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June 29, 2006

Why I love Inc. Magazine

I turned 13 on Dec. 4, 1970. I spent most of my formative years during the 1970's. It was an age of mixed messages and contradictions. Big business was not cool but, most of my college classmates studied accounting. So my declaration that I love INC. Magazine maybe a little shocking (gasp). I also adore the Harvard Business Review. (Gasp! Gasp!)
Here is why.

In the July 2006 issue of Inc. there is a great article on p. 55, about really listening to your customers and truly adapting to their needs. On page 61of the same issue is an exciting article about the "Five New Technologies That Will Change the Way You Do Business". The five are:

* Robot Assistant (android) by 2016- a Japan based company produces a recptioist that looks like Hello Kitty and another business hopes to robot police on the street in 5 years

* Voice Recognition by 2012- "the fact is, machines won't be truly integratedinto our livesuntil we can talk to them...Look at what Google is up to. The company recently secured a patent for a voice controlled search engine."

*Proactive Computers by 2010-"software that takes note of our behavior and surroundings and puts it to use...your PC might get you what you need before you even think to ask

*Holography by2011 - "why waste so much time on travel if you can place a 3-D version right into the offices of your prospects or your regional employees at a moment's notice."

*Flexi-screens by 2009 - "How about an entire wall that is one big screen? Or a 14-inch computer display that can roll-up enough to fit in your coat pocket? Or a small display that's so inexpensive, you'll be able to place on on the box of every widget you sell." (Could add new meaning to "talking books")

I can see an application in libraries for each of these and a challenge to all librarians. If I were a newly minted librarian, I would be beating down Googles door. Librarians have valuable skills they can apply to the development of these technologies.

But, back to even more great stuff inside the covers of INC. Magazine. On the bottom of p.32 is an inset box that discusses how some companies are hiring top level executives to write their blogs. A great example of guerilla marketing can be found on p. 102. Then on page 94 is a discussion of the Topos Router, "The magic of the box occurs when you mount it on a lamppost. Install 30 of them per square mile, and you've created a wireless network that can transmit data all over a city." There is more,so much more in each issue. Go to teh periodicals section of your library and peruse this magazine. You will find at least one idea you can use in your library.

Just wait until the next Harvard Business Review comes out.

Posted by anna at 1:20 PM | Comments (0)

June 28, 2006

In Shakespeare's stomping grounds, libraries face cuts

Interesting article that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor about the closing of public libraries in a cost cutting move...Lessons for all of us.

If you can't link to the article above, you might try this link: http://tinyurl.com/ouvsx

Posted by anna at 5:50 PM | Comments (0)

June 26, 2006

Surviving in a New Environment

This years work theme for NSLS is "The Future of Libraries." Our goal will be to introduce or members to new trends in leadership, customer service, and technology by providing our members with onlilne and face-to-face formats for discussion, highlighting best practices and professional development classes. The concepts of content, body of work, and authorship and which formats they are delivered in seems to be one of the challenges that are facing libraries but also other industries.

My ex who works for a newspaper constantly talks about the future of that industry. In a recent article that appeared in The Huffington Post,the concerns of the advertising industry are discussed. They are worried about how to keep "hip" and relevant in a world where people have increasingly more power over the content they receive. In other words, how do you make people want to see your ads when there are so many other video clips, podcasts and other forms of media vying for the consumers attention. I think libraries are in a similar boat.

Librarians must decide how to nurture the traditional goals and services of the public library while embracing and engaging in new methods of delivery of content. Reaching out to where our public is and keeping it relevant to them is a neccessity. I think the edges of the definition of "content" will continue to blur between different formats, methods of delivery and authorship. We know we have Wikipedia but, we also have sites like YouTube.com as competition/partners/sources in content production.

YouTube.com is especially interesting in its blend of commercial and amatuer works. I think it makes both categories a little sexier to the viewer. It makes the amatuers seem a little more professional and the commercial seem a little edgier with an underground/indie vibe. I suggest that libraries take advantage of these venues to do a little guerilla marketing. Wouldn't it be cool if ALA or ILA could produce some "subversive clips" to promote the profession and our institutions? ...Just a thought.

The Huffington Post

http://tinyurl.com/gdx6e

Ad Festival: The Rise of the Creatives

More from the Cannes Advertising Festival:

Advertising people love to boil a concept down to its essence, the memorable catch phrase that captures the heart and soul of a product.
Think "Got Milk".

