Cultural Research

Turbulence: Wikipedia & Twitter Downturns

CNET:
Report: Wikipedia losing volunteers

Emarketer:
Data on Twitter Decline Stacks Up

Alert! Choppy weather ahead!! Fluctuations to continue!!!

Presidential Libraries: From Richard Nixon to George W.

Fast Company compares Presidential libraries with a quick take on architectural design. Jimmy Carter's my favorite.

Makes me wonder what kind of library Obama will come up with.

The Making of Molly: A Library in a Bus

The Making of Molly (NLB Mobile Library Bus) 2008

From YouTube:

"A three-minute video produced by the National Library Board (NLB) Singapore. Shows the refurbishment of the bus for the Mobile Library Service. The service was launched on 3 April 2008."

I'm starting off my Mobile Libraries category with this video as a tongue-in-cheek gesture, since Mobile Libraries will actually focus on libraries and mobile communications. But I'm also using this look at a bus transformed into a library to launch my Libraries category because looking at unique solutions to library access is one way to find a fresh vantage point for considering what a library might be.

Working with Koha at Cleveland Library

I've finished my fourth week at Cleveland Library where I'm currently focused on cataloging the collection using the Koha Open Source ILS. It's my first experience of cataloging "in the wild" and it's also my first experience with Koha. The system was set up for the library prior to my arrival but not a lot has been done since that point. We also have a number of questions about using Koha and about cataloging procedures that I'm doing my best to sort out.

The Cleveland Library setting is unique in that it's run by an all-volunteer staff and it's based, literally, in a thrift shop. The folks that founded the library, led by Ron Still, have a very down-to-earth, make things happen approach that often results in unexpected outcomes.

For example, they asked for book donations from the community to get the library started, rapidly amassed 50,000+ volumes and decided to go ahead and make them available as soon as they could get them on the shelves. So it's a wide open setting in which I take my laptop out on the floor and catalog whatever's currently checked in while the library and thrift store are open to the public!

I think this situation would be difficult for me if I hadn't had quite a bit of bookstore experience, including jobs at two awesome San Francisco shops featuring used books, Green Apple Books and Aardvark Books, where space was at a premium and ad hoc solutions ruled the day.

Working with Koha has raised some challenges since we don't have a service agreement and are all newbies, though that support issue would remain with proprietary software as well, due to our exceptionally restricted budget. We are also in need of someone reliable to update the software. It's the kind of thing I'd like to learn but just haven't had an opportunity to figure out and I don't want to be learning on my own using such a crucial system.

So I'm encountering some challenges and am doing my best to come up with some viable solutions. One of the great things about working at Cleveland Library is that I can take on as much as I can handle and it's giving me an opportunity to not only develop new skills but to think through the systemic challenges in birthing a new library on limited funding.

Branding Massey University: A TV Commercial

Massey University Television Commercial 2009

Librarian and blogger Alison Wallbutton posted the above tv ad for her homebase, New Zealand's Massey University, requesting comments and feedbacks.

Though I hate to negatively criticize such a feel good ad, I do have to wonder who this ad is attempting to reach. If Massey U has conducted a survey of its students and/or potential students and has found that they are strongly motivated to go to college by a spirit of discovery and exploration then I'd like to hear more about such information gathering as it would provide a strong rationale for this commercial.

Here's what they have to say at Massey University's YouTube channel:

"The TV advertisement encapsulates the idea of Forever Discovering the underlying theme of Massey Universitys brand. It demonstrates the emotions of discovery, exploration, liberation, expression, and opportunity all of which are key components of the brand. The message in the advertisement is our lives are shaped by the discoveries we make. Massey University provides the environment to push the boundaries and make a range of both personal and professional discoveries."

I guess the effects of the recession have been so drastic in my life that I have severe difficulties relating to such a commercial. I understand the beauty of discovery but I feel like an effective campaign might better emphasize the "opportunity" aspect, as in, improving one's life by making discoveries that support one's achievements in the world. Nevertheless, if MU has evidence that such branding is beneficial and worth spending big bucks on a tv commercial for, then all power to them for finding the connection between the pleasure of learning and the institution's bottom line.

Drupal for Libraries: Drupal x SOPAC x Koha!

I've been learning about Drupal, an open source content management system, for a Knight News Challenge proposal that goes out next month so this Library Journal article by Karen Coombs on libraries' use of Drupal caught my eye.

I was particularly interested in finding out more about SOPAC (Social Online Public Access Catalog), a Drupal module initially developed for the Ann Arbor District Library that is now available to others. I'm currently working with Koha, an open source ILS, at Cleveland Library and SOPAC is said to have a Koha specific connector for importing records.

SOPAC is an excellent example of librarians and libraries becoming directly involved in the open source software movement as participants, rather than consumers being serviced by vendors, the sort of role change that is key to the transformation of libraries at this point in time.

In addition to a variety of projects covered in the article, Alejandro Garza, a Drupal developer, added some useful resources in the comments:

Drupal For Libraries Listserv
drupalib - a place for library drupallers to hang out
Libraries | Groups.drupal.org

John Hagel on Knowledge: From Stocks to Flows

Abandon Stocks, Embrace Flows - A Conversation with John Hagel

Joshua-Michéle Ross speaks with John Hagel, Co-chairman of Deloitte’s Center for the Edge:

"One of the key principles that we have around this notion of a Big Shift in the aggregate is that increasingly we're moving from a world in business where the source of economic value is less and less around stocks of knowledge, what we know at any point in time, and it's shifting much more to the notion of participating effectively in flows of knowledge."

This is the kind of thinking on which I draw from the business world to consider questions related to how libraries might change in the years ahead. In many respects, academic libaries both archive stocks of knowledge and gather flows of knowledge.

