by Another busy day. At work first thing for another 3 hour instruction session (tech still working!). Caught up on some emails, feeds and lunch while I did IM reference for an hour. Followed a bit of the Apple news of the iPad before offering another 3 hour instruction session. This was the last of the set. Unfortunately, minutes into the first session of the afternoon, the fire alarm went off. Surprisingly and most impressively, the students all returned once we were allowed in the building. The session was rushed, but we got all of the material covered. Obviously, these sessions make for one of my more intensive courses. As an inquiry course, they place a lot of value in the library sessions (I get 2 sessions with each class, 1.5 hours each and I give a quiz worth 15% of their final mark). Lots of work but I love working with this class. Each year it gets better. Went home and checked in on my distance students, checked the survey I gave the inquiry students and that’s where this day ends.
Day 2
Yesterday was just too busy to post, so I’m playing catch up. Here’s how the day went.
Came in early to prepare for an iClicker session the Teaching with Technology group presented to the liaison (it went well). This was followed by a brief break before a Blended Services Training Team meeting. Worked on instruction prep over lunch at my desk. One hour on the reference desk (shadowed by a blended service member). Went to a last minute meeting. This was followed by a 3 hour instruction session (2 1.5 hour classes). These sessions were my first go with using iclickers in a session – too bad the tech didn’t work. Spent the next half hour with a colleague who fixed the problem. Quick supper, followed by another 3 hours of an instruction (the tech worked!). A very long day indeed!
Day 1
Well, my day started the way it usually does – checking email and catching up on my feeds. This was followed by a Teaching with Technology meeting, where we prepared for a session we’re offering tomorrow on iClickers. Some more catching up followed by a lovely lunch with a colleague. Part networking, part fun – some of the best info sharing and catching up times. I then went to my regular office hours in the Classics department. While these are often quiet times, today proved quite different. I chatted with a number of profs, answering questions, learning what’s happening in the department, helping a grad student and meeting a job candidate. I then headed back to my office, where I called a fellow OLITA council member (I’m OLITA president this year and looking forward to a great year working with some amazing people) and worked on securing a space for Digital Odyssey (stay tuned for more info on this conference). I then worked a bit on an instruction session which I’ll be giving 8 times over the next 2 days. Phew, then it was time to go home.
My day doesn’t end here. Tired, I came home, ate and rested a bit. Then it was time to put on hat #2 – I teach a distance course for library technicians at Mohawk College. I answered a bunch of student questions and posted the latest lecture. Caught up on some more feeds and I still have a little work to do on the instruction sessions. Sometime soon I hope to sleep!
Library Day in the Life 4
It’s that time of year again! I thought I would partake in the Library Day in the Life round 4. I learned a lot about what my colleagues were doing in the last one and it’s a nice chance for me to reflect on what it is I’m doing. So, be warned, you’re gonna hear a lot about my work life this week! I’ll also be posting updates on twitter (#libday4)
Renting Textbooks
I’m putting this out there more for discussion than anything, as I haven’t had a chance to put much thought to it. I’m interested in hearing what people think of this new move to rent textbooks. I think I would have liked to have this option available to me when I was a student. Textbooks have become increasingly expensive. Chegg allows you to rent textbooks and Barnes and Noble is moving that way as well.
I’m wondering what this means for libraries, if anything. I know my library policy is not to purchase textbooks – there is no way a library could have enough copies to allow this type of renting model. Textbooks change to quickly to make it a worthwhile investment when budgets are so tight. My guess is that this particular model – textbook renting – will have little impact for us. (for an interesting read on textbook publishing, check out this Boing Boing article)
This idea of renting books is what intrigues me. Could this become a bigger phenomenon than just textbooks? It certainly sounds like what libraries due, except the whole making money off the process. As a librarian, I’m all for free access to information and this renting thing gives me a bit of a funny feeling. Is this a possible future for libraries though, as budgets get tighter?
The World of e-Readers
I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday. I got some new toys to play with, one of them being a Sony e-Reader. I have been playing with e-readers for a little while now, though not in any professional or scholarly way. I thought I would use this post to do a very brief comparison of the e-readers I’ve played with so far.
