- Apply the evaluative criteria in your reading to one of the useful Blogs you have discovered in previous activities.
- Do a bit of research in order to be able to comment on the evaluative criteria, describing your research steps.
- Add a comment to the LIBR 1111 Blog post called Evaluate a Blog.
- Include the URL of your Blog, your evaluation, and sign the comment.
Due: September 26, 2008
36 comments:
http://juliecarter.blogspot.com/
Carter's Little Pill
This is an enchanting little blog by a woman named Julie Carter who, apparently, reviews and writes poetry. She lives in Ohio, US. She does not divulge many details on the personal details of her life but enjoys gabbing about the silly things that happen in her daily life.
The general scope of the website seems to be a place for the owner of this blog to post and reviews poetry, some of the poetry which happens to be written by herself. Her postings on the quirks and joys of life are absolutely random but put a smile on your face regardless:
"People should be hooked to batteries that recharge with any leftover energy after they eat.
Thereby providing a green energy source and weight management all in one!
"Honey, I need an empty battery. I'm going to eat a pie."
She updates her postings almost everyday and is part of the blogspot.com community. This isnt a blog to be used as a source or reference for any sort of project but I got pure enjoyment out of reading her blogs from time to time.
Librarian.net
Putting the rarin back in librarian
http://www.librarian.net/
Jessamyn West is the author of this site, she is a rural librarian and library activist. Her site is self-published using WordPress, a free personal publishing platform, as well as having a license with Creative Commons Attribution, a non-commercial share alike 2.5 license. Her site is updated approximately every few days and focuses on the preservation of what is special about libraries, viewing the intersection between librarians, technology, and politics.
Librarian.net began in September 2003 and has 7,000 daily viewers, making her name well known in the field. Regularly traveling to library conferences to talk with colleagues about computing and social responsibility keeps her information popular and relevant. Coming from an anti-capitalist perspective, she is a member of ALA and was elected as an ALA councilor until 2006 when she didn’t rerun as she was feeling the double-edged sword of participating in the flawed system vs. sitting out and not participating at all. She’s published a book she co-edited called ‘Revolting Librarians Redux- radical librarians speak out’. She works at Metafilter.com as a moderator, which has 3.5 million unique viewers a month. She’s worked in many libraries and her love and dedication to the “true manifestation of the public sphere” comes through loud and clear in her blog and her activism.
The informal blog is concerned with the “digital divide issues and the effects of technology choices on the public sphere”. There are links to Metafilter.com, jessamyn.com (her more personal blog initially created so her mother could stay up to date about her), books she’s been reading, her Technorati profile, as well as various random links made within individual posts. It is a blog relevant to aspiring library technicians as a source of experienced voices working in the industry. Sharing information about new technologies, as well as a vast jumble of topics of interest to library workers creates an accessible, informal, and personal space to explore web trends without being too obscurely techy. An example of the variety of users includes business analysts, singer-songwriters, professional techies, computer geeks, and your average Jane.
Overall an interesting and engaging blog well worth subscribing to.
Citations
Jessamyn.com/me/faq.html
Technorati.com/people/technorati/jessamyn/
Metafilter.com/about.mefi
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article4783690.ece
From The Times
September 19, 2008
"
Public libraries open way for drinks, snacks and mobiles"
The publisher of this article is a news correspondent and other related links were also all written by news editorial staff for “The Times” for the U.K. education news. The purpose of this blog is to enlighten the general public as well as professionals to the change of etiquette in a library environment. The content is informal but true, and is written for all ages in simple English language. They are sparking discussion between the older generation, for whom rules of etiquette were taken seriously versus the new generation who believe strongly that informality is more effective, outlining the rules of etiquette have changed considerably over the years. This article generated quite a heated difference of opinion by the readers who could participate by leaving a comment in the “have your say” hyperlink.
I admire the fact that the journalist actually went into a library to conduct an experiment eg: eating a doughnut and drinking a soft drink while handling books, and the outcome of being asked to leave the premises by a staff member. This shows me “the reader” that the source of the content being presented is accurate and not a prediction.
The blog contains educational links that are useful for all age groups and very informative regarding any new developments in the education system in the U.K. However, they did not limit themselves only to the U.K. but had up-to-date information regarding world news, politics, weather conditions, technical topics and environmental issues. There was also very easy to access video streams through the “Times on line TV” link with clear audio and visual up-to-date world news broadcasts very frequently updated as they occur.
I thoroughly enjoyed evaluating this blog, and will definitely visit this site as frequently as I can.
Nimisha Kuber
Fahrenheit 451: Freedom to Read
http://www.pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/
Elaine Anderson is the author of the blog Fahrenheit 451: Freedom to Read which is all about the controversial topic of censorship. She is a librarian at the Pelham Public Library, and is in charge of adult and youth programs as well as the press liaison for the library. She is also the author of four children’s picture books.
Authority:
I know from personal experience that working in a library you face this topic more often that you would expect; everything from a parent respectfully requesting to have a book removed from the stacks to receiving a very nasty letter from a group demanding that a certain book or series be banned. As such Elaine Anderson would seem to be a fairly reliable authority on the subject, through experience if nothing else. Also, in every posting there are multiple links to support her facts and arguments. Throughout the blog she shows great belief in the idea that censorship wrong, thus making her biased as she presents no arguments, or links to articles to the contrary. However, if one goes through the archived postings, you find that in the beginning she encouraged discussion on if any circumstances justified censorship, and received many comments on the topic.
Publisher / Author Affiliation:
As previously mentioned, Elaine Anderson is a librarian at the Pelham Public Library, and it is through said organization that the blog is maintained. The author’s affiliation is definitely biased as a prominently displayed link is to the library’s annual “Banned Book Challenge”, wherein members of the public are encouraged to read as many banned books as possible. Also, the majority of the postings deal with censorship in a negative light.
Scope / Content:
The blog is currently formal in nature with only Elaine Anderson making postings and those always about censorship concerns. Originally however the blog was conceived as a discussion group for many of the youths from the Pelham area (as can be seen when one reviews past blogs). At that time it was far more informal with anyone having the ability to make a posting and with far more personal opinions expressed. Now it is far more factual in nature.
The links on the side of the page are to a variety of other blogs and websites. The most prominently displayed are those for the Pelham Public Library. There are also links to other blogs on library topics or on censorship as well as links to sites and blogs dealing with Ray Bradbury’ Fahrenheit 451 from which this blog takes its name.
Accuracy and Reliability:
There is a plethora of external links presented in the postings; most of them to reliable to sources such as government agencies, book titles and the like. Unfortunately not all are this way. Wikipedia is occasionally referenced and although usually correct, as its articles are user created and edited, it is not always accurate and reliable.
Audience:
While I personally feel that the blog deals with the topic at an appropriate level as it is well written, researched and presented; based on the number of comments made on the postings, few feel that way. Originally quite a few comments were given on the postings, but currently most postings received no comments with the occasionally one garnering one or two comments. Those who do comment tend to be from the library community.
Currency / Volume:
The blog is updated sporadically, seemingly only when something of concern or interest happens with regard to censorship in the world. The last update was on September 22, 2008.
While I personally enjoyed reading this blog, it's haphazard fashion of postings as well as it's bias makes it a blog to be read for pleasure and not one to be used for academic purposed as it unreliable despite its numerous links.
Sierra Stephens
LISNews: Librarian and Information Science News
www.lisnews.org
This is a massive blog run by creator Blake Carver, a librarian from New York. The site's stated purpose is to present a collective blog "devoted to current events and news in the world of Library and Information Science". They have bloggers from around the world posting related information and articles as points of interest fro readers.
This site has a massive amount of bloggers. There are 10 pages of blogger names, most of which have uninformative poster tags with no contact info available other than through the site. This makes the reader immediately question the authority of the posts. Carver says he takes "no responsibility" for what is posted, (or who posts it) and asks that any issues be directly addressed to the author, not to him or the site.
The qualifier of this blog is that most of the bloggers are posting information or entire articles from other legitimate sites, such as MIT Press or The New York Times. The links provided are accessible and the full stories are accountable.
