Short notes and thoughts on Congress.gov webinar

I watched this live webinar from the Law Library of Congress on June 11, 2026. Topic was the congress.gov website. Here are some of my notes from the event, mainly for me to look back later, and some small random thoughts. 

Webinar notes: 

• Overview of the website. 
• The search allows for quotation marks on phrases. 
• For things like keeping track of a committee, email alerts are an option, for example, to get a committee's schedule. 
• You can also search for CRS (Congressional Research Service) reports on the website. Before, you had to use FAS (Federation of American Scientists), where they kept a list (apparently no longer there) or Open CRS, which is no longer there either. Those were the days. Now they are in one place in congress.gov. I've often encouraged students where they can to use CRS reports in their research assignments if they find a relevant one. 
• U.S. Constitution Annotated. This includes the Constitution with legal analysis. Note additional features offered.
• Use the Support button (upper right on top) then click on Browse Help Center, then scroll a bit down to Collections. This allows you to see what a specific resource collection may cover and contain. 
• Also under Support, there is a Glossary for federal terms, in case you need them. 
• Under Support you can also find Ask a Law Librarian, if you need help search help, or finding a resource, or an answer from a librarian. 
• In addition to finding members of Congress from the main website, you can find them under Support. Just browse Help Center then Collections.  
• See also and use the Advanced Search for precise and/or specific searches. Use the Query Builder when you have few but specific details of your search. 
• See also Search Tools (on top of main page, next to the Support link). This tells you what tools, wildcards, so on you can use on the search. This is a detail I also encourage my students to do, though I am sure a lot of them ignore it anyhow. When it comes to a database, especially one you may be using often, take a moment to check the Help/Tools (or whatever similar name) section to see what wildcards and other search tips it offers. Knowing things like wildcards (also known as truncation of terms) can save you some time and make your searching better, but you got to put in a little time to learn the tricks. 
• See also More Options under the main search bar for some quick search options. It is a small pull down menu that opens filters and other limiters you may find useful. 
• If you make a congress.gov account, you can save searches and do email alerts. When they are available. There is a note today saying "accounts are temporarily unavailable" as of this post, and I do hope it is a temporary thing. 
• Using filters in searches as much as possible is helpful to narrow a search and make it more specific.  

 

Side notes: 

This is the the kind of thing that regular people need to know and use to see what the federal government does. Librarians certainly need to know this in order to help their patrons wanting information on the federal government, especially Congress and legislation. 

We don't get many U.S. government questions here often, but we do get one now and then. At times I do wonder what they teach in political science when it comes to the federal government. 

At times I also wonder how many librarians show interest in this kind of stuff. I do, and I try my best to keep up my reference skills and knowledge base, but some colleagues could not care less. I've been told that if they get that kind of question, they can always send it to me. And while I do not mind, I think other reference librarians in general need to nurture this kind of knowledge too. 

As I wrap up this post, the thought occurs to me I am sure a few researchers, and more than a few librarians who should know better, would be happy to ask an AI Slop machine to look up the kind of information a site like congress.gov would offer. It is a sad reality, but that is a thought for another time. 

 

  

Booknote: How to Find Out Anything

Since this book deals with research and teaching people how to do it, I figured I would share the review I posted about it on my GoodReads profile here as well. I think for people new to the research process or trying to learn how to do it, this is a good start. For most librarians, this should be review.


How to Find Out Anything: From Extreme Google Searches to Scouring Government Documents, a Guide to Uncovering Anything About Everyone and Everything by Don Macleod
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was better than I anticipated. For librarians, this book can serve as a review of things we know already (or should have learned either in library school or somewhere along the way in our work). So, for librarians, it is a book that can be skimmed and reviewed as needed. Now, for the rest of the people who are not librarians or professional researchers, Mr. MacLeod brings a lot of knowledge to the table in a relatively compact book.

He covers the following:

*How to think like a researcher. Learning how to ask the right questions, but also learning how to know when you have found the answer.

*On Google, including some advanced techniques. This part does show the usual disadvantage of some books that present content about the Internet: they can quickly change or go out of date. Some of the Google features mentioned are either not there or they are about to be phased out, like iGoogle (the personalized web page component that Google is retiring). Also, Google has made it more difficult to find the advanced search options (getting to the actual advanced search screen is not easy, and he does not mention it in the book. I do not know if he just did not consider it important, or took it for granted). However, many of the tips on advanced commands you can use are pretty good.

*Stuff on finding information from other sources than the "usual" Google search. He looks at associations, business resources, government resources. This is a pretty good section that shows that not everything is on Google. In fact, if you are only relying on Google, you are missing a hell of a lot of information.

*How to find people. This was a mixed bag. Yes, you can find out many things by the digital footsteps people leave behind. However, getting to it may not be easy. Often, you have to pay to get specific information about people (say for things like background checks). Contrary to common myths, stalking someone is not as easy as it used to. It can be done, but it does take a lot of work and savvy, and as I said, you may have to pay. And that is a good point to make: not all the information is free, and MacLeod does point that out, highlighting some of the paid services that may be of interest or not.

*He also gives credit to the library and librarians, for in this age, they are the one place where you can get a lot of information for free plus you can get good research support. It does pay off to get a library card and to become friends with your local librarians.

