Notes from Greg Mortenson Lecture

On Monday, April 12, 2010, the UT Tyler campus hosted Greg Mortenson, author of the book Three Cups of Tea, as part of the the Betty and Louis A. Bower Lecture Series. I had the opportunity to attend. For one, the ticket was free for staff, and two, I have read the book (I reviewed it over in Goodreads). These are then my notes from the lecture.

The event started with the customary remarks by the University President, Dr. Mabry. Dr. Mabry described Mr. Mortenson's life as a testament of service to others and a beacon of hope to children. He also provided a recap of Mr. Mortenson's story; if you read the book, you already know the details. Dr. Mabry noted that the visit is very timely given that we (the campus) just had our campus visit by the accreditation agency, and part of what we presented to them was our QEP (Quality Enhancement Plan) which has a global focus, known as the GATE Program. I have to admit that I did find the visit to be timely as well.

Greg Mortenson then took the stage. These are some of his remarks and statements. Any comments I make will be in parenthesis.

• Began the lecture with a vignette about a 4th grader who said to him that "peace is noisy." The kid, who was actually from Tyler, TX, has military parents.
  
• He explained the meaning of the three cups of tea (read the book, or you can visit the official website here).
• General David Petraeus read the book. He said that he got three bullet points from the book: listen more, respect, and build relationships. (Personally, this seems a bit like common sense, but it is nice to see the military is finally getting it. Mortenson did make the observation as well about the military "finally getting it.)
  
• Lesson: People can be empowered.
  
• We are driven to help people, but it is necessary to empower people. There is a difference between helping and empowering.
  
• (He asked at one point if there were any first generation college students in the audience. There was no evident show of hands, which does make me wonder. To be honest, this is the kind of event that more college students should be attending, but they do not. From what I have seen, these lectures usually attract a lot of seniors, usually the wealthy types in town, some VIPs, and maybe some community members depending on their degree of concern or interest in current affairs. I could say more, but that is better left for another time).
  
• To make the world better, start by taking care of yourself. This is vital.
  
• On failure: It is just a means to success. The Balti language has no word for failure. The equivalent would be "fork in the road," and success means you got to your destination.
  
• You have to touch and experience poverty to solve it. You can't solve it from a think tank in Washington, D.C. Civic engagement is important as well.
  
• A tragedy: Losing the tradition of learning from our elders, which is something mostly lost in the United States. Education (meaning formal education) often eradicates oral education though.
  
• His heroes: librarians and teachers.
  
• In the end, it was children and pennies that funded his first school, and the idea lives on in the Pennies for Peace program.
  
• You need local buy-in for projects. The Taliban and other warrior groups tend to be reluctant to bomb a school they built themselves or that has very strong local support (i.e. the Taliban does not wish to make another enemy by pissing off a village after blowing up their school).
  
• If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. Educate a girl, you educate the community. (I am not sure how this makes me feel since I have dedicated my life to educating others in one form or another. However, having said that, I do see his point).
  Educating a girl also means you can reduce the population explosion and reduce the infant girl mortality rate.
  
• In Pakistan, they use less than 2% of their GDP for education. There is no national initiative to educate all children. Meanwhile, the Taliban bombs about 3 schools a day in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the end, the Taliban fears the idea of the "ink of the scholar is mightier than the blood of martyrs," which is found in the Hadith (and yes, this is a variant of the old phrase.)
• In the end, it is the tenacity of mothers who send their daughters to schools, often risking their lives to do so.
  
• Education is the long term solution to terrorism; this is a lesson from a military officer Mortenson met. The Taliban recruits in the most illiterate areas, so the recruits are then more easily indoctrinated. But the tide is turning.
  
• The Independence Day parade in Afghanistan: First come the widows, the orphans, and the wounded veterans from the armed conflicts of the nation. After they come, only then, you get the soldiers. (Can you imagine if they actually did that here in the United States? I am sure the jingoism would decrease considerably when it comes to war).
  
• Mortenson believes that God is on the side of widows, orphans, the wounded veterans, the illiterate children. Until this is solved, no nation has a right to say God is on their side. (I wish the U.S. would actually hear that idea.)
• Playgrounds also have power. From getting Taliban warriors to relax for a bit to letting children have fun and play. Children need to go outside and actually play.
  
