Julia's Library Research Blog

Julia's Library Research is Moving!

2011-04-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

Hello readers!
After much internal debate, I've decided to move my blog to a new space. For future updates, make sure to go here:
http://juliacskinner.com/
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!
I'll be checking this site too, so if you leave comments or have questions, I'll make sure to answer them!

Rehashing #unpackLIS

2011-03-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Friday was "Unpacking the 'Library': Exploring Works in Progress Across the Field of LIS." 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 B Sides Journal'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!

The day began with some technical difficulties, which moved Angela Murillo and Rachel Smalter Hall'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 B Sides as an innovative publication, and decided to focus on a talk about innovation throughout the history of LIS, particularly as it related to access. Dee Crowner, 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:
-The importance of ownership--we must own our ideas to be leaders and innovators.
-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 B Sides: 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!
-B Sides 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.
-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!

The next panel was Technology in LIS, which started with Courtney Walters' 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.
Ian Mason 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.
Leila Rod-Welch 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.

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.
Katie DeVries Hassman 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.
Megan Conley 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.
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.
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. Andre Brock 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. Patricia Katopol 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.
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.

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. Kalmia Strong 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.
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.
Katherine Wilson 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.

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.
Christine Mastalio 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.
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.

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,
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!

Modernizing Markham wraps up

2011-03-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

Last night I created the last recipe for my Modernizing Markham 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.
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...
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).
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.

You can find more of my thoughts on interdisciplinary blogging here. Also, if you've had experience blogging in multiple contexts I'd love to hear what you learned!

Attempts at E-Book Publishing

2011-03-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

Later 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.

Lulu.com
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).
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:

978-1-257-04552-5

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

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).

To get the PDF for free on Lulu, go to this link!

Amazon.com

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 setting up my blogs for publication (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.

E-book readers' bill of rights

2011-02-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

This awesome post has been bouncing around the internet, where I saw it on Andy Woodworth's blog and Sarah Houghton-Jan's blog. For those who aren't aware, discussions about e-books have been taking place after Harper-Collins' announcement that they would be limiting e-book circulation 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.
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.
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.

The eBook User’s Bill of Rights

Every eBook user should have the following rights:

the right to use eBooks under guidelines that favor access over proprietary limitations
the right to access eBooks on any technological platform, including the hardware and software the user chooses
the right to annotate, quote passages, print, and share eBook content within the spirit of fair use and copyright
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

I believe in the free market of information and ideas.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 (#ebookrights), Facebook it, email it, and post it on a telephone pole.

To the extent possible under law, the person who associated CC0 with this work has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.

Open Access Resources

2011-02-27T07:55:00.000-08:00

I 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!

Here's the article I'm reviewing for the class:
The Importance of OA, OSS, & Open Standards for Libraries
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.

What is OA?
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.
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 (B Sides, 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 Peter Suber's page.

My Experiences with OA
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 one article in B Sides, and I have an essay in press at Library Student Journal. LSJ has a *much* larger editorial staff than B Sides, 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 B Sides 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 Sides 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 blog).

Ways for Students to Learn More
Students can get involved in Open Access publishing through already-existing journals (including my perennial favorites, B Sides and Library Student Journal). 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 DOAJ (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!

List of Suggested Readings
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!
100 Extensive University Libraries Anyone can Access
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).
Open...
Blog dealing with Open Source and Open Standards.
Thomas Jefferson and OA
Thomas Jefferson did not know anything about OA, but this awesome quote by him has been circulated by enthusiasts.
The first Open Source American
Interesting article on how Ben Franklin's approach to the creative process mirrors the Open Source movement.

The Engaged Library

2011-02-17T17:23:00.000-08:00

Tonight 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 Widernet Project fame) summed it up perfectly: "Advertisers, Google, etc. know users so well, but we don't see that going on in libraries."

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).
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!
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.
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.
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?

The Librarian as Poet

2011-02-15T17:31:00.001-08:00

I'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:

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).

What a way to open the Report of the Librarian! Some of you might remember my post on Helen McRaith of Iowa City, 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.

Diversity in LIS Education

2011-02-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

A 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.
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.

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 awesome diversity post 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.
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.
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 awesome article). 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 that's not a bad thing. 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?
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?

Analytics and You

2011-02-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

Stephen Abram just put this post 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 Topsy 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).
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 Dierdre Reid's blog!)
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 Hootsuite account. I'll be adding Topsy to this list!
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?

Check out the #HackLibSchool Blog!

2011-01-26T06:38:00.000-08:00

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 HLS site too! We have some great ideas for topics to discuss and for series of posts (check out Micah's Two Minute Insights). I'm very excited about today's post, 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!

The Next Phase of Library History Research

2011-01-23T10:16:00.000-08:00

For those who read my blog posts a few months ago, you might remember this post 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!
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!)
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!
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!
Thanks in advance--I'm looking forward to seeing where this project takes me!

Thank you, Dr. Munsterberg

2011-01-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

Being 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).

One of the first times I experienced this was when I worked at the State Historical Society of Iowa in Special Collections. It was through there that I met the Mather family 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!

Another person we all know and love is John Cotton Dana. 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 An Active Instrument for Propaganda (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).

And at last we have Hugo Munsterberg. 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.

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!

Some Great Sites for Book Artists

2011-01-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

Readers, 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:

Graphic novels: 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 V for Vendetta, 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 zines, but haven't made definitive plans yet. I was excited though when a friend directed me to this site 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 content and programs tailored to reading on digital platforms.

Book Artists: Some folks I'm excited about right now: I got to meet Alycia 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 Center for the Book (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 Miniature Book Society (the tiny books I wish I could make!).

Digital content: I've mentioned before how excited digital forms make me because of their potential for artists (see my post on circular texts for more), and one artist I've run across who's really embracing the medium can be found at Ocotillo Arts. 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 Prezi 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.

Ok, and I need to put this in here too: I know you have probably read my Modernizing Markham 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!
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!

Keeping the Creativity Alive

2010-12-31T06:11:00.000-08:00

I'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.

Andy Woodworth
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 People for a library-themed Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Flavor) 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 this post 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 Facebook.
Courtney Walters
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 blog and Facebook page. 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.
Micah Vandegrift
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 here) 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, The Infornado, 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.
Lauren Dodd
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 (Lauren in Libraryland) 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
My B Sides Ladies
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- Banana Suit Librarian, @bananasuit. Katie: Look Lady, @hypatlikeya. Melody Dworak: The Melody Party, @funkmelodious. Angela Murillo: Homepage, @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.

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!

The Kindle for LIS Students

2010-12-19T02:37:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I decided it was time to buy a 3G Kindle 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 this author's review 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 causing discussion amongst academics, so hopefully new versions of style manuals will address this.
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 Kinstant (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.
Other features students might like: you can upload material from a variety of sources, not only from Amazon. Mine is filled with PDFs of B Sides articles and with some of my favorite class readings. You can also download items from Open Library. I referenced this book 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.
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.
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 this blog and my other blog 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 Kindle Store and click on 'publish on Kindle' in the left-hand column under 'around the store.'
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 (this post by Rachel Smalter Hall is a great jumping off point for those with older Kindles). Apparently the Kindle has some fun Easter eggs 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.
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 Minesweeper and other games).

What Makes an Artist's Book?

2010-12-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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?

Guest Post at Banana Suit Librarian!

2010-12-10T11:17:00.000-08:00

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!
Crowdsourcing and Collaboration: 20th Century Style!

Academia.edu's Journal List

2010-11-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

This article 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 earlier post 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!
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 (ticTocs) that allows you to search journals in a similar way, although I don't have any experience with it.
I just went through and added a smattering of journals to my list (you can view them here), 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 First Monday, B Sides, and Library Student Journal. 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 this link and start following! And make sure to suggest journals you don't see, I bet they would appreciate having an even more comprehensive list!

My World War I Research is Finished!

2010-11-24T17:45:00.000-08:00

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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).

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!

Another article on Scribd

2010-11-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

Second time this week!

I posted my article: "Learning from the Past: Digitization and Information Loss" on Scribd where you can read it for free using this link. It was originally published in B Sides 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, go here.

"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.

As always, let me know if you have any questions or noticed anything in the article that piqued your interest!

ALA Talk available online

2010-11-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

Hello readers!
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 Scribd account 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, go here to read the document in full online.
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.
If you have any questions or comments, let me know!

The Library of Tomorrow...Yesterday!

2010-11-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

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:

“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.

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.

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).

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.

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.”

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!)

Interesting how history repeats itself!

Circular Texts, both Digital and Tangible

2010-10-31T06:40:00.000-07:00

If you remember my post on readers and new media from a couple weeks ago, I mentioned this article 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 "The disembodied book," 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).
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 publish your own 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).
With this books/no books argument swirling in my head, I decided to take my assignment from my calligraphy instructor 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 blog 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.
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.

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!

Some Exciting History-Themed Resources

2010-10-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

While 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:
BBC Dimensions
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.
Getting back to library history more specifically, I humbly present the Library History Buff Blog. 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 World War I ALA bookmark) 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.
Larry Nix also created a helpful website that showcases artifacts related to the ALA in World War I. I love the postcards he's found, and they help put imagery to the different ALA War Service activities I've looked at!
This is a link to a class website 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.
Harvard's Reading 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?)

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!

