Article note: On extending media literacy

Citation for the article:

Nijboer, Jelke and Esther Hammelburg, "Extending Media Literacy: a New Direction for Libraries." New Library World 111. 1/2 (2010): 36-45.

Read via Emerald.


This article is mostly a call to arms in terms of teaching about media literacy and the role libraries need to take in this endeavor. This is a challenge given the common view that the Internet is replacing libraries. While I do think the Internet has had some impact, I do not believe it is totally replacing libraries. If anything, given the current economic climate, we may need libraries more than ever. Even if it is for people just using computers, those people still need some education on information and media literacy, and if they are doing job seeking, they need additional help as well. But I am briefly digressing.

The authors go on to argue that fast and easy seem to be the most important criteria when it comes to searching for information online. Reliability of that information is less of a concern to the average person. Consistent with other articles I have read (like this one, or this one, or better yet this one), the authors also note that users often are not aware of their own gaps in media literacy, or in information literacy for that matter. The authors also note that teaching faculty often do not have a clue in terms of evaluation criteria of search results or what students select to use in their assignments. Information literacy and instruction librarians are then not going away anytime soon. The authors do advocate for the library taking a more active role and collaborating with those in the field of education and media production. After all, the library is already a place involved in education, culture, reading, and social spaces.

My notes and comments:

• Opening questions, which I think are questions we, in general, should be thinking about: "How can the library position itself within the field of media literacy? And is the library suitable for implementing policies concerning media literacy?" I need to think about the first one, but I would answer in the affirmative to the second one.
  
• The definition of media literacy for purposes of the article: "Media literacy can be defined as the sum of knowledge, skills, and attitude which citizens need to act in a conscious, critical and active way within a complex, changing, and fundamentally medialised world (RvC, 2005)" (qtd. in 37). The citation goes to this website.
• This note on the notion of citizenship caught my eye: "Citizenship is usually interpreted in the political sense of the electorate. Citizenship then means being informed and participating in debate within a public sphere. Within this traditional discourse of citizenship, media are predominantly appreciated for their function to inform and criticize" (37). The reason this caught my eye is because it seemed way too idealistic. The media, especially in the United States, has pretty much abdicated any pretense at a function to inform and criticize anything. See Pierce's book Idiot America for some examples of what I mean. Here is my book note on the book for anyone interested.
• The authors cite H. Jenkins of MIT who "claims that the focus of literacy has shifted from individual expression to community involvement" (qtd. in 38). I am not sure how much of this is true. I think there is still plenty of room for individual expression, but yes, there has been a move to community involvement online. Jenkins writes on participatory culture. You can find one of Jenkins's papers here; the new media literacy project over here.
• Link to the European Charter for Media Literacy cited in the article. The item of interest for our purposes is their list of media literacy competencies, which is here. See item #2 on their list regarding what a media literate person should be able to do. Not only does it overlap things we say in information literacy, but it also highlights how bad the media in the United States is failing in this area, let alone our educational institutions in teaching people about media literacy.
  
• Nice UNESCO statement cited in the article, which I think is something we need to work on more: "Everyone should be able to analyse and critically reflect upon the media. People must be competent to interpret messages and values provided by the media. All citizens should have access to the variety of media available for both consumption and production. Citizens also need the skills to create media messages, and select appropriate media platforms for telling their stories and communicating with others" (39). We have a long way to go on this.
  
• Another thing that is rarely taught. And this is definitely something that librarians teaching information literacy can (and should) be teaching more in their classes: "Addressing the issue of media ownership--who produces the content that we use--helps you to judge media content" (40). For example, when I worked as Instruction Librarian in Houston, I provided instruction on issues of media ownership and helped students do research as part of a unit some of the English Comp. professors did on Clear Channel using Project Censored as a starting point. This is the kind of stuff we need to be teaching more.
  
