Libraries

Excitement and the Library

/ dwakimoto

Nope, the blog title is not a mistake. I think there is a lot to get excited about when it comes to libraries, archives, and creating knowledge. But my question is, why don’t people get excited about stuff? Or perhaps I should rephrase to: why don’t people show that they are excited? I know that some people get excited, but it seems like the majority of people simply try to downplay any showing of emotion. And I understand the social and cultural reasons why we have to keep emotions in check, etc., etc.. But I think that being excited about your work, or new discoveries, or the fact that your favorite author has a new novel out, is totally natural and a good thing. It means you are not a robot. So to celebrate, here are some fun and helpful things that might not make you get up and do a happy dance, but will hopefully help you in some small way.

Did you read Goodnight Moon as a child? Do you like Star Wars? If so, you will love Goodnight Forest Moon. It is available to download along with instructions for assembling the book. People’s creativity never ceases to amaze me.

Not particularly fun, but very useful is the article: Do a Total Background Check on Yourself. It is good to check and correct any errors you find–this is more comprehensive by far than simply Googling yourself. (Side note, does anyone else get weirded out when people say they’ve Googled you? Or is that just me?)

Back to the amazing, fun, and used for the betterment of books, QR Codes. Ever since I saw this amazing video, I’ve been fascinated with QR Codes:

So, of course, you can imagine my excitement over this article on How to Make Your Personal QR Code. Technology can be so much fun! Just think, you could make QR codes as part of marketing your library’s programs or as fun ways to link to updates about library news. I think the students I teach will love this–QR Codes are a hit in class while learning about copyright is not, go figure.

If you post a lot of photos online, or are in charge of creating websites, this application will help: Web Resizer. It resizes your photos to bandwidth friendly sizes. This is a huge help if you don’t have Photoshop and don’t have a ton of photos to process. And it is free.

Finally, to end on a fun note, for everyone who needs a bit of validation (and really, who doesn’t like a compliment and validation?), check out this lovely video (thanks to KarraCrow over at …fly over me, evil angel… for posting this:

Read lots, there will be more tech and library fun coming soon and just remember, you are awesome!

Changes in the Library

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Today’s post is short and sweet, so I’ll just get to it and stop the introductory remarks. Or as the Doctor would say, “Allons-y!”

First, go read this great post, Don’t Forget about Us. It is quite crazy that marketing departments, corporations and just about every advertisement agency focuses on the 20-40 year old demographic, but libraries often do not focus on this group. This is an unacceptable gap in our service and a great opportunity for libraries to become more relevant to a very important segment of the population.

If you have never watched one of the Common Craft “in Plain English” videos, you are in for a special treat. And if you have, you already know that Common Craft has a wonderful gift for explaining even complex issues in a jargon-free and humorous way. This video has been making the RSS feed rounds and is called “Staffing the Library of the Future in Plain English.” Check it out below:

I hope you have a fantastic weekend, read a lot and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library fun.

Self-Improvement Friday

/ dwakimoto

I dislike self-improvement books whose authors take themselves too seriously, although I love finding out information about self-improvement if the authors are funny. But I do like the idea of self-improvement because, really, when you get right down to the crux of the matter you can only really improve yourself. This really isn’t as self-involved as it may seem (and yes I promise that it has something to do with technology and libraries, if you will bear with me for a moment) because improving yourself can be interpreted as broadly or as narrowly as you wish. I happen to believe that improving yourself includes helping others, being selfless in giving, and also learning to do the tree pose in yoga.

So for this Friday’s post, I decided to finally round up all the posts, feeds, and tidbits of information about improving yourself. Let me know what you find is the best advice for improving some facet of life–I’d love to hear about it.

Lifehacker has a nice write-up on the book Confessions of a Public Speaker. I just started reading this book and think it is fantastic–funny, engaging, and helpful. What more could one want in a book? I get stage fright every time I have to present in front of an audience, which some people find hard to believe considering I teach and often present at conferences. Therefore I find it a comfort to know that a lot of great speakers and performers also get nervous before performing, plus the advice in this book is spot on. So if you hate public speaking but have to do it, go read this book.

Before you get to the public speaking though, you’ll actually have to finish up a project or presentation to have something to present. To help you get to that stage, check out Work Awesome’s Stay on Track with an Idea Embargo. I love this advice, especially because people seem all too willing to give advice at the eleventh hour on projects. I implemented this on the last project I worked on at my library and it went rather well.

