Phil Shapiro on Creative Libraries – A Partial Bibliography

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Oleg K.

In his post, Is It Time To Rebuild & Retool Public Libraries And Make “TechShops”? over at Make, Philip Torrone wrote about making libraries more useful by transforming them into “…factories that help make people who want to learn and make things.” This concept of shifting the role of public libraries from repositories to centers of creative action has been a theme in the writings of Phil Shapiro at PC World since his December 31, 2008 article, Should Public Libraries be Welcoming Homes for Ingenuity? In it, he wrote “Public libraries are physical homes for the human imagination. The human imagination is represented physically in books, but also in the things we build and make.” And he has pursued this line of thinking in a number of articles since then. I’ve followed Phil Shapiro’s writing since that post, using it as a jump-off point for my own thinking about the possibilities of public libraries. The articles in the list below are not long or especially deep, but I feel that they provide the right kind of inspiration to move public libraries into the future. That’s why I’ve collected links to Phil Shapiro’s PC World articles here and added gentle annotations. Hopefully they’ll launch your thoughts about the future of public libraries as they’ve launched mine. Feel free to link me to interesting articles on similar topics in the comments.

*Community Content in Public Libraries (May, 2008) — Though not written for PC World, I included this one because I agree with its sentiment. Not a novel idea, but a good one to keep in mind: libraries should try as much as possible to bring forth, compile, and promote locally-produced content. This makes the public library a true community center, rather than a place that merely exists in the community.

*Should Public Libraries be Welcoming Homes for Ingenuity? (Dec. 31, 2008) — Libraries should be centers of ingenuity. Some ways they can do this are for talented library staff to teach creative activities (“…[good at] soldering, or…Google SketchUp, or is handy at prototyping, or who likes to build solar charged lawn mowers, or has incredible talent at making a cat feeder from a VCR, or who is excellent at animation using free software.”), staying open during the hours when creative work happens (read: all the time), hire or bring in experts on various DIY topics, encourage interactions among different people, provide/rent out stuff for people to use. What I really like about this article, however, is its inherent assumption that these things are possible.

And the doctor then asks, "Are the people who designed our new library architects?" And the husband replies, "No, the people who designed our new library are us. The machine is us."

"How did we make it happen?" she says. "We made it happen because we wanted to make it happen," he says.

*Should the Gates Foundation Support Linux and Apple Computers in Public Libraries? (Sep. 2, 2009) — Libraries should let people have an opportunity to experience different operating system platforms so that they will not be stuck in only one mode of computing. Likewise, libraries should get staff or volunteers to run classes on Apple and Linux systems as well as Windows. As a side-note, compatibility should be a factor when deciding in which format digital files should be provided. Personally, I think it’s idiotic that Overdrive has many of its audiobooks in WMA format when the standard is clearly .mp3 and the open standard is .ogg.

*Public Libraries as Business Incubators (Jun. 2, 2010) — Based on the premise that talented and creative people live and work around libraries, Shapiro posits that they should bring their business ideas and meet like-minded folks whose talents are complementary. These people would use the variety of business resources that libraries provide and then kick back some profits to the library where it all began. This reminds me of this NY Times article about business incubators combined with WHERE[official website], a co-working space in the Los Feliz/Silver Lake area of Los Angeles.

*It’s Time for Public Libraries to Get Creative (Apr. 26, 2010) — A method for public libraries to generate revenue would be to use them, at least “…on Friday evenings…from 7 pm to midnight,” as spaces for (collaborative) creative work. Then library provides the space and the materials, community members create, and the library generates revenue by distributing and selling the work. But it’s not just community members who would do the creating but staff as well; hiring practices would be altered since now, “library staff would be hired based on their creative talents as well as their other competences.”

*Public Libraries Nourishing the Mind (Jul. 23, 2010) — It’s hard to be hungry and do intellectual work so libraries should have a cafeterias inside or adjacent to them. The cafeteria should include a public kitchen where culinary arts courses could be taught. All of this should be environmentally-sound, as in using “…solar cookers…to cook rice and other food…” and for making smoothies, use “…the bicycle-powered blender set up for that purpose.” The vegetables used in the cafeteria should come from a community garden near the library. Which is to say, when considering urban planning, civic spaces should be developed holistically.

*Towards a National Transition Plan for Libraries (Jan. 4, 2011) — Starts by touting a need for a transition plan for all the public libraries in the United States big and small to move from analog to digital but gets sidetracked by the truly interesting issue of developing future library spaces. Side doors for meeting rooms, a “tinkerer’s room,” and other building possibilities to allow for some of the activities mentioned in other articles are mentioned. Through an anecdote of the Wright brothers flipping through magazines at the public library in Dayton, Ohio, Shapiro points out the greater purpose of public libraries.

*Specialty Public Libraries Offer More (Feb. 24, 2011) — Each branch of the public library has its own specialty which is expressed through special collections, programming, and subject specialists devoted to that topic. These specialties reflect the community and may shift from branch to branch over time. To give an idea of the specialties, here’s an excerpt: “What kind of specialties? One branch could focus on all aspects of design: graphic, architectural, print, fashion and so on. Another branch could focus on digital storytelling, including video, animation, and any other digital tools that can be used for storytelling. A third branch could focus on all aspects of performing arts including dance, juggling, improv, and the like; a fourth branch on music composition; a fifth branch on the process of invention, including the building of robots; a sixth on energy conservation, reuse of materials, and all things green; a seventh on health promotion and preservation; an eighth on playfulness, creativity, writing, and collaborative technologies. And a ninth branch could focus on computer programming and all advanced uses of technology.”

I find the idea of using libraries in unusual and wonderful ways exciting. I think librarians should be the connectors that bring entrepreneurs with complementary interests together as well as use talents outside of library work to add value to the community through workshops and classes. To do these things requires thinking differently about library policies as well as reassessing how we view slogans like the County of Los Angeles Public Library’s “Read. Listen. Create. Explore.” We really should be focusing more on creating and exploring. Why aren’t we?

Further Reading:
Nate Hill: Library Outposts, a new service model for urban public libraries

Posted in Librarianship, Looking Elsewhere | Leave a comment

How to Begin Your Research

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Oleg K.

[a printable .pdf of this article is available here]

As a librarian working in an area surrounded by educational institutions of all levels, I am often approached by students looking for help in beginning their research. It is surprising to note just how often the students have a very vague idea of what they need to write about. Sometimes the reason for this is a poor prompt (write 4-6 pages on “the royal colonies” or a 5-pager on “psychology”) and at other times it is because the student has not been taught – or didn’t understand the lesson on – basic skills like narrowing a topic, selecting sources, and formulating a thesis. It is to the latter student that this article is addressed.

Narrowing a Topic
The first thing you need to do when you have to write a paper is to decide what you’re writing about. It’s easier when you get a prompt or question from your teacher – but even then it is rare that you can cover everything about your topic in just a few pages and a quickly approaching deadline. Scholars conduct years of research in order to write their books, but you don’t have to. In order to use your time wisely, you must narrow down your topic. That way, you have a direction for your thinking which leads to good questions. When you come to the library and ask me good questions, I’ll give you excellent answers (actually, I’ll try to give even poorly thought-out questions good answers, but I like answering good ones more).

So, where do you start? First of all, you have to know something about your topic. I don’t know how many times I’ve asked students for details about their subject and they shrug. I’m not sure how they’re planning to write five pages on something they know nothing about. Don’t be that person. Before you do anything else, grab an encyclopedia or log on to Wikipedia and do a quick search. The purpose of this first step is to get a general idea of your topic. A brief high-level overview that an encyclopedia offers is useful to skim initially so you don’t waste time wading through details you don’t need later.