So overall, for what the book claims to do, it is pretty good. It does provide good advice and information on how to find a variety of things. It is written in pretty easy to understand language, so the average person should be able to pick it up and get some things done. He even gives some sample exercises to help you practice what you learn. In conclusion, for librarians, this is mostly a review (if you paid attention in library school or at your workplace you paid attention to the older, experienced librarian). For lay people, this is a good place to learn a bit about research, what sources and places to use, and how to use them. It is not the be all, end all, but it is a pretty good start. I think the book does a lot to de-mistify the research process, and that is a good thing. I have no problem with people learning to do these things. I am all about empowering people, and I know that I will still have work since my patrons will always have research and information needs as well as be taught how to use resources and evaluate them. As a librarian, this is a book I would keep on my shelf both to review things now and then as well as to lend to people as needed.

View all my reviews

Conference Notes LAC 2012: Plenary I (Eaton Keynote)

Plenary I: Keynote.
Date: October 29, 2012, 10:45am
Speaker: Judith Eaton, President, Council for Higher Education Accreditation
Topic: "Higher Education in a New Era of Public Accountability: What Does This Mean For You?"

(As before, any personal impressions or additions I will put in parenthesis. Otherwise, these are my notes as I heard them)

• Some numbers: 
• There have been 200 new regulations since 2008 affecting accreditation and institutions. 
• 1 trillion dollars in student loan debt. 
• We are still awaiting the Higher Education Act reauthorization. 

• Some basics: 
• Dominant role of the government. 
• The compliance role for accreditation. 
•  A shift in who decides quality: from higher education to the government. 
• Diminished reliance on institutional leadership for academic quality. 
• Assuring quality in innovation: for-profits, MOOCs. We'll be tested on how these work.  

• Recall the Spellings Commission (Wikipedia article; archived homepage of the commission including reports and other materials): ongoing criticism of higher education in terms of credibility, rigor, integrity. 
• Higher education challenged: costs up, perceived value down.

• Expectations: 
• Accountability for evidence: student learning outcomes and institutional performance. 
• Accountability for transparency. 
• Accountability for jobs and earnings. 
• New accountability tools and sources of judgment: rankings, placement rates, graduation rates, comparability, foundations, the press. 
• Note that the comparisons, so on are not done by us in higher education. They are done by think tanks, foundations, so on (hmm, like the CHEA maybe?) so on. Foundations such as the Gates Foundation, by their donations, can help set policies (for good or ill, we have private foundations, which may or not really have the best interests of education at heart, so on putting in money, which thus helps set policies). 

• New era: Government and accreditation: 
• Partnership giving way to oversight. This is another shift. 
• Accountability only if you have regulation. 
• Everything is worth regulating, even to low details such as faculty having a biographical statement on a college website (I have actually seen this be a big deal in other places), general education offerings, so on. The speaker went on to question if any of this makes sense. 
• Government officials decide, not collegial/peer review. 
•  The drive for compliance drives out the improvement role of accreditation. 

• Why the concerns and the new era? 
• Money. $460 billion dollars higher education enterprise. 
• Price up and perceived value of higher education down. 
• Absence of jobs. Sure, there was a recession, but there is still an expectation of higher education contributing to economic development (which is somewhat true, but then again, are we basically saying all higher education is simply vocational education? It seems a lot of people would think so). 
• The presence of debt and defaults. 
• International competition, for instance the OECD (which the speaker right away rushes to "clarify" uses "questionable" methodologies. Sounds a bit more like the world is doing better than the U.S. in terms of education, and an American does not like it. The methodology may not be perfect, but that is the usual excuse in the U.S. when talks of why the world often does better surface. By the way, on the link, click then under topics to find the education data). 
• Another factor may be trust, or rather a lack of it in society at this moment (I can't imagine why). 

• What role for libraries:
• Help institutions know more about themselves. 
• Institutional performance. 
• Student learning outcomes: research, data, tools. 
• Help institutions with transparency. Provide evidence to the public. 
• Provide leadership for accountability. 
• Communicating ROI and value of your campus. 
• Participate in accreditation. 

•  Libraries have the tools and capacity in place: forums, assessment blogs, other opportunities. 
• We must lead to preserve the role of accreditation. Keep authority for academic quality within higher education. 

•  Summary: 
• Be a strong advocate for value of mission, peer and collegial review of quality. 
• Be aware of the accountability climate. 
• Sustain focus on library accountability. 

 

Webinar notes: On E-gov and libraries

Again, I am running somewhat behind on my notes for recent webinars I have listened to. Anyhow, here goes. 

Webinar provided by ALA.
Topic title: E-gov: Make it work @ your library
Event date: December 9, 2010.

You can find some notes and additional resource links at the ALA's PLFTA site (click under "Presentations."). Presenter ppt. slides and additional resource links available. 

My notes:

On public libraries and e-gov.:

• 63% of libraries report providing e-gov access. 
• For 2010, 53% of libraries reported their staff did not have skills to meet patron needs in regards to e-gov. 

E-gov in public libraries. Some best practices (and even though this is mostly for public libraries, I think us in academia can learn a thing or two as well. Besides, we are librarians, we should not be part of that 53%).

