August 29, 2008
Delft DOK and Roterdam Bibliotheek
I had a great visit to Rotterdam and Delft and made a fun presentation to the local community. I made a quick visiting to Amsterdam PL on the way to Singapore and Australia. These are two amazing libraries and I took tons of pictures. Here's the PPT:
Building Capacity for Change: 25 Technologies Transforming Libraries
Innovation rules here. Thanks for inviting me. (Wait until you see the new book from Information Today on the DOK "Dutch Boys" Shanachie tour last year. They are heading to OZ in the fall and did Jamaica in the Spring.)
Stephen
Posted by test.user at 3:28 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2008
Canadian Libraries and GDP
Direct from one of my other associations - OLA:
"Libraries account for Gross Domestic Product
Libraries account for $1.3 billion of Canada's Gross Domestic Product.
The Conference Board of Canada released the report "Valuing Culture: Measuring and Understanding Canada's Creative Economy". In total, culture accounts for more than $43 billion or 3.8% of Canada's GDP.
The report features trends, drivers, economic footprint and global positioning in Canada's creative economy and can be downloaded for free (upon free subscription) from the Conference Board of Canada e-library:
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/ "
And that's just the cultural impact on GDP. Libraries certainly have many other positive impacts.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:05 PM | Comments (0)
University of Tilburg Staff Presentation
While in Holland I also had the opportunity to speak to the staff team at the University of Tilburg. I promised them the PPTon my blog and here it is!
Building Capacity for Learning: Affordable Technology Preparedness
Thanks for the hospitality.
Stephen
Posted by test.user at 5:17 AM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2008
Ithaka Faculty & Library Survey Data Available
This is based on 2006 information but it's the third in a series (2000, 2003, 2006), so it has good value in that it is tracking changes in academic and scholarly behaviours relative to libraries.
Ithaka's 2006 Studies of Key Stakeholders in the Digital Transformation in Higher Education
Ross Housewright and Roger Schonfeld (2008)
"Ithaka has recently released the full findings from our 2006 surveys of the behavior and attitudes of faculty members and academic librarians. These complementary studies, co-sponsored by JSTOR and by Ithaka's incubated entities Portico, Aluka, and NITLE, have been of interest to academic librarians and scholarly publishers alike in presentations over the past year, but now we are making the dataset available as well.
The faculty study focuses on attitudes and behaviors in the transition to an increasingly electronic information environment, examining perceptions and use of information services in the research and teaching processes. The findings shed light on the relationship between faculty and the library, faculty perceptions and uses of electronic resources, the transition away from print for scholarly journals, faculty publishing preferences, e-books, digital repositories, and the preservation of scholarly journals. The librarian survey provides the perspective of senior collection development officers on many of these same issues and thereby provides the opportunity to examine the similarities and differences between faculty and librarian views.
We have prepared an in-depth white paper which details our findings and provides analysis and recommendations based on these studies, which may be found on the Ithaka website at http://www.ithaka.org/research/faculty-and-librarian-surveys.
For those who are interested in investigating our data in greater depth, we have deposited the raw datasets from these studies with ICPSR, and the faculty and librarian studies are available at http://tinyurl.com/6rm3df and http://tinyurl.com/6hk6lg, respectively.
The 2006 faculty study marked the third triennial research effort in this series, and we have greatly benefited from the reactions and suggestions of the community in response to these studies. We look forward to your questions and comments about these studies.
Best,
Roger
Roger C. Schonfeld
Manager of Research
Ithaka
151 East 61st Street
New York, NY 10065
(212) 500 - 2338
rcs@ithaka.org
http://www.ithaka.org/research/ "
Stephen
Posted by test.user at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)
Social Book Sites
This is interesting.
"Shelfari, a social network for bibliophiles, has been acquired by Amazon for an undisclosed amount. Amazon has been a longtime supporter of the Seattle based startup, having invested $1 million in the site in February 2007.
The move comes less than a month after Amazon’s acquisition of AbeBooks, a vendor of rare and used books from independent publishers. As part of that acquisition Amazon also got a stake in Shelfari’s competitor LibraryThing, which AbeBooks had previously purchased a 40% stake in."
I suspect we'll see more intense intrusion on the space that libraries and brick bookstores felt they dominated. Not anymore.
The implementation of BiblioCommons at Oakville Public Library is a bright light.
Stephen
Posted by test.user at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2008
TICER at the University of Tilburg
I am presenting on Wednesday at the 2008 TICER summer program at the University of Tilburg in The Netherlands. It is called "Digital Libraries à la Carte".
