Why I Don't Use Libraries for Reference Anymore

Why I Don't Use Libraries for Reference Anymore


An Opinion from Massachusetts in the November 15, 2010 Reference 2011 supplement to Library Journal. Any others?

Today's Special - New Book by Warren Hanson

Warren Hanson spoke in Hendricks, MN this week about his new book, Today's Special.

One Hungry Planet

"All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin."

- Henry Alford, Come Ye Thankful People Come, 1844


Happy Thanksgiving!

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Remebering the Edmund Fitzgerald 35 Years Later.

Concord Singers from New Ulm Performed in Okabena on 8 November

An appreciative audience enjoyed the spirited German music presented by the Concord Singers from New Ulm when they performed at the Southwest Star Concept gymnasium in Okabena, MN on Sunday afternoon. Thanks to the Jackson County Libraries for sponsoring the concert through State of Minnesota Legacy Funds.

Halloween Family Night

On a windy, Tuesday night, the Jackson Campus of Minnesota West Community and Technical College hosted a Pre-Halloween Family Night on 26 October. Over 300 hot dogs were served to the many children, parents and grandparents who attended. It was great to see the children in costumes as they had fun at a Halloween event.

Passion Play Hail

Thanks to Christie Wyatt for sharing this on YouTube! Christie and her friend Paula, stayed at Gerda's Gasthaus with us in July when we attended the Passion Play at Oberammergau that had a twenty minute "hail delay" before the Last Supper. There are no photos allowed during the Passion Play performance, but during the delay, our fifth row seats were a handy location for taking photos of the hail coming down on the open air stage while the spectators stayed dry.

Sharing at the Jackson Public Library Brown Bag Lunch Series

Photo of Budapest "Castle" - July, 2010






On 20 October, I enjoyed doing a presentation at the Jackson, MN Public Library for their Fall Brown Bag Lunch Series. I shared photos of our July trip to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Germany, and told the 26 who attended a little about our summer travel experiences. It was fun to take the day off, but I wish that I could attend the others in the Wednesday noon series. Most attending were retired folks, but it was good to have a few there who spent their lunch break at the library. Thanks to Pam Grussing from the Jackson Library for coordinating!

Minnesota's Greatest Generation, C-47, Minnesota History Center

C-47
Originally uploaded by Minnesota Historical Society

BUILDING LEGACIES FOR MINNESOTA THROUGH PARTNERING: MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MINNESOTA'S LIBRARIES

After seeing the MINNESOTA'S GREATEST GENERATION exhibit at the Minnesota History Center last summer, I was happy to learn more about the partnership with public libraries as shared by Ginny Brodeen and Maren Levad at a late afternoon session at MLA at Rochester on Wednesday. Until I attended an author presentation by my college classmate, Annette Atkins, at my local Jackson Public Library last spring, I was not even aware of the use of the Minnesota Legacy funds for library programming. On Friday night, I have the opportunity to hear one of the Minnesota's Greatest Generation presenters, Patrick Dewane presenting The Accidental Hero at Lakefield, so I appreciated learning more about the partnership.

The goals are to: document and preserve community stories for future generations, to educate people of all ages about the history of Minnesota and its peoples, and to make high-quality historical programming accessible to every Minnesotan, regardless of geographic location, or other traditional barriers.

I was fascinated to hear Ginny and Maren talk about successes with the program from Warroad to New Ulm, and enjoyed the film clip that was shown of intergenerational theatre in the Twin Cities. The partnership has a wonderful start with so much opportunity for growth throughout the state. Librarians from small public libraries who attended the session were enthused about the responses to the programs in their libraries. It is great to have a talented peformer like Prudence Johnson travel the state to appear to appreciative audiences.

We also heard about the Minnesota History Day project. Although we have not had groups in our library for help with their projects, I have helped individuals with information in past years. As a "history person", I really enjoyed my final presentation at MLA before one last look at the exhibits and silenct auction items.

Beyond Search : The Glitz and Glam of GOOGLE

Google Logo in LEGOs
Originally uploaded by Si1very

Thanks to Sivery for this GOOGLE LEGO image on Flickr.


For the first afternoon session at MLA on Wednesday, I decided to be updated on GOOGLE. LeAnn Suchy, Rita Baladad, Kate Bessey and Kristen Mastel were the presenters of GOOGLE as more than a search engine.

