Heading to TLA (Texas Library Association) Conference 2008

Texas Library Association
Annual Conference
Dallas, Texas
April 15-18, 2008


As if I was not busy enough, TLA just creeped up on me. I will be in Dallas this year. I am leaving tomorrow morning, should be back by Friday. Yes, I know; I have not been blogging with any consistency lately, but work has literally been a madhouse these last two weeks or so, and it is not showing signs of letting up. To be honest, a part of me is not sure I should even go to TLA since there is so much to do here, but I know that if I don't take care of myself and my professional development, no one else will. Anyways, feel free to chat me up if we run across. I will be posting my session notes once I get back. This will be my third year attending now; first time while working for UT Tyler. How time flies. Since this is becoming sort of the one thing I do for my professional development, I am going to try to make it to a meeting or two and see if I get involved in something.

Best, and keep on blogging.

Article Note: On use of public libraries and large bookstores

Citation for the article:

Hemmeter, Jeffrey A. "Household use of public libraries and large bookstores." Library and Information Science Research 28 (2006): 595-616.

Read via ScienceDirect.

To some extent, this article restated a few things that now seem obvious to most of us in the library world. From the abstract, "the study finds that large bookstores reduce the probability of household library use for some, but not all, uses of the library." I think that is pretty evident without the study. A caveat is that this study is based on 1996 data; yes, the data set is ten years old as the author is drawing on the 1996 National Household Education Survey (NHES) and some other items. I say it's time someone took a new look because a lot of the speculations or observations the author makes as being possibilities have already happened. If nothing else, this is an example of an LIS article where the content is already pretty much well known to librarians. In other words, it's a bit of a day late and a dollar short. Usually, I would not have blogged an article I do not find too useful or practical, but I did get through the whole thing.

Some highlights:

• The author opens by recalling the economic theory where public services are often provided where the private sector fails to provide for a need (595). To which I say, in theory maybe, but the problem more often is that the market does not provide for X need, and it sure as heck does not do it out of any sense of common good. In other words, there are some things that if the public trust does not provide them for the community, they would never be provided. I am betting public libraries are one example. When it comes to the speculative question of having to start public libraries today, I tend to think the answer is probably no, mostly because I just don't see a sense of public good anymore, but I won't digress further.
  
• An observation: "Modern super-bookstores offer books at low prices in a library-like atmosphere" (596). To which I ask the author, "have you been shopping at a super-bookstore recently?" Thirty dollars minimum for a hardback is not exactly cheap.
• "Super bookstores, in particular, have begun to provide services that libraries traditionally offered" (598). Really? Such as? I don't see that lowly paid clerk moving to do any substantial amount of research assistance. I don't see bookstores either providing computers for internet access (sure, they may or not have wifi, but you do have to provide the laptop, which does indicate a certain level of income), or providing access points to various forms of government information. Story hour? A public librarian can probably do a better performance than the average bookstore clerk. I am sure one of my brethren in a public library could keep this little string going.
  
• "Another potential problem is that bookstores and super bookstores might locate in areas with high reading activity, which counties with high library use are likely to have" (605). Well, I wonder a bit if there might not be an income motivation as well. Let's be honest. How many bookstores and super bookstores would locate in a rural area or an inner city where there may be a very well used public library? Just because an area has a public library that has a lot of users, it does not follow as easily that the bookstores would go there as well. The cynic in me is thinking more in terms of suburbs.
  
• "The spread of the Internet increases the probability of library use for job search, work, and consumer information purpose, although the effect is quite small" (611). As any public librarian will tell you, the Internet also increases the probability of library use for MySpace, YouTube, Runescape, and the perennial favorite: porn. And before any L2 evangelist gripes at me for appearing elitist or other nonsense, let us keep in mind that public libraries ought to be about more than getting your social networking fix or your next hook-up. Balance, you know?
  