• Learn and listen to the elders, then impart it to the kids. Kids are the future.
  

Some notes from the Q&A after the lecture:

• There is no simple military solution in Afghanistan. The civil sector and the government need to pick up their roles. Even the military commanders are saying this. The village elders in Afghanistan are crucial. Whether you agree or disagree with them, you have to speak with them. The elders are asking to be involved more. They ask for the military not to bomb civilians (this antagonizes people, duh). Also, it may be risky, but the troops do need to go out to the villages.
  
• We cannot run a democracy in secrecy. War is the ultimate decision that a nation makes, and thus the society needs to be informed as they make and carry out the decision. (Then again, this also means that people need to take some responsibility to educate themselves and be informed citizens.)
• Poverty is the inability to make decisions due to restraints. Money, or the lack of it, is not the only restraint. To start changing things, make a habit to do a daily good deed (I knew that part of Scouting would pay off for me) and teach it to your children.
  
• Mortenson's schools teach the basics--math, science, so on--as well as languages, including Arabic. If you teach Arabic, the kids can then learn to read, write, and thus understand the Qur'an. The mullahs hate this because then the kids actually understand that the book says instead of just having to accept what the mullahs may say.
• Mortenson's greatest fear: that he will get harmed or killed in the United States. He gets tons of hate mail from Americans. White supremacists have lobbed molotov cocktails on his home because he helps Muslims. But he keeps going and speaking anyways. You have to go out and build bridges. He says, if he dies in Afghanistan or Pakistan, it will not be a bullet but a car accident (treacherous roads. And the fact he feels how he feels makes an extremely sad commentary on the American nation that often tolerates such ignorance and bigotry.)

The Ten Books Meme

I came across the "Ten Books that Influenced Me" meme from this post by Dean Dad at Inside Higher Ed. The thing that rubs me about people who usually do a meme like this is that they pick highly pretentious stuff. It is usually an exercise in telling the world how well read the author is by telling us they got through James Joyce's works or some rare book on semiotics. Dean Dad at least mentions Mad magazine and Dr. Seuss. I am sure librarians have done this at one point or another, but I was not able to find any with a quick search. Hey, any librarians out there who did do this exercise, do let me know. I am always curious to see what other people out there are reading.

Well, folks, I am not listing some big fancy book on semiotics (though I read one or two back in graduate school). I am not pretending that I am hot stuff because I plowed through some obscure critical theory book (yep, did that too), or read some literary fiction that only a few academics know about (yes, read some of that as well). In making this list, I am going for the books that have actually stuck with me and have actually told me something. The ones that actually moved me, or taught me something, or that to this day make me smile. If you want fancy lists of thick books that only a few read (or pretend to read) and even fewer are pompous enough to admit it, go someplace else. Here is my no nonsense list of ten books that have had some degree of influence in my life. They are listed in no particular order.

• The Bible. Whether people love or hate this book (or collection of books if you want to get technical about it), the Bible has a great influence in society and history. Whether as a force of good or evil, you can't get along without at least some passing knowledge of its contents. Since I was raised Roman Catholic, I had to study this book quite a bit. I am a Catholic school survivor, so to speak. The one good thing I took away from that was the discipline. When the clerics actually did their work teaching, they were among the best educators I ever knew. While I am no longer religious, all that studying has paid off. For one, any time some alleged Christian wants to throw Bible verses at me, I can throw them right back at him with some additional verses to refute and bury him. I may not have the Bible memorized, but I know enough of what is in it to know when someone is trying to feed me a line of male bovine solid food waste product with a verse they cherry picked.
• Gabriel García Márquez, Cien Años de Soledad (translated into English as One Hundred Years of Solitude). I wonder if my mother knew how much this book would influence and shape my life and worldview when she suggested I read it. This was one of her favorites, and it has become one of mine. In fact, if I am asked the old question of what books I want in a deserted isle, this would be on top of the list. This book covers fiction, history, well, the human experience overall, and it also has dark humor, grotesque elements, magical realism. To this day, my friends and I have a saying for certain convoluted, messed up situations. We say, "esto es como una novela de García Márquez" (this is like a García Márquez novel. And it usually refers to this one).By the way, my personal copy is the one that belonged to my mother. It was a bit beat up when I got it, and it is falling apart by now. However, I have not chosen to get a new copy. For one, this is one of the few mementos I have of my mother.
  
