RJM's Blog

News Report for 11/24

2009-11-23T11:28:00.000-08:00

"Cheshire Library Retains True-Crime Book about Town Murders"
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/november2009/chesirecrimebookstays111709.cfm?persistent=&expy_dt=
Greg Landgraf, American Libraries

The Cheshire Public Library had quite a controversy over the addition of a book on October 20th. The Public Library Advisory Board voted five to one when the issue of adding the books to the library’s collection finally came to call. Director Romona Harten is the one who initiated the move to purchase the two copies of the book. The book by Brian McDonald, In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold, tells a story about murders that happened to three members of a local family, from the perspective of a main who awaited trial for the murders. The subject was made public and had been a very controversial issue around the town. Martin Cobert, a resident and member of the board argued that the book should be allowed in the library because of the fact that if such titles as this were not allowed, the same could be generalized to many other books.

I believe this is a very intriguing and interesting story. While I understand that it might be offensive to the family members of those who were killed, they’re not being forced to read the book. As Cobert had stated, if the opposing people of the book had not blown the ordeal out of proportion, it would simply be another book within the Library’s large collection and barely noticed. Since the ordeal, it’s much more likely that people will check the book out and make a larger deal of it. I’m in support of not allowing the banning of any books, because I believe that if you are against the book then you may simply choose not to read it.

News Report 11/12

2009-11-11T17:13:00.000-08:00

"Library Levy Landslides Make History in Ohio"
—Beverly Goldberg, American Libraries;
Posted on November 4, 2009.
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/november2009/ohiolevies.cfm
Recent elections in the state of Ohio have shown an unheard of support for Libraries in an era where we’re seeing Libraries budgets being cut repeatedly. 29 of 37 levies were passed by Ohio voters; these levies have been placed on the ballots by Libraries who have been struggling monetarily and are being faced with having to cut staff and budgets. The public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has seen some of the most drastic support; they received a 72% vote to create the first ever millage they’ve seen. These votes have helped prevent the closing of up to 20 branches of libraries and the laying off of up to 250 Library employees. The Save our Library campaign has been attributed to much of the success in these votes and has seen immense support from the community.

I think that this is quite an inspiring story for Libraries and educated people throughout the states. As of late, it seems as though the only stories that I’ve been hearing are those that consist of Libraries having to cut their budgets, lay off many workers, or at worst shut down completely. I believe that it’s important that we as Americans make a stand and support our Libraries. They’re the one prolific and standing place in our communities that offer consistent information and allow us as citizens to retrieve information that we wish to find. I hope to hear more successful stories such as this one in the near future.

10/27 Reading Report "Information Navigation 101"

2009-10-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

Information literacy is becoming an ever-increasing issue as Universities across the nation are encountering more and more dilemmas. In today’s college world, students are finding it much simpler to refer to sources such as Google or Wikipedia for research papers. Not only are they accessible by one click of a button, but they give immediate results. This, however, has been plaguing professors and college teachers everywhere. More Universities are implementing plans that involve “Computer Literacy” classes; classes that review and show students how to use resources provided by the campus such as online databases. Cal State was one of the first campuses to institute a program such as this, and claim that the results are worthwhile. Now, as time has moved on, more universities are setting requirements for “literacy competency”; settings prerequisites such as maintaining at least a C in a library class. Stanley Wilder, with the University of Rochester has a differing view; he believes that with technology improving as rapidly as it is, soon databases and library resources will be just as easy to use as Google. As a result, he finds these programs a waste. There are many different viewpoints on this controversial subject, but one thing is known: students don’t have the proper knowledge on these databases to perform the tasks asked of them.

I believe that it’s great that these programs are becoming more prevalent in Universities these days. For my Eng 201 class, our teacher actually setup a class for such instruction. We went to the library and a Librarian showed us how to work the catalog and databases and I believe it helped me find information much easier in the future. I agree somewhat with Stanley Wilder in the fact that technology should be creating revenues that allow students to find information in a much easier and quicker manner; however, these technologies are not in place at Universities at this time. Taking this into consideration, I support the movement for information literacy and also hope that in the near future it will be much easier for students to locate and use resources available to them.

