Author: rdlankes

Posted on

Syracuse iSchool Prof. R. David Lankes to speak at Swedish Library Association conference

The Swedish Library association’s annual conference “Bibliotekdagarna” will feature a talk by Syracuse University School of Information Studies Associate Professor R. David Lankes. Lankes will present “The Librarian Militant, The Librarian Triumphant.”

Held for the past 10 years, Bibliotekdagarna is the biggest library conference in Sweden and includes librarians from a diverse set of working environments. Lankes will be the final of four speakers, including Prof. David Nicholas, director of the Department of Information Studies at University College London. Lankes has been invited to participate in the entire three-day conference held in Visby on the island of Gotland from May 11 through May 13, 2011.

In addition to his role as associate professor, Lankes is the director of the library and information science program at the iSchool. He also directs the Information Institute of Syracuse (IIS), and is a co-founder of the award-winning AskERIC project and founder of Virtual Reference Desk project responsible for building a national network of education expertise. He is a passionate advocate for libraries and their essential role in today’s society, and seeks to understand how information approaches and technologies can be used to transform industries. In this capacity, he has served on advisory boards and study teams in the fields of libraries, telecommunications, education, and transportation, including at the National Academies. Lankes holds a BFA in multimedia designs, an MS in telecommunications and network management and a Ph.D., all from Syracuse University.

Posted on

Copia

OK, just saw this today, so I have no firsthand experience of how it actually works, but it looks cool, and is definitely getting close to reading as a social experience:

About Copia from Tim on Vimeo.

Posted on

Promotion

Hi blog folks. I’m going up for promotion this year. If my work has been useful to you in practice, I ask you to respond to the below letter.

Hello,

In December 2, Professors Dave Lankes will be considered for promotion to full professor. This is one of the most important decisions we make with respect to faculty and so we sincerely request that you, as a student of Professor Lankes, help our deliberations by submitting an evaluation of him to be added to the body of evidence being collected for his case.

You are asked to comment on Professor Lankes’s teaching and advising and his contributions to the School and the profession. Please specify in what context you interacted with him (as advisor, coursework, independent study, research, and so on).

Please note that Professor Lankes has waived his right of access to the responses you make. This means that your letter will be held in the strictest confidence and that only members of the evaluation committee will see it.

In order to be eligible for consideration, your letter must reach us by November 28, 2010. The letter must be signed and in a sealed envelope. Otherwise, the evaluation committee will not see it. You may email me a copy and follow by a signed copy if you want to get the letter in the last minute. The letters may be left for me at faculty services in 245 Hinds Hall or sent to the address below.

We thank you for your contribution to this process. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Jian Qin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Chair, Personnel Committee
School of Information Studies
Syracuse University
311 Hinds Hall
Syracuse, NY 13244
http://eslib.ischool.syr.edu/

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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:

Posted on

Video Week

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

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.”