tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82325729359314412952024-03-05T01:02:19.516-08:00Julia's Library Research BlogResearch into libraries of the past and thoughts on libraries today.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-3898871099055673702011-04-01T19:40:00.000-07:002011-04-01T19:40:41.056-07:00Julia's Library Research is Moving!Hello readers!<br />
After much internal debate, I've decided to move my blog to a new space. For future updates, make sure to go here:<br />
http://juliacskinner.com/<br />
Why, you ask? Well, a couple reasons. First of all, my other blogs are on that site, so it makes my life much easier to check stats and comments on just one platform. Another bonus was the templates they have: my new Wordpress site is laid out in a way that I think is much easier to read and navigate. I like Blogger (especially some of the goodies they offer in their stats, such as that lovely map that shows your readership,) but I felt like my page was getting a little busy with all the links and such. I'd love to hear what people think of the new site, and if there's enough demand I can always copy and paste posts here too! <br />
I'll be checking this site too, so if you leave comments or have questions, I'll make sure to answer them!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-4433567875040603932011-03-27T08:12:00.000-07:002011-03-27T08:13:04.097-07:00Rehashing #unpackLISFriday was <a href="http://sliscon.wordpress.com/">"Unpacking the 'Library': Exploring Works in Progress Across the Field of LIS."</a> This conference was significant for me not only because I had a blast as an audience member, but because it was the first conference I have helped to plan and run. Our goal with the conference was to use it as an extension of <a href="http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides">B Sides Journal</a>'s dual mission of professional development and education, and it was a resounding success! I'm planning on writing another post on the process of planning a student-run conference, but for this one I wanted to focus on sharing some of the takeaways from all of the awesome presentations!<br />
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The day began with some technical difficulties, which moved <a href="http://amurillo.web.unc.edu/">Angela Murillo</a> and <a href="http://bananasuitlibrarian.com/2011/03/23/librarians-taking-charge/">Rachel Smalter Hall</a>'s keynote from being a presentation to a more informal conversation with the audience.When Angela and Rachel were thinking about what to talk about, they were brought back to thinking of <i>B Sides</i> as an innovative publication, and decided to focus on a talk about innovation throughout the history of LIS, particularly as it related to access. <a href="http://www.northlibertylibrary.org/contact/staff.html">Dee Crowner</a>, from North Liberty Public Library, told the speakers about her library's transition to a Dewey-less library, saying that access and innovation are vital, or else your library just becomes a warehouse. Some of the points I found most compelling from this talk:<br />
-The importance of ownership--we must own our ideas to be leaders and innovators. <br />
-Technology gives us tools to build and drive the field in new ways, and we should use available tools to embrace our goals (they cited the example of finding a space for <i>B Sides</i>: had the IR not been there they could have used Wordpress or another digital publishing platform.) The important thing to remember here is that technology is not the innovator, we are!<br />
-<i>B Sides</i> was created as a place to share ideas and get feedback to develop them further. The goal was not to create just another journal, but to create a space where a wide range of topics and formats were welcomed. This allows us to share not only the articles we write, but also classwork or work we produce out in the field.<br />
-Towards the end, one audience member asked about our readership. The journal is in catalogs of digital resources in academic libraries around the world, and we get an international readership. The question was then raised about how we have a conversation with our global audience. Right now, we don't really have an answer, but it's something to think about as the journal continues to expand and adapt!<br />
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The next panel was Technology in LIS, which started with <a href="http://saucurriculumlib.wordpress.com/">Courtney Walters</a>' discussion of using social media as a new professional who's working on the fringes of the field, which has made her feel more informed and connected and exposed her to new ideas. One of the most important points she made was that social media can be a way to increase access to networking and current events. Conferences, professional memberships, etc. can be cost-prohibitive for unemployed/underemployed graduates, so using social media is a way to maintain professional involvement.<br />
<a href="http://www.ianmason.net/">Ian Mason</a> talked about a faculty survey he did at the Center for Teaching and Learning to assess technology use and satisfaction with CTL. Some of the most interesting things I found about his talk were some of the answers he got from participants: for example, the majority of faculty members answered 'I have no idea' in response to a question about how proficient they were with different technologies. Although some faculty members were using these technologies, it raised questions for me about how we measure our own proficiency and how we work with faculty to make them feel more comfortable and proficient. He also mentioned the possibility of showcasing faculty work to the whole school so that faculty members could see what was being done with technology in other departments.<br />
<a href="http://www.slis.uiowa.edu/%7Elrodwelch/">Leila Rod-Welch</a> spoke for a bit about her research on the use of social networking tools by ACRL member institutions. She studied over 300 institutions (Leila, by the way, is a really motivated researcher--she never ceases to amaze me!) after her own experience with reference led her to realize students' heavy reliance on web-based communication. Many institutions had some such offering in place, but she found that the most effective method was to make the library's social networking presence known on the home page so users could find it easily.<br />
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The next panel was on information literacy, and was set up as more of a discussion with q&a throughout than as a panel of three talks. Rachel was also on this panel and brought up the excellent point that rather than focusing on teaching people to use a technology 'correctly,' our focus should be on helping people understand what they want from it and then teach the skills needed to reach those goals. She does this when teaching computing classes at Lawrence Public Library: she goes around the room and asks everyone why they want to use a computer, and then can tailor the class to meet those needs. She has found this student-centered approach to be much more effective than forcing a structure on the class, and inspires me to look at this method in my future teaching.<br />
<a href="http://uiowa.academia.edu/kdevries">Katie DeVries Hassman</a> was also on the panel, and talked about her experiences teaching undergraduates. Part of her approach that I love is that she tries to help her students understand authors as people with certain viewpoints and backgrounds, rather than these invisible creators. I like that because it fosters a critical mindset as a part of information literacy, a point Rachel also made early on.<br />
<a href="http://knightguides.wartburg.edu/profile.php?uid=27582">Megan Conley</a> works with undergraduates in the sciences, and mentioned that one of her biggest challenges was how to reach student at their point of need when you are only visiting classes once a semester. Her desire to reach students has led her to believe that more informal instruction through reference is vital. <br />
A big take-away from all of these talks was that information literacy is something we don't often learn much about in LIS programs, but it's a part of an increasing number of job descriptions. Even when it's not, you can expect to find instruction in multiple literacies pop up in a lot of settings. All of them also stressed the role of reference: even those most basic IT or reference question can be conceptualized as related to information literacy because you can help patrons become more literate. Most importantly, it's vital to respect basic technology and reference questions because it builds trust and rapport with patrons, making them feel more comfortable about asking more complex questions later on.<br />
The panel sparked some really exciting questions and comments from the audience that I think are relevant both to myself as someone in academia and to people who are out in the field. <a href="http://uiowa.academia.edu/AndreBrock">Andre Brock</a> talked about his approach to teaching social media in his (awesome) class, Social Informatics, where students participate in a class blog on Wordpress. His approach is to make clear that the assignment of social media has a purpose in the class and is relevant to learning, and this lowers student resistance to blogging. <a href="http://slis.grad.uiowa.edu/research-profiles/katopol-patricia">Patricia Katopol</a> asked how we should alter the curriculum in SLIS to incorporate instruction. The answers centered around both the responsibility of the department to offer programming, but also the responsibility of the student to seek out opportunities. For example, SLIS could offer more TAships, but students interested in instruction should also be seeking out mentorship or volunteer opportunities to incorporate that into their experience.<br />
Another great question that was asked: what qualifies you to be a good teacher? There wasn't really one answer to this, although 'someone who's always learning' was tossed around, and it could probably be expanded upon (if you have ideas, I'd love to hear them!) Dee Crowner mentioned that those seeking instruction experience should look for opportunities at smaller libraries (LIS students, take note!) Students could come in and teach staff (or maybe patrons?) about a particular technology, which is especially helpful for small institutions where staff don't have the time/resources to learn new technologies on their own.<br />
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After a panel on job seeking (I was running around during this, but I'll get some notes and post them!), the focus shifted to the history of libraries and librarianship. <a href="http://book.grad.uiowa.edu/people/students/kalmia-strong">Kalmia Strong</a> gave a talk on the history of radical librarianship in the US, which had originally been a paper for her Cultural Foundations course. She talked about radical librarians in the 1930s who dealt with issues surrounding peace, segregation, and unions. In the '60s and 70s, a rich discourse about radical librarianship began and included a variety of publications. This tradition continues today, which Kalmia argued is important because it allows us to become aware of others' ideas and actions whether or not we agree. One of the overarching themes of her paper was the argument by radical librarians that our profession is innately radical, and that part of our work is to engage critically with the existing system. Another interesting point she made was that it can be hard to find a radical librarian in a radical workplace, because libraries (like most workplaces) do not always facilitate the overtly political or radical within the confines of the workday. Radical librarians see librarianship as a calling, not a job, and so take their ideals outside of the workplace to engage with their communities and work for social justice.<br />
It was a really fun talk, and I liked that she was able to show parallels between radical librarianship in practice and its role in academia and the construction of theory. Some of my favorite researchers were mentioned, such as Wayne Wiegand, who cites the importance of engaging with critical theory. My favorite quote was from Christine Pawley: "When we no longer think there is a problem, the hegemonic 'invisible' or premise control is complete." The biggest take-away here: that librarians who want to embody the profession's ideals can be 'radical' no matter what their political leanings.<br />
<a href="http://www.slis.uiowa.edu/%7Ekwilson/">Katherine Wilson</a> spoke about the library in the Vilna ghetto during World Wat II. She not only discussed the history of the library (which is fascinating and is part of a larger project studying a handful of libraries) but also cited the creation of the library as an act of resistance against forces in power because it provided a way to maintain Jewish heritage and a way to strengthen the ghetto community. Some of the most interesting things she learned had to do with what people read and how much they read. The circulation rates for this library were incredibly high, and the texts most often read were light fiction, mysteries, and romances. The librarian, Herman Kruk, speculated that these books provided an escape during a time when more and more community members were being killed and when everyone was living with the fear of deportation.<br />
