sherribrari

ACRL 3

2011-05-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

Some other sessions I attended at ACRL2011:

1. Tiffany Shlain, the producer of Connected, talked about what all these tech linkages are doing to us. "Nothing that is vast enters into the life of mortals without a curse." (Sophocles, from Antigone)) The challenge to libraries is to keep the connections to "deep knowledge," or context, to ground our tweets. The question is, will our relationships become all broad and no deep, too?

2. 3 sessions on metrics / ROI. There are lots of ways to measure impact that we haven't even considered. One library, for example, compared faculty vitae, publications, use stats, impact measures, and librarian interaction to cost out the library's "worth" to faculty advancement.

3. Char Booth on librarians as teachers: very encouraging overview of pedagogy and libraries, from her book. We can train and mentor one another to be good teachers, and that will improve our image on campus. I liked the idea of the library as the one authentic connector among disparate desires on campus. And, the library as the Indicator Species: if this system (of academic values: freedom, curiosity, value of the intellect) is going to collapse, the library will be the first to go.

4. The Unconference is a newer idea: 5 minutes on a topic, plus 5 minutes' feedback from the audience. I heard about a zombie library intro exercise -- "Zombrarians"! Kansas State told us about their virtual desks,mobile carts that that can be taken anywhere on campus. Cal State had QR codes put up all over campus that lead to their ASK page.

5. A roundtable discussion about institutional repositories, the barriers to unfettered access, legal points, etc.

6. And then Lorraine and I presented our poster: Apocalypse: How the Common Experience Project Changed Everything. A very busy hour and a half.

7. A panel on organizational change offered these interesting tidbits:

-In one library, everyone was "fired" from their job and had to apply for positions in the new hierarchy. All applications were secret, and decisions were made by the Dean and a non-library committee.

-Think where you might add "Buzz": how about dry erase on the glass walls? Celebrate students: give them a" soft place to land."

-One library has success with free coffee in the cafe for faculty.

-"We're not in the business of libraries; we're in the business of education."

8. Clinton Kelly as closing keynote: on personal change, but really everyone wanted to talk about fashion. I wish he had addressed the librarian and fashion, but it was fun anyway.

ACRL2011 -- 2: Preconference: Anthropology in the Library

2011-04-07T13:53:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday at ACRL2011 I went to a preconference, "Using Anthropology to Unite with Users" -- a good use of a day in libraryland.

The leaders of this preconference took part in a $100,000+, 2-year, 25-librarian & 2 anthropologist, multi-university study. What they discovered isn't so amazing:

students see every search box as equivalent to Google
they can't read a citation or follow a call number
they use the path of least of resistance
they have no idea what a librarian does
they think they are expert searchers

All of this, and more, we sort of already knew. What was more interesting was how they found out / qualified / substantiated these things and how they used the evidence to effect change.

These are some of the "anthropological" techniques they used:

-Have students draw a map of the library from memory. What is -and isn't- on their radar?

-follow patrons with a camera as they try to find something in your library. The examples we saw were painful, and it is mostly our fault.

-Hand patrons a camera and ask them to take pictures of things in their lives: most important tool, study space, etc.

-Ask them to write a story about a recent research quest, with all the gory details

-Screen capture people doing searches on your website

-Have students draw a map of their research: where, physically did you go / not go and why?

-Interviews: structured, semi-structured, or loose conversations about what you want to know. This worked very well with faculty.

-Pre / post tests

-Focus groups

But, most importantly, they used several different techniques to study the same question. Pre / post tests for IL, for example, usually show no change (Oh, no!), but the other methods show why. THE MORE WAYS YOU STUDY THE SAME QUESTION, THE MORE YOU UNDERSTAND.

Gathering the data goes a lot more quickly than analyzing it. Allow 3-4 hours of analysis for every hour of data gathered. You do this in groups - "co-viewing" - and on paper -"coding"- and then you try to draw conclusions and make changes.

Then, of course, you go back and study whether your changes made any difference.

So, no, it isn't "scientific sampling" data, but it can be very convincing, in the one-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words variety. Imagine taking the video of a student trying to do one of those infamously frustrating assignments, and showing it to the profs who assign it.

For me, this last point is important: you CAN make decisions based on qualitative anthropological data. The handbook for this method is Studying Students, by Foster and Gibbons, 2007.

ACRL2011 -- I: Big Ideas

2011-04-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

1. Everyone is asking the same questions we are asking: in sum, how can Information Literacy and the work of librarians become integral to the mission of the university? What would we have to do to be "in the room" when big decisions are made?

To be frank, we are worried about our jobs. But we're also worried about the growing data that show undergraduates do not become more information competent during their 4 years with us. Nor do they improve in critical thinking skills.

See these articles from the Chronicle:

http://chronicle.com/article/A-Perfect-Storm-in/126451

http://chronicle.com/article/A-Perfect-Storm-in/126969/

and the 2011 Project Information Literacy report.

The answers are all political, of course. And librarians are not, as a rule, good at that, are we? But we have to, to save the library.

Some of the smaller colleges have been able to turn the cultural understanding of the place of the library/ians on their campuses, but I haven't seen any success stories from large universities. It's very very hard to change a culture.

One member of the audience commented, "One administrator said, "I don't know why we need the library any more," and the other administrator said, "The whole campus is the library now."" That about sums up our in-between place right now.

2. Budgeting now demands we prove our worth in dollars. Libraries are trying new measurements. Our understanding of qualitative research -- and how we can use it to make our case -- is growing. "Engagement" and "transformative" are buzzwords. This stuff is hard work and very time consuming.

3. "Embedded" means more than we've envisioned. It could include being paid and evaluated in part by the "client." There's a model to consider! We think being more embedded will get us into the real work of IL and critical thinking. We think we should put our marketing efforts into reaching faculty, not students, as recent research has shown students go to fac first anyway 80% of the time. Many colleges have found time to do the liaison work by abandoning the desk, a move I hate to see. Other libraries say the numbers do not support putting our effort there; we need to measure those numbers at OU.

4. The world has gone SmartPhone without me, and I have massive mixed feelings. There was an entire e-simultaneous conference experience happening to which I was not privy. At one session, the moderator even said, "Please make your comments online and reserve the microphones for people who have actual questions." Tweeting your feelings about the speaker as they speak! Egad, that's my worst nightmare: they all know I have spinach in my teeth and I don't! but I find the combination of people, choices, big city, long hours, and massive data already overwhelming. I wonder if I could even handle e-mailing and blogging and Tweeting at the same time. I feel very old.

5. Don't wear shoes that look like potatoes. This probably includes my Birkenstocks, which makes me very sad.

Video from the air of tornado damage

2010-09-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

This was posted on the Logan Daily News site:

http://www.logandaily.com/articles/2010/09/21/news/doc4c990d20b9b8c743594695.txt

I was in Athens that evening, at the Women of Appalachia poetry reading. We went to the basement, where, after waiting a while, we read anyway. Something akin to fiddling while Rome burns, but then we didn't know...

Another Women of Appalachia Reading

2010-09-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Women of Appalachia

Presents

“Women Speak”

a juried performance of

story, Poetry and song

SePteMBeR 16, 2010

6PM - 8PM

ARTSWeST

132 West state street

Featuring:

Adrienne Appell . Story Colleen Carow . Song B A Code . Poetry

Amy Coombs . Story Cathy Cultice Lentes . Poetry Kari Gunter-Seymour . Poetry

Anita Martin Manderfield . Story Sandra Masada . Poetry

Jennifer McClung . Poetry Wendy Mcvicker . Poetry Joyce Richardson . Poetry

Sherri B. Saines . Poetry Kris Williams . Poetry

reception immediately following performance

www.womenofappalachia.net

Fun with free vid website!

2010-09-07T13:46:00.001-07:00

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Women of Appalachia Reading

2010-07-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

Made for me by friend Pete. Quality not Hollywood, but you get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQWqNoeqF4g

Conference Report: Lyrasis webinar

2010-06-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

Lyrasis Webinar: Interactive Information Literacy Teaching Methods: June 21-22, 2 hrs each.

This was a series of ideas for making your teaching more interactive. Frankly, there wasn't much here I hadn't already heard about, and most of it I've already tried. But it's good to get the encouragement again. You get lax over time, and drift back to lecture, like entropy.

Some good thoughts:

Use the example of an article from the Weekly world News about a chess player whose head explodes vs. "Exploding Head Syndrome" from The Journal of Head and Face Pain. Good example for popular vs. scholarly.
I've used "student driver" before: put a student at the console and walk everyone through your demo searches. Increases your precision, slows the demo to the pace of the class, and increases interest in the poor student who got drafted. But I've never thought of the idea of putting the PROF there. Hmmmmm...
I wrote my own article (DOI: 10.1300/J111v36n01_10) about "Letting the Inmates run the Asylum," which is really just participatory education. We do tend to be so goal-driven we leave our students' real desires in the dust. It's a very good idea to ask them and be serious about following their lead. Scary, though.
Team teaching: how about teaching with a writing center tutor? a computer lab assistant? an archivist?
Problem-based learning (PBL) sounds wonderful. Think of yourself as the librarian-in-residence for a term-long project trying to solve a real problem in real time. Our business clusters and med students do just that - yeah, OU. I'd love to get the retail students working this way.
I want to check into "Calphalonian" teaching, in which question cards are scattered among the students as they arrive. Hmmm... need some more details.

