The LLC BibliBlography

Want to Search for Books on Your Smartphone?

2012-01-27T13:38:00.000-08:00

Now you can, in a much more phone-friendly fashion:

LINCPac redirects to Mobile Catalog

[LTLS] been able to insert some coding into the LINCPac search page that redirects smartphone users automatically to a Mobile version of the Catalog (Library Anywhere). If you have patrons that prefer to view your library's catalog through a mobile application, please recommend this new functionality to them.

When mobile users access your catalog's web site, they will automatically be asked 'if they wish to go to the mobile version of the catalog' and they may be asked to download the free LibraryAnywhere App as well. It's free and it's easy! Library Anywhere communicates with LINCPac and allows patrons to search, place holds, and view their account information.

Song of the Day: "Going Mobile" by The Who (from the album Who's Next)

Internet Archive to go dark Wednesday...

2012-01-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

to protest pending legislation on currently in the House [HB 3261, the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA)] and Senate [S.968, the Protect IP Act (PIPA)]. The Archive will go dark from 6AM - 6PM PST.

Libraries are not known - except to some publishers - as folks who tend to encourage the theft of intellectual property. Heck, we are the folks who have held out to protect copyrighted materials - AND the rights of those who wish to use them within the law. We recognize, perhaps more acutely than any other group besides artists/authors/people who create art, music, literature, etc. , how important it is to protect the intellectual property rights of those creative people so that they can flourish from their creativity and we can all enjoy the fruits of that creativity.

But these deeply flawed acts are NOT the way to protect those rights. Please, read up on these legislative monstrosities and let your elected officials know that these are not the way that we need to address these concerns.

And here:

And here:

Taxpayer funded research

2012-01-17T07:27:00.000-08:00

[alarm klaxon sounding]

To quote a late Republican President, "There they go again..."

This time, another Republican from California (Rep. Darrell Issa) and a Democrat from NY (Rep. Carolyn Maloney) are proposing legislation that, in effect, says that businesses should be able to profit from research that is funded by taxpayers like you and me. Their bill, the Research Works Act (HR 3699), would roll back mandates from agencies like the National Institutes of Health that now require research that it funds to be made freely available to the public withing 12 months of publication.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a good article on the subject found here. While it is likely that this bill, like other attempts to line the pockets of major academic publishers, will probably get shot down, it is not a redundant exercise to remind people about the importance of public access to federally-funded research. Just when it seems that the idea of public access to research seems to be less of a radical idea than an idea whose time is come (and overdue at that), groups like the American Association of Publishers sign on in support of dreck legislation like this. This groups includes major scientific publishers like Elsevier and other scientific presses, as well as university presses.

However, some scholarly presses are breaking ranks with the AAP over this. MIT Press announced its opposition to the legislation last week, followed by the University of California Press, The Penn State University Press, and the Rockefeller University Press. The MIT Press statement included this: "The AAP's press release on the Research Works Act does not reflect the position of the MIT Press; nor, I imagine, the position of many other scholarly presses whose mission is centrally focused on broad dissemination," Ellen Faran, the press's director, said in a statement circulated on open-access electronic mailing lists and elsewhere. "We will not, however, withdraw from the AAP on this issue as we value the association's work over all and the opportunity to participate as a member of the larger and diverse publishing community."

I applaud their stand, and I hope most sincerely that more publishers will join the effort to promote public access to Federally funded research.

Cite Your Sources - Erm, Maybe Not So Much...

2011-11-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

In the midst of the season of papers falling due and various "interesting" forms of source citations, comes this little gem from the online comic XKCD (which I highly recommend for other reasons as well).

A Modest Proposal...

2011-11-16T08:38:00.000-08:00

... from a commentator in today's Chronicle of Higher Education, advocating the elimination of ALL books from university campuses.

The main problem with articles like this is that some administrator, with the goal of being efficient, forward-thinking, and cost-saving, will actually believe this dreck. The author of the piece has a long career in teaching at multiple levels in academe, and has written some completely respectable and interesting books (though I just noticed that my library doesn't own any of them). But he's gone off the rails here, in a number of ways.

1. Prensky willfully ignores the published research that indicates that e-text (at least in the non-fiction realm) is still typically read in short bursts in electronic form, and that most folks, when queried about electronic reading habits, indicate that their threshold for reading e-text seems to be about 7-12 pages at a time;
2. Prensky also seems to assume that copyright no longer exists, and that every book which is currently available in print form can be digitized easily and at no expense, with no concern for the intellectual property rights of their authors. I wonder if that includes him - I am somehow doubtful...;
3. There is a growing movement to move into e-textbooks, a move that I applaud and welcome, as the e-textbook seems to combine the advantages of digital format and the so-far proven limitations of digital reading habits. While most students (many students?) may read their textbook from cover to cover in a semester, they rarely do so in chunks of more than a chapter at a time unless directed to do so, and even then not in one sitting. But Prensky presents no evidence whatsoever that students will treat other works in this way - such as, you know, the kind of books that libraries purchase as resource material to supplement class readings and as sources for papers, etc.;
4) Part of Prensky's fame comes from his famous classifications of "digital natives" and "digital immigrants", with those of us born before the advent of ubiquitous internet access falling into the latter category. They are interesting concepts, and useful in a way in looking at some of the expectations of those groups where online resources are involved. However, Prensky, and many others like him, consistently overstate the actual capabilities of "digital natives" in working in the online world. For example, most of this group are very conversant with technology, from ubiquitous cell phones to music players to computer access. Most if not all can type words in on Google, and claim that they are "proficient searchers". But Google is designed to provide you with as many returns as it can, with no regard to the actual value of hose items to what you are trying to find. And from my experience, those "digital natives" have very little in the way of skills to assess the value, validity, or relevance of that information to what they are trying to find. In the terminology of my profession, they are not "information literate".

Yet I have little doubt that well-meaning folks will parrot the nonsense that this brand of "educational leader" spouts, without thinking of the practical consequences of their actions. I suppose they will get their 15 minutes of fame, and be hailed as "bold", "innovative", and "visionary". But for what it's worth, there was a campus of the University of California system (Monterey) that opened a decade or more ago without a library. Within 2 years, due to pressure exerted by the faculty AND the students, they began buying books in droves to satisfy the demand for them.

We may get there one day. I'm pretty sure we will - but we aren't there yet, nor will be in the next decade.

No song of the day - too many good titles, but the lyrics don't fit right. I hate when that happens...

Just musing...

2011-11-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

I was reading article headers from today's issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education and came upon the following article title:

Citation Obsession? Get Over It! (Chronicle article links only last a few days, alas...)

In case the article has disappeared by the time you get to it, the gist of the article (written by Kurt Schick, a writing faculty at James Madison University) is that English faculty, librarians, et al spend WAY too much time worrying over the way that writing is attributed, so much so that it actually impinges on the quality of the writing itself. He does not think that we should stop teaching attribution - just that we need to obsess over it less so that it does not get in the way of the actual content of the work. I will quote the paragraph that does the most to sum it up:

"What I advocate here is not to dispense with teaching students how to use sources but rather to abandon our fixation on the form rather than the function of source attribution. Here's why: We cannot control how much time and effort students invest in a particular writing assignment; we can only influence how they distribute their energies. Professors' overattention to flawless citation (or grammar) creates predictable results: Students expend a disproportionate amount of precious time and attention trying to avoid making mistakes. Soon, they also begin to associate "good" writing with mechanically following rules rather than developing good ideas."

This will probably sound somewhat heretical, coming from one of the keepers of the status quo, but I believe that Mr./Dr. Schick is on to something in a big way. Now, I am NOT an English faculty, nor do I play one on TV (oops, showing my age there) - but isn't it far more important to build the creative thinking and expressive aspect of the activity as strongly as possible before we worry over the window dressing? Citation and grammar is certainly not unimportant - but is it as (or more) important than the idea itself?