The prevailing theme of this year's festival is: "Got a Future?"

Everyone here is talking about how the ad world needs to recreate advertising in a way that will embrace new technologies and engage the new breed of consumers who are more and more likely to be found getting their content on the web, on their cellphones, watching video games, or listening to their iPods.

It's the subject of panels (like the one today featuring Viacom CEO Tom Freston on how traditional media companies are responding to the ever-fragmenting audience) and of private conversations throughout Cannes.

A point everyone seems to agree on is the need for advertisers to make their output more compelling. "In the old days, you could run crap, and it was inescapable," said David Lubars, chief creative officer of BBDO, North America. Today's consumers have unprecedented choices, "so you have to convince them why it's worth their precious time to engage with your brand..."

One of the ways the big agencies are responding to the challenge is by elevating and empowering the creative people in their companies so they're not smothered by the money people.

For instance, Bob Jeffrey, CEO of JWT has made Craig Davis, JWT's Chief Creative Officer, his partner in running the agency. It's the first time the ad giant has put its worldwide head of creative on equal footing with the top business guy.

At a cocktail party hosted by WPP (parent company of JWT, Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam, and many others), the company's chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, said that he'd only invited the creative heads of his ad agencies. "They're the ones who are gong to figure out how we can compete in the new world of multiple platforms.
If you want to know what I worry about, it's that: can we reinvent ourselves?"

While he spoke, Sir Martin was flanked by Neil "The Godfather"
French, the former worldwide creative director of WPP who resigned after making disparaging comments about female ad execs, and Robyn Putter, French's replacement.

Despite the controversy -- which centered around French's (he says
joking) comment that women ad execs with families were "crap" because they can't commit to their jobs 100% -- the flamboyant ad elder statesman was clearly not persona non gratis among the WPP crowd. One of the WPP faithful was explaining to Michael Patrick King and me that French's comments had been taken out of context by a blogger who'd been in the audience when he made them.

"Oh, those pesky bloggers!" I said.

"Let's rename the Internet 'Busted'," King fired back, "since everyone will be busted on something they've said or done sooner or later."

Discussing his role as worldwide creative director of WPP, Robyn Putter told me that the best ad campaigns "go beyond embracing a big idea and embrace a big ideal." As examples, he pointed to Dove's award-winning ads featuring real women comfortable in their own skin, and the far-more controversial campaigns for BP, which highlight the company's openness to alternative energy sources. Putter was very aware of the charges from some environmental groups that the ads were an attempt to "greenwash" the oil company. "For the campaign to ultimately work," he said, "the company will have to live up to the campaign's ideals."

The more people I talked to, the more clear it became that we really were witnessing the Rise of the Creatives. At one point I found myself surrounded by Putter, the worldwide creative head of WPP, Craig Davis, worldwide creative head of JWT, the creative head of JWT, London, and a few other creative heads from around the world.

As Michael Patrick King put it: "It's like a beehive of creative heads!"

Posted by anna at 3:28 PM | Comments (0)

Netspeed 2006--Looking at the Future

I spotted this very interesting conference on DIG-REF. I especially like the part about "the opportunity to investigate and explore emerging technologies." Another interesting feature is the discussion of the OCLC study. Sounds like it might be worth checking out, the announcement follows...

Please join us in Edmonton, Alberta this October for the annual Netspeed conference, hosted by The Alberta Library. Netspeed 2006 will be held at the Crown Plaza - Chateau Lacombe, October 18-20. Netspeed is the preeminent annual technical conference in Alberta and is designed for decision-makers, librarians, technical staff and trustees. Netspeed provides information to help library staff work effectively with current technology in libraries and the opportunity to investigate and explore emerging technologies.

We are pleased to present a an outstanding selection of breakout sessions, a wide array of exhibitors, and the following plenary sessions:

* Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources: Results of an OCLC Study.
Catherine de Rosa, VP, Marketing and Library Services, OCLC

* Using Collections to Make Connections: Social Software Initiatives for Libraries Beth Jefferson, Founder, BiblioCommons

* Innovation and Automation: The Georgia PINES Project David Singleton and Julie Walker, Georgia Public Library

The 2006 brochure is available from our website at http://www.thealbertalibrary.ab.ca.
Early bird deadline is September 8, 2006 and advance registrations are encouraged!