For more about TICER see here.
My session is the opening seesion on Tuesday. It is called:
Building Capacity for Change: 25 Technologies Transforming Academic Libraries
This is quite the program and it has been going on annually since 1996. There is an international cohort of librarians and faculty here.
Stephen
Posted by test.user at 4:49 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2008
Is Human Simulation Getting Almost Real?
I don't know. What do you think?
Watch this YouTube Video of Emily.
The woman in the video is not real. Image Metrics used real actress Emily O’Brien by getting 35 facial poses using just a pair of digital cameras. Then the animators went to work. One source says that "ninety per cent of the work is convincing people that the eyes are real."
Hmmmmm. In 2020 will this be your virtual librarian? (Yes I saw the MS prototype too.)
Stephen
Posted by test.user at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)
What'll we call the generations?
Here's an interesting press release via Ypulse (Daily news & commentary about Generation Y for media and marketing professionals) posting:
Um, Could You Not Call Us Gen Y Or Millennials?
Widely Held Attitudes to Different Generations
By Harris Interactive
Generation Y Seen as Most Self-indulgent, Generation X as Most Innovative, and Boomers as Most Productive. "Silent Generation" and "Greatest Generation" are the Most Admired.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - A recent survey by Harris Interactive conducted for Charles Schwab and Age Wave asked almost 4,000 Americans aged 21 to 83 what they thought of different generations. Specifically, they were asked about people aged 13 to 31 or Generation Y; those aged 32 to 43 or Generation X, Baby Boomers, aged 44 to 62; the "Silent Generation," aged 63 to 83; and the "Greatest Generation," aged 84 or older. The results show how very differently people view the different generations, with many people holding strong positive and negative opinions about them.
These are some of the results of a Harris Interactive survey, Rethinking Retirement, based on a nationwide sample of 3,868 adults aged 21 to 83 surveyed online in March and April 2008. Much of the survey was focused on retirement issues and retirement planning.
Some of the most interesting findings are:
·Baby Boomers (35%) are most widely viewed as having a positive effect on society, followed by Generation X (25%);
· The Silent Generation (33%) and the Greatest Generation (30%) are the most widely admired generations, followed by Baby Boomers (22%);
· The Silent Generation (40%) and Baby Boomers (33%) are widely viewed as the most generous;
· The two generations widely seen as the most productive are Baby Boomers (45%) and Generation X (32%);
· A 53 percent majority (including a majority of Gen Y itself) believe Generation Y is the most self-indulgent, followed by Generation X (25%);
· A 41 percent plurality sees Generation X as the most innovative, followed by Baby Boomers (25%) and Generation Y (22%);
· There is no consensus as to which generation is most socially conscious, but Baby Boomers (34%) and Generation X (26%) top the list;
· Gen Y would like to rename themselves the "Internet Generation" (32%). They really dislike being called "Generation Y" or "Millennials";
· Gen X would choose to rename themselves "Generation Tech" (25%). They dislike being called "Generation X";
· Baby Boomers are the only generation which seems to really like the name given to them (27%)
· The Silent Generation would re-name themselves the "Responsible Generation" (44%). They strongly dislike being called "Silent" or "Invisible."
So What Does This Mean? Myth versus Reality
These findings show that two widely-held views are false. One is that America is riddled with ageism and that younger people have no respect for older people. While there is surely some prejudice against older people which sometimes leads to age discrimination, the two oldest generations - the Silent and the Greatest Generations - are much more admired than any other generation. There are several reasons why there is so little hostility to older people or concern about what some people have termed "intergenerational equity".
One is that they are our parents and grandparents. Another is that we all hope to get old one day. Furthermore, research has shown that older people are much more likely to give money to their children and grandchildren than vice-versa. While older people are the beneficiaries of Social Security and Medicare, and the taxes that are needed to pay for them, most people do not see them as a burden to younger generations.
Another common belief, shown to be false in this survey, is that Baby Boomers are widely seen as particularly self-indulgent or even greedy. In reality, Boomers get higher marks than other generations for being socially conscious, productive and having a positive effect on society."