Rita from MINITEX, showed GOOGLE chat in multiple tools. Kate Bessey from CLME, showed iGOOGLE, Kristen Mastel from MINITEX showed GOOGLE Custom Search and GOOGLE alerts, and LeAnn Suchy from Metrnet demonstrated GOOGLE News Archive and Timeline Searches.

I still have a GOOGLE news search that I started using when I did the THINGS ON A STICK project, but was happy to learn about the old newspapers that LeAnn demonstrated from GOOGLE NEWS ARCHIVE. It was fun to see the primary sources from newspapers druing the Civil War when she used a timeline of 1861-1865. I have had an iGOOGLE page since the 23 THINGS project, but when I came back to work after being gone in the summer, I had a new computer without it, so want to try my iGOOGLE page again. I like the customization, and want to try some new library gadgets that I have not previously used. I also want to look at http:/www.google.com/chat/grandma.

Mayo Civic Center - Minnesota Library Association Conference, 2010

Mayo Civic Center
Originally uploaded by localmn

Thanks to localmn for posting this shot on FLICKR!

I was happy to attend the Minnesota Library Association Annual Conference at the Civic Center in Rochester on Wednesday, October 6, 2010.



"Live the life you've imagined." - Henry David Thoreau

Ed Holahan was the speaker at the keynote luncheon on Wednesday. His talk, Seven Practices of the Inventive Creative, had good advice for anyone, not just library folks. I was happy to have him use the above Thoreau quote at the beginning of his talk, as the book that I recently selected for our book club by Kristina Riggle, has the title, The life you've imagined. Holahan who has a background in the toy industry, gave the following practices for us to use:

1. DREAM A DREAM - (Other examples besides Thoreau were Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein.)

2. BE OPEN AND PREPARED - He shared a personal example of the invention of the NERF ball.

3. TRY NEW AND DIFFERENT THINGS (at least once a day!) Interrupting a usual routine can be good. Examples are transferring your watch to the other wrist, trying a new recipe, and eating dessert first. Holahan said that it is "not the reason that matters, but the routine." I thought of how people tend to sit in the same spots in church every week. That night I took a different route home from Rochester, but it was a lot longer, and at Albert Lea, I went on the usual I-90.

4. FIND QUIET TIME. (Probably the oldest, but least practiced of the seven!) Examples: Mozart took long walks in the country, focus on one thing, do journaling and meditating.

5. MAK MISTAKES. Failure is common, and again Walt Disney and Thomas Edison were given as examples. There is much trial and error before ideas are overcome. Fear, habit and assumption are enemies that hold us back from new ideas.

6. SHARE THE DREAM AND DO IT NOW! Collaboration is needed for dreams to succeed.

7. LET GO AND TRUST. There is no place for negativity. Invite, embellish and encourage. Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone is a good example.
TRUST YOURSELF, TRUST YOUR IDEA, TRUST OTHERS!

Minneapolis Peace Activists Condemn FBI Raids

Bratislava

After being in Prague twice, it was good to see the capital of Slovakia, officially a separate country since January 1, 1993. Bratislava is also the largest city in Slovakia. A former teacher at our college often returned to Bratislava, and took groups from our college there for tours. Although we only spent a few hours there on a very warm Saturday, I enjoyed Bratislava.

Constitution Day Activity - "We the People" Song

Celebrating the United States Constitution on Constitution Day September 17th!

Prague In July

24 July 2010

SPLENDORS OF EASTERN EUROPE
INCLUDING THE PASSION PLAY OF OBERAMMERGAU
14 – 24 July 2010

General Impressions Recorded
on the Flight from Munich to Amsterdam

1. A wonderful trip for art, music, theater, history, geography, psychology, sociology, language and math (although I am not good at knowing the values of other money in U. S. dollars.)

2. Amazing to me how Germany could recover and rebuild to lead after the damage and devastation of World War Two. Guides from Prague and Vienna told us that Germany (and France) determine what happens in their smaller countries.

3. Interesting to see the changes since 1995 when crossing the borders between countries made for long waits while each passport was checked. Now it is just like going from one state to another in the United States. This was my first time there to use the Euro, but the Czech Republic and Hungary still use their own currency.

4. Although I am a farm girl who does not want to live in a large city, I remain fascinated with visiting major cities of Europe. I was especially thrilled to stay in Budapest and see Bratislava as well as return to Prague, Vienna and Munich. Each city has its own character.