• Paulo Coehlo, El Alquimista (translated in English as The Alchemist). Coehlo was another of my mother's favorite authors. I read this during the time when I was searching for my first library job after library school. It was a time when I had dropped out of that dreadful doctoral program in English, and I was starting to get over the experience. I basically took the word of a librarian friend and jumped ship to go to library school. While librarianship has had its up and downs for me, overall, I like what I do, and I am glad I became an academic librarian. Coehlo's tale of the alchemist is a tale about pursuing your dreams, and the ending, which I will not spoil, is one of my favorite magical moments in literature. When I was feeling a bit down from the job search, this book reassured me that I would make it. And the book serves as a reminder to me of the need to pursue your dreams and your passions.
  
• Mario Puzo, The Godfather. There is a line in the film You Got Mail where Joe Fox, the character played by Tom Hanks, says about The Godfather,
  

"The Godfather is the I-ching. The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom. The Godfather is the answer to any question. What should I pack for my summer vacation? "Leave the gun, take the cannoli." What day of the week is it? "Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday."

He was referring to the film, but this is very applicable to the novel, which I think more people should read anyways. I say this especially to fans of the film. While the film is very faithful to the feel and overall basics of the book, there are a lot of things that did not make it into the film. At any rate, there are some notions and values about family that are worth considering regardless of the fact that we are dealing with a Mob family in the novel. For instance, the simple idea that Don Corleone tells his godson, "a man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." It was true in that book, and this is very true in society. Granted, some of the men in the novel are less than virtuous, but the message is still a good one. If more men did spend quality time with their spouses and children, not only would they be real men, they would probably have better families. Say what you will--the book glamorizes the mafia, it's a fluffy novel, so on-- but in the end, there is much wisdom in this novel. And it has stuck with me. It is also another book I reread every so often.

• Eduardo Galeano, Las Venas Abiertas de América Latina (translated into English as The Open Veins of Latin America). I read this for the first time as an undergraduate. I read it for a course in Hispanic Culture, an elective class which would have a lot of influence on helping me decide to become a teacher and study literature and history. This book is a history of Latin America without the sugar coating. It tells it like it is, and it provides detail on how the United States has basically pillaged Latin America. It is written as a narrative, so it can be read almost as novel. But do not be fooled. This is not fiction. When Hugo Chavez gave President Obama a copy of the book as a gift, Obama should have done himself a favor and actually read it. This is regardless of how you feel about Chavez. If you want to truly know the history of the continent, you have to read this book.
  
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha. Don Quixote was a life shaping experience for me in high school. It was my senior year project in Spanish literature class. We spent a full semester reading this novel, and in baroque Spanish by the way. Not some sissy modernized version, mind you. At the end of the semester, I wrote a paper on it. The topic of the paper was on the influence of the Amadís de Gaula on Don Quixote, looking at how it influenced the character as well as Cervantes in his work. That paper probably made me realize that I could be a good writer as well as literary scholar. Plus it had the added benefit that I read Amadís de Gaula, cover to cover. Reading Don Quixote is quite the undertaking, so I do feel proud that I did it. Cervantes covered a broad range of literary genres as well as forms of human experience that are universal. For me, it was the medieval romance and picaresque elements that stayed with me. This stuff led me to take an interest in more fantasy reading as well, things like The Lord of the Rings.
  
• Federico Rives Tovar, 100 Biografías de Puertorriqueños Ilustres. This was a juvenile collection of biographies of famous Puerto Ricans. The book was a collection of short sketches. I read this somewhere in middle school, and I find myself wishing I had my copy of it now. This book was one of the best for me to learn about Puerto Rican history and the men and women who made it. From Ponce de Leon to Cofresi to Ramon Emeterio Betances, they were all there, in an easy to read format, to inspire a young boy.
  