But a shift from stocks of knowledge to flows might also suggest a move from traditional guide roles, such as pointing researchers to sources of data, to more active creator roles, such as creating mashups of data as new information sources.

Job Announcement: Grateful Dead Archivist (Santa Cruz, CA, USA)

This job announcement caught my eye and I thought I'd share it.  I imagine the collection has a unique following!

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ
Grateful Dead Archivist

The University Library of the University of California, Santa Cruz, seeks an enterprising, creative, and service-oriented archivist to join the staff of Special Collections & Archives (SC&A) as Archivist for the Grateful Dead Archive. This is a potential career status position. The Archivist will be part of a dynamic, collegial, and highly motivated department dedicated to building, preserving, promoting, and providing maximum access both physically and virtually to one of the Library's most exciting and unique collections, The Grateful Dead Archive (GDA). The UCSC University Library utilizes innovative approaches to allow the discovery, use, management, and sharing of information in support of research, teaching, and learning.

Under the general direction of the Head of Special Collections and Archives, the GDA Archivist will provide managerial and curatorial oversight of the Grateful Dead Archive, plan for and oversee the physical and digital processing of Archives related material, and promote the GDA to the public and facilitate its use by scholars, fans, and students.

MINIMUM Qualifications:

• Master's degree from an ALA-accredited program or equivalent accredited graduate archives management program.

• Significant, demonstrated experience working with books, manuscripts, photographs, recordings, or other material in a special collections & archives environment.

• Knowledge of the access tools for special collections and archival material and the standards and procedures for their preservation and conservation.

• Demonstrated experience developing processing plans and creating finding aids in accordance with national standards.

• Knowledge of and ability to maintain awareness of developments in archival processing, digital information technologies, and their uses in special collections and archives.

• Expert knowledge in the history and scholarship of contemporary popular music, or American vernacular culture, preferably the history and influence of the Grateful Dead.

• Excellent analytical, organizational, and time management skills.

• Demonstrated oral, written and interpersonal communication skills sufficient to promote and present the archive to multiple audiences.

• Prior experience directing the work of others.

Strongly Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience working in public services in an academic environment.

• Demonstrated experience working on outreach and other donor related activities.

General Information:
Professional librarians at UC are academic appointees. They are entitled to appropriate professional leave, two days per month of vacation leave, one day per month of sick leave, and a generous benefit program including an excellent retirement system. The University sponsors a variety of group health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans.  Relocation assistance is provided.

Rank:  Associate Librarian or Librarian

Salary:  Appointment Range: Associate Librarian III – Librarian I, with an approximate salary range of $52,860 – $68,892, commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Position Available:  March 1, 2010

To Apply:

Electronic submission of applications is preferred.  All materials can be sent to liboff@library.ucsc.edu.

Applicants should supply a letter of application that includes a statement indicating how applicant’s credentials and experience meet the posted requirements for this position. The letter should also include a resume of their education and experience, as well as the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of three (3) references that are knowledgeable about their qualifications for the position.

Alternate mailing address:
Library Administration
University of California
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA   95064
Phone: (831) 459-2076   Fax: (831) 459-8206   

Please refer to Position #T10-07 in all correspondence.

Closing date: This position is open until filled. Initial review of applications will begin on December 4, 2009. In order to receive full consideration, all materials should arrive by that date.

If you need assistance due to a disability please contact the Academic Personnel Office at 499 Clark Kerr Hall (831) 459-4300. This position description is available in alternate formats, which may be requested from Academic Personnel at (831) 459-4300.

VISIT THE APO WEB SITE AT: http://apo.ucsc.edu

Terminator: The Cyborg in the Archives

Detail from Self Made Man Episode Still Photo

I've been watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and in the second season (disc 3 via Netflix) is an episode entitled Self Made Man (2008) in which an upscale academic library's research archives are a key element.

Cameron, a reprogrammed Terminator cyborg protects John Connor (Sarah's son) and those around him. By the second season she's developing her own network of resources that includes a wheelchair bound grad student who lets her into the library at night when it's closed.

Cameron embarks on a research mission to decipher an image from the 1920's and her search in the library's archives becomes a key storyline for this episode.

Her search entails visiting a number of different collections each of which is stored in a different format. It's a pretty believable romp through the archives with only a couple of unlikely moments that don't mar the pleasant surprise of a library playing a key role in a great television series.

Definitely some potential here to use excerpts from the episode in an introduction to library archives for high school and undergraduate students.

Side note:

The juxtaposition above of the time travelling cyborg on the right, the human in a wheelchair (in a looser sense, also a cyborg) on the left and a traditional card catalog in the background is an interesting one to consider.

Once everything's digitized this story line would have been squashed into a single digital download scene with images from different time periods flickering past.  Who knew old school methods held so much opportunity for drama?

More About Cultural Research: History and Future Directions

Cultural Research, the website, was created as a personal scholarly archive, a building block in the open access movement and a way to make my research and related writing on dance, cultural studies, gender studies and education freely available. Much of that work was created in the late 90's and so the Archive of Research Papers now also represents an earlier phase of my academic activity though I hope to return to related themes in future writing projects.

Since earning my PhD in Cultural Studies in Education (OSU, 2000), my focus has shifted to web publishing, Internet studies and library science. The initial subtitle of this blog, "Disruptive Innovation, Libraries & Education," indicates the range of interests I am attempting to tie together but is clearly a bit too broad for the long term.

Moving forward I intend to develop a special focus on innovation in academic libraries while continuing to point to related areas that indicate future challenges and opportunities. I will also be sharing my experiences in the field, whether as a part-time librarian at Cleveland Library, as a job seeker in search of a position in higher ed or as a web publisher with an entrepreneurial bug.

We'll see how this mix shakes out over the next few weeks and update accordingly!