Spring Semester Reflections

As of Friday of last week, I have completed my Spring semester at Syracuse in pursuit of my MSLIS. I have Summer and Fall to go, and I plan on completing my degree in December. Honestly, you probably already knew that, so let’s get right down to it - what was my semester like now that it has passed?

This was the busiest academic semester I have ever had, frankly. I don’t want to whine and moan about it, but I will tell you why in the course of this post. If you’ll allow me to toot my own horn a bit, I will share that I earned a 4.0 this semester, and have received very positive feedback on all my assignments this semester. Of course, I am still just a fledgling librarian, but I cannot say that doing well in my classes is injurious to my career.

That said, what did I take this semester?

Well, my final two required courses are out of the way now - the first of these required courses was IST 616 - Information Resources, Organization and Access. I called this class “basic cataloging and classification.” The course explored cataloging standards and formats (aka metadata) as well as looked broadly at classification schemes. I really enjoyed the broad view used in this class - I was exposed to many different standards and practices, making me a much more adaptable librarian. Here is a pretty good example of the “stuff” I did this semester:

















http://www.scribd.com/doc/30301737/Social-Tagging-Library-of-Congress%E2%80%99-Subject-Headings-and-Library-Catalogs
















The other required class was IST 613 - Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment. The workload in this class was among the heaviest I have had, but in the end I produced a comprehensive project plan for a local library. As I know more, I will share it on here, but I have been asked to implement the plan. Fun! The course provided me with real-world project planning experience, which is very useful in my career.

And finally, what might have been my favorite class thus far, IST 604 - Cataloging of Information Resources. This class was an in-depth look at metadata creation, specifically with AACR2 and MARC. The class was very congenial, and it became more of a seminar type class rather than a normal class, with students and professor all working together and discussing.

Overall, I feel that I have really matured as a student and as a professional this semester, and have integrated many new concepts into my knowledge schema.

Yale Library Studies

Reader,

Thanks for bearing with me - the end of the semester has passed, and my work is all turned in. It’s nice to get positive feedback on tasks which required a great deal of work. More on that later.

For now, I want to share with you that I am reading the 2009 issue of Yale Library Studies. This issue examines library architecture at Yale, and more broadly library architecture in general. Expect to see some design related library posts soon. Here’s a snippet:

To what extent do the Library's many buildings embody the ideals and aspirations of the University? Do the scholars and students who use these buildings find in them not just the books and collections but also the environment the need to help them teach and study and learn? And what, in a twenty-first century library system, is the relationship between the virtual environment found on the computer or handheld device and the physical built environment?

How would you answer those questions?

End of the Semester

Readers,

I know I haven’t been posting as much recently, but this and next week are the end of the semester. I am in the process of wrapping up a couple of major projects, and so I will be back writing then. In the meantime, if you want to know what the end of this semester is like, listen to this:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFq-HHA0k2E

New Yorker iPad Article Comments

As I do most every week, I was reading my New Yorker magazine this week. On page 24 of this week’s issue, there is an article titled Publish or Perish by Ken Auletta which was very interesting. Before I get into my comments on this article, though, please allow me to ask this question:

Why aren’t more librarians writing and thinking about the implications of the iPad (and to a lesser degree the Kindle and the Nook) on the primary form of information consumption today: reading?

If you have some clue as to why not a whole lot has been written, let me hear from you in the comments.

Anyhow, back to the article.

The article examines the background of ebook publishing, and why the iPad caused such a stir - not just because of what it represented, but that it presented a real form of competition by the then-dominant Kindle. Though interesting, I am not discussing this part of the article either. What I am discussing, though, is a quote from David Rosenthal, who says that his company (Simon & Schuster) is working on efforts to

... embed audio and video and other value-added features in e-books. It could be an author discussing his book, or a clip from a movie that touches on the book’s topic.

Are these “value-added” features, as Mr. Rosenthal describes them, really going to transform our reading, and represent the next big thing in media consumption?

I say no.

I say no because the adding of a few videos is simply too pedestrian for what we are witnessing now. Readers must be able to interact with their information - be it an e-book, or a website. The iPad provides a medium for some form of interaction beyond pressing the play button on a video. As I referenced in a previous post, the Alice in Wonderland app for the iPad is just a early, but good example of this. If you would like another example, take a look at this example, and keep in mind the implications of this not only for leisure reading, but for education as well:








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHiEqf5wb3g









So, to be fair, it is not the “real thing,” but I think you would be inclined to agree with me that it is a far sight better than a video of an author discussing his (or her) book. Also, think of the implications for education - not only would the content be more engaging, the updates (that so frequently happen, and cost schools millions) to those texts could be “pushed” out to the devices on which the students view and use their textbooks.

