I have explored Merlin before and even attended a morning intro to the site a year or so ago. This is a wonderful opportunity for training and communication that we shouldn't waste.
This visit I enjoyed reading mystery reviews written by collegues. I cannot help wondering, however, why librarians consistantly review titles everyone is already reading. We don't really need to know about the titles with long hold queues even though we might want to read them - after all everyone else wants to so why shouldn't we. Let's not waste our time reviewing them though. We need to hear about some good titles to substitute when the popular titles are not available.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Tags and folksonomy
I guess the problem I have with randomly assigned tags is the lack of reliability. I search Flickr for pictures of sock machines and found vending machines that sold socks and some circular sock machines. I finally found this picture, which shows my ample backside facing the camera featured as if that is what the photographer was trying to snap, by searching the work of the photographer, who is fortunate enough to be unknown to me and will therefore avoid repercussions. The tag he or she had chosen was "CSM" the abreviation for circular sock machine. I suppose I should be pleased that my name is not one of the tags - "Gregory in a red apron" or something.
My other dismay with this process is that many more casual users are leaving the business of tagging to those more technically interested and searches for some craft subjects produce very minimal results compared to their actual presence. There are almost seven thousand knitters working on the Mystery Stole 3, a lacy knitting project and scores of them have shown their work on their blog, but only a few have been tagged.
My other dismay with this process is that many more casual users are leaving the business of tagging to those more technically interested and searches for some craft subjects produce very minimal results compared to their actual presence. There are almost seven thousand knitters working on the Mystery Stole 3, a lacy knitting project and scores of them have shown their work on their blog, but only a few have been tagged.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Thinking about the future of libraries...
Reading several suggested trend-loving and elitist articles has not really changed my views on the future of libraries. I still feel that the future of libraries and librarians is with those who need us. That's certainly an obvious statement in any field, but technologies have changed the definition of the "who need us" part of the statement.
We will have a roll in developing reading in children for a long time ,and even in affluent communities story times and children's programming will serve a need. Parents will continue to need us in the foreseeable future to share our skills in sharing children's literature and teaching pre-reading activities. Technology hasn't changed this.
Adults are a different story though. Ask any information librarian how much the use of books, particularly reference books has diminished. How much do we use reference books for our personal information gathering? I know my use is considerably diminished. This doesn't mean though that there are not people who need us. There are many customers in the poorer communities who do not have the technological skills to find the information they need or the money to stay current in the purchase of technology. These are the people who need us - now more than ever. We are needed by the entry level job-hunter looking for a job in a a food service who is told he must apply on line or the construction worker who is told he must present a resume.
Just as once a librarian's skill might help an unfamiliar customer through the intricacies of the Reader's Guide, we will always be needed by those same customers to help select the right keywords to free their information from the technological thicket. Did we ever expect in the "good old days" to run out of people who needed what we called "Library education"?
In a branch where a greater percentage of the population lives in poverty you can see the library filling its roll as a communtiy center among the homeless and the technologically deprived more than it was in the pre-computer age. Many customers come to the library regularly now who would never have come then, and we have a greater chance to make a difference in their lives. Isn't this what we have always wanted? Haven't we always wanted the food service employee or that construction worker to tell us that we helped them get jobs? Isn't that why we chose this job?
We will have a roll in developing reading in children for a long time ,and even in affluent communities story times and children's programming will serve a need. Parents will continue to need us in the foreseeable future to share our skills in sharing children's literature and teaching pre-reading activities. Technology hasn't changed this.
Adults are a different story though. Ask any information librarian how much the use of books, particularly reference books has diminished. How much do we use reference books for our personal information gathering? I know my use is considerably diminished. This doesn't mean though that there are not people who need us. There are many customers in the poorer communities who do not have the technological skills to find the information they need or the money to stay current in the purchase of technology. These are the people who need us - now more than ever. We are needed by the entry level job-hunter looking for a job in a a food service who is told he must apply on line or the construction worker who is told he must present a resume.
Just as once a librarian's skill might help an unfamiliar customer through the intricacies of the Reader's Guide, we will always be needed by those same customers to help select the right keywords to free their information from the technological thicket. Did we ever expect in the "good old days" to run out of people who needed what we called "Library education"?
In a branch where a greater percentage of the population lives in poverty you can see the library filling its roll as a communtiy center among the homeless and the technologically deprived more than it was in the pre-computer age. Many customers come to the library regularly now who would never have come then, and we have a greater chance to make a difference in their lives. Isn't this what we have always wanted? Haven't we always wanted the food service employee or that construction worker to tell us that we helped them get jobs? Isn't that why we chose this job?
Friday, August 24, 2007
Audio Books
I know this is at the end, but I may as well get this out of the way now since I have downloaded so many audio books from Audible, Overdrive and Net Library that my dogs probably think George Guidell and Scott Brick live with us somewhere.
Of course Audible allows the most flexibility, but it comes at a price. I have decided the most cost effective plan is the one that allows one to buy the credits all at once and use them when ever one wishes.
Overdrive has pretty good selection of titles, but one must have a lily-white library card (Ahem) and many of the titles one might listen to are in Circulation. I have learned to search "Recently Returned" and choose titles there, but I still find the many little sections that the download is broken into a bit of a problem. I have never figured out how one is notified of a hold, but maybe Overdrive has singled me out to remain in the dark. Anyway I have never been notified that a book I requested is available.
Net Library is easy to download, but has limited titles and the directions saying one must use the largest file size to transfer a title to a device are simply incorrect. I have used the radio quality size many times with no reduction in sound quality. The tranfer is much faster and one can check out more titles at once. It seems to require a device with Windows Media Player.
I could say more and I could devote anothe post to choosing suitable devices, but enough for now.
Of course Audible allows the most flexibility, but it comes at a price. I have decided the most cost effective plan is the one that allows one to buy the credits all at once and use them when ever one wishes.
Overdrive has pretty good selection of titles, but one must have a lily-white library card (Ahem) and many of the titles one might listen to are in Circulation. I have learned to search "Recently Returned" and choose titles there, but I still find the many little sections that the download is broken into a bit of a problem. I have never figured out how one is notified of a hold, but maybe Overdrive has singled me out to remain in the dark. Anyway I have never been notified that a book I requested is available.
Net Library is easy to download, but has limited titles and the directions saying one must use the largest file size to transfer a title to a device are simply incorrect. I have used the radio quality size many times with no reduction in sound quality. The tranfer is much faster and one can check out more titles at once. It seems to require a device with Windows Media Player.
I could say more and I could devote anothe post to choosing suitable devices, but enough for now.
Rollyo - Why?
I have to admit that I do not particularly like the idea of limiting my searches in this way. With so many effective ways to search the Internet available, I cannot see whay I would want to do this. What if I did a news-search and the item I wanted was in a source I hadn't included in my sites to be searched. I enjoyed the thought, but will give this one a miss.
Image generator
Goodness, how strange! I "fooled around with and online image-generator" and added it to my blog and now there is a very large abstract image at the bottom of my blog with squiggles in it that move. Doesn't look at all like what I drew, but it is the color range I chose.
Library Thing
Well that was easy. I didn't quite realize my titles were going to be featured with such prominence on my blog when I added the widget or I would have chosen something more impressive.
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