The image of librarians

An email from a collegue alerted me to this website. I found the discussions of the image of librarians very interesting. A sidetrack took me to this page which is a look at library cards and the image they project. Looking at our own library cards after reading this article I have decided that although our cards are attractive (they feature photos of the local area) they aren't very distinctive and they don't say "library".

They also contain very little useful information. The phone number and website address is on the back but in quite small writing - I didn't even realise it was there till I examined my card in detail! Before I worked in the library I always kept one of the library's business cards in with my library card as it had opening times and contact details on it.

The recession

According to articles in The New York Times and the Denver Post the recession has lead to an increase in the number of people using libraries. The general feeling here is that use has increased although we don't have the figures to back this up. The reference team have noticed an apparent increase in the numbers of people looking for books on gardening and chicken keeping. The library is now offering free classes on cv writing and these seem to be popular. We have also started a wiki - WithoutWork - which has information of looking for jobs, budgeting, saving money, budget cooking etc. Some American libraries have been forced to close branches or reduce services just when they are needed most. We are a bit luckier here. The council has been asked to save 3.5 million dollars but services are to remain at the same levels so there is no suggestion of reducing opening hours. However the new library building that is so badly needed at Greerton has been put on hold yet again and all the other proposed new branch libraries that were in the 10 year plan have been pushed further out.

Use of Web 2.0 technologies

I have been interested to follow the postings on NZ Libs re the use of Web 2.0 technologies. I thought Brian Flaherty made some interesting points. It is easy to get carried away with all the possibilities of a particular technology and forget how much time it is going to take. Even in my personal life I find it hard to keep up with reading all my feeds, visiting my favourite forum, updating my blogs and entering the books I read on LibraryThing. At work I have websites to monitor, a blog to write and a wiki to contribute to. So far I have been able to resist Twitter and Second Life. Brian's thought tie in nicely with those in Data Smog. However, I think it is important for libraries to selectively use some of the new technologies in order to connect with the digital native generation. If we continue to only do what we have always done we risk being seen as irrelevant.

The future of the library - small task

My vision of the library of the future is a combination of several of the scenarios. Whilst a large section of the community will still want books. However we also need to cater for patrons who want information in other forms. Libraries will need to collect and synthesize information and then deliver it via the patrons preferred medium.

Reading 2.8 & 2.7

CD ROMs were a given but have now been superseded by online databases and the Internet. Faxes are a given but not used nearly so much now - instead it is easy to scan and/or email documents. With integration of scanners into printers many people have the ability to scan and copy from home however we still have people coming into the library who want to scan documents and put them on their flash drives. Email has become so ubiquitous that when we found that one of the members of a committee I'm on, didn't have email, we wondered how we would manage to keep him in the loop. PABX has been superseded but voice mail is expected. Teleconferencing is available but not widely used whereas 'webinars' are an emerging technology that may be more widely used. Virtual reality is still in the future.
Reading 2.7 was written 5 years after reading 2.8 and most of the trains Barry talks about have arrived. Multimedia, the Internet, WWW and intranets are fairly standard in libraries and thin client technology is usually used for OPACS.

More on community

After my 'aha' moment with Reading 2.6 I serendipitously came across two related articles via one of the blogs I follow - LibraryTechNZ. The posting was about a recent workshop on designing and sustaining creative communities. It sounded very interesting and within the report back on the workshop were links to 2 articles. The first is a piece from one of the founders of Flickr about building online communities. The main thing I learnt from this was the importance of providing friendly input but allowing communities to evolve . The second article about the Brooklyn Museum reinforced the importance of staff members being active participants in the online communities and showcased how cheaply initiatives can be started by using existing free web 2.0 tools.
One of the speakers at the workshop - Derek Powazek - has written a book which I will recommend for our staff reference library.

Small task - fearing technology

With a husband involved in the computer industry we have generally been 'early adopters' of technology and I can honestly say that, on my own behalf, I have never suffered from any of the fears listed except perhaps the last one - health effects. However, I do have some concerns about some of my sons' dependence on information technology and its affects on their health and socialisation

Web resource 2.3

I found the comment, that we don't know what was in the first e-mail ever sent, interesting. Where will future biographers find their information? Letters are often treasured and kept thus providing a primary source for future biographers but who keeps their emails?

Small task - Reading 2.6

The Internet is like a massive net with all the computers in the world arranged around the edge , connected to one of the strands. Any computer can communicate with any other computer by sending a message along the strands of the net. The World Wide Web is like the collection of sea creatures that have been caught in the net. Each creature is a website - some are useful and some are downright disgusting. Any computer can send a little submersible along the strands of the net to take a picture of one of the sea creatures and send it back for you to look at. There can be lots of submersibles all taking pictures of the same sea creature so lots of people can see the picture on their computers at the same time. You can tell your submersible what sort of sea creature you want to see and it will travel along the strands until it finds a creature like the one you are looking for but some creatures can't be seen with the naked eye so your submersible will need some special equipment to find those creatures.
The Internet has revolutionised communication throughout society and I'm sure libraries are no exception even though I don't have personal experience of the changes.

