Archive for the “Libraries” Category
There’s a lot of flag waving (especially by alarmed librarians) about the imminent demise of the book and libraries. Actually, that’s not true. The librarians are trying to fend off those who are buying into the idea that printed books, and libraries as we used to know them, are pointless vestiges of a prior era. The debate has been picked up by the New York Times, which is getting a lot of press (sorry) lately.
The biggest issue, which is only obliquely hinted at in the arguments floating around, especially those in the Times opinion piece, is accessibility. I have a book. No one anywhere can prevent me from sharing that book with you. No one anywhere can prevent you from sharing that book with someone else (once it’s in your possession). Granted, this is a single item, with geospatial limitations which can be transcended by electronic networks. But “electronic” has its own, more restrictive limitations. Does one have access to the electronic network? Does one have the equipment to access the electronic network? Is there a power source to enable access to the equipment (or network)? Does one have permission to access the electronic device/network/item?
Librarianship has always been about finding and gaining access to books/information. The interesting twist today is the gaining access part, which involves navigating rights and permissions, as well as delivery options: both print (is there a printer?) and electronic (does the recipient even have the means to access an electronic version?).
The discussion in the NYTimes column (and others) focuses on universities and private schools, essentially ignoring that part of the population that is (a) less educated, (b) less affluent, (c) less technologically savvy, and (d) any combination of the above. My guesstimate, from experience and prior research, is that those categories make up a significant minority of the US population (maybe up to 40%), and likely always will.
So to the issue of accessibility, add disenfranchisement. Where will the have-nots get what the haves are being taught to take for granted? Those “pointless” vestiges of a prior era really aren’t so pointless after all.
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I promised this long ago, so it’s way past time to get these posted.
Feel free to modify and reuse these. They are provided under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial 3.0 license. If you require other terms, leave a comment with your contact information, and I will get back to you. Please note the powerpoint files are rather large (>4MB).
portablesoftware This is a powerpoint program covering Portable Software: what it is, how to install it, where to get it, and how to use it. There are two handouts that go with the program: Install Portable Software and Start Portable Apps Handout, both Open Document Text (.odt) documents.
eBooks and Audiobooks This is a powerpoint program I created for the Palm Beach County Library System, so there are still some vestiges within the show. The handouts for this were specific to that library, so I have not included them. Contact me via the comment form below if you want them.
Beginning Internet This is a powerpoint program on Internet Basics for beginners.
I will post more as I get them cleaned up.
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Patron: Where is computer number 37?
Librarian: Between numbers 19 and 21, of course!
But of course! It made perfect sense to us because we weren’t thinking of the numbers as being sequential. They were simply labels. But the hapless patron had looked around and seen computers numbered in what seemed to be a sequential order, quickly scanned for numbers in the 30′s, and found 34, 35, 36, and no 37. There was a reason computer number 37 was put where it is, which made sense at the time, and its location has just been accepted matter of factly by everyone working at the library.
But the quick exchange caught me unexpectedly and I laughed at the perfect absurdity of it. People come into a library expecting things to be nicely ordered so they will be easy to find. But in this case our nicely ordered system made no sense at all. We won’t change it, of course. Changing the computer numbers on the computers themselves and within the local network will never make it even to the bottom of the short list of things to fix here. Besides, it looks perfectly normal to us – 37 has been between 19 and 21 for so long it’s practically ingrained in our vision.
So I wonder and ponder what else we do achieves that perfect absurdity, where the obvious eludes us, or it would take too much time or effort to change.
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The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County started a learning program for its employees a few years ago called 23 Things. It was intended to help people learn about new Web technologies that have changed the way we interact with the Web. It was evidently successful, and other libraries followed suit, using the formula and exercises set out by the Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Library.
Their site says that (as of May, 2006) there are over 200 libraries who are using their Web 2.0 (23 things) learning tool. It’s a pretty neat set of exercises. But I have some suggestions for anyone in a library thinking of implementing this program.
- Don’t have all your employees sign up for Gmail to be able to use Blogger (which is now owned by Google). They can get a Blogger account with any active e-mail address. When Google sees 300+ or 100+ or even 50+ e-mail accounts being generated, and accessed, from the same IP address, and Blogger accounts instantly created with those accounts they’re going to think one thing: Spammers! Actually they aren’t doing the thinking, they set up bots to capture just those types of events, so they don’t have to think about it. Once you’re flagged as a spammer, forget trying to get the e-mail account unblocked.
- Unblock the content you want staff to be able to access. This would be a good time to take a closer look at just what your filter is blocking and whitelist those inocuous sites you want the staff to be able to play with.
- A lot has happened since 23 Things first appeared. If you are going to encourage learning technology, don’t limit the discussion and exercises to old technology. Do a little research, hang out at technology conferences, follow technology feeds, talk to a tech-savvy person, and find out what is current and what is coming down the pike. Then change or add to the discussion to make the exercise current and relevant. Seriously. Others have already made changes. You can, too.
- If you haven’t already, read The Cluetrain Manifesto, available online or in print. This really is an absolute must for administrators, whether you’re doing the 23 Things or not.
And, of course, you deserve great commendations for taking this step into Web 2.0. Welcome!
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