OK, going to put my flak jacket on now...

Song of the Day: Get Over It from the Eagles, released as a single during their appropriately titled Hell Freezes Over tour

O, brave new world...

2011-10-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

Today, the Lake Land Library website was relaunched in its new form - based on a content management system (or CMS), rather than just HTML pages. Our ISS department has been working on this changeover now for some time, which was a lot more difficult than they had anticipated when they launched the project. I think that this was from the depth of the website, as well as the complexity of the content presented on certain pages.

The change presents certain advantages. It is easier to manage some of the content of the pages now, as the content is database-driven (making it easier to add the the list of new library databases and remove entries for old ones we no longer subscribe to, for instance). The new pages will have a more uniform appearance which will be more consistent with the rest of the College site (without our having to worry over whether we have all the right image files, style sheets, etc). And actually editing some parts of the site will be much easier now, as the editing is essentially done in plain text and then converted into the proper form by the CMS.

However, like most advances, it has its drawbacks, too. Some parts of the site can no longer be edited by us. We must send in our changes and wait for the edits to be done for us. Not so much of an issue for site boilerplate, but a very real concern when that content is critical. Some will say that the very homogeneous nature of the pages are a drawback, so that some content does not stand out from other. Probably more bothersome in thought than in execution (I hope) is that the address of the site is different now. Rather than mentioning "library" in the address, as we have become accustomed to, the new organizational structure of the College pages will dictate a different approach.
Thus, http://www.lakelandcollege.edu/library morphs into
http://www.lakelandcollege.edu/as/ls/ .

However, there will continue to be links on the College home page that will read "Library", and the old address will be automatically redirected for a while yet. This addressing scheme makes perfect sense from an organizational structure point of view; however, it is certainly not terribly intuitive for most folks.

We have already experienced a problem in an area we can't edit - one dealing with citation formatting, so it's an important thing. We knew this could happen, as this is one of the hardest areas of the old site to translate, but it is still troubling. Kind of like driving your new car off the lot and discovering that the transmission is a little balky on the way home. Fixable, but not the way you want to start off with something new.

Song of the day: Changes by David Bowie

Students Have Poor Information Literacy Skills...

2011-08-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

... bet you hadn't heard THAT one before... NOW you have.

Again.

Reports of Our Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated...

2011-08-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

An article in today's Chronicle of Higher Education online, conducted by the Educause Center for Applied Research, indicates that (by percentage of users doing certain online activities) approximately 94% of college students visit their college Libary's website once per week.

In the interest of full disclosure, 92% use text messaging daily and 90% use social networking sites daily.

But it's nice to have some less self-interested evidence that students still find libraries a useful destination, contrary to the loudly expressed opinions of some folks in the higher education realm. There are not studies, at least none that I have discovered so far, that measure what percentage of that latter group believe that all information is freely available on the Internet or that faculty are responsible for the moral decay of Western Civilization... ;-)

Happy 1st day of the semester, everyone!

"Bookless" Libraries - What, Me Worry?

2011-07-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

As forwarded to me by my President - Courtesy of Time Magazine:

Is A Bookless Library Still a Library?

It's an interesting piece. I have seen similar ones recently as other "bookless" libraries have appeared on other college campuses. The days when we were defined as book warehouses are gone, for the most part. And that is a good thing. A VERY good thing.

The counterpoint is that, in each instance where a "bookless" library has been created, it has happened on a campus where one or more "traditional" libraries still exist. STM fields – science, technology, medicine – rely far more heavily on journal articles in their fields for the most up-to-date research than do the social sciences and humanities. So the science libraries lend themselves far more readily to this than those that have to support a broader mixture of subjects, especially the arts and humanities. Not to say that journals are not important there as well, but they are not the end-all and be-all that there are in the STM fields.

The local scene:
We currently spend about $2.25 on electronic resources for every dollar we spend on print. Some feel that is too much electronic and not enough print - some see it the other way around. I suspect that the ratio will continue to get higher - but I am equally sure that we will spend money on print for the next while. I am not sure how long that will be - at this point, anyone who tells you that they know when that will happen probably has some lovely "wetland acreage" that they wold be more than happy to let you buy. There are a lot of things to work out regarding electronic books in the academic setting before the print collection will go the way of the dodo.

Song of the Day: Smells Like Content by The Books

One semester in (almost...)

2011-05-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are nearing the end of our first semester back in our newly renovated building. It's been interesting, discovering issues that we had not really considered before in providing service, and the plusses and (so far, blessedly few) minuses of the renovated space.

Over our Spring Break (which was just two weeks ago, due to the oddities of our academic calendar), the latest addition to the building was added - a pair of graphics on our second floor next to the new break space there, announcing the name of the space. The name was selected primarily by students, and I am very pleased with how it turned out - "The Second Story". OK, maybe it's a tribute to the traditional view of a library - but we like it.

We have already had several suggestions for things that we should have had in here - including more students. No argument there -sometimes if you build it, they don't come. Some other things on the wish list: some computers upstairs, so that people can eat AND surf/do homework, a place where students could come in and get writing help (great idea, but where do we put it?), and multimedia stations in the study rooms (intended in the original design, but we didn't have the money, I think. It would also be very nice to have an electronic sign system in here, since lots of people come in looking for other places (or people on campus, and it would be nice to have a touchscreen system that could help people navigate their way around.

But all things considered, it has been a really good experience getting back to our place in the world.

Song for the day: Take 5 by the Dave Brubeck Quartet

UPDATE: Google Books Settlement

2011-03-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

A Federal judge in New York state has rejected the Google Books settlement. You can find summaries just about anywhere, but the ALA Washington Office has maintained a nice site that includes a history of the issues surrounding the GBS here. Or you can read another version courtesy of CNET.

Very few people - myself included - think that it would be a bad thing to make materials that are "orphaned" more readily available to scholars and the world at large. But IMO (and apparently that of Judge Chin), handing those rights over to a private company is essentially handing the content over to someone and saying "Here you go. Now how much do you want to charge me to let me look at it?"

Hmmm. Not being very objective, am I? Oh, well - I calls 'em like I sees 'em...

Is What Was Free Always Free?

2011-03-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

In copyright law (at least the American iteration of it, since there is no such thing as an international copyright law), when a work goes into the public domain, then it is supposed to be freely usable. There is a goodly long period of protection for such works, so it is not a case of someone publishing a book today and having it pass into the public domain in 10 years (unless, of course, you are Google, and get the decide what the law means to suit yourself...)

But there is a challenge to that concept, which the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this fall. Here's the story, courtesy of the Chronicle of Higher education's Wired Campus blog:

Library Rights Are at Stake in New Supreme Court Copyright Case

This is not a "The Sky Is Falling" kind of issue for most people. But if you are a library who is trying to make old scholarship available from sources outside of America, a decision to restore copyrights to foreign items that have been in the public domain in the U.S. could have very serious implications for libraries, performers, and the general public.

A good quote from the petition for cert: "“If Congress is free to restore material from the public domain at will,” the petition for review argued, “then the public’s federal right to copy and to use public domain material this Court has recognized may evaporate at any time.”

WOO HOO! Our 15 minutes of fame...

2011-03-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Our Library System (Lincoln Trail Libraries System) has been doing features on member libraries now for about 18 months. When they approached us the first time, we had just moved out of the building for the renovation work, which didn't exactly seem like a time for us to want to show off (except to show how to shoehorn services into spaces never meant to house them), so we took a pass.

But last week, it was time for our close up (be sure to watch the video, too)

Libraries: Friends or Foes?

2011-03-01T08:46:00.000-08:00

An article from today's Inside Higher Education on the relationship between libraries, publishers, and books - particularly e-books.

An interesting read. The article contains a link to a blog posting from Karen Schneider which can be found here that specifically addresses the issue of publishers dictating use to libraries. Again, very interesting stuff.

