A very fine letter in the Washington Post from incoming ALA President Loriene Roy. She mentions IM and wikis and still manages to tie it into traditional values. “Librarians provide more than facts. We provide the expertise and services that add meaning to those facts.”[resourceshelf]
Category: ala
ALA claims to be doing web site usability survey.
No it’s not The Onion, it’s true. “You may be aware that we are currently conducting a usability assessment of our ALA website.”
Come Together @ Your Library, just don’t get caught on tape
It’s the joke that writes itself. Here, juxtaposed for your enjoyment, are the Carl Monday blog post about the masturbator in the public library, the one that he caught on videotape and humiliated in the name of investigative journalism. Also, here is the press release about the National Library Week theme: Come Together @ Your Library. I have a poster suggestion here and a racier one here and my final contribution here.
what ALA is doing, from a current ALA Councilor
I have no idea how long I stay on the ALACOUN, the mailing list for Councilors, but I’m definitely not on Council anymore. Whether I’ll let my membership lapse in December is anyone’s guess. This has been a big few months for shakeups. Rory has a post over at Library Juice which has links to the sorts of reports Councilors get from the organization. If you’re ALA-curious, they’re worth a look.
Both Rory and I have been involved in working on some of the ALA-related Wikipedia articles and it’s clear that there is a small (one person? more?) and vocal (fanatical?) faction who believes that one of ALA’s primary claims to fame is as a “sexualizer of children” and other related issues based on ALA’s Library Bill of Rights which includes a statement of right of access to libraries for children as well as adults. I don’t feel the need to chime in on that particular topic, my feelings are probably obvious. However, one of the side effects of the move towards the democratization of information production of the type we see in Wikipedia, means that people with serious axes to grind, a lot of time, and ability or willingness to circumvent or constantly challenge community norms, guidelines and rules get a much larger-seeming platform for their ideas than they would have under more “traditional” publishgin methods. Whether this is the good news or the bad news depends in a large part on which side of the particular debate you’re on.
In this new world, it seems to me, we need libraries and their librarians more than ever.
Leslie Burger: keep everlastingly at it
Jenny has reprinted parts of Leslie Burger’s inauguration speech on her site. It’s pretty “go go change!” but if you’ve ever spent any time with Leslie you’ll know that her enthusiasm is infectious.
Build a culture that encourages and rewards change. Encourage your staff to take some risks. Offer rewards for new/different ways of doing things. If they turn out be better, great! If not, recognize, appreciate and learn from the effort. Be relentless about promoting the changes you want to see. Good example: The library that encourages staff to keep track of how many times they say no and figures out how to turn no into yes.