Map of Censorship in Iowa Libraries during 1918

2010-10-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

I know I've mentioned this before, but there is a wonderful Google map that shows all the book bans and challenges in the U.S. over the last 3 years. When I ran across this map a while back, it gave me the idea to do a similar thing with the Herbert Metcalf letters that inspired my WWI Iowa libraries project. (Metcalf was the man to whom librarians around the state sent letters indicating that they had removed items from their shelves in response to his request).
I made the map and used it for a class presentation, and just recently dug it back up while I was poking around Google. For those who are interested in Iowa or World War I history, this might be of interest to you. You can find my map at this link.
There are a couple things I should point out about this map:
A cursory examination suggests that censorship activities were clustered in the Eastern half of the state. While I have no evidence to the contrary, this is not an assumption I can get behind 100 percent. Part of the reason is that we may not have all the letters written to Metcalf: some might have been destroyed or misplaced, as often happens with office paperwork.
Also, I do know for a fact that the Metcalf letters do not represent all the censorship activity taking place in Iowa that year: For example, Cedar Rapids' library removed books, but there is no letter in the Metcalf paperwork from anyone on their staff. On the contrary, there is a letter from Burlington Public Library, but no record of their removing materials anywhere in the library's records. So, while it does seem that a lot of this censorship took place in Eastern Iowa, we will never know for sure unless someone goes through the records of every Iowa public library.
Another thing to point out for those using this as a tool to study World War I-era history is that it is only for one year: and to be precise, only for the first few months of that year (1918). 1918 was the year when it seems censorship efforts really kicked into high gear (although censorship was taking place earlier than this--see Wayne Wiegand's book, An Active Instrument for Propaganda, for a national look). I point this out to avoid misleading people into thinking it covers the entire wartime period. It occurs to me that it might be helpful to go back into the map and add dates to each entry that match the dates on the letters, and hopefully I will have time to do that soon.
Lastly, these letters raise (and in some cases answer) questions about what libraries did with these books after they removed them. Most simply indicate that books were 'removed from shelves' or 'removed from circulation,' but if you look at Forest City and Villisca, you'll notice that their librarians both burnt the items they felt were 'pro-German.' Most libraries, however, do not indicate what they did with books once they were removed. The meeting minutes from Davenport Public Library indicate that theirs were held by the library board, so it is possible other libraries retained their books in storage. Also, look at Des Moines Public Library--the librarian removed a lot of items! For those who are curious, that is the same Forrest Spaulding who later drafted the Library Bill of Rights. I should point out that I don't think these libraries were intentionally throwing their patrons under the bus to get behind the war effort: I suspect they removed books because the staff and library boards felt it was in the best interest of the patrons. While I would love to know, I have yet to find out any information about whether the removed books were restored to the shelves after the war.

Moving Between Genres: The Challenges and Rewards of Interdisciplinary Blogging

2010-10-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I talked a bit about my other blog, and the final project of which it is a part. Since I am building steam on writing for that blog, I wanted to write this post about what I have learned so far blogging both as a historian and as a LIS student. I would love to hear what experience other writers have in working between disciplines, so please add your thoughts to the comments!

The first difference I've noticed is my tone when writing. On this blog, I have developed my own 'voice' as it were, and feel like I can write somewhat more casually. The other blog doesn't use a very formal tone for the actual blog posts, but I feel like I need to write more in the way I would write for a peer-reviewed journal when writing the sections on historical background.I also use many more citations in the other blog, because it is based primarily on historical research.
On this blog, I do draw from other sources, but I don't find myself using parenthetical citations and a bibliography, because I am doing as much sharing of my own thoughts as I am pulling from other sources. That difference in approach is also reflected in the content: on this blog I feel much more comfortable sitting down and writing a post about some aspect of my professional life that I find interesting or particularly relevant, whereas when I post on the other blog I feel like I need to sit down and plan out what I will post about and how that fits into the scope of a larger project. Basically its the difference between creating a space for more formal research versus a place to share new ideas and offer my opinion on a subject.
The biggest challenges for me with this type of writing come from trying to switch not only between voices, but between ways of approaching a post. The Markham blog requires that at least some of my posts be approached as tightly-formed arguments on an aspect of a historical document (his cookery manual, in this instance). This blog requires me to write clearly for an audience across multiple disciplines, and discuss the world as it exists now. The greatest reward is that these two styles complement each other very well: by forcing myself to write academically on one blog, I can ensure that I am forming coherent arguments on this one. By writing in a way that (I hope) is interesting and accessible on this blog, I prevent my other writing from becoming too dry.
Because the blogs are updated frequently and are a more dynamic entity than an article, I feel this difference much more acutely than when I am writing papers on several different subjects. It probably helps that peer reviewed journals tend to adhere to some similar expectations in terms of building and defending an argument, and even in the scholarly language used in the paper.
I'm sure I will notice many more differences between the way I write for different projects as I go on, but one advantage I feel like I am giving myself here is exposure to a wider variety of writing styles--by both blogging and writing for more traditional publications across a number of disciplines, I am (slowly) familiarizing myself with the tenets of 'good writing' for these fields, a skill which I hope will be useful as I continue to work in a field as interdisciplinary as LIS.

Multiple Projects, Multiple Blogs

2010-10-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

While some readers are aware of my other blog (and accompanying project), I have not given it the discussion on this blog that it deserves! The blog can be found at this link, and is a part of a larger project called "Modernizing Markham." Gervase Markham was a 17th century English writer, who published books about cookery, horse care, orchards, and sport. I ran across his book, The English Housewife, in the University of Iowa's Szathmary Collection--an awesome collection of cookbooks, manuscripts, and even kitchen appliance manuals. I wrote a paper about it for a class, but I wanted to do more. I decided to focus on Markham for my Center for the Book final project.
Basically, I am taking recipes from the book and using modern equipment and ingredients to recreate them. I am going through his 'banquetting stuffs' menu, so that I'll have a historically-accurate meal by the end of it. On the blog, I talk about the experience of recreating the recipes, but I also place those recipes in their historical context by talking about culinary history and book history. The project is still in its early stages, but there are two posts for recipes up already (one worked great, the other failed miserably but made a great pie filling). In the Spring, I plan to make a calligraphed, pamphlet-bound book with the modern recipes and with my own illustrations. This book will be combined with the contextual information from the blog and with some extracts from Markham's text, and sold as a print-on-demand book. All the information is available for free on the blog, of course, but that is a good option for people who like tangible recipe books. I'm also hoping to prepare some of the food for my friends at the Center for the Book, depending on how much time I have!
I'm really excited about this project because it lets me combine my interests in a really fun way--I get to cook (which I love!), but I also get to pair my interests in history and book arts with my interests in new media and digital humanities. Talking about the historical aspects of the project on a blog allows me to share my ideas with a larger number of people (and hopefully get some good comments and discussion going too!) It's a great way to make these recipes relevant again as well, 400 years after they were written.
Feel free to ask me any questions about the project, and if you have a Twitter account, stay updated on my progress by following @ModernMarkham (or following my own username, @BookishJulia). You can also subscribe to both my blogs on Kindle.

What New Media Means for Me as a Reader

2010-10-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

I am about to make the most obvious statement ever: there is a lot of cool stuff happening on the internet.
Not a groundbreaking observation by any means, but I am ceaselessly amazed by the sheer number of new ways to participate in the world as a reader of texts. I mean this both in the literal sense (e-texts versus paper texts), and also in how we interpret those texts (and how technology influences that).

Take, for example, this article on 'circular reading.' This author has found a way to exploit the e-reader technology in a way that gives us stories with a circular narrative (no beginning or end). As readers of these stories, how does this sort of narrative change our interpretation of the text, and how does it change our interaction with that text? There are many books that challenge us to think of narrative form differently than a 'beginning-to-end' reading experience (I was fond of the 'choose your own adventure' book when I was a kid), and this book takes that to a new level by using a technology that isn't bounded by a structure with a clear beginning and end.
The e-reader is especially interesting to me after I purchased a Kindle (which arrived in the mail today!) and began exploring the different texts I could fill it up with. There is a dizzying array of public domain material available for free in the Kindle Store, and right now that's what I'm experimenting with. I've downloaded one free comic book, and a number of books (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) so I can get a sense for how the different texts 'read' on this device. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could read the comic fine (it just shows each page as a 'page' on the Kindle, like you would expect), but as a comics reader I wonder what happens when you take comics that include elements of color or 'splash pages' (where the narrative and imagery spans two pages). I haven't found answers to these questions yet, but I might just download Watchmen on there to see how it changes my reading experience (and my understanding of the text).
I'm also curious about subscription services. I love having a 3G device that will automatically update my blogs and allow me to read them while on layovers at bus stops (which is when I get to read at work--can't do it while driving!) or while at the doctor's office without hauling my MacBook Pro along for the ride. I looked at some newspaper subscriptions, although I just can't commit: I'm someone that reads snippets throughout the day from various sources and listens to NPR, so sitting down 'with the paper' isn't a model I'll probably adopt. Blogs, however, are a different story. I have a 'to read' list that's probably about 100 posts long at any given point, so I'll take all the help I can get!
The Kindle is interesting because you pay for a blog subscription at a price that is comparable to that of newspapers, which shows our increasing acceptance of the blog as a source for reputable information (or at least, with the potential to be such a source). Tonight, I've listed this blog on the Kindle Store, and it should be available for purchase in about 48 hours (I'll share a link when it is). I'll also be listing my other blog that I'm using for my Center for the Book final project (more on that later--but suffice to say there's some exciting stuff in the works!)
This model of publishing is similar to someplace like Lulu.com: it's free to sign up and to upload your material to be published, and you get a decent hunk of the royalties when it is. With the Kindle subscription, I was surprised by the fact that I wasn't given the option to choose the price (although it's possible that I will be able to do so after it's 'approved). I want to make my blog accessible to as many people as possible, so I would like to list it for free! While the jury's still out on this, I definitely think that taking that agency away from the author has some very interesting implications. For example, how does it compare to traditional publishing models' valuing of work? What does it say for access--if Amazon.com is choosing the price of my blog, what will that do to people who want to access the work but can't? This is less of an issue for people who own Kindles (I assume that most people who buy them are prepared to spend 99 cents on a blog subscription), but it does raise questions for me about e-publishing at large.
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Well, it's the next day, and both blogs have been published for the Kindle. You can find this blog here, and my other blog here. I'm excited to have them on the Kindle because I want to be able to share them with as many people as possible. As I suspected, I didn't get to choose the price: they're each $1.99. I am actually not super happy about that price, because I wanted to give them away for free (or at least for less than $1). However, I am happy to have another way to share my work with others, and I would love to hear from Kindle users about their experiences reading my blog(s) in that format!