• Griselda Gambaro, Information For Foreigners (known in Spanish as Información para extranjeros). I read this for one of the drama studies courses I took in graduate school with Dr. Lee Papa. This play was one of the most moving plays I have read. It goes very well with reading things like Galeano's book. But the play also teaches you about the sense of space in theater and the integration of other genres as well as gives you a good look at Argentina during the Dirty War. This was one of the plays (and literary works overall) that inspired me during graduate school in terms of literary engagement and looking at the broader picture of the world. I even wrote a paper on this play that got accepted to a conference. However, due to personal reasons, I had to withdraw it, so I never delivered it. When most professors were just stuck in "classics" or "canonical" literature that every one keeps reading and rereading and writing yet another dissertation for it, Dr. Papa was showing us a whole other world of relevant, significant, engaging, and edgy literature. This was the kind of work I would have specialized in (or science fiction) if I had finished my doctorate. Works like Gambaro's play made me say, in essence, "damn, look at what you can actually accomplish with literature when you push the boundaries, have a sense of social justice and decency, want to engage an audience, and actually put in some work to make it happen instead of the usual stuff." Unfortunately, there was only one Dr. Papa, and I cannot thank him enough. If you are interested in learning more about the Dirty War, you may also want to read Verbitsky's Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior (see my note on it here).
  
• Jonathan Kozol's books, especially Illiterate America and Savage Inequalities. When it comes to pointing out what is wrong with the American educational system, to showing the shameful way American schools are segregated, and the hypocrisy of people who say you can't solve the problem with more money but send their kids to expensive private schools, Kozol is the man to read. His works are books that definitely piss me off when I read them because I know that this nation could have an excellent educational system if people only cut the male bovine solid food waste product, grew a spine, used some serious political and moral will, and just got it done for the sake of the common good. That children in this country are allowed to languish in what are essentially prisons is a shame. That it is done by choice because society does not want to fix it is reprehensible. Kozol had a lot to do with my shaping as a teacher and educator. I was fortunate enough to meet the man when I was in graduate school, and this man is basically a national treasure. Americans ignore his words at their peril.
  
• Samuel G. Freedman, Small Victories: the Real World of a Teacher, Her Students, and their High School. I read this right before I went to do my student teaching experience. A lot of my view of teachers came from this book. Personally, I think it is better than Tracy Kidder's Among Schoolchildren, which I had to read at the time. Freedman's work seem much more real, and it spoke to me more. I think in large measure because Jessica the teacher was teaching high school, which was where I was headed as well. By the way, this was before a lot of the books about teachers meant to be inspirational and "feel good" stories really started to hit the bookstores. Personally, I think those books tend to glorify teachers who are exceptions and whose work likely cannot be replicated as easily as most people think. I like Freedman's work because in the end the teacher comes across as a normal person doing work that many would not dream of doing. Later narratives pretty much portray teachers as super heroes (and not in a good way) who can do no wrong, who never suffer defeats, and somehow have a happy ending no matter the setting.
  

When I started making this list, I had a bit of a hard time coming up with ten. However, as I started writing it, I found myself recalling more works that somehow had some influence in my life. So, this small list, without explanations, is going to be my "honorable mentions." Who knows, maybe I will write a post on "Ten More Books."

• Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On.
• Suzan-Lori Parks, The America Play.
• Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love.
  
• Anonymous, El Cantar de Mio Cid.
• Koushun Takami, Battle Royale (manga series, but it is originally a novel).
  
• George Carlin, 3x Carlin: An Orgy of George (collection of 3 of his books).
  

15 Things About Me and Books

Yes, it's the old meme. I got reminded of it by the Pegasus Librarian. By the way, she links to a few other people who have done it if you are curious. Anyhow, this seems like a nice reflective exercise, and since I have not been blogging in a while, which could be a topic for another post, I going to use it as a way to get back on track.

So, here goes:

1. One of the earliest books I remember receiving as a gift was a copy of Fábulas de Iriarte. It was a children's edition. "Fábulas" is the Spanish word for "fable." It was basically a collection of fables; it was illustrated and very colorful. A gift from one of my aunts.
   
