Thursday, July 19, 2007
I just had an interesting thing happen; something I never expected to happen. I just received a reference question on my Facebook account. I have always been skeptical about the value of Facebook as a means of connecting librarians with students. I still am but events like these will crack my convictions. I remain skeptical because one question does not make an overwhelming argument and this question came from a graduate student. I think they may view Facebook in a different manner than undergraduates. But if things like this are happening with more regularity, I could be convinced that we need to offer services through Facebook. I would like to hear from others who have been contacted by students requesting "library type help".
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Preparing for Eau Claire
Friday was my last day on the job at OSU. I wrapped up all my loose ends and went around to see as many people as I could before I left. It was a bittersweet time. Although I will certainly miss the folks at the OSU Libraries, I am getting very anxious to begin working at the McIntyre Library. I now have my e-mail account set up and am checking my messages through web mail. I have a couple of annual reports from the library that I am reading and three articles on diversity that will help direct conversations on campus during the coming year. It promises to be very exciting. I am very interested in increasing diversity on campus having been an advisor to Latinos Unidos at Augustana College and a mentor with the ACRL Dr. E. J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Program. During the last year I have been serving as a mentor to someone getting his MLIS at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. I think that I learned more from the experience than he did.
In the mean time, this week will be spent packing dishes and books (of course) and canceling services in preparation of the move to Eau Claire. It is becoming more real everyday.
In the mean time, this week will be spent packing dishes and books (of course) and canceling services in preparation of the move to Eau Claire. It is becoming more real everyday.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Hipster Shushers
I finally read the article on hipster librarians that appeared in the fashion section of Sunday's New York Times; "A Hipper Crowd of Shushers". A friend of mine, who is much hipper that me, sent me a message about that post and a couple of reactions to it in the Library Journal student blog, "Student Affairs", and a blog by someone who writes as the "Annoyed Librarian". Evidently the article really annoyed the Annoyed Librarian. Personally, I thought it was a fun little article that poked another pin in a stereotype that we all know is erroneous. If you haven't read the article in the NYT (my friend says everyone in libraryland has already read it) take a look at it and the reactions to it.
As a side note, the second post in Student Affairs is written by a woman who is doing an internship at the Valley Library here at Oregon State. She talks a little bit about answering reference questions through the chat box I mentioned yesterday that is on the OSU Libraries' web pages. Her posting provides an interesting insight into virtual reference.
As a side note, the second post in Student Affairs is written by a woman who is doing an internship at the Valley Library here at Oregon State. She talks a little bit about answering reference questions through the chat box I mentioned yesterday that is on the OSU Libraries' web pages. Her posting provides an interesting insight into virtual reference.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Whither the Reference Desk
This morning when I opened my e-mail the first message I saw was from Betsy Richmond. She was forwarding on a lengthy compilation of messages that reflected a Collib-l discussion of how to best attract students to the reference desk. Many academic libraries are seeing a fall in their reference desk use statistics. The discussion was wide-ranging and I suspect is reflective of what many of us are thinking about. Is time spent on the reference desk the best way to utilize professional librarians? Is it the best way to reach students? Is that where our students expect to find help with their research assignments? Are there better ways to assist students by utilizing new technologies?
I too have been thinking about this for years but have not come up with any clean answers. At one point I was wondering how one could be a good steward of university finances if the highest paid people in the library spent a large portion of their time sitting at a desk waiting for someone to ask them a question. But that really seemed to forget the nature of libraries. Here at OSU we have been working on lessening the time librarians spend on the reference desk to free up their time for doing other activities. The question was one of impact. Could librarians make a greater impact on campus by working more closely with faculty and graduate students with their research? By developing technologies that allowed students to learn and use library services more independently? Or would they have a greater impact on student research by offering one on one consultation sessions?
They are still working on finding a model of service that works best for OSU students and faculty. I would hope that during the coming year we will discuss how best to develop our reference services that are best suited to our university and our students and faculty.
One technology that seems to have worked very well here is having a chat box available in the upper right hand corner of most library website pages. From the very beginning of offering this option, students have been submitting chat questions as much or more than they have at the reference desk.
