LISNews: The Librarian's Huge Cache

The first LISNews Librarian Essay Contest was a big success, let's do it again! In August I'll open things up again for librarians to write an original essay about issues that impact librarianship. The contest will run for the entire month of August, 2010, with the fabulous prizes awarded sometime in September. Winning essayists will receive one of several prizes including Amazon or Borders gift cards, or a year of hosting from LISHost.org.

All Essays Must Be Submitted Here! (NOT NOW, It's not August yet)

You can view only essay entries at http://lisnews.org/essays/
OR
Subscribe to the Essay Contest Entries RSS Feed Here: http://lisnews.org/essays/rss
Below the break you'll see answers to your questions.

“Dress for Other Reasons”
R. Lee Hadden LeeHadden@aol.com

Many people have made tons of money by writing "dress for success" books. Here is my "dress for other reasons" for librarians, which you can take or leave as you wish. I have often mounted on my soapbox and spouted off about dressing “as a librarian” on discussion lists. Some fashions are to make it easier and safer for the librarian to do their job. Other styles of clothing are worn as fashion statements. Or to define class or position or authority.

As you can see from the following post, I am no expert on fashion, or men’s and women's clothing, but I have watched librarians at work for a number of years and have drawn some conclusions about their work attire.

Men have more choice in clothing styles than women do, since men's clothing is more closely tied to profession rather than class. Among working men, you can line up a number of them and easily identify the lumberjack, the banker, the cowboy, the sailor, the librarian, the construction worker, the school teacher, the steel maker, the watch repairman, etc. fairly well by their outfits, fashions and tools. Men fit more comfortably in a variety of guild uniforms than women do. The men are interchangeable, but the
uniforms are not.

By Molly Skeen

Some people use and support the public library, no matter what. They visit the library regularly, borrow books, take the kids to story time, join the Friends, and visit new libraries on vacation. Let's call them the Fans.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are people who never use the library, no matter what. They have their reasons. We could call these the Frosties. Between the two extremes, there's a broad range of library use patterns.

Here are some numbers taken from a 2006 study titled Long Overdue: A Fresh Look at Public and Leadership Attitudes About Libraries in the 21st Century. When asked how many times they visited a library in the previous year, survey respondents replied with these frequencies:
Not at all - 27%
1-5 times - 15%
6-10 times - 11%
11-25 times - 16%

How can we convert library Frosties to Fans? And how can we engage the people who use the library once a year to use it more often? I'm convinced that a great many of the Frosties have needs and interests that could be met at the library, but they are simply unaware of specific services that could help them.

• Take Joe Frosty – a busy guy who works full time, takes the family camping, and likes to tinker with his car. He never uses the library, but maybe he would if he knew that his library provides access to EBSCO's Auto Repair Reference Center on its web site.
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“Balan whispered to the Wart, “Colonel Cully is not quite right in his wits. It is his liver, we believe, but the kestrel says it is the constant strain of living up to her ladyship’s standard. He says that her ladyship once spoke to him from her full social station once, cavalry to infantry, you know, and that he just closed his eyes and got the vertigo. He has never been the same since.” T. H. White. The Once & Future King.

One of the questions that comes up frequently, especially among librarians applying for their first or second job, is the question of social status. While we may not understand it, we all recognize it, especially when it is applied to us. Mostly it is seen when a librarian attempts to change the type of job he or she does in a library.

"It doesn't surprise me that there are problems of going from one aspect of librarianship to another. It violates class rules in libraries, and upsets the social order. Actually, there is an unnamed but very strongly identified pecking order in the class of librarians. Why are people getting so upset over this problem? Passions are heated because the stakes are so small. Actually, social settings are set up rather like a water fountain, with a number of different library jobs floating at the top, but fewer identified ones at the bottom."

Whether you graduated from college just a few years ago or many, the likelihood is that most of what you learned is hazy at best or gone completely. Such is the case with much of my college experience, but every so often I recall something memorable. One course in particular, the exact name didn’t make it into my long-term memory, dealt with the theme of individualism versus collectivism in American culture. Through literature and history we explored how our nation grew from a mix of rugged individualism and collective action. On one hand we celebrate the lone frontiersman who forged paths into the wilderness taming it along the way, while we also portray ourselves to the world as the great melting pot experiment in which our many cultures blend and work together to create a great union. It is a unique dualism to be sure.

by Bruce A. Sullivan

Part I: Summary

The current debate over the continued utility of the Dewey Decimal System in public libraries seems to hinge on one assertion, as articulated by Michael Casey: “Dewey, no matter how good for librarians needing to locate a book fast, is simply not suited to a popular collection intended more for browsing than research” (Casey 19). Resultantly, a number of small public libraries, notably Maricopa County Library District in Arizona, Rangeview Library District in Colorado, and Frankfort Public Library in Illinois, have adapted standards designed by booksellers (indeed, for booksellers) to their collections. These BISAC standards allegedly facilitate browsing, giving the library patron a more user-centered, as opposed to professional-centered, experience.

