For sure, screencasting is spiffy; I can envision many library uses -- the ones listed in the Project Play posting are good examples. As we spend a lot of time showing people how to use the catalog and other services on the computer, screencasting could help a lot. I know that folks on our staff are already playing with Camtasia, and doing rather more sophisticated things than one can do with the freeware.
Alas that I didn't think of anything worthwhile I would screencast. I played with Screencast-O-Matic just to try it, but thought the result was pretty dull. Were I a practicing reference librarian, OTOH, I might have more readily thought of some useful instructional demos. In order to be worthwhile, a screencast should be done for a good reason, and thoughtfully prepared with good planning and at least of smidge of creativity.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Marathon County - the debate continues
I just posted this comment in the online forum of the Wausau Daily Herald, in response to yesterday's editorial "Opinion: Libary made right move in the wrong way":
The Herald is very to correct to state: "In the future, the Library Board should make an extra effort to inform its customers about its challenges in advance of substantial changes in either its services or its staffing."Tasha at Sites and Soundbytes provides this link to the discussion on the WISPUBLIB mailing list. And she reminds us: "Letters must be sent, our protests must be heard and we must stand together to say that such attitudes towards our profession cannot be tolerated." I can only add that our voices may not be heard, but it should not be due to our failure to speak up.
The is one crux of the matter: in Wisconsin, Library Boards are not primarily accountable to County boards, County Executives, Mayors or City Councils. Library Boards are accountable to citizens, the community as a whole and library users in particular. Boards have a positive duty to share concerns and get feedback from the community, in an open way.
The Herald, however, compounds another error by blandly invoking "the reality that the Internet has become a widely used resource, not only to find information but also to locate publications available for checkout. It's true that fewer of us rely on high-level librarians to conduct our research or steer us to the proper aisle."
Maybe this is true in Wausau, but it's scarcely true everywhere. And to make such an uncritical statement of a complex reality only encourages irresponsible comments like: "The internet has everything the library has." Anyone who would make such a remark only demonstrates remarkable ignorance of the Internet, libraries and intellectual property law. If librarians are looking up fewer quick facts and book call numbers, they are spending more time developing databases, building heavily used collections, coordinating community programs, and doing Internet instruction. Public librarians have never much liked conducting your research for you, but we're happy to help you learn how to do it -- and that's gotten considerably more complex.
In many communities, heavy Internet use has made libraries more important and increased the workload of professional librarians. If Marathon County needs to make tough decisions, they will do what they have to. Just don't justify it by disparaging an entire institution and profession.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Innovate or die?
An article in yesterday's Times demonstrates again that public library concerns are similar worldwide.
Culture Secretary Margaret Hodge addressed the Association of London Chief Librarians with a number of well-received suggestions for innovative services and marketing. Hodge said:
Culture Secretary Margaret Hodge addressed the Association of London Chief Librarians with a number of well-received suggestions for innovative services and marketing. Hodge said:
“And yet another thing I know is that keeping centre stage with an increasingly discerning and demanding population might require some innovative customer measures.”The challenge, as in the U.S., is to increase use, become more cost-effective, but not dumb down services nor lose the essential qualities that make libraries and the library profession valuable to communities.
Dumbing down?
I'm probably the last blogger around to comment on John Berry's Feb. 15 Library Journal column "The Vanishing Librarians", but it's become timely because of this week's controversies here in Wisconsin about staffing changes at the Marathon County Public Library and in a job opening at the Mequon/Thiensville Public Library.
In the case of Marathon County, four professional positions were recently reclassified/demoted with a $10,000 annual salary reduction.
Berry writes:
For my part, I consider this to be completely separate question from the value of the MLS degree. There are people at all levels, with and without degrees, in libraries large and small, doing good professional work. But we are increasingly challenged to demonstrate the value of that work to decision makers.
The Annoyed Librarian has posted about this in some detail. For my part, I don't know feel I enough about Marathon County to join the new Facebook group: Marathon County Public Libraries Demotion of Librarians Stinks OH SO BAD!, but I understand where they're coming from.
In the case of Mequon/Thiensville, state librarians and library educators are warning that in a high income community, the librarian salary is well below standards that are several years old. Clearly another case where library professionalism is under-valued.
In the case of Marathon County, four professional positions were recently reclassified/demoted with a $10,000 annual salary reduction.
Berry writes:
It looks like the “transformation” we seek for libraries and librarianship may turn out to be more of a “deskilling” of library jobs than an enhancement of the profession. More and more working librarians are “managed” by a new breed of library leader. Their model for the new public library is that dehumanized supermarket or the chaotic disorganization of the largest Barnes & Noble.While the Marathon County Library Board President says:
the reduced amount of work requiring a master's degree is a direct result of increased electronic access to information they previously provided. ... This seems to be a trend based on increasing access to the Internet. This movement is taking place all over the country, causing many libraries to re-examine and restructure how information services are being provided by library staff.Which would have been more palatable had she not tarred us all with the same Internet brush: Marathon County may have seen a significant drop in the number and complexity of reference questions, but not all of us have. Had she only said: "the money was gone and we had to make difficult choices", there would be more sympathy.