Publisher/author/creator Blake Carver admits on the "About" page that his biases "can shine through from time to time" although he tries to be fair and accurate. He also says that bloggers are encouraged to post whatever they feel is appropriate and that a variety of voices and opinions are collected that way. The bloggers themselves have no information that makes them accessible or searchable, but they do post usable links to resources.
Thus, the content and tone of this site is, for the most part,informal. The bloggers maintain an informal and chatty voice for their personal posts. The articles attached, however, are usually formal as they are from news sources like the New York Times.
Bloggers here use a massive variety of sources from all over the world and bring together huge amounts of information and sources.
The audience for this blog is, in short, anybody who is interested. The site deals with topics at a reader-friendly level, and because there is so many posts, the reader feels free to pursue any subject that strikes their fancy. Comments are made by other bloggers and site members. It is very easy to become a member, provided through a "Free Sign-up" link with only a username and password necessary.
The sheer volume of this site is amazing; there are new posts every day with frequent comments. Today, September 24th, there are already 15 posts, and this is before noon. Obviously, the site is updated regularly, with new articles posted 7 days a week.
Overall, this site is an excellent source of information on a diverse collection of topics. I would definitely use this site for simply browsing, and if I needed to find articles on a specific topic. The blog itself is not a reliable authority on original ideas about library issues, but is interesting and epic in scope and nature.
Tame the Web
www.tametheweb.com
Tame the Web is authored by Michael Stephens, PhD, who bills himself as a “librarian, author and technology trainer.” According to Stephens, “TTW deals with libraries, technology and people - and the fascinating intersection between all three.” He obtained his doctorate in 2007 from the University of North Texas.
Michael Stephens is an assistant professor at the Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS). A search of the university’s website confirms that Stephens is a teaching professor at the university. A general search of Stephen’s name using a search engine reveals links to TTW, as well as a link to an interesting article from Library Journal. www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA510560.html/.
Stephens was on staff at the St. Joseph County Public Library in Indiana when the library became the first public library in the US to offer public Internet service, and he has been teaching and learning in the field since then. A search of the American Library Association website reveals that Stephens is the newly appointed (2008-2009) chair of the ALA Web Advisory Committee. Because of his affiliation with the ALA, it is logical to assume that Stephens would adhere to such tenets as the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights and any other guiding philosophies from the Association.
Michael Stephens is highly regarded in the profession and his blog is followed by many working and teaching at a high level in LIS. Mary Sue Stephenson, Senior Instructor, Chair, MLIS Program, Coordinator of Information Technology, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia, provides the following quote:
“Michael Stephens and his blog are both well known in the LIS community. I have subscribed to his blog for several years and make extensive use of it in my courses. He also contributes to the ALA TechSource Blog. His Tame the Web Blog is widely cited and linked to from other quality LIS blogs and wikis. He also well known for his presentations -- particularly in the areas noted below.
He is especially well known in the area of Web/Library 2.0. He is the author of two important issues of the journal "Library Technology Reports":
Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software
http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/web-20-and-libraries-best-practices-for-social-software.html
Web 2.0 & Libraries, Part 2: Trends and Technologies
http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/web-20-libraries-part-2-trends-and-technologies.html”
TTW has two contributing writers; Kyle Jones and Lee LeBlanc who are both graduate students in LIS. TTW also invites guest contributors through a system of written proposals to maintain the integrity of the blog.
Stephens provides free downloads of recent presentations on Library 2.0 and other topics. A presentation from December 2007 to December 2007: Southeast Library System / Eastern Library System Fall Colloquium: “On Librarian 2.0″ includes photos and text which illustrate how libraries must change and be more welcoming to all sectors of the public. There are photos which provide a contrast between the information desk as a type of fortress (read old school) to the information desk as a welcoming, collegial place where people can enter into a relationship with a professional who can help and teach them. Through TTW Stephens is willing to share his knowledge and link subscribers to many other sites and people who have experience and expertise in the field of Library 2.0. Some of these sites include http://libraryblogging.com/ and http://libraryrevolution.com/2008/04/15/feedback-followthrough-and-rick-astley/. Connecting to Library Revolution reveals a site dedicated to changing the “library status quo”; a site obviously aligned with Stephen’s forward thinking blog and embracing technology in the library. A recent post from the Business Librarian at the Seattle Public Library regarding the use of Firefox in public libraries brought about this link to answer her question. http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2008/05/08/using-firefox-on-our-public-computers
Stephens does not hesitate to use others’ expertise in the field to answer questions. His tone is quite informal, yet it is clear he is an authority in many areas and has a wealth of experience from which to write articles, answer questions or link people to information that they seek.
The blog does not speak over the head of those newly conversant with Library 2.0 nor to those looking for information on certain topics. Those posting on the blog appear to be trained and working in the field of library science. Blogger profiles reveal Youth Services professionals, information technology professionals and people working in specialized sections of the library field, i.e. business and medicine. A recent post on teens in Kennewick, WA being banned from the public library during school hours elicited a passionate response from over twenty bloggers of diverse backgrounds; the article was presented with the question What do you think? which left the topic open and accessible.
This blog is a valuable resource to anyone currently working or training (or both) in the field of LIS. Along with technical issues there is information and discussion on the social implications of Library 2.0. Tame the Web is a well-rounded resource on the subject and highly regarded in the profession.
The blog is updated on a regular basis. There are generally two to three posts per day on a wide range of topics with the last update being September 23, 2008.
Citations
http://www.ala.com
http://tamethewebcom
http://libraryrevolution.com
http://libraryjournal.com
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/PEOPLE/faculty/faculty-contact.htm
The Marin County Free Library Blog
http://marincountyfreelibrary.blogspot.com/
This blog is published by the eleven branches of the Marin County Free Library in California.
The blog is primarily a bulletin board for branch announcements: author readings, lectures, monthly book club selections, storytelling and puppet shows, workshops, awards, book sales, summer programs, and Library Card Month. The library also uses the blog to remind readers of some of their services, such as their Homework Help link.
Various entries link directly to the books mentioned in the blog, summaries of suggested titles organized by category, and the catalogue. The Marin County Free Library OPAC offers book reviews, excerpts and more for selected titles. Navigating the blog and its linked sites is simple. A sidebar offers blog archives, branch information and Ask a Librarian, with e-mail or web-based chat options. One posting asks for customer feedback and has a link for online comments.
The “What is the Marin County Free Library Blog” page states it is created by Librarians. It averages twelve postings per month, with each posting signed simply “By Librarian”. The blog describes its purpose as providing current library news and events, a mission it fulfills admirably. It also promises to inform readers of best-selling titles and great websites, but these topics have not been given recent attention. Postings are brief, succinct and visually attractive.
This blog serves as a useful model of blogging as a communication tool with a public library’s patrons and as a means of promoting events and book clubs. It is not unique, nor outstanding, but would be of interest as a point of reference to public library employees seeking new ways to raise their profile within their community.
-Wendy Wright
The Annoyed Librarian
http://annoyedlibrarian.blogspot.com/
The Annoyed Librarian is a blog link found at the above address which can also be stumbled upon via the Library Garden.
The Annoyed Librarian (referring to itself as AL) offers a light hearted take on everyday life in the world of the librarian. It is both a charming and refreshing blog giving coping advice and observations of daily annoyances in the library world. AL is easy to read, provocative, humorous and at times slightly offensive.
Topics are wide varying – ranging from job interview techniques, to circulation problems, to current world events, and their relation to the library. What makes it interesting is, though the tone is often caustically humorous, while being funny AL makes so much sense that it isn’t funny. AL’s ultimate usefulness may be simply providing a venue for the profession to vent its frustrations. Along the way, remedies or coping strategies are born.
AL does seem to have a bend against the trend of technology in the library. It may be somewhat disconcerting that much of this blog is about the negative side of library science. But, as all jobs have their up and downs, it is refreshing to read an intelligent expression of saying it “as one sees it”. Despite this, AL obviously has great passion for the job. This is why AL gets so worked up about the issues.
Who actually is the Annoyed Librarian? This a questioned not provided on the home page. When Googled, the answers are not conclusive, and do not necessarily support the assumption one gets while reading that it is penned by a woman. The blog does a bio quote stating, “The Annoyed Librarian is possibly the most successful, respected, and desirable librarian of her generation. She has no other interest than to bring her wit and wisdom to the huddled librarian masses yearning to breathe free. The Annoyed Librarian is a free spirit and you are lucky to have her.”
