Thursday, December 9, 2010
My twitter wordle
First, I went to tweetstats, clicked on the tweetcloud tab, then I clicked on "Don't like the TweetCloud? Well then, go make a Wordle!"
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Draft of the 2010 Science-Technology Division of SLA Strategic Plan
Strategic Plan December 2010
DRAFT
MISSION
To equip science and technology information professionals with the skills and knowledge they need to grow and excel in a changing information landscape. The Division functions as a community that supports the professional development of its members through communication, networking, education and research.
VISION
To be the professional affiliation of choice for librarians and other information professionals who serve communities in science and technology.
GOALS & OBJECTIVES
1. Goal - Membership – increase membership and engagement of existing members
1.1 Maintain active members and recruit new ones
1.2 Encourage participation of current and potential members
1.3 Provide opportunities for participation outside of the annual conference
1.4 Increase interaction with library school students and new professionals
2. Goal - Create a greater sense of community within the Division
2.1 Consider community enhancement when planning any programs, committee work and other activities
2.2 Provide opportunities for people to interact with other members of the Division, inspiring a greater sense of connection, including at the annual conference
2.3 Provide information by and about members through various Division communication channels
3. Goal - Enhance the value of the Division and members through professional development and virtual learning opportunities
3.1 Strengthen and enhance our mentoring program, including mentoring of recent graduates, of mid-career librarians in technological areas, and of librarians new to the Sci-Tech field
3.2 Provide résumé development workshop(s) in multiple formats
3.3 Provide programming outside the annual conference
3.4 Provide negotiation skills training
3.5 Provide activities and opportunities for participation and involvement for people who can not attend the annual conference
3.6 Help members prove their worth to their employers within a Sci-Tech context
3.7 Cooperate with other SLA Divisions where the interests of the members overlap
3.8 Offer leadership in scientific and technical librarianship, including programming both at the annual conference and virtually on emerging and continuing themes in the scientific and technical disciplines
RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES
• Conduct short surveys of the membership to elicit information about members’ needs – including thoughts on improving member engagement, benefits of joining the Division, and community engagement
• Develop marketing materials for membership recruitment and retention
• Solicit more participation in Division communications, including more writers for Sci-Tech News, blogs, and other communication modes
• Provide more information about members and their achievements: brief announcements of members’ activities within Sci-Tech News and/or our website or discussion list
• Showcase our members with more in-depth treatments such as quarterly articles within Sci-Tech News and/or our website or discussion list
• Cover topics of professional interest in Sci-Tech News, blogs, and other communication vehicles
• Encourage use of social media within the Division
• Provide programs of various types such as webinars or regional meetings
• Address the issue of flux in the STEM publishing industry
• Support Sci-Tech librarians/info professionals as they negotiate content contracts and agreements
• Support Sci-Tech librarians/info professionals as they seek professional job opportunities or professional recognition
Please let us know what you think?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Review of DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the etc., etc., etc.
DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education
Some of the book can also be found on Google Books.
If the higher education system changes as much as the author thinks it will, then it will have many implications for academic libraries. Lots of people and organizations are trying to predict the future of academic libraries.
The basic premise of the book is that the internet and alternative educational institutions are providing new and different ways for people to learn.
She (the author, Anya Kamenetz) noted that one of the problems with the higher ed system is that students are treated differently once they transition from high school to college. If high school students are having difficulty passing classes, the teacher or the school is held responsible. If one of those students is having difficulty passing college classes, then the student is blamed. In short, some/many colleges and higher ed institutions do not take [as] much responsibility for helping their students finish their studies. There is not as much accountability for high ed institutions. She also describes a system where colleges are incentivized to increase costs and services to students. If a college costs more money, then it must be a better institution.
Here is the part where I start talking about libraries.
I found the word library mentioned just once in the book, and it was about the Europeana project. The word library isn't even in the index. The free Internet is OK for learning some things, but it takes an institution to provide a well stocked library of resources so students don't have to shell out money (to buy or travel to find) books and journal articles and newspaper archives and conference materials and government documents and microfilms and lots of other stuff. She also doesn't seem to get there is a much bigger and deeper web of Internet materials that are not freely available to students, unless institutions subscribe of course. It also takes an institution to provide laboratory space for students in the sciences. Doing a chemistry experiment on the computer just isn't the same thing as dealing with real chemicals in the lab. It takes an institution to provide places for students to gather for clubs and other interest groups.
