joy at moll projects dot com
I had been wondering how the heck I was going to make this wonderful story about the re-discovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker seem in scope on my library-related blog. But, it turns out, I won't even be the first library blogger to cover it--Erica wrote the inside scoop on Librarian Avengers.
When my battered copy of Peterson's Eastern Birds had crisp pages and a shiny cover, I read about one of the most impressive birds in the entire book--a 20" woodpecker with a huge bill, a red (male) or black (female) crest, and a call that Audubon described as "resembling the high false note of a clarinet." And I remember feeling sad at the last line of the description of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker: "Very close to extinction, if, indeed, it still exists."
The happy story that naturalists believe this amazing bird still exists is a real boost for me as I trudge toward the end of the semester.
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I wrote a session report from the ACRL conference for the current issue of Cites and Insights. My piece is on page 20, or you can read it on the web here. What a satisfying experience to have a conference piece published within three weeks of the event!
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After I described precisely how I would teach Research Methods differently than the class I'm taking, Rick asked me if I was sure I didn't want to become an academic instead of a librarian. That's the third push I've had in that direction in less than two weeks--not enough to chart a new course, but certainly enough to prompt a bit of exploring. I just took the advice that one of the doctoral students at Mizzou gave me last fall and joined the jESSE email discussion group.
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Alice asked in an Earth Day celebration on the "It's all good" blog if anyone has photos or ideas for an outdoor library.
The opening keynote address at ACRL featured architect William J. Mitchell of MIT. He touched on topics related to outdoor libraries. One of his slides showed a student working in a tiki hut, a structure in a botanical garden that was close enough to a university that the student had wireless internet access. He called this the future classroom, but, perhaps a more apt metaphor (since the student was working alone at the moment the photo was taken) would be the future library.
Elsewhere in the talk, Mitchell suggested that we consider the implications of the library as sidewalk cafe. Here's the picture that creates in my mind:
Did you take your annual survey about the Libarians' Index to the Internet? I did. I know I've turned several people onto LII in the last year and a small subset of those people are also reading my blog--if that includes you, go fill out the survey!
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The library blogosphere was abuzz the last few days about technology in libraries due to a rant on someone's blog. I would link to it but it uses language I don't want my mother to read. Jessamyn sums up the buzz, linking to the original posts, in the midst of this entry. The fellow, first, lambasted techy librarians and, then, backed off a bit and accused us of not engaging in critical thinking. I'm at the point of the semester where all my eloquence is going to papers and other non-blogosphere writing. Without a word to spare, here is my three-part response:
Hmmm. Maybe that could be an outline for the cover letter of my impending job search.
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Twice in the last week I've heard about the impact of wireless on the classroom. William Mitchell discussed it in the keynote speech at ACRL last week (Caveat Lector has a blog entry about it). Yesterday, Rochelle wrote about the Read/Write Classroom in Diary of a Subversive Librarian. This all has me thinking about teaching.
I have been asked on several occasions if I want to get a Ph.D. in LIS. I considered it most seriously when it began to dawn on me that I want teaching to be a major component of my career as a librarian. But it seems to me there is a big difference between teaching as a professor and teaching as a librarian.
Professors teach from a lofty place--"I know more than you do and I'm here to bestow that knowledge upon you." If asked, most teachers will claim that they learn from their students, but I've heard that said sincerely to a college class twice. I suspect it was not coincidence that both of those professors were women.
Librarians on the other hand, are not expected to know all the answers. When you don't know all the answers, you are in a better position to be a partner in learning with student--a much more fun, from my perspective, way to be a teacher.
William Mitchell said that this new environment in the classroom changed his teaching style. The implication was that while you might be able to pretend to be smarter than a classroom full of graduate students, there is no way to compete with a classroom full of graduate students armed with the entire Internet, including the databases from the library. His role has become more one of guide or director than fountain of knowledge. Now, that's a kind of teaching I could enjoy.
I want to be a librarian. But it's nice to have a Plan B.
My Digital Libraries class, by the way, has something of the same feel as a wireless classroom. Since it's on-line and asynchronous, everyone has an opportunity to do research as the discussion progresses and they often do--posting "here's what I found and here's what I learned from it." It feels like a kind of team discovery mission. A very good way for everyone involved to learn from each other.
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It wasn't a blog. In some ways, it was better than a blog (more multi-media, threaded commenting); in some ways, it was worse (no permalinks, no RSS feed, requires a terms of service agreement checkbox to enter). All in all, it just doesn't quack like a blog.
While I can see why one would want to call it a blog (blogs are cool!), I think it caused more problems than it was worth. There would never have been a demand for it to go public if it had not been called a blog. ACRL asked for volunteer bloggers and got mostly people who preferred to produce text and resisted producing audio. If they had asked for roaming journalists, as Jane called us, they would have had volunteers who always had a secret desire to be Liane Hansen and would have gone about interviewing every one they met.