This blog is updated sporadically, but most minimally on a biweekly basis. Reader responses are more often than not anonymous. There are usually useful links provided within both AL’s blogs and the responses which contribute to the validity of the discussions. The audience is certainly library-oriented, but any book lover with a sense of humour should find the blog a good read. The most recent blog (September 22, 2008) hints that a legitimate library journal may be running a feature of The Annoyed Librarian in an upcoming fall issue. Fans or detractors of the blog could not deny that this would be quite an achievement.
Cheryl Kim Lund
The Shifted Librarian http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/
The Shifted Librarian is the creation of Jenny Levine and is published by Movable Type Publishing Platform. Jenny decided on the blog title because she is a strong believer in, and advocate for, libraries to come to the patron, not the other way round. She is a Library 2.0 librarian in that she feels library staff need to immerse themselves, or 'shift', fully into the technology age.
Jenny graduated with an MLS from the University of Illinois and her first post-graduate work was as a reference librarian. Her current position is as Internet Development Specialist and Strategy Guide for the ALA. She takes care to include a disclaimer on her blog stating that all opinions are her own and should not be interpreted as those of the ALA. Her credentials speak for themself in evaluating her level of expertise and knowledge of the library world and its processes. The 'Strategy Guide' descriptor for her position intrigued me so I looked her up on the ALA site and it further outlined her responsibilities as "Implementation and integration of social networking systems, user interface issues".
Jenny's posts have an easy, informal tone. Her focus is on new technologies and ways of interfacing for librarians and patrons and several of her articles in September have focussed on gaming in libraries. The blog properly quotes sources and provides direct links to those sources. One example was a quote from the Columbia Dispatch newspaper with a link to its website that Jenny posted on Friday August 1, 2008. The blog isn't just text-based; a humourous video on banned books week, posted September 22, was easily viewed.
The blog's homepage features a nicely laid out right-hand sidebar with links to contact Jenny via email, facebook, etc. It offers a calendar for the current month with dates in bold-type when articles are posted, and a direct link to those articles. There is an article archive link directly below that. The sidebar also features a word search box for the site.
Comments are listed at the end of each blog post and were often hyperlinked to the commentors' own personal pages, blogs. Some examples of commentors' backgrounds are: a technical marketing manager, a children's librarian, a reference librarian and a native artist with a M-LIS degree. One of the posts received comments in Spanish and German. The blog also offers tags at the end of each post. An example would be a post from July 23, 2008 about the library catalogue project Bibliocommons, with tags at the end to link to previous references to Bibliocommons on The Shifted Librarian site.
This site seems to be updated every three hours with the last update being 11:46 AM today. New articles are posted on average about two or three times per week.
All in all this is a fantastic site. It is so well written and approachable that it could appeal to anyone who utilizes library services, not just information professionals. It is a US-based site, with the majority of comments coming from people in the US but has a lot to teach about new information technology and the future of our libraries.
-Samantha
Assignment: Evaluating Blogs – Joanne Dawe
The blog I have chosen, from my bloglines account, to evaluate for this assignment is, ‘The GenealogyBank’. It can be found at: http://blog.genealogybank.com/2008/07/national-archives-library-of-congress.html.
Authority: The author of this blog is Tom Kemp. Tom is a member of the public who was been researching his personal family tree for 43 years. I thought that he may be bias to his specific location and demographic of his own research but found that the site does not reflect this. As search was conducted for more information regarding Mr. Kemp but the name is quite popular and could not pin any solid information on him. A link to his e-mail was not available, so no contact was made regarding the information on the blog.
Publisher: The Author is affiliated the GenealogyBank website at http://www.genealogybank.com. The website is the online division of NewsBank Inc. a company that resources newspapers and other printed material for genealogical data, such as obituaries, military information and government documents. The blog, to an extent, does promote the main website. Postings from the public, researching their trees, add very valuable information aim at all genealogical research such as, finding naturalization records or old photographs, information not necessary found on GenealogyBank but the level of comments were of the same standard as those pertaining to the main website.
Scope: The blog is both formal and informal, with information ranging from general research questions to important information regarding the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library and newspaper articles regarding research issues and new technology. These sites are linked within the text for clarification and further reading. Other links include the obvious, GenealogyBank website as well as important figures in the genealogical research world, census information and useful sites.
Accuracy and reliability: Sources are well indicated for facts being presented, especially regarding articles and major organizations and the sources are well link, not just to the main website of the information but also to actual references, saving time and confusion when following up data. There are several other channels to find the same information, but I enjoyed the fact that a diverse range was at my fingertips on one blog.
Audience: The blog is a wonderful resource for any seasoned genealogist or family tree hobbyist, the data is concise easy to read and very informative, this blog is one I have bookmarked for future reading and research. It covers the important activities of the major organizations as to regards new information releases to the public as well as a research tool for my business. Professional genealogist as well as the public and hobbyists make most of the comments.
Currency/Volume: The blog is updated regularly and the latest update was posted on September 17, 2008. Posts seem to be consistent with one every couple of weeks. I noticed many “lurkers” on the site. There is a panel on the blog showing who arrived and left the site, which is, updated every couple of minutes. This panel shows their location (city, state or province and country) and where they linked from, eg. Bloglines, blogger.com or livesearch, to name a few.
http://fadetheory.com/
Fade Theory is a blog that was listed under the "Librarians" heading in the Blogflux directory, although the focus seems to be less about librarians or libraries and more about books in general, or, as the "About" section of the website puts it, "books, inside and out: print culture, textual history, book arts, publishing news, reading and literacy, typography, and text-related design."
The sole author of the blog is Rachel J. K. Grace, who is described in the "About" section as a "freelance writer, editor, book critic, webmaster, book marketer, and photography enthusiast." In addition to her varied interests, her academic credentials include a BA in Jewish Studies from the University of Virginia and an MA in History from Florida State University, where she also completed a program in Publishing and Editing. The blog itself is published using Wordpress, a free personal publishing system.
The blog is very informal in tone, with many of the posts resembling personal journal entries detailing recent or upcoming travel exploits, or what books the author is currently reading. The posts really seem to be very sociable in character, often asking questions of the audience (i.e. What's their to do in Brussels?, How do you pronounce Proulx?). Other posts give excerpts from and links to articles taken from a variety of sources. These articles deal with a range of topics, from the efforts of the "Typo Eradication Advancement League, to book excerpts, to discussion of the modern tendency to 'sanitize' traditional fairy tales, to online publishing resources (WEbook) and book sharing clubs (BookCrossing). There are also regular obituary lists, describing the passing of figures from the literary world, with brief descriptions and sometimes quotes.
Many of the posts have received comments, which are usually in the same friendly, conversational tone as the original writing. Although there's no real way to tell, the commentors would seem to reflect the blog's target audience and be book enthusiasts from all walks of life.
The blog is updated fairly regularly, on average about every 3-4 days. The most recent update was on September 23rd.
All in all, I thought the blog presented a variety of interesting information in a very charming, personable manner. The site is well-designed and easy to read and I will probably continue to check it regularly.
Mwalu
Assignment 2
Vesta Giles
Blog Review: Confessions of a Science Librarian (http://jdupuis.blogspot.com/)
Confessions of a Science Librarian, a blog that offers "links and pointers to information of interest to academic science librarians," is the personal blog of John Dupuis, Head of the Steacie Science & Engineering Library at Toronto's York University. Active since 2002, this blog highlights topical articles, conference summaries and other timely information about science and the science librarianship. Blog posts are updated almost every day. More than merely his profession, Dupuis appears to be passionate about the overall field of science and the challenges facing it on a global scale. This blog is not, however, restricted to a specific field of science such as biology, chemistry or physics. Rather, it is about science as a subject in itself.
Authority & Accuracy for an Educated Audience
Dupuis not only works in the science information industry, the sources he cites are credible and authoritative and he lets them speak for themselves by quoting them extensively and providing links to the original sources. An example is the most recent post, "IEEE Annals in the History of Computing," where a group of relevant articles is listed with Dupuis providing minimal commentary. Other times, such as his earlier recap of the "Science in the 21st Century" conference, Dupuis offers a great deal of his own interpretation, experience and opinions on the proceedings. The blog is, however, directed toward readers who are active and educated in the science and information fields. These readers would already be primed for critiquing sources and methodology in the literature they are reading. Dupuis' postings inspire one or two comments per post.