Reading 2.6

A sentence in this reading really leaped out at me - "At the moment, libraries tend to connect users with information and do little to connect users with other users, either for the purposes of generating community for its own sake or to enable users to assist one another. The Internet provides a significant technological opportunity for for libraries to be more active in creating an organised group of library users who feel them collectively rather than individually associated with the library."
Currently there are a few communities that are library-based - book clubs, storyteller group and toddler time group but none of these use the Internet. We are currently developing a wiki for people in Tauranga that have lost their jobs and this could develop into a community.
Other possibilities that sprang to mind - the website could include forums for people interested in particular topics. A librarian could be assigned to monitor each forum and contribute postings about relevant resources - books, databases, websites.
People could subscribe to a listserv for their favourite author and be sent details of new books added to the collection, invitations to book club sessions discussing the author's works, reviews of new books etc.

Copyright

I had a look at "The Copyright Act 1994 and Amendments: Guidelines for Librarians", posted on the LIANZ website, to see the new sections that have been added. I was a little alarmed by section 21 which seems to say that printing or downloading anything off the Internet could be a breach of copyright and that librarians need to police this. I certainly haven't noticed many sites specifically saying the copying is permitted. However surely the ordinary rules of copyright apply to items on the net i.e. fair dealing for research or private study? This isn't made clear in the body of the document but the summary tables in Appendix 5 list 'electronic works in any format' which would seem to include material on web sites. I think it would be useful to have a copy of this summary table at the reference desk. If we use the new "Notice regarding copying and downloading from the Internet" in Appendix 2, I think we will have a lot more copyright queries from people. The news coverage of the copyright issue already seems to have increased people's awareness. In the last month I have had 2 patrons ask about copyright compared to none in the previous 12 months.

Reading 2.5 - Digital Library

For me, print texts are generally more enjoyable. They have associations, built up over years, of cosyness, relaxation and enjoyment whereas digital texts seem more like work. With a print text I am sitting in a comfortable chair or lying in bed whereas with digital text I am sitting in an office chair. Being environmentally aware, I don't usually print out digital texts. The exception to this is when I am writing an assignment as I find I can pick up mistakes more easily in print then on the screen. I'm not the only one who finds this and I wonder why it is. Perhaps because we have more experience of reading print text? Or fewer distractions? Perhaps we read print text more carefully?
In a social context, print and digital libraries differ in a number of ways. Many people enjoy the physicality of books - their look, smell and feel - and may develop an emotional bond with a particular book. In contrast, digital texts are much more neutral. People wanting information may be equally happy with print or digital text but people wanting to read for pleasure will almost always choose print text.. Print text seems to be much more memorable. People often like to have a print out of any particularly useful information that they find. It is reassuring to know that they have something physical to refer to. Finding the same piece of digital information again can be tricky. In our library, patrons can print out digital information that they find but there is an extra charge for this.
I read something recently ( I can't remember where - it must have been digital) that it was hard for people to remember where they saw a particular piece of digital information because there were so few external triggers. With a book there are lots of external cues that vary from book to book but with digital text you are usually sitting in the same room, on the same chair, looking at the same computer screen and only the text on the screen changes.

Reading 2.4 The future

Some of the ways Tauranga City Libraries is applying aspects of the new model mentioned by Sue Cooper are:
Local storytellers group meet at the library
Book clubs at the library
children's events at the library
active Friends of the Library group
local history collection
development of an 'out-of-work' wiki
interloan scheme
Maori services librarian
displays and events to mark Waitangi Day, Matariki and other significant Maori events
staff tutored in Maori pronunciation
on-going development of website
looking at outsourcing book cataloguing and preparation
provide basic information literacy classes

Digital Strategy

Because I have only been working as a librarian for 13 months I'm not sure which changes have been made as a direct result of the strategy. However I am aware of some relatively recent changes that are linked to the aims of the Digital Strategy.
Connection - About two years ago when the library was being remodelled an Information Centre was added. This contains 12 computers with broadband Internet access that anyone is free to use (although we do charge for their use). There is a Learning Centre tutor who is available to help people on a one-to-one basis and she also runs free courses. The learning Centre also offers free computer/Internet use for student doing homework.
Content - The library's collection of photos are slowly being digitised so they can be searched more easily and made available over the Internet. We are also collecting people's memories to make them available from our website.

