LISNews: Librarian News

When old cliches were new
" For Barlow, we can be natives of the future through desire and understanding. Being a native is an act of will, not an accident of birth. Likewise, being born after a certain date doesn’t make one a native of the future. It requires opportunity and imagination. Information wants to be free only because it also wants to be expensive. Digital natives are born, but natives of the future need to recreate ourselves again and again."

Commensurable Nonsense (Transliteracy)

Rothman, what’s your problem? Why are you picking on those nice transliteracy people?
I’m not. I’m picking on their ideas and their writing. Their writing because it is awful and their ideas because…well…I think they have no new ideas.

The world changes as technology changes. Education and libraries adapt (well or poorly, but they adapt). There’s nothing new here. There’s no need for a new movement, a new term, or so much discussion about nothing.

How we dote on Nancy Pearl...she's got two action figures and she's way lusty (now the author of five Book Lust Books and a Book Lust Journal)...no one quite like her in the library world.

From Americana Exchange: This is the Nancy Pearl who started the city-wide book discussions - the format where everyone in town reads the same book at the same time and talks about it. It was an idea that was widely adopted, expanded and has now spread to practically everywhere.

This is the Nancy Pearl who teaches, blogs, speaks, broadcasts and can easily be found at her own site, not to mention on facebook and on twitter. She is also a participant in the facebook group, "Oprah, Libraries Need You!", found here: http://is.gd/fuL2q

And talk about iconic high visibility librarian, this is the Nancy Pearl who has her own action figure (both Regular and Deluxe).
More from Nancy Pearl here. -- Read More

Transgibberish is recent terminology gaining currency in the library world. It is a broad term encompassing and transcending many existing concepts. Because transgibberish is not a library-centric concept, many in the profession are unsure what the term means and how it relates to libraries’ instructional mission and to other existing ideas about various literacies. Transgibberish is such a new concept that its working definition is still evolving and many of its tenets can easily be misinterpreted. Although this term is in flux, academic librarians should watch developments in this new field to continually assess and understand what impact it may have on the ways they assist and interact with their patrons and each other.

Article on transgibberish here.