negatives. When Firefox 2 came out, there were some problems (heck, my own upgrade on our family computer went much less than smoothly, making me a very cranky and unhappy camper), but in general, the responses I saw to it (and my own overall feelings about it) were positive.

I've really tried to apply "beta is forever" and good beta practices a part of my regular work at my library. When we're planning new programs and services and hammering out all of the details, I think it's important to keep in mind, and the remind everyone else, that what we present to the public doesn't have to be perfect, the final product. But it does have to be good, and we shouldn't put something out that's half-assed and a dollar short.

What does everyone else think about "beta is forever"? In what ways have you (or could you) apply it to your regular work? In what way can it be practically applied to librarianship in general? And in what ways is it a bad idea?

EDIT: In trying to set up "labels" for this post, I got a bunch of error messages that basically tell me the new Blogger doesn't handle tagging all that well.

BETA Part Two

2006-12-16T11:57:00.000-05:00

Just in case there is any confusion:

Anyone can post a new topic to this blog once they have signed up for a Blogger account using their GOOGLE login information. Once that step is complete, just send me an email with/from your PREFERRED email address. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SEND ME YOUR GOOGLE OR BLOGGER INFO! All I need is the email address where you would like to receive your invatation to join the blog. Once you get your invitation, follow the instructions to ACCEPT the invitation. You will then be added to the Library Talk blog as a poster.

Right now I seem to be all set with moderators - thanks for all the interest!

ANYONE can comment and participate in the discussions - you do not need to be a Library Talk poster, or even have a Blogger account.

Library Talk Goes BETA

2006-12-16T11:14:00.000-05:00

Library Talk (as well as my other blogs) has moved over to the BETA version of Blogger.
Since this is a new blog created using an unmodified template, I don't anticipate any big problems. On the plus side, posters will now be able to (and are encouraged to!) tag their posts; I will add a "tags" section to the sidebar prontito. Just FYI: Blogger calls tags "labels," and "labels" can be added in the lower-right corner of the post screen.

If you encounter any problems with the BETA version, please let me know.

RSS Readers - Is Google Really that Great?

2006-12-13T16:24:00.000-05:00

OK, I need someone to talk to me about Google Reader.

After trying a few different readers (a long time ago), I settled on Bloglines. I guess I don't think about it much; it's always done what I thought it was supposed to do.

Now everyone is talking about Google Reader and how WONDERFUL it is! So, I tried it, and, um, I don't get all the excitement. Am I missing something? I am not using aggregators "correctly?" What's my problem?

Thanks,
Jessica

Welcome to Library Talk!

2006-12-11T18:25:00.000-05:00

Library Talk is a community blog for librarians, library students, and others with an "information problem." If you have a question, an opinion, or just want to discuss something, this is the place to do it.

Posting a Topic
Anyone with a Blogger account can be added as a "team member" and post a topic to this blog.
To become a team member, please send me your e-mail address, the link to your blog (if you have one), and a quick hello. You will then get an invitation to join the blog, and you can post your topics. Please send me the email address you prefer to get mail at - you do not need to send me your gmail address or your Blogger account info.

Commenting
The "discussion" of posted topics will take place via comments.
Anyone can comment - you do not have to have a Blogger account or sign up to become a team member. Word verification will be on to cut down on comment spam, and comment moderation may be enabled if spam or other abuse becomes a problem.

Topics
I only ask (at this point) that topic posters be at least somewhat involved or interested in the world of info science. Libraries, librarianship, research, education, books, reading, internet technology, social software, information tools, conferences - all great topics. Comments should follow the post's topic; if you want to take the conversation to a "different place," please create a new topic post.

Be Nice
Naturally, common courtesy is expected. Debates are fine as long as they are civil.
Personal attacks, hate speech (on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion - you get the idea), and threatening language will not be tolerated.
This is designed to be an adult community, meaning, I don't get uptight about "profanity." But, you know, use your head.

I hope you'll join us!