Scope
The scope of this blog is very broad, covering topics such as conference summaries, book reviews, suggested reading lists (such as the "Science in the 21st Century reading list), and theoretical topics such as "e-science, Science 2.0, Open Science" – paralleling topics that are permeating general society and the world of library and information science.
Confessions of a Science Librarian is a thought provoking blog for any reader who has an interest in the overall topic of science and its role in society. Author John Dupuis offers insight and opinion, and backs it up with solid sources.
Citations
Dupuis, John. Confessions of a Science Librarian. 23 Sept. 2008 (http://www.langara.bc.ca/library/reshelp/citing.html#mla)
for some reason my citation got cut off and every time I try it comes out the same!
Vesta
Looks like Kim evaluated the same blog as myself...oh well.
Blog: Annoyed Librarian
URL: http://annoyedlibrarian.blogspot.com/
Authority: The annoyed librarian is an anonymous blogger who is not afraid to discuss many problems and controversial issues as related to Libraries. Her choice of anonymity seems to be safeguard for her reputation offline, due to the many heated claims and the charged discussions that follow at the blog. One can piece together bits of the annoyed librarian’s identity by keeping a close eye to small details throughout the many long posts. It seems she is a library professional of some kind working in the United States, though her identity is never revealed. Though the blogger’s level of authority comes into question, it is unquestionable that she is a highly eloquent and thought provoking writer when it comes to issues related to libraries. The number of comments can reach to three digits, which can attest to her ability to stir the pot. Though her writings are interesting and compelling, a reader might have to take them with a grain of salt due to the author’s absence of qualifications, affiliations and other evaluators of authority. I found the link to this particular blog from the reputable Library Garden blog. This might say something about its interest to librarians.
Publisher/Author Affiliations: The annoyed librarian seems to be a “free-spirited” (as her profile indicates) who is not compromised in her views by a publisher or other outside affiliations. Many of the controversial opinions expressed on the blog would probably be reigned in if they were connected with a publisher. With rational rants that call for library reform, the annoyed librarian seems too dangerous for a publisher. The unaffiliated and anonymous blog format is ideal for the free discussion of big library social issues that chagrin the author.
Scope/Content: I would say that the annoyed librarian is quite an informal blog, with many posts dealing solely with the blogger’s opinion about some part of librarian life she finds, needs changing. Many times articles and news releases from other sources are used to support the blogger’s arguments or are used as springboards for ideas the author wants to discuss further. With the blog’s highly informal slant there are rarely any links to scholarly journal articles. Topics discussed include book censorship, pornography in libraries, libraries and marketing (one day will “patrons” in public libraries be called “customers”), Library 2.0 ( the annoyed librarian ironically refers to the proponents of Library 2.0 as twopointopians.), Librarian earnings, the American Library Association and any other eyebrow raising subject . The annoyed library usually finds a way to be highly critical of whichever topic is at hand.
Accuracy and Reliability: Much of the information found on the annoyed librarian is strictly of the author’s opinion and is highly subjective. Though the author is quite harsh (much too harsh in some cases) on many sacred cows of librarianship, there are kernels of truth to be found in many of her posts. They are strictly her opinion of course, and are often not supported by many quantitative facts from other sources. The annoyed librarian is leans very hard on the side of a diary of opinions rather than a study of facts. Its goal is to provoke the library internet community, and one can only agree or vehemently disagree with her. I think many of her opinions and insights can be accurate at times, off base at others.
Audience: The blog seems quite popular for a blog that is quite negative about librarianship overall. It seems there are many disgruntled librarians out there who choose to enter the discussion in the comments, usually as an anonymous poster. The majority of the comments, like the blogger herself are anonymous. It seems that many of the views expressed would get many of the people who comment in hot water with their employers. Occasionally other bloggers with revealed identities will post because many of the things they cover are also covered by the annoyed librarian. The number of comments can reach the 100’s, which shows the blog’s popularity/notoriety.
Currency/Volume: The latest post on the annoyed librarian was on September 22nd 2008 and lately there seems to be one new post a week. In previous years there was a peak of 22 posts a month (or about 5 posts a week). At one time the frequency of posts was quite high but has slowed down since then.
Andrew G
www.librarian.net
Librarian.net (putting the rarin back in librarian)
http://www.librarian.net/
I found this site to be a very interesting one.Jessamyn West a rural librarian and a library activist is the author of this site. The blog software that is used to create her blogs is Wordpress. The blogs are all created with a creative commons license that can be downloaded for your own use, her pages are updated every few days and she is very well known for her blog pages.
This website was founded in 1999 and is the website is visited each day by many viewers. Jessamyn West is a former member of the ALA (American Library Association) Jessamyn West was one of three dozen "credential bloggers" at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, this was the first time that such an event was issued credentials to bloggers.
Librarian.net is characterized as a anticensorship and pro-freedom of speech. All of her blogs are well written and are enjoyed by many around the world.
I would definatly subscribe to this blog.
Citations used
www.Jessamyn.com/me/faq.html
www.MetaFilter.com
www.Wikipedia.org/Jessamyn_Charity_West
Blog Evaluation: Banned Books
URL: http://www.pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/
Author: Elaine Anderson, Fonthill, Ontario.
Authority: Elaine Anderson works as the “Adult and Youth Programs Press Liaison” in the Fonthill Library system. Her association with the library system keeps her up to date on all the recent library news and gossip. She seems to take an active interest in banned books because of the scandalous nature of censorship and the right to read what one wishes. Her blog offers a list of banned books, which she encourages the blogger to read (it is a really big list), and also offers readers to add in any banned books they have heard of so they may be added to the list. The blog also endorses “Freedom to Read Week” and “Banned Book Week” programs to help raise reader awareness.
How often Material is Updated: the material is updated regularly, with entries every one to two weeks. The articles can be quite lengthy, and seem to be well thought out. But I guess that is because we are dealing with a librarian.
Content Discussion: Along with all the conversation about banned books, and censorship acts across the globe, the site also offers tons of links to related articles, and other blogs. The conversation, and opinions stated are generally related to censorship and freedom of expression in a variety of libraries, including public schools, and public libraries. The author likes to point out that different libraries, would (or should) have different guidelines for banning books. As well as commenting on articles in national news papers (globe and mail) and magazines.
By: Colette Helm
Information Visualization
“THIS BLOGSPHERE WELCOMES INFORMATION VISUALIZERS. YOU ARE WISE AND OTHERS ARE OTHERWISE. BE HAPPY TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT AMONG THE TRILLIONS WHO ARE CLICKING ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD OF BLOGS. SINCE YOU HAVE PICKED THIS BLOG IT IS LIKELY THAT YOU ARE ONE OF THE MANY WHO SEEK ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF LOOKING AT INFORMATION. WISH YOU A HAPPY JOURNEY THRO THIS MAZE” Mohamed Taher, http://akbani.blogspot.com/
Blog Address
http://akbani.blogspot.com/
This concept of this blog seems somewhat hard to grasp at first. The idea is to show context and detail together. In order to achieve this you must show all graphical views in parallel to your idea (information) being presented – huh? Perhaps the idea is to ‘think outside the box’ when it comes to ‘information.’
“All graphical views are visible in parallel. There is no scrolling in graphical views. Each tree-node indicates the number of its children.”
http://akbani.blogspot.com/2005/12/information-visualization.html
The following quote better describes the mandate of this blogosphere:
“It is about a world of touch (e.g., feel, felt, found), look and visualization, with an attempt to combine verbal, vocal and visual -- to synchronously see, hear, share and do much more.”
http://akbani.blogspot.com/2005/12/information-visualization.html
The ‘Blogmaster’, Mohamed Taher, runs 12 blogs and is the ‘Webmaster’ of 6 websites.
Taher is a librarian who’s experience also runs outside the information and technology borders. His training includes cultural studies and mental health and addiction issues which he links with his computer science interest; this is evident in his many publications. In his capacity as coordinator of the Ontario Multifaith Council, Taher strives to provide research-based reports on faith used for religious and spiritual care.
