On September 10th, librarians will be “slammin’ the boards”–logging into internet “answer” sites and answering questions. Slam the Boards a brainchild of Bill Pardue, a “virtual services” librarian in Illinois is quietly gathering its forces, and I can’t wait to see what happens. My own children are obsessed by Yahoo Answers–they love answering questions, and heaven knows what they are posting in their “expert” voices. So, what a glorious revolutionary thing that librarians–people PAID to provide information–will be posting answers on places that people are asking questions! It is a great marketing campaign–answer the question, and make sure you give your credentials and perhaps a link to a more “authoritative” place to go and ask questions. I hope that PALS Plus librarians take part, showing what awesome reference service we can provide.
I’ve got a lot of work today today. I have to keep on top of what’s happening in Bloomingdale (where they are trying to close the public library), in Passaic (where they have apparently moved from the “gold coast” of Bergen County to my poor little “county-based” system), in my office (which is overrun with paperwork coverring my desk), in my house (where my kids will be after their day-camp ends at 2:30–clearly NOT a daycamp for moms who work outside the home!), etc.
in the library, you didn’t have to perform for the librarian. She simply presided over an orderly world in which you had the freedom of your own imagination. The silence was not repressive but liberating: to allow your imagination to play, uninhibited by others.
So, I’m not sure that the silence is really what I want to focus on, but the image of the library as a place to allow your imagination to play, uninhibited by others has me absolutely breathless.
I want to make sure that libraries STAY as the place to let our users imaginations play.
Most of us are familiar with the Chinese curse which says “May you live in interesting times”. (To digress a bit, Wikipedia tells me that there really ISN’T a Chinese curse that says that, but since Robert Kennedy used the phrase in his “Day of Affirmation” speech, I’m going to use it as well!) Living in these times of great change in the web world is both fascinating and frustrating. We continue to play and experiment with new tools so that we can decide (and help others decide) which ones are useful and which ones are just time-suckers. Sometimes we hit dead ends, but we’ve all enjoyed the learning experience.
PALS Plus is about to embark on a learning experience call “Fall into 2.0″, where we follow the Learning 2.0 model and help the staff of PALS Plus libraries navigate the new tools. Logically, it made sense that we use these same tools to design the class. But, there are so MANY tools that I’m confused about which one is best for which thing.
So, the hardest part of “living in interesting times” right now is choosing the right tool. I just saw an announcement that Unshelved is running a 2nd “Pimp My Bookcart” contest, and I want to tell PALS Plus libraries so that we can come up with the winning bookcart. Where will they read it? Most of them are still living in a Web 1.0 world–so sending a group e-mail is probably the best way to get them right now. In October, where will they read it? Many of them will be in the middle of their 2.0 learning, so there will be a few PALS Plus places I can put it, and if they have RSS readers, they’ll know about it or Feedblitz will send them an e-mail telling them I updated the blog or website. If I want to tell them about the 3rd annual contest next June, where will I post it? Perhaps some things will have settled out in that year, and it will be more obvious to me. Or, maybe, the times will stay interesting and I still won’t know.
I spent my evening in Bloomingdale last night. I was there to support the library, as the mayor and council were working on a decision to close the library, paying a neighboring community to provide library services. Although I was able to provide some important information, it turned out that instead of the night being about me supporting Bloomingdale, it became a night for Bloomingdale to support me. I sat there for a few hours and listened to library user after library user explain why the Bloomingdale Library was important to them. The school children talked about it being the place they met their first friends when their moms brought them to storytime. The Middle Schoolers talked about the importance of being able to find research material, and how helpful the staff was in guiding them on their research. They also liked having it be a place they could bike to. A recent PhD recipient talked about how the library was the place she researched her college and scholarship applications, and the place where she researched the company where she is about to begin her first professional job. Parents discussed the importance to their family; local homeowners and realtors discussed the importance of a library to a town. Adult students spoke about the ILL services that the library provided. Senior citizens spoke about the easy access to reading material. As a librarian, I just sat there and let it fill my heart with joy. The Bloomingdale Council voted to bring the issue to referendum, and let the people decide. So, the Bloomingdale Library has a job to do this summer and next fall, marshaling voters to come out and support the library. Not necessarily an easy job, but there were over 300 library supporters at the meeting last night, and volunteers collected over 1,000 signatures. There are lots of things that a library can and should do that the Bloomingdale residents didn’t speak of, but much of that involves needing more space, which they will hopefully achieve someday. In the meantime, library lovers are alive and well in Bloomingdale. Wish them well, and wish them strength as they continue to fight for something they truly believe in.