One of the endemic issues in librarianship (see I told you I would work in libraries) is the fact that so many librarians are professed introverts. Now, of course, not everyone who is a librarian, or archivist, is an introvert; however, the professions seem to have a great deal of introverts. As an aside, I thought I was a total introvert until I went to library school and suddenly discovered that in my new profession I was definitely one of the more extroverted people in the program. Part of the reason people don’t want to give public speeches and presentations is because they are introverts and some introverts are inordinately shy. So for those of you who are shy and want to push yourself out of your comfort zone, check out the article on How to Finally Overcome Shyness. Great advice.

I didn’t say it would be easy to change, but it is well worth it. As I’ve noted on this blog multiple times, getting over the need to be perfect will free you to do and be so much more than you are now. And if you’re thinking to yourself that is all well and good but does the Waki Librarian actually take any of her own advice, the answer is yes, I do. I’m so far from perfect at speaking in front of groups, or even just one on one at parties. I practice and I continue to present and speak, even though I stumble over words when I’m nervous (or excited), have a tendency to mispronounce words, and sometimes talk too quickly. Communication really is key and by becoming more comfortable (and less shy) you’ll find that you will be spending so much time trying new things and tackling new ideas, that you won’t have time to worry about if you’re perfect in your speech or what everyone else thinks.

If you want even more inspiration, check out this Interview with Linchpin author, Seth Godin. I am a fan of Godin’s work and his blog. His writing is remarkably jargon free and he has powerful ideas that can help, even if you are not in marketing. Be bold, even if your lizard brain is telling you to take the easy way out.

If you’ve heard the hype, but haven’t tried Google Buzz yet, check out Lifehacker’s Google Buzz Explained article. I freely admit that I activated Buzz on one of my accounts and 24 hours later switched it off. I didn’t see it adding to my productivity or ability to keep up with friends and it was making me anxious that there was yet more stuff I hadn’t read every time I opened up my Gmail account. Some people are finding it useful. If you are using Buzz and like it, please let me know in comments. I’m interested to hear what people think about it.

I promised somehow this post would relate to libraries, so check out: Top 10 Tools for Better Reading, Online and Off. I especially like that the first comment on this great Lifehacker post recommends going to a library for Reader’s Advisory! 🙂

Finally, I leave you with a great comic from xkcd:

comic strip of Science Valentine by xkcd.

Science Valentine by xkcd

Have a happy Chinese New Year on Sunday, read a lot, and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more tips, tricks, and fun.

Friday's Bits and Bytes

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Today’s post has the usual roundup of random library and technology goodies. Hopefully these links will help you in your work and play, or at least give you something to read when you need a break from work today.

When I was actually asked by someone at work how I get everything done and whether I actually sleep (Just for the record, I do sleep.), I decided it was probably time to take a look at my schedule and try pacing myself. I’ve never been really good at pacing myself or saying no to interesting projects or to people when they ask for help. But in the spirit of trying to improve, I checked out this post at WebWorkerDaily on the importance of creating buffers in your day and week. I quite like this idea and will try implementing it. I already create buffers when I go on vacation or travel for conferences, but I will have to try to create more buffers during my weekday. Now if only I could get people to stop scheduling back to back meetings…

On the topic of information overload, which I think strengthens the argument for buffers, have you seen this research that shows our brains can only handle managing approximately 150 friends? Interesting research that reminds me a lot of BJ Fogg’s research into persuasive technology and that while technology changes rapidly, basic human pyschology, or in this case the neocortex, does not. Thus another reason for not having thousands of “friends” on Facebook.

On a completely different subject, check out these 100 educational virtual tours. If you are going to be chained to your desk, you might as well go sightseeing virtually. I’m partial to the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History and the Rare Books Room.

Finally, check out the High Impact LIS Institutions based on citation ranking. Unfortunately my alma mater is not in the top 5, but unsurprising Harvard and University of Pittsburgh are number 1 and 2, respectively.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend full of time for reading. The Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library and technology fun.

Assumptions about Online Teaching

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! I thought today I’d take a little time to talk about online teaching. I’ve been thinking about it a lot because of the push at so many universities to make more and more programs and courses available online, as technology for holding synchronous and asynchronous sessions for students improves, and as more people seem to be espousing online education as a panacea in these rather lean budgetary times.

First, I have to say that I’m in no way against online teaching and education and am for really good online teaching. I work with faculty to help them increase their comfort level and use of technology in their teaching and support good teaching, period. However, I am worried a little that this exponentially increasing push towards online teaching, without the concurrent support for teachers on how to leverage online tools and focus on pedagogy and learning outcomes, is a case of following a trend because it is a trend and not because it is in the best interests of either the students or the teachers.

