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February 27, 2009
What do my books say about me?
I realized that I've been checking out a lot of books from the library lately so I thought I'd take a look at what I currently have in my possesion and what, if anything that says about me so here they are in due date order.
Roach, M. (2008). Bonk : the curious coupling of science and sex. New York: W.W. Norton.
Hilarious yet very interesting book about the study of human sex. Makes me want to go back and read her other books: Spook: science tackles the afterlife and Stiff : the curious lives of human cadavers. You wouldn't think this topics were entertaining, would you?
Raudsepp, E. (1980). Creative growth games. New York: G.P. Putnam.
Seventy-five short exercises to get you thinking outside the box.
Michalko, M. (2006). Thinkertoys: a handbook of creative-thinking techniques. Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press.
Another book on creative thinking. I thought the ideas in here might be useful for coming up with some active learning library instruction sessions as ways for students to think outside the box.
Moran, J. (2002). Interdisciplinarity. New York: Routledge.
I'm always interested in the idea of interdisciplinary research and how libraries can develop models for helping with that.
Keeran, P. (2007). Research within the disciplines : foundations for reference and library instruction. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.
This one's more the opposite of the previous book. It talks about research within specific disciplines.
Kroski, E. (2008). Web 2.0 for librarians and information professionals. New York: Neal-Schuman.
Books are not necessarily the best place for learning about cutting edge ideas for librarians now that we have the blogosphere but I thought I would see what was being published. This one seems pretty dated already...
Hasso, F.S. (2005). Resistance, repression, and gender politics in occupied Palestine and Jordan . Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press.
I'm updating the ACRL Women's Studies Section for a core list of books on Women and the Middle East. Want to see what's been published in the subject area recently.
Montague, Read. (2006). Why choose this book?: how we make decisions. New York: Penguin Group.
Who could resist the title of this book staring at you from the bookshelf? I was looking for another book on decision making but this one called to me.
Shenk, D. (1999). The end of patience : cautionary notes on the information revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University.
Just read an interesting article on journalism and information overload (see previous post) and this was one of the books mentioned by the author.
Kirsch, G. & Rohan, L. (2008). Beyond the archives : research as a lived process. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Hmmm, maybe it's time to return this book. I doubt I'll finish it.
Knepper, G. (2003). Ohio and its people. Kent, OH: Kent State University.
Getting back into genealogy and family history so there are a few books I've checked out related to that.
Lattuca, L.R. (2001). Creating interdisciplinarity : interdisciplinary research and teaching among college and university faculty. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Interdisciplinarity goes along with the idea that everything is miscellaneous. I want to work on figuring out how to destroy the information silos libraries have created.Klingberg, T. (2009). The overflowing brain : information overload and the limits of working memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Here's another book that was mentioned in the article I previously blogged about. Can't you relate to this title?
Bruns, A. (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second life, and Beyond : from production to produsage. New York: Peter Lang.
Another one of those books on "emerging technology" in libraries. I want to experiement with podcasting and Camtasia tutorials so I was looking for some assistance from those that have done it. Again, blogs would probably be the better source here.
Kuhlthau, C.C. (2003). Seeking meaning : a process approach to library and information services. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.
A classic on information literacy. Maybe I should buy this instead of checking it out.
Krause, W. (2008). Women in civil society : the state, Islamism, and networks in the UAE. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Here's another book I'm considering for the core book list.
Simpson, J. (2008). Basics of genealogy reference : a librarian’s guide. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.
Another for the genealogy hobby. Probably should get this one back as it's pretty basic.
Jhumpa, Lahiri. (2003). The namesake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Yes, there is some reading for pleasure involved in this list.
Watson, R. (2008). Future files: the 5 trends that will shape the next 50 years. Boston, MA : Nicholas Brealey.
Looks like an interesting take on the future. I especially like the guides he has on the book's website. I'm a little startled that he has libraries on his list of things that are going to be extinct. He estimates that will happen around 2018, right in there with free parking and size 0. Take heart, he also suggests that Google will become extinct by 2048.
Schwartz, B. (2004). The paradox of choice: why more is less. New York: ECCO.
This was the book I was trying to find when I also saw Why choose this book?: how we make decisions. It was also mentioned in the article in Columbia journalism review from the previous post. This would make an interesting subject related to libraries. Why do researchers choose one database over another? Google over ProQuest?
Lutz, L. (2007). The Spellman files. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Last one and most recent pick. I thought I needed some light, mindless reading after looking at the rest of the things I have checked out! A comedy/mystery.