Certainly, there are parts of the publishing industry that considers libraries as bad for business - specifically, the business of making money from individuals. I don't get this at all. While there are some people out there who will buy anything written by their favorite author, I believe they are a minority compared to the people want to try a book out first, then decide whether they want to keep it permanently. Not surprisingly, a number of those people go to libraries, whether they be public or academic, in order to find those "try it out first" materials. In some cases, people will like something so much that they will go ahead and buy a copy, whether electronically or in print. In others, they decide to spend their money on something else - maybe another book, maybe something entirely different.

So while we may discourage some purchasing (more properly, we give someone the choice as to whether or not to purchase), we probably actually encourage others to purchase who might not have otherwise. That leaves out the folks who would not purchase under any circumstances. It also ignores the fact that libraries are often buying 1 - or 2, or 5, or 10 - copies (in the case of some larger public libraries) of some books to begin with.

So who exactly are we the enemies of? I don't think we are really anyone's enemies, except viewed through one particular prism. Am I missing something?

Gender and Wikipedia

2011-02-04T07:59:00.000-08:00

It is not a great shock to me, but I read with some dismay a story in Inside Higher Education about the involvement of women in Wikipedia. It appears, according to a story in the New York Times, that women contribute only about 15% of Wikipedia's content. That is a sad reminder of the continuing gender divide in the online world, and it has some deeper points to ponder as well.

As the number of people who turn to Wikipedia as a starting point to find out about a given topic increases, such a gender disparity in the contributors takes on a somewhat greater impact. The NYT article makes some very good points and asks some good questions about why the disparity is so large and why women may be more hesitant to become editors in the wiki environment (or at least THAT wiki environment).

All in all, a very interesting read. I recommend it to your attention. I would also suggest that this site that discusses the relative disparity of women in op-ed contributions to major print and online publications/sites.

There They Go Again...

2011-01-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

... to borrow a quotation from Ronald Reagan. [OMG. I just quoted Ronald Reagan. Facepalm]

The Chronicle of Higher Education has published yet another article about the death of academic libraries in its January 2, 2011 edition. I invite folks to read it, and especially to read the comments on the article itself.

The Chronicle seems to really enjoy this - perhaps because they can toss hyperbolic article titles out there, knowing that plenty of folks (including yours truly) will read them and generate enough buzz to get it noticed. This particular missive is written by an academic librarian who is, I think (as do several commenters), writing with a mixture of hyperbole and cautionary tale.

The only thing that really gets me about this kind of article is that there are plenty of administrators out there who look at stories like this and use it to justify starving their campus libraries more than they already are. They regard libraries as costly overhead that is taking up space and money that could be used by their favorite pet project (usually something just as costly, with less concern for providing service to students).

The pity is, there are still some libraries (and librarians) out there who still want to pretend that it's still the 70's and 80's, using outmoded models of service and collection quality/quantity that have little to nothing to do with how most libraries run today. Fortunately, most libraries are well past that point. And I am not just talking about cutting/bleeding edge operations, either; most libraries and librarians are looking at how they can change within the environment they operate in, making changes as they can and assessing how those changes are working. This isn't the same library that I started working at going on 20 years ago - at least, from a "how we do things" perspective. Are those changes blindingly obvious? A few are, but most are changes that many people would not notice if they don't pay attention.

I suspect that many, many libraries see themselves in that way, and wonder (as I do) if we are changing fast enough. I think that the bottom line is to do the best you can do to look at how and why you do what you do and always ask the question, "how could we make it better?" Sometimes you can't, because of lack of money or staff, or other reasons beyond your control. But that doesn't mean you don't think about it.

Be it ever so humble...

2010-12-03T13:39:00.000-08:00

After what turned out to be just 2 weeks short of one full year, we are now back in our newly renovated building. I really wish that I had detailed floor plans of the main and upper floors that I could put in here (I will be seeing to that shortly, I hope) to show you who are familiar with what the "old" LRC looked like.

Our campus newspaper came and did a story on the renovation before we moved out, and repeated the feat just after we moved back in. They talked mostly to Judi, one of our Library Circulation Assistants, promoting her to "Librarian" in the story - for the average person, anyone who works in a library is a Librarian (sorry Judi, a pay raise doesn't come with that). Here's a link to the story.

So far, so good. Of course, there are a number of issues that need to be resolved - that's true any time you have a serious renovation. Fortunately for us, so fa the majority of the problems are inconveniences as opposed to the kind of things that make you unable to do your job (and drive you crazy into the bargain). The students will be happier when the wireless network is working again, but when it is working, I am hoping that the reception will be much more consistent than before, with 5 - count 'em, 5 - wireless access points on the ceiling covering the upper floors.

There are a lot of changes.

The entire collection is now on the main floor. I thought this was going to look crowded and cluttered, but it really doesn't. We were able to shorten some of the range lengths, which helped avoid this problem, I think. Coupled with the new location is - ta da - brand new lighting that hangs between the range units, as well as newer lighting elsewhere in the building. It is absolutely amazing the difference that it makes - you can actually see to read in the building, now, and you can read spines and call numbers of books on the shelves. There were times when you needed a miner's helmet to do that upstairs in the "old" LRC.

What I am really excited about is the 4 student study rooms that are new to the upper floor. 2 rooms have seating for 6, while two can seat 12 at round bistro-type tables. All 4 rooms could probably hold another 4-6 people in a pinch. They are designed both for quiet study and for group use; both of these are things that we have received complaints about the lack of before, so we are hoping that they will be able to serve a dual purpose. There is also a student conference room (for student groups), a faculty/staff conference room (that has been getting a serious workout already, due to its size and comfortable accommodation for 12), and office space for 8-9 adjunct faculty. It is really nice to be able to offer the adjuncts a nice office space here, as they tend to get the short end of the stick in term of office space in many places.

OK, I could go on and on about this. Why don't you just come over and check it out for yourself?

Scott

Library Systems need your help!

2010-10-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

Lake Land College is part of the Lincoln Trail Libraries System, one of 9 current library systems in the state of Illinois. We share a catalog with over 95 additional libraries in the Lincoln Trail system (LINC), and our patrons can access those materials directly using their LLC library card. The financial crunch which has affected everyone else in the state has also affected the Library Systems, causing them to miss out on much of their funding from the state last year.

A note from the Illinois Library Association points out the plight that the systems are currently in:

ILA Urges You to Contact Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes

Take Action Now!

Important library services that many Illinoisans take for granted could come to an end as early as this December when library systems run out of money. These systems, which have been running off reserve funding since the beginning of the fiscal year (July 2010-June 2011), will run out of money in December unless the state releases appropriated library system per capita grants. We need the Governor's and Comptroller's help to release these critically needed funding, and help keep library services operating as expected.

Library systems have not received 47 percent of system funding from the State of Illinois for FY 2010 (July 2009-June 2010) and have not received any system funds for FY 2011 (July 2010-June 2011). Many library systems have discontinued all but a few top priority services and have eliminated large numbers of system staff. A number of systems only have reserve funds to operate through December 2010.

Illinois library systems are critical to library services, annually delivering more than 30 million items, which are loaned to library users statewide. The online catalogs for more than 800 Illinois libraries are operated by the library systems and are used to circulate more than 45 million library resources per year to Illinois residents. Library systems also serve all 102 Illinois counties with Talking Book Program services for residents unable to read conventional print material due to a visual or physical disability.

Illinois library systems are actively engaged in merger negotiations, seeking new ways to reduce costs and continue top priority services. Without the receipt of payments appropriated in the library system per capita grant program, however, library systems that serve all types of libraries and millions of Illinois residents will stop services and close before mergers can be completed.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

2010-10-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hello!

After nearly a year of being out of our location in the Learning Resource Center for the renovation work that has been going on, we are finally preparing to move back into our home.

