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AnnotationsAnnotations« October 2006 | Main | December 2006 » November 29, 2006 Colorado Libraries Set New Strategic Plan (Pt. 2)Yesterday's post drew your attention to an article that appeared in the November 1, 2006 issue of Library Journal highlighted the six strategic priorities that Colorado libraries have targeted to achieve with their five-year plan. Many of these goals are great and worthy but, I also found the priorities they didn't choose just as interesting. Coloradans Set New Strategic Plan By Norman Oder — November 1, 2006 MORE....Not chosen as priorities were statewide digitization and preservation efforts; a new emphasis on library values and ethics; statewide standards for school libraries; models for cooperative services between different library types; library-assisted online learning; school library advocacy; assessment of information and learning needs; minority staff recruitment; focus on sustainable funding; improved understanding of the “Colorado Libraries Collaborate!” program; and cooperative collection development. Some of these are quite thought provoking and worth further exploration. Since Illinois libraries have a leg up on some of Colorado's priorities which of these would you choose to focus on? In Illinois we have Illinois Digital Archives (IDA) and DigitalPast but, there is still so much material that needs to be digitized and preserved. I also think that as we face a changing landscape the profession would be well served by reviewing our values and ethics. However, my first thought was, isn't that what the American Library Association (ALA) is supposed to do? What aspect did they feel wasn't being covered? I also found standards and advocacy for school libraries and assessment of information and learning needs very noble goals. Many hard working souls in Illinois find their positions in school libraries to be tenuous. If you have any doubts about the value of school libraries read the Illinois Study. Maybe we should consider these goals as a priority in Illinois. Of course diversity and recruiting minorities to the field should be a priority for all of us. It takes solid, practical action on the local level to make these goals a reality. Again, I think we are fortunate because ALA and the have our Illinois Library Association (ILA) backs on this one. The Illinois State Library (ISL) and the Illinois LibrarySystem Directors Organization (ILSDO) have made strong commitments to furthering diversity and are offering programs on the topic. Highlighting collaboration among various types of libraries and cooperative collection development are also fine objectives but this seems to me more of an issue that librarians would care about and understand and would be a hard sell to the general public. The one objective I feel they are foolish to overlook and not make a priority is sustainable funding. I think this should be a priority for all of us. To my way of thinking if we can't assure our existance than what is the point of concentrating on the services. Yes, we all need to focus on getting our taxpayers their information and entertainment needs, however we need to concentrate on keeping libraries and librarians in the equation. How do we insure we add value to every transaction and how can we translate that into capital? What are your ideas?
Posted by anna at 10:52 AM | Comments (0) November 28, 2006 Colorado Librarians set New StrategicPlansIn the November 1, 2006 issue of Library Journal on page 18 in the third column appears an article about how Colorado libraries have developed a five-year strategic plan. I found the six priorities listed below as worthy objectives for the profession. Coloradans Set New Strategic Plan By Norman Oder — November 1, 2006 Colorado libraries have developed a new five-year strategic plan entitled Moving Libraries Forward: A Roadmap for Colorado Library Cooperation, aimed at guiding libraries while “doing more with less.” A task force appointed by the Colorado Library Advisory Board surveyed library leaders, public library trustees, school library district administrators, and academic officers to set priorities. The six priority objectives are: • Increased access to sustainable, statewide virtual services such as virtual reference and online tutoring • Funding of a collection of electronic content for all residents • Development of a comprehensive education plan • Identification of the needs of business and community members • Development of a statewide virtual catalog and ILL system • Extension of the Colorado courier program statewide.... More Illinois already has some of these things in place. I am assuming that the statewide courier service is similar to our statewide van delivery. Illinois has made great strides with providing statewide virtual reference service with Ask?Away, and we all have access to some FirstSearch Databases. But wouldn't it be cool if we could provide universal service throughout the state, have every library in Illinois participating in Ask?Away and provide everyone in the state with access to not only the First Search databases but also Tutor.com, Gale Virtual Reference Library, and something like EBSCOHost, or Gale's Infotrac suite. What would we be willing to do to achieve this? What would we be willing to trade for it. Are we ready to give-up the LSTA grants the state awards in order to fund these services and databases? Would