Libraries

Books and Libraries

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope your week has gone well and you are looking forward to a lovely weekend. With the weather turning chilly, it seems the perfect time to turn our talk to books to end this week. Because really, what is much better than curling up with a good book, a blanket and a cup of tea/hot chocolate/coffee/your favorite drink when it is chilly outside? Autumn is a fabulous time for this lovely pleasure and so let’s talk books and libraries, or rather let’s read about them.

If you haven’t yet read Neil Gaiman’s talk on libraries and reading and daydreaming yet, you really should. Also, if you haven’t heard of it, you really need to update your channels for libraryland news. It’s no secret I’m a fan of Neil Gaiman’s work and his speaking. I spent hours waiting to have him sign my books when he was in San Francisco promoting The Ocean at the End of the Lane (absolutely fantastic, by the way). I eagerly try to lend out my copies of his short stories and poems to friends that haven’t yet read his work and am always excited to see when he has a new blog post up.

One of the things, apart from his writing, that I most admire about Neil Gaiman is his vocal support for libraries and reading books. (Not surprising I know, but true). This latest talk is absolutely wonderful and I love thinking about books as being sharks, perfectly adapted so why bother evolving? (Especially makes me happy as I’m working with a biology course this quarter and they’re learning about natural selection pressures at the moment.) I think his talk is an eloquent argument for the value of physical libraries and physical books in a time when so many have been swept away by the “shiny” of technology and promise of everything being better online. But I think, when the digital bits settle down, we see again and again the ability of physical books to transport us and allow us space away from the multitasking atmosphere of being online to a place of reflection and wonder.

I love using technology as much as the next person and fully embrace its use in libraries, archives, and the classroom, but in ways that make sense and not as a panacea for all. I think Neil Gaiman reminds us of why humans and paper and daydreaming are as important as knowing the latest technology. Books give us the room to dream and imagine, which we can translate into new and creative tools and technologies. So nice to read about the love of books from one of our current rock star authors.

In other non-library news, I’m looking forward to trying this lovely recipe from Joy the Baker now that we have a waffle iron at home: mashed potato cheddar and chive waffles. Sounds absolutely perfect for the crisp fall weather we are getting.

Finally, if you are like me and are concerned with privacy or teach about privacy and using technology, you’ll probably appreciate this comic from xkcd. I can’t wait to use it with my students during the next quarter:

Privacy Opinions by xkcd

Privacy Opinions by xkcd

Have a fantastic weekend full of good reads, good eats, and good fun. I’ll be back next week with more. Allons-y!

Blog Action Day 2013: Human Rights

/ dwakimoto

Happy Blog Action Day 2013! This year’s topic is human rights and I wanted to just share a few thoughts on how I think about human rights and libraries and archives.

Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in part that “everyone has the right to education” and Article 27 states in part that “everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” I believe that libraries and archives support these rights and that librarians and archivists do important work in ensuring access to documents, objects, and materials that allow people to learn and to remember. Our work is vital to the communities in which we work, whether we are in academic, government, special, or public spheres.

Libraries and archives provide access (and help accessing) documents that allow people to learn outside of formal classrooms, supplement what they are learning inside of classrooms, and explore new interests and passions. While there may be a wealth of information available online, librarians and archivists are still vital in connecting people with that information and helping people to realize that not everything is available online (especially with regards to archives). We are not just collectors, but vital connectors, not gatekeepers, but teachers in making sure that information and resources are not only available to the wealthy, but to anyone who is curious and wants to know more.

Many of our organizations provide programming and spaces for exhibits, shows, and meetings. We help maintain the “cultural life of the community” and provide safe spaces as well. Often known as the “heart of the university” on college and university campuses, libraries are often the heart of the community as well, just as archives are the memory of the community.

I believe everyone has the right to access information, to read freely and widely, to see documents from the past that help us to understand who we are and where we are going, and to be confident that the library and archives will always be places that are accessible and open. I believe in upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with our work and our lives and am happy to be part of two professions that care. We care and therefore we do great things.

So on this Blog Action Day 2013, go visit your nearest library or archive and be glad that librarians and archivists care enough to keep fighting for funding, for time, and for recognition to ensure that access to information remains open to all.

Take care and I’ll be back on Friday with more. Allons-y!

Happy Friday! Stop the Work Madness!