A lot of education theory, it seems to me, is just big words and over-fine distinctions for the obvious: the ideal is small group JIT discovery for real problems. Every step away from that means you lose another student to Facebook.

Niece Leah's story

2010-06-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here's the story: My sister and law and family were in South Africa on a Fulbright exchange program. Having only been there a few months, and finding it hard to get acclimated anyway, it was an additional blow when their 2 girls were hit by a car. Little sis, 2 years old, was treated and released, having suffered a punctured lung. Leah, 4, suffered a head wound, and was in a coma. As the days wore on with no change, it became evident the family would need some support, so brother Steve, my hubby, and sister #2 dropped everything and flew off to SA to help out. Leah woke up and gradually came back to us, until the latest prognosis is full recovery. Steve stayed 10 days, sis stayed 3 weeks, until the family returned. The post below is from the blog I kept for Leah's friends and extended family to track her progress. It tells a good story.

SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2010

(From Aunt Sherri)
You may or may not be part of this story. Steve told a good friend here in Ohio, Keith Wasserman, about needing to go quickly to Jo-Burg to help his sister. Keith said, "Let me see if I can find you some contacts in SA," and proceeded to put out an APB to all his international contacts. Now, you have to understand that Keith has been around the world more than once, and is a charismatic and inexhaustably giving person. I think he collects God-driven people lovers for a hobby. So, to tap into Keith's network is to invite miracles.
Keith sent out his request for help on Sat the 8th of May. By Thursday the 13th we had 229 replies from all over the world, and about a dozen phone messages. It took me about 7 hours to read and collate the offers of help into a 15-page document that Steve can use as needed. And e-mails keep coming in..
Most of these are forwarded forwards, long strings of e-mails from friend to friend around the world, usually ending in the topmost author saying, "I live in JoBerg, here's my e-mail and phone; call for anything." A couple of these wonderful folks just went ahead and showed up at the hospital, strangers reaching out to strangers. I am in awe of what looks to me like God's hands stuck to men's arms, amazed at how small the world is, and agog at how fast electronic communication changes things. To all those people who responded, thank you so very much. Even if we don't call on you, just knowing you are all out there changes how we see the world in a hard time. And the prayers! Every forwarded e-mail said, "We're praying for you," "I've got my church praying for you," "You are constantly in our thoughts and prayers." One CaringBridge post says they are praying for Leah in CHINA! Wow! We are overwhelmed. Thank you everyone. Keep it up. It matters. I am contrasting this to the time in 1983 when Steve and I were in West Africa and we life-flighted him to a bush hospital with a very scary case of Malaria. No one even knew. Our family found out 3-4 weeks later when my letters, written at the hospital, arrived to our parents. We were only beginning to learn French, had only been in-country 6 weeks, couldn't communicate with the doctors. Talk about isolation. The world has changed a little in the intervening generation. Thank goodness!

Anti-citation-style Movement

2010-06-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

This is a copy-over from another blog I do for work; I still think I'm right on this one.

You heard it here first: I am starting an anti-citation-style movement.

My reason is very basic and based on personal experience: if you give the same resource and the APA Style Guide to 20 different students, you will come up with 19.5 different ways to write out the citation, most of which are entirely plausible, and none of which matches yours exactly.

This actually happened to me when I taught UC115 in the fall of 2006 and all the students were required to cite the pamphlet, The Ohio University Experience, in their final Career/Major paper. It was a waste of everyone’s time.

We talk to many fearful students at the reference desk who just want to DO IT RIGHT and GET A GOOD GRADE. We open the style guide together and discover, universally, that no format really matches the thing we are looking at, and we have to just wing it and hope.

On top of that, the Writing Center folks tell me that students come to them often with “variations” on style guides provided by professors hoping to simplify the exercise, but only muddling it further.

In my understanding, we use citation styles for 3 reasons:

1. Your reader needs to be able to find the sources you found so they can verify your facts.

2. It’s easier to track them down if it is obvious which of those numbers is the volume number and which the date, etc.

3. Different disciplines want to know different pieces first (science cares more about the date, literature cares more about the author.)

But my point is that in the digital age, this information is better recorded in a common database file, such as Excel, with each piece of the citation clearly marked, and live links wherever possible. All students need is a list of every piece they must provide. (If you can’t find the piece, leave the field blank.) This is the same for all students. You could go so far as to define the pieces for clarity (title of the web page as opposed to title of the web site), and leave a place for notes, even an abstract, even the full text. Us anti-citationists could even do this much for everyone: create just such a template and let everyone else use it.

When you hand your paper in, you provide your prof this file. Now that storage is essentially free, the size of the file doesn’t matter. If she needs it in paper, you can print it out for her — any format with the pieces labeled will do — but geesh, isn’t that the idea of links?

Any minute now there will be a truly reliable web-based way to do this, anyway. Zotero is a close possibility, for example. Once the citations are online, students can allow sharing of bibliographies, and a whole new world of connectivity and collaborative research becomes possible.

And the thing about different disciplines wanting it in different formats is just archaic. It doesn’t matter anymore.

OK, that’s my rant.

Good luck on your final papers.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007

Books for Mt. Olive 2

2010-02-01T17:18:00.001-08:00

I have a friend in prison, and he has finally gotten permission for me to send books to the prison library. I innocently asked for suggestions and specifics, and he sent me this 11-page list! If you would be interested in donating a book or two, just give it to me and I'll get it sent to the Mt. Olive's library. Books must be like new, no marks, etc. They can't be prurient, true crime, or pornographic, obviously. Just use your noodle. Thanks for your help.

You should be able to click to enlarge any one page. This isn't slick, I know, but I was proud I got this far. The next post down has the rest of the pages

Books for Mt. Olive 1

2010-02-01T16:50:00.001-08:00

You should be able to click on each image to enlarge. This is, I know, pretty ham-handed, but it gets the job done.

Healthcare: an unheard opinion

2009-12-27T14:20:00.000-08:00

1. I am frustrated that the healthcare debate is not at all about healthcare, but about insurance. And, as insurance is by definition a racket, a gamble based on statistics, I don't understand how you can regulate out the statistical gambles and still expect it to make money. To me it is akin to the "rules" that say that electronic slots must pay out some stated percent of the time. Isn't that exactly what gambling is? My money against unadulterated odds? If it isn't that, if the odds are fixed, it isn't gambling, (it isn't insurance), it's a government-run tax on the stupid ( the unhealthy).

2. We should also be addressing the supply side of the healthcare question. One reason healthcare is expensive is because med school is expensive. Med school is expensive because it is a limited resource. And we really believe doctors need to be the smartest people in our society, so that is another limiter, right?

Expensive med school means massive debt for the new doc. She can't afford to be a general practioner in rural Ohio. She needs to be a surgeon at a research hospital. And no, new docs these days don't get rich fast like they used to.

Contrast this model: in rural Africa, I knew of a program that took the the MOST COMPASTIONATE person in the village, sent them to the capital for 2 MONTHS, and let them loose in the village with a flow chart and suitcase of antibiotics. These rural healthcare workers could handle about 80% of the front-line care, and they knew when to send someone into town. This actually worked.

We need to shake up our definition of "doctor". We need to let caring people with 2-4 years of college do frontline work and reserve our Expensive Hyperintelligent Overtrained Debt-ridden Providers handle only the hardest stuff. It would mean we would have to allow for a margin of error for the few patients that didn't get handed up the system as quickly as if we had the EHODPs everywhere.

Indeed, if trends continue, we won't have much choice because the current system prices them out of the rural market already.

3) I wonder if this approach would result in fewer stories about the brilliant surgeon with no bedside manner. We need those truely brilliant extravagantly-trained people some small percentage of the time, but maybe if we didn't run every doctor through the soul-deadening ritual of 12 years of high-pressure pre-med, med school, & interning, more of them could recall that they wanted to be a doctor to help people?

4) As with changing insurance, we'd have to fight several powerful lobbies: the AMA, first of all, one of the most powerful lobbies in America, but also med schools and hospitals and pharma and everyone else. Probably not possible. But revolutions do happen.

Well, I've wanted to get that said for a long time.

On blogs

2009-12-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

Son George comments of an unloved blog:

"It is to view the sad end of a stranger’s attempt to make their life seem interesting, only to have the assumption of dullness confirmed by the weight of time. " So young and yet so wise.

I made myself an RSS -egad- 2 years ago, and loaded it up with something like 100 blogs I "should" follow if I want to a) keep up in the field and 2) keep up with my friends. I think I get to it about every 6 months. In the meantime, Facebook has grown actually useful to me and Twitter seems to be the Thing.