• A good point, but not as applicable in the U.S. at least as long as we continue to have the big digital divide we have. The statement: "Broadband and the further development of the internet and the phenomenon of social networking means that an ever-growing number of passive media consumers turn into media producers, making use of interactive opportunities of the internet to create independent content" (41). And without some education, some of those "producers" will just be adding to the clutter and misinformation already out on the internet.
  
• While I bristled a bit at the idea of "old fashioned" information skills (print is not going away anytime soon no matter what Steve Jobs or the Amazon guy say), this is a good point and one libraries need to embrace: "Social networking offers the library and others opportunities to create new media literacy programmes and to move away from their traditional role in teaching only 'old fashioned' information skills and textual literacy to a broader competence based training and coaching in the proper use of the various media available. This role has to be expanded" (42).
  

Article Note: On Work Autonomy And Librarians

Citation for the article:

Patillo, Ericka J., et.al., "The Job Itself: The Effects of Functional Units on Work Autonomy Among Public and Academic Librarians." Library Trends 58.2 (Fall 2009): 276-290.

Read via Project Muse.



"Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way." --Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.

"I am not asking for help, Mike, just take off the handcuffs." --- Pete Clemenza, in the film The Godfather.

Autonomy in work is something that a lot of people in this profession talk about, but it is something that is rarely found. Librarianship is notorious for being fairly rigid in terms of organizational structure. Hierarchies thrive, not always in a good way. And yet, this profession does attract some pretty bright individuals, folks who thrive on creativity and innovation, on breaking the rules once in a while. I happen to be one of those folks. I will make a small admission. I do not take very well to micro-managers. While I understand there are certain things I have to do as part of my work that are basically part of the hierarchy, there are moments when I need my autonomy in order to do what must be done. With some of that in mind, I came across this article.

The Patillo et.al. article looks at the concept of job autonomy. This is briefly defined as "the degree of freedom and discretion that an employee has over the work that has to be done" (276-277). On the basis of that definition, I did a little self-reflection. I realized that I do have some autonomy. However, there are many key decisions that I am not allowed to make even though I am nominally classified as a department head. In other words, it is an illusory form of autonomy. I wonder if this may be part of the challenge that middle managers face when they cannot make a key decision on behalf of their workers because they have to check in with the bosses above.

The authors limit their investigation to academic and public librarians. The authors' hypotheses asked about differences in terms of autonomy between public and academic librarians and whether autonomy varied between job functions. To find out, they drew from data in the WILIS (Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science) survey done at North Carolina. The sample size was 766 respondents. You can read about the breakdown of the sample in the article.

Some notes from the article then:

• Once again, we find the claim about the incoming massive number of retirements in the library profession and how it will generate a large number of jobs. Let me blunt. This claim has been pretty much debunked. I cannot help but wonder if any of the editors in LIS journals actually pay attention to the economy or to current economic trends and conditions or to the librarian job market? Why does this come up? Because the authors are arguing that "library managers need to maintain am understanding of the needs of their staff to grow, independence, and challenging work. Job satisfaction is a primary factor in the retention of workers" (277). I certainly do not disagree with any of that. In fact, I think that more managers do need to pay attention to that issue, but then the authors follow that with the statement about how the majority of librarians are boomers on the way to retirement. People, please, it's time to pay some attention and face reality. Stop disseminating that false "jobs are coming" claim already. All it does is lower your credibility.
  
• Another truth: ". . .new graduates increasingly have career options in nonlibrary settings" (278). And I think more library schools, given the current conditions, should be helping their graduates explore those options better.
  
• A statement of the obvious, in my humble opinion: "Academic librarians experienced higher levels of autonomy in terms of work" (283). However, upon some consideration, I wonder if that varies by academic institution and on how specialized the librarian is, say, a generalist instruction librarian in a small university versus a subject bibliographer in a Research 1 university.
  
• Definitely stating the obvious now: "The majority of public and academic librarians have responsibilities in multiple areas" (283). I am not trying to be mean or facetious, but this is the kind of statement that is common knowledge in our profession by now. However, the LIS literature consistently seems to serve to reaffirm these things.
  
