diy librarian turned 2 yesterday! When I first started this blog, I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy it, or how long I would keep it up. So I used web space that was freely available to me and coded everything by hand. But now that I've been doing this for 2 years, and people actually seem to be reading it (based on occasional links and emails), I'm thinking of getting diy librarian its very own domain name. Hell, it's been such a good kid I might even look into blogging software.
One of my primary motivations for looking into blogging software is that I would really like to have comments. Of course, comment spam seems to be a growing problem, so perhaps I don't want to do that after all. I don't want to trade the time I spend hand-coding for time spent filtering comments.
And, of course, there are other considerations. Do I really want to break the links to all of my pages? Should I choose a .com or a .org?
But change is coming. It's only a matter of when. They can't stay babies forever, you know.
6-20-05: SLA 2005: transparency
I'm still working through my notes from SLA.
On Tuesday night, before I passed out after the always grueling Chapter Cabinet experience, I scrawled the following in my little yellow notebook. (Actually, Chapter Cabinet was not really a grueling experience this year, for once.)
A big theme so far seems to be the transparency of technology, the separation of format and content. The keynote speakers definitely get this, but some of the sessions seem very caught up in the technologies.
The blogging session seemed very caught up in technology; no one really made a case for why we would want to do these things.
Well after the conference is over and I'm back into my work, this still resonates with me. Don Tapscott talked about transparency in business (The Naked Corporation) and how technology is facilitating it (even forcing it). Bill Buxton talked about how transparent technology should be.
Last week, I was talking with a colleague about descriptions of our departments that we have to submit every 5 years to apply for our funding. He commented that surprisingly little had changed in what we do over the past 5 years—but we both agreed, after the initial shock, that this was not a bad thing. After all, our objectives have not changed over the past 5 years. The only thing that has changed is the way we accomplish our tasks. Our operations may be more efficient thanks to technology, but technology has not altered what we do.
What struck me in that blogging session ("Blogging and RSSing the Librarian Way") was that the presenters talked about examples of blogging and new innovations like podcasting, but didn't really relate these technologies to library or information services. I guess the assumption is that if you're attending the session, you're interested in using blogs and RSS, but I really wanted someone to demonstrate how you could use a blog to improve an existing service. For example, at my library we're using a blog to replace notices that were routinely sent out by email. The primary motivation? Users were starting to associate my email address with spam! In the old days of the paper newsletter, we were communicating more effectively with our users. The goal of the blog is to use the benefits of both the email (immediacy) and the paper (users can read at their leisure) predecessors in the new format. But essentially, we're still delivering library news.
6-15-05: SLA 2005: new blog born during SLA conference
As far as I know, this is the only blog to actually get started during the conference: SoloCybrarian. It's from Quinn Koller, who I got to know through my SLA chapter.
(And thanks for the compliment, Quinn—I'll do my best to live up to it!)
6-14-05: SLA 2005: the exhibit hall, or, my mother told me not to take candy from strangers
The whole exhibit hall is a bit of a mystery to me (I'm sure SLA doesn't want to hear that!). I did talk to a whopping 2 vendors this year (up 2 from last year!) and got some good information, so perhaps I will get more adventurous. I know I am getting old because free pens just don't lure me in like they did in my grad school days—in fact, I escaped the exhibit hall with absolutely no loot at all.
Not even the numerous iPod drawings could snare me. In fact, I am resolutely iPod-free. I just don't really like to listen to music on headphones in public places. It makes me nervous, because I know that's when the assassin who's been stalking me will swoop in for the kill shot, and I won't hear her coming because I'm listening to the latest U2 single.
6-14-05: SLA 2005: Leadership Development Institute
On Sunday morning, I attended my fourth SLA Leadership Development Institute. The annual conference LDI, lasting a mere 3 hours, is not nearly as intense as the January LDI, but it was a good way to kick off the conference. There was a hot breakfast, courtesy of Dialog, which I wish I had known about before I spent half an hour searching for coffee and a bagel in the convention center. (No outside food allowed, but please feel free to wait in a 30-minute line to buy coffee in the convention center cafe.)
After the introductions, Pam Rollo outlined her vision for her presidential term ("The Big WOW"). I thought she was much more inspiring here than in her briefer address to the attendees at large. The important point, for me, was that there is an opportunity for every member to have an impact on the association. This is one of the reasons I really like SLA—and I hope it continues to be true if SLA grows. (There is an overview of her presentation on the SLA Conference Blog.)
Linda Broussard gave a brief presentation called "SLA 101" with key dates, resources (turns out the key to finding things on the SLA website is to look under "Resources"), and contacts for help. I just wish the handout were in a more useful format than printed PowerPoint slides. Even my relatively young eyes don't like to read that small print.
John Lowery introduced Click University, focusing on the ways chapters and divisions can incorporate it into their programming. After a break, we formed roundtables to discuss program planning. Others at my table seemed very excited about using Click University in their chapters, but I have to admit I was drawing a blank. I think Click is going to be a great benefit to SLA members, but I prefer chapter programs to be interactive. I don't want to drive 90 miles to Harrisburg to watch PowerPoint slides with pre-recorded audio. I will, however, drive that distance for a live speaker and time to talk to my colleagues.