• "Household in wealthier ZIP codes use the library somewhat more often than those in poorer ZIP codes" (611). Could it be because those wealthier areas can afford to actually subsidize a decent library with a good and diverse collection? Could it be than in the lower income ZIP codes that is not the case, thus the library may be some dilapidated place no one would want to use? I think this is not too different from the eternal debate about public schools, their locations, and their tax bases.
  
• Something that already has happened: "The importance of A/V material relative to books suggests that use of the library as a popular materials center may prove to be a large source of future activity and expansion. The small, negative impact of library book collections is indicative of the public view of libraries as being warehouse for out-of-date books. This supports the general perception that households are changing their sources of entertainment and information from print media to more electronic-based media" (613). Well, maybe, maybe not. If you look at circulation stats for recreational reading, the view of being out-of-date may not be as bad, but overall, things have changed. See my remark above about the Internet.
  
• This made me take a second look. It is talking about how bookstores, to stay in business, have to carry the latest manuals for job searching, computers, so on. "Additionally, most large bookstores have extensive periodical and job search sections with which a person can search for a job" (614). Really? Bookstores now offer job ads and extensive listings? Is that another of those services bookstores now offer that libraries used to offer? Seriously, do people really think bookstore when they think they need to look for a job? Sure, they may go there to find a good book on how to write a resume or career advice, but actual job searching? I have not seen the bookstore that does that yet, nor the library. And no, I don't think a little community bulletin board with a few local ads counts. I think the author may be stretching here a bit. Of course, for libraries, the catch is they have to have those up-to-date career advice books or else.
  

So, there you have it folks.

Article Note: On Library Web Pages for Faculty

Citation for the article:

Gardner, Susan J., John Eric Juricek, and F. Grace Xu. "An Analysis of Academic Library Web Pages for Faculty." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 34.1 (January 2008): 16-24.

Read via ScienceDirect.

This article gave me a couple of things to think about as we move on with our website redesign, the unveiling of which is coming up this summer. Anyhow, some of the items missing on the sampling are things that I think we should consider as we make our own progress. Keep in mind this article is mostly geared to large, research institutions. This is reflected in their sample.

The article reports on a study of web pages from libraries dedicated to faculty. The study also looked at what technologies, if any, the pages integrated (podcasts, blogs, etc.), and where these pages were listed in relation to the main library page. For that last one, in other words, were you able to find the page right away or did you have to click a level or two from the main page to find it? For purposes of the study, "faculty in this case was defined as the traditional nonlibrarian, 'teaching' faculty of the university" (17). The sample was based on 69 academic libraries. The article does provide various full tables listing the libraries as well as features from the survey.

So, what did they find? Here are some highlights, with any comments I may have:

• Of the initial 69, 54 actually had pages dedicated to faculty.
  
• The authors devised various checklists for their study. For content, the three most common categories were items related to lending services (i.e. things like ILL), teaching support, and research support. The least common? collection development, current awareness issues, and acquisitions (20).
  
• Size does not matter (it's what you do with what you got). "One might assume that larger libraries would have more developed Web pages for faculty, but we found no statistical connection between the size of a collection and the content or features of Web pages for faculty or whether they even had a dedicated Web page for faculty" (22).
  
• The authors found the lack of linking to things like new acquisitions surprising. ". . .but it is somewhat surprising that information about new acquisitions, special collections, and archives did not receive more emphasis since academic libraries devote considerable resources to building and maintaining their collections" (22). In other words, you'd think that with all the money some places are plunking in for collections and archival resources they would be promoting them better. Here, as part of our web redesign, our archivist is making sure her department's presence is known and accessible on the website.
  
• A transparency issue: not enough explanation about how collections are developed. Having said that, I am not too keen on the idea of posting the library's collection development budget for all faculty to see. Maybe I am not as optimistic. But certainly how items are chosen and the policies should be more visible.
  
• How the library has a role in scholarly communication received very little attention on the sampling of library websites. Why is this important? The authors state that "this limited participation diminishes the visibility of the library as a partner who makes a contribution to the teaching and research mission of the university" (22).
  