But the blog of son George I will read.

fabric lovers

2009-10-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

From my reenactors's blog, women offered these collective nouns for the effects of our mutual addiction:

an embarrassment of fabric
a celebration of textiles
an exaltation of fibers

and this, from an event one member had attended:

SABLE: stash accumulated beyond life expectancy

Also, this website came across my desk yesterday: quilt index
"The Quilt Index is a growing research and reference tool designed to provide unprecedented access to information and images about quilts held in private and public hands." I'm not much of a quilter, but this website caught me up with nice graphics and more data than I could absorb.

FYE Ohio Summit: Cincinnatti, Oct 18, 2009

2009-10-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

FYE Ohio Summit: Cincinnatti, Oct 18, 2009 was a small one-day seminar on the First Year. Some University College staff and I shared a van. Up at 4:30 am and back at 9:00 pm. I don't really recommend that tactic, but at least I didn't have to drive.

9:30: Critical Thinking in the First Year Course
Eastern Kentucky U began offering a first year seminar focused on the Paul and Elder model of critical thinking. They've learned that you have to teach critical thinking very deliberately, and more slowly than they expected. They can see growth in their students, but in the second year of the program have scaled back their expectations of creating advanced critical thinkers in one semester. See the Paul and Elder model here. Richard Paul spoke at OU several years ago, and I think these models are clear and impressive.

10:40: Exploring the unique insights of staff who are also parents of college students
This was a discussion for parents who are also staff or faculty. We talked about the insights our parenting gives our jobs, and vice versa. One common theme was the plumber-with-the-leaky-sink problem: academics with children who aren't doing well in college! Another idea was that we are "secret shoppers:" our experiences at our children's schools have led us to be grateful for, or be critical of, our own institutions. This might be fun to do here at OU. This was my favorite session.

Lunch, Panel discussion: What Lies Ahead?
The higher ed in Ohio plan will bring us more, and more diverse, freshmen, especially nontrads, transfers, weak academics,and high school students. Scary stat: an african-american male entering college at the DVL2 math placement has a ZERO per cent chance of earning a degree (on time, I think was the implication?) I didn't know you could have a zero per cent chance of something.

1:45: My presentation: The First Year and the Library: What I have Learned So Far.
12 attendees. See my slide show at Slideshare. We had a good discussion. I was surprised the attendees agreed with my conclusions.

2:45: Impact of the Economic Downturn on Persistence
Contrary to earlier theory that held that the "impact of economics on persistence occurs at the point of entry" into college, the current crisis is causing students to drop out for financial reasons. Midway College has found that as little as $750 can make or break it for some.

3:45: collaboration among first-year students
In Tenessee's adult vocational programs, wide variations in readiness have been a problem. One program paired students by their needs: the computer illiterate middle-ager with the professionally immature 19-year-old, and discovered the pairings helped everyone.

freeze-pops in the lib

2009-07-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

Chad is dangerous; he keeps filming little moments in the library and posting them online. Here's me doing the Freeze-pop tours:

http://libraryvoice.com/libraries/librarians-and-freeze-pops/

I like that the students just politely eat their freeze-pops and listen.

A person who is not running for political office should never have to watch themselves talk...

this year's reenactments

2009-07-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

A lot of people tell me they'd like to try reenacting. Like any good pusher, I'm happy to give you the first taste for free. So, here is our schedule for the next several months, so you can see whether you can join us. There are 2 ways to do that:

- just show up as a member of the public and hang out with us. We are always trying to get the public involved with what we are doing, so you can sit with me and sew or wash or whatever. Or stand by the geographer's table and talk to Steve. If the geographers get out to do some measuring, you can be a chainman, and etc. For this, just let us know you're coming so we can look for you. the easiest way to find us is to locate the geographer's display area. At some events there is an entrance fee.
-If you want to dress up, let us know at least a week ahead, because we often pack early in the week for a Friday departure. We can easily outfit one woman, probably 2. We can outfit one guy if he's somewhere near Steve's size. You'd probably have to go barefoot (completely historically accurate). You'd be doing the same thing as above: come in as public and find us and we'll sneak you into a tent and fit you out. Then you can sit or hang about and feel a little more a part of things. You can't be a "participant" at these events, usually, unless you had applied or were a member of the group already, but you'd get the experience all the same.

In either case, we're suggesting a day trip as a first experience. If that gets you hooked, we'll gladly reel you in closer... first time's free.. all the cool kids are doing it....

Our schedule:

July 11-12: this weekend!!! Fort Laurens, near Bolivar, OH. We'll be there late Friday to close on Sunday. this a small event, recreating a military encampment at the only site of a rev war fort (no fort, just the site) in Ohio. there might be a vendor or two. A low-key event. Some military drilling, usually a battle in the afternoon. Women will be doing laundry, etc. No food for sale; bring a lunch. Small museum on-site. http://www.friendsoffortlaurens.org/events.cfm

August 15-16: Fort Frederick, Maryland. A bigger event, also recreating a military encampment. More will be happening at this event: there's a grand stone rebuilt fort here. A bread oven will be in use. The fort will be besieged all weekend. A few vendors will attend. Large public attendance expected. There will be presentations about dress and weaponry, etc. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/FortFrederick.html

Sept 5-6: Fair at new Boston, Springfield, OH. My favorite event (well, not counting Williamsburg). Entrance fee about $7.00. This is a recreation of a 1790's local fair. There are vendors galore, circus acts, an indian village, militia encampments, famous personages, shakespeare, music, food -- more than you can take in, really. At this event, Sherri is a citizen, which means I wander around and provide atmosphere (i.e., I shop) most of the day. http://www.fairatnewboston.org/

October 10-11: Williamsburg, VA. Ah, the pinnacle of a reenactor's life. I think this year we are supposed to be camped on the grounds of the Wythe house, which probably means you'd have to have ticket to get in to see our camp. ( about $40.) Williamsburg is, of course, glorious, an entire re-created 18th c city. This weekend is very busy, and we have to stay in camp pretty much all the time, so we probably wouldn't get to wander Wmsbg with you. http://www.history.org/visit/eventsAndExhibits/specialEvents/index.cfm#oct

Note: 18th c. clothing is hot. Everyone wears 2, 3, 4 layers of clothing. If you are prone to heat sensitivity, I don't recommend dressing up at first. You have to love it to be crazy enough to do this on a hot day!

Mini-Conference: Teaching, Learning, and Tomorrow's Students #3

2009-06-23T11:08:00.001-07:00

What it means to me:

I can use some of the ideas for handling explosive statements in class. That does occasionally happen, and I would like to be able to turn it into something useful.

I can use some of these exercises as a way to address integrity of sources. The Economist covers that all show Africa as destitute in one way or another would be a good discussion starter: even "Academic" sources have a bias.

I have many extremely astute and interesting colleagues at OU. I would like to get to know them better.

Mini-Conference: Teaching, Learning, and Tomorrow's Students #2

2009-06-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

Session details:

9 am: Mark Orbe: "Preparing Students to make a World of Difference"
"If we do not address issues of diversity, we are preparing students for a world that no longer exists." And change is hard for everyone. It's awkward, and not always positive. It's also contagious. "10-15% is a movement." We need to recognize and affirm small changes; "small" changes might be invisible; they might be "big" to the student. The Global Village exercise asked us to imagine the world as a village of 100: 1% would be college educated; 75% would be illiterate; 18% would be white.

11 am: Joni Wadley, Office of Institution Research, on OU demographics.We don't reflect the world.

noon: lunch and discussion.

1:30: Mark Orbe: Engaging "Taboo Topics" in the classroom. You need to be able to handle really difficult dialogues (= communication that transforms) so we can all examine our own blind spots. Try this: I am _________(stereotype), but I'm not __________. It helps to depersonalize a statement: use Emporer Palpatine to to talk about political rhetoric. You can say, "Who else here agrees, or knows someone who agrees with that statement?" Ah, see, we need to understand this point of view... Or, have the passionate person make an equally passionate statement for the other side.

3:00 (various faculty): Creating effective course materials. Ways to get students thinking about their stereotypes and whether they are true. Ex: For Geography of Africa, Prof Wangui has students fill out an open grid of their perceptions about African history, people, economy, housing, etc. They look at covers of magazines and books about Africa to see if they reinforce these perceptions and discuss why.

Mini-Conference: Teaching, Learning, and Tomorrow's Students #1

2009-06-23T07:20:00.000-07:00

Mini-Conference: Teaching, Learning, and Tomorrow's Students: Multicultural and Global Perspectives
Thursday, June 18, 9-5, Faculty Commons, Ohio University

This day was spent talking about the increasing diversity of the world and our students. We did several exercises that emphasized the idea that "diversity" is broader than race. Diversities to consider: Spirituality, disability, age, sexuality, nationality, regionality, political...