He has held many library related positions in varying information institutions with an eye to library info and infra-structure, marketing and public relations, web analytics and research. Taher uses his vast experience to train and coach others in the techno- knowledge based world.
Noticing that Mohamed Taher was available to chat from his blog link I attempted making contact, unfortunately he couldn’t be reached.
For more information about Mohamed Taher visit the following links.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mtaher
Publications by Mohamed Taher:
http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/indices/a-tree/t/Taher:Mohamed.html
Books written by Mohamed Taher:
http://www.geocities.com/drmtaher/publications.htm
List of blogs moderated by Mohamed Taher.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/05230356608624560148
The information gathered on this site is collected in the name of professional interest, no agency or individual supports this activity. All comments posted to the blogs are moderated and must be approved by the author.
It appears likely that Taher’s religious affiliation plays an equal part with his library sciences interest when it comes to the subject matter of this blog.
Here you will find articles that lend visualization techniques (ie.) moving graphs etc., to various social networks and concepts. The best way to understand this idea is to see it. The following link comes from a blog posted by Mohamed Taher on September 09, 2008.
10 Amazing Visualizations of Social Networks Info courtesy: BPWebNews.
The blog supports a variety of linked sites, such as ‘youtube’ newspaper articles and scholarly blogs, the information originates from well distributed sources with functioning links to original articles, abstracts and graphics.
The graphics used within this blog make the articles much easier to understand as some of the processes described would suit those with a technical background. The visualization perspective of this blog site, combining imagery with text, is not always available from other resources and makes coverage of some topics more digestible. Notably Taher uses religion/spirituality to convey the images detailed in the blog topics
he sites.
This website appears to elicit comments from other librarians, notably those with a dual interest; education and religion. Moderator of the ‘Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarians Weblog’ http://lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com/ John Lang is one such contributor. After reviewing the archives I would have to speculate that there are far more ‘lurkers’ than contributors to this site.
The most recent entry, September 23, 2008, is an invitation to participate in a “Visual Dictionary” http://wordia.com/ definitely within the ‘visual’ realm of this blog. There seems to be at least one entry a week, often more. What’s more interesting is the subject matter differs radically from one entry to the next, yes, they are based on visualization and image technology however this is an all encompassing field at the risk of sounding trite; the possibilities are endless.
Due to the nature of the information techniques described in this blog it correlates well with the internet/computer skills being taught in the LIBR 1111 course. It is just another way of ‘visualizing’ technology as it strides into our future – Web 3.0 anyone?
Sources:
http://akbani.blogspot.com/
Information Visualization blog, Mohamed Taher.
Accessed September 24, 2008.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mtaher
Linkedin Mohamed Taher
http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/indices/a-tree/t/Taher:Mohamed.html
Publications by Mohamed Taher. Accessed September 24, 2008.
http://www.geocities.com/drmtaher/publications.htm
Books written by Mohamed Taher. Accessed September 24, 2008.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/05230356608624560148
Blogger Profile. Accessed September 25, 2008.
http://www.geocities.com/drmtaher/mohamed_taher.htm
Mohamed Taher Resume. Accessed September 25, 2008.
http://lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com/
John Lang, Lonewolf Librarian Blog. Accessed September 25, 2008.
The previous blog was written by Diana Robertson. Somehow that escaped publication.
torytime Standouts Weblog - Raising Children who Love to Read!
http://www.storytimestandouts.com/wordpress/
This blog contains posts by a woman named Carolyn. She does not give her last name, but information regarding her credentials and what she does for a living is found by following the link to the storytimestandouts.com website. Carolyn is a BC Certified teacher and a "book lover". She parenting programs as well as workshops on teaching children to read. She tutors privately and writes book reviews for a pre-school organization's newsletter. She seems to be well-versed in what she is doing. Not only has she been doing it for many years, she also attends workshops herself. The fact that the city of Richmond Leisure Services contain her programs, speaks to her experience. In terms of bias, she approaches her subject from the perspective of an educator and a parent.
This blog contains links to Amazon as well as ads by Google. Whether or not she is directly affiliated with Amazon is not clear; however, the images of the books she reviews are linked to the Amazon website. Generally speaking, she seems to be promoting the causes of early literacy and a love of reading as well as her own product - her workshops.
The author has created a fairly formal blog in that although comments are welcome regarding the various books she reviews and her own opinions/editorials, it is definitely not a personal "chat" style blog. She reveals her opinions of books and of workshops she has attended, for example, but she doesn't go on about her cats or her commute to work. Her posts relate to the topics of children's literature and parenting for the most part. It is not so formal, however, that only certain individuals are welcome to post - anyone seems welcome.
Many links are provided through this blog to author's websites, book awards and reviews and parent teacher resources to name a few. The browser of this blog gets the impression that Carolyn is offering her opinions regarding children's books (recommended reads, etc.) as well as parenting topics. The fact that she is an experienced educator helps give her opinions merit.
This blog is suitable for parents, teachers, librarians and children's book lovers in general. Although there seems to be heavy linking with Amazon, there is enough opinion / advice from Carolyn to give a sense of independence. There doesn't seem to be much "action" in terms of comments on her posts; however, that doesn't necessarily mean that no one is out there reading them. She posts monthly and there are links to archived posts back to November 2006.
This would be a useful blog to check out to get some ideas about new children's books. It also provides some insights about where and how these books can be used in teaching children to read and about the world around them: the post from April 2008, for example, talks about books on owls and links the reader to the Thompson Rivers University webcam on the nest of a Great Horned Owl.
Overall, this blog is worth taking a look at.
Apologies, the title of the blog should read:
Storytime Standouts... the first S seemed to disappear!
Fahrenheit 451: Freedom To Read
http://pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/
The author of this blog is Elaine Anderson, who works in a library as a press liaison. Being that she is employed within a library, it’s accurate to say that she is quite knowledgeable when it comes to different literary pieces that have been banned. It does not appear that she would have any type of bias on the subject, unless she were an author of which one of her books had been banned. That however, does not seem to be the case. The only affiliated organization appears to simply be the library in which she is employed at, and still, there seems to be no obvious bias, or reason for any bias, other than the simple love of books and information. The blog is not necessarily informal, but it certainly does not come across as a formal site. Links to sites such as Amazon are posted on the blog, where one can select a book that they would be interested in purchasing, and the author also includes links to the public library in which she works at. The author mentions Wikipedia at times when referencing certain subjects or events, and she also references other sites that can be used as a reference tool for librarians. Essentially, any website that provides further information on the topic of discussion is posted for the reader, should they want to pursue further learning on the subject. There are not a lot of comments posted for entries. Those who do comment seem to be other librarians, but their affiliation or relation to the author is not immediately apparent. The blog is updated fairly regularly; the trend appears to be a few times a month. The most recent update was from earlier in the week.
Darcie Smith
http://library2.usask.ca/~fichter/blog_on_the_side/
Blog on the Side
This blog is written by Darlene Fichter, the data library coordinator at the University of Saskatchewan. Fichter has authored this blog since 2004, and posts on a variety of topics related to technology, web resources, and the changing roles of libraries.
Fichter's blog is mainly concerned with the use of new technologies and tools available to workers in the information industry. She supports the expanding role of computers in libraries to make information more accessible for patrons, and as a valuable resource for librarians that must be embraced.
The author's professional duties in the digital and online realm inform the topics she writes about in her blog. Postings are, for the most part, related to web-related topics -- recent posts have been on Google's new embedded book feature for blogs, links to web presentation tutorials, internet history and future projections, and conference presentations on web 2.0. However, she has also written some interesting posts on Government cuts to arts funding, and academic perspectives on libraries and librarians. These topics are discussed from a Canadian perspective, which was a refreshing change after examining a number of American-authored blogs.
This blog is geared towards other information technology workers in libraries, and to those with an interest in Web 2.0. The purpose of this blog seems to be twofold -- not only does it educate readers, it also has an entertainment function as well. In addition to very informative posts, Fichter provides links to some interesting and entertaining library and book related videos -- a personal favourite was posted in 2007, titled "Medieval Helpdesk: Helping Monks Adapt to Books from Scrolls."
Other linked video content is of a more serious and academic nature, such as Fichter's posting of Kevin Kelly's talk on the first 5000 days of the internet.