Now that you’ve got a general idea of what your topic entails, you can start to get more focused. Since you obviously can’t write about, for example, the whole Civil War in a few pages, it is necessary to specify how you will approach the subject. An easy way to do that is to pick two of the following:
- Time Period (i.e. 1920-1925, 1975 to present, 6:30am-5:00pm)
- Key Person or Group (i.e. Napoleon, the artists of Die Brücke movement, yo mama)
- Place (i.e. North America, Los Angeles, Olvera Street)
- An Intellectual, Political, or Otherwise Conceptual Movement (i.e. Republicans, Rationalists, Masons)
- Aspect (i.e. economic, social, cultural, culinary)

The American Civil War being your topic, you might narrow to the economy in the south during the War (aspect, place) or Robert E. Lee’s strategy after 1964 (key person, time period). Doing this will make it easier to wrap your mind around a big topic thus making your project that much more manageable.

Selecting Sources

Okay, so you’ve narrowed your topic. The next thing that you have to do is to find credible sources to tell you about that topic. Searching any popular topic online or even in the library will yield literally thousands of sites, so how do you choose?

Start by thinking about the person who wrote the source. Is this person an expert on the topic? It’s hard to know for sure, but three major way to tell is by looking at the person’s schooling (Does he have a Ph.D. in the topic?), affiliations (Is she a professor of your topic at a big university, a member of an association related to the topic, or an employee (or head) of a company that works on the topic?), and literary output (has he written a bunch of other articles or books on the topic?). Obviously, if you’re writing a paper on the Spanish Armada and the author of your source has an advanced degree (Masters’ or Ph.D) in Spanish History, is a professor at Harvard, and has written six books on the Spanish navy, you’ve found a good source.

The other big question to ask when selecting sources is the source’s location. When looking at websites, it is generally best to trust websites with the .edu, .gov, .org, .net and .com domains in that order. Websites without advertisements are generally better than those with ads. And as when evaluating the source’s author, websites that are affiliated with trusted institutions are typically of higher quality than those that are not. Those sites are not always within the first ten sites on Google so don’t be afraid to dive into pages two, three, four, or even five in your search.

As a person who does many searches on a variety of topics every day, I still believe that books generally provide deeper coverage of topics than the internet. That said, the gulf between digital and print sources is closing so books and encyclopedia articles (in addition to Wikipedia) can now be found in full online, you just have to know where to look. I recommend going straight to your library’s website, getting into the applicable database and searching. There are databases for literally every topic and the articles stored in them are mostly not to be found in Google, and yet their quality is generally much higher. With a little practice, most database searches for popular topics shouldn’t take longer than five or ten minutes. But this is time well spent since you’ll have sources that your teacher will love and, more importantly, that you’ll find useful.

Don’t procrastinate! Finding sources is the most time-consuming part of the writing process other than examining your sources and of course, the writing itself. Give yourself time to find enough sources to meet your teacher’s requirements and make you feel comfortable with your topic. When I was a student I typically went home with two or three stacks of books and articles and read them closely later. That’s because once I got home, I never wanted to schlep back to the library for more digging. So before you leave the library, plop down at a table and do some skimming. If the stuff you’ve gathered looks good, go home. If not, ask the librarian for help. We’ll often know a few sources that you may not have considered. It’s much better to leave the library with too many sources than too few.

Formulating a Thesis

After you’ve narrowed your topic, found and perused your sources, it is time to decide what you think. The statement that sums up your opinion in a sentence or two is your thesis. I’m not going to go in-depth about how a thesis should be structured (there are plenty of other articles and teachers to do that), but I will give some advice on how to create a strong one.

First of all, have no fear. You’ve read a bunch of stuff on your topic so you should know something about it. If your topic is great basketball players, you would narrow your topic like we talked about before: offensive players (aspect) from 2005-present (time period). Then you’d browse sources like NBA statistics, sports columns from newspapers, and books about top scorers etc. Finally, you’d be ready to state your opinion. The key here is to pretend like you’re in a room full of other basketball fans and you know your stuff better than they do. You’d shout “Kobe Bryant is the best basketball player of our time!” There we go. A thesis. Naturally, your paper would go on to explain why Kobe is the man.

Second of all, don’t worry too much about being truly original. If you’re in elementary, middle, high school or early college no one expects you to make any scholarly discoveries. The point of your papers is to display an understanding of the topic. Oftentimes prompts will have you choose between two options, for example “In your paper explain whether you feel that George Washington or Thomas Jefferson was a more effective as president.” Here, your task is to do your research (which you would begin as described in the previous two sections), and decide based on that research which man was the better president. Your thesis, in a situation like this would look like this: “Because blah-blah-blah, it is clear that so-and-so was more effective as president.” (where blah-blah-blah equals the reasoning behind your decision). The scariest thing in this situation is that you must state your opinion, but again, have no fear because the opinion is something you form by reading the facts and opinions of others — it does not have to appear out of thin air.

Third, don’t get stuck. It’s true that coming up with a thesis can be tough, but really, it’s just a matter of making a decision. Every book, article, documentary (pretty much everyone of your sources) started with a thesis. Students have been writing them since education began. There’s no reason why you should be the one person in the world who cannot come up with a thesis. If you’re truly struggling, you can do one of two things: 1) Take a short break. Refreshing your mind by taking it out to the park or even just to the kitchen can be just what is needed to jolt it into thesis-making mode. 2) Reread or just skim a source or three. This sounds absolutely unappetizing, especially after you’ve already been doing the research, but there is no substitute for it. If you’re stuck on your thesis, and you’re not just being shy or trying to come up with something truly original, you do not know enough about your topic. Learning more, or learning what you know better will give you what you need to state the opinion on which your paper will be based.

The End
The best advice I can give about research is to, whenever possible, choose a topic that is (or can be) interesting to you. There’s nothing easier or more fun than learning more about a topic you already love. The second best advice I can give is to begin. Just start. What seems difficult or impossible at the outset is not always so hard when you’re actually doing it. So get to it. Good luck!

Posted in How-To, Librarianship, Other Writing, Personal Development | 2 Comments

Discovering Books on Judaism Preserved by the Hathi Trust

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Oleg K.

The problem with many digital collections is that, no matter how useful and interesting they are, few regular people (read: non-experts) can find them. Naturally, it is within the scope of knowledge for librarians, information scientists, and specialized researchers that the collections of most museums, archives, libraries, and other digital storehouses exist but are not easily accessible to the public because they are not indexed by large search engines. This makes discovery quite difficult since the first-step for most novice information-seekers is to search Google. I had heard about the Hathi Trust from various sources and have visited the website for a peek a few times. Only today, however, did I take a peek at the collections. What I found was a large number of fascinating fully-viewable and freely available books on Judaism. Like most cool collections that I deal with, however, the only way to discover these resources is to search from the either the Hathi Trust website or the few (experimental) search pages or through several library catalogs.

