Technology

Rationality

/ dwakimoto

Rationality is very important, but that doesn’t mean that everything we do in life or in the library is rational. I could write a long introduction but I think Seth Godin does a much better job than I could, so my rational decision is just to get to the rest of the information for this post. Allons-y!

First, check out Seth Godin’s post, Are you rational?. Godin nicely examines the difference between rationality and irrationality and that irrationality shouldn’t have the negative connotation that we’ve associated with it. If for no other reason, read it to figure out the context for my favorite sentence from this post: “If you need to hate on Copernicus in order to have more faith, something is seriously wrong.”

In one area of the library where we really should be rational is how we deal (or not deal) with library vendors. The Librarian in Black wrote a fantastic post against unethical library vendors. I hope the vendors are listening along with the rest of the library world so we can finally make progress on figuring out how to create a sustainable model for vendor relations–in my library’s case it is especially relevant to our database subscriptions. I know my library has had to make difficult decisions regarding database cuts because of our dismal budget and the fact that the vendors have priced their products out of our reach; this is a shame not only for our users but also for the vendors because they are losing business. In such a no-win situation, it is time to change the way business is conducted so everyone can benefit.

Do you like statistics to back up your rational decisions? Statistics are fun, confusing, and wonderful all at the same time. This video, State of the the Internet, is full of statistics about the Internet, especially social media. It is a good reminder of how hyperconnected much of the world is and how important it is for those of us who work in libraries to keep up with where our users are and what they are using online–not to mention keeping abreast of what they expect of the library in this changing Internet landscape.

And no, I didn’t forget that the iPad launched and this “magical” piece of technology is creating buzz all over the blogosphere this week. The iPad is a huge success in terms of sales and I think it will be very interesting to see how it will be used by librarians and how it will be deployed in libraries. If you want a nice FAQ about the iPad, check out Walter Mossberg’s The answers to your questions about the iPad and his review of the iPad. For a different take on the iPad, check out Lifehacker’s self-proclaimed rant from January, The Problem with the Apple iPad.

Finally, we end with this lovely interview with Neil Gaiman, the Honorary Chair of National Library Week (National Library Week runs from April 11th to April 17th this year). This is a great interview; Gaiman mentions Doctor Who and uses the word “hullabaloo,” so how could one possibly not enjoy this?

Have a fantastic week and don’t forget to read (and give your favorite librarian a hug [or cookies or at least say “thank you for being awesome”] during National Library Week).

Clutter

/ dwakimoto

Do you accumulate clutter in your life? What about at your library? Just like we need to weed the collection at the library, sometimes we need to take a mindful, conscious look at the clutter in our lives and do some weeding too. We need to weed not only material clutter, but also mental clutter I think in order to be most effective in our work and have the space to think creatively. I find this especially important when I’m trying to create lesson plans, articles, or lectures. Today’s list of tips will help you decrease your clutter, find alternatives to Google (should you want them) and give you a fun video break.

How can you not like a blog called Unclutterer? This is a nice article: How much is enough. Some good tips about organizing and sorting through your stuff (and junk). The only caveat I have is that I don’t think one could ever have too many books. Of course one copy of each title may be more than enough.

Lifehacker never ceases to amaze me and if you are limiting the number of items in your house (see previous link) you may be interested in how to make your stuff last longer. This is a nice compendium of helpful articles and resources for getting the longest life possible out of everything from your clothes to your mp3 player. Helpful at home and good to share with the students in your library trying to stretch the life of their laptop batteries while cramming for final exams.

After you get done with all that organizing, you might want to take a break and check out Zenhabits’ article on Becoming Google free. Now I happen to be a fan of Google; I adore Chrome (best browser in my opinion) and Gmail (I was so excited when my university switched over to Gmail), but I can understand not wanting to have all your information stored with one company. I am waiting to hear an update on how it is working out for Leo before dropping Google’s applications.