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope you had a great week. It was the last week of classes before final exams week on my campus, so it has been a busy week and I have a stack of final papers to grade. Today, I want to just take a few minutes to share some great resources about happiness and stopping the busyness cycle at work so we can both enjoy our work and be productive.

This TEDx Talk by Shawn Achor is in my top 5 all time greatest list of TED Talks. Every time I watch it I laugh and his book, The Happiness Advantage is just as insightful and funny. I highly recommend taking about 12 minutes out of your day to watch his talk and be inspired to make the small changes needed in your life to become more happy, which leads to more success (really!).

While happiness may lead to more success and productivity, we still need to have boundaries to stop work overload and obsessive busyness. This blog post over at HBR is quite good: Stop Work Overload by Setting These Boundaries. This is a great post to share with your colleagues and remember, it is healthy not to work every hour of every day.

If you are also feeling in a rut, the Daily Muse has a good post on How to Break Out of a Career Rut in a Month.

Also, because it is Friday, check out Penguin Classics Wallpaper. If I ever get a separate room for a library in my (future) house, I think I will need to get some of this wallpaper.

Finally, those who have read The Waki Librarian for a while know I love design and typography. Last weekend in fact I went to the Open House and Type Sale at M & H Foundry over in the Presidio. (It was fantastic and great to pick up some type and talk with others who are into letterpress printing.) So, it will come as no surprise that I absolute adore the Typographic Carousel workshop that was shared on I Love Typography blog. Fantastic stuff and something nice to end with for this week.

Have a lovely weekend and I’ll be back next week with more. Allons-y!

Meetings

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope your week has gone well. I’ve had a very busy week of teaching. I’m very much looking forward to some relaxation this weekend. But before we get into the weekend, let’s talk about meetings.

No one seems to like meetings and it isn’t hard to understand why. Lots of meetings are poorly run, have no clear agendas, and no clear steps for follow-up after they finally are finished. But although books like The Org can tell us why meetings are a necessity of modern organizations, that doesn’t really help when you are stuck in a meeting that just keeps going and going. Instead, what does help is when you can run a meeting and do it well.

To that end, check out Lifehacker’s article on the simple equation to run great meetings. Then get out there and run great meeting.

As, in a meeting related vein, check out the article, again from Lifehacker, on what if you could truly be yourself at work? I am just in awe of this kind of community in a work environment and think it would be wonderful to implement. What are your thoughts?

Finally, I want to leave you with this lovely video that I finally watched and am so glad I did:

Have a wonderful weekend! Allons-y!

The Waki Librarian Turns 3 Today!

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Happy Saturday, dear readers! You read the post title correctly–The Waki Librarian blog turns three years old today! I can hardly believe that I’ve been blogging for three years or that I’ve been at my current position for just over three years. Time really does fly (even if it’s a bit wibbly, wobbly).

I was thinking about what I should write about for my 3-year anniversary post and I had a lot of ideas. But the phrase that kept running through my head over the last few weeks is: “Momma was right.” So I thought I’d share some wisdom and things my momma taught me that have helped me in my first three years as a professional librarian and archivist because they might help you, too. So let’s get into the good stuff.

First, you have to understand that my momma is a pretty brilliant woman. Besides teaching me to bake a mean pie and replace a kitchen garbage disposal, she also taught me that we are in control of a lot more of our lives than most people want to believe. She sold her car to buy a motorcycle in order to afford the first payment for tuition to veterinary school at a time when women just didn’t become veterinarians. She doesn’t buy into the societal delusion that there are just some things that women don’t do. And, even though she’s not a librarian, she instilled in me an awesome appreciation for libraries and self-taught learning. And she was pretty much right about everything, not that this fact is at all surprising to her.

So what did my momma teach me that have been essential in my work? I’ll give you three things that are essential for success at work and in life that I still don’t see a lot of people doing.

Being kind is super-important
Being kind (aka being nice) seems to be a lost art on most people. But my momma impressed upon both her daughters that being kind is super-important. It’s what keeps us civil and makes the world a little nicer place. Everyone wants a little kindness and not only will being kind allow you to sleep with a clear conscious at night, it will help you in your work, too. People like to help the people who have been kind to them and who go (even a little) out of their way to be nice. So as you are fast-tracking your way to the top of the librarian or archivist heap, be nice about it. Say hi in the morning to everyone, remember that it was their niece’s birthday party over the weekend and ask them how it went, and even bring in cookies once in a while.