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The last panel of the conference dealt with collection development. Brittney Thomas talked about mashups (i.e. Pride, Prejudice and Zombies) as a way to encourage reluctant readers, particularly boys. By bringing in and encouraging the reading of mashups, she says we are providing a way to abolish the banking method (when we view learning as the instructor depositing knowledge into the heads of quiet, willing learners) and move towards a place where kids are interested in and excited about reading and where everyone can be a teacher and a learner. Why? because we have stopped looking at the goal (which might be to get kids to a certain reading level) and started looking at the process (what's getting them to read.) The question then becomes, are they reading? If the answer is yes, then the collection is working.<br />
<a href="http://grad.uiowa.edu/annual-report/2009-2010/research/slis/christine-mastalio">Christine Mastalio</a> spoke about developing multilingual children's collections. What I loved about her talk was that she stressed the importance of these collections for all libraries, not just those in big cities. Citing immigration statistics and the fact that the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Project tries to move people to mid-size cities or towns, she made it clear that most libraries are going to have some multilingual/immigrant users who could benefit from such collections. One of the most important points she made was to be conscious of how the collection is presented to patrons: if the foreign language materials are shoved in a corner in the back and rarely added to or acknowledged, it implies that these are considered secondary. For immigrants who may already feel uncomfortable using the library because of language barriers, lack of familiarity with such institutions, or lack of familiarity with the community in general, having a less welcoming collection can make them feel even more hesitant about visiting. This potential discomfort was something that Christine addressed when talking about community demographics (and I think this can go beyond immigrants to a number of groups): if someone doesn't feel comfortable using the library, they won't, but that doesn't mean you should assume they don't want to or that they aren't a part of the community you serve.<br />
Megan Conley spoke again about doing collection development without having learned much about it while in school. One of her goals with the collection is to make it friendly and more searchable, and to be attuned to the needs of patrons (i.e. providing more digital materials.) She made a few points that really stuck out for me: first, that small schools like hers depend upon interlibrary loan to address requests in the long tail (i.e. those outside of a core popular group of texts), but with libraries having to make cuts those larger institutions may not be able to provide all of what she needs. She also discovered that many of the core texts used in the classes and the field were not available electronically, which made it hard for her to meet patron demands for digital copies. One of her last points was one that really stuck with me, and I think should inform us both as LIS educators and students: in LIS programs, we tend to focus a lot on early adopters and on new technologies, which makes it easy to overestimate the abilities of our patrons. By doing outreach and listening to patron needs, we're better able to meet them at where they are instead of where we think they should be. <br />
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The conference was wonderful beyond my wildest dreams thanks to our presenters and attendees. We had all the talks in the same room, which meant everyone saw the same sessions. This was nice not only because people got to gain exposure to a variety of topics, but also because the speakers would draw on what was said in previous sessions, which meant that a number of themes emerged that tied the day's events together. Collaboration and innovation were the big two, <br />
I was also excited to see how engaged the audience was--every q&a was filled with thought-provoking questions and breaks between sessions were marked by discussion about the field of LIS. The conference also drew a diverse audience--we had SLIS students and faculty, which I'd anticipated, but also a large number of librarians, information professionals, and others from around the state. If you attended I'd love to hear what stuck out for you!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-80763450878645833272011-03-15T12:34:00.000-07:002011-03-15T12:34:11.739-07:00Modernizing Markham wraps upLast night I created the last recipe for my <a href="http://modernizingmarkham.wordpress.com/">Modernizing Markham</a> project. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm excited to move onto the next stage. All I have to do now is make the calligraphed pamphlet-y book and upload the POD/e-book version to various sites. I'm still figuring out how best to approach that (with the caveat that I use free services only), so suggestions are welcome. Since I'm at the turning point with my nearly-finished project, I thought I'd take a second and share a few things I've learned from blogging outside my discipline.<br />
1. What works in one field won't work across the board. Obvious, yes, but definitely some words to live by. I am usually pretty good at attracting readers through social media and getting some interesting discussion going in the comments, but the dynamic was completely different with this project. More people found my blog through oddly specific web searches (despite a social media blitz, I never got much over 50 Twitter followers), and the comments mostly had a different feel about them. I'm not sure if this is true of all food blogs, but most people would just post 1-2 sentence comments with tips or with information on where to order a product. It's very useful, but it was harder to engage readers when responding to those posts. Which leads me to my next point...<br />
2. Engage your readers. I feel like I do an alright job on this blog (although if there's a feature/topic/something you'd like to see, I'd love to know!), but I feel like there was a lot of room for improvement with my other blog. Whether it was from my new-ness to the food/history blogging field, my topic, or something I overlooked, I felt like I could not generate the interest I hoped for. I asked for input from readers (very few people responded to questions in my posts) and tried to offer helpful resources, but I have been pondering on what else I could have done. Possibilities include focusing more on offering resources (those posts did get more interest than others), and expand my reach to spend more time also trying to tie it into book history (I did this some, but it would have been a fun way to draw in more history folk).<br />
3. Keep yourself motivated. After a while, I felt like no one was reading the blog and I had other things going on (moving, graduating, all that good stuff) and so I didn't devote the amount of time to it that I would have liked in the last few posts. I like these posts (and the recipes), but I felt less compelled to add lots of exciting resources and context to the posts. If I do a future short-term blogging project like MM, I might consider setting up a more strictly-enforced posting schedule for myself, keeping an eye out for other projects and resources I can share with readers, and try to network with other bloggers working with culinary history. <br />
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You can find more of my thoughts on interdisciplinary blogging <a href="http://juliaslibraryresearch.blogspot.com/2010/10/moving-between-genres-challenges-and.html">here</a>. Also, if you've had experience blogging in multiple contexts I'd love to hear what you learned!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-21270710238902900872011-03-04T05:50:00.000-08:002011-03-04T05:50:20.818-08:00Attempts at E-Book PublishingLater in the semester, I'll be putting my Center for the Book final project online as both a POD (print on demand) book and a e-book. Since I wasn't sure whether or not one platform would publish to all e-bookstores, I am testing it out with my conference paper from ALA Annual last year, and thought I would share the results with you.<br />
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<b>Lulu.com</b><br />
Lulu is the place where I will most likely be creating the POD version of my book, and so it would be easy to turn that into an e-book too. It looks like Lulu only sells in the iBookstore, which means you have to assign it an ISBN and you have to put a price on it. I want to sell my UICB book as I am planning on giving half the proceeds back to the department, but I want to just give my conference paper away. Since I uploaded a PDF rather an an ePub document, I don't have to mess with the iBookstore's minimum price (99 cents). <br />
Setting everything up is easy: I selected 'sell everywhere' which requires you to have an ISBN (Lulu gives you a free one on the next page). I think the ISBN lists Lulu as the retailer, which makes me wonder if it's usable on other e-book sites. For the record, mine is: <br />
<div class="UIBox" id="IsbnSectionContent">978-1-257-04552-5</div><div class="UIBox" id="IsbnSectionContent">In order to sell in the iBookstore, you have to have your document in ePub format (mine isn't). It looks like it's just a matter of converting the document to html, dropping some xml in there, and bundling it all up, but I'm a bit short on time this week to spend too much time messing with that. So, I put it up there as a PDF, which means it won't be in the iBookstore BUT </div><div class="UIBox" id="IsbnSectionContent">The rest of the process was easy: design a cover based on a few templates, add metadata, etc. BIG kudos to Lulu for including multiple licensing options: I heaved a sigh of frustration when seeing a field for copyright, but was relieved immediately to see that you got to choose from standard copyright, GNU, CC, public domain, or a custom license. More kudos are due for the option to let readers share your book (if you don't want to share the book, it adds 25 cents to the price readers pay for your book). </div><div class="UIBox" id="IsbnSectionContent">To get the PDF for free on Lulu, go to<a href="http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/pro-german-vs-patriot-selection-and-censorship-in-iowa-libraries-during-world-war-i/15059751"> this link</a>!</div><div class="UIBox" id="IsbnSectionContent"><br />
</div><div class="UIBox" id="IsbnSectionContent"><b>Amazon.com</b></div><div class="UIBox" id="IsbnSectionContent">I love my Kindle, and I definitely wanted to make my paper available to Kindle users. I already was impressed with the Kindle store after <a href="http://juliaslibraryresearch.blogspot.com/2010/12/kindle-for-lis-students.html">setting up my blogs for publication</a> (I later discovered that it isn't an option on all e-readers when I tried to set them up in the Nook store). For Kindle, you have to provide tax information, which I didn't have to do for Lulu. Amazon loses some kudos for not giving a range of licensing options: either you have copyright or it's in the public domain. Since I'm not sure the logistics behind this stuff (and I'd already tacked rights onto the other one) I selected to retain copyright, but it makes me feel a bit unhappy. They do get some serious kudos though for automatically converting files to the format they want them in. The conversion did not work *at all* with .doc or .pdf file extensions, but it worked reasonably well with a plain text (.txt) file, although there are still a few errors here and there. I was also pretty upset that it wouldn't let me publish for free (and in order to publish for 99 cents I had to opt to take hardly any royalties.) It definitely makes me less thrilled about the idea of publishing with them in the future, which is a shame because their e-reader is so nice. The paper is currently 'under review' but I'll post a link when it's available there. Another option for Kindle users? Go to Lulu and download the PDF for free. I'll try to get the document up on Gutenberg and a few other places too. </div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-58536974239546144172011-02-28T18:12:00.000-08:002011-02-28T18:12:13.038-08:00E-book readers' bill of rights<strong> </strong>This awesome post has been bouncing around the internet, where I saw it on <a href="http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/the-ebook-users-bill-of-rights/">Andy Woodworth's blog</a> and <a href="http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/2011/02/ebookrights.html">Sarah Houghton-Jan's blog</a>. For those who aren't aware, discussions about e-books have been taking place after Harper-Collins' announcement that they would be <a href="http://librarianbyday.net/2011/02/25/publishing-industry-forces-overdrive-and-other-library-ebook-vendors-to-take-a-giant-step-back/">limiting e-book circulation</a> at libraries to 26 uses. This causes tons of problems for access, and while I understand publishers need to make money to continue functioning, my main concern is for library patrons, readers (including students) and for authors.<br />
LIS students--this is a must-read and the topic is one we should all follow. If for no other reason, as a patron who wants to read e-books or even share a book with another student, you want to know that you can use those texts. I have seen a number of people say that e-books are not paper books, and that we need a new set of rules to deal with them. Maybe, but whether or not the suggestions they make are the be all and end all, they are an awesome start because they deal with access and with getting books to readers: the purpose for which they were written in the first place. Since digital books open up the potential for even greater access and sharing because they can be copied almost instantly and without the overhead and resources necessary to create print books. I'm keeping my eyes peeled to see what happens. <br />