(The Click University site doesn't seem to get along with Firefox very well.)
The best part of any LDI for me is always getting programming and fundraising ideas. Fundraising is a real mystery to me, especially since I rarely deal with vendors in my job. At my table, we talked quite a bit about student members and the future of the association, and someone mentioned that SLA could do more to help chapters connect with students in distance learning programs. This really hits home for us in the Central Pennsylvania Chapter because we don't have a library school in our chapter's geographic area, but I know there are some students.
6-13-05: SLA 2005: the blog people
Everywhere I went at SLA, I ran into other bloggers, who seemed to be attracted by my bright yellow "SLA 2005 Blogger" ribbon. I didn't get a chance to blog much during the conference itself (lack of time, lack of access, lack of energy after breakfast meetings, sessions, receptions, parties, and sightseeing). Who's blogging SLA 2005? (Most people are still posting after the conference—which is heartening for me, because I'm only just now getting started.)
- SLA 2005 Conference Blog. SLA's official bloggers were, of course, blogging away. I didn't post much on sessions for the above reasons, but also because someone beat me to it almost every time.
- InfoToday. Information Today staff, blogging "Live from SLA 2005", wrote quite a bit about the vendors and the exhibit hall, but also covered keynotes, sessions, and Toronto.
- SLA PAM Division Blog. These folks were blogging so fast and furious that I couldn't keep up.
- Science Library Pad. This one mentions a list of SLA 2005 blogs on seedwiki, but I wanted to write my own notes about these blogs.
- Christina's LIS Rant.
- Confessions of a Mad Librarian. "Raw" notes from many of the sessions and keynotes, with a little general commentary.
- Connie Crosby. Law librarian from in Toronto. I met Connie at the last session I attended on Wednesday afternoon. No doubt she was attracted by my blogger ribbon. Or perhaps by the bag of chocolates I was trying to get rid of.
- The People's Republic of Dave. He's only been blogging since May, but he blogged SLA 2005! And, he's another Canadian.
6-3-05: SLA 2005: other conference blogs
Besides the SLA 2005 Conference Blog, there is the SLA PAM Division Blog, and Information Today, Inc. will be blogging SLA again this year. Numerous individual bloggers will also be blogging from the conference, including (hopefully) yours truly, Science Library Pad, and Christina's LIS Rant.
I was purusing the excellent list of Toronto bookstores on the Toronto Chapter's SLA 2005 site, and was pleased to see quite a few comic book stores. The Beguiling looks particularly interesting, and their website has a really nice section for librarians, but it's just far enough from the convention area that I don't know if I'll be able to check it out.
I think it's going to be tough navigating between enjoying the outdoors, soaking up some Toronto culture, and attending sessions and meetings. But, as a friend just emailed me, it will be nice to be in a city with so many options!
Previously, I wrote about the problems of confusing format with content distinctions—in that case, lumping all graphic novels in with popular or genre fiction. That got me to thinking about Gormangate and the lesser Croningate again.
Really, what it boils down to is mistaking format distinctions for content distinctions. Just because there are a lot of superhero comics doesn't mean that all comics are superhero comics. Just because many blogs are personal diaries or poorly written rants doesn't mean there aren't also some highly professional blogs out there. Or maybe in terms Cronin might identify with, just because some free photocopied zine doesn't interest you, it doesn't mean all magazines are trash.
With the prospect of travelling without my cell phone (because it will be too expensive to use in Canada), a Christian Science Monitor report on efforts to preserve the pay phone caught my eye. I've often wondered about the fate of the pay phone in the cell phone age, and I'm glad to know there are people who see the value of pay phones. Now I wonder, though, if in the not-too-distant future someone will be fighting to save internet cafés and public library computers. Just when it seems the technology divide is shrinking, new technologies come along to increase the divide again.
When I worked in a public library, we tried to get a pay phone so that the reference desk wouldn't have to double as a phone service, but we were told our location wouldn't generate enough revenue. Up until that point, I had incorrectly assumed that pay phones were indeed a public service, like street lights.
In the May 15 issue, Library Journal interviews Harold Augenbraum, the new director of the National Book Foundation. He has some very interesting things to say about literature, books, and reading. I'm especially interested in the distinctions he makes between "popular" and "great" literature (or genre fiction and literature). He extends this distinction to include graphic novels in the popular fiction category:
There's loads of anecdotal evidence that people who read graphic novels and listen to audiobooks are also big readers of regular books.
W and I discussed this, and came up with a tentative list of graphic novels that we wouldn't consider genre fiction: From Hell (Alan Moore), Cerebus (Dave Sim), Maus (Art Spiegelman), and others, which I'm forgetting just now. It seems to me that if you're bothering to make the distinction between population or genre fiction and literature, that you would make that distinction regardless of format. There is a difference between listening to the latest Nora Roberts on tape and listening to Moby Dick, and there is a difference between reading Spiderman and reading Maus.
Too often I hear librarians and teachers say things like, "At least they're reading," as if simply reading words, even if the content is pure fluff, is better than engaging yourself intellectually with something in another format. Yes, reading "regular" books is a worthy activity, but it doesn't mean that other forms of literature (graphic novels, comic books, audio books, etc.) are therefore not worthy.
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