Pretty interesting. Of course every generation hates being labelled. There's been a whole bunch of kevelling on some blogs recently about this (interestingly by my unscientific survey mostly by Gen X bloggers. it seems to occur every year around the time of the Beloit fun list.) People forget that the Millennial label was the result of a huge survey done by ABC years ago where Millennials chose it. As soon as something becomes a label many people reject it. It's pretty funny actually. Then again, you have to get over it. If I spent as much time rejecting labels as some folks do and rejecting the label Boomer and trying to prove I am not a stereoype I'd never get anything done. Labels are useful in the moment for conversations and then we move on. Hopefully mature people recognize diversity in any cohort.
Stephen
Posted by test.user at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2008
Librarian Identity and Reputation Management
Here's my column for the August issue of SLA's Information Outlook.
Information Professional Identities and Our Online Reputation
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:01 AM | Comments (5)
August 19, 2008
ALA Banned Books Week
September 27–October 4, 2008 is ALA's annual Banned Books Week.
I think that this is one of ALA's great achievements since 1982 - keeping an eye on the freedom to read and pointing to the edges when we risk losing that freedom.
I have a suggestion. The freedom to read doesn't just involve books. Yes, some forces tried to ban novels when they appeared in the 1800's. We accept that's a bad idea now although many libraries banned books that I wanted to read as a kid (Hardy Boys, OK!) Graphic novels got their cache when one won a Pulitzer Prize. (Maus) Anyway, the freedom to read is much broader than books and I am not suggesting in any way that ALA change the banned books week. It still serves a high purpose.
However, this year, when we see continual attacks on many types of libraries, we see an attack on research, discovery and reading. These are fundamental to progress. Consider:
1. Special libraries telling me they can't get to the basic sites they need for research because they're banned on their system wide intranet. (I actually didn't do business with one company because of this since I figured their decisions were not well informed enough.)
2. School libraries where they can't use the basics of the Internet - many sites and whole tools are banned. Are these kids better off for being less well equipped than others? By pushing some simple tools like blogs and MySpace underground (and you can't block it) are we enabling our kids to learn in a good environment.
3. Public libraries that are being order to filter not just kids PC's but adult computers too. Who will be the first to sue a library for violating end user rights? When will we get that precedent? I suspect it'll be soon.
4. For all their lofty talk about academic freedom, are universities and colleges really sincere when they throttle some sites and tools under the guise of protecting bandwidth?
5. Adult, voting soldiers restricted in their access to the web. Defend our freedoms with our life, but don't expect to exercise that right as an adult?
Anyway, maybe we can start a new "Banned Websites Week" and collect the funny, sad and scary examples that everyone shares over coffee at conferences.
I once helped publish a database called "Canadian Business and Current Affairs" which was blocked by many school filters. 'Affairs' can't discriminate public, government or current affairs with the adulterous ones. I loved a client from long ago that once blocked access to itself and all of it's own websites. You see, they were in 'Middlesex' County. I guess any kind of sex is bad. I've got more. Every article or e-mail that contained the word 'specialist' at one site was blocked. You see, cialis, is in the middle of that word. I won't show too many more since I will be filtered and blocked for many of you. It's fun to share our war stories though.
This issue came to mind as I watched all of the tut tutting in the media this month about the blocking of certain websites and searches in China during the Olympics. The media was appalled and breathlessly held this up as an example of the lack of basic freedoms in China. Interestingly, simultaneously the US Congress and legislatures all over North America were passing or considering legislation to require filters and blocks on all kinds of content in public institutions like libraries, schools, universities, hospitals, colleges, clubs, and more. This was despite the proofs that no filter works well. How interested were the media in that? ALA has some work to here. Freedom to read is more than just books.
Just a thought. I think it might be a fun project to try for a year.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:30 PM | Comments (4)
A True Summer Internet Search Story
This true story doesn't start out funny. A close and old (not that old - just 50) friend was getting ready for an Alaskan Cruise. As Mary (not her real name) packed and tried on clothes she fell and broke her left hip and left wrist. Yuck. She doesn't have a full length mirror so she stood on the edge of the bathtub to see her hem length and fell in. Double yuck. [She now has a full-length mirror.]
Anyway, the hospital repaired her hip and wrist (twice) and got her started on physiotherapy. She was able to work on the physio from home and re-organize the house and family around her. Her family was very nice to her even though they had to cancel the cruise to Alaska.
Anyway, she was coming along nicely when she got a little worried by a clicking sound in her hip. Did she phone the library? Did she phone the great TPL Consumer Health Information Centre? Did she call her doctor? Of course not, she went on the Internet.
So she searches the Internet in direct violation of Abram's rule that no one should ever search their OWN medical conditions alone online. This I learned from deep personal experience.