Christine Bourchier
The Alberta Library
#6-14, #7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB T5J 2V5
cbourchier@thealbertalibrary.ab.ca

---

Posted by anna at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

June 22, 2006

Tech, Net and Pop Culture

Continuing with some of the ideas I tried to present in my post "Batman vs. Superman" about the future of media and how it will be an interesting melange of print, online, graphic, word and live action here is a very interesting article that was posted on The Filter, a publication of the Berkman Center for the Internet & Society at the Harvard Law School. Libraries need to find their place in this heady mix while safeguarding access. The article says it all and much better than I can.

Tech Mandates, Net Neutrality, and Pop Culture [the-filter] June 2006
-- by Wendy Seltzer

Popular culture is no longer just what is broadcast by the major networks. Even as the networks incorporate members of the general public into their "reality" shows, even more of those average Joes and Janes are also creating their own programming and sharing it online. Nearly 50 million of them are writing for web pages or weblogs, sharing photos or videos, or creating podcasts, according to a new Pew Internet and American Life report. The public is reading the public, as well as the broadcast tastemakers.

What has spurred this outpouring of public-created culture? The availability of new tools that put creative power into the hands of more amateurs, of broadband networking that lets them share their creations with others, and of general-purpose computers that allow them to watch their friends' and strangers' creations alongside those of commercial publishers.

Many of these capabilities, which the Berkman Center's Jonathan Zittrain groups as "generativity," are happy accidents. As Wintel urges people to replace almost-new computers with newer models fast enough to cope with the latest and greatest operating system, some find that beyond spell-checking documents at lightning speed, they can now edit photographs and video clips. The Internet connection one might have bought to catch up with e-mail after leaving the office becomes a vector not just for reading the latest re-forwarded joke, but also Yahoo!'s version of the news and Daily Kos's, and perhaps, for adding one's own spin by adding blog commentary or editing a Wikipedia entry. The white-box PC has room for software that makes it a web browser, news reader, media player, and audio/video-editing studio (if you bought a Mac, it might come with that pre-installed). People who don't know they need generative capacity become creative audiences once they get it as a byproduct.

Yet just as the creative potential of the formerly passive audience is coming into its own, it is under threat. To protect old-style business models, big entertainment companies are pressing technology manufacturers to limit the capabilities of their machines, using licensing deals and threats to withhold media content. They are asking broadband providers to help in ferreting out users sharing movies or music. Not stopping with the laws of code or markets, the publishers are asking Congress for new laws: broadcast flags, "analog hole" closure, and stricter penalties for circumvention of digital rights management.

But digital editing and conversion technology is dual-use. Copying "Lost" might be infringement, or it might be a political statement, mixing the mysterious island footage with that of a bumbling political leadership. (Last election, TrueMajority urged voters to "fire" President George W. Bush, in a commercial that remixed clips of Donald Trump on "The Apprentice," .) If entertainment companies get their wishes, new hardware and software won't be able to generate that kind of statement.

Broadband providers haven't shown themselves to be great friends to users either, saying they want to charge twice for access to bandwidth rather than giving users neutral access to the network. Their dream Internet looks a lot like the cell phone network -- content and contracts available from just a few places, with a payment at every click.

Before we let them snuff out the sparks of popular creativity, we should remind the entertainers in Hollywood, the network operators, and their friends in Congress that the same public who can make them popular can make them unpopular and send them home again.

LINKS:

* PEW Internet and American Life Report, "Home Broadband Adoption 2006":

* Jonathan Zittrain, "The Generative Internet":

* Jonathan Zittrain's Inaugural Lecture at Oxford University, "The
Future of the Internet - and How to Stop It":


Source :filter-editor@cyber.law.harvard.edu

Posted by anna at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2006

Do You Serve a Higher Purpose?

Today, I was feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by all of the changes that have already occurred in our profession and all of the ones yet to come. I probably have at least another 20 years still ahead of me in the world of work. Sometimes, I wonder if I can be smart enough, adaptable enough and visionary enough to survive. I have been in the field for 23 years and may have that many more years to go and I occasionally feel a crisis in confidence.

Working with a dynamo like Sarah Long, who is always bring us new ideas and concepts for services,often, I feel very humbled and awed by what others in the profession are doing. At times like this, I find myself doing that middle-aged thing of asking "What am I doing here and is there anything that makes me special?" In the midst of this a co-worker handed me a book that Sarah had shared with her. It is entitled Sacred Stacks: The Higher Purpose of Libraries and Librarianship by Nancy Kaliko Maxwell.