• Having dedicated computers for e-gov with extended time limits (this is just for e-gov. Often, for the public libraries who get laptops for this, the laptops are funded by a grant). 
• It is necessary to develop an e-gov policy (and do have it reviewed by a lawyer). The policy is to say what the library can or cannot do in terms of e-gov (levels of service-- i.e. things like we just point to the sites versus help them navigate the site).
• Other legal stuff: Provide verbal and written disclaimers. Do refrain from helping users fill out forms. Do not select forms for users (show them how to use an index of forms, but let them select the form they need). Refrain from typing any personal information for patrons. 
• ALA's E-gov toolkit.
• It is helpful to keep statistics of types of e-gov questions received. This can help with advocacy for the library later. 
• It is important to promote and market these services. For example, have lists of commonly  used websites, what to bring when filling out forms. Some libraries may have an e-gov blog. (In terms of the blog, I thought we could incorporate more e-gov information into our library blog's content rather than creating a whole new blog)
• Sample: Pasco County Libraries E-gov page.

Evaluating e-gov sites, with some examples:

• Some qualities: 
• quantity and quality of the information. 
• website presentation and accessibility. 
• level of information on the site. 
• services available to the public. 
• level of accessibility to the disabled or others using alternative technologies. 
• does the site save time? Are the services intuitive? Does it provide good helping aids for first time users? 
• Some good site examples: 
• usa.gov. See the portal part "for citizens."
• National Park Service.
• Some good state sites include California, Alabama, Maine, Rhode Island, Virginia, Texas (whoop whoop), District of Columbia, and South Carolina.
• A favorite is GPO Access, which (sadly or not depending on where you sit) is soon to be replaced by the Federal Digital System. Although this does not look like a replacement (maybe the guy presenting was not as clear). 

Libraries and e-gov: collaboration and education.

• Some context for the increase in public library use for computers: unemployment benefits, social services, job seekers, other government needs. 
• Note there are people who cancel the Internet at home to save money (it is a tight economy folks), so libraries see more usage of computers for communication and leisure needs (the whole leisure thing certainly a debate for another day). 
• From a technology access survey of  public libraries (cited in the presentation): 
• 66.6% of library branches report being the only provider of free public access computers and free Internet access. 
• Overall, public library branches report an average of 14 computers for public access plus they often provide wifi. 82.2% of public library branches offer wifi, up from 76.4% in 2008-2009. Overall, library usage is up across the board.
• 88.8% of public library branches help people understand and use government websites. 

Article Note: On When ERIC is useful, with some follow-up

Citation for the article:

Corby, Kate, "When is ERIC Useful? A Background and Current Overview of the Education Resources Information Center." The Reference Librarian 50.2 (2009): 137-149.  

Read via Interlibrary Loan.


This article updates and supplements the previous article I read on the topic, which discussed alternatives to ERIC. I still teach EBSCO's Education Research Complete as the primary database for education research, but I do mention ERIC mostly as a supplement and for its thesaurus. Let me mention another small update note after I wrote the note for the other article: We finally acquired Web of Science for the library. It's amazing what the threat of losing or not getting accreditation (or reaffirmation, which is the new term) does for money to suddenly appear for library development and enhancement. I am being perfectly honest and blunt in this case: were it not for that, we would not have been able to purchase WoS. Now my job is promoting more use of WoS for the education faculty as well and discovering all it can do for us in terms of education research. I like having options, but I digress. In the other article, I do discuss some tips for teaching research in education that are very applicable and relevant, so those of you who do instruction may want to go and look at the other link.

Getting back to Corby's article, we get an overview of ERIC and its current condition. The article starts by providing an overview of ERIC's development history and design. ERIC was created to bring education research, which was being done all over the nation, under one roof. This is where the clearinghouses structure came in at first. ERIC also developed the Document Reproduction Service (EDRS), which served to provide those microfiche sets that some libraries still have (we still have our set, but I am not sure for how long since there is some pressure to weed it out. Please see the Strayer article, for some notes on why I have doubts about totally weeding out the fiche set). The other big decision ERIC made was using a commercial service. In 2004, the clearinghouses were closed, and ERIC moved to just being a database. From there, the author goes on to discuss how good and relevant ERIC may be in this day and age.

According to Corby, of the major education indexes, "ERIC claims the last number of journals covered" (142). Corby compares ERIC with products from Wilson, Gale, and EBSCO. However, she notes that ERIC is moving to greater coverage. She agrees that right now EBSCO emulates the gold standard when it comes to coverage (143). We do have to note that ERIC not only covers journals; it also covers conference papers, government reports, monographs, and other grey literature. This additional coverage gives ERIC an advantage. Another advantage is the thesaurus. As I have noted before, you can use the thesaurus not only in ERIC but also use its terms for suggestions of terms to type in other databases.

Overall, Corby concludes that ERIC is still a vital service, even if it has a lower profile. Sure, there are other resources that are more visible (at least if you are on a college campus with an EBSCO subscription), but ERIC is still a good resource. Corby explains why we would miss it if it was gone: "The library community would miss ERIC because it provides generally excellent specific indexing of articles. For in-depth searching on elusive education topics, it is a lifesaver. None of the competing products is as good" (147). So you see that ERIC still has some strong advantages. In addition, "many teachers and principals rely on ERIC as their major source of education information. Without it, they would lack access to the professional literature" (147). Many of these educators are probably using the government web version of the database, which would not have links to full-text as EBSCO's version would (but that is mostly because EBSCO links full-text you may have via other databases you also subscribe to). Corby makes a note that librarians should be reaching out more to those teachers and principals. She writes that "those are the people that librarians should be reaching out to, making sure they know how to use our library catalogs and interlibrary loan to access the items not available from ERIC servers" (147).


Link provided in the article to the ERIC Users' Committee, a unit of ACRL. I have used the link that seems more current (given ALA's recent Web page revamp).