If I were Queen of ACRL, here's what I would do next time. Assuming that the virtual conference is a success, I would invite Learning Times back to do it and ask them to include a component like this year's blog, only call it something else (ACRL multi-media news? ACRL's roaming reporters? ACRL newscast?). Separately from Learning Times, I would set up a blog using the PLA blog as a model. In fact, I wouldn't wait until the next conference (ACRL only meets every two years) to start a blog, but I might wait a few months so that I can ask for advice from Steven and Andrea after they have more experiences with the PLA blog to share.
I don't want to imply that my experience with the ACRL conference blog was bad. It was very good. It pushed me out of my comfort zones in ways that were beneficial to me. In fact, if Learning Times does this again at another conference I attend, I'll be in the front of the line to volunteer. While I'm convinced that there are people who would take more naturally to the medium than I did, I am now experienced! I'm happy with the final results. There's even a bit of a story arc there--I'm wondering how far I could push that before it became artificial. I also think I could probably find more creative and meaningful ways to use the audio. I would love the opportunity to see what else I could do in this medium.
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I had a lovely time at the Blogger's Dinner at ACRL, sitting down with the authors of two blogs that I regularly read, A Wandering Eyre and Caveat Lector, three people who write blogs on the more personal end of the spectrum, another who is in charge of a library blog, and one person who began to learn from the rest of us a little more of what a blog really is.
Jane and Dorothea already blogged about this event, so I don't have much to add, except that it turns out that I like cactus leaves!
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Good news! The ACRL blog is open to the public. Use the preview site to read, see, and hear (Learning Times is into multi-media) the ACRL bloggers. Introductions are up and I'll be doing something after the Keynote.
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My Digital Libraries paper is done and turned in. The statistics practice quiz is not in my suitcase, but it is in the Tickler file for the day I get back. And I posted on the discussion boards for both classes. So my coursework is taken care of for the next few days.
I printed many copies of my sparkling new resume. Since I am looking for feedback and advice, both on the resume and my career, I plan to hand one to everyone who is willing to read it.
I have come to terms with the unexpected nature of the ACRL Conference blog. I had built up all my expectations on a flawed belief that it would be like the PLA blog (which Steven and Andrea had good news about today). I have decided to let go of all those expectations and just think of it as reporting--which is more what I think it will be like. Joy Moll, cub reporter, ready for all assignments.
I'll blog here.
Weather.com says that we'll have highs around 70 degrees in Minneapolis. That's good since it's definitely spring in Missouri. Here's the best flower photo I've taken yet to prove it.
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Following the lead on Caveat Lector, I'm posting my schedule. These are only the things I'm fully committed to (i.e., I paid money or told someone else that I was going). I plan to go to a lot more sessions, but I'll wait to make final decisions until I get the final schedule.
Thursday
2:30pm First-time attendee orientation (if we can get there fast enough--our plane lands at 12:09)
I'm sure I'll follow along with everyone to the keynote and reception.
Friday
11am to 12pm Collaboration or Chaos? How to Develop, Staff, and Promote a Successful Collaborative Virtual Reference Service
7pm Bloggers' Dinner (I am so looking forward to this!)
Saturday
8am to 9am Building Connections with Diverse Student Populations
10:30am to 11:30am Rethinking Government Information: Providing Access and Managing Documents Collections in the 21st Century
12:30pm to 1:30pm Roundtable lunch
4:30pm to 6:00pm Assuring Access to Publicly-Funded Information in the Digital Age
Sunday
Plane leaves at 2:35pm
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My latest post on the 43things goal, Read 30 books in 2005:
7 down, 23 to go
The Know-It-All : One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs
A. J. Jacobs reads the Encyclopaedia Britannica cover to cover, using the alphabetic journey as a framework for essays about intelligence, knowledge, family, and the many wonderful facts in the EB. Some of it is quite funny—I read the entry on “manure” aloud to my husband to make us both laugh out loud. A funny, alphabetical book doesn’t sound like it would have much of a story, but this one does. One story line describes Jacobs’ various attempts to prove to himself and the world that he is getting smarter. Another line tells a tender story about Jacobs’ relationship with his father, as he contemplates becoming a father himself.
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I am an official ACRL Conference blogger. Oddly enough, that means you can't read my official ACRL Conference blog posts without paying for either the actual or virtual conference. Jane at A Wandering Eyre posted her concerns. I share those and offer this one as well: ACRL doesn't get the mindset of bloggers if they want to hide us behind a firewall.
One of my primary motivations for blogging is to share my thoughts with my audience. My dear readers, you who trudged through four long-winded posts from the one-day Technology Expo, are more likely to appreciate my experiences at ACRL than anyone else. So, I'm going to have to find some other motivation for posting at the ACRL blog--attracting new dear readers, perhaps, by linking to my real blog at every opportunity? And, of course, I'll find a way to blog here, too.
The secondary motivation for participating in this project is to get to put "official ACRL Conference blogger" on my resume, which is too cool to pass up even if I am disappointed in the implementation.
Another reminder that we are still early in this conference blogging phenomenon. From Computers in Libraries 2005, we learned that there are one or two problems with designating Core Bloggers. From ACRL 2005, I hope we'll learn that blogging behind a firewall is like a tree falling in the woods with no one to hear. It happened, but can we call it sound?
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Two for the blog people
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