The move-back will begin next Monday, October 25th, with my office and Technical Services moving over from the West Building. After that, Tim Schreiber and the Reference shelves and materials (and probably periodicals) will move over from NE 116. Next will be Circulation (Brett Roberts, Judi, Konesko, and our part-time staff) and the catalog workstations, and last but certainly not least will be the book stacks. It is hoped at this time that we will be back in place (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) by the first (week) of November. The relocation of the stacks and other materials may drag out for as long as 2 weeks, as that is a rather difficult and complicated task. But we are going to do our best to be ready to be completely operational as soon as possible.

I am sure that there will be interruptions to the process, and I apologize in advance for this. Moving a library is not like rearranging your living room, and there are a lot of things that have to line up properly to make this happen. Please be assured that we will try to be as ready as we can be as soon as we can be.

3 notes:

1. The elevator work is taking longer than we anticipated, and it is possible that it may not be in service when we open up. It will take as long as it takes, and we apologize for any inconvenience;

2. Audio-Visual Services will be moving in November, after the Library proper is moved. Becky Strohl will be located on the bottom floor of the building, working in the same general area as the Center (left as you go downstairs in in the LRC, past the women's room into the area which was formerly occupied by the IEL program;

3. We will have a space on the main floor adjacent to the Circulation Desk where the staff copier, fax machine, Scantron, and laminator will be located. As soon as I know the exact room number, I will let you know.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it...

2010-09-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

No, the Pinball Wizard was not in a miracle cure. But here's a link to a nice article written by the Herb Meeker from the Mattoon Journal-Gazette about the LRC renovation:

http://jg-tc.com/news/article_4d833b24-c849-11df-9aac-001cc4c03286.html

It was a good interview, and I appreciate Mr. Meeker speaking with me at some length about the renovation and what it may mean for our students.

Money, money, money (oh, how we long for filthy lucre...)

2010-09-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

I belong to a listserv for Community College Librarians (yes we will be taking over the world, Real Soon Now, and there will be food and alcohol - leave your sensible shoes stereotypes behind, folks), and one of the truly great features about it is the ability to post questions and get responses from colleagues all over the country. It is frequently very informative, often somewhat surprising, and not infrequently funny, intentionally or otherwise.

But a thread that started yesterday made me want to take up the bottle again. A colleague posted a comment/question about how much institutions spend per FTE on print library materials. By the time that I started writing this morning, I had seen numbers ranging from $16/FTE to $65/FTE from places from coast to coast. In some cases, the numbers included what libraries spent on print periodicals, in some cases not - FWIW, the $65/FTE figure did NOT include periodicals. I groaned, somewhat audibly. But I felt a duty to help anyone out there who was feeling that their print budget was somehow inadequate - so I did the math and then posted OUR numbers.

Get ready... try not to faint... $9.53/FTE for books (which goes to $13.49/FTE including periodicals).To put that in tangible terms, that's a trade paperback copy of a recent novel purchased at a discount price. Unfortunately, most academic books cost a little more than that. [In the interest of full disclosure, someone just posted an even lower number than we have - bigger budget, but LOTS more students]

OK. We have a really good collection of databases for a library of our size (funded by the students through a fee). It's not exactly apples-to-apples comparisons. And I know exactly how bad the budgetary times are. But students complain that we don't have enough books to do assignments with. We just had to shrink our stacks collection by about 20% for a renovation project, and at this rate, it will take about 6 years to make that up if we don't weed another book during that time.

Barkeep, make that a double. And keep 'em coming.

RIP for the print OED?

2010-08-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

From today's Inside Higher Education :

'Oxford English Dictionary' May Soon Be Online Only

Oxford University Press officials said this weekend that they may never again publish a full print edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the Associated Press reported. While officials said that sufficient demand could prompt a change of heart, they predicted that would not be the case. Online subscribers not only have convenience of use, but get updates on new words every three months. Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press, told The Sunday Times that he didn't think the next edition would be printed. "The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of percent a year," he said.

This is certainly not a huge surprise. As a lover of books and a student of history, I am saddened by this just a little. The original OED (and its successors) was a monumental labor to create, and the story of its creation, related in a fascinating book by Simon Winchester entitled The Meaning of Everything (Lake Land owns this as a book on CD, BTW - no, the irony is not lost on me) left me with a sense of gratitude to the thousands of people who worked for many, many year to create such a work. As a librarian, I am somewhat ambiguous; the online version is certainly more accessible and allows for use that would be difficult, if not impossible, to recreate in the printed version. As much as I appreciate having the text in hand, it is very, very difficult to argue that future development should NOT be focused on the online edition.

Some would argue that this is the fate for all printed works, and I will continue to take exception with that. While technology has improved greatly for e-book readers (and will continue to do so), it is still true that most people surveyed do NOT prefer to read large amounts of text in electronic format. This, too, may change, but not as rapidly as some would like to believe.

Scott

Important Copyright Development over the Summer

2010-08-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

An important copyright ruling related to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and education occurred over the summer, in case you hadn't seen it:

Librarian of Congress Announces DMCA Section 1201 Rules for Exemptions Regarding Circumvention of Access-Control Technologies

OK, I admit to being a bit of a copyright wonk. But this is an important development in that it addresses the regular review of materials that can be exempted form the DMCA's draconian regulation concerning potential violations of the "circumvention of access-control technologies". While the TEACH Act does give back some of the old fair use protections that the old copyright law used to follow, these restrictions from the DMCA still trumped thos rights, and could result in serious fines being levied on users who chose to bypass those controls to utilize materials in a way that the copyright holder might not be most fond of.

NOTE: I do NOT condone the theft of intellectual property, particularly where someone is trying to make a profit from it - anyone who does is a short-sighted idiot. But I believe that there needs to be balance in the application of such rules and restrictions with the rights of those people who may wish to make use of copyrighted materials, particularly in the educational setting.

NOTE: An important caveat to add to this post, from a professional colleague who also works with copyright:

"More importantly, this exemption to the DMCA’s anti-circumvention rules really has nothing to do with the dispute between UCLA and AIME or with other projects to stream entire digital videos for teaching, in spite of what IHE suggests. While such projects may or may not be justifiable, this exemption does nothing at all to change or define the boundaries of fair use; it merely carves out a portion of those uses, which the Registrar calls “classic fair use,” for which circumvention is now permitted."

Fox News Gets Dope-Slapped over story on Public Libraries

2010-07-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well, leave it to Fox News. Their Chicago operation airs this story about how libraries are wastes of tax dollars that should be "on the way out", since we all have the internet and e-books. Naturally, they couldn't get their facts straight, but that shouldn't surprise you.

What might surprise you is the reaction to the story from Mary Dempsey, Chicago Public Library Commissioner, which completely dismantles the story aired by Faux News. Their only response? A (sic) after Ms. Dempsey used the word "wifi" without a dash. To give them a little credit, they did put the response up, at least. I urge you to read both pieces, you will probably not find any surprises from the former, but maybe some from the latter.

==========================================================
It should also be noted that Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch. Mr. Murdoch also owns Newscorp, which has a major interest in the same kinds of information that is available at public and other libraries. But while Mr. Murdoch is busily building pay-per view walls around a number of his information resources, libraries continue their mission of making information resources available as freely as possible to anyone who walks through their doors - and many who don't (look at the number of people who can access our information resources from anywhere in the world with proper authentication.

Are our resources free? No way; the college invests a lot of money in them, and the library staff keeps trying to reach out to everyone here at Lake Land to make use of these resources. And we have to rely on student fees to pay for access to these resources, which we then offer to all of our students, staff, faculty, and administrators from wherever they are, whenever they need them, without putting in your credit card to pay for information by the slice, so to speak. Email articles and information to yourself at home, or print them here - but use them.

Libraries are all about helping you obtain the information you need in the best way that we can, without worrying overmuch about your ability to pay for it. So who do you want doling out resources - the folks who want to make money from you to do so, or the folks who use the money we get to give the the most choices that we can?

Scott

Just a suggestion...

