LibWorm: Training

Assistant manager of library operations (metropolitan library system, midwest city, oklahoma)

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:20:02 +0100

Assistant Manager of Library Operations (Metropolitan Library System, Midwest City, Oklahoma) Salary & Hours: $20.48 per hour ($42,598.40). Must be available all hours the library is open including evenings and weekends. This position is overtime exempt. Job Summary: Under supervision of the manager of branch services, assists with the planning, organizing and managing operations of a community library. Performs a variety of technical and professional librarian activities of moderate to complex difficulty including providing information and assistance to customers of all ages; providing information concerning content and location of collection; performing reference and reader advisory services. This position requires exceptional customer service and supervisor skills. ...

Using technology in library training

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:04:04 +0100

Here’s a class that looks interesting: “Using Technology in Library Training” taught by Paul Signorelli and offered through the American Library Association. It’s online, hands-on and will help you incorporate YouTube, GoogleDocs, LinkedIn and other tools in your instructional design. The class is divided into two sessions. There’s a discount, if you take both. The sessions are on Thursdays 12:30 MT, 1:30 CT. The first session is on September 16 and the second is on September 23. Check out the web site to see what is covered when, how to register, and how to pay. http://link.ixs1.net/s/ve?eli=s904734&si=i191468986&cfc=3html /ch (Source: Midcontinental Region News)

Spacetime 3d for visual search

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

There are a few visual search engines around at the moment, and SpaceTime 3D is a new one that I've just discovered. A visual search engine is one that displays results for you visually - usually as a series of thumbnail shots, although of course it there are other alternatives. SpaceTime 3D displays pages in an arc, and you can flick through them, clicking on any that interest you. Spacetime has search options for Google, Images, Wikipedia and YouTube. I have to guess at the selling point, since there's nothing on the page to tell me anything about these people, but it's the size of the thumbnail - it's very clear indeed. Perhaps too clear I'm afraid, since the thumbnail dominates the webpage, pushing out the other pages in the arc, and I found it rather too claustrophobic for my tastes. However, demonstrating or training could be another matter, and I can see how it would work there. My preference is still for RedZ in this area - it was the first of them and I still prefer it. Yes, the previews are smaller, but I like being able to see more of them, and that's surely what visual search is all about. RedZ doesn't have the Wikipedia option, but as well as Web and Images, it's got News and Video, which I'm happier with anyway. Your mileage may vary however, so I've included a screenshot of both engines for you to take a look at. (Source: Phil Bradley)

Information literacy and web 2.0 a paradox

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:25:54 +0100

Day 1: ALIA Access Conference (Brisbane) Information literacy with Christine Bruce: Shift of focus from libraries to a much more global scale How do we make it relevant? How can we bring transformative power of information use to peoples lives? (Pat Breivik) Empowering! Experts on information literacy: Dr Lana W Jackman www.infolit.org – paradox don’t assume that all learners have access. What about the digital divide? Patricia Senn Breivik – peoples need for abilities that empower them Diljiit Singh – no paradox we need information literacy and web 2.0 to be effective in this world Lin Ching Chen (Jean Chen) – how can we harness Web 2.0. We have a responsibility. Shelia Webber (Uni of Sheffield) – Web 2.0 information literacy skills important. Andrew Whitworth - knowledge never static; text is dynamic in Web 2.0 Sharon Weiner (Purdue Uni) – not a paradox. Need Web 2.0 to teach and learn about information literacy. David Loertscher (SLIS) - power of Web 2.0 to build collective knowledge. Tools and power. Mandy Lupton – Web 2.0 making it possible to learn through the process of content creation. Work collaboratively through using/creating info Mary M Somerville - Web 2.0 makes it possible to work with and transform understanding of different cultures Dr Hilary Hughes – novel info sources & learning opportunities; provocation to explore, experiment, evaluate and evolve with developing technologies Ross Todd – focus on user and content creation Clarence Maybee – a future with a different understanding of knowledge and making Susie Andretta – transliteracy across different platforms; transliteracy – transport abilities across different media; what a librarians doing; how do we create the spaces/places that allow people to develop transliteracy skills Annemaree Lloyd – Web2. ...

Professional military reading list

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:42:00 +0100

The Professional Military Reading List The U.S. Army Chief of Staff’s Professional Reading List The Army List is compiled for leaders. The Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA) views it as a pillar for his leadership development efforts. Titles are included that will provoke critical thinking about Professional soldiering and the unique role of land power; analysis and reflection on the past and the future; and a deep understanding of the Army and the future of the profession of arms in the 21 st Century. U.S. Navy Professional Reading ListA list of books from Chief of Naval Operations Reading List that includes history, fiction, inspirational and patriotic titles, biographies and the classics on military strategy and theory. The list provides an understanding and analysis of sea power, naval history, naval aviation, and the role of the U.S. Navy in past, present and future conflicts. U.S. Marine Corps Reading List The Marine Corps Reading list is developed to enrich a reader's knowledge and understanding of war. To quote directly from the reading program's purpose, "How do we translate written words into sound military decision? Obviously, the first step is to read. Then we must relate what we have read to what we actually do in training, field exercises, war games, leadership,and the like. We must read and discuss our readings with each other." Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) Reading List The CSAF Reading list is compiled to inform, analyze, inspire and educate. Titles are selected to inform readers about the history of the Air Force, analyze on-going conflicts and their relevancy to the future, inspire readers with success stories and provide lessons learned from conflicts. Coast Guard Commandant's Reading List This reading list is designed to offer Coast Guard people recommended books related to leadership. This list is not all-inclusive; the goal is to provide a starting point or expand existing knowledge and skills. ...

#jobs : systems librarian, university of la verne (california) -- wilson library

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:44:00 +0100

#3041 – Systems Librarian, University of La Verne -- Wilson Library The University of La Verne invites applicants for a Systems Librarian (Assistant Professor), a non-tenure track 12-month faculty appointment. Reporting directly to the University Librarian, the Systems Librarian will use a high level of technical, instructional, and interpersonal skills. The responsibilities of this position include administering and providing technical support for all aspects of library technology including the Innovative Interfaces Millennium integrated library system, hardware and software installations and maintenance, library wireless, opac, proxy server, online resources and services such as LINK+, ILLIAD, ERM, OCLC, link resolver, research databases, e-journals, e-books, etc.; assisting the University Librarian with technology planning and project implementation; serving as primary liaison with the university’s Office of Information Technology to coordinate all library systems’ installation, upgrade and maintenance; supervise one full-time staff member (Electronic Services Technician); serving as liaison to database and online service providers; providing technology training to library staff; providing research consultation services to library users in a multi-disciplinary environment using multiple formats (in-person, e-mail, phone, and chat); developing, promoting, and delivering effective library research skills/information literacy instructional sessions, seminars and workshops for both on-campus and off-campus programs; developing the library collection by selecting materials for acquisition in all formats; serving as liaison with selected academic departments; maintaining a program of professional development. ...

Registration now open — 2010 national training conference on the toxics release inventory (tri) and environmental conditions in communities

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:15:20 +0100

2010 National Training Conference On The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and Environmental Conditions in Communities, Washington, DC, November 1-4, 2010. This year’s conference expands on previous TRI National Training conferences to include sessions on sources of other environmental data and on conditions and trends in ecological and human health that collectively help to support environmentally-related decision making in communities . For more information and to register, see http://chemicalright2know.com/content/2010-national-training-conference . (Source: Environmental News Bits)

Why demon heads of children's fiction are role models for trainee teachers

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:00:10 +0100

Roald Dahl's Miss Trunchbull or Gillian Cross's Demon Headmaster demonstrate the exercise of power, study findsThey may be sadistic figures who hate children, but a study suggests that the savage portrayal of headteachers in children's literature possesses a grain of truth and may even be helpful when it comes to training teachers who aspire to lead schools.Characters like Miss Agatha Trunchbull, from Roald Dahl's Matilda, or the Demon Headmaster, from the sequence by Gillian Cross, can teach children to think about power and how it can be used for malign purposes, Professor Pat Thomson, director of the centre for research in schools and communities at Nottingham University school of education, has found.The study of 19 fictional headteachers found that nine are portrayed as evil or authoritarian, a further six are remote figures of power, and just one - JK Rowling's Professor Albus Dumbledore - is a positive role model.The study traces the origins of school stories to 19th century British fiction which – in stories aimed at boys – focused on the muscular discipline and militarism required for empire building.The books in the study were published between 1975 and 2009, and included Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events as well as Matilda and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.Many of the books show power can be used corruptly, according to Prof Thomson.Sometimes this can have a contemporary, political twist: in The Inflatable School by Peter Wynne-Willson, the "evil, messianic" Mr Stemple plans to turn his school into an academy sponsored by a business with whom his family has a profitable relationship.Miss Trunchbull is one of only two female heads in the books studied and is described, as "formidable and repulsive". ...

Open source textbooks

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Are you interested in new alternatives to traditional textbooks? Take a look at some of these services. Connexions“Connexions is an environment for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web. Our Content Commons contains educational materials for everyone — from children to college students to professionals — organized in small modules that are easily connected into larger collections or courses. All content is free to use and reuse under the Creative Commons "attribution" license.”Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources“The primary goal of the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources is to identify, create and/or re-purpose existing OER as Open Textbooks and make them available for use by community college students and faculty." The Community College Open Textbook Collaborative"The Community College Open Textbook Collaborative*, funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, is a collection of colleges, governmental agencies, educational nonprofits, and other education-related organizations.The collaborative provides training for instructors adopting open resources, peer reviews of open textbooks, an online professional network, support for authors opening their resources, and other services." (Source: BlogAbout Murphy Library)

Utah "concealled carry" permits

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

While about 200,000 Ohioans have obtained permits to carry concealed firearms through their own state, nearly 2,000 – 1,885 to be more precise -- have bypassed Ohio's requirements and gotten licenses from Utah -- without even going there, according to an article in The Columbus Dispatch yesterday. "Ohio requires applicants to undergo 12 hours of handgun-proficiency training before they're (Source: Cincinnati Law Library Association)

Wayback wednesday: 5 intersting blog posts worth remembering from the digitization 101 archives

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Since August 30, 2004, there have been more than 2000 posts published in this blog. In order to surface some of the meatier posts, I'm starting "Wayback Wednesdays". On Wednesdays, I'll be digging into the archives and pulling out blog posts that are worth remembering. In this issue, let's sit back with a cup of coffee and remember some of the off-topic posts that attracted attention (and perhaps still do!):Seth Godin and librariesExperience before training My top seven presentation tipsAdvice to conference/training/event organizers as well as presenters/speakers/trainersOpinion: Katrina - The world is watchingWhat to dig into the archives yourself? Use the "popular labels" on the right side of the blog OR use your favorite Internet search engine to search this site (e.g, site:hurstassociates.blogspot.com plus whatever terms are relevant to you.).This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. (Source: Digitization 101)

Wayback wednesday: 5 intersting blog posts worth remembering from the digitization 101 archives

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Eight years of iraq war cost less than stimulus act

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

What point was the President trying to make about the economy in last night's speech? I've heard Democrats say he was wonderful, Republicans say he was wooden and looked uncomfortable, the media was just obsequious, but what about the lies?Obama seemed to blame the current economy problems on the costs of war [i.e., everything is Bush's fault]: "Unfortunately, over the last decade, we’ve not done what’s necessary to shore up the foundations of our own prosperity. We spent a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. This, in turn, has short-changed investments in our own people, and contributed to record deficits. For too long, we have put off tough decisions on everything from our manufacturing base to our energy policy to education reform. As a result, too many middle-class families find themselves working harder for less, while our nation’s long-term competitiveness is put at risk."According to CBO numbers in its Budget and Economic Outlook published this month, the cost of Operation Iraqi Freedom was $709 billion for military and related activities, including training of Iraqi forces and diplomatic operations.The projected cost of the stimulus, which passed in February 2009, and is expected to have a shelf life of two years, was $862 billion. The U.S. deficit for fiscal year 2010 is expected to be $1.3 trillion, according to CBO. That compares to a 2007 deficit of $160.7 billion and a 2008 deficit of $458.6 billion, according to data provided by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In 2007 and 2008, the deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product was 1.2 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively" and under Obama 9.1%.the cost of the Iraq war from 2003-2008 -- when Bush was in office -- was $20 billion less than the cost of education spending and less than a quarter of the cost of Medicare spending during that same period. Bush's social spending cost us more than the war.So, tell us that part again, Mr. ...

The impact of information skills training on independent literature searching activity and requests for mediated literature searches.

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

The impact of information skills training on independent literature searching activity and requests for mediated literature searches.