David Wiley of BYU (and Flat World Knowledge) shows up on page 83 and notes that "if universities can't find the will to innovate and adapt to changes in the world around them, universities will be irrelevant by 2020." (He is also a leader of the open-education movement.) People are thinking the same thing about libraries. They think we need to either innovate or we will be dead. Ummm, I don't think so. People have been saying for the last 15 years that the Internet is going to make libraries obsolete, but here we are. If anything, we are working harder than ever to help our students navigate the complex and evolving information sphere.
The book covers a lot of open education and open access resources. For example, they mention DOAJ on page 85. Libraries are certainly behind initiatives like this.
I did find some of her writing confusing. For example, she seemed to confuse credits with classes in some spots. This article at Inside Higher Ed does a great job of evaluating much of her logic and false assumptions.
On page 88, she provided the wrong title for this article, "Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0." The PDF is here. Instead of reading the book, this article provides a good overview of the open education movement.
I did learn about a lot of new and interesting initiatives that are going on.
- Open Learning Initiative at CMU
- I knew about MIT and their OpenCourseWare Project, but this is part of the OpenCourseWare Consortium
- I've known about the term "personal learning network" for a year or two. Here are some resources to get more information on that topic.
- The School of Everything
- "AcaWiki is like a 'Wikipedia for academic research' designed to increase the impact of scholars, students, and bloggers by enabling them to share summaries and discuss academic papers online."
- "Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) is an online community of open study groups for short university-level courses."
- "University of the People (UoPeople) is the world’s first tuition-free online university."
- Hacking Education event in NYC.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Next Generation Science Librarianship
- Dr. Jian Qin, Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University
- Jamaica Jones, Special Projects Librarian, NCAR Library
- Jack M. Maness, Assistant Professor and Director of the Engineering and Math-Physics Libraries, University of Colorado at Boulder
- http://eslib.ischool.syr.edu/(Syracuse University eScience Fellows Program)
- http://sdl.syr.edu/(Science Data Literacy (SDL) project)
- e-Science and its implications for the library community by Tony Hey, Jessie Hey
- Global Interdisciplinary Research by Daniel Atkins
- E-Science and Data Support Services: A Study of ARL Member Institutions, Aug. 2010 [PDF] by Catherine Soehner, Catherine Steeves, and Jennifer Ward
- Developing a Vital Research Library Workforce by Mark A. Puente, Director of Diversity Programs, ARL
- Using Personas to Understand the Needs and Goals of Institutional Repository Users, by Jack Maness, Tomasz Miaskiewicz, and Tamara Sumner
Social Media Research on Companies
I also learned about some new databases:
http://samepoint.com
http://yauba.com
http://crowdeye.com
http://tweetfind.com
Good stuff. Thanks Scott.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Brick and Click Report
The best session I went to was by Eric Jennings and Kathryn Tvaruzka of UW-Eau Claire on "Quick and Dirty Library Promotions"
In today's economy, money for promotion of library services is at a premium. Find out how the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire's McIntyre Library has inexpensively changed the atmosphere and has broken stereotypes typically associated with the library and librarians through library promotions and activities.
- The "How I met my Valentine" Contest.
- Secret Post community art project.
- "Last Call" event before classes begin. Here are some videos of "Last Call".
- Give away fortune cookies to students and faculty. They recommend this place as a supplier. They are not just boring pens or bookmarks. Some of the fortunes go something like: Ask a librarian for help, get an A on your paper. Or -- You will find the love of your life on the 2nd foor, it is a history book.
- Youth and family programs. Have a summer reading program like public libraries. Invite children in for story time. The college kids will also enjoy it when the tots walk into the library.
- Getting Ready to Go Mobile: A Primer for the Uninitiated
- The Library Through Students' Eyes: Exploring Student Research Needs in the Brick and Click Space
- Making Significant Cuts to an Approval Plan without Drawing Any Blood
- Embedded Librarianship: A Briefing from the Trenches
- Carrie also grabbed the handout for Mobile Patrons: Better Services on the Go
- Getting Started with Assessment: Using the Minute Paper to Find Trends in Student Learning
- Access to Video Material in Academic Libraries
Saturday, October 23, 2010
My thoughts on Open Access
I went to a presentation by Dr. Keith Seitter from the American Meteorological Society (AMS, not to be confused with the American Mathematical Society...), Wim van der Stelt from Springer, and Heath Joseph from SPARC/ARL speak at the UCAR facility up in Boulder on Weds the 20th.
