libraria miscellanea

No, not Dr. Carter . According to Scott Nicholson in "Digital Library Archaeology: a conceptual framework for understanding library use through artifact-based evaluation" librarians have a thing or two to learn from archaeologists. I think all of us in the information field have a thing or two to learn about the way people search, and looking at another fields' examples certainly can't hurt. "Everyday people" don't go into a library thinking...now what keyword terms can I use to access this item...and oh, yes, I see a "see also" link here, so let me follow that to narrow down my search query... They can go to google and type in anything they want and get information online. AKA using natural language queries. So why can't library catalogs function this way? I understand we are working toward that, but it doesn't seem to me like information professionals are paying attention to what their users are telling them, either verbally or throug...

Reading electronic documents has been quite a challenge for me. I thought I had "issues" ...until I read the research from Ziming Liu, and it seems I am not in the minority. I had always used the internet for browsing, social networking, and searching, but not reading. Reading a book is a beloved activity, something you can do anywhere, from the comfort of your bed, curled up on the couch, sitting in a coffee shop, on a plane, with technology nigh required. In "Reading Behavior in the Digital Enviornment," Liu found that, over the last ten years, there is almost a 50% decrease in readers' attention span, and around 45% decrease for both in-depth reading and concentrated reading (p706, 2005). ! What? Is there a support group I can join? Joking aside, without the discipline that came with enrolling in a program that leans heavily on technology, I may never have really been comfortable reading much at all in an electronic format. And what a scary thing, to be le...

Is this librarian part of the Library 2.0 environment? I certainly don't see why not. According to Casey and Savastinuk, "even older, traditional services can be Library 2.0 if criteria are met" in their "Library 2.0" article from Library Journal in the September 1, 2006 issue . What is Library 2.0? "User centered-change" (2006). So that can include any services that help "create a customer-driven...enviornment" (2006). So, aside from a webpage, adding blogs, wikis, and even a myspace page could help get customers more involved in their community library would qualify. However, one challenge libraries are facing right now deals with censorship from the U.S. Government, and that challenge is legislation such as CIPA and DOPA . These bills, particularly DOPA, which is still awaiting approval to become law, would restrict libraries and schools that receive e-rate funding , to block any websites that allow chats, blogs, wikis, etc., targeted at...