For an example of how to teach online not just well, but in an outstanding fashion, check out MPB Reflections. Michelle is an award-winning online teacher and her blog is filled with thoughtful posts and ideas for making online teaching effective, collaborative, and community-based. In the interest of full disclosure, I know Michelle and have worked with her which probably biases my opinion but that doesn’t mean she still isn’t a fantastic teacher and fount of knowledge when it comes to the online teaching world.

Michelle recently posted this video that shows what not to do in an online class. While I too would be really upset if my online class consisted just of reading chapters from a book with no interaction with my professor or fellow students, I think that this video misses a larger, systemic issue that affects the quality of online teaching: support for faculty.

Faculty need to use technology more effectively, but they also need support. No one wakes up one day and is a superb online instructor. Faculty need instruction as much as their students on how to use technology, if not more because the faculty are learning to translate their teaching to an online environment. Not only do faculty need support, but those who work in support services (like instructional design, LMS support, accessibility and student disability resource centers, and faculty development) need programmatic, consistent support from the institution in order to foster a thriving, innovative, and collaborative online learning program for both students and instructors.

So what does this have to do with the library and librarians? Librarians are often the unsung technology gurus of the institution. Many librarians are at the bleeding edge when it comes to technology and libraries have been using online databases and other resources for years. I think librarians are positioned well to support students and faculty in enjoying better online learning experiences.

This is, obviously, not news to most librarians. However, it is news to most other departments and people at your institutions I’m sure. Librarians need to get out of the library, as many have been calling for, and get some PR campaigns going so that we are central to online teaching and learning and not a dusty afterthought. And that’s my soapbox moment for the week.

Now to something that has nothing to do with pleading for libraries to become more visible to the campus community, check out the videos and information about the new iPad. It looks awesome. I know that some people say it is just an iTouch on steroids, but I don’t care–I want one when the iPad is released later this spring.

Have a great weekend, read lots, and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more thoughts about technology and libraries.

Friday Tech Help

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Today’s post is the usual round-up of helpful technology tips, some of which are from slightly older posts hanging around the web (mainly because I haven’t cleared out my feed reader for a bit). I am also apparently still thinking about travel because as I reviewed the links for today, most of them will be helpful the next time you are traveling and need to bring along your laptop or do anything on the Internet (which is, let’s admit it, just about every trip).

So the one item I want to bring to your attention and that isn’t really travel related is the new Friend of a Friend’s Group wiki, explained here. This is such a lovely idea, and I simply can’t believe this hasn’t been done before. Every library could use an extra influx of cash right now. If you have ideas or suggestions, please contribute to this wiki.

Now, on to the tech stuff for the day. Lifehacker has a great article stating that You’re Backing up Your Data the Wrong Way. Really, you have no excuse not to back up your data considering how easy it is and how cheap external storage has become over the last couple of years. Read this article and then go back up your data so if you do face the “blue screen of death,” you won’t lose all of your data.

I think I’m going to have my next Information Literacy class read this Lifehacker article, Internet Survival Guide for Traveling where Privacy isn’t Respected, when we talk about information and power. These are ways that you can protect your data and privacy, even while using Internet Cafes. I wish I had known more of these tips when I was living in South America. I love these tips and will use them the next time I’m traveling.

Finally in the traveling vein of tips, Find the Best Spots in New Cities with these Tools. I love that the first tip is to actually plan ahead, but the rest of the tips are very good too.

And, lastly, here is Lifehacker’s article on How to Put your PC to Good Use while You’re Sleeping. Lots of ideas for how to run maintenance programs while you are sleeping and they won’t interfere with your work.

Have a wonderful weekend, read lots, and the Waki Librarian will be back next week for more library and tech fun.

Thoughts on ALISE

/ dwakimoto

First, I’m sorry for the lack of updates and posts. My only excuse is that I was having way too much fun in Boston at ALISE (and with friends) to find time to post and only now have time to write down some of my thoughts.

This ALISE (Association of Library and Information Science Educators) Conference was the first one I’ve attended. Overall, I felt it was a good conference. The best part, of course, was reconnecting with friends and colleagues and meeting new people. I also thought the poster sessions were interesting, especially the works in progress because it gave a quick snapshot of the trends in LIS research. The doctoral poster session was also interesting because of the breadth of topics that the students studied. There was an emphasis on information seeking behaviors and information literacy, along with work in metadata, technology, and various other subjects.

Two of the sessions I attended stood out–one because I know one of the principle investigators and it is just an awesome project and the other because it was very relevant and timely.