5. The U. S. could learn much to simplify and conserve from the hotels where we stayed. (In each one our room keys were used to activate the lights and air conditioning)

6. The precision and logistics of the people of Oberammergau in continuing to carry the message of the Passion Play to thousands as they have done since 1634.

7. As much as I appreciate the history and culture, the best memories will be of people. It was great to join with groups from other churches and states for a common purpose and shared faith.

8. While I will miss so much about the wonderful countries that we visited when we return home, I will appreciate wash cloths and not needing to use coins for restrooms!

Minnesota State Fair

Minnesota State Fair 2
Originally uploaded by yuan2003

Looking forward to the 2010 Minnesota State Fair. Thanks to yuan2003 for sharing his photo from 2009.

Architecture at the Minnesota State Fair | Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ

Architecture at the Minnesota State Fair | Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ

Enjoyed hearing Annette Atkins, history professor at St. John's University talk to Cathy Wurzer about the architecture of the Minnesota State Fair buildings on my way to work this week. Especially the 4-H building where I spent many hours.

MinnPost - Minnesota West Ranked Among Top Colleges By Washington Monthly

MinnPost - Four Minnesota community colleges rank in Washington Monthly's top 10

The Association - Windy (Rare live clip from 1967)

Great to see THE ASSOCIATION at the Martin County Fair at Fairmont last week - ALONG COMES MARY, CHERISH, WINDY and even GREEN GREEN from the New Christy Minstrels!

CSB/SJU Oh the Places You'll Go Orientation 2010

Welcome to the 2010-2011 School Year! I am sharing an orientation video from YouTube done by the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University.

Et Plagieringseventyr

Hospitals, nurses lock horns over staffing - TwinCities.com

Hospitals, nurses lock horns over staffing - TwinCities.com

Eric Eskola Day in Minnesota Today!

Sod House Window at Fort Belmont

Sod House Window
Originally uploaded by cogdogblog

Fort Belmont at Jackson, Minnesota. Found photo on Flickr.

Jim Brandenburg

Jim Brandenburg in his gallery holding my book! 11-26-09
Originally uploaded by Marina Castillo-Knuti

Happy that Jim Brandenburg, originally of Luverne, MN. had 4 of his photos ranked in the top 40 Nature Photos.


Before working for the National Geographic, he was a photographer at the Worthington Daily Globe. My sister even took a photography class from him at Worthington Community College (now Minnesota West). He encouraged her to enter one of her photos in a National Kodak Contest (1973-74 school year) where it won an award. I enjoyed visiting the Brandenburg galleries at Ely and Luverne.

Voicethread (Without Voice!)

After using Voicethread in a session at the Library Technology Conference at Macalester last week, I decided to try it. Selecting photos from my Facebook account was very easy. I chose some Alaska ones from 2009, but did not add a voice with them. Maybe later I can do some more experimenting!

DeWitt Wallace Library at Macalester - Session D

victorian
Originally uploaded by Mamluke

There's Another App for That! Going Beyond Google Apps with Free Online Media Tools - Scott Spicer, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

I changed my plans on the last session to attend on Wednesday. After listening to speakers and presenters, I wanted a chance to see the DeWitt Library at Macalester College, and had to time to explore a little before finding the classroom for Session D on the second floor. I was pleasantly surprised to find a room full of MAC computers where we would each have a chance to be creative. Scott Spicer showed us free online media tools to use. Thanks to the THINGS ON A STICK, I had already used Screentoaster and Animoto, the first two that we tried. I was happy to try voicethread and JayCut, and look forward to experimenting with them more.

A bonus from this session was sitting next to a public librarian from River Falls, WI. When I asked if she knew our relative, she said that she sees her each month at Garden Club, so I gave her a note for Ursula.

My day at Library Technology 2010 was great, and I enjoyed following the second day on Twitter at #LibTech2010. I can see why the conference grows each year. The 400 attending this year included some from Scotland and Canada as well as from all over the USA. It is good to re-connect with "library folks" as well as meet new ones. The conference was very well-organized and had a variety of sessions to attend.

Google Wave: Ripple or Tsunami? Session C

Google Wave Fluid.app Icon
Originally uploaded by The Man in Blue

LeAnn Suchy, Metronet; Rudy Leon, University of Illinois Champaign - Urbana, & Rita Baladad, MINITEX.


I had not done anything with GOOGLE WAVE, so learned a lot from the Session C that I attended. Based on the attendance in the large auditorium, there were many others wanting to see WAVE, which is only about 6 months old. WAVE provides many tools in one place, but we were reminded what BETA means! The demonstration worked better than WAVE had when the presenters had been preparing earlier.

