Links: Late January - Early February

Stephen Abram provided a link and summary of the Pew report on Americans living with disability and their technology profile. And as often as I have thought and talked about the digital divide, my focus was more on the socio-economic factors. I have not thought as much as I should about the digital divide between those of us who are people without significant life disabilities, and people who have some important life disability.

My friend Jessamyn and I have shared many conversations about the other digital divides. Her perspective focuses on the rural issues (like in her home state of Vermont). She talks about some of the issues here. Many of my thoughts are centered around the urban poor who are often equally disadvantaged.

David Lee King did a great series of posts on how to do better presentations.

I know that there are some libraries which have been doing this for years. The Ferguson Library in Stamford CT was doing it about 10 years ago. American Libraries has a post with some simple "how-to" instructions on running a passport acceptance facility (it can be a revenue stream!).

I always worry when Library 2.0 is brought up and the topic turns to 'discovery.' What exactly is meant by that. I probably should spend some time thinking about it, but Lorcan Dempsey talks about a recent report out of the University of Minnesota on discovery in the library. It is well worth reading. (And by putting it here, I won't lose it.)

Eric Hellman has thought a lot about a "national digital library." He has written a post with a proposal on how such a library could be funded, in the US at least, through tax deductions. It is very thoughtful.

Leo Lo (a recent find for me) has started a series on screenwriting for a librarians by starting with a promotional video. I expect that this will be a very useful series.

Finally, my friend Karen Schneider has written about success. She was reacting to a question about stories of failure. Early in the essay she says (and I cleaned up the shorthand a little), "Another blog post I don’t have time to write: how failure is overrated, and often confused with iterative design." I like that last part...."confused with iterative design." That is a great phrase, since I am generally a half full glass person. She draws very heavily from her experience in a MFA writing program. It is a great post.

Skills and shifting skills

Several days ago, a friend who is a librarian (but not working as one) sent me a very thoughtful note about the skills needed for the 21st century job hunt.

The day he sent it to me, I had spent a good quarter hour with one of our library users. He had found a posting for a job on Criagslist, but did not know how to apply. First we walked through getting an email address, and then we went through the reply process on Craigslist.

Other days it has been helping folks find their way through various job application web sites. Yesterday, it was 15 minutes on the phone with someone who was trying to apply through a civil service web site.

Here is what my friend said:

Recently I’ve been helping a group of unemployed adults apply for apprenticeships. Many of these people have been without jobs for years; some are parolees, others simply down on their luck in these recessionary times. They have many strikes against them: criminal records, long breaks in employment, lack of marketable skills. Most of them find the process is like trying to jump onto a speeding conveyor belt. And in fact it is the process that they find daunting, even more than their own personal challenges or lack of qualifications.

Over the past few years the job-seekers’ required kit has gone from simply owning a pen (for filling out applications) to the possession of a resume (required to demonstrate experience) to the ability to understand and manipulate computer applications.

Take a look at how job-seeking works these days:

There are almost no more newspaper help-wanted ads. Job seekers must search the internet for openings and then complete applications online. Most of these applications require applicants to attach documents such as resumes and to submit the whole to whatever firm or public entity is offering the job. The process assumes the following skills and abilities:

1. First, the possession or adequate control of a computer. Occasional availability leaves the person at a distinct disadvantage: it takes hours of searching to find openings, hours more to submit applications, and then the applicant must wait for results, invitations to interview, et cetera. The person forced to use the public library computer or one at a job center has too few opportunities to search and apply and respond.

2. Second, the ability to use a computer and the internet with sufficient skill to make the process work. A large portion of the population have difficulty with keyboarding; they type so slowly as to make application an ordeal, particularly in the case of resumes and cover letters—and this is assuming a fair level of literacy, which with the longer-term unemployed is often not the case.

3. Finally, a high level of patience and the ability to endure frustration. This has to do less with the win/lose nature of job-seeking than it does with the cold, faceless and often maddening character of the internet.

Over the past few years I’ve been involved in teaching word-processing and internet skills. This has meant attempting to transfer some portion of the typical internet skill set to classroom groups. Success or failure seems to be determined by the characteristics of incoming participants much more than their desire or effort.

● Successful participants will already be adept at keyboarding skills. Those who enter the class without touch-typing skill will almost certainly fall behind and, if they do complete the course, will not be able to compose text or use the computer at any reasonable level of function.

● Successful participants will have a computer at home to practice on; otherwise the learned skills will evaporate within days.

● Successful students will have a reason to continue to use and polish their computer skills, be it on a job or just internet surfing.

● It goes without saying that illiterate or semi-literate students will fail to come away with anything of value.

Though this is the case, most of the programs existing to help the long-term unemployed merely offer their clients a quick run through computer/internet skill sets, then release them into the broad world to thrash about unaided. What the system calls for is a way to offer employment that doesn’t rely so heavily on skills and abilities that are scarce among potential applicants.