For my part, I consider this to be completely separate question from the value of the MLS degree. There are people at all levels, with and without degrees, in libraries large and small, doing good professional work. But we are increasingly challenged to demonstrate the value of that work to decision makers.
The Annoyed Librarian has posted about this in some detail. For my part, I don't know feel I enough about Marathon County to join the new Facebook group: Marathon County Public Libraries Demotion of Librarians Stinks OH SO BAD!, but I understand where they're coming from.
In the case of Mequon/Thiensville, state librarians and library educators are warning that in a high income community, the librarian salary is well below standards that are several years old. Clearly another case where library professionalism is under-valued.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Best Free Software
Catching up with reading, I found this very useful list, with links, in last month's PC Magazine. A nice compendium for many Library 2.0 uses, as well as for sharing with patrons.
Buildings and future libraries
A good discussion point for libraries and architects: Slashdot reports on a slideshow on Slate addressing the question: "What sort of public library does the 'digital world' of Google, Wikipedia, and Kindle require?"
The very title of the article calls us to remember that libraries live partially in a digital world, but also in a world of story hours, face-to-face discussions, Brownie troops, senior citizens, parents and children. We live in community. Slate notes:
Well, maybe not the Kindle...
The very title of the article calls us to remember that libraries live partially in a digital world, but also in a world of story hours, face-to-face discussions, Brownie troops, senior citizens, parents and children. We live in community. Slate notes:
Ross Dawson, a business consultant who tracks different customs, devices, and institutions on what he calls an Extinction Timeline, predicts that libraries will disappear in 2019. He's probably right as far as the function of the library as a civic monument, or as a public repository for books, is concerned. On the other hand, in its mutating role as urban hangout, meeting place, and arbiter of information, the public library seems far from spent. This has less to do with the digital world—or the digital word—than with the age-old need for human contact.Ross Dawson is no relation that I would claim... I, for one, have hardly an interest in our being a monument, and not much interest in being a warehouse. I'm very interested in community development, child development, economic development, in education, information, sharing stories and propagating culture. In 2019, libraries will continue to be vital, though possibly types of libraries (public, academic and special) may become more divergent via technology adoption and relationships to their several communities. I haven't seen Google, Wikipedia, and Kindle reduce public library effectiveness in these spheres. On the contrary, we can use them to do the things we need to do.
Well, maybe not the Kindle...
Friday, February 22, 2008
Project Play: podcasting for libraries
This week was an interesting assignment. I already subscribe to a number of podcasts, getting some, such as the Onion and weekly sermons from my church, on my iPod. I have RSS feeds for newspaper stories and Chuck Tomasi's Technorama in my Bloglines feed aggregator.
I've been following library podcasts for awhile, by the simple expedient of searching "libraries"in the podcast section of the iTunes store. I can see several potentially worthwhile uses, depending on services of the library and the interests of staff to do the legwork:
Audacity made it pretty simple to add a musical intro, record a narrative, edit out a couple of "um, ah"s, and mix the whole thing to an .mp3 file. A quick Youtube search found a lot of Audacity and podcasting tutorials, but the Audacity documentation is pretty good on its own. I then signed up for a free account at Podbean and posted my podcast. Podbean also allows for making podcasts available as RSS feeds or through iTunes.
I've been following library podcasts for awhile, by the simple expedient of searching "libraries"in the podcast section of the iTunes store. I can see several potentially worthwhile uses, depending on services of the library and the interests of staff to do the legwork:
- program information
- general library news
- book reviews
- as a technology learning opportunity for teens
Audacity made it pretty simple to add a musical intro, record a narrative, edit out a couple of "um, ah"s, and mix the whole thing to an .mp3 file. A quick Youtube search found a lot of Audacity and podcasting tutorials, but the Audacity documentation is pretty good on its own. I then signed up for a free account at Podbean and posted my podcast. Podbean also allows for making podcasts available as RSS feeds or through iTunes.
This is probably not something I will do on a regular basis, but it's nice to find out how easy it is. Thanks to Ellen Jepson for the info about Audacity and Podbean.
When a genius is an idiot
As reported in the New York Times, Apple guru Steve Jobs, asked about the Amazon Kindle at Macworld Expo, replied:
It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.Now, this is just silly, but at least it explains why it's so difficult to put books into my iPod. But another article in the Times reports:
Our library staff certainly knows people are still reading. We checked out:Last year, a survey for the Associated Press found that a much smaller number — 27 percent — had not read a book lately, which means nearly three-in-four have read a book. Steve Jobs may be many things – maestro, visionary, demi-god – but he apparently isn’t a careful reader of certain market reports.
The more compelling statistic was rarely mentioned in news accounts of the A.P. story: the survey found that another 27 percent of Americans had read 15 or more books a year. That report documents a national celebration.