Ms. Maxwell, who is Jewish, was inspired to write this book after the third person in one day referred to her as "Sister", mistaking her for a nun. Granted she works at a library in a Catholic university but, some people were still making an interesting assumption. She was especially impressed by a conversation she overheard between a nun and an agnostic co-worker. The nun stated "Everything I do is an offering up to God." The agnostic librarian responded "I know exactly what you mean. I feel the same way. I can't describe it, because I am not sure I even believe in God. But at the reference desk, I feel like I am offering my work up to Something or Somebody beyond myself....In the library I feel I am serving some greater purpose."

I blush to say it but, this really struck a chord with me. I am not the type of person who feels comfortable discussing my religious or spiritual beliefs in the work environment but, I guess I am a member of the Librarian Sect of Sacred Secular Knowledge. (Yes, I am looking into tax exempt status.) While I do not agree with everything in this book, I did find this brief nine chapter, 156 page book a balm for my soul and my book spines.

It is a great light read that provides ideas and thoughts that will stay with you and provide you with many hours of contemplation.

This book was great at snapping me back into shape. Being a lilbrarian isn't really about me or how good I am, it is about putting the skills that I do have to use for the greater good and helping people. The message I came away with is enjoy sharing the knowledge and talents one possesses and relish how even your simplest acts can help others. Can I get an AMEN?

Posted by anna at 2:55 PM | Comments (0)

Run your fingers through Shakespeare

Google has a really cool Google beta site up that provides "The complete plays of Shakespeare. Now at your fingertips. " Very interesting but I can't help but notice the "Buy this Book" option.

http://books.google.com/googlebooks/shakespeare/

Posted by anna at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2006

Barnes & Noble University

Barnes & Noble has a B&N University that has free online classes (like a Simplify Your Life class and a Web class, for example) as well as online reading groups led by authors or moderators.

These might be interesting to attend and check-out if any of the ideas can be "borrowed" for our libraries. I know some libraries do online book discussions, etc. I think these might make interesting podcasts as well as interactive online sessions.

Posted by anna at 3:49 PM | Comments (0)

Superman vs. Batman: Who Wins? Libraries do!

Like many people in her age group (she is 17,) my daughter wants to become an author and or illustrator of graphic novels and comics. This is a serious commitment on her part and she has done a phenomenal amount of research into the history and possible future of this art form. Over the years we have had deep conversations regarding who is the best superhero, Batman or Superman. My daughter has always been firmly in the Man of Steel's camp while I like hanging with the Bat. We have also discussed the Marvel vs. DC Universes and American vs. Japanese Animation. To her this is just as important as any discussion about Chekov vs. Tolstoy or Confederate vs. Union Armies in the American Civil War.

Manga, anime, comics, cartoons, graphic novels, and all of the online versions of these formats are touchstones and cultural icons for my daughters generation. Libraries have been paying notice to the popularity of this genre but we need to pay even more attention. What does this mean for future reading formats? Heck, what does it mean to the entire entertainment field?

My daughter has shared with me several very funny cartoons that have been created, posted and viewed in an online format. What happens when the book and the online world collides? I think it is the graphic novel. Here is what my daughter has to say about it:

The Future of Graphic Novels

One of the oldest and often undervalued forms of story telling is undergoing a major change. The future for this art is an uncertain one, clouded by misunderstanding. The future of comics and comic books is one that no one can guess, the recent rise in popularity being counter balanced by the notion that comic books are lower forms of literature and art. With such prejudice against comic books, it is amazing that they have lasted this long. So it is that we will look at comic books in the present and try to glimpse the future that awaits them.
In the 2001 Guardian First Book Award, a lone comic book stood out among the nine contestants. Not like the usual contender whose daunting blocks of black and white type which made them formidable foes for Chris Ware’s colorful work of art, Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth. Although it won a single vote, it was a great accomplishment considering that ...(more)