I was struck by the fact that the AMS revealed how much revenue they get from publishing their journals, and that they take in about 10% "profit" to help support some of the other activities in the society. Pretty much, the publishing is the only thing that brings in revenue, so they have to use some of that money to support those other activities. I think the amount of revenue is on the order of $8 Million, but don't quote me on that. They do have a fully OA journal, and many/most/all of their journals where they provide free backfile access. Here are their OA policies, from Sherpa Romeo.
Author's Pre-print: | author can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing) |
Author's Post-print: | author can archive post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing) |
Publisher's Version/PDF: | author can archive publisher's version/PDF |
General Conditions: | [A bunch of conditions are listed...] |
In short, they are in favor of Open Access, but they want to see a smooth and balanced transition to OA so the society can survive.
Wim from Springer approached the topic of OA from a commercial standpoint. Most of what he talked about was their commercial author-pays model of OA. They own and manage the BioMed Central OA journals. I applaud them for venturing into OA, but I think they are too tied to the author-pays model. There are many other financial mechanisms for supporting OA.
In the far future (maybe 10-25 years out), I see academics and scholars taking back publishing from the commercial realm. Someone will invent a system where peer-review can be done in a wiki or blog-like fashion, and in a way that displays who commented on what or who modified what. These systems exist now, but there isn't very much uptake. A lot of the scholars are slow to use these new systems because there is a great deal of inertia that makes it difficult to change course. Faculty want to publish in Nature or Science (Note: they do allow for various forms of OA, but they are not Gold OA journals.) or Whatever Journal that has the highest supposed impact. Once faculty begin to realize that they can have a greater impact by publishing in OA sources, the name of the journal will not matter as much. The names of the authors with high prestige will draw in the readers regardless of the name of the journal that the article has been published in. This will be the new academic whuffie economy. How will authors and researchers earn high whuffie scores, high prestige, high esteem from colleagues and a great reputation? They will write great articles, and share their knowledge with the most people possible through OA. They will not write articles in closed-access journals where only a few people can read them.
That, and they will probably also learn to calculate their own h-index score instead of just using the impact factors of the journals they happen to publish in.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Open Access Week Kick-off Event
Open Access Week 2010 from SPARC on Vimeo.
More info about this can be found at this blog post, Momentum continues: Open Access Week 2010 begins.Here are some notes from Cameron Neylon who is in the video.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
CoALL / RMSLA brown bag on Wednesday, Sept. 29
- Office of Surface Mining Technical Library
- Water Resources Data System Library in Wyoming
- While this is not really a library, the Colorado Geological Survey sells many maps and other items at their main office.
- Information Bridge: DOE Scientific and Technical Information
- Western History and Genealogy Collection at DPL
- Colorado Supreme Court Library
- Colorado State Archives provides an excellent library
- University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Library
- Bureau of Land Management Library
- Dept of Interior Libraries, such as the Bureau of Reclamation Library?
- CSU Water Resources Archive
- National Enforcement Investigations Center (NEIC) Environmental Forensic Library
- National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Library
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Library
- I talked a little bit about visitor access to the Penrose Library with a referral card and a pass
- http://www.askacademic.org/
- Helen Fowler Library at Denver Botanic Gardens
- Bailey Library at the DMNS
- There is a list of many special libraries in Colorado on the Dept. of Education Website
- http://creatingcommunities.denverlibrary.org/
- http://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Visit to three Baltimore libraries
The first library I stopped at was the Enoch Pratt Free Library. I had to walk about 6-7 blocks to get there. What an amazing structure. The main hall was something to behold. There are some pictures posted on their Flickr site, but none of the individual pictures do the entire hall justice. Once you get into the reference areas or in the stacks, it looked like the carpet could use some vacuuming, but that is not such a big deal. The children's area was a little hard to find. One has to weave their way down the stairs to get to the children's area. What an amazing area -- well worth the trip. The fountain is really cool.