The first was a presentation entitled, “Building a virtual archives and preservation curriculum laboratory at Simmons college: A case study in collaborative construction.” It was presented by Dr. Martha Mahard who, along with Jeannette Bastian, Ross Harvey, and Terry Plum, is working with many partners to construct a digital curriculum laboratory to train archival students in the preservation and curation of digital objects. This is such a wonderful idea and will be a great tool for students and those in the field. I love the fact that the lab is being built using open source software wherever possible and will be open access when completed. What a wonderful project! This project is being supported in part by a grant from IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services).

The second presentation that was very timely and most useful was the panel on site visits, job talks, and negotiation for doctoral students. I thought the panelists were very thoughtful and gave practical tips and answers to all of the audience questions. It is great that professors are taking the time to talk with doctoral students and demystify the entire hiring and tenure process before the students plunge into the interviewing pool. This was just a very well-done and practical session–I’m sure the advice will come in handy for everyone there who will someday be looking for a faculty position.

Although I’m done with traveling for a bit, I think this post will be very helpful to those of you who will be flying soon: Will I be charged for baggage and meals?. This is a great table by Orbitz comparing various airlines’ charges for checked luggage and meals. This will help you decide whether a bargain fare is actually a bargain after you factor in the extra charges.

Have a great day and I’ll be back soon with more library and technology news.

DIY, Gifts, Online Education, etc.

/ dwakimoto

Is everyone ready for a vacation about now? I know I am. It is break week on campus and it is like a ghost town around here. On the one hand this means that I am able to get a lot of work done that gets shoved to the side during the academic quarter, but on the other hand it makes me even more anxious to be on vacation. Plus there are less than 3 weeks left in this year (and decade) which makes me feel like I should get about a dozen projects done both at the library and at home. So if you are like me, a feel the need to do something, then this is the post for you.

As anyone who reads this blog fairly regularly knows, I adore Lifehacker. I really do think it is one of the best sites for technology and life hacks. Also, they never fail to have great end-of-the-year lists of their popular posts. So if you feel like making anything this year, check out the Lifehacker article, Most Popular DIY 2009 Projects. Tons of fun projects and great gift ideas.

Speaking of gift ideas, if you haven’t yet gotten your favorite librarian (or librarian-in-training) a gift for the holidays yet, check out this great gift guide on Librarian in Black’s site: Librarian Gift Guide. No one can ever have too much librarian gear, right? Personally I’m rather fond of the canvas bag I received this year that says “got library card?”. And if you still can’t find anything that suits your librarian gift-giving needs, I highly suggest xkcd’s store, thinkgeek, or threadless for all your librarian, geeky, nerdy, and fun gift giving needs.

The holiday season also means that a lot of people will break out the cameras to capture all the great holiday moments. If you are one of these people, you’ll want to check out Lifehacker’s Most Popular Photography Hacks of 2009 for tips on taking and making better photographs.

Okay, okay, for those of you that are still in working mode, here is an article for you about online education. The latest issue of American Libraries had a short article, “The Fab Ten of Online Ed” (pg. 31) that I thought was interesting. If you teach online, or are thinking about teaching online, check out this article. It is a great list of what students need to know before taking an online class. I especially like point #5 “Your lack of planning does not constitute your instructor’s emergency. The class is available 24/7, the instructor is not.”

Have a great rest of your week. The Waki Librarian will be back after the new year with more fun technology, teaching tools, and random library news in 2010. Have a lovely, relaxing and peaceful rest of 2009 and a very happy new year.

Giving Thanks for Libraries and Librarians

/ dwakimoto / 3 Comments

Okay, so I know that it is kind of hokey to have a holiday themed post, but I was watching the Vlogbrothers’ video below and thought it was superb and I should think about what I’m thankful for in terms of libraries and librarians. Take a look at the video below and then let me know what you are thankful for when it comes to libraries.

