"Library Rockstars" and the "Great/Radical Middle"

Walt Crawford does the wonderful Cites and Insights on a regular basis (monthly with occasional special additional issues).

Among the things I appreciate about Cites and Insights is that Walt actually cares about how it looks on the page. This past year he changed typefaces, and in various places there were discussions about that. I found when I started a job which including newsletter production, that I care about how things look on a page. The Adobe PDF format is great for that, because the creator gets to really determine how it will look, and the user can't change it.

Before ALA Midwinter 2010, Walt produced a special issue ("Cites ON a Plane 2010"). I am sad that he will be taking it down, now that Midwinter is over, but do understand why. After all, it is a collection of items which have previously appeared in Cites and Insights. However, either I missed some of the issues (and I generally print out each issue and share it with colleagues), or I am now reading and reacting to them through a different lens. One of my insights in this compilation is how true Walt is to his word when he calls himself (in Walt at Random) "The library voice of the radical middle."

The "rockstar" article is from the June 2008 issue (pp. 13 - 20) [it is in html here].

Indeed, I started composing this before getting to the end of the Cites on a Plane issue, and find that the "On the Middle" article is equally engaging. Appropriately enough, this article is from the December 2007 issue (pp. 16-22) [it is in html here]. (Isn't December usually a time for reflecting back on the year? This article certainly has some cogent reflections which are still true two years later.)

Links

The Google settlement, from a Brit's perspective.

The CNN story and reactions:

• From a newly discovered blog, Opinions of a Wolf, on stereotyping

• This piece does not take our side, but at the same time lashes out at CNN
  

And Cushing Academy takes a hit:

• Jessamyn is always one of my favorites, and as always she has some stellar links here

• Nicholas Brisbanes notes that most likely the library staff were not consulted in an interesting piece

Three other random links:

1. Five Most Common Mistakes Made by Nonprofit Admins on Facebook
2. Mindset List for Librarians (parody of the Beloit College list aimed at librarians)
3. The Gospel of Good Enough from the thoughtful Jason Griffey which talks some more (and has links) to ideas presented at ALA this summer.
   

The Web, meida delivery and blogging

There has been a confluence of the above topics in not just the tweets I get, or the blogs I real, or even the email I get.

I am on the routing list for Publishers Weekly, and recently read the May 18, 2009 issue which has the interview with Chris Anderson by Andrew Albanese (who has written for Library Journal). This was to highlight Chris Anderson's new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. It is an interesting interview, and I recommend it. At the same time I have a link to Financial Times piece which says "most news websites will charge within a year." It is my memory that the New York Times tried this in the early days, and it failed big time. I know that I don't even like to register to read news, I think that this is a big old FAIL.

On the other hand, Casey Bisson expresses some interesting thoughts in dissecting the old business model of the newspaper business. It is headlined: "Newspaper Business: News was a loss leader!" He talks about trying to monetize the newspaper business, and goes to argue that the Financial Times editor is probably wrong.

Roy Tenant takes the position that print is not dead, in a (usual for him) well-written piece. [He tweeted the other day that there were no comments, I see that there are now seven (7), but make him happy and comment!]

He earlier had a great post on social media pitfalls, and cites the Clinical Reader incident which Iris Jastram covered very completely (and he did not mention...)

Finally, there has been an interesting conversation started by Meredith Farkas called: "W(h)ither blogging and the library blogosphere?" Meredith has been a blogging hero to me, I started reading her blog quite a long while before I started blogging myself. (And I have even had a chance to meet her in person at ALA Annual!) Her comments are cogent, and as interesting has been the conversation on Friend Feed. [Addition 7/23 8:30 am: I should have also noted Iris Jastram's thoughtful piece about the ebb and flow of online social interaction using various tools.]