• Of interest to me, "public and academic librarians who chose the area Information services, education and research reported lower autonomy of terms of work than their counterparts who did not choose this area" (285; emphasis in original). Maybe this is why our cataloger seems very happy with her work at times. Take that as it is presented.
  
• Some good news: "As was noted earlier, variety, creativity, and challenge are work attributes that are related to job satisfaction, and it appears that many librarians have variety, challenging work, and opportunities for growth as indicated by the range of tasks they perform. . ." (286). Overall, to use myself as an example, my work does have variety and creativity. It can be challenging at times, in good and bad ways. However, it does have some moments of drudgery when I have to do more administrivia than my actual work. But, as the old saying goes, "into each life a little rain must fall."
  
• A little more on the autonomy of those of us in information services: these librarians "probably have more frequent interaction with library patrons due to the nature of reference, instruction, and research services. That they report less flexibility and control over their work schedules might have implications related to burnout and retention of these professionals" (287). If I was a manager who paid attention, I would probably be concerned about this and the retention issue. Unfortunately, it is also common knowledge in our profession that, much like teaching, if you want to advance (and maybe, just maybe, get a little more money), you have to become an administrator, something that takes you away from the job you actually like. Also it is something that probably lacks a lot of autonomy. From what I have learned from library managers I have worked for, they often have their hands tied by various administrative roles and mandates. I don't envy their jobs, and I sure as heck don't want to do such work. However, managers often make me feel like Pete Clemenza in the epigraph I used above.
  
• "Since all librarians cannot be administrators (and many do not want to be), a further examination of the characteristics of these positions [librarians with some administrative duties, but who are not library managers] might lead to a better understanding of ways in which libraries can offer nonadministrative positions that are also autonomous and satisfying" (287).

Article Note: On shared leadership in libraries

Citation for the article:

Cawthorne, Jon E., "Leading from the Middle of the Organization: An Examination of Shared Leadership in Academic Libraries." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 36.2 (March 2010): 151-157.

Read via ScienceDirect.


I had some serious mixed feelings when I read this article because, to be honest, a lot of the ideas it presents fall under the "that's nice in theory" rubric. When it comes to the idea of shared leadership, the idea is a bit separate from reality. In simple terms, shared leadership is when the top manager involves the subordinates in the decision-making process. Given that more often than not, said manager already has a decision made when he/she pretends to involve the subordinates, I take the idea with a big grain of salt. In fact, the author of the article noted that at least one respondent commented that "even in the context of shared leadership, the top leader already made a decision" (155). So as you see, it is not just me who thinks this is often the case. In fact, the commenter goes on to say:

"'In general, there is little correlation between what we say we want to do and what we actually do. Also, when we meet to make decisions, sometimes the dean has already made one (the decision) and he sees our job as that of supporting his decision, no matter how much it diverges from our mission, stated goals, previous plans, or benefit to the patron'" (155).

I think that statement speaks volumes, and I don't think I can add much more to it other than to say I agree since I have been in such situations with a fairly high degree of frequency.

The article basically looks at middle managers. I am just going to make some brief notes to remind myself that I read it because if I write too much, it's probably going to come across as a bit too skeptical (to put it mildly).

• "Clearly, it is critical that libraries meet the key individual developmental challenges such as recognizing that middle managers are in positions of leadership in academic libraries" (151). I don't think we can argue with that. Seems pretty self-evident, even if it does not always work that way.
  
• "As academic libraries address change management through team building and strategic planning, there is a need to understand the extent to which middle managers believe they share decision making as leaders who implement the vision set by senior management" (151). Again, not much to argue with here. Sounds nice. I just ask if those middle managers are really positioned to influence decision making.
  

Cawthorne cites the work of Sandra Jackson in terms of components of shared leadership. The components are as follows (see page 152, italics in the original):

1. "Accountability, which consists of owning the consequences that are inherent in one's role, internally defined, and cannot be delegated." This sounds simple enough.
   
