Librarianship A Top Profession for 2009

Danielle Dreger-Babbitt reports in the Examiner.com that being a librarian is one of the top 30 professions in the coming year (she has been in the field for 13 years). It ranks up there with physical therapist, veterinarian, and pharmacist. It has been on the list for several years now and it's no wonder why: it's a pretty awesome job.

Librarianship is an underrated career. Most librarians love helping patrons solve their problems and, in the process, learning new things. Librarians may also go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They may even get to put on performances, like children's puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders. On top of it all, librarians' work environment is usually pleasant and the work hours reasonable, although you may have to work nights and/or weekends. The job market for special librarians is good but is sluggish for public and school librarians. Nevertheless, persistent sleuthing?that key attribute of librarians?should enable good candidates to prevail.

Conversations About Plagiarism

Bestselling writer Neale Donald Walsch, the author of the Conversations With God series admitted to copying a story from another author. The story, posted on Beliefnet.com, was about his son's kindergarten winter show where a bunch of kids were holding up signs with letters on them to spell "Christmas Love" but one child's sign was upside down so it looked like "Christ Was Love."

But that wasn't his son, and it wasn't his story. He wrote it, verbatim, from a story that someone else wrote and published.

Walsch now claims that he read the story and his mind came to accept that it was something from his own personal experiences.

Yeah. The original author, Candy Chand, whose story was published online and in Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul doesn't believe that either. "Quite frankly, I?m not buying it.? she says. Her real fear is that so many people have heard of and read Neale Walsch, they're going to think that the story is his.

CoTweet?

Dave Rosenberg wrote at CNET's blogs about a new tool for Twitter. CoTweet is a tool in private beta. CoTweet reportedly allows for greater ease in multiple users tweeting from the same Twitter account. Such may have implications for libraries that plan to use Twitter as part of their outreach.

A Thought Exercise On Intermediated Reference Service

N.B.: This is tagged under features. Questions are posed in this posting so as to help stimulate discussion. Reader discretion is cheerfully encouraged.

David Lee King wrote recently pondering Ask-A-Librarian services online and if they require a reboot. With the launch of Mahalo Answers, as discussed recently on the podcast, there may be a commercial endeavor to watch. An example of a question thread at that commercial endeavor can be found here.

David Lee King took a look at taxpayer-subsidized answers services. Mahalo Answers is a commercial answers service that has venture capital rather than tax dollars behind it. Metaphorically speaking, what features from services like Mahalo Answers could be adapted and have their serial numbers filed off for use in libraries? What could librarians contribute in the other direction?

Tech thriller 'Daemon' rises from the underground

Book was mentioned on LISNEWS on Feb 18, 2008.

Story at USA Today
Tech thriller 'Daemon' rises from the underground

Excerpt from article:
You may never have heard of Daemon author Leinad Zeraus, but get ready to hear a lot about Daemon author Daniel Suarez.
A computer systems consultant and fan of computer games, Suarez self-published his debut techno thriller in 2006 using a pseudonym he created by reversing the spellings of his first and last names.

Thanks to Daemon's growing underground popularity with techies and bloggers, followed by an April 2008 Wired magazine article about Daemon's snowballing fan base, Suarez got a two-book contract with a major New York publishing house. Dutton will publish Daemon on Thursday.

Two cent item gets FREE Super Saver Shipping

Blog entry about a 2 cent book that qualifies for FREE Super Saver Shipping. Can be used to raise a $24.99 DVD or book to $25 to qualify for free shipping.

Last Chance To Get Your Favorite Blog On The "Blogs To Read in 2009" List!

Last Chance! I'll be posting the list for 2009 soon!

What blogs do you read every day? What blogs help you learn? What blogs keep you informed? What blogs make you laugh? Who's the best writer out there?

Think of it this way... 'I read many others, but these are the LIS blogs that read even when time is short'

Your list doesn't need to be complete or fair. I'm looking for input from as many people as possible so the final list doesn't miss anyone new or overlooked. My goal again this year, 10 blogs that, when followed as a group, paint a complete picture of what's going on in our little world.

Before your nominate, take a look at past winners, they aren't eligible for 2009:

10 Blogs To Read in 2006
http://www.lisnews.org/node/17775

10 Blogs To Read In 2007
http://www.lisnews.org/node/20341

The LISNews 10 Blogs To Read In 2008
http://lisnews.org/node/28830

You can leave a comment below, hit the contact form, or Send Me An Email.

A Visit to the Library of Congress on the First Day of the 111th Congress

Yesterday, January 6, 2009, was the swearing in of the newly-elected members of the House and Senate on the Hill, and I was fortunate to be in attendance. [ed-my son works for a U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania].