Technological advancements made in the past decade have certainly made librarians and libraries more efficient, more varied, and more approachable in the delivery of their services. Social networking allows for the online promotion of programs and services, as well as a way to communicate with others in the profession to exchange ideas. Vodcasting, podcasting, and blogs have allowed librarians to create material of their own and distribute it openly over the Internet, expanding their community far beyond their immediate geography. Video games have become a viable part of a library’s offerings; they represent the increasing amount of technology that libraries are making available to their patrons and the increasing diversity of collection development and programming.
All in all, there are few faults to find with the grand role that technology and new media plays in the daily life of a librarian. However, there is one form of media that librarians should approach with caution and that should not be engaged in simply for the sake of progress: e-books.

In Defense of The (Graphic) Novel

Many conversations I've had have spurred the idea for this discourse in my mind, but as I think on the topic now, two really stick out.

The first was between my boyfriend and me. Me: "I'm reading this Graphic Novel for my GLBTQ YA Lit class and - "
Boyfriend: "Wait... Graphic Novel? You mean comic?"
Me: "No, I mean Graphic Novel."
Boyfriend: "Comic."
Me: "Graphic Novel."
Boyfriend: "Comic! Comics - books with frames and pictures and not many words! Comics!"
Me: "..."

And the second, between a young patron in the public library where I worked at the time and me.

Young patron: "Where can I find the Bone books please?"
Me: "Sure, they're over in the Graphic Novels section in the Teen Area."
Young patron: "Oh, they're not that graphic..."

What went wrong in these interactions? Where is the disconnect between the item we're describing when we say "Graphic Novel" and the term we chose, and what's the difference between this and the "comics" we grew up with? Perhaps the issue truly lies with the terminology rather then the concept.

I think if the worth of public libraries were truly examined than their value would be apparent to federal and state officials who hold the purse strings. When I say “truly examined” I mean using hard numbers and tracking the right data. Arguments for funding a public library need to change. In addition to the feel-good flowery language (libraries being a reflection of an advanced society or the measure of how much a society values education) our funding arguments need to start using numbers.

What libraries need is transparency. If a library isn’t already tracking their statistics (door count, reference questions, use of technology, circulation, number of classes offered) they don’t deserve any funding from state of local government. Librarians are supposed to be organized on an anal retentive level, aren’t they? Why not channel that tendency? Instead of adding widgets and crafting promotions on Facebook and Twitter why not channel that into tracking statistics on things that matter? When the economy first dipped, libraries were in the news for a few months, but they didn’t seize that moment to explain their worth. The bottom line is that public libraries are here for poor or disadvantaged people. Librarians shouldn’t have any illusions about why libraries exist. The state and federal officials don’t want to hear about libraries being “information commons,” “repositories of knowledge,” or any of the academic language that MLS seekers throw around their tiny sphere of existence.

Little Kids and Public Libraries
By Larry T. Nix

You results are listed in reverse chronological order

hipster_lib_patron @twitting_library A fancy coffee bar!

kid_lib_patron @twitting_library More X-boxes!

twitting_library Tell us what you want at your library! htp://sho.rt/3234

other_library_patron RT @twitting_library: Finally you are listening you your public. I'll go to the library again. #boycott_the_lib

twitting_library Due to concerns from the public we will be discontinuing our Xbox program and shutting down our Gourmet Coffee Bar. #boycott_the_lib

other_library_patron Don't like the way the library is run? Sign the petition: htp://sho.rt/2387 #boycott_the_lib

twitting_library Local boy wins online X-Box tournament. Credits Library for all the help. htp://sho.rt/2011. Way to go @kid_lib_patron.

hipster_lib_patron The Library has awesome coffee!

twit_lib_ref @hipster_lib_patron a delicious French dark roast... htp://sho.rt/4847

hiptster_lib_patron @twit_lib_ref What is the special of the day at the coffee bar?

twit_lib_ref @kid_lib_patron try using the sword of strength found in level 4... htp://sho.rt/2432

kid_lib_patron @twit_lib_ref How do I defeat the gorgon on level 5 of Gorgon's Attack on xbox?