The next library is north another 7 blocks north. I walked to the University of Baltimore Langsdale Library. I simply walked in the front door. They did have a security guard on the main level. She never questioned me. Maybe I looked nice. Since I am a science and engineering librarian, I tend to gravitate to the science areas of the stacks. I was a little surprised to find only 3 shelves of astronomy books and only 7 shelves of physics books. Hummm. Now that I look at the departments available in the College of Arts and Sciences, I see that they do not offer much in the way of physics, astronomy or mathematics. That explains it. Had I looked in a different area, I probably would have found lots more books. It is also good to see that their libraries are keeping up by attending conferences. I wish I could have attended this one. I was not able to get free wifi while on campus. I also stopped by their newish student center. I also learned that the U of Baltimore is part of the University of Maryland system. I thought it was private, but it isn't.
The third and last library is another 20 blocks to the north, the Eisenhower Library (of the Sheridan Libraries) at Johns Hopkins University. I took a cab from Penn station. The security guard took my drivers license to make a photocopy before she would let me in. The place was packed. They have resources that I have only heard about and never seen. For example, they have the Science of Synthesis in print in their reference section. They also have quite a bit of LB, but it is hard to tell if they are getting current volumes or not. I did not check to see if they have online access to either of these. There is a reason that JHU is highly ranked in the ARL. They can spend the money on resources such as these. They are also building the new Brody Learning Commons area.
Once I was done visiting the Eisenhower library, I stopped by their book store, which is a Barnes and Noble just off campus. Not very exciting. I thought about getting a lacrosse hat or a t-shirt, but I'm not really Hopkins material. That, and I am not really a lacrosse fan, but I do know that they are known for that sport.
Ate dinner at the neighborhood Subway, and then I headed back to the hotel. Overall, it was a good trip visiting three Baltimore libraries.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Sort of a review of Cognitive Surplus
The word library shows up once I think. I can't find it again. Anyway, there are a number of things that Clay Shirky talks about in the book that is pretty relevant to libraries. Such as:
Clay said on page 17:This is what hit me with the Library Camp and Unconference model for meetings and conferences. That is why I helped to organize the STELLA Unconference. We don't always need big organizations like the ALA or SLA or State Library Associations to hold meetings of like-minded (or unlike-minded) librarians anymore. [Note: I am the Chair-Elect of the Sci-Tech Division of SLA, and I still find the SLA conference to be worthwhile.] If anything, a lot of work and discussion can get done over discussion lists and other social networking sites. The difficulty is figuring out how to tap that surplus in a way that people care about. I hope others will continue to replicate the unconference model (very low cost aspects) for other meetings and gatherings.
People want to do something to make the world a better place. They will help when they are invited to. Access to cheap, flexible tools removes many of the barriers to trying new things. You don't need fancy computers to harness cognitive surplus; simple phones are enough.... Once you have figured out how to tap the surplus in a way that people care about, others can replicate your technique, over and over, around the world.
Page 50:
When publication--the act of making something public--goes from being hard to being virtually effortless, people used to the old system often regard publishing by amateurs as frivolous, as if publishing was an inherently serious activity.... An activity that once seemed inherently valuable turned out to be only accidentally valuable, as a change in the economics revealed.Open Access publishing is continuing to gain steam. People are starting to realize that it does not take a behemoth to publish high quality articles. I hope that the journal I am involved with, Collaborative Librarianship, fits this description.
Page 98:As a librarian, I need to remember to focus on how the technology can enhance the human condition (and how our students can use the technology to learn stuff and gain knowledge and pass their classes and get good jobs after they graduate, etc.), and not on the technology itself. I have a tendency to do that, I know...
No one wants e-mail for itself, any more than anyone wants electricity for itself; rather, we want the things that e-mail enables--news from home, pictures of the kids, discussion, arguments, flirtation, gossip, and all the mess of the human condition.
Page 162:Librarians from lots of various organizations can work together just fine without having managerial overhead. The Library Society of the World is a good example. While the LSW may experience some growing pains every once in a while, it is a working example of a group of people that can be organized without the organization.
Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur, compared bloggers to monkeys. These complaints, self-interested though they were, echoed more broadly held beliefs. Shared, unmanaged effort might be fine for picnics and bowling leagues, but serious work is done for money, by people who work in proper organizations, with managers directing their work.
Page 189:I am not quite sure I agree with his "everyone has some kind of access to the public sphere" bit. There is still quite a big problem with the information haves and have nots here in the US, and lots of people in China or Nigeria or Romania have information access problems. But, we are heading towards greater information access for all. In any case, our society is going to see great changes in the way our patrons view the media and publishing in general. The upheaval has just begun.