I've included the text of the original post below: the authors have graciously made it a public domain work so that you can alter it to add your own insights about user rights you would like to see. <br />
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<strong>The eBook User’s Bill of Rights</strong><br />
<strong> </strong><br />
Every eBook user should have the following rights:<br />
<ul><li>the right to use eBooks under guidelines that favor access over proprietary limitations</li>
<li>the right to access eBooks on any technological platform, including the hardware and software the user chooses</li>
<li>the right to annotate, quote passages, print, and share eBook content within the spirit of fair use and copyright</li>
<li>the right of the first-sale doctrine extended to digital content, allowing the eBook owner the right to retain, archive, share, and re-sell purchased eBooks</li>
</ul>I believe in the free market of information and ideas.<br />
I believe that authors, writers, and publishers can flourish when their works are readily available on the widest range of media. I believe that authors, writers, and publishers can thrive when readers are given the maximum amount of freedom to access, annotate, and share with other readers, helping this content find new audiences and markets. I believe that eBook purchasers should enjoy the rights of the first-sale doctrine because eBooks are part of the greater cultural cornerstone of literacy, education, and information access.<br />
Digital Rights Management (DRM), like a tariff, acts as a mechanism to inhibit this free exchange of ideas, literature, and information. Likewise, the current licensing arrangements mean that readers never possess ultimate control over their own personal reading material. These are not acceptable conditions for eBooks.<br />
I am a reader. As a customer, I am entitled to be treated with respect and not as a potential criminal. As a consumer, I am entitled to make my own decisions about the eBooks that I buy or borrow.<br />
I am concerned about the future of access to literature and information in eBooks. I ask readers, authors, publishers, retailers, librarians, software developers, and device manufacturers to support these eBook users’ rights.<br />
These rights are yours. Now it is your turn to take a stand. To help spread the word, copy this entire post, add your own comments, remix it, and distribute it to others. Blog it, Tweet it (<a href="http://twitter.com/search/%23ebookrights">#ebookrights</a>), Facebook it, email it, and post it on a telephone pole.<br />
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" rel="license"><img alt="CC0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/zero/1.0/88x31.png" style="border-style: none;" /> </a> <br />
To the extent possible under law, the person who associated <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0">CC0</a> with this work has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/cc03.jpg"></a><br />
<strong></strong>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-74435145929575416462011-02-27T07:55:00.000-08:002011-03-01T15:34:33.221-08:00Open Access ResourcesI am doing a presentation in one of my classes (Search and Discovery with Cliff Missen) about OA vs proprietary journals. In order to keep all the sources I use in one spot that students can access later on, I've compiled them into this blog post. Another bonus? LIS students (and everyone else) can use this post as a way to learn more about Open Access too!<br />
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Here's the article I'm reviewing for the class: <br />
<a href="http://www.istl.org/05-spring/article2.html">The Importance of OA, OSS, & Open Standards for Libraries</a><br />
Basically, the author discusses the benefits of 'open' models (Open Access, Open Source Software, Open Standards) for libraries. I chose it because it covers the basics without being intimidating, and is a good way to nudge those who are scared of giant, wordy research papers toward an understanding of the topic. What I like about it is it's short and to the point (probably as long as most of my blog posts) and gives a great, easy-to-understand overview of how libraries can benefit from implementing OA and OSS into their day-to-day running. <br />
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<b>What is OA?</b><br />
Most of my readers probably know, but for my classmates who may not have spent much time with it I'll give a brief description. Open Access publishing refers to a model that prizes accessibility over profits. Traditional publishing models have a lot of overhead (printing, large staff, advertising, etc) that translates to large subscription costs that are beyond the reach of most individuals and even most libraries. A good anecdote from our instructor: He met some folks from an African library (I can't remember which country) who were excited to win a 2 year subscription to an academic journal database. They were so disappointed after 2 years to discover how expensive it was, because it meant they had to cancel that subscription and were not able to offer those resources to their patrons.<br />
Open Access journals do not charge readers and keep all content online, so it can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection (not everyone has Internet, of course, but it's a useful resource for those who do). Part of the reason this is possible is the lack of overhead associated with printing, and other options to reduce cost and generate revenue vary depending on the journal (<i>B Sides</i>, for example, is a part of the University of Iowa IR so we don't pay for server space or tech support. We also don't pay our editors, so we don't have to generate revenue for salaries. For some other journals, revenue for server space, etc. is generated by charging fees to authors to submit. I personally think this should be avoided at all costs, but there aren't many other options open if you operate outside a large research university). For another discussion of OA, check out <a href="http://www.earlham.edu/%7Epeters/fos/overview.htm">Peter Suber's page</a>. <br />
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<b>My Experiences with OA</b><br />
You all know about my editorial experience, but I'm not sure I've talked much about my experience as an author. I have published <a href="http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/7/">one article</a> in <i>B Sides</i>, and I have an essay in press at <i>Library Student Journal</i>. LSJ has a *much* larger editorial staff than <i>B Sides</i>, but the process is much the same: submit an article, it's read by reviewers, returned for revisions, and if the revisions are up to snuff it's published. What I love about publishing with OA journals is that I get a *much* wider readership than I imagine I've gotten in my other publications. I get monthly statistics emailed to me about my <i>B Sides</i> article, and it's had almost 200 readers in less than a year. For a journal that's just gotten off the ground and an article that probably 15 people would have read in a print journal, that's pretty impressive. OA journal staff, being a part of a movement to change publishing, also tend to have their fingers in other projects and are open to new ideas.<b><i> </i></b><i>B Sides</i> is throwing a conference on March 25th to teach students about presenting/attendance and to facilitate networking. LSJ tries to provide new resources to students whenever possible (including their recently launched <a href="http://www.librarystudentjournal.org/blog/">blog</a>). <br />
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<b>Ways for Students to Learn More</b><br />
Students can get involved in Open Access publishing through already-existing journals (including my perennial favorites, <a href="http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/">B Sides</a> and <a href="http://www.librarystudentjournal.org/">Library Student Journal</a>). If your department or school has a student journal, that might be another option. For students who want to publish outside LIS, check out the <a href="http://www.doaj.org/">DOAJ</a> (Directory of Open Access Journals) to see what's out there. All journals provide opportunities to publish, although some also have openings for other ways to get involved by peer reviewing or serving on the editorial staff. It's a great way to learn more about OA and it looks good on your resume!<br />
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<b>List of Suggested Readings</b><br />
I'm going to be compiling this over the next few days, so if you have ideas, please feel free to share in the comments!<b> </b><br />
<a href="http://maryandmacdesign.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/100-extensive-university-libraries-from-around-the-world-that-anyone-can-access/?utm_source=twitterfeed">100 Extensive University Libraries Anyone can Access</a><br />
Gives some great resources for those without all the databases of a large research institution (or for those looking for resources not in those databases).<br />
<a href="http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/">Open</a>...<br />
Blog dealing with Open Source and Open Standards.<br />
<a href="http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=1193">Thomas Jefferson and OA</a><br />
Thomas Jefferson did not know anything about OA, but this awesome quote by him has been circulated by enthusiasts.<br />
<a href="http://www.redhat.com/magazine/021jul06/features/ben_franklin/">The first Open Source American</a><br />
Interesting article on how Ben Franklin's approach to the creative process mirrors the Open Source movement.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-63738853688715071142011-02-17T17:23:00.000-08:002011-02-17T17:23:00.165-08:00The Engaged LibraryTonight in class, our discussion was on search (hardly surprising in a class on Search & Discovery), but the last few minutes of the class really got me thinking about the ways libraries engage users by learning about them. We all know that companies use cookies and other tracking technology to learn more about our browsing/shopping/searching habits. Some of them are quite good at it, and some miss the boat entirely by focusing one message only by targeting the location of the IP address but not targeting their message ("Iowa City mom finds $5 trick to whiten teeth" folks, I'm talking to you). I tend to find a lot of advertising annoying at best and intrusive at worst, but obviously it's effective or people wouldn't be taking the time to design ads and pay to drop them all over the web. Our instructor, Cliff Missen (of <a href="http://www.widernet.org/">Widernet Project</a> fame) summed it up perfectly: "Advertisers, Google, etc. know users so well, but we don't see that going on in libraries."<br />
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The question it raises for me is, why? Obviously libraries are generally going to be more wary of invading privacy through tracking, and too many 'suggested readings' could easily overwhelm the user and diminish their experience (and their view of the library), but knowing about users can be a good thing too. Cliff mentioned the example of a biology library that used software to track search terms being used in the library, and what time of day those searches were occurring. The ID of the users was anonymized so that individuals weren't being tracked, but general trends in search habits were. I didn't catch if this was a real or hypothetical example (that's what I get for sitting in the back of the room today), but the potential benefits of the results seemed obvious. Librarians would be able to tell what was most in demand, and what was being searched for that might bring better results by employing a different approach (Boolean searching, standardized language, etc). <br />
Other examples were bounced around: what about a YA/children's librarian who wanted to find a new way to engage younger patrons in reading books? If the patron searches for a certain book, and similar results are returned in another part of the page. If the library has a strong social networking presence, the same user might receive book suggestions on their Facebook account or as mentions on Twitter. The same could be done for adult users. Issues surrounding privacy and the role of the library abound, and I'd be interesting to hear ideas in the comments!<br />
My thought is that a lot of the potentially problematic discussions surrounding the invasion of privacy by the library (especially for minors) might be at least partially alleviated by using an 'opt in' rather than 'opt out.' People who find suggestions helpful or who want to feel connected with their library in that way have a means to do so, but users who are happy with their library experience the way it is would not feel pressure to sign up. Libraries are institutions people feel like they can trust to protect their privacy (or at least I think of them that way), so a huge challenge wuold be to balance protecting and respecting patrons' privacy with offering this experience to interested users. <br />
Another student's suggestion made me think of other shortcomings. When Cliff mentioned a library technology that would provide lists of suggested materials based on a user's search habits, she asked if we risked narrowing user's information seeking habits by only providing materials like those that had been asked for previously. She also made an *awesome* point that this technology would run the risk of excluding results that would be most important to the user. Her excellent example was a user who searched on the term 'Latino.' Because the catalog had been structured using the word 'Hispanic' it returned a result asking "did you mean Hispanic?" For some materials, this difference may be minimal, but both terms have vastly different political and social meanings. The use of one over the other will return different materials, and if the system forces the user to choose the term they do not want, we run the risk of that user not finding information and of making any 'suggested readings' less relevant. Huge thanks is due to my classmates (and instructor) for this discussion within the classroom. Some very valuable points were made, even though I feel like a lot of us are still stumbling through understanding the workings of these technologies. <br />