Style-wise, Blog on the Side is written fairly informally, and keeps jargon usage to a minimum. This made the blog much more approachable and easy to read in comparison to others, where a translator might be required!
Although written fairly informally, Blog on the side appears to be a fairly reliable source of information. Almost all of the author's posts have links to original sources of the material she is commenting on, and quoted sources are always cited. This allows the reader to view the material Fichter is commenting on, and to develop an informed opinion about Fichter's position on her topics. In the most recent post on this blog, the author discusses some talks that she gave at the Saskatoon Barcamp (a presentation series on Web 2.0-related topics). Fichter posted the Google Presentation slide shows she had used in her lecture to give the reader some additional background information about the event discussed in this post. In a posting on the way that academia views libraries Fichter provides direct quotations and citations for all of her sources; thus proving to the reader that her comments on this subject are not mere opinion.
The major drawback of Blog on the Side has to do with the currency of postings. Although this blog is updated and remains current, new postings are added every few weeks -- by comparison, other blogs like Jessamyn West's librarian.net are updated every few days. However, when new postings are added, Fichter will post on a number of different topics. Therefore, readers are still presented with a high volume of useful (and occasionally entertaining information).
Overall, this blog is very impressive, and a great resource that I will continue to read.
Kristine Moore
Evaluate a Blog
http://www.storytimestandouts.com/index.htm
http://www.storytimestandouts.com/wordpress/
The web site Storytime Standouts:
offers a ton of good information on kids, reading and learning. and The weblog: offers book reviews and alot of related links.
The main site is current with up to date entries and current book reviews. The references link has alot of really good links related to reading and children. The weblog is fairly current as well mainly consisting of book review and links to articles and other sites of interest including information on workshops. There does not seem to be too many comments on her actual posts on the blog.
Authority & Accuracy for an Educated Audience:
The site is operated by Carolyn.(unable to find a last name) She graduated from the University of British Columbia in May 1984 with Bachelor of Education. She is a B.C. certified teacher, a member of the B.C. College of Teachers and a book lover.
She offers Professional Development and Parent Education programs as well as, writes reviews of children’s books for The PPP Partner (the newsletter of the Council of Parent Participation Preschools in B.C.).
In early 2002 she started the ‘Getting Ready to Read ’program
which emphasizes phonemic awareness, alphabet recognition, comprehension and developing a positive attitude toward books and reading.
SCOPE: The scope of the blog is primarily focused on reading and how to encourage it. There are alot of links and articles offering perspectives, advice and tools to help with that goal. Although this is not a site for library information per se, I do think it a great site for a childrens librarian or a librarian working at a school.
kym jespersen
The Shifted Librarian
http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/
The Shifted Librarian is Jenny Levine, a graduate of the University of Illinois with a Masters in Library Science. Ms. Levine works for the American Library Association as an Internet Development Specialist and Strategy Guide and she deals with social networking systems and user interfaces. Her position on technology is very Web 2.0 and she believes that libraries need to be going the same way. The title of the blog refers to the re-emerging trend of internet push not pull and how users of libraries are now used to having information pushed at them and they are starting to demand the same services of their libraries. With her background of designing web sites, introducing technology to libraries and fascination with information Ms. Levine is well suited to be an authority on information shifting. Searching her name in Google brings up the blog second on the main page so she is definitely a popular destination for those interested in technology and information.
The blog is well designed with a clear menu on the right and seven different virtual points of contact with Ms. Levine, including Facebook, Twitter, Del.icio.us, and LinkedIn. There are links to her blogroll, a fantastic reading list of books and a link to some fascinating articles to read. The entries are updated every few days with some days having multiple entries. The current entries in September range from the technology at the Marriot Hotel chain, studies of video-gaming and it's complexities, a link and video about Banned Books week, and a discussion of the Kindle and its impact on libraries and readers. The comments are a bit low for a blog with this much exposure, but fascinating content overall.
As well being a good writer, Ms. Levine attributes her sources, and provides links to all the material quoted, for further checking, such as:
That’s when it hit her: The kids were practicing science.
They were using the scientific method. They’d think of a hypothesis — This boss is really susceptible to fire spells — and then collect evidence to see if the hypothesis was correct. If it wasn’t, they’d improve it until it accounted for the observed data.
This led Steinkuehler to a fascinating and provocative conclusion: Videogames are becoming the new hotbed of scientific thinking for kids today….
This is what Steinkuehler reports in a research paper — ‘Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds‘ (.pdf) — that she will publish in this spring’s Journal of Science Education and Technology. She and her co-author, Sean Duncan, downloaded the content of 1,984 posts in 85 threads in a discussion board for players of World of Warcraft.” [Games without Frontiers]
This is blog that I will be checking daily. I anticipate learning a lot from Ms. Levine about libraries and technology.
Susan Grant
Tame the Web
http://tametheweb.com/
In August a new scramble crosswalk in Toronto that allows people to walk through the intersection at Yonge and Dundas was debuted. The scramble crosswalk is what comes to mind when reading the purpose of Michael Stephens’ blog Tame the Web: to explore the intersection of libraries, technology and people. People entering an intersection going in all different ways that to the uninitiated would seen chaotic.
Michael Stephens is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science of Dominican University in River Forest Illinois. Stephens has a prominent presence in the library world with writings for various journals and magazines, speaking engagements, and is active within the American Library Association. His doctoral dissertation was on the role of blogging in libraries. He is an authority on the use of technology in libraries and Library 2.0. Aside from Stephens, there are two contributors to the blog who are also academics with similar interests.
One would expect biases, whether they are that he is so focused on technology to the detriment of humans or that as an academic he is out of touch. In his blog and elsewhere on the web, he appears to be wholly committed to the cause of web 2.0 and Library 2.0. He has not lost sight of the fact that technology should be used by people in order to help others use the library, for the first time or more efficiently or just to have fun. There are postings about libraries with video games and others about the stories libraries tell regarding unfriendly signs in libraries.
His blog postings range in topics from helping a young girl complete a school assignment to the more serious issues of legality surrounding photos taken at public libraries. There are also photos, links to other blogs, copies of letters, and announcements. Postings are made daily, sometimes several times a day. On September 18th his posting was called “Legally, should Libraries NOT be using Flikr?” This posting included many links including those with legal information, links to previous postings about Flikr and links to the original article Stephens wrote about. This posting received several comments. The comments made were mostly by library professionals and most of them also maintained blogs. Each commentator clarified points made by Stephens and this was a good example of using blogs as a forum for discussion.
Michael Stephens has many ideas, wishes and goals for libraries and Tame the Web is a wonderful way of allowing his thoughts to be shared while doing so in an accessible manner. There may be lots of people in an intersection crossing the street but somehow the lines on the road make the movements of the people make sense. In that way, Tame the Web brings forth Stephens ideas along with new library innovations and technologies and makes sense of it all.
Linda Yenson
I have chosen to evaluate the Information Technology Division of the Ohio Library Council. You can find their blog at http://olcit.blogspot.com/.
This is obviously a collection of blogs posted by different library staff in Ohio. As such, it's hard to pin down the authorship. I was able to look at different profile info from the posters and it was pretty vague.
The blog is obviously affiliated with libraries in Ohio. The Ohio Library Council (OLC) is the state association for public libraries. It would be the Ohio equivalent of BCLA here, I suppose.
The blog seems to help to present a lot of content from their conference and I found quite a bit of it interesting. It is fairly informal. I think it's a cool idea to make an interactive spot for a library association/council. An open source blog provides quite a few links to free software and different library bodies.
I didn't find any concrete proof of accuracy, but nothing that I read seemed off, either.
The audience is primarily libraries and library staff. It's probably not something that the general public would be interested in. For myself, though, I would definitely check back and see what's new from time to time.
It's not super current. The last posting was in June of 2008. But I could understand how fellow librarians can be busy and not always have time for sideline stuff like a blog.
All in all, it was a fun discovery and I'd encourage other wannabe library technicians to check it out!!