The communications tools we now have, which a mere decade ago seemed to offer an improvement to the 20th century media landscape, are now seen to be rapidly eroding it instead. A society where everyone has some kind of access to the public sphere is a different kind of society than one where citizens approach media as mere consumers.
Page 192:As librarians, we know that this is sooooo true. Patrons never use the databases the way that the computer programmers expected. The patrons try to extract information in ways that are not expected. The patron wants to sort by the first name instead of last? The patron wants to search by the city of publication, and not just the publisher name? The patron wants to get a list of sales by longitude instead of by zipcode or some other geographic data?
Users never behave exactly as the designers of the system expect or want them to.
Page 194:Another truism in library systems and databases. I'd rather have patrons use a smaller clean database with good indexing and good links than a huge database that has lots of errors, comes back with strange results and leads the patron to dead ends.
It is far better to start with a system that is small and good and work on making it bigger than to start with a system that is large and mediocre and working on making it better.
Page 196:In other words, the patrons will respond to how the database and the interface is designed. If your catalog is set up so that patrons can tag items, but only after they jump through some hoops to login to the system, then they are not going to use that feature. If a patron has to click three or four times to get to an advanced search screen, they are not going to use that, even if that is what they need to find the kinds of articles they are looking for.
If you want different behavior, you have to provide different opportunities.
Page 203:This section deals with adaptation. Of course libraries and librarians need to adapt, but I think we could learn from our mistakes faster and adapt a bit quicker. I work in an academic library, and some of the decisions can be made verrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy sloooooooowwwwlllllllyyyyyyyyy. Lots of decisions are made by committee, and if you don't have a consensus on something, it can be death by committee. Sometimes it can be easier to just do something based on your gut feeling and knowledge of something, and if it was the wrong decision, own up to the mistake and admit it. Sometimes, it is easier to ask for forgiveness after the fact, than it is to ask for approval from a group of people to do something before the fact. If you want some examples, let me know.
Twitter was created for use on mobile phones, then retooled itself for more web use..... Instead, the imperative is to learn from failure, adapt, and learn again.
Page 205:Some librarians can be quite risk averse. They don't want to start a new service or program without figuring out how to solve all of the possible problems ahead of time. How should we respond if someone asks a question like this? What if we get a line of people at the service point? What if the patrons want to use the equipment under water? What if patron doesn't recharge the battery? Well, I say we should just start the service and see how they use it. There is no way we are going to know how people are going to use the service or the equipment until we make it available.
As a general rule, it is more important to try something new, and work on the problems as they arise, than to figure out a way to do something new without having any problems.
Page 209:This is a section of the book where Clay is arguing that we should have as much chaos as we can stand during this media transition. We are going to see massive change in the culture of information use. Of course, librarians want libraries to exist [and thrive and prosper] because we are critical to the underpinnings of an educated populace, and to a well-oiled and smoothly running society. (Well, relatively smooth running society...) But, journalists see themselves in a similar role, and so do people who work in the telecommunications industry. When people can get news from non-journalists, or communicate with friends on Twitter or Skype or IM, then those industries are going to contract with some of the professionals in those industries crying about the lack of services that the non-professionals provide.
Biases in favor of existing systems is good, as least in periods of technological stability. When someone runs a bookstore, or a newspaper, or a tv station, it's advantageous to have those people think of their work as being critical for society.
Libraries are going to continue to see contraction because some of the funders and decision makers do not see the value of services and information we provide. We have to do a better job of marketing what we do to more of the higher ups.
Page 210:This has huge implications for libraries. The good news is that as the information universe continues to get more complex, we are going to continue to have patrons who need our help in navigating that universe. As new information gets published, we will have to continue to purchase or lease or subscribe to it. We need to keep track of the electronic resources and books we have, and we also have to let our patrons know about all of that stuff and all of the services we provide to our patrons.
People committed to solving a particular problem also commit themselves to maintaining that problem in order to keep their solution viable.
But, do we have to worry about doing too good of a job? Can we ever teach them so well, that they will no longer need to ask us how to use information products? Could a search engine do such a good job that it can do a true reference interview? I think computer software will get better, particularly with the semantic web, but I don't think it will be able to have a conversation with the patron. If someone knows what they are looking for, they might be able to get a good answer. What about the patron that needs advice on how to narrow it down? Can a computer respond with--have you tried looking at this problem in a completely different way? The computer might be able to recommend other search terms, but it won't be able to see the facial expression of the students when they are confused or happy, and know how to ask that next question.