I too have been thinking about this for years but have not come up with any clean answers. At one point I was wondering how one could be a good steward of university finances if the highest paid people in the library spent a large portion of their time sitting at a desk waiting for someone to ask them a question. But that really seemed to forget the nature of libraries. Here at OSU we have been working on lessening the time librarians spend on the reference desk to free up their time for doing other activities. The question was one of impact. Could librarians make a greater impact on campus by working more closely with faculty and graduate students with their research? By developing technologies that allowed students to learn and use library services more independently? Or would they have a greater impact on student research by offering one on one consultation sessions?
They are still working on finding a model of service that works best for OSU students and faculty. I would hope that during the coming year we will discuss how best to develop our reference services that are best suited to our university and our students and faculty.
One technology that seems to have worked very well here is having a chat box available in the upper right hand corner of most library website pages. From the very beginning of offering this option, students have been submitting chat questions as much or more than they have at the reference desk.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Seems Like I am Living in O'Hare
Today I am trying to travel back to Corvallis after finding a house in Eau Claire. Because my daughter works for United Airlines Cely and I are able to take advantage of some great travel fares. The only drawback is that we have to fly standby. Today is one of those days when the system doesn't work so well for us. We arrived at the airport in time to catch a 9:00 flight. That flight checked in full as did the 12:15 flight. Now we are waiting for a 5:30pm flight. After that it could be the 8pm or the 10:40pm flight. OR we could end up going through the entire process again tomorrow. It seems that Portland Oregon is a very popular place this weekend.
The important thing is that we found a house in Eau Claire and had our offer accepted. One more hurdle crossed on our way to Eau Claire. The house is just what we hoped for. It is the right size, near campus and in the 3rd Ward. Now we have to wrap up things in Corvallis and arrange for a mover.
Meanwhile I am sitting in the airport hoping to catch a flight west.
The important thing is that we found a house in Eau Claire and had our offer accepted. One more hurdle crossed on our way to Eau Claire. The house is just what we hoped for. It is the right size, near campus and in the 3rd Ward. Now we have to wrap up things in Corvallis and arrange for a mover.
Meanwhile I am sitting in the airport hoping to catch a flight west.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
ALA Conference II
This year's ALA conference was more about seeing people I hadn't seen for a long time. One was a woman who I went to library school with. I ran into her and her daughter in one of the hotel lobbies. The last time I saw them the daughter was in a stroller. I've got some pictures in my camera that I will be loading to my personal site but I forgot to take the cable to upload them to my computer.
Other than the OCLC Symposium, the most interesting thing I attended was the discussion group I was co-convening with Jan Zauha from Montana State. The topic of the discussion was around the role of academic libraries in promoting reading and literacy. Most of the discussion revolved around recreational reading programs. One library was getting surplus from the local public library's multiple copies. That seemed like a good way for an academic library to work with the public library in town. Another library provided space for a small circulating collection from the public library so that their students could have easy access to popular titles when they needed to read during their spare time. Unfortunately, everyone agreed that students don't really have much time to read anything outside of their classroom. Most of the libraries represented around the table were involved with some type of readings or programs throughout the year. Once again over committed faculty and students led to low turnouts for most programs.
On Sunday night I was able to have dinner with Chris Cox who is currently serving as the interim director at UW - Eau Claire. We talked about the town and what to expect of Eau Claire and what to expect from the area. He helped me learn more about the library community in Eau Claire and the state. I was able to learn more about the ways things worked in McIntyre. We also talked about some of the things I hope to accomplish when I get there. One of the interesting things about Eau Claire is that there are three fairly new library directors in the city. I will be the newest. The director of the Eau Claire Public Library has been in his position for about a year. And, there is a new director at the Indianhead Federated Library System, the local regional system headquartered in Eau Claire. This might be a great time to get together and see what types of collaboration we can think up.
Other than the OCLC Symposium, the most interesting thing I attended was the discussion group I was co-convening with Jan Zauha from Montana State. The topic of the discussion was around the role of academic libraries in promoting reading and literacy. Most of the discussion revolved around recreational reading programs. One library was getting surplus from the local public library's multiple copies. That seemed like a good way for an academic library to work with the public library in town. Another library provided space for a small circulating collection from the public library so that their students could have easy access to popular titles when they needed to read during their spare time. Unfortunately, everyone agreed that students don't really have much time to read anything outside of their classroom. Most of the libraries represented around the table were involved with some type of readings or programs throughout the year. Once again over committed faculty and students led to low turnouts for most programs.
