Desert Island Reference

Back in the days before iPods, there was a program called Desert Island Discs. The concept was that you were stranded on a desert island and had to choose only eight albums or CD's to listen to forever.

Well, I am working a on a project I call Desert Island Reference. In a world where the Internet is the preferred method of beginning any reference search, followed by databases and then print sources, I am trying to plan a small and useful core print reference collection for cruise ship libraries.

Cruise ships sometimes have slow or limited Internet access. Therefore, it is important to have 25-50 volumes on hand to help Librarians answer a wide range of general reference questions. I know I need an almanac, atlas, biographical dictionary and single volume encyclopedia, regular dictionary, thesaurus and Leonard Maltin's movie guide.

What would you put in your Desert Island Reference collection?

5 Things Thursday: Almost Friday Edition

Want 5 things to talk about this weekend with your nerdy little friends? Try this:

1. How about those Kindles in libraries? Go, Amazon!
2. Want some nifty ideas about how to use QR codes in libraries?
3. Are you open to non traditional career paths for librarians? I was...
4. Is copyright an entertaining subject? YouTube makes it so...
5. Who would win in a library war?

Metadata Monday: SPL's Custom Metadata Set

I am proud to be a published author. Behold, my article in the PNLA Quarterly entitled "The Seattle Public Library Century 21 Collection: Balancing Metadata Complexity, Processing Expediency, and User Experience."

In case this article looks too intimidating and boring for you, here are the finer points related to creating a metadata element set that is customized to your particular project.

• Know your metadata schemes - having an idea of what is available, gives you an idea on elements you can choose from
• Know your audience - how will users search for images? Is the photographer important or the location?
• Know the limitations of your collection management system - does CONTENTdm work better with Dublin Core?
• Know your resources - can I really assign 24 elements/values per image with a staff of one?
• Know what to automate - should I use the same description for all assets in the same collection?

 

I hope that whatever you are contemplating for your digital collection turns out as amazing as this Century 21 project.

Why Didn't We Think of This Before?

2011 Mover and Shaker Andy at the Agnostic, Maybe blog had a beyond brilliant idea inspired by the new Morgan Spurlock movie POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Why not introduce advertising and product placement into libraries?

Here's the thing. I worked in libraries and then I worked in advertising for over a decade and now I am a bona fide librarian working in a corporate setting. Corporations have money that they use to buy media or product placement to reach their particular niche target markets.

Libraries - public and academic - draw unique demographics. Libraries tend to have a lot of space that can be utilized for ads as well as opportunities for cross promotion or product placement. How about the Amazon Kindle Best Seller Corner? Neighborhood Movie Night courtesy of Sony Pictures? Apple Music Studio?

I know that librarians have balked in the past about services that are self sustaining (like the Denver Public Library Digital Collections selling prints) and that many stipulations are placed on federal, state and locally funded entities like libraries forbidding certain types of funding sources and behavior. However, when the typical government funding sources are no longer available, can these parameters persist?

This idea would help advertising agencies too. They are struggling to navigate the new economy the same way that libraries are, albeit with flashier cars and better clothes. Let's get over ourselves already and do something to keep libraries relevant. Thanks Andy!

 

 

Calling All Travel Bugs!

Would you like to be a shipboard Librarian? I am looking for some current MLS/MLIS students interested in gaining valuable hands on library experience on a cruise ship.

Check out our itineraries at www.hollandamerica.com and then go to the Entertainment website to submit applications at http://entertainment.hollandamerica.com/ under Cruise Staff.

Thanks!

5 Things Thursday: Bunny Hop

Here are five LIS topics that will leave you hopping with excitement:

 

1. Do you fear digital corruption?
2. Want to learn how to proofread like a design pro?
3. What happens to posthumous digital data (providing it lasts that long, see #1)?
4. Concerned about eBooks? Now they are number one!
5. Need to track some library stats? Try this.

Metadata Monday: Have a SNAC

"The Social Networks and Archival Context Project (SNAC) will address the ongoing challenge of transforming description of and improving access to primary humanities resources through the use of advanced technologies."

A collaboration between the University of Virginia, UC Berkeley and the California Digital Library, the SNAC project seems an intriguing link between existing EAD-encoded finding aids and creating context, especially on the lives of people documented in various sources. Made possible by a variety of data contributors as well as the new standard EAC-CPF, this project and resulting prototypes and open source solutions will change the face of archival description. Much more information here.

