LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Danielle Dreger-Babbitt reports in the Examiner.com that being a librarian is one of the top 30 professions in the coming year (she has been in the field for 13 years). It ranks up there with physical therapist, veterinarian, and pharmacist. It has been on the list for several years now and it's no wonder why: it's a pretty awesome job.

Librarianship is an underrated career. Most librarians love helping patrons solve their problems and, in the process, learning new things. Librarians may also go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They may even get to put on performances, like children's puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders. On top of it all, librarians' work environment is usually pleasant and the work hours reasonable, although you may have to work nights and/or weekends. The job market for special librarians is good but is sluggish for public and school librarians. Nevertheless, persistent sleuthing—that key attribute of librarians—should enable good candidates to prevail.

Bestselling writer Neale Donald Walsch, the author of the Conversations With God series admitted to copying a story from another author. The story, posted on Beliefnet.com, was about his son's kindergarten winter show where a bunch of kids were holding up signs with letters on them to spell "Christmas Love" but one child's sign was upside down so it looked like "Christ Was Love."

But that wasn't his son, and it wasn't his story. He wrote it, verbatim, from a story that someone else wrote and published.

Walsch now claims that he read the story and his mind came to accept that it was something from his own personal experiences.

Yeah. The original author, Candy Chand, whose story was published online and in Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul doesn't believe that either. "Quite frankly, I’m not buying it.” she says. Her real fear is that so many people have heard of and read Neale Walsch, they're going to think that the story is his.

Dave Rosenberg wrote at CNET's blogs about a new tool for Twitter. CoTweet is a tool in private beta. CoTweet reportedly allows for greater ease in multiple users tweeting from the same Twitter account. Such may have implications for libraries that plan to use Twitter as part of their outreach.

It is my pleasure to announce that the production audio engineer for LISTen, Michael J. Kellat, was re-elected tonight to the board of directors of the Guitar Society of Las Vegas for a one-year term. The next board of directors meeting will determine whether he remains an Events Director for the society.

N.B.: This is tagged under features. Questions are posed in this posting so as to help stimulate discussion. Reader discretion is cheerfully encouraged.

David Lee King wrote recently pondering Ask-A-Librarian services online and if they require a reboot. With the launch of Mahalo Answers, as discussed recently on the podcast, there may be a commercial endeavor to watch. An example of a question thread at that commercial endeavor can be found here.

David Lee King took a look at taxpayer-subsidized answers services. Mahalo Answers is a commercial answers service that has venture capital rather than tax dollars behind it. Metaphorically speaking, what features from services like Mahalo Answers could be adapted and have their serial numbers filed off for use in libraries? What could librarians contribute in the other direction?

Book was mentioned on LISNEWS on Feb 18, 2008.

Story at USA Today
Tech thriller 'Daemon' rises from the underground

Excerpt from article:
You may never have heard of Daemon author Leinad Zeraus, but get ready to hear a lot about Daemon author Daniel Suarez.
A computer systems consultant and fan of computer games, Suarez self-published his debut techno thriller in 2006 using a pseudonym he created by reversing the spellings of his first and last names.

Thanks to Daemon's growing underground popularity with techies and bloggers, followed by an April 2008 Wired magazine article about Daemon's snowballing fan base, Suarez got a two-book contract with a major New York publishing house. Dutton will publish Daemon on Thursday.

Blog entry about a 2 cent book that qualifies for FREE Super Saver Shipping. Can be used to raise a $24.99 DVD or book to $25 to qualify for free shipping.

Last Chance! I'll be posting the list for 2009 soon!

What blogs do you read every day? What blogs help you learn? What blogs keep you informed? What blogs make you laugh? Who's the best writer out there?

Think of it this way... 'I read many others, but these are the LIS blogs that read even when time is short'

Your list doesn't need to be complete or fair. I'm looking for input from as many people as possible so the final list doesn't miss anyone new or overlooked. My goal again this year, 10 blogs that, when followed as a group, paint a complete picture of what's going on in our little world.

Before your nominate, take a look at past winners, they aren't eligible for 2009:

10 Blogs To Read in 2006
http://www.lisnews.org/node/17775

10 Blogs To Read In 2007
http://www.lisnews.org/node/20341

The LISNews 10 Blogs To Read In 2008
http://lisnews.org/node/28830

You can leave a comment below, hit the contact form, or Send Me An Email.