2. I read The Illiad as a child; I don't think I was in my teens yet. Basically my mother suggested it since she noticed I liked classical mythology a lot. I had been reading Hamilton's Mythology around that time. That copy of The Illiad was in Spanish translation.
3. My mother was a big fan of Agatha Christie. She would read them in Spanish translation. The editions were published by Editorial Molino (Spanish Wikipedia entry; I could not find an English version), and they were pretty affordable paperbacks. The publishing house was known for publishing many famous popular authors. To this day, some of their editions are big collectibles. Anyhow, mom had a lot of those Agatha Christie editions, and seeing them on the shelf is one of my memories of her. For her, getting a new Christie mystery was a favorite gift. I remember when she finally read Curtain, the novel that deals with Hercule Poirot's last case. She was not happy at all about the ending. I have read a few Agatha Christie novels, in part because I wanted to know what it was appealed so much to my mother. I personally like those featuring Hercule Poirot the most.
   
4. Going back to that edition of The Illiad, it was part of a collection of literary classics my parents acquired over time. I don't know how many folks out there recall this, but there were days when you could get encyclopedia sets, so on one volume at a time at your grocery store (or other retailers). My parents bought volumes of some literary classics set. I wish I could remember the publisher, but they were a pretty good quality hardcover set. It had stuff like The Illiad, The Brothers Karamazov, Becquer's Rimas y Leyendas (Rhymes and Legends), so on. These were in Spanish. I got my first exposure to classic literature from those books that my parents bought, in large measure because my mother believed her three boys should have books, including good classics, in the house. Unfortunately, due to various moves over time, the collection was eventually lost.
   
5. I did not read a lot of comics as a kid. In fact, I really came to discover and enjoy comics and graphic novels as an adult. This is now one of my favorite reading formats. I also enjoy reading manga and related formats.
   
6. I usually have at least three books going at any given time. It boils down to one nonfiction book, a fiction book, and a graphic novel or manga. This can vary somewhat, but that is the basic pattern. One variation is if I am reading something in Spanish, in which case I could have two novels, for instance: one in English and one in Spanish. I do it so I always have something to read based on my mood.
   
7. I am a firm believer in dropping any book that does not catch my interest. Life is too short as it is to waste it on a bad book or on a book that just does not fit my mood at the time.
   
8. I reread One Hundred Years of Solitude (in Spanish) every couple of years or so. I basically do it whenever I get the urge to go back to Macondo. I always find something new every time I read it. It never loses the wonder for me.
   
9. I wish I was fluent in at least three more languages. While I am thankful that I can read stuff in translation, I wish I could read more stuff in the original. Besides, it is common knowledge the U.S. misses an awful lot of literature from around the world because of lack of translations.
   
10. I have read the Bible from cover to cover. And in my case, it was the Roman Catholic edition. In other words, it has a few extra books Protestants leave out. I did this mostly so I could say I did, not out of any particular spiritual need. However, it has proven useful since now I have a pretty good sense of what the book contains.
    
11. I have also read a few other sacred books. I have read parts of the Qur'an, all of the Analects of Confucius, all of the Dhammapada, parts of the Upanishads, and all of the Bhagavad Gita. I figured it would be a good idea to have a sense of what other sacred texts say. It was sort of a way to expand my horizons. Also, when it comes to the Qur'an, it is good to have a sense of what that text contains given current geopolitics. And yes, when I say the Qur'an, I mean a translation. I can't read Arabic (see #9 above).
    
12. When it comes to books, I will buy books if I want to keep them, add them to my personal collection, or if they are rare, i.e. next to impossible that a library will carry them. If it is a book I just want to read once, I will try to borrow it first. The "read it once" issue usually applies to books in current events and other topics that have a short shelf life so to speak.
    
13. I was forced to do a major book weed of our home collections (my wife has her own bookshelves, so does our daughter) when we moved from Indiana to Texas. At that point, I got rid of most, if not all, of the texts I had collected during graduate school. For me, that was a big break with the past. We did another one when we moved from Houston to Tyler, TX. We either donated to a public library or sold them to a used bookstore. The great loss in moving to Tyler was a set of Library of America books, which we donated to one of the public libraries in Houston. It was painful, but when you live in an apartment, you only have so much space. As a result, I am very careful what I purchase. However, I am happy to say I still have a pretty big personal library.
    
