August 21, 2011
Drowning By Numbers, Part II
In 1993, I had a great opportunity to write an article in Pittsburgh History, the journal of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania where I worked at the time. The article was called
“Drowning by Numbers: The State of Baseball History (full text)” and it bemoaned the fixation (as I saw it) with numbers in baseball history. My goal in writing the piece was to encourage baseball historians to see the social significance of sports – rather than just “recounting and re-recording the numbers baseball players assembled over time.”
While the numbers-driven approach can remove the context of sport in American Culture, the appeal of this approach does make sense. Every action and reaction in baseball produces a number. Almost like a business has a balance-sheet recording revenue and expenses, a baseball team has numbers for everything – making this type of historical approach logical.
In the 18 years since I wrote that piece, I am not sure baseball history changed all that much, but I certainly have. As the director and librarian of the Kresge Business Administration Library of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, I am working with numbers all the time. I want to revisit this concept and see where I can apply it in two of my key areas in librarianship. As a director, I am focused on ensuring that we share our work with the school via annual reports. These are driven by numbers, some with more value than others. I am working on a Charleston Conference session on using Annual Reports for marketing purposes. So I will talk more about that later.
But I want to write today about my other world at Kresge Library. Even though I am the director of the library, I still have an active role in helping the Ross Community with library reference. I think this is a critically important part of my job to help faculty and students with reference. I believe this for a few reasons. First, it is a tremendously grounding part of my job. It allows me to know what the other librarians and staff are going through. If I am working on reference as well as the other librarians, I have a better sense of the ebbs and flows of the work.
So thinking about the baseball world when every action and reaction has a number associated with it, many see business the same way. At Kresge, we get questions from faculty, students and community members that ask for numbers that seem like they are tracked – but are hard to find. This represents one of our biggest challenges at the library – being asked a question about numbers that seem like they should be kept – but are nowhere to be seen. Or possibly the data is not kept in the fashion that the person wants. We have been asked all sorts of questions, like “how many shrimp are served by Red Lobster in a year?” Some have answers and others do not.
From a librarian point of view, we work hard on trying to figure out what they are hoping to do with the data, so many we can find proxy information. Maybe you do not get the exact count of how many shrimp are served at Red Lobster, but you get information (maybe anecdotal) on much money people spend on shrimp there. That is also a tough number to get, but sometimes it is available.
So where I am going with this is a question I got on Friday. What is the size of the “total retail product selection in the United States.” It is a cool question, and a tricky one. Basically, if I wanted to buy one of everything available in the retail marketplace in the US, how many things would I have…. What I was able to provide to this patron is some industry reports on the US retail sector, information from the BLS, and (later that weekend) , information about UPC barcodes. According to the UPC Database, there are 1,387,455 unique numbers. While that does not include everything sold, it is a pretty good start.
But in thinking about this question, I was wondering if Barry Schwartz’ Paradox of Choice” had any number. The examples in the excellent book all focused on products – like 85 different jams – rather than all the products available to consumers. But I did find this in searching via Google.
Now that is ironic…the "Paradox of Choice" is one of almost 1 million books you can get for your Kindle...talk about having a hard time making a decision...
I will be playing with this some more – but I wanted to get the conversation started.
Posted by cseeman at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2008
Spanning the Straits of Business Information: Kresge Library’s Embedded Librarian Program for MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Program) - Presentation and Paper for SLA
Contributed Paper and Presentation at the SLA Annual Conference in Seattle.
Abstract:
Embedded librarian programs have successfully been used to bridge the divide between libraries and distance learners, teaching faculty and lab researchers. The Kresge Business Administration Library (Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan) has created a unique approach to the embedded librarian model by having librarians work directly with in-residence student teams charged with solving ‘real world’ problems through Michigan’s signature action-based learning program, MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Program). With MAP, corporate and nonprofit organizations work with teams of 4-6 students charged with solving a problem or providing recommendations on very specific aspects of the sponsor’s work. This paper will describe the Kresge Library’s support of MAP and other action-based learning programs at the Ross School of Business. Topics will include how we work and communicate with MAP teams, examples of research and reference requests from the students, an assessment of our services, and how this changes the librarian relationships with students in their second year of study. This unique program offers exciting challenge to Kresge librarians, building bridges between the Kresge Library and the students and faculty participating in MAP, as well as between the overwhelming amount of business data, statistics and research available and the world of business practice.
Posted by cseeman at 08:15 AM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2008
Haiku for Today (Hoover's)
Super-duper bonus - two Haikus!