Librarians, information professionals, LIS students, and patrons--what are your thoughts? Does targeted interaction from the library amount to nothing more than advertising and an invasion of privacy? Or is there something to this that is worth exploring? If there is, what are some good ways we can begin having those discussions and developing tools to better serve our patrons? Cliff suggested one approach might be to develop a technology (such as the anonymized search tracking software) that can then be adopted by institutions without the budget or staff to develop these resources on their own. Other ideas?Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-80959488552390413972011-02-15T17:31:00.001-08:002011-02-15T17:31:12.937-08:00The Librarian as PoetI'm working on creating some pretty exciting appendices for my book manuscript at the moment, and the joy of this is getting to review the documents I based my research on so that I can share some of them with readers. In the process, I found this snippet from Grace D. Rose, librarian of Davenport Public Library:<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><i>Opening upon a world at war and our country devoting every effort to a vigorous prosecution of her part in the conflict, and closing with the guns at rest and a hopeful looking forward to permanent peace, 1918 was a most eventful year. (Source: Davenport PL 1918 Annual Report, pg 7).</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p>What a way to open the Report of the Librarian! Some of you might remember my post on <a href="http://juliaslibraryresearch.blogspot.com/2010/11/library-of-futureyesterday.html">Helen McRaith of Iowa City, </a>and her beautiful, flowery language when discussing the role of the library in modern life. I love that this sort of beautiful language was being employed in something as seemingly mundane as an annual report--Rose's writing sounds almost like the opening of a tense piece of homefront fiction. I haven't spent as much time with more recent annual reports, but it definitely makes me wonder if we're using equally compelling language to tell our libraries' stories today. </o:p></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-86624083513448076722011-02-09T13:42:00.000-08:002011-02-09T13:42:28.788-08:00Diversity in LIS EducationA couple things have happened lately that have caused me to spend some serious time contemplating diversity issues in LIS. The first was a post made on a professional listserv I follow. One individual shared a letter she had written to Iowa legislators about a number of issues, including library funding. She mentioned that the letter included other issues, but that she shared it on the list for those who were struggling to find words when talking to elected officials about libraries. For those of you who aren't from Iowa, you may or may not know that a lot of people here are very divided at the moment over the issue of gay marriage, and the fact that this woman's letter included mention of her support for gay marriage was upsetting to some other list members. <br />
One member's response was basically, "if she wants to go against what THE BIBLE says, that's her right, but keep libraries out of it." I tend to stay away from angry listserv discussions (people get riled up about everything from tuna fish to book boards on the lists I follow, and most of the time I just sigh and delete the thread), but this instance was one where I felt compelled to respond and say that the list included non-Christian individuals, and that not only did that response make them uncomfortable, it took time and attention away from the library issues the list was created to discuss. I did not mention my stance on gay marriage in the hopes that I could diffuse things rather than add my own anger to the discussion (but, for the record, I'm an ardent supporter!) I also wanted to avoid belittling the author's views, because she has most likely formed them with as much care as I have formed my own. <br />
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This angry response, and a number of others on both sides, gave me a chance to reflect on what was happening. Are these discussions we should be having on professional listservs? I think the answer can be yes, but the trick is how we approach it. As librarians and info pros, we are in charge of providing information to people and (I hope) focusing more heavily on what their needs are than what about them we don't like. I suspect most of us do this very well, and so the list might be a place we can talk about how to provide services to diverse groups or, maybe, even to discuss our own views or how we react when confronted with a patron we find challenging. My request is that we refrain from the anger and divisiveness I saw in some of those responses and focus instead on the issues and on discussion rather than on tearing each other down. About a week later, Micah Vandegrift published this <a href="http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/diversity/">awesome diversity post</a> on the Hack Library School blog, and it made me think that maybe now would be a good time to share some of the thoughts I've had on diversity since I've been in LIS.<br />
Anyone who's in LIS (probably) knows that our field is *white.* It's mostly white, middle class women to be exact. There are some men in my program, but only a handful, and the same can be said for racial diversity. Like Micah, I've done my share of studying hegemony and could write papers on the way our society is structured to create and reinforce privilege. As someone who'll be devoting quite a bit of my life to the academy, this is interesting to think about, because academia, in many ways, is an institution accessible to those with some degree of money and privilege. Sometimes, I feel like participating in the academy is another way I'm participating in an institution that supports hegemony. It can be frustrating, and it makes me feel like I've gotten progressively more stumbly and awkward discussing diversity because there's so little opportunity for those discussions.<br />
I'm grateful that we have awesome faculty, and that I've found a couple students here and there who I can sit down with and grapple with these issues. That being said, I also feel like not everyone feels especially comfortable having discussions about privilege and the ways in which institutions support privilege, because it forces them to confront the fact that being a white, middle class woman comes with a pretty hefty dose of privilege (want some good examples? See Peggy McIntosh's <a href="http://ted.coe.wayne.edu/ele3600/mcintosh.html">awesome article</a>). In Social Informatics, I remember students getting visibly uncomfortable during discussions of difference and privilege, and this made me feel uncomfortable too! The important thing to remember is that these discussions are *really* uncomfortable, but <i>that's not a bad thing</i>. We have to confront our discomfort at being told that things that we take for granted (like the color of bandages!) are privileges not shared by everyone. I think this would be a huge help for LIS students both as providers of services (how does our social structure shape those services, how well people can access them, etc.?) and as members of a field where diversity is something we hope to promote! I think we also need to broaden our concept of diversity to include not only racial diversity, but also sexual orientation, disability, gender (more men!), and any other myriad ways in which we are all unique. LIS students (and faculty, new professionals, and anyone else): what are ways we can engage in constructive and respectful discussion with the end goal of educating and fostering understanding? <br />
So how do we promote diversity in our field? This is a question I don't really have an answer to (and if you have ideas, I would love to hear them!) One thing I think we should avoid is measuring our success in building a diverse field through numbers alone. Saying, 'wow, the percentage of black librarians has gone up from 2% to 5%!' (I have no ideas how accurate those numbers are) is a great jumping off point for saying our field has gotten more diverse, but if we just look at the numbers we risk narrowing our vision of the field by focusing on how we appear on paper than on why we want to be diverse in the first place! It also risks turning a group of people into nothing but numbers rather than the complex creatures all people are, which isn't fair to the professionals we're talking about or to the people discussing the numbers. I propose that one way to help make LIS more diverse is to include everyone in the discussion: what makes this field attractive? Are there ways that we can promote access to education for underprivileged groups? Most importantly, what does diversity mean to LIS? By this I'm thinking how much we gain from increasing diversity: by bringing in a variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences, we can better understand the people we work with and the world we live in. Thoughts? Ideas?Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-34641946105726457502011-02-01T17:40:00.000-08:002011-02-01T17:40:24.529-08:00Analytics and YouStephen Abram just put <a href="http://stephenslighthouse.com/2011/02/01/social-analytics/">this post</a> on his awesome Lighthouse blog, and I wanted to pass it along to my readers. I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again: if you aren't following his blog, you should be. And follow him on Twitter too (@sabram)--there really are few people out there who post so frequently on so many timely topics that impact wide portions of the LIS field. I *love* tracking my stats, and <a href="http://analytics.topsy.com/">Topsy </a>seems like another great tool to add to the arsenal. I just checked my Twitter mentions, and it allowed me to see what days were most active over the last two weeks (which, if checked regularly, can help me see what posts are having the greatest impact and are being shared the most).<br />
Why should you care about keeping track of your stats? As an LIS student or new professional, it's a good way to know what social media actions are drawing attention and thus to be able to use social media tools more effectively. It also helps you manage your online presence (for a really great post about 'listening' in social media, see <a href="http://deirdrereid.com/2010/10/12/social-media-brand-reputation-monitoring/">Dierdre Reid's blog</a>!)<br />
Thanks largely to Dierdre's post, I started keeping tighter track of my online presence through Google Alerts: if you have a Google account, I recommend setting them up. I set up alerts for my Twitter accounts, B Sides journal, both my blogs, and my name. I get an email for each one around noon each day, and while many of the links are false positives, there have been quite a few links that ended up being accurate and led me to mentions of myself and my work that I otherwise wouldn't have known about! I also check my blog stats daily, and I check my Twitter mentions and retweets multiple times a day by making columns for them in my <a href="http://hootsuite.com/">Hootsuite</a> account. I'll be adding Topsy to this list!<br />
Fellow LIS students, what are you using to track your stats? And what impact has it had on your online presence and your use of social media tools?Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-38801388343236580332011-01-26T06:38:00.000-08:002011-01-26T06:38:43.418-08:00Check out the #HackLibSchool Blog!For LIS students and new professionals, I have glorious news! You might remember me talking about Hack Library School in various posts. Basically it started out as a shared space for everyone to talk about their experiences in LIS programs and give advice to others. Now, it has evolved even further into a collaborative blog! I'm excited that Micah Vandegrift (who came up with the project and has worked really hard to make it awesome) asked if I wanted to be a part of the next stage. The answer, of course, was yes! So, I'll be blogging here, and I'll be blogging at the <a href="http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/">HLS site</a> too! We have some great ideas for topics to discuss and for series of posts (check out Micah's <a href="http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/series-tmi-two-minute-insights/">Two Minute Insights</a>). I'm very excited about <a href="http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/the-road-to-ala-11-our-experiences-thus-far/">today's post</a>, where each of us talked a little about our experiences in different conference settings. It's a great read, especially for students getting ready to go to conferences! Is there a topic you want us to cover? Questions you have? Post them here or on the HLS blog!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-83324676919270224662011-01-23T10:16:00.000-08:002011-01-23T10:16:19.506-08:00The Next Phase of Library History ResearchFor those who read my blog posts a few months ago, you might remember <a href="http://juliaslibraryresearch.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-world-war-i-research-is-finished.html">this post</a> where I celebrated the completion of my manuscript on Iowa libraries during World War I. Recently, I heard from a publisher I sent a proposal and sample chapter to, and they made some great suggestions for improvements that they wanted to see before the manuscript was sent through peer review. I wanted to share some thoughts here, but more importantly I wanted to solicit some input from folks who have read my research (or listened to me talk about it). I want my manuscript to be as awesome as possible, and I bet there are some great suggestions out there!<br />