Health Info Libr J. 2010 Sep 1;27(3):191-7

Authors: Addison J, Glover SW, Thornton C

Background: Most NHS library services routinely offer both mediated searches and information skills training sessions to their users. We analyse the impact of these two services on the amount of literature searching demonstrated by users of hospital- based library services in the north-west of England. Methods: Data for (1) mediated literature searches, (2) number of library users attending information skills training sessions, (3) amount of library staff time devoted to information skills training, and (4) number of Athens-authenticated log-ins to databases were obtained from statistical returns for 2007, and analysed for significant correlations. Results: There was evidence of quite strong correlations between the two measures of training activity and the number of mediated literature searches performed by library staff. There was weaker evidence of correlation between training activity and total literature searching activity. Discussion: Attending training sessions may make some library users aware of the difficulty of complex literature searches and actually reduce their confidence to perform their own complex searches independently. The relationships between information skills training, mediated literature searches, and independent literature searching activity remain complex. ...

The spectral project: a training needs analysis for providers of clinical question answering services.

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

The SPECTRAL project: a training needs analysis for providers of clinical question answering services.

Health Info Libr J. 2010 Sep 1;27(3):198-207

Authors: Booth A, Beecroft C

Purpose: To characterise the training needs of those providing clinical question answering services (CQAS). Participants: Seventeen specialist UK staff working in CQAS, 21 from general health library UK staff and eight international respondents. Methodology: A literature review examined documented training needs for CQAS staff. A follow-up questionnaire examined prior training and experience and identified training needs for the surveyed staff. Results/outcomes: Ninety per cent of CQAS staff had worked in health services for 3 years or longer. Training received in preparation for the CQAS role comprised literature searching (including the PRECEPT/ADEPT and cochrane library courses) and critical appraisal. Skills considered 'essential' for clinical question answering were 'literature searching' (100%), 'understanding the context of clinical questions', 'bibliographic databases', 'evidence-based sources' and 'the Internet' (all 93%). Main training needs for specialist CQAS staff include management and organisation of CQAS and technical skills in interpretation and presentation. Discussion/conclusion: CQAS staff require a formal training programme. Most CQAS staff considered that this should be a mandatory requirement. ...

Pharmacists' online information literacy: an assessment of their use of internet-based medicines information.

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Pharmacists' online information literacy: an assessment of their use of Internet-based medicines information.

Health Info Libr J. 2010 Sep 1;27(3):208-16

Authors: Peterson-Clark G, Aslani P, Williams KA

Introduction: Pharmacists need effective skills in accessing and using Internet-based medicines information (IBMI) for themselves and their consumers. However, there is limited information regarding how pharmacists use the Internet. Objectives: To develop and use a research instrument to measure pharmacists' Internet knowledge, search skills, evaluation of and opinions about using IBMI. Methods: A structured questionnaire examining general Internet knowledge, ability to search for and select pertinent IBMI, evaluation of IBMI, opinions about using IBMI and current Internet use was developed. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to analyse IBMI evaluation. Results: 208 pharmacists responded (response rate 20.6%). There was a large variation in pharmacists' scores. Mean scores were low for General Internet Knowledge (mean 7.91 +/- 3.62; scale 0-16), Search and Selection of IBMI (4.98 +/- 2.91; 0-10) and Opinions on IBMI (44.51 +/- 9.61; 0-80). Four factors [Professionalism of website (4 items; factor loading 0.62-0.87; Cronbach's alpha 0.84), Disclosure (5; 0.37-0.79; 0.73), Appropriateness of content (5; 0.32-0.50; 0.65), Standard of information (6; 0.31-0.48; 0.58)] were extracted from the evaluation scale, explaining 36.89% of the total variance. ...

Caption-based topical descriptors for microscopic images as published in academic papers.

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Caption-based topical descriptors for microscopic images as published in academic papers.

Health Info Libr J. 2010 Sep 1;27(3):235-43

Authors: Kim S, Lamkin S, Duncan P

Background: Visual findings summarized in the figures and tables of academic papers are invaluable sources for biomedical researchers. Captions associated with the visual findings are often neglected while retrieving biomedical images in published academic papers. Objectives: This study is to assess caption-based topical descriptors for microscopic images of breast neoplasms, as published in academic papers retrieved through the PubMed Central database. Method: Human indexers as well as an automatic keyword finder called TAPoR generated the topical descriptors from collected captions. The study then compared the human-generated descriptors to machine-generated descriptors. Finally, a set of core descriptors was developed from both sets and automatically mapped into the Unified Medical Language System's (UMLS) Metathesaurus through a MetaMap Transfer engine. Results: Major topical descriptors included histologic disease names, laboratory procedures, genetic functions and components. Human indexers provided more relevant descriptors than TAPoR. The UMLS Metathesaurus identified several semantic types including Indicator, Reagent, or Diagnostic Aid; Organic Chemical; Laboratory Procedure; Spatial Concept; Qualitative Concept; and Quantitative Concept. ...

Guest post: so you want to be a librarian/archivist?

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:12:00 +0100

The following is a guest post from Lisa Rabey. It was originally posted on LITA-L on August 31, 2010. I started my MLIS in the fall of 2008 and before I started school, I spent a lot of time researching information on the career field and also looking for blogs/journals/etc about the process of researching schools, to what kind of classes would benefit me coupled with my own background (10 years in technology, plus a BA and a MA), and anything really from those who were in the current throes of school. There was, at least then, very little. While I did find a load of stuff about librarianship from those in the field, but I also found that many of the blogs/journals/books were also outdated or getting close to being outdated. Secondly, I found that most online communities/networking sites tended to be filled with the same type of questions: What schools are the best? Should I take the GRE? I have a background in X, would this be applicable to becoming a librarian? To me at the time, that wasn't quite what I was looking for. I decided to put together series of blog posts on what I thought would be helpful to others considering going to lib school ranging from determining what type of school one should choose, lecture delivery, job placement, programs available, how to determine your career path, what other professions/career paths a MLIS can be used for and on to job hunting and more: http://shesgotplans.net/so-you-want-to-be-a-librarianarchivist/ *It should be noted that ALA has the above bookmarked in their delicious account to pass on to others seeking the same answers. I've gotten loads of emails from people over the last two years telling me how invaluable the information is to them and that it helped clarify or solidify their decisions to not only attend lib school, but also helped them sort out what type of librarian or archivist they wanted to be. ...

Health sciences libraries are eligible for walmart grant

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:48:40 +0100

This is an alert that Walmart will be awarding grants to 501C3 organizations for $25,000 and up in the following categories: Health grants strive to improve access to healthcare and promote healthy lifestyles. Education grants support programs that address the educational needs of underserved young people, ages 12-30. Job Skills Training grants promote professional training, counseling, and support services to help people improve their work-related skills. Environmental Sustainability grants support programs that are designed to help people become more sustainable as well as programs that enhance the environment. Deadline for grants is February 2011. It’s not to early to determine whether your organization is eligible and will seek funding. http://walmartstores.com/CommunityGiving/8169.aspx /ch (Source: Midcontinental Region News)

Information literacy and outreach librarian (regent university, virginia beach, virginia)

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:20:01 +0100

Information Literacy and Outreach Librarian (Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia) Job Description: Library faculty member to plan, implement, and assess library instruction, information literacy training, and educational programming. Duties: Develop and implement information literacy training and educational programming on campus and online. Oversee Information Research and Resources course. Reference and research assistance, along with other professional librarian duties, as assigned. For a complete job description see www.regent.edu/admin/hr/jobfaculty.cfm. Required: ALA-accredited degree. Experience and/or training in information literacy instruction in an academic setting. Proficiency with instructional technologies, social media, and library assessment tools related to instruction. ...

Head of library technology and systems (coastal carolina university, conway, south carolina)

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:20:01 +0100

Head of Library Technology and Systems (Coastal Carolina University, Conway, South Carolina) Coastal Carolina University’s Kimbel Library is expanding its services to meet the needs of a rapidly growing campus. It seeks an enthusiastic colleague to provide vision and leadership that reflects current needs and anticipates future trends in the evolving library and information environment. The successful candidate will have experience in the management of library systems that support the essential functions of the library, including the library’s integrated system and resource sharing software and systems. ...

Executive director (southwest ohio and neighboring libraries, cincinnati, ohio)

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:20:01 +0100

Executive Director (Southwest Ohio and Neighboring Libraries, Cincinnati, Ohio) Southwest Ohio and Neighboring (SWON) Libraries invites applications for the position of Executive Director. We seek a service-oriented individual committed to excellent service in providing vision and leadership for SWON Libraries, promoting core values of communication, service, community-building, and advocacy for area libraries and library staff. The Executive Director plans, directs, and assesses the services, activities, and resources within the context of SWON Libraries mission and strategic plan. Develops and supervises cooperative ventures among the multi-type member libraries. Creates, in conjunction with the Finance Committee, and administers the SWON Libraries budget and office operations. ...

Epa offers web-based training on electronic greenhouse gas reporting tool

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:19:41 +0100

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering Web-based training sessions for users of its electronic Greenhouse Gas Reporting Tool (e-GGRT), an online tool for reporting greenhouse gas emissions from large sources and suppliers under EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The training will provide users of the e-GGRT with information on registration, the designated representative, how to use the Web forms, and other topics. Interested individuals can choose one of the four dates listed below; EPA expects to schedule additional sessions in the future: October 6, 2010 1:00-2:30 pm EST October 20, 2010 1:00-2:30 pm EST November 3, 2010 1:00-2:30 pm EST November 17, 2010 1:00-2:30 pm EST EPA also held a number of other Web-based and regional in-person training sessions on aspects of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Presentations from these trainings, as well as links to register for the e-GGRT trainings listed above, are available at http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/training.html. (Source: Environmental News Bits)

Citizen media law project & center for sustainable journalism conference on media law in the digital age

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:30:00 +0100

Citizen Media Law Project and Center for Sustainable Journalism Announce Conference Focused on Media Law in the Digital Age Cambridge, MA – August 31, 2010 – The Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University are co‐hosting a conference on September 25, 2010 entitled Media Law in the Digital Age: The Rules Have Changed, Have You? in Atlanta, Georgia. Designed for journalists, bloggers, and lawyers who work with media clients, the conference will be an opportunity to learn first‐hand the latest legal developments and to get your questions answered by experts in the field. The program will bring together legal practitioners, journalists, and academics to discuss the latest legal issues facing online media ventures. Topics will include: libel law, copyright law, newsgathering law, and advertising law, as well as the legal issues arising from news aggregation, managing online communities, and business law considerations for start‐up online media organizations. Small‐group workshops will focus on strategies for accessing government information and understanding legal terms in content licenses, freelancer contracts, and website terms of service and privacy policies. If you need personalized legal assistance before or after the conference, contact the Online Media Legal Network, a legal referral network for independent online media administered by the Citizen Media Law Project at the Berkman Center. For more information about the network, please visit its website: http://www.omln.org. Funding for the conference is being provided by the Harnisch Foundation, which has been a long‐time sponsor of the Center for Sustainable Journalism and recently provided a grant to the Berkman Center to support media law education. Visit the conference website for more information on the conference agenda, registration and logistics: http://csjconferences. ...

