Tebowing

I Tebowed in the library :). You're welcome.

Library Technology Conference

Please consider submitting a session proposal. The deadline is 11/21.

October 11, 2011 Library Technology Conference 2012 Library Technology Conference 2012 Call For Proposals – Deadline November 21, 2011 The 5th Annual Library Technology Conference will be held March 14-15, 2012 on the campus of Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, and the planning committee invites you to submit your session proposal ideas. We're looking for session ideas about technology use in libraries that challenge, entertain, and inspire discussion. We encourage proposals from public, school, or special libraries in addition to academic libraries. The Library Technology Conference is a conference that mixes keynotes, traditional lecture-style presentations, panel discussions, hands-on workshops, and poster sessions highlighting many of the technologies affecting how users interact with libraries, as well as how libraries are using technology to create new and better ways to manage their resources. The focus is on sessions that are interactive and which provide practical information that will allow participants to apply what they've learned at their own library. Some possible session topic ideas might include: · Cloud computing in libraries · Working with vendors in a digital age · Digital Preservation · Institutional repositories · Augmented reality · Social networking for outreach and service promotion · Semantic web · QR codes · Virtual research environments · Search engines / Information discovery · Web 3.0 · Library apps · Mobile computing · Technology and Information literacy · Electronic books Please do not let this list of suggestions limit your imagination on session proposal topics. We are interested in hearing about how changes to established technologies are being changed or improved to meet the evolving needs of libraries and also about cutting edge projects that libraries are doing with technology. We want to hear about your successes as well as what you learned with your failures. · More information about the 5th Annual Library Technology Conference · Submit a proposal Proposal Submission Deadline: November 21, 2011 Follow the Library Technology Conference on Facebook and Twitter. Click this link to forward this message to someone else.

An academic conference about Jersey Shore

As you may assume, I am quite ecstatic by the announcement of an academic conference about Jersey Shore. A librarian from Missouri was kind enough to email me about this conference. Several articles have been written about this conference, and many of the online comments on these articles are negative and rather hilarious. I don't think the comment writers are understanding the point of the conference (IMHO). I think it's a great idea to use Jersey Shore to further analyze media studies, cultural studies, gender studies, and a plethora of other topics.

Here are a few of the negative comments:

"It just shows you that academe is going to hell in a hand basket." - lovecats
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/19/university-of-chicago-hos_n_864120.html

"And we wonder why education is suffering in America." - robjh1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/19/university-of-chicago-hos_n_864120.html

"Idiots studying idiots. Yup, that ought to tell us a lot." - Carl Caroli
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/19/university-of-chicago-hos_n_864120.html

"And people wonder why this nation is going to h in a hand basket. Guess I've been referring to it (for many years now) as Empty-V for a reason." - Robert Gilday
http://nyp.st/iT9Slw

I'll probably submit a proposal about using Jersey Shore in library instruction. We'll see...

Here is a link with more information on the conference-
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/11/jersey-shore-gets-its-own-academic-conference/

Here is a link to the conference Facebook event page-
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142357959168139

UPDATE (8/9):
Due to a scheduling conflict, I did not submit a proposal to this conference, and I will not be attending. I look forward to reading tweets from this conference. I'm planning to run the Monster Half Marathon on October 29th.

Larson's hesitation to trust online sources

I just finished In the Garden of Beasts, and Larson did not disappoint. I also loved both The Devil in the White City and Isaac's Storm. In The Garden of Beasts is extremely thorough and well done. I'm always impressed by his attention to detailed research.

In his sources and acknowledgments section, I smiled as a librarian. The first sentence (below) is great. Sometimes an online source really is the best option. As a librarian, I struggle with assignments that require students to use print resources for at least one of their sources. What if the best options are online? Exposure to print resources is great, but should we continue to demand print resources if the best possible sources are available online?

From page 372-
I tend to distrust online resources but located several that proved extremely helpful, including a digitized collection of letters between Roosevelt and Dodd, courtesy of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York, and the notebooks of Alexander Vassiliev, the ex-KGB agent turned scholar who graciously made them accessible to the public through the Web site of the Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Anyone who wishes can also digitally thumb through the so-called Venona Intercepts, communications between Moscow Center and KGB agents in America intercepted and decoded by American intelligence officials, including missives involving Martha Dodd and Alfred Stern. Once one of America's most closely guarded secrets, these materials now reside on the public Web site of the National Security Agency and reveal not only that America was rife with spies but that spying tended to be an excruciatingly mundane pursuit (Larson, 2011, p. 372).

I can't wait to explore some of these resources in the the Cold War International History Project and in the National Security Agency Web site.

Larson, E. (2011). In the garden of beasts: Love, terror, and an American family in Hitler's Berlin. New York: Crown.

MN Legislative Session and the Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment

This blog post is not exactly about a library issue. I rarely write about non-library topics. Although, I strongly believe that it meshes with critical information literacy. I'm currently reading this book, and I was inspired by this ACRL session on critical information literacy.

I am discouraged and saddened by the actions of the Minnesota house and senate. Learn more here.

There were some positive moments when Republicans chose to go against the grain of their party. I was particularly impressed by Republican Representative John Kriesel.

I encourage you to listen to his statements made on May 21st.

It prompted me to write him this letter. I will drop it in the mail tomorrow. Minnesotans, I