twit_lib_ref We are here to answer your questions!

twitting_library We know have an account for reference help. Please send messages to @twit_lib_ref

by Anne O’Sullivan

“The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite, perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries. In the center of each gallery is a ventilation shaft, bounded by a low railing. From any hexagon one can see the floors above and below – one after another, endlessly...I declare that the Library is endless.”
- Jorge Luis Borges, “The Library of Babel”

The Borgesian library, which is “perfect, complete and whole” and composed of “all books”, is not a far cry from reality in the digital age. Google has openly declared its intention of digitizing all the world’s information, and estimates it will take approximately 300 years to do so. Substitute Borges’ hexagonal galleries for Google’s server farms, and an eerie picture begins to emerge, one that should seem reminiscent from the pages of Genesis to which Borges alludes in his title.

Borges aptly names the library in his story after the Tower of Babel parable, wherein humankind, united by one language, has the hubris to build a tower to reach heaven. God strikes down the tower, and punishes the sinners by confusing their tongues, and dispersing them geographically (hence the origin of languages, and nations). For Borges, the Library of Babel comes out of this tradition; though the Library may contain all books, meaning is only made more elusive by the vastness of what the Library contains.

By Jessica Horvath

One thing I've learned during my time in the library world is that libraries treat their policies and procedures manuals like security blankets. Rules make the introverted librarian feel safe and sometimes rules even make the library safe. While rules can be dandy, I think there's a line that libraries cross all the time. A point in which the rules stop making sense, and the limitations for the patron are terribly unwelcoming. If libraries will ever be universally known as the "third place," we better make the visitors feel, at the very least, welcome. Let me illustrate my point:

Imagine going to a friend's house to play your favorite game, let's pretend it's Yahtzee.

You walk up to her front door, which has a laminated sign, in that dreadful comic sans, asking, "*PLEASE* Turn your cell phones OFF or put on VIBRATE before you enter."

"Well," you shrug, "guess she doesn't like noise."

You ring the door bell and enter, politely overlooking the tangerine vinyl furniture.

"How's it going?" you ask.

"You need to keep your voice down," she says.

You whisper, "Where are we playing Yahtzee?"

"Over by that table, under the sign that says 'Yahtzee Table.'" Guess this friend likes signage too.

When you sit down at the designated Yahtzee table, you notice that a dull golf pencil is tethered down with twine and an old piece of scotch tape.

"Why did you tether this pencil?"

"So someone doesn't steal it," she asserts.

By Ned Potter (LIFE-SHARE Project Officer, University of Leeds Library)

How close is the library to death? Reports vary. Some people think the reaper is hovering over the life-support machine, eager to pull the plug; others think that kind of image is a lot of melodramatic fuss about nothing. Two things I know for sure. One is, public-funding for libraries is being cut on both sides of the Atlantic - and as we sleep-walk towards a Conservative government in the UK we’ll soon realise just how much worse things can be, particularly with regards to the arts, culture, and public spending. The other is, people who would otherwise require the services of a library have never had so many means and opportunities to bypass us entirely in reaching their information goals. So, we have issues!

Really, as far at the job situation these days goes, it's not a good time for a lot of people. But that's not much comfort when it's YOU that's facing a possible layoff.

Never would I have thought that this would happen. I went to college, then grad school for my Master's in Library Science. After two years of looking (I admit I was place-bound) I landed a $13-an-hour support staff position at an academic library. I wasn't particularly interested in the work, or even academic libraries for that matter, but hey, it was a job, and a job with good benefits at that.

Fast forward another two years and I am looking at the likelihood of getting laid off in May. "Laid off" is just a nice way of them saying to you that your work isn't valued enough to keep you.
With the support of my spouse and a good friend, I am dealing with it okay. I still come to work (and actually do work) and make an effort to be nice to everyone.

But last week I had a moment where I didn't know whether to laugh or cry...
I was sitting at my desk quietly working when in walked four student workers with a bunch of Mylar balloons. They gave one to my co-worker, thanking her for her donation. Then one of them looked at the nameplate on my cubicle and said, "it's says that you are supposed to get one too."
I cringed.

I am a librarian by career choice. I am also one of those patrons that librarians both love and neglect. I place masses of holds, get my materials, pay my fines, use many of the Web-based resources, and can come and go without ever actually speaking to anyone who works in the library. This has been my modus operandi for the past fifteen years and it is my strong perception that most libraries are happy to keep it that way. As I continue through my 20s and am looking at my 30s very shortly, it's a place where I see a failing on the part of public libraries.

