Centennial Post: Keep Calm and Ranganathan On

One Hundred. 100. Centennial.

I find it appropriate that I made this milestone as I wrap up my MLS education. I am entering my final semester, and have just finished my Capstone requirements. For the Capstone course, I created an online portfolio highlighting my academic and professional requirements and presented the portfolio to my cohort members, professor, adviser and Dean. To celebrate my one hundredth post, I thought I would share my capstone presentation. I related my favorite assignments with Ranganathan's Five laws of Library Science. With each law, I have provided a link to the corresponding page on my portfolio. I hope you enjoy reading this post as much as I enjoyed putting it together:

Keep calm and Ranganathan On

Ranganathan was one of the first theorists I learned about in library school. Throughout this journey he has very much been both an anchor and a trail blazer for me. As a student, whenever I could not wrap my mind around a situation or a concept, I would think “What would Ranganathan do?” And one of his five laws would provide me with an answer.

First law: Books are for Use

His first law is the basis of the foundation of our profession: use. As a librarian, Ranganathan saw that the majority of books were literally chained to the shelves to prevent theft. He recognized this as detrimental, and new that librarians needed to promote access and use of the materials in their library.

This is still true today.

Librarians have always been about connecting people with information, building relationships. As Brenda Dervin would say, we help individuals add meaning to their experiences. When Ranganthan was a librarian, the most common format for information was books. Today there is no common format, but we still help build relationships.

For the course Information Services for Academic Libraries, I created an annotated bibliography based on Megan Oakleaf’s report: The Value of Academic Libraries, focusing on how librarians can assist their institution;s efforts in building high levels of student retention. While this may not seem like a typical role of a librarian, it is actually the focus of what a librarian is.

Where Libraries have been going through a shift from systems to services, so have educational paradigms. Before, it was seen that if students were using library systems they were more likely to graduate. Now, it is sent that if a student has a meaningful relationship with a member of the university staff, they are more likely to graduate. Since Librarians are already in the role of connecting students to information, we are in a strategic place to help foster relationships between students, researchers, faculty and most importantly, librarians.

Second Law: Every reader his or her book

This law suggests that every member of the community should be able to obtain materials needed, which implies a thorough understanding of you community and communities needs. This law was most relevant to me, again, during the course Information Services for Academic Libraries.

An ongoing conversation of that class was the need to understand your users, but in the context of their discipline. We discussed the three different disciplines – Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities, and how their information needs and searches would be different.

This lesson culminated with an exercise in Academic Reference. We were given a list of typical reference questions and were asked to find 2 reference sources that contained the answer – both in print and electronically. We had to think about the user and what would be the best source for them.

Third Law: Every book its reader
This principle is closely related to the second law but it focuses on the item itself, suggesting that each item in a library has an individual or individuals who would find that item useful.

This law was constantly in the back of my mind as I was working on OHSU’s digital collection of campus photographs.

I was given the task to generate the Metadata for 160 images, mostly of the Portland Aerial Tram. At first I wondered: why do we need so many images? Looking at the collection, if search for pictures of the tram you will come up to close to 1000 images.

Working with our Metadata librarian and working with the collection, I realized to look at the collection as a whole, and I learned that you never know what a person’s need may be. There might be a day when a patron will need an image of the half constructed tram, or the tram's first run, or the tram at sunset or the tram at sunrise or looking up at the tram or looking down at the tram. We will have their needs covered as best as possible.

Fourth Law: Save the time of the reader

This law is the recognition that part of the excellence of library service is its ability to meet the needs of the library user efficiently.

While Ranganathan original wrote the law in relation to the ease of accessing materials, and thus collection and library management, with the shift from systems to services, I think that instruction of information literacy now plays a huge role in saving the time of the reader, teaching patrons how to efficiently search for and select the best sources for their needs.

For teaching in the Information setting, I developed a curriculum that would teach upper level college students how to incorporate 21st century technology into their research projects. Specifically I chose to teach efficient ways to incorporate RSS feeds into their research, selecting both news sources and blogs and appropriate database searches that would deliver potential sources to them, allowing them easy access to a spectrum of information specific to their topic.