Most companies would kill for a market like that – more than one-fourth of the world’s biggest consumer market buying 15 or more of its items a year. And half the population bought nearly 6 books a year. If only Apple were so lucky.
- 647,000 books in 2005
- 705,000 books in 2006
- 750,000 books in 2007
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Shape of Things to Come
Over the next four months, our library will be doing a facility study. We received a $10,000 grant from the Appleton Library Foundation for this purpose, and $40,000 in our 2008 City budget. The study will look at library facility needs of the community in the short and long term.
In December, we sent out nearly fifty copies of an RFP (request for proposals) to building consultants and architects with significant library experience. We received ten proposals in response, and our evaluation team reviewed these, interviewed two firms and made a recommendation to our Library Board. On February 18, the Board resolved to go with Durrant as our partner to do the study.
Durrant, which is the firm that designed our 1996 addition, will work with Himmel & Wilson Library Consultants for library & community input and Linda Miller as technology consultant. There will be staff focus groups, community focus groups, surveys, interviews with library staff and community leaders, and lots of meetings. There should be many opportunities for a variety of input: we want lots of ideas to be included, heard and weighed.
In this process there are no foregone conclusions, except that we want to find the best way to meet the community’s future library service needs. Do we know that it's a good idea for the public library to be near the center of downtown? Do we know that it would cost more to operate additional facilities, such as branches, than it would to expand on our current site? We surely do know these things.
But that doesn't tell us what's best for the long-term library service delivery in this community. What is the added value that a different location or additional locations offer our service population? What operational economies might there be in a building designed for twenty-first century technology and use patterns? What organizations or neighboring communities might wish to partner with us in providing library spaces? What are the opportunities and needs for change in our current building, designed almost thirty years ago? We have to take an open-minded, unprejudiced look at the questions and issues. We have to consider lots of factors and ask lots of people, then present some clear choices and recommendations to the decision-makers: the Library Board, Mayor and Council.
If we knew the answers ahead of time, we wouldn't need to do a study. But we need to look at options and make some decisions about the future. We need to know we can deliver the services people want in the most effective way. And we need to understand technology options and costs, as well as how we might implement short-term solutions before long-term actions are taken.
Winston Churchill said: “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” What shape do you want our library to be in over the next decades? This will be a lot of work, but worthwhile and exciting!
[podcast version of this post]
In December, we sent out nearly fifty copies of an RFP (request for proposals) to building consultants and architects with significant library experience. We received ten proposals in response, and our evaluation team reviewed these, interviewed two firms and made a recommendation to our Library Board. On February 18, the Board resolved to go with Durrant as our partner to do the study.
Durrant, which is the firm that designed our 1996 addition, will work with Himmel & Wilson Library Consultants for library & community input and Linda Miller as technology consultant. There will be staff focus groups, community focus groups, surveys, interviews with library staff and community leaders, and lots of meetings. There should be many opportunities for a variety of input: we want lots of ideas to be included, heard and weighed.
In this process there are no foregone conclusions, except that we want to find the best way to meet the community’s future library service needs. Do we know that it's a good idea for the public library to be near the center of downtown? Do we know that it would cost more to operate additional facilities, such as branches, than it would to expand on our current site? We surely do know these things.
But that doesn't tell us what's best for the long-term library service delivery in this community. What is the added value that a different location or additional locations offer our service population? What operational economies might there be in a building designed for twenty-first century technology and use patterns? What organizations or neighboring communities might wish to partner with us in providing library spaces? What are the opportunities and needs for change in our current building, designed almost thirty years ago? We have to take an open-minded, unprejudiced look at the questions and issues. We have to consider lots of factors and ask lots of people, then present some clear choices and recommendations to the decision-makers: the Library Board, Mayor and Council.
If we knew the answers ahead of time, we wouldn't need to do a study. But we need to look at options and make some decisions about the future. We need to know we can deliver the services people want in the most effective way. And we need to understand technology options and costs, as well as how we might implement short-term solutions before long-term actions are taken.
Winston Churchill said: “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” What shape do you want our library to be in over the next decades? This will be a lot of work, but worthwhile and exciting!
[podcast version of this post]
Monday, February 18, 2008
Wikiality exalted & politicized
Public libraries, among other things, are all about free access to ideas. Thus this story on Slashdot "Wikileaks under fire" is of interest:
The transparency group WikiLeaks.org currently seems to be under heavy fire. The main WikiLeaks.org DNS entry is unavailable, reportedly due to a restraining order relating to a series of articles and documents released by WikiLeaks about off-shore trust structures in the Cayman Islands. The WikiLeaks whistle blower, allegedly former vice president of the Cayman Islands branch of swiss bank Julius Baer, states in the WikiLeaks documents that the bank supported tax evasion and money laundering by its clients from around the world. WikiLeaks alternate names remained available until Saturday, when there seems to have been a heavy DDoS attack and a fire at the ISP. The documents in question are still available on other WikiLeaks sites, such as wikileaks.be, and are also mirrored on Cryptome. Details of the court documents have also been made available.A wiki for whistle blowing? Can it survive and be credible?
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