Woo Hoo!

Well, this has made it to the ACRL awards page, so we can now share the news. McMaster University Library has won the Excellence in Academic Libraries Award! We’ve had lots of changes over the last year and have done a bunch of new and exciting things. Congrats to everyone involved! It’s nice to see all the hard work recognized.

Update – Here is the press release. Did I mention that I think we’re the first Canadian university to win the award?

Sad Day

Yet another bookstore is closing down. The Book Room in Halifax survived 2 World Wars but has succumb to  big box  bookstores. More info here.

Library 2.0

Yes, I’ll join the growing amount of discussion on library 2.0 since John Blyberg wrote a post re-examining the library 2.0 movement. Like most, I’ve had mixed feelings about the whole web 2.0 movement and libraries – sometimes seeing great potential and other times wondering if it really meant anything to our users. I agree with Meredith Farkas when she suggests that we really need to consider the needs of our users. Do they care that we offer 2.0 applications? In many cases, the answer is no.

That being said, I believe that it is important to experiment with these 2.0 applications/technologies. For the most part, there is little cost associated with them. I beleive that libraries do need to be proactive rather than reactive and this is where Meredith’s comments on assessment are vitally important. If it’s not working, reassess and if it doens’t make sense, stop investing time in it.

I work in an academic library and I think there are some great 2.0 apps that our students and profs could use. I’ve often asked at the research help desk if a student is familiar with certain apps/technologies (del.icio.us, zotero, even blogs) – the answer is a resounding no. Facebook, yes (although I met a student yesterday who confessed to not having a facebook account and was lambasted by her friends). I think this is a role that academic libraries could play – introducing useful applications to their users – not just any 2.0 application simply because it’s 2.0.  This requires knowing our users and perhaps even survey their needs and wants (not a revolutionary concept but one that is often forgotten)

Personally, I’d love to see (and hope to see and I don’t think I’m alone in this) drop-in sessions for such tools and liaison introducing faculty to them. I know this is being done elsewhere and it is this use of 2.0 in libraries that I think makes most sense.

Access 2008 CFP

I’m not sure if you know, but McMaster will be co-hosting the Access Conference with the Hamilton Public Library and Mohawk College this year! This is exciting news! I’ve heard great things about the conference but have never been able to attend. It’s on the techy side of things and lately, I’ve been a techy-type wanna be, so I can’t wait to go – it should be great. They’ve put a call for proposals out, so here it is:

Call for Proposals for Access 2008
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Date: October 1-3, 2008 (Hackfest: Oct 1; Conference: Oct 2-4)
CFP Deadline: Friday, February 22, 2008
URL: http://access2008.mcmaster.ca

Access is Canada’s premier library technology conference, featuring a single stream of sessions that deal with technology planning, development, challenges and solutions. We are now accepting proposals for prepared talks on the following topics (other ideas are more than welcome):

• customized web applications and search interfaces
• open source software
• national and provincial/state-wide consortia technology initiatives
• information policy
• digital and social media
• library catalogue innovations
• digitization projects
• institutional repositories
• end-user searching behaviours
• protocols and metadata

…or anything else suitably geeky, innovative and/or awe-inspiring! Sessions are usually 45 minutes or 1 hour in length. Proposals should include:

• your name, title, institutional affiliation, contact information, blog/website URL
• 100 word (max) abstract describing your proposed presentation
• co-presenters you will (or hope to) present with

Submission Procedures:

• deadline for submission is February 22, 2008.
• send your proposal to Amanda Etches-Johnson, Program Chair, at etchesa AT mcmaster.ca
• each submission will be acknowledged and all presenters will be notified of the status of their proposal by April 15, 2008.
• if you’d simply like to recommend topics and/or speakers (other than yourself), feel free to get in touch!

Depending on the number of submissions, we can’t promise that every proposal will be accepted. However, we will have sessions set aside for Lightning/Thunder talks, which provide an informal opportunity to share your ideas with your peers.

For more information about Access, see the Access 2007 website. Alternatively, feel free to get in touch with the members of the Program Planning Committee:

Amanda Etches-Johnson
User Experience Librarian, McMaster University
etchesa AT mcmaster.ca

Jenn Horwath
Virtual Branch Manager, Hamilton Public Library
jhorwath AT hpl.ca

Science Reverts!

Yay! Science had decided to leave JSTOR, which would have caused problems for future access to the journal. It seems they’ve changed their minds and will continue to place archived copied in JSTOR. For more details, check out the Chronicle of Higher Education (may need subscription).

Library Experiences

Well, I’m easing back into things after a busy holiday break. I hope all had a wonderful holiday. Now that the new year has started and I’ve made more resolutions than I should (and am dutifully breaking them already), I thought I’d post again. I read The Ubiquitous Librarian’s post on being like Emeril, and while I do not agree with all of his opinions (I’m not sure I’m impressed by a society that praises celebrities with undue reserve and where almost everyone gets their 5 minutes of fame [which I am still waiting for]), I do agree with one of his last statements. He writes that we should think of experiences rather than transactions.

I heartily agree – libraries should be about people and while we seem to be thinking more like businesses, I think we need to remember that it’s the people that we’re here for and the people who keep us going. One of the best things libraries can offer that Amazon and Google can’t is provide that personal touch. This is especially true in smaller rural libraries but it can happen in the big cities too. People come back because librarians remember who they are, what their interests are and in some cases what’s happening in their lives. It is the experience and the connection that we provide for our patrons that keeps them coming back.

It’s not just the personal experience – there are lots of experiences that libraries can offer using both technology and traditional methods. Let’s make it a new year’s resolution to create experiences in all we do rather than transactions!