WAVES can be added and embedded in other web services, and new extensions can be built to work inside WAVES. GOOGLE'S view is that WAVE will eventually replace email. The public WAVE is for those who think that TWITTER is "old school." Although WAVE is still "very clunky", it was fun to see the demonstration and envision the future of WAVE. Terms used with WAVE are blips (chat function) and pings (responses). The first message typed becomes the title of the message. To add photos and documents, use the editing mode. GOOGLE can be searched within WAVE, and images and links can be embedded. Polls, maps and robots can be added. Collaborative editing works well in WAVE as well as event planning and virtual reference. Moravian College uses WAVE for virtual reference. The Seattle Times opened a public WAVE after the shooting of 2 police officers in a coffee shop. The Austin American Statesman users WAVE, a good process work tool.

FUTURE OF WAVE

While WAVE is a great idea, not all promised is available yet. There is potential, but Instant Messaging, ZOHO, FriendFeed, Google Docs, and Cloud-based word processing currently work better for synchronous communication. Although allowing you to meet new people, most social networking sites work better than WAVE. As a single-hosted document, WAVE challenges the definition of document being it is the document!

An advantage of WAVE over email is that it is better at bringing in someone new after the conversation starts. The presentation by Rudy, LeAnn and Rita made me want to continue to follow the development of WAVE.

Lunch Tech Talk by Michael Porter, "You, the Online Version"

Libraryman Character 1
Originally uploaded by sammo371

After the Twitter session, it was appropriate to follow lunch with a session by Michael Porter, You, The Online Version, 101. He shared his Flickr photos (has 3,700 images), and said that all of his social networking sites are in his delicious feed. There are lots of factors to consider for one's social online self, and sometimes it is difficult to draw the line, To be the face of the library on a social tool, Porter stressed to:

Be Yourself
Be Authentic
Be Polite
Be Kind
Be Nice


DONT'S

Don't register with random strange user names
Don't register with individual emails if representing an institution
Don't have outdated profile information
Don't be slow to reply to users
Don't be too institutional in tone
Don't be selective in friending people


SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMIZATION

Increase your linkability - make tweets short enough to re-tweet
Add buttons
Re-use content in multiple venues
Make tagging and bookmarking easy
Reward inbound links
Thank people for being "friends of the library"
Help content travel
Encourage the mashup
Stand out in a good way


Porter stressed that social tools will be around for a long time even as they take different forms. Facebook is a dynamic example as settings and formats change every few months. Porter stressed to be creative and expressive, and have fun. With 1,100 friends, he has many to follow each day. He stressed that it takes staff time to follow Twitter. When it becomes a priority, something else needs to give. He is more public with his online self than I am, but that goes with his role. I am now following him on Twitter.

Twitter - One Tweet at A Time - Session B

Twitter bird logo icon illustration
Originally uploaded by Matt Hamm

One Tweet at a Time: developing critical thinking, library connections & information skills with Twitter. Rudy Leon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.


The presenter has only been at her current location for 1.5 years, and is most proud of the work that she has done with Twitter. Because Twitter is open and multi-directional, your circle can be expanded and your networking challenged, Leon said. As a libarian at one of the largest university libraries in the country, Leon works with her graduate students to update Twitter. There are now over 700 followers. Leon recommended to start small and grow. A participant pointed out that most Twitter users are in their 30's and 40's. Some of the graduate students who do the updates, do not use Twitter outside of their work activity.

I liked the "Pride and Joy" of Leon's student tweets - This Day in History. Students do the research and have the tweets ready ahead of when they are displayed. There is also one tweet each day on services. A challenge has been getting students to talk back to build a two-way conversation. Twitter is right on the homepage with 5 tweets showing. A link shortener, cli.gs, has been helpful for assessment data. The experience at the University of Illinois was that on a big campus, it is not easy to find what is going on.

Benefits since using Twitter have been an increased community presence, especially with the local newspaper. Rudy Leon also said that the development folks "love them." The addition of Twitter has been a growing voice on campus, but the library has not yet been able to investigate the critical thinking impact.

After being on Twitter for over a year, I enjoyed Rudy Leon's presentation. At our two-year school, I think that our students use Facebook much more even though Twitter is on the college homepage. If we were to use Twitter on our library page, I could see using This Day in History, and linking to other topics like the University of Illinois does. Because tweeting is a component of graduate school, the time to do it is not a major part of the work of librarians.

