As an example. I wrote a chapter for Priscilla Shontz’s book The Librarian’s Career Guidebook. You can see a page from my chapter here and more excerpts on the page on her site.
Author: jessamyn
ALA-WA web site back online
Welcome back to the web Copyright Advisory Network
my dream library
Sometimes, on the weekends, when the sun is shining in and I’ve had a lot of coffee and all is right with the world, I think about what kind of library I’d have, if I had my own library. This is, of course, crazy talk. Libraries exist in communities, they’re not started or maintained by egomaniacal librarians who need a new project. So, this is a thought exercise. I honor and respect the traditions that libraries are steeped in, I’m just curious about what elements of our new technological reality could be useful to the sorts of institutions libraries are. Here are some things I’ve been thinking about, in that regard.
- What if our catalogs were an overgrown version of really good personal library software instead of some sort of awkwardly-scaled version of very powerful all-in-one ordering/circulating/cataloging enterprise software? Check out Delicious Library, from that link, and tell me your patrons wouldn’t love it. [see also: usability & assessment]
- What if you could use the collective experience of your patrons to add to the library’s knowledge base? Have patrons add reviews, suggest their own supplementary “subject headings“, use the library web site for interactivity not just passive reception of library content.
- What if the items in your library catalog had fixed URLs so patrons could link to library records from their web sites when discussing items the library has, sort of like IMDB has short, linkable human-friendly URLs? What’s the book equivalent for IMDB, and don’t say Amazon because you know it’s not true.
- We’d be open when people wanted to use the library, not just when librarians wanted to work. How would we know? We’d ask them. [some surveys: here, here, here and here]
- In my library, we’d fix your computer for you. We’d work the information booth at your event. We’d answer your questions any time and any place, not just when you come to us and wait at the reference desk for us to be free. We’d save your time, even if it sometimes meant sacrificing our own.
Obviously changes in the economic reality of libraries or shifts in the work/home paradigm would need to occur before we could really do some of these things, but others just require a change in mindset, or a shift in priorities. A girl can dream, can’t she?
ALA job ad
I’m not sure exactly what an Internet Administrator is, but ALA is hiring one. I am really really curious what this job pays, especially given the quirky description.
This position will provide user support for 24/7 mission critical applications needed to run a large diverse Web site and other Internet-related services, to include using remote administration and alerting tools to provide on-call support as needed, as well as responding to user requests for information. Primary responsibility will be to respond to user questions about the association’s Web site and online services. [emphasis mine]
examples of “on the fly” reference
One of the things I am known for, for better or worse, is doing “on the fly” reference work at places like Burning Man, the WTO and the DNC. I’m happy to be one of the inspirations for the Radical Reference project that bloomed during the RNC and is still going strong. Since I had an extra day off this week in addition to my usual two, I’ve been doing more of this. I thought I’d share a few examples since the more we equate our problem-solving and information-finding skills with our chosen field of librarianship, the better it will be for us and our profession.
- helped Alison Bechdel get her RSS feed working on her Dykes to Watch Out For blog via IM
- After getting an email that told me that the ALA-WA office’s library copyright web site had been hacked, got on IM to a few people to spread the word, found someone who knew how to fix it, he called them, and helped them log in to their hacked site and take it down.
- Someone posted a question on a web site I frequent about getting a back issue of a magazine from someplace more quickly than from the publisher. After some savvy reference interviewing, I figured out that she only needed one article from one magazine. I found it using Expanded Academic Index [available online from my library] uploaded a pdf and gave her a link to it.
My point, and I do have one, is that this isn’t just me who is able to do this. Many librarians can. They save people time, money, frustration, and face. We should be communicating that every chance we get, so here’s me, doing that.