The authors also identified some "cool" things. I am just going to pick out a few (see page 23):

• A welcome message from the library dean "emphasizing the role and importance of the library." (Notice that it is "dean," which usually means the person has a doctorate. However, a director's welcome would work as well).
  
• a section to explain librarians and their professional culture: you know, our credentials and tenure process (no, this is not applicable if you do not have tenure for your librarians).
  
• guides to integrating library resources into the campus course management system (CMS).
• information about faculty publications.
• guides to good library assignments. Actually, when I was reworking some of the instruction space on the web page of my previous workplace, that was a feature I wanted to include. I even had a list of some sample websites I was using as good practices examples. Oh well. Maybe my instruction librarian here will get a moment of inspiration and put something like that on our pages.
  
• library seminars on topics like Google searching, the libraries' databases and online resources, e-reserves, and other topics.
  
• By the way, the authors identify Johns Hopkins U. (list of their libraries here. Not exactly intuitive to find the faculty stuff. I am guessing they looked at the Sheridan Libraries page? Still takes a bit of work. Finally, click on the left menu bar under "Info for" and there is the faculty page. Takes some digging, so that is a best practice? That was about three or four jumps before I found it.) and UT-Austin (slightly better. One level down under "Resources for you," which does sound like a more friendly term. Their faculty stuff is here.) as the two best models of practice.
  

Finally, the authors suggest following up their research now with a comparative analysis of the same sites in five years for an update. Sounds nice. However, what I would want to know is how libraries of my size and scale (i.e. my peers) actually compare in this kind of study. For me, that could be more useful, but I did learn some things from this study.

Article Note: On nature and future of academic libraries

Citation for the article:

Gayton, Jeffrey T., "Academic Libraries: 'Social' or 'Communal?' The Nature and Future of Academic Libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 34.1 (January 2008): 60-66.

Read via ScienceDirect.


This short article should give some food for thought to those zealous enthusiasts who want to turn academic libraries into social rec centers without a second thought. The key to the article is the author's distinction between communal and social spaces. While patrons do value the fact you can get a lot of resources online without coming to the library, Gayton suggests that they also value the library for providing a place where serious study, which is a communal activity. Unfortunately, in their rush to "modernize," or become more "relevant," planners are leaving the communal element behind. That's the line of thinking in a nutshell. For me, this makes sense. When I was out in the job market, one of the places I was interviewing at asked me a question along the lines of what were my thoughts on all the L2 trend. As I recall, I said something along the lines of you have to use the parts that meet your needs, and you have to give it some thought. You can't just implement stuff to make yourself look cool. The fellow who asked the question actually felt the same, concerned that it seemed a lot of the experts online seemed to simply be rushing instead of thinking before implementing. I would have liked to have this article handy back then, as it would have added to that discussion.

Some highlights:

• "The problem is that the social model undermines something that is highly valued in academic libraries: the communal nature of quiet, serious study. Communal activity in academic libraries is a solitary activity: it is studious, contemplative, and quiet. Social activity is a group activity: it is sometimes studious, not always contemplative, and certainly not quiet" (60). This is always one of the questions I will ask in any library planning: where are the spaces for those people who actually want to study quietly. My concern is how often and how willing some places are willing to disregard the quiet space in pursuit of their social library (or commons).
  
• And the thing is, all this social rush might not be even adding the value the planners expect: "Rather, the problem is that these services and facilities are being promoted without sufficient regard to the ways in which social activities undermine communal activities. In addition, it is not clear that social activities add value to academic libraries, either in terms of the broader goal of supporting the research mission of universities or the narrower goal of increasing library use" (61). To support this, Gayton draws on the work of Sam Demas and Emily Ranseen and some others (see note below).
  
• "The trick for academic libraries is to create inviting communal spaces for study and research without falling into the trap of making the library a social gathering place" (62). Of course, to many L2 people, that is not a trap at all; it is the main goal. And the thing is that all this says is that there should be some balance.
  