What I’m doing here is a little experiment that has certainly been done by others. I am going to copy the contents of the first five pages of the search linked above onto this page along with links to the items. Ideally, anyone searching these books from any major search engine should* be led to the free copy first and if they want to purchase the book, they can follow a link to Amazon (which there are from the Hathi Trust). This experiment probably won’t mean anything when it comes to Google rank (the top 10 results in a search for these books are mostly catalog records from other places, partially available scans from Google Books, or Amazon) since I doubt anyone will link in here. But I’m doing it so obviously I think it’s worth a try. Anyway, here is a list of the first five pages from the search [subject: Judaism, language: English, Viewability : Full view] as they appear on March 5th, 2011:

Pg. 1

The footsteps of Israel : understanding Jews in Anglo-Saxon England / Andrew P. Scheil. [Full Text]

The Union prayer book for Jewish worship : morning services / edited and published by the Central conference of American Rabbis. [Full Text]

The synagogue and the church : being an attempt to show that the government, ministers and services of the church were derived from those of the synagogue / condensed from the original Latin work of Vitringa by Joshua L. Bernard. [Full Text]

Judaism, its doctrines and duties / by Isaac M. Wise. [Full Text]

Judaism and Islam. A prize essay, by Abraham Geiger. Translated from the German by a member of the Ladies’ league in aid of the Delhi mission. [Full Text]

Monotheism, in the main derived from the Hebrew nation and the law of Moses, the primitive religion of the city of Rome. / Formby, Henry, 1817-1884. [Full Text]

Horæ Mosaicæ / main author: Faber, George Stanley, 1773-1854. Vol 1: [Full Text], Vol 2: [Full Text]

A short survey of the literature of rabbinical and mediæval Judaism / by W. O. Oesterley and G. H. Box. [Full Text]

The parting of the roads; studies in the development of Judaism and early Christianity / main author: Foakes-Jackson, F. J. 1855-1941. [Full Text]

Judaism and Christianity: their agreements and disagreements; a series of Friday evening lectures, delivered at the Plum Street Temple, Cincinnati, Ohio. / Wise, Isaac Mayer, 1819-1900. [Full Text]

The high holyday prayer book; Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, translated and arranged by Ben Zion Bokser. (ha-Maḥzor le-Rosh ha-shanah ve-Yom kipur.) [Full Text]

The Bible and the monuments : the primitive Hebrew records in the light of modern research / by W. St. Chad Boscawen. [Full Text]

Our own religion in ancient Persia : being lectures delivered in Oxford presenting the Zend Avesta as collated with the pre-Christian exilic Pharisaism, advancing the Persian question to the foremost position in our biblical research / by Lawrence Mills. [Full Text]

The origins of the synagogue and the church / by … Kaufmann Kohler ; edited with a biographical essay by H. G. Enelow. [Full Text]

Works. / Huidekoper, Frederic, 1817-1892. Vol 1: [Full Text], Vol 2: [Full Text]

Judaism in theory and practice. / Cohon, Beryl David, 1898-1976. [Full Text]

Trial issue of the new ritual for “Temple Israel,” St. Louis. [Full Text]

Judaism and its traditions : the conversion of a Hebrew rabbi / by ex-Rabbi Joseph Goldman. [Full Text]

Testimonies / by Rendel Harris, with the assistance of Vacher Burch. Vol 1: [Full Text], Vol 2: [Full Text]

A brief Jewish ritual / published by Women of Mizpah. [Full Text]

Pg. 2

The Jewish home beautiful : written by Betty D. Greenberg and Althea O. Silverman. [Full Text]

Jerusalem temple festivities. / Hochman, Joseph, 1883- [Full Text]

Jewish forerunners of Christianity / by Adolph Danziger. [Full Text]

More light; a rational treatise on Biblical subjects. / Weiss, Louis. [Full Text]

The law of love in the Old and New Testaments / by Gerald Friedlander. [Full Text]

Jerusalem temple festivities, by Joseph Hochman. [Full Text]

Judaism: its doctrines and duties. / Wise, Isaac Mayer, 1819-1900. [Full Text]

The Israelite before the art of the covenant and the Christian before the altar : a history of the worship of God, in two parts / by L. De Goesbriand. [Full Text]

The old paths : or, a comparison of the principles and doctrines of modern Judaism with the religion of Moses and the prophets / by the Rev. Alexander McCaul. [Full Text]

The Bible and the monuments : the primitive Hebrew records in the light of modern research / by W. St. Chad Boscawen. [Full Text]

The Mosaic dispensation considered as introductory to Christianity. Eight sermons preached before the University of Oxford at the Bampton lecture for the year MDCCCLVI. By the Rev. Edward Arthur Litton. [Full Text]

Annotated edition of the authorised daily prayer book with historical explanatory notes, and additional matter / compiled in accordancae with the plans of the Rev. S. Singer, by Israel Abrahams. [Full Text]

Dr. David Einhorn’s ʻOlat tamid : Book of prayers for Jewish congregations. [Full Text]

The luminous unity : or, Letters addressed to the Rev. A. Guinzburg, a rabbi of Boston, Mass. / from the Rev. Matthew R. Miller ; on the question, Is Unitarianism, as opposed to Trinitarianism, a principle of heathenism rather than of specific Judaism? [Full Text]

Moriah, or, Sketches of the sacred rites of ancient Israel / b Robert W. Fraser. [Full Text]

The hope of Catholick Judaism : an essay towards orientation / by J. H. A. Hart. [Full Text]

The old Jewish-Aramaic prayer the Kaddish. / Pool, David de Sola, 1885-1970. [Full Text]

Festival studies; being thoughts on the Jewish year. / Abrahams, Israel, 1858-1925. [Full Text]

Times of the Gentiles, fulness of the gentiles : a discussion with scriptural references / by Nathaniel Baldwin. [Full Text]

Pg. 3

Testimonies / by Rendel Harris, with the assistance of Vacher Burch. [Full Text]

Hebrew hopes of heaven : what the Old Testament has to say about the great hereafter / by Madison C. Peters. [Full Text]

Prayers for Jewish family use / [compiled by Alfred Louis Cohen]. [Full Text]

Jewish life in Central Europe. / William Chambers [Full Text]

Descriptive catalogue of the Hebrew mss. of the Montefiore library. Comp. by Hartwig Hirschfeld, Ph. D. [Full Text]

Descriptive catalogue of a collection of objects of Jewish ceremonial deposited in the U. S. National museum by Hadji Ephraim Benguiat by Cyrus Adler and I.M. Casanowicz. [Full Text]

Ritual; four psychoanalytic studies. With a pref. by Sigm. Freud. Translated from the 2d German ed. by Douglas Bryan. / Reik, Theodor, 1888-1969. [Full Text]

The divine aspect of history, / Mozley, John Rickards. Vol 1: [Full Text], Vol 2: [Full Text]

The beginnings of religion,. / Bacon, Thomas Scott, 1825-1904. [Full Text]

The two religions of Israel; with re-examination of the prophetic narratives and utterances. / Cheyne, T. K. 1841-1915. [Full Text]

Mythology among the Hebrews and its historical development. / Goldziher, Ignác, 1850-1921. [Full Text]

Judaism and its history, in two parts / Geiger, Abraham, 1810-1874. [Full Text]

The religion of the people of Israel / Kittel, Rudolf, 1853-1929. [Full Text]

The religion of Israel / Ascham, John Bayne, 1873- [Full Text]

Hellenism. / Bentwich, Norman, 1883-1971. [Full Text]

pg. 4

Hebrew religion to the establishment of Judaism under Ezra / Addis, William Edward, 1844-1917. [Full Text]

The source of the christian tradition : a critical history of ancient Judaism / by Édouard Dujardin ; translated by Joseph McCabe. [Full Text]

The synagogue and the church; being a contribution to the apologetics of Judaism / Goodman, Paul, 1875-1949. [Full Text]

The Jewish apologetic to the Grecian world in the apocryphal and pseudepigraphical literature … / Matthews, Isaac George, 1871- [Full Text]

The proof of the gospel, being the Demonstratio evangelica of Eusebius of Cæsarea … by W. J. Ferrar. Vol. 1: [Full Text], Vol. 2: [Full Text]

Religious development between the Old and the New Testaments, by R.H. Charles. [Full Text]

Folk-lore in the Old Testament; studies in comparative religion, legend and law, by Sir James George Frazer. Vol. 1: [Full Text], Vol. 2: [Full Text], Vol. 3: [Full Text]

Law in the Apocrypha / Marcus, Ralph, 1900-1956. [Full Text]

The development of the religious idea in Judaism, Christianity and Mohamedanism, considered in twelve lectures on the history and purport of Judaism, delivered in Magdeburg, 1847, by Dr. Ludwig Philippsohn [!] Tr. from the German, with notes, by Anna Maria Goldsmid. [Full Text]