Miscellaneous Library Links & comments

I haven't posted library stuff in a bit. With my new work schedule, I get up before dawn and drive through the dawn (actually, these days, dawn happens while I am still getting ready) to Baton Rouge, hitting the heavy in-bound traffic around 7:30. After a day at work (no blogging there, please) , I hit the road, and the traffic, at about 4:30. If I am lucky, I get back home by 6:15 or so. Then it is dinner and catching up, and bed fairly early -- 9 pm most nights. So, hence the lacunae.

I have been adding tabs to my Firefox windows both at home and work. It is time to clean them up in a miscellaneous post.

Four new search engines to keep an eye on.

ARRA funds for libraries This is an interesting post from Jeff Scott which focuses more on broadband funding in the Recovery Act. He has done some good work here.

Libraries need more Internet speed. Related to the link above, here is the ALA press release about the need for more speed.

Smartphones versus handsets. This is an interesting article on sales trends. I have a feeling reading articles like this that I am not making full use of what is available on my current device (which I HATE!)

Books born digital. Interesting LJ article about trends in book publishing and the trends that librarians need to follow.

Kindle2 and speech software. This is an interesting take on the Kindle debate and the Authors Guild' successful push to get Amazon to disable the speech abilities of the Kindle. If you know someone who is blind, but computer proficient you may well wonder, as I do, what the big deal is. Speech software is nowhere near the same as a book read by a person. (And since I am now a huge listener, I do know!)

For fun. This is from a local public library blog which has a link to a web site which has a video for each of the elements in the periodic table. I love it!

Library leadership and changes. Stephen Abram of Sirsi/Dynix picked this up on his travels. It is a great article which I suggest you click through and save the PDF. Stephen does a great job. The seven imperatives of library leadership may yet get a full post from me.

In library news:

Stupid Library Tricks. This is a great story of bureaucracy run amok! [Thanks again, Stephen.]

Bad news about salaries. I know that library administrators sometimes take a beating on salaries. This LJ article notes both the flatness of the library organization in Seattle, and our cost effectiveness compared with other departments.

The Law of Unintended Consequences, Oprah and KFC. My friend Jessamyn does a great summary here. Last Saturday (May 16, ten days after Jessamyn wrote), I was in a local KFC where they were STILL handing out rain checks for the grilled chicken. (I am glad I wasn't planning on eating grilled chicken!)

Twitter and Libraries. There is a great, link-rich post about how to effectively use Twitter.

Extreme Customer Service. Great article by David Lee King about a library that I knew fairly well in Connecticut. I haven't been there in a number of years, but the philosophy of extreme customer service is one that Library Director Louise Berry has espoused for many years.

Google Books Settlement. I forget where I picked up this link, and I have read a some about the settlement. This is an interesting article about Internet Archive and its view.

That's the wrap-up for now. [And I started this post two days ago, and it took until today to get it up.]

PLA -- Humor

Yes, I know I still owe an evaluation, and it has been percolating in my head a little. However, I have to share this which was also in American Libraries Direct. It is my excuse to figure out how to embed a video.





And I think I got it!

Superheroes to Serial Killers: Librarians in Literature

Started with his doing talks on readers advisory and threw in books which included librarians. They were always the most popular with the audience -- even when librarians were not in the audience.

Everything is on the handout.

Michael Gannon @ Prince Georges County Maryland

Objectives for all activities in Maryland, and Michael listed his objectives. Talk was rated PG-13 because of the "racy bits."

Famous Librarians quiz...very humorous. First answer was was Hypatia of Alexandria. St Lawrence was the second, as another patron saint of librarians. (Roasted alive was the key clue.) Casanova got a huge laugh. Pope Pius XI was a librarian. Chairman Mao made the list also. J. Edgar Hoover worked at the Library of Congress.

He then talked about stereotypes including the clip from It's a Wonderful Life and the Bacardi ad: Librarian by day, alcoholic by night! Batgirl and Captain Comet were librarians. He included librarian blogs including the Lipstick Librarian and her Cafe Press products. He noted the Modified Librarian. He noted the Wyoming Library Association campaign with the mudflap girl campaign.