• "In a small study of users of the Leavey Library at the University of California, Susan Gardner and Susanna Eng found that 80.6 percent of users visit the library because they wanted to study alone. They also report that study facilities received the second lowest service rating in the survey" (qtd. in 62). I actually read that article (see my note here).
  
• Now, for those who may be a bit too enthusiastic when it comes to social spaces and are about to protest: "There is nothing inherently wrong with bringing new functions and services, even social functions and services, into the academic library. But it is vital that the new be reconciled with the old; that new functions serve the needs of academic library users and that new services do not detract from existing, and valued ones" (64).
  
• And a reminder: "Intellectual conversation with library resources and conversation in the library are not necessarily the same thing" (64).
  

Note: Citations in format as provided in article.

Sam Demas, "From the Ashes of Alexandria: What's Happening in the College Library?," Library as Place: Rethinking Roles, Rethinking Space , Council on Library and Information Sources, Washington, DC, 2005.

Emily Ranseen, "The Library as Place: Changing Perspectives," Library Administration and Management 16 (2002, Fall).

Article Note: On Libraries and a Future without Petroleum

Citation for the article:

Hecker, Thomas E. "The Post-Petroleum Future of Academic Libraries." Journal of Scholarly Publishing 38.4 (July 2007): 183-199.

Read via Project Muse.


This article seemed a bit of a departure in terms of the types of article one would expect in the LIS field. The reason I say that is because this article is basically a speculative piece that at times is more reminiscent of something like A Canticle for Leibowitz than an actual scholarly article. However, the author does provide some serious scholarship, and it was overall an interesting read.

The article speculates on the future of academic libraries in the context of a world where petroleum is scarce and/or gone. The author goes on to suggest that based on the fact that our information infrastructure does require energy, when that energy becomes depleted, the infrastructure will collapse. So in brief, there goes your nice digital academic library. It will be pretty much useless. Hecker writes, "that our electronic utopia is founded on limited and unreliable energy supplies is little appreciated in the profession. Future libraries will likely be much simpler technologically and much more local in scope" (183-184). Given that gasoline prices continue their rise, somehow this seems a bit ominous. Sure, Hecker's vision is not about to happen anytime soon, but the fact that it can happen sure makes one think. By the way, when I read that statement, I wrote on the margin that the statement assumes librarians still exist. Given the constant cuts and library closures, often due to short sighted attempts at savings, I did wonder if we would have libraries at all. Hecker is a bit more optimistic.

Hecker goes on to review the literature of peak oil and oil depletion. One of the documents he draws upon is the Hirsch Report (note PDF, about 91 pages. If you don't want to read it, Hecker seems to give a pretty good sense of the report). He reviews how the oil depletion will lead to various environmental and social changes. This is not new. There are a few books out there on the topic, some of which Hecker includes in his sources.

Some highlights from the article:

• The big picture: "Without cheap and plentiful supplies of oil, ground, air, and water transport; agricultural production; chemicals used in myriad products from fertilizers to plastics to clothing to paints to cleaners; pharmaceuticals; construction; and much of our physical infrastructure would be sharply curtailed or would cease to exist. Electronic components for computers and other devices would no longer be manufactured. Information technology and our taken-for-granted electronic infrastructure would collapse and disappear" (184-185). It does not get any more extreme than that.
  
• And if you think those alternative energy sources are going to save the day: "But the energy deficit caused by the worldwide depletion of oil and natural gas cannot be surmounted by coal, nuclear, and the soft alternatives people clutch at as their saving straws" (187). Hecker, in a brief section of his paper, goes over the soft alternatives such as ethanol and hydrogen cells to show why they will not work. He is drawing on sources such as Beriault's Peak Oil and the Fate of Humanity as well as some other sources like an article in Scientific American for this section. Overall, I think an interested reader would be able to read most of the sources from Hecker's article with ease as they are accessible.
  
