Author: rdlankes

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Come to the Syracuse LIS Open House

Know someone interested in library science? The iSchool is having an Open House for anyone interested in any aspect of library science. Help us spread the word!

Overview and Information Fair

Thursday November 11, 2010
5:15-7:30 p.m.

Discover the exciting opportunities awaiting you in the ever-evolving library profession. Talk to students, faculty, and alumni about their experiences and what opportunities await you in this ever-changing field. Learn about online learning options and WISE, the Library and Information Science and School Media programs, Digital Libraries, eScience, Cultural Heritage Preservation, career opportunities, and Admissions, Financial Aid and Scholarships.

Meet the Faculty

Friday November 12, 2010
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Participatory librarianship, eScience, information organization, innovation, and motivation—join us to hear our faculty members share how they turned their passion into their profession.

RSVP and learn more at http://ischool.syr.edu/OpenHouse.

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More Videos

So I gave my students a choice to either do a path finder on trends in evaluating scholarly impact, or make a video loosely answering the question “You need a masters degree for that?” Seems that a large percentage of the class get that question when they tell a spouse/parent/co-worker/friend they are going to library school. So here are some of their responses in no particular order:

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Video Week

OK, something different this week. Some videos from the web. Here is the first. A great piece by Stacey Greene Wicksall.

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The Librarian Militant, The Librarian Triumphant

“The Librarian Militant, The Librarian Triumphant” NEXT: A Library Futures Symposium, The Alberta Library, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Abstract: What will kill this profession is not ebooks, amazon, or Google. It will be a lack of imagination. An inability to see not what is, but what could be. To see only how we are viewed now, but not how that is only a platform for greatness. Librarianship is not a building, or a collection. It is a conversation you are having. A conversation that has lasted over nearly three millennia. A conversation handed down from generation to generation, culture to culture, great society to great society, epoch to epoch. Librarianship only ends if we stop this conversation – set in stone, transfer practice to golden idols. It only survives if we, librarians and the communities we serve, take it up, renew, refresh it, and constantly engage in what is next. It is in that conversation that we find what a triumphant librarian is. Someone who wakes to see a better day for their community, and works to make the next even better, and the next day after that.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2010/Alberta.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Pod/2010/Alberta.mp3

Screencast:

The Librarian Militant, The Librarian Triumphant from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

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Beyond the Bullet Points: Blind in a Mine

So a politician, a nun, and a librarian are trapped in a collapsed mine.

After the initial shock they decide to tie themselves together and as a group to venture down the remaining shaft for some means of escape. Soon they bump into a smooth and clearly man made object. They gather around it trying to feel what it is.

The politician says “I think it is a piece of faulty mine equipment. Once I am on the surface I shall hold hearings and find those accountable.”

The nun says “I believe it a door sent by God to save us. Librarian, what do you think it feels like?”

“Let’s see a group of people without a leader groping around in the dark looking either for someone to blame or a miracle? Feels like a library committee to me.”

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Innovators wanted: No experience necessary?

Lankes, R. David (2010). Innovators wanted: No experience necessary? In Walter and Williams (Eds.), The expert library: Sustaining, staffing, and advancing the academic library in the 21st century. Association of College and Research Libraries.

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You Must Focus on Connection Management Instead of Collection Management

“You Must Focus on Connection Management Instead of Collection Management” Allegheny County Library Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

Abstract: A longer presentation of new librarianship
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2010/Pittsburgh.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2010/Pittsburgh.mp3

Screencast:

You Must Focus on Connection Management Instead of Collection Management from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

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Killing the User and Other Necessary Acts

“Killing the User and Other Necessary Acts” Keynote, Polaris Users Group Annual Meeting, Syracuse, NY.

Abstract: You are not a user, you are not a customer, or consumer – you are a participant in control of your world and able to shape your own learning and environment. So are those we seek to serve. Instead of looking at the members of our libraries as passive consumers we must see them as active constructors. What should our library systems look like to participants, not users?
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2010/PUG2010.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2010/PUG2010.mp3

Screencast:

Killing the User and Other Necessary Acts from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.