Vogel Library - Wartburg College, Sesson A

Vogel Library
Originally uploaded by knights98

Wartburg College at Waverly, Iowa


Getting Your Library Users Involved In Your Website Redesign Process, Kimberly Babcock Mashek, Wartburg College

http://library.wartburg.edu/

I was familiar with the Wartburg Library website, and liked the design, so was eager to attend the session on how library users were involved in the redesign process. In the 5 years that Kimberly has been at Wartburg, this was her 3rd website. She asked participants what makes a great website, and stressed the importance of deciding on a purpose or mission statement. Having that helps determine what is put on the website. Too much content can be a problem. Who is it for, and how will it be used? The website is a vehicle for students, community members, to find content that is relevant and readily available. Decide on a timeline. (A good launch date of June or July is good for an academic library.)

HOW TO GET USERS INVOLVED?

Create a User List
Involve Users Who Have Specific Needs
Wesite Will Look Different in Different Browsers
Make a Detailed List of the Redesign Process
Seek Out the Computer Science Department as a Resource
Community Members Have Great Skills to Help

ACTIVITIES
Surveys (online and in person) SurveyMonkey
Focus Groups (students, faculty, librarians, staff)
Design Process
Mock-up Testing
Jargon Eliminators (Best to have students for this!)

FINDINGS
Librarians assume that students use website in a way that they don't
Staff and librarians use website differently
Student Senate was helpful to recruit students for focus groups
Incentives such as food work!
Having a computer science student to research designs, recruit testers and lead card sorting activities was helpful
The IT Department and Communication and Marketing Departments were helpful collaborators
Students usually go to discipline guide before journals

RECOMMENDATIONS
Link to documents without creating another webpage
Have a second person look at all content before posting
Use Dream Weaver
Meet with writing center people
Change library website every 2-3 years to keep fresh

The session was very helpful to anyone undergoing web redesign. At Wartburg, the library had no choice of colors to use, but by agreeing to go with the college design, was able to keep the prominent location of the library on the home page.

Midwest Technology Conference 2010 Keynote Intro Slide

Midwest Technology Conference 2010 Keynote Intro Slide
Originally uploaded by libraryman

The keynote presentation at the 2010 Library Technology Conference was by Michael Porter of WebJunction.


"LIBRARIES, TECHNOLOGY, EVOLUTION, CHANGE AND SUCCESS"

Michael Porter spoke of the speed of evolution - He understands what we do, and wants the good that we do for communities to still be here in 20 years. When he worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the impact of libraries became clear to him. He said that libraries need to become more rather than less relevant. He is hopeful, but concerned for libraries. Porter stressed that LIBRARIES = CONTENT + COMMUNITY, and urged us to think about the changes in 5-10 years. There is politics involved with how technology is integrated with communication. As an industry, we are not prepared to deal with the changes. He asked those attending how many use NETFLIX even though DVDs are circulated by libraries, and said that shows a gap. Even though we control our mission, libraries function differently than businesses who now provide what libraries previously did. He gave many examples,(iTunes will make electonic journals available when they realize that they can make enough money from them) and asked us to consider what we think our libraries will be like in 50 years.

Porter said that all library website traffic in this country does not equal that of the top 50 websites. To survive and thrive, libraries need the infrastructure to provide CONTENT. Without it, libraries will not be able to survive. Because the COMMUNITY says, "Give me what I want, when I want, how I want it," libraries need to learn how to better circulate eletronic content than anyone else. The majority of content in the next 10-20 years will not be in books. Libraries need a digital strategy for electronic content access. If we could do that as well as we do library cards, that would be great, but electronic content distribution is a very difficult issue. For success, we need to work together to provide new electronic content access.

Porter encouraged us to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He is libraryman on Twitter.

DeWitt Library

DeWitt Library
Originally uploaded by cogdogblog

Library Technology Conference 2010 Held at Macalester College on March 17th & 18th.


I enjoyed attending the first day of the annual Library Technology Conference. The day was great at the lovely Macalester College campus.

Minnesota Winters

Minnesota Winters
Originally uploaded by Ethan G. Knuti

Thanks to Ethan G for adding this to Flickr!
Minnesota winters have beauty even though we sometimes do not appreciate it. This is the second day this winter that I have not made it home when the college was closed. I had not added to my blog for months, so thought that I would work on it tonight while stranded.