14. I do not lend books from my personal library. This is specially applicable to my graphic novels. The rule is void for my wife and daughter because I know they can be trusted to return it. In fact, when it comes to my science fiction, especially short stories, my wife usually borrows them and reads them right away (in addition to any she gets on her own). Anyone else, go get your own copy. I will be happy to refer you to your nearest local library, you miscreants.
    
15. One of my recent joys as a reader is that my daughter is an avid reader. It is also a joy because we now borrow books from each other once in a while.
    

I could probably do a couple more above 15, but let's leave it here for now.

Article Note: On assessing promotion of reference services to undergrads

Citation for the article:

Sobel, Karen, "Promoting Library Reference Services to First-Year Undergraduate Students: What Works?" Reference and User Services Quarterly 48.4 (2009): 362-371.

Read via Academic Search Complete (EBSCO).


I continue my look at some articles on reference assessment that I started over here and continues here. This one seemed relevant to me given the work I do as an outreach librarian where a good part of my job is promoting the library. When it comes to promotion for undergraduates, it is something I try to do in collaboration with our instruction librarian when it is feasible. Sobel's article explores three things. First, it looks at how aware are undergraduate students when it comes to reference services. Second, it asks what percentage of those students seek help from reference librarians. Third, the author asks about what online media the students find comfortable to use in communicating with the reference librarians. I think that last question could have been explored a bit further. It certainly can be explored further now given the ubiquity of services like Facebook and Twitter. That would be something I would be interested in especially since we do have a Facebook page for the library, and we use Meebo chat widgets in our subject guides. I know the study took place in 2007, according to the article, when things like Facebook (it opened to everyone in 2006) and Twitter (also founded in 2006) were still gaining ground, but I guess the fact I can ask the question just shows how quickly things have changed. By the way, Meebo was launched in 2005, and the widgets we use in 2006. I guess I am just saying if I was expanding this type of assessment, I would want more on how social networking is used by the library to reach students.

The article opens with a brief summary of promotional techniques that libraries commonly use such as flyers and online links to chat services, things that I will note we do her as well. Readers can go on and look over the specific demographic details in the article.

Some notes:

• Like Ball State, where I got my first master's degree and where I used to work in the library as a library instruction assistant, UNC-Chapel Hill, where the study takes place, requires their English 101 (first year) classes to take at least one library instruction session. We can debate the merits of such a requirement later; it tends to be one of those tidbits that information literacy librarians like to kick around back and forth when things get slow. I notice that the requirement serves to give the author a nice and convenient working terrain. She surveyed a randomly selected set of classes. Note that the survey instrument is included at the end, a detail I always find useful. The questions it features are some of the ones I would not mind asking my students here, though at the moment my instruction colleague and I do have some concerns over "survey fatigue" here on the campus. That issue is another reason why I am reading some articles on reference assessment. I am hoping to find some other ideas besides surveys. However, surveys seem to be the convenient tool of choice for a lot of assessment. I don't have anything against a well constructed survey, but I am against over-reliance on surveys every time someone brings up the boogeyman of assessment (usually for the sake of accreditation).
  
• "One of Brewerton's major points about promotion of reference services is that librarians tend to imagine their patrons as a 'captive audience,' so no matter the quality of promotional efforts, these patrons will find and use the services out of necessity. However, in reality, some patrons use them well, some use them poorly, some never find the services, and some use alternatives" (364). In other words, patrons are no longer a captive audience, if they ever were captive at all. If anything, reference staff members are often the last resort after Google fails, if they bother to make contact with us at all. This indicates a real need for better outreach and education of our college students, including more and better promotions where we can differentiate ourselves from Google. And by the way, this does not take into account ideas about competency and confidence (see this article for instance).
• Some edgy advertisements, as Brewerton might suggest (qtd. in 364), would probably not work in my current workplace. What can be edgy and playful in a different academic library environment would be deemed inadequate, and in some cases offensive, in a setting like my current workplace. If nothing else, this is a lesson in knowing your audience.
  