2. "Equity, which includes mutual recognition of the unique contributions of each individual." This sounds very good in theory, but I wonder how often we have cases of the left hand not knowing what the right hand does.
   
3. "Partnership, which involves a mutually respectful and trusting relationship among individuals who share a common goal. Partnership is based on honest communication." I will say that honest communication should be the key concept in that idea.
   
4. "Ownership, which centers on a personal commitment that an individual makes to work outcomes of their work and to the mission of the organization."

However, there are often obstacles and problems. Jackson "identifies a number of structural and political characteristics that may comprise barriers to shared leadership. These include team attitudes, turf battles, individual career goals, manager versus leader roles, corporate culture, change quotient, risk, current and future performance, and current and future external environment" (qtd. in 152). I could say quite a bit about some of these, but I will refrain in the interest of maintaining the professional tone in this blog. If you are really curious, let's meet at a bar for some drinks, and I will tell (maybe).

The method: 22 academic libraries in the study population with a final tally of 115 middle manager respondents. Of the 115, only 77 responded. Survey done via Survey Monkey. By the way, I am starting to notice Survey Monkey is becoming a tool of choice for a lot of LIS surveys as of late.

• A bit of insight or a realization: ". . .senior leaders may not possess sufficient and relevant information to make highly effective decisions in a fast-changing and complex world. In reality, middle managers may be more highly informed and in far better position to provide leadership and influence the accomplishment of organizational goals" (155). This may be because middle managers still keep a foot in the trenches, so to speak. The problem happens when the top leaders refuse or neglect to listen to the ones who actually know what they are talking about because they actually experience the situations on the ground. Just a thought.
  
• "This study reveals a perception among middle managers in academic libraries that not all ideas for change are treated equally" (156).
  
• "If ideas that come from all levels of the organization are not considered equally, then to what extent are all decisions credible to bring about change in academic libraries?" (156).
  

Doing a little readers' advisory

As an academic librarian, I do not get to do as much readers' advisory as a public librarian might do. However, it is an area of librarianship that I enjoy a lot, and I wish I could get to do it more often. So when I get the rare request for reading recommendations, I am thrilled. Recently a good friend contacted me via Facebook. She requested the following:

• Some scifi to read for fun over the summer.
  
• Something a bit dark like cyberpunk or dystopic novels or graphic novels (yes, I am aware these elements can be diferent, but that was the request).
  
• Something intellectual and not just brainless fluff like Star Trek or interstellar romances (I assumed she meant romance as in love affairs, not romance in the classic sense like H.G. Wells).
  

So, on that basis, I took a little bit of time to think about it, and I sent her a reply. I figured the reply would be good enough to share with my five readers (yes, we have added a follower to our tally) in case they may be looking for reading ideas. Of course, readers of this blog are welcome to comment and add their ideas as well. Anyhow, here is what I recommended with a bit of an explanation or rationale on how it fit the request, and some additional comments I did not include in the original reply. I recommended works that I have personally read and enjoyed:

• I started by suggesting my new discovery from last year. This was Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need is Kill. It certainly fits within the concepts of dystopia and/or cyberpunk, and it certainly is not fluff. This novel is a good example of Japanese science fiction, done in translation by Haikasoru, a wonderful press "dedicated to bringing Japanese science fiction to America and beyond" (from their website). I enjoyed this novel very much, and I am looking forward to reading more works from that publisher. As for the novel, one reviewer called it "Groundhog Day, but in a war zone." The protagonist is a soldier stuck in time, reliving the same combat day over and over, having to improve his skills each day in order to break from the cycle. And then there is the Full Metal Bitch (I will let you find out who she is).
• John Scalzi's Old Man's War, which has been compared to Heinlein at his best. Not cyberpunk, but it kind of looks at a future of man that may or not be a utopia. I went on to read the sequel The Ghost Brigades, which was interesting but not as good as Old Man's War. It did turn me off from reading the other works that followed; I got the impression the quality would not be as good. Ghost Brigades looks at a particular type of unit, the titular ghost brigades, which appear in the first novel, so if this interests you, the novel is worth reading. But as I said, not as good as the first.
  