She finds a site that seems directly on point - clicking sounds in the hip!
She reads the first paragraph. It doesn't sound good.
She reads the second paragraph. It's beginning to sound pretty scary.
By the third paragraph tears are welling in her eyes as she fears more medical interventions and pain. She's getting quite worried.
The fourth paragraph starts . . .
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"Once you reach the paws . . ."
Yes folks, Google can't separate vet sites from human sites. But you knew that.
Maybe we need to license sick people to search and offer training at the point of need.
Anyway, 'Mary' provided my laugh of the summer, despite her pain. (BTW, the clicking is nothing abnormal.)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:05 PM | Comments (1)
Personalized ALA READ Posters
Jenny Levine has delivered another great and fun project on the ALA website.
The READ Mini Poster Generator
Choose from one of four templates and just click the button to upload a picture from your hard drive. (One hint - leave some room above your head in the picture.)
Useful for web badges, profile pictures, and especially graphics for events such as Banned Books Week (which is coming up in September). Here’s mine. It's pretty bad and I'll have to get a funner digital picture for my rocketman poster.
Now, you can think of hundreds of uses for this right? They're printable too.
Everyone ready to gift every member of the summer reading club with a READ mini-poster?
Got your trustees pictures? Ready aim fire.
All staff into the pool! The Flickr pool that is.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:56 PM | Comments (1)
Simplest Way to Explain 2.0
Indexed blog always comes up with very simple ways to explain complex things.
Now if the bottom axis was library members/cardholders and left axis was library programs/collections/services, is it easier to digest?
Cool.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:25 PM | Comments (0)
Horatio Alger's State of Our Nation's Youth
This year's Horatio Alger report on the "State of Our Nation's Youth," based on a phone survey of 1,006 students between the ages of 13-19 is out, and offers a somewhat optimistic survey of teens despite the world's condition.
WASHINGTON (August 5, 2008) – Teens are feeling the weight of the world now more than ever, according to a new report issued today. There has been a steep drop-off in the number of students feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future of the country, falling from 75% in 2003 to just 53% today, a 22% decline in optimism over the past five years. Despite these declining views of a fading nation, teens are nonetheless positive as they envision their own futures. With 88% describing themselves as confident and 66% saying they feel optimistic about their own futures, they are making strides towards achieving success as young adults.
The 10th State of Our Nation’s Youth report was issued today by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. The report compiles the results of the national survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates. The 2008-2009 report is a comprehensive study of American high school students’ opinions, apprehensions and aspirations. Highlights from this year’s survey include:
Presidential Election – 75% of teens say the election outcome will make a substantial difference in the direction of the country. Students’ biggest concerns are the economy and jobs (34%), and the war in Iraq (31%).
Global Warming – 72% of teens believe global warming is an urgent or serious problem. Caring about the environment is important to them, however the majority (58%) of teens do not consider themselves “environmentalists.”
Education in the Global Economy – To prepare themselves for the global economy, one in three teens say the most important school subjects are science and technology, and 38% wish their schools had more up-to-date technology.
Cyber Bullying – Of the14.9 million American high school students, 2.4 million (16%) reported that they have been a victim of cyber bullying, and a remarkable portion of teens, almost one-third (30%), now view online bullying as a greater threat then traditional bullying in schools.
Immigration – Teens are divided on immigration in the U.S., with 49% saying that it is more of a positive force then negative, while 40% have the opposite view. Teens’ opinions on immigration are in disagreement with their parents’ opinions, with only 39% of adults in another recent survey seeing immigration as a positive force.
“This year’s survey brings us valuable insight into American teens. They are confident, ambitious and optimistic in spite of the many challenges we all face as a nation,” said Peter D. Hart, president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates. “What emerges from the research results is a portrait of a generation who believe in themselves and their abilities, despite anxieties about the country.”
Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. has conducted more than five thousand public opinion surveys encompassing interviews with more than three million individuals over the past 30 years. This is the 5th State of Our Nation’s Youth survey that has been conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc.
The telephone survey included 1,006 students in grades nine through twelve and between ages 13 and 19. The sample of high school students was based on a compiled list provided by American Student List, the well-respected national list management firm, which specializes in maintaining lists of K-12 students. The survey sample closely matches U.S. Government (Census and Department of Education) statistics for age, area, race, and gender. The margin of error is ± 3.1 percentage points.