Hoover's Disappoints
For almost all my students
Reports cost extra
Advertising here?
We pay for this database
Looks like a free site
(Those who work with business databases and resources should understand!)
Posted by cseeman at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2008
Explaining the Subprime/Credit Crisis
There was a great piece on NPR, co-produced by All Things Considered and This American Life. These pieces do a great job of explaining what happened, while providing the human face to the issue.
Global Pool of Money Got Too Hungry (May 9, 2008)
NPR's Adam Davidson and This American Life's Alex Blumberg jointly report on how rising defaults on subprime mortgages in the U.S. became a global financial crisis. This American Life host Ira Glass talks with Michele Noris about this first ever collaboration.
The Giant Pool of Money
A special program about the housing crisis. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the collapse of the investment bank Bear Stearns? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.
Posted by cseeman at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2008
Rules and Rules...but PLEASE USE YOUR BRAINS!
Saw this article from Reuters.
Woman fired for giving 16-cent treat to toddler
Fri May 9, 2008 7:42am EDT
TORONTO (Reuters) - An attendant at a Canadian restaurant who was sacked for giving a bite-sized doughnut, worth 16 cents, to an agitated toddler was given her job back on Thursday after the case received wide media attention.
Nicole Lilliman, a single mother, said she was dismissed from a London, Ontario, outlet of the Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut chain after video cameras captured the 27-year-old giving a Timbit to a toddler.
--see link for the rest of the article--
I am very glad that they have seen the error of their ways and reinstated her. I know the old adage that says 'take care of the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves.' But this sets up a relationship between the customer, the staff and the product that distances reason with reality.
I know that employee theft can be a big issue, but for any operation that provides a service (be it a restaurant or a library), the need to know when the rules should be applied and when the rules could be suspended. And we do not need to extrapolate to everyone in the store...did everyone need a free timbit that day?
I would like to think that we can do something different or special for someone, based on the conditions that they are under. How many times to we do something over and above what is 'normal' in the library, only to have people frown about needing to do that for everyone. I think we need to trust in ourselves to know when we can bend the rules. When do we need to give people a report instead of pointing them in the direction. When do we need to walk people to the stacks rather than pointing. When do we need to send people some articles rather than a search string. And when do we need to give someone a timbit...well, just because.
Service will be a defining element of librarianship from here on out. These are, indeed, exciting times.
Posted by cseeman at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2008
Report to the ProQuest Academic Advisory Board
Meeting with the ProQuest Academic Advisory Board today. As part of the meeting, each of the board members are supposed to come up with a 5-10 minute presentation on the state of affairs in the library world. I am hoping to expand on many of these themes, but here are the slides.
I will talk about this more later (once I am done with my performance evaluations...ugh). But I think it is critical that we do things that are amazing! I know budgets are tight, but this is a goal and a mission that is so critical for libraries to be a school's "competitive advantage."
I will write more later.
This entry was posted in the following categories: Business Librarianship , Conference Presentations , Management Philosophy , The World of Libraries , University of Michigan TopicsPosted by cseeman at 06:40 AM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2008
How Everyone Contributes
If you ever wonder about the way that an organization works, you need to look at the way that people behind the scenes operate. At the Kresge Library, we have twenty positions. It is easy, in a library, to focus on the number of "professional positions" that you have, or how many librarians you have one staff. We have 8 (myself included).
But the way that I look at the library is that we all have a role to play and we all contribute to the general success of the operation. While it is sometimes hard to articulate this, one example came over the radio this morning.
Morning Edition's Susan Stamberg did a piece on the Script Supervisor this morning. When a movie is made and acknowledged during the awards shows, like the Oscars, we have awards for actors, directors, pictures, cinematographers, art directors, etc. But there are critical roles in the making of a movie that rarely shine in the light.
For a library to be productive, you need great people doing professional work. You need to convey to everyone that their work is critical to the operation of the unit. This is true if we are working with faculty on a research project, with students on a MAP team, and with staff as well compile course packs. It is also true when we collect the mail, when we check in periodicals, when we update web-pages. I hope I convey that. I guess it is something that we always need to work on.
This entry was posted in the following categories: Business Librarianship , Management Philosophy , Movies & Popular Culture , Other Library Work , The World of LibrariesPosted by cseeman at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2008
For Marketing, the Most Valuable Player Might Be YouTube
From the New York Times
Advertising
For Marketing, the Most Valuable Player Might Be YouTube
By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: February 5, 2008
The Internet, digital video recorders, mobile devices and other technologies are giving a strong postgame presence to the annual roster of Super Bowl commercials.
