shinylib

the future of stuff and things and instruction

OK, so…I’m still out here in the world. I have been taking a lot of time  to deal with—and reflect on—life. During this time I have been thinking a lot about the future. Many futures, really.

To some extent I am thinking about a less expensive immediate future of things and services, meaning I’m trying to save money and live more cheaply.  In some ways it is easier than I imagined, I love to cook so stashing away endless of my own frozen convenience meals is handy, cheap, and fun. In other areas it has not been as easy as I was hoping. It turns out that I really am not sure that I am willing to live without HBO, Showtime, or Bravo. These are all channels that require more expensive living. Ugh.

I’m also thinking about the future in a personal where-do-I-fit sense. Big shifts in my personal life + super long roadtrip home this last summer (California, the Bay Area) have me thinking about how to relate to the world, my place in the world (please say I’m something more than just a librarian!), and all the junk a person normally thinks during major life changes.

On top of this I am thinking a lot about the future of libraries. Partly I am thinking about this because I’ve been working on slacking on a group project in which we spent time envisioning Oregon libraries about 10 years hence.

I actually had been kind of avoiding these topics (largely impossible, but I can stick my head in the sand with the best of ‘em) so last summer, when I was more actively engaged in the project, I decided to do a little Google-fu for posicore futures for libraries. I found some snippets in an LJ article wherein both JFW and José-Marie Griffiths are riffing about the future of libraries and librarians.

JFW suggests that we’re going to be moving into the “ideas business” while Griffiths suggests that the future is perhaps more about librarians than libraries, with collections that don’t need to physically reside in one location. All of this got me thinking two things: distributed and decentralized—not just items, but people and services.

I think there are a number of ways to contemplate distributed, decentralized library services. I have been thinking about my instruction environment, since that is the place I am mostly obviously hammered for time and resources this year. We’ve seen a districtwide enrollment increase of +20% over last year. Some campuses are up 24%, distance learning is up 16%—32% of our students attend more than one campus . Full-time faculty librarians? We still number seven. At my campus we are turning down library instruction requests, and that bums me out…a lot.

How can we premediate elements of library instruction in a way that is effective and engaging yet maintains asynchronous elements? I think it’s strictly a matter of precedent and ego that keeps us convinced that our librarian presence is the most important part of library instruction. It really isn’t. For inspiration I have been looking to conference and workshop models, there has been quite a lot of innovation there in the past five years or so. Of necessity, those sorts of programming models have to figure out how to convey a large volume of information, in a short period of time, to a crowd who probably paid to be there and thus has really particular (and likely varied) expectations. Sounds a lot like your typical college classroom to me.

What are the elements of your usual one-shot library instruction session that you could deliver in an asynchronous, premediated format? What do you teach that’s usually met with a groan and a chorus of “Ugh, I’ve done this five times already this year!” What do you teach that you are pretty certain wouldn’t actually work without you in the room?

I’m certain that the first thing I could cross off of my list is tours. I hate giving library tours. I feel like they are a complete and total waste of my time. It’s not that I don’t think tours themselves are useful, but I am pretty sure we could slap one into video format and you could tour the library from off-campus. I’m pretty sure we could slap one into audio format and you could listen to it on headphones or cell phone while touring yourself around the library. I think that classroom faculty would appreciate losing less valuable time to the tour also. Just assign it to the student to do and move on. I don’t think that means we’d never conduct in-person tours, there are still groups who benefit from the face time. But let’s face it…at whatever salary you make as a librarian, you are way too expensive to be pulling a Vanna White over in the periodicals. Okay, so Vanna made more than our wildest dreams, but you know what I’m sayin’…

how do you keep track of tacit knowledge and collaborative stuff?

I’m part of a two-librarian team tasked with research solutions for what we’re calling a knowledge bank or internal repository.

What kind of solutions do you implement at your library for this? We’re currently using a shared network drive but it has many problems and doesn’t meet our needs. Shared files are constantly deleted or misplaced (inadvertently) by users. The network isn’t accessible from off-campus. People can’t really share narrative, short of creating a word document and putting some thoughts in it and hoping people intuit from the file name why it might be useful.

Tools already under consideration (or nixed from our list): Drupal, WordPress, various wiki products, NING, CONTENTdm. What am I missing?