Once more, just because the kids can get online it does not mean proficient

This is not totally new. It has been reported before that just because the "millenials" (or whatever the label of the day is) can use Facebook and surf the web, it does not follow that they are computer proficient. As reported by the Wired Campus blog, North Carolina State University released a study (link to PDF document) that finds "that most students overestimated their skill levels when they were asked how they perceived their ability to complete certain tasks and then tested on those tasks." In brief, the students in the sample were tested on their proficiency in productivity software (i.e. Word, Powerpoint, and Excel) after surveying them to see how they perceived their own proficiency with productivity software. The study basically found that the students were not as proficient as they thought they were.

This finding probably validates what a few educators have been saying for a while: just because students of the millennial generation can get online and use the Internet, it does not follow they are actually proficient in computer applications, at least in productivity applications. Now, why is this significant? If you want to look at it in economic terms, many workplaces depend on computers to carry out their business. They depend on programs like Word (word processing), Excel (spreadsheets), and PowerPoint (presentations) to run their business, and they expect their workers to be proficient in that type of program. The common assumption of these students being "digital natives" simply does not pan out when faced with something practical. I will go ahead and say it: the students may be proficient in "leisure" applications, but not so much when they need to make a spreadsheet or type a paper for a class. How do I know this? Here are some common reference desk questions I get:

• How do I double space my paper? (Word)
• How do I put in footnotes and/or headers? (Word)
• A broad range of questions about Excel. A very common one is how do I use it.
  
• How do I insert objects/pictures/videos onto my PowerPoint.
  

I find this interesting because learning how to use a word processing program is pretty much taken for granted. Most students in a school have to type papers for classes in high school, so one would think there is exposure there. What happens often is that colleges assume the kids learned it in the schools, so they fail to teach basic computer proficiency skills at their level. Or, if the college does teach it, it is some basic course that students can often "test out." The problem is once they test out, they may not get too much formal exposure to the programs until some professor asks them to use it, and they end up in places like their library hoping we know how to use them and can teach them how.

The study illustrates that there is a difference between perception and reality. This is not a new finding. In fact, I have read a bit about competency and perceptions once or twice, and this was some years ago. So these recent findings should not be surprising. The study does make a distinction between being computer literate (“an understanding of computer characteristics, capabilities, and applications, as well as an ability to implement this knowledge in the skillful, productive use of computer applications suitable to individual roles in society") and computer proficient ("the knowledge and ability to use specific computer applications (spreadsheet, word processors, etc") (142). I think this is an important distinction to make. I can be computer literate, but it does not automatically follow that I am computer proficient. For the record, I am fairly computer proficient in the computer applications studied, but I probably fall on the average range.

But moving along, the distinction is often missed by those who cheer millennials because they can use the latest shiny 2.0 toy. There is more to computer proficiency than being able to update your Facebook status or post a link to your MySpace, just to pick examples from applications I regularly observe students using in our computer lab. Now, in the interest of fairness, we should note that Microsoft productivity programs can be notorious for not being very intuitive, which I would guess could affect the study somehow. I am guessing this on the basis that when we upgraded to Office 2003, student questions about productivity programs increased, such as "where did Word put the button to change the spacing now?" For some, questions like that were followed by some colorful language. In addition, students continue to display difficulty with concepts like saving your work to a recognizable place, which is also a basic computer proficiency skill, and yet it is often missed.

Overall, the release of this study does a couple of things. One, it teaches us not to be complacent. Don't assume the kids know it all just because they can get on the computer. Two, it shows that there is a glaring need for education when it comes to teaching students how to use productivity software, and I would venture to say not just Microsoft products. I would go a step further and say they probably should get exposure and some training in things like Open Office. Sure, some people may say the students can just push the help button, but anyone who has tried the Help option (I have) can attest that it is not always very helpful. And in the end, the Help button does not take the place of some good training. So, don't assume and do educate your students.

Reading and Book Buying Habits of Americans

A while back I came across this survey of "The Reading and Book Buying Habits of Americans (note link is to a PDF of the complete report). The report is 13 pages, but it is mostly short questions with answers in terms of numbers, so rather easy to read. Some of the questions seemed amusing to me. So, allow me to look at the survey, put some snark into it, and while at it, take a chance to look at myself as a reader and book buyer. OK, those were fancy words for "I am commenting on the survey in a somewhat random fashion."

First, there was the whole question about "American Dream Materialists" versus the "American Dream Spiritualists." I actually had to keep reading to find the definitions, but basically these are people who believe that material goods lead to the American Dream versus those who see it in more spiritual terms. They both believe it is possible to attain the dream. Given the current state of the nation, I initially reacted with a "what are those people smoking?" remark. Maybe I am a pessimist, or more likely a cynic, but unless some serious radical changes happen soon, that dream is nothing but a pipedream. However, I am digressing. The survey points out that American Dream Materialists are more likely to buy their books in hardcover. Me? I buy hardcover when it is on sale or remaindered. Otherwise, it's paperback because I need to save some money for one, plus my apartment is small, and it is easier to stack paperbacks than big hardcovers. Having said that, there are rare authors I like enough to pay the full 28 bucks or more for their books, but those are very rare. Plus I borrow as much as I can for books I want to read but not keep. But the survey has more on that, so let's move on.

80% of the respondents said they do not plan on buying any special e-book reader. Only reason that factoid caught my eye is because my boss has a Kindle, and she pretty much swears by it. I am sure this number is not encouraging for people like her. Me? I am one of the 80%. Not planning on spending the money on a device any time soon. I like my books in print just fine. But that is what works for me. I have tried reading e-books, and I just find the way they work does not go with how I read.