Guest Post at The Infornado!

2010-09-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

Hello readers!
I thought you all might be interested to know about my guest post on Micah Vandegrift's blog, The Infornado. He's been doing a great series where LIS students contribute their thoughts on the topic 'what I learned in library school.' These posts are such a wonderful resource for new students (or not-so-new ones too!) as they help provide a variety of perspectives from a group of writers with diverse backgrounds, and give great information on how others have found their niche in their programs. Micah's other posts are great too--he has some wonderful insights on current trends in LIS, and also created this post, which is a wonderful comparison of all the different blogging platforms that are big right now (I learned a lot from it!)

Copyright Criminals

2010-09-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Last night a group of SLIS students went to see Copyright Criminals, which was absolutely amazing, followed by a Q&A with Kembrew McLeod, an event that was part of the Iowa City Public Library's Intellectual Freedom Festival. I am so excited about this film that I wanted to write a bit here. First of all, I highly recommend that folks should look at the website and watch the film. It's very well done, and it calls into question our current copyright laws by looking at the history of sampling in music.
A couple great questions were raised in the Q&A that got me thinking about licensing. Liz Holdsworth asked if RJD2's sampling was illegal at a live show, and the answer is 'no,' because music venues have to pay ASCAP & BMI licensing fees in order to host performances. What I didn't know though (and this was another question that was asked) was that anywhere music is played (i.e. plugging your iPod in to an ice cream store's stereo system) should technically be paying those fees. I started looking at the FAQ's on the ASCAP site, and apparently they can charge for just about anything, including using hold music on your business telephone! I don't want to suggest that artists not receive credit and/or money for their work, but this seems so restrictive and even somewhat invasive (Dr. McLeod mentioned that ASCAP and BMI have employees who will go in to businesses at random to see if they're in violation.) There must be a better way to go about this, but since I'm not a copyright expert I'm not sure what that better way is!
Also, as a hip-hop fan, I was really excited to see interviews with a lot of wonderful, innovative artists. I have friends who create hip-hop or other types of music using sampling, and it was really interesting to me to learn more about it (for example, the fact that it's legally easier to cover a whole song than to sample 2 bars from it.) I was definitely surprised by examples of artists who were very, err, insistent that their work only be used in a certain way. I guess it's just a mindset different from my own, where I see my work as something I am sharing with the world and others can take it and do what they would like as long as I'm credited (and as long as no large company yoinks my work out from under me and makes a bunch of money off of it, which is highly unlikely). All this talk about sampling and licensing and copyright got me thinking about libraries (as I am wont to do), and I would love to hear back from other LIS students and professionals about this. Do libraries have to pay licensing fees in order to let patrons check out DVDs and CDs? What are some ways libraries can promote sharing without running afoul of the law? Obviously we are sharing materials with others free of charge, but I'm curious what other ways libraries can get involved.
And finally! I love Creative Commons, and it is mentioned in the film, but I have a few Creative Commons questions. Because I am one of the editors of B Sides, I know about the different types of licenses and have a pretty good sense of what they entail for the author. What I'm less clear about is their implications later on. The Share-Alike feature is for those wishing their work to only be used with compatible licenses. However, what if someone is sampling (or quoting in a paper) from sources with incompatible licenses? I've also heard of CC licenses being argued against because they hold rights into perpetuity, unlike copyrighted materials which pass into the public domain after the author's death + 70 years (I think it's 70!) I wonder when (and if) CC licenses become public domain, or if it's something the author manually has to go in and do.
It occurred to me also that I don't have a CC license on this site, so as of today, I shall!

Speak Loudly

2010-09-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

For my regular blog readers, I apologize in advance as this post is a bit off topic in that it isn't directly related to LIS education or to my own (current) research. However, it is related to my previous life as a researcher in loss and trauma, and my work at a rape crisis team. It is also, of course, related to my dislike of censorship. I encourage constructive comments at the end, and I also encourage you to check out the other blogs below as many folks are saying a lot of very powerful stuff in response to this week's book challenge.

There have been a lot of great blog posts in response to Wesley Scroggins' now-infamous article, and while I doubt I have anything all that new to say here, I do want to add my voice to those supporting Speak and the other books Scroggins challenged. I am of the opinion that censoring material is the wrong approach, but in this particular instance it is more than just censorship to me because I spent years working with rape victims after being assaulted in high school. Someone who wants to take power away from teenage girls who have experienced this by denying them a text that they can relate to may want to consider sitting down with some of the people who have experienced both the trauma of rape and the struggle that is the healing process to try and understand why hearing that story is vital to their understanding that they are not alone.
But that isn't the only reason why this book challenge is problematic, because Scroggins' standpoint is parroting what are referred to as 'rape myths' by those of us working in victims' services. Scroggins is making the all-too-common mistake of confusing rape with sex. If we consider a book about sexual assault to be 'porn,' we are falling back into these myths, at the base of which are two assumptions: 1. That rape is purely a sexual act rather than one of power using sexual means, and 2. it's the fault of the victim. There are many parts of Speak that mirror the experiences of survivors I know, especially teenagers. Scroggins, rather than addressing the power of a story to promote healing, says, "As the main character of the book is alone with a boy who is touching her female parts, she makes the statement that this is what high school is supposed to feel like. The boy then rapes her on the next page." Yes, the fact that this happens is disturbing, and alarming. But what it isn't is something that we should ignore. I have worked with too many survivors of assault (both male and female) who were not able to begin healing until they felt they could relate to and speak with someone else. That feeling of shared experience is an important reminder that the victim isn't dirty or flawed in any way, but that they have had power taken away from them by someone else. This is especially true for teenagers, who already feel very confused and are confronted with many changes both in their bodies and their lives. It hurts me to think that Scroggins (or anyone else for that matter) would want to take such a powerful story away from those who need it.
I'll conclude with the links to a couple other blogs (and this does not even begin to scratch the surface of all the great posts that are out there, so if yours isn't on here, put a link in the comments below!) This post by Jake the Girl is powerful, and I want to thank her for being strong enough to share her experience so others can learn from it. This post on Bookalicio.us is awesome, not only for its analysis but also for the very helpful list of blog posts added by others who've written on the topic. Go here for Laurie Halse Anderson's (author of Speak) blog. Sarah Ockler, whose book, Twenty Boy Summer, was also challenged by Scroggins has a great blog where she makes some great points about the freedom to read (and has a contest going on to win the 'filthy books' from Scroggins' article!) Also, check out this article by Isael Kaplan.
And finally, when I mentioned my own experiences, you can read an article I wrote about the healing process (and a bit at the end relating it to loss & trauma theory, although that's probably less relevant here). Not sure if a full text version is online, but here is the citation for those who are interested:
Skinner, Julia. “Recovery from Trauma: A Look into the Process of Healing from Sexual Assault.” Journal of Loss and Trauma: International Perspectives on Stress and Coping 14:3 (2009): 170-180.
I can't help but think of the many parallels between the story in Speak and my own story. I am so happy to see the number of folks who are speaking out against this (or any!) censorship--I feel very proud to be a librarian (well, student)!

Highlights from Library History Seminar XII

2010-09-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

I just got back from an awesome conference experience at Library History Seminar XII in Madison this weekend. All of the panels were incredible, and the people there were so supportive and welcoming of me (especially as a new researcher!) I feel so excited about the whole thing that I wanted to jot down some thoughts I had about the topics, and some questions the presentations raised for me.

Let's start with the panels. There were so many good papers on so many topics that I would have a post that stretched for miles if I tried to cover them. So, I'll just jot down a few things that I found thought-provoking and invite comment from others. I can definitely expand on things if you read a point and want to know more!
The first day had a great panel of speakers from Simmons College, who talked about the history of the Boston Athenaeum. It was great to learn more about the institution, but also to get some in-depth information on different facets of that history. Ross Harvey did an intriguing paper on these review slips that were tipped in to the books at the library, with comments on them from the 1920s (and some up through today). The rules were simple: write a five-word review of the book, and initial your entry. Most of the reviews were (close to) five words, although there were a couple that were way over. People found some pretty creative ways to say their bit in such a short limit! Harvey concluded the session by drawing comparisons between these little slips and with our modern equivalent: book reviewers on Twitter (or short reviews on pages like Facebook and GoodReads). It would be interesting to look at how reviews were/are exchanged in both contexts (the patrons would write rebuttals below other comments), and compare them.