Zarathuštra, Philo, the Achaemenids and Israel; being a treatise upon the antiquity and influence of the Avesta, for the most part delivered as university lectures, by Dr. Lawrence H. Mills. [Full Text]

Movements in contemporary Judaism; a historical survey. / A Project of the Educational Department of the AGUDATH ISRAEL YOUTH COUNCIL
OF AMERICA, General Editor: RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS [Full Text]

Moriah, or, Sketches of the sacred rites of ancient Israel. By the Rev. Robert W. Fraser [Full Text]

A rational of the ritual of the Hebrew worship; in which the wise designs and usefulness of that ritual are explained, and vindicated from objections. By Moses Lowman. [Full Text]

Moses and Aaron; civil and ecclesiastical rites, used by the ancient Hebrews … / Goodwin, Thomas, 1586 or 7-1642. [Full Text]

The religion of Israel to the fall of the Jewish state / by A. Kuenen ; translated from the Dutch by Alfred Heath May. Vol. 1: [Full Text], Vol. 2: [Full Text], Vol. 3: [Full Text]

Union hymnal for Jewish worship. [Full Text]

De tribus impostoribus, A.D. 1230 = The three impostors : translated (with notes and comments) from a French manuscript of the work written in the 1716 with a dissertation on the original treatise and a bibliography of the various editions / by Alcofribas Nasier the later [pseud.]. [Full Text]

Judaism and Christianity : a sketch of the progress of thought from Old Testament to New Testament / by Crawford Howell Toy. [Full Text]

The deicides. Analysis of the life of Jesus, and of the several phases of the Christian church in their relation to Judaism. By J. Cohen. Translated by Anna Maria Goldsmid. [Full Text]

The history of the religion of Israel : an Old Testament primer / by Crawford H. Toy. [Full Text]

pg. 5

A defense of Judaism versus proselytizing Christianity / by Isaac M. Wise. [Full Text]

Judaism at the World’s Parliament of Religions : comprising papers on Judaism read at the Parliament, at the Jewish Denominational Congress, and at the Jewish presentation. [Full Text]

Lehrbuch der alttestamentlichen Religionsgeschichte, von Dr. Rudolf Smend. [Full Text]

Leila Ada, the Jewish convert; an authentic memoir. By Osborn W. Trenery Heighway. Revised by the editor. [Full Text]

American Jewish identity politics / editor, Deborah Dash Moore. [Full Text]

God, man, and history; a Jewish interpretation. / Berkovits, Eliezer, 1908-1992 [Full Text]

[Ḥizuk emunah (romanized form)] or, Faith strengthened. Translated by Moses Mocatta. [Full Text]

Sefer ʻoḳre harim = The rabbinical dialectics :a history of the dialecticians and dialectics of the Mishnah and Talmud / by Aaron Hahn. [Full Text]

The Jewish quarterly review. Go here for vols. 1, 3-7, 10-14, 17, 18, and 20

Moses Maimonides (Rambam) By Max Felshin. [Full Text]

The Jews and the Mosaic law. By Isaac Leeser. [Full Text]

Truth in religion and other sermons, delivered at the services of the Jewish Religious Union. [Full Text]

Guide for instruction in Judaism; a manual for schools and homes. Especially adapted for teachers, advanced pupils and for private study. / Kohler, Kaufmann, 1843-1926. [Full Text]

Morning prayers; arranged by Rabbi Gustav Gottheil [Full Text]

Ritual for Jewish worship. / Landsbery, Max [Full Text]

A catechism of the Jewish religion, by J. Mendes DeSolla [Full Text]

Methods of teaching primary grades. Course B. By Ella Jacobs. [Full Text]

Some aspects of rabbinic theology / by S. Schechter. [Full Text]

The early religion of Israel : as set forth by Biblical writers and by modern critical historians / by James Robertson. [Full Text]

* should – My assumption is that information-seekers prefer that what they are after is as simple to access, convenient to read, and as close to free as possible.

** I wonder if there are any legal issues surrounding publishing the presence of documents, and/or linking to them.

*** I copied these links during several sittings and after checking several of the pages, it appears that the search is changing on me. I’m not going to go back and fix it for what the search is today since it really doesn’t matter that much for the experiment. If you want to see the whole search as it runs for you on the day you see this post, here you go.

Posted in Books, Reading & Reviews, Librarianship, Other Writing | Leave a comment

Libraries and Digital Books

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Oleg K.

I usually don’t respond off-the-cuff to news stories that come up pretty much on a daily basis, but there’s something in the current discussion of digital books (or ebooks) and libraries that does not make sense to me and I feel the need to explain my position.

I just read an article from BBC News that has five arguments for and against libraries. With the national spotlight on public libraries in the UK, there have been many of these articles lately (I particularly enjoyed Philip Pullman’s eloquent defense of libraries). Now, I could take on each of the “against” arguments, but I won’t. I will say that they seem to be against nominally only, and not if one actually considers what they are saying. Only one of them, the second one, really got my gourd. It’s the one focusing on ebooks and libraries:

2. Digital books

Forget catching a bus to the library to carry home a limited number, yet heavy stack nonetheless, of books.

For those who can afford a portable reader like a Kindle or iPad, the convenience of accessing books on a beach, up a mountain, or anywhere else for that matter, can be irresistible.

But with sales of e-books fast catching up paperbacks, the full impact on traditional publishers has yet to be revealed.

Let me see if I can sum up the sub-arguments here starting with the premise that ebooks are an argument against libraries:

Physical books are inconvenient (“heavy”).

It’s true. Anyone who has ever lugged around the The Riverside Shakespeare knows that books can be heavy. However, during my regular daily routine, my knapsack has rarely been so full of books that I’ve complained. Oh, wait, by rarely I mean NEVER, and I read a lot of books. In any case, my bag can’t hold so many books that I’d ever find it difficult to carry. So while it’s technically true that books can be prohibitively cumbersome, unless you’re a student and have to heave around textbooks anyway, the physicality of books ain’t an issue.

The library only lets you check out a limited number of them (and for a limited time, I’d add).

Okay, yes, there are limits at the library. At the library where I work you are allowed to check out 50 (FIFTY!) items total. You get to have books for three weeks and after that you can renew them assuming no one has placed them on hold. You get charged 30 cents a day for an overdue book. Let’s break that down: The Kindle edition of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol costs $3.99 (let’s round it to four dollars for ease and comfort), that means you can have a book you’ll read in under week and never touch again forever for the price of keeping it for the initial three week loan at the library PLUS forgetting to return it for almost two weeks. Ebook readers have very high limits on how many books they can hold – I don’t know, thousands maybe – but how many books do you need to have on hand at any moment? Can you read two at once? Ebook readers can’t open two at once so it doesn’t matter. Limits depend on need. Does the average person actually need to have access to thousands of books they bought? If the answer is yes, consider that a hundred Dan Brown novels would cost you $399.

Ebook readers are not yet affordable for everyone.

Okay, that’s not really an argument against physical books at all.

The convenience of an ebook reader is “irresistible.”

Perhaps it is. I don’t know. I’ve never had one. But that’s not really the point. I’m sure it is convenient to read novels and lightweight non-fiction using an ebook reader. However, I still feel that the insightful 2001 book The Myth of a Paperless Office by Abigail J. Sellen and Richard H. R. Harper elegantly explains why paper is still the premier medium for intellectual work. $12.72 will get you this book on your Kindle (a used copy is $6.66+shipping and a library copy is free). Just saying. If you’re going to be using this book for writing a paper and want to have it open on your desk at the same time as, say, Ted Nelson’s seminal Computer Lib/Dream Machines (not available for the Kindle, sorry), you won’t be able to. Again, just saying.

The sale of ebooks may overtake paperbacks.