The great thing about being kind is that it makes the world a better place and it doesn’t matter if you are an introvert or an extrovert, you can still be a nice person. Being nice shifts your perspective and will get you through the chaos, trust me on this. But, if you are like some people I know, and need a concrete reason for changing your behavior so you get ROI, think of it this way: being nice will ultimately get you what you want. So if you can’t be nice just because it’s the right thing to do, be nice because it will help your career (although my momma might have a thing or two to say to you if she finds out this is why you are being nice).

Being kind is not the same thing as being a pushover
This is something my momma made sure we understood when growing up. Being nice doesn’t mean you have to be the pushover that some sections of society thinks you should be if you are kind (especially if you are a woman). I think this is one of the stereotypes that I’ve had the most trouble fighting most of my life. People need to understand that you can be both a nice, kind person and a strong person.

Especially when you start your career, there will be people because of your age, or your inexperience, or because you smile, who think that you’ll be easy to push around and use for furthering their agendas. Remain civil, but nicely say no to their machinations. You don’t need to put up with any of that. And, if you’ve been nice (and I mean sincerely nice and caring) to others at your work and in your life, they’ll have your back, too. See? Being nice creates an environment that allows you to be strong. It won’t be easy all the time, but it’s worth it. If being kind allows you a clear conscious at night, being strong will give you a happy state of mind and confidence.

Being yourself will ultimately make you successful
Everyone says this and they’re right, but my momma’s lived it and that makes her evidence stronger, in my mind, in support of being ones’ self at work and in life. I’m not an extrovert by nature and I’m definitely not someone who is comfortable with “tooting my own horn.” I also don’t promise pie in the sky to people, if I can’t deliver. And, while I love bright and shiny tech tools as much as the next person, I’m a private person by nature and so some social media and I don’t really get along. To some, especially if you read marketing blogs or professional development advice, this means I’m on the fast track to oblivion.

I beg to disagree. Hard work, as my momma would say, wins out in the end. If nothing else, us Waki women work harder and smarter than a whole heck of a lot of people. And this, over the course of say three years combined with being kind and slowly building relationships, will make anyone successful. Does it take more time? Yes. Is it as glamorous as blowing up on Twitter over night? Nope. But it is the way to building a lasting career? Totally.

I believe in continually learning and growing. My momma taught me that. But I also believe in staying true to what makes you unique and you because then you do your best work and hopefully find success and pleasure in your work and in your life.

So those are just a few of the life lessons my momma passed on to me and that I’m now doing the nice thing and passing them on to you. You’ve probably heard it all before, but have you taken the time to try being kind, being strong, and being yourself? Try it out and don’t forget to have a cookie once in a while, cookies are cool, too.

And whenever I get down or need to remember my momma’s advice, I hear this song in my head (really not surprising, if you knew my momma, even if it’s not quite about what we’re talking about now):

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend, give your momma a call, have dinner with some friends, and curl up with a cat and a good book (and a cup of tea or glass of cider, whatever wrinkles your prune). I’ll be back next week with our regularly scheduled archives, libraries, and technology programming. Allons-y!

Communities

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope you are having a lovely day and, if you are in the United States, have a lovely Memorial Day weekend planned. I plan on accomplishing a lot of relaxing during the weekend in order to have energy for the last bit of the spring quarter. I just want to talk a bit about communities today and how important archives and libraries are (or could be) in fostering communities.

Public libraries seem to get the lion’s share of press when it comes to libraries fostering spaces, resources, services, and events that increase community involvement and interaction. However, academic libraries and archives can also be extremely important places for fostering community spirit among library and archives users. But it seems that we are not as pro-active on the whole about demonstrating our value to the community as public libraries. I know that my library could do a lot better at reaching out to students and getting them involved with changes in the library. One of my projects this summer will be working on cheap (read: free) ways of doing outreach and getting students involved. Our library is “the heart of the campus” mainly because it is open when nothing else is on campus, but I don’t think that students really feel “ownership” of the library and that’s a problem for engagement.

