Beyond Austerity; Facing Recession, Massive Reductions in Funding and Personnel-Librarians Plan for Fiscal Survival
Publisher: major, long established, in the library field
Editor: Carol Smallwood, MLS. Writing and Publishing: The Librarian’s Handbook, American Library Association 2010; Librarians as Community Partners: An Outreach Handbook, American Library Association, 2010; Thinking Outside the Book, McFarland 2008. Some others are Peter Lang, Libraries Unlimited, Linworth, Scarecrow
Foreword: Dr. Ann Riedling, Associate Professor, University of South Florida; An Educator’s Guide to Information Literacy, Libraries Unlimited, 2007; Writing and Publishing: Contributor, The Librarian’s Handbook, American Library Association, 2010. A two-time Fulbright Scholar included in Contemporary Authors
Afterword: Dr. Loriene Roy, Professor in the School of Information, the University of Texas at Austin, Past President of the American Library Association, Director/ Founder, If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything Reading Club.
Contributor, Librarians as Community Partners: An Outreach Handbook, American Library Association, 2010
Articles sought by practicing academic, public, school, special librarians sharing their experiences on how librarians are handling the recession. Concise, how-to articles using bullets, headings, by librarians in the trenches using creativity and innovation
No previously published, simultaneously submitted material. One article sharing the range of your experience, 2100-2300 words total. If you must use citations, use MLA style faithfully. Articles welcomed by one librarian, or co-authored by two
Possible topics: creative staffing, financial planning, grant writing, community donations, sharing facilities, cooperative buying, maximizing the media, legislative participation, workshops for job hunters
The deadline for completed articles (Call #1) is November 30, 2009. Contributors will receive an agreement to sign before publication. Compensation: a complimentary copy, discount on additional copies
To avoid duplication, please e-mail three topics each clearly proposed with three separate short paragraphs by October 31 along with a 75-85 word bio beginning with: your name, library of employment, employment title, awards, publications, and career highlights. If co-authored, each of the two librarian-writers will need to send a separate bio. You will be contacted as soon as possible telling you which one (if any) of your topics will work, inviting you to e-mail your article; an invitation doesn’t guarantee acceptance. Please place AUSTERITY/your name on the subject line to: smallwood@tm.net
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Fellowship - Middle Tennessee State University
Middle Tennessee State University announces the availability of a dissertation fellowship to enhance campus diversity. The Library Fellow will provide service in the award winning James E. Walker Library within an area related to his or her academic preparation and the needs of the Library. The Fellow will be expected to devote significant time to the completion of the dissertation. The Library Fellow will also work with a library faculty mentor and will be involved with co-curricular activities including the University’s cultural diversity initiatives.
The Fellow will receive a one-year paid faculty appointment and will be eligible for benefits including health insurance along with support for research, professional travel, and other related expenses.
Applicants for the Library Fellowship must possess the ALA accredited masters and be a dissertation stage doctoral degree candidate studying in a field taught at MTSU.
For more information on the Library Fellowship see http://library.mtsu.edu/administration/jobs_fellow.php
The Fellow will receive a one-year paid faculty appointment and will be eligible for benefits including health insurance along with support for research, professional travel, and other related expenses.
Applicants for the Library Fellowship must possess the ALA accredited masters and be a dissertation stage doctoral degree candidate studying in a field taught at MTSU.
For more information on the Library Fellowship see http://library.mtsu.edu/administration/jobs_fellow.php
Preaching to the choir
Surveys. Focus groups. Interviews. Evaluations.
What do they all have in common? You do them in the library with people who are already in the library. So that's helping us? With what - organizing the library the way those 10 or 20 people would like it?
Why aren't we out in the student union, asking people what they think? Why don't we have librarians in the union, anyway? Isn't our mission to get info to students where they are? You can bet they're not in the library, unless it's to get coffee.
Why should they be? We code it with weird signs - A-F on the right, xA-xF on the left - and don't give them a code book. That's helpful? Don't we know English? Or Spanish, or...any language other than Librarian Code? NW Core is a location? Do we carry compasses in the library? How about a map? I remember a student who thought that ILL and Circulation were signs for nurses offices...and there was no live person around to disabuse him of the idea.