One of the big topics was alternative publishing models (such as zines, but also small-scale operations like staff magazines at British companies). Alycia Sellie gave a talk on zines with a great overview of their different incarnations and the system of distribution (which I love because it flies in the face of a lot of our cherished models of how publishing and distribution take place). She talked about librarians as creators of zines (and I now have some titles I definitely want to check out) but also as collectors of zines within the process of library acquisitions. Alycia's presentation was more on process than on findings, so it allowed some interesting questions to be raised that can then be examined as her research progresses. One thing she mentioned was librarian hacktivists, and the librarian as blogger. She raised two questions that I think are vital to our discussions of alternative publishing but are not given any attention (yet): 1. How many of these blogs are replacing works that would have been in print (i.e. as zines), and how many would not be able to exist without the Internet? 2. How are these blogs being preserved (if they are at all)? Good stuff.
It also got me to thinking about classification, because of course, the way that we label and define the works in our collections shapes the ways our patrons think of those items. For feminist zine collections, how do we draw out feminist themes without taking away from them or forcing them into the hierarchies we've already established? And at what point do such efforts cross the line from item description to a form of activism? This brought me to Emily Drabinksi's paper entitled "Classification as Text: Legible Ideologies, Resistant Readings." I was actually not able to attend her paper, but she sent me a copy (yay!) so I got to read it today. In it, she discusses lesbian identity and the library, and how the naming structures we have in place (i.e. Library of Congress) create boundaries around the terms that describe and homogenize lesbian identities. However, the lack of such a structured naming within digital information creates problems in our abilities to locate common identity and also resistance to structures as they exist. This is a wonderful paper for a number of reasons, but what I love is her reminder that "digital information is still organized information," and that as we navigate a world where readers are dependent upon locally-made medata or tagging schemes, we both open ourselves up to and risk losing the ability to identify how these digital items are being classified, how those classifications differ, and how they resist or reinforce hierarchies.

Jennifer Burek-Pierce and Matt Pierce gave a talk on broadcast censorship, and what I found most interesting was the widely divergent standards regarding broadcasting sex education information. I wonder if we have (besides national standards) more strict or more lenient guidelines in certain places now (i.e. can a certain town/state create additional restrictions)? This and the other talks on broadcast censorship were interesting because I spend so much time looking at print censorship that I lose site of the fact that everything on our TV/radio passes through filters too (I tend to be more aware of this with the Internet).

There's a lot of great work going on that really helps contextualize my own research, and that I'm really excited to read more on. Derek Attig gave a talk on traveling libraries in Kansas, which were set up so that (usually rural) users would be able to have books sent to them so that they and their neighbors could share them. I had come across traveling libraries in my notes (Cedar Rapids' library apparently was getting materials in from German and Bohemian traveling libraries, both from Omaha I think), but Derek mentioned not having heard of any foreign language libraries. We've said we'll e-mail each other if one or the other finds out more, but it definitely makes me wonder how prevalent these language libraries were!
The panel right before ours on libraries in the mid-twentieth century was a lot of fun. Jean Preer talked about the Indianapolis Public Library, Jane Aiken discussed the Library of Congress, and Mary Niles Maack presented on American reading in France. All the talks were great (and I learned a lot about reading by ex-pats in Paris in the interwar years, and during WWII, along with a great side-by-side look at a large national library when compared with a midwestern public library). Chris D'Arpa asked a great question at the end that I think is important for us today, especially with constantly evolving media formats: What can we learn from these papers that can inform how we keep records today? In my research, I've had many a moment where I have wished a certain document was available or that more had been said on a certain topic. Of course, we can't anticipate the needs of every future researcher, but libraries (especially public ones) may not consider their own records as something of enough value to preserve, especially when space and funds are at a premium. Only one of the libraries I've worked with (Dubuque PL) is actively preserving and even digitizing their historical documents, because of the passion for the project that the director (Susan Henricks) has. One person in the crowd indicated that Wayne Wiegand (who wasn't there) had said libraries tend not to value their own histories, so do not actively preserve. I would be curious to hear the input of readers on how we can preserve library documents (and what we should preserve) in places without budgets or space for such efforts, and how (or if) digital technologies should play a role in this. It's something especially vital for those of us in the LIS schools--D'Arpa underscored the importance of bringing LIS history into the classroom, and more actively connecting with practitioners, as two ways to inform current practice.

I was the last speaker on the last panel of the last day (ack!) and was fortunate to be on the panel with two speakers with wonderful research! Joan Bessman Taylor has been researching censorship in Dubuque in 1951, which took place after several women's groups tried to ban 'filth' from being sold at drugstores. Even though the library was on the fringes of this debate, it still came under fire after the police entered the building and tried to confiscate materials (and subsequently arrested the librarian). The most interesting part of her talk was how the women framed their arguments. We often find the protection of children as being central to discussions of why we should remove items, but here the women mentioned that such materials were also damaging to adults. That approach tends to not work as well 1. because other adults are, in most cases, legally independent of the censor and 2. considered capable of making their own decisions.
Emily Knox spoke next, and some of the same issues were raised. She explored the media frenzy (and the challenge itself) in West Bend, WI in 2009. In this case, LGTB materials were considered harmful to have in the YA section, and censors wanted to see them either physically moved to be shelved with adult materials, or reclassified and/or labeled so potential readers would be 'warned' about their damaging contents. None of this happened, but the same arguments surrounding the protection of children (who might 'stumble upon' a book, open it, and become damaged). Emily has provided me with a new lens through which to view censorship, when she argued that censors who offer such arguments are engaging in reading as religious--in Protestant traditions, our access to the printed text is a path to salvation or a path to damnation, as is our interpretation of it. Thus reading=belief, and the importance of books as a religious tool becomes a source of fear when those books are not filled with the information we wish others to know. This is a really interesting way to contextualize censorship, and something I'm excited to learn more about.

The keynotes were also incredible, with Janice Radway giving a compelling talk on the movement of girl zines from being a small-time production model that was traded between friends/pen pals, to something that's becoming a part of library collections. This was on the same day as Alicia's talk mentioned above, and so I got to learn a lot about the study of zine culture! Radway talked about studying things 'from below' as something that grew out of activist movements of the late 60s that sought to highlight the stories of those normally left out of scholarly discourse. What was interesting was how zine publishing both fit into and challenges this method of examination--while zines are published by a group (teenage girls) who are given less agency than some others, they are also a form of empowerment and a way to create a different self identity within the context of the zine. I loved all this talk about zines as someone who's been a part of that culture, and can now use that experience as a lens through which to view our scholarly discourse.
Wayne Wiegand gave a great lecture on Saturday as well. I should preface this by saying that Wiegand's book on WWI libraries comprises almost my entire literature review for my thesis, so I was very excited to get to see him speak in person (the night before, he also gave me his box of notes he had compiled on WWI libraries, so I was feeling particularly excited about things that day!) He has been working on a project to compile information about 'Main St. Public Libraries,' i.e. those in smaller towns, which (he often reminds us) outnumber McDonald's restaurants in this country. The whole lecture was great, and a couple points in particular made my ears prick (in a good way). The first was a reminder that libraries have steadily been getting busier as time has gone on: all of these libraries have more patrons and higher circulation than ever before. One could argue that this might in part be due to population growth, but I would argue that can't account for all of it. Even as far back as my research (1912-1920), libraries are reporting increased circulation and more patrons in 1912, and are reporting record circulation numbers by 1919. He also reminds us of the importance of fiction as a tool not only for entertaining, but also educating and empowering. There has been a long tradition of devaluing fiction (unless it falls under the umbrella of 'The Classics'), where much of the library literature from the time I am studying is trying to promote 'good reading' and de-emphasize fiction for pleasure. Fiction always circulates heavily (although Elizabeth Aiken's research found this to be less true in the Library of Congres during the Great Depression), so it seems interesting that it was so often brushed aside as being lower quality. The big take away though was the role the library plays in these communities. Our discussions of the library often give it many roles (as a community center/meeting space, place of learning, provider of information, etc), but there was one role Wiegand mentioned that I never considered. The libraries in the small towns he looked at all tended toward reinforcing community norms, not in the sense of yanking everything off the shelves that smacked of difference, but more in the sense of subtly adapting to what the demands of the community were. The library thus became seen as a 'safe' place that upheld virtues of togetherness and learning that communities value, and a space for meeting with others (as well as a safe space for breaking the ice for strangers and those new to town). Looking at libraries through this framework helps me contextualize why libraries in WWI Iowa would have not seen censorship as being wrong, per se, not only because it was a part of the mindset, prevalent at the time, that all things German were 'bad,'but also because it was a part of operating in that community. I would be interested to see how the library operated as a safe space for immigrants in Iowa--I know there was a push for Americanization during the time to try and assimilate immigrants, but what role the library played beyond that is as of yet unclear. The last point is our notion of 'public:' Wiegand mentions that never more than 66% of community members hold a library card, so the library is never truly 'public.' What I am curious about it who makes up this group, and why they feel either uninterested in or intimidated by the prospect of a library visit.

Also, I want to thank the folks who came and saw my presentation (and those who've read the transcript since!) and have given me comments. I definitely know now that I need to articulate population statistics more clearly (which I have Census data in the thesis document, but not, alas, in the presentation), and also that it would be *really cool* if I could find something on the patron perspective. I haven't found any records left by German-Iowans yet (or at least, none talking about the libraries), but if anyone knows of anything, please send it my way! I have a Prezi that I made for the talk, and I would be happy to share the transcript with anyone via e-mail who is interested in reading it and giving me their thoughts.

LIS Classroom Resources on Censorship

2010-09-09T04:35:00.000-07:00

In honor of ALA's Qu'ran reading in protest of the book burning that's scheduled for September 11, I thought I would post a couple things to spark discussion about censorship in the U.S.
The ALA announcement for the reading can be found here. It gives you an insight into why the ALA decided upon the reading, and why ALA members think it's important.

I love this map because it provides a visual aid for understanding the distribution (and the rather large number!) of books bans and challenges in the U.S. from 2007-2009. It's a Google Map, so you can click on each of the incidents for more information.

The OIF Blog (from the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom) has quite a few posts related to censorship. These are a good jumping-off point for learning about and discussing censorship because you get to read the views of multiple people from the office.

Recently, my classmate Billie Cotterman passed this news report along to me that talks about declining internet freedom around the world. It's based on the Google Transparency Report, which is an interactive map of government requests to remove information, and is a great tool for learning about and discussing censorship internationally.

Does anyone else know of any other sites that either educate readers about censorship or that would be useful in a classroom discussion? I would love to see them!