And then the survey also covers politics. For example, did you know that Democrats (50%) are more likely than Republicans or Independents to visit and linger in one of those bookstores with a "community center" feel to it (their terms). In other words, think of a nice Barnes & Noble or Borders. I did notice Republicans do not seem to "fare as well" in questions like these. For example, Republicans (26%) are also less likely to shop at independent bookstores. And Republicans are more likely (32%) to agree that hearing about a book on talk radio makes them want to buy it. So, if we want to take this very literal: if Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity tell them to read a book, the Republicans are very likely to go out and buy it on their say so. Actually, the question is about buying a book. Whether they read the book once they buy it is a separate question the survey does not address; the survey does ask about books that you buy but do not get around to reading. However, it does not break down that question by political party. I wonder why. I could go on with the joking, but I will stop while I am ahead. I did find amusing the survey took the time to find this out.

And talking about buying books, they do ask how many do people buy in a year that they never get around to reading. 53% of respondents admitted 1 to 5 books purchased that they never got around to read. I was a bit surprised people are actually willing to admit that. Personally, I never keep track, but I know I probably fall in the 6 to 11 mark, give or take. Oh, I get to them eventually, but it may take me a while. That is part of the reason I buy books on the cheap. I am not a fast reader, so buying bestsellers and new books right away does not work for me. I read at my own pace, when I feel like it. I do like having some choices at home, so when I go to buy books I often stock up. This is specially applicable here in Tyler where selections can be very limited. So, when I go out of town to a decent bookstore, I stock up for the lean times in town. In the end, I have a big "to be read" pile, and I am at peace with that fact.

The survey asks how often do you typically read a book. Most respondents (68%) say once. That is probably about right. Most people probably read something once unless it is something very good. For me, there are so many books and so little time, that I don't reread unless the book is very good, a favorite, and I am in the mood for something familiar. There are some titles I do reread now and then, but overall, I am probably like that 68%. And when I am done with them, it depends. If the book was really good, I keep it (and I keep the hope I may reread it). If it was bad (and I bought it), I will likely resell it when I get a chance. I used to do Bookcrossing, but after a while, it did not seem efficient, and I can at least get a few bucks when I resell something (these days you have to count your pennies). This is why I borrow a lot of books from the library when I can: there are too many books that only deserve a single reading. Those I try to borrow. Often, if I borrow one that turns out to be really good, I will try to buy it for myself. However, these days, I am trying to limit my purchases. Not just the economy (I am a librarian after all), but also the space issue at home.

Now, how about what makes you buy a book? Well, for me it depends. It could be a review. It could be I heard of it from a friend or colleague, or John Stewart highlighted it on The Daily Show or Colbert from The Colbert Report. Those were options in the survey (except for Colbert), and most people said they follow suggestions from friends and family. For me, book reviews are good depending on where the review comes from. I am more likely to consider a review from a librarian blogger or other blogger that I know has a decent reputation, or is an avid reader with good sense. Yes, those things may be exclusive: a blogger may have a good reputation (say a librarian that blogs about librarianship and is prominent), but be a lousy book recommender. On the other hand, some avid readers are nowhere near the librarian blogger A-list, but they read cool stuff.

In terms of finding ideas for reading, I have found Stewart and Colbert often feature some interesting writers. True, a lot of their choices are political authors, but once in a while they pick some unique books. For example, Jack Cafferty's book that I recently read, It's Getting Ugly Out There, was a Daily Show pick. I will be blunt now: I don't care for Oprah's picks. If it works for you, good, but self-help and improvement themes are not my thing. Morning shows? Well, I am usually at work by the time those come around, and they seem pretty similar to what Oprah might pick. As for TV news, when was the last time you saw a book discussed on TV news? Overall, I look at a lot of sources to get reading ideas, and a lot of those are online sources. We are talking here about my personal reading. I don't really do collection development anymore, but I still look at the professional journals in my liaison areas just to see what is out there; I am just not doing it as much since there is no real need.

Oh, and how many of you go to the bookstore knowing exactly what you want? The survey asked that, and found that only 38% fit that criterion. Oh, and 77% of respondents admitted making additional book purchases besides the one they planned. Does that sound familiar? To me it does. I have been known to go in and come out with an extra book or two. It's part of the experience. Go in to get your new Paulo Coehlo book, and you come out with the Coehlo along with a couple of mangas, a nice steampunk anthology, and a graphic novel. Just saying.

Moving along, this was a question that really made me think: "when thinking about most of the books you read, do you borrow books from the library, or do you own them?" 78% of respondents said they owned them. Right away, the question made me wonder what does that say about our libraries. Well, in my case, it would probably say that the selection in the town library are pretty much poor. I do borrow a lot of my books, but lately, I do so via my library's interlibrary loan service. They are often items I know our public library would not be caught dead having (say that Hellraiser comic anthology I just finished for example. WorldCat record. By the way, I got that via ILL.) and my own library would probably not buy (see the previous example). But putting my own example aside, the question I had was this: do people really prefer owning the books, or is it a matter that owning the book is more convenient? Going back to my experience, I often get students at the reference desk looking for a particular book. If we don't have it, I suggest ILL, but to many of them, if they think they can get it via B&N or Amazon in a quicker way (and cheap, at least in their eyes), that is what they will do. Sure, ILL is usually free, but you have to fill the form and wait for the book to arrive. If it's a common book, driving to B&N is simply easier to them. So I wonder about that. Personally, when it comes to things like graphic novels and manga (especially manga), I know I often have to buy them. So, since it is my money on the line, I am very selective on what I buy. I will note on the positive that I can get an awful lot on ILL, if I am willing to wait. The wait may be a bit longer given some books often come from out of state (and I am not commenting on why that might be). Since I never feel a need to rush in reading, I can usually order something on ILL and wait for it. But overall, the survey question is one I think libraries should really consider. If most people are willing to own the book, regardless of reason, why is that? And how can libraries address that? Sounds like a question to ponder later.

