Illinois - Research & Statistics

RE: Re: Internet Generations and Public Libraries

2009-08-28T18:10:09Z

This is interesting: Clive Thompson on the New Literacy

The upshot is that we're entering an age of increasing literacy as not seen since the ancient Greeks. Why? Because the Internet is very much a writer's medium.

Kids and younger adults are on all the time. They can't help but get better at expressing what they wish to say.

RE: Recommended Reading

2008-10-09T21:09:01Z

It is. I had a review copy.

I once worked in a library that *did* have something akin to a confessional booth for reference staff to use ... but the issue there is staff quality and training, not furniture.

My major concern, of course, is that we librarians had better have a pretty good understanding of our "competition." Secondarily, it's nice to know the type of analytical tools being used out there.

I've used such marketing tools to help understand my library district (by lifestyle and income) ... but to better understand questions? I wish I had access to that!

RE: Recommended Reading

2008-10-08T23:30:47Z

Is this the same book: Click : what millions of people are doing online and why it matters

From yours and those other reviews, it sounds like a fascinating view of society's information seeking behavior. I'm intrigued by the notion of Internet searching as confessional, turning to search engines for therapy and guidance on the most personal of issues.

I'm not sure where libraries fit into this picture. How do we offer something more substantive than "instant answers and an opinion du jour" if that seems to be where most information searches stop. Maybe there should be a confessional booth in every library with a computer terminal and a librarian behind the privacy screen.

Re: Recommended Reading

2008-05-27T19:59:24Z

I suppose the following would best fit here (but really do think a higher category for "useful readings" would be a good thing):

I just finished <i>The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church</i>, by Christine Wicker (HarperOne, 2008) and thought that I might bring it to the attention of others.

Two points, in particular, struck me as useful. First, the major thrust ... that "conservative evangelicals" comprise much less than the 25% of Americans that is usually touted. The real number is closer to 7% (but of course much higher in some areas). It is also shrinking. This has large implications re attempted censorship of both books and web.

The second is that one of the reasons why "conservative evangelical" churches are shrinking is the "de-churching" of many members. They are still Christians, and perhaps still conservative, but they are now meeting in homes rather than churches. There are implications here for collection development. Public libraries seldom purchased sectarian material since this was expected to be a church responsibility. However, if there is no church but only individual taxpayers there may be a responsibility to purchase materials they would find useful.

Re: Internet Generations and Public Libraries

2008-01-18T15:26:10Z

Let me try to wake up this topic ... first off, by streamlining the title.

An interesting paper just came out from the British Library.

Here's a report: http://www.bl.uk/news/2008/pressrelease20080116.html

The title is: "Pioneering research shows Google Generation is a myth"

A pdf of the paper itself is here: http://www.bl.uk/news/pdf/googlegen.pdf

So ... what do you think?

In my view, this is *not* news as much as it is a recognition that while search skills can be learned w/o much problem, understanding what one is reading requires much, much more education and experience.

Which is where reference services come into play.

testing

2007-09-14T23:01:41Z

We are testing editing here. Only here (today)

Message was edited by:
pretend member

One Book...Endless Possibilities!

2005-07-12T19:28:02Z

In this area, we'll be discussing "One Book, Five Landscapes, Six Partners...Endless Possibilities," a project created by the Ohio Library Council, Ohio Public Library Information Network, the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science, OHIONET, and OCLC to discuss ways to apply OCLC's Environmental Scan. There's more information about this project at http://www.olc.org/onebook.asp. ANYONE is welcome to post here, whether or not you happen to live or work in Ohio.

Have you read [url http://www.oclc.org/reports/escan/default.htm ]OCLC's scan[/url]? Do you think it resonates in your library? Or are we all wet? If you haven't seen the scan yet, check it out. You can download the full report or the executive summary there free of charge.

OCLC Report: "Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005)"

2006-02-05T17:05:47Z

OCLC Report: "Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005)" -- http://www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm

Also:

From Cites & Insights, February 2006 v. 6 no. 3:

"Library Stuff Perspective -- Perceptions of Libraries and Information
Resources" --

PDF: http://cites.boisestate.edu/civ6i3.pdf

HTML: http://cites.boisestate.edu/v6i3c.htm

Re: How did public libraries get started?

2006-01-17T21:38:43Z

Great read! I'll link to this on our New Employee Orientation pages. And I couldn't resist clicking the comment link on the article. Lively discussion ensues...

<blockquote>
And as always a cool nod to Callimachus, the first cataloguer, would be nice, and the curse of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh's library:

<blockquote>May [the 12 gods named on these walls] curse anyone who breaks, defaces, or removes this tablet with a curse which cannot be relieved, terrible and merciless as long as he lives. May they let his name perish, his children be carried off from the land as slaves, and may dogs consume his flesh. </blockquote>

Compared to which, $.25 per day is really quite reasonable as a late fee.
~ Sampiro (Straight Dope Message Board member)</blockquote>

Re: How did public libraries get started?

2006-01-17T21:04:58Z

I made sure to add that to the readings I send to my Board with my reports.

Re: How did public libraries get started?

2006-01-17T20:16:08Z

Brenda, this is a great question and this is the best category/forum for it, IMO. A couple of fascinating things come up with the question that is posed to Straight Dope here.

This person "googled the hell out of this [topic]" and consulted the "best resources" with Wikipedia being the foremost, but didn't discover much of anything about public libraries, Carnegie, or library funding in the US. This tells me that our "googling" minions are not fulfilling their information needs --not even "good enough." It also tells me that our public libraries have still not convinced the general public that they are a key source of information. Imagine how quickly this patron would have gotten answers if he had called the local library.

