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.

Clickers and learning

As an instructor and professor I don’t believe in using technology in the classroom unless it serves a pedagogical purpose. Clickers when they were first introduced seemed to be a tool with limited functionality. Furthermore as at my previous institution, charging students a deposit for their required clickers seemed punitive.  I now have to determine for myself their usefulness in teaching as my new library has two sets.

In library instruction we always talk about assessment and how we can determine if students are learning what we think that they are learning.  I suppose clickers might provide a mode of doing this but I would want to try using it over a series of classes.  Knowing that my student base might skew a little older and that technology can possibly intimidate I might also want to try to provide other assessment criteria.  This might actually involve communicating with faculty about their goals for the instruction session.  I remain a skeptic but one who is willing to experiment.

Clickers in a classroom

Image Source:www.citl.ohiou.edu

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.

Why I am proud of my profession

Even though I get frustrated with my professional association I never doubt that this a worthwhile profession.

“Resolution on the Use and Abuse of National Security Letters”

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/ifresolutions/nationalsecurityletters.htm
RESOLVED, That the American Library Association condemns the use of National Security Letters to obtain library records; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the American Library Association urges Congress to pursue legislative reforms in order to provide adequate protection for each library user’s Constitutional right to be free from unwarranted and unjustified government surveillance, including:
* Judicial oversight of National Security Letters (NSLs) requiring a showing of individualized suspicion and demonstrating a factual connection between the individual whose records are sought by the FBI and an actual investigation;

Elimination of the automatic and permanent imposition of a nondisclosure or “gag” order whenever an NSL is served on an individual or institution;
* Allowing recipients of NSLs to receive meaningful judicial review of a challenge to their NSL without deferring to the government’s claims;
* Increased oversight by Congress and the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice over NSLs and FBI activities that implicate the First Amendment; and
* Providing for the management, handling, dissemination and destruction of personally identifiable information obtained through NSLs; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the ALA communicates this resolution to the Offices of the President and Vice President, Congress, ALA members, and state chapters; and that ALA urges its members, state chapters, and all library advocates to ask Congress to restore civil liberties and correct the abuse and misuse of National Security Letters.

Adopted unanimously by the Council of the American Library Association

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Washington, D.C.

Chchchchanges

In the space of a few days I have lost the woman I supervise and a good friend to teaching positions.  Both of them will be amazing teachers and I have no doubt that their students will benefit from their experience and their enthusiasm.  I on the other hand face a dwindling number of colleagues that started with me or before me. 

It just speaks to the dynamic nature of academic libraries that staff overturn is a consistent presence.  When I started here in Houston my first instinct was to look for kindred spirits and I did find them.  However, it is becoming harder to invest as much energy in professional relationships as I had when I started.  I just returned from a professional conference where I not only ran into former colleagues but also former students.  I guess it is a measure of my class that students still act as ambassadors for the necessity of such a course for those comtemplating academic librarianship. 

I also ran into a former professor of mine, Hope Olson, at this same conference.  I could tell from her expression that she was running through a mental rolodex of places, names, and classes when I greeted her.  I recognize that I share the same need to retrieve the context of the relationship when people approach me.  She was very gracious and during our two block conversation she shared family news and asked about my current job.  I hope in thirty years that I will be as kind when approached by a former student.

I have made a decision about my next professional goal.  I am planning on focussing my efforts on obtaining my doctorate but still haven’t decided on the where, when, and how of the process.  I made this announcement to a colleague who understood but I also understood her wistful expression as finding people that you can speak to frankly and openly is becoming a rarity. 

Leaving Serial Hell

Due to illness and job demands I haven’t had time to post. Maybe this blog platform won’t be so different. I am enamoured with Firefox still and it hasn’t crashed at all yet. Once a year my faculty suddenly remember my existence and that is around our Spring Serials Review extravaganza. Usually, I am able to meet all the journal request that I receive from faculty but I quickly realized that the lack of a liaison in one of my departments was going to create new challenges. I have a set of hard science peeps amongst my social scientists and they have a legitimate research need for particular journals. I do not however need to be the person responsible for determining how a $28,000 serials budget was going to find room for $14,000 of new subscriptions. Interlibrary loan is a beautiful thing in my mind and some of my faculty should become more familiar with it. This picture is for my aunt.