That's all I have time for right now--I'm on my way out the door to talk at (and enjoy!) the Libraries and Print Culture conference in Madison this weekend. I'll post about my thoughts when I return.

Free Resources for Students and Researchers

2010-08-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

There are a ton of great free resources out there both for students and for researchers, and I wanted to share some that I've found before the semester kicks into high gear. I know I've mentioned some of these resources before, but I've come across so many more that it's good to keep the list updated. If you know of anything that I missed, please include it--I'd love to make as complete a list as possible!

Open Access Journals
Open Access is something I'm very passionate about, because it lets scholars publish their work in a way that reduces or eliminates overhead and thus allows our work to be available to more people. Two that are near and dear to my heart are B Sides, and Library Student Journal. You already know that I'm an editor for B Sides, but I was just offered a position at LSJ as a member of the Editorial Review Board too, and I'm really excited about doing even more with OA student publishing!
Common Place is a great source for scholarly research from many disciplines that address life in early America. A lot of exciting Internet research is published in First Monday, an OA journal that was recommended to me in my first semester at SLIS. There are so many great journals out there that it would be hard to name them all (and this post would be ridiculously long!) To find hundreds more, spend some time browsing on the Directory of Open Access Journals to see openly accessible journals covering a wide range of disciplines (a hint to LIS students: this is a great place to go when comparing journals for publishing your work!)

Online Collections
More and more institutions are placing their collections (or rather, parts of them) online, and while some are still password-protected, many are available to everyone free of charge. This post from the blog, mary and mac design, is a really outstanding collection entitled "100 Extensive University Libraries from Around the World that Anyone Can Access." It's organized by subject, so you can look at everything from law and religious libraries to general collections. I ran across it on Twitter this morning, and it immediately was added to my Delicious bookmarks!
The University of Iowa has the Iowa Digital Library, which not only has a wealth of information related to Iowa history, but also highlights some of their great collections of women's history materials, illuminated manuscripts, and maps.
I think I've mentioned the World Digital Library before, but it's definitely worth a check out. The interface is great and easy-to-use, and makes it simple to constrain your search to certain time periods or geographic areas.
There a a few collections on British history that I think are a lot of fun. The Word on the Street is a collection of broadsides from the National Library of Scotland. Not only is it a useful collection, but it's presented in a fun way that would be accessible to undergraduate and high school students. The British Library's Evanion Catalogue is a great resource for ephemera and other goodies relating to life in the Victorian period. The Bodleian Library is another good resource for ephemera, with their Broadside Ballads collection.

Reading/Book History
The LUCILE Project is also associated with the UI Libraries by way of the head of Special Collections, Sid Huttner. He has put together this really awesome project for those interested in publishing history, in that the whole site is devoted to uncovering the publishing history of one book (Lucile by Owen Meredith). It's a great way to get an in-depth look at how one title moved through the publishing industry.
The Reading Experience Database seeks to compile instances of reading experiences in the UK from 1450-1945. It's a great first place to look when trying to learn a bit more about how reading operated in a certain time period. Harvard has put together a great site entitled "Open Collections Program: Reading-Harvard Views of Readers, Readership, and Reading History," which allows you to learn about many different types of reading and many different types of reading materials.
The Index Translationum is a searchable record of books that have been translated and published in UNESCO member states since 1979.

Resources for new LIS Students

2010-08-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

After going to meet the new cohort at orientation on Friday, I've been thinking a lot about good resources for new students. I thought up a couple that I e-mailed to a friend who is in LISSO (Library and Information Science Student Organization, our department's student group), then it occurred to me that other students might find them useful too!

The Infornado
This is a blog by someone who's new to the field, and has a lot of great information. Last night in an e-mail chat I learned that he's coordinated a project where he invites LIS students to share what they've learned so far in their programs (about the field and more generally). I read some this morning and really enjoyed it--so many times I found myself saying 'yes! I've had that experience!' I also gained some really valuable perspective about what other students are getting out of library school, along with some new ideas for avenues to pursue in my own experience (Micah's other posts are worth a read too!)

Lauren in Libraryland
Lauren is currently a student in Alabama, and her blog is a fun and accessible way to learn more about her experiences in school and her thoughts on the field. I've always found her posts to be both thought-provoking and enjoyable to read, and its a great way to get another perspective on LIS education.

SAU Curriculum Library
This blog is written by Courtney Walters, an alumnus from our program who graduated in 2009. I love it because she provides a lot of useful information for educators about current trends and techniques, especially for those seeking to incorporate paperless teaching into their curricula. For LIS students, this blog is a great way to see how someone new in the field is using blogging professionally, and to get inspired for your own professional blog.

The Wikiman: LISNPN
This blog is a great resource, and this post in particular is one that would be great for new students. It discusses the LIS New Professional Network, which was created for those who've joined the field in the last 10ish years. This is a great place for students to network and to hear first-hand about the transition from work to school from others who've recently been there.

Stephen's Lighthouse
This is a blog that has a pretty wide readership, and Stephen updates it very frequently. This is one of my go-to sources for learning about emerging trends in the field. It's written in a way that's accessible to those with or without experience with the different technologies/areas of library service/etc that he might talk about in a given day, but he's great at staying on top of what's new and letting his readers know!

WWI & WWII-era Color Photos as Teaching Resources

2010-08-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

In recent months, I have been directed toward three websites that display color photos from the first two decades of the 20th century. While my knowledge of photographic methods is limited at best, it seems that the color is imparted using different methods that were just being developed. I was so excited to find these, because the color photos make the lives of people about 100 years ago seem much more real. I thought I would share them to those who might find them useful as teaching aids or for research.
Autochromes de la Guerre
This site is in French, and shows photos using a method developed in 1903. These are pictures of soldiers from World War I, taken by war photographers. Even if you don't read French (mine is very rusty) you can still poke around on the site: there's a thumbnail on the right-hand margin that will pull up a little 10-photo slideshow.

The Great War in Color
This site is a great introduction to some very stunning photos and descriptions of different photographic processes. The definitions are easy to understand, and several important people in the development of color photographic methods are introduced. Several collections of color and black-and-white photos from World War I appear along the left-hand side ("Kid Soldiers of the Great War" is especially haunting), and some historical information as well (see "Adolf Hitler and Remarque in No Man's Land").

Russia in Color, A Century Ago
This site shows photos taken around Russia in 1909 and 1910. The color in the pictures is crisp and spectacular, and it looks like they could have been taken with a modern camera. What is especially useful for teachers (or even just interested viewers) is the Google maps below some of the images that allow you to visually reference the location where the picture was taken.

Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943
These pictures come from a bit later on, but I've included the link because they show pictures of everyday life in the U.S. I was especially struck by the images of rural America, and it was powerful to see color images of the sometimes cramped living quarters, but also to see street scenes and social activities.

Prezi and My Research

2010-08-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

I've been a little late to jump on the Prezi bandwagon, but after just having made my first one, I'm very impressed with the result. For those who haven't used it, Prezi is a way to create presentations that is more dynamic than using a PowerPoint slideshow. I found it much easier to use, and because it zooms in and moves around, it would be more likely to keep an audience's attention.
I was pondering using a Prezi for the Libraries and Print Culture conference that I've mentioned before, although I may hold off. Being new to the field and not having interacted with the researchers who will be at the conference, I am not sure if they would really love a presentation that flies around and zooms in, or if it would give them a headache.
My Prezi is more of an introduction into my research than an in-depth look at the subject from the perspective of someone who is knowledgeable about it. I am hoping that it is accessible enough to be used in a classroom presentation (say, in a high school or undergrad History course) but still interesting enough to be enjoyable to those farther along in their careers. I would love to know what others think about the presentation, and on the off chance that someone wants to use it in a classroom or share it with others, please feel free.

Roots and Routes: How I Came to Library & Information Science

2010-08-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

Today was orientation for the new cohort in our department, and it was absolutely a blast. The students are passionate and ready to work, and I felt fortunate to spend the day getting to know some of them. One of the presentations by LISSO (Library and Information Student Organization) included mention of The Library Routes Project. I'm glad I was there to learn about the project and to then go home and look at some of the posts, especially after spending a day with new students and with professionals who were discussing how they came to the field. I had read about it previously on Lauren in Libraryland, and was excited about the project. However, as happens so often, I got bogged down under other tasks and eventually slipped to the back of my mind.
On Library Routes, one can write about their own journey in a blog, and add that post to the large list of others. It's a great exercise for thinking critically about yourself as a professional, and is a great help to students looking to learn from the stories of those who have already started their careers. I'm still a student, but I wanted to add my voice, and so here's my story.

Root
I had always been interested in books and the study of them, as well as a hodgepodge of other interests including art, social sciences, and history. I never allowed myself to pursue my interests fully until recently, after convincing myself that I would be unable to earn a living without a 'practical' degree. As an undergraduate, I began as an art major but a series of frustrations led me to believe that art education from my school lacked the quality I desired, so I switched to Psychology. A B.A. in Psychology is hardly worth the paper its printed on when it comes to jobs, but at the time I had hoped to work at a non-profit that dealt with violence against women.
Even though I never used my degree for anything, I learned a lot from the experience of getting it. First off, I had two assistantships that began to introduce me to the world of psychology research/teaching and all the behind-the-scenes grunt work that had to go into a lot of studies. It also introduced me to Dr. John Harvey, who taught "Loss and Trauma." Dr. Harvey is very well-known and respected in the field, but he still took time out to pay attention to me and to assure me of my potential. It was very empowering to have an instructor who cared about my work, and who was willing to write me letters of recommendation and to offer me a place as an undergrad T.A. in his class.
Prior to enrolling in Loss and Trauma, I had applied to about a dozen PhD programs in Psychology, after deciding that research into violence against women would be more to my liking than non-profit work. I applied to some very highly competitive programs and did not get in to a single one. I was so frustrated at the time, but looking back on it I was unwittingly saved from making a career choice that would have left me unfulfilled.
I graduated the following semester, and without any career in sight I left my student job driving buses and went to work as an assistant manager at a coffeehouse/bakery. I also was married, but only briefly (don't worry, we're still friends!) My then-husband was the one who coaxed me toward LIS, after having dated someone who was enrolled in the program I am currently in. He said she enjoyed the program, and you could do a lot with the degree. I enjoyed libraries and liked the idea of working in them, so I applied to the program. I remember the night I got the acceptance letter: it was after my husband and I had separated, and I came home after having drinks with friends. I pulled the letter from the mailbox and went upstairs, and as I opened the door I said to my cats, "well, here's my 13th rejection letter." I was so surprised and happy when it was an acceptance letter that I remember crying and calling my friends (and my poor ex-husband, who was sleeping).

