The Perfect Cataloger

AUTOCAT, a listserv for catalogers, recently had a discussion what a cataloger will need to know in 5,10, or more years in the future. I was surprised when Anne Welsh quoted me in her blog: http://annewelsh.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/perfection

Daniel Stuhlman’s answer displays concision, comprehensiveness and elegance when he says “The skills of analysis, synthesis, communications, creativity, and thinking out of the box are important for catalogers and most professionals.” (Comment on AUTOCAT. Re: ACRL top 10 assumptions. 17 December 2008 18:23:51)

It's always nice when I get compliments.

Emerging Ideas in Libraries : Negative ideas

The Library is a “stepchild” – misunderstood, under supported, and unappreciated even though the institution pays lip service to the contrary. (i.e. words don't match actions)

The Library as a building – needs cleaning, repair, or renovation

The Library’s space is too small or not adequately configured for the tasks required

What is the Hebrew Word for Cataloger?

Last week when someone asked me about a Hebrew word, I thought the answer would be easy to find in a dictionary. It wasn't. The latest Librarian's Lobby http://home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/crc102.htm traces the roots of the English and Hebrew words for library and librarian.

Emerging Ideas in Libraries: Positive ideas

The Library is :

1. A student or patron meeting place
   
2. A place with the resources to help students, faculty, staff, or members of the community
   
3. A hub for students to visit
4. A place that supports learning, knowledge, and history
   
5. A source of information
6. A vibrant cool place
7. A “comfort zone”
8. A quiet place
   
9. A repository of books, data and information
10. A place for scholars and neophytes
    
11. The Library staff members are helpful people, offering assistance, and are good co-workers

Counter productive? 1

Why do people shoot themselves in the foot? Or this could be the next installment of "Where is the sechel (common sense)?"

In college I hated to write tests in those little blue books. I wondered how in the world a professor had the eyes and the energy to read handwriting. My handwriting was not great. No matter how hard I try, I can not write long hand for very much time. I even got permission one time to bring a portable typewriter to a test. (It was before the days of personal computers.)

As a professor now, I would not accept anything that was not typed with the help of a word processing program and spell check.

So -- Tell me why a company has a job application on line that one can not fill in on the screen. That company has a PDF file with the application on their website that one must download, print, and fill in by hand. To set up a PDF file that one can fill in is just a change in a setting. There is no extra work in the set up. The company could save the applicant and the people reviewing the application lots of time. Also this could be a legal issue. What if someone has a disability and can not write this kind of application? The disability could be a sore thumb that has nothing to do with job performance.

Then there is application that is entirely on line. An applicant fills in a form on line that gets parsed and digested, but does not allow the applicant to show his/her essence.

Sehel seems to dictate that process should be designed to waste as little time as possible and achieve maximum results.

Overtime?

An informal survey of college librarians found librarians are salaried and do not receive over time pay. There are wide variations in working time and expectations. Some are required to fill in exact time sheets; some are not. Some have the flexibility to arrange their working hours and some don't. Some places seem to have rules that are counter productive to balancing work and life. They may get extra pay for teaching a class or for an assignment above and beyond their normal responsibilities.

"Being a professional means that you aren't just putting in hours on the job, you are paid to perform a service." Suzanne M. Stauffer, Ph.D. Louisiana State University.

Librarians are educators. Parents, teachers, educators, managers, and leaders are supposed to set good examples. This my principle of teaching by example. Professionals are supposed to not only talk, but look and act the part. I tell my students that it is our job to smile and be helpful even when you are having a lousy day.

Reference Service Management Issues 1

The business model for a library is not the same as a business; we can not move people, objects, and information at a pace like a manufacturing company or retail store. We do not receive direct payment for service. We can not easily measure productivity. We may not even know when we have succeeded. Even so, we mush not forget that the reference desk is a point of customer service. Customers, patrons, users or any other name we use for people requesting our services are more demanding of quick answers than in the days before computers, but the mechanism of learning has not changed. Wisdom still requires the gathering, assimilation and analysis of data and information.

The reference manager as any teacher, parent, or business manager must be aware that there are individual learning styles of both their staff and patrons. Some people need greater detail than others. While we all learn with all our senses, some people favor information visually while others favor hearing. Some people never learn until they have multiple stimuli. Because of this service delivery models change must keep pace. The reference desk is a point of personal contact, but other contacts may be online, phone calls, chats, lessons, and documents.

Staff must be able to take on new roles from the traditional print based services. Change is continuous and improvement is always possible. Staff must address new needs, leverage technology, and still be friendly and helpful. All this helps to maximize resources of all kinds including staff, collections, and physical space.