The first idea the publisher had was to situate the research in a broader context of WWI regionally and nationally. I do this a bit, but I agree that adding more context would help the material be informative to a wider audience, and would help them relate to it more easily. He suggested I start out by looking at Christopher Capozzola, and I'm going to revisit Wayne Wiegand's bibliography as well (any other suggestions are welcome!)<br />
The second suggestion centered around appendices, and this is where I would love to have some input from the folks who are even vaguely familiar with the research I've done. My work centered around primary documents from the libraries, and it was suggested that an appendix of select documents would help to guide students' understanding and to show a progression of events at the institutions. I definitely have some favorites I want to include, but I want to know what documents readers want to see or know more about!<br />
Lastly, I asked around about other ways to make useful appendices and here are the types of appendices I've been told would be most useful: a timeline, a map/maps, definitions, and suggestions for further reading. I would love to hear of anything else that you think would be helpful for readers!<br />
Thanks in advance--I'm looking forward to seeing where this project takes me!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-88201301817911704252011-01-17T07:01:00.000-08:002011-01-17T07:01:23.117-08:00Thank you, Dr. MunsterbergBeing a student of history is a lot of fun because you get to "meet" many interesting characters. Not only do you get to learn a lot about these folks, but sometimes I've found that I relate to them and this helps me better understand what it was like to live in the time period(s) I'm looking at. Relating to a historical figure also helps me look at current events differently by placing what happens now in the context of what happened then (and how that individual and the folks around them reacted).<br />
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One of the first times I experienced this was when I worked at the <a href="http://www.iowahistory.org/">State Historical Society of Iowa</a> in Special Collections. It was through there that I met the <a href="http://infohawk.uiowa.edu/F/TSL1LBPHKBSGT7C9NLE9UMQD762QVGQDSTEA852USST7Q38R8G-12197?func=full-set-set&set_number=000258&set_entry=000029&format=999">Mather family</a> via their papers. For those interested in pioneer or Quaker history in the Midwest, I would definitely give this collection a look (another good one on Quakers and Abolition is the Lewis Savage collection). Ellen Mather was the matriarch of the family, who moved to Iowa from Illinois to marry her husband Samuel (he and his siblings moved here by covered wagon, and his sister left an immaculately detailed diary of their journey day by day.) The reason I felt so attracted to her story was that she strongly believed in education for her daughters and in educating her community (for example, she brought professors from the University of Iowa to give talks in her home for her and her neighbors). She was also an active participant in Chautauqua (sort of an adult continuing education movement that swept the nation in the late 19th/early 20th century.) I can see her being someone who would get really excited (like I do!) about the potentials of the Internet for sharing and for education, and I can see her taking an avid interest in the way it's impacting education (she was a teacher in a one room schoolhouse for a while, apparently as a teenager she was the only teacher who could keep the whole class in line). Because of her passion for learning, all her daughters grew up to be successful, intelligent, and well-educated. Love it!<br />
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Another person we all know and love is <a href="http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/dana_lib/danabio.shtml">John Cotton Dana</a>. Most readers of this blog will be aware of his wide-ranging achievements in improving public library services, making materials more available through browsing, and reaching out to immigrant populations. Another reason to love JCD? He took a stand against censorship at a time when that wasn't entirely popular or common. If you read Wayne Wiegand's <i>An Active Instrument for Propaganda</i> (pgs 96-99) there's a great couple of pages in there describing a pro-war group during World War I that found some of the books in the Newark library (where Dana was Director) to be 'seditious.' Most libraries removed materials to support the war effort (this was before the Library Bill of Rights), but Dana did not. His response instead? "I came to the conclusion (which I still hold) many years ago, that liberty of thought is a very desirable thing for the world and that liberty of thought can only be maintained by those who have free access to opinion." (Wiegand, 96). The group that challenged the books, called the Vigilantes, was in a tizzy and called national media attention to the case, but Dana refused to back down (even though he didn't see much support from the library community) and did not remove the books. I was so excited to learn about this part of his past, and it made me respect JCD all the more (he's another one who I think would be thrilled by the possibilities for sharing and education that digital technologies provide us).<br />
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And at last we have <a href="http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/hugomunsterberg.html">Hugo Munsterberg</a>. Most people today probably have never heard of him, but during his life Munsterberg was a well-respected psychologist and professor. He was passionate about his work, and passionate about fostering a positive relationship between the country of his birth (Germany) and his adopted country (the US). While there are a few things we probably wouldn't agree on (he didn't think women could handle the demands of graduate work, for example), I have a lot of respect for his desire to foster understanding during a time when tensions were running high. Munsterberg published a couple short books on American-German relations during neutrality (after the war started in Europe but before the U.S. entered), and these would be withdrawn from libraries for being 'pro-German' after the we entered the war. This is ironic as Munsterberg wrote an essay praising American libraries and their forward-thinking ways only a decade or two earlier. His story is a sad one, largely because of a rising tide of anti-German sentiment that was felt even before the U.S. declared war. He lost his job at Harvard, was thrown out of social clubs, and ostracized by friends and his community because he supported Germany. Munsterberg's views in this regard are interesting because he did not support either country in the war (i.e. he didn't want one side to 'win') but instead he wanted both sides to stop fighting and set aside their differences. His writing was removed from some of the libraries I looked at, so I got curious and looked up his books (you can download them to your Kindle from Open Library, if anyone's interested). I was impressed by the tone: his writing is sad about current events, but optimistic for the future, and as time goes on he seems almost to be pleading for peace and understanding. He died in 1916 at the lectern while giving a talk at Radcliffe. I think the reason I feel so drawn to Munsterberg's story is because he believed so strongly in peace and understanding, and still loved both his countries even when he was being shut out of social and professional circles. I always admire people who hold to their beliefs even when it would be easier to just go with the status quo, and part of me wonders if Munsterberg's death was due in part to the stress of fighting for peace when the rest of the country was preparing to go to war. Reading his story helped me to remember that, as historians, we have a duty to share a variety of stories to remind modern readers that past times were as complex and diverse as the modern day.<br />
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I would love to hear what historical characters other folks have encountered during research and how they have shaped your understanding. There were so many others that I've learned about but didn't include here (like the librarians at the Iowa libraries I studied) and I am looking forward to meeting more!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-73724379214819237882011-01-03T17:48:00.000-08:002011-01-04T14:08:56.659-08:00Some Great Sites for Book ArtistsReaders, this has been a wonderful week or so for serendipity in my life. I have stumbled upon a lot of great resources (some recent, some that I've rediscovered while transferring my Delicio.us tags to Google) that made me realize my blog posts have been a bit neglectful of the book arts side of my work (and of my book arts friends around the world!) In an attempt to remedy this, let me share with you some of what I've been getting excited about in book arts land recently:<br />
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<b>Graphic novels:</b> I love them (who doesn't?) and there are some exciting folks both who are creating art and exploiting digital content (there's a whole section of them in the Kindle bookstore, for example, including <a href="http://www.amazon.com/V-for-Vendetta-ebook/dp/B000FCKS0U/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1294105431&sr=1-4">V for Vendetta</a>, one of my all time favorites. Fair warning: if you search graphic novels in the Kindle store some adults-only Manga comes up). I've been thinking about jumping into the graphic novel world after feeling inspired making conference <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookishjulia/5216503236/in/set-72157625363673933/">zines</a>, but haven't made definitive plans yet. I was excited though when a friend directed me to <a href="http://www.dantelividini.com/">this site</a> because she thought I would like the art. The art (and the name) are reminiscent of a *hugely* inspiring high school teacher I had (small world, eh?), and if you click on the goodies under 'graphic novel concepts' you will find some really fun concepts that make my artist self dance with excitement. I'm excited to see where these go in the future, especially as developers create both <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/01/06/graphicly/">content and programs</a> tailored to reading on digital platforms. <br />
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<b>Book Artists: </b>Some folks I'm excited about right now: I got to meet <a href="http://alycia.brokenja.ws/">Alycia</a> at Library History Seminar XII this year, but the reason I am directing book arts friends in her direction is because she makes an *awesome* zine (about her experiences as an NYC library worker!) and blogs about issues relevant to book lovers and creators. Other people to keep an eye on: the <a href="http://book.grad.uiowa.edu/">Center for the Book</a> (we just added a new MA program, plus the website has gotten a major facelift making it all the more pleasurable to browse), and the <a href="http://www.mbs.org/">Miniature Book Society</a> (the tiny books I wish I could make!).<br />
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<b>Digital content: </b>I've mentioned before how excited digital forms make me because of their potential for artists (see my post on <a href="http://juliaslibraryresearch.blogspot.com/2010/10/circular-texts-both-digital-and.html">circular texts</a> for more), and one artist I've run across who's really embracing the medium can be found at <a href="http://ocotilloarts.com/">Ocotillo Arts</a>. This site inspires me because the artist creates tangible versions of the works before posting images of his work online (which he allows you to copy, although not for commercial purposes--a way of approaching licensing that is very similar to my own!) I also am curious to know if any of my book arts friends are using <a href="http://prezi.com/">Prezi</a> as a platform for creating art--I think there's a lot of potential there, but I haven't had a flash of inspiration yet on how to harness it. <br />
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Ok, and I need to put this in here too: <shameless promotion="" self=""> I know you have probably read my <a href="http://modernizingmarkham.wordpress.com/">Modernizing Markham</a> project blog, and I wouldn't think to include it in this list except that some exciting changes are taking place--I'm almost done with the recipe recreation portion of the project, and am moving toward fleshing out the 17th century cookery/book history portion before moving on to calligraphy and binding. So for those looking to learn more about the context surrounding Markham, get excited, because more historical posts are coming your way! </shameless><br />