The final question I am going to write snark about is the one about what first draws you to a book when browsing a bookstore? My answer was the bargain bin, which for some reason was not a choice in the survey apparently. Actually, joking aside, I usually read the jacket, then a few pages of the book to see if it draws me in or not. I may look at the cover, but I also look at authors, editors and publishers. For example, if it is a good anthology of science fiction edited by someone I know is a good editor, you can be assured I will likely buy it on that basis. What draws me to a book varies, and it really depends on the subject or book type. I don't think they caught that very well in the survey. Plus, for me, serendipity often works too in finding new things I may want to read. In other words, I often use different criteria in selecting. Imagine that.

So, there you have it folks. Go take a look, see if you learn a thing or two about your own reading habits while you are it.

A hat tip to Stephen's Lighthouse.

Looking at the Latinos Online Report

As I looked at the report, Latinos Online, published by the Pew Hispanic Center, I thought that some of the findings explained or validated some of the behaviors I observe in our computer lab. It also made me think about a few things:

• The gap between the English fluent and those lacking that fluency. "78% of Latinos who are English-dominant and 76% of bilingual Latinos use the internet, compared with 32% of Spanish-dominant Hispanic adults" (i). I was reminded of this in a class I taught recently where the professor was telling his students, most of whom where Hispanic, that not all Hispanics speak Spanish. It was in the context of some of the students conversing amongst themselves in Spanish before class started, and someone made some remark I can't recall. the point is the gap is there.
  
• However, many Latinos may not use the Internet, but they certainly know how to make use of their cell phones. "Fully 59% of Latino adults have a cell phone and 49% of Latino cell phone users send and receive text messages on their phone" (ii). This is very evident in our library and school. Our students make extensive use of cell phones, to the point it has caused some complaints in the lab leading to us asking them to take their conversations to the lobby (texting is fine). But the point is that they use this technology more than things like IM. The other big thing for them is social software, things like MySpace. Actually here, MySpace is popular followed by some of the Latino sites (like MiGente). A good number of the international students use Hi5, but I am disgressing now a bit. The numbers help confirm the observation.
  
• "However, race differences in education and English abilities stand out as factors essential to explaining the gap in internet use between Hispanics and non-Hispanics" (3).
  
• "Ten percent of Latinos have a college degree, and of that small group, 89% go online" (4).
  
• "Mexicans are the largest national-origin group by far in the U.S. Latino population and are among the least likely to go online. 52% of Latinos of Mexican descent use the internet" (10). Do note the report makes some remarks on other Latino groups in the U.S. In the interest of disclosure, I am Puerto Rican, which means that, according to the study, I have a high likelihood of being an Internet user. Then again, I also have a college degree.
  
• "The Pew Internet Project has found that a home broadband connection deepens an internet user's relationship with the online world. Broadband users are more like than dial-up users to shape their online environment, not just surf through it" (12). This could possibly help explain our population's extensive use of the web for what may seem "superficial" things like MySpace. It is simply a matter that they lack the access at home. So, instead of doing it at home they do it here. Personally, I have broadband (cable) at home. While there are days I feel like the cable company is a bunch of pirates, overall, I could never be without a fast connection. I do shape a lot of what I do online.
  

Sarah Houghton-Jan, the Librarian in Black, pointed to this report, and she asked how could libraries use its information. It was a question I pondered about as well. Personally, every time one of these reports looking at the Hispanic population comes out, I always wonder if there is something I can learn from it. Here at UHD, where we are defined as a Hispanic serving institution, this is the type of report we definitely should be looking at. We should be considering its significance and then looking at how we can improve some of our services.

Reference Note: Same Sex Couples and Same Sex Couples Raising Children Study

I got the heads-up for this report from Docuticker. I would probably have just read it and made a brief note later, except for the fact that I could have used this about two weeks ago when I had a student coming in with a question on the topic. Her question was: "what are the effects of children being raised by gay couples?" In other words, what she wanted to know was if these children suffered any traumas or had any different experiences from children being raised in households of heterosexual couples or single-earner households. I managed find her some articles through our databases about gay couples raising children and about adopted children in other settings (since gay couples are more likely to adopt, which was a finding of the report I am noting here) as well as children in other settings in general. However, I would have loved to give her the link to this report, which at only 19 pages or so, is actually something that could be useful and not too hard to read. It would not have answered all her questions, but it would have made a good addition. The report itself looks at Census data, and it finds that same-sex couples are actually very much alike the rest of the population. Readers can find the actual report in PDF format, produced by the The Williams Project on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, UCLA School of Law. Actually, I took a look at the site, and the Williams Project provides other studies on sexual orientation, for instance, broken down by ethnicity, which may be of interest to researchers in this area.