There has been a lot of change in public libraries from what I remember even from my own not particularly distant past. Summer Reading Programs have gone from a stickers posted on a paper star with my name on it on the library wall to daily and weekly programs, huge prizes, and an ever increasing number of statistics on circulation, hours read, and maintaining reading levels over the summer. Teen Services has gone from an awkward set of shelves and all of the Sweet Valley High books to entire rooms, dedicated librarians, focused programming and 98% of magazine covers in library literature for the past several years. And as the population in general and the librarian population has aged (this is not a myth nor an ageist statement—my library director pointed out in a staff meeting last week that 58% of our full time staff is over 50—we are not an anomaly), we are seeing an increased focus on services to the Boomer and Senior generations. These are all good and excellent things.

However.

by Susan Ariew, University of South Florida

As someone who has been both a classroom teacher at the secondary school level and at the college level as well as a teaching librarian, I have observed that the culture of the library as a teaching environment is more complex than the culture of school and university academic departments. The differences between the classroom teaching environment and the library teaching environment as well as the differences in questions of identity that arise for librarians presents unique challenges, opportunities and barriers for those librarians who teach.

The Complexity of the Library Environment

I'm a librarian. In May I will begin my eighth year as a librarian. I also write a weekly column for a small town newspaper. This I have been doing since Christ was a pup. Hopefully that note will not offend any other Christians as much as it does myself, but I digress. One of my two library bosses (classic case of too many Indians and not enough chiefs -- again, if you find that offensive let me note that I'm a lone librarian in the only public library located on this particular Indian Reservation) knows I write said column. Who knows what the other boss knows. This regional library system keeps secrets better than the CIA. In fact, it keeps them so well, sometimes it's years before us lone librarians hear of them. Usually policy and procedure nonsense of little or no consequence. Usually.

My patrons are better than most. I am a bitch. Former substitute teaching has to be the best training for a lone librarian who takes over the reigns of a library gone wild. Kids on the Internet looking at porn (yes, this was prior to the infamously bad filters), people speaking very loudly (the former librarian boasting that this was the "loudest in the system"), books in disarray, and yes, the prior librarian will come back and kill me if she got wind of this, so let's not spread it around. Today my library is quiet enough to read. And being one large room, this is really a plus. Just the presence of the chess set on the back table screams QUIET. Just the way I like it.

By Jeffrey Beall

The Problem

Word-sense disambiguation is the ability of an online system to differentiate the different senses, or meanings, of words in online searching. Say for example that you need information on boxers, so you access an Internet search engine and enter "boxers" in the search box. The search engine then finds documents that contain the word "boxers" and returns those documents to you as search results.

You probably already see the problem here -- the word "boxers" is a homonym with several different meanings, and the search engine doesn’t know which meaning you want. Boxers are a breed of dog, a category of athlete, and a kind of men’s garment. It’s also the possessive of a surname, as in "Barbara Boxer’s bill …" Finally, boxers were those who participated in the Boxer Rebellion in China from 1899 to 1901. There may be additional meanings.

Information retrieval in libraries has transitioned from the high precision and recall that legacy library systems offered to the probabilistic and linguistic free-for-all that internet search engines now provide. One of the great values of legacy library databases was that they effectively handled polysemy -- the ability of a term to have multiple meanings -- in searching. Because online searching needs word-sense disambiguation to be effective and precise, it’s important for all librarians to understand the problem and its solutions.

I work with the public. You know, those people who are the first to say that they pay my salary even though they haven't paid taxes in years. But even though I serve the non-taxpaying public, they still represent the taxpayer. And more than representing figuratively, they stand in for the taxpayer in the real way that allows the taxpayer to live the carefree lifestyle that comes from knowing that most of the rest of the public is safely inside the library and not out on the streets. But enough about my bosses...

I think the general public are satisfied with library services. But I think the librarians are convinced that services suck. To read what librarians are saying about libraries is to get an image of libraries continually at the center of failure. The librarians say that libraries need new or more everything: more social networking features, more e-services, more e-books, e-readers, 2.0, 1.0, open source software, koha (whatever-tee-eff that is), iPhones, iPads, IM, SMS, Wii, virtual reality, real reality, Facebook, face punch, sustainability, sustainability???, advocacy, political action, fundraising, programming, css, drupal, SEO,... it doesn't matter how much librarians know or do, there always seem to be other librarians who demand that we know and do more. Like it's a personal offense to them when we aren't up on the latest, ... whatever, whether it's a new author or a subject or a device or a philosophy.