Artist/historian friends: what sites are you recommending right now? I have many more great sites for calligraphy, etc that I want to post, but I'll save them to keep this post from reaching epic proportions. I want to start compiling some great lists both for library research and for book arts (and research), so definitely feel free to post any suggestions in the comments!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-35141559728718624742010-12-31T06:11:00.000-08:002010-12-31T06:11:09.125-08:00Keeping the Creativity AliveI've mentioned before how much I love LIS as a field where folks are creative, active, and engaged with others. I have been so fortunate to connect with people around the country (and some around the world) who challenge and inspire me! One of the first things I tell prospective or new LIS students is what a great potential there is for trying out new ideas in a non-judgmental environment, and most importantly, having a lot of fun while thinking up new ways to look at the field or to make it better. Looking for inspiration? I've compiled a short list of folks who have been very inspirational to me and who have challenged me to try new things.<br />
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<b>Andy Woodworth</b><br />
Andy is so fun and energetic, and constantly bringing new ideas and valuable insights to the table on his blog and on Twitter. I love that he goes beyond serious (and tedious) discussions of the field to inject some fun into what we do (see <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/group.php?gid=88574048291">People for a library-themed Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Flavor</a>) but always with the goal of promoting libraries' visibility and advocating for their importance. His career ties in very well with my idea of the librarian as someone who is not only creative and passionate, but takes a multi-pronged approach to talking about their work and networking with others. Some good places to learn more about Andy are his blog (see <a href="http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/you-told-us-nothing/">this post</a> for a great discussion on the importance of advocacy and the value of creative thinking), Twitter (@wawoodworth; also be sure to check out #andypoll, a periodic poll of librarians nationwide on a variety of issues--it's a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of our field and learn from a wide range of insights), and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Andy-Woodworth/168359183198981?v=info">Facebook</a>.<br />
<b>Courtney Walters</b><br />
Courtney is an alumnus of my program, and I feel like she embodies all the wonderful things going on in our field. After getting her MLS, Courtney got a job at Saint Ambrose University (Davenport, IA) at the curriculum library. Why I think following her is a great idea (besides the fact that she's awesome) is that she went into a library with very little visibility and brought it into the 21st century by creating a <a href="http://saucurriculumlib.wordpress.com/">blog</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/SAU-Teacher-Education-Program/411435820328?v=info">Facebook page</a>. She has taken the blog past discussing new acquisitions, changes in hours, etc (although those topics aren't neglected) to also discuss new technologies and resources that are valuable for her patrons. More and more library blogs are leaning in this direction, but I think we can all learn a lot from Courtney by looking at her dedication to her patrons and her continued search to bring them the best information she can! Follow her on Twitter: @cleighwalters.<br />
<b>Micah Vandegrift</b><br />
I owe Twitter a huge debt of gratitude for introducing me to Micah this past year. He is a tireless advocate for students, offers wildly intelligent discussion of LIS, and is generally an inspirational person all around. Micah is responsible for #hacklibschool (see the blog post <a href="http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2010/hacklibschool/">here</a>) a project to crowdsource a discussion about LIS education that has been a huge success. I for one would love to see #hacklibschool continue far into the future, and serve as the foundation for other crowdsourced discussions (i.e. in special interest areas or for certain learning groups), and a large reason behind why I love it so much is how a democratic and open forum seems to bring out the best in students and new professionals. I have seen so many great comments and suggestions on how to get the most out of LIS education, and even when people disagree, it sparks a constructive discussion rather than negative in-fighting. I am so lucky I know and work with someone who inspires his peers in this way, and I know a lot of other students feel the same way! Micah also uses his blog, <a href="http://micahvandegrift.wordpress.com/">The Infornado</a>, as a place to discuss current trends in the field, especially those things that impact students. The posts on 'What I learned in library school' are definitely worth a read: Micah recruited a number of guest bloggers to share their thoughts on their educational process, and the results are so helpful to students feeling lost or like they want to read multiple perspectives. Micah is also on Twitter (and you must follow him): @micahvandegrift.<br />
<b>Lauren Dodd</b><br />
I love Lauren's fun and bubbly personality, and I love that she brings her awesome optimistic mindset to discussions of important topics in librarianship. Lauren's blog (<a href="http://laurendodd.com/">Lauren in Libraryland</a>) is fun to read, and like Micah she uses it as a space to share ideas and resources for LIS students. Lauren is another person I owe Twitter for connecting with, and she and Micah are two of the most inspirational student bloggers I know! Lauren uses her creativity to take her discussion of LIS education beyond resources (which are useful, and which she does share) to incorporate her own experiences in volunteering, conference attendance, etc. which make for a blog (and blog author) that connects with the reader very effectively! Follow Lauren on Twitter @laurendodd<br />
<b>My B Sides Ladies</b><br />
How can I forget some of the folks who have been pivotal in my own development as a LIS student and an academic? I've talked all of your ears off about B Sides, but I think it's worth mentioning from a creativity standpoint because the two founders, Rachel Smalter Hall and Angela Murillo, built it from the ground up as a space for students to learn and share. I would love to see more journals like B Sides pop up in other departments, because it has been such a positive experience for us as editors and for students as contributors, and it really allows us to grow and learn in surprising ways! I have learned so much from our current crew (Katie DeVries Hassman, Melody Dworak, Sam Bouwers) as well, who always have new ideas for getting students involved and excited (B Sides conference!) and are passionate about making the journal (and the SLIS experience) even better! Their blogs and Twitter names: Rachel- <a href="http://bananasuitlibrarian.com/">Banana Suit Librarian</a>, @bananasuit. Katie: <a href="http://looklady.wordpress.com/">Look Lady</a>, @hypatlikeya. Melody Dworak: <a href="http://melodydworak.com/">The Melody Party</a>, @funkmelodious. Angela Murillo: <a href="http://amurillo.web.unc.edu/">Homepage</a>, @angelitamu. Sam Bouwers is on Facebook, and you can also get ahold of her through our B Sides email (bsides@uiowa.edu) and Twitter! @uofiowabsides.<br />
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There are thousands more LIS folks out there who are making valuable contributions to the field, many of which I didn't include because I didn't want to make this post too long or I don't know about them yet! If there's someone who's inspired you, tell me about them in the comments! I would love to create a space where we can share ideas and inspiration, and applaud those who are making our field the wonderful thing that it is!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-55551737314214004392010-12-19T02:37:00.000-08:002010-12-19T02:37:24.776-08:00The Kindle for LIS StudentsA few months ago, I decided it was time to buy a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wireless-Reader-3G-Wifi-Graphite/dp/B002FQJT3Q/ref=amb_link_354877502_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0ZRYKX5D0QE943FAV3Z8&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1284435502&pf_rd_i=507846">3G Kindle </a>after hearing a few classmates rave about how useful it was for reading-heavy courses (and also because I wanted to load it up with fun books too!) I've been really impressed with it thus far, and have found it to be a big help for storing and accessing professional reading material. A number of folks have expressed frustration over Kindle's lack of page numbers, but I like <a href="http://robwebster.net/2010/12/18/a-non-reader-reviews-the-amazon-kindle-3">this author's review</a> because it acknowledges that these are shortcomings of e-readers in general. I'm a little bummed that I can't easily use my Kindle to store articles for my research that I need to cite page numbers for (that would make me very happy), but I can still use it to read the articles and reference the 'location' later to get a general sense for where in the article the information is (it's a little extra work, but a lot easier than hauling a ton of papers and books with me everywhere I go). The good news is that the lack of page numbers is <a href="http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/how-do-you-cite-an-e-books-page-number/">causing discussion</a> amongst academics, so hopefully new versions of style manuals will address this. <br />
The Kindle, apart from being lightweight and user-friendly, has a few features that I think are especially useful to LIS students. In the 'experimental' settings users can find a browser, and with free 3G coverage for the latest generation, I can access what I need even when I'm outside of the range of wifi. I definitely recommend using <a href="http://kinstant.com/">Kinstant</a> (a Kindle-friendly start page with links to social media, email, and news, with the option to add your own favorites). Even though it isn't going to provide the same surfing experience you get with a color screen (the screen does take a little longer to load, and is black and white), the browser on the Kindle is actually quite good, especially if you're only using it for short spurts.<br />
Other features students might like: you can upload material from a variety of sources, not only from Amazon. Mine is filled with PDFs of <a href="http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides"><i>B Sides</i></a> articles and with some of my favorite class readings. You can also download items from <a href="http://openlibrary.org/">Open Library.</a> I referenced <a href="http://openlibrary.org/works/OL36010W/The_peace_and_America">this book</a> in my latest research, and was excited to see it included in Open Library for my use! You have the option of either reading online or downloading a PDF, and for Kindle users, you can have items sent directly to your Kindle (just click 'send to Kindle' next to the version you want!) For those who use Open Library, definitely consider helping out by adding to descriptions of books, adding tags, etc. <br />
Reading class PDFs is also a breeze on the Kindle thanks to its built in dictionary (this has been a huge help with some of the obscure culinary terms I run across in my current research). The Kindle uses the Oxford dictionary (my personal favorite): just move the cursor to a word, and the definition appears at the bottom of the screen. You can click on it to see a longer definition as well. The Kindle also allows for highlighting and adding notes (another useful feature for all those PDFs we read!) It shows you how many other readers have highlighted a piece of text, which can be helpful for trying to extract important information from articles you are struggling with. <br />
Most exciting to me is how easily I can access content that is updated frequently (online news and blogs). There are a few LIS blogs available for subscription (usually for ~$1 or $2/month) along with tech and education blogs. And blogger friends, you would be amazed how easy it is to list your blog in the Kindle store. I listed both <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Julias-Library-Research/dp/B0046HA2CO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1292754602&sr=1-1">this blog</a> and my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Modernizing-Markham/dp/B0046HA4S6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1292754602&sr=1-3">other blog</a> in the Kindle store in less time than it has taken me to write this post. I'm always encouraging my fellow students to get out there and network and seize opportunities to make their work more visible, and this is definitely a way to do that! To do it, go to the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/kindle-store-ebooks-newspapers-blogs/b/ref=topnav_storetab_kinc?ie=UTF8&node=133141011">Kindle Store</a> and click on 'publish on Kindle' in the left-hand column under 'around the store.' <br />
Lastly, if you still aren't feeling like you get all the features you need with your Kindle, poke around a bit! They might be buried in the menu, or might have been addressed by other developers (<a href="http://bananasuitlibrarian.com/2010/12/01/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-my-kindle/">this post</a> by Rachel Smalter Hall is a great jumping off point for those with older Kindles). Apparently the Kindle has some <a href="http://gizmodo.com/338640/amazon-kindle-has-secrets-faux+gps-google-maps-minesweeper-and-more">fun Easter eggs</a> on it (Google maps!), but I don't know enough about fiddling with my firmware to feel comfortable getting in and messing with them. Yet.<br />