Ware expressed his story in such a seemingly unorthodox format. However, is a serious story told by using visual images such an unorthodox approach? No, there are many great works of literature that are told with real images instead of words. Words may weave a pretty picture but a picture is worth a thousand words.
Despite the accomplishments of a few comic book writers, there is a persistent feeling that comic books are not anything more than entertainment for children. Even some cartoonists feel that comics should not be given respect as a form of literature. Political cartoonist Martin Rowson was so opposed to comics becoming more respectable that he had this to say, “Comics aren’t and shouldn’t be respectable. The closest they should come to the adult world is as a kind of foul-mouthed, filthy-minded and grubby adolescence.” (Literature’s Mutant Sister…) The way comics are often viewed today would lead one to believe that Rowson is right about comics. He is wrong. Comic books have a potential for telling stories that can match and even sometimes surpass classic forms of literature.
For true comic book fans the recognition that comic books are getting is truly exhilarating. No longer must we hang our heads in shame when we admit that we read comic books, chances are the person we are talking to reads them as well. I enjoy comic books because they have interesting story lines but don’t require hours to read. I can get almost any genre of comic book I want.
It is surprising how many genres there are in the comic book world, normally we would just think that there is only fiction, but that is not true. Comic books come in just as many genres as normal novels. For instance there is a graphic biography of the life of Martin Luther King called King, by Ho Che Anderson. There is a story called Maus which won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize, it is based on the experiences of the author’s (Art Speigleman) father in Europe during World War II and his relation ship with his father. There are even adaptations of classic books written by authors like Oscar Wilde, Upton Sinclair, Franz Kafka, and more.
Adaptations of classic books often gain something when translated into the comic book formats. Many educators are starting to realize that comic books are equal to their imageless brothers. The prejudice against comic books works in favor of the teachers bold enough to defy convention and give their students the chance to learn in a way that appeals to them. Comic books appear to require no brain power to read and are therefore not as threatening to reluctant readers. The fact that comic books don’t have long tedious descriptions of the settings and characters makes reading comics much faster than reading a novel. Thus the student can get the sense of accomplishment from finishing a book without the mind numbing process of mulling over thousands of useless words.
More conservative educators still are not convinced. They feel that the old ways of forcing children to read are still better than the more subtle approach that makes them want to read. They feel that comic books would bring down the quality of there lessons, even though books for children just learning to read can resemble comic books, with juxtaposed images telling a story. However, comic books do not mean that education is being sacrificed; after all there are just as many genres of comic books as there are novels.
We live in an age when more and more children are showing traits and skills common among those with autism. The skills used in reading a comic book such as interpreting nonverbal gestures and the emotions of characters exercises the part of the brain that is not used when children sit at home and instant message there friends. In other words when children read comic books, they are being saved from unnatural autism by using the part of the brain that picks up on human emotions.
Comic books are one of the most difficult forms of storytelling to comprehend because not only does it require that the reader take in the emotions of the characters, but the reader must also be able to tell the passage of time from one panel to the next and make conclusions about what happened in between the panels. The reader fills in the entire world; the smell, the sounds, the movements, even the elusive flow of time. Thus the reader is creating a three dimensional world out of a two dimensional image, all in the magic space between images. In this respect comics are unique, no other art form, verbal or otherwise, can ever involve the reader as much as comics do.
This level of involvement is what children love the most about comics. Comics appeal to students who learn visually, and may have a hard time reading books. The sooner teachers realize what a gold mine they have in comic books the sooner children will realize that reading doesn’t have to be the humiliating and boring process that many think it is.
Libraries have long used comic books to hook readers. Libraries use campaigns like “Manga Mania” to attract teens, especially male patrons. In fact many librarians have gained knowledge about comic books superior to most book stores. In fact, many publishers use the library to build fan bases. Libraries often have a collection of comic books that can rival many book stores with the possible exception of a comic book store. One librarian I interviewed about comic books told me “I think they’re (comic books) a fresh approach to genres, a natural extension to the computer age. We have a generation that grew up playing computer games and this is a more mature expression of that.”
As almost any librarian will tell you the teen years are the years when children stop going to the library. The library is no longer the cool place to go; I think that’s mostly due to the fact that in your teen years you’re a little too old to play in the children’s section. Having a graphic novel section is one way of keeping teens hooked on the library. Comic books are typically the most checked out books in the library. I myself often check out more comic books than I can hold.
Reading comic books give teens a place to escape to and make them feel like an individual. Manga are particularly good for this. Manga are Japanese comic books that read from right to left. This is a pleasant break from the left to right world we live in.
Comic books have other siblings besides literature. Television and movies are also closely related to comic books. Most of the time we think of cartoons as being related to comic books, and they are very closely related.
These fraternal twins often cross over into each others formats, with TV shows being made into cine-Manga (comic books that use actual film shots in the panels) and comic books being made into TV shows. It’s not such a far leap from watching shows based on comic books to really reading comic books, and many teens, like me, are making the leap.
And cartoons are not the only genre of television that is related to comic books; slowly comic books have crept into live action TV. First, with shows that were based on comic books like the Superman series of the 1950’s. Then slowly comics started to influence other TV shows, ones not based on comic books. Slowly the influence of comic books spread till now it seems like every show that’s not so called “reality TV” is in some way influenced by comic books.
Hollywood is also being influenced by comic books. Originally, cartoons were just “shorts” shown before movies, now there are movies based on comic books. Thus Hollywood is taking comic books out of the closet, polishing them up and thrusting them back into the spotlight of American pop culture hoping that they will shine. Even movies not based on comic books are feeling the effects. Fight scenes featuring hyper-reality, slow motion effects are the place where the hand of comic books can be seen most clearly.
Movies and TV shows are not the only thing that comic books are branching into, there are many comic books based on games. People who love a certain video game will often buy the comic books based on the game. The comic books often expand on the world of the game and make the person who reads them feel more involved in the game. One of the biggest disappointments in my life is that they do not print the Manga based on my favorite game in English.
One of my favorite pastimes is going online and reading the comics based on my favorite game, and thanking the fans who translate it into English. I’m not the only one who reads online comics either; there are hundreds of online comics. The internet is so graphically driven that comic books are a natural extension of the Internet.
There is nothing more boring than reading a book online, when there’s a whole wide world for you to explore online it can be hard to stay put and just read paragraph after paragraph of text, so the images give the reader a nice break from the hard work of concentrating on taking in and deciphering words. With my generation and their shortened attention spans, the Internet seems likely to soon choke off the popularity of the classic novel format as it is now killing the newspaper industry.
It is almost impossible to make a book seem interesting to my generation as we expect things to come instantly and do not have attention spans long enough for online novels. Comic books give you information immediately, you can see who, what, and where all at once. That is why I suspect that comic books will be able to survive the Internet but, I am not certain that the novels will.
So in view of the startling possibility of the death of novels as we know them, I think it is time for the heir of the modern novel to shed the name of its youth “comic book” and assume its adult name “graphic novel.” Graphic novels may yet be the salvation of storytelling in a two dimensional sense being perfectly adaptable to the changing world we live in. So it is now time to put aside the prejudice we hold against these works of art and embrace them, They are the equals to classic novels and a valid form of art and literature.