Reading Report : "The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google"

2009-10-15T19:05:00.001-07:00

In this day and age, students are finding it more complicated and difficult to use resources that are provided by universities. Databases are somewhat like a locked door, they’re hard to get into and once you finally do get in you don’t know what to expect or what to do. Students are finding that using Google compared to a more complex database such as EBSCOhost that, while may be more accurate and useful, is much more difficult to use without having a certain level of knowledge. Databases such as EBSCOhost can make students feel lost, finding proper articles feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Many academic Librarians across the US have contemplated the idea of making these databases with a friendlier user interface such as Google, and the argument is becoming a more prevalent one. With these possibilities and the combined efforts of Librarians and teachers to inform these students of better ways to research, an easier means of finding information should be available in the near future.
I believe that these issues discussed in the article are very important. I’m in agreement with the fact that these databases are much too complex and could easily be simplified. They create a situation where it presses the idea, “Wow this would be much easier to just type in Google”, because of the frustration that students get from trying to use these databases. It wouldn’t be that much of a problem to simplify the means of searching these databases; making more useful, accurate, and reliable information easier to find. I hope that this debate continues and that in consequence these databases are simplified so that one doesn’t need to do much research on researching just to find the information they need.

Reading Report "The Future of Libraries"

2009-10-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

This article encompasses a vision of what libraries may become in the future. The author believes that libraries as a whole will change and evolve into a much more complex entity that will be a center-piece to societies and cultures. He lays out a list of “trends” that describe why he believes these changes will come, much sooner than most realize. Of the many trends one he discusses focuses on verbalization. The author refers to a Dr William Crossman who believes that by 2050 literacy as a whole will be dead. In this the reference to keyboards is made as well, saying that keyboards will no longer be of use because of verbal interaction. Libraries will be of much importance, according to the author, because in the future a global society will exists, where all of Earth uses one standard system for things such as money, measurement, and ethics. Also, these “future” libraries will become more appealing because they will be more in depth and broader, including things such as studios and possibly parks.

I believe that this is a very interesting article because of the insights of the author and the people he discusses. While most of what is discussed is very intriguing, it’s hard to believe that some of the things discussed will come to being in such a swift manner. One that really caught my attention was the argument that literacy will cease to exist. I believe that people need the visual aspects of words on paper to aid and help them learn and excel in daily life. Also the argument that keyboards will no longer exists is a very controversial subject in deeper thought. While the idea does seem plausible, it is hard to imagine life today without the use of keyboards.

News Report # 3

2009-10-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

It seems as though Newspapers are finally coming to a stand-still with on-line based information services. With access to news online becoming more and more prevalent physically printed newspaper companies are finding themselves in a dilemma. They’re not the huge corporations that this country used to thrive on to get their information from every day when they woke up with a hot cup of coffee. Obama and Congress are both considering making movements towards helping these struggling companies out in this time of crisis. Services such as Gawker and The Daily Beast are some of the up and coming interactive news sources that can be found online.

I believe that holding on to physical newspapers is of much importance. It’s important that we not rely on everything being electronic. There are many scenarios where relying strictly on web-based sources could be devastating. For one, records are vital to our future and allow us to look back at the past and analyze and fix our mistakes. These physical sources of News allow us to directly look at what has happened throughout the years and allow no fallout; however, if all information is being drawn from the web there is always the possibility that it may be lost via a server crash or many other complications that can arise when it comes to the internet. It’s also important to respect the large News companies because they’ve provided a great service for such a long duration of time. I believe the author of this article has an extremely biased point of view and is wishing to push his ideals onto whoever may read his work. While online based services are simple and helpful, I believe it is important that we also retain our roots.

News Report # 2

2009-09-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

"DC Public Library Budget Is Cut 11 Percent
Sunday branch hours eliminated"
Lynn Blumenstein -- Library Journal, 9/21/2009
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6698002.html

The District of Columbia’s public library is taking quite a drastic budget cut. Along with these budget cuts there will also be a shortage of hours when the Library is actually open. After October, the Library will no longer be open on Sunday’s. This is a dilemma because many frequent visitors and users of the Library tend to find Sunday one of the most convenient and leisure days that they have. Cutting this day out of the Libraries schedule may cause conflict within the institution. On one side, it’s easy because the employees do not mind having there Sundays off; however, as was said before it’s a large inconvenience to library frequenters. They plan on using volunteers to help fill gaps that will occur from the budget cut. The District of Columbia Library’s book mobile will also not be under use any longer. With a total of 11% budget costs, the Library will have many aspects that they must attend to in order to make the budget cut work.