we be willing to partner with Illinois businesses to help sponsor these services? It might mean we would have to have a company logo on our Websites. I know some of these ideas make some of us squeamish but, this isn't about us. It is about providing the services the public wants and needs. What do you think? Tomorrow's post will take a look at what they decided not to make priorities. Posted by anna at 10:25 AM | Comments (0) November 15, 2006 Creative Networks: Mexican Immigrant Assets in ChicagoHector Marino from the Des Plaines Public Library brought this really informative site to my attention and I want to share it with you. The Field Museum and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have just released the results of a study about the artistic, cultural and social network assets of Mexican immigrants in Chicago. It is entitled Creative Networks: Mexican Immigrant Assets in Chicago . Posted by anna at 3:58 PM | Comments (0) The Librarian ReturnsThe Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines December 3rd http://alt.tnt.tv/librarian_return/index.html I have never seen the first one but, I may have to borrow it. What about you? Posted by anna at 9:50 AM | Comments (0) November 13, 2006 Consumer Health and the Internet Or Do people care about the quality of information?Many of you have probably already seen the Pew/ Internet Report below: 10/29/2006 | Report | Susannah Fox Eighty percent of American internet users, or some 113 million adults, have searched for information on at least one of seventeen health topics. Most internet users start at a general search engine when researching health and medical advice online. Just 15% of health seekers say they “always” check the source and date of the health information they find online, while another 10% say they do so “most of the time.” Fully three-quarters of health seekers say they check the source and date “only sometimes,” “hardly ever,” or “never,” which translates to about 85 million Americans gathering health advice online without consistently examining the quality indicators of the information they find. Most health seekers are pleased about what they find online, but some are frustrated or confused...MORE So we have an idea of how people research potentially life and death matters regarding their own health, to seemingly support the value of this random gathering of information, we have the article below... What's That Disease? Ask Google Nov. 10, 2006 "Patients doing a Google search may find the search less efficient and be less likely to reach the correct diagnosis," they note. "We believe that Google searches by a 'human expert' — a doctor — have a better yield." Hangwi Tang and Jennifer Hwee Kwoon Ng U.K. doctors Hangwi Tang and Jennifer Hwee Kwoon Ng find that their patients often use the popular Google Internet search engine to try to diagnose their own illnesses. ... They wondered if it works. To test the strategy, they took advantage of a feature in The New England Journal of Medicine. Every week, the journal offers doctors the chance to hone their diagnostic skills by presenting a puzzling case history...More strong>Full Original Article The question is why do people do blind searches on the net when there are reliable resources like Medline Plus and the proprietary databases that many public libraries purchase? I think it is a lack of marketing by Medline and libraries but, also I think it is a sign of the times. It is a culmination of the commonly held misconception that "you can find everything you need on the Internet" and the belief among some members of society that the word of a perceived peer (no matter that they are an unknown stranger) is more "honest" than that of an expert. What is a librarian to do? We like getting the right and correct information into the hands of the individual who needs it. What happens when you as an information provider care more about the accuracy than the patron? Is it time for libraries to pull out all the stops and run a huge campaign about "If we ( any democracy) lose libraries we lose our humanity, our freedom, and our civiliazation..." Do you think anyone would care? Posted by anna at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) Abram talks about future technology in librariesAnice article that appeared in the November 13, 2006 issue of the Spartan Daily the school paper of the University of San Jose (CA)
"Library 2.0 is using Web 2.0 tech innovations to create a library user experience," said Stephan Abram, vice president of innovation for SirsiDynix, a Canada-based company that provides technological solutions for libraries. Abram said that libraries and librarians need to begin learning and utilizing the tools that today's generation is enthralled with, such as YouTube, Podzinger, iTunes, the countless amount of blogs and many others... MORE Posted by anna at 9:35 AM | Comments (0) November 10, 2006 Libraries: Two-sided Marketing Platforms of How can we use this position to fund libraries?You are probably looking at the title of this post and are scratching your head. Those of you who know me will say"She's been rading the Harvard Business Review (HBR) again. " Its true, I love HBR and it gives me lots of material to start percolating ideas with. One article that caught my attention appears on page 92 of the October, 2006 issue and is entitled "Strategies for Two-sided Markets."Of course after reading the title, I wanted to know what a two-sided market is and it turns out that libraries fit nicely into this model. The authors provide some examples of two sided two- sided networks among them: Networked Market --- Side 1 ------- Side 2 --------- Platform Provider