Joint statement on bed bug control in the united states from the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) and the u.s. environmental protection agency (epa)

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:22:53 +0100

Joint Statement on Bed Bug Control in the United States from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed this document to highlight emerging public health issues associated with bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) in communities throughout the United States. Bed bugs have been common in U.S. history. Although bed bug populations dropped dramatically during the mid-20th century (1), the United States is one of many countries now experiencing an alarming resurgence in the population of bed bugs. Though the exact cause is not known, experts suspect the resurgence is associated with increased resistance of bed bugs to available pesticides, greater international and domestic travel, lack of knowledge regarding control of bed bugs due to their prolonged absence, and the continuing decline or elimination of effective vector/pest control programs at state and local public health agencies. In recent years, public health agencies across the country have been overwhelmed by complaints about bed bugs. An integrated approach to bed bug control involving federal, state, tribal and local public health professionals, together with pest management professionals, housing authorities and private citizens, will promote development and understanding of the best methods for managing and controlling bed bugs and preventing future infestations. Research, training and public education are critical to an effective strategy for reducing public health issues associated with the resurgence of bed bug populations. (Source: Docuticker)

Google lanceert postvak prioriteit voor gmail

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:39:00 +0100

Goed informatiemanagement begint bij goede informatiefilters. Nu heb ik in de loop van de jaren al heel wat filters ingezet, maar als het gaat om e-mail is mijn aanpak nog altijd vrij traditioneel. Ik pas het concept van Inbox Zero weliswaar toe, maar binnen Gmail werk ik alleen met de 'labels' van het programma, niet met de filters die worden aangeboden. Stom eigenlijk, want ik zou veel baat bij kunnen hebben bij dat hulpmiddel. Ik heb drie actieve Gmail-accounts, die dagelijks volstromen. Nu maak ik vaak voorselecties door met de telefoon de inboxen van al mijn mailaccounts tegelijkertijd op te vragen, en door binnen de browser te werken met de extensie Google Account Switcher. Daarmee is alles over mijn filteren gezegd (als ik de uitstekende spamfilter van Gmail zelf tenminste niet meetel). Zo gek als bij deze meneer is het nog niet, maar ik ben al lang van plan er eens iets aan te doen. Het komt er alleen niet van. Google is me echter voor. Vanochtend ontving ik een *kuch* mailtje van het bedrijf, dat me attendeerde op Postvak Prioriteit. Deze nieuwe service legt een filter over je inbox en onderscheidt belangrijke van onbelangrijke e-mails. Het is uiteraard wel een programma dat enige training behoeft maar mijn eerste indruk is positief. Ik denk dat ik het zelf instellen van filters van mijn actielijstje kan schrappen. Dat doet me deugd. @ (Source: Digitaal Inlichtingenwerk Zeeuwse Bibliotheek)

Linked data: metadata: now available online: slides from joint niso/dublin core metadata initiative webinar: “dublin core: the road from metadata formats to linked data”

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:30:27 +0100

Joint NISO/DCMI Webinar “Dublin Core: The Road from Metadata Formats to Linked Data” The Webinar was held on August 25, 2010 in cooperation with NISO. All of the presentations are PDF files. + Dublin Core in the Early Web Revolution Makx Dekkers + What Makes the Linked Data Approach Different Thomas Baker + Designing Interoperable Metadata on Linked Data Principles Thomas Baker + Bridging the Gap to the Linked Data Cloud Makx Dekkers See Also: New Task Groups for revising the User Guide and reviewing the DCMI Abstract Model Two new DCMI Task Groups have been formed: the DCMI User Guide Task Group that will work on a revision of the popular but outdated document “Using Dublin Core” and the DCMI Abstract Model Review Task Group that will prepare a review of the DCMI Abstract Model, both for discussion at DC-2010 in October 2010. Discussion will take place on the DC-Glossary and DC-Architecture mailing lists, respectively. Participation by interested members of the Dublin Core community is welcomed and encouraged; please contact Tom Baker for further information. See Also: More Metadata Training Resources from DCMI Source: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (Source: ResourceShelf)

My top 10 reasons why i bought an ipad

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:29:36 +0100

Late last week you would remember how I put together a blog post where I started collecting a number of the Daily #iPad Apps that I keep sharing across over in Twitter, for those folks who may be potentially interested. Also as a good reference for myself, i.e. as part of my own personal knowledge sharing experience, so that I can keep going back and forth over time and see what I may have shared and what not, just in case I may need it for a future reference. Then, my good friend Barry Leiba mentioned, in the comments, how he would be “interested in reading more about specifically HOW the iPad fundamentally changes your online interactions and experience“. Thus I thought I would go ahead today and put together a blog entry where I could share with folks my top 10 reasons why the iPad has changed my computing habits and overall Internet experience for good with no looking back! It’s going to be a rather interesting experiment, where I am sure I’m going to fall short on words on what it actually means for me, specially when not paying much attention to the tools and applications themselves, but more how I interact with the device. I know that some of those reasons will also surprise a bunch of folks out there who may have a perceived different persona of me than who I actually am, but I think that overall, it will help set the stage as to why I have finally fallen for the iPad as perhaps one of my last mobile devices I will own for a good while. A long one, actually. Thus without much ado, here are My Top 10 Reasons Why I Bought a 3G 64GB iPad, back while I was in Boston, in June, attending the Enterprise 2.0 conference event (Yes, I couldn’t buy one over here in Spain after having visited 18 shops!). ...

Education: spotlight! on nlm resources – my ncbi – wednesday, september 22, 2010

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:31:11 +0100

Tune in at 12:00 pm Mountain Time/1:00 pm Central Time. **Note the starting time! My NCBI will be the subject presented by Dana Abbey. The session will contain hands-on exercises to help better acquaint you with the multiple options to save your searches and data. Taking the one-hour class and completing the exercises and class evaluation makes you eligible to receive 1 Medical Library Association Continuing Education credit. This online training is FREE. Register online at http://tinyurl.com/mcrclasses (registration is not required but is appreciated). URL: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcr/, Equipment: connection to the Internet and a phone, Login: as a guest with your first and last name, Instructions to connect to the audio will show up once you’ve logged in. Captioning will be provided. Questions to mmagee@unmc.edu. (mm) (Source: Midcontinental Region News)

Education: breezing along with the rml -wed. september 15, 10:00 mountain time, 11:00 central time

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:55:28 +0100

Mark your calendar for our next Breezing session featuring MCR liaisons, Dana Abbey and Sharon Dennis. No registration. URL: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcr/. Equipment: connection to the Internet and a phone. Login: as a guest with your first and last name. Instructions to connect to the audio will show up once you’ve logged in. Captioning will be available. (mm) (Source: Midcontinental Region News)

Awards and education: we have funding – do you have an idea of something you’d like to learn?

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:51:16 +0100

With today’s shrinking travel budgets, and realizing that professional development is an essential part a librarian’s continuing education, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region will be awarding approximately 25 Professional Development subsidies (up to $1,500 each) to support health science or hospital librarians who wish to attend a conference, or take a training or workshop of their choice by the end of April 2011. Priority will be given to professional development in the areas of emergency preparedness, personal and electronic health records, health information literacy, or library advocacy, and would include online training opportunities. Applicants are encouraged to think about arenas outside our region so that learned information can be shared with MCR members. For more information and application information see: http://nnlm.gov/mcr/funding/ (mm) (Source: Midcontinental Region News)

Can ipads help stop sumo corruption?

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:45:53 +0100

The Japan Sumo Association is handing out free iPads to training stables to encourage the use of email. The hope is that the devices will speed up communication between wrestlers, coaches and the association and create a "paper trail" for future scandal investigations. (Source: Freakonomics Blog)

Programmer analyst iii:

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100

State: California Position Title: Programmer Analyst III Department: University Communications Req No.: 2010-0312 Location: UCI Campus - Irvine Job Summary: Under the general supervision of the director of web communications, the programmer maintains and supports the university's highest-level Web presence through the creation, evolution, production and maintenance of programming used on the UCI website (www.uci.edu), Chancellor website (www.chancellor.uci.edu), UC Irvine Today website (today.uci.edu), the campus emergency website (emergency.uci.edu) and ZotZine (zotzine.uci.edu), the campus e-magazine. As a member of the University Communications team, the programmer develops and builds applications, maintains existing applications, and performs a variety of website testing and quality assurance in support of the department's strategic initiatives. The programmer provides expert training and counsel on technical issues related to the Cascade Server content management system for internal and external clients. The programmer also provides computer and technical support and consulting services for staff within the department. Duties include Web programming and application development, database development, and Web page template development and maintenance. Salary: Annual $57,936 - $78,668 Work Schedule: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., M-F Career Position. Final candidate subject to background check. As a federal contractor, UC Irvine is required to use E-Verify to confirm the work status of individuals assigned to perform substantial work under certain federal contracts/subcontracts. Please attach your resume. For full details, please search for job number 2010-0312 on the HR recruitment page: https://staffing2.hr.uci.edu/CSS_EXTERNAL/CSSPage_Welcome.asp Apply online Click here to see University Communications web site. http://www.today.uci.edu/ Submitted on 2010-08-05 (Source: SLIS Careers Feed)

Librarian

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100

State: Illinois Job Title: Librarian Job Announcement Number: DE-10-CHI-OTI-0143 Department: U.S. Department of Labor Agency: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) SALARY RANGE: $51,995.00 - $67,589.00 /year OPEN PERIOD: Thursday, August 05, 2010 to Wednesday, August 18, 2010 SERIES & GRADE: GS-1410-09/09 POSITION INFORMATION: This is a full time position. This is a permanent position. DUTY LOCATIONS: 1 vacancy - Chicago Metro Area, IL JOB SUMMARY: Begin a challenging career with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and you will help shape the workforce of tomorrow. DOL offers rewarding opportunities to contribute to a noble mission; to serve and protect American workers, prepare them for new and better jobs, and to ensure the safety and fairness of American workplaces. This position is located: U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration Directorate of Training and Education Office of Training & Educational Programs The incumbent serves as a Librarian for the Office of Training and Educational Programs (OETP) within the OSHA Directorate Training and Education (DTE). OETP manages external training programs and includes the H. Lee Saltsgaver Technical Library and the Resources Center Loan Program. The incumbent is responsible for coordinating and administering all activities related to the Resources Center Loan Program and the H. Lee Saltsgaver Technical Library. This includes monitoring and analyzing the effectiveness of the services, and making recommendations for improvement as appropriate to support the changing emphasis of the Agency and the Directorate. ...

Science and engineering librarian

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100

State: International The University of Texas at Arlington Job Title Librarian Posting number 10-07-21-01-0100 Job status Open Information: http://utdirect.utexas.edu/pnjobs/index.WBX?comp=1 Check "Professional/Non-faculty" ___ Basic Information Date available 09/01/2010 Position duration Funding expected to continue Position open to all applicants Monthly salary $3333 negotiable depending on qualifications. Hours per week 40.00 Standard from 900AM to 600PM Location Arlington, TX Hiring department Library http://library.uta.edu General notes This is an entry level Science and Engineering Librarian position. Reference desk duty includes one week night, Sunday rotations and occasional holidays. Some instruction includes nights and weekends. Instructions about additional materials to be submitted by all applicants will be provided once you apply. Finalist(s) will be required to give a formal presentation on a library-related topic. Required Application Materials A Resume is required in order to apply. A Letter of Interest is required in order to apply. A List of 3 References is required in order to apply. Additional Information Purpose of position The Science/Engineering Librarian serves as liaison to assigned departments within the Colleges of Science and Engineering; contribute to and supports the Library's mission to foster and promote quality learning, teaching, and research. Essential functions Serves as subject liaison to assigned academic units for promotion and outreach of library services and resources for Science and Engineering disciplines, cultivates partnerships and relationships with faculty, staff and students. Provides general reference while maintaining a service desk area, also provides complex and/or consultative reference and research assistance in assigned subject areas including virtual reference. ...

Library director

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100

State: Oklahoma Grow with Us in Beautiful Green Country! The Tulsa City-County Library Commission seeks a new Chief Executive Officer to build on a solid foundation of excellent library service. Work with the Library Commission to determine the strategic direction and policies for the library; serve as the face of the library in the community; develop and implement plans for new library facilities, services, and programs; advise Tulsa Library Trust Board and Friends of the Tulsa City-County Libraries; raise funds, develop and maintain donor relations to enrich library services. The challenges are exciting and the opportunities are endless! See http://www.gossagesager.com/TulsaJD.doc for the complete job description. The Tulsa City-County Library System is an independent library district with a permanent tax rate exclusively dedicated to public library services. Governed by an 11-member, appointed Board of Commissioners, the system is a dynamic library system serving the 585,068 residents of Tulsa County in Northeastern Oklahoma. Library staff (269.5 FTEs) utilize a budget of $25.8 million to operate 25 public locations, one service center and an active bookmobile serving an increasingly diverse area. Named a Five-Star Library by Library Journal in 2008, this year the system celebrated a record 5.7 million circulation and increases in foot-traffic. TCCL also benefits from a supportive Tulsa Library Trust and active Friends groups. Tulsa boasts a widely diversified business base. It is one of "America's Most Livable Communities" and recently Relocate America ranked it the "No. 1 Place to Live." Known as a Mecca for arts in Oklahoma, the city enjoys a rich cultural legacy with its ballet, opera, symphony and museums. Art deco masterpieces abound in many downtown buildings. Outstanding higher education facilities and recreational amenities help it earn these accolades and greatly enhance the area's quality of life. ...