In the latest issue of C&RL News there was a great article by Gfeller, Dutterfield-Nagy, and Grignon, Imagine: A student-centered library, which described the Fogler Library’s outreach and marketing campaign that heavily involved students. The graphics they produced were awesome, prominently featured students, and would be easy to replicate at other university libraries given a bit of time and a little bit of money for printing posters. Just think of the fun of having students involved with the photography and designing of the posters, as well as creating tie-in events using mobile technologies, QR codes, and other student-led, student-driven activities. There is so much room for engagement and increasing the interaction with users in academic libraries. We can foster community, but we need the time and support to do it.

While archives might seem like a world away from public libraries and academic libraries in terms of fostering community, I would argue that they can also be at the heart of communities. I study community archives and will hopefully be sharing some of my research in the near-ish future with a wider audience because I’ve not finished up all my work yet. But in the meantime, I can say that community archives are hugely important for community history, memory, and public programming. And, most community archives operate on a shoestring budget, so they have many ideas to offer libraries on how to get things done when money actually is a huge object.

Anyway, just some food for thought. How does your library or archives engage with your community members? How do you make sure that people feel connected and involved with your library or archives? I’d love to hear suggestions in the comments as I work with our community members over the coming months.

I wanted to share this photograph of a post-it note I found affixed to one of the water fountains on campus because it made me smile. Unexpected messages of kindness and positivity are always welcome.

Surrounded by True Friends Post-it

Also, for a short work break, check out anatomy of a mashup: Definitive Daft Punk for one of the coolest visualizations I’ve seen in a long while. Plus, the music sounds awesome.

Have a wonderful day, a fabulous weekend, read a lot, and I’ll be back next week with more thoughts on libraries, archives, and technology. Allons-y!

Librarians, students, and the Future

/ dwakimoto

Happy Wednesday, dear readers! I hope you are having a lovely day. I can hardly believe we are to the middle of another week and I’m off on another research trip to the archives. So today, I just want to talk a bit about some of the stuff buzzing around the bibliosphere right now and leave you with some tasty recipes for your tea breaks.

So if you have been hanging around the blogosphere at all this week, you’ve probably already read Seth Godin’s, Future of the Library article. And hopefully you’ve also read the very well-written and balanced response by Agnostic, Maybe. I just have a few comments to make about Godin’s article that will hopefully not duplicate everything that’s already been written and why I think it is just as important for academic librarians to pay attention to what Godin wrote as it is for public librarians.

Yes, of course, Godin got some stuff about librarians and libraries wrong (in my opinion). Libraries are still needed, freely accessible resources are definitely needed, and the digital divide is still a real problem. But on the whole, Godin got it correct and some of his misconceptions about libraries can be chalked up to the failure of librarians and the library profession in general in marketing our services and resources.

Now some librarians do an excellent job in outreach and marketing efforts, but on the whole, we obviously don’t do enough. If we did, Godin (along with the majority of people) would realize that libraries subscribe to many online resources and databases that have the ability to blow Wikipedia out of the water and are able to make researching more efficient and effective. It’s not that we don’t have the resources, it’s that we don’t make people aware of them. I see this in my own library and in classes I teach where the instructor will tell me after that s/he had no idea we offered so much or could help in so many ways.

This ties into my last post about caring. We have to demonstrate that we care about our users and market our services, resources, and general awesomeness as librarians in ways that our users, be they a public library user or an undergrad in an academic library, find relevant. We are the awesome teachers, info curators, guides, and sages that Godin says we are and can be, but we need others to “get it.”

So instead of saying how Godin got it wrong, let’s use his post as a call to (more) action. He got some parts wrong, but so do most writers and people. His main message, that we need to use our talents to connect people with information to create value is right on the mark. I think that having people honestly write what they think about the future of the library and librarians is fantastic, especially by people outside of the profession. This makes us take a hard look at what we’re doing right and what we can improve on if we read such articles with an open mind and with an open heart looking towards improving ourselves and services instead of being defensive when obviously our message as librarians is not as clear, or as powerful, as some of us believe it to be. We need to become, in Godin’s words, a purple cow–something remarkable. I’m working everyday to make my work and interactions with people remarkable, are you?

Okay, that’s my two cents.

I just wanted to share one link from Lifehacker today on how clean up your digital life and manage information overload. Great article as always. Share it with your library users. They’ll thank you.