I suppose my first run in with e-readers is through my own library. We offer an increasing number of ebooks, some which require specific software to be installed in order to read. I must admit, I have yet to be impressed by this software. I find many of the programs used on computers very clunky. If this was my only introduction to e-books, I think I would be hard pressed to see a rosey future for e-reading.
My next introduction came through my iphone. I installed both the Kindle e-reader and the Barnes and Noble reader. I will admit that I did not use these for quite some time. I’m not sure what the impetus was for finally starting to play with them – perhaps it was finding sites that allowed me to download books in iphone format. Perhaps it was the fact that I always have my phone on me. I found myself going out in the summer with my lunch and forgetting my book – but then I remembered I could still read! I used the iphone for reading quite a bit in the summer and was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading from it.
Both readers have advantages and disadvantages. Lately I find myself leaning towards the Barnes and Noble but this could change on a whim. Both readers function quite similarly and are quite intuitive. Pages turn very smoothly and easily with a tap or a swipe, there is a built in dictionary, the page can be reorientated according to how it is held, bookmarking is easily done by turning down the corner of a page and there is a night screen (most handy for reading in bed without disturbing anyone). The Barnes and Nobel reader also provides internal links for sites which offer more books for their reader, which is incredibly handy.
For Christmas, I was spoiled with a PRS-600 from Sony (for a great comparison of e-reader privacy, check out this site from the EFF). I quite like the size of this e-reader, it is relatively light and sleek. I am impressed with the screen – it really doesn’t feel like reading from a screen (except for the glare). It does have a more natural feel to the screen/page. I love the fact that I was able to immediately (once I downloaded the reader software) load 30 books on it.
I had certain expectations from this e-reader thanks to the iPhone, especially since this is a touch e-reader. I expected smoother page turning. I set it up to swipe pages like my iphone, assuming I would use it this way. Since I’ve started reading, I find it is more natural for me to use the buttons to move the pages than the swipe, as this is where my hands are anyway. Bookmarking takes an extra step on the Sony reader but is still available, as is a dictionary feature, highlighting and notes (all available features on the iphone readers). So far I’m generally happy with my Sony reader. I can take notes with it using a keyboard (again, similar to the iphone so an easy transition) or by hand using the stylus. It also stores audio and photos, which I have not used yet. I have not had any books yet with graphics or complicated illustrations, so I’m not sure how this reader will handle them yet.
So, what does this mean for my reading habits? I still love my physical books. I love the tactile aspect of reading and my favourite books will still have a space on my bookshelf. I do love to have my books surrounding me. What I suspect will happen is that I won’t be buying a physical copy unless I really enjoy the book. I may start with an e-book version and then decide to make the extra investment, both monetary and physical space, in a “real” copy of the book. The whole notion of “real” vs. “virtual” books is an interesting one I may come back to at another time. There are limitations to ebooks (can’t take them in a bath, what happens if there is no power), so they won’t be my sole means of reading. I doubt I will be able to walk out from a bookstore without purchasing a book, but I may come out with one and a list of others for downloading.
The e-readers offer other advantages though. I have 30 books on one device ! This will make travelling much easier. I suspect that I will still be using both the iphone readers and the Sony. The latter will likely be my primary e-reader, used for longer books or books I am particularly interested. The iphone will likely be for more casual reading – books I am in no hurry to read or which don’t take much concentration. As I almost always have my phone on me, it will be the device I turn to when i have forgotten my other reader.
I am waiting for e-books to catch up to my desires. I’d like to see the Sony with an option for night reading, and wireless access. I think I’d also like to see some kind of screen saver for it. I have walked away and it has been there waiting for me, which in a way makes it feel more like a physical book, but I fear burning the screen. Wireless access and e-readers also makes a lot of sense to me. Not only can books have built in dictionaries, you could include links to related information. A knitting pattern book could link out to a YouTube video showing how to do the stitch. I think there is still a lot of potential for e-reading and will be interested to see how this develops.