By teaching them to make the internet work for them, they will be able to shift their focus from constant searching to analyzing and thinking critically about the information that is delivered to them.

Fifth Law: The library is a growing organism

This law focused more on the need for internal change than on changes in the environment itself. I think it is pretty apparent that librarianship is changing, as this is conversation we have all had since day one.

For the group project in the Management and Administration class, I worked with an amazing group in developing a strategic plan for a community college library. We wanted to confront these changes head on. We looked at the trends affecting this specific field of education – the massive growth in student populations and the popularity of distance education. We knew that students weren’t searching for information at the library, so we wanted to bring our services to them through embedded librarianship, which would not only meet students changing needs but also highlight that librarians can partner with administration and instructors to help overcome these challenges.

Tomorrows libraries are going to look much different than today’s libraries, which already look radically different than the libraries of Ranganathan. I am fairly certain that he would approve.



So now, here I am, looking back. And true enough, Ranganathan and his laws have been the way for me to sum up the lessons of the past two years: Building relationships, knowing your users, providing access to what individuals and communities need, providing efficient services and quality instruction, and being able to adapt and change.

But there is one lesson that I learned not through him, but through the members of my cohort: the importance of community. These lessons and ideas would be lost of me if it wasn’t for my classmates to bounce them off of and work on together. I can not thank them enough for such an amazing journey. I could not imagine where I would be today if I had to do this on my own.


Image Credit: AtliaTheHun on Flickr
Image Credit: Marta Murvosh

Winning!

Sometimes I am amazed at my timing...

...as I announced in an earlier post, I am one of the newest contributing writers on the Hack Library School blog. Just two weeks after my first post, it was announced that the blog was the recipient of the 2011 Salem Press Best Newcomer Library Blog Award!

While I'd like to think that it was my brilliant review of my MLIS program that finally swayed the judges, I know that the credit belongs in the hands of the original hackers, who have worked very hard establishing the blog as the foremost commentary of library school and the changes face of information management.

The editors and I are all very honored to be listed with the winners of other categories, all of whom are bloggers that we follow and look up to:

General Library Blog: Librarian in Black

Public Library Blog: Swiss Army Librarian

Academic Library Blog: Information Tyrannosaur

School Library Blog: The Unquiet Librarian

Local Library Blog: Cecil County Public Library

Quirky Library Blog: Librarian's Guide to Etiquette

Commercial Library Blog: Neverending Search

Hack Library School

I've been waiting for a few days to make this announcement as I wanted to make sure it was official.

Along with maintaining my personal blog here, I will be joining Hack Library School as a contributing writer!

(where is a confetti cannon when you need one?)

Hack Library School started with Micah Vandegrift's post on In the Library with the Lead Pipe. It has grown into a blog run by a group of current library students and recent graduates. Hack Library School is a space for us to add our own voice to the MLIS curriculum, to create a collaborative effort to redefine library school and to participate in shaping the path that librarianship is taking. Pretty badass, right?

While I haven't posted anything there yet, if you click over you can see my smiling face at the bottom of their list of contributors, and read my short blurb under "Hackers."

Over the next few weeks we're doing a"Hack Your Program" series, in which each contributor will write about their program - offering descriptions, insights and even possible improvements. It will great to read about different MLIS programs. As a student, you don't often hear about what your peers at other institutions are going through.

My first post, describing my experience with Emporia, will be up on the 31st - be sure to check it out!

Another eBook Option

In case you missed it, yesterday Amazon announced that they were partnering with OverDrive to start a kindle library lending program.

This is kind of a big deal.

First, because there are millions of kindle (or kindle app) owners who would like to borrow ebooks from the library. As of yet, libraries haven't been able to officially provide this service (emphasis on officially) because Amazon won't let them.

Second, librarians are still feeling the sting from the Harper Collins debacle- in that Harper Collins will only allow an ebook to circulate 26 times, after which the library has to repurchase the book. Which is stupid.