On Sunday night I was able to have dinner with Chris Cox who is currently serving as the interim director at UW - Eau Claire. We talked about the town and what to expect of Eau Claire and what to expect from the area. He helped me learn more about the library community in Eau Claire and the state. I was able to learn more about the ways things worked in McIntyre. We also talked about some of the things I hope to accomplish when I get there. One of the interesting things about Eau Claire is that there are three fairly new library directors in the city. I will be the newest. The director of the Eau Claire Public Library has been in his position for about a year. And, there is a new director at the Indianhead Federated Library System, the local regional system headquartered in Eau Claire. This might be a great time to get together and see what types of collaboration we can think up.
Friday, June 22, 2007
ALA Conference
Tonight I am writing from the ALA Conference in Washington DC. Cely and I flew the red-eye out of Portland and got in at 8:30. I got a couple of hours sleep on the plane but have been pretty fuzzy all day.
The first person I ran into was Chris Cox. That was pretty amazing. We had a little chat but got interrupted by a call from my realtor. I had to take the call because she needed to tell me the results of our house inspections. I will need to make a couple of repairs before the closing. I'm glad I took the call.
This afternoon I went to the OCLC Symposium that they usually have on Friday. I may have still been fuzzy but I was a little disappointed in this one. I was really looking forward to hearing Siva Vaidhyanathan but I didn't get what I hoped fore. He mostly spoke about the positive aspects of surveillance. He admitted that his view of the topic are reflexive of his environment; Greenwich Village in NY NY. Then he ended by putting more of the privacy invasion onus on corporations and not the government. I'm not sure I agree. His answer was that we need a rich dialog about privacy and surveillance in order to reestablish trust within our society. Not much to argue with that but not much in terms of insights from an insider.
Later in the early evening I attended the ACRL Dr. E. J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Program reception. I have been acting as a mentor for a student at the UNC Chapel Hill library school for the past year. Even though my protege was not there I did get to meet some highly capable and dedicated young librarians. It is good to see that the profession will be in such fine hands. It was also exciting to hear people tell me how lucky I was to be going to UW - Eau Claire. McIntyre Library is held in high regard. Ewa Barczyk, from UW - Milwaukee was there and welcomed me to the Wisconsin library community. I always look for her at the ALA conferences because my youngest daughter is working on an MA in German Translation there. I keep trying to find out if Ewa is seeing her in the library everyday.
More to come tomorrow.
The first person I ran into was Chris Cox. That was pretty amazing. We had a little chat but got interrupted by a call from my realtor. I had to take the call because she needed to tell me the results of our house inspections. I will need to make a couple of repairs before the closing. I'm glad I took the call.
This afternoon I went to the OCLC Symposium that they usually have on Friday. I may have still been fuzzy but I was a little disappointed in this one. I was really looking forward to hearing Siva Vaidhyanathan but I didn't get what I hoped fore. He mostly spoke about the positive aspects of surveillance. He admitted that his view of the topic are reflexive of his environment; Greenwich Village in NY NY. Then he ended by putting more of the privacy invasion onus on corporations and not the government. I'm not sure I agree. His answer was that we need a rich dialog about privacy and surveillance in order to reestablish trust within our society. Not much to argue with that but not much in terms of insights from an insider.
Later in the early evening I attended the ACRL Dr. E. J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Program reception. I have been acting as a mentor for a student at the UNC Chapel Hill library school for the past year. Even though my protege was not there I did get to meet some highly capable and dedicated young librarians. It is good to see that the profession will be in such fine hands. It was also exciting to hear people tell me how lucky I was to be going to UW - Eau Claire. McIntyre Library is held in high regard. Ewa Barczyk, from UW - Milwaukee was there and welcomed me to the Wisconsin library community. I always look for her at the ALA conferences because my youngest daughter is working on an MA in German Translation there. I keep trying to find out if Ewa is seeing her in the library everyday.
More to come tomorrow.
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