Bibliography

Paul Gravett “Literature’s Mutant Sister: Graphic Literature Is Achieving Critical Mass and Acclaim” The Bookseller, Nov 11, 2005 i5204 ps8(1)

Jacquie McTaggart “Using Comics and Graphic Novels to Encourage Reluctant Readers” Reading Today, Oct-Nov 2005 v23I2p46(1)

Tom Holman “Libraries Love Pace and Intensity: Manga and Other Graphic Novels Have Found a Hugely Receptive Audience” The Bookseller, Nov 11, 2005 i5204 pS20(2)

Allyson A.W. Lyga “Graphic Novels for (Really) Young Readers: Owly, Buzzboy, Pinky and Stinky. Who Are These Guys? And Why Aren’t They Ever on the Shelf?” School Library Journal, March 2006 v52 i3 p56(6)

Randy Myers “The Graphic Novel: Evolution of a Literary Genre” Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA), March 27, 2006 pNA

Ian Gordon “Mainstream Comic Books” New Internationalist, March 2006 i387
p15(1)

Steve Raiteri “Graphic novels” Library Journal, March 15, 2006 v131 i5
p58(3)

Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics (Kitchen Sink Press, 1993)

Lynne Truss, Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or, Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door (New York: Gotham Books,
2005)

Posted by anna at 2:22 PM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2006

Call me?? Are phones still preferred over online communications?

Bernie Sloan, Senior Information Systems Consultant, Consortium of Academic & Research Libraries in Illinois shared with DIG-REF a very interesting article that appeared in the June 19 issue of the New York Times. the article discusses how NYPL has a centralized reference service to handle queries that come in via phone, chat, or e-mail.