With this being a big deal, it is all over the internet. You can read the Amazon press release and the OverDrive press release. You can read the story, with excellent commentary, in the New York Times or in the LA Times. And then there are the librarian blogs. Thankfully, they seem to be asking very pertinent questions, trying to make sense of what is to come and ensuring that they can provide the best service to their patrons as possible. Because librarians are awesome like that. The top three blogs that have featured this story, in my humble opinion, are the Librarian in Black, the Librarian by Day and I Found Myself in the Library (written by a recent MLIS grad).

Since I don't have much responsibility (or experience) with collection management, I am following this story from the side lines. I find this story particularly fascinating in comparison with Harper Collins' recent policy announcement about the lending of their ebooks. I keep finding my self comparing the two companies. Harper Collins is one of the world's larget publishers. The are directly producing and disseminating content. It makes sense that they want to protect their assets and keep their authors happy. But, they need to be more realistic in their relations with libraries. Amazon is a retailer - and one of the world's largest. While they also want to have good relationships with authors, and publishers for that matter, they are not directly involved with the production of content as Harper Collins. However, they are both companies and therefore need to turn a profit. So now we wait and see what Amazon is going to do....

[Update: After going through my reader, I saw that Andy over at Agnostic, Maybe also has a great post on this issue, also looking at the retailer/publisher comparison]

...I would like to point out that this is not Amazon's first dealings with other learning organizations. As I blogged about back in January 2010, Amazon was working with Reed College and other universities in testing the practicality of students using kindles in the classroom. That study was stopped by the U.S. Justice Department, after complaints from blind students. In a way, I feel that this supports my theory that eReaders are going to be a much larger issue for public libraries than academic libraries. Academic libraries really jumped on the eContent bandwagon with electronic journals, which has been working out okay (there still is a whole bevy of issues of dealing with vendors and subscriptions), but I am not sure if academic patrons are going to be as interested in eReaders and consumers of popular fiction -with seems to be the kindle's largest audience. I guess we will just have to wait and see...

Outreach never ends...

This is the third post in a series celebrating National Library Week.

Today is National Bookmobile Day! While I have never had personal experience with bookmobiles - I grew up in a pretty compact town, with little need for one - I have always been in awe of them. I think they're amazing services, especially for rural libraries, with excellent outreach and marketing capabilities. And they don't even have to be motorized.

In the 21st century, there are two ways for users to interact with their libraries: physically and virtually. Bookmobiles are just one amazing example of physical outreach to our communities - but how do we outreach to our virtual communities? By utilizing the same technology that has made so many of our users deem libraries irrelevant: social media.

Murray Library (UT) has incorporated an amazing blog feature right on their homepage, creating virtual reader's advisory. Initiated by a senior librarian who wanted to really encourage all library workers to become involved with readers advisory, the feature is simple but well implemented. Each post includes a well written review, clicking on the image takes the user straight to the catalog record and if the user enjoys the staff member's review, they can click on the reviewer's name and see what else they recommend. And it's not just books that are reviewed - the blog offers music reviews with YouTube videos of the featured artist. Even if their users are never interacting with librarians in the library, this is a great way for them to interact with the organization when they log on to check out books.

And then there are the "traditional" social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, etc. While libraries are still figuring out the bast way to put them to use (with some having better results than others), individual librarians are certainly all over social media. I was having a conversation with a classmate this weekend (@overgeeked for those of you on twitter) about how twitter seemed pretty irrelevant before we were in library school. But now it seems necessary. We have these tools whose primary purpose is to share information - how can we, as information professionals, not be a part of that?

Bookmobiles have always seemed to be a part of libraries - reaching patrons outside of libraries certainly has. Now that librarianship and information services are becoming much more nebulous, its time to start adapting and start realizing that adaptations are going to be a regular part of the game.

photo credit: New York Public Library, 1938, via The Commons

Public Librarians, take a bow!

The past few days have been pretty exciting for libraries. There has been some amazing, and loud, debate surrounding Harper Collins' new policies surrounding library's purchasing their ebooks. In simplest terms, Harper Collins - working with Over Drive - will sell their ebook to a library, but that ebook can only circulate 26 times before the library has to repurchase said book.