And by no means is the iPad all of a sudden the ultimate expression of the future of reading. What we see in the iPad is one in a very long sequence of steps as makers of technology and publishers experiment to see what this new digital reading world is like, and what we as readers want from this new paradigm. The article hits on one - better prices! Hardcover books new at a traditional bookstore are outrageously expensive, and some better pricing must be developed in order to allow people to purchase the books they want. Digital books are by their very nature cheaper. The article says this:

No matter where consumers buy books, their belief that electronic media should cost less - that something you can’t hold simply isn’t worth as much money - will exert a powerful force.

Exactly. However, in the case of these dynamic books, like Alice or Elements, people are willing (I think) to pay more money. More “bang for your buck,” so to speak.

Thus far as I feel you have noted, intrepid reader, I have been talking about people buying these “books” for their own personal use. What about libraries?

Well, I was reading this post over at the LibraryThing blog and came across Tim Spalding’s thoughts on the in-store reading privileges for Nook owners:

What works for Barnes and Noble could also work for libraries. Indeed, since every Barnes and Noble has suddenly turned into a limitless library, real libraries risk losing a core value to a mere bookstore.

Fortunately, the change to a "Brigadoon Library" would be gentle. Libraries are already accustomed to in-library database access. This would be an extension of an established concept--very helpful in selling new ideas to institutions that are too often hostile to them. And it should be easy to set up--just submit your wifi's IP address to an ereader's website and you're good to go.

Best of all, this is a library solution that makes sense to publishers and could therefore actually happen.(4) Publishers signed on with Barnes and Noble because they calculated that the sales they lost from free reading would be more than offset by the sales they gained from people who bought the book after tiring of the physical limitation--and by the extra word of mouth.(5) With libraries, the publisher incentive is less, but still significant. Readers cannot turn from an ereader to buy a physical copy, as they could at a Barnes and Noble store. But, as at a store, they can buy the ebook. There's no reason publishers wouldn't provide such a service for free, or, more probably, a low cost.(6)

So, Tim Spalding points out that you might set up some similar service in libraries - when you are in the library, you can use the e-books. Of course, we will see some form of better DRM type rules for e-books in libraries, so that one might check them out, but e-books are at such an early stage at this point that there is really no need to make standardizations to the formats and agreements. Yet.

That is why the ALA needs to get involved in e-books in a major way, and right now. Librarians need to start advocating for their libraries (as I have, in my own small way) to ensure that people’s right to the information they seek is not infringed upon.

As always, let me hear your thoughts, etc. in the comments!

Repost: Call to Arms, Pen and Paper Style!

I am reposting this from a great librarian blog, The Desk Set. Read the original post here, and send the Councilman a few postcards - I did (as you can see from the photo above!)

Original post:
http://thedeskset.org/?p=1743

We are thrilled to be involved in the Save New York City Libraries Postcard Campaign, and we’ve invited Queens Public Librarian and Urban Librarians Unite founder, Christian Zabriskie, to tell you why and how you should participate:

The greatest group of libraries in the world is on the brink of death. The Tri-Li system, three public library systems comprising 209 libraries and serving over 8 million people will have its back broken before our eyes in a mere two months time. NOW is the time to act. We do not have the comfort of ennui, we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of apathy. If you want to see public library service be destroyed, hundreds of library workers out of work, library hours slashed, entire branches closed, if you care nothing for the poor, the undereducated, the populace yearning for culture and simple dignity, if libraries in New York City mean nothing to you then do nothing.

If you have courage, if you have energy, if you refuse to see the poor man’s university broken on the wheel of the budget then get involved. A group of library organizations have united in an unofficial campaign to preserve libraries in our city. This campaign, intended to augment but not replace the formal efforts of the Brooklyn, New York, and Queens Public Libraries, is a populist movement coming from Desk Set, Urban Librarians Unite, Local 1321 Queens Library Guild, Metro Library Council, ACRL/NY, and others. We call for all who love libraries to act now. The premise is simple but with your help the execution could have the weight of thousands of voices.

Very simple people, send a postcard in support of libraries to City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. After you have sent in a postcard ask your friends to do the same, then ask your roommates, your family, people who ask you out on dates, random people in bars, anyone and everyone who will write a few words and sign their name in support of libraries. Any postcard will do, you can get them for ten to a dollar in Times Square, make them yourself, buy them at flea markets, anything. Postage for a postcard is 28 cents, you can mail out eight or ten for less than three bucks, even a librarian can afford that.

Jimmy’s office is keeping all the postcards for us and is going to present them en masse to the City Council before the final budget hearings. Jimmy is our people, he worked for Queens Library for years, serves on the Council’s libraries committee, and has been a vocal advocate of libraries on the city council. We want to give him ammunition, something with physical weight. Show people that you care with something tangible, then get everyone you know to join  their voice with yours.