2010-06-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

From U.S. News and World Report:

If you talk to a college admissions officer or a high school guidance counselor about things to do when you visit a college campus, one of the first things they say is to visit the libraries on campus. Bring a book or some schoolwork, sit down, and soak up the environment. Not only is the actual physical library one of the main spots where college students go to get work done (and socialize), it's also a useful resource of a wide range of information and services spoke a handful of experienced librarians from colleges to find out what prospective students—and their parents—should look for when they check out a prospective school's library. Read more at:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2010/06/17/4-reasons-why-the-library-affects-your-college-choice.html?PageNr=1

OK, this is a little hard to do with our library at the moment, given that we are under renovation and will likely not be back into our building until sometime this Fall (he says hopefully). And there are caveats: this was written from the 4-year college/university perspective, where most students are residential. More folks tend to hang out in the library in this setting. Also, some of the nature of faculty / library collaboration are less pronounced here. But it is still a good idea to look at the library when you visit a campus. Talk to library staff and ask them about how things work there. And if you are at a commuter institution ask SPECIFICALLY what kinds of materials and services you will have access to when you aren't in the building. If you have multiple opportunities to visit someplace, stop in the library each time and build on your initial impression.

Our mission to to be here to help you and to provide resources that will give you the opportunity to succeed here. We can't do it for you - but give us a chance to help you learn how to get the most from what we have to offer.

Scott

Some Quick Updates...

2010-05-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry - It has been a while since I posted anything to the blog. I really don't forget it, but it ends up being one of many things to pay attention to, and sometimes it gets moved down to the bottom of the priority list.

Library Updates:

1. The renovation to the LRC building continues apace. There is a new sign on the construction barriers - quite a nice one, actually - that explains to students, staff, visitors, and the more literate flora and fauna in the area about what is going on. However, it now lists the timeline as FALL 2010 - probably prudent just to allow for delays that might crop up. As far as I have been informed, we are still on or near schedule. Stay tuned - I will provide more information if that changes;

2. Look for a new and (IMO) greatly improved Library website, probably later this summer. Some parts are ready now, but the supporting pages and such are still works in progress. I think/hope that most of our users will agree that it is a leap in the right direction;

3. Tim and I are continuing the process of evaluating the collection and making updates to it. This is the first large-scale systematic effort at this in about 20 years (it takes a lot of time, so we normally just try to tackle small sections each year). It is certainly reducing the size of our print collection, which does cause consternation in some areas. However, Tim and I remain convinced that a smaller, more up-to date collection provides a more useful resource to our patrons than one that is larger but considerably out-of-date. It also gives us room to entertain more requests from faculty, and that's a good thing.

We are also in the process of updating two media collections to newer formats. The audiobook collection is largely phasing our books on cassette in favor of CD-based materials. And our older VHS tape collection has been in the process of being updated as funds and space have allowed since last year. For our more highly-used titles, there are frequently exact title replacements when available, and an updated title in the same subject when the original is not available in DVD format. If there are titles that you would like to suggest for consideration, please let me know.

Scott

Prejudice and Pride (with apologies to Miss Austen...)

2010-04-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

It seems all too common for the public and even for some of our own faculty, staff, and administrators to have a cozy set of assumptions about what folks who work in libraries do and/or the value of that work. They are frequently not very complementary; for example, I have heard people at this institution say "It must be nice to be able to read all day long", as if we sat at our desks with the latest bestsellers propped open in front of us most of the time. For me, it's especially galling when you hear it said about your staff - and when attempts to correct such misconceptions get met with a condescending smile or a look that says "OK - whatever". There is also an idea that librarians and library workers are somehow wedded to our books and will not deal with any other format (or don't really understand technology and how it will make us "obsolete").

So here's a nice little counterpoint to that idea from a director of media and technology in a school district in Minnesota, courtesy of the "Public Perception" column from American Libraries Direct:
"You can’t just be a ‘book’ librarian anymore and be considered professionally competent, even if your area of interest and expertise is literature. If you work with books and kids, you can’t do your job without understanding how to use technology in your field. Tech’s no longer a ‘nice extra’—it’s a vital set of tools, skills, and undertandings you need to master if you want to provide the services kids deserve. I would categorize librarians who fail to recognize how technology can support what they do as unprofessional and incompetent as a doctor who can’t use a CAT scan or an accountant who can’t use a spreadsheet or an engineer who doesn’t use CAD/CAM. There you have it. There are no more ‘book only’ librarians.”

Well, there probably are a number of them - but not on this campus. So there...

Wikipedia Research (no, really...)

2010-03-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

I saw a very interesting article in the online journal First Monday concerning the use of Wikipedia by college students:

The article

As you may have heard, Wikipedia bashing is a very popular sport among librarians and academics at large. There are many reasons for this, ranging from the authority of the people writing entries to the chageable nature of the information to, well, fill in the blank - there are approximately as many reasons as mouths to voice them. The most interesting thing about this new study is that, from this librarian's perspective, most people are using Wikipedia just the way that we would advise them to use any general encyclopedia - as a starting point for research and to get a general overview of a topic before launching into more in-depth research. OMG - they really WERE listening...

It is also interesting to note that while 95% of college students reported using Google as a tool in their research past what they found in Wikipedia, 93% report using library databases. Now, anyone with any sense knows that folks will use Google, and that wasn't the purpose of this research. It was, however, very encouraging that students are reporting that they are using library resources only slightly less frequently than Google.

If you have an interest in how students conduct research, I really recommend that you read this article.

Librarians Gone Wild - well, maybe not...

2010-03-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

Now, before you think you are going to see pictures of drunken librarians in various states of dishabille, check this out. Besides, if you want to see that, show up at the next ALA Conference - further deponent sayeth not...

A new book about librarians and libraries is out there. This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson.

A friend of mine recently purchased this book for my wife and I to read, and I have to admit that I have not yet gotten started on it. Librarians usually have more reading material on hand than time allows them to cope with, and I'm certainly guilty of it. But I think that I need to move this one up the reading list, if only to see how accurate the various reviews are.

There are lots of librarian blogs, web sites, etc. out there, and you will certainly be able to find lots of examples of weird patron (and even librarian) behavior out there if you look for it. I am actually kind of hoping that there will be be some image-changing content in the book. Marian the Librarian is still a fairly pervasive stereotype, despite the best efforts of some folks to bust that one up once and for all.

Oh, and to not make this post completely off the topic of the Lake Land College Library (for the 2-3 of you who look at this - maybe we do need to start featuring those kind of pictures...): the library renovation project is officially on schedule. Work will be continuing for a while yet on removing the nasty asbestos from the place, and then the actual renovation work can begin. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the new steeped roof and the group study/project rooms that will be on the top floor - we have always waned to offer these, and now we will be able to.

Of course, what I'd REALLY like to see is 1) the Reference Desk much nearer to the Circulation Desk than it will be and 2) another librarian on staff. The chances of both are pretty much equivalent :-(

E-Books, Libraries, Academe, and the Great Debate continues...

2010-02-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/02/10/libraries

Another in a continuing discussion of the subject of electronic books in libraries and academe. There are a lot of similiar articles, reports, papers, etc. out there that purport to have "THE ANSWER" in determining the place of electronic books in academe in general, and libraries in particular. This one is also interesting, but especially in the way that it portrays the various forces that are tugging at libraries in the general discussion.

On one hand, college administrators (and the public) are hearing how massive electronic libraries are cheap and readily available, and so they think that we can cut back (or even stop) spending money on print materials in favor of the electronic model. On the other hand, patrons (faculty, students, et. al - the folks who really use the library) aren't so convinced. They tend to fall in a spectrum that ranges from liking electronic text completely to those who want no part of electronic books as a replacement for print under any circumstances, with many gradations in between.