Librarians are not pleased, and between Facebook, Blogs, and Twitter they are letting the world know how disgruntled they are. To see the crazy amount of noise that librarians are making for yourself, just go to twitter.com and search for #hcod. You don't even have to log in or create an account, the results will pop up. Just be sure to come back here when you're done.

And it makes sense why librarians are up in arms. This would take collection development in a whole new direction. When library funds are limited it can be challenging enough to try and make your collection grow appropriately. But, as this youtube video highlights, Harper Collins' new policy would add even more constraints to collection development.

It would be like trying to buy gas, but for every five gallons, you would have to buy back the keys to your car.

I am finding this debate absolutely fascinating. Working in a medical academic library, we certainly emphasize electronic journals, but not so much electronic books. This issue is going to affect public libraries the most...

...While ebooks have been around for about a decade, best practices for delivering content to the masses still need to be figured out. Even for-profit organizations are scrambling. Traditional booksellers like Borders are going belly up while independent writers who avoid traditional publishing houses are making millions. And it's just as confusing for libraries. There has been a lot of discussion among my classmates on what the best answer is, and the debate seems to follow most debates in librarianship: services versus systems.

So, what's the best answer? I have no idea. I'm not sure anyone does. But that's not important. What is important is that librarians are contributing to the discussions. While many people argue that libraries are irrelevant in the 21st century, this debate is proving that librarians help shape the way individuals will receive digital content. Need evidence? Both authors and publishers are taking notice:

Marilyn Johnson, author of The Dead Beat and This Book is Overdue, posted on her blog that while publisher and authors need to be compensated, it should not be off the backs of libraries.While it may be lukewarm, Harper Collins themselves commented on the debate that librarians are stirring up. They call for collaboration, but it doesn't sound like they will change their policy.

I'm real excited to see where this debate goes. But I am mostly excited, and proud, of the way that librarians are refusing to give in without a fight.While I may only be on the sidelines, battles like this are the reason I went into library school.

Tattooed Librarians, on the radio...

As I mentioned last month, it has been awesome seeing where the Tattooed Librarians of the Pacific Northwest Calendar has been popping up. Seeing it on a librarian's blog from the Netherlands was exciting, but today's discovery blew that out of the water:

Ziba Z, a distance-learning library student with University Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, stumbled across our calendar on the internet, she tracked down the cover girl, Amber, and finagled aninterview with her....

...and it's awesome.

They talk about Amber's journey into librarianship, the intersection of social justice and public libraries, Seattle, music, Amber's alternative identity as DJ Dewey Decimal and (of course) Tattoos.

Be sure to check out the other radio shows on Ziba's awesome blog.

And Ziba, if you're out there, the world would love to see a Tattooed Librarians of California Calendar (and I think a zebra tattoo would be rad, too) !!

Libraryland.

I've been meaning, for a while now, to teach myself how to embed youtube videos onto my blog. Turns out it is WAY easier than I thought: if you know how to copy and paste, you know how to embed videos.

I needed something to practice with, so I used these videos that were recently shared on my school listserv. The staring librarian is an alumni of my Master's Program, and he's got some great stuff here.

I hope he's cool with me sharing these - I figure if he wasn't, he wouldn't have put them on you tube...

If you like what's here there's more at his YouTube channel, including short book reviews. Certainly worth checking out.

we've gone global...

Not long ago, I posted about a fund-raising campaign that my cohort was conducting, raising funds for graduation: The 2011 Tattooed Librarians of the Pacific Northwest Calendar. So far we've made a couple of hundred dollars, so it's been a success (don't worry, there are still plenty of months left to fill with beautiful ink and intelligent young librarians, so you should buy yours today!). One of my favorite parts of this project has been watching where on the internet it's been popping up.

For example, it was featured on two of my favorite blogs: The Swiss Army Librarian and Needles and Sins. An overarching goal of the project (other than making us money) was ensuring that it was accepted in both the library community and the tattoo community, and seeing that calendar on these two blogs confirmed our success.