There’s a very frustrating failure in logic that is exhibited by using this as an argument against libraries. To wit, book buyers and library users are not mutually exclusive. I’m not sure why it should matter to the library whether people are buying paperbacks or bitbacks. Even if ebooks become more popular than their physical equivalent the library provides free ebooks for ebook readers. They do it because every day people come in asking how to download ebooks to their devices. I think the major point here is that there have always been people who only read books they’ve bought. Likewise, there are folks who both buy and borrow, or only borrow — ebooks will not change that. Most statistics have shown circulation to be fairly steady over both the long and short terms and most of those stats don’t yet include the circulation of ematerials, which would likely boost the numbers. Furthermore, merely referring to the sales of paperbacks versus their digital counterpart completely ignores the fact that libraries also lend out plenty of other media (along with providing a myriad of other services). Needless to say, using trends in book sales (read: boom in ebooks) to predict the future of libraries is absolutely ludicrous. Anyone who tries to reduce and de-contextualize reality by relying simply on dubiously reported trends does not understand how libraries work.

We don’t know how this will affect traditional publishers.

Ditto.

ANSWERING NAYSAYERS

Unfortunately there is a lot of simplistic thinking going on as clueless pundits and journalists bring the discussion down to the lowest common denominator. Reading some of the comments on articles like this one makes me wonder how it is possible to have a civic discussion when people like that are running around waving their hands. A few examples just because I feel the need to do some hand-waving of my own:

P45 wrote:
“A library allows you to browse the shelves and covers. Search engines reach everything everywhere, but you must define the object first. The design of a cover may attract ..into the sleevenotes… onto an author in the genre…and back to the Web. ” (my emphasis)

Obviously P45 knows very little about the information landscape other than when it comes to ready reference (quick questions like birth dates, simple how-to, directory info). Anybody who does any real research knows that search engines only skim the surface of the internet. The true depth of information is available in the deep web which is provided in a limited capacity to regular people by, yes, you guessed it, subscriptions through libraries, and an information professional’s knowledge. A simple example of what I mean is finding scholarly criticism on the classic novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. The Wikipedia entry for this fairly important book is sorely lacking, and the rest of the web does not do much better. Sorry, P45, but when your kids need to do the research, they’ll be out of luck.

Moving on, rsplenum wrote:
“If the searches on the internet became more accurate and tablets became cheap, then we really don’t need libraries.”

Another person who hasn’t a clue about the true dynamics of information commerce. The problem is generally not “accuracy” of web searches but quality of information and its very presence. Not only is there a lot of poorly vetted information online (erroneous directory information, unattributed quotes, poetry/lyric sites with glaring mistakes, wrong information uploaded by well-meaning but misinformed people, or conversely, wrong info uploaded specifically to manipulate consumers), but there is a lot of stuff that isn’t and will never be on the web. Why? Economics and copyright. It costs money and time to upload good info online so if something won’t be profitable for a company or not worth the time of a person who possesses certain documents or knowledge that stuff won’t be put online. At its core, the web is created by people who put stuff up, so if no one puts a piece of information up, it will not magically appear. Copyright restrictions are fairly self-explanatory so I won’t bother here. I will end this long paragraph by saying how foolish it is to say we won’t need libraries because tablets will be cheaper. I can feel my brain melting just considering the statement.

Making an important point for naysayers, voysovsaniti wrote:
“For me – At the end of the day it gets down to money and what are you prepared to pay. Therefore libraries in the main will disappear.
I like going to a library but is it affordable and therefore sustainable? – afraid not.”

Ah yes, the notorious money problem. The awkward thing is just how to make these people understand that they don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to the financial burden libraries put on the “system.” They talk as if libraries are tearing down our financial infrastructure when in fact they are barely a speck of dust when compared to other government entities. Here in Los Angeles in 2008-2009, the library was funded by a whopping 3% of the total budget. And we’re not talking about a small system here, LAPL has 70-something branches and a large well-stocked Central Library. Looking at the last few years of the New York City budgets, the picture is about the same with the library hovering at around 1-2% of the total budget to run 85 branches. As with every government entity there is surely some inefficiency, but there is no way that anyone can say that it is libraries that are responsible for our financial woes. In terms of return-on-investment (ROI), there is no question that libraries are worth every penny spent on them.

In a negative but well-received (by me) comment, Phil Guy wrote:
“Libraries are nothing like they used to be. When I was studying for my Masters exams a few years ago in Brighton I went to the brand new city library to find a quiet place to work. It was far from it though – it was beyond hectic, with children running around and screaming. The book selection was also pitiful – 10 physics books in all. I gave up and went to Starbucks instead. It was more peaceful.”

I do agree that sometimes people get out of hand in libraries since today’s librarians aren’t as stringent about complete silence as they used to be. When I go to the library I bring a pair of headphones just in case it gets noisy. When it comes to poor stock, there are two reasons for this: 1) Budget cuts first reduce book expenditures thus eliminating a library’s ability to buy new physics books. It’s a dreadful cycle we get into when taking on the stock problem. 2) Public library branches tend to stay away from very specialized texts for a great variety of reasons two of which are that they’re typically quite expensive (see number one) and they don’t get used all that often. Still, while there are good reasons for the issues Phil Guy mentions, I do understand his gripe.

There are slightly different comments for differently-slanted articles, but many are variations of the above. I do get some pleasure from writing these replies and my only wish would be to be put in front of these people so I can discuss their feelings with them individually. In general, I feel the same way with the journalist responsible for the article that inspired this fairly long post. If only I could do library interviews all day, I’d tell them all. I’d tell them. Yes I would.

Posted in Librarianship, Links & Quotes, Looking Elsewhere | Leave a comment

Zen Story: One Drop of Water

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Oleg K.

Ensō - Japanese for circle, a symbol often associated with Zen.

I’m a fan of Zen stories and a book I just read (Zen Life by Koji Sato) is full of them. Below is a story I particularly enjoyed, transcribed in full:

On Mount En in the outskirts of Okayama City there is a large Zen monastery by the name of Sogen-ji that was, in ancient times, the family temple of Lord Ikeda, a ruler in the Kan’ei era (1624-44). During the final years of the Edo period (1603-1868) and extending into the first part of the Meiji era (1868-1912) there was an outstanding priest by the name of Gizan-osho whose fame was known throughout the country and in whose monastery there was an exceedingly large number of unsui. The following story concerns a young unsui, Demmoku, who came from the Kyoto area and served as Gizan-osho’s personal attendant. One summer evening Gizan-osho entered the bath and, finding it too hot, he called for cold water to be brought. In response to his request Demmoku threw out the small amount of water that was left in the wooden bucket and was about to go fetch some more when suddenly Gaisan-osho yelled in a voice that fell like a bolt of lightning, “You fool, each thing has its use whether it be big or small! Why don’t you try to make the best use of things? Won’t even a little water serve a useful purpose if it is poured on plants or trees? Don’t you know about secret acts of goodness? You foolish priest who lacks the desire for enlightenment!”

Gizan-osho was famous for his sharp temper, but Demmoku took his scolding to heart and chose the words “one drop of water” as his motto. Eventually, after long years of training, he adopted them as his own name: Teksui. In the first part of the Meiji era, he became a very well-known priest, and served as the head priest of Tenryu-ji. The Buddhist verse he wrote just before his death reads as follows:

In my more than seventy years of life
I have not been able to exhaust
That one drop of water of Sogen-ji
That covers both Heaven and Earth.

Posted in Links & Quotes | Leave a comment

Fall Reading 2010

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Oleg K.

I’m thinking that I like having a neat summary of the books I’ve read during a certain period…So: Fall lasts approximately between September 23rd and December 21st (~13 weeks). During that time, I read 19 books which comes out to about 1.5 books a week, a bit less than over the summer. Here’s the list:

Who Moved My Blackberry? (au) by Lucy Kellaway
Composed completely of digital communiques full of corporate-speak, this spoof of the bleeding-edge business world had me laughing out loud and wanting more.