And finally, for some tasty fun, check out Joy the Baker’s post on love and sugar recipes. These are fabulous and, if all else fails in your marketing campaign for the awesomeness of librarians, bake ’em cookies. Everyone is a fan of cookies.

Have a great rest of your day, help someone out, read something lovely, and I’ll be back on Friday with some tech stuff to share with your friends (family, library users, students, etc.). Allons-y!

Lee Rainie: Libraries as Social Networks

/ dwakimoto / 2 Comments

Happy Friday! I hope your having a lovely day, dear readers. I’m at BayNet’s Annual Meeting today and the keynote speaker is Lee Rainie, the Director of the Pew Internet Project. I’m super-excited. So on with the summary blogging!

Pew Internet Project is funded to do primary research and then write up reports. No agenda, no policies on Net Neutrality, etc.. Hope is that by producing useful data that Pew Internet Reports will be interesting to people. Considers librarians as one of the primary groups for the reports and data. [Rainie said to not Tweckle him. Really don’t tweckle anyone, it’s not nice.]

Talking about the rise of networked individuals (co-author Barry Wellman, University of Toronto). New social operating systems: networked individualism. Can see libraries as networked nodes. The world is a networked world and the networks are large. Social networks are more influential now than ever because of the stresses of information overload, etc.. Turn to networks for news, assessments/evaluations, and as a audience. Social networks are bigger, more segmented, and more diverse than in the past. It is easier to find and maintain relationships via many-to-many online communication tools. Social networks are more vivid and tied to creation of information/media. More conscious about how networks fit together and how we can create content for network building.

New kinds of communities now. There is an explosion of group activity and group niches. There are groups for everything and group niches are becoming narrower. Rise of social posses: grab a cause and pursue it with their networks. Advent of just-in-time, just-like-me, peer-to-peer (support) groups, especially in the medical field (like the talk at Personal Digital Archiving Conference). Able to find people who understand your circumstances online. Fifth Estate of content contributors: different sensibilities, more passionate, more personal, and tell stories differently than mass media= new media culture.

Librarians are attuned to networking and finding solutions, so this should mean we are at the forefront on using and optimizing social networks. Librarians are teachers and content creators. Social networking is a new way of looking at networking and leveraging librarian skills in new ways.

Q&A Break

  • Are you going to talk about youth and social networks?
    A. Sure, but the most interesting and fastest growing demographic now isn’t youth. Fastest growing segment on social networks is those over 50 years old now.
  • Aren’t librarians really just content aggregators?
    A. Librarians are both content aggregators and content creators. [Nice to see lots of hands when asked about who was tweeting the talk.]
  • A. What happens if people can’t find information online?
    A. If people can’t find something online, they create it. And mostly, people are super-helpful if you ask your network a question. [I can totally second that–whenever I ask a question on Twitter I always get kind and helpful answers]
  • Differences between Fourth and Fifth Estates?
    A. Still norms and narratives followed by Fourth Estate, while in Fifth Estate it is still quirky, personal, partisan sensibility.

Revolution 1: Internet and Broadband
46% of adults were using Internet in 2000 on first Pew Internet Survey. Now 79% use Internet (2011). 93% of teenagers are now online. Internet user population grew up until 2006 in adult world.

Asked about broadband adoption. 66% of Americans now have broadband at home. Become very Internet users when more people got broadband, instead of dial-up. People could now create content, find things more easily, and encouraged people to participate. Internet solutions then became primary in people’s workflows.

Higher socioeconomic status people are more likely to be online: household income of %75,000, college degree, parent with minor child at home, married or living with partner, employed full time. Negative correlations: having high school degree or less, over 65+, prefers speaking Spanish, disabled, African-American.

Consequences for the information ecosystem: huge volume of information, high velocity, more vibrant environments online, and easier to set up filters to get relevant information. Lots of work and teaching now based around gaming. Lots more content creation. About 2/3 of American adults are content creators, includes social networking site users, sharing photos, blogging, etc.. 14% of adults blog and 12% use Twitter. Don’t know how to ask about using geo-location services on the survey yet, get responses from 4-17%. Location is now become more important because of smartphones.

Big challenge for libraries: collections are disrupted BUT there are also opportunities. People still like books and now want more technology, too. Libraries do a unique and special job in solving some problems. For example, bridging the digital divide by providing access to Internet connections and computers. Librarians are teaching people how to leverage social medial.

