Visual Information

Information is organized data. Yesterday someone showed me an article in the July 1, 2009 issue of School Library Journal "It’s a Mad, Mad Wordle: For a new take on text" by Carolyn Foote. The article is about another way to present information. Wordle (http://wordle.net) is a free program that takes words or an RSS feed to make a graphic representation. Words that occur more frequently at bigger or more predominate. This is a fun way to play with words or represent articles graphically. Read the full article on line at: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6666671.html

Below is a Wordle picture created from this blog.

This Week in Reference

Sometimes I like to write about amusing questions that cross my desk. Now I want to tell of some questions that really show off a great interaction with the reference desk.

A student came in a hurry, almost out of breath. "I need to know when the next full moon is." She explained that the full moon affects her and she need to take medication on the full moon. I looked the calendar and counted 15 days from Rosh HaShanna forward for October and backward for September. After she left I found the web site: http://www.moonphases.info/full_moon_calendar_dates.html#Next_Full_Moon_Calendar_Dates . My answer was the same as the calendar, September 4 and October 4. The reason my calculation works is that Rosh Hashanna and other first days of Hebrew months are on the day of the new moon. The new moon is when the first glimmer of light is seen on the moon. The full moon is the middle of the lunar moon. Since the cycle of the moon is 29.5 days the full moon is on the approximately the 15th of the month. Actually the calendar date could vary from the 14th to the 16th because the calendar measures days not the hour of the full moon.

The precise answer for the full moon is: Sep 4 16:05 and Oct 4 06:11 . The times are listed in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) Chicago is GMT -5 (five hours earlier in Chicago during daylight savings time). Jerusalem is GMT +3 during daylight saving time and GMT +2 the rest of the year.

Person 2 asked, "There are supposed to be four new Lincoln pennies minted this year. Have they all been released?" I went directly to the U.S. Mint web site: http://www.usmint.gov/index.cfm The home page has a link to order the third Lincoln ( "Profesional life") one cent coins and says that they will be shipped after September 11, 2009. The first two in the series, "Birthplace" and "Formative Years." are listed as sold out. There was no date for the shipment on the fourth coin in the series.

Person 3 was a faculty member. Her first question was whether the library had an DVDs that she could show her class about World War 2. The quick answer was, "No the library does not collect DVDs they are all in the Media Services Department, but I can check them in our catalog." Since ee could find anything in the catalog they would help her, I suggested that we check the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/index.php) The site has more than 200,000 videos. (Actually almost 1000 were added from when I did the search in the and now when this is being written.) The faculty member said that her classroom didn't have a computer. I told her that was no problem. She could go to Media Services and reserve a cart with a computer and projector. No one had told her this before. The Internet Archive has historic videos including news reels, educational films, historic advertisements, cartoons, and even feature films. The site also has texts and audios. One only feature is the "Wayback Machine." This enables one to view a web site as it looked in a previous moment. If you thought a web site goes away when you change or delete it, this will prove you mistaken. Enter the URL and view previous versions of web sites.

We also searched the Public Broadcasting System, Library of Congress, and the BBC sites (http://www.pbs.org/, http:/loc.gov, and http://www.bbc.co.uk/) and found more videos and texts to help with her classes.

This faculty member learned not only about new digital resources but also about what services the college could offer.

These questions are so much more challenging to answer than, "Where is the Science Building?"

Using First Names

I just received a phone call from someone who never met me whose first word was, "Daniel?" Right away this is red flag to me because none of my friends or family would ever call me by that version of my name. The caller did not even ask, "Is this Daniel? or "May I speak with Daniel?" I usually reply in my best public service voice, "This is Dr. Stuhlman, may I help you?" Sometimes they continue to use "Daniel" as if they are familiar with me. Sometimes they will reflect back, "Oh, Dr. Stuhlman, I'm Joe from XYZ company."

I went to visit a Chicago high school a couple of weeks ago. Everyone on the faculty there is addressed with a title, "Dr., Mr., Ms, etc." The person I was meeting with had never met me before. He introduced himself as, "Dr. A." No first name was given. I have not even sure how he spells or pronounces his last name. I replied, "I'm Dr. Daniel Stuhlman, nice to meet you." I handed him my calling card to make sure he knew my name.