Route
I had started volunteering at the State Historical Society of Iowa prior to beginning the program, in the hopes of gaining some experience in the field. The staff were wonderful, and allowed me to participate in such a range of library activities (including preservation, special collections work, and some very light MARC cataloging) that I got a real sense for how broad our field is. I spent the most time in special collections, first as a volunteer and later as an employee, working with document collections to create or re-do finding aids. I left last year after finding myself so cramped for time that I was unable to work both at SHSI and drive buses (and unfortunately bus driving pays more, so I can't quit!) I was so grateful that I was able to work there though, because I met so many great people, gained special collections experience, and was exposed to some really wonderful collections that I miss a lot.
The head of the Special Collections Department, Mary Bennett, also guided me toward my thesis topic. After mentioning to her that I wanted to research library censorship in World War II, she suggested that I look at World War I since there is a collection of letters from libraries regarding censorship during this time (these are the Metcalf letters that are frequently referred to in my other posts). Her passion, and that of the other staff, for the historical society and the materials it houses reminds me why I love libraries: even though we have the same disagreements as any other workplace, at the end of the day everyone is so passionate about what they do that it overshadows everything else.
My time in SLIS has been marked by a number of setbacks (health issues, personal/financial stress, etc.), but I've found that faculty are supportive and flexible, and the other students provide a great support network. Even when I've been very ill or under a lot of stress, I feel like there are people there who are helpful and understanding without being judgmental.
It was Autumn last year that I really started to find my niche as a student and as a researcher, and felt comfortable enough with my abilities to respond to calls for papers for upcoming conferences. I also began eyeing PhD programs again, but this time in LIS. I just can't bear to leave a field made up of such a diverse group of people with such varying interests and skills, and who love their work more than any other professional group I have encountered. This year I've spoken at the LHRT research symposium at ALA Annual, which was great fun and gave me a great deal more trust in my abilities after I rocked the Q&A, and will speak at Libraries and Print Culture next month. I also defend my thesis in December, the same time as many of those PhD applications are due. I am hoping I will get to continue on to improve my skills and continue working with the people and researching the collections I love.

Liberty Cabbage, Materials Access, and a Visit to Wisconsin

2010-08-18T05:04:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my thesis, but my time lately has been overwhelmed with moving and with polishing my talk for Libraries in the History of Print Culture. Since I haven't had time to visit any new libraries in the last month, I've enjoyed getting to review what I've already learned and refine my assumptions and methods.
After my last talk (at ALA) I got really positive feedback and also some great questions from the Q&A. Some of the most helpful was from Wayne Wiegand (who has written the book on WWI US libraries), who encouraged me to reconsider my approach slightly. I was talking about censorship as an official act, while the organization that was encouraging censorship (the Iowa Council of National Defense) was actually a volunteer organization. I'm not sure how I missed that, but I'm glad to have people interested enough in my research who also have the knowledge to provide constructive criticism!
The nice thing about re-thinking your approach with historical research is that you can think critically about how your choices in representing the past can alter how people view that past (especially if those views wouldn't be entirely accurate). My premise remains the same: that a lot of these libraries got swept up in the sentiment of the time, but that there were others in which records suggest some hesitation. Even though those libraries, too, participated in the same war work in the end there is a tone in the records left behind that these activities were done begrudgingly.
Spending time with Burlington Public Libraries' records shows a number of instances where the library was asked for money (mostly by ALA for soldiers' libraries) and where the discussions are "not favorable" to making the requested donations. Although it never says whether they did pay the money, Burlington's staff gave out the same information on everything from liberty cabbage (sauerkraut) to Liberty Bonds. This might explain why, when asked to remove "pro-German" books by Herbert Metcalf (the Secretary for the aforementioned Iowa Council of National Defense), there is no record in their minutes books of other documents of the removal. The other 6 libraries I have looked at were more clear in their own revelation of censorship to their library boards, and it's possible that the library went along with this request begrudgingly as well.
When talking about official (i.e. government) versus unofficial (i.e. citizen groups) requests, I have actually had somewhat of a breakthrough in the present research: Cedar Rapids' library received a request from the Chief of Police, saying that the War Department had requested that the library remove all books on explosives (from their March 1918 meeting minutes). The minutes say that the materials were removed and placed with the pro-German books. Even though Metcalf's records don't tell us that Cedar Rapids responded to the request, this suggests that they did. More importantly, it tells us that at least one Iowa library was receiving 'official' requests in addition to those from volunteer organizations (the libraries, by the way, were much less receptive to later citizen censorship requests, all refusing to remove books denounced by Temperance groups).
I'm almost done with (writing) the conference talk, and it's been great preparation for hammering out my thesis document. Even though I'm talking about a lot of the same information as my previous talk, I'm hoping that I can use a different enough approach that those who attend both won't be bored to tears! For ALA, I did a more in-depth comparison of three of the libraries. For Madison, I am doing a comparison between 6 libraries, which means I will not talk as deeply about each but can hopefully reveal general trends. For both, I'm borrowing Wiegand's approach of dividing library activity into neutrality (the period during the war when the U.S. was not yet involved), and wartime. I also want to put these in the context of pre-war and postwar library activities.
After another run-through of editing this morning I'm hoping to send the conference paper off to a journal (because if I've already written it, getting another publication under my belt wouldn't be a bad thing!) and start on some visuals. I'm speaking on the last panel, and the last day, of the conference; this means that most listeners will probably be tired and antsy and eager to leave. While I know I like to have visuals to help keep me focused when I'm in that place, for those readers who have experience in conference attendance it would be so helpful to get feedback from you so I can cater to my listeners! Do you like handouts? Slideshow presentations? Google Maps? Are there approaches you like more than others?
As for the journal, I'm still deciding where to submit this. I submitted my last talk to Libraries and the Cultural Record, so I am hoping to find a journal (OA or print) that is similar but also is currently asking for materials similar to what I do so it can be published soon! If anyone has any leads, I would love to hear them!

Tales from the PhD Hunt

2010-08-01T06:09:00.000-07:00

I am currently feeling a tad overwhelmed. Engaging myself in the search for the perfect PhD program is simultaneously frustrating and rewarding, especially when I have altered my list of schools and my expectations so drastically in the course of my search.
I started out looking both at LIS and History departments, and while I still think there are some exciting and wonderful History programs out there, I feel like I would be restricting myself too much to solely focus on that. I love my history research and plan on continuing it, but I love how LIS embraces new technologies and is open to new ideas. I feel like in History, I would find myself having to justify why I'm so passionate about our open access journal or why I feel like resources and information should be shared, not privileged. Of course every History department isn't going to be like that, but I have yet to find a discipline that is as broad and interesting as LIS! Everywhere I am applying has faculty members who do research across many disciplines, and I would get a chance to explore new fields and ideas while honing the skills and interests I already have.
I am saving myself a lot of stress right now by keeping my options open and not picking a 'top school' (or even doing much in the way of ranking my choices). In some people's cases, there's a program that fits perfectly with all of their interests and desires and if so, great! You have a top choice. I have a wide range of interests, and want to work with the faculty at all of these schools, so I have the luxury of knowing that I will be happy and productive wherever I end up--the last time I applied to PhD programs was for Psychology in 2006, it was so stressful, especially because I focused more on figuring out which schools were 'better' and lost sight of looking at how my interests and experiences could mesh with a program (or not).
I'm sure I'll keep refining my goals and interests throughout the process (that's part of the fun!) but I feel like LIS has already taught me so much, and it has so much more to teach me. My colleagues are passionate and engaged, and I can't wait to spend time learning the ropes in a new department!

This isn't my first time applying for grad schools, so I've definitely gleaned some practical advice from the process (I might update this depending on how well it all goes!):
1. Complete any and all applications within 5 years of taking the GRE. Remember how horrible that test was? Don't re-take it if it can be avoided.
2. Start applications early. Everyone says it, and it's true! You probably *can* get away with applying at the last minute, but you have more of a chance to polish your applications and to control your stress levels. Here's my current strategy (which may or may not be ideal):
-This spring/early summer I talked to my recommenders to make sure they would be willing to write letters for me. Currently, I'm making 'packets' for each of them that include instructions for each school along with any forms/etc. and stamped envelopes (most schools do online letters now, but some offer the option of mailing them in, which your recommenders might prefer).
-Come September, when the applications officially 'open,' I will go ahead and cough up the sizable sum for transcripts/GRE scores/etc. Just because I don't want to think about them!
-September 12 is my next conference talk, after which I can focus on writing statements of purpose and such. I'm hoping that I can recycle the same one, more or less, for each school.
-I make a point of adding to my CV as publications are accepted/conference talks approved/etc. so that all I have to do before submitting it with my applications is to give it a quick look over (to take a look, go here and click on 'CV').
For those who have already gone through this process and are pursuing the PhD, I would love to hear your thoughts/advice! If you have anything to share either about the application process, or about the PhD experience once you've arrived in the department, let me know!

