librarians

Check out this Harvard Business Review blog post from Lisa Petrilli, author of The Introvert's Guide to Success in Business and Leadership, reminding us introverts that we can harness that energy and manage to network, darn it.

Key points:

• I learned to appreciate my introversion rather than repudiate it.
• I stopped being afraid to be the one to reach out.
• I learned to prioritize time to re-energize.

As a world-class introvert, I appreciated her perspective. And if this interests you, check out Marcy Phelps' blog, Power Networking For Introverts.

 

 

Two articles in CNN Money take an interesting look at the recent legislative successes and failures to extend intellectual property laws. One article, Millions in SOPA Lobbying Bucks Gone to Waste details the intersection between corporate lobbying and the populist...

In reply to Study says humans now use the internet as our main 'memory' :

So the billions of people without consistent or any Internet access aren't "humans"? Interesting topic, poor title choice (and I'm not so sure about citing the Daily Mail).

In reply to Just How Many Libraries Have Closed? Ask LISNews:

Those might all be interesting discussions--but since I so far can't get an answer to the simple question (how many libraries have closed, period), that seems like a starting point.

And as for which is more important: Given the funding systems of public libraries, it's not usually a choice. Libraries are mostly locally funded and mostly under local control in the U.S.--and, given the situation in the UK, I believe that's a good thing.

Time is almost up for those of us who haven’t switched over to the Facebook Timeline yet. Facebook announced earlier this week that all users will be getting the Timeline over the next couple of weeks. To help everyone get up to speed, Matt Petronzio at Mashable has put together a list of 28 Essential Facebook Timeline Resources.

In reply to How does Google's new privacy policy compare?:

It doesn't seem that different. Yes, skimming the skimming. They've programmed us, these big sites we rely on daily...and we're jumping through all the hoops they (Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple) want sort of like lemmings.

I kind of wish we (as a population) wouldn't jump on the 'ok, I'll sign' bandwagon quite so quickly. Do we realize what we're sacrificing or does it just make more sense to agree than not use a particular website?

Stan Schroeder at Mashable reports that 29% of U.S. Adults Own a Tablet or Ereader. This brief post sums up findings from the latest Pew Internet & American Life study: Tablet and E-book reader Ownership Nearly Double Over the Holiday Gift-Giving Period.

In reply to Just How Many Libraries Have Closed? Ask LISNews:

You'd need to take size into consideration too. Always bad to close any libraries but which is more important? Closing one big library in a major metropolitan area or closing the only one the middle of nowhere? One big one or twenty small ones. Simple numbers don't really answer that (mind you not fair to expect it to from simple figures) Maybe it should be something like changes to 'number of people without a library within x miles'?

Why? Because the TV station was not allowed to take cameras into the federal courtroom to cover a former Ohio county commissioner. Lowering the Bar's Kevin Underhill, comments "I think that all court proceedings should be reported in this way,...

According to recent surveys connduct by RR Bowker’s PubTrack Consumer in October and November of last year, preteens find eBooks "fun and cool." Apparently, some are introducted to eBooks in the home when their parents hand down their eReaders after...

Actually, on why one law prof writes fiction. See Ohio Northern Univ. law prof Scott Douglas Gerber's article, "Why a law profressor writes fiction" in the January 2011 issue of The National Jurist at 14 (subscription required.) Gerber admits the...

Reading an article in the local weekly about Wal-Mart’s attempt to open a supermarket in a neighboring city, noted some comments about “local” markets, which Wal-Mart is anything but.

The interesting note in those comments is that, after citing a couple of true locally-owned groceries (the kind with one to ten stores in a small area), the article noted that Safeway is in fact “local” since the headquarters are in Pleasanton–the neighboring city in question.

That got me wondering about the other places we might use as supermarkets or grocery stores.

• Lucky, the only one in walking distance, I already knew: It’s part of Save Mart, and Save Mart is headquartered in Modesto, CA, my home down, about 75 miles from here.
• Trader Joe’s is headquartered in Southern California–but it’s owned by a German family.
• Our only other real option is Nob Hill, which is part of Raley’s…which is headquartered in Placerville, probably 90-120 miles from here.