I believe that this is most likely just one of many other stories that are like it. Library’s budgets seem to be decreasing almost everywhere you go, while the price for entities such as scholarly journals is rising ever more. This is a dilemma which will have to be faced eventually. It’s impossible for Library’s to continue providing the same services and amount of information while they have less money and the resources that they need are growing ever more in value. This rough period will have to be ridden out by Library’s around the globe in hope for a time where more money is available.

Reading Report # 2

2009-09-14T17:19:00.001-07:00

Wikipedia has become an ever-growing controversial subject and many scholars around the world are attempting to end the argument of whether it will eventually be useful in academia. Studies have been done to attempt to reveal how easy it is to place faulty information within the websites, and the findings have been somewhat stunning. One man placed seven pieces of faulty information on the site and found that within 3 hours of the postings they were edited and removed from the webpage. On the other hand, there have been cases where information has remained on the website for up to 4 months. Wikipedia has taken a noted dedication towards improving the accuracy of the information within their site, moving away from the focus of a broad depth of information. Topics that are viewed the most frequently are for the most part accurate to a T; however; it is topics such as art and folk history that are not viewed as frequently that tend to be more easily misinformed.

I believe that Wikipedia will eventually become the number one source for information throughout the World Wide Web. As the story has said, studies have already shown that much of the information on Wikipedia is already closing on accuracy-wise on encyclopedia such as Britannica and other highly prestigious entities. If I ever find myself needing the answer to a random fact I typically find myself using Google which in turn sends me to Wikipedia. The way it’s setup allows it to draw from the most sources in the most efficient manner, creating a situation that demands attention. While I believe there will be more controversy in the future surrounding this subject, I believe that ultimately Wikipedia and its innovators will win out.

Reading Report # 1

2009-09-09T12:09:00.001-07:00

Fake websites are becoming more and more concurrent on the internet in today’s society. There are many different instances of these sits, ranging from parody sites, malicious sites, hoax sites, and also counterfeit sites. Each of these examples can be easily found on the web if searched for properly. Counterfeit sites are among the most disturbing because they present an idea that seems to support or represent a specific person or idea when in fact they are doing the exact opposite. Parody websites are mainly existent for the idea of making a joke or mocking news. There are numerous parody websites such as the Onion News that are used in a wrong manner because of the misconception of such sites. They are not actually academic in value or aspect but are made as a joke. Misinformation is one of the key concepts when it comes to talking about the majority of these websites. They present ideas which in most scenarios are actually illegitimate. It’s important that when searching the web that one pays particular attention to intricacies and authenticity of websites. Looking closely at a website is important in this day and age if one wishes to validate information that they are reading.
I think it’s quite surprising after reading this article in how many websites that contain misinformation are out there. Not just the fact that the websites contain misinformation is the only surprising aspect; it is the fact that they disguise it so well. Most of the websites discussed in the reading look 100% legitimate and it’s a bit disturbing that so many entities are being misrepresented. The story definitely opened my eyes to realize how many spoofs and hoaxes are out on the World Wide Web.

News Report # 1

2009-08-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

“ALA Office for Information Technology Policy files broadband stimulus application”

Jenni Terry, Press Officer ALA Washington Office

August 18^th, 2009

http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/august2009/techpolicy_wo.cfm

With wireless broadband internet being ever-more popular in our universities today, the American Library Association Office for Technology Policy filed a statement to the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program that requests funding to help out a project in pursuit of helping Librarians manage, understand, and control broadband capacity. The sum that they have their eyes set on is $1.6 million dollars. As technology is becoming more consistent in our schools and universities it’s vital that we provide our Librarians with the proper resources to manage and maintain them. Studies have shown that the majority of Librarians do not have the proper resources that would allow them to take advantage of broadband capabilities to their greatest extent.

I believe that this motion is a great idea. As technology is always changing and improving it’s almost impossible for Librarians to be able to keep up with every aspect of broadband capabilities and limits. If approved, this will allow Universities to be more effective and economical when it comes to wireless internet and all of the entities that go along with it. The complexity of our universities internet system is a prime example of why I think that this would be a great help. I, as a student have difficulty understanding our broadband network as a whole and struggle with it quite regularly. Setting this program up will not only broaden our Librarians knowledge of the systems and how they run but will also allow them to inform the faculty and students in more depth about the systems and how they run. In today’s society, it’s very vital that the knowledge of broadband technology be fully understood by those who are in control of it.