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First of all, I saw this on TechCrunch today. I’ve mentioned the use of twitter for reference before and have heard people speak on it at conferences. As always, it seems libraries have taken a back seat. toanswer is a mashup of twitter and answers - exactly what reference should be doing. It seems many of our services are promoted better by others. What we have here is a marketing problem. We also have another issue here - the idea of the one big library. If libraries and librarians came together to offer one centralized reference service, how would we fare against these services? I think there is potential here for libraries but it is heavily reliant on cooperation. We see this happening, Second Life reference service is offered by librarians from around the globe, but I think we need to pursue these ideas a little more aggressively.
I’m off to IFLA to present with Amy Buckland next week. I’m quite excited - I’ve never done any international conferencing before. No doubt there will be a recap of the conference experience when I return.
Like many others,I’m just trying out apps on my itouch. Now, if the rest of the world could work on getting more free wifi, that would be great.
It’s been forever since I’ve posted and feels like forever since I’ve been at work. I’ve finished my research leave which resulted in a paper for IFLA with Amy Buckland (and it’s already up!).
I also presented at workshop on Transforming Information Literacy: Do We Have the Skills at WILU with my great colleagues Karen Nicholson and Shawn McCann in BC. It went well, although as with most presentations, I would change things in the future. Participants seemed interested in Shawn’s demo of World of Warcraft but seemed reluctant to talk about literacies outside information literacy (which is perhaps understandable as it is an info lit conference, but we were introducing other 21st century fluencies such as digital literacy, media literacy, numeracy, scientific literacy, etc). I love WILU as a conference - small and intimate - and this year was no exception. Attended a number of sessions on peer tutoring, something I would like to get started here. I hope to start work on a student ambassador program and will share info as it develops.
Finally, I presented at the CLA annual conference on gov pubs 2.0. I hope to start doing some of the stuff I talked about (del.icio.us account for subject guides, google search for gov pubs and more). This presentation, along with the WILU presentation will be online soon - I’ll post links when they are. I’m also stepping down as convenor of the Access to Government Information Interest Group with CLA. It was a good but long trip in BC, completely with seeing family I hadn’t really seen in 20 years.
Next conference will be IFLA in August. One thing I’m finding with conferences lately is that our library really has become bleeding edge in many cases. Many of the presentations I go to, we’re already doing. When I talk about things we’re doing, many can not relate as they do not have the support to try things as we do. It’s something I need to be thinking when I create my presentations. I really am lucky to be working in my library!
With all of the research and presentations, it’s taking a little while to catch up on work. Summer means First Year Experience work is first and foremost - we’ll be having a scavenger hunt for Summer Orientation and will be included in a parent panel. Once that’s done, there’s just Welcome Day, Welcome Week and Clubsfest to plan.
And with all of my goings on, our library is still doing neat things. We just had a launch for our mass digitization project - a partnership with Kirtas Technologies, Ristech and LuLu. Congrats to all those working on these major projects!
And that’s all I have for now. You may have guessed that I will not be posting on CiL - there’s so much out there now. All you need to know is that it was the best conference eva!
Yes, I have been bad with my postings lately, but I’ve been conferencing and vacationing, both which are rejuvenating in their own ways. I thought I would use the next couple of posts to share my conference experiences, although I’m still processing some, so there may be follow up posts.
I attended a great SirsiDynix Institute on Gaming in Libraries by Jenny Levine. I finally received her book on the same topic and can’t wait to devour it. If you get a chance to hear her talk on the topic, I highly recommend it (it’s also archived at the SirsiDynix Institute and her blog).
One of the things she said really made sense to me. I’m sure others have heard this already, but I think this was the first time I had.
We can’t be the bosses, we need to be the strategy guide.
Bosses are the final monsters that need to be defeated to get to the next level to a gamer. we can’t be the one’s blocking their path. By being a strategy guide (what ever gamer uses to help them through the hardest parts), we can help them through their challenges. It’s a great metaphor for anyone in reference services. Let’s all aim to be that strategy guide!
Well, I’ve been quite neglegant so far this year in posting here. The first week back was relatively quiet but that is quickly being shattered. I’ve been getting ready for round two of the distance course I’m teaching, library instruction requests are coming in quickly, and changes in the library keep everyone hopping.
I’ve also been spending more time in Second Life lately - which means you get to hear more about it. We’ve had our first InfoCan group (remember, if you’re a Canadian info woker in SL, this is a group for you!), and despite the small attendance numbers, I think we’re one our way. I’ll be preparing for a few presentations in the next while on Second Life, which I’ll post more about once they’re done. I’ve done a little work on my avatar too - I recently got some new skin (which sounds very odd if you’re not involved in Second Life)- one normal and one a little more gothy. So, here’s one version of the brand new me:
Well, I’ve managed to put a few more things in the building, but it’s just the beginning so it will likely change soon (ie. better signage). It’s the first store front on the right. I thought I’d add a picture of the new space to help people identify the building, so here it is:
I can’t help it, I love Classics (yes, I enjoy classical music, but I love the study of Ancient Greece and Rome and intend to do more as soon as I find time…). Anyway, just thought I’d share some news from the archaeological world. It seems they have found a ship, in rather good condition, off the coast of Spain. It seems they were carrying garum, the sauce that Romans loved and I can’t fathom eating. Maybe there will be some left to try…
Alas, I have more sad news of documents disappearing. The first incident could easily have been avoided. According to the Globe and Mail, it seems that technicians inadvertantly erased e-versions of documents from the Air-India trial that were about to be released. Their deadline has been pushed back from April to September on account of the incident.
The second incident comes to us from the States. The New York Times reports (may need a subscription) that a U.S. site housing an archive of Iraqi documents was removed when sensative material was found on it. The site is under review.
Here’s a piece from the BBC which talks about a school plan in which students are fingerprinted before they can borrow a library book. At the moment, there is an opt-out option but it will be interesting to see how long that lasts and how long it will be before others follow suite. I realize books are precious but this is not the way to enforce it. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth. I also can’t see it making reading appealing to children. There are other programs for which fingerprinting is useful (child identification and such) but I don’t feel it’s necessary in the library.
It is September 11, the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York. I’ll never forget when I heard about what was happening. I was in cataloguing class and during the break, someone turned on the tv. Unfortunately, once the break was over my professor came in and said “Sorry folks, but we’ve got cataloguing to do” and turned off the news coverage. It seemed a little heartless at the time. Nonetheless, my thoughts are with those who lost loved ones on this day. May it never happen again.
As you may have noticed, I’ve updated my look. That’s a path down to one of the beautiful beaches from my home province of Nova Scotia. Simply gorgeous!
Well, maybe not so much about me, but what this blog will be about. I realize this should have been the first blog, but there you have it.
Welcome to my little peice of the web! This is where I will rant about life, but mostly about library related issues. This could run the gamit, from technology in libraries, to simply what’s new and interesting in the library world. As a reference librarian with responsibilites in US and International gov pubs, you will also be bombarded with what’s happening in the ever changing, volatile world of gov pubs. I promise it won’t be too dry! Hope you visit again!
I’m attending a learning technology symposium today. The first session was comparing wikis, blogs, and other collaborative tools. It was a very basic session for me, as blogs, chatting, and the world of rss have become an integral part of my world, particularly my work. I keep forgetting that others, particularly faculty, are not necessarily as in tune with the tech world. It’s a bit of an eye opening experience and I only hope to learn more as the day goes along. I’ll be sure to fill you in on further revelations.
Well, I thought I would check out WordPress. I have a blog over on bloglines but I felt adventurous, so here I am. I will be playing with this over the next few days, so please bear with me. Hope to see you again!