“A key mission of the Association is to invest in our nation’s teens, and with this research, we continue to utilize the tools to gain an understanding of America’s teens,” said David L. Sokol, President and CEO of the Horatio Alger Association. “Our aim is to initiate a dialogue between teens and the adults in their lives which encourages growth, appreciation, and most importantly success.”
The Horatio Alger Association is steadfast in its commitment to America's youth. Its network of field directors works with public, private and parochial school administrators as well as state departments of education throughout the country to share the State of Our Nation’s Youth results across the United States and to market the Horatio Alger scholarship programs.
For more information on the State of Our Nation’s Youth report, please see the following link or contact Chelsea Cummings, ccummings@qorvis.com, 202-683-3106/ Carrie Blewitt, cblewitt@qorvis.com, (202) 744-5270.
The State of Our Nation’s Youth Report in PDF form and Broadcast Quality Press Conference Video: http://www.horatioalger.org/youthreport08.cfm.
About The Horatio Alger Association
Founded in 1947, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans continues to fulfill its mission of honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals in our society who have succeeded in spite of adversity and of encouraging young people to pursue their dreams through higher education. The Horatio Alger Association offers three annual scholarship programs: the National Scholarship Program and state scholarship programs, available to high school seniors in all 50 states, and the Horatio Alger Military Veterans Scholarship Program for U.S. veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. The Association awards more than $12 million annually in college scholarships and has given over $63 million to deserving students since 1984. The Association is a 2008 Combined Federal Campaign participant, ID# 77062. For more information about the scholarships, please visit www.horatioalger.org."
Read the full report here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:15 PM | Comments (0)
Gartner Web 2.0 Hype Cycle
Gartner Group has another great hype cycle graph.
Dion Hinchcliffe has a nice commentary here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:08 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2008
2008 Beloit List
I was at the dry cleaners yesterday. My dry cleaners is a joint dry cleaners and computer game arcade and cafe. I was in line behind about 5 teens who were getting their gaming smartcards that control their time on the PC's. Some kid mentioned something that happened in 1993. The cool looking pierced, purple haired kid next to him said, "That's ancient history, man. I wasn't even born yet!"
Arrghhh. Anyway, apropos of that . . .
"This month, almost 2 million first-year students will head off to college campuses around the country. Most of them will be about 18 years old, born in 1990 when headlines sounded oddly familiar to those of today: Rising fuel costs were causing airlines to cut staff and flight schedules; Big Three car companies were facing declining sales and profits; and a president named Bush was increasing the number of troops in the Middle East in the hopes of securing peace. However, the mindset of this new generation of college students is quite different from that of the faculty about to prepare them to become the leaders of tomorrow.
Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief. The List is shared with faculty and with thousands who request it each year as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation.
The class of 2012 has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired” and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.
It is a multicultural, politically correct and “green” generation that has hardly noticed the threats to their privacy and has never feared the Russians and the Warsaw Pact.
Students entering college for the first time this fall were generally born in 1990.
Read the Mindset List for the Class of 2012 here.
Agree or disagree, this list is an annual treat.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:49 PM | Comments (1)
August 13, 2008
IFLA Main Conference 2008
I did three sessions at IFLA in Quebec City. Two involved PPT's. Here they are for those who asked:
Building Capacity for Learning: Affordable Technology Preparedness
Building Capacity for Change: Transforming Our Associations and Libraries
It's great to have everyone here in Canada.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2008
IFLA Resource Sharing Satellite
I had the pivilege to give the endnote at the IFLA Resource Sharing Satellite Conference in Boston. Here are my slides for the folks who were there.
Next Generation Sharing Technologies:
Throw Off Your Policies and Expose Yourself
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
August 7, 2008
New Pew Report on Search Engine Use
Search Engine Use by Deborah Fallows at the Pew Internet and American Life Project (August 6/2008)
"The percentage of internet users who use search engines on a typical day has been steadily rising from about one-third of all users in 2002, to a new high of just under one-half (49%). With this increase, the number of those using a search engine on a typical day is pulling ever closer to the 60% of internet users who use email, arguably the internet's all-time killer app, on a typical day."
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:21 AM | Comments (0)
Librarian Gear
Librarian Gear has a nice selection of library themed t-shirts. I count more than 45 designs as of this morning. I love the 'info*nation' one and 'old school' cracks me up.
You might also check out the "She blinded me with library science" t-shirts here at Questionable Content too.
I'm an XL if anyone is feeling generous! (grin, but hint, really.)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:15 AM | Comments (2)