We all have areas of our life and identity that are disenfranchised -- and areas that are privileged. On the other hand, most students come from a homogeneous society (the black neighborhood, the Jewish neighborhood...) and may be unsettled by the mixture of cultures at college.

In our lunch table discussion, we agreed that we identify ourselves against our perception of the norm -- and our "minority" identity always feels oppressed.

Another potential conflict is that faculty want students to change / grow / think critically. Change defines education. Students, however, just want the paper for the job. And it's only fair to ask how faculty are handling change, isn't it? Few people actually like it!

Afternoon sessions focused on how to address these issues in the classroom. What do you do when someone makes a racist, classist, ageist... statement? Faculty offered exercises and syllabi that helped them waken students to these issues. (See above).

CTl has put these materials online here.

Seminar on the Future of the Book: Oberlin, Ohio, April 4, 2009 #3

2009-04-07T07:23:00.001-07:00

One last non-seminar idea:

Library Perspectives, the Oberlin College Library newsletter, Spring 2009, no. 40, has an article about profs holding office hours in their new cafe. I wish we could offer free coffee coupons to encourage this. Maybe that's my next Big Idea.

Seminar on the Future of the Book: Oberlin, Ohio, April 4, 2009 #2

2009-04-07T06:49:00.000-07:00

Part 2: Thinking Points

1. We are losing the distinctions between:

public and private lives
producer and consumer of intellectual goods
good and good enough information
the expert and the wisdom of the crowd

What happens to information and books will be intertwined with these things.

2. Realistically, what happens to the book will be driven by money, as it always has been. Publishers will exploit the fan conversation if they can profit by it. Will people pay to blog with the author? The value of the book itself, like the individual song or movie clip, will tend to $0, and the value-added will be all that can be sold.

3. Academic publishing can now circumvent the peer journal / academic tome process entirely, but the opinions of tenure committees will hold us in bondage for... a generation more? I can self-publish or lead a free online community of inquiry about my research. How will that count? What will "peer review" mean?

4. And once academic publishing runs outside the established channels, as Wanda reminds me, how will libraries track it, collect it, protect it? Google may well become the only way to get to it.

5. Will large conglomerates end up owning everything we write / have written? We might need guerilla web publishing servers. Is that the library of the future? Licensing is not the same thing as copyright, and either could hamstring efforts to open conversations about a text.

6. Evaluation / critical thinking, the highest-order skill, may be the only skill we CAN teach in the future. So far, though, education at every level in the US has chosen the opposite, and bowed to the pressure of training for money-making. With so much misinformation available, will we be dumber or wiser as a culture?

7. The final question is, how much are we willing to pay for GOOD information, as opposed to GOOD ENOUGH information? Who are we collecting for, and why?

Seminar on the Future of the Book: Oberlin, Ohio, April 4, 2009 #1

2009-04-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

Day-long seminar co-sponsored by Oberlin College Library and the Harold S. Jantz Memorial Lectureship.

Speakers:

James Neal, Director, Columbia University Library
Niko Pfund, VP, Oxford University Press
Robert Stein, Director of the Institute for the Future of the Book

Plus a panel of 3 Oberlin faculty:

Julia Christensen, AP of Emerging Arts
Anne Trubek, AP of Composition
Gary Kornblith, Prof of History

Main Idea of the Day: The book as we know it will survive, as the central conversation among many possible forms. So you might read the book online, or download it, or order a Print-on-Demand paper version, or listen to it, or watch it, or link out to encyclopedic video, audio, and text explanations of its references. You might also join the ongoing conversation with the author as he blogs his research process before he writes, or the online book groups once the book is published, or the fan clubs writing extra chapters and alternative endings, or the artists offering dance, poetry, and graphic art in response.

For all of us, librarians, educators, publishers, bookstores, this means we will want to be in on the evolving conversation connected to individual written/multimedia works. But we've only begun to experiment with how to do that. The IFB offered a few examples of side-by-side online conversations with authors while they do their research, and a small online book club of matched women from around the country. Oxford is excited about being able to offer virtually their entire back catalog as POD books. Columbia has whole departments devoted to new ideas, for example the Center Digital Initiatives, etc.

See next entry for thinking points.

FYE Orlando conference: wiki for library cooperation

2009-03-06T09:33:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

FYE Orlando conference: wiki for library cooperation

View more presentations from sherrisaines. (tags: library fye)

FYE Orlando: my presentation with Colleen Boff

2009-03-06T09:31:00.001-08:00

Monday at noon, Colleen Boff (BGSU) and I did a presentation about libraries' cooperation with FYE programs. We've comandeered the corner of the Library Success Wiki to document the many ways libraries have tried and whether they were deemed a success. We ended up doing a literature review, too, to fill in gaps. See powerpoint in separate post.

vlog: fye conference

2009-03-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

FYE Orlando 09: one more thing

2009-02-17T13:01:00.000-08:00

2 vendors were interesting, both start-ups by young turks with cool ideas:

1. Red Rover will index your institution's Facebooking students (for a fee), and allow them to tag themselves so they can identify others with like interests. But the larger idea, which is even more interesting, is that we may have to teach students to manage their online presence as a professional. What happens when you Google your name? Is this how I want the world to see me? "Google is the new resume."

2. Better developed on the business model side is Scvngr. http://www.scvngrhunt.com They will help you create and manage a campus scavenger hunt (for a fee) that delivers clues to students' phones. They have a bank of questions that have worked well at other places, some of which sound intriguing. Too bad we just killed the Code Game.

3. Also, book pubs were giving away copies of books for consideration for the common reader. Loved that part.

FYE Orlando 09: take-aways

2009-02-17T11:38:00.001-08:00

1. Invite Christy Price to OU to talk about dealing with Millennials in the classroom.
2. No one has The Solution, any more than we do, about how to reach Freshmen with the library gospel.
3. "Google is the New Resume." We may have to teach students to manage their online professional presence.
4. Orientation for first-gen parents helps everyone.
5. So does orientation for international students.
6. The OU Learning Community program is bang-a-rang.

FYE Orlando 09: Tuesday sessions

2009-02-17T11:28:00.000-08:00

8 am: FYE for International students. Tiffin U. ran a pilot of a program to help international students adjust. Good idea we might use at OU. I liked that the syllabus was simple, and every meeting involved going out and talking to people, and coming back and sharing what you found.

9:15: Spirituality and Higher Education (2 hours). Small-group discussions about integrity and the value of the spiritual dimension of development. We say we are training students to think and be open-minded, etc., but we don't model that in our behavior as administrators.

Take a walk in the sunshine....

FYE Orlando 09: Monday sessions

2009-02-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

8 am: Poster sessions: 250 Random Acts of Kindness Toward Students. I loved this: just a list and a guy saying,"It makes me happy; it makes them happy. Try some."

9:15 am: Why don't My Students Think I'm Groovy? We should have Christy Price come to OU and give her workshop. Using the characteristics of Millennial students, she suggests ways we can change our classroom behaviors to meet them in the middle. Active classroom, responsive instructor, relevant information are Millennial desires.

10:45 am: Learning communities at OU for undecided students. POWERFUL presentation of evidence that learning communities really matter for the success of the undecided student, even more than for others.

1:30 pm: Plenary: Gender Gap in the 1st Year. Linda J Sax has done research about gender differences in college students, and has a new book. Very intriguing stats about what matters to the success of women vs. men. Exs: being closer to home helps women's emotional health, but doesn't matter to men. Time spent on homework increases cultural awareness, but only in men.

3:00 pm: FYE for online adult students. Using education theory for adults plus FYE standards, molded the 2 into a useful FYE class. Interesting chart of teaching theories and styles.

4:15 pm: Maintaining Wellness discussion. Dominated by new professionals trying to figure out how to do a good job and have a life.

5:30 pm: Discussion: Role of Libraries in FYE. We've all tried many things, and are not yet satisfied that that we have found THE THING that works. Ahhh, I am not alone. Kevin Prentis: "Our role is to become purveyors of relevancy," and, "All education is filtered through their Facebook."

FYE Orlando 09: sunday sessions

2009-02-17T08:53:00.000-08:00

7:45 am: Harlan Cohen of "Help me Harlan" promotes his speaker tour: "Training for the Art of Taking Risks." This is a good idea, to approach what scares us as a calculated risk we can "research." Harlan says he has uncovered the KEY: The Universal Rejection Truth: "Not everyone will always appreciate, include, and desire you or your ideas." So true, so useful, so simple. I can give everyone permission to not like me. This might actually help us all.

9:00 am: An Alternative Reality Game. The IT guys at Abeline U had a great time creating a tech / web driven game that runs students all over campus solving puzzles, much like our Code Game, but techier. The theme is that we should be critical of tech's impact on us. The funny part is, they didn't really announce it, just left enough clues to whet students' appetites, but students got scared and called security. So they suggest don't be clandestine. Very labor-intensive. You gotta do it for love, because you can't afford it otherwise.