---
Well, that is it for me. Did you read the book?
Friday, August 20, 2010
Cyberinfrastructure Days at CSU
- http://coloradoalliance2010cidays.wordpress.com/
- http://www.cidays.org (with a redirect)
- NSF Report, "Cyberinfrastructure Vision for 21st Century Discovery"
I used the Twitter hashtag #cidays to mark some of my notes and comments from most of the sessions. (The conference took place last Friday, August 13th.) It was interesting to see that the comment that lead to the most feedback outside of the room was that the PLoS model is /not/ the correct one. What do you think? Will author supported OA fees ever go the way of the buggy whip?
I don't see that any of the presentations have been posted yet, but I think you get the gist of what went on by now...
Friday, July 30, 2010
Notes from the "Vendor Support Brainstorming" session
Ask vendors to sponsor something that involves not just money. The Government Information Division website has a newsfeed that is sponsored by Lexis Nexis. A publisher (AMS) helps The DPAM division print a member directory.
Vendors could provide a speaker for an event, but there are political issues to work out with this.
Don't give out tax advice to the Vendors. Recommend that they talk to their lawyers and accountants to make sure they can write-off an in-kind donation. If they can get a tax break, provide the SLA Tax ID number to them. They might be able to get a tax break on their business travel expenses.
Recognition. They want it.
Get donations from companies who are not in the library or information field. A coffee place could donate gift certificates to be given away at a meeting. A gift basket could be given away. The people attending the WebEx do not recommend a raffle for legal reasons.
Create a "Top 10 list of reason" why a vendor should sponsor your division or chapter.
Create a spreadsheet that documents who in the division or chapter has good relationships with what vendors.
Do your homework on the needs and interests of the vendors, and the people who work for them. They are people, just like you. What is their budget cycle like?
The Xtreme Reference Conference was mentioned.
Offer various levels of sponsorship. Be creative with the naming of the levels, not just Gold, Silver, Bronze.
Vendors want to participate in conversations about products and services. They don't want to simply have a logo slapped up onto a website somewhere. Keep talking to the sponsoring vendors after the event is done.
Smaller vendors could consider cheaper table top booths at the SLA conference.
Sometimes, smaller vendors might be willing to sponsor something big, since they are looking for a way to get more name recognition.
What should the division/chapter do if the vendor doesn't send a check? There are a variety of methods one could use to communicate your needs and the ramifications for not cooperating.
After the fact -- Tell vendors the things that were written on the evaluation forms for their sessions. Ask the vendors what they thought were the positives and negatives of the session. Ask them what they would like to see in the future.
Put up the evaluation forms and the results up onto the unit wiki, such as this from DST (See the section concerning "Slides, Handouts, Evaluations" Need to login to the wiki.)
Ethics. When you ask for a donation from the vendor, you are a representative of SLA, not of your place of employment.
Give the vendor an SLA or a non-work related business card. SLA has business card templates. Provide SLA business cards to the leadership of the unit.
Other advice on fundraising can be found in this PDF document.
The WebEx session was sponsored by the IEEE.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Library Day in the Life 5 post
Got in to work a little before 9:00am. Normally, I would open up my email first thing in the morning, but today, CAL was holding a training session for SecondLife. We met at the Sustainable Living Library. Even though I am not a member of CAL, they attendees welcomed me to the session. I used to use SecondLife when I first discovered it about three years ago, but I haven't used it lately. I also knew that they changed their interface, so I wanted to put it through its paces. The new interface is ok, but I was experiencing some severe time lag issues. Once I teleported to a different island, then my performance got better. In any case, I had a good time chatting with several other Colorado librarians.
Once I was done with that, then I got my chance to look over the email that accumulated over the weekend. I had 27 messages in my main inbox, 69 items had gathered in various filter folders based on certain topics or projects. I also had 25 that were listed in the junk folder. One of the items in a filtered folder was from the Library Journal Academic Newswire. There was an article about a new JISC report concerning Generation Y researchers. I found it interesting, so I put it into my delicious account.
That reminded me that I wanted to put in something else into delicious. One of my colleagues wrote an article concerning collaborative collection development. At the end of the day, I ended up tagging 5 things.