Maybe not such a brief comparison, but it is still in my early days of playing with and discovering potential in e-readers. The Kindle only recently started selling in Canada, but if you use one and love/hate it, lemme know!
Fun with Words
I’ve been encountering some terms lately that I’ve found intriguing – not necessarily groundbreaking, but interesting. The first term is informavore. I came across this in a post on BoingBoing, which lead me to an article on the Edge. I would like to consider myself an informavore, and I suspect most librarians would. What intrigued me in the article was the parallel of information to Darwin selection – in a world filled with information, how do we choose which information is important, what can be left out and what might this mean for culture, history and the future? I’m sure I can not do the article justice, so I will simply recommend that you go read the article.
I came across the other term in a Spark podcast. In this episode (episode 90), we learn of the term continuous partial attention (it also talks about email apnea – an interesting concept in itself). I think this explains a lot of what I do, certainly better than the term multitasking. I also think that many of the students I work with also fall prey to continuous partial attention. If this is the case, what does this mean for educating these students? Does it change they way we think they work – or should it? I think I will be spending some more time considering what the implications for this might mean for the students I teach. I’m becoming more and more interested in how technology affects our students and their learning and I think continuous partial attention is certainly one side effect of technology.
Thank You
Remembrance Day is one of the few days that I find I can get quite emotional, thinking of all of the brave men and women who have sacrificed themselves, their time, or their loved ones. Thanks is not enough but it is all I can offer. We will not forget your sacrifice.
Roundup
Again, far too much time has passed since my last posting and far too much has happened. Here’s a roundup of just some of the things that are happening.
OLA is undergoing some strategic planning discussions at the moment. I love being able to take time to stop and look at the big picture, to figure out what it really is that we want to accomplish as individuals, an association, as a profession. We rarely have the chance to stop the daily routine to see where we are going. This scares a lot of people, or at least makes them uncomfortable but this isn’t a bad thing. Some of this comes down to a fear of change but that could be a whole blog post for another time. You can take part in the OLA discussion on the ola site, facebook and twitter.
We launched the big project I was part of this summer. We made a series of 6 short, humourous videos promoting library services to new students. You can check them out on our youtube channel. One even made a top 5 list!
I just came back from presenting at Internet Librarian. This is one of my favourite conferences – amazing people with great ideas. You can find my presentation here – feel free to contact me with any questions. One of the highlights of the conference was the launch of Michael Porter and David Lee King’s video Library 101 – be sure to check it out! I attended the unconference and my first preconference (on digital natives and digital immigrants) – both great events with amazing discussion. One of my favourite things about conferences is the chance to sit around with smart people and discuss the issues we all face as librarians. As usual, I came back from the conference full of ideas and energy – something I was in great need of. It feels like it’s been busier than usual with instruction this year, which is a sign of liaison success I suppose.
I recall thinking “ooh, I should blog about this” in the past few months but in the busy-ness of life, they have gotten lost. At least you’re a little more up-to-date on the state of things though!
Library Day in the Life: wrap up and Floods
Better late than never. This was an interesting exercise for me, as I hope it was for you. It’s been an eye opening experience as I got a chance to see what my colleagues in this profession are up to (a lot!). I hope you’ve gotten a new appreciation for libraries, librarians, and all they do. For myself, it gave me a chance to reflect back on what I accomplished in the day – something I don’t often leave time for and something I should perhaps be doing more often. It does seem I’m rather all over the place in my day and while that may be expected during summer, a time full of committee work, projects and First Year Experience things, I don’t think it’s very productive. I think I need to work on scheduling my time better, when I can, in order to help my productivity move along. I know I work well under pressure and this may be hard fought battle, but I’ll keep you posted on how that scheduling goes. My days also show I like to be busy (yes) and I like to have variety (also very true). Trying to balance all of this may be a challenge.
On another note, many will have heard of the flood that hit the Louiseville Free Public Library. The Library Society of the World is trying to raise money to help out the library and you can find out more about it here and on Boing Boing. It’s great to see the library community, and others, coming together to help out!