Ambient Findability by Peter Morville
A neat book that gives a general overview of information science including history of search and a bit of insight into the future. Morville’s book is entertaining, if not exactly deep (for me with my MLIS).

The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang
Fast-paced story combining software and artificial intelligence, with lots of neat philosophical possibilities, though not a whole lot of personality.

The Cat Who Walks through Walls: A Comedy of Manners (au) by Robert A. Heinlein
I guess I don’t like late Heinlein because this self-aggrandizing book had a little of what makes Heinlein’s books interesting and a lot of tedious hot air.

Hiroshima (au) by John Hersey
Powerful story of Hiroshima survivors – at times poignant and disgusting. Hersey’s direct style works perfectly in conveying the reportage-like narratives.

The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality (au) by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Full of the Dalai Lama’s well-honed argumentation skills and deep knowledge of Buddhism. Science here means primarily physics.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (au) by Robert M. Pirsig
At times a road-trip memoir at times a philosophical treatise, at all times written by a guy who may be intelligent but comes across mostly as a blowhard.

No Place for a Puritan: The Literature of California’s Deserts by Ruth Nolan (Ed.)
Anthologies are usually hit-and-miss, this one is hit hit hit. Ruth Nolan did a great job selecting quality work that represents many genre, time periods, and writing styles.

The Fighting Rabbis by Albert Slomovitz
A one-of-a-kind guide to Jewish chaplains from the revolutionary war to the present. Informative, but dry at times.

Noctures: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (au) by Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro’s craft is top-notch and I would hold these story in higher regard if only they weren’t such downers.

Little Brother (au) by Cory Doctorow
Not exactly realistic in depicting the bad guys, but I loved that the main characters were seen as cool because they were smart. The hacker ethic is big in this one and I’m with it.

The View from Saturday (au) by E.L. Konigsburg
Though a children’s classic, three of the four main characters annoyed me. I liked the supporting characters much better. Otherwise a charming plot – it was nice that the Jews weren’t token Jews but normal characters in the story.

Spook Country (au) by William Gibson
A few cool reference points in an otherwise lackluster thriller.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating (2nd Ed.) by Steven Kerry Brown
Told me everything I wanted to know about being a PI. The Dummies and Idiots series have created formats that are ideal for beginners at anything.

My Reading Life (au) by Pat Conroy
More about the people who influenced his reading life then the books he read. Really an affective book for writers, reading enthusiasts, and especially fans of Pat Conroy. After listening to Conroy’s performance in My Reading Life, I became one.

Island of the Blue Dolphins (au) by Scott O’Dell
A children’s classic for good reason though missing some obvious elements of a young woman’s development.

A Bit on the Side by William Trevor
Melancholy stories of solitary characters. Trevor writes with an economy of words that does not mean an economy of emotion – just the opposite. Some of the stories are still with me.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (Vol 1: The Pox Party) (au) by M.T. Anderson
Historical fiction for teens in the capable hands of Feed-author M.T. Anderson is a fast-paced and dreadfully detailed win.

The Graveyard Book (au) by Neil Gaiman
I was expecting more from Neil Gaiman (who is currently the love of the library world), but found myself nonplussed by this lukewarm audiobook (which was fortunately read very well by Gaiman). The world he created had so much potential that, to my dismay, remained unused.

I read most of what I thought I would read in my last reading list, though not everything. Sometimes books will sit on my shelf for a few weeks until they get tired of sitting, then I’ll take pity and put them back into circulation at the library. Since it’s already into winter, I’ve obviously delved into my reading, this would be what’s trending for the rest of winter. First off, I want to finish Thomas Mann’s Oxford Guide to Library Research. I started it awhile ago, and it’s been on my desk at work since. Second, I’d like to read through a few books of poetry; Kim Addonizio’s Tell Me straddled Fall and Winter (and was finished in winter) and I’d like to follow it with a few more, but I haven’t figured out which ones yet (Weldon Kees is an option, though his Collected Poems is too long to read through leisurely). Otherwise, I have a few books waiting, but there’s no point in mentioning them here. They’ll come up on the Winter Reading 2010-11 List. For the spring, I’m thinking about doing a themed reading list. An option I’m strongly considering is putting together a list of classics that I haven’t read. I’m thinking of limiting it to English language (classics of Russian literature (an translation) may be the theme for another season, perhaps) – so for example, Catcher in the Rye, Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden, Babbitt, maybe some Frank Norris, and many more. I’m about to go make a list right now. I’ll post it sometime if I decide to go ahead with the list, that way ya’ll can read along with me. :O)

Posted in Books, Reading & Reviews, Other Writing, Reading Lists | 2 Comments

Library Sweater

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Oleg K.

Behold…

Library Sweater

John and Oleg sporting the library sweater at the information desk of the Lancaster Regional Library. (Photograph courtesy of Knight Photography)

Posted in Librarianship | 3 Comments

My Dream Job: Special Projects Librarian

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Oleg K.

I enjoy the holiday season because of the lively mood, cheerful colors, and the chance to hug people wearing sweaters. What I don’t care much for anymore is gifts. Don’t get me wrong, I love receiving cards with a personal note, but presents are mostly more of a burden then a pleasant surprise. The problem is that I have neither a need nor much space for a lot of stuff, so giving me a gift is typically a miss. Really, how could anyone know what I want if I don’t usually have any idea myself. Asking me what I want for my birthday is equally useless. “I don’t know,” I say and shrug, “a bowl of mashed potatoes would be nice.” My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving because the best I can ask for is to spend time with my family and friends eating and joking, I don’t need to take anything away from the evening but the pleasure of a nice time had by all.

This time, however, I would like to take the opportunity of the giving season to express a wish I do have. Of course, no one can take the future and bend it to the present, but I do hope that the occupation I describe here can someday become a reality. I am of the belief that, though wallowing in my desire is fun, the utility of it is questionable. Instead, hinting aloud to the world has a better chance of leading to results. Admittedly, there are far better ways to make my wishes happen, but for the present time I am satisfied with explaining this one wish. Perhaps someday I will run into a genie that may take one look at my earnest face and grant me a position as a Special Projects Librarian (SPL).

What’s wrong with my current job, the chorus intones, and I answer that nothing is. I like my job, it plays to many of my strengths and few of my weaknesses. I feel like I serve the public well and sometimes the public agrees. I spend a lot of time at the reference desk which takes me back to why I became a librarian in the first place: to work directly with patrons – to solve problems. I also like organizing and running programs, it’s a lot of fun and it is fulfilling when people enjoy them. I don’t mind doing weeding and putting together lists of materials to buy and other collection development responsibilities. I don’t dislike making and maintaining displays. Yet, if I were to be completely honest, I would choose to do the first two a lot, and the second two a lot less. There are also aspects of librarianship that I would like to do a lot more but, for various reasons, can’t. The position of SPL is a composite of the things I like to do and am good at. In addition, it is a job that, as far as I know, does not exist and yet would be beneficial for every library.

If I were to take jobs that already exist and use them to describe the SPL, I’d start by throwing Outreach Librarian into the pot, followed by PR Person, with a liberal sprinkle of Community Organizer, Interviewer, Event Planner, and Discussion Group Leader. The main charge of the SPL is to answer the question “What can the library do for you?” I believe that the library has something for everyone and so my job would be to facilitate projects from within the community that would include including organizing and/or running groups that could meet at the library (or not), providing on-the-spot reference service by finding answers and, if necessary, referring patrons to specific library services (“In fact, we have so-and-so database that would be perfect for what you need!”) or government entities, teaching one-shot or a series of mobile (meaning anywhere) computer and information literacy courses, and generally participating in (really, I should say creating) community life.