Assistant branch manager/youth services librarian

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100

State: Indiana Join the team of our nationally recognized Top Ten HAPLR and Library Journal 5-Star library! The Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, an essential provider of shared information and a core community service, promotes reading, lifelong learning, and economic vitality through its resources, services, and programs to the residents of Vanderburgh County. The Assistant Branch Manager performs professional librarian duties, which include public service, collection development, program development, training, and direction to patrons, staff, and volunteers; performs related duties as required. The assistant assumes management responsibility in the absence of the Branch Manager. The assistant’s responsibilities include but are not limited to the youth services area of the branch. Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Assists with implementation of Library policies, procedures, rules, and directives. 2. Participates in creative planning, budgeting, coordinating, and implementing all functions of the branch. 3. Establishes and enforces a standard of appropriate customer conduct on Library premises consistent with Library rules and policies. 4. Leads, supervises, and coaches employees through scheduling, coordinating, delegating, selecting, counseling, directing, training, evaluating, disciplining, and discharging. 5. Plans, arranges for and/or prepares for and presents programs and library tours for all ages. 6. Evaluates customer needs and preferences for Library resources; responds to customer requests and complaints. 7. Engages in planning, coordinating, recommending and deselecting of materials in all formats. 8. Provides some reference and reader’s advisory services. 9. Coordinates services, resources, and training based on Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library. 10. Perform functions in youth services department including creative programming activities for children birth to age 18. 11. ...

Technology specialist

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100

State: Ohio OHIONET, a nonprofit multi-type library cooperative, seeks an experienced, yet progressive Technology Specialist to assist in the administration of OPAL (Ohio Private Academic Libraries) consortium's and other OHIONET-supported library servers and applications. As part of our member support team, this individual will also provide technical support to member libraries and will participate in after-hours and weekend support rotation. This individual will conduct training sessions both online and in-person to support the effective use of these systems and will prepare complete and accurate documentation to support these projects. Qualifications: - ALA-accredited MLS or equivalent experience required; - Minimum of two years of experience in library system administration or support required (experience with Innovative Interfaces system administration preferred); - Experience with Linux system administration required; - Knowledge of networks and networking principles required; - Familiarity with at least one programming/scripting language required; - Must have a strong public/customer service background and possess the ability to provide front-line troubleshooting in complex environments; - Must be capable of managing technical projects; - Must possess strong written and verbal communication skills; - Should possess excellent leadership, analytic and problem-solving skills and capability of exercising sound judgment; - Travel to libraries required. Compensation: Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Generous package of benefits includes 20 vacation days, 11 holidays, 12 days sick leave, TIAA-CREF retirement plan, and medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance. Interested applicants should send a letter of application, resume, and three references with addresses and phone numbers. Applications can be sent electronically via email to jennifert@ohionet. ...

Librarian, career resource centers

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100

State: Illinois The Librarian, Career Resource Centers (CRC) responds to thousands of requests for information from students and alumni. This position is responsible for research, development, and delivery of career research materials and instruction for 3,200 students enrolled in the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth) full-time and part-time MBA programs in Chicago, London, and Singapore and more than 40,000 alumni worldwide. The Librarian plays a key role in the transfer of knowledge and ideas by providing students and alumni with access to a wide range of information to facilitate their career advancement efforts including frequent instructional programs on the relevant research tools. This individual manages all aspects of both the Harper and Fisher CRC’s, supervises CRC staff, and works with departmental colleagues to develop complementary and collaborative programming to enhance the overall success of Career Services. The Librarian determines the overall vision and strategy for the CRC’s, including physical space, staff, new resources, and new programs. This person develops and continually monitors best practices. In addition, the Librarian is expected to acquire, maintain, and apply expert knowledge of resources and disseminate that knowledge to relevent constituencies via one-on-one consultations, presentations, and the web (or other forms of media). Lastly, this individual coordinates resources and relationships amongst the Harper CRC, Fisher CRC, Regenstein Library, Computing Services, Faculty, other Booth departments/centers, and Career Services team. PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: 1. As the librarian, determine overall vision and strategy for the CRC’s including physical space, staff, new resources and new programs. Develop and continually monitor best practices. ...

2010 employer e-learning benchmarking survey

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

The Australian Flexible Learning Framework's 2010 survey of 800 employers shows that the use of e-learning in the workplace continues to increase.E-learning is now an integral component of training for Australian businesses. Employers are using the flexibility of e-learning to provide timely access for employees to acquire and develop a wide range of skills and work related knowledge. (Text adapted from AustralianPolicyOnline). Read the full text here (Source: Your Library@CSU)

On retargeting: fix the conversation

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

The New York Times published a story on the practice of retargeting today, entitled "Retargeting Ads Follow Surfers to Other Sites." While not nearly as presumptively negative as the WSJ series on marketing and data, it's telling that the story is slugged with "adstalk" in the URL. Journalists and editors generally dislike and mistrust advertisers - I know, because I am both an editor and a journalist, I've worked at places like the Times, and only after studying the business of media for several years (and starting a few companies to boot) have I come around to a more nuanced point of view. We can't expect every editor to do the same. But maybe I have an idea that can help. As the Time piece admits, retargeting is not new. What seems new, the article concludes, is how much the practice has increased, to the point where people feel like they are being "stalked" around the web, often in a fashion that "just feels creepy." Well, as I've said a million times, marketing is a conversation. And retargeted ads are part of that conversation. I'd like to suggest that retargeted ads acknowledge, with a simple graphic in a consistent place, that they are in fact a retargeted ad, and offer the consumer a chance to tell the advertiser "Thanks, but for now I'm not interested." Then the ad goes away, and a new one would show up. The technology and processes required to do such a simple task are already in place. Most third party services which provide retargeting services already use the "i" logo in the creative, which when clicked tells consumers "why am I getting this ad." Why not extend that to include a "not right now" button, one that allows the consumer to tell the ad he or she is not quite ready for this offer? Facebook is already training us all toward this end with the "X" in the upper right hand corner of every ad on the site (see image at left). ...

Links for 2010-08-26 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:40:02 +0100

EAHIL-European Association for Health Information and Libraries August Issue of Journal of EAHIL is out! See: http://bit.ly/9BEL07 for the PDF. #li Opening Ceremony EAHIL2009 (part 2) Check out this SlideShare webinar : Opening Ceremony EAHIL2009 (part 2) http://slidesha.re/9xJ4ji What is Second Life? Medicine in Second Life, http://bit.ly/bk9KFW #education #simulation #training #teaching #roleplay #visualization Netvibes @digicmb use the url http://ow.ly/2v0JV then http://www.netvibes.com/?reset=1 and let me know :) ! – netvibes (netvibes) http://twitter.com/netvibes/statuses/22161693995 Netvibes - Dashboard Everything @digicmb use the url http://ow.ly/2v0JV then http://www.netvibes.com/?reset=1 and let me know :) ! – netvibes (netvibes) http://twitter.com/netvibes/statuses/22161693995 Twitter Goes to College - US News and World Report Twitter Goes to College - US News and World Report http://bit.ly/acYyW5 RT @librarianbyday Twitter as communication with students (Source: DigiCMB)

Worker displacement 2007-2009

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:05:22 +0100

Worker Displacement 2007-2009 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics From January 2007 through December 2009, 6.9 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was nearly twice as many as were displaced for the survey period covering January 2005 to December 2007. In January 2010, about half of displaced workers were reemployed, down from about two-thirds for the prior survey in January 2008. The more recent period includes the recession that began in December 2007. In contrast, the prior survey covered a period of employment growth and declining unemployment. Since 1984, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor has sponsored surveys that collect information on workers who were displaced from their jobs. These surveys have been conducted biennially as supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of house- holds that is the primary source of information on the nation’s labor force. Displaced workers are defined as persons 20 years of age and older who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished. The period covered in this study was 2007-09, the 3 calendar years prior to the January 2010 survey date. The following analysis focuses primarily on the 6.9 million persons who had worked for their employer for 3 or more years at the time of displacement (referred to as long-tenured). An additional 8.5 million persons were displaced from jobs they had held for less than 3 years (referred to as short-tenured). Combining the short- and long-tenured groups, the number of displaced workers totaled 15.4 million from 2007-09, up from 8.3 million for the period covered by the prior survey (2005-07). (Source: Docuticker)

Elsevier and the royal tropical sign institute (kit) will provide 150 researchers in least-developed and low-income countries with access to sciencedirect and scopus

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:18:39 +0100

From an E-Mail: Elsevier and the Royal Tropical Sign Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam announced on 26th of August the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding providing 150 researchers working in least-developed and low-income countries with access to ScienceDirect and Scopus. Elsevier and KIT’s department Information & Library Service (KIT ILS) in Amsterdam are collaborating on this unique public-private partnership to drive capacity building in information technology and management in the developing world. The new agreement will expand access for five years while sharing best practice in research and training. “Elsevier and KIT have a long and productive relationship. The continuation of this initiative provides our partners in the South with access to a wealth of information that is directly relevant to their research. The association of the program with the Elsevier Foundation and Research4Life provides both recognition and sustainability. It is a privilege for KIT ILS to act as an intermediary in a co-operative effort that so closely matches our departmental and institutional goals,” said Hans van Hartevelt, Director of KIT Information & Library Services. Jan Donner, CEO of KIT agrees: “This is a unique project which definitely matches our institutional goals. We are very proud that we can realize this together with Elsevier as an innovative co-partner.” “We are very happy to support the critical work that the Royal Tropical Institute is doing to drive access, usage and authorship in key developing world institutes, bringing key researchers closer to their peers and individual research communities around the world,” said David Ruth, Executive Director of the Elsevier Foundation and Senior Vice President Global Communications, Elsevier. ...

Archivist (american academy of arts and sciences, cambridge, massachusetts)

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:15:01 +0100

Archivist (American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts) The Archivist will be responsible for all aspects of department work, including processing, cataloging, digitization, and conservation of collections; records management; exhibitions; fund-raising; and supervision of staff. Qualifications: Masters or Doctorate in library/information science with a concentration in archives management, or MA/MS/PhD in research oriented, historically related field (American History, American Studies), with training or equivalent experience in archive management. Experience with MARC, DACS, XML, EAD, and other current metadata format standards, content standards, and element sets. Knowledge of and experience with digitizing methods. ...

Philip de lászló: his life and art by duff hart-davis and caroline corbeau-parsons | book review

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:05:27 +0100

Jan Marsh on the many reinventions of a hugely successful society artistPhilip de Who? Sadly for someone who saw himself in an illustrious line of foreign-born artists including Holbein, Van Dyck, Lely and Kneller, and who specialised in portraying British royals and nobles, De László's name has slipped well below the horizon since his death in 1937. Style recognition, however, remains high in his society portraits, with their bravura brushwork: sweetly glamorised, chiffon-draped images of Princess Marina and the late Queen Mother when Duchess of York; European kings, dukes and generals in full regalia, vestiges of vanished hierarchies. And thousands of them, for De László perfected the art of instant painting alla prima on to canvas, to capture the likeness in a single sitting, like a flattering cartoonist with gestural panache.His male portraits put an acceptable face on plutocracy. Where Sargent, his real role model, lamented that each work cost him a friend, De László gained friends on all sides. "The portrait of my wife has a ray of heaven illuminating in her face the charming qualities of her soul," the Duke of Portland wrote. He made his sitters "look exactly as they would like themselves to look", observed the magazine Apollo. No wonder he was popular.Who was he? A man of several incarnations, born Fülöp Laub in Budapest in 1869, the son of a poor tailor. He claimed to have left school at nine to work successively for theatrical scene-painters, an architectural sculptor and a porcelain-painter before colouring up prints in a society photographer's studio – a portent of the future, perhaps. Evening study led to fine art training, then Munich and Paris. His scenes of peasant life were comparable to those being produced in Brittany and Newlyn and, following the national trend, he hungarianised his name to László at about the same time as he swapped his Jewish faith for Catholicism. ...

New but experienced

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:27:35 +0100

by Beth Wrenn-Estes I hope you will support me in my efforts to be elected to the California Library Association (CLA) board of directors. I want to share my leadership and organizational skills and to keep CLA a viable organization representing our member's needs. In order for the organization to weather the current economic storms in our profession a strong leadership team needs to be in place. CLA must remain responsive to the changing times if they are to keep our membership community working on common challenges and goals. CLA has professional lobbyists representing our issues to the state legislature but even more important are the efforts to continuously work to provide training and tools to grassroots advocates throughout the state. In order for the organization to weather the current changes and economic storms in our profession a strong leadership team needs to be in place. CLA must remain responsive to the changing times if they are to keep our library community together working for common goals. Providing quality membership services and programs is a critical area that CLA has and must continue to concentrate on. The annual conference serves as a centerpiece for quality professional development programs and networking opportunities for attendees. CLA leadership must continue to look for the most efficient and effective ways to manage the day-to-day operations of the organization (staff). My experience in management gives me skills and knowledge to use in this area of leadership as well. I am the new kid on the block having only moved to Northern CA from Colorado in November of 2008 but being the new kid gives me the advantage of looking at issues with "new" eyes. I was deeply involved in my state library association in Colorado (Colorado Association of Libraries - CAL) and know the power that a state library association can have with strong leadership and solid membership base. ...