For the graphic novels, I recommended the following:

• Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Batman: The Long Halloween. This work is simply excellent. Basically, there is a serial killer who kills on holidays over a year starting in Halloween. You can read it any time, very immersive. Personally, I have read this twice already, always around October. You can never go wrong with any work by Loeb and Sale, but this one is definitely one of their best.
  
• If you want something different and in alternative history, try Neil Gaiman's Marvel 1602. It's Marvel heroes like Spider-Man in the Elizabethan era. My friend is an English Ph.D. student, so I knew she would appreciate this type of work. It does have a very nice dark element to it as well. Also, the work is by Neil Gaiman, and you can never go wrong with Gaiman. There are two sequels done by other writers to this book.
• From Allan Moore, the Promethea series (link to Book One; the series has five books). This series deals with mythology and takes place in a future time. I presumed my friend had already read Watchmen, which would likely fit more into her request. However, Promethea does take place in an alternate future that does display some dystopic elements (slightly). Again, this will likely appeal to a literature major as well. I did tell her that if she had not read Watchmen, that she should rush to read it.

I gave the above as something to start from. I did throw in a bonus at the end by recommending a book I am currently reading: Shadows Over Baker Street, edited by Michael Reaves and John Pelan. This is one of the most delicious anthologies I have read in a while, so to speak. The premise is basically Sherlock Holmes with Lovecraftian mysteries and settings. If you like either Sherlock Holmes or H.P. Lovecraft's works, you will enjoy this. This is a book that is truly made to savor, so I am taking my time reading through it as one takes time to savor a fine cognac. One of the stories, Gaiman's "A Study in Emerald" is very good and won an award. I told my friend that if she wanted a bit of the intellectual with some horror and mystery thrown in, that she had to try this book.

Notes from UT Tyler 2010 Student Poetry Awards

The event took place on Tuesday April 13, 2010. This is our library's major event for National Poetry Month. You can read my brief official account of the event over at my library's blog here. This post is basically for the more extensive notes I made in my journal, which are not included in the official accounts. If you just want to read the brief summary, follow the link.

* * * *

After I delivered some brief opening remarks, Anne McCrady, local poet and friend of the library extraordinaire, provided the introduction for Karla Morton. Karla, the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate, was our keynote speaker for the evening. Anne told us how Karla and her became friends over time. Anne learned various lessons from Karla, including some lessons from Karla's battle with cancer. Anne was proud and excited that we were hosting a woman poet. So were we. I was very happy and excited to learn that this year's Texas Poet Laureate was a woman; it gave us an opportunity here on campus to invite a woman for the first time to be our keynote poet. I was thrilled. Having a woman as our keynote poet was something that Joanne Buendtner, our previous outreach coordinator, who is now retired from our campus, wished for when she was working here. I am glad we were able to make it happen. Anne went on to mention that Karla has an upcoming collection of sufi poetry. I will definitely have to look it up.

Karla took the stage next. She began by showing us two rocks she brought from the Big Bend area (that's West Texas, the area where Alpine is). Karla told us that has always written and that she always wanted to be poet laureate. She moved on to talk about her first published collection, her chapbook entitled Becoming Superman (I bought my own personal copy, which is signed, and which I will be reading later). She chose a chapbook format because she wanted to make it affordable for readers. She told us that, like Superman, we all have an "S" on our chests. We can all find our passion.

• Karla often gets questions about inspiration. She constantly writes, and she keeps notes in a little notebook, which she then pulls out for ideas. She encourages writers to always be aware. It can be easy to hibernate in your cave. Instead, open yourself to the world.
  
• Read the poem "Alamo Coastline."
  
• Karla has always been in love with Texas, and this shows in her poetry.
  