I think my favorite spot we discovered the calendar being promoted (and certainly the most surprising) was Bibliothecaris in blog, Dutch librarian/writer Laurent Meese's blog:


They always tell you to be careful what you put out on the internet, because you never know where it might end up. Logically, this makes sense, but it is still surprising when it happens to you. Thankfully, this sort of surprise was super positive, proof that our calendar now has a global reach (I just hope that folks across the pond are purchasing our calendar)!

I wanted to confirm the language this blog was written in and read what was actually said about the calendar. So I hoped over to Google Translate, and it was pretty easy to copy and paste the text. He is what Mr. Meese had to say:

Tattooed librarians, it is not an oxymoron. The students of Emporia State Master of Library and Information Science give a remarkable calendar for charity, namely himself. They should, has recently paid for their graduation and thus to generate some income. The calendar shows no traditional librarians pads with a bun but trendy birds with tattoos and piercings. DiVenti photographer Lisa took this funny pictures of the prospective librarians in the Pacific Northwest College of Art Library. The calendar costs 25 U.S. dollars. Last year there was a similar project with the Texas Library Association and their 2010 calendar "The TattooedLadies of TLA . A new fad is born, so it seems.

...Trendy birds with tattoos and piercings, indeed! Obviously not the best translation, but enough the get the feel. Thank you, Mr. Meese, for helping us with our cause (ourselves) and spreading the gospel of tattooed librarians!

PS: If anyone knows of any great plugins for FireFox that offer great translating features, please share!

Facebook is a learning tool. No really, it is.

Haters love to hate Facebook.

I think it is one of those phenomenons where a cultural artifact (or a meme) circulates through certain thresholds of popularity: starting underground, moving onto edgy, then widespread, loathing, and finally ironic. Kind of like Dave Mathews Band.

I think Facebook is teetering between widespread and loathing. In one moment people will cry foul about privacy issues and parents creating face book pages, threatening to cancel their account, yet in another moment they will turn around and chronicle myopic details about their lives on their Facebook wall.

While I think there are serious concerns about Facebook's privacy policy (I would love to write a blog post about it someday, but that would take too much research and I have enough on my plate as it is), people have to realize that Facebook is the internet, and unless you want something to say completely private, DON"T PUT IT ON THE INTERNET. Now that she's has a Facebook profile, I fully realize that my Mom could find anything I post online.

While I think people are always going to rip on Facebook (as they should - it is a corporate entity whose only mission is to profit off of it's users), it is forever going to be a part of our lives. And now that I'm undertaking internet-based scholastic endeavors, Facebook is fast becoming part of my classroom.

Case-in-point: this semester an instructor assigned our class a take home exam. Having some foresight, the instructor explained that she believes that adult learners work best through collaboration, and highly encouraged us to work together on the exam. Being young adult learners, most of took to Facebook as our collaboration facilitation.

One member of the cohort sent our a message to the rest of us, initially to try and set up a time when we could all get together, but we all started posting questions we had about the exam, and soon our discussion grew. At this point there are almost 50 posts in the thread, occurring over the span of a week between fourteen students. It's been the most intense Facebook experience I have had in the half decade I have had an account.

Yet, it's not very surprising that it's been natural for us to discuss our exam through Facebook. Posting an electronic message, regardless of the venue (Facebook, a Blog comment, Black Board, etc.) is like school for us. Online posts and comments are fast becoming a ubiquitous form of communication. My friends and I joke that with the proliferation of social networking, email feels really formal now...

back in school. sigh.

The rain is starting to let up. The farmer's markets are in full swing. It's warm late into the night. You know what that means? Yep - I'm up to my neck in homework!!

This is my first time ever taking classes during the summer (sometimes I'm amazed I never had to go to summer school in my younger years), and I think it's a going to be a love/hate relationship:

A. It does mean that I will graduate early. Attending summer term allows me to graduate in two years rather than three.

B. The small voice of reason and logic (which I try to ignore at all costs) tells me that summer vacation is for undergraduates, k-12 students and the poor fools who sold their souls and are working in public education. Most likely, from this point out I will always be working through the summer. Unless I get a pimp job as an tenured academic librarian and can take summer sabbaticals.

