Last day

Yesterday was the last day of my professional placement.  Actually the last two days were a rather nice treat as I was allowed to join in a 2-day PD (Professional Development) workshop run by Follett Destiny which is the cataloging system that the school uses. This was more about the “back-end” type of thing of managing the system and the authorisation levels, how to get things in and out of the system, including reports for collection management and quite a bit on the whole ebook thing.

I’m not entirely sure that that ebook thing is rising and soaring as vendors would like.  I’m ambivalent on the whole matter.  As a user, I was an early adopter of the Kindle and still buy most of my “immediate gratification” books on the Kindle. I’m not so keen on ebooks for non-fiction – having tried my best to adapt without success.  I use Overdrive for borrowing books from the public library (NLB) and it’s been great while on holiday,  it’s a little bit of a pain on the downloading and the constant requests for log-in, not to mention the whole saga around when Apple upgraded to 7.0, but they’re useful.

From the other side of the fence – that of libraries and librarians I can see good reason for the reluctance to rush to adopt the technology.  From what I’ve heard in the corridors, there are all sorts of management and user education issues, platforms, technologies and not to mention the whole ownership / copyright thing.  And that’s not even touching on the question of the continuity and ongoing viability of the vendors.

There was some chat about Playaway as a product, where libraries have a technology sitting there that’s not being used much but can’t substitute it for anything newer (tablet / online) without paying again.  Sunk costs and all that.  Yet, in a sense one would weed old books, so too I guess you need to weed old technology and its contents.  It’s a bit of a mindset thing I guess, thinking if you have the digital file it should be forever.

I need to now write up my report and submit it.  In the mean time, I’ve started with my next two subjects, so today I’m trying to catch up with last weeks readings and tasks.

Art in the library

I always like seeing how different libraries make use of their wall space (if they have any) and what art work or displays or other interesting bits and pieces are on display.

All of the work below is particularly special as it was created by the primary pupils of the school library and then put on display there.  I particularly like the first item, which looks like a book array but is a clever stitching of rolled up magazine pages!

The next is a clever way of using book covers that have been discarded during covering or processing – or I guess you could just photo copy and laminate them.  If you’ve got a high ceiling and want to lower it, this kind of hanging display is particularly nice.

Finally – the shelf of cuddles!  What a nice addition to an infant library … could anything be nicer than cuddling up to something soft while reading your favourite book?

Network, networking, social networking

As week 2 of my professional placement draws to an end I’m thinking more about this network thing.  Both now, and during my study visit I’m noticing more and more the difference between “networked” librarians and “non-networked” to put it a little crudely.  Of course, even the “non-networked” librarians are networked, in the “no (wo)man is an island” sense of the word, but its a question of where you are concentrating your efforts.  And this, to put a blunt point on it, can be a Machiavellian thing.  Which is to say, I’m not necessarily saying that more (professional) networking is good and less is bad.

I’m just going to report on the dimensions that I observe, in no particular order, and it’s not a value judgement, and I’m now wondering what kind of research has been done on this in the library sphere – I’m pretty sure there is plenty in management /corporate literature generally.

*  life of the party
well networked with peers in other departments, people stop by for a chat, get’s a lot of positive recommendations as being “fun”  (note – this does not say anything about professional capability, or ability to do the job well, just that they’re fun to be around)

*  in with the big boys
gets invited to and participates on the same level at meetings and social events with the decision makers of the organisation. Considered to be a peer in thought leadership. Paid on par with peers. May or may not be a great librarian for the “little people”

* hiding behind the desk / door
could be a brilliant librarian, could have wonderful thoughts, and the source of marvellous conversations, brilliant resource suggestions – BUT, they’re waiting for you (user) to come and extract them – unfortunately I’ve seen quite a few of these.  They’re there.  and they’re there for you, but you need to find them and engage them.  You want to send them on some sort of assertiveness training or just something that will boost their confidence.  I’m wondering how someone gets to this point – is it being a naturally shy and retiring type of person (the Susan Cain introvert), or is it the lack of opportunity to experiment safely with being “out there”, or is it having tried and then been knocked down (deliberately or incidentally) by someone else with more power or a lack of feeling for where they’re coming from?
I have a suspicion that these people are networked – in their own world and with other similar types.  Now this is a great resource in an organisation, but it’s a little bit like the functionality of so much software.  Its there and its great, but should the user have to wade through forums and how to guides, or should there be some type of annoying paperclip popping up and saying “I noticed you’re trying to … how about … (no), or is there some other way?