I have some saved searches in Google Scholar. One is for "Information Seeking" and the other covers the topic of collaboration and libraries. I usually get about 3-5 items on both topics every couple of days. I was going to blog about a new article concerning collaboration in libraries (for Collaborative Librarianship News), but then I saw that the article actually came out about 12 years ago -- not exactly new news.
I sent an email to a discussion list for LIS students at the University of Denver concerning #LibDay5. I hope some of them will be able to use some of the insights from the various librarians participating in this project.
I also responded to emails concerning Morgan & Claypool and an article in an obscure chemistry journal.
I was at the Research Desk (formerly called the Reference Desk) from 1-3pm today. Normally, we have graduate students work the desk during the summer, but we needed to have some time slots filled, and I was happy to cover for a couple of hours.
I got some questions concerning:
- Income tax and depreciation codes and books
- Our collection of foreign films and DVDs.
- A newly cataloged browser book that was still in "processing", so we had it rush processed while the patron waited. (Great service guys and gals!)
I became of friend of Gulliver the Turtle -- he is the mascot for the Open Access publisher BioMedCentral.
I also read other documents to get ready for an SLA Sci-Tech Division Leadership Webinar meeting the following day.
Once I got home from work, then we finished painting Mr. 10's bedroom. The weekend project turned into three days worth of work, but the room looks pretty good.
I have also been wanting to try to load Linux on an old laptop (Over 7 years old) that we have, but Ubuntu isn't working out for me. It isn't loading from the flash drive, even though I changed the BIOS settings. I also tried to install with a CD-ROM, but it was taking way too long. I will give Puppy Linux a try the following day. I have read some reviews that it works very well on old machines with small amounts of RAM. The laptop has 512MB, so that should be more than enough. I will let you all know how that works out.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Scholarly Communication Institute at UVa
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Thoughts from the #TEDxDenverEd Conference the other night
As an academic librarian at a medium sized private university, it was really interesting to see how teachers (particularly those with a technology bent, since many are here for the ISTE conference) are trying to figure out the best ways to reach K-12 students these days.
One of my favorite talks was from Brian Crosby. I really like the way he inspires his students to ask questions, particularly in scientific areas. The High Hopes Balloon project and launch videos were amazing. He also gets his students to write about and to think about things from different perspectives. More information is on his blog, Learning is Messy. Here are the links to his students' work.
I somewhat agree with Darren Wilson when he noted that "there was an obvious trend with a political and social agenda." Yes, that agenda was certainly there. But, I think teachers can more easily use topics such as environmentalism, green resources, or whatnot to get kids to be more active and involved in their education. The teacher should find out what the kids are truly interested in. If a kid is interested in making and selling widgets, then that motivation could be used as the basis for exploration into economics, business, ethics, and more. If a kid is interested in renewable energy resources, then the teacher could delve into energy exploration, land use studies, solar energy technology, and lots more.
What came first, the chicken or the egg? Are students interested in environmentalism or social justice topics because that is what they are worried about, or are the teachers simply doing a great job at getting the students interested in those "political and social agendas"?
I did hear the "library" word only once. (Maybe it was said more often, but I didn't hear it...) Either Pandora Thomas or Zakiya Harris mentioned the library in their talk. One of them said that students are simply not going to the library, nor are they using very many print books and newspapers, but, students do get their information from television and the Internet. Hummm, maybe their students are using library resources over the Internet, and they don't even know it?
It was also cool to have Adora Svitak be a surprise co-host for the night. (Here is her talk at the main TED conference way back in April.) She was on Channel 2's News Monday morning, so I had the feeling that she was going to be involved with the TEDx event here in Denver.
One of my new Twitter buddies noted that the videos will be posted to YouTube in the next couple of weeks.
The next set of Denver area TEDx Conferences are Boulder (August 7, 2010) and MileHigh (Spring of 2011).
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
2010 SLA Conference Report
One of my main duties as chair elect of the Sci-Tech Division was to continue DST program planning for the 2011 conference in Philadelphia. I worked with a lot of other great people and divisions to layout the schedule and topics for next year.
For the rest of the conference, I was able to attend many great sessions, and I was able to send out many tweets from those sessions. I also blogged about one of the sessions at Collaborative Librarianship News.
One of my favorite sessions was from from Scott Brown and Kim Dority.
Some others that I attended were:
- SLA Rising Stars and SLA Fellows Roundtable
- Academic Division Roundtable session where we discussed marketing and outreach aspects of librarianship.