Perhaps unsolicited callers have no training in derech erets (good manners)? Or perhaps manners don't exist any more? What if I didn't answer my own phone? What if the caller started talking and solicited or reveled something that the person answering should not know? Here are Stuhlman's Rules for phoning. 1) Make sure the person on the other end is the person you want to talk to. 2) Use full names to establish that the person is the right person. 3) Do not assume you can call someone by a nick name. For example I am not "Dan," "Danny," or "Don." Anyone calling me by those names will not get my attention. I will just think they are trying to find someone else.

I were calling from the place where I work I would identify myself ("Hello, this is Daniel Stuhlman from XYZ Library.") and then make sure I have the right person ("May I please speak with Sally Jones?")

How do you want strangers to address you?

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Comments:

ML: I first encountered the phenomenon when working for a bank in the early '90s. While helping a couple of departments with mail merges, I noticed that they were omitting titles of respect and using "Dear [first name] [last name]:" as the salutation. When I asked about it, I was told that this was because a) some women are offended by being called Ms. So-and-So, while others are offended by Mrs. So-and-So or Miss So-and-So; and b) with all the gender-neutral and just plain unusual first names that parents have chosen since the 1970s, you no longer know from the first name whether you're addressing a man or a woman. That, coupled with general a trend towards less formality in today's society, has led to the conclusion that you're less likely to offend someone by addressing them by first name or first & last name than by attempting to use a title of respect. In your case, you were talking to someone working with a list of first and last names and a script.

RF: Debt collectors are not allowed to use a last name until they have the correct person -- same with doctor's offices. This is for ensuring privacy.

DS: My point was that the caller did not establish he had the correct person. This morning's call was not a debt collector call; he was from a trade publication that I subscribe to.

RF: He was just rude.

DS: Yes. This is kind of rudeness is common. I was also seeking the experience of others.

Asking the best questions

Last night a class was sent by their English 101 teacher on a library scavenger hunt. They were given a list of questions to answer based on library resources. The questions were of the “busy work” type rather than the analysis type. For example, “Where is the library catalog?” Answer – “On line.” “Does the library own Time Magazine in microfilm and which years?” Answer -- “Yes, 1923-1997.“

One student asked where the book check-out desk was located. I pointed him to the big sign less than 15 feet from where he was standing. He then asked where can he find the reserve book collection. I answered right here. He looked puzzled. I asked him what he wanted to know. After much thought he wanted to know what books are on reserve for a biology class. He asked a question, got a correct answer, but the answer did not give him what he needed to know. The teacher wanted the students to know that the reserve books are found behind the circulation desk. However, knowing what is on reserve for a class they don’t take will not help them.

A better approach for the teacher would be to tell them how to check the list of reserve books. This listing system changed this semester and it is doubtful that the teacher knows about the changes. Students need to be taught how to ask questions that will lead them to what they need to know. Asking, “Does the library own any microfilm?” will not teach them how to find the titles they need. Some students asked “Where are the microfilm kept?” Since the New York Times and Chicago Tribune are the most frequently requested films, the students were directed to their storage space.

The task of a reference librarian is to help library patrons use library resources to their best advantage. It is better to teach the patrons the principles of looking up answers than to give them the full answer. Figuring out the best questions is the major part of the research.

Manuscript Style Sheets

The best writing is direct, straightforward and focuses on ideas. Style sheets are used to facilitate written communications among scholars, students, and writers. The style sheets use conventions of language, consistency, and formatting to enable readers to concentrate on the message rather than the form. (At least that is what they claim.) Many teachers in high schools and colleges teachers require their students to follow a particular style sheet. Many professional and scholarly journals require adherence to particular style sheet.

Word choice is sometimes dependent on the field of study. Storytelling and narratives are best left to fiction and creative writing works. All scholarly publications depend on using and citing sources.These citations give credibility and support to the ideas expressed. Stuhlman's rule of citations is: All citations must be reversible. That means if I see a citation I must be able to look it up without ambiguity or confusion. One way of citation is the public view of a library catalog entry. If one searches Carter, C (that is last name Carter and any first name beginning with C)


This is the result from one library catalog. APA style sheet says to use on the initials of the author's given names. If you knew the author's last name and only the first initial you would not know which entry to choose. This is one example of the reasons APA style sheet is not sufficient for library searching. For library searching knowing only part of a name is not enough. Name authority is a system of entering names in catalogs. The system will bring together variants of names and spellings in other languages. One can't expect an author of an article or book to do the same name checking work as a librarian-cataloger, but it should be reasonable to copy the full name as listed in the source. Using the source name will give the library searcher a reasonable starting point to finding the bibliographic reference.

APA suggestions for author citations should not followed because it goes against their stated goal of clarity of communications.