Networked Market ------ Side 1 ------- Side 2 --------- Platform Providers In other words, libraries provide access to those valuable commodities, information and knowledge by connecting people wanting information with the vendors, librarians, and resources that provide enlightenment. sounds like a pretty powerful position to me. Granted, it is antypical for public libraries to charge their cardholders for access. However, it seems to me we can use this position to garner better deals with vendors, governmental funding agencies, and the public we serve. Many of our vendors would have to radically restructure their products and the way they market them it libraries were not in the picture. I know that libraries benefit from the products our vendors provide but, it seems we really need each other to survive and thrive. Other governmental agencies benefit by having libraries distribute tax forms, serve as voter registrars, notary publics, providers of free access to the internet, and providers of quality, face-to-face customer service to taxpayers. Big businesses lower there costs by having library staff provide directory assistance and instruct people on opening e-mail accounts, transacting business online, and completing online forms. The public are the ultimate beneficiaries of the library serving as a platform between various "markets." Libraries need money and in-kind support to buttress the platform. Isn't it time libraries start asking "What's in it for us/" Posted by anna at 1:48 PM | Comments (0) Blogs Behaving BadlyI and a few of my fellow library liaisons have been blogging for several months now. My boss just told me that my colleagues will no longer be blogging because the format just really didn't work for them. She wants me to continue with mine. This gave me pause for reflection. I remain a reluctant blogger because I feel deep in my heart I am just adding to the information glut. However, I have come to enjoy it. It has reconnected me with my love of words and writing (unfortunately, this is a one-sided affair.) It also provides me with the ability to indulge another great passion. I LOVE to share information. Let's face it, I put the maniac in infomaniac. I love information and live with all my filters open ready and waiting to collect knowledge, trivia, table scraps from conversations, and just information generally. So, even though I consider blogging an indulgence and even a guilty pleasure, I am still wondering if I am contributing anything to the world with my efforts. I was looking at Inc. com's great online source for marketing information. One of the articles archived on this site is about blogging and I offer it below for your consideration and reflection. This same site also provides Blog Rules. I would love to hear from other bloggers who feel conflicted. I guess I am still asking myself the same question I started with "to blog or not to blog?" By: Jory Des Jardins ...Welcome to the blogosphere. Sixteen percent of the U.S. population reads blogs, according to a May 2005 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The blog search engine Technorati estimates that the number of blogs doubles every five and a half months--with many of the new ones started by entrepreneurs. Blogs, after all, are inexpensive and easy to set up. They're heavily viral--one blogger links to another who links to another, and soon enough you've attracted a vast community to your company. A well-trafficked blog also can help generate better results on search engines. But as Lynes-Miller learned, there's a dark side to the blogosphere. Bloggers, and those who frequent blogs, can be a prickly lot. They live by a code of their own, and you offend them at your peril. Come into the club wearing the wrong thing--something that screams "notice me" but offers little substance, or pretending to be someone you're not--and there's a good chance you'll find yourself, and your brand, publicly ridiculed...MORE" Posted by anna at 12:26 PM | Comments (0) November 7, 2006 Web ScienceBerners-Lee, universities launch 'Web science' initiativeBy Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--With the Web now into its second decade, leading lights in the Web world want to turn it from a phenomenon into a science. Representatives from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southampton in the U.K. on Thursday announced the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI), a multidisciplinary project to study the social and technological implications of growing Web adoption. ..MORE Posted by anna at 2:53 PM | Comments (0) Getting Ready for the Next Generation InternetI always feel that I am running as fast as I can to keep up with technology. Now, I discover I am not the only one ... From CNNMoney.com:
They fear that China, India, and many European and Asian countries are moving faster to implement the addressing scheme known as Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6. The new protocol will enable much longer numerical web addresses, the underlying data which tells URLs like Fortune.com where to go...MORE Posted by anna at 9:57 AM | Comments (0) |
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