http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/yVPeuvFn_lY&source=uds

* sweet spot but one step short
This is the souped up version of the hiding librarian.  They don’t hide, they’re friendly, they’re on the floor, they’re helping, they’re talking, perhaps not the life and soul of the party, but they’re liked and respected by users and their peers.  They’re innovative, they’re taking initiative, they’re approachable. But, they’re not “in with the boys”.   They’re not being paid what they’re worth, not getting the resources they deserve and not being listened to, really, where and when it counts.  While it may seem a little more obvious how to get from “behind the desk” to “sweet spot” it’s a little harder to work out how to get from “sweet spot” to “in with the boys”.  Again, I’m not saying that one should be “in with the boys” I’m pretty sure library services in an organisation (and the organisation as a whole) would benefit from at least one of the librarians being “in with the boys”.  And is that within the control of the person or the organisation?

* looks good on-line / on paper
All the right qualifications, all the right names, great resume, stunning website, active on social media, great blog, but then falls flat in reality. As librarians, we’ve probably seen our fair share of this in authors – we were talking about just one such person the other day.  Brilliant person, everyone loves reading him, ROTFL type of books, but in the flesh?

* 20 years
Ok, that’s an arbitrary number, but you know what I mean. “I’ve been doing this 20 years and … / but I’ve been doing this for 20 years” I’m wondering if it’s a co-incidence that most library jobs advertised ask for 10 years of experience. I see a lot of that around the whole use of social media, the internet, eBooks, display, design and assumptions about people, learners, users.

*I’m just …
a temp, a student, an admin assistant, whatever.  This is a bit frustrating, because I’d like to think that everyone in a library takes ownership over that space.  Not in the alpha monkey sense of all vying for top dog, (sorry mixed metaphors flying fast and thick), but in the sense of “yes I can help you” or “yes I do want to think about how best to … shelve / control / order / administer etc.

I’ve probably missed out on a few types and I’m going to hit google now*.  Perhaps every library organisation needs a balance of these types in order to function well.  But I do see quite a bit of frustration as I move through these learning experiences.  And I sense that in most cases there’s just a little something that could be added or amplified to making things a better experience for everyone.  Is it about self-knowledge or organisation knowledge or fit?  And I’m wondering what type I would be when I’d be working in a library.

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I did find one interesting article, will have a dig around management literature to see if there’s more

new toys! new toys!

So I’m working away at the template for the libguides and at the same time I’m busy creating the psychology libguide.  Why I’m doing both simultaneously is that I’m trying to make the template a “how to” as well.
Today Ms. K showed me “Flipboard” which is a curating tool on the ipad.  Basically you use it to create your own online magazine.  It’s really really cool because it’s so nice and graphical and glossy. OMG what a great tool for teen girls – instead of all that crap served up in Seventeen and Cosmo you could curate and create a magazine for a girl with a mind!   No adverts, no self-loathing of the body after reading. The possibilities are endless.

Anyway, I made up a little mock flipboard for psychology and populated it with some articles and then was shown a rather clever trick to get it into libguides.  Which I’ve promptly forgotten, so I’ll need to check out what I did and do it again …

OK, so the first thing I did was email the URL of the guide to myself, and then I made a screen shot of the cover (command / shift / 4)

Using free text edit, I put in the picture (using width = 100%) and then added a link to the flipboard behind the link…  It looks really cool in the libguide, but really was quite easy!

We’re jointly curating some flipboards for each of the subjects so that it can be part of our “in the news” section as a cool graphic.

Of course down the road the issue will be to keep it current and interesting and changing for the more dynamic subjects.  A really good example to look at is the WW1 flipboard created by Adrian van Klaveren he has (as of today) 3,691 readers, 81,166 page flips and 281 articles!

I’ve spent enough time on screen time now, so it’s time to log off and switch off.