Six week trial to sage journals online coming very soon as company completes migration to next generation platform

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:42:41 +0100

The migration of 560 journals to the next generation of SAGE Journals Online using the H20 platform from HighWire is complete. From the Next Generation Info Page What’s New? + Journal and society branding – home page designs will include greater prominence of journal titles and association logos, names and links to society sites. + Browse, advanced search and alerting features – expanded discipline functionality across 40+ categories. + Abstract preview – mouse-over entries available from tables of contents and search results provide instant pop-up previews of abstracts, without leaving the page. + Tag-along navigation – content feature options follow alongside as you scroll down the article page. + Feature hideaway – author affiliations, related links, and other optional functions can be expanded or hidden from view; these preferences are retained throughout a session. + Popular-articles list – Most Viewed and Most Cited articles lists are readily available from all pages within a journal site. + Content architecture, hosted in industry-standard, NLM metadata format. + Redesigned SJO portal– provides targeted options and improved navigation for all types of users. Free Trial to Sage Journals Online Begins September 1, 2010 To mark the successful migration, SAGE is offering a six week free trial to the next generation of SAGE Journals Online starting September 1st. Visit http://online.sagepub.com September 1st for further information. See Also: Information Page (with screen caps); User Guide; FAQ; Training PPT; Instuctional Video (Source: ResourceShelf)

Uk — public attitudes towards mobility scooters, january and march 2010

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:54:35 +0100

Public attitudes towards mobility scooters, January and March 2010 Source: UK Department for Transport This report discusses the combined results for questions placed on the ONS Opinions omnibus survey in January and March 2010. These measured public attitudes towards whether those wanting to use mobility scooter need training and testing before being allowed to use one and whether users or scooters need licensing and insuring. This work also identifies how many people either use a mobility scooter or know someone who uses a mobility scooter and how many people have either been injured by a mobility scooter or know someone who has been injured by a mobility scooter. (Source: Docuticker)

Event: archiving 2011

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Received via email...IS&T is pleased to announce the Archiving 2011 Call for Papers. The deadline for submitting presentation abstracts for Archiving 2011 to be held May 16-19, 2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah, is October 17, 2010. A PDF of the Call for Papers can be found at www.imaging.org/ist/conferences/archiving.The IS&T Archiving Conference brings together a unique community of imaging novices and experts from libraries, archives, records management, and information technology institutions to discuss and explore the expanding field of digital archiving and preservation. Attendees from around the world represent industry, academia, governments, and cultural heritage institutions. The conference presents the latest research results on archiving, provides a forum to explore new strategies and policies, and reports on successful projects that can serve as benchmarks in the field. Archiving 2011 is a blend of invited focal papers, keynote talks, and refereed oral and interactive display presentations. Prospective authors are invited to submit oral and interactive presentations by the October 17th deadline. ...

Event: archiving 2011

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Technology training at amigos

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Amigos has scheduled web-based technology training in our live online classroom. Available courses include the following titles. All times below are Central Time. Creating Mobile Websites September 28 & 30, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. CDT Early Bird Registration Deadline: 9/6 http://bit.ly/cP5prd Know & Go: What is Google Up To? October 11, 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. CDT http://bit.ly/9Dinqo Tech Topics: QR Codes October 22, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. CDT Early Bird Registration Deadline: 9/30 http://bit.ly/ct7ibI Tech Topics: Privacy and Social Networks November 5, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. CDT Early Bird Registration Deadline: 10/14 http://bit.ly/9z1Re5 Creating Mobile Websites December 7 & 9, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CST Early Bird Registration Deadline: 11/15 http://bit.ly/cP5prd ___________________________________________________ OCLC-related courses: Serials (& other) Local Holdings: Creation and Care with OCLC Connexion September 8, 10 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CDT http://bit.ly/5oqJIn Copy Cataloging: A (Source: gmane.education.web4lib)

Webinar: creating a virtual orientation for new staff

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:39:25 +0100

We’re heading into a second week of double-header online WebJunction events and hope to see you there! This week’s Digitization and Preservation Symposium was attended by more than 500 people (!) and included the usual buzz of resource and idea sharing throughout. Be sure to review the archive and the questions and links gleaned from chat. If you missed the first two sessions in the Libraries and Economic Development Series, you can still register for Tuesday’s final session, Going to Your Customer – Outreach and Strategic Partnerships, to learn how to boost your community’s economic development. And if you’re involved in training of any sort, the second webinar next week is not to be missed. We have Emerging Leader Group N to thank for recruiting the Baltimore County Public Library Virtual Orientation Project for this webinar. On Wednesday September 1, 2:00 Eastern, in collaboration with ALA Learning Roundtable we’re pleased to host Creating A Virtual Orientation for New Staff. Orienting new staff quickly to your organization is very important. A virtual orientation could be the key to a timely, comprehensive, standardized introduction to your library system. Discover advantages to implementing a virtual orientation for your workplace. Presenters Jean Mantegna, Sandy Lombardo, and Melissa Hepler have also shared their expertise in a recently published case study. Come join us on Wednesday if you want to hear how they planned, tested and implemented this exciting training project! Register and preview resources » (Source: BlogJunction)

Research and instruction librarian, worcester polytechnic institute

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:20:02 +0100

Worcester Polytechnic Institute invites applications for the position of Research and Instruction Librarian, who will report to the Associate Director for Research and Instruction Services. Founded in Worcester, Mass., in 1865, WPI was one of the nation's earliest technological universities. From our founding days, we've taken a unique approach to science and technology education which makes working at the Gordon Library a rewarding experience. Librarians support our research-intensive project-based curriculum with a growing highly regarded instruction program. The George C. Gordon Library offers a vibrant atmosphere with newly renovated spaces where students, faculty, alumni and staff come together on campus. BASIC FUNCTIONS: Collaborates with WPI faculty staff and the Research and Instruction team to advance technology-enhanced instruction by design, development, and delivery of electronic learning and online tutorials to meet information literacy and related outcomes. Provides research and instruction services to the WPI community, incorporates appropriate technologies, skills, innovations, and collaborations as needed into instructional program; supports academic library departments as a library liaison, provides research education services and current information on library resources and services both in-person and online. PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: - Designs, develops, and delivers e-learning and online tutorials for the library's research education program. - Supports judicious and appropriate use of the library's subscribed information resources and assists in providing access to course-specific instructional materials in online environments. - Designs, develops and provides research consultations and orientations; including virtual research orientations and consultations for distance learners. ...

Information literacy librarian (asnuntuck community college, enfield, connecticut)

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:15:01 +0100

Information Literacy Librarian (Asnuntuck Community College, Enfield, Connecticut) Academic Year 2010-2011 Appointment (Temporary, Full-Time – 35 hours per week) ANTICIPATED STARTING DATE: October 2010 MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: ALA-accredited Masters Degree in Library Science (or MLIS), with one to four years of related experience including up to two years of experience in leading or supervising others, or a combination of education, training, and experience which would lead to the competencies required. Demonstrated strong competencies in information literacy instruction and reference service. ...

Director (yazoo library association, yazoo city, mississippi)

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:15:01 +0100

Director (Yazoo Library Association, Yazoo City, Mississippi) Director Yazoo Library Association B. S. Ricks Memorial Library 310 North Main Street Yazoo City, MS 39194 662-746-5586 The Administrative Board of Trustees of the Yazoo Library Association’s B. S. Ricks Memorial Library is seeking a creative and innovative Director who can blend traditional library services with the technology needs required by our citizens. Yazoo City is situated in Yazoo County, the Gateway to the Mississippi Delta. Named for a preeminent turn of the 20th century local entrepreneur, the B. S. Ricks Memorial Library is a 1901 Beaux Arts building that is also on the National Register of Historic Places. ...

Public services/ reference librarian | inter-american development bank

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:14:00 +0100

US - DC - Washington, • Education: Masters degree in Library Science (preferred) or Licenciatura en Bibliotecología y Documentación from an accredited institution. • Experience: Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience (Source: SLA Career Center Search Results [])

Senior information researcher | duff and phelps llc

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:04:00 +0100

US - CA - Los Angeles, Requirements: •M.L.S. with at least three years experience in a corporate library, preferably in a virtual setting, including some general management responsibilities •Demonstrated proficiency (Source: SLA Career Center Search Results [])

In for a penny, in for a pound… my promotion “case for support”

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:55:39 +0100

JUst before going away on holiday, I popped up a questionnaire asking for a little help working out what sort of impact – if any – I had on folk that could weave in to my promotion case for support… Thanks to all who took the time out to reply (it was very humbling:-) Anyway, for what it’s worth, here’s a draft of the Case for Support, which I need to submit tomorrow. Whilst I haven’t been able to add direct quotes from the questionnaire responses – the word limit is set at 1500 words – your responses did inform what I wrote: some of the words are very heavily loaded and more densely packed, on occasion summarising whole responses… Tony Hirst – Case for promotion to Senior Lecturer My case for promotion is based around excellence in teaching and scholarship, with a strong theme of digital scholarship and community engagement. Teaching & contributions to the teaching system I have chaired three courses (production and presentation), and authored on four others, pushing the elearning agenda through technology and design innovation with a view to reuse. In 2000, I developed two units for T396 delivered via a novel electronic study guide, providing a unified browser-based interface to online, offline and CD-ROM content, and a mobile website for course alerts. This work identified issues relating to authoring content specifically for browser based delivery on desktop and mobile devices that have informed my work ever since. A major feature of my approach to the production of teaching materials relates to supporting reuse in other contexts. Whilst writing online material for the T184 robotics course, I commissioned several interactive browser-based activities that have been reused on courses such as TXR174, as well as for outreach. Using T184 software, I developed a range of activities for schools and OU regional Aim Higher/Widening Participation initiatives. ...

Grant recipients announced for california's family place library program

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:50:48 +0100

Thirteen California public libraries have been selected as 2010/2011 grant recipients for California's Family Place Library Program, a statewide initiative that helps create family/early childhood space in the children's areas of local public libraries. Equipped with toys, books, and comfortable furniture, these settings support early-learning interactions between young children (ages 0 to 3), parents, and caregivers, and encourage the use of public libraries by families with children. Program participants for the coming year include: Altadena Library District Azusa Public Library El Dorado County Library (Cameron Park) National City Public Library Orange County Libraries (La Habra) Oxnard Public Library (South Oxnard) Porterville Public Library Sacramento Public Library (South Gate) San Bernardino Public Library San Mateo County Library (Half Moon Bay) Santa Clara City Library Sierra Madre Public Library Sunnyvale Public Library In September, two representatives from each of these libraries will attend a three-day Family Place Training Institute that focuses on family-centered services, child development, parent education, collections, space design, and community outreach. These libraries will then be eligible to apply for a federally-funded implementation grant, up to $15,000, to establish early childhood spaces in their children's sections. Modeled on a national Family Place project, California's Family Place Program is administered by the California State Library and is funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). For more information about California's Family Place Library Program, please contact Bessie Condos at the California State Library, (916)651-0981 or bcondos@library.ca.gov . Submitted to California Libraries by Laura Parker, Public Information Officer, California State Library, lparker@library.ca.gov, (916) 651-6798. (Source: CLA Weblog)

Technology, change, and learning in an on-site, online world

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:34:19 +0100

The chilling fact is, most training—around 85 percent—is wasted; it leaves learners doing exactly what they were doing before they completed a training session. Which, of course, is an incredible waste of time, money, and people for everyone involved. And the tragedy is that it doesn’t have to be this way. So how do we beat the odds? Can technology help? In two 90-minute ALA TechSource Workshops next month, we’ll explore ways to inexpensively and effectively use technology in face-to-face and online learning. The gist of what we’re going to do together is look at ways to put the learners at the center of the process and keep technology in its place as a tool that helps us work more effectively while saving money for the organizations we serve—both by holding down expenditures and by producing better results. We will attempt to create and nurture communities of learning, comprising well-educated staff who understand and enthusiastically embrace meaningful change. Our first session, on September 16, will explore ways to creatively use familiar tools including Word and PowerPoint in conjunction with online resources such as YouTube, Google Docs, and SlideShare to creatively inspire learning that produces positive results. Our second session, on September 23, will take us on a major leap forward: we’ll discuss ways to apply what we do face-to-face to online settings through Skype, Google Chat, LinkedIn discussion groups, and other tools. We’ll emphasize low- or no-cost tools. The goal is to inspire participants to seek innovative ways to serve their colleagues, their organizations, and those they ultimately serve. And if we leave with smiles on our faces and with less stressful reactions to the words “technology” and “change,” we will have taken step toward making our world feel a little less daunting and a lot more like home. ...