There is more that librarians can do (of course). Non-users of online technologies say that relevance and digital literacy are primary factors for not going online. We can help with the digital literacy issues and show people that there are relevant sources for them online (like news sites, health information, government information, etc.). Go information literacy instruction!

Revolution 2: Wireless Connectivity
Because of lack of time: take home: the wireless revolution was really important. [I’m not kidding, we’re running out of time, so we’re skipping over a lot]
57% of adults now use mobile internet. 35% have apps on their phones and 24% actually use apps.

Revolution 3: Social Networking
Social networking population is more diverse than you might think. Fastest growing cohort is those over 50 years old. For many youth, Facebook is their dashboards. FoMo: Fear of Missing Out (Rainie heard this new term at SXSW) So this is one reason people feel the need of always being connected and are not comfortable with being alone.

Librarians now have to share the stage with amateur experts because of social networks and the ease of content creation and sharing. Now we need to have influence in order to maintain our authority in this networked world. [I still think we need experts, but we need new skills in order to have our expertise matter.]

Practical Questions to Ponder

  • What’s the franchise vs. commodity? What’s the aggregation play?
    Do what you do best and link to the rest.
  • What’s the social networking play? What alliances can we strike to do distributed versions of our mission? What’s the word-of-mouth, viral play?
  • What’s the mobile play? How do we understand and exploit real-time informatin with our patrons?
  • What’s the gift economy play? What’s the API play? What can we pry loose that others can exploit? What feedback do we want from our stakeholders?
  • What’s the definition of success that is based on outcomes not outputs? How do we measure it?

Take Home Message
Go librarians! We do a lot, but can of course do more to help people use social networking tools online. Need spaces to be connected and collaborate with others, but also need reflective, quiet spaces. We need to ask ourselves hard questions and find innovative ways to do our work. Let’s, in Seth Godin’s words, create Purple Cows!

Note: Rainie’s talk was taped and should be available via BayNet sometime soon.

Have a fantastic rest of your day and a lovely weekend. I’ll be back next week with more tech, library, and archives news and notes. Thank you, dear readers, for reading. Allons-y!

Competition in the Library

/ dwakimoto

Happy Wednesday! I hope you are well, dear reader. This week has been crazy busy on our campus as it is finals week and everything seems to be due by the end of this week. I don’t know why, but deadlines always seem to pile up on each other (and that’s not because I’m super-lazy and procrastinate–I don’t, really). So today I just want to riff just for a short while on competition both with others and with one’s self and how this may or may not be beneficial in the context of libraries and archives.

So why do I want to talk about competition? Mainly I want to write a bit about it because I was asked earlier in the week if I was competitive about anything. The short answer is no, I’m really not that competitive. Now before you think I’m a total slacker who has no drive or wander off because you have no idea what this has to do with library land, bear with me while I give a bit of context before turning to the library.

I’m not competitive with other people. I actually feel happy when others succeed and don’t think “winning” has to be a zero sum game. However, I’m extremely competitive with myself and always expect to work hard and accomplish a lot, not that it’s news to anyone who knows me. (You usually doesn’t take a tenure track position if you aren’t just a little bit into working hard and striving to always become better than you are currently. And you should also be passionate about teaching, but that’s an entirely different post). But as to competing with others, I’d much rather support and mentor others in the field than compete with them.

But where does competition fit in the grand scheme when talking about libraries? I’ll give two examples about competition in the library and archive fields: one that I think is true competition that we can’t really get around and one that is actually competition that isn’t helping us at all. First to what I think of as true competition in the information science fields: grants.

It’s not called a grant competition for nothing. If you write grant proposals, you will be competing against many other libraries, archives, and museums for funding. This is not always a fun prospect and neither is it competition on a level playing field. Grant writing is pretty much unavoidable, but necessary in our fields. So in this instance, I think it behooves us to write grant proposals often to become better at it and to have any chance of success. I’d also, from a totally selfish perspective, like to see more organizations give grants to smaller institutions that have a hard time competing with the very large, well-known institutions for the limited funding available, especially in this economy. But don’t give up and do keep applying because, as our grant officer said, the people who get the most funded grants and also the ones who have written the most unfunded grant proposals.

So grants=competition with other institutions. It’s unavoidable unless your institution can afford to do everything it wants with internal funding.