First questions

(a) define what social networking is (in your own words);
In my opinion there are two types of social networking – that which occurs online, and that which occurs online. In both my online and offline worlds I enjoy having disparate networks of friends and connections who define parts of who I am and how I function in the world.  These days, my online and offline social networks often intertwine.
A network is basically a group of people who are connected to you by virtue of something you have in common.  For example, I have a network of friends who I work out with at crossfit.  We see each other at workouts and at functions organised by the box, but we’re also active through Facebook where we post articles and comments and questions to each other.
On the other hand, I’m a member of LinkedIn, where I’m connected to people who I’ve worked with or come into contact with professionally – a few of them are personal friends, and some are Facebook friends, but most are not.
For many years I wrote a blog on bilingual chinese / english education.  I wrote this anonymously and over the years built up quite a following of anonymous strangers, some of whom became friends – we were united in a social network but most of us never met.
The best social networks are the ones that give you a buzz, where you’re interacting, enjoying and learning and contributing all at the same time.  Funnily enough for me that usually works when I’m one on one with someone and we’re “jamming” – not in the musical sense but in the app sense, and it’s a case of “look what cool toy I found” and seeing how we can apply it to solve real world personal or professional problems (like today).  Or when you’re trying to plan thing and you or someone knows someone who then knows someone else who would be perfect for a talk or presentation or bit of information that will complete what you’re trying to achieve.
In order to have a good social network you need to be able to both “get out there” physically and network in real life, and “be out there” hanging out where your professional peers are hanging out – whether that’s blogging, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or whatever else the flavour of the month is.  – And if your kids aren’t doing it – it’s probably not worth spending much time on.
 In the context of this course, social networking is probably referring to the networking that happens online.  
(b) list what social networking technologies and sites you already use (for personal, work and
study purposes); and
LInkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Diigo, Blogger, Flipboard, Youtube, Evernote, Goodreads, Whatsapp, Picassa, Google+, 


(c) describe what you expect to learn from completing INF506
Keep current, maximise and optimise my time online.  Coherence between the various platforms. 

How to …

Today is becoming a “how to” day.  I’m busy creating a template for all the IB introductory guides for various disciplines.

I’ve created the skeleton and now I’m trying to use it to fill in the first one. I chose psychology as that was part of my undergraduate degree and I still am a keen follower of the field.   I’ve already done one on Development Economics – but that was a specific field within the Economics discipline.  I’m now wondering if as part of the template I should also include some “how to” on each section.

We’ve agreed that the pages would be:

* Start here (introduction)
* In the News
* Books and Physical resources
* Journals
* Online Resources
* Institutions and People
* Audio & Visual and social Media

We’re trying to decide whether to put the “fields” within the disciplines (or whatever we’d call it) as a separate page linking to the various Libguides or to put that in the introductory page.  For example the discipline Economics has as fields, MacroEconomics, MicroEconomics, Development Economics etc.  Psychology would have Social Psy, Development Psy, Organisational Psy etc.

I’ve started looking at some Audio and Visual links, and run into the first thing – how to get an iTunes podcast feed onto the Libguide – it’s something I did a couple of weeks ago and I’ve already forgotten and having to look up again.  The trick is to find the RSS or other feed, so I’m thinking in the template to have the standard introduction we use for each section, but then perhaps in another colour have a “how to” or at least link to the best resource on how to do it …
I’m running into the problem of RSS being used less and less or the feeds being invisible.  Drat.

I found a couple of brilliant resources this afternoon.  This first one is a “how to” add media resources to your guide.  And then I found two seams of gold, first the psychology libguide of  UMass, which had some excellent journal links and then this excellent list by the Social Psychology Network of blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds.

Quite a productive day.

A few of my favourite things

Series sorted in boxes with QR code

I started my professional placement last Monday and I’ll be working at one International School library for 4 days a week, under the guidance of a very experienced library, while continuing to get myself wet by jumping in the deep end with the library makeover project at the other school on a Wednesday.

It’s been quite an adjustment after a “working hour” type work hiatus for the last few years.  But there are more than enough of my favourite things happening for that to bother me.

During the past week I’ve:

* sorted guided readers and tried to reconcile orphan books with their boxed companions and ensure they’re properly catalogued and physically accessible to the teachers and children who need them
* peeled off old stickers under an old system and replaced them with the new ones

The Princess Collection …
was never my “thing” but
girls who like princess books
have a nice habit of calling
you “pretty” – so let’s indulge them

* created a cataloguing taxonomy for cataloguing our chinese books – although as the librarian said – it was a Porche and they only needed a Lada.
* done some circulation – checked books in and books out, and for the littlies checked the same books in and out and in and out while they decide which books are the most critical for their reading this week.
* been called “pretty” by a very sweet little girl (ego stroke!)
* been in contact with lots and lots and lots of great and wonderful books (more later)
* had nice buzzy conversations with wonderful people who love and read great books
* started making a template Libguide that we can use to create other Libguides for all our IB subjects.  It will be for introductory guides to let students “get their feet wet” in a topic as they start thinking about what their passion is and which they’d like to do their EE (extended essay) on.

