Author: rdlankes

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In Memoriam: Donna Dinberg, Librarian, Reference Pioneer, and a Dear Friend

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On April 11, Donna Dinberg passed away after a fight with cancer. She will be greatly missed. I came to know Donna as a passionate advocate for reference and a key architect of the virtual reference movement. At every meeting Donna was there. She was particularly effective in ensuring that the next generation of reference would be truly international. She helped build CDRS. She helped build the Virtual Reference Desk project and conferences. Donna was a voice of sanity and innovation throughout her career.
Donna was an inspiration. No matter how bad her circumstances in work or life, she always remained an optimist. As a librarian she represented the best of us. She was very much my teacher and I will miss her voice and passion.

I believe that people live on in the words and deeds of those they have influenced. I commit that she will live on in me. She will live on in inspirational words. She will live on in actions in the face of inertia. I will remember Donna the best way I know how * taking from her example of solving problems and making a difference. Donna*s legacy, for me, shall be in teaching students to strive for excellence; in building systems that matter, and in seeing her smile, her humor, and her dedication in those around me.

From the Ottawa Citizen

DINBERG, Donna (Library and Archives Canada) Passed away peacefully at The Hospice at May Court surrounded by family members, at the age of 66, on Saturday, April 11, 2009. Daughter of H. Margaret (Madge) Dinberg (nee Malloch) and the late Dr. Maurice C. Dinberg of Oil City, Pennsylvania. Beloved wife of the late Joseph “Habao” Texidor. Loving mother of Edith “Liz” Fletcher of Chicago, Michelle Reynolds (Suzanne Perrenod) of New York City, Nicole Texidor of Victoria and Camille Octave (nee Texidor) (Lesly) and grandson Samuel Isaac of Montreal. She leaves behind her brothers Norman (Brenda) and Douglas (Carolyn) and her sister Janet D. Thompson (nee Dinberg). Fondly remembered by Aunt Billie , wife of the late N. Campbell “Cam” Malloch and Aunt Jean, wife of the late Ian G. Malloch. Remembered also by her cousins Michael Dinberg and Joni D. Goldblatt (Peter). Missed by her close friends, Franceen and Pierre Gaudet. Donna was a graduate of York University (B.A.) and McGill University (M.L.S.). Following her studies, she worked for the National Library of Canada and its successor organization, Library and Archives Canada, for more than 34 years. Donna was also Librarian for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Ottawa. A graveside service was held at the Jewish Community Cemetery, Osgoode, on Monday, April 13. A Memorial Service celebrating Donna’s life will be held on Friday, April 17 at 1:00 p.m. in the chapel, Hulse, Playfair & McGarry St. Laurent, 1200 Ogilvie Road (www.hpmc.ca/locations-st-laurent-chapel.cfm) ; 613-748-1200). In lieu of flowers, please consider in memoriam donations to The Hospice at May Court ( www.hospicemaycourt.com/donations.html ; 613-260-2906 ext. 222); the Canadian Cancer Society (convio.cancer.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=donations_can_home) or to the charity of your choice. The family expresses their sincere appreciation to the nurses and staff of The Hospice at May Court, and to Dr. Louise Coulombe, for their kindness and care. Gratitude also expressed to health care workers and other care providers.

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Libraries Facilitating Conversations and Communities

“Libraries Facilitating Conversations and Communities” Texas Library Association Annual Conference, Houston, TX

Abstract: At their core, libraries are about conveying knowledge and fostering the exchange of ideas through communication and conversation. This session examines the library’s continuing role in community dialogue. The speaker emphasizes how libraries can advance their communities – and their position in them – by embracing participatory Web 2.0 technologies.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2009/TxLA.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2009/TxLA.mp3

Screencast:

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The Big Picture

“The Big Picture” State Library of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ

Abstract: Dr. R. David Lankes of Syracuse University will discuss some of the ideas and challenges of participatory librarianship. Simply put, participatory librarianship recasts library and library practice using the fundamental concept that knowledge is created through conversation. Libraries are in the knowledge business, therefore libraries are in the conversation business. Participatory librarians approach their work as facilitators of conversation. Be it in practice, policies, programs and/or tools, participatory librarians seek to enrich, capture, store and disseminate the conversations of their communities.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2009/Arizona.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2009/Arizona.mp3

Screencast:

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Announcing the Conversants Conference

Call for Participation and Collaboration

Announcing “Conversants 🙂 A Participatory Conversation,” a new idea in professional development for challenging economic times.

We invite you to join the movement to create and share information through worldwide coordinated conversations. Library communities and organizations are uniquely poised to employ the latest collaborative resources; the conversations that result from these collaborations hold great promise for students and practitioners across the information professions. Sharing knowledge and expertise via these collaborative conversations as part of a united effort is both beneficial and necessary, so we invite you lend your voice and join us in this unique event. Become a Conversant!

This effort is spearheaded by R. David Lankes with support from the Information Institute at Syracuse University, librarians and library students.