Yesterday, January 6, 2009, was the swearing in of the newly-elected members of the House and Senate on the Hill, and I was fortunate to be in attendance. [ed-my son works for a U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania].

It was a marathon day of visiting the Nation's Capitol and the Capitol Building, along with the beautiful old Thomas Jefferson Building (the original home, photo below) of the Library of Congress. I attended a function in room LJ119 (appropriated named the "Librarian's Reception Room") and also saw the Main Reading Room and other portions of the magnificent Library. A few facts:

1. The LOC is the world's largest repository of knowledge and creativity with more than 142 million items in its collection.

2. The Library is spread over three buildings on Capitol Hill. The Thomas Jefferson Building (1897) is the original separate Library of Congress building; it was not named the Jefferson Building until 1980. The John Adams Building was built in 1938 and the James Madison Memorial Building was completed in 1981.

3. The Library is also the home of the U.S. Copyright Office and several other governmental archives.

4. The Library offers print materials in 470 languages.

It's the question every parent dreads. "Mommy, what's a collateralized debt obligation?" Who wants to be outed as an ignoramus by a kid? But with economic news blanketing the airwaves, such conversations are becoming almost impossible to avoid. Perhaps we should update children's books in time for the holidays.

Goodnight, Citigroup: a short poem of rescue promises from a little treasury secretary trying to keep the economy from falling into a deep slumber.

You can watch it here, good stuff.

In this revealing documentary, Stephen Fry investigates the story of one of the most important machines ever invented - the Gutenberg Press.

The printing press was the world's first mass-production machine. Its invention in the 1450s changed the world as dramatically as splitting the atom or sending men into space, sparking a cultural revolution that shaped the modern age. It is the machine that made us who we are today.

Stephen's investigation combines historical detective work and a hands-on challenge. He travels to France and Germany on the trail of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press and early media entrepreneur. Along the way he discovers the lengths Gutenberg went to keep his project secret, explores the role of avaricious investors and unscrupulous competitors, and discovers why printing mattered so much in medieval Europe.

But to really understand the man and his machine, Stephen gets his hands dirty - assembling a team of craftsmen and helping them build a working replica of Gutenberg's original press. He learns how to make paper the 15th-century way and works as an apprentice in a metal foundry in preparation for the experiment to put the replica press through its paces. Can Stephen's modern-day team match the achievement of Gutenberg's medieval craftsmen?

Stark challenges lie ahead for higher education budgets and university endowments. Still, there is room for optimism, as well, with emerging technology, glorious new library buildings, and quickly changing attitudes regarding scholarly communication.

We kick off the LJ Academic Newswire’s 10th Anniversary year with our list of the top ten stories of 2008, in two parts, and the potential for these stories to make even more news in the coming months.

#1: Georgia State University Sued by Publishers over E-Reserves

This is the post I never wanted to write. I have to be upfront though. I failed.

The Consumer Electronics Show is starting Wednesday. The crew is located in the Las Vegas Valley. For the various locations in Paradise Township that CES will be occurring at, we're just a thirty minute drive away.

The only thing stopping us from getting in is the lack of a media badge. Supposedly this is the easiest event to get a badge for. LISTen could not be badged for this one.

What held us back? The biggest problem is the definition of "professional journalist". That definition doesn't hinge on a degree. It hinges on being paid.

CES is rather restrictive when it comes to their defining journalistic activity. That we are not paid actually hurts us severely. I try very hard to maintain as much as is feasible the correct forms of production that would be found in any radio station you might encounter. As far as CES is concerned, that is all for naught because we're not funded.

I had an ambitious operation planned. Other players won't subsume us into their operations because they see us as equals. While it is a great honor to be considered colleagues the problem is that it restricts us heavily in keeping our operation funded. We were going to hold accreditation for two outlets to help ensure we got past the problems Gawker Media created last year.

When CES kicks off Wednesday morning, we won't be there. There are consequences to people's actions. Being so close yet so operationally far away irks me mightily as I have already complained on Twitter.