In her notes on Joyce Valenza’s 2007 presentation, Jenny Levine (popularly known as The Shifted Librarian) wrote “…as a librarian, you can be a catalyst and lead from the center, you can be a weaver…” This is the slogan for the SPL. Being in the middle of what’s going in the community is better than any survey at learning what people want. To do that, it is vital that the Special Project Librarian is able to go places where people are and talk to them. Forming real relationships with community members of various stripes is the way to get to “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we…” It is also the ideal mechanism for what I feel should be the librarian’s favorite phrase, “Yes, we can do that for you…” as in:

  • You’d like a computer class at your nursing home? Yes, we can do that for you.
  • The model train club needs a meeting place? Yes, we can do that for you.
  • You’re interested in meeting other real estate brokers? Yes, we can do that for you.
  • You want to learn to play the guitar? Yes, we can do that for you. (Shouts to Patrick Sweeney)
  • The Chamber of Commerce wonder why the library is still useful and can you tell them? Yes.
  • A new arts magazine needs help gathering submissions, can you help? Yes.
  • A Boy Scout Troop Leader is organizing a scavenger hunt…? Oh man, Yes Yes Yes!

The possibilities are open-ended, never-ending, and very exciting. And it’s not a one-man show; the SPL would bring needs to the attention of other library staff regardless of department or job title. An important facet of this position is that it does not belong to any one department – limiting in that way would be a hindrance to the SPL’s overall mission. In fact, the SPL should report to a neutral person in the administration if not the Director herself. Everyone in the library would be in on the cycle of opportunity to provide meaningful service to patrons; in one instance the SPL would make a need known to the Children’s Librarian, in another, the Director could ask him to follow up with a community member who wanted so-and-so.

If a comparison was drawn to the business world, the SPL would be like an intrapreneur. He would be the library’s lead generator, using his connections within the community to bring new ideas into the library as well as out. Furthermore, there is no reason why the SPL can’t act as the first-step in development (read: fund-raising). The notion of facilitating is very important to the SPL. Facilitating involves making what seem like arcane bureaucratic processes easier. This is applicable whether a wealthy patron wants to learn about honorary naming rights for a wing of the library or a club wants to know what it takes to use the meeting room. Since the SPL is an inter-departmental position, he knows the right person to contact no matter what a patron’s needs are and is happy to make the connection.

The above has mostly been a higher-level discussion of the role of SPL, here is an on-the-ground peek into a day in the life:

Arrives at 9:00AM Answers emails and makes phone calls. Has a brief chat with an Adult Librarian about the possibility of doing an album-release party for a local musician.

10:00AM-12:00PM Covers a couple of hours at the adult reference desk.

12:30PM-1:45PM Working lunch with a writing instructor to brainstorm ideas for a series of workshops.

2PM – 3:15PM Present “How the Library Makes Your Homework Easy!” a joint-presentation with the Teen Librarian for three middle school classes.

3:30PM-6:00PM Back to the library to catch up with some correspondence, joke around with the Pages, and run the weekly writers’ group.

7:30PM-9:00PM Makes an appearance at a new Toastmasters Club that he just found out meets a few blocks from the library. Make “What the Library Can Do for You” speech applicable to folks at the club. (I actually do have a speech like this which I delivered to my Toastmasters club awhile ago)

What stands out is that this schedule is unlike any librarian’s schedule that I know. First of all, at least half of the day is spent outside of the library. Second, most of it is spent in productive meetings. Third, it involves plenty of public speaking. Fourth, it doesn’t end at closing time. Other days may include more solo work to prepare something-or-other, or helping out at a branch. Naturally, this kind of thing would work very poorly in a big system since the bureaucracy would prevent the type of freedom that make the Special Project Librarian’s role what it is. The ideal place for this position is at a medium-to-small library system with a well-defined area of service. Since a lot of work is done outside of the library, there must be a certain level of trust between the librarian and his supervisor. Any qualms relating to this must be stamped out in the beginning by establishing guidelines (not unbreakable rules, mind you). In addition to guidelines for work outside of the library, the SPL and the person he reports to should establish clear and meaningful metrics that determine whether the SPL is effective. These metrics must relate to the library’s mission, including any initiatives the Director (or the library as a whole) is working on.

Sure, there will be some who will be, dare I say it, jealous, of the free-rein that the SPL is given. This is partially why the SPL must be held accountable for his actions by the aforementioned measures of his performance. Important to remember, however, is that the role of the SPL is assist library staff as much as patrons. That means connections to needs are to be made in the library and out; the SPL must attempt to establish excellent working relationships with everyone on staff from Pages to the Director – these relationships are crucial in maintaining a worthwhile cycle of opportunity. Everyone should benefit from the SPL at some point, otherwise his workflow needs to be reassessed.

That’s all for now on the Special Projects Librarian position. I’d appreciate any nuances about this position that I’ve missed. If I ever decide to write a grant to fund such a position, I wouldn’t want to run into any blind spots.

Have a happy holiday season all!

Posted in Librarianship, Vision Statements | 2 Comments

What We Know: Advocating the Tangible Knowledge of Librarians

Posted on November 26, 2010 by Oleg K.

In between reading The Oxford Guide to Library Research (discovered via librarian.net) and the The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating, I am reminded that, as a profession, librarians do have a body of tangible knowledge that is unique to us. Without getting into the potentially deep philosophical topic of what kind of knowledge is tangible and what kind is intangible, I will posit, for our purposes here, that tangible knowledge is a product of learning which can be used in an obvious, physical way. For a private investigator, tracking people down starts with knowing which resources to use; certain databases are better for certain queries just as a computer programmer knows one or more languages and can, using them, build something. In both of these cases, one cannot achieve the end results (finding a person or creating a piece of software) without having the requisite knowledge. In advocating libraries as community centers and librarians as generalists, we often forget that an MLIS degree is meant not as an end in itself (read: getting a job), but as a symbol that we have specific knowledge, and that knowledge is real.

It’s true that anyone can read Thomas Mann’s book and develop their research skills, and yet most people do not. Instead, they approach the information desk and ask questions. Because I took a useful course on the Information Access in library school and have some experience in the field, I can conduct a reference interview in order to ascertain exactly what the person requires. Then I can use my knowledge of specific reference books, databases, organizations, and how to discover these resources, to point the person in the right direction. Our proficiency with search is a skill, our ability to recognize when what is found is good and useful is a skill, our finesse in coaxing a person to reveal his needs is a skill – and this is just the tangible knowledge that is related to serving the public. A cataloger’s knowledge of bibliographic control, an IT person’s knowledge of OPAC design, an acquisition librarian’s knowledge of collection development principles are all unique to librarianship as well, but most important of all, they are real skills that should be noted.

I am occasionally disappointed by lazy or stupid librarians who do not want to use the knowledge they have or somehow do not have that knowledge because, it is a singular truth that, as with medicine, librarianship demands the trust of the public. The only way we can put our tangible knowledge to use is if people are confident that we can answer their questions. The two biggest failings in the maintenance of librarianship as a body of knowledge that would curtail the lazy and the stupid is lack of standard assessment and absence of continuing education requirements. Personally, I find it troubling that the differences between veteran librarians and their newer colleagues are not always very striking. Promotions which are based on tenure and not merit are at fault here, and this hearkens back to the assessment issue. Likewise, while reading LIS-related articles and books are a personal interest for me (hence I am reading books on private investigating and library research), I don’t expect this is the case for most librarians. However, an absence of even professional interest among some librarians leads to wildly different skill sets among co-workers, which, in effect, makes it difficult for patrons to have accurate expectations. Without required and consistent professional development, a standard cannot be maintained and it may therefore be impractical to promote the librarian’s tangible knowledge.

That said, there are plenty of good librarians out there and I think that it is worthwhile to pursue the idea of advocating what we know as much as what we do. Some examples of this would be:

Table comparing what librarians know with what they do.