Christopher Harris of Infomancy fame recently posted a success story about how they used 2.0 tools to make reading a social event for the 6th graders in one of his school districts. Check out the blogpost
There are two things that really hit me: the students LOVED being able to post reviews of their books online and that a simple reward system really worked well for them. (Homemade buttons as social currency!) And, he also thought that the reward ceremonies were important. We’ll need to incorporate that in our own Fall into 2.0 classes!
I’ve recently decided that Technolust is actually a really GOOD thing for me to have, and I have stopped pushing these lustful thoughts down and started thinking about how the new tools (not toys) that I want will increase my ability to be a more productive person or how they will help my libraries become better places. To that end, I recently bought a tablet PC, so that I can actually FIND the notes I take a meetings. (Plus, it’s actually a good lightweight laptop). I’m looking at Blackberries. But, now, I’m dying for one of these:
Microsoft Surface
(I wanted to embed the video, but my Blog and Youtube aren’t working well together right now!)
John Blyberg posted a brief blog about it, and you can see all of the Microsoft videos on Youtube. Think about what we could do with something like this!
The Boston Globe ran this story on Sunday. Libraries are closing in Massachusetts– which I consider the home of higher education in this country. (OK, so it’s where I went to school, but so did LOTS of people I know.) And, here at home, the Bloomingdale township council is considering a proposal to close the library, and pay neighboring Riverdale to provide services to their residents. In Bloomingdale, they claim that they will save taxpayers $60.00/year. My question is, WHY would anyone not think that we are worth way more than $60.00/year? I personally have a cable bill which is higher than $90/month. I get the local newspaper delivered to my house on the weekends only, and that costs $55/year. I can’t even tell you what my friends pay for cell service these days, once you add in text messaging, family plans, etc. We pay all of these bills without blinking. Yet politicians are trying to SAVE their towns by eliminating this $60/year expense to each homeowner.
We tell ourselves that our libraries are the center of town. They are more than just places to borrow books. They are information centers, gathering places, centers of learning, etc. Yet, clearly, that isn’t what the rest of the world sees. They seem to be looking at us as an unnecessary expense. A few months ago, I waged a telephone campaign along with a few other local librarians trying to get the NJ legislators to vote against a municipal cap law. Even though we were “assured” that libraries shouldn’t be affected by this, we saw the writing on the wall. Communities are being forced to look at places to save money. And, instead of seeing us as a place that adds value to the community, we’re looked at as something that can be cut to save taxes.
I’m sad and disheartened. I don’t want my children to grow up in a world where there aren’t public libraries. I feel somehow responsible for this. What am I doing wrong that the people I live with, learn with, play with, work with, celebrate with, etc. don’t know how important libraries are to our society? What can I do that will make a difference? How can we turn this tide, saving not only ourselves but those who follow us? Green is “in” these days, I’m told. We are stewards, protecting our earth for the next generations. How can we be stewards of libraries, making sure that our children and our children’s children enjoy knowledge resources that are available for ALL to share, and not just the privileged that can afford to buy their own access?
Those Pew people just don’t want me to sleep anymore. Stephen Abram got me addicted to Pew reports, and everytime a new Pew report comes out, I can never just read the “executive summary”–I need to see the entire thing!
The most recent report is entitled “A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users”. Apparently, Americans sort into 10 distinctive groups of information and communication technology usage. Some of the titles are a bit silly, but the report is worth reading, because these Americans are our library users (or non-users). Do we have the tools to reach them all? Where are you on the spectrum? I’m somewhere between a lackluster veteran and a productivity enhancer. I think that means I need to get a new cellphone…Here’s the list:
Along with a lot of librarians from NJ, PA, WV, DE, and MD, I attended the Mid-Atlantic Library Future Conference at the Borgata in Atlantic City. I’ve come home with a huge stock of “I’ve gotta do this” ideas and some thoughts on the future.
So, what were some of my “gotta do’s”?
RSS feeds that send out lists/notices of new books on particular subjects either to subscribed individuals or other websites
Figuring out how to get the entire PALS Plus holdings on worldcat so that users searching Yahoo or Googlescholar find out that our libraries have the books
“Book-feeds” like the ones at the Yorba Linda Library which show patrons recently returned books and most requested books.
I’ve got more to talk about/think about, and you can read Amy K’s and Pete Bromberg’s notes on Library Garden.
Better yet, you can also check out Amy’s pictures on Flikr so that you can see every BIT of what it was like to stay at the Borgata. (She needs to add smell to the bathroom supplies so that you can the true spa-like experience of the tangerine-basil and lavender! And, you need to be constantly eating while you look at the slide show…there was a LOT of food there…and there were a lot of hotel eating opportunities, since people like Wolfgang Puck and Bobby Flay have restaurants there…)