• On the subject of men, she sees men as interesting people and subjects for her poetry. Thus the poem "Texas Longhorns" goes to the men.
  
• On rejection: It took her 20 years to be published and successful. Rejection is the nature of the game. Don't give up. The experience of reading is personal given all different reading preferences (she was referring, likely, to reading on stage, but this seems applicable to any form of reading. It also seems consistent with librarian concepts we learn in reader's advisory, in my humble opinion). Karla advises aspiring writers to send their work, one piece at a time (poem, short story, etc.). Karla also spoke a bit on Anne McCrady and Anne's gift of teaching (Anne runs a series of very successful and inspiring workshops. Check out the link to her site above. In addition, Anne is very generous with students and aspiring writers).
  
• If you are stuck (in terms of ideas for writing), Karla suggests going to a writers' workshop or conference (if only I had the time). Confidence is part of your business as a writer. Poetry is every man's art.
  
• Karla's second book is Redefining Beauty (you can find it on her website, which is linked above. I also got a signed copy of this one to read later). In these poems, she is using poetry as a way to help herself through cancer. We all have our demons, and writing is a good way of getting through our problems or demons. Being bald (which she was getting her cancer treatment), Karla observed that people would not look her in the eyes. But this can lead to alienation, so she appreciates differences better.
  
• At times, God answers our prayers before we know what to ask for.
  
• She spoke of people who would tell her bad cancer tales when she was bald. This means someone would see Karla, and if they had a bad cancer tale of their own, they felt a need to share it, something Karla wished they would not do. More positive tales would have been better.
  
• Rhyme and poetry are fun. Karla often finds adults who at times are afraid of rhyme, a "Shakespeare class mentality" she calls it.
  

Other miscellaneous notes and thoughts:

We had 21 attendees for the event. The number may seem low, but this has been pretty consistent over time (at least in the short time I have been here). This is my third event of this kind that I have coordinated. Attendance from the campus community always seems to be a challenge; it is something that I am consistently and continually trying to improve, but there are days when I don't feel as encouraged. As Anne points out, the English faculty shines by their absence; we did have one English faculty member. This is the kind of event I think they should embrace. In other campuses I have worked in, that department would have clamored to sponsor an event like this. The student poets are always a great part of the event. I really enjoy listening to their award winning poems to see what themes and images they bring.

We did get coverage this time around in the campus newspaper, the Patriot Talon. However, it seems the story did not make it the webpage (I have only found it in the print version for 4/20). And as I read it, I did notice some errors, which to be honest, do make me wonder since in some cases the details were things I pointed out pretty clearly to the reporter and she still missed them. The corrections then:

• I did not judge the poetry contest. The panel of judges was composed of two English faculty members, two librarians (other than me), and a local poet. I made that detail clear at least twice, and it was posted in the library's blog on the post announcing the contest and rules, to which I referred her. A little reading and paying attention would have solved that.
  
• Karla Morton is not just "a Texas poet laureate." One, Texas Poet Laureate is a formal title, so it should all be capitalized. Two, she is the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate, sharing in a long line of poet laureates for the state. She keeps the title for life, meaning that she, along with the others, can be addressed as Texas Poet Laureate.
  
• Contest rule: 60 lines of poetry total, which could be one long poem or shorter poems totaling that amount. I said most students submit two poems, not that the poems were always 30 lines each.
  
• I did not see a mention of the UT Tyler Friends of the Arts. This local organization funds a big part of the event, which I also did mention. So now, to be honest, I am a bit worried I may get a call from someone in News and Information or the FOA to ask.

Oh well, at least they did cover the event. We have been trying to get them to cover it for years now. Maybe next year they will get the details in better form.

At any rate, on a final thought, if you are an outreach librarian like me, and you do events like this, keep in mind that a challenge is for you personally to enjoy the event. I am often worried and moving around making sure everyone is ok, things are in order, minding the little details, etc. I even took photos of the event (see the library's Facebook page). That I managed to sit long enough to listen to the poet and take notes was a nice situation.