Elaine Wiebe
/www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/
This is a personal blog of Amanda Etches-Johnson, who is the User Experience Librarian at McMaster University Library. She is also an instructor at the Univ. of Western Ontario in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies. Her main focus is the use of social software to connect libraries to their users. This includes blogs, wikis, RSS etc. - pretty much what we have been discussing so far. Because she is applying these tools in a real library situation, she can comment on the successes and failures of trying to do so. She also writes a column on Libraries and Web 2.0 for the Ontario Library Association's journal, Access OLA. She was also noted in Library Journal in their 2007 "Movers and Shakers" list. And for those who are really keen, a free online course from 2007, "Five weeks to a social library", that she helped organize is still available at /www.sociallibraries.com/course/
The intended audience is anyone interested in social software or Web 2.0, but in particular those trying to adapt these technologies to the library environment. Her professional interest is the use of these tools in libraries, although more recently the discussion is more about the use of this software in general. However,older posts contain a lot of material from her presentations that is well worth looking at. There is also a substantial set of links (several hundred) to academic, public and special libraries that are using these tools. She has an impressive list of presentations on the subject, which are listed on the blog. Most of these link to notes or conference summaries for the presentation and often include links to the sites discussed or other relevant resources.
Like many personal blogs, posts are somewhat irregular, numbering 2-9 per month. It is still current, though, with the most recent being July 17, 2008 and there is at least one post per month. Archives are available back to Sept. 2003. No counter is given for readership, but the stats claim 271 posts and 290 comments. Technorati showed an authority of 76 (76 blogs that link to it in the last 6 months) so it is probably not a hugely read blog. That would be a shame as there is a lot of material here for anyone interested in the topic, especially if they would like to see examples of it in use. One reason I picked this blog to review was that I wanted to find something with Canadian content. Unfortunately, there are not that many however I would definitely recommend this one.
The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics (IJPE)
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/
Authority: The author of this blog is Heather Morrison. Heather is employed as a professional librarian, working in the capacity of project coordinator with the BC Electronic Library Network. “The British Columbia Electronic Library Network (BC ELN) is a partnership between the Province of British Columbia and its public post-secondary libraries. BC ELN's purpose is to develop, promote and maintain system-wide mechanisms that allow post-secondary libraries to meet the expanding information needs of the province's learners and researchers, at the lowest possible cost. “ http://www.eln.bc.ca/view.php?id=123. The ELN is ‘housed’ at Simon Fraser University (SFU).
Heather lists her professional profile on the right-hand side of her blog. Her profile was verified by referring to independent sources such as ELN, the Canadian Library Association, and Simon Fraser University. By all accounts she devotes considerable professional time and energy to Open Access and is well connected and respected within the movement.
Open Access is defined: “Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.”
(from Peter Suber's Open Access Overview, http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm) . (1)
Heather is a strong advocate for Open Access.
The issue of Open Access is a big one for academics and academic libraries, as the costs associated with publishing and subscribing to scholarly journals (paper based and online) are escalating. Heather’s personal bias comes squarely down on the side of free sharing of scholarly information.
In order to get a more rounded perspective on the subject of Open Access, one should consult other sources, such as publishers (including commercial, academic, and government).
Publisher/Author Affiliation: Heather’s blog is a personal one. Her employer does not sponsor it. She clearly states that it represents her personal opinions only, not those of her employer. It is hosted by blogger.com, which is owned by Google(2).
Scope/Content: “Imagine a world where anyone can instantly access all of the world's scholarly knowledge - as profound a change as the invention of the printing press. Technically, this is within reach. All that is needed is a little imagination, to reconsider the economics of scholarly communications from a poetic viewpoint.”(3)
Heather publishes entries related to Open Access, which are national and international in focus. For example, a recent post dated: August 28, 2008 “Open Access in Canada College & Research Libraries News article”(4) talks about Canadians who attended the recent Budapest Open Access Initiative meeting.
A July post talks about Open Access Archives in India.(5)
She provides statistical insights into the growth of the Open Access movement, with entries such as the recent “Twice as much gold OA articles in 2008 as in 2006! The Dramatic Growth of Open Access”. Sept. 21, 2008. (6)
She also posts entries about different academic subject areas and their ventures into the OA arena.
Heather highlights publishers who, in her view are being innovative in moving towards a more open environment. Her Feb 20, 2008 post “nowpublishers.com and Authors Advantages”(7) is an example.
She occasionally strays into topics not directly related to open access. For example her post on Sept 20, 2008 “ibelieveinopen.ca”(8) is about open government and tied in with the current federal election.
In summary, Heather’s blog contains a wide variety of content related to Open Access and is an excellent introduction, as well as a way for someone not working in the area to keep current with its growth and current issues. To balance her strong advocacy position, one should search out other opinions.
The tone of her blog is one of encouragement and support for people and organizations that are helping to move Open Access forward.
Accuracy and Reliability: Several of the links in the articles were tested and worked. The posts also refer to reputable sources.
Audience: For anyone looking to learn about Open Access, Heather’s blog is an excellent place to start. Her entries are interesting; she provides links to articles that explain OA, and to other publications. Open Access is having a significant impact in the world of academic publishing and l academics scholars and librarians in academic libraries will find it of interest.
Currency/Volume: Heather has been writing this blog since March 2005. She posts regularly, although not overwhelmingly. Her most recent post was Sept. 24, 2008. Of note, is that the blog no longer provides a forum for comments on the posts. This was discontinued in Aug 2007, likely because there were very few comments. There is, however, a count of the number of visitors to the site, a feature provided by sitemeter.com. As of Sept 26, 2008, the meter indicated approximately 22,600 visitors since Sept of 2006. This is approximately 30 visitors per day. It isn’t clear whether this does or does not include those who subscribe to the feed or email.
Footnotes:
1.Demystifying open access journals : pure gold.Morrison, Heather and Charron, Jason (2007) Demystifying open access journals : pure gold. Delivered at Canadian Library Association Preconference 2007 : "Collections 2007 : Reinvigorating Collection Development and Management", St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador (Canada). Presentation. E-LIS E-prints in Library and Information Science. http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00010054/
2.http://www.google.com/intl/en/about.html, 2008
3. Heather Morrison, The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics. http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/
4. Heather Morrison, The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics. http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2008/08/open-access-in-canada-college-research.html
5. Indian Institutes of Science Director favors open archives Heather Morrison, The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics.
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2008/07/indian-institutes-of-science-director.html
6.http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2008/09/draft-notes-for-dramatic-growth-of-open.html
7.http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2008/02/nowpublisherscom-and-authors-advantages.html
8.http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2008/09/ibelieveinopenca.html
ps.
Marion said is Marion
Review: Librarians Against Palin
http://librariansagainstpalin.wordpress.com/
The best library blog that I’ve recently discovered is Librarians Against Palin. It was set up soon after Sarah Palin was chosen as John McCain’s running mate in the US presidential election, to protest her apparent attempt to ban, censor or remove books from the local library when she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. The blog collects information about the confrontation, and encourages discussion, debate and collaboration to get as much information about this incident out to voters.
Using the six categories outline in the course readings, here’s my review of the blog:
“1. Authority: What expertise does the author have in the subject area? What bias might the author have?”
The author is not named on the site, and I have been unable to find out who the author is from several web searches. In fact, there has been a lot of discussion about how the author or authors have chosen to remain anonymous (e.g. http://www.opednews.com/articles/LIBRARIANS-AGAINST-MCCAIN-by-Judy-Swindler-080905-443.html). Cleary, with such a topic and against such a formidable foe, the desire to remain anonymous would be strong; who is to say that retribution for revealing such facts might not occur if McCain and Palin are elected in November!
Judy Swindler’s “Librarians Against Palin Founder a Mystery” (http://www.opednews.com/articles/LIBRARIANS-AGAINST-MCCAIN-by-Judy-Swindler-080905-443.html, published September 5, 2008, accessed September 27, 2008), points out a few things that we do know about the author of the blog. Most important is that, as the site claims, the author is a public librarian with a significant amount more education than Palin. Swindler points out that this makes the librarian a more expert source about this issue (getting information to people who can use it) than Palin is!
The bias the author has is clearly against people who want to censor information. In this case, like many others, bias is a good thing.
“2. Publisher/Author Affiliation: Is the author affiliated with an organization that hosts the blog? What are the author’s and/or publishing organization’s credentials regarding the subject? What bias might the author/organization have?”