There's an App for That: Shelf Reading

In a recent article in Fast Company, confusingly entitled "That Hot Librarian Fantasy? A New App Makes it Even Hotter," a new Android app is introduced which scans shelves with the intent of pointing out books that are shelved out of order.

Marvelous idea - everyone in a library nowadays is pressed for time, but it kind of made me wonder about a comment made by the directory of the library I worked in twenty some years ago - that finding library pages acquainted with alphabetical order is tough nowadays.

Libraries are changing fast, but if everything is automatic, can't Rosie the Robot run things?

5 Things Thursday: Spring Fling

Here are your happy 5 things:

1. Want to play cards with your design team? Try brainstorming with Method Cards by IDEO.
2. Hankering for 21 Twitter tips?
3. Looking for an interesting concept equating eBooks to Public Broadcasting?
4. Would you like to find the name of the Brady Bunch episode with the tikis? Check out epguides.
5. How about listening to a podcast on the Future of Libraries at NPR?

Metadata Monday: Value Added Workflow or Red-Headed Stepchild?

Here's a great article about Metadata as a Service by Swati Parashar. In it, he muses about how metadata is more than just a search enabler, but can add value to workflow. That is, if companies recogize that the metadata by itself is not a magic bullet, but rather enhanced by the development of taxonomy and controlled vocabulary.

In addition, here is my favorite observation:

"The problem is a lack of consistent metadata support from application to application, and tools to manage metadata from end-to-end."

Finally, someone calls out the issues that exist, for instance, when someone saves a bunch of metadata in an Adobe Photoshop file in File Info and then expects it to seamlessly import into their DAM of choice. Heck, it doesn't even really import into Flickr consistently. Why, oh, why can't everyone be interoperable?

Runner up to that observation is the fact that many users mis-identify a DAM as a workflow and now many are apt to misclassify XMP as an application. A DAM is like a filing cabinet. Workflow requires people, schedules, and activity.

 

Shrunken Heads and Electronic Resources

There is a show on the Discovery Channel called Oddities about a store in New York City that sells bizarre things. A recent episode featured a client trying to sell the store a shrunken head. Ultimately, there are laws about buying and selling human remains and body parts. However, a brief conversation with a lawyer made it clear that Oddities could indeed purchase the head and sell it.

It should not be easier to determine whether a shrunken head can be legally sold than it is for libraries to figure out restrictions on lending eBooks, music downloads, and all manner of digital content. The terms of use for different publishers and services range wildly and are so extensive that a lawyer really would be useful. However librarians are often being charged with figuring out what is possible.

From Kindles to Nooks to iPods to iPads, it seems clear that libraries can freely purchase and lend the devices, but the content - even the apps - are handled like licensed software for one user. For personal use.

If someone can help standardize the industry or even simplify the terms on behalf of libraries, I would be grateful.

Funny, It's Five Things Thursday

Here are five things for Spring!

 

1. Would you prefer an ebook for real booklovers?
2. Having trouble enforcing a file naming convention?
3. Do you need to improve your library's signs?
4. Are you interested in global library statistics?
5. Want to read more about librarians asking sharp questions in the infoverse?

Metadata Monday: Sophia Search and Taxonomy

Have you ever heard of document clustering? Well, a new company called Sophia Search claims to have harnessed the power of context resulting in more relevant search results and ultimately, organization of information.

Here is an article to help you make sense of this wizardry complete with an impressive example of accurate clustering applied to the vast content of The New York Times.

Again, I might sound like a broken record when I say that a powerful tool like Sophia Search coupled with a smart taxonomist might help many organizations to dig themselves out of information hell. But, I still firmly believe that an actual person needs to evaluate the returned data and create a taxonomy that works for people. Tools can automate, but not intuit.

NPR Librarian Interview

Does the thought of NPR make you start speaking in soft, dulcet tones, using bigger words, and acting like you are both contemplative and intelligent?

Well, one of the librarians behind the magic - Kee Malesky - is featured in this enlightening interview in Library Journal. She talks about her new book, All Facts Considered, a meticulously cited compendium of fascinating facts.

Kee also reveals illuminating insights about NPR reference techniques, her opinion of Wikipedia, and that sometimes the question is not the difficulty rather the deadline for answering it.