Crowd-Sourcing Peer Reviews

2010-07-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

While procrastinating and staring blankly at my Twitter feed a moment ago, I noticed this post by ACRL (ALA's Association of College and Research Libraries):

@ALA_ACRL: RT @chronicle: Open, crowd-sourced peer review works for one humanities journal:http://bit.ly/9HIDJC

As an OA journal editor, I was intrigued. When you click the link above, you're lead to a Chronicle article about Shakespeare Quarterly's new approach to the review process. Basically, a draft of the publication is placed online, and is open for comment by a pool of reviewers with varying specialties. The process is not an anonymous review, so those comments that are made about a submission are attached to the reviewer's name.

I was pleasantly surprised for a number of reasons. First because SQ is a well-recognized and respected humanities publication, so the fact that they are taking the lead on re-thinking their methods is a good sign that others might follow. Second, I was happy to see positive responses from the authors: Michael Whitmore mentioned getting citations and helpful feedback from 6 people who actively involved themselves in reviewing his work (think of how much more help that would be than the usual 2-3 'experts!') I was also glad that the reviewers included both junior and senior scholars.

One critique I have is the focus on expertise. I agree, we want people who are knowledgeable in the area in which they review, otherwise it is much harder to create rigorous scholarly publications. However, if we look for expertise alone, we lose sight of the passion of someone who might be less experienced, but who is dedicated to their field and eager to learn and share what they know. I wonder how we can balance these: perhaps through putting out a call for reviewers in addition to inviting those we know we want to work with? For some reason I keep thinking of publicly-created metadata in relation to this, and I think the underlying argument is the same: how much control do we want to give 'just folks' in determining what information is considered 'quality' or how that information is classified? Is an article's intrinsic value lessened if someone outside of the literary field (or someone outside of academia entirely) comments on it?

This definitely gives me some food for thought to mull over with the other folks involved with B Sides-we've just set ourselves up (and are about to enter our 2nd semester) as a student journal, and part of our purpose is educational (i.e. to teach students and alumni about the publication process). Since, by and large, most journals still do the "submit research>peer review>revisions>publication" thing, I would be really hesitant to let go of peer review for B Sides when we are using it as a tool to help our fellow LIS students!

However, I think that crowd-sourced peer review is an AWESOME idea, because it lets us engage with both the author and other reviewers, provides more feedback (and more varied feedback) from a larger number of people, and allows authors the chance to gauge the reaction of those who would actually be reading their work after it was published (i.e. people in the field but not necessarily people who have been selected as reviewers).

This sort of reviewing is also an excellent opportunity for us graduate students: I can't speak for every grad student, but I definitely think that the more opportunities we have to get involved with the review and publication process, get our voices heard, and gain expertise the better! It makes me wonder how to construct a place within our department (or even independently, if anyone is interested in working on this with me!) to create a similar model for graduate student publication, or even just to put our work out there for feedback in a less formal setting--fellow students, educators, researchers, what are your thoughts? I am hoping this model becomes more and more accepted and widely used!

Tips and Tricks from Library School

2010-07-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Lauren Dodd recently posted The Dos and Don'ts of Library School on her blog, and it got me to thinking what advice I would give to people entering a Master's program. I would definitely recommend reading her post: it has some great suggestions, all of which I agree with! I thought of a couple other things that I would suggest as well, and so I am adding them here.

#1: Social networking is your friend
I shied away from becoming an active user of social networks and Twitter because I didn't see any benefit to spending my time tweeting/updating my status/etc. The last year has taught me that social networks as a professional development tool take very little time and can give you big returns. Here are the things I've found to be most helpful:
-Twitter: actively seek out other people in the field and follow them. It doesn't matter if they work in the same kind of library or have the exact same interests as you (they can even be in a different field altogether)--following a broad range of people lets you keep your finger on the pulse of the field in a much more holistic sense, and can help you refine (or redefine) what your interests are.
I've also found that it's a great way to generate a response to my own work: I always tweet when I post on this blog, or publish an article for B Sides, or speak at a conference. When you look at your 'mentions' (in my case it's @BookishJulia) you'll find that people who are reading your posts are likely to respond with helpful information about what you're working on, or even with encouragement before a conference talk.
Did someone post a link to an interesting article, or some tidbit that you find timely/useful/whatever? Re-tweet it so your followers can see it too! I learn so much from what others are reading, and can stay on top of goings-on without having to spend the whole day trying to track down articles, etc.
Use hashtags (#subject) and use them often. Same goes for mentioning people (@username). Hashtags are a way of grouping your messages with others by subject: for example, all people tweeting from ALA's annual conference this year used the hashtag #ala10 so that other conference-goers could find their tweets. This keeps your tweets from getting lost in cyberspace! If you aren't sure if a subject has a hashtag, then be the first to use it! Mentioning folks is not only a great way to have a conversation via tweets, but also allows your followers to become aware of that other person (and potentially start following them). The most useful way to do this: #FF (which is 'Follow Friday'). For example, if I want people to follow my fellow editor at B Sides, I would tweet "#FF @hypatlikeya" tomorrow (which is Friday) and my followers could follow her if they so desired.
-Academia.edu: I hadn't even heard of this site 12 months ago, but if you have an e-mail with a .edu extension (which, as a student, hopefully you do!) this really is the most wonderful networking tool, especially for researchers. What's great about it is that it tracks when Google searches are done on your name, and tells you the time, date, and country in which the search was conducted--I've learned that there are more folks in the U.K. that are looking up my research than I thought. It also lets you upload papers/links to papers, abstracts, conference presentations, your CV, etc. so people can learn more about who you are and what you do, and then hopefully can follow your work! Another great option is Linkedin.com, which has many of the same features (except the Google search thing. Also, you have to add people to your network--like adding a friend on Facebook--rather than following, which does not have to be reciprocal).

#2 Publish, Present, Participate
Great cheesy heading, isn't it? I posted a comment about publishing on Lauren's blog, but I wanted to expand it a bit here. The more 'resume boosters' you can rack up during your time in school, the more of an edge you have in the job market (and more importantly, the more you know what you love to do!) There are some relatively easy ways to do this:
-Publish: I'm a journal editor, so I automatically zero in on all the wonders of publishing. To save you my long rant about why it's such a good idea, suffice it to say that you can share your work with the world and show employers/PhD programs/whoever that you produce scholarship of the caliber that peer reviewed journals want to publish it. We all write papers for our classes, and this is where a lot of my publications have come from: in some cases, you can polish up a paper and submit it, and in other cases (such as for, say, Research Methods) you might already have a study you put together. In any case, even if you submit something and it needs a lot of work or is outside the journal's scope, the worst they can say is 'no!' See if your department or school has a student-run journal, other options include The Library Student Journal and Libri. Libri has a student paper competition each May--one year I entered and, even though I didn't get the prize, I still got a publication under my belt. Search for open access or print journals in your sub-field, and be open to submitting to journals outside of LIS if your work fits within their scope.
-Present: Conference presentations can be nerve-wracking, yes, but you will learn a ton about the process of preparing, presenting, and fielding questions, and you can take these skills with you no matter what you do. There are a mind-boggling number of conferences out there: the best way to find them is to locate your relevant ALA subdivisions, pay attention to postings in your department, and sign up for listservs. ALA, and its various subdivisions, provide conferences and opportunities to present (or, at ALA annual, you can sign up to do a poster for ongoing research). I am on a number of listservs on everything ranging from food studies to Midwestern culture to book arts, and calls for papers often are posted on these. Academia.edu lists a lot of these, also ask your faculty what lists they're on (although sometimes, a Google search will yield results too).
-Participate: This echoes what Laura said in her post, but try to get involved in your department and in the LIS field as a whole in any way you can. If there is a student journal at your school, sign up to be a peer reviewer: it's a resume builder that doesn't involve a huge time commitment. Volunteer at libraries or organizations that speak to what you hope to do when you're done. And remember to spend a lot of time getting to know your classmates: they're a great resource as well as a support network.

So, what else am I missing here? I would love to get feedback from current and former LIS students about what helped (or didn't) in your time as a student. And for PhD students, I definitely want to your input too: since I hope to be pursuing a PhD next year, I am curious how my time in LIS will change as I pursue a different degree.