Feed Readers Not Easy For Visually Impaired Users

Through The Blog Herald, a story on a report by the American Foundation for the Blind. The report finds that feed readers can be challenging to use for the blind and visually impaired. If you go to the article, there is a nice summary of the findings. The report evaluated various feed readers, and it found Bloglines and Newsgator to be the most screen reader friendly using JAWS, "an assistive technology product that reads the text and images on a computer screen." If readers go to the full report, they will also find information on how to make blogs accessible for people with vision loss and the evaluation of the feed readers. One obstacle, which is one thing that did not even occur to me, is the fact that many services require use of captcha's (those little wiggly letters you have to retype to verify you are a human) for registrations; I use that here for my comments, and so do a lot of people. This little tool that can cut on the spam can be an obstacle for tools like JAWS cannot read them. It does make me wonder if there could be down the road a better way to reduce the spam without alienating some readers.

Government Report on U.S. Public School Libraries.

Through LISNews.com, I found a link to a federal report on public school libraries. According to the description provided, the report:

"Drawn from more than 25 sources, mostly federal reports and surveys, this booklet presents a history of federal legislation and national standards affecting school library media centers and key characteristics of school libraries at the national level, from 1953–54 to 1999–2000. This booklet is based on the report Fifty Years of Supporting Children’s Learning: A History of Public School Libraries and Federal Legislation from 1953–2000 (NCES 2005-311)."

Readers can go to the website, and they can download the report for free as a PDF or order a free copy from EdPubs. It may be of interest to those involved with school libraries, but also to those in Library and Information Science. I will be taking a look at it later, and I may post more on it if time allows.

Some items on Chinese Government Censoring the Internet

Given that I have an interest in Intellectual Freedom, I found this initial report from the Associated Press interesting. It reports how MSN has to cooperate with the Chinese government to implement censorship of blogs and websites. It turns out that the word "freedom" is a taboo word in China, along with "democracy" and "human rights." The article reports that putting up with the restrictions is a cost of doing business in China for companies like Microsoft. Microsoft still believes that it can foster expression within the restrictions. Time will only tell. In the meantime, readers interested in more, may want to look at another report in The Guardian on China's Internet Police that the government uses to spread its propaganda in chatrooms and public boards. The end of the article has some interesting links including a link to a Chinese government web portal (English version here), and to Amnesty International's report on state control of the internet in China. The BBC News is also reporting on Microsoft in China. Their piece features some sample comments from readers reacting to the story, some condemning the company, others seeing is as part of doing business. Personally, I would like to believe that in time the Chinese government will simply not be able to stop the freedom of expression as more and more people discover it. I absolutely disagree with the Chinese government's behavior. Sure, they can use filters and monitoring software and internet cops, but the numbers will likely favor the people, and it will be a matter of time. At least, I hope so.

On losing access to Government Information

Today's online edition of the Chicago Tribune carries a story with the following headline: "Librarians Worry Important Information Being Lost." The words "librarian" and "information" and "lost" were enough to catch my attention as I casually scanned my pages of headlines. The article explains how the Government Printing Office has been losing money on document sales, to a large measure because many government agencies, to cut back on costs, are bypassing the GPO and publishing their own documents online in their own websites. In doing this, the agencies do not always provide a copy to the GPO. A recent GPO report proposed that the GPO create a centralized database to serve as a repository to these documents. This creates concerns of access and centralization. Some are concerned that putting all documents in a central location would make them more susceptible to deletion or alteration. This can create significant concern since there is no clear solution when it comes to actually archiving what the government produces. Since these documents are only made available online, they can be as easily removed as they were easily placed online. They can be altered without the average citizen even knowing there was an alteration. The article states that

"What the librarians and critics fear is if the GPO implements its Digital Content System, an online database that would hold digital copies of documents from all federal agencies, the agency won't need to actually provide independent hard copies or digital files of information."

It seems to reduce the role of depository libraries, which are now one of the few places where the average citizen can go find out what his or her government is up to, with assistance from knowledgeable librarians. Critics of the new proposal argue that libraries need to have the documents distributed to them as well. In a time when there is even more information available online, the answer is not centralize and limit access, but it is to make it accessible to all. Making documents more available to libraries would only serve to enhance citizen participation.

As a note, the article makes reference to an article in the "latest" issue of the Journal of Academic Librarianship, which I have not been able to find. My guess is the databases have not picked it up yet, or it is not as "latest" as the newspaper suggests. At any rate, if I do find it, I will add a note after I read it. I did not get to work at a depository, but I developed a passion and belief in the power of Government Documents during library school that stays with me. It is of concern that access to such powerful and crucial tools of our democracy could be lost. Anyhow, food for thought.

Teacher Working Conditions Report, or tell me something I don't know already

One of the little things that irk me about the education profession, public education to be precise, is how they often overstate the obvious while not actually doing anything about a problem. The Southeast Center for Teaching Quality recently published its report to the governor of North Carolina on teacher working conditions. The report, "Teacher Working Conditions are Student Learning Outcomes," can be found in their website at www.teachingquality.org. Just from the title, I can tell already that they are pretty much stating the obvious: that you need good working conditions in order for teachers to teach effectively and thus get students to learn (duh). But in the public education arena, you often have to restate the obvious in order to be able to "document it" so you can then say something will be done about it. I am really trying not to be too cynical, but as a former high school teacher who faced some of the conditions described in the report, I am not exactly feeling warm and fuzzy over yet another report. By the way, I learned of the report through the NCTE's newsletter, another one of those items I regularly keep an eye on as a librarian and educator.