Twenty-one books, eh? Guess I'd better get reading!
Posted by swortman at 08:38 AM | Comments (1)
February 26, 2009
Information Overload - Journalism and Libraries
It’s not just librarians who are dealing with helping people maneuver through Information overload. Librarians, however will be some of the first people to recognize the dilemmas Bree Nordenson talks about in her recent article in the Columbia Journalism Review, Overload! Journalism’s Battle for relevance in an age of too much information.
Nordenson reviews a study released last summer by The Associated Press, A new model for news: studying the deep structure of young-adult news consumption and much, if not all of what she says applies to academic libraries and information literacy. Librarians are very familiar with information overload and how it affects young people in the 18-24 age bracket, which is the subject of this AP report. You may even be finding yourself in the grip of information overload. Did you really think you could check your e-mail, facebook, twitter, and catch up with your RSS feeds, while watching something from Hulu? Don’t think you’re developing Alzheimer’s. Your brain is overflowing. According to Torkel Klinberg, author of The overflowing brain: information overload and the limits of working memory we have reached the stage where, “The stone age brain meets the information flood,” and our brains are short-circuiting.
This same thing happens to young people when they are trying to find news. They have too many choices and experience “news fatigue.” The AP study also found that being able to deliver news faster does not always equate to better serving those interested in the news. News that is delivered quickly does not allow for any in-depth analysis, background or context. Fast news ends up being a series of headlines which are repeated throughout the day or held until the end of a TV news broadcast as a teaser to gain audience share. Young people from this study were frustrated by not being able to gain substantive news.
Students also experience library fatigue and I can see it coming on with questions like these.
• There are so many databases in Search Tools to consider. Which one is the best one?
• I’m exhausted. This database is good enough. Do I really need to choose between 15 databases for this 15 page paper?
• Why do I have to look for books in Mirlyn but look for articles someplace else? Google lets me find both books and articles together.
• Search Tools Quick Search? Hello! It is so user unfriendly!
• I keep clicking and clicking and end up with very little. Can’t it be easier?
VuFind will help consolidate research but more and more seems to be showing up on Google or Google Scholar and what's showing up is easier to find and can be linked back to library resources. If libraries don’t solve these frustration factors quickly we will lose our users.
Time + Information = Knowledge
Based on this equation, as information becomes more pervasive time can’t keep up so knowledge suffers. In order for library services to survive we must consider the findings from the AP report and realize that more information does not necessarily mean research will be better. Students are fickle. If VuFind doesn’t offer them the research options they are currently getting from Google there will be no need for them to replace it with library databases.
Posted by swortman at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2009
Librarians' Low Self-Esteem
I posted the following quip on my facebook profile the other day and it got me thinking,
It's like the term girl power, coined by The Spice Girls. By saying it you admit you're powerless. Girl power is sexual power. Check out Power Girl on Flickr. Maybe she's powerful in the bedroom! I am saddened when I see little girls, running around with pink "Girl Power" tee shirts. I never see little boys with "Boy Power" shirts. What does this say to these little girls? Does it inadvertently reinforce their sense of powerlessness?
There's a site that collects information on how librarians are perceived. Is there a site for engineers on being perceived as geeks? No! By constantly fretting over our image we become this stereotype or at the very least we remind the public about this stereotype so that they are forced to consider if we represent this image or not.
Here are just a few of the blogs on librarians' image problems:
http://stereotype-librarian.blogspot.com/
http://www.librarianstereotypes.blogspot.com/
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~hblack/sexylibrarians.htm
http://inthedeargreenplace.blogspot.com/2007/07/librarians-stereotype-20.html
http://community.livejournal.com/libraries/903969.html
In this post Alissa Williams talks about reversing the image of the librarian but also talks about hiring non-librarians to spice up the library, bring a fresh perspective. Is this stereotype a self-fulfilling prophecy? Do people see librarians in a certain way and as a consequence of seeing themselves this same way get into this field? I hope not!
Librarians are so worried about what people think of them, their visual image as well as their professional image and this shows their powerlessness. Make some assumptions, people.
1. You are a professional so act like one
2. You a a faculty member, whether you're in a tenured position or not. (see #1)
3. No, you don't wear your hair in a bun and run around saying shush. Stop explaining that to people.
4. Yes, you should market yourself but not in a "see how I've changed" manner. Market yourself by showing your usefulness. Prove to faculty and students how you can help them.
5. Come up with a better model than sitting at a desk waiting for someone to come up and ask you the directions to the nearest bathroom. (Remember #1? You're a professional!)
Posted by swortman at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)