• "Murfin explains that 'the reference department is, in a sense, the expert on library users, on their knowledge, abilities, problems, and responses" (qtd. in 364). And yet at times, we are the last ones consulted by the powers that be when it comes to service and how to provide it. Instead of going by gut feeling and perception, we often need more direct evidence, data gathered in the field, which is then analyzed and interpreted, and listening to the actual experts who do the actual work with the students.
  
• "Available research describes relatively few methods of advertising specifically to first-year students" (364). Sobel goes on to tell us that the most popular methods include BI, orientation sessions, whether optional or required, online materials, and activities like scavenger hunts. We need to do more, and we need to do it better. We need to be leveraging use of social networking when appropriate as well as other tools such as blogging. The work of Brian Mathews goes a long way in this area.
• Sobel cites research where teens and graduate students state that setting up a working relationship with a particular librarian is helpful (365). This was something I was able to do regularly in my previous position where I had a very active instruction load. Sadly, I don't get to do that as much these days in my current role, though I get to do some with graduate students in education (education is one of my subject liaison areas).
  
• Sobel found that the main factor we can control when it comes to promoting reference use is library instruction (367).
  
• Something to be optimistic about: "A total of 73.4 percent of students [in the survey] responded that librarians 'probably' or 'definitely' could help them with the majority of their questions" (368).
  
• From the conclusion: ". . .academic librarians should make a significant effort to reach out to freshmen in person, but that context is important" (369). A lot of it is still about the old school face to face, making contact. However, and Sobel notes this too, virtual communication remains important too.
  

Article Note: On good practices for phone interviews in academic libraries

Citation for the article:

Engel, Debra and Sarah Robbins, "Telephone Interviewing Practices Within Academic Libraries." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 35.2 (March 2009): 143-151.

Read via ScienceDirect.


As soon as I saw this article, I went back and reread what I wrote a while back about job interviews. By the way, for reference purposes, here is a list of some phone interview questions we have used recently in my workplace. Also for reference, some quick notes on academic job search.

This article goes pretty well with what I wrote, and it reinforces some of the lessons I tried to share with my three readers. Engel and Robbins basically look at the mechanics of phone interviews for academic library job openings and provide some suggestions for good practices. Much of what is presented is common sense; well, I think it is common sense. This was a brief article, so I will just make some notes with comments. This is an article to keep in your files, and I will be adding it to my professional readings folder.

Notes:

• The basics, as identified by IUPFW and quoted by the authors: ". . .that search committees conduct the telephone interview as a committee, prepare standard questions, test the telephone conference equipment in advance, introduce the participants in the telephone interview, inform the applicant how the interview will be conducted, and invite questions from the interview at the conclusion of the phone interview" (144). I have said it before that having good, well prepared questions is crucial. From my experience, the best places at interviewing will have a good set of questions, which the committee will have before hand, and which they will ask of all candidates consistently. Anything less opens your institution to possible criticism, and in some cases it will give the candidate the impression that you are "just winging it." Yes, the committee should do the interview. No, the committee should not be all the librarians, unless your library is so small you only have one to three librarians at the most. Anything larger than that, and you are stretching things. If it is a reference position, you don't really need to bring in other departments at this early stage. Better to have a small cadre of people knowledgeable and connected to the opening to do the interview.
  
• Something I rarely saw when I was in the market. The authors are citing Vicker and Royer who "recommend identifying complete information for each candidate and tailoring the interview questions for the telephone interview to the individual candidate" (145). As I look at the questions we used recently, I do wonder if we could have done a bit more work to tailor those questions to individual candidates better. Not all of them. Either that, or add some questions that were more tailored to a particular candidate to the common question set.
  
• Reminder: ". . .a candidate should not criticize the department or institution where he or she is interviewing" (Bridges, qtd. in 145). Do people really need to be told this? Then again, would you interview at a place where you had issues or felt the need to criticize them? I probably would not, but then again, in this economy, I am willing to bet some job seekers would take that chance. Is this then a message to those folks to lie if necessary? One of those philosophical questions I suppose.
  

The article has a specific list of best practices created by the authors based on their research. This is worth a look.