As a note, readers can also look at NCTE's page on Teacher Quality at http://www.ncte.org/edpolicy/quality. It is a collection of documents and resources. They are most applicable to language arts, but they may still be useful.

So, what does the report say? Usually, you can get the gist of reports like this by reading the executive summary they provide, which is likely what the admininistators and government officials read anyhow, skipping the rest of the report. I read the summary and scanned the rest of the report while working at the Information Desk early in the morning (at least until it gets busy at the desk). Some of the findings then (the cynical remarks after are my own, but I am betting a teacher or two who may have seen this wondered as well):

1. "Teacher working conditions are important predictors of student achievement." (really?)
2. "Teacher working conditions makes a difference in teacher retention." (you don't say?)
3. "Leadership is critical to improving working conditions, but principals and teachers perceive these conditions very differently." (This would not have anything to do with the fact that principals rarely if ever actually step in a classroom, but they are often the first to criticize teachers about their classroom practices, would it?)
   

There were a total of six key findings, but I think these three give the "flavor" of where the document is going. The executive summary then goes and offers some recommendations for school, district, and state levels. I could simply post a few here and have a field day of how they are likely smoke screens to make themselves feel better since not much will likely get done given the realities of life in education. The introduction to the report cites local research on teacher turnover rates, and it states the usual concern about the cost of turnover in terms of having to hire new teachers and train them for the same job over and over. What I found more illuminating was the cite to the national research about the reasons techers give for leaving the profession, some of which were my reasons to go to graduate school and stick with higher education, a decision I have not regretted since. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time as a high school teacher, and I had some very good students. But I also had a student try to assault me at one point, and I had to deal with an unsupportive principal and parents who had no clue about how their kids simply did not behave but thought it was my fault. Isn't it interesting that people who would not dream of doing your job love to tell you how to do it? This is specially true in teaching. Anyways, the authors of the report write:

"National research also demonstrates the importance of addressing school conditions to improve teacher retention. Teachers who leave schools cite an opportunity for better teaching assignment, dissatisfaction with support from administrators, and dissatisfaction with workplace conditions as the main reason why they seek other opportunites."

Again, they have not told me anything I did not know already. In my case, I knew I would get a better teaching assignment at the college and university level, that I would not have to put up with an unsupportive principal, and the environment would be better overall. Now before anyone goes saying that I just ran off, I will say I am not the only one for one. The fact that so many teachers of my generation decided to leave the profession of public education for other careers speaks volumes about the poor treatmen we got and continue to get. And in case anyone says he was one of those "lesser teachers" (read here less than qualified or such), I do have a good array of credentials to match in my cv. I get defensive because that is often an assumption made of teachers who leave, and the sad thing is those of us who move on, whether we stay in education or leave altogether, we tend to be a pretty talented bunch. On the other side of the coin, any search in a database will yield plenty of articles about the difficulty of attracting top talent to teaching, which this report addresses as well. Additionally, do note I left before the debacle of No Child Left Behind hit the fan. I was having a conversation with my mother recently, and I told her quite plainly that if I were going to college again for an undergraduate degree, I would not choose school teaching as a career path. The certification requirements have gotten worse, the attitude towards teachers from parents and administrators have gotten worse too, and then there is the whole thing about teaching in "goose stepping" lock step style to meet some test. Not what I envision teaching to be, but I won't go there.

And don't even mention the additional burdens if you are a male teacher, and some student decides to make an allegation against you for harrasment. Let me digress here briefly.Not that there are not teachers out there who do terrible things to kids, but in the cases where the accusation is false, a good life is destroyed, and the one making the accusation gets away with it. Again, not the kind of thing worth the effort. If anyone out there wants to read a good and well written book on what happens when a student makes an allegation of misconduct against a teacher, I recommend Rumors, Lies, and Whispers: Classroom "Crush" or Career Catastrophe by Mary Ann Manos. I had an idea, but this book clearly and extensively explains what exactly happens, and it details how the school and the district will basically abandon a teacher the moment a student makes the allegation. If true, such teachers should be punished to the fullest possible (I think LeTourneau got off easy), but if false, the accusers should be punished severely as well for even if proven innocent, a teacher's life was ruined. Simply too much aggravation for someone like me to worry about, not worth the risk. Hard numbers on the students making false accusations for retribution are rare to come by, but the author does provide good evidence with what is available. If you are a teacher in pretraining, read this book. It is the type of thing no one tells preservice teachers that they need to know about.

Second, I stayed within the education profession because I do believe in teaching and sharing knowledge and ideas with student. At the university level, the conditions are a lot better, and the students actually want to be there. And even though I am a librarian now, an academic librarian does a lot of teaching in various forms, so I have the best of both worlds in my estimation. I love teaching very much; I just hate what politicians and people with no real clue have made of it. And I find it annoying educational "experts" have to be hired to write reports like this one that state the obvious just to make a case that should be evident. Well, should be evident if they value the education of their children as much as they say they do. And here goes another book recommendation, this one on why teachers should be paid more and valued more overall. The $100,000 Teacher: A Teacher's Solution to America's Declining Public School System by Brian Crosby. Yes, it does say 100K; the author argues teachers as professionals should be paid like a doctor or an engineer. However, he also argues for teachers to adopt better standards, to behave like the professionals they are, and he gives other constructive solutions as well. It makes for interesting reading. Better reading than yet another report written by "experts." Then again, the book was written by a teacher.