10:15 am: College Coach Approach. Seneca College used Emotional Intelligence theory to construct a "coaching" relationship pilot program. Students met with their coach every 2 weeks for 20 minutes, checking in on their progress. This really helps students.

2:45 pm: Civility in the Classroom. Perceived coarsening of society leads us to wonder how to handle the classroom. We have to be proactive, talk about behavior, make contracts, etc. For millennials, everything must have a rationale and a relevance. When asked for examples, the crowd offers up more than there is time for: it's not just my perception, then.

4:00 pm: FYE seminars by senior faculty. At Millersville U of Pa, Senior faculty can create FYE seminars on a topic of their passion. They like this. It feeds both student and teacher. They include some orientation topics, too. Their peer mentors keep in touch with the class all year, even though the seminar is only 1 semester. Nice touch.

5:15: Focused Dialog on at-risk low-income students. Frustrating exchange in which no one would define anything, everyone was afraid to talk about race or class, people made assumptions and then denied them. One good idea: orientation for first-gen parents so they understand academic lingo and time demands. "Mom, I made the Dean's List!" "Oh, no, are you in trouble?"

FYE Orlando 09: Keynote, Freeman a. Hrabowski

2009-02-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

Sat. 5:30 pm
I do not like weekend conferences.

Hrabowski has long been an advocate for the African-American student. Author of Beating the Odds and Overcoming the Odds. Expectations and language matter: our communication can impact student success. Never tell your daughter you were no good at math!
The first semester of the sophomore year is critical. Many students just barely made it through freshman year, and their first encounter with subject material floors them. (I can relate to this idea personally!)
The entire institution must be speaking the language of success in word and deed. Institutional integrity -- a wonderful idea. How to get every group and culture in on the conversation? Go to them and ask, "What is life like for YOU here?"
We still can't talk openly about race in America. Confusing signals: the language of "cool" isn't the language of "success."
We must develop alternatives in the range between a Bachelor's and McDonalds. Not everyone is college material, but we don't like to talk about this, either, because it sounds like classism. See Jobs for the Future.
I love this:
WAtch your thoughts, they become your words,
WAtch your words, they become your actions,
WAtch your actions, they become your habits,
WAtch your habits, they become your character,
WAtch your character, it becomes your destiny.

ALAO: Blackboard and Tagging

2008-11-07T09:11:00.000-08:00

Embedding librarians in course Mangement:
Use Blackboard to communicate with students after you've had an instruction session with them: "Oh, I forgot to tell you," "I just found..." Make a button that says, "Blackboard Librarian." In promoting this project, the Dean decided that for every Bb class you take on, you get one day of comp time! The busiest classes were 1) distance, 2) upper level, and 3) graduate classes. allows the "illusion of omnipresence" of the librarian.

Uncorking the Varietals: social Tagging, Folksonomies, and Controlled Vacaularies:
Margaret Mauerer always does a good job. This session was dense with definitions and ideas. 1/3+ of keyword returns wouldn't work without human-added SHs. LCSHL optimizes shelf location; might not be relevant anymore. Catalog gets you to a dummy for the item; web gets you to the item itself. SHs work for former, not later. Tags are about connecting, not organizing. People make tags for their own benefit. Unexpectedly, tags yield common terms and consensus over time. "Spagging" = spam tagging, usually for commercial purposes. Double systems make sense: invite them to the party, but don't mix them up.

ALAO Conference Oct 24, 2008: keynote

2008-11-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

Keynote: David Carr, N.C. Library School, retired.

The role of the library is to be the nexus. In the library, students should come upon thought-provoking ideas: fancy tech or low tech doesn't matter. Meanwhile, library schools are emphasizing minute tech specialties; your average lib school prof can't answer a reference question anymore. Idea of library as ultimate liberal arts teacher, connector, investigator, possibility, invitation. "Our job is to complete the incomplete education of our students." Our connection should be transformative. "Your administrators have no idea what you do."

A national essay says that the library is obsolete because computers provide "easy, rapid, reliable, documented access to materials." But that is only possible, he counters, because librarians are doing "difficult, slow, ambivalent, challenging work" to make it possible. And then librarians provide more than access, they provide: service, control, solace, analysis, rescue, instruction, thinking, connection...

Books to read: Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience
Beyond Boredom and Anxiety

First Gen narrative

2008-08-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

Some of us OU faculty and staff have written what we're calling "first gen narratives," stories about our lives as first-generation college students. If you're the first in your family to go to college, sometimes you don't know what to expect. Here's my story:

First Gen Narrative: Sherri Saines

Instructional Librarian, Alden Library

No one in my family had done it yet -- the result of a combination of limitations, mostly financial -- but I was determined to GO AWAY to college. My brother and sister had managed to go to community colleges and live at home, which was what they could afford with their jobs and what little my parents could supplement. But I wanted to be a poet, such an irrelevant occupation, and I couldn’t do it at the community college. I needed to get out.

So I went to my high school guidance counselor, who didn’t know much, really, and then to the public library where I scoured college and financial aid books. I applied to every scholarship I could find – an inefficient enterprise – and to 3 colleges: that community college, the local state school, and the small, expensive, private school I really wanted. When the numbers came in, it was cheaper to go to my dream school than the state university! I repeat this story often: private colleges have more money to give, so go for the dream.

So I went to the big city, the expensive school, the high academic challenge, the exclusive club. I had no idea what to expect of college life. No one had told me drinking stories or frat prank tales. Honestly, I thought college was supposed to be like becoming a monk for 4 years: intense, intellectual, spartan. I was paying a lot to do this; I was going to milk it for all it was worth.

So the culture shock was enormous.

First, there was big city life: I met my first gay person, first free thinker, first … everything. Then there was the class issue: hillbilly meets privileged city girls. One of my first challenges was trying to convey without shame that I could not put in $100 for the matching bedspreads, rug, and curtains my roommates suggested we buy together. Then there was the intellectual disappointment: we didn’t do much late night soul searching; most girls went out drinking at frats. I didn’t know what an outlier I was, looking for honest discussion in my dorm. Then there was the deep homesickness, over against the steep cost of calling home. I remember pacing the halls trying not to cry. Then there was the wall of moral dilemmas. The first vote in hall council was whether to allow men to stay overnight on our floor. No way was I going to be the dissenting vote.

So, while I was doing the monk thing and getting good grades, I felt all emptied out and awash. When I went home, I couldn’t even begin to explain what was happening in that other life. I remember feeling that I had been someplace wild and strange and indescribable, and they could never understand. (Of course, they could have, having survived their own cross-cultural traumas in war and work, but I didn’t know that.)

Nor do I remember finding sensitive or supportive mentors to guide me. I was scared of my advisor, a brash egotistical novelist who stumped me with questions I was afraid to answer. I didn’t discover until years later that one is allowed to ask a librarian a question. Was there a writing center? A career center? I have no idea. I never found them. My RA lived next door and she was a big help. She physically removed me from my desk on Friday night and took me to the coffee house.

I survived because I believed in my mission, I think. I expected it would be hard; it was harder. I stuck it out. I got good grades. I still look to those years to prove I can do anything I decide to do. But I don’t recommend that level of loneliness and terror. One of my goals as a librarian at OU is to be a friendlier face, so hopefully new students don’t find their transition quite so hard as mine.

CIL 08: end

2008-04-18T08:15:00.001-07:00

There, that only took 2 hours. A normal conference report usually takes 1.

My One Idea from this conference:

Instead of just moving my New Students Blog to a wiki this summer, what can I create that will foster community among first years? How can the library's First Year site be a nexis for the noobs? And what shall I call it? What would entice them to actually come, play around, and happen upon the library's services and resources lined up just for them? Love to hear your ideas on this.

CIL 08: Pecha Kucha

2008-04-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

Pecha Kucha is a stylized presentation technique in which each person gets exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds, and 20 20-second slides to get their idea across. In this session, 4 pm on Tuesday, 5 presenters gave an overview of 2.0 topics, and presenter #6 played the skeptic. This was the best session of the conference. People really can take an hour to say what can be said in 6 minutes!

IM: make a sign for each computer that says, "Don't get up, we'll come to you."
Podcasting: patrons as content producers. Lots of fun.
Wikis: don't have to look like wikis. Library with wiki front page!
Videocasting: Windows Movie Maker 2 is free
Facebook: is easy; library sites aren't.
Skeptic: we are just letting the user do our work. Cost / benefit analysis falls short. We aren't content producers, we are content organizers.

CIL 08: The Char and Chad show

2008-04-18T07:28:00.001-07:00

Props to my colleagues, Chad Boeninger and Char Booth who presented at CIL. They make me proud. OU should require those who present at conferences to come home and do their spiel for the rest of the staff.

10:30 am Tuesday: Chad does wikis . I really was headed for the session next door, but poked my head in and got interested, so I sat down. The other room was too crowded, anyway. I'm looking to start a wiki, so this was good info.