Then, there are all kinds of studies, formal and otherwise, that suggest that e-books are not viewed by the great majority of users - yet - as equivalent to print. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the most common has to do with readability - not the quality of the screen, but simply that may people find reading electronic text a fine thing in short bursts but no so good over longer periods. I have often seen numbers ranging from 25-50 pages as being the limit for e-text reading comfort, and obviously YMMV. Reading devices have made some astonishing strides, and I for one plan to get an iPad when they are available, because I want to see how it performs with e-text.

At present, though, while we (in our library) are adding electronic version of reference books to our online collections (leasing access to these is a much more accurate description), I am loath to spend large amounts of money on e-books. Our first foray into ebooks has been a failure, and while I know 2-3 fans would squawk loudly, I an not entirely convinced that we should not just remove them from our catalog. We will see. But life continues to be interesting in the world of the modern library, and will continue to struggle with this decision for years to come.

And just in case there are some "it's all free and it's all on the internet" folks in the room, take a much closer look at the Google Book Settlement in the following locations:
"Above The Law" blog: http://abovethelaw.com/2009/12/the_google_books_settlement.php
Information Week: http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222700134
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Book_Search_Settlement_Agreement
Google: http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/

It's a lot to wade through. But don't let that stop you - the final settlement of this may place a permanent watermark on issues of fair use, ownership of information, and free access to information in the electronic environment in the future.

The Library Diaspora

2010-01-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

Hello again. It's been two months since the last update on the Library, entirely too long. I plead end-of-semester craziness and the semester break for most of it, but that's still too long to let this go.

When we last left you, devoted reader, we were about halfway through the whole moving process. Well we did finish, and pretty much on time and within schedule. Reference and Circulation/Reserve services are up and running in NE 116, while AV is located across campus in VoTech 119, and Acqisitions and I are now located on the South end of Campus, in the West Building. On the whole, people have really been very nice about the occasionally chaotic situation. Out temporary landlords have been quite nice, including us in building Christmas activities and the like, which has helped ease the transition somewhat. It is still a major adjustment to try to administer a facility from across the campus.

It is especially gratifying to learn that our original assumption about the benefits of locating the Reference and Circulation desks in proximity seem to be proven right almost daily, as both the Circulation desk staff and Tim have commented on how well the situation has been working in enabling them to function more efficiently in providing assistance to students. This is the arrangement that we had hoped to implement when we were thinking about a reboot of the library space - but as is often the case, TPTB had different ideas.

The plan as it presently exists is to have the two service points on oposite sides of the building, which is the only part of the plan that I see as a truly bad idea (there are other changes, but we will adjust to them). I understand that certain members of my staff have been regularly commenting on this situation to just about any administrator that crosses the threshold, much in the same spirit as Cato the Elder's "Carthago delenda est!" Bravo / Brava...

So onward we go. The semester has started, and theoretically, we are supposed to return to our remodeled home in August-September (although December seems far more likely - I would much rather that everything got done right the first time, even if that means we have to send a little more time in our temporary quarters.

The Travelling Library Show...

2009-11-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

... coming soon to a building near you.

We are now about 75% complete with the move. The stacks and the Reference collection have been relocated to NE 118 and NE 116 respectively. Next week, the remaining collections should be relocated, where they will remain while the renovation work is going on.

The building will be turned over to the contractor by February 1, 2010, and the "official" move-back date is August. We are hopeful that will be accurate, but are preparing for delays.

In the meantime, patrons should come to NE 116 to find Tim and the Refernce Desk (after Thanksgiving), along with the Circulation Desk and reserve collection. The stacks will be closed to patrons, so materials must be requested through the catalog and will be retrieved by staff. When possible, we will pull items immediately - but be prepared to wait. We will pull materials evey hour (or more often when feasible), although weekends will be slower (at least on Saturdays).

Off We Go...

2009-10-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

It appears that the library does finally have a moving date at last. It isn't completely firm, as the schedule flexes at need to accomodate glitches and unexpected situations. But as nearly as I can tell now, the bookstacks will start moving over to their new location - NE 118 - on or about November 10th. When the stacks are finished moving, the Reference collection, Tim, and the Circulation Desk staff (Judi, Brett, and the part-time workers) will be moving over with the rest of the collection (and will be housed in NE116).

At present, we do not anticipate having to store any part of the collection (with the possible exception of some journal back issues), and we hope to remain open to provide services during the move. We will do the best we can to do so, at any rate.

Technical Services (Charlotte and I) will be moving to the West building around the same time as the stacks begin moving. It is very likely that I will be working out of my present office on a temporary basis during the move.

Disaster Plans and Zombies...

2009-10-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

There is nothing funny about the need to have a disaster plan to address fires, shootings, pandemic illness, and other calamities on campuses. But it is nice to see that some folks managed to inject a little levity into the subject without ridiculing the subject itself.

As Rod Serling used to say, "Submitted for your approval:"

( from the "Quick Takes" section of the website Inside Higher Education )

U. of Florida Is Prepared for Zombies

The University of Florida's disaster preparedness Web site contains information on dealing with hurricanes, pandemics and ... zombies. The Associated Press reported that a university employee added the zombie response plan to "add a bit of levity" to the Web site. The guide for dealing with a zombie attack ncludes a helpful list of signs that zombie attacks may be increasing. You should watch, for example, for "increasing numbers of gruesome unexplained deaths and disappearances, especially at night" and listen for "lots of strange moaning." The guide includes an "Infected Co-Worker Dispatch Form" for Florida employees to let superiors know when a colleague exhibits signs of zombie behavior, with a checklist of such behaviors, including "references to wanting to eat brains," "recently dead but moving again," "lack of rational thought (this can cause problems confusing zombies with managers)" and "killed and ate another employee." A footnote in the plan suggests the importance of maintaining sensitivity in a time of zombie attack: "While many people refer to 'undead,' practitioners in the field of Zombie Studies and zombie advocates such as PETZ: People for the Ethical Treatment of Zombies, and supporters of Florida Zombie Preserve, Inc. insist that the term 'undead' clearly connotes deficiency; specifically the absence of both life and death. Hence, we suggest here the term 'life impaired' to recognize the difficulties imposed on a former person by zombie behavior spectrum disorder (ZBSD) but without suggesting the former person is somehow 'deficient' as a result of the infection."

Yeah, What He Said...

2009-09-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

From Inside Higher Education:

Cash Cows

Now at Lake Land, we DO charge a library fee, which underwrites our electronic resource expenditures, and helps level the playing field for online students. The 24,000+ full-text online magazines and journals, not to mention the databases of high-quality reference materials, are available 24/7 to ALL of our students (and faculty and staff), and allow us to provide resources that the college would NOT be able to fund without a large budget increase. We also bring in some revenue through fines and fees (mostly for lost items) that do not come back into the library budget. But we are not paying for ourselves, not by a long chalk.

Some folks think those expenditures are silly. You know - the "it's all online, and it's all free" crowd. And some faculty seem perfectly willing to let their students grab information for their papers from wherever [grumble, grumble]. But at least some of our students seem to have figured it out - they did over 225,000 searches in the 3 major database services we provide (incorporating several databases) and retrieved around 70,000 full-text articles last year, and library instruction reached an all-time high.

So maybe we are a "cost center". But it looks to me like those costs have some pretty definite benefits. Just sayin'...

The Google War heats up...

2009-08-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

There has been a growing discontent with the Google Book Settlement from a number of sources, and a new coalition of groups opposing the proposed settlement has been formed, called the Open Book Alliance.

I have to admit that I don't know quite where I stand on the issue. The idea that Google could potentially have a monopolistic control over electronic access to the electronic full text that they are amassing from the collections of some of the world's great libraries is troubling. Google's motto is "Don't be Evil", but they have had a history of making decisions that seem not evil, but less than "good" by anyone's standards but their own. And anyone who really believes that Google is doing this out of the goodness of their heart needs a serious consult with reality - they have sunk a lot of money into this, and it's clear that they have been thinking of how to recoup those expenditures. On the other hand, the folks making arguments against Google in this case - Microsoft, Amazon, and Yahoo, among others - have their own histories of not exactly playing well with others.