When I was an undergrad, long before I thought about being a librarian, people used to come up to me in the stacks and ask me questions about locating things, since I seemed to be finding stuff. Reshelvers seem to get the same thing. Why? Are there librarians in the stacks somewhere? Or are they all on the first floor, waiting for people to come to them?
Why aren't we advertising to the students who aren't here, or taling to the ones who are? That's another thing we can learn from bookstores.
Besides serving coffee.
What do they all have in common? You do them in the library with people who are already in the library. So that's helping us? With what - organizing the library the way those 10 or 20 people would like it?
Why aren't we out in the student union, asking people what they think? Why don't we have librarians in the union, anyway? Isn't our mission to get info to students where they are? You can bet they're not in the library, unless it's to get coffee.
Why should they be? We code it with weird signs - A-F on the right, xA-xF on the left - and don't give them a code book. That's helpful? Don't we know English? Or Spanish, or...any language other than Librarian Code? NW Core is a location? Do we carry compasses in the library? How about a map? I remember a student who thought that ILL and Circulation were signs for nurses offices...and there was no live person around to disabuse him of the idea.
When I was an undergrad, long before I thought about being a librarian, people used to come up to me in the stacks and ask me questions about locating things, since I seemed to be finding stuff. Reshelvers seem to get the same thing. Why? Are there librarians in the stacks somewhere? Or are they all on the first floor, waiting for people to come to them?
Why aren't we advertising to the students who aren't here, or taling to the ones who are? That's another thing we can learn from bookstores.
Besides serving coffee.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Our new site
While I'll continue to post here, our new business website at masterplansinc.com will be taking a lot of my time. It will have a link to a rolling list of CFPs, conferences, and training opportunities, and to a list of resources for libraries and archives. With CoOL on hiatus, bookmark us to keep track of preservation resources.
Our first online class will go up in a few weeks; if you need a class, let us know and we'll work with you. Since we're in Louisville, with a flood this month, and a hurricane, an earthquake, and an icestorm in the last 15 months, needless to say it will be about disaster planning and recovery!
Our first online class will go up in a few weeks; if you need a class, let us know and we'll work with you. Since we're in Louisville, with a flood this month, and a hurricane, an earthquake, and an icestorm in the last 15 months, needless to say it will be about disaster planning and recovery!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
New blog with grants and training opportunities
We've set up a new blog in conjunction with our consulting business, Master Plans Inc. It will have grant announcements, webinars and workshops, and scholarships for them. Put it on your reader and let us do the work!
http://masterplansinc.blogspot.com/
http://masterplansinc.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Flooding in Louisville
Rain in August is usually not a problem here; in fact, the lack is usually the issue. But in the last 18 months, there's been an earthquake (while I was presenting at MAC about disasters!), a hurricane, an ice storm, and a July without a single 90 degree day, none of which are typical.
Unlike most floods, the waters didn't rise, we had 5" of rain in an hour (a record, with more rain following), and nowhere for it to go but downhill, which is where the main library is. Luckily, the 'ville is big enough to have branches, so it's not a complete loss, nor did the water reach the first floor. It did take out processing, the server, and the bookmobiles, plus books and pcs headed to the new branch which opens next week.
Lessons learned:
Always have a hot server, even if it just backs up the home page with an announcement. Keep your server at one of the higher branches, not in the basement of the library that's flooded before.
Have your ducks in a row before you need them. 20 buildings at U of L flooded, plus homes and businesses - fans and pumps are at a premium.
Avoid combined waste and storm sewer systems. Nuff said. Yuck.
Don't put your hvac in the basement. Imagine 4 floors of books, 95 degrees, 95% humidity outside, and 100% inside, with no hvac. My hopes for recovery are low, unfortunately; and insurance is slow.
Don't ever assume it can't happen here. It can.
Unlike most floods, the waters didn't rise, we had 5" of rain in an hour (a record, with more rain following), and nowhere for it to go but downhill, which is where the main library is. Luckily, the 'ville is big enough to have branches, so it's not a complete loss, nor did the water reach the first floor. It did take out processing, the server, and the bookmobiles, plus books and pcs headed to the new branch which opens next week.
Lessons learned:
Always have a hot server, even if it just backs up the home page with an announcement. Keep your server at one of the higher branches, not in the basement of the library that's flooded before.