Make a skeleton and put some stuff in it before you open it to the audience. Don't expect them to help you build it. Add help pages. Use it to teach from; it's a virtual handout. Link to it from everywhere. Watch statistics. Add a Meebo widgit if you're brave enough. Should OU have "one wiki to rule them all?" Then we could google custom search them? Practice euthanasia on on nearly dead wikis.

1:30 pm Tuesday: Char does Skype. The point is that you can, but it might not be useful to you. Ou libns showed themselves to be incredibly flexible in trying multiple variations on the Skye idea in a short time span. People remarked on this. There are many ways to do this, too. International students may be a particularly receptive population, as they Skype home.

10:30 am Wednesday: Chad on Gaming. Games teach by doing; why can't we? There should be game-like feedback in databases and catalogs (?treasure chests or cheat sites for EBSCO?). The reference librarian is the game god that gives hints or bestows powers. See his bibliography for books to read.

Chad also participated in a preconference and a short they call Cypertours.

CIL 08: Briefs

2008-04-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

11:30 am Monday: Justine Lam on the Ron Paul Campaign. Campaign run with free social software and an ugly website. They raised a record amount of money.

1:30 pm Monday: Megan Fox on Mobile Trends. Egad, am I behind. I'm just getting used to a cell, and they want me to project the Net on my glasses.

3:15 pm Monday: The "In" in CIL: learning commons. Make partners; have movable furniture.

9:00 am Tuesday keynote: Guelph library guys. It's fun to go around making videos of librarians and library patrons. It's also good PR. These guys are just schmoozing.

10:30 Tuesday: Barn Raising, One ILS at a Time. Autographics created a federated search for their databases and catalogs. It can be done.

2:30 Tuesday: Data Visualization with Darlene Fichter. People are starting to make really cool ways of looking at data. Here are a thousand examples. Should be fun to go look at a bunch of these.

9:00 am Wednesday keynote: Elizabeth Lane Lawley, RIT: "Libraries as happiness engines"
Do I really want people to be addicted to my catalog? Productive Play / Serious Games. Chore Wars for parents who aren't creative or strong enough to insist. PMOGs: the web as a gameboard - that's interesting. "Games as gateway drugs." The virtual returns to the real eventually. We know we need both.

11:30 am Wednesday: Marketing with 2.0. All public lib examples. New PR paradigm: we don't control the brand, we only influence the character and portability of the brand. We create the opportunity for our customers to add their take on our brand. When, I wonder, will consumers tire of being exploited in this way?

1.:45 Wed: Google update by Greg Notese of Search Engine Showdown. Lots of details about advanced search minutia. "To be or not to be" makes an interesting test search for stop word problems.

2:45 Wednesday: Customizing Blackboard. I just don't understand. I already do all these things, don't I?

CIL 08: Hi Tech, Hi touch Jenny Levine

2008-04-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

10:30 am Monday

"The idea now is not to connect the patron to the item, but to connect the patrons to each other. Librarians used to filter stuff coming into their library and/or databases; now we need to filter stuff going out, instead." (I guess so what a patron uploads isn't porn?) [Para]

Which brings up the librarian fear of losing control of my database. That's what we do, control information. We could have let patrons write on catalog cards all along; did anyone do that? We thought we were offering a service, to filter out junk and offer vetted data. But that was when we could keep up.

A social catalog is just saying, "I give up." ??????

The belief now exists that other people, other masses of people, can steer me through the chaos of choice that the internet provides. I can read enough product reviews to believe the toaster I buy is just what I need. Wikipedia will sort it all out for me. I guess it helps me feel better.

The other thing I wonder about is our idea about patron privacy. The consensus seems to be that younger people don't care.

It has not been our experience that if we build it they will necessarily come. I wonder what I could build that would entice participation from a college Freshman?

Computers in Libraries 2008

2008-04-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

I went to the CIL conference last week in DC, in a souless environment called Crystal City. The conference was crowded; the neighborhood was blank and concrete and loud. At the keynote address by Lee Rainee (Pew Internet and American Life Project), he stopped to ask, "How many of you are blogging me right now?" About 2 dozen people. Then, "How many of you will blog me as soon as you can get to an internet connection?" Tens more. Indeed, all around me people were clicking their laptop keys. Char, right beside me, included. Chad, somewhere else in the room, as well. Not too hard to find others, as well.

I was taking notes in pencil. I also doodle, and write questions and comments in the margins. My friends know you can tell how boring the conference was by how elaborate the doodles are. I hung my doodle outside by cubbie if you want to see it. Too bad I only had 3 colors.

Later I asked Char about this: how can you think and type that fast at the same time? "I don't," she said, "I dump it all into the blog and I'll have to read it later to even know what I heard."

I'm blogging later as a way to think it through.

All the presentations are supposed to be online, but I can't find them...??? I've had this experience before. They had a conference blog, but complained that people weren't posting. We're all very self-centered still.

Meet your librarians video: toooooo cool

2007-08-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyzcBCShz6E

Until I can figure out how to embed it, at least it's here.
This replaces our physical 5-minute "Hello I'm a librarian" in the 100+ Uc 115 and 190s this year.

video I found on Kate's blog

2007-08-21T08:36:00.001-07:00

An Index of Librarians?

2007-08-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

This blog entry and the ensuing discussion made me chuckle. It starts off a discussion of one of those "Read these before you die" book lists, and verrs off into "what's the collective noun for librarians?" Lots of funny ideas: a Dewey of Librarians? One poster claims there is actually an established word...

More happy faces!

2007-08-16T09:38:00.001-07:00

These are from http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/, a blog I ran into but know nothing about.

The End

2007-08-16T09:29:00.002-07:00

Well, I hate to see it end. It's been fun having permission to spend work time doing this. Yes, I'd do it again. I'd take web 2.1 next summer. To be frank, the MP3 player is a big incentive. Yup, hard to believe. I need both your permission and your freebies!

I did learn a lot. I've enjoyed reading other people's blogs. I'd like to think I'd keep at it, but I won't promise. Fall is coming and the Rush ensues.

Facebook

2007-08-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

"Sure, it may be overly indulgent, and some of the pictures are unflattering, but this constant chronicling of life eliminates the secret diary or crafty scrapbook....
Facebook is my personal assistant, allowing me to catch up on my social life without telephone tag, awkward lunches and five-, 10-, 15-year reunions. We write on each other's Wall, a message board, when we want to say happy birthday without singing into an answering machine. When I'm having a hectic week at my internship, I can change my status so that people know why I haven't returned their telephone calls—much better than wasting time calling people to tell them you're too busy to talk." From "Why I love Facebook."

In place of a scrap book? What will my grandkids read? Do we care about archiving any of this? Is all crafting going digital?

I expect next we'll be knitting in electronic 3-d.

Well, yes, it works as a form of communication if all your important contacts are also on Facebook. I'm afraid of adding strangers to my "friends" list. What if they remember me and I don't remember them?

Yea, I'm on Facebook. Have been for 2 years or so. I have 25 friends. That makes me a Facebook failure, Doesn't it?

So, let's see, I have to have windows open for Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Meebo, Meebo reference, ... I better have some high class RAM and a hugh tolerance for confusion. I have RAM, but I like to keep my desktop as clutter free as the top of my desk. Might not be able to do it.

Our podcasts

2007-08-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

Did I already say this? The library's podcast series is "Behind the Desk"

podcasting

2007-08-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

I first looked into podcastalley but you had to download "podcatcher" to actaully hear anything. I didn't want to sign up for anything else, egad, so I went to the next one, podcast.net. I searched for poetry.

I tried to listen to "Poemia," but it was in Icelandic or something.

I found a lot of Babblebooks, which are machine-read literary works. Very very wierd. I've stopped listening to many a professional reader of audio books because the voice wasn't just right. You can listen to this for about 3 sentences. Good for a laugh.

Great Books: A chapter a day didn't want to play.

But then, ah: Poetryfoundation.org. A whole list of well-done poems and articles about poetry. I wanted to listen to them all, so I RSSd it.

I find I"m not very patient with just listening at my computer. I need to be knitting or driving. I listen to books on tape in the car and really enjoy them. I wonder if I can figure out how to get the poetry podcast to play out loud in my car??????

You Tube is Too Much Fun

2007-08-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

You tube is really addicting. I've "wasted" a lot of time playing with it!

My son, majoring in film at college, collects short videos and commercials as a hobby. He has over 100 gig of favorites. When he comes home, he always says, "I've got some good videos to show you." His friends stop by to ask, "Seen any good videos lately?"

As we have seen, libraries are using it as a way to connect with a wider public, creating funny and engaging video commercials. We're trying to do the same thing! Next week we shoot our own "You Tube LIbrarians. " Wish us luck.

Libraries have been creating videos for a long time. I have one from Alden from the 80's that they ran (I think) on WOUB. The problem has always been that as soon as you make it, you have to update it. Video is still a very time-intensive project, even if it is cheap and then free to distribute.