Full disclosure: I just want it to be Drupal, but due diligence means I gotta consider some alternatives. (:

privacy and suckers

I just watched a patron get suckered by one of our frequent flyers. He’s a nice guy, but I’ve seen him do the “woe is me, I have no printer credits” performance many times. The well-meaning student logged into her student account to help the other guy print (100 pages no less, which I know will have wiped out the student’s entire term allowance for printing).

The other guy is not a student, and uses the library every day on a 1-hour guest account, which doesn’t come with free printing privileges (community patrons can purchase their own print credits with a debit card, I believe).

The question is, is it my job to get involved? On the one hand I sort of resent the part where the student attempted to swoop in and save him because the mean librarian wouldn’t print 100 pages for him (hey I’m human, whatevs). I feel like they are her printing credits to do with as she sees fit. I also wonder, is it a breach of dude’s privacy to tell this woman “that’s nice of you honey, but he does this to a new person every day and you’re perpetuating his belief in the success of this method”?

Ultimately, I have bigger fish to fry, but it’s something I was wondering about…then a nosy student came along and literally started reading this blog post over my shoulder. Don’t blog at the refdesk, there’s a lesson learned. (:

the twice annual ALA is blah post

So, like every other librarian blogger out there who actually attends ALA Midwinter Meeting, I have to write my conference recap.

This year I’m not going to tell you about the fancypants programs I attended and the fabulously organized content I sucked up. Why? Because I didn’t and there wasn’t. [a quick shout out to the Set Sail for Fail folks from NJ for throwing down an unsession during Midwinter, that part was fabulous]

My big realization about ALA this year was that I’ve graduated. I was a fledgling ALA member and I did fabulous things like Student to Staff, during which I interned for RUSA; I was an Emerging Leader and worked on a project for ACRL; I showed up to a lot of discussion groups and asked a lot of vague and half-assed questions.

I became more established while serving as an ACRL MAC committee member; I started speaking for ACRL at events like ACRL 101 and took over as convener of the ACRL New Members Discussion Group, where we have launched a new discussion group presentation style (No-Tech Talks, CV opportunities for all).

After these experiences I’ve become a semi-veteran ALA member and conference attendee and spent much time wreaking general havoc and running amok, amongst many other activities. This is where I’m at now and I realize I have two primary options.

1. Shrug. I got what I was gonna get, time to stop paying in to the machine. I mean, the machine has run out of things to give me, right? I’ve been semi-elevated, some folks took note, I got a tenure-track job. Woot. I even gave a little back, so I won’t feel too guilty. End transmission…
2. Contribute more. Bring my own content and share it, formally and informally. Continue to work on making ACRL relevant and useful for members. Help ACRL board to no longer need a bellybutton window. Start showing up at Council. Make more noise.

Although it really, oh man I mean really pains me to do it, I’m going to strive for option 2. I’ve joined the task force of many names (young turks, young librarians, young professionals…yadda yadda) and am going to try to help ALA figure out what the eff we want from them. If I just bail out now, I’m only doing what countless librarians and ALA members before me have done (and I don’t blame them at all) — ”…drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after?” Yes, I know that’s about poison and death. Right now, if I am honest, that’s what being an ALA member feels like… like these a-holes who came before could have at least left me a memo telling me to find my own damn poison.

So although I probably sound a little bitter, and am in fact a little bitter about all the money I have to come up with to help ALA not brontosaurus their way through the future, I’m a little posicore as well.

p.s. I like this tweet:
@pbromberg @kimll #youngturks think beyond What Can ALA Do For YOUYOUYOU. I just gave $ 2 RedCross. What do they do 4 MEMEME? Yet I support them.

ACRL NMDG Call for Presenters

Going to Midwinter? Want a chance to present and boost your CV? Here’s one!

The ACRL New Members Discussion Group invites the submission of proposals for presentation at its meeting at the 2010 ALA Midwinter Conference in Boston, MA on Saturday, January 16, 2010.

Proposals are due by Monday 12/28/2009.

The ACRL New Members Discussion Group is for new (and aspiring) academic librarians. We meet twice a year–at both ALA conferences–to chat about whatever is on our minds. It’s an opportunity for networking and a friendly place to ask any questions you have about succeeding in ACRL. Presenters at this meeting have the opportunity to contribute to the professional development of other academic librarians, gain conference presentation experience, and build their CV. Students are welcome to submit proposals.