But.....It also means I'm forced to study and concentrate when the Pacific Northwest is in it's most glorious...

I guess I should just put my nose to the grindstone, whining about it certainly isn't going to make it any easier.

In terms of my blog, I'm still going to try and maintain weekly posts, but they're probably going to much briefer than usual, more along the lines of posting interesting tidbits I find through my internet dalliances. Don't worry - I'll still try to add my unsolicited opinions....

In that vein, here are two great morsels that I recently stumbled upon:

When I started this blog I had a post (Things are changing...) about Cushing Academy's library renovation - and the fact they discarded all of their books. I followed up with another post about how I thought that this was a dangerous move in Portrait of a book as a library item. Here is an update in the Cushing Academy saga: Headmaster says eliminating books in library is working fine. Of course he's going to say that. What else would he say? "Oops, my bad. Looks like we need to buy back all those books we just tossed." I hope Cushing Academy's Library still has an Inter Library Loan at the very least...

In a similar, yet radically different, vein here's another story about book-less libraries: InfoLadies of Bangladesh revolutionize rural life. It highlights the amazing power information holds and how access to information can be such a fundamental, yet essential, tool to increasing quality of life.

I hope you hang in there keep reading Dewey's Not Dead, and enjoy some summer for me!

Libraries go "Wii"

Happy memorial day, few but loyal readers!! Here's a quick, fun post for your reading pleasure:

I've found a new favorite blog: Will Unwound. It consists of the musings of long time writer and retired library director, Will Manly. I really like that by reading his posts, you can tell that he is having a lot of fun with his blog. What I like even more is that he is not afraid to confront controversial issues that libraries are dealing with. He creates a lot of internet chatter, and it's fascinating to see what side various people fall on.

One recent posting that I took issue with was Martinis at an A.A. Meeting. In the post, he asserts the idea that having video games in a library is like serving martinis at a A.A. meeting.

I couldn't disagree more.

If you are patient, and scroll through the comments, not only would you be amazed at the number of librarians who agree with Will, you would come across my (not so eloquent) rant. I'm guessing, cause you're reading a blog, you're not patient, so I re-posted my comment here:

I think that stick-in the mud librarians who refuse change are the most dangerous things that libraries face today.

As a library student, I love Ranganathan’s five laws of librarianship, especially the fifth: “The library is a growing organism.” For the librarians who don’t embrace that: shame on you.

I don’t want to be a children’s librarian, but if I was I would embrace video games...we need to meet children where they are. If I were to become a children’s librarian, I would try and create programs that combined video games and graphic novels. If that were to be successful (getting non-readers to start with graphic novels), I would try and continue the trend, combining graphic novels with compatible chapter books. From video games, to graphic novels, to chapter books: It might not work, but who knows, it just might.

One thing that we have to realize is that libraries are going to be constantly changing, and I feel that libraries are going to be more about promoting the exchange of information rather than a store house of knowledge. In short, libraries are going to be more about providing community space and connections rather than simply loaning books. In one article I just read about the organization of information in the 21st century, the author used a beautiful metaphor: “The successful library in this world is less a lake (self-contained) and more of a harbor (sheltering , but still wide-open to the fluid changes of the sea).” That was written by J. Shuler in the Journal of Academic Librarianship (Vol. 32, No. 5, pp 540-542).

I might have gone off in a bit of a tangent, but we need to realize that the libraries we knew as a kid are going to be different than the libraries we work in today, even if that means providing video games.

Libraries provide computer access, right? What is going to stop kids from hoping on a computer and playing online games for an hour. If kids are going to do it anyway, you might as well have a librarian around to try, in some way, to connect them to some form of reading.

Today, sipping coffee at my neighborhood cafe, I came across a great article: Rowdy seniors enjoy video games at Clymer Library. Take the time to read the article, don't worry, I'll still be here when you finished.