Finally, when you need to take a break from organizing, watch this fantastic video; really, watch it to the end and enjoy.

Have a fantastic weekend. I hope your life becomes or continues to be uncluttered, that you take the time to read some books, relax, and come back next week for more tips and tech to apply in the library and in life.

Videos, New Zealand, Internet Filtering, & Other Stuff

/ dwakimoto

I don’t really have a meaningful introduction for this post. I think the end of the quarter blahs have taken over. Here are the random thoughts for Friday.

Anyone who has spent any time talking with me knows I’m a fan of New Zealand. First country to give women the right to vote, it is nuclear-free, and has the most amazing speciation of birds because of the lack of mammals–what’s not to love?

I’ll tell you what isn’t to love about NZ, this: New Zealand’s internet filter goes live. Filtering Internet is such a slippery slope, as we’ve seen by the various fights over the years in the United States over filtering the Internet at public libraries. And even if the reason behind the filtering seems sound, we have seen the data that filtering doesn’t work. It doesn’t filter out what it is supposed to and filters out other websites that it shouldn’t. Obviously I’m against filtering the Internet and I’ll be interested to see how the library and archives community in NZ responds.

In other New Zealand news, here are a couple of articles about the plan to combine the National Library and Archives New Zealand under the Department of Internal Affairs: If it’s not broken then don’t fix it and Archives, Library merger turning back the clock. This is a bad idea. It certainly threatens the autonomy of the archives and the transparency that the archives is responsible for in terms of collecting and providing access to public records. Archives and libraries need autonomy in order to function effectively. Hopefully the outcry against these proposed mergers will stop it.

Since it is Friday, I couldn’t possibly end on such a depressing note. Here is a fantastic list of A Dozen Great Free Online Video Lecture Sites. Also, check out 20 Great Talks on the Future of Information. Both are great sources and very helpful if you teach information literacy. It is always nice to have a few more video sites to supplement the wonders of TED talks and YouTube EDU.

And, finally, something to make you smile:

Single Ladies

Single Ladies


Who knew xkcd would be so fantastic as to have a Lord of the Rings comic on the week I’m writing about New Zealand? Once again xkcd saves the day.

Read a lot, support your local library, and if you need a break from reading, go watch the new Alice in Wonderland because it is lovely. Have a wonderful weekend.

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!

Wild World of Information

/ dwakimoto

Today is a very exciting day for me (and I hope for you too, although probably for different reasons). Today is the kick-off event for the Faculty Learning Communities at my university and I’m facilitating the learning community on teaching with technology. It is exciting and anxiety-producing and all that other stuff. I’m also excited to talk, or I guess more accurately write, more about information today.

First up is this rather disturbing article: As the Internet Replaces Print Publishing, Urge to ‘Unpublish’ Means Censoring History. Archivists have to deal with issues like this all the time and they are only amplified with digital data. More information is being produced than ever before, but if it isn’t properly preserved and managed, all that digital information can be lost. On a positive note, at least this issue is getting more attention outside of library and archives journals. Hopefully this means we’ll actually make progress in preserving digital data and not “unpublish” the past.

Archivists will have no trouble identifying with the issues presented in this next article: Archives and electrons. It extends, yet again, the seemingly never-ending debate over history and digital sources versus traditional physical archival sources. That some historians stood up and testified that sources outside the archives are just as important, and sometimes make the researching and writing of history possible, was definitely a “Yes!” moment for those of us who work in archives and also in history. Again, like I’ve said before, the world is not binary (even if binary code is) and we don’t have to give up analog for digital or vice versa. Instead, we can use what makes sense for each project and program.

Not about “unpublishing” or debates over digital archives, but instead about finding fantastic, usable sources: 25 sources for Creative Commons content. I think anyone who has read posts on this blog understands how much I love Creative Commons and this list makes me happy. Now I have even more places to look for great Creative Commons content.