Pornography: solving an ethical dilemma with calix

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:40:56 +0100

Public Access Computers One evening in 2010 in a small family-oriented library where I work as a part-time Reference Librarian, I found myself questioning what I should do. A parent came to me for assistance. She quietly stepped up to the reference desk, and so as not to be overheard, she whispered to me that a man using one of the public access computers was seated next to her 9-year-old child, and he was browsing what looked like child pornography on the next cubicle. Yes, it happened. I was stunned. I wondered could this man possibly be so bold (or desperate enough) to be viewing child pornography in a public library filled with juveniles and their parents researching CA Missions? I was the only librarian on duty. I had to think, assess the situation, confirm the information, act quickly, discreetly, and ethically to solve this dilemma. What should I do? What would you do? What library principles should librarians and library professionals obey in a similar situation? What resources and tools does the American Library Association (ALA) provide to help us? I am certain that I am not the first, and sadly, I am nor the last librarian that will encounter a similar situation. First of all, without corroborating the alleged claim, I must admit that my reaction was not only judgmental; it was also wrong, and unprofessional. Thus, I am writing about my predicament because, in retrospect, I know that I did not act as professionally as I could have, and as a life-long learner and graduate student in the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at San José State University, I must remember to apply what I have learned. Librarianship has multiple resources that provide librarians and library professionals the guidelines and tools we need to deal with and resolve any problem. ...

Lectures by llewellyn

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:00:28 +0100

I was delighted to learn from a tweet by Lyonette Louis-Jacques, the International Law Librarian at the University of Chicago (and a Slaw columnist), that two of Karl Llewellyn’s lectures are available in audio on the U of Chicago website. Llewellyn was an adherent of the U.S. “legal realism” movement and, perhaps most famously, the force behind the drafting of the Uniform Commercial Code. One of his duties at Columbia, and later at the University of Chicago, was to deliver introductory lectures to first year students. His book The Bramble Bush, still read with pleasure today, came out of this duty. Karl Llewellyn died in 1962. There are two audio files of Llewellyn available online: the 1957 “Elements of the Law: Introductory Lecture” [47 minutes] and the undated “Marriage and Family,” [102 minutes] a classroom lecture. In the former, you’ll hear his forceful, indeed hectoring, voice hammering home to students the difficulty of practice and the importance of the duty each will have to clients. Some of what he says may be dated — he snaps at a student not to smoke — but the majority of it would benefit any law student, and not a few of the rest of us, perhaps. (Source: Slaw)

Lollipop for learning resources: information literacy staff training within further education

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:59:52 +0100

This paper looks at how the provision of information literacy training is supported in the further education sector. Using a case study, the results demonstrate how an online information literacy programme can be used as a staff development tool, in order that Learning Resources staff are better equipped to support students in their information literacy needs. The online programme was also used so that staff could become familiar with the institutional virtual learning environment (VLE), again in order that they are able to better support students. (Source: Journal of Librarianship and Information Science current issue)

Event: digital preservation training programme

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Received via email...Bookings now open for Digital Preservation Training ProgrammeUniversity of London Computer Centre announces that the next Digital Preservation Training Programme (DPTP) will take place from 4th-6th of October 2010, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London.The DPTP is an intensive 3-day course designed for all those working in institutional information management who are grappling with fundamental issues of digital preservation. It provides the skills and knowledge necessary for institutions to combine organisational and technological perspectives and develop an appropriate response to the challenges that digital preservation needs present. DPTP is operated and organised by the University of London Computer Centre with contributions from leading experts in the field.Bookings for DPTP are now open at the ULCC online store. Please note that currently only payment by credit/debit card is fully automated online, and this would be our preferred method of payment. However, if you require to be sent an invoice, please see the 'more info' tab on the DPTP online booking website.The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is again generously offering three fully funded scholarships so that DPC members and associates can participate in the DPTP October 2010. For further details of eligibility and the application process, please see the DPC website.Please see the links below for further information: DPTP online: www.dptp.orgBooking: http://bit.ly/dptpOCT10DPC website: www.dpconline.orgThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. (Source: Digitization 101)

Event: digital preservation training programme

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Space toilet training: learn more from mary roach in "packing for mars"

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:17 +0100

The top question astronauts get is addressed in this video from NASA. Learn more about life in space when author Mary Roach visits the Los Altos Library on Tuesday, August 31st at 7:30 PM to talk about her new book "Packing for Mars." (Source: Santa Clara County Library - The Latest SCCoop)

Talk time @ your library / tiempo para conversar en la biblioteca

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:22:01 +0100

September 17 - November 19, 2010. If you are a beginning or intermediate English language learner, please join us for a fun evening of activities that will allow you to practice your English in a relaxed setting. Stop by or call the South Madison Branch Library at 266-6395 to register for the free ten-week series. Childcare will be provided for children ages 3 and up. (Volunteers who wish to help with the series must take a two-hour training course on September 10 and commit to weekly meetings as well as the weekly Talk Time Sessions). This project is made possible by an American Dream Grant from the American Library Association, funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. (Source: What's New)

Failure to communicate

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

After Katrina, Cops Given OK to Shoot LootersIn one instance captured on a grainy videotape shot by a member of the force, a police captain relayed the instructions at morning roll call to cops preparing for the day's patrols. "We have authority by martial law to shoot looters," Captain James Scott told a few dozen officers in a portion of the tape viewed by reporters. Scott, then the commander of the 1st district, is now captain of the special operations division. *snip*Scott's address came at a moment of widespread confusion over whether authorities had imposed martial law, a phrase used by then-Mayor Ray Nagin on the radio. In fact, martial law does not exist under Louisiana's constitution. But experts in police training said the use of those words by politicians and in news reports may have fueled perceptions that the rules had changed. It's near the end of the day and certainly everyone in New Orleans has seen this story by now. But I thought it might be worth looking into the question of whether or not the "grainy videotape" actually captured Scott claiming that "Martian Law" had been declared which is, of course, something we all know does exist in Louisiana.Update: Attorneys to use 'shoot the looters' defense in Danziger case Oh well. Guess now they have to indict Scott. Or Riley. (Source: Library Chronicles)

Fasting for accurate employment and salary data: open letter to law school deans and directors on 20th day of hunger strike

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Source Dear Law School Deans and Directors: My name is Ethan Haines. On August 5, I began a hunger strike in support of law school transparency and career counseling (career planning and training) reform. Ten of the nation’s top law... (Source: Law Librarian Blog)

Canadian clinical legal education conference

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:41:19 +0100

We all have our grievances about law school, as remote as it may or may not have been for us personally. Maybe what’s needed is greater academic discourse about the pedagogue of legal education. The University of Western Ontario Law School is hosting Canadian Clinical Legal Education Conference on October 22-23, 2010. The program features a sitting Supreme Court Justice, legal academics, and legal administrators. Law societies should also be interested because John Campion, President of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (FLSC) will also be speaking. Speaker bios can be found here, and a draft agenda can be seen here. The conference is sponsored by the Law Foundations of Ontario and BC, as well as several law schools across Canada. What will probably feature prominently during the conference is the 2007 the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report called Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law [pdf summary]. The report notes that legal education is fundamental to a flourishing democracy, and provides 5 key observations: Law School Provides Rapid Socialization into the Standards of Legal Thinking Law Schools Rely Heavily on One Way of Teaching to Accomplish the Socialization Process The Case-Dialogue Method of Teaching Has Valuable Strengths but Also Unintended Consequences Assessment of Student Learning Remains Underdeveloped Legal Education Approaches Improvement Incrementally, Not Comprehensively The two major limitations identified under 3) above is that legal education rarely prepares students for professional practice, and fail to develop legal ethics and social skills. Canada may have an advantage over our American counterparts through our articling process, which is not part of the typical classroom education but still considered a necessary component for preparation for the practice of law. However, some educators are attempting to introduce more practical skills in the law school itself. ...

Without a net: librarians bridging the digital divide by jessamyn c. west

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:03:17 +0100

"Teaching novice computer users, including seniors and individuals with disabilities such as low vision or motor skills, how to do what they want and need to do online is a formidable challenge for library staff. Part inspirational, part practical Without a the Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide is a summary of techniques, approaches, and skills that will help librarians meet this challenge. Jessamyn C. West's experience as a librarian is deeply immersed in technology culture, yet living in rural America makes her uniquely qualified to write this book. Taking a big-picture approach to the subject, she demystifies and simplifies tech training for the busy librarian, providing an easy-to-use handbook full of techniques that can be used with all of a library's many populations. As an added bonus, she also examines the players in the library technology arena to offer firsthand reports on what works, what doesn't, and what's next" - to be published March 30, 2011 (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog)

Outsourcing legal information

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:00:49 +0100

I tend to live in the future. I think about what it will be like when I’ve paid off all my debts, how I’m going to celebrate a significant event coming up next year, and what my next job will look like. So last December, when the legal outsourcing firm Integreon announced the first “Shared Information Service”, or outsourced law library services, I was very intrigued. At the time, I remember thinking, “how are they going to do this?” I can understand outsourcing research (be it legal, business development or competitive intelligence), but how do you outsource the physical library itself? Would they be circulating texts among their clients, like our courthouse and academic law libraries do? If so, how would you determine how many copies of each item you would need to have? How would you share resources? So I was happy to come across this report from @woodsiegirl (Laura – an information assistant at a London law firm) from the 2010 BIALL conference. This session, entitled Emerging alternative models for managing information resources in law firms, sounded like it would be informative. However, instead it was more like a sales pitch. It even ran over its alloted time, which didn’t allow for the probing questions that could have provided the answers conference attendees were looking for. What really interested me was how Integreon stressed that this was a great opportunity for law librarians. One firm had its entire library staff become Integreon employees. They emphasized that there was much more meaningful work because there were more clients, which I took to mean more research, analysis and report writing and less administration. There wasn’t much discussion about sharing physical resources, so I still don’t have an answer for that. ...

A wheelock college coat of arms?

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Did you know that Wheelock College has an official coat of arms?When the Classroom Building at Wheelock College was built and dedicated in 1941, a stone coat of arms was fixed above the main entrance on Pilgrim Road. In a letter included in the March 1942 alumnae newsletter, Lucy Wheelock described the significance of the newly adopted symbol of the institution she’d founded in 1888: Over the doorway of our building at 25 Pilgrim Road is the Wheelock coat of arms. It shows three wheels encircled by a wreath of oak leaves and acorns. The three wheels mean progress in the right training of childhood. They show the purpose of Wheelock College to follow the guiding ideal of the Kindergarten, – the training of the head, the heart, and the hand. We wish our children not only to know, but to do, and to feel the joy of service to humanity. And in her unpublished autobiography, My Life Story, Miss Wheelock describes the symbol’s relationship to her own educational hero, Friedrich Fröbel (or Froebel), the innovative German educator who first introduced the “kindergarten” in 1840: The wheels mean progress, progress toward Froebel’s ideal of child training of the head, the heart, and the hand. The oak leaves and acorns mean growth – “Great oaks from little acorns grow.” On June 3, 1960, Wheelock’s Board of Trustees voted to incorporate the coat of arms into the official seal for the college – a crest we continue to use to this day. You can still see the Wheelock College coat of arms above the entrance to the Classroom Building at 25 Pilgrim Road.Learn more about the Wheelock College Archives online or schedule a time to meet with the Archivist about our collections documenting the history of our institution, the histories of our alumni, and the history of efforts by those at Wheelock and around the world to improve the lives of children and families.-Andrew Elder, Archivist (Source: Wheelock College Library)

What do you think about human rights (and your rights) online?

