I very recently shifted positions from a large academic research library to a small art school library, and during my transition the phrases “settling for a job” and “upward mobility” were said to me quite a bit. Both of these phrases set me personally on edge, and it got me thinking about today’s career paths for librarians and how they view their own trajectory. At my last job, I was a small cog in a very well-oiled machine. It was not a librarian position and because I was in such a big institution I did not have a large variety of responsibilities. Librarian positions there were traditionally tenure-track, though it was clear that Technical Services was already on the path to eliminating Librarian titled positions and removing MLIS/MLS degrees from the required qualifications of position descriptions. A recent post from In the Library With the Lead Pipe addressed the realities of…
Tag: librarianship
If We Don’t Call it Distance Learning, Does it Exist?
If We Don’t Call it Distance Learning, Does it Exist? Saturday, 8 am-noon, Paradise Pier Hotel in Anaheim, CA (Disneyland) Presenters: Kim Duckett, Librarian for Digital Technologies and Learning, North Carolina State University Libraries, Chad Haefele, Reference Librarian, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Samantha Hines, Assistant Professor, Distance Education Coordinator and Social Sciences Librarian, University of Montana, Howard Carter, Associate Professor and Manager, Instructional Support Services, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and Harvey R. Gover, 2008 ACRL/Haworth Press National Distance Learning Librarian, Acting Chair and Consultant to the Distance Learning Section Guidelines Committee, and Assistant Campus Librarian, Max E. Benitz Memorial Library, Washington State University Tri-Cities. Kim Duckett believes librarians should adopt a philosophy of blended librarianship. Duckett says a focus on distance learners will lead to better library experiences for all because traditional learners are becoming more like distance learners as more and more students receive their education online….
Next Generation Libraries: The 2.0 Phenomenon
Next Generation Libraries: The 2.0 Phenomenon Stephen Abram Joe James Stephen’s Lighthouse blog for slides Change is coming and everyone will be effected. FaceBook – get your name and face out there. Let them know your name. Stand behind your word. Get libraries to evolve by de-cloaking. Show who they are and what their specialties are. MySpace merging with Yahoo. Thompson just bought Reuters. Google Scholar serves your students up to advertisers. Advertisers pay to be on first page. Libraries are more complicated than Fed Ex. They only deliver one way. We deliver it out and get it back. IM and Meebo allow you to have a conversation. IM research increase risk students learning because they are familiar with this technology.
"Sum" Top Tech Trends for the Summer of 2007
Listed here are “sum” trends I see Library Land. They are presented in no particular order: 1. Gaming and Second Life – I hear a lot of noise about gaming, Second Life, and libraries. Hmmm… I consider librarianship to be about a number of processes surrounding data, information, and knowledge, specifically: 1) collection, 2) organization, 3) preservation, 4) dissemination, and 5) sometimes evaluation. I also consider the intended audiences for these processes in my definition. Oftentimes these audiences determine the types of libraries where the processes are carried out: academic, special, public, school, etc. Notice that I did not outline “how” these processes get accomplished. Since the “how” of these processes changes over time and with changes in technology, I do not think any “how” defines the core of librarianship. (Librarianship is not about books, MARC records, nor even Web pages because these are merely tools of the profession.) That…