This Midwinter conference we want to hear from you on themes relating to Incorporating Technology Tools in Library Instruction. How do you perceive the role of technology in library instruction and how do you handle teaching about technology? We are interested in presentations that share personal experiences with incorporating technology tools, such as customized browser toolbars, screencasting, citation management software, and podcasting into library instruction. The goal of these presentations is to familiarize new and aspiring academic librarians with effective uses of these tools and effective methods of teaching about technology topics. We seek proposals for presentations that address this topic from a variety of angles, including (but not limited to):

• Examples of effective uses of technology tools in library instruction, either as a means for delivering instruction (for example, creating screencasts about citation management software), or as the topic of instruction (for example, delivering library instruction sessions that teach students how to use tools such as podcasting or citation management software)
• How to use technology tools to meet specific learning outcomes
• Successful strategies for promoting library instruction sessions that focus on technology

The ACRL New Members Discussion Group meeting will take place on Saturday January 16, 2010, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Westin Copley Place Essex Center.  Presenters should plan to speak for 10 minutes and allow 5 minutes for questions/discussion. There will be three presentations. Following the presentations, we will open the floor for discussion on the topic, or we can answer your questions about getting involved in national activities and/or academic librarianship in general.

Proposals are due by Monday 12/28/2009. Notification of acceptance will be made by Tuesday 01/05/2010. Please include the following information in your proposal:

1. A cover sheet with your name, title, institutional affiliation (or LIS program), mailing address, phone number, and email address.
2. A second sheet that contains no identifying information and includes the title and a 200-300 word description of your presentation. The description should clearly identify the topic of your presentation, your personal experience with this topic, and how your presentation will contribute to new and aspiring librarians’ understanding of how to incorporate technology tools in library instruction.
3. Keep in mind that there will be no use of technology for these presentations. If your proposal is accepted, you should plan to provide handouts that contain tips, further reading, etc.

Please submit proposal by email to Allie Flanary (ACRL NMDG convener) at aflanary@gmail.com.

Reshaping

It’s not quite abandoned, just undergoing a complete rethink. The shinylib voice will rejoin the world, probably in early 2010, possibly with a different format. We’ll see what happens.

In the interim, most of my yapping and thinking is taking place on Twitter, where I’m still shinylib.

making changes to Nursing classes…again

In preparation for the start of Fall term I am in negotiations with the Nursing (NUR)  faculty about the 1st year orientations and 2nd year research classes. This is an ongoing struggle to which you have been witness. We’re making progress, slowly but surely.

In an attempt to decrease the number of scheduled classes to which not a soul shows up, the Nursing faculty coordinator contacted me and requested a 6-hour-long drop-in session. I think she figured I could just hang out in my office and get work done until students came. I understand and appreciate her thinking, but few librarians get to spend much time in their offices, really.

So, we are no longer teaching a half day of 2nd year Nursing classes (to which no one shows up). I have yet to hear a confirmation from the NUR coordinator yet, but I think she’ll agree. I have proposed 2 x90min drop-in sessions. They will be on a Friday, which I think is a day that Nursing students don’t have class (that’s a pos and a neg, seriously).

The sessions will be open (no lesson plans) so students should come with questions. At minimum I’ll be prepped to do APA 6, WorldCat Local, and CINAHL updates. I have also invited 1st year Nursing students with the caveat that if we fill-up, computer preference goes to NUR 2 students. We’re totally not going to fill-up but it seems wise to have a plan, just in case.

We are still teaching 1st year Nursing students in September (3x 50min basic overview). That’s a model I think doesn’t work at all. Sure I get that the students need to just know where we are and that we’re around to help, but I have talked to them and they tell me that first day is such a blur for them that it doesn’t really stick. It is literally the first day of the term. They haven’t met their teachers, gotten their assignments, or even focused on the syllabus yet. Understandably, a lot of them don’t think about us again until it’s way too late. I’m  hoping for success with the drop-in model. If successful I will push for only offering combined drop-in sessions in the future. COME IF YOU WANT TO LEARN STUFF. Okay, maybe a bit more focusy than that.

Basically I’m trying to bring down the number of manhours expended on booking NUR classes to which few students show up and those who do retain little. Last year was the student-organized experiment (I think it worked well, I will continue it this year). This year I am replacing the 2nd year student mandatory sessions with drop-ins. In reality, this year I will be offering the same number of hours in the classroom for NUR 2 students, I’m just hoping that the format will actually get more of them in the door. Rather than saying “show up for all 50 of these minutes and learn what some other person thinks you need to know” I’m saying, “show up for some of these 90 minutes and ask me about what you need to know”.