Have your ducks in a row before you need them. 20 buildings at U of L flooded, plus homes and businesses - fans and pumps are at a premium.
Avoid combined waste and storm sewer systems. Nuff said. Yuck.
Don't put your hvac in the basement. Imagine 4 floors of books, 95 degrees, 95% humidity outside, and 100% inside, with no hvac. My hopes for recovery are low, unfortunately; and insurance is slow.
Don't ever assume it can't happen here. It can.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Good Enough!
I admit it, I do have enough of the librarian gene to want everything perfect - but not enough to insist on it. In a perfect world, collections would overflow with metadata, everything would be available 24/7, librarians would be rich, archivists would be regarded as gods, and cats would never hack hairballs in dark doorways for their nearsighted owners to find in the middle of the night.
So much for Eden.
I didn't start out to be a librarian, my "day job" degree was in education so I'd have a fallback when I was in theater. Technical theater teaches you everything you REALLY need to know to work in a library. People skills and management skills. The importance of workflow. Pitching in when things get down to the wire. Sharing what you know. Keeping good records. And most importantly - when to say "good enough".
When is it okay to let someone go onstage with a stapled hem? When the alternative is canceling the show. Good enough. You can finish it tomorrow, or the next day. It's not important enough to stop everything you've worked for so long. It's good enough.
Librarians haven't gotten hit over the head as hard as archivists have with "More Product, Less Process". But they will - actually, ARL just did a webcast on it - apparently the "Hidden Collections" initiative didn't light the fire they wanted. Google Books certainly has lit it. "Silos of the LAMS" fanned the flames.
When LC and NARA started posting things on Flickr and You Tube, people started to get the idea. You don't need to know everything about something to make it public. Finally. Duh. Don't put your good stuff in a box and then chain a pit bull to it, and whine when people refer to you as "dusty old archives". You've never let people in to look.
Yes, I know exactly how precious those unique items are. Digitize them and no one will have to travel a thousand miles and handle them. Your bosses will know what cool stuff you have. People will stop them on the street and tell them. When was the last time that happened to you?
It's the WORLD WIDE web - let your collections out. Stop protecting your turf, for fear of having to learn yet another new thing. Don't fear the reaper - or the harvester. I know all the arguments about income control, identity, and copyright. Deal with it.
Thus endeth the lesson. We're in the midst of the biggest intellectual revolution since Gutenberg said "Hmm...what if...?" Be part of it. Fight for it.
Oh, brave new world!
So much for Eden.
I didn't start out to be a librarian, my "day job" degree was in education so I'd have a fallback when I was in theater. Technical theater teaches you everything you REALLY need to know to work in a library. People skills and management skills. The importance of workflow. Pitching in when things get down to the wire. Sharing what you know. Keeping good records. And most importantly - when to say "good enough".
When is it okay to let someone go onstage with a stapled hem? When the alternative is canceling the show. Good enough. You can finish it tomorrow, or the next day. It's not important enough to stop everything you've worked for so long. It's good enough.
Librarians haven't gotten hit over the head as hard as archivists have with "More Product, Less Process". But they will - actually, ARL just did a webcast on it - apparently the "Hidden Collections" initiative didn't light the fire they wanted. Google Books certainly has lit it. "Silos of the LAMS" fanned the flames.
When LC and NARA started posting things on Flickr and You Tube, people started to get the idea. You don't need to know everything about something to make it public. Finally. Duh. Don't put your good stuff in a box and then chain a pit bull to it, and whine when people refer to you as "dusty old archives". You've never let people in to look.
Yes, I know exactly how precious those unique items are. Digitize them and no one will have to travel a thousand miles and handle them. Your bosses will know what cool stuff you have. People will stop them on the street and tell them. When was the last time that happened to you?
It's the WORLD WIDE web - let your collections out. Stop protecting your turf, for fear of having to learn yet another new thing. Don't fear the reaper - or the harvester. I know all the arguments about income control, identity, and copyright. Deal with it.
Thus endeth the lesson. We're in the midst of the biggest intellectual revolution since Gutenberg said "Hmm...what if...?" Be part of it. Fight for it.
Oh, brave new world!
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