For the larger issue about public libraries, I remember a great discussion in one of my LIS classes about how relatively recent the notion actually is --that is, the notion of a government-funded, open-stack resource for free and equal access to information that is the underpinning of an informed democratic citizenry. Even us 'old-timers' tend to take that for granted, but it's certainly not invulnerable or universal. Many libraries around the world have closed stacks and no-lending policies. Before our national public system, many libraries were private and proprietary. There are some predictions of a return to the private library as the predominate thing: when more and more resources are available digitally and data storage is cheap, individuals will build their own customized libraries.

Lots of food for thought here ...and discussion. I highly recommend reading the OCLC report on [url http://www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm ]Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005)[/url] and let's keep the conversation going!

How did public libraries get started?

2006-01-17T16:15:55Z

Hi all,
I had trouble selecting the right discussion area for this resource (that's not my area of librarianship ), so am posting here for now. I thought it might fit here, because if we're looking to the library future, it's good to know our library past....

Today's "Straight Dope" question/response is about public library history. Interesting stuff -- see it at: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpublibrary.html

Brenda

Re: Recommended Reading

2005-07-19T17:00:05Z

I would like to add to this excellent reading list by pointing to the discourse on environmental scanning posted in three parts on the It's all good blog. Written with Alane's characteristic expressive clarity, these posts provide a good overview of environmental scanning --what it is, how it's done, and why.

[url http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/environmental-scanning-pt-1.html ]Environmental Scanning, Pt 1.[/url]

[url http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/environmental-scanning-pt-2.html ]Environmental Scanning, Pt. 2.[/url]

[url http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/environmental-scanning-pt-3.html ] Environmental Scanning, Pt. 3.[/url]

Internet and Gamer Generations and Public Libraries

2005-07-19T14:58:57Z

Here's another reading suggestion for those interested in learning more about the impact the Internet-Gamer Generation will have on library service-- "Got Game-- How the Gamer Generation Is Re-Shaping Business Forever" by John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade. I saw a lot of the info presented in the Scan echoed in this book. I also saw a lot of myself (and our younger generations of library patrons) in this book.

I'm a product of the internet generation-- I admit that my first inclination when I need info is to look online. As a library director and an MLIS student, I feel a sort of professional shame in that admission but sometimes the truth hurts. At the age of 35, I am just a tad bit older than the age group defined as the "gamer generation" but I embrace technology in every way.

I've been thinking lately about traditional library policies that will be challenged in the near future. Feel free to add to this list:

This is probably the biggest one I've identified and it may be the hardest to fall. How many libraries do you know that still prohibit chatting and/ or gaming on public internet computers? And yet, there is a huge part of the population (patrons from 12-30) that we should be attracting to our libraries that enjoy these activities.

Another thought-- how many libraries do you know that accept credit cards for payment of fines, fees or service charges? When even McDonald's takes a credit card, can libraries be far behind?

Re: Punk Rock and Environmental Scanning

2005-07-15T21:52:38Z

Love that.

In another forum, we have a discussion of "difficult patron behavior" (a little bit of a punk rocker type) turned library volunteer success story. Another example of how an environmental scan can help improve our services, and even solve our problems.

Punk Rock and Environmental Scanning

2005-07-15T17:14:59Z

Yesterday, we had the opening session of the "One Book, Five Landscapes, Six Partners, Endless Possibilities" project here at OCLC. Late yesterday, I received the following e-mail, reprinted here with Lisa's permission.

George,

On my way back to the library after your presentation today, I was listening to a Terry Gross Fresh Air interview with Iggy Pop and I had one of those "aha" moments--something he said struck a chord and relates to what we discussed today.

He was talking about how he formed The Stooges and what he was looking to create with the band (saying that he didn't think there was much of a future in "getting a bowl cut, wearing a polyester shirt and imitating the Yardbirds.).

When Terry said he was ahead of his time, he responded by saying he was actually with the times and everyone else was behind. He said, If you looked at what was happening socially, culturally, even in the automotive industry, you see that the music we created was music the time was screaming for. One would never think about Iggy Pop looking to the automotive industry to inform his musicbut there you have itan environmental scan of sorts influencing the birth of punk rock.

Looking forward to learning more and hearing what others have to say.

Lisa Fuller
Community Relations/Development Director
Worthington Libraries

Re: Creating Your Own Environmental Scan

2005-07-14T22:45:46Z

WJ did a program a few months ago with one of our members, Bob Watson (librarybob) in IL. In that program (view recording) Bob talked about "library ecologies" much in the same way that the environmental scan talks about the "library landscape". I really appreciated Bob's perspective because it reminded us that the library does not operate in a vacuum; it's connected to every other individual and organization in the community where it serves, and all of the elements are interdependent. "I want them all to be on my side," I remember him saying. It's an important thing to remember when we find ourselves saying "I don't have time to scan ... anything!" (Something we all feel sometimes, I think.) Scanning can help us identify all the ways we are connected to the communities we serve, ultimately allowing us to serve them (and them us) better all around.

(Bob, I hope you'll chime in here - seems right up your alley! Given some of the things you've posted here at WJ about "Demonstrating Impact," it seems that you've done your own environmental scan....how did you make time for it?)

Re: One Book...Endless Possibilities!

2005-07-12T21:40:46Z

Yes, this is a deep and rich topic. One of our WJ members brought the OCLC Scan to my attention earlier this year in the 'Reference' forum >> "[url http://webjunction.org/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=14685#14685 ]Is the nature of Reference Service changing?[/url]"

As I noted there, the Scan is an excellent read, very well-written and full of challenges to some of our deeply-held notions about libraries. I won't elaborate for the moment until I have a chance to go back and review it. I am looking forward to an active exchange of ideas here.