- "Future of Science Librarianship," Contributed Papers.
- Data Curation: Reinventing Science Librarianship
- Library of the Future: Conversations in the Round
- Science Information on Mobile Devices
- SLA Division and Joint Cabinet Meeting
- Astronomy Roundtable
- Closing General Session
Monday, June 21, 2010
New image for the header
Article that explains why I named the blog this...
I think that we are just at the cusp of the information age. Wait another 1,000, 10,000 years or 65,000,000 years, and you will see what I mean.
Thanks to Hutch for the link.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
My Prelim Schedule for SLA 2010 in New Orleans
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SATURDAY 06/12/2010 | |||||||
06/12/2010 4:00PM - 7:00PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT SHERATON HOTEL |
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06/12/2010 5:45PM -10:00PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION LIBORIO'S CUBAN RESTAURANT Don't know if I can make it this year. |
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| SUNDAY 06/13/2010 | ||||||
06/13/2010 7:30AM -12:00PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/13/2010 11:30AM - 1:00PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION |
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06/13/2010 1:30PM - 3:00PM BOARD/BUSINESS MEETING NEW ORLEANS MARRIOTT HOTEL |
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06/13/2010 1:30PM - 3:00PM BOARD/BUSINESS MEETING NEW ORLEANS MARRIOTT HOTEL |
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06/13/2010 3:30PM - 4:30PM | Distribute certificates to the ST division sponsors with Carol. | ||||||
06/13/2010 5:00PM - 7:00PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/13/2010 7:30PM - 9:00PM OTHER SHERATON HOTEL |
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06/13/2010 7:30PM - 9:30PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT MEET AT THE CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/13/2010 9:00PM -11:59PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION SHERATON HOTEL |
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06/13/2010 9:00PM -11:59PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION SHERATON HOTEL |
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| MONDAY 06/14/2010 | ||||||
06/14/2010 8:00AM - 9:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 8:00AM - 9:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 8:00AM - 9:30AM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 8:00AM - 9:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 10:00AM - 5:00PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION MARRIOTT AT THE CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 10:30AM -11:30AM PROGRAM |
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06/14/2010 11:30AM -12:30PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT INFO-EXPO |
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06/14/2010 2:00PM - 3:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 2:00PM - 3:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 2:00PM - 3:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 2:00PM - 3:30PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 3:00PM - 4:00PM PROGRAM |
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06/14/2010 4:00PM - 5:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 4:00PM - 5:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/14/2010 4:00PM - 5:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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When: Monday 6/14 6:30 – 8:30 pm Where: The Marriott Hotel Napoleon Room, 41st Floor 555 Canal Street, New Orleans | SPIE Open House | ||||||
06/14/2010 7:00PM -10:30PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION SHERATON HOTEL |
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06/14/2010 9:00PM -11:59PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION SHERATON HOTEL |
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| TUESDAY 06/15/2010 | ||||||
06/15/2010 7:30AM - 9:30AM BOARD/BUSINESS MEETING CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 8:00AM - 9:30AM BOARD/BUSINESS MEETING CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 10:00AM - 5:00PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION MARRIOTT AT THE CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 11:30AM - 1:30PM PROGRAM |
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06/15/2010 12:00PM - 1:30PM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 12:00PM - 1:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 12:00PM - 1:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 12:00PM - 1:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 2:00PM - 3:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 2:00PM - 3:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 2:00PM - 3:30PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 2:00PM - 3:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 2:00PM - 3:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 3:00PM - 5:30PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT INFO-EXPO |
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06/15/2010 5:30PM - 7:00PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 5:30PM - 7:30PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION SHERATON HOTEL |
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06/15/2010 7:00PM - 8:00PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/15/2010 9:00PM -11:59PM NETWORKING/RECEPTION SHERATON HOTEL |
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| WEDNESDAY 06/16/2010 | ||||||
06/16/2010 8:00AM - 9:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/16/2010 8:00AM - 9:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/16/2010 8:00AM - 9:30AM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/16/2010 8:00AM -11:00AM NETWORKING/RECEPTION MARRIOTT AT THE CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/16/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/16/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/16/2010 10:00AM -11:30AM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/16/2010 12:00PM - 1:30PM PROGRAM CONVENTION CENTER |
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06/16/2010 2:00PM - 4:00PM SLA HQ CONFERENCE-WIDE EVENT CONVENTION CENTER |
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