Ithaka Report available

The Ithaka organization has published their findings from a 2006 survey of both faculty and librarians about scholarly publishing and how technological change has changed the faculty/library relationship. The studies, Ithaka’s 2006 Studies of Key Stakeholders in the Digital Transformation in Higher Education raise some interesting questions for academic libraries. One of its recommendations is that academic libraries need to be clearer about what they are doing to help faculty understand exactly what the library can and is providing.

“An important lesson is that the library is in many ways falling off the radar screens of faculty. Although scholars report general respect for libraries and librarians, the library is increasingly disintermediated from their actual research processes.”

and

“In the case of the library, both the library leadership as well as individual librarians should be reaching out to faculty members, formally and informally, to understand the nature of their teaching and research projects, and how their needs are being met or could be met better.”

This process can not happen if librarians sit in their offices or at the desk waiting for faculty and students to come to them. We have to provide relevant help at the point of need and we have to determine what that help should consist of both in person and online. Asking our faculty what they need from us should be an ongoing process and the more librarians understand of these needs, the more effective we can be. if we allow ourselves to become invisible to those we serve we make ourselves redundant.

Children and Higher Education

What's to be added?

Source: www.pbase.com/munichpride/image/49844677

There was a post today on Guardienne of the Tomes about an Inside Higher Ed career advice piece to a graduate student who was feeling guilt about not spending enough time with her 3 year old. I have mixed feelings about Guardienne’s comments and feel that her not having any children herself, empathy may not be high on her priority list. Her comments included the following, “Needless to say, any prof teaching graduate classes worth his/her salt will say no.” This in reference to professors allowing a toddler in the class on a regular basis. I agree that a child that young would be less than likely to remain quiet and not disrupt the other students and/or professor. Interestingly she singled out graduate classes, I would assume that any class, undergraduate or graduate, would likely be disrupted by a 3 year old. However, there are always exceptions to any and all situations. I have attended campus meetings where someone had their infant in a carrier seat and still managed to be productive during the meeting. How would a parent leaving to deal with a child be any different than those who wander in and out going to the bathroom or to take a call?

Having taught graduate students myself, it is hard not to overempathize with parents, single or otherwise. I have had a student drop my all day class due to their internal conflict over how this affects their relationship with their child. I have also had graduate students bring their children to class with permission on occasion. Now, personally I think that forcing any child to spend even a few hours in a class that they have zero interest in would be torture for them. The only time the other graduate students were concerned/upset was the day that we were discussing intellectual freedom and academic libraries which led to a discussion about limiting pornography which led to an intense discussion about academic freedom and what that entailed. It was one of the most best discussions in my class, ever, and a student approached me at the break expressing concern that another student’s son had been listening. I explained that as he had been quiet and didn’t disrupt the discussion there was no reason to ask that a 13 year old leave the room. I also noted that it was the parent’s role to determine what their child was ready to be exposed to, not mine or hers. I acknowledged that she had a right to feel uncomfortable but that those were her feelings to deal with. Let me note that others in the class thought that the young man looked exceedingly bored throughout the entire discussion.

I attended some of my mom’s lectures with her while she was working on her degrees and I also got to spend time with her in an art studio. These memories are really strong ones for me and I remember them fondly, although the lecture on phallic representation in the Ashanti culture was a little confusing since I was 12. I remember the other students turning around to look at me during the lecture looking concerned. How could they know that my mother never limited my exposure to “real life” and allowed me to form my own opinions about art from my own level of understanding? I thank her for encouraging me to have an open mind and to learn from any and all opportunities.

Home sweet home

Well I have been back in Calgary for just over a week now and I am stunned/shocked by the tremendous change that has occurred in my hometown. I am very glad that I didn’t move back in the winter as I am finding the temperatures here a tad bit chilly at 13 degrees celsius (55 degrees for my american friends). I am NOT missing Houston’s sticky climate so I will keep my complaining to this post. To be continued in the winter no doubt.

I have a window which looks out into the pit of the new Taylor Family Digital Library which is broadly advertised on campus. It also looks out to the Kinesiology building where I plan on spending a goodly amount of time. In time this view will probably disappear so I will try to capture it at various points. Did I mention I actually have natural light in my office? And not one but two windows? Having lived through a previous construction project I am somewhat amused by the concern about how disruptive it will be. It will be disruptive, noisy and dirty. However, the end product is worth it, I promise.

On a plus side, this library puts its money where its mouth is. The Library and Cultural Resources group is committed to Open Access and is offering faculty and graduate students a $100 000 Open Access Author Fund to pay for any author costs required for publishing in Open Access journals. This is even more significant as that represents a good chunk of change that would be welcome in other areas of the library. Off to a good start!

Heading home.

I think that it took traveling to Canada for a conference for it to sink in. I am moving back to Canada in July, that’s a month or so away! I am starting my new position at the University of Calgary on July 7th. My position is social work and psychology liaison librarian and due to my work experience I will be coming in as an associate librarian. I am looking forward to learning more about my new subject responsibilities and meeting my faculty and students.

One of the reasons I chose this position is the implied promise to myself that I will start work towards a doctorate in education. At my relatively advanced age, I have gone back and forth about going back to school even part time and my dominant feeling around this is excitement. I realize that for many librarians, library school was not the life changing experience that it was for myself. Credit must be given to my professors and my program at the University of Alberta. I was not the best student in my class or even in the top quarter but I found my place in the world through my experiences there. I hope to experience this again.

So I am returning to my hometown and my mountains and I am embracing change and growth. Houston will always have a place in my heart but home is home.

Tenure, now what?

As an academic librarian we are told from day one that we need to be working towards a very specific goal.  This goal seems very far away and often times unattainable.  Its mythical nature is both mysterious and entrancing.  The goal?  Tenure or your library’s version of same.  We often realize in talking to faculty how much thoughts of this goal dominate their lives.  They publish when, where, and how often they are told to and this process provides much impetus to their publication and research agendas.  Academic librarians are often evaluated on different criteria than faculty.  Service rather than publication, professional development rather than research.

Having recently applied for this mythical status myself I turned in my portfolio and then thought “now what?”  So much of my career to this point has focused on achieving this goal, what is there after the fact?  Tenure for librarians is a measure of accomplishment but it can also be a paralytic.  I was reading an interesting article in Inside HigherEd about faculty salary compression and there was a comment that tenure can also be handcuffs holding you someplace.  If I choose to leave MPOW my tenure may not be recognized by the new institution.  If I had been thinking strategically I should have left my current position after two or three years and continued this tenure process elsewhere.  However, strategic thinking is not my forte and I am happy that I may achieve this goal at my first workplace.  I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this goal without their support and guidance.

As I think about leaving librarianship and eventually joining the ranks of faculty, tenure is something I need to ponder yet again.  Am I better prepared having achieved this as a librarian?  Will I have unrealistic expectations of support structures that will be available to me?  Am I doomed to scale this same wall in different contexts in perpetuity?  All questions that will not be easily answered or resolved but as my family will attest I never take the easy road.  Once my tenure is “official” perhaps I will post a video like this KU faculty member celebrating his achievement of attaining tenure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKW3DzcUEOI