Not having the operation funded has been problematic when trying to get doors opened. This has hindered us in getting some interviews. Some events are such that we cannot get in the door due to having no funding. Contrary to perceptions by most librarians, trying to run something like this expense-free is not feasible. We got lucky getting in the door at BlogWorldExpo because originally they wouldn't even approve me while they did approve the podcast's engineer. Some fancy footwork and excellent negotiating got me in to the show.

I watched the numbers on BlogWorldExpo and New Media Expo carefully. This is the kind of stuff librarians like to hear. As a consequence of lacking funding, you'll have to suffice with generalist views of tech on display at CES rather than having an MLS attempt to apply it to operational realities.

I'm sorry. I tried. In this case, you literally got what you paid for...and that annoys me heavily...

The Beedle the Bard collectors edition was limited to 100,00 copies. Over Christmas the book sold out. On the second hand market the price spiked to $300 and $400 dollars. Amazon held back some copies so that if copies were damaged in transit they had replacements. Amazon has listed these held back copies and the price is back down to $100.

An interesting study was commissioned by the British library and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) identify how specialist researchers of the future, currently in their school years and preschool years are likely to access and interact with digital resources in 5-10 years time. Additionally, the study is to assist library and information services to anticipate and react to any new or emerging behaviors in the most effective way.
The report defines the "Google Generation" as those born after 1993.
The study was to establish whether or not as a result of digital transition, the "Google" generation are searching for and researching content in new ways; and whether it is likely to mold their future behaviors as mature researchers. Additionally, whether or not,new ways of searching content will be any different from the way researchers & scholars carry out their work.
Moreover,research libraries face a great deal of challenges today in the digital marketplace. Today, they're adjusting to facebook.
Additionally,the study found the the "Google" generation and information literacy of young people,has not improved even with more access to technology. Young people spend little time evaluating information. Young people have poor understanding of their information needs. As a result, they exhibit a strong performance for expressing themselves in natural language rather than analyzing which key words might be more effective/
Finally the study suggests that print sales will diminish drastically as blogs, RSS,media players, and podcasting devices become established.

An interesting study was [PDF] commissioned by the British library and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) identify how specialist researchers of the future, currently in their school years and preschool years are likely to access and interact with digital resources in 5-10 years time. Additionally, the study is to assist library and information services to anticipate and react to any new or emerging behaviors in the most effective way.

The report defines the "Google Generation" as those born after 1993.

The study was to establish whether or not as a result of digital transition, the "Google" generation are searching for and researching content in new ways; and whether it is likely to mold their future behaviors as mature researchers. Additionally, whether or not,new ways of searching content will be any different from the way researchers & scholars carry out their work.

Moreover,research libraries face a great deal of challenges today in the digital marketplace. Today, they're adjusting to facebook..

Additionally,the study found the the "Google" generation and information literacy of young people,has not improved even with more access to technology. Young people spend little time evaluating information. Young people have poor understanding of their information needs. As a result, they exhibit a strong performance for expressing themselves in natural language rather than analyzing which key words might be more effective/

Carnegie Mellon joins a growing number of campuses whose libraries are keeping themselves relevant in the laptop age by running at least part of their operation round-the-clock and by making other changes to the services they offer. Persistent urging from students unhappy with a 3 a.m. closing time persuaded the staff of Hunt Library to experiment in the fall with leaving its basement and first floor open, Dr. St. Clair said. Hunt, like other college libraries, already operated 24 hours during final exams. Nationwide, the share of campuses boasting all-night libraries is growing, though it's hard without specific data. Read more at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09004/939526-298.stm

Heidi Lee Hoerman, an instructor in the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina, has started a new blog. Future4catalogers is a blog attempting to look at what is coming in the disciplinary realm of bibliographic control. The blog was announced Monday on AUTOCAT.

Safelibraries sent over a link to List of commercial games released as freeware that could be useful for libraries looking to build some gaming resources for cheap. Commercial games released as freeware are games that, in their original license, were not considered freeware, but were re-released at a later date with a freeware license, sometimes as publicity for a forthcoming sequel or compilation release.

With the start of a new year, I have to make a call for suggestions on authors to interview. A thread has been opened at the Erie Looking Productions site for this. Why there? Disqus lets me export comments to Comma Separated Values which I can then import into a spreadsheet program and create a tracker. Tracking down authors for interviews can sometimes be tricky which is why such a bit of case management is needed.

Some of our previous author interviews:
Piers Anthony
David Weber