It was a marathon day of visiting the Nation's Capitol and the Capitol Building, along with the beautiful old Thomas Jefferson Building (the original home, photo below) of the Library of Congress. I attended a function in room LJ119 (appropriated named the "Librarian's Reception Room") and also saw the Main Reading Room and other portions of the magnificent Library. A few facts:

1. The LOC is the world's largest repository of knowledge and creativity with more than 142 million items in its collection.

2. The Library is spread over three buildings on Capitol Hill. The Thomas Jefferson Building (1897) is the original separate Library of Congress building; it was not named the Jefferson Building until 1980. The John Adams Building was built in 1938 and the James Madison Memorial Building was completed in 1981.

3. The Library is also the home of the U.S. Copyright Office and several other governmental archives.

4. The Library offers print materials in 470 languages.

5. The Library came into existence in 1800 as a small research library to serve the needs of the national legislature. It was housed during its first few years in the U.S. Capitol, which proved unfortunate when in 1814, the British burned down the Capitol resulting in its complete destruction.

6. The Library is directed by the Librarian of Congress, who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Since the Library was founded in 1800, there have been 13 Librarians of Congress, including current Librarian James H. Billington who was appointed by President Reagan. Dr. Billington, incidentally, was not trained as a librarian. He is a scholar and author, but I suspect he's learned a few librarian skills on the job. I have a request in to Dr. Billington's office for an interview for LISNews...hopefully he will come through one of these days.

7. There are lots of bibles at the Library. President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20, 2009, will take the oath of office on a Bible from the Library of Congress? collections that is steeped in history ? the same Bible upon which Abraham Lincoln swore March 4, 1861, to uphold the Constitution. The Library has a display of two of the earliest extant bibles; the Giant Bible of Mainz (1450's) and the Gutenberg Bible (1455) in separate cases in the East Corridor. Photos are specifically not allowed of these two treasures.

8. The Capitol Visitors Center (CVC) and the Library of Congress are connected by underground tunnels, which was rather nice as the weather in DC yesterday was a rainy-icy miserable mix.

9. The Great Hall at the Library has a ceiling 75 feet above its marble floor, and is decorated with strained glass skylights. The owl, a symbol of wisdom, is seen throughout the decoration in the Jefferson Building.

10. There is much more information available for visitors to America's Library; armchair visitors can access it all at the Library of Congress website. Are you a flickr fan? The LOC has a pilot project to place it's photos on the Flickr website FAQ and Flickr LOC photostream.

Once upon a trying time: It might be a good time to update classic children's books

It's the question every parent dreads. "Mommy, what's a collateralized debt obligation?" Who wants to be outed as an ignoramus by a kid? But with economic news blanketing the airwaves, such conversations are becoming almost impossible to avoid. Perhaps we should update children's books in time for the holidays.

Goodnight, Citigroup: a short poem of rescue promises from a little treasury secretary trying to keep the economy from falling into a deep slumber.

Stephen Fry Looks At The Gutenberg Press

You can watch it here, good stuff.

In this revealing documentary, Stephen Fry investigates the story of one of the most important machines ever invented - the Gutenberg Press.

The printing press was the world's first mass-production machine. Its invention in the 1450s changed the world as dramatically as splitting the atom or sending men into space, sparking a cultural revolution that shaped the modern age. It is the machine that made us who we are today.

Stephen's investigation combines historical detective work and a hands-on challenge. He travels to France and Germany on the trail of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press and early media entrepreneur. Along the way he discovers the lengths Gutenberg went to keep his project secret, explores the role of avaricious investors and unscrupulous competitors, and discovers why printing mattered so much in medieval Europe.

But to really understand the man and his machine, Stephen gets his hands dirty - assembling a team of craftsmen and helping them build a working replica of Gutenberg's original press. He learns how to make paper the 15th-century way and works as an apprentice in a metal foundry in preparation for the experiment to put the replica press through its paces. Can Stephen's modern-day team match the achievement of Gutenberg's medieval craftsmen?

The LJ Academic Newswire Year in Review, the Top Ten Academic Library Stories of 2008

Stark challenges lie ahead for higher education budgets and university endowments. Still, there is room for optimism, as well, with emerging technology, glorious new library buildings, and quickly changing attitudes regarding scholarly communication.

We kick off the LJ Academic Newswire?s 10th Anniversary year with our list of the top ten stories of 2008, in two parts, and the potential for these stories to make even more news in the coming months.

