Monday, February 25, 2008

New Materials

  • Sexual Harassment: A Commonsense Approach - DVD (employee version), 25 minutes

FYI: "Most people know that sexual conduct is not appropriate in the workplace. Yet it continues to be a problem. While some individuals persist in behavior that is obviously rude or disrespectful, even well-meaning employees can become confused when it appears in more subtle forms. When does it cross the line? This program explores the definition of 'welcome' and 'unwelcome' behavior. It encourages employees to speak up if there is a concern, so small problems can be solved before they get out of hand. It also shows examples of obviously illegal sexual harassment, and sends a direct message to harassers: STOP immediately!" -from the DVD cover

  • Harassment and Diversity: Respecting Differences - DVD (employee version), 16 minutes

FYI: "Harassment is not just about sex. It can also be about race, religion, age, disabilities and other protected characteristics. It can occur in any workplace where diverse employees interact. Narrated by Kevin O'Neill, an attorney with Littler Mendelson, PC, this program shows examples of illegal harassment and why such behavior is not acceptable. It explains how each employee can help contribute to an atmosphere of inclusiveness and respect while at work." - from the DVD cover

  • Managing Money: A guide for Librarians by Anne M. Turner
  • Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Technologies: Planning, Design and Implementation by Kevin Laahs, Emer McKenna, and Veli-Matti Vanamo

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Interesting Editorial - Current LJ

Blatant Berry: The Vanishing Librarians
The library becomes a dehumanized supermarket or a chaotic bookstore
By John N. Berry III, Editor-at-Large, jberry@reedbusiness.com -- Library Journal, 2/15/2008
It looks like the “transformation” we seek for libraries and librarianship may turn out to be more of a “deskilling” of library jobs than an enhancement of the profession. More and more working librarians are “managed” by a new breed of library leader. Their model for the new public library is that dehumanized supermarket or the chaotic disorganization of the largest Barnes & Noble.
As this process unfolds, the once professional responsibilities of librarians are being dumbed down into the duties of retail clerks or the robotic responses of machines. Our circulation desks are disappearing. The humans who once greeted and discussed with patrons our wares and services as they dispensed them are being replaced by self-service. Those circulation clerks are either being terminated or sent to work elsewhere in the library.
Our reference services and the desk from which they were delivered are gone, too, replaced by wandering “librarians,” with or without an MLS. They are supposed to be proactive in searching out patrons in need but are too often summoned on walkie-talkies or terminals to come to the aid of only those who ask or to respond to the few inquiries that arrive online. Of course, we need fewer and fewer of these librarians, because patrons are urged to do it all for themselves, via Google, PACs, or whatever they discover through our terminals or their own laptops and PCs.
Our catalogers began to disappear with the takeover of that function by OCLC, the nonprofit that aspires to be a corporation in this brave new retail library world. The standardized result of the effort is bypassed by patron and librarian alike, as they turn to the more friendly Amazons, Googles, et al., for the less precise, more watered-down “metadata” that has replaced what used to be cataloging. Apparently, users don’t miss the old catalog, except as a familiar artifact, which is testimony to how low this dumbing down has taken us.
In the new model, that most sacred of our professional duties, the selection of materials to build services and collections, is turned over to either small centralized teams of two or three librarians and clerks, or in extreme cases to an external vendor, usually a library book distributor.
The resulting “destination” libraries resemble the cookie-cutter design of the grocery store, aimed at making sure everyone who comes in goes out with “product” (books, CDs, DVDs, or downloads). What the patron takes is of as little concern to the storekeeper librarian as it is to the supermarket manager. The success of the enterprise is measured in the number of products collected by patrons, now called “customers.” It is no longer measured in the usefulness or impact of the service on the quality of life in the community served.
Many of the American Library Association-accredited LIS programs that once claimed to “educate” the professional librarians who run these libraries have been invaded by faculty from other disciplines, a great many of whom are far more adept at the politics and pedagogy of academic survival than they are at the principled professional practice of librarianship.
Now the progress of this deskilling has come full circle. Having discovered that the manager librarians of these supermarket libraries need fewer and fewer professional librarians to staff their simplified operations, the governing authorities are beginning to decide they don’t need a professional librarian to manage them. Some have been turned over to successful business types from industry, some to lawyers, some to academic administrators or fundraisers, and some to professional financial managers.
The most surprising part is that so few library leaders have raised their voices in alarm or outrage at this erosion of the standards to which libraries once aspired. It is frightening to think that we will stand quietly by and watch as professional librarians disappear from libraries and with them the quality of the services and collections in which we once took such professional pride.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

New Book

Sex, Brains, and Video Games: A Librarian's Guide to Teens in the Twenty-first Century by Jennifer Burek Pierce

FYI: This title is also available at each regional in YA Reference.

Monday, February 18, 2008

New Books

  • The Accidental Technology Trainer: A Guide for Libraries by Stephanie Gerding
  • Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 Bible by Wynne Leon, Wayne Tynes, and Simeon Cathey
LibrarianInBlack.net blog pointed out the coolest podcast gadget in her Feb 15 post. This gadget is from Think Geek and they are offering a complete podcasting kit with a nifty microphone and everything. You can start podcasting immediately!

Monday, February 11, 2008

New Books

  • Library and Information Center Management (7th ed.) by Robert D. Stueart and Barbara B. Moran
  • Strategic Planning for Results by Sandra Nelson for the American Library Association