The James E. Rogers College of Law invites you to a panel discussion on: Copyright and the University in the Era of Google Books

Keynote Speaker:
Elizabeth Townsend-Gard, Co-Director of the Tulane Center for Intellectual Property Law and Culture, and Director of the Usable Past Copyright Project.

For more information see: http://www.law.arizona.edu/emailapp/GoogleBooksPanel2009.cfm

On the subject of tech and education, academics and executives are worried about many divides.

There’s the growing divide between kids who have access to technology and those who don’t; kids who participate in creating content with technology at home and school, and those who can’t; and the kids who know a lot about technology, and the parents who fear them.

Divides also enter into the equation for proponents of education reform.

Early Wednesday at Google’s “Breakthrough Learning in the Digital Age,” at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., a spat broke out over the urgency of filling in all the gaps.

Jim Steyer, chief executive of CommonSense Media and co-sponsor of the event, stressed that “every kid needs to be digitally literate by the 8th grade” and called for a major public education campaign to make that happen. He argued that technology and learning are synonymous and that schools, parents, and kids must get up to speed in the next five years.

“This has to be a revolution for all kids,” he said.

Immediately after Mr. Steyer’s call to action, Reed Hastings, the founder and chief executive of Netflix, contradicted him directly, saying it would take well more than five years to bridge the divide.

Mr. Hastings, an avid education philanthropist and proponent of school reforms, argued that at the advent of any new technology — television, cars, even rockets — people get riled up and wring their hands over a growing gap between the haves and have-nots.

He said that gaps narrow naturally as the market evolves and prices drop, enabling more people to bring new technology into the home and schools.

“We need to shift our expectations,” Mr. Hastings said. “This is a natural part of the evolution of technology.”

Where it gets tougher, he said, is school reform. Some schools might adopt new effective approaches to learning, but then a superintendent or principal leaves and the reform collapses.

Failed school reform might point to the need for more efforts outside of the classroom.

One of Google’s founders, Sergey Brin, who gave a fireside interview later during lunch, was asked whether he thought some kids were threatened by a lack of access to computers or quality information over the Web.

He responded by saying that connecting to Internet will eventually be like electricity: easy and cheap.

“Will they have access to junk? Yes,” Mr. Brin said. “They will be creating a lot of that junk.”

by Karen Klapperstuck

There is no shortage of continuing education opportunities for librarians. I think we naturally tend toward collaboration and harmony. Earlier this week, while many librarians were in Monterey, CA for Internet Librarian, I attended NJLA’s first Adult Services Forum. On the same day, David Lee King and Michael Porter launched their new video and multimedia collaboration project, Library 101. All three of these focus on something that I have been pondering a lot lately: how, why and in what format we provide services (to all our patrons). Those thoughts cannot be separated from my concern over the division that is created by the acceptance of technology in library service.

Let me start by saying that I suffer from a serious case of technolust. I really love having new technology at my fingertips! But I also have a fair amount of restraint and often will wait to purchase something until (almost) all the kinks are worked out. However, I know that, just from my family and friends, most people are not yet comfortable with a wide range of technologies. As a librarian, I feel that it is important for the library to be a safe and comfortable place to expose people to web 2.0 (and beyond) and new ways of doing things.

John Porcaro (JP) said during his presentation at the Adult Services Forum that he finds librarians are often ahead of the curve compared with other departments and professions when it comes to new technology. This is not the stereotype that people have of libraries and librarians. Just do a Google search on “libraries are dead”: 79,000 results! Not all these websites actually support that idea but some clearly do. The common thread is that unless we do something about the PERCEPTION of libraries, they will die. And isn’t that what we are ultimately fighting against? Both internal and external stereotypes of what libraries and librarians were, are and are going to be.

The Library 101 project looks at what we are doing and what we need to think about doing to stay relevant. And I’m all for that! With a fun music video (with lots of familiar faces in it!), thoughtful essays, and 101 resources and things to know (RTK), Library 101 gathers together all the stuff libraries have been doing and are currently trying to do. The Library 101 project also reminded me that I’m not the only one who thinks that being a librarian can be fun and wants to share that with the world….Read entire excellent post here: http://librarygarden.net/2009/11/02/balancing-technology-in-library-service/

by David Gorn, Posted Here 11/2/09

With the job market still in the doldrums, the tech-savvy unemployed are trying to figure out new ways to use Twitter to find jobs.

