Last Friday, I received a call at the reference desk from a student looking for a book. The problem was that this student did not know the title of the book or the author. All she could tell me was the book was a collection of letters between a London antiquities dealer and an American writer and that they discussed literature and building a collection. I made a couple of rudimentary attempts while she was on the phone but I was getting no where. I told her that I would have to call her back after I searched a little more. I thought this might take some time but I didn't realize how difficult it would be to locate this book.
Here were some of the terms I punched into Google and Amazon to try to locate the book - London literature antiques dealer collection writing letter. All of these terms will trigger many results dealing with antiques and shops and purchasing and dealing but I was getting no where near a book that resembled the one I was looking for. The closest I got was a book called Letters from London but this was not the correct book. My search in WorldCat was giving me incorrect results as well. I was getting frustrated and was about ready to call this student to let her know that I couldn't distinguish which book she was looking for until I thought I would try one more thing.
My search experiences with LibraryThing have been good (quick and accurate results). Still, those experiences had been with books that I knew the title or author. What could I do in LibraryThing to locate the book? On the search page, they have a way to search for tags. I suddenly realized that if you were going to tag this book you would use some of the terms that I had been using with no luck in Google. So I tried the tag string of London, letters, literature, New York, classics. Their tagmash search feature (it can take several minutes) gave me as a first option the book 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. The reviews and descriptions of the book identified the book as the one I was looking for.
By being a LibraryThing user and being accustomed to tagging things I could easily put myself in the shoes of someone who would inventory this particular book. I simply chose the terms that I thought they would use to tag this book and I found the book.
This is a perfect example of the social aspect of finding information. Whenever someone tagged this book they were wanting to describe the book so they could locate it later and maybe they had a thought to how other people might discover the information as well. This was a Web 2.0 success story.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Observations From The Google Zeitgeist List
Google provides a nice service to the public by publishing their Zeitgeist 2008 list. I found the following items interesting.
Chuck Norris was ninth on the South Africa fastest rising list.???
Why do people insist on typing out things like Youtube, Facebook, and Hotmail in a search engine? Do they not understand how to add .com to the end of the word?
What is the fascination with movie trailers? Google even noted that they were becoming more and more popular for people to share with friends. Most trailers have a sameness to them that limits creativity and appeal.
Michael Crichton died? Who knew?
"Who is Martin Luther?" made the top ten "Who is..." list. Two spots removed from Chris Brown and three spots from the Jonas Brothers. Weird.
Sarah Palin almost won the U.S. Triple crown. She was the top Google News search, top Google Image search, and seventh on the Google.com search.
People love Fox News. Personally, I think their website is lacking graphically.
Chuck Norris was ninth on the South Africa fastest rising list.???
Why do people insist on typing out things like Youtube, Facebook, and Hotmail in a search engine? Do they not understand how to add .com to the end of the word?
What is the fascination with movie trailers? Google even noted that they were becoming more and more popular for people to share with friends. Most trailers have a sameness to them that limits creativity and appeal.
Michael Crichton died? Who knew?
"Who is Martin Luther?" made the top ten "Who is..." list. Two spots removed from Chris Brown and three spots from the Jonas Brothers. Weird.
Sarah Palin almost won the U.S. Triple crown. She was the top Google News search, top Google Image search, and seventh on the Google.com search.
People love Fox News. Personally, I think their website is lacking graphically.
Live Blogging: Librarian on Location Dec. 10
2:23 p.m. Last Librarian on Location for the semester. I am in my favorite spot next to the Soda Shoppe in the main academic building. I see lots of students and faculty. I have a special sign out today that reads "Need Research Paper Help? Ask Here". Finals start tomorrow so the students should be done with their papers but we know how that goes.
2:44 p.m. I also have candy out including chocolate. Bribes never hurt.
2:52 p.m. I am going to be teaching a course in the spring semester. I am looking for interesting ways to get my students to use the library more. Hopefully I can help them become more accustomed to the library.
2:59 p.m. The biggest benefit of these ventures away from the library has been in my interaction with faculty and staff. Though our conversations are little more than chit chat and catching up, I find them valuable public relations. When students voice their frustrations with locating resources from the library to their professor it would be great if the professor has someone they can direct the student for assistance. If I had zero relations with the faculty then the students would simply be told to ask a librarian. Many students do not know who is a librarian and who is a staff person. They would prefer to have someone who they can locate specifically.
2:44 p.m. I also have candy out including chocolate. Bribes never hurt.
2:52 p.m. I am going to be teaching a course in the spring semester. I am looking for interesting ways to get my students to use the library more. Hopefully I can help them become more accustomed to the library.