I've really enjoyed getting to use my Kindle, and I've been amazed by the amount of free content available--I have hundreds of items, but I've only paid for a few of them. There are definitely some titles I want to buy for my Kindle in the coming months, but I really appreciate that its developers were open to allowing users to upload oodles of free content! I also really enjoy all the new goodies I keep discovering the more I use it (latest discovery is a free Kindle version of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mine-Sweeper/dp/B003P3BCVA">Minesweeper</a> and other games). Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-74107054992030927612010-12-12T11:25:00.000-08:002010-12-12T11:25:10.453-08:00What Makes an Artist's Book?I recently had a discussion with a friend (the wonderful Amanda Langdon) about artists' books when she was trying to describe them for a paper. Talking with her gave me the opportunity to think about how I define an artist's book (especially since the published literature and the content of library collections gives such broad, and sometimes conflicting, definitions.)<br />
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The big thing that I think separates an artist's book from a commercially-produced book is the interplay between form and content. Broadly defined they're books created primarily to be 'art' rather than to be a book in the traditional sense. They are still functional (ie you should be able to interact with them as books) but they were not created by a publishing house with the sole purpose of showcasing an author's content-they were created by an artist to showcase both their binding work and the interaction between content and form. <br />
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For those who aren't familiar with the book arts, the content of a book is just what's written in it (i.e. the text of a novel) while the form is its physical structure (is it paperback? What kind of binding does it have? How many pages? etc.) Most books focus on providing the text, with less emphasis on showcasing the book's form--the form is structured around the text, and around other considerations (i.e. marketing an inexpensive paperback versus a higher-quality hardcover). This is not to say that they don't take a great deal of effort and consideration when choosing and creating cover art (and even things you might not think about, like the font), but mass-produced book is not an artist's book simply because the creation of the book is solely to share text, and is not to see that text as art placed within another piece of art in a way that strengthens both. <br />
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Amanda and I also talked a bit about 'gray areas:' i.e. where does an artist's book cross the line to become something else? She talked about printed books, which I argue can be considered artist's books: A small press (like the UICB presses--look on their website, but I think one is called Arion Press. There have been others over the years) creates small runs of 'artists' books' that are considered such because they are created on a letterpress and then bound by book artists. Usually, the printers create special plates of images to go along with the letters, but even if they don't the fact that they are hand-placing those letters, inking the rollers, etc. in a specific way is considered an art form.<br />
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So that's probably what she means by publication--they aren't going to be mass-produced (like paperback mysteries or even any other fiction). <br />
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I think that small press books (especially letterpress, which is an art in itself) can be considered artist's books as long as the crucial element of interplay between text, images, and form is present. Other books that have text and images use the images only to illustrate the text, whereas the artists' book uses them for that purpose and for both image and text to interact with the way it's bound (and they way it's meant to be held and experienced). When that interplay is lost is when I think the book crosses the line to being a more commercial work.<br />
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For other book artists, curators, historians, and librarians, I would be interested to hear your thoughts too: what do you think of my definitions? How would you define an artist's book?Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-46750487645004441582010-12-10T11:17:00.000-08:002010-12-10T11:17:00.589-08:00Guest Post at Banana Suit Librarian!My awesome friend and colleague, Rachel, might be known to some of you as Librarian in a Banana Suit. She's been a huge inspiration to me as someone who fights for information access and civil liberties (and was one of the founders of B Sides Journal!) I feel honored that she asked me to be the first guest blogger on her blog (which you should check out regularly, if you haven't been already). Go to the link below to check it out!<br />
<a href="http://bananasuitlibrarian.com/2010/12/10/crowdsourcing-and-collaboration-20th-century-style/">Crowdsourcing and Collaboration: 20th Century Style!</a>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-30387987197277430612010-11-28T08:44:00.000-08:002010-11-28T08:44:59.199-08:00Academia.edu's Journal List<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/24/academia-edu-launches-a-directory-of-12500-academic-journals/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29">This article</a> was brought to my attention today, and it discusses the creation of Academia.edu's list of journals. For those who've been reading my blog for a while, you probably remember my <a href="http://juliaslibraryresearch.blogspot.com/2010/07/tips-and-tricks-from-library-school.html">earlier post</a> where I mention it as a great resource for new LIS students. For those who haven't read the blog for that long, Academia.edu is a site I love because it's a social networking site for academics: I love getting to connect with folks all over the world, and I wouldn't have found them otherwise!<br />
The reason folks are excited about Academia.edu's journal list is that you can follow journals online and receive updates, but you also benefit from the social component (i.e. what are my fellow students/professors reading to stay current?) The article mentions another site (<a href="http://www.tictocs.ac.uk/">ticTocs</a>) that allows you to search journals in a similar way, although I don't have any experience with it.<br />
I just went through and added a smattering of journals to my list (you can view them <a href="http://uiowa.academia.edu/JuliaSkinner/Journals">here</a>), and I was pretty impressed by the selection. However, there was one big discrepancy I noticed, and that was a lack of Open Access journals! I'm sure there are some OA journals in the list (although I didn't have the time to go through all of the thousands of entries to verify that), but I could not find my favorites, like <a href="http://firstmonday.org/">First Monday</a>, <a href="http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides">B Sides</a>, and <a href="http://librarystudentjournal.org/">Library Student Journal</a>. I love that they are open to suggestions, however, and so I hit the 'suggest a new journal' button and fired away! As OA becomes a more accepted venue for scholarly publication, I'm excited to see these journals get more recognition and more followers! If you don't have an Academia.edu account, I would definitely recommend getting one. Once you do, just go to <a href="http://journals.academia.edu/">this link </a>and start following! And make sure to suggest journals you don't see, I bet they would appreciate having an even more comprehensive list!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-47765829126047212852010-11-24T17:45:00.000-08:002010-12-02T07:54:30.736-08:00My World War I Research is Finished!Tomorrow everyone on this side of the pond will be tucking in to large plates of food in celebration of Thanksgiving. That holiday came a day early for me when I (finally!) finished writing my paper on World War I-era Iowa libraries. The project evolved a lot from when I started about a year ago, and I ended up with a paper that is about 190 pages long (including tables, bibliography, etc.) I learned a lot about my writing style and about how I work best, and I think a few of those things might be good to jot down here for my fellow students (in LIS programs or otherwise) who are undertaking large writing projects:<br />
1. It always takes longer than you think it will: I thought this project would take me 6 months. In fact, the research took 6 months, and the writing took another 6 or 8. A lot of the reason wasn't that I couldn't write more quickly, it's that I tend to have more 'on' writing days and more 'off' days. When I'm at my peak, I can assemble my ideas quickly, support them well, and use better wording. When I'm not, it's much more of a struggle just to outline a chapter, nonetheless write it. Plan ahead, and budget lots of time.<br />
2. Everyone has their own method; learn yours and stick to it: I was at the receiving end of criticism from some folks because they felt that my writing and editing process wasn't 'right.' Mostly it boiled down to the steps I take, and the fact that I always insert my endnotes last because it gives me another chance to go over my writing and check my sources. I am much more flexible when it comes to shorter projects, but when I'm compiling an epic tome I know now exactly what I need to do in order to write, edit, and finish. Once you figure out a system that works for you, stick with it! You'll be much less stressed out.<br />
3. You'll still be stressed out: There's really no way to get around it. Embarking on, conducting, and finishing a large project are all very stressful activities. Make sure you have your ducks in a row in other areas of your life (i.e. are you able to count it toward a thesis/independent study credit to give yourself more writing time? What activities are you able to neglect for a little while to free up your schedule?) Also, make sure you have a few good support people in place. I have my awesome boyfriend and a few good friends who've all helped with practical things (like preparing food and cleaning), to sharing down time with me, to advice on writing and research.<br />
4. Keep your project in perspective: Yes, it is stressful. It eats up a lot of your time and you find yourself staring at the same resource five or six times hoping to get one more usable sentence out of it. Remember that you will feel amazing when you are done, and be nice to yourself while you're working! If it takes you a little longer to finish a section, you feel like your writing wasn't up to par on a certain day, or you just need a break from the thing for a day or two, that's OK! Everyone has different limits: you know yours, and you know you've worked hard. So if your hard work doesn't pan out the way you want, you did your best and that's still something to be proud of.<br />
5. Get lots of advice: Having friends, faculty, and family that you can wrangle into offering some free reading/editing is so valuable. Another set of eyes often catches things you miss, and someone new to your work can offer a perspective on what they needed clarified, which will help you better understand the perspective of your readers (and helps you step outside only your perspective as a writer).<br />
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I am currently polishing up a book proposal in the hopes of having my writing formally published. This is very exciting, but it also makes it so I feel cautious about placing my work online lest it interfere with a future copyright held by the publishing house. That being said, I know there are a lot of folks doing exciting research on library history or other subjects who I'd love to share findings with and compare notes! So, contact me if you'd like to learn more about the project or hear a bit about what I found!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-58978737312969895192010-11-17T11:21:00.000-08:002010-11-17T11:21:21.836-08:00Another article on ScribdSecond time this week! <div>I posted my article: "Learning from the Past: Digitization and Information Loss" on Scribd where you can read it for free using <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/42983098/Learning-From-the-Past-Digitization-and-Information-Loss">this link</a>. It was originally published in <a href="http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides">B Sides</a> this last May, but since B Sides is awesome and lets authors keep control of rights over their work, I can distribute it as I wish! To see the article on the B Sides site, <a href="http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/7">go here</a>. </div><div>"Learning from the Past" is an article that provides an overview of digitization issues and current solutions to information loss for those who are somewhat new to the subject. </div><div>As always, let me know if you have any questions or noticed anything in the article that piqued your interest!</div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-40103956509062197322010-11-15T17:01:00.000-08:002010-11-15T17:02:17.347-08:00ALA Talk available onlineHello readers!<br />
I had initially planned to publish my talk from the Library History Round Table symposium at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in a peer-reviewed journal, but it occurred to me that my other talk (from Library History Seminar XII) is going to be on the same research, and most likely in the same journal. So, I added my conference talk to my <a href="http://www.scribd.com/julia_skinner_2">Scribd account</a> to share with everyone! While you're there, you can follow me with your account too. Sometimes they get picky about downloading things if you haven't uploaded your own work, so I can also e-mail the PDF of the talk to anyone who is interested. Otherwise, <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/42688688/Pro-German-vs-Patriot">go here</a> to read the document in full online.<br />
