July 23, 2008
Gannett News Service Public Library Systems Database
According to American Libraries Direct 7/23/08 the Ann Arbor District Library ranks 15th in public libraries with the highest circulation statistics for 2006. Pretty impressive, considering the populations served by the top 14 libraries average around 22,000 whereas Ann Arbor District serves a population of 155,611 people. Our local public library averaged 34.3 items circulated per person.
Just a note:
Take the demographics data on the individual community reports with a grain of salt. Medium income for Ann Arbor is listed at $60,579 but so is Dexter, Chelsea, South Lyon, Whitmore Lake, Saline and Ypsilanti. Come on! If it's a county-wide average why not say so?
Posted by swortman at 05:39 PM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2008
POPLINE and the Politics of Reproductive Health Research
USAID, sponsor of POPLINE, "the world's largest database on reproductive health" has riled the library world this week. It appears that a savvy librarian discovered the database was recently changed so that searches on the term "abortion" were not recognized and brought back zero hits. Dr. Michael J. Klag, Dean of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which administers POPLINE stated:[USAID] found two items in the database related to abortion that did not fit POPLINE criteria. The agency then made an inquiry to POPLINE administrators. Following this inquiry, the POPLINE administrators at the Center for Communication Programs made the decision to restrict abortion as a search term.There is no explanation of the criteria for items to be included in POPLINE. We can only guess, since USAID says on their web site they are an "independent federal government agency that receives guidance from the Secretary of State." It's sad but true that librarians and researchers have to be the watchdogs of information. This is an excellent example for student researchers on the hazards of information products, what is and, more importantly what is not included. To his credit, Dean Klag announced on Friday the controversial word has been reinstated in the database but significant damage has been done to the credibility of the Bloomberg School of Public Health because of this incident
Posted by swortman at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2008
50 Reasons Not to Change
From Librarian in Black by way of Biocultural Science and Management.
Everyone should have a copy of this!
click to see original
Please note that this image has a copyright, for non-commercial distribution with attribution.
Posted by swortman at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2008
Find out what it's like being a librarian in a war zone
Read this article from the Christian Science Monitor about Saad Eskander, director of the Iraq National Library and Archive in Baghdad.
Posted by swortman at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2007
Speed Traps and Social Networking
Here's a novel idea for social networking, the Speed Trap Exchange. Sponsored by the National Motorist Association, this is a list of speed traps, organized by state and then by cities which people have submitted and yes, Ann Arbor is on the list. Many of the Ann Arbor entries are duplicates but enough disgruntled motorists seem to have been stopped near Huron Parkway and Washtenaw that you'd better be careful the next time you're in that area!
Posted by swortman at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2007
Finding Your Lost Dog Using a Social Network
Here's a practical way of using social networking. Last year my dog, Rosie decided to casually walk out the our yard. She's not one of these sprinter dogs who constantly needs to be leashed, otherwise they're off in a flash. She's smarter than that. She will stay in the yard while I'm gardening or reading for a while, maybe even for hours and it's only when I start to forget that she's there that she wanders farther and farther away until I look up and she's gone. Once she's out of eye contact she's on the lam.
Well, last year this happened one afternoon so I jumped in my car and drove around, calling for her but to no avail. I gave up searching because she always comes back once she's hungry or bored but it got later and later. I called my daughter in Ypsi and told her about it, concerned that the dog might have been hit by a car or picked up by someone, because she is after all an attractive dog. Finally I gave up and went to bed that night minus my pet.
My daughter called the next day and told me she thought she found the dog, "In Ypsi?", I asked.
"Well, not exactly."
The night the dog had gone missing my daughter posted a notice on the local metropolitan Detroit community of the blog Live Journal with a picture of the dog and the general area where she was last seen. Someone in that community answered her, saying she had seen the dog around Buhr pool the day before and had heard that one of the lifeguards took the dog home and was going to bring her back to Buhr that morning and try to find the owner.
I called the pool office, went over there an hour later and my dog and I were reunited. Happy ending, all thanks to the Internet and social networking.
Posted by swortman at 10:15 AM | Comments (1)
August 02, 2007
What are People Saying About Us?
Overheard on the diag yesterday:
Guy on Roller Blades to Young Couple:
"Hey, can you guys tell me where the Undergraduate Library is?"
Young couple looks at each other for 3 beats...
Young guy of couple finally says:
"Eh, the library is right there."
He points to the Graduate Library.
Maybe it's a habit from working at the IC desk but I can't resist as I'm walking by, on my way to lunch so I finally yell over to them, "The Undergraduate Library is right next door to that library."
These may be new students but I doubt it. This is yet another reality check that for those that work in a library. We may think we are essential and that students couldn't live without us but to many students, as a place at least we are barely on the radar screen.
I was heartened on my walk back from North U. that same day, though to overhear the word library in another passing conversation from a student who sounded as if he was familiar with the concept of the library, might be able to identify a campus library on a map and actually used it.
These two examples of the word "library" used in conversation, happening within a few minutes of each other struck me as interesting. You might try keeping your ears open this semester to find out how other students are talking about us. It could be an enlightening exercise.
Posted by swortman at 08:06 AM | Comments (1)
June 28, 2007
The "Summer of Love" 1967
Attention Baby Boomers and dare I say, Pre-Boomers: where you around for the Summer of Love? As a tribute to the 40th anniversary of that summer MSNBC offers a quiz to see how well you remember that year. Quizzes are always fun so I thought I'd add a link to it here so you could test your recall. We boomers are not getting any younger, you know and the memory may be the first thing to go so think young and take the quiz. Warning, I only got one wrong!
The Net Generation is welcome to take the quiz too. We'll see how well you were paying attention in your history classes!
Have fun and, oh yeah, peace and love.
Posted by swortman at 08:21 AM | Comments (2)