Digital Publishing for Higher-Ed Students

2010-07-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I'm a co-editor (along with the lovely Katie Devries Hassman) at B Sides: the student journal for the University of Iowa's School of Library and Information Science. As we draw ever nearer to the beginning of a new school year, I am getting more and more excited about sharing the journal with SLIS' incoming class. Because of this, I've spent quite a bit of time lately pondering digital publishing generally and by students in particular, and how we can make the process of publishing itself and educational experience.
One of the things I like so much about B Sides is that the two founding editors, Angela Murillo and Rachel Hall, put a lot of thought into how to adapt the journal to the needs of SLIS students and alumni who might not be interested in publishing scholarly articles, but who want to share their work while learning about the peer review process. This isn't to say that we just publish absolutely anything, but we try to make the peer review process as transparent and un-intimidating as possible so that students aren't afraid to submit work and get feedback on it. We also try to expand what 'publishable' means in terms of format: we publish LibGuides, websites, collection lists, reviews, class papers, slideshows, and more. All of the publications are great in terms of content and quality, and give me a much broader perspective of what's going on in the field outside of strict scholarly research. It also gives me a much better sense of what's being taught and learned in the classroom, and what students consider to be their best/most interesting work.
I know there are other student publications out there, but I am not sure how they present the journal to potential authors. We try to present B Sides not only as a place to learn about the publication process, but also a place to get feedback for your work (i.e. when preparing the final poster presentation before graduating) and a way to build your resume. One thing I'm spending a lot of time pondering right now is what other ways the journal might be beneficial to students, either in its present form or in terms of additional avenues we could explore to engage readers and authors (I would welcome any suggestions!)
The most enjoyable part of B Sides for me is talking with authors about their work and then sharing it with the world. I think in academia we can forget that people approach all types of intellectual pursuits with the same passion that I would approach, for example, my thesis research. B Sides has been a breath of fresh air because it allows me to engage with others who are doing valuable work throughout the field of LIS, but without the stricter constraints on format or subject matter that would otherwise keep me from learning about the work of librarians and students from all walks of life. It makes me appreciate the inclusive and welcoming nature not only of our journal but of the field at large, and has done a lot to shape myself as a professional and as someone searching for PhD programs (I knocked quite a few history programs off the list because I felt like they would not be open to this model of publishing).
Another great thing about B Sides (and other free digital journals) is that it opens doors for those without monetary or institutional resources to access information we present. Obviously there is still some implication of privilege in that one needs access to a computer and internet, but I would like to think that most people who want to learn about what our students and alumni are producing can do easily. I would be interested to see how well the B Sides model translates to other fields, or even to LIS departments at other schools. We don't get paid as editors, but our piggy-backing on the university's institutional repository means that we have no overhead (save for the $60 I spent on a student copy of Adobe Pro so I could work on journal stuff in my pajamas!) We are also able to attract alumni submissions (we have already published several), and have both alumni and current students who are all interested in serving as peer-reviewers. I think LIS is a great place to experiment with how we can broaden our notions of what 'digital publishing' and 'scholarship' mean, to encompass work that is done outside of academia. I can't speak to this personally as someone who is not strictly within the Humanities, but others I've talked to have said that there is some tension and unease in regards to digital publishing (most notably in regards to a digital publication not being as 'good' as that in a printed academic journal). As the cost of subscriptions can be prohibitive, it would be great to see publishing in open access journals rise in status: otherwise I worry that we will be barring all except those at well-funded research institutions the ability to make use of the most current scholarship.
I would be curious to hear about others' experiences with digital publishing: how have you been able (or struggled) to engage students in the publication process? What are your perspectives on digital publishing and access? And what direction do you think this is all headed?

Continuing Trends at CRPL

2010-07-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

I am doing research at Cedar Rapids Public Library today, and I always get excited when I notice almost immediately the same trends occurring here that I've noticed in other parts of the state. For example, both Cedar Rapids' and Burlington's libraries were keen to advertise at the 'moving picture shows' starting in 1912. A frame would be shown with an ad for the library on it. Both also publicized themselves in the local newspaper (which seems to have been rather common around the state).
They also mention a 'Bohemian Library' which, since there is a sizeable eastern European population in Cedar Rapids, might be a separate foreign-language library? I'll have to look into it!
Just like today, many of these libraries are also facing shortages in space, but have tight funding that prohibits them from expanding. Cedar Rapids' seems more comfortable than most, but it's interesting to read the librarians' reports from around the state pleading that more money be given to them so their libraries can function.
Cedar Rapids and Iowa City especially were very active in the local schools. Both tried to distribute library cards and encourage reading at all grade levels, and nearly every month the librarians talk about visiting schools and speaking to classes. In Cedar Rapids, these visits included going out to country schools and providing books for classes. At one point in 1912 I believe, the librarian lamented that they did not have an automobile the library could use so these schools could be visited more frequently.

Modern Literacy

2010-07-14T15:58:00.000-07:00

Books and Literacy in the Digital Age

I know a lot of writing is going on both in print and in the blogosphere about the future of books and the changing face of literacy in 'the digital age.' A lot of it is really good, but the article above (from American Libraries) caught my eye because the author shares my love of the printed book as an object as well as reading material. I have recently flung myself headlong into blogging, tweeting, etc. as professional activities, but I still spend as much time at a quiet table with dusty old library records so I appreciate the balancing act I feel like Raab is describing at the beginning of the piece. I feel like I have to put less work into balancing my digital content with my historical research (which at this point uses the tangible records as a jumping off point for discussions that largely take place in the realm of the digital). My question at this point is how the balancing act differs for folks who are doing research on digital objects/writing code/whatever. Do folks who work with born-digital content feel less of a push and pull between their media? I also wonder how much of this is due to climate: the field of LIS is one that is so rapidly developing and much more willing to embrace change and adopt new technologies than some other segments of the humanities, and I think such adaptable programs will be more likely to remain relevant than humanities programs that stick to the 'academia as ivory tower' model.

By virtue of following educators and librarians of all types in social media, I've learned a ton about technology's impact on literacy and education. One thing that comes up repeatedly and is of great interest to me is the concept of the 'digital divide.' Millenials (of which I am one) were born and raised alongside the explosion of digital technologies, and so we are (ideally) better-suited to operate within the expectations that labor-saving technologies create. However, this article and my own experience attest to the fact that reality is of course much more complicated. With the ability to research umpteen-million things a minute comes the ability to waste alarming amounts of time looking at irrelevant information (how many times this week have you played jumped between 'related articles' on Wikipedia?). More important is the fact that classing all 'millenials' within a certain technological aptitude denies the fact that not everyone is equally capable when engaging with the digital world.

The digital divide is so interesting to me because I resisted fully engaging with digital technologies for a long time, preferring instead to work with paper-and-glue books and strongly identifying myself within more traditional academic models. While I think some of the notions behind what makes a 'quality' academic career have merit (such as publishing in peer-reviewed journals, after all I edit one!), I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my friends in my department for showing me all the opportunities that digital technologies offer us as academics and educators, especially in terms of access. For example, publishing in open access journals allows scholars to share well-done research with others, even those who can not afford prohibitive paper or web-based journal subscriptions. It is great to see these sorts of ideals being embraced in everything from publishing to music. That being said, there is still a lot of privilege inherent in digital technology that is a large component of the 'digital divide.' This privilege exists in age (as a twentysomething, I am way more comfortable using my computer as a tool than my grandparents), as well as income and education.

For more on the digital divide and teaching special needs students, I definitely recommend Lauren's recent post "The Digital Divide and Library School Students."

Email and "Oral History" Interviews

2010-07-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

I recently submitted an article entitled "E-mail as a Medium for 'Oral History:' A Personal Account" (it's under review at the moment). Basically I conducted a personal history interview using e-mail, and I wanted to compare that experience with that of recording an oral history interview in the traditional way. One thing that really excited me is that these interviews are already digitized (although obviously there isn't a digital audio component), which could save libraries money on creating digital copies of interviews (a theory that only works, of course, if a lot of interviews are done this way and then gifted to libraries. Otherwise the effect would be negligible).

There were a couple things that I pondered on a bit during the course of the research, but that weren't necessarily within the scope of the paper (which was written for a diverse audience that might not be terribly interested in the more technical details of the work).

1. The first obstacle I ran into in my own work was how to organize the e-mails. The interviewee would tend to type a few short responses to a question, but they would be in separate e-mails throughout the day as he remembered more about an event. I wanted to organize them by subject, but worried this classification would have caused these e-mails to become separated. Right now, they are organized by date, where I can look at the string of responses, although that makes it hard to find specific pieces of information. Eventually, I would like to take the e-mails and copy them into more of a 'transcript' format, which can then be a text-searchable document, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

2. Privacy concerns were something else I grappled with. Obviously, there's a level of confidentiality you need to respect when working with interviewees: you don't, for example, want to reveal their real names without their express permission. One thing that really excites me about this type of interview is how easily we can share the contents of those interviews. For example, posting an interview online would be especially easy and would allow others to more easily access historical information from that person's vantage point than they otherwise might. What I wonder about is how to balance the desire to share history with the desire to protect privacy. How do we navigate the need to ask permission before sharing information with the fact that such information can be so easily copied, pasted, linked to, etc. once it's online?

3. I also feel like this format is constrained by being accessible only to interviewees with a certain level of privilege. For example, e-mail is not a practical solution for interviewing elders who might not own, or know how to use, a computer. Similarly, people living in poverty may not own computers, and it may be prohibitive to go to a public space with free internet (i.e. rural users trying to access the local public library, particularly if they have to buy gas/bus fare to make an extra trip there). However, I've discovered it's a great way to conduct an interview with someone who is hearing impaired but still has decent vision. It's also great for people who don't have much time to devote to the interview process. I guess with any format there will be those who it privileges more than others, but it's still a useful thought exercise.

The Inaugural Post!

2010-07-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hello world!

This is the first post of my research blog, where I'll chat about the latest developments in my research, especially those tidbits that are interesting but perhaps not relevant to the final published articles.

My biggest project I'm working on right now is my thesis, which I'm defending in December. I'm researching Iowa libraries during World War I, and talking about how libraries during this time changed policy/removed materials in order to better align themselves with the sentiment of the time (which was not so favorable toward German-Americans, of which there are many in Iowa). What I'm doing that I'm particularly excited about is looking at the administrative records from the libraries (board meeting minutes, finding lists, etc) so I can get the libraries' view of what happened and try to determine a motive behind their decisions. So far I've visited Iowa City, Mt. Pleasant, Burlington, Davenport, Dubuque, and gotten records scanned and sent to me from Council Bluffs. I still have to visit Cedar Rapids, Wellman, Ottumwa, and Waverly. I was hoping to visit more, but time/money constraints mean that I probably will not get to!

I've noticed a couple trends that are not *at all* relevant to my thesis topic but that I'm really fascinated by. The first is that in most of these places, it seems like the librarian ends up leaving their job soon after the war (1919 or 1920). No idea why--a lot of the resignation letters don't reveal much, but it's an interesting trend.

The other thing I love looking at is how the libraries responded to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918. Most were closed for at least a couple weeks, and in a couple cases they burned materials from infected households. This is eventually going to turn into a separate research project after I go through all the records, so keep your eyes peeled for more information as my work progresses.