The talk discusses three of the six libraries I researched (Burlington, Davenport, and Mt. Pleasant) more in-depth, whereas my talk from September discussed al 6 libraries, but with somewhat less detailed attention paid to each in order to keep within time constraints. The published version of that talk will be about 25 pages, so that will give me a chance to pay a little more attention to each of them.<br />
If you have any questions or comments, let me know!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-6631633055700148652010-11-07T14:05:00.000-08:002010-11-07T14:07:06.022-08:00The Library of Tomorrow...Yesterday!<div class="MsoNormal">I ran across this rather lengthy quote while adding to my chapter on libraries from 1914-1916, and was so pleased by it I couldn’t wait to share it with you! It’s from the 1914 annual report, written by Iowa City Public Library’s librarian, Helen McRaith. Unfortunately my Internet was down yesterday (and most of today), so I had to contain my excitement until now:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“The modern idea of the function of a library is this—to study the literary needs of its own community and then to endeavor to meet these needs to the fullest extent, even if tradition must be violated in so doing. </div><div class="MsoNormal">The old-fashioned library was a cloistral place appealing only to the scholar, who moved silently among dust-covered tomes. The modern library possesses a different atmosphere and one more akin to that of a business office; most of the readers have the appearance of seeking information which will be of assistance in their daily problems rather than abstract knowledge. </div><div class="MsoNormal">There is a similar change in the appearance and attitude of the librarians. Formerly they seemed to look on the library as an end in itself and as a collection of interesting curiosities, they were willing to let it remain a stagnant literary pool. Now they must be alert specialists, keen to keep a stream of vital, useful knowledge flowing from the library to all parts of the community.” (Iowa City Public Library 1914 annual report, pg 1). </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This reminds me so much of some of the current discussion circulating around the changing field of librarianship, even though it was written almost 100 years ago. Her writing has the same tone of excitement that I feel in my own blog and in reading the posts of other LIS bloggers, about the library as a place of expanding opportunities and of librarians as being people who are redefining the field rather than just participating in it. </div><div class="MsoNormal">There are a couple places in particular where her writing sounds like it could have been lifted out of a modern blog (and then had the language antiquated a bit, of course): there is so much concern right now about justifying the value of libraries, and a lot of that justification comes through pointing out that the library is used for practical purposes, as McRaith says, “…seeking information which will be of assistance in their daily problems rather than abstract knowledge.” </div><div class="MsoNormal">I especially love her last sentence: what a great comparison to the expansion of library science to include (or create) so many information studies-related specialties! Today, the public library is seen as a place where all community members can come in and access information, but there is also a view that access should be protected and increased. The Library Bill of Rights was not adopted until the 1930s, and prior to that there was more of a focus on encouraging ‘good books’ than allowing access to any materials the patron wanted. While her statement could just as easily be talking about guiding the stream of reading through promoting ‘good reading,’ it also sounds a lot like our current discussions of keeping on top of trends, promoting access, and even our discussions of the Internet and libraries (as an Open Access fanatic, it also reminds me of some of the justification we use for OA publication!)</div><div class="MsoNormal">Interesting how history repeats itself! </div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-88185107715747387332010-10-31T06:40:00.000-07:002010-10-31T06:40:06.387-07:00Circular Texts, both Digital and TangibleIf you remember my post on <a href="http://juliaslibraryresearch.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-new-media-means-for-me-as-reader.html">readers and new media</a> from a couple weeks ago, I mentioned <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/ebooknewser/german-author-pushes-circular-reading-experience_b2459">this article</a> on an author (Jurgen Neffe) who took advantage of the e-reader format to create circular texts, or ones without a beginning or end. A quick internet search on the author revealed this article entitled "<a href="http://www.signandsight.com/features/1872.html">The disembodied book,</a>" which is a pretty thorough discussion of the author's views on the future of the book and authorship, and the future of reading. He is optimistic about the possibility of more authors being recognized and readers interacting with texts in new ways, although he frames this within the downfall of the print book. I'm one of those folks that feels like we don't have to choose: I have a Kindle e-reader but still read paper texts as well. However, he doesn't associate the reduction of print books to their complete elimination, which is an argument I feel has been made far too many times (insert frantic 'print is dying! We will never read printed books again!' comments here).<br />
The book is not going anywhere, and I think Jurgen has a valid point by reminding us of that, but also reminding us that game changing technologies do indeed have far-reaching effects. People will read more e-books, and multimedia books will allow people to interact with texts in far more ways than before (you can even <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/03/31/myebook/">publish your own</a> multimedia books). My friends who are bookstore owners can attest to the fact that their shops are struggling (which is why I will use this moment to remind you to buy your books from locally owned bookshops--they really are so much better than the big sellers both in terms of unique selection and service), but I just can't imagine that their shops are all going to disappear under a tidal wave of digital books. People still like print books, but also see the opportunities extant in the digital format (I, for example, plan on self-publishing my library research to the Kindle store, for e-readers, and to Lulu, for tangible books).<br />
With this books/no books argument swirling in my head, I decided to take my assignment from my <a href="http://cheryljacobsen.com/">calligraphy instructor</a> for last week (which was to create and calligraph a book) and play around with Jurgen's notions of a circular text in book format. I found a <a href="http://circularpoetry.blogspot.com/">blog</a> with a number of circular poems, although most of them weren't suitable to my book because I didn't feel they were 'circular' enough for my needs. The idea behind such a poem is, like a circular book, that you can begin from anywhere within the poem because it lacks a clear beginning and end.<br />
For this first book I used 'Where are the Extravagant Spectacles of Yesterday?' because I could not resist the name, but also because it seems very circular. I folded some thick watercolor paper for pages, using only one folio (or piece of paper, for non-binders) per signature (set of page(s), usually a book with have multiple signatures bound together). Using three jewelry findings (in this case little silver loops), I created a series of chain stitched pamphlet bindings, and move them through the loops as I progressed. I'm pleased my little experiment worked, and resulted in a book that can lay flat, but that can stand up and turn into a 'circular text' by distributing the pages around the loops in such a way that it's actually a bit hard to figure out where the book starts and ends.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAG3L2VqcVbiL2-Sf2kHe_MoB7K0nqJIY7OdETSxxlQCWBWnp3f6LdOis80OqE02bdsqr-SlTjDEvPoU47a6UfnPm6JKGNUbRBYTPoU4X4g4tAun1J4c2PurRgHiUCTiigjrtn2ug6kXCD/s1600/DSC02421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAG3L2VqcVbiL2-Sf2kHe_MoB7K0nqJIY7OdETSxxlQCWBWnp3f6LdOis80OqE02bdsqr-SlTjDEvPoU47a6UfnPm6JKGNUbRBYTPoU4X4g4tAun1J4c2PurRgHiUCTiigjrtn2ug6kXCD/s320/DSC02421.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNIsS0U1TGNzhEXmVCSRIzBzXF43zblxF9FfXLLB3gCEMnV7fiTSXyQfPzq9jpYqAvurRLXvmeEo0atlh7Dyw3KWX0xNW2QkrK3MqtajeGdXcfsNzGRJ_pKrofAzv7tFiMopBtnEqt3Pzj/s1600/DSC02419.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNIsS0U1TGNzhEXmVCSRIzBzXF43zblxF9FfXLLB3gCEMnV7fiTSXyQfPzq9jpYqAvurRLXvmeEo0atlh7Dyw3KWX0xNW2QkrK3MqtajeGdXcfsNzGRJ_pKrofAzv7tFiMopBtnEqt3Pzj/s320/DSC02419.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kDFbk-13Ja3B7NOOdIgO4NwAv37wNuxxvzzLFgT1hIIKvTIZTWheVGRETf5OxPt3CmMG0csrweYLJ-NJH6sOpbuPwL2oIWc1PUk9iqO0RXxe6P-X9oUdvUygxxv9tq1Ipi4xQq-dQiAo/s1600/DSC02418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kDFbk-13Ja3B7NOOdIgO4NwAv37wNuxxvzzLFgT1hIIKvTIZTWheVGRETf5OxPt3CmMG0csrweYLJ-NJH6sOpbuPwL2oIWc1PUk9iqO0RXxe6P-X9oUdvUygxxv9tq1Ipi4xQq-dQiAo/s320/DSC02418.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I'm making another circular book for class this week, using the poem 'Upon the Winds of Time' from that same site. I'll post photos after it's finished!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232572935931441295.post-35600761612434799552010-10-29T14:33:00.000-07:002010-10-29T14:33:11.936-07:00Some Exciting History-Themed ResourcesWhile the purpose of this blog is primarily to focus on librarianship, the joys of being an LIS student, and my own research, I feel like there is so much of an overlap between my own work and other fields that sometimes I want to be a little more interdisciplinary! Lately, I've been shown a lot of really exciting online resources that might technically fall under 'history resources,' but that creative minds could apply to an LIS classroom (and of course, to history classes as well.) So, for both students and instructors, I present a brief list to you:<br />
<a href="http://howbigreally.com/">BBC Dimensions</a><br />
I really like this site, and I've spent more time on it than I care to admit after being informed of its existence via Twitter. Basically, the site takes the dimensions of any number of things (natural disasters, historic cities, industrial areas, etc) and allows you to superimpose an outline of the event/place over your own postal code. It's a great way to help conceptualize the actual size, and is a great jumping off point for talking about how everyone thought about the size of the event/place in question prior to seeing the map.<br />
Getting back to library history more specifically, I humbly present the <a href="http://libraryhistorybuff.blogspot.com/">Library History Buff Blog</a>. I'm sure I've talked about this blog before, but it's worth mentioning here because of the scope of Larry Nix's work. I love this blog because he talks about such a wide range of library history-related topics, from pieces of ephemera (see the <a href="http://libraryhistorybuff.blogspot.com/2010/10/ala-wwi-bookmark.html">World War I ALA bookmark</a>) to people, events, and organizations that have shaped library history in one way or another. This blog will be of particular interest to those who study postal history as well, as Nix finds inspiration from letters and other postal artifacts.<br />
Larry Nix also created a helpful website that showcases artifacts related to the <a href="http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/ala-ww1.htm">ALA in World War I</a>. I love the postcards he's found, and they help put imagery to the different ALA War Service activities I've looked at!<br />
This is a link to a <a href="http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/kroggenkamp/English519.htm">class website</a> for a course taught by Dr. Karen Roggenkamp. There are plenty of links that discuss late 19th/early 20th century history, and these can help to introduce students to a topic without overwhelming them.<br />
Harvard's <a href="http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/reading/">Reading</a> page is a very helpful resource I've used a number of times, because it provides a good deal of information on the history of readers and reading. There are so many interesting studies done on reading (those by Janice Radway and Christine Pawley, for example), and this site is a great place for students to gain an introduction to the study of reading history and use it as a jumping off point for discussing why the study of reading habits is important (i.e. is how we read a text a vital component to how we understand it?)<br />
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There are so many more history resources out there, but I've tried to stick with ones that are both recent and, to my mind at least, have something unique to offer. I've also tried to focus on resources that are more interdisciplinary, rather than those that would only be applicable in, say, an ancient history survey course. If you know of any more great resources, put them in the comments! The longer the list, the better!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16768009324530394698noreply@blogger.com0