I suppose there’s Target (their food prices are awfully good), and that’s headquartered in Minneapolis. There’s Whole Foods, headquartered in Austin, TX, but even if there was one around here (there isn’t), we couldn’t afford it.

Interesting. Every place we’re likely to buy most groceries is headquartered in California–and, to be sure, we buy most produce at local farmer’s markets.

No deeper significance. I know supermarkets are typically regional: That’s why Consumer Reports food reports include store brands from stores I’ve never heard of, but never Safeway store brands.

There is an interesting report from Project Information Literacy (based at Washington University Information School) called How College Students Manage Technology While in the Library during Crunch Time. Here is the abstract: Abstract: The paper presents findings from 560 interviews...

In reply to Just How Many Libraries Have Closed? Ask LISNews:

Theoretically, yes. In my longer discussion of this issue (on my blog), I try to distinguish between libraries closed because the towns they're in have become ghost towns and those closed for other reasons--but first you need to know which ones have actually closed and not reopened a year or two later.

There just don't seem to be a lot of the latter--again, excluding branches, which close and open for both "budgetary crisis" and legitimate demographic reasons. In any case, I'm satisfied that the overall number is negative, based on IMLS figures: That there are more public libraries (or locations, this isn't clear) in 2009 (most recent figures) than there were in 1999...either 0.9% or 1.6% more.

In reply to Just How Many Libraries Have Closed? Ask LISNews:

I was unable to find anything on that site that actually offers a list of closed libraries. On the other hand, the site is so LJ-ish (and not in a good way) that I may have given up in frustration.

In reply to Just How Many Libraries Have Closed? Ask LISNews:

How many were closing down anyway, like over the years we were in boom?

This is part of a series of posts which is based on a 3-hour hands-on workshop I offer on this topic. Be sure and check out the preceding posts:

• Personal Digital Archiving: An Overview
• Personal Digital Archiving: Part One – Strategy
• Personal Digital Archiving: Part Two – Storage Options
• Personal Digital Archiving: Part Three – File Formats
• Personal Digital Archiving: Part Four – Policy
• Personal Digital Archiving: Part Five – Implementation
• Personal Digital Archiving: Part Six – Cataloging

 

Maintaining Your Archive

One of the most important points in the digital information process is the maintenance stage, the time when files have gone “cold” and creators become curators of their digital belongings.

 

Migration Awareness

One of the easiest ways to ensure that your PDA is preserved for the long term is to keep up-to-date on new technology trends and advances, as well as staying informed about possible pending obsolescence of either storage media, (e.g. floppy disks) or file formats. It is important to regularly check on your physical storage media to make sure it’s working properly, and keep abreast of developments with your cloud provider if storing your assets online, (perhaps by subscribing to their blog). To guarantee future access to your digital collection you will need to be aware that you should:

• Periodically change/upgrade physical storage media
• Regularly check on cloud storage providers – subscribe to their blogs!!
• Periodically migrate file formats to updated versions

 

 

Rediscovery

A well-maintained archive will let you rediscover items you forgot you ever had and wouldn’t think to search for, an experience like rummaging through an old cardboard box filled with items and memories from your past.

 

Sources:

• Marshall, Catherine C.. “Rethinking Personal Digital Archiving, Part 2: Implications for Services, Applications, and Institutions.” D-Lib Magazine March/April 2008. 13 Aug. 2010. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/march08/marshall/03marshall-pt2.html
• Williams, Peter, Jeremy Leighton John, and Ian Rowlands. “The personal curation of digital objects: A lifecycle approach.” Aslib Proceedings 61.4 (2009): 340-63. Library Lit & Inf Full Text. Web. 13 Aug. 2010.

"Content, Not Containers!" is the brief comment Jason Wilson added to his tweet that calls attention to CALI Director of Content Development Sarah Glassmeyer's recent CALI Spotlight Blog post. Content is certainly important but the reality is content is always...

In reply to Just How Many Libraries Have Closed? Ask LISNews:

From Rich

There's the Losing Libraries website in partnership with Library Journal though it appears not being kept updated. The site's Twitter account has current info:

http://www.losinglibraries.org/