2:59 p.m. The biggest benefit of these ventures away from the library has been in my interaction with faculty and staff. Though our conversations are little more than chit chat and catching up, I find them valuable public relations. When students voice their frustrations with locating resources from the library to their professor it would be great if the professor has someone they can direct the student for assistance. If I had zero relations with the faculty then the students would simply be told to ask a librarian. Many students do not know who is a librarian and who is a staff person. They would prefer to have someone who they can locate specifically.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
5 Things I Learned From Teaching Web. 2.0
For one session a month starting last June I have taught a new web technology that could be described as social technology or Web 2.0 technology. These technologies included Delicious, RSS, blogging, and Flickr. My students were my fellow librarians and staff. Here are five things that I learned in this process.
1. There was limited exposure to these technologies throughout the staff. Limited exposure usually meant that the staff was excited to learn something they had been wondering about. Sometimes it meant they were sceptical of new technology and had trouble embracing it.
2. Delicious and RSS are underutilized among our librarians. These two resources are a life saver for me as a reference librarian and I would be less effective in my job if I had not started using Delicious and RSS. If nothing else, RSS saves time.
3. Flickr is addictive. One staff person has gone Flickr crazy. She was very cautious at first. She didn't want anyone looking at her pictures but within a week she had already made her photos available to the public.
4. Fear of technology is inhibiting. When we let our fear be stronger than our desire to learn we have failed to realize how much good we could be missing. I used to be and am still a hesitant technology user. I lack confidence in my ability to figure things out. The wonder of the web is that it has made computer geeks out of all of us. We need to embrace our hidden geek.
5. Teaching is a great learning tool. In Delicious, I learned how to send bookmarks to colleagues. In RSS, I learned how to subscribe to pages that just give you that code gobblygook that I never knew what to do with before. I also learned how Wordpress works and how to set up Groups in Flickr. The process has been invaluable to me.
Our sessions and exercises can be found here.
1. There was limited exposure to these technologies throughout the staff. Limited exposure usually meant that the staff was excited to learn something they had been wondering about. Sometimes it meant they were sceptical of new technology and had trouble embracing it.
2. Delicious and RSS are underutilized among our librarians. These two resources are a life saver for me as a reference librarian and I would be less effective in my job if I had not started using Delicious and RSS. If nothing else, RSS saves time.
3. Flickr is addictive. One staff person has gone Flickr crazy. She was very cautious at first. She didn't want anyone looking at her pictures but within a week she had already made her photos available to the public.
4. Fear of technology is inhibiting. When we let our fear be stronger than our desire to learn we have failed to realize how much good we could be missing. I used to be and am still a hesitant technology user. I lack confidence in my ability to figure things out. The wonder of the web is that it has made computer geeks out of all of us. We need to embrace our hidden geek.
5. Teaching is a great learning tool. In Delicious, I learned how to send bookmarks to colleagues. In RSS, I learned how to subscribe to pages that just give you that code gobblygook that I never knew what to do with before. I also learned how Wordpress works and how to set up Groups in Flickr. The process has been invaluable to me.
Our sessions and exercises can be found here.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Advantages and Disadvantages of The Web
Academics are constantly fighting the belief that information found anywhere on the web is equal to finding information from another more respected source. Here is an example of the problems that surface through the dissemination of information through modern technology such as blogs.
Back in August I heard that Coca-Cola was producing a specialty can with Muslim symbols on it in recognition of the Muslim holiday Ramadan. You can imagine that just that particular statement might cause an uproar among Conservative Christians and Right Wing bloggers. And sure enough, bloggers were spreading this information around but none of them were getting the full story. It turns out, according to this article, that the can will be sold and marketed exclusively to Muslim countries and regions and not the United States. So instead of the sky is falling conspiracy theorist sparking fear in the nation's gullible the truth lies in researching the facts. Through blogs a half-truth is proliferated but through the power of the web the truth can be discovered and verified.
The questions remains, who thinks critically enough to take that next step to identify the facts? In most cases, we take things for face value and move to something else. Again, the instant nature of blogs and web news leaves little time and space for discovering the truth. Is this a field that librarians could assist in? The verification and proofing of web information? A daunting task I know but one that is sorely needed and best suited for information professionals.
Back in August I heard that Coca-Cola was producing a specialty can with Muslim symbols on it in recognition of the Muslim holiday Ramadan. You can imagine that just that particular statement might cause an uproar among Conservative Christians and Right Wing bloggers. And sure enough, bloggers were spreading this information around but none of them were getting the full story. It turns out, according to this article, that the can will be sold and marketed exclusively to Muslim countries and regions and not the United States. So instead of the sky is falling conspiracy theorist sparking fear in the nation's gullible the truth lies in researching the facts. Through blogs a half-truth is proliferated but through the power of the web the truth can be discovered and verified.