One thing that both sides agree on is that increasing access to resources in the public domain is A Good Thing. But as usual, the devil is in the details. The main problem, for me and a lot of other folks, is that Google is being precious close with those details. So I guess I am squarely in the "yes, but..." camp on this one. But keep your eyes open and pay attention to how this all shakes out. It certainly has the potential to make a huge and lasting impact on information accessibility, the publishing industry, copyright law, libraries, and the online industry.

Not a huge surprise, but still...

2009-07-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

A link to a recent Pew Internet report (April 2009):

Summary: An April 2009 survey conducted by the Pew Research
Center's Internet& American Life Project asked respondents whether
they had used a variety of devices - laptops, cell phones, game consoles,
and more - to go online using a wireless network. Altogether, 56% of
Americans said they have at some point used wireless means for online access.

The study breaks down the usage by type, and the increasing popularity of accessing information from cell phones is included. It still does not look to me like a huge number of people spend hours surfing the web on their phone, but an increasing number of pople are using them to find quick facts (plenty of anecdotal evidence for movie times, addresses, and increasingly directions for GPS-enabled phones or smartphones with a GPS app).

Lots of folks think that libraries are dead because books are - or will soon be - online and free (apparently, they haven't read the Google Book Search settlement yet). But so far, the numbers really don't seem to bear out the doom-and-gloom prophecies, especially in public libraries. While book circulation has certainly suffered in most academic libraries, the use of database services has continued to be strong. E-book fans are still in a pretty small minority. Lots of buzz about the Kindle and Sony readers, but they don't seem to have hit the tipping point - yet? Ever?

A frustration from a librarian POV is that information seeking behavior is not well-defined. I'd love to see questions that follow up on what kind of information people are using their wireless devices - especially cell phones - to retrieve.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

2009-07-22T10:03:00.001-07:00

... a post that has nothing to do with the impending move, but with an interesting (YMMV, of course) story involving e-books, copyright, and the concept of ownership.

Recently, there was a flurry of interest over a story that Amazon had been selling illegal copies of 1984 and Animal Farm for the Kindle reading device. As it turns out, Orwell's works are in the public domain in some countries, but not in the United States. It appears that Amazon didn't know this and was selling Kindle copies of both works for $.99 each, assuming they were in the public domain. When the copyright owner got on Amazon about it, Amazon tracked down the American purchasers of the books on Kindle, deleted the book files from the customer's Kindles without warning, and gave them a credit for the purchase price.

The most interesting part - and the most troubling - is that the move essentially equates the purchase of a "book", an item previously treated as the customer's property after purchase, with the purchase of computer software, which is typically issued as a lease (Microsoft, among others, makes it very clear that you do not own their software, you own a revocable license to use it under their terms; if you don't accept those terms, then return the software to get your money back).

I wonder what the reaction would be if you told the average e-book "purchaser" that they are only buying a license for the book, not ownership, and that the company could delete (or even more insidious, change the written text of) an item retroactively. Let's say that a government had decided that x book is obscene or contains passages that are offensive - Do they then have the right to go into your reading device and remove or alter the text? Do they have to wait for a court decision, or can an overzealous administrator order the changes to be made anticipating a potential lawsuit or complaint? What, if any, rights do you have as the reader / owner / lessee?

Hurry Up and Wait...

2009-07-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to have some more solid information for you by now on the details of our move. However, but to circumstances beyond the control of many, we really don't know much more than we did two month ago.

What we do know:
1. When we move, the Library will be moving into NE116 and 118;
2. One room (probably 118) will be closed to all but library staff, and will house the library stacks. The reason they will be closed that, due to space constraints, we will only have 24" aisles between the shelving ranges, which does not meet ADA requirements for public access. We will have to pull materials for all requests, which we will likely do every hour during the day (possibly more often) while we are open. We will NOT be able to accommodate requests to pull materials on demand. So folks will need to plan ahead a bit;
3. A rudimentary Circulation Desk and the Reference Desk will be housed in NE 116, along with some high-demand collections (videos, best sellers, new books);
4. We plan to take the FAX machine, the Scantron, and the staff copier with us when we move, and will work out where they will go;
5. Tim will still be available to do library instruction sessions. However, he will need to take his sessions to instructor's classrooms while we are out of the building;
6. AV will be working out of the Field House during the renovations.

What we don't know - the very abbreviated list:
1. When the move will start happening - as soon as we do, I will let folks know;
2. Our hours - when we are in the present building, it will be possible for us to have weekend hours. When we move, that may not be possible/practical, but the issue has not yet been determined. Again, stay tuned...;
3. How the move will affect all services - access to databases should not be affected in any way. And we believe that we will still have access to materials that we borrow through LINC and through other libraries. But we don't know how the closed stacks will affect research, as many patrons browse to find items that they were not looking for initially. We will make the best of it, and try to do everything we can to help the patrons find what they need;
5. When we will return - that depends in large part on when we move out. It is also affected by the scope of the renovations that are planned - and they are significant. If everything proceeds along schedule, we should be back by or during the Summer of 2010.

As always, more information when it becomes available. Until then...

Plus ca change...

2009-06-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

Let's Get Small (with apologies to Steve Martin)...

2009-05-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted an update. Not that anything has happened, mind you...

We are now on our third (!!) destination for the library move. I use the word destination somewhat loosely, as we will still be in several different pieces, but I digress. It now appears as if the library per se will be housed in the Northeast building, with the bookstacks closed to the public and Circulation and Reference shoehorned into a large classroom. The real advantage is that students will not have to go very far to get to the service points. There are downsides to the plan as well - closed stacks, for a start, and practically no browsing ability, which will be a real pain for everyone. We will have no dedicated computer lab space, no study space, and will have no space for anything but basic services. No decision yet regarding service hours - TBA.

But there appears to be no alternative, aside from not moving at all (which isn't an option). And it will only be for 9-10 months. I will have more specific information on locations in a few weeks.

Weeding continues, and we are starting to see some results (aside from grubling, that is). We have to clear out 6 of our 26 stack ranges due to space considerations, and we are probably halfway to that goal. Unfortunately, we are running out of time (and bookcarts). If you happen to have a few book carts sitting around doing nothing this summer, give me a call...

Graduation tonight. A very happy event for our graduates and their families. And typically the end of the semester brings a break for yours truly. But not this year. Going to start working on those "Spartan hours"* early...
(*an inside joke; hourly faculty have to put in 300 work hours between the time grades are due and the beginning of the Fall semester)

Why We Weed... and Weed.. and Weed...

2009-04-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

The short explanation:
We are moving into a space that will only let us bring about 75% of our shelving units with us. Logically, that means that 25 % or so of the collection has to go so we can fit into where we are going.

The long explanation:
4-year colleges and universities used to use collection volume counts as a measure of the quality of their library. They have a mission to support research faculty, as well as higher levels of student research. Collections are typically weeded to replace volumes that are in bad physical shape, as well as to relieve space problems in certain parts of the stacks. Public libraries tend to weed based on usage - if it has stayed parked on the shelf too long, then it's a candidate for removal, with the exception of "classics" that libraries feel like they need to have around whether they get a lot of use or not.

I see a two-year college collection falling somewhere between these two examples, using some strategies employed by both. But fundamentally, our institutions do not have a research mission, so the need to collect in the same depth as a 4-year institution just isn't there. Further, a book that is 20 years old that has not moved off the shelf in 10 years probably doesn't isn't going to suddenly start circulating like mad. Replacing several of those with a few newer volumes is a better use of resources - especially in our case, when we don't have a lot of extra room to keep adding new materials without weeding out older ones.