Have you heard of "going viral"? That's when everyone starts picking up, copying, linking, to your video until it's common knowledge, and then is parodied, copied, mimicked, mashed-up, blogged, wiki'd, and remembered. I want to go viral with our UT librarians!

You Tube: herding cats

2007-08-08T16:31:00.001-07:00

My favorite commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8

But Fuzzmail

2007-08-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

But fuzzmail was the most fun. It records your keystrokes as you type, and send the whole thing as a video. If you're like me and your typing is atrocious, it's sort of funny. And it can be poetic, as the example "my love" proves. It might be possible to use something like this as a teaching video, like the infamous Youtube piece about the definition of web 2.0

www.fuzzmail.org

famous web 2.o vid:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

the four word film review

2007-08-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

The 6-word storied led to the 4-word film reviews.

http://www.fwfr.com

Some of these are fun.

Of citizen Kane, for example:

Multi millionaire dies 'bud'iless.
or
Has everything. Wants sled.

I didn't even try.

more web 2.0

2007-08-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

I couldn'thelp myslef. I kept going down the line of fun things. #2 is One Sentence, www.onesentence.org.

The idea here is you try to write a story in one sentence. You submit your story, and if the headman likes it, you get published.

Here's mine:
My grandmother, never a nurturer, would have made a cuthroat career woman in my generation, and might have skipped the torture she inflicted on herself, my mother, and me.

Here are some others:

As hot as double lip piercings are, as slender were her hips, and as beautiful were her eyes, anti-psychotics are an instant stop sign.

I am pregnant with my husband's child, so I will never get to be with the man who is the mirror of my soul.

I explained what rehab and detox are to my 6 year old brother yesterday.

Asked by my small daughter, "How long does a clock take?", I had to wonder.

While at an SCA event, I took a Reiki Level I class that has forever opened my eyes, brought peace to my life and revealed in truth who I really am.

I have a 4.7 GPA and I smoke more weed than my high school's famed stoners.

and so on. No, I have no idea why.

web 2.0 toosl misc.

2007-08-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

I tried out the fun category. I went to Cocktail builder: www.cocktailbuilder.com

It won first prize. It's really simple: you put in one ingredient, and it suggests cocktails you can make with it. This is a good thing. I have a 7-year-old bottle of creme de menthe in my cupboard, and now I have 2 ideas for using it up with ingredients I already have.

Then you can send the recipe to a friend: one button throws the whole thing into your default e-mail program.

Note, please, security people: when I sent a recipe for cocktails through my campus mailbox to a friend, I was only doing my homework. Really.

Google Docs

2007-08-01T15:33:00.001-07:00

I first heard about Google Docs from one of the candidates for reference in the spring. Then, Kiffany suggested we use Google Docs in creating the puzzles for the Code Game, which we did.

Here's a sample of an earlier version of that file. You can see we had already been fiddling with the wording and the order. This was really nifty, and way easier than passing around a file and trying to save the latest version of it, etc. We should be using this more at work.

Order of Tasks (As of 7/19/07)

1. Hey, I need to find a book!

2. Wow! I need to borrow a book!

3. Lights, Camera, Action!

4. I just rolled out of bed!

5. Walk thru web site

6. Music

7. I'm runnin' around like a chicken with its head cut off (RENAME THIS)

8. Mini tour -- AAC, Counting, Fountain Poem, Writing Center, IT desk, Audio Books, Multimedia Center (Kif)

9. Google, Where Art Thou

CODE GAME TASK 1XXXXXX

Task Level: extremely simple

Hey, I need to find a book! (1)

On the left hand side of the library’s homepage where it says “Find Books, Videos, etc… in the ALICE Online Catalog”, click on the link that says “ALICE Online Catalog”. This will take you to library’s catalog. Notice all the different ways to search for library items. Use ALICE to complete your task.

Here is your task:

There is a book in this library by the author Marjorie Heins. It has something to do with blasphemy. Find the title and call number of the book. Go to the place the book is located and ask for it by title, author and call number. Please identify yourself as a code game player. If you are correct you will receive your next task.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

CODE GAME TASK 2XXXXXX

Task Level: easy

wiki wiki wiki wiki

2007-08-01T15:16:00.001-07:00

Wiki is one of those words that gets funny fast if you say it too much.

I'm tempted to start adding to the wikipedia, aren't you? There still is no essay on the history of pins, for example, which has been written about, or about the hundreds of years worth of linen caps worn by women. How can it be a true compilation of knowledge with these glaring omissions?
So I posted my movie (Groundhog Day) and my blog link. Easy and clean.

wikis already passe?

2007-07-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

I thought this was telling. The first one I looked at has this note:

The Booklovers Summer Reading Club ended on September 15th, 2006 with raffle drawings. The 2007 version of the PPL Summer Reading Program, Read Around the World, started on June 15th with reviews now being entered directly to our recently upgraded online catalog. Hope you will join us!

How 2.0 of them!

famous wiki

2007-07-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

Don't forget, we have a famous wiki right here:

bizwiki: http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/index.php/Main_Page

I don't think Chad had the very first wiki for library use, but he was right up there.

Best of all, it works. Business reference questions scare me: they don't come often enough to remember where you found the answer the last time, and the resources change frequently. I used to use Bob P's research guides, but they got outdated so quickly they couldn't keep up. Now, I can go to the BizWiki and get a list of, for example, resources that describe international business practices, and they are all linked, right there, with notes about use, etc. It's saved my can many times.

Thanks, Chad. I look like less of an idiot.

They'll mess up my controlled vocabulary!

2007-07-29T17:34:00.000-07:00

I think for librarians, the real sticker about this 2.0 stuff is, how can we ever let go of the control of our beautiful, non-chaotic databases? We joke about the penchant for organizing that characterizes your typical librarian. We have built peaceful, controlled places where, if you learn how, you can find what you need. And now they WANT TO HELP US??!!! But they will mess it up! They'll use "native americans" instead of "indians of north america!" They will create uncontrolled, chaotic, intuitive, easy-to-use, serendipitous, link-heavy, groupings of stuff. They WON'T NEED ME ANYMORE.

I'm not so worried about the books we are amassing. They can actually be hard to find, especially if someone needs it today, and they aren't expensive in the big picture. The first attack will be on the $M we spend on article databases because we love their control of info. Our patrons do not care. They can do a natural language search on Google and find enough. If we just buy the e-journal, they'll take it from there. I think article databases created by commercial interests will be the first shoe to fall, and we will not have a cogent argument for the outlay.

Remember the article Julia had us all read about overserving our high end users, and the Ohiolink pie chart about switching to creating rather than storing content? That all goes well with this.

What do you think?

Library 2.0: wild ideas

2007-07-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

I read the OCLC articles, "Where will it take libraries?"

http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/1.htm

I was getting frustrated that all the commentators were men, then, at last, a female, Wendy Shultz, the most creative thinker of all.

The OCLC guy sounded like he just wanted brownie points from his boss: my boss thinks we could do X, and indeed, here are OCLC, we're doing just that, etc., etc.

The cataloger wants to open our data to more uses. The same old data, gathered in the same old way.

Michael Stephens, blogger librarian, says "The library is human." I liked that.

But Shultz talks about books with avatars in SecondLife and librarians as personal coaches, making sense of the virtual world. We could get personal ratings, like amazon reviewers, and become a librarian superstar. Yes, I could, but you can't afford me. So far, this 2.0 stuff is just a hobby for the techies; we'd have to create a whole new paradigm of pay per use of librarian who needs to support a family. We'd price students and your average guy out of the market. That's why our student-to-librarian ratio is hundreds - to - one. That's what users currently can afford.

I love the idea of "content is a conversation (Stephens)." Obviously, everyone wants to be in on the conversation. OH, to be thought an expert in something I love doing! If I love books, I can be a reviewer on Amazon with or without a library degree or experience in journalism, or anything.

One last idea: I wanted to print out this article, but I didn't find a way to do that easily. So I read it online, but I took handwritten notes to write from. How did you do it?

What do you think?

technorati

2007-07-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

That's us, the "technorati." I could join the ranks if I understood the part about "registering" for technorati. Won't they find us all eventually anyway?

Trolling through favs, I found the Philippine prison inmates doing the "algorithm march," which was fun to watch.

I don't see much difference between the searches???? The tag search includes multimedia, which is more fun.

So why do I want to read the blog of a stranger whose credentials I know nothing about?? It feels like reading too many 8th grade English essays. I only care if you're my friends or you know what you're talking about, right? No one is reading this, right?

I think it might be all about our dreams of fame. Here is an unfiltered way to get my words and images out into the world. I will get about the same readership as if I finally published my poetry chapbook with a reputable publisher! bypass the stodgy editors! right to the people! someone will find me! I'll be famous without all that hard work everyone says it requires. Do you think that's what it's about? Andy Warhol was right?

very interesting definition of "authority"

2007-07-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

From the technorati page about searching :

Authority:: You can also limit your results to blogs that have any, a little, some, or a lot of authority. Authority is determined by the number of unique site links that a blog has. The more unique site links a blog has to it, the better the ranking and higher the authority of the blog.