I’m thankful for:
1. Public libraries that are still free and open to the public.
2. Free wifi–especially when it is available in libraries.
3. Open source software, especially open source library applications like Koha and Greenstone.
4. Internet Librarian Conference–a great way to meet other librarians that are into technology and making technology work for libraries.
5. Evidence-based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP)–a wonderful community of people trying to increase the quality of scholarship, research and practical implementation of research in libraries so we can all make better, evidence-based, data-driven decisions.
6. Banned Books Week.
7. Librarians standing up to the Patriot Act and protecting their users’ rights to read whatever they want without having anyone else in their records.
8. My awesome colleagues who are making a difference every day in students’ lives on our campus.
9. Library school students–the next generation of librarians, archivists, and information professionals who have so much enthusiasm and knowledge.
10. Library blogs–so many great blogs to read, so little time.
11. Archivists–the “new macho heroes of Washington, D.C.” and keepers of history and collective memories.
12. Twitter–finally students are reading the announcements I send out for class, instead of ignoring them (like when I used email).
13. Folksonomies–because I like the word and like to have users create descriptions that are useful to them.
14. Controlled vocabularies–because they make my life easier when I’m researching.
15. New information literacy theories/frameworks–because they treat IL in a holistic manner and not just as a skill set.
16. Open access–I don’t know what else to say about this one.
17. Innovation–keeps librarians and libraries at the head of the pack and in the position to be leaders.
18. Remote access to databases–because if I can’t get it open access, at least I can get at the information away from my desk.
19. Reference help–online, in person, whatever, it is fantastic that the library is a place where you can get help at the time and point of need.
20. Unshelved–a great comic strip for librarians.
21. xkcd–a great comic strip, period.
22.Vlogbrothers-not only because 1 of the Vlogbrothers writes young adult novels, but because they both support libraries, librarians and freedom to read (not to mention have extensive home libraries)
23. The Librarian–yes, we can argue about whether Flinn Carson is a librarian or not later, but it is a fun flick.
24. Rupert Giles of Buffy the Vampire fame–he is one cool librarian.
25. The librarians of Desk Set–’nuff said
26. Librarians who mentor those who are new to our field.
27. Interns from SJSU’s School of Library and Information Science–they come to work with us and are simply awesome.
28. International librarian community–fantastic, helpful, great.
29. Librarian-themed apparel–just for fun.
30. Card catalogs–I love online catalogs, but love the old card catalogs–they make handy storage devices.
31. Being in a profession where there is no such thing as useless trivia–one day it will be used at the reference desk.
32. Patrons that say thank you after being helped at the reference desk.
33. Interlibrary loan–too fantastic for words.
34. Library cooperatives–because we are stronger together.
35. Goodreads, LibraryThing–anything that lets me connect with others and organize my books.
36. Webinars–great way to learn and share without paying for travel.
37. Screencasting software–fantastic for online tutorials.
38. Web 2.0–lowers the threshold for becoming a producer of information online and a boon for libraries.
39. Academic libraries with open stacks.
40. Helpful archivists who love to share their repository’s collections and help researchers.
41. Professional organizations for librarians who help us stay current.
42. Being able to learn every day and apply that learning to improve library services.
43. Destroying librarian stereotypes–little by little.
44. Faculty members who realize that librarians can help their students and have us come into their classes to work with their students.
45. Books–any form or format, I love books.
46. Making libraries the heart of a campus or of a community.
47. Storytime–hook children when they are young, make reading fun, and we’ll have library users (hopefully) for life.
48. Humor–most librarians have awesome senses of humor.
49. Celebration of learning and intellectualism–I love that being a nerd or a geek is totally acceptable and a good thing in libraryland.
50. That I am employed as a librarian–I’m thankful every day to be working in this profession.

Final bonus thing(s) I am thankful for:
51. For everything that I will learn today, the people I will meet who will help me as I help them, and future library adventures.

Have a great Thanksgiving (if you are in the U.S. it will be happening tomorrow), read a lot, and let me know what you are thankful for in the comments. See you all next week.

Findability

/ dwakimoto

Well, this week has been crazy and it is only Wednesday. So much to do, so much information to process and catalog, and so little time! So this problem got me thinking about findability. Don’t you think that part of the reason for information overload is not just that there is so much information out there, but that there it is also difficult to organize all the information so you can actually find it again when you need it? I do. So here are some really interesting bits of news and tools to help you control the information you have in your life.

Because one of my areas of interest is history, I am super excited about DocumentCloud. It will be a great resource for searching for primary source materials on the web. Anything that makes searching easier is a good thing–especially a service that is using open standards and working with many different organizations.

Here is a great resource if you are scratching your head trying to make sense of a journal’s Eigenfactor. This is a great resource for looking up Eigenfactors and also a great source to help yourself and/or your users understand Eigenfactors. How does this relate to findability? You now know where to find and search Eigenfactors and this is definitely a good thing.

This is a fantastic article from The New York Times: Mining the web for feelings, not facts. This is an interesting look at analyzing social media to understand people’s feelings (sentiments) and using that information to provide better services, marketing, etc. This would be a great tool for libraries to monitor what their users are saying about them (if anything). I’m going to be using this in my class, I hope, when we are talking about uses of the social web later this quarter.

And of course, Lifehacker comes to the rescue once again with a brilliant post about creating a filing system workflow. Even though we live in the Digital Age, there is always paper to file and using these tips will help you keep the paper deluge under control.

Hope some of these tips help you. See you later with more tech tips and library trends.