Follow this link for the full article.
With more and more advertising available via YouTube and other resources, it is easier than ever to find and use advertising in your research.
The trick is getting the file so you can use it on your desktop when you are not connected to the Internet. Previously, I wrote about a great web application that you can use to grab YouTube videos and convert them to MP4 files.
It has the amazingly logical name of: YouTube to iPod and PSP Converter and it is a small program that will download and convert into an MP4 file format among others. Good for your iPod, your PowerPoint, your...well, whatever. This is from DVDVIDEOSOFT.COM and is free.
For students and faculty at the Ross School of Business, there is also Adforum. This database provides access to over 35,000 advertisements in all media. The focus is international. The database has audio and video capability. The source also provides access to news and other information relating to the advertising industry, including agency information. Be sure to log off as directed on the password sign on screen.
Posted by cseeman at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2008
Made in the USA
From the New York Times
Sports / Pro Football
At a Small Ohio Factory, Leather and Laces Mesh
By KATIE THOMAS
Published: February 2, 2008
The National Football League is the only major sports league whose balls are manufactured in the United States.
--from the article--
The N.F.L. is the only major sports league whose balls are manufactured in the United States. World Series baseballs come from a factory in Costa Rica. Basketballs in the N.B.A. finals first bounced on the floors of factories in China.
--end--
This is all pretty amazing. I assumed that none of our equipment was made locally anymore. I know it makes sense from an economic point of view to move jobs to where they can be done more efficiently, but will any of us be working if that were to happen? How much would a football cost that we would buy for our kids if it were made here? That is the real question I have.
Here is Ada, Ohio:
This entry was posted in the following categories: Business Librarianship , Completely Off Topic! , The Culture of SportsPosted by cseeman at 06:26 AM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2007
Happy Birthday Faygo
100 years ago (well, 100 years ago on Sunday), the Feigenson Brothers Bottling Works was founded. This company would become Faygo in the 1930s, but still be considered a Detroit and Michigan institution.
Funding Universe entry about Faygo
Newspaper article from Toledo Blade (November 2, 2007)
For better or worse, the Faygo company is credited with spreading the usage of the word "pop" in the Midwest instead of "soda", used on the east and west coasts.
Posted by cseeman at 07:26 AM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2007
Special Libraries Association Paper - Almost an eJournal
This is a contributed paper for the Special Libraries Association meeting in Denver (June 4, 2007):
Title: Almost an eJournal: Using the Library Catalog for Local Hosting and Management of Electronic Periodicals
Abstract: In 2005, the Kresge Business Administration Library at the University of Michigan acquired a new electronic periodical for its collection that had to be locally hosted by the library and was not currently part of any article database. Pressed with a need to present this resource to users in a way that would facilitate and promote use, a plan was developed to create individual records for each issue of this periodical and place them into the library’s public catalog. The article describes the rationale for local hosting of electronic resources, licensing considerations, creating search and discovery opportunities for these items, the creation of library catalog records for the issues, workflow methods and the promotion for this material to the Ross School community. Also discussed will be the ways that this program will be expanded to showcase other resources for the library community.
This is not in the slides...but it was my epiphany while listening to the keynote with Former Vice President Al Gore. He said (paraphrased) that the librarians’ role is to find and "characterize" data/information for the public or our users. In turn, the librarians should "translate" it into the a way to make it accessible by the public. To a simple degree...this is my paper. I will try to get the exact phrasing and put it in the final paper.
Posted by cseeman at 01:25 AM | Comments (0)
Topics for Discussion (ProQuest Advisory Committee Meeting, May 2007)
Topics for Discussion (ProQuest Advisory Committee Meeting, May 2007)
Participants who are serving on the ProQuest Advisory Board were asked to give their thoughts on a variety of issues related to databases and library resources. These included: Free and fee-based content; Advertising within Paid Databases; Trends in Library Financing and Budgets; Unmet Information Needs; Marketing of Library Services (Academic); Everything Else (Institutional Repositories, Open Access, & ILS). These are some thoughts from the perspective of the Kresge Business Administration Library on these issues.
PowerPoint Slides for the discussion (I may expand this later)
This entry was posted in the following categories: Business Librarianship , Conference Presentations , Integrated Library SystemsPosted by cseeman at 01:22 AM | Comments (0)