There is much talk about the “digital divide,” but the real problem is that there is and will continue to be a class of people who will never become proficient in computer use, in the way that a percentage of people will never become fully and functionally literate. Teaching computer skills is important but obtaining work is much more so. Rather than attempting to teach a smattering of skills it would be better to provide ongoing services to these job-seekers, including personal guidance through the entire process of obtaining work. To believe that the long-term unemployed can simply vault onto the moving conveyor of the employment machine by themselves is wrong and counterproductive.

Let me repeat: There is much talk about the “digital divide,” but the real problem is that there is and will continue to be a class of people who will never become proficient in computer use, in the way that a percentage of people will never become fully and functionally literate.

This is so true and is redefining what libraries can and will offer, but also makes it more difficult to measure any success (outcomes) which is what so many funders want to know about.

Much food for thought here.

Links, links, links, links....

Happy 10th birthday Blogger!

• For those of us who have trouble on Mondays!
  

• Next Monday, though....
  

• And job seeking advice about Twitter
  

• Some folks just don't get the web, and the Associated Press is one...
  

• More e-book predictions...
  

• And more comments on the digital divide
  

• Dorothea Salvo writes on digital repositories, and is always worth reading.
  

• Good news on e-book formats
  

• You can't blog, flickr, or twitter from college stadia? Can anyone say "First ammendment?" or "Prior restraint"? I am waiting for the first case!

• A great website on getting boys to read -- and you can follow on Twitter, too
  

• A newly named inherent behavior: Seeking [from Slate]

• The danger of the Google settlement for libraries [LibraryLaw Blog]

• Online education beats the classroom?

• More than just death by PowerPoint, this talks about what the errors/problems are

Here is a "two-fer:" first it talks about the positive impact of high-speed [broadband] access on rural areas. But then I looked at the map which shows number of broadband providers. When I look at a map like this, I often focus on the places that I know about (mostly where I have lived). So, for example in both most of northern Maine, and in a tiny swatch of southern Arizona there are no providers. Well, a lot of that northern Maine is woods! I have canoed through some of that territory, there are really no roads, and only the hardiest of people. The southern Arizona piece is more problematic, but it sure looks to me like it is the reservation which is just to the west (and slightly south) of Tucson. When I lived there it was the Papago Reservation, but it is now called Tohono O'odham.

Links - April 2011

A great idea from the Librarian in Black: a day against DRM!

Here are some cogent thoughts from one of my favorite library bloggers and library writers, Karen Schneider, they were written in reaction to the presentation at Penn State by Jeff Trzeciak of Macmaster University in Canada.

The digital divide continues. Here is a link to Jessamyn West's presentation at SXSW on a topic on which we share concern. My original concerns originated in my urban roots. How many inner city homes even have land-lines these days. My exposure to the rural situation has been broadened by my Wisconsin and now Louisiana experiences.

Jessamyn also links to a nice article about SXSW.

Library 2.0 -- Does it disenfranchise those who need us most?

I collected together several articles about Library 2.0.

The original article by Ken Chad and Paul Miller which started it all

Jessamyn West's thoughtful response

Michael Stephens' piece on ALA Techsource

There is much about the philosophy behind the discussion with which I agree. At the same time, I sit here as the City Librarian in a community which has computers in only slightly more than half of the households. So many of the technology solutions included in the discussions of Library 2.0 completely disenfranchise those who are on the wrong side of the Digital Divide.

So I wrestle with this.

Yes it is important that the Library be everywhere (#1 on the Chad/Miller list), and we need to remove barriers to access (#2). But isn't lack of technology a barrier to access if all the data/information or service is available only electronically (or even with a priority to electronic users)? Participation of users (#3) has been a fundamental part of the creation of public library service. Most public libraries have either a governing board of users, or an advisory board. When I think about the Library in comparison to other units of government, we certainly have been flexible and led the way(#4). Do we get the technological best? Not always. We do not have the money (resources). However, most libraries I know (no matter what type) do a spectacular job of getting incredible value for the resources we expend.

Part of what I worry about most are some of the issues which Michael Stephens raises including his point: "the library is human." I see a rush by some library administrators to self-check. That allows libraries to re-deploy staff. Does it make for a better service to the library user? I'm not so sure. The reason why many of the public use branch libraries (which inevitably have more limited resources than the "main" libraries) is because of the personal service which a branch (especially a small branch) offers to the regulars.

I still need to read more and think more.

Do I think we should abandon the technology? No! And I firmly believe that articles of this type are critical to improving service. They get us to begin to think outside the box. But at the same time, some of the thinkers (while providing an important service) forget about the real-world issues which so many library administrators face.

Fourth Literacy

The nice folks at "It's all good" alerted me to this move by ETS. It is called Fourth Literacy. Librarians have been talking about this for years. What is scary is the stats which the ETS folks cite about web usage. It shows that the Digital Divide is still around [Scroll down the page to the indents....someday I'll be good enough to paste a more exact link]. Based on the public computer usage here, it is true!