The other type of competition I want to touch on just briefly in a type of competition that doesn’t seem to work in my mind: competition by libraries against perceived usurpers of the libraries’ and librarians’ roles. Or at least, the way we are competing isn’t working. Libraries (and especially archives) can’t compete with coffee shops, Amazon, or bookstores. And really, why should we? It’s a bit like trying to take on Google. Why fight that battle? Instead, why not work harder and smarter in areas where we already excel and can differentiate ourselves?

I think libraries and archives are awesome. You probably do too if you are reading this blog. We are the converted. We need to stop telling ourselves how great we are and start more outside marketing. Some public libraries, especially, do a good job of this and a great job of integrating themselves into the community. Academic libraries, which are dear to me because I work in one, need to step up and start changing the stereotypes that we all lament about libraries and librarians. We need to be seen as the first place to go if you have a question, not the stop of last resort. We need to advertise our ability as information curators, data managers, and information literacy gurus. We need to stop trying to be something else and actually own what we are because we have a lot to offer.

Okay, stepping off the soapbox now and leaving you with a couple of fun things: first, check out Joy the Baker’s latest recipe: Irish potato candy because it looks yummy and tomorrow is Saint Patrick’s Day after all. Then, if you haven’t checked it out yet, go listen to a single by one of my former student’s band, Waking Wander. (And yes, I completely have to give a shout out when one of my students makes a trip into the library specifically to give me (a librarian!) information about his band. Plus, I think the single is rather good.)

Take care, read lots, enjoy the rest of your day, and I’ll be back on Friday with the usual round-up of tech tips and news. Allons-y!

Protecting Cultural Collections Workshop: Part 1

/ dwakimoto

Happy Wednesday! I hope you are doing well, dear reader. I apologize for not posting on Friday. I was ill and I fear the post would have made little to no sense. But I am back now and want to share a little bit from the workshop on disaster planning and preparedness that I attended yesterday.

So why was I at this workshop? Even though my library does have a disaster plan, and our archives assistant created a basic disaster plan for the archives, we do not have a detailed plan for the archives and special collections. Furthermore, I will admit to being way more interested in part 2 of this workshop series (which will be held in May) when we will get practice salvaging materials. I think everyone needs to understand their institution’s disaster plan or create a plan if there isn’t one in place.

The workshop was held at the California Historical Society in San Francisco and was well attended by individuals from libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, and conservation companies. It is a very nice space for a small workshop, but it was quite cold (although we had chairs and not pews, so it wasn’t as crazy uncomfortable as at the Personal Digital Archiving Conference).

I have just two things I want to share from yesterday’s workshop before I let you get back to your work: one resource and thoughts about water and material damage.

First, one of the coolest resources we learned about yesterday was the Disaster Mitigation Planning Assistance database. It’s a great way to find conservation companies and individual conservators. You can easily update your disaster plan contacts and resources list with this database. I’ve found this very helpful for fleshing out our disaster plan.

The other point is about water, which of course reminded me of the Doctor Who special, The Waters of Mars, especially the Doctor’s line: “Water always wins.” We listened to many examples about water damage due to flash floods, broken pipes, cars hitting fire hydrants outside of historical societies, etc. yesterday. And water does always win. It gets into everything and can cause a lot of damage. However as our workshop leader and conservator, Julie Page, noted, she would much rather have to deal with a water damaged book than a burned book because she has a much better chance of saving the water damaged one. Also, if your building doesn’t have a fire suppression system (often fire sprinklers), then you are massively vulnerable to fire damage.

So, while water might cause a lot of damage (especially to basements where archives often are located), it can also be the lesser of two evils when considering the damage caused by a fire. And considering arson is apparently the leading cause of fire in libraries (I didn’t know that fact), it seems like fire suppression systems should be top priority in any retrofitting project in old library buildings.

I’m sure I’ll have more interesting things to report on after the next workshop, but that’s about all I wanted to say today. Except for yet another plea to back up your personal records and your library’s records in another physical location, just in case disaster does strike. Now I’m going to get off my soapbox and leave you with a fun video. What else could I possibly leave you with than the promo trailer for Doctor Who’s The Waters of Mars? Enjoy.

Have a fantastic rest of your day and I will be back this Friday with some tech and library news. Allons-y!