Twitter can be used to post a job, ask around about one, learn more about a potential boss or keep your network of former co-workers and friends updated on your job hunt.

Best of all, it’s free, and faster than Facebook.

Microblogging services like Twitter sound simple, but it can be really hard. If you’re a serious “Twitterer,” you have to fit incredibly complicated opinions into a compact 140 characters. That’s a real art. So why shouldn’t it be considered a job skill, as well?

Becoming An Expert On Twitter

Jen McCabe says she got her current job in San Francisco through being an avid Tweeter.

“I absolutely would not be where I am today without the following and support of the people I meet on Twitter,” said McCabe.

In fact, McCabe has been called the Queen of Twitter among her health care colleagues. She used it to become an expert in a niche field inside the health care industry and would tweet updates from conferences and comment on breaking news. Powerful people in that niche field started to notice her and follow what she had to say.

For many, Twitter is a meritocracy. You are known for what you tweet. If you come across as a smart, hard-working thoughtful person, people are going to pay attention. That’s one way to get a job.

Twitter As Networking Tool

The other way to use Twitter and other microblogging networks like Pownce and Jaiku is to simply network. These sites used to be mostly used by youngsters — but life on Twitter has changed. A significant percentage of users now are 30 and older, and they’re using Twitter to network for jobs.

That’s according to Josh Bernoff of the Forrester Group, a technology research firm. And for him, one particular feature of Twitter makes it invaluable for job hunters.

“The thing that makes a difference for people looking for jobs is the ability to retweet,” said Bernoff.

That’s when people pass along your tweet to other people in a different network. Bernoff says it’s a cyberextension of the adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s whom you know.”

“That creates a real echo effect for people who’ve got friends who have a lot of friends,” said Bernoff.

Filtering Out The Twitter Junk

Rich Trombetta has another idea. He co-founded a Web site called TweetMyJobs.com.

“We connect job seekers and job posters instantaneously via Twitter,” said Trombetta. “We take the noise out of the twittersphere.”

The idea is, there may be dozens of companies you want to follow on Twitter, but if you get every piece of info those companies tweet out, you could be swamped. So Trombetta filters out only the job-related info and sends those out as alerts. Microblogs, he says, are not just for fun anymore.

“You’re going to see that perception change as more and more businesses realize that … this could be the most powerful tool since e-mail,” said Trombetta.

So if you’re job hunting on Twitter, it’s not whom you know, or even what you know, but how you say it — 140 characters at a time….Read more here:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120015220&ft=1&f=1001

Linda Reib,  Electronic Records Archivist, and her colleagues graciously and enthusiastically welcomed us to their beautiful new facility, and we all enjoyed our afternoon immensely!  We learned about their wonderful and varied  collections; why they exist (to enable the people of Arizona to hold our governments accountable); how they do what they do with only 15 people (with great enthusiasm);  trends in digitization and retention (paper is the best back up!); and got a glimpse into the future of archives work. The staff is impressive and knowledgeable and we could tell they love their work.  Each has an expertise that complements the others’ skills and talents wonderfully.  We saw the huge stacks areas, organized into pods, saw all the work that is yet to be done, viewed even the loading dock with its specialized features and spaces. They welcome interns and volunteers (my work once I retire!) and the variety of tasks to be done is overwhelming!  I will see if Linda will share her PPT file-her pre-tour presentation was comprehensive and most interesting.

If you weren’t able to join the 8 of us who attended, be sure to visit the Archives websites and the facility when you can. They are at 1901 W. Madison St. and welcome visitors between 10 and 3,  Monday-Thursday.