He then went into librarians in literature, starting with Librarians in Fiction which he referred to as "incredibly dry." In the Stacks is a collection of short stories. One of the stories features TV's Mr. Ed.

He finally got serious with Miss Zukas and the Library Murders. And continued. What is missing from the handout is the wonderful covers and incredibly snarky remarks on books and covers like Nympho Librarian.

He ended with a little game called: Librarian or Serial Killer with some amazing photos.

[This was a wonderfully entertaining speaker.]

More on being a professional

Brian Matthews (The Ubiquitous Librarian) had a great post back in early January entitled: Be like Emeril: my response to Steven Bell.

It is so well written I can only say: READ IT!

I am a huge Emeril Lagasse fan, although I do not currently watch the show as much as I used to, it is on at a different time here than it was in the East. But Brian is correct about how the enthusiasm and charisma of Emeril brought The Food Network alive for many people. He set the stage in the same way that Julia Child did years and years ago on public television.

Why am I a Librarian

Well, Walt Crawford did not tag me, but I am going to take up both parts of his challenge. I will answer the question, and also, like my semi-hero Walt, not "tag" anyone. I am again behind in reading my feeds, but so far I have read the posts from Iris, Rikhei, and Steve Lawson.

My answer is short: Miss (Betty) Osborn and Mrs. Carson.

As a child I spent a lot of time at the library and reading. Miss Osborn was the children's librarian, and took an interest in me. She later became the Library Director, and hired me as a page/shelver. The longer I was there, the more responsibilities she gave me. She talked about professional association activities and was active in the New England Library Association. She went to the (now legendary) annual conferences at Wentworth-by-the-Sea.

Mrs. Carson was my supervisor at my financial aid provided job in the library at Brown. I started in the Biological Sciences Library which, in the December of my freshman year moved into a new building with the Physical Sciences Library -- the now Sciences Library. I guess because I was willing to work hard and work more, I got to be part of the team which helped get all the books on the right floors. (We were integrating the collections.)

As I stuck it out over the years, I was given more responsibility. By the end of my four years, I was often in charge of the service desks for the last couple of hours of operation. All my supervisors encouraged me. Mrs. Carson wrote a letter of recommendation when I was applying to schools and for the NELA scholarship (which I did *not* get). I had the opportunity a couple of times to go back and thank her for her support.

I started grad school one week to the day after my graduation from college. From there on it has been a straight shot. Although there were times when I thought about, and even explored, other options. But none of them felt as "right" as librarianship.

Once working in libraries, I knew I wanted to become a Library Director. I wondered why some decisions were made the way they were. I wanted to have some of that control. I also wanted to share why things are the way they are with my staff. So, back in 1985 when I had the opportunity, I jumped and became a director. It was a small enough library that during my tenure there I worked the circ desk to pitch in, and worked regular shifts on the reference desk.

I left that position and took one running a multi-type library organization. It is what has taken me away from direct public service, but that was an incredible learning experience about other types of libraries, and gave me the opportunity (and push) to become involved in professional associations. Since then, I have been the director of large enough libraries that I do not work the desk. Let's face it, while I still have the customer service skills, I no longer have the technical skills, and don't have the time to learn them.

I love being a director. It fits my personality and style. I get to be out in the community talking about the library and what we can do. I do advocacy on a daily basis, and love it. I cannot picture myself doing anything else -- except maybe teaching how to do this.

[Note: I could not get Walt's blog to come up...I got the address for the hot link from the cached version in Yahoo!]

Humor: Unfortunately Named Athletes

Steve Cohen over on Library Stuff, linked to this great list of unfortunately named athletes.

I'm wondering if there is a list of unfortunately named librarians?

I do know that my father use to joke about the fact he should have given my brother Paul a different middle name so that his initials would have been PIG, and clearly my parents forgot when then named my youngest sister Helen (middle name Ann.....you figure it out) whose initials changed when she married. My initials are only kind of car tire (MAG), and I can live with that!