Welcome, Stranger: Public Libraries and the Global Village

This 2008 report presents findings from 2007 surveys

gathering data on the ways in which urban public libraries are involved with the transition of immigrants into American life. ... [The findings] show that urban public libraries are in the forefront of the effort to make their cities stronger by welcoming and integrating new residents from all over the world.

Opens directly into a PDF file. From the Urban Libraries Council (ULC).
URL: http://www.hypersimulation.com/ulc/ULC_WS.pdf

in preparation for 17 April session

• Dr. Joanne Marshall will lead the first part of the session. You have no readings for her session and thus have no need to post considerations for them. Be prepared to engage in conversation with her, however.
  
• Grant Lynch will lead us in the second half, thinking about where we are and where we want to go. To prepare yourselves for the session, read:
  1. The Public Library Renaissance - Berry
     • A great article to set the stage for evolving public library organizations.
  2. Constancy of Purpose, as Learned and Used in One Indiana Public Library - Hall
     • Combines Purpose with Mission --- Are they the same thing?
  3. Staying Public: The Real Crisis in Librarianship - Buschman
     • How has the American Public Library evolved over the past decade?
     • How does this change affect our mission?
  4. Libraries and the Decline of Public Purposes - Buschman
     • Discusses the "business model" of the American Public Library, and how this helps, hurts or simply interferes with Democratic fundamentals.
     • This one is the most academic of all of the articles, so feel free to skim this one.
  5. The Evolving Library - Farkas
     • The only "pragmatic" article in the group, Farkas discusses ways in which to incorporate change; in this case, technological advances.
  6. Save Profession - Crowley
     • Discusses how the American Public Library must return to its roots of education to avoid being swept away by other sources of information.
     • This is a fantastic article. If you only have time for one...
  7. Suicide Prevention: Safeguarding the Future of the Professional Librarian - Crowley
     • This article offers another look at the dwindling or eradication of public librarians.
     • Read only if you have time. Crowley can go on for a while.
• Questions to think about:
  1. What is the purpose of the American Public Library?
     • Is there one that applies to all organizations?
     • Is there one for the overall system, branching out into many for the individual libraries?
  2. What is the difference between purpose and mission?
     • How do vision, goals, objectives and ideals play into the mix?
  3. Is the American Public Library in need of philosophical overhaul?
  4. Can you define "Public Library?"

apropos YA and their information technology needs

As I read Ken's made up quote about YA and the amount of attention paid to their information technology issues, I remembered a Dilbert strip from yesterday. I think it says a few things on a few different levels.

Something to look at and think about

Michael Wesch is a professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State. He has gotten a lot of visibility because of a YouTube video he made a while back. You may well already know about it, but if you don't, it would be worth your while to look at it.

His video, The Machine is Us/ing Us, is a consideration of Web 2.0 and how newer technologies might be changing how we think about doing things. Libby Gorman showed this video in last spring's seminar as an intro to her Library 2.0 session.

A former student in one of my undergrad courses recently sent me to look at a newer Wesch video, Information R/evolution. This one might be of more direct relevance to us as it challenges us to consider the practices we follow and ask ourselves if this is the best way to be doing things as we move forward.

I doubt that Wesch was thinking about public libraries when he made these videos, but watching them certainly makes me think of public libraries. They might do the same for you all.

in preparation for the second part of the 10 April session

• Kenneth Alford will lead the discussion on technology and user expectations. To prepare yourselves for the session, read:
  1. Household Use of public Libraries and Large Bookstores - Hemmeter
     • A study on interchangeability and competition between libraries and bookstores
     • Feel free to skip the procedures section (599-605)
  2. The Participation Divide - Hargittai & Walejko
     • Does access to computers spawn web 2.0 use?
     • Read (2-5) and (9-16)
  3. Click First, Ask Questions Later - Goodman
     • A concise overview on YA internet use.
  4. Switch Your Search Engine - Notess
     • A reference librarians advice on internet searching.
  5. The Continual Evolution of Web Platforms - Secured Lender; Nov/Dec2007
     • What users are looking for in an online application
     • Article begins in the middle of the page.
• The first two readings are the driest and longest.
• Things to think about while reading:
  • Is competition with bookstores a reason to adopt or avoid the "bookstore model" for public libraries?
  • What can we (as librarians) do to encourage our patrons to use Web 2.0 features?
  • What do we do about the differences in the way different user groups actually "use"' the internet?
  • "YA tend to have their technology use studied more often than any other user group." What are the implications of that statement for a public library trying to create policies and programs?

Bibliography topics

I have added several items to our seminar final project page. I thought it might be wise to suggest a common citation style for our work and I think APA style will be the best. There's a link on the project page to a citation builder offered by UNC Libraries that will be useful to you. I also have links on the page to downloadable MSWord templates that contain styles that will allow you all to create a common look for your bibliographies. If you don't use MSWord, try to create your document so that it looks somewhat like the bibliographies that have been created by previous seminars.

Cities of Gold

During our discussions on 03 April about indigenous knowledge, I was reminded of a book I read a few years back. The book, Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado, by Douglas Preston is, on the surface, a story of modern people seeking to sense what it must have been like for the first Europeans to arrive in this part of the USA. But their experience of encountering (in the 20th century) the peoples who had been there to encounter the Spanish in the 15th century is memorable, and relates to the sense of how one relates to the entire topic of indigenous knowledge. One commentary on the book states it well.

At the heart of the book is Preston’s search for a new understanding of that moment when Europeans first fought Indians in the borders of what would become America—and the fatal consequences that resulted. For what Preston finds when he rediscovers the actual ruins of the Seven Cities of Gold—the mud pueblos of the Zuni Indians—is not a tale of the winning of the West, but a frightening story of loss.

It certainly made me sit back and reflect.