• About the building:  http://www.lib.az.us/polly/
• Agency Site:  http://www.lib.az.us/archives/
• Jacque’s Delicious Bookmarks re archives:  http://delicious.com/jdondoyle/archives

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November 2, 2009

It was pretty obvious by the response to my last post that there are at least two sorts of librarians – those who value trite, vulgar, attention-seeking gimmicks that supposedly benefit the profession, and those who don’t.

I really shouldn’t be so hard on those librarians who value the trite and vulgar. They really can’t help themselves. They live in a world awash with vulgarity and self-obsession, and they don’t have the proper moral compass to steer clear of them. Execrable rock videos, balloon boys, they’re both part of the bizarre society we have developed in which the only value that matters is to get noticed, not to have anything worthwhile to say.

One has to hand it to some librarians: they definitely know how to get noticed. They dress up trite gimmicks with glossy trappings and wave them in front of audiences of librarians, most of whom are good-hearted and desire to promote their profession – traits which blind them to the lack of substance behind these attention-seeking gimmicks. These librarians are “jazzed” about being librarians, one commenter noted, as if that’s at all important. Being “jazzed” is for some librarians apparently enough to excuse vulgarity and superficiality….Read entire post here:  http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/580000658/post/370050237.html?nid=4697

By Francine Fialkoff, Editor-in-Chief — Library Journal, 10/15/2009

Just half a year before June 2008 graduates flipped the tassels on their caps from one side to the other, the recession officially began. They walked out into a job market where, as one fall 2008 University of South Florida grad put it in a letter to LJ, “What does it take to get a public library job? I know the economy is bad and that budgets are tight. I am so afraid if I don’t get a job soon, some of the valuable knowledge I learned in school will slip away” (Feedback, p. 10).

In the same Feedback section, however, Jennifer Forgit, another 2008 grad, wrote in praise of Steven Hoover’s “Surviving Your First Job Search” (bit.ly/o0Y2l). She reported that she started her search early, and it “took 20 applications over two years” for her to get the public library job—and geographic location—she wanted, but she advised new grads not to despair. “The jobs are still out there; you just have to look a little harder to find them.”

For 2008 Indiana University, Bloomington, IS grad Kristin Centanni, on the cover of the October 15 LJ, the job search was rigorous but successful. She interviewed at about ten firms with about ten people at each. With a dual degree in IS and Public Affairs, she, too, started her search early and landed a lucrative job at a technology management consultancy in Chicago. She thinks that those who started looking later had a harder road (see “Change Agent,” p. 25).

The personal stories vary, but the numbers tell a more consistent tale. According to Stephanie Maatta’s 2009 Placements & Salaries Survey (“Jobs and Pay Take a Hit,” p. 21–29), starting salaries dipped slightly overall, dropping 1.8% (to $41,579) after 18 years of growth. While the number of grads reporting any employment was relatively level at 87.2%, part-time employment rose to 18.3% (from 16.3%) after remaining steady for two years. In public libraries, full-time jobs were even scarcer, 12.5% fewer than in 2007. Those looking for academic library posts fared better; full-time jobs increased by 13.4%, though academic institutions have begun to feel the budget heat….Read entire article here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6700346.html

From LJ

Fewer Full-Time Jobs | Pockets of Good News

“It’s a recession, baby!” was the common refrain among the LIS graduates of 2008. This was a record year for the number of graduates participating in the annual survey, with 2,089 respondents, representing approximately 31.7% of the approximate 6500 LIS graduates. They had stories to tell, providing evidence of both hard times in the job market, and some successes and satisfaction.

Even before the bloodletting of 2009, 2008 graduates were hit hard. Job searches averaged almost five months, and unemployment postgraduation rose to 5.9% in 2008, compared to 4.7% in 2007. Average starting salaries dipped slightly overall, dropping 1.8% to $41,579, after 18 years of increases, while placements in part-time and nonprofessional positions rose. Part-time placements increased from 16.3% of the placements in 2007 to 18.3% of 1,817 grads reporting jobs in 2008, after holding steady for two years. Likewise, 13.5% of the 2008 graduates either remained in or found non-professional positions compared to 11.3% in 2007.