#1: Georgia State University Sued by Publishers over E-Reserves

Beedle the Bard update

The Beedle the Bard collectors edition was limited to 100,00 copies. Over Christmas the book sold out. On the second hand market the price spiked to $300 and $400 dollars. Amazon held back some copies so that if copies were damaged in transit they had replacements. Amazon has listed these held back copies and the price is back down to $100.

"Google Generation" & Digital Resource

An interesting study was [PDF] commissioned by the British library and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) identify how specialist researchers of the future, currently in their school years and preschool years are likely to access and interact with digital resources in 5-10 years time. Additionally, the study is to assist library and information services to anticipate and react to any new or emerging behaviors in the most effective way.

The report defines the "Google Generation" as those born after 1993.

The study was to establish whether or not as a result of digital transition, the "Google" generation are searching for and researching content in new ways; and whether it is likely to mold their future behaviors as mature researchers. Additionally, whether or not,new ways of searching content will be any different from the way researchers & scholars carry out their work.

Moreover,research libraries face a great deal of challenges today in the digital marketplace. Today, they're adjusting to facebook..

Additionally,the study found the the "Google" generation and information literacy of young people,has not improved even with more access to technology. Young people spend little time evaluating information. Young people have poor understanding of their information needs. As a result, they exhibit a strong performance for expressing themselves in natural language rather than analyzing which key words might be more effective/
Finally the study suggests that print sales will diminish drastically as blogs, RSS,media players, and podcasting devices become established.

Academic Libraries Open 24/7 for Student All Nighters

Carnegie Mellon joins a growing number of campuses whose libraries are keeping themselves relevant in the laptop age by running at least part of their operation round-the-clock and by making other changes to the services they offer. Persistent urging from students unhappy with a 3 a.m. closing time persuaded the staff of Hunt Library to experiment in the fall with leaving its basement and first floor open, Dr. St. Clair said. Hunt, like other college libraries, already operated 24 hours during final exams. Nationwide, the share of campuses boasting all-night libraries is growing, though it's hard without specific data. Read more at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09004/939526-298.stm

New Blog On Cataloging

Heidi Lee Hoerman, an instructor in the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina, has started a new blog. Future4catalogers is a blog attempting to look at what is coming in the disciplinary realm of bibliographic control. The blog was announced Monday on AUTOCAT.

List of commercial games released as freeware

Safelibraries sent over a link to List of commercial games released as freeware that could be useful for libraries looking to build some gaming resources for cheap. Commercial games released as freeware are games that, in their original license, were not considered freeware, but were re-released at a later date with a freeware license, sometimes as publicity for a forthcoming sequel or compilation release.

Have an author you want us to interview?

With the start of a new year, I have to make a call for suggestions on authors to interview. A thread has been opened at the Erie Looking Productions site for this. Why there? Disqus lets me export comments to Comma Separated Values which I can then import into a spreadsheet program and create a tracker. Tracking down authors for interviews can sometimes be tricky which is why such a bit of case management is needed.

Some of our previous author interviews:
Piers Anthony
David Weber

Scribners wins Laura Bush lottery

It would seem the first and last actually famous librarian, soon-to-be-former First Lady Laura Bush, has found a home for her memoir, despite an apparent lack of enthusiasm from several NY publishers.

Scribners is the lucky lady. You can read about it here at Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090105/ap_en_ot/laura_bush_book

I wouldn't give a festering bowl of dog snot for her husband but I always liked her. Smart, classy, rational, diplomatic. Seems the wrong Bush went into politics.

She got a lot of money for the book too. More than her husband and close to what Hillary got.

The Wovel

The way we read is changing. This short article introduces the Wovel -- a Web novel. The founder of a small press that publishes wovels says, "There's an installment every Monday. At the end of every installment, there's a binary plot branch point with a vote button at the end." Voting is open from Monday to Thursday, the author writes the chapter from Thursday to Sunday, and publisher posts the installment on Sunday night.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98503490&ps=cprs&sc=emaf

Membership Libraries: Exclusive playgrounds for book lovers

Libraries remain the primary repository of a huge portion of the world?s knowledge, ready to be uncovered by seekers of all kinds. But there are libraries?and then there are libraries. One very common form of library required patrons to pay monthly or annual dues in exchange for access (which may or may not have included borrowing rights). When public libraries began to catch on, these membership libraries (also called subscription libraries) began to dwindle rapidly; there are now just 18 still functioning in the U.S.

And there?s something else: reference librarians who are positively itching to help you find information. I always have to avert my eyes when I walk by the reference desk. If I make eye contact, I invariably get this guilt-inducing ?why-aren?t-you-asking-me-where-to-find-old-periodicals? look, and I just can?t bear it.