Ethics and Closed libraries

Two issues are bothering me enough to write new articles. First, last Thursday, I read a story about the Wall Street Journal wanting to close their research library. I think this is not a good sign for libraries or librarians. People don't seem to understand that librarians help people navigate the world of information. When I teach on line searching I hold up a 900 page book from WestLaw and tell the class this is just the directory of data bases available from WestLaw and is only one of the more than 100 systems available to search. Just figuring out which data base to search sometimes requires help from a librarian. I know that Google opens up a portal to huge amounts of information, but Google does not index everything. Even some of the materials it does index, is not available for viewing without payment. There is a reason one pays to use a data base; value added.

The second issue is bibliographic instruction. About 4 weeks ago I taught a class about the materials concerned with ethics. Last week I read something that changed one of the ethic case studies that I presents. Information changed, now I have to update the class.

Whole Wheat Bread Recipes new revisions

I just revised my 2008 book, Whole Wheat Bread Recipes 2nd ed.. ISBN: 978-0-934402-34-7. http://home.earthlink.net/~byls-press/WW_bread-2.pdf. Some minor corrections were made, a new picture added, and a new variation of the Marble Cake is included.

Important Challenges that encourage quality

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a way of thinking about how people and systems relate within organizations

Total quality means that every paying attention to all aspects of the organization. Every person and every system can improve, change or develop.

To understand the commitment to TQM and excellence people should

Be good suppliers to internal and external customers
Be good customers
Be good coaches
Be good team leaders team members
Be good communicators and learn how to be better

Observe and process relationships and transactions
Learn to plan, prepare and solve problems
Learn to learn and improve and encourage those around you to do the same
Learn when to listen and when to talk
Never stop learning. (See previous post.)

Never Stop Learning

Almost every organization must now be a learning organization. We must learn the academic, theoretical, technical, human, and analytical skills to fix problems before they happen.

With thanks to the Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and Pete Seeger here is my interpretation of a learning organization

To Everything There is a Time

A time to plan; a time to act

And in between a time to learn

A time to create; a time to destroy

And in between a time to learn

A time to purchase and a time to sell

And in between a time to learn about what is valuable

A time to laugh, a time to weep
A time to be sad; a time to celebrate

And in between a time to learn about what makes life worthwhile

A time to design; a time to build
A time for old; a time for new

And in between a time to discover.

A time to read; a time to write
A time to talk; a time to listen

And in between a time to learn how humans communicate

A time to share; a time to receive

And in between a time to learn

A time to give; a time to take

And in between a time to learn about respect and trust

A time to manage; a time to follow

And in between a time to learn what makes us want to do the will of others

A time to work, a time to play, a time to cook, a time to eat
A time to be born and a time to die

And everyday is a good time to learn.