Theme: Participatory Librarianship

Save the date: Session Proposals are Due April 16th and Ongoing Virtual Sessions will begin April 30th, 2009. A Hybrid Event will take place at ALA in Chicago.

Call for participation:

Virtual sessions will be coordinated through the conference site, but can take place anywhere on the Internet. Blog posts, Second Life presentations, FriendFeed rooms, videos, etc., are all encouraged.

We need participation in the following two areas:

Proposal submissions

We will be soliciting involvement at many levels of participation. Some ways that you can contribute include:

Papers – Traditional long-form papers will be considered for publication in Conversants, an online open-access journal. These papers will use CommentPress to allow participants to comment upon and discuss the paper on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis.

Events – We are also seeking time- and/or place-based events that can be archived and shared. Examples might include a SecondLife presentation, which can archived as a streaming video and shared with participants, or a podcast of a workshop or discussion that took place at a physical library.

Cases – Do you have an example of something that you did at your library that worked really well? Or that flopped spectacularly? Share your experience with your fellow Conversants! Creativity in format is encouraged.

Posters – Present your research, tackle an idea or controversial topic, or present conflicting viewpoints of a current event. Everyone is welcome to submit poster proposals, but library students are especially encouraged to participate at this level.

Postings – Blog postings, open Facebook posts, etc., that will carry a conference badge (that links to the conference hub with an associated conversation).

Conversations – All Conversants will be encouraged to participate in the conversations that will be happening throughout the event. In addition, special “water cooler” threaded conversations on a topic or issue of your choosing will be encouraged. Proposals should include an overview of the topic, starter questions, and a core of at least 5 people to seed/start conversation.

Conference Facilitators

In addition to the above, in order to ensure that this global conversation goes smoothly, people are needed to assist the core group in the following ways:

Technical support – Assist with the managing the Conversant web site, which will include pointers to the various conversations.

Participant support – Create tutorials, pathfinders, publicity, etc.

Reviewers – Review and qualify papers and posters.

Session moderators – To act as hosts or conversation facilitators.

Please send Proposal submissions and Conference Facilitator offers to:

[email protected]

For Proposal Submission, please include “Proposal for Conversants” in the subject.
For Conference Facilitators, please include “Facilitation for Conversants” in the subject.

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Prof. R. David Lankes receives the 2009 Emerald Outstanding Paper Award

Emerald Group Publishing of the United Kingdom has selected Syracuse University School of Information Studies (iSchool) Associate Professor R. David Lankes’ paper, “Credibility on the Internet: Shifting from Authority to Reliability,” as a 2009 Outstanding Paper Award Winner.

Emerald is the world’s leading scholarly publisher in business and management, publishing more than 190 journals as well as serials and books, and had more than 20 million articles downloaded in 2008 alone. Emerald invites each of its journal’s editorial teams to nominate what they believe to be the most outstanding paper and three highly commended papers each year.

The editorial team of the Journal of Documentation, which published Lankes’ paper, selected his article for the award, dubbing it “one of the most impressive pieces of work the team has seen throughout 2008,” according to the announcement.

Emerald bases its decision on a list of criteria, including the contribution of new knowledge, structure and quality of the writing, rigor of analysis or argument, relevance, and timeliness or connected to the latest developments in the field.

His paper addresses how Internet users determine the credibility of information on web sites from a conceptual level and how that affects new online tools and services. He describes how and why people are dependent on the Internet for information, and also describes the progression of users shifting from analyzing the credibility of an online source to determining the reliability of sources.

Lankes will be recognized at the 2009 Literati Network Awards for Excellence ceremony.

Lankes is director of the Information Institute of Syracuse and a fellow of the American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology Policy. Lankes’ research focuses on education information and digital reference services. He has authored, co-authored or edited eight books, and written numerous book chapters and journal articles on the Internet and digital reference. He holds a bachelor of fine arts in multimedia design, a M.S. in telecommunications and network management, and a Ph.D. in information transfer from Syracuse University.

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Nicolette Sosulski: Reference Hero

You know, I do a lot of talking about how librarians need to be less anonymous, and more personal. I should do my part as well. I not only do a lot of talking about reference, I use it too. I’d like to take the opportunity to give a shout out to a librarian who demonstrates the best of our ideals in her daily tasks.

So, today’s hero is Nicolette Sosulski. Over the past weeks she has gone well above and beyond the call of duty on some reference work I have had. She not only e-mailed me follow-ups, but, as she is a friend of mine on Facebook, IM’ed me to confirm information and the question. A very public thank you to Nicolette. You make us all look good.

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Mashups Made Real

So I was moderating a WebWise pre-confernece on mashups with Eli Neiburger and Joe Ryan. Eli had a great observation, that data and API’s are to the information age what interchangeable spare parts were to the industrial age. APIs and web services make the data interchangeable. Very cool observation.

Anyway, API’s, XML, web services, and such can be a bit techy and hard for folks to hold on. I ran into this YouTube video that does a MUCH better job than I could (and words) explaining the power of exposing your stuff in a remixable way on the net. This guy took video from all over YouTube and made this video:

Don’t you want folks to jam with your data like this?