If you love libraries, if you love librarians, if you love librarians in libraries then get out there and get those postcards in. Send them early and often to:

Councilmember
Jimmy Van Bramer
47-01 Queens Blvd, Suite 205
Sunnyside, NY 11104

The future of the libraries in New York City lies in your hands, fill those hands with postcards calling out your support.

Hell, Yes! Thanks Christian, and thanks to all of you who have already sent postcards. It seems like we’re constantly being told that our libraries are on the verge, and it’s often overwhelming to know what to do about it. And because it keeps happening, because people continue to believe that library budgets should be cut, and because we know the economy is in the toilet, it starts to feel as though there’s nothing we can do. We know we need to fight, but sometimes we don’t know how, or even if there’s a point. That’s what is so genius about the postcard campaign. It is so easy, so so so easy. And multiply as many postcards you can write by as many people as you know, and suddenly you have a heap, a ton, a mess of postcards letting the city know that we need our libraries and our library workers. That we love them.

Social Tagging and Library Catalogs

Well, I wrapped up my paper earlier this week, and so I am proud to share it with you below. I am very curious to hear what you think and such!





http://www.scribd.com/doc/30301737/Social-Tagging-Library-of-Congress’-Subject-Headings-and-Library-Catalogs

Social Media and Cataloging

In your opinion, what's enduring about the introduction of social media such as tagging?
Well, to me the important contribution that social media and tagging has for us as catalogers is that we are seeing the democratization of metadata, and more broadly data as a whole. Of course, metadata is a new term, but to this point there has been little interest (and practically no methods to do it) in the “crowd-sourcing” of metadata. It’s really within the past five years that methods have been implemented to allow practically anyone to generate metadata about really any object. Librarians should be thrilled with this for two reasons:
First, we don’t have to do quite as much of the heavy lifting of metadata generation - others are doing it for us.
Second, as Tim Spalding points out, libraries have always been (for the most part) about the democratization and spread of information, and the democratization of metadata is simply the next, logical step in the spread of information.
And following on this, how do we decide which aspects deserve investment of time and money?
I think the first logical step in this new phase of information is that libraries should open up their catalogs, and by this I mean OCLC as well. Why do we have to so tightly control all this information? What an amazing resource for “mashups,” for example. Tim Berners-Lee talked about this recently in his talk at TED in 2010:













http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tim_berners_lee_the_year_open_data_went_worldwide.html








To be fair, library metadata might not be as useful as bike accidents, but I am sure people in the wider world will find uses for the metadata we in the library community have never thought of.
We truly need to find some way to integrate social tagging of “aboutness” and the juggernaut of LCSH. LCSH is so slow to change and grow that some form of integration between social tagging and a controlled vocabulary needs to be found. As a matter of fact, the amount of information in the world (as I read yesterday) is growing at such a fast rate that search engine bots and crawlers can’t even keep up - so how can LC be expected to keep up? Social sourcing is one way to help libraries and their information resources adapt to this world. I would say then that perhaps LC is not the best organization to head LCSH if this integration occurs. Imagine all the linked words and knowledge web type stuff if we could meld the two (semantic web?). And what should happen to all of this? It should be free to all, online. Of course, this precludes some form of organization and funding, which our profession is uniquely equipped to do - we advocate, we organize, and we connect people with information. This brings me to a bit of a soapbox that many librarians have trouble with (or so it seems to me) it is our job to share information (in any form) not hoard it, and through this we will stay relevant in the information age.
How do we evaluate the effects and utility?
I think we look at data usage - specifically, how is the data we create and share used by the larger world? Perhaps licensing the stuff we share through a Creative Commons license that requires attribution will help us to track usage while not abrogating the “fetter-free” access to the data we share.
Of course, you can also look at the raw data - hit-counts, page views, and such. But, as we all know this doesn’t really show user impact, and nor is it reflective of the broader purpose of libraries. To me this ties in with Dr. Lankes’ concept of Participatory Librarianship - using libraries to help people “make stuff.” To make the impact user centered, you have to look at the outcome, or the end product of the work enabled by libraries, or librarians.
Thinking about the various components of cataloging and catalog records individually, where is there the most promise for integration of social media: description, classification, subject headings, linking of works, expressions, manifestations and items?
Subject headings, as I mentioned before, are seemingly full of promise for integration with social media. I feel sure you read enough about this above, so I won’t say any more about it here.
Linking of works - The next major push online is the development of a semantic web of knowledge, where many things are linked to each other online, improving (in a way) collocation and classification of information on the internet. This also helps people to better understand terms and ideas, as they are presented in some sort of context, as opposed to the stand-alone model we see in the internet today. Of course, this can flow freely into our catalogs, but it can go other places as well from the catalog - IMDB, Dictionaries, Wikipedia, WolframAlpha, and many others.

Ok, that’s plenty - sorry I wrote so much! I am curious to know what you all think!