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Government police shutting down farmer’s protests in China. A tobacco company employing under-age workers in Kazakhstan. Iranian merchants striking to protest tax increases in Tehran. We've seen stories like these on our computers and phones every day, and YouTube has been documenting many of them on our breaking news feed on Citizentube over the past few months. Videos like these are more than just breaking news images; they're often political statements meant to bring about change. Earlier this summer YouTube started a blog series with WITNESS, a human rights video advocacy and training organization, examining the role of online video in human rights. So far we’ve talked about why video matters to human rights and how you can protect yourself and the people you film when uploading to YouTube. Now we want to raise some key topics about the future of human rights video online, and to hear your thoughts and ideas in a special Moderator series that we've set up. Read more about this project on the YouTube blog. Posted by Steve Grove, Head of News & Politics, YouTube, and Sameer Padania for WITNESS (Source: Official Google Blog)

Outlook – the personal productivity tool

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:00:27 +0100

Most law firms use Microsoft Outlook and most people only think of it as an e-mail client that happens to have a calendar stuck on it. In reality though, Outlook, especially Outlook 2007 or newer, is quite a bit more than that. Outlook 2007 introduced the “To Do Bar” – a panel on the right side of the screen when you’re looking at the Inbox – that shows you the next couple of appointments on your calendar as well as any tasks or flagged e-mails that you may have. It’s the ability to flag e-mails for follow-up that I want to focus on in this article. Will You? Won’t You? Could You? In my own practice, as a consultant, more than three quarters of the tasks that clients give me are given to me via e-mail these days. I get a dozen messages a day asking me to send a certain report, address a particular problem, call the client next week when he gets back in town, schedule some training, etc. Keeping on top of all those tasks in my busy practice can be a big challenge and Outlook 2010 gives me some great tools to help manage it. If you look at the e-mail list in Outlook 2007 or 2010 you’ll see, on the right end of each message, a translucent flag icon. Right-click that icon and you’ll see a context menu that offers you a number of different date options to flag this message for follow-up. If you select one of those options Outlook will color the flag a shade of red (darker shades mean it’s due more immediately) and place it in the appropriate place on your To Do Bar. The options are: Today. Fairly self-explanatory. You want to follow-up with on this message sometime today. Tomorrow. Same as today…but later. his Week. Outlook is going to set this item to be due on the last day of your working week. By default, and for most of us, this is Friday. If you go into Outlook’s calendar options you can change that to any day you like, however. Next Week. Same as This Week…but a week later. ...

Experience before training, part 2

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

My blog post on Aug. 13 has generated several comments, a discussion on the Archives and Archivists email list, private emails and a Meebo chat session. I guess it touched a nerve!While several people noted that graduate programs require internships where students receive experience, the heart of the blog post is about having students obtain experience BEFORE they enter grad school. As Rebecca commented, "experience does help give some perspective prior to school." Peter noted that "[s]uch work experience would give people a better idea of what the profession is like." In an email exchange, it was suggested that any type of work experience would serve a student well because it would provide knowledge about organizations, customer services, etc. Indeed, a hiring manager would want a candidate to have some work experience in order to prove that the candidate can/will work!A few students (or recent graduates) felt that it was difficult to obtain an internship. The fact that an organization has to create an appropriate internship then supervise the intern can make them a bit harder to find. It should be noted that some institutions truly rely on interns in order to move new projects forward. Ben comments that some internships contain more clerical work than they should, but I have to wonder if that could be because students haven't had enough practical experience?However, in obtaining experience before entering a graduate program, a person might volunteer in a cultural heritage organization doing whatever needs to be done. No matter the job, that person is going to get a "peek behind the curtain" and have a better understanding of what that type of organization does. Some institutions are also very reliant on volunteers and so a person should be able to find an opportunity. ...

Experience before training, part 2

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Discriminative probabilistic models for expert search in heterogeneous information sources

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:02:57 +0100

Abstract In many realistic settings of expert finding, the evidence for expertise often comes from heterogeneous knowledge sources. As some sources tend to be more reliable and indicative than the others, different information sources need to receive different weights to reflect their degrees of importance. However, most previous studies in expert finding did not differentiate data sources, which may lead to unsatisfactory performance in the settings where the heterogeneity of data sources is present. In this paper, we investigate how to merge and weight heterogeneous knowledge sources in the context of expert finding. A relevance-based supervised learning framework is presented to learn the combination weights from training data. Beyond just learning a fixed combination strategy for all the queries and experts, we propose a series of discriminative probabilistic models which have increasing capability to associate the combination weights with specific experts and queries. In the last (and also the most sophisticated) proposed model, the combination weights depend on both expert classes and query topics, and these classes/topics are derived from expert and query features. Compared with expert and query independent combination methods, the proposed combination strategy can better adjust to different types of experts and queries. In consequence, the model yields much flexibility of combining data sources when dealing with a broad range of expertise areas and a large variation in experts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that designs discriminative learning models to rank experts. Empirical studies on two real world faculty expertise testbeds demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed discriminative learning models. Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10. ...

Education: spotlight! on nlm resources -alcohol and drug abuse resources -august 25, 2010

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:37:17 +0100

Tune in at 12:00 pm Mountain Time/1:00 pm Central Time. **Note the starting time! Alcohol and Drug Abuse Resources will be the subjects presented by Jim Honour. The session will contain hands-on exercises and survey resources on drug and alcohol abuse from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), MedlinePlus and other reliable/authoritative online websites. Taking the one-hour class and completing the exercises and class evaluation makes you eligible to receive 1 Medical Library Association Continuing Education credit. This online training is FREE. Register online at http://tinyurl.com/mcrclasses (registration is not required but is appreciated). URL: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcr/, Equipment: connection to the Internet and a phone, Login: as a guest with your first and last name, Instructions to connect to the audio will show up once you’ve logged in. Captioning will be provided. Questions to mmagee@unmc.edu. (mm) (Source: Midcontinental Region News)

Papers from the 2010 cba niagara conference

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:52:46 +0100

UPDATE: I’ve been informed that the papers are reserved for those who attended only. Please, then, treat this simply as a list of papers that were in fact given. Presumably, a request to the author or the the CBA might result in your obtaining a copy with permission. The CBA’s 2010 Canadian Legal Conference in Niagara Program Papers are available via the conference website. Below the fold is a linked list of all the nearly 40 papers currently available (more may be added to the CBA site), arranged simply in the order in which they appear on the program. All are PDF files. La famille en évolution et le droit by Suzanne Pringle La contribution de l’intelligence émotionnelle à la communauté juridique by Raymond David Changements climatiques et commerce international by Bernard Colas The International Carbon Market: Post-2012 International Negotiations by Florence Dagicour Reducing Risk Through Effective Practice Management by George Hendy, Patrick Cassidy, and David Paul GLBT Families and Assisted Reproductive Technologies by Joanna Radbord Trade-marks, and the Federal Court: A primer and tips for young lawyers seeking to understand trade-marks and develop a Federal Courts practice by Steven J.R. Seiferling Investment Powers: A Comparison of Jurisdictions for Charitable Organizations by C. Yvonne Chenier Investment Powers of Charities and Not-for-profit Organizations in Canada appendix to Chenier paper Provincial Borders Are Not Imaginary Lines: Operating Inter-Provincially in Canada by Adam Aptowitzer A Comparison of Corporate Jurisdictions for Charitable Organizations by Karen J. Cooper and Jane Burke-Robertson The Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act - A New Corporate Framework for Federal Not-For-Profits by Melanie A. McDonald Technology in Litigation: Friend or Foe by Simon V. Potter Late-in-Life Marriages: Love, Heartbreak, and Family Law Matters by Karon C. ...

Nlm promotional materials

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:21:41 +0100

If you are exhibiting or just sharing information about NLM resources, the GMR offers a variety of options. Visit the GMR Handouts page at http://nnlm.gov/gmr/training/handouts.html Download brochures on a variety of topics including PubMed® MedlinePlus® and consumer health materials Exhibition Program K-12 Resources on the Web This one-stop page also links to a number of [...] (Source: The Cornflower)

Training sessions from the six-state virtual conference available

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:54:29 +0100

The Government Printing Office posted the following announcement to their FDLP-L list that seemed worth sharing: From: Announcements from the Federal Depository Library Program On Behalf Of FDLP Listserv Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 8:50 AM To: GPO-FDLP-L@LISTSERV.ACCESS.GPO.GOV Subject: Training Sessions from the Six-State Virtual Conference Available The six states of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming recently held an online conference using the OPAL web conferencing software. Over 5 days, the Six-State Virtual Government Information Conference ran 17 different programs covering numerous topics of interest to Federal depository libraries and government information professionals. GPO is proud to have provided technical support for this online conference and we invite the wider FDLP community to view 15 archived sessions of the conference in the OPAL Archives at their convenience at http://www.opal-online.org/archivegpo.htm. The topics of the sessions vary greatly to cover both hot issues in depository libraries as well as training on Federal information products. Examples include: the Sunlight Foundation's address on open access, demographic and business information from the Census Bureau, tracking the usage of your online depository collection, moving to a more electronic collection, FDsys, and marketing depository collections and services, to name a few. Be sure to visit the Web page the conference organizers developed to accompany the virtual conference. The page includes links to the PowerPoint presentations, audio clips from government information specialists, a Twitter feed, OPAL information, and more. See http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/conference/6state/index.htm In addition to the above, there is a program on using PACER, the federal courts documents system. I've got a lot to learn about PACER and this session seems like a great place to start. ...

The complicated lives of today's leaders: why being at the top is harder than ever

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:14:34 +0100

For insights into the ethics, values and competencies required of today's global leaders, Knowledge@Wharton recently coordinated a Wharton Executive Education roundtable discussion with four fellows from The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program. The program allows participants to work full-time at the World Economic Forum while developing leadership skills through training courses at top universities. The discussion touched on issues including the changing nature of leadership, how leaders respond to crisis and the role ethics plays in being an effective leader (Source: Knowledge@Wharton)

Scr connections august 18 webinar recording available

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:12:07 +0100

The recording for the August 18, 2010 SCR CONNECTions webinar, Environmental Health & Toxicology Resources, is now available online at http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/webmeeting.html. The next SCR CONNECTions will be held on Wednesday, September 15 at 10:30am CT. The topic will be NCBI Overview with guest presenter, Peter Cooper of NCBI. (Source: Network News)

Tech trends at ala techsource

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:46:40 +0100

I couldn’t participate in the rescheduled ALA TechSource Webinar but I was able to contribute slides and some text. Tech Trend: Teaching & Learning in Flux View more presentations from Michael Stephens. Organizational Immersive Learning This subcategory addresses the outstanding success of the Learning 2.0 model of staff training: free, open, and inclusive. I was going to highlight my Australian research project sponsored by CAVAL. The foundation for this multi-dimensional study comes from the global replication of the program (1000 institutions and counting) and the words of Stephen Abram: ““I believe that this has been one of the most transformational and viral activities to happen globally to libraries in decades.” Here’s a bit from a draft article my co-investigator Warren Cheetham and I just submitted to the New Review of Academic Librarianship that features a content analysis of focus groups with academic librarians: What has been the lasting impact on your library after Learning 2.0? These statements sum up the majority of responses to this question: I am more confident with new technologies now. I am more inclined to explore new technologies now. I am more in the know about these technologies now. Respondents shared statements concerning their comfort level trying out new sites and tools. ...

#jobs: technology instructor @ the oswego (ny) public library

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:52:00 +0100

The Oswego Public Library is one of 30 Computer centers being established in New York State. The following position will be available at the library starting mid September. Title Public Computing Center (PCC) Technology Instructor Reports to PCC Director and the Oswego Public Library Director Job Summary The Oswego Public Library seeks Technology Instructor who will oversee the lab and implement programs designed by the PCC Director and LVOC. This position is a federally funded position. . The funding for this position is being provided through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and will not exceed two (2) years. DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS: This is a technical position responsible for the teaching of technological resources currently available to a selected population of potential users. The incumbent meets with those with overall responsibility for the program to develop an appropriate course of instruction. The work is performed under the direct supervision of the Librarian. Supervision may be exercised over the work of volunteers. ...

#jobs: pcc computer center director - oswego (ny) public library

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:51:00 +0100

The Oswego Public Library is one of 30 Computer centers being established in New York State. The following position will be available at the library starting mid September. Title Public Computing Center (PCC) Director/Librarian I Reports to Oswego Public Library Director @ the Oswego Public Library Job Summary The Oswego Public Library seeks a PCC Director/ Librarian I to manage and coordinate the development of a library-based public computing center. This position is a federally funded position. The funding for this position is being provided through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and will not exceed two (2) years. Summary of essential job functions § Provides training and assistance to PCC Instructors (Trainers), library staff and volunteers. · Coordinates the scheduling and staffing of the PCC. · Coordinates with technical support staff. § Oversee the creation and implementation of training programs for targeted vulnerable populations. § Promotes the PCC through preparation of publicity, presence at meetings, and public speaking. § Develops an outreach plan. ...

Offshore lpo news

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:00:31 +0100

InformationWeek recently reported on a very interesting turn of events in the outsourcing arena. The article titled U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers states that the Obama administration has launched a $36 million program to train workers, including 3,000 IT specialists and related functions in South Asia. Following the training, workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the regions that provide offshore services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent’s low labour costs. Clearly there are two ways to look at this. You can either view this as an inappropriate use of public funds. Or, you could view this as a bold move to bolster the skills of offshore resources — for the benefit of American companies. On the local front, the CBA is hosting the Sixth Annual Canadian Bar Association Law Firm Leadership Conference on November 22nd and 23rd at the Park Hyatt, Toronto. The conference is aimed at managing partners and up-and-coming law firm leaders in Canada. Of particular interest will be the session on Unbundled Work/Unbridled Success: Sourcing Canadian Legal Services Differently. One of the featured speakers is Professor Richard Susskind, an internationally renowned legal academic, CBA Special Adviser, and best-selling author of Transforming the Law and The End of Lawyers?. Professor Susskind has challenged law firms and corporate counsel to recognize the market pull towards the commoditization of legal services and to consider what parts of their legal work can be sourced differently. He has recommended that legal work be broken into tasks and that routine repetitive tasks be sourced in the most efficient way, whether by outsourcing, subcontracting, leasing, open-sourcing, or computerizing. For some time now, corporate lawyers have understood the value proposition of LPO services. They have been the early adopters of these services. ...