The use of advocating “what we know” is to raise the point that the library in itself is a pile of books and bricks, sometimes computers. In the UK there is talk of replacing librarians with volunteers. I think this is rubbish. I know that the people clamoring for this cost-effective “solution” are folks who do not understand the tangible knowledge librarians possess. The purpose of explaining what we know is to elevate the subject beyond the strictly practical level. I would venture to say that many non-librarians could put together a pathfinder (assuming they know what one is), but because I have the tangible knowledge referenced above (“How to find, evaluate, select, and present quality specialized sources…”), I’ll bet my pathfinder will be better than a layman’s pathfinder. In addition, I can explain why my pathfinder will be better using principles with which a non-librarian may not be familiar. That is the essence of specialized knowledge, not merely a jargon(and acronym)-rich vocabulary, but a set of facts based on scholarly research that has evolved through reflection, evaluation and further study. Like many of us, I have been guilty of deprecating the librarian’s qualifications, but the truth is librarians aren’t average joes; we know things that separate us from others.

From reading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating, I not only know how easy it is to get a person’s social security number, I also have a sense of the infoscape in relation to personal information. It’s a visceral feeling knowing how quickly someone can “have your number,” but in considering what the PI knows, that’s not the point. The fact of the matter is that the ability to do the PI’s job has limited appeal for much of us on a regular basis; it is the potential that there exists a person who has the aforementioned knowledge that keeps private investigators in business; when the need comes, there is someone with the knowledge. The relevant difference between private investigators and librarians is that no one is trying to replace them with volunteers; no one is going around saying to the PI that I can do your job better than you can. Other than the dangers involved in being a sleuth, people realize that they don’t have the right knowledge.

The reason they don’t have the same feeling about librarianship is that they don’t know what we know. Talking about what we know may not be as sticky as promoting what we do, but it’s important because, on their own, most people do not connect the two. And as long as the two are not related, bean counters will continue to believe that society gains the same value from volunteers as they do from librarians.

Posted in Librarianship | 2 Comments

Starting and Running a Fantastic Writers’ Group

Posted on November 19, 2010 by Oleg K.

This was first posted on the County of Los Angeles Public Library Staff Blog in September 2010.

There are a number of programs that have become standards for libraries; concerts,
book clubs, story times, afternoon movies are all relatively easy to plan and well-attended in most communities. To that list of standards, I propose adding the writer’s
group. Because writing is generally a solitary act, many of your local poets, novelists,
and playwrights may find a weekly or bi-weekly get-together of like-minded creatives
useful and fun. The nice thing is that organizing and moderating a writer’s group is time- efficient for even the most harried of librarians. Below are a few tips for launching and
maintaining a successful writer’s group:

1. Plan to Promote: Getting the word out about your new writer’s group starts
approximately two months before the first meeting. The initial time investment is
small since all that is really necessary is a flyer, a simple press release, and a
media contact list. The latter starts with the local newspaper – if you’re branch
doesn’t already have a relationship with the paper, pick up the phone. A simple
call was all it took to get an article about the Lancaster Library Writers’ Group in
the Antelope Valley Press, but more than that, we now have a person to call if we
want help marketing future programs. Other promotional opportunities are
available through radio stations, local groups like Toastmasters or Rotary Clubs,
city newsletters, and local businesses. Also don’t forget to contact other writers’
groups in the vicinity. These groups can be found through bookstores,
educational institutions, and online. Don’t worry about competing with them; as
long as your meetings are at different times membership is not mutually
exclusive. In fact, a few of the people at my writers’ group are also members of
other groups in the area. Finally, don’t forget in-house advertising: make sure
everyone on the staff knows some basic info about the group, that flyers are
always handy, and to make an announcement over the library’s loudspeaker a
few minutes before the program begins. It’s so simple, yet loudspeaker
announcements have been responsible for bringing in several writers who have
since become regular attendees.

2. Set the Stage: It’s a good idea to put some thought into the meeting space.
Starting in a small room or in a large room with a one or two tables brings people
closer together, allowing them to see and hear each other better. While a table in
the reading room will work if it’s separated from the rest of the library, an intimate
space without distractions is better. Part of setting the stage is also deciding how
long you want the program to last – remember, the more people participate, the
longer the meetings will last so give yourself some scheduling leeway until
attendance levels out and you can expect an approximate time-frame. Be ready
to run a little long if a few new writers come since the group will quickly dissipate
if you cut people off just because of the time. People will come and go based on
their schedules, but everyone should get a chance to read. In order to be able to
better manage time, there should be a page limit made clear at the outset – my
writers may bring up to three double-spaced pages whether they are reading
prose or poetry, occasionally exceptions are made for drama and screenplays
since there’s less text per page. Another consideration is food. I think snack
packages are noisy when passed around and people getting up for coffee is
disruptive so I don’t bother with it. It’s your stage, however, so if your group will
be charmed by cupcakes, by all means serve them.

3. Foster Community: More important than sharing their own work, a good writers’
group is one in which the members like and support each other. As the facilitator
of the group, your job is to create a mood that makes people feel comfortable
sharing. A fine way to do that at the very beginning of each meeting is to have
everyone introduce themselves and share something about their week. This
allows new attendees to take stock of the room and continuing members to catch
up with their friends. It also lets everyone settle down after their drive and the
world outside in general. Likewise, before ending a meeting, allowing a moment
for general announcements not only gives you chance to plug other library
happenings, but also gives members further opportunity to make connections.
When you notice your writers exchanging contact information, you know you’ve
done a good job of fostering community. When people feel like they’re part of
something bigger than themselves, they’ll be coming back and bring other others
with them.

4. Moderate: An important point to remember in running a writers’ group is that you
serve in a dual role; on one hand, you are a member of the group like everyone
else, on the other, you are the moderator. That means, as hard as it sometimes
is, you are responsible for keeping the group on task and responding to any
disruptive situations. The former is usually necessary when feedback begins to
get off-track – people respond to the writer and not her text – and before you
know it, the group has been discussing the writer’s mother for that last ten
minutes. In this type of situation, a light reminder is sufficient to bring the
conversation back to the writing. Light reminders are also necessary if you notice
that someone is moving beyond the stated page-limit. Rarely will other group
members say anything about this because it is always the moderator’s
responsibility to politely ask the reader to conclude. If going over the page-limit
becomes a chronic condition for a particular writer, a private conversation will
usually do the trick. A more insidious problem is when a member of the group or
a visitor makes offensive remarks or is too harsh with critiques – in that case it is
vital to call attention to the situation right away. The first warning need not carry a
serious tone, but subsequent warnings should get progressively more strict.
Though this rarely happens, if an individual continues to behave badly, the
moderator should not be afraid to ask the person to leave. An effective moderator
is like a good host at a party, it is his job to make sure that everyone is having a
pleasant time.

5. Stay Positive: Part of being a successful group leader is knowing that others will
take cues from you. That’s why it is especially crucial to stay positive in and out
of group meetings. At the meeting, encourage constructive feedback by finding
agreeable qualities in people’s writing; you won’t like everything about every
piece, but there is bound to be something you like about each one, make sure to
accentuate the good even while giving suggestions for improvement. If you find
that you have nothing positive to say, just smile and say “thank you for reading,”
likely other group members will fill in the blanks. It’s also important to stay
positive about the attendance count; groups will sometimes take a few months to
find their feet but as long as members are benefiting and you keep promoting in
and out of the library building, you can be sure that the group will grow.

A writers’ group gives community members a forum for expression that is both enjoyable
and helpful. It empowers writers to hone their craft with peers who care about each
other’s improvement. Mostly however, it gets people writing; when an artist knows that
they’ll have an audience every week and all they have to do is bring a few pages, it’s
wonderful motivation. Facilitating this for your customers should be worth the while of
any librarian. So get to it.

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