In reality, the timing is still not ideal (late October, NUR 2 assignments are mostly due in the spring). I’m hoping that the open session (lesson planless) will allow students to just come and explore some things that are puzzling them.

Hopefully the 2nd year students were here last year and caught some of the buzz I finally got started amongst last year’s graduating class and are now feeling like they are in a position to take advantage of my services. I don’t know, we’ll find out.

I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement in how I deliver IL instruction to nursing students. I just keep working to understand what the year feels like to them (rather than to their instructors) and how they feel the pacing should go. So far I’m pretty sure that Nursing students would benefit most from seeing me twice a year, but I haven’t quite figured out how to make that work. I do find the whole process of recreating the NUR IL instruction program interesting and I’m hoping that after several years of shifts and changes we’ll eventually get there. This one is definitely a marathon (maybe a triathalon even) and nothing remotely like a sprint. Not that I would know…I won’t even run for the bus.

post-ALA reflections

OK, I have to force myself to sit down and write a conference wrap-up now or it will never get done. Much of my thinking about this conference has to do with socializing, cliques, and professional development. Hit me up in the socialsphere if you just want to know what I thought was a great program. Or better yet, go read #ala2009 or Library Journal.

This conference was epic for me on a lot of levels. I was directly involved in two programs: ACRL 101 (my first speaking gig at ALA Annual) and ACRL New Members Discussion Group (of which I am now the convener). 101 was awesome and I had a lot of fun, more fun than I expected to. Preparing my remarks on how to get the most out of conference really caused me to do some reflecting about my first Annual (2007) and what that experience was like for me.

My first Annual was different because I was a student-to-staff participant, interning to RUSA. So when I got really overwhelmed (frequently) I had someplace to go—the staff office. Anyway, thinking about that had an impact on my conference this year, I think. I always feel hyper aware of the social dynamics of conference, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering how those cool kids came to be those cool kids (not a specific set of people, I think your cool kids may be different than mine, but whoever they are, you know them when you see them). How did they break in to their clique? How did the clique become a clique? Do those people even know that we see them that way? Continue reading…

plug: ACRL New Members Discussion Group

Going to ALA Annual? Join us for the ACRL New Member Discussion Group on Saturday, July 11, 2009, 10:30 am – noon, the Hotel InterContinental—Exchange Room, 505 North Michigan Avenue

Our topic is “The Publication Process—Getting Published in LIS Journals.” We will hear the following presentations:

Writing to Write: Kickstarting the Publication Process
Emily Drabinski, Electronic Resources and Instruction Librarian, Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus

Best Practices for Beginners: Getting Published – From Inspiration to Publication
Lisa Carlucci Thomas, Digital Collections Librarian, Yale University
Karen Sobel, Reference & Instruction Librarian, University of Colorado, Denver

Targeting Teaching Faculty for Collaborative Publications
Linda Hofschire, Research Consultant, University of Colorado, Boulder

We will also have time to share experiences and lessons learned, and to discuss your questions about publishing. The ACRL New Member Discussion group is for new (and aspiring) academic librarians. We
meet twice a year–at both ALA conferences–to chat about whatever is on our minds. It’s an opportunity for networking and a friendly place to ask any questions you have about succeeding in academic libraries.

Questions? Interested in getting involved? Contact Merinda Hensley, Convener, ACRL New Member Discussion Group, mhensle1@uiuc.edu (or you can contact me, as the incoming convener).

Chat reference: live and pornographic

Wow. I am beyond excited. I just logged in to the admin account and reviewed our first day of chat transcripts.

We had 5 interactions, of which 3 were actual attempts to chat with us. One was someone testing and the last was a porn spam. Given that it’s the first day of summer term I am actually surprised there were 3 actual attempts to chat with us. We weren’t able to connect with everyone and that’s fine—sometimes yer gonna miss us. I’m just so excited that we’re actually doing this, pushing forward.

I am sorry for one of my librarians, who reported following the link and inadvertently viewing a few pics. I guess we’ll have to do some work on suggested practices with regard to receiving links via chat. I was highly amused at her response to the offending robot: “That’s not an appropriate question for our chat service.” She is made of win, that one!

It’s a pretty awesome feeling to log in to admin and see records that aren’t just you chatting with yourself in 3 different browsers.