Terri tomchyshyn named sim outstanding alumna 2010

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Congratulations to CLA-CASLIS Ottawa Past-President Terri Tomchyshyn on being named Dalhousie's School of Information Management Outstanding Alumna 2010.Dalhousie University School of Information Management AnnouncementThe School of Information Management is delighted to announce that the Associated Alumni has awarded this year’s Outstanding Alumni Award to Terri Tomchyshyn (MLS 1981).Terri is currently the Head of a Special Library within the Department of National Defence. Her professional experience has included positions with academic, public and government libraries, professional organizations and vendors. While residing in Nova Scotia, Terri worked as a librarian at the Killam Library and later as a reference librarian for the Nova Scotia Provincial Library, where she participated in the telephone legal enquiry service for the Nova Scotia Public Legal Education Association. She later served as Legal Services Librarian for the Saskatoon Public Library. Terri has held positions with Human Resources Development Canada, as Manager of the Canadian Clearinghouse on Disability Issues and later with the National Literacy Secretariat. Her career includes a period as account manager for a library vendor.Terri has served in a variety of capacities with professional organizations such as the Canadian Library Association, where she currently holds a position on the Finance Committee. She was Chair of the Task Force on Interest Group Revitalization (2009-2010) and Treasurer and Executive Council Member (2006-2009). In 2005-2006, Terri was President of CASLIS (Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services), Ottawa Chapter. Terri has been a member of the Budget Analysis & Review Committee of the American Library Association as well as past Chair of their Literacy Assembly. She has been a frequent contributor to library association publications and a well-respected conference presenter. ...

‘agknowledge africa’ share fair

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Join us in Addis Ababa from October 18-21, 2010 to showcase the ways agricultural and rural knowledge in and of Africa is created, shared, communicated, and put to use.Like the 2009 edition in Rome, this event will be a ‘fair’ that brings together the diverse knowledge of the continent and the multiple innovative ways it is created, shared, communicated, and applied. We will be sharing the experiences of a wide range of people and organizations: Farmer organizations, extensionists, researchers, students, academia, policy shapers, information and communication specialists, private sector actors, international and regional organizations, and governments.We will cover a wide range of knowledge types and modes of sharing – oral, visual, drama, music, video, radio, documentary, publishing, storytelling, web-based, geospatial, networked, mobile, computer-based, SMS, or journalistic.The heart of the fair is a series of thematic ‘learning pathways’ in a process of mapping, sharing and connecting people and activities. These pathways will showcase how African ‘talents’ are creating, sharing and using rural knowledge - at the grassroots, in research and policy, and through intermediaries. The pathways will focus on agriculture and climate change, land, livestock, and water.The Share Fair also comprises:● SKILLS & TOOLS: A learning day at the start where participants can share practical tools and approaches that enhance their own knowledge sharing and use in agriculture.● FOCUS GROUPS: Self-organized spaces where participants get together to explore experiences in specific issues and topics. ...

Academic fandom: collaborative doctoral work

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:34:42 +0100

I really miss school. I work at a school, yes. But I miss being a student in one. Many people think I’m crazy, but I love being in school. I love the reading, the writing, and most of all the discussion. I’m a Harvard graduate, I know what it can be like to sit in a room full of extremely bright people and wrestle with a thorny problem. I love not knowing and struggling to understand, throwing ideas at the wall and seeing if any of them work. But I’m a drop-out. I dropped out of a phd program at the very institution at which I am currently employed, in fact. It’s simultaneously the hardest thing I’ve ever done, the smartest decision I ever made, and the decision I am most likely to feel regret about. I don’t regret it because I want the life that would have come with finishing; I think I’m far better off as a librarian, playing with tech and managing projects and helping faculty with their courses, than I would be with a load of research and teaching to do. I adore my job, and I feel very lucky to have found this particular path. I only regret it because I’d like to do the work. There’s nothing stopping me from going back. Not to that program, or that topic, or that department, though. I think I’ve moved into a new area now. If I were to go back, it would be in a very different way. And I wouldn’t do it in order to become an academic in the end. Not as job training. Just to improve the person that I am, and to enrich the work I’m already doing. But you couldn’t drag me back to that style of PhD program. I was lonely, bored, confused about the purpose behind anything I was doing. I felt lost. I have discovered over time that my motivation comes from interacting with other people. This wasn’t immediately apparent all through graduate school because I was de facto surrounded by others. ...

Community, collaboration, and learning: time for the fourth place

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Twice a month, a growing number of library trainers participate in the recording of the T is for Training podcast and I join in when my schedule allows. This past Friday, we were joined by someone named Walter Salem, who does not work in a library and who somehow stumbled across our live conversation. As it turned out, Walter is the library user and advocate that we all want. He believes in the education value of libraries and see them as a place to go in order to better yourself. He is a person who soaks up information and wants to enable others - especially young people - to do the same, and he sees libraries playing an active role in that.To Paul Signorelli, this sounded like what writers Ray Oldenburg and Frans Johansson would call the "third place". As Signorelli describes, "our first place is our home, our second place is where we work, and our third place is the treasured community meeting place where we, our friends, and colleagues come and go." For many years, local coffee shops, diners and general stores were the third places in our communities. In some communities, it might have been the town square or a city park. Recently, libraries have been vying for the title of third place. We want libraries to be as important to people as home and work. We want libraries to be the meeting place, the coffee shop, the learning spot for the community. However, based on our conversation on Friday, perhaps we should be thinking of a "fourth place".During our talk, which occurred both in voice (which you hear on the podcast) and typed chat (which is not saved), Maurice Coleman defined a fourth place as "a community gathering place for social learning". While this could be a library, this could also be a community center or some other space either in the real or virtual world. ...

Community, collaboration, and learning: time for the fourth place

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

Information architecture librarian | asrc management services

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:56:00 +0100

US - DC - Washington, Minimum education level - - Master's degree in library science or equivalent. 2-4 years of professional level experience. Applicant must be experienced in information architecture, web content man (Source: SLA Career Center Search Results [])

Caut and cfs objection to access copyright tariff

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:02:56 +0100

This is a very interesting read. Kudos to CAUT and CFS for preparing such a well-informed response. The Objection can be found here. (Source: Slaw)

How you get permission

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:02:31 +0100

Here’s my third post on Getting Permission. In the first post, I covered how I get permission. The second post asked for tips from you guys. Here’s what you said (from my comments): Chris Freeman: “selling the outcome of the idea as opposed to the “tool” that will create the outcome is helpful. What will be better about our services if we implement this idea rather than “hey, here’s a new idea for us to try”?” Chris also said: “identify who the “informal power brokers” are in the organization. Having an influential person stating support for your plans goes a long way toward swaying those who control whatever resources you need to accomplish your goals.” Michael Casey: “If you can plug your idea into the strategic plan and highlight any efficiencies the idea might offer — either direct financial savings or staff-time savings — then you’re off to a good start.” Genesis Hansen: Don’t just ask for permission to do what you want, offer something in return. Our City Council was very squeamish about letting departments use social media. In order to get myself on our City’s social media policy committee and be allowed to participate in a social media pilot project I compiled a lot of research on social media policies, organized it and sent it to the Committee chair. I also offered to do social media and policy training for other departments in the City. As a result, I was included in the process, got to give input into policy formation (didn’t win every battle, but did win some important ones), and made some valuable contacts in other City departments. And now any department that wants to start using social media will go through training with library staff. Genesis also said: “Always try to demonstrate the tangible benefits your project will offer. ...

N. j. legal services plans cuts; residents can find help at the library

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100

http://www.philly.com Aug. 14, 2010 By Edward Colimore Inquirer Staff Writer State aid cuts have forced the New Jersey Legal Services System to order staffing reductions that it says will deny free legal help to thousands of low-income residents this year and next. The nonprofit will lay off 100 workers, including 50 lawyers, by January, and its affiliate, South Jersey Legal Services, serving the seven southern counties, will furlough a quarter of its attorneys. So where can residents turn for assistance? Try the library. A New Jersey Courts program is training librarians to help patrons find legal forms and instructions so they can represent themselves. Librarians won't replace attorneys or provide advice, state officials said, but will assist those who can't afford legal representation or don't want to pay for it in small-claims cases. "This is in no way the answer," said Melville D. Miller Jr., president and general counsel of Legal Services of New Jersey. "But a small percentage of people can benefit." More complicated matters will always require lawyers, he said. "As the saying goes, 'A man who represents himself has a fool for a client.' " People "with significant legal problems have all kinds of impediments to representing themselves in court," Miller said. "Add the limitations of those in poverty - education, language, and fearfulness of government institutions - and most people cannot represent themselves." Legal Services of New Jersey has been hampered by state budget cuts and dropping contributions for several years. State funding was cut by one-third or $9.7 million for fiscal 2011. Since 2007, the staff, including attorneys, has dropped from 725 to 550 in March and will drop to 450 in January. By then, the number of lawyers will be down 36 percent, to 225. The aid reduction meant a loss of $1. ...

My big day downtown

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:33:45 +0100

On July 31st, 2010 I took Mr. 6 out with me on my Big Day Downtown. Needless to say that was an Adventure we would remember for a long time. It was great to explore many of the nicks and crannies that the downtown has to offer while trying to find some of the geekiest objects known to humans. Mr. 6 was a great moderator on my geekiness. I guess he’ll have to grow into his Dad’s obsessions. But, by way of intro – here is us going into Strange Adventures: I wanted superheros, zombies, weird star trek stuff. Mr. 6 wanted Calvin and Hobbes. I think our final purchase is a testament to the level of flexibility both of us had to display during this trip. The next stop we made was to The Loop Craft Café on Barrington Street where I was kindly helped to find a nice baby alpaca light-blue wool for a scarf idea I have (I will share it when it’s done. Clue: it will be of interest to people who use Twitter.) The product they offer is very high quality, and great for very special projects – like the stuff you might find on Etsy. We chatted about yarn bombing, knit-ins and that sort of thing. I also took a look at some drop spindles and raw wool. I have carders to help me spin my own yarn – i’d love to try it sometime. Mr. 6 was also impressed with their balling machine. Our next stop was to share a root beer at Just Us Coffee on Barrington Street very close to a few other community-minded businesses that I love very much: The Halifax Hub and Splice Training. I realize that business is ultimately about making a profit, but the community does alot also to help make that profit happen (everything from roads, police, education, social services and so on), so I always appreciate a business that gives back. Just Us serves fair trade coffee, helping to decrease the impact my caffeine addiction has on the third world. Mr. ...

Using technology in library training: an ala techsource workshop with paul signorelli

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:58:02 +0100

Our goal in producing ALA TechSource Workshops is to provide a source of cost-effective, interactive, hands-on training. When it comes to using technology save your library money and increase its efficiency, you want to learn from someone who is part of your profession and has faced the same problems you face. In that spirit, we’re happy to announce our newest TechSource workshop, Using Technology in Library Training with Paul Signorelli. Librarians face the challenge of cross-training their often down-sized staff with lean budgets, as wells as training students and patrons to use library software. Training can be difficult and time-consuming, especially when it must be balanced with the effort to maintain day-to-day library services. Paul Signorelli will explain how to streamline your process with free and low-cost tools like Skype, instant messaging, online discussion groups, or video in this two-part series: Session 1: Using Technology to Enhance In-Person Training Thursday, September 16th, 2:30pm Eastern Session 2: Using Technology for Remote Training Sessions Thursday, September 23rd, 2:30pm Eastern With 14 years of experience as director of staff training and volunteer services at San Francisco Public Library, Paul speaks not only as a technologist but as a teacher. He blogs for ALA’s Learning Round Table and you can read his posts here. You can register for each workshop separately for only $50, or save 15% by registering for both events for only $85.Sign up for both sessions Register for Session 1: Using Technology to Enhance In-Person Training Thursday, September 16th, 2:30pm Eastern Register for Session 2: Using Technology for Remote Training Sessions Thursday, September 23rd, 2:30pm Eastern (Source: ALA TechSource Blog)