It is not clear to me whether this blog is supported by an organization other than a concerned librarian trying to do a public service, as the “About” page claims (http://librariansagainstpalin.wordpress.com/about/). The author’s credentials and bias are listed above.
“3. Scope/Content: What seems to be the purpose of the blog and/or the site to which it belongs?”
The purpose of the blog seems to be to publish information about Palin’s apparent anti-library politics. It seems to have collected a significant amount of information during the nine days during which information was posted on it (September 3-12, 2008). The comments still seem active with contributions from other users, so it’s clear that people are still paying attention to this issue—which means that the blog is still serving its purpose.
“4. Accuracy and Reliability: Has the author indicated sources for the facts being presented?”
The blog does cite sources, provide links and request more information from other users about the issue.
“5. Audience: Does the blog deal with the topic at a level that suits you and the requirements of your patrons or project?”
As a “one stop shop” for information about Palin’s fight with Wasilla’s librarian, this blog is the best of the bunch. It also shows nicely how the story developed over the course of its first week or so.
Other users seem to agree. Comments seem to be split roughly evenly between librarians and non-professional, regular citizen users of libraries.
“6. Currency/Volume: Is the blog updated regularly? When was the last update? How often are new articles added?”
The blog was updated regularly for the nine days between September 3-12, as the story developed. There have been several recent comments, so the site still seems active and widely used. Since there seems to be no new information available about the issue, it doesn’t really matter that the blog hasn’t been updated much for the past couple of weeks. The information will remain useful (and hopefully accessible!) to concerned citizens until the election in November.
Tame the Web (TTW)
http://tametheweb.com
Tame The Web began April 1 2003; it is authored by Dr. Michael Stephens. “Michael holds bachelor's and MLS degrees from Indiana University and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of North Texas (techsources.ala.org)”. He completed his doctorate in 2007 at the University of North Texas. Stephens is an Assistant supervision of the Graduate School of Library Information Science at Dominican University in Illinois. According to the author the blog deals with “libraries technology and people – and the fascinating intersection between them”. The blog seems to promote the use of technologies in libraries as it speaks to Web 2.0 technologies very favourably. Kyle Jones and Lee Leblanc are both contributors to the blog; each is at work on a MLS. Kyle is a Library Technology Assistant at A.C. Buchler Library, with a keen interest in digital literacies. His background is in English Literature and Secondary education. Lee works in reference and Technology at Florida Gulf Coast University Library. Guests are invited to submit proposal for post to mstephs7@mac.com. Those posting to the blog appear to be trained or working in the field of library science. Bloggers include Youth Services Professionals, information technology professionals, and professionals from special libraries.
Michael Stephens regularly writes for library journals including: American Libraries, Computer in Libraries and Library Journal. He has published 24 articles since 2004. He has also given numerous presentations to public libraries, academic libraries, library associations and conference groups; regional, national and international. Stephen provides free downloads of recent presentations.
Google produced two hits for Michael Stephens. The first link points to Tame The Web. The second link points to Fishnews. Fisnews reveals; that Michael Stephens is honoured as with Library Journal’s “Movers and Shakers” in 2005. He published a series of learning modules titled “Library Internet Trainer’s Toolkit” with Neal-Schuman in 2001. A search of ALA.org revealed that Michael Stephens is the chair of ALA’s Web Advisory Committee. The Committee’s roster confirms that Stephens is the chair for 2008-2009 and that he is an Assistant Professor at Dominican University GSLIS in IL. Computers in Libraries features Stephens in “Noted and Quoted”.
Michael Stephens announced that in August, he will begin a teaching position at Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science in River Forest, III. Most recently, he was the special projects librarian at the St. Joseph Couni^ Public Library in South Bend. Ind., where he contributed to tedhnology-related projects, planning, and implementation. Prior to that position, he served in several capacities including assistant manager, reference librarian, technology trainer. Web developer. Web redesign chair, and head of networked resources development and training. He is the author of the Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology blog and a presenter at national and international conferences. A Computers in Libraries contributor, he co-writes the Tech Tips for Every Librarian department with Rachel Singer Gordon.
"Noted & quoted." Computers in Libraries 26.7 (July 2006): 61-63. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. 27 Sep. 2008
The format for the blog is formal. The site is well organized and attractively laid-out. The author links to a variety of sites which are categorized alphabetically, ALA to You tube. Links include; Gaming and Games in Libraries, a number of Library Journals, OPAC 2.0, Signage in Libraries, and Tech Tips for Every Librarian. Stephens shares his knowledge and links to expertise in the field of library and information science. He is clearly an authority in many areas but does not hesitate to draw from the expertise of others’. The blog would appeal to people working, or training for a career, in library science. As a library technician in training I found the articles within my gasp of understanding. The articles are archived March 2004-. The latest posting was September 26, 2008 at 4:47. In the week of Sept 23 there were 14 postings.
Sources consulted:
http://www3.fis.utoronto.ca/resources/fisnews/2006/01/this-thursdayfis-feb-2-michael.html
http://ala.org/
http://tametheweb.com/
http://www.techsource.ala.org
September 27 2008 7:29 PM
Library History Interest Group
http://lhig.wordpress.com/
The Library History Interest Group is a relatively new blog that dates back to May 2008. The main contributor is Tanja Harrison, a librarian from Acadia University, Nova Scotia. The blog itself is established in Peter McNally Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at McGill University, Quebec. Thus, appears designed for Librarians and other academic members.
The interest group is affiliated with the Canadian Library Association. Therefore, one presumes a certain high level of accuracy and reliability in terms of content. The theme of the site is set to be in the interest of Canadian librarianship, history and philosophy.
The group aims to approach four goals:
• Adopt concerns, library history, philosophy and compare librarianship in Canada.
• Encourage awareness and discussion to related topics
• Promote research and publication on library history
• Develop communication between librarians and other members of academic community
Currently the content consists of three posts, May, June and August. Since, the academic year has commenced, perhaps it will become a monthly post. The most recent message is a “Call for Papers” to solicit at next years CLA conference in Montreal. This type of call is an opportunity to present non published papers or proposals to promote research and publication on library history. In absence of comments, not all their discussion goals are met. However, the promotion of research is found in the recent post and may encourage awareness and communication in the near future.
Kejo Buchanan
Speak Quietly: Ramblings About Libraries, Writing, and Everything in Between
http://speakquietly.blogspot.com/
The main writer is Scott Douglas, he has written a book on his experiences in the public library. The book he wrote is called “Quiet Please: dispatches from a public library” that was published this past year. He is a librarian in sourthern California
The blog is an independent blog posted through blogger. It is a personal blog with a view of a of the author. It is an informal blog with some links to information relevant to libraries. Then links to what the author finds funny or interesting news. Or as Scott himself describes “theme of the Speak Quietly blog is quite random, although most blogs are about technology and library trends with a pinch of humor whenever possible”. He provides links to articles talked about in the posting. The blog is geared toward library workers or library lovers but could be entertaining to anyone.
The site is updated regularly sometimes even more than once per day.
Citations
http://bloggingiswritingtoo.blogspot.com/
http://www.scottdouglas.org/
http://www.blogger.com/profile/17702996334629741325
Sandra Cole
http://www.librarian.net
Protecting privacy in libraries
posted on September 28, 2008 by Judah Hamer, President of Vermont Library Association.
The above mentioned article raises concerns about respecting patron privacy in a library. The author tries to clarify the new law of confidentiality and how it protects the library users in Vermont. It explains how the law allows a libary to release information to the parents of patrons under the age of 16, however they are also sensitive to the serious issues faced by the youth eg. "child abuse, alcholic parents or health concerns" and respect their need for retrieving correct and appropriate information.
It also explains how librarians need to protect the privacy of their patrons and how sometimes legal authorities over step their boundaries by expecting full co-operation for release of private information.
This is a short article published in the "BurlingtonFreepress.com" and is written in formal language by a person of the Library Association. At times we feel that the author is trying to defend their position of protecting patron privacy and confidentiality while being scrutinized by the judicial system for lack of co-operation. Although this article focuses on the privacy policy in Vermont, it would be a relevant issue for concern to all libraries in North America as well as Canada.
This particular blog site has very interesting articles which have a short introduction written by a library consultant in Vermont and a link to view the complete article of interest.
Nimisha Kuber
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