Some folks aren't happy that we get rid of old materials. I understand their concerns, and I am always open to their help in identifying titles that we should hang onto and those that are no longer useful. But the bottom line is that we have to weed, especially as we are losing 25% of our available shelving space for the coming year.

Quick update on the move

2009-04-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

I have confirmation that we will be moving out of the LRC this summer - but no details to give you at present (date, how long it will take, etc). I suspect that more will be confirmed in the next month, so we should have a pretty good idea of what's what by the beginning of May (I fervently hope).

No News (is Good News?)

2009-03-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hello, Faithful Reader(s),

I had intended our blog to be a weekly sort of update. But for a variety of reasons, there hasn't been a post in a month or so. So here's a quick update on what's happening here in libraryland:

* There is not much new to report on the move. It is beginning to look more likely that we will wait until sometime in July to start relocating to our new digs in the West Building (this will likely mean a move DURING the Summer Term, and we will get warning out to faculty and students as soon as we know for certain);
* It looks like a good thing that we are waiting to move, as we are going to have less shelving space than I had originally thought (and so we need to weed more of the current collection before we go if at all possible);
* We participated in a Dual-Credit fair at the Kluthe Center last week, which went pretty well, I think. Yours truly had to do a couple of short library presentations, and I was reminded yet again that there is a reason that we have Tim do most of these for our students;
* While we are worrying more about the move out than the move back in at this point, I am marvelling (yeah, that's the ticket...) at some of the things that I hear about what the place will look like when we get back. Further deponent sayeth not.
* Look for some updates to the library's collection of audiobooks in the coming months. As the cassette is making it's way onto the endangered list, we have been replacing some cassette titles with CD's and just weeding out others to make way for new titles. We don't have a ton of these, but they do circulate well, so keep an eye on that area (just behind the media shelves at present) as well as the New Media Shelf.

That's all for today. Spring is here at last, and with warmer temperatures there are also allergies. Oh, well - no such thing as a free lunch, after all...

The Greening of Lake Land (and the Library, Too!)

2009-02-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

The efforts that have been under way since last year to move the College over to geothermal energy have garnered some more press. See the nice article from Construction Digest here.

And yes, this certainly does impact the Library. As I mentioned when talking about the weeding that we are doing, the LRC (the building that the Library resides in) has been moved up the list for renovation and conversion to the geothermal system. We first thought that we would be moving out of our present digs in December 2009, and we started making plans for that.

Well, I should know better - men plan, the gods laugh [administrators, too.] so I next heard that we might end up getting moved out in August instead, IF a bunch of possibilities lined up just right and the moon was in the 7th house (or something like that). 4 months before what we were planning for, but not terrible - we'd just have to move along on our plans a lot faster.

But wait, there's more...

This week, it was announced that there was a possibility that we could have to leave our home in MAY if things work out right, which we will know in the next month or so. OK, now we would be 7 months "early" - and from the looks of it, we would probably be out of the building for a full year. Well, who wants to live a dull life (or sleep, or stop thinking about how you're going to do this on time and get it right)? And most importantly, the end result of this is going to be something that is really very positive for the environment, the College, and the Library, too. We hope that, if all goes well and no one decides to get too excited with the redesign plans, that we may be able to offer some things that we haven't really been able to do before. I can't say more than that right now, because the plans are still not finalized. So this looks like it might be a definite plus for students, Library staff, and the College. So, stay tuned. I will provide more information as soon as I can.

By the Numbers...

2009-02-12T12:54:00.000-08:00

I just finished filling out a report that I have to submit every two years to the National Center for Education Statistics. It's chock full of numbers and other stuff that someone has decided are important to gather for libraries. And it is useful as a means of comparing ourselves to other libraries at schools our size. I thought I would pull out some numbers (as of June 30, 2008) to amaze/bore you:

* We have 8.5 FTE staff, including student and part-time workers (almost exactly the same as we had when I started here in 1991);
* We spent approximately $1.47 on electronic resources (read "databases) for every $1.00 that we spent on book, AV materials, and print periodicals combined (in 2004, that number was $1.13);
* we had 37,573 items (books and AV) in the collection (plus about 7,400 ebooks), 144 print periodicals, and access to over 21,000 full-text electronic periodicals through our database services;
*In an average week, there are almost 3,6oo visits to the LRC - it really isn't just 6 people 600 times each week...

OK, enough with the numbers. We also help a LOT of people, whether it is answering reference questions, directing traffic, answering questions from the public, helping fix minor computer problems, or just giving folks a place to come study a bit between classes. But that's why we're here. So don't be afraid to come ask questions - we're here to help.

Bare shelves - the real story

2009-02-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

If you have been upstairs in the library lately, you probably will have noticed that the ranges on the very ends of the collection look a bit thin. You may even have noticed Tim and I pulling cart loads of books off the shelves.

To make a long story short, we're weeding the library collection. Or de-accessioning, if you like the snooty term.

No, we don't have crabgrass or foxtail or even dandilions up there. We do have a fair number of books that are out of date, haven't been used in years, and/or are no longer relevant to the clases that are taught here. We do minor weeding every year, but it has been over 20 years since the library collection has had a serious overhaul. So, it seemed like it was high time we did something about that - and now we are. But there's also another motive

As part of the effort convert buildings on campus over to geothermal energy, they are being closed for a period of time (like the Fieldhouse and VoTech were last summer). Well, the LRC building is on the list after NW, and it will be closed far longer than most of the others when the time comes - probably like 6-7 months. So we will have to find a temporary home on campus, and the fewer things we have to move, the better. We can't leave ANYTHING behind - so the more we weed now, the less has to be moved and/or stored, when it comes to that.

There WILL be a library during the renovations. We are trying to work out the many details, and I'll have more information for you when it's more solid.

Database access problems - 1/26/2009

2009-01-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

So, before I got silly in my last post, I was mentioning a problem with our databases. To make a long story short, we had a problem that made it a 50/50 proposition (or less) that you would be able to access our database subscriptions either on campus or off. Thanks to a lot of help from our ISS department (sounds of crowds roaring), we were able to stabilize the access problem. However, we still had to notify 17 different vendors that we had a new address that they should allow to pass through as belonging to Lake Land. By the end of the day last Friday, we had gotten down to 3 vendors that either hadn't responded or who couldn't get to the problem until later.

As of this afternoon, we still have two vendors who are trying to get the problem fixed on their end. Lexis-Nexis involves just one database - but Gale is also down, which means problematic access for 8 databases (InfoTrac/Academic OneFile, Biography Resource Center, Gale Virtual Reference Library, Global Issues in Context, Litfinder, Literature Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, and Testing and Education Resource Center). Hopefully, that access will be completely restored later today.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

UPDATE 3:45PM Monday - We are still having issues with access to Lexis-Nexis, but all other databases appear to be available. Thanks for your patience!

UPDATE 10AM Friday 1/30 - Lexis-Nexis is still not functioning consistently. We are working with them to resolve the issue - NOW RESOLVED.

My turn

2009-01-26T10:37:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Like so many blogs, ours got started as a result of a conversation that was pretty much summed up by "we really should be doing this" back in November. Tim, who has his own personal blog, whipped up a basic site in about the time it takes to watch an episode of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog [ which is really funny , just in case you don't know about it ]. And there it has sat since then, with both Tim and I either too busy to do anything with it or just to unmotivated to be creative.

Fast forward to today. We had a big problem with access to our database subscriptions that isn't quite fixed yet. And I thought "geez - why don't we have a blog to let folks know what's going on" - and then did the "oh yeah, we do. Oops..." So the basic idea is this - Tim and I want to use this space to let you know about things that are happening in the Library, new, old, and things yet to be. We don't know how this is going to work or if it will, but like most things, it seemed like a good idea at the time...

Scott

Welcome to Our Blog

2008-11-07T11:06:00.000-08:00

The Lake Land College Library has joined the Web 2.0!

We plan to use this blog to share news, announcements and library-related goings-on.

Please check back soon!