Clymer Library is a perfect example of a library that is willing to change to not only stay relevant in the 21st century, but to meet a community need. A library board member saw that there was need for space for his community's growing elderly community and a need to help keep seniors active. By applying for a grant and buying a Nintendo Wii, he was able to hit two birds with one stone. Genius. And I'm sure the Seniors who take advantage of this opportunity would be thankful for an opportunity to relate to some of the things there grandkids are interested in.

Excuse me a second, there is a solitary tear running down my cheek that I need to wipe away....

If you think about the current Baby Boomer generation, and the generations to follow, video games are a major element of the culture that they are part of. The current generation of retirees may not have grown up with Super Mario Brothers of Sonic the Hedge Hog, but they certainly bought the gaming systems for the generations who did.

So what's the moral of the story? Libraries need to embrace change. Not willy-nilly, but to fit the needs of their communities. And if that means video-games, so be it. Anybody up for a game of Wii Bowling???

What a busy boy I've been...

Well, it's officially spring time in Portland. The cherry, plum and magnolia trees have all bloomed, tulips are poking their heads up, the weather has been BEAUTIFUL, and where have I been? Inside, in the library, ferociously researching, writing and studying...

I know it's been a while since I've last posted, but I have been getting a lot of work done. For example, I just got an article published in the Oregon Library Association Quarterly. It's based on a conversation I had with fellow students on our impressions, as digital natives, of the migration from print to digital content. If you have a second to check it out, there are embedded links where you can listen to what we had to say.

This past weekend I gave a presentation on reference services in community colleges, and how libraries with limited resources can best meet the needs of large student populations. My group came up with the conclusion that librarians need to meet the students at the source of the research: on the internet.

In other news from the realm of library school, it's officially spring break. Where am I off to, you ask? Cancun? Miami? Prague? Nope - the Portland convention center! This week is the Public Library Association's annual conference, and it's right here in Portland. Thousands upon thousands of Public Librarians are invading the city, and I hope to find myself right in the middle of it all. Along with attending the conference, I'll also be volunteering at the info desk and I'll be guest blogging of the PLA blog. Check it out, I already have my first post up!

That's not all - last month I worked with other library students on a project for the PLA - a little video highlighting fun things to do around Portland. We took the project very *ahem* seriously, really wanting to show the "Portland" side of Portland. It came out great - check it out: The Visiting Librarians Guide To Portland. I'm amazed at how many people have seen it - at the time of this writing, almost 2,000 (I was expecting 500)! It's been popping up on all sorts of web sites and blogs. It just goes to show you, careful what you post on the internet - you never know where it will end up or who might see it!

Alright, I'm off to the convention center for my first shift at the info desk, I'll let y'all know how it goes!!

I'm a crafty bitch, baby

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm traveling back east right now (writing this post in the Boston area), mostly to visit my nephew (who is a whopping three weeks old and the most amazing baby ever), but also to spend time with friends and family.

It was really great to catch up with my sister-in-law who, with one of her close friends, just started the blog Yankee Crafty Bitch. Go ahead, click the link, take a few minutes to check it out, and then hurry back.

Amazing, right?

Although I have never really finished a project myself, I'm kind of obsessed with the crafty, do-it-yourself (DIY) culture, which goes hand-in-hand with librarianship pretty seamlessly (pun intended).

Among the crafters and DIYers there is a pretty defiant attitude towards the general social acceptance (and apathy) of relying on an expert to: change your oil, clean your gutters, landscape your yard, decorate your house, etc. etc. etc. Why buy it in a store when you can make it/grow it/build it/fix it yourself?

Crafters and DIYers really embrace independence and are legit creative problem solvers. They celebrate thinking outside the box and are fearless in the face of a challenge. To them, there is nothing a little elbow grease can't fix.

I think these are all very important traits when it comes to being a librarian. There are quite a few challenges facing the library industry, and we will tackle them with the same perseverance and tenacity that a crafter will approach putting together a pair hand stitched reconstructed organic yoga pants.

Back to the blog....