Other features are legacies from the pre-computer word processing age. APA requires a serif type such as Times Roman face in the main body. This is the imitation of a typewriter. San-serif type faces such as Ariel look cleaner and more modern. The double-spacing between lines was done so that editors could make corrections on the paper. On the computer screen double spacing makes the document harder to read. We read by scanning in the upper parts of the letters. Double spacing confuses this ability to read quickly.

I challenge the makers and users of APA style sheet to start talking to librarians and library users so that changes can be made to bring the features into the age of computer word processing and library data base searches of articles, books, and other documents. This is just a short rant about style sheets. I challenge others to share their opinions.

Submitting articles

Last April I wrote a scholarly article for publication. I submitted it and never heard from the publication. I followed up 6 weeks later and they claimed to have never received it. I sent it again. Since I didn't hear from them I followed up yesterday and the e-mail address of one editor didn't work. I finally found another editor to contact and he said that the article did not fit their publication.

I tried another publication, Judaism, Quarterly. I went to their web site and followed the directions. That e-mail bounced. The web site did have directions for submissions and subscriptions. What was strange is the latest issue was from 2006. I looked other places and could find an issue later than 2006. This morning I called their office and found out they suspended publication indefinably. Why does their web site not say anything? Why do they have directions for subscribing when they don't publish?

I looked for another publication, Jewish Quarterly Review. I followed their instructions for submission. The e-mail bounced. I wrote to someone else in the office. This morning they answered me. The address on the web site was incorrect, the server was done, and the person is out of the office until Wednesday. Perhaps on Wednesday the article will get to the right person?

In case the article is not for JQR, does anyone know of a scholarly journal I can try? I'm not looking for a name of a journal, but a place to search for the name. So many of the ones I know are not appropriate for this article on Hebrew-Yiddish names.

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August 19.

JQR answered my submission. It arrived safely, but they want a PDF file without any references to my name so that it can be sent to their reviewers anonymously. I made some edits and decided to add another paragraph at the end.

Scholarly communications and copyright

This summer at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention I attended a session given by a lawyer on the topic of copyright law and what Google is doing to scan library books. I just want to give some of my opinions.

First -- I once had a dream that I would have one union index that would list all the books that I own. I could look one place and find a subject and then know which book to open. The dream partially comes true when I use Google Scholar or Google Books to locate texts. I get a special delight when I seen a quote from a book or periodical and then I can go to the shelf and get the item.

When researchers look for intellectual material they want to be able to find materials quickly. Databases and scanned books help make the search and reading materials easier. Students, scholars and the general public depend on open and easy access to books and other intellectual content.

Second -- authors and creators have a right to be compensated for their creativity and work. In commercial ventures the compensation comes from sales. In academia the compensation comes from salaries paid by universities, grants, or institutional budgets. Sometimes publications charge an author for publishing their work.

It is obvious from the provisions of the copyright law that the lawmakers did not consider the needs of libraries, librarians, students and scholars. The law provides for fair use, but it does not provide for an accurate or convenient way of knowing who owns the copyright. The copyright period is life of the creator plus 70 years, yet there is no easy way to check dates of death. I have an alternative length of copyright.

1. Copyright is automatic as in the current provision from the date of creation. To claim this protection the item must be dated. Any item not registered would be placed in public domain after 25 years.
2. Copyright period under the automatic provision is for a period of 25 years. To obtain a longer period the item must be registered with the Copyright Office. When registering the owner may request 56 years, lifetime of the author plus 50, or indicate when the item will pass into public domain.
3. Corporate owners of copyright protected materials must register for protection if they want more than 25 years of protection. The copyright may be renewed twice for a total of 75 years of protection. After that if the item is still commercially viable and the owner wanted to receive copyright protection they would need a special extension. After 100 years all items would automatically be placed in the public domain.
4. Any item not registered would be placed in public domain after 25 years.

Copyright protection is a separate issue from ownership of intellectual property. Intellectual property is owned forever. That means one can not take the work of someone else and claim it for your own. If a publisher wants to reprint a book in the public domain, they do not have to pay royalties, but they may not claim the work is by another writer. Mark Twain owns Tom Sawyer forever.

If the items are registered with the Copyright Office that would indicate that the creator cared about protection. With registration Google, a library, or any member of the public could check on the copyright status. Once the owner is known it will be easier to get permission for reprinting or use in another manifestation of the work. Not registering would be prima faca evidence that the owner does not intend to claim protection of the copyright laws.