I feel like a good librarian today. I convinced two upper-year undergrads to go to library school after they admitted to loving libraries and being seriously interested in the politics of information. And then, after conducting an information literacy class, two attendants told me that they could tell how much I loved my job. I feel like a good librarian today.
Also, I heard back from my editors re: my article. They liked it. A couple of additions, deletions and a slight shift in focus (this resulted from my own rereading after three weeks of not looking at it) and it is probably good to go. Hmm. I might be published yet.
Props to corporate librarians:
A free virtual conference on e-government and access to information featuring Bruce James, GPO guy.
Brewster Kahle is fighting the good fight once more. He is petitioning (PDF) the US Copyright Office over the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because the act prohibits the archiving of software:
And, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography is now online for free.
"There's definitely a change in the climate for the employment of corporate librarians," says Janice R. Lachance, executive director of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) in Washington, D.C., which includes professionals who work in corporate, legal, newspaper, medical, music, science and other libraries. "Librarians are now being recognized as crucial players within their organizations."
A free virtual conference on e-government and access to information featuring Bruce James, GPO guy.
Brewster Kahle is fighting the good fight once more. He is petitioning (PDF) the US Copyright Office over the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because the act prohibits the archiving of software:
"Though a cave painting in pigment on rock may survive millions of years without any action on the part of archivists, the same is not true of digital works...In this way, the digital record is endangered by any passage of time without its active maintenance. Mere neglect of the proper transfer and translation of these works over time destroys them for all of history." [full story
And, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography is now online for free.
published Friday, October 31, 2003 @
That librarian action figure has arrived in Canada. I agree with Jessamyn, spend the $12.50 on a book instead. Also, I'm off to NY for a few days so updates will be erratic for a bit.
Maybe you didn't miss this like I did but here you go anyway: the Electronic Frontier Foundation have a thing or two to say to SFPL about the Radio Frequency identification initiative they're taking on.
It's more than just scientific literature that your average member of the public is being cut off from at a lot of Canadian libraries, thanks to the licensing squeeze from vendors of e-journal content. The problem in Canada is that universities are publicly-funded institutions, which makes the intrepid library user believe that he/she should have access to everything in their local university library, even though they are not affiliated with the institution in any particular way (the "my taxes pay your salary" mentality). Which, though fundamentally flawed, makes things messy when you have to turn these users away at the reference desk.
And a postscipt to my last post: federated searching myths.
It's more than just scientific literature that your average member of the public is being cut off from at a lot of Canadian libraries, thanks to the licensing squeeze from vendors of e-journal content. The problem in Canada is that universities are publicly-funded institutions, which makes the intrepid library user believe that he/she should have access to everything in their local university library, even though they are not affiliated with the institution in any particular way (the "my taxes pay your salary" mentality). Which, though fundamentally flawed, makes things messy when you have to turn these users away at the reference desk.
And a postscipt to my last post: federated searching myths.
published Friday, October 17, 2003 @
If our users make it to the library's web site at all, chances are they are confronted with library terminology they don't understand and a long list of databases they have to decipher and choose among. The result? Libraries are losing potential users. Librarians license valuable and costly full-text databases that we know contain the information researchers are seeking. But in a three-click world, each vendor's database remains a separate silo of information that our users don't find. Even if patrons are familiar with searching the OPAC, that won't help them retrieve articles. Library services that require training or require the user to come to the library undermine the advantages of licensing electronic content.
Trumping Google? Metasearching's Promise, Judy Luther.
Trumping Google? Metasearching's Promise, Judy Luther.
We've been talking about this federated search stuff at my library. It's the move towards providing access to all of a library's databases via one simple Google-type interface. There are definite for & against camps and both argue their positions vociferously and convincingly.
I am sort of divided on it. I'm not one of those librarians who holds on to the High Holy Principles of Librarianship at all costs, I've been known to forego a "teaching moment" at the reference desk when I know that all the patron really wants is the answer. But the thing with federated searching is that all databases are different beasts. We all know about the disastrous results you get when you try searching Medline using natural language, right? Well, same thing. Different databases use different syntax, indexes, and thesauri, so until vendors start making them all exactly the same, one size will just not fit all.
Case in point: we get most of our major social sciences and humanities databases from SilverPlatter (Ovid now), which allows the sort of cross-database searching the students just love. Even so, we tend to discourage the practice because most of the time the syntax doesn't translate well between databases. And this is one vendor I'm talking about.
The article also talks about librarian resistance to metasearching being based on our reluctance to "dumb down" the search interface and because we "enjoy the reference interview". I say the simpler the interface the better, and sure the reference interview is irreplaceable, but my misgivings about metasearching aren't based on me not getting the warm & fuzzies at the reference desk, they're based on imperfections in the technology. If they can ever iron those out I'd be all over it.
Gee, I guess I'm not so divided after all.
published Friday, October 10, 2003 @
So I'm in the middle of an instruction session this morning, demo'ing the Canadian Periodical Index on Infotrac, and I see a link to search Google Images on the results page. I'm completely confounded of course, but being in the middle of a class, I can't take the time to investigate this bizarre curiosity. Then later, I'm reading librarian.net and Jessamyn has mentioned this new feature and everything that's wrong with it. If I was considering a subscription to Infotrac, I'm pretty sure I would view this as a detriment to the service rather than value-added. It's sort of appalling that a library database has teamed with a service that pays little deference to things like copyright.
That's all.
published Wednesday, October 08, 2003 @
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You used to know bibliolatry.net as a library news/resource blog. Well, I'm now posting library news/resources at LISNews.com (albeit sporadically) and bibliolatry.net is where I talk about the library lit I'm reading. Have something I should read? Let me know. Have something to say about an article I talk about? Leave a comment. For more about me, go here.
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You used to know bibliolatry.net as a library news/resource blog. Well, I'm now posting library news/resources at LISNews.com (albeit sporadically) and bibliolatry.net is where I talk about the library lit I'm reading. Have something I should read? Let me know. Have something to say about an article I talk about? Leave a comment. For more about me, go here.
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