I was impressed when a few weeks back it quietly appeared on Facebook. I knew my sister in law and her friends were a creative group of folks, but I was impressed as their projects (and their fans) started to pile up.

As we were hanging out in my Mom's house, cooing over the baby and enjoying some home cooked curry, we started talking about our respective blogs. We found ourselves sitting at a computer, bouncing between various websites, sharing tips and strategies. We discussed at great length the anxiety that the process of blogging creates; mostly due to the overwhelming information that is floating around out there and the self induced pressure to keep current with the myriad of social networking opportunities offered by the world wide web.

As I'm learning in library school, some of the most trusted sources of information will be the people that you already know, and it was great to discuss with someone else the process of creating a blog and the online community that goes with it.

I know that there are a ton of craft blogs out there and Yankee Crafty Bitch is still pretty new, but I guarantee that it is going to be one of the best, because I know that it has some amazing energy and talent backing it up. This is a blog that you are certainly going to want to keep an eye on.....

i love blogs.

Edublogs just announced the winners of their best blogs of 2009, and included a category for library blogs. Based on their winners and nominations, I've added a few more to my blog list and personal rss feed.

If you feel so inclined, here are a few that I really enjoyed getting introduced to:

Never Ending Search

Bright Ideas

Library Tech Musings

The Unquiet Librarian

Librarian By Day

a blogger reviews books about blogs...

Rough day at the bookstore last night. Customers were cranky, managers were cranky and coworkers were cranky, which left me at little cranky, too.


However...

A customer made my day about an hour before we closed when I asked her if she needed any help. She said yes, she needed a good book to read. A bookseller's favorite type of customer; someone who is genuinely interested in your opinion. Granted, she ended up shooting down most of my recommendations (as she had already read them), but ended up leaving with three I had suggested. She went with Home by Marilynne Robinson, (the new release of Pulitzer prize winning author of Gilead; this is a required recommendation at my store, but one I can stand behind), The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta and my personal favorite of all the suggestions I shared with her: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Ask any bookseller, librarian or good friend you know and they'll all say the same thing: having someone accept a book recommendation is like receiving a really good hug. Or a fresh baked cookie. Anything that leaves you with a warm fuzzy.

Which leads me to the purpose of this post...

I've had a few friends talk to me about my blog and their aspirations to start/resuscitate their own blog. Having just started this venture, I didn't have a whole lot of advice to give, as I am attempting the whole learn-as-you-go paradigm. But one thing that I can share are a few book recommendations that have inspired the development with this blog. So if anyone out there wants to start a blog or is curious about the whole blog phenomenon, check these out from your local library:

The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging by the Editors of the Huffington Post and Arianna Huffington

This is the first book I picked up during my journey of becoming a blogger, and I was skeptical of reading it at first; it seems a little cheesy and a bit too self-promoting. After a few pages, I really got into it and I feel like it offered some very solid advice, especially on ways to develop content and strategies for getting your blog read. Much like a group blog, a lot of different voices are represented in the book, all offering unique perspectives. It also covers a lot of the basics of blogging and resources for getting started (if you are so inclined), so this is a great one to pick up and look through

Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press by Eric Boehlert

This is a great narrative of how the Internet, and specifically blogging, affected the 2008 presidential elections. Ripping off Timothy Crouse's title, this is a fascinating look at the reach blogs are having in today's society. A great read for anyone interested in blogs, electoral politics or contemporary American Society

Blogging Heros: Interviews with 30 of the World's Top Bloggers by Michael A. Banks

I'm in the middle of this one right now, and discovering it's another great source for advice. Each blogger that Banks interviews dispenses their personal experiences with blogging, the various rewards they have gained while blogging, as well as their frustrations with the blogging venue and their hopes for the future. And at the end of each interview, Banks quickly summarizes each tip the blogger shares, reinforcing the advice they offer you. Again, great if you want to start blogging more or if you just want to read some one's prospective who has been doing this since the dawn of blog.

So check out these books if you're so inclined. But, in the words of LeVar Burton (r.i.p. Reading Rainbow), you don't have to take my word for it...