This article is just lovely: Students wary of sourcing Wikipedia from the Spartan Daily at San Jose State. As I teach information literacy to first year students and we often discuss Wikipedia, this article just made me smile. Wow, students acknowledging that Wikipedia may not be accurate, my teacher heart is happy. With that insight, we can move on to more interesting discussions about discernment, crowdsourcing content, and Web 2.0 conundrums.

In a different vein, I got asked yet again by a colleague if I sleep. Why do I get asked these questions? Do I really look that haggard? It is actually possible to be highly productive and also get enough hours of sleep so as to avoid all those nasty illnesses and health complications that come from not getting enough sleep. The real reason, I think people ask me if I sleep is because they can’t believe I don’t procrastinate and I must have to “burn the midnight oil” to get my work done. I contend that if you actually are passionate about your work, and really focus for 8-9 hours on work a day, you have more than enough time to sleep, eat, relax, meditate, and do whatever else you need or want to do. So I fully support Lifehacker’s It’s National Procrastination Week: Let’s Celebrate by not Honoring it. Just don’t procrastinate–it only hurts you.

And something else from Lifehacker that truly makes me smile: Naps can Seriously Improve All-Day Learning Abilities. Let’s hear it for nap time! This just supports my argument that I’ve been making since I got back from Bolivia that we really need to get the siesta mainstreamed in the United States.

Finally, something fun from The New Yorker The Subconscious Shelf. Check out the photographs of readers’ bookshelves and the analyses of what the shelves say about the readers.

Have a lovely day, a fantastic weekend, and don’t forget to read a lot. Because, as Seth Godin writes in his new book Linchpin “It’s not an accident that successful people read more books” (p. 126).

Quizzes, Randomness, and Other Things that Confuse me

/ dwakimoto

It is another gloomy Friday in the Bay Area. We are supposed to have another storm moving in today, thus the gloom outside. But, as the title of this post indicates, there are plenty of weird and wonderful things to keep me busy so I can ignore the rather grey day outside.

Do you like quizzes? I never liked graded quizzes in school but taking rather random quizzes is sometimes fun. I have to admit to being slightly surprised, but not shocked, by my results from taking this quiz:How Millennial are You?. Even though I am technically a Millennial (or Generation Y, depending on who is writing the article), I scored so low on this quiz as to be considered more akin to the Baby Boomer generation. I find this both hilarious and scary. Hilarious, because trying to make sweeping generalizations about a generation is a risky venture at best and often breaks down when analyzing a single person’s life. Scary, because there are only 14 questions in the quiz and I have issues with some of the questions that are used to separate out the generations. If you take the quiz, let me know what you think–I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Now for a quiz that I actually quite like and probably appeals because, well, just check out the title: Nerd? Geek? Dork?. My friend who writes the blog …fly over me, evil angel… alerted me to this quiz. Yes, it is fluffy. Yes, it is something that is just fun. No, it isn’t going to help you solve any library technology issues. But it will make you smile and everyone needs a smile (and perhaps even a chuckle) on a Friday.

Now that you’ve finished with some interesting quizzes, here is a link that can actually help with a possible library or other workplace technology issue: Basic Netiquette for Email Lists and Forums. If everyone read and followed these simple guidelines, I would be very happy and I suspect you would be too. Let’s all agree to stop sending the “Me too” responses to lists and stop hitting the “Reply All” when we don’t need to, okay? Thank you from the bottom of my never-ending email inbox.

Since it is so gloomy, I thought it might be nice to have a link to an article on luck and how to make your own luck. This article makes me happy and it is a good reminder to break out of routine and try something new.

And the final public service announcement for the day comes from Lifehacker: Fact and Fiction: The Truth about Browser Cookies. Share it with someone and decrease, in some small way, the amount of confusion in the world.

Finally, what would Friday be without xkcd? A Friday without xkcd, but that just wouldn’t be any fun.

Honor Societies

Honor Societies by xkcd

Have a fantastic weekend.

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.