So, does that mean the more hot links I make, the more I can be trusted? So I could just link every word in my posts to Wikipedia or Bartlby and become more reliable?

Or, maybe it means the more my site is linked to from other people's sites, like backward cites? I guess that assumes other people will straighten me out if I"m wrong, or if we all agree it's more likely to be true?

I'm seeing that a lot of the social web is about the Truth we make by agreeing. I'd like to see some real social science research on whether it is true that a larger group is more likely to find the truth.

It's a brave new world.

the organizer in me is frazzled

2007-07-25T16:27:00.001-07:00

You know what else drives me crazy about all these web things? All the different logins and passwords. Like many people, I have a work set, a personal set, a set for X and for Y, but then there all those exceptions, like the fact that docs on Google demands a gmail account....

And then my growing OU-induced concern for some anonimity, so I really should have created an alter ego for the web by now, but I sit in front of those login things and think and think and can't find the right thing, so I give up....

I want to go back now and rename everything with some sort of system of logical and complimentary logins and names that cross-reference yet keep me safe. Right. I don't even know how to begin. What would I lose? Can I copy everything over? Can I hire a 13 year old to handle this for me?

I used to organize my toys into piles by color and size, too, so maybe its just my neurosis, but I an NOT IN CONTROL HERE.

delicious is a new idea

2007-07-25T16:22:00.001-07:00

So now i have a delicious account, too. http://del.icio.us/sherribrari. I am surprised what a mess my bookmarks are in. Once again, i find i just don't use them often enough...

Tagging in Delicious is easier than in Librarything. I like that it makes suggestions and all you have to do is click it and it gathers it up into your entry. In librarything, however, the size of the font gives you some feel for the popularity of the tag. I seldom agree with other people's categories! I want to add stuff like character names and iconic plot devices so I remember which book was about Ice-9, for example.

I really really want a way to tag my e-mails with more meaningful words, or be able to change their titles. I hear this is true in GMail but I haven't got the heart to change over....

rolyo doesn't do anything for me

2007-07-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

So I tried it. I don't see the logic of many of the lists I saw, and the results were generally so full of commercial flotsam as to be useless. Short eval: not a fan.

Uses in the Real world? For personal use, I could see making a set for LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, and Land's End. It's all the same stuff, but I can never remember which one stocks talls for Steve.

In Library Land? Could be an acceptable alternative to web portals for your subject area? Too bad it doesn't do subscription databases, too.

my library thing

2007-07-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Janet introduced me to Librarything several months ago, and I'm hooked. My list is just my 5-star books. I mentioned this in a previous post and added an automatic generator over there on the right side of this blog. Too darn cool.

Wired magazine generator

2007-07-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.condenet.com/promo/xerox/

This was a lot of fun, but I can't figure out how to save it.

Headlines:

Saines, INC changes the e-world
Ballet cures cancer
Poetry ends depression
white linen caps increase IQ

fun, fun

see if this works:

http://www.condenet.com/promo/xerox/view_cover.html?config=3202020000010100000101000004&h1=Saines_Inc.&h2=Changes_the&h3=E-World&s11=Saines_family&s12=rated_best_in_USA&s21=Ballet_cures_&s22=cancer&s31=Poetry_ends&s32=depression&s41=White_linen_caps&s42=increase_IQ&s51=&s52=&img=07%2F17%2F07%2F9710311371%2EJPG.

William Carlos Willimas poem generator

2007-07-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you do not know, but my favorite poem is by WCW:

So much depends upon
a red wheelbarrow
sprinkled with rainwater
beside the white chickens.

It's my favorite because a lot does depend on such things...

So much for my literary criticism. The plum poem is one I like a lot, too. As a matter of fact, my college roommate engraved it in a ceramic tile for me. So playing around with it is just too much fun.

Here's the generator URL:
http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/williams.htm

and here's my poem:

This is just to say
I have ironed
the white shirt
that was in
the closet

and which
you were probably saving
for work

Forgive me
it was linen
so wrinkled
and so sexy

I have a thing for men in white linen shirts.

blogs to RSS

2007-07-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

What I really want is a list of good library humor blogs. I's come back to that more often...

RSSers

2007-07-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

I've had my RSS set up for more than a year. I get to it when classes are on breaks, and seldom otherwise. I never seem to run across really interesting things like those Chad forwards to us occasionally. He makes a better RSS for me than this forest of blather.

I had better plans. I got Chad B.'s list of library blogs to follow, and I keep adding them when I find them, so I have 112 feeds now, almost all library stuff. I am convinced that this is where to go to keep up with emerging tech; I'm just not so enamored with tech that I do this if there's no drive. So, I dip in now and then, like I do the pile of Wired magazines and other "shoulds" that I keep around the house. The reenactor's rag, of course, I read cover-to-cover as soon as it hits the mail box. Maybe it's love that's missing in this relationship.

technolgy

2007-06-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Technology makes me feel nervous, like I can never be "with it" enough. I am interested, but not passionate. This stuff is fun, but I'm glad I don't do it all day. I get really tired of working on computers after a while. Also, technology is a sore spot with my children, who despite years and years of fighting them, continue to depend on their computers for companionship and all of their fun. I think it's an addiction, but they never listen to me. On the other hand, they think I'm kinda cool cause I blog and flicker and wiki and podcast and subscribe to Wired. If you have solved the boys-and-their-computers problem, let me know.

catwoman

2007-06-27T14:28:00.001-07:00

catwoman
Originally uploaded by saines

My Librarian trading card.

Trading card fun

2007-06-27T14:15:00.001-07:00

observer
Originally uploaded by saines

This should embarass him real good.

ladder in a Lobi home, Gaoua, burkina faso

2007-06-26T13:56:00.001-07:00

Grand escalier
Originally uploaded by roladrem

We had one of these. I stopped climbing it when I got really pregnent.

Lobi home, Gaoua, burkina faso

2007-06-26T13:55:00.001-07:00

Maïs
Originally uploaded by roladrem

Just as I remember them.

Mother's Day card

2007-06-26T13:04:00.001-07:00

My son made this card for me for Mother's Day. the photo is of my hand holding a shell I found on the basalt beach behind me. This is the shore in Goa, India, on the Arabian Sea.

Wool winter cap

2007-06-26T13:02:00.001-07:00

Wool winter cap
Originally uploaded by tattycat

Great idea. I've never seen this in the 18th century documentation. What a good idea; same pattern, made with wool for warmth. I left a question for her about historical accuracy.

flicker 2.: Winter clothing

2007-06-26T12:57:00.001-07:00

Winter clothing
Originally uploaded by tattycat

From looking around under reenacting. I was really hoping for a nice white linen cap, but this will do. It's not 18th century, but 16 th century. Styles didn't change very quickly back then.

flicker fun

2007-06-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

So I spent an hour looking at sewing, reenacting, and the like. Who would have guessed? My most interesting find is a photo of the tools inside a sewing kit at colonial Williamsburg. Ooooo.
I know what all the tools are, and can tell that this is the sewing kit of a fairly wealthy lady.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7365338@N07/423706536/
You can tell because many of them are made of ivory, and are fancier than necessity calls for. Also, the work laid aside is bargello, a type of petit point popular in the 18th century. The pattern of wavy colors is for a man's wallet, often made for him by his sweetheart. Usually only unmarried girls or wealthy women would have had the time to do such fancy work.

Enjoy!

Blogs my children taught me

2007-06-19T09:55:00.001-07:00

Here are 3 blogs I like because they are all about wierd ideas:

Damn Interesting: http://www.damninteresting.com/
Reddit: http://reddit.com/
The Athanasius Kircher Society http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/

Other blogs that are my fault

2007-06-19T09:51:00.001-07:00

Here are two blogs that are already my fault. They are both for work.

New Students' Resources Blog: resources to complement UC 115, the Freshman Year Experience Course at OU: http://www.library.ohiou.edu/newstudents/blog/

Behind the Desk: podcasts from Alden Library: http://www.library.ohiou.edu/podcasts/

my library thing

2007-06-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

The other 2.0 thing I already do is librarything. I went and used the same name for it, just to confuse everyone. My librarything list is limited to books that get 5 stars: my top 150 reads.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/sherribrari

7 and 1/2 habits

2007-06-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Of the 7 1/2 habits, I'll have the most trouble with the toolkit and finding tutorials. I generally find that tutorials don't help me much; hard to follow directions, button has changed, etc. Teaching others is one I will take up, by helping with one of the help sessions. And I promise myself to have fun.

The quote on my desk.

2007-06-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

It is not my business to think about myself. My business is to think about God. It is for God to think about me.

Simone Weil

It's all about me

2007-06-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

My blog. My own blog. To join the world of those who believe they have something to say. To show the world how wise I am. To blog and blog and blog until I can blog no more. To throw my heart and soul out into the ether and imagine - dream - pray someone cares. Ah, to blog is life.