INF506 goodreads books

Having slept over the booklist for this course, I woke up bright-eyed and energised and created a Goodreads group for discussion, review and commentary on the books.  Now for a strategy to try and make this a real group and community!

Most of the books have been read and reviewed by a world-wide community of active librarians and people involved in social networking and community, so that’s already a great start!

Overwhelmed

I started looking through the course outline for INF506 and I’m a little overwhelmed to say the least.  Most of my courses up to now have had a text book, or two textbooks, supplemented by lots of reading of journal articles as we move through the modules.

This course has no prescribed text, but we’ve been given a list of 66 resources (mainly books) which are considered to be relevant, all found in the library IN AUSTRALIA, not many ebooks, and few articles.  Joy.  I’ve looked a few up and found them in the Singapore National Library, looks like I’m going to either spend a lot of time in their reference library or be a regular for their reservation and pick up service.  The question is however, if anything written pre-2010 is actually of relevance if it’s a book, given the 2-3 years lead time before a book is even published.

And then I spent about an hour linking all the 26 blogs (and adding to my already growing list) we’re supposed to be monitoring on the subject. Quite a few had changed address since the subject guide had been written and one had a posting last from 2009.  The question is how many of these are relevant really, and worth following.  I’m going to have to curtail my Facebook habit severely and start reading blogs instead …  brain food as opposed to quick snacks.

I’ve also set up a delicious account (I’m a diigo user, so this is a major pain – must I pretend to use delicious, or duplicate stuff for this course?), resurrected my Flickr account, which I’d emptied a while back when I moved to the MacBook, and opened a Second Life account (yawn, that came and went around the time my son was born – and he’s 10 now).   I have the Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blog, must say I’m not an avid Twitter fan – I may get there if I give it more of a chance though.

Based on the clever recommendations of a fellow student from my last course, I’ve also started organising my learning life onto Evernote – I’d much prefer we used that as it’s more immediately useful to us as students – and my Zotero is getting some new collections for this term’s subjects.

I see one of the things we need to do as an assignment is to do a social networking project – I may try to deconstruct this course and set up some more useful social networking for students – like putting all the books into goodreads group – and then we can all review the books together or in turn.  The format of the modules and the forums are so passé it drives me nuts.  Or maybe this is not the type of thing I should be saying at the beginning of a course.

when the library is more than a library

In some ways libraries have never just been about the books or the building.  Even since the first libraries they’ve been about a certain idealism, a world view, a concept of teaching, learning, enquiry, culturalisation, what ever you may call it.

So yesterday it shouldn’t have taken me by surprise with Ms. S asked me in a little bit of a panic what should be done with the books on the human body.  Of course once a library starts to become an organised entity, it is easier to find things.   And when one is a G5 boy (or girl) it seems that there are pressing questions that need to be answered.  And perhaps these questions are not being answered at home or at school, so in steps the library and books (thank goodness I’d say).   Luckily Ms. S was of the same opinion as me, but the question was what to do about the fact that some rather indignant parents had been ringing the school to find out what and why and how their kids were reading all this “stuff”. (Ironically of course those very children who had the most pressing need to be reading these books).

Now Ms. S is an experienced teacher who has dealt with things that I hope never to have to deal with, she’s open-minded, and recognises an education moment for an education moment.  But she’s had this library thing only a short while.  Even shorter than me.  So it’s hard to distinguish where her responsibility begins and ends.  Our discussion was a little about flipping the question.  Does the school have a counsellor?  Does it have a structured “personal and social education” curriculum? When does this start, what is dealt with when?  And how does that tie into the resources, book and otherwise that the school has available to its students and teachers.

Of course there are much bigger questions – like that of censorship. Like school policies on what is accessible to which age groups and in what context.  None of this can be decided in isolation.  I suggested to her she needed to involve the counsellor and the head of primary and the school have a “party line” so that when parents or teachers or children ask about the existence or not of materials they can refer to a policy or group decision and speak with one voice.