Look inside the mind of a library circulation worker...

...when things are super slow, I get sucked into the Bermuda Triangle of social media:


When I'm really bored, I make Venn Diagrams:



Thankfully I have enough on my plate that this doesn't happen super often!

Information Literacy: The Eye of the Storm

Where has the time gone? You can tell a library student is in the thick of it when they neglect their much loved blog...

...one thing I have learned about library school is that my desired role as a librarian seems to change with every class. During my first foundation classes, I really wanted to head an access services department. Taking a reference class, I wanted to be king of the reference desk. With web design, I thought that being a UX librarian would be the bees knees.

This summer I am taking an information literacy instruction course, and staying true to the pattern, I am now searching out open Info Lit/Public Services positions in schools across the country. I think that librarians who teach are the apex of librarianship. After all, the core of what we do is is connecting people to ideas. Information literacy instruction certainly is the most direct and efficient way of doing this.

It goes without saying that I am pretty jazzed about this class.

The first assignment I had was to summarize Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe's chapter in Information Literacy Instruction Handbook (eds Cox & Lindsay 2008), which deals with the future of information literacy.

Since I am such a visual learner, as I was reading the chapter I came to conceptualize the future of information literacy as a spinning storm. At the center, you have the eye of the storm. In this case, the eye is composed of the core tenets of information literacy. Hinchliffe describes these as the outcomes of effective information literacy instruction (as developed by the ACRL). That is, an information literate individual is able to:

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into one's knowledge base
• use Information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally.

Surrounding the eye of the storm, you have all of the changes that are happening to the industry as a whole as well as factors that effect instruction:

• Trends in academia
• Emerging technology
• Democratization of authorship
• Political demands
• etc, etc, etc

Of course, being a nerd, I had to turn my metaphor of Information Literacy as a storm into an info graphic. Since I don't have a fridge to hang this picture on (well, I do. Just to cheap to print in out. And it would probably weird out my housemates), I thought I would post it here.

For a bigger view, you can click on the image or check it out in my Google Docs.

Librarianship, visually represented

The Wikiman created an amazing visual representation of some of the transitions that librarians are experiencing. Best in full screen (or on the Prezi website - Prezi and blogger don't always get along). You can also check out his original post.

Librarianship before, librarianship next on Prezi

Scrappers and hustlers: just what the library needs

This is the fourth post in a series celebrating National Library Week

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of librarianship is looking towards the future. Certainly no small feat, but librarians accomplish it in a manner of ways.

The most concrete example is youth and young adult librarianship. Supporting literacy at an early age is an essential aspect of making sure that we have healthy and successful communities in the future. I tip my hats to young adult librarians - I think the work they do is phenomenal and I don't think they often receive the credit they deserve. There are certainly some great future children librarians in my MLIS cohort, you can check out their blogs here and here and here.

I think librarians also look to the future by being on the pulse of tomorrow's evolution of information technology, understanding the importance of knowing how future patrons are going to consume and disseminate knowledge. It is a messy task, and not always well implemented. In many ways librarians were at first slow to embrace technological changes - but the newest generation of librarians will be sure not to repeat the same mistake.

I think the biggest task librarians have in front of us is making sure there even are libraries in the future. The infographic over at archives.com sums up the situation nicely.

I could go off on how we need effective advocacy, marketing, campaigning, blah blah blah blah. But we talk about that enough. While we are in a dire situation in terms of funding and support, I think the industry is going to be just fine: we have a new generation of library student who are already starting things off on the right foot.

Those of us who are a bit younger have been raised with technology that laid the ground work for the changes we are seeing today (The first time I went online was the third grade). We are used to change to the point that we embrace it. I've been using my google reader for a few years now, and it is starting to feel outdated. I'm ready for whatever is next.

And we are enrolled in Library and Information Science programs now, when things seem pretty bleak. We are graduating as scrappers. Knowing that we have to fight for the services, resources and money we want in our libraries. We're even fighting pretty hard just for jobs. We know how to hustle and we'll put these skills to use as we take over the industry.

To give it a really bad and cheesy science fiction analogy - we are the Fremen of Library Science. Raised in the harsh conditions of the desert planet Arakkis, we will be the ultimate fighters. Instead of fighting for control of the spice and thus control of the universe, we'll be figthing for universal access to information. Which is kind of the same thing, now that I think about it....

...bringing this blog back to reality, here are some of the library student's blogs that have raised my hope for the future:

Reference to the Rescue

I found myself in the library

Cat Lady Librarian

Magpie Librarian

Hack Library School

...I know there are many more out there - what are the blogs/librarians you follow that are giving you hope for the future??

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

Visual data, so hot right now.

I love infographics. love. love. love infographics.

I've always been a visual learner, but in today's age of communication technology the amount of possible ways to present information visually seems infinite.

David McCandless, British writer and designer, seems to be a the forefront of the infographic movement:



If you enjoyed this video, check out McCandless' site: Information is Beautiful.

sunday morning infographic

I've mentioned in a previous post how much I love DIY culture, and even though I am not necessarily crafty, I believe that there is a strong correlation between it and librarianship.

Recently, I saw this post that made me think about this intersection again: 10 Things You Already Own to Wrangle and Label Cords. The post shares some pretty awesome ways to keep the multiple cords (that seem unfortunately necessary in this day and age) manageable, using common objects - from toilet paper tubes to action figures.

I'm always thinking of creative ways to organize information online, it's great to see creative ways to organize objects in real life.

Because it's Sunday morning, and I don't want to start my homework, and I'm a super dork, I processed my thoughts about librarianship and DIY culture into a Venn Diagram (which you should click on to get a better look at):


Putting together this infographic was a really interesting process. I found it way easier to think of common elements rather than unique elements. Granted, the fact that librarianship is a profession and DIY culture is (mostly) a hobby is a major difference. But once I started to really think about it - I was surprised at how much these two concepts overlap. For example:

Misunderstood: Most people think that libraries only deal with books and that crafters are crazy ladies who scrapbook. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Fetishized: The general public loves the concept of the sexy librarian. DIY culture is being co-opted as a marketing strategy to sell products.

Sustainable: reusing and recycling and self-reliance are major tenants of DIY culture. Libraries are at the heart of communities and community centeredness leads to stronger ecological values.

This post was a lot of fun. I have a recent obsession with infographics, and I'm always looking for an excuse to make my own. Writing this post makes me think if there are any other hobbies/professions/concepts that would be fun to fit into a Venn Diagram...

A big thanks to Serenity (and the magic of Gchat) for letting me bounce some ridiculous ideas off of her...