Web resource 2.1 - economic landscape

In Austin, Texas, they voted to close a library branch rather than raise taxes. In Tauranga, New Zealand the city councillors have asked their CEO to save 3.5 million dollars this year to keep rates increases to an 'acceptable' level. Not only do they want this substantial saving, they also want to maintain the same level of service. The amount to be saved is spread over all the council's operations, not just the libraries, but every department is expected to do its bit. I suggested that one way of saving money would be to not buy any new reference books for one year but my manager felt that it would be setting a dangerous precedent - 'you managed OK last year without buying any new books, so why do you need to buy books this year?"

web resource 2.1 - seamlessness

On reading the next section -seamlessness - I discovered my nanny analogy cropping up along with a possible solution. Along the lines of 'if you can't beat them, join them' one anwer could be to 'Googlise' everything.
Currently part of my job entails regularly visiting various government websites looking for documents they have produced. I download any that seem important and relevant and arrange to have them printed and bound to add to our collection. This seems like a lot of unecessary work and expense but, if they are added to our physical collection, then people can find them through the catalogue. Our current library management system doesn't let us add links to websites but hopefully the new system we are getting will enable us to make our catalogue more of a 'Google experience'.

Web resource 2.1 - satisfaction

On reading the section on Satisfaction, I was struck by an image of the 'nanny librarian' "We know what's best for you. That stuff you find with Google will rot your brain. You should ask us to help you find 'proper' information". If people are happy with what they find quickly and easily with Google, there is no motivation for them to try something different. So, why do many people continue to use the nonfiction section of the library? Some possibilities:
They don't have a computer
They are not computer literate
They are used to getting information from books
The information they need isn't on the WWW (or they don't think it is, or can't find it)
They are doing school/tertiary assignments and have been told they have to cite physical resources
They enjoy reading nonfiction
A book is more convenient for their purpose (portable, not electricity dependent etc)
They believe books are more trustworthy
They like the experience of a book

Reading 2.2 - Redefining the library

This article made me think more deeply about the impact of technology on the library. Because I haven't been working in a library for very long I haven't been privy to the behind-scenes adjustments to enable new technologies to be introduced. The changes to the physical environment were obvious but I didn't consider the impact on the staff.
I particularly liked the quote on page 101 - "the individual searches alone without expert help and, not knowing what is undiscovered, is satisfied". I think Google has done the world a dis-service in making searching look easy. People don't realise that they don't know how to search properly. I had a gentleman the other day wanting fairly detailed information on Stephenson's Rocket and we didn't have much in the collection. I suggested that I try looking on the Internet and he said that he had looked already and there wasn't anything! He was wrong of course. We need to teach Internet searching but I suspect that the 'digital generation' won't come to classes on anything as 'easy' as searching. It should be being taught in schools but, from my experience, it isn't yet or at least not consistently and well.

Copyright again

The NZ Listserv is still full of postings on this issue. One of the postings yesterday led me to the site of the Guardian (UK) http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/feb/17/internet-newzealand that has a good article summing up the situation. It remains to be seen what progress is made by the end of the month.

As we may think - small task

Vannevar Bush's ideas about the camera of the future are interesting to compare with modern cameras. Many of his ideas may still be in the future (a walnut-sized camera worn on the forehead) but he was unable to imagine a camera that does not require film. My first camera, as a teenager, was an Instamatic. The film was contained in a cartridge inserted into the back and when it was finished you had to wait about a week to get your photos back. Then in the 1980's we moved to an SLR camera and many places offered overnight processing. In 2005 we bought a digital camera and can now publish pictures on the Internet minutes after taking them.
He also envisages microfilm copies of encyclopedias and other books. Whilst microfilm is used today (we have a number of historical records on microfilm for people interested in genealogy) today's encyclopedias are often on CD-ROM or online. The cost of these is not as low as Bush envisaged with his microfilm copies but they do offer advantages of cross referencing and searching not offered by microfilm.
Bush's device for translating spoken language to written has its modern parallel in the voice recognition software available on many computers. however his picture of future scientists moving about their laboratories, photographing and commenting to produce a record is still not a reality.
Bush seems to envisage lots of different machines for different purposes - machines for mathematical calculation, machines for manipulating premises, machines for charging and inventory control in department stores, however, the reality is that these tasks, and many more, are all done by computers. The personal computer is equivalent to Bush's 'memex'. We have the translucent screens, the incredible storage capacity, the keyboard and the ability to scan items in and to search. On the other hand, a PC is smaller than the 'desk' envisioned by Bush and doesn't use microfilm.
I didn't really encounter computers until I went to university in the late 1970's. Some of my friends were taking computer science papers and programmed the computer (which took up a whole room) by punching holes in cards. In return, they got pages and pages of printout to look though to determine whether or not their programme had worked. We got our first PC when we were in Britain in 1984. We obviously made the wrong choice of brands because our Einstein Personal Computer was a bit of a dead duck with very little programming written for it. By 1990 we had an IBM-compatible PC (no mouse however) and our ducks lived in an obsolete desk-style computer my husband had brought home from work. As the years went by, back-up was onto discs, then floppy discs, then zip discs. Today I have a laptop with an external drive (and still seem to run out of room), DVD reader/writer, colour printer, black and white laser printer, scanner (that also copies and faxes) and a PDA that allows me to carry important information with me when I'm away from my laptop. All of this was unimaginable when I was growing up.

Data Smog

This book is so interesting and readable I decided to post about it on my general blog - http://refpenny.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/data-smog/