• Something to ponder: "At one time, the progressive betterment of the character of individual human beings was considered the worthiest goal, but now the betterment of industrial products and technological gadgets is the fashion. Although a comfortable measure of material wealth is necessary for human welfare, and although technological progress has made amazing and disruptive changes possible, economic growth and technical tools should be means, not ends in themselves" (189-190).
  

So, where does academia come into all this? Read on.

• Based on the above, the author observes that we have an economy that is more geared to little niches. He uses Catton's image of a detritus ecosystem. In brief, this is the type of ecosystem where, for example, algae in a pond initially flourish only to die off as soon as the algae depletes the pond's nutrients and resources. Catton sees the current industrial society like the algae in that pond.

Allow me a brief digression, but this reminded me of the lines from Agent Smith from the film The Matrix:

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure."

OK, maybe not so much the part of Agent Smith trying to eliminate humanity, but the part of moving into ecosystems and consistently depleting them without any thought. Some may have to admit, the guy does have a point. So, back to academia then, this is where higher education fits in.

• "Higher education is currently geared to producing graduates to fill niches in our detritus-dependent industrial ecosystem, but when oil depletion causes this unsustainable and artificially complex system to collapse and simplify, many, if not, most occupational niches will cease to exist" (191). In plain English, if you don't have some practical skills, you will likely not get very far in that future.
  
• Hecker cites James Howard Kunstler's book The Long Emergency. Kunstler "suggests that, for a time, higher education may cease to exist completely and that, if it does recover, it may then be at the service of a small elite" (qtd. in 191).
  
• And here is more: "Our university system, as presently constituted, may soon be irrelevant--or, at least, significantly less relevant as social complexity winds down to simplicity and the plethora of occupational niches contracts to a handful" (192).
  

We finally get to the libraries.

• "Libraries that resisted the temptation to throw away or incinerate their paper resources and microforms in favor of the deceptive promise of digital resources will be filled with the intellectual and artistic treasures of ages of human striving, worth every effort to maintain and preserve" (193). I don't think this is something certain segments of the library profession or higher education, who are embracing everything and anything electronic, want to hear.
  
• "Since few fresh publications will appear, and since digitized resources will disappear, the future emphasis on library management may be on the conservation of physical resources. . ." (193).
  
• "With petroleum-powered land and air transportation curtailed or eliminated, academic libraries may become localized archives of precious resources, serving only those in a circumscribed area of counties or perhaps an entire state or region, for those who can make a longer and more arduous journey" (193). I could make a couple of snarky cracks here, but I will refrain. In essence, this would be a form of monasticism.
  
• As for librarians, we are looking at "informed generalists who understand and can interpret the texts they protect--this along with the ability to grow their own food and to clothe and shelter themselves" (194). And yes, you better hone your skills in defense and arms too. When they say the librarians will have to protect the library, it may be quite literally. Hecker is drawing on Roberto Vacca's book The Coming Dark Age to illustrate this point.
• "Academic libraries may indeed survive and form the core of Vacca's envisioned monastic communities, with librarians evolving into the secular monastic order that protects and interprets the collection" (195).
  
• As for the graduate students, they "could become the monastic novitiates who would be gradually initiated into the recondite contents of the collection" (195).
  
• If you do collection development, there is still some work: "Collection development may remain an extremely important activity, but efforts will be put into determining which texts to maintain and reproduce and which to abandon to decay" (196). Some things will not change as it seems librarians will be using their professional judgment to determine what goes or not into their collections.
• Oh, and for those of us who do instruction, there will still be some BI: "Bibliographic instruction may still take place, and specialties may still be cultivated, as suitable apprentices are taught how to interpret the collection so they may carry tradition and heritage forward" (196). I always knew this type of work would have some degree of job security.
  

Anyhow, the article makes for an interesting piece of reading. A bit different than what you usually find in the LIS literature, but still worth a look.