The questions remains, who thinks critically enough to take that next step to identify the facts? In most cases, we take things for face value and move to something else. Again, the instant nature of blogs and web news leaves little time and space for discovering the truth. Is this a field that librarians could assist in? The verification and proofing of web information? A daunting task I know but one that is sorely needed and best suited for information professionals.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Librarian on Location: Live Blogging 10-1-08
2:20 p.m. - First live blog of the semester. Here are the things that have changed with our Librarian on Location program.
1. I am only going out at scheduled times (usually about twice a month)instead of every week. Reason: The school calendar and my personal schedule wasn't going to allow me to be consistent on a weekly basis. Also see reasons below.
2. Our locations have been trimmed to three. Reason: We determined that our presence at campus social settings were an encroachment and largely ignored by the students. When I went to more academic settings I was more well received. So this semester I will be going to the International Department (where I am now), a Soda Shoppe in a busy classroom area, and a location in the Science building that gets heavy traffic. The limited number of locations means it would be overkill to return to them every week.
3. The presence of a Writing Center representative. Reason: I broached the idea to the Writing Center director about the WC helping me out at the end of the semester when the research paper crunch starts to hit. A student worker came with me to my first stop. I don't know where he is today.
2:37 p.m. - My university has more than 400 international students, which is a huge number for a private Christian university. Their numbers grow each semester. There is huge potential for a quality library relation with the international students but there are also some complexities that prevent a current dynamic connection.
2:43 p.m. - It may be ironic that I am over in the international office because the largest clientele in our library comes from the international students. I could just have gone to the second floor of our library and seen more international students than the numbers I have seen thus far. But that would defeat the mission behind Librarian on Location.
1. I am only going out at scheduled times (usually about twice a month)instead of every week. Reason: The school calendar and my personal schedule wasn't going to allow me to be consistent on a weekly basis. Also see reasons below.
2. Our locations have been trimmed to three. Reason: We determined that our presence at campus social settings were an encroachment and largely ignored by the students. When I went to more academic settings I was more well received. So this semester I will be going to the International Department (where I am now), a Soda Shoppe in a busy classroom area, and a location in the Science building that gets heavy traffic. The limited number of locations means it would be overkill to return to them every week.
3. The presence of a Writing Center representative. Reason: I broached the idea to the Writing Center director about the WC helping me out at the end of the semester when the research paper crunch starts to hit. A student worker came with me to my first stop. I don't know where he is today.
2:37 p.m. - My university has more than 400 international students, which is a huge number for a private Christian university. Their numbers grow each semester. There is huge potential for a quality library relation with the international students but there are also some complexities that prevent a current dynamic connection.
2:43 p.m. - It may be ironic that I am over in the international office because the largest clientele in our library comes from the international students. I could just have gone to the second floor of our library and seen more international students than the numbers I have seen thus far. But that would defeat the mission behind Librarian on Location.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Complexities of Instant Media
Two weeks ago as I was working late at the library I was perusing Google News and saw a Reuters story discussing Sarah Palin's Republican Convention speech. The story was complete with quotes from the speech and references to her tone towards Obama. The problem with the story was in the fact that the speech hadn't happened yet. Palin wasn't scheduled to speak until after 9 p.m. CDT and the current time was 7 p.m. But the story used the past tense and made no reference to an upcoming speech.
How does this relate to libraries and research? A cardinal rule for researchers should be "consider the source". Obviously, the Palin speech story, taken from a release of her speech to the foreign media, was pretty cut and dry which is fine but it couldn't speak to the crowd response or the flavor of her delivery. Plus, the ability to publish this article the instant it was written brings up the awkward timing and past tense deception that could disrupt those out there that don't understand how the media works and the context in which they publish there work (namely that much of what they published is prepackaged through other sources like press releases and media kits. Also, Reuters is based out of London where there is a 7-8 hour time difference and Palin's speech would have been in the middle of the night London time. Thus, the story was written so the reporter could go to sleep so to speak.)
Do you see why we still need librarians around? How is a college student supposed to make sense of all of this complexity to determine what makes a quality source.
How does this relate to libraries and research? A cardinal rule for researchers should be "consider the source". Obviously, the Palin speech story, taken from a release of her speech to the foreign media, was pretty cut and dry which is fine but it couldn't speak to the crowd response or the flavor of her delivery. Plus, the ability to publish this article the instant it was written brings up the awkward timing and past tense deception that could disrupt those out there that don't understand how the media works and the context in which they publish there work (namely that much of what they published is prepackaged through other sources like press releases and media kits. Also, Reuters is based out of London where there is a 7-8 hour time difference and Palin's speech would have been in the middle of the night London time. Thus, the story was written so the reporter could go to sleep so to speak.)
Do you see why we still need librarians around? How is a college student supposed to make sense of all of this complexity to determine what makes a quality source.
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