The decreasing salaries, declining number of full-time positions overall, and the increase in part-time jobs and unemployment in 2008 appear to be the precursor to what will undoubtedly be a seriously depressed job market for graduates in 2009, with widespread hiring freezes and budget cuts across all types of libraries and information agencies.

Fewer Full-Time Jobs

While the total percentage of grads reporting they got jobs appears to have held steady between 2007 and 2008, the status of those jobs is more telling. In 2007, 87.9% of the graduates reported employment, including both full-time and part-time placements, compared to 2008, when 87.3% of graduates reported employment of any sort. The noticeable difference is in the percentage of full-time placements; 89.2% of the 2007 grads reported full-time employment while 69.8% of the grads were employed full-time in 2008.

Read entire post at: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6700592.html

A few weeks ago I [Michelle] was a part of the Technology Forum for the Midwest MLA Annual Conference in Columbus, OH.  I spoke on libraries using Twitter and Facebook.  Later I wrote a blog post linking to the slides as well more of my thoughts on the topic.

Ever since then I have gotten a few emails from people asking how they can convince their IT departments to allow Facebook and Twitter so they can reach out to library users.  I have sat down and thought of a few good arguments for librarians to use with their IT people, however upon reflection I don’t think that will be very productive.

The short of it is, the IT departments are not going to deal with security perceived issues because the librarian wants to use social networking tools.  We can plead and beg all we want but in the minds of the IT people Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. are either security risks or bandwidth hogs that have no real world use in the hospital world.  We are spinning our wheels to approach them on this, we would be better off trying to get them notify us when they mess with the IP ranges causing all sorts of havoc with the authentication systems of our online resources.  At least we can easily and directly show how that (IP ranges and the changing of them) impacts our work and that of the employees doing research at the hospital.

Recently (within the last 4-6 months) my institution opened up Facebook after years of it being blocked.  The library had no part in Facebook being unblocked.  Facebook, Twitter, and few other social networking sites are being used by my institution and other institutions for marketing, public relations, patient relations, and alumni relations  purposes.  Often an institution’s head of marketing or the CEO is the driving force behind these sites magically being unblocked.  When the Chief of Public Relations and Marketing sees that a competitor’s hospital is using Facebook and Twitter to effectively communicate to patients and market the hospital, you better believe he/she is going to want their hospital get involved too.

Who do you think IT is going to listen to, the librarian who wants to set up a Twitter feed from the catalog to the library website or the CEO who wants to use Twitter to help distribute institutional news and information?  If the CEO wants his/her institution to use these applications, IT has a little more reason to investigate and make sure these resources don’t pose a security or bandwidth threat to the institution than they do if the librarian asks.

So what do you do if your hospital hasn’t adopted these social networking applications?  I guess it all depends on the size of your hospital and how well you know the big fish.  There are a lot of recent successful examples and articles of hospitals using these things.  Perhaps if you are in a small hospital and know the big wigs fairly well you might begin sending them some of these articles.  If you are in larger hospital or you don’t have a real working relationship with your CEOs then perhaps you can start by contacting someone in marketing.  That person in marketing may not have enough clout but they might know somebody else who does.

While you as the librarian may not have the direct power to get your hospital to unblock social media sites, you might be able to influence those who do.  Social media hits many more areas than libraries.  It is a huge marketing and public relations tool that many hospitals and academic medical centers are persuing with specific marketing plans and goals….read entire post here: http://kraftylibrarian.com/?p=263

For the 2009 Annual Conference, December 7-9, AzLA is starting a Student Volunteer Program. Library school students will have the opportunity to receive free conference registration in exchange for (only) three hours of volunteering.  Volunteers will be assigned duties when they arrive for their shifts.  Duties include but are not limited to: staffing the registration desk, hospitality desk or AzLA booth, speaker liaison, and other duties as needed.  The only requirements to participate in this program are to be a current student in a library school program and a current AzLA member.  (Student membership in AzLA is only $30 annually.) We have extended the deadline to November 6th.  See conference info here:  http://azla.org/displayconvention.cfm.  Form is HERE– 2009 Student Volunteer Application.

This is a great networking opportunity!!!