The article discusses how the phone service is still more popular than the online services. This might be an accurate reflection of the tastes of their audience but it may also be an example of comparing apples and oranges. They limit phone sessions to 5 minutes but, online sessions can go on as long as needed.

Here are a couple of of excerpts Bernie pulled out that are quite interesting:

"While the number of telephone calls has declined over the years to fewer than 150 a day from more than 1,000, they still made up two-thirds, or 41,715, of all inquiries to the staff last year (the rest were by computer)."

...and...

"While Internet inquiries make up only a third of the questions, they can take up to 35 minutes each and 85 percent of total staff time.
Internet inquiries come by e-mail (13,398 last year) and a one-on-one chat that resembles instant messaging (7,220 last year)."

I am sure that the decline in phone reference is do to the Internet. Also these findings seem to support what reference librarians have already been seeing. The reference questions that come to us are more complex and time consuming than the ready reference questions of the past.

If we are using a strictly bottom line, business model some people might say is reference worth it? Can it be done more efficiently . The answer maybe yes, it might be done more efficiently, but, if we don't answer involved reference questions are we giving up one of our key marketing tools? We are a service industry. We can provide unique services that balance out in their value to society and the individual.

When the conversation turns to the value of reference services and librarians, how does one justify what one does? How do you do it? Is reference dead? Are reference services worth the money? What do you think?

Below is AnthonyRamirez's article "Library Phone Answerers Survive the Internet." New York Times. June 19, 2006.
http://tinyurl.com/ny5gk

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 19, 2006
Library Phone Answerers Survive the Internet
By ANTHONY RAMIREZ
For years, a small band of researchers at the New York Public Library has been tackling questions from young and old, the clueless and the haughty, the vexed and the unvexed, reducing life's infinite jumble to an answer, more or less.

Today, despite the Internet, the eight women and two men of what is known as the telephone reference service are still at it. Every day, except Sundays and holidays, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., anyone, of any age, from anywhere can telephone (212) 340-0849 and ask most any question.

What country had the first license plates? What is the life cycle of an eyebrow hair? What is arachibutyrophobia? How does a person get out of quicksand?

The staff has less than five minutes to reply. (Answers at the end of this article.)

Most queries are humdrum, like when is the library open. The clueless ask who the famous are, like who is the vice president. Secretaries puzzle over their own shorthand when the boss uses an unfamiliar word.

Some queries get garbled: one librarian thought a caller from South Africa was asking how many statues of Lenin there are in the world. (He meant John Lennon, and was referred to other sources.)

While the number of telephone calls has declined over the years to fewer than 150 a day from more than 1,000, they still made up two-thirds, or 41,715, of all inquiries to the staff last year (the rest were by computer).

Still, the persistence of this service raises its own questions. Like why, in the age of search engines, would anyone bedevil a human being with such questions? And what human being would choose to be so bedeviled?

Harriet Shalat, 62, of Forest Hills, Queens, for one. She is the chief of the service, known as telref. "We are detectives," she said. "We know more than people think we know. We're not little old ladies stamping books and telling you to be quiet."

Paul Duguid, an adjunct professor at the School of Information at the University of California at Berkeley, said there would always be a place for such human search engines.

There are "dark areas" on the Internet, Mr. Duguid said, vast databases that are not scanned by search engines like Google. Mr. Duguid (pronounced do-good) is a co-author of "The Social Life of Information" (Harvard Business School Press, 2002), about data that computers cannot process.

"If you have a good search question, Google is great for answering it," Mr. Duguid said. "If you don't have a good question, you will get 17 million responses and you will wish you hadn't asked."

Some caller questions are verboten. The telref staff won't answer crossword or contest questions, do children's homework, or answer philosophical speculations or guilty-spouse questions (what is my wife's birthday?).

"And if a question is very funny," Ms. Shalat said, "you have to put the person on hold, before you start laughing."

An example? A schoolboy once asked if there were "cultural institutions" close to Coney Island. The researcher asked why.

Because, said the frustrated youth, "I want to go to Coney Island today, but my father says I have to do something cultural first."

Maura Cavanagh, 68, a writer and theatrical producer in West Cornwall, Conn., called the staff last week. She had been stuck for days on how to find the address for the Society of the Cincinnati, a group once headed by George Washington for the descendants of Revolutionary War officers.

To Ms. Cavanagh's delight, Valerie Stegmayer, 55, a telref staffer, found the address in moments on a database.

It is also easily Googled. "I don't enjoy using a computer," Ms. Cavanagh said, "because you're given a very poor and misleading version of what is available."

Public libraries in other cities, like Los Angeles and Austin, Tex., have similar telephone-reference services, but few, if any, are as large or as storied as that of the New York Public Library.

The reference service has been around, in a limited way, for as long as telephones have been available in homes. But it was only in 1968 that the service was organized as a separate library unit.

Today, it can be found in a quiet room at the Mid-Manhattan branch at 455 Fifth Avenue, catercorner to the main branch with the two stone lions, Patience and Fortitude. Phones don't ring there; they light.

The 10 researchers range in age from their 20's to 60's and have degrees in elementary education, chemistry, mechanical engineering and criminal justice, as well as one Ph.D. in English literature.

One part-timer is the former head of the telref staff, Barbara Berliner. She is the author of "Book of Answers: The New York Public Library Telephone Reference Service's Most Unusual and Entertaining Questions" (Simon & Schuster, 1990).

When a challenging question comes in, the staff quivers, like human parallel processors, checking reference books and pooling information. They can also consult with as many as 50 other researchers in the library system.

Under library rules, each inquiry must be answered in under five minutes, meaning the caller gets an answer or somewhere to go for an answer — like a specialty library, trade group or Web site. Researchers cannot call back questioners.

The deadline is meant, in part, to focus the staffer's attention. "Otherwise," Ms. Shalat said, "once we get going, we would never stop."

Almost all telephone calls are in English, although researchers can get by in Chinese, Spanish, German and some Yiddish. Specialty libraries, like the Slavic and Baltic division, can lend a hand with, say, Albanian.

While Internet inquiries make up only a third of the questions, they can take up to 35 minutes each and 85 percent of total staff time. Internet inquiries come by e-mail (13,398 last year) and a one-on-one chat that resembles instant messaging (7,220 last year).

E-mail questions can be tough, like, "What is the average shoe size of a man in the United States?" (10½). And chats can be puzzling.

Last week, a questioner from Germany typed, "How do you assess the present security situation in the Lower East Side, in particular 14 Street between avenues A and B?"

The questioner was a student in Germany considering renting an apartment there. The researcher suggested several Web sites, including one listing recent crime statistics.

The voice, however, has advantages. The researcher can guess how old the caller is. Youngsters tend to be in a hurry; oldsters want to reminisce. Voices can also hint at urgency.

The haughty and the impatient tend to be men, Ms. Shalat said. Physicians are the worst. "It's not a man thing, it's a conceit thing," Ms. Shalat said. "This is Doctor So-and-So calling and I need blah blah blah. Run and get it, honey."

A person might ask, "Tell me about Africa," Ms. Shalat said. A few quick questions will elicit her real interest in animals, then in elephants, and finally the reproductive cycles of elephants. "Now that's a question we can answer," Ms. Shalat said.

Getting to an answer can resemble jazz, with plenty of improvisation.

"Oh, people ask all the time how to pronounce words," said Ms. Shalat, giving chase. "I log on to YourDictionary.com that has an audio stream and I stick the phone next to the computer speaker."

And what if they hum a tune and want to know its name?

"Well, there are music sites with snippets of songs," she continued. "And I'd play the snippets. Or maybe I'd hum it to someone else on the staff and they would know. If all else fails, there's the music division of the Library of Performing Arts."

ANSWERS: France; 150 days; fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth; don't thrash, ease to the surface, float.

Posted by anna at 1:45 PM | Comments (0)

June 1, 2006

Leading Internet providers being asked to keep records

Great article in today's (6/1/2006) USA Today about the government trying to work out an arrangement with top Internet providers to keep the records of Web activitiy for two years. Here is a taste:

By Jon Swartz and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Top law enforcement officials have asked leading Internet companies to keep histories of the activities of Web users for up to two years to assist in criminal investigations of child pornography and terrorism, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Find the whole article at: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2006-05-31-internet-records_x.htm

Libraries have been able to protect our patron's privacy with the way we deal with our catalog records but it seems this same protection will not extend to their Internet usage, especially for personal e-mail. Looks like another issue librarians have to become involved with.

I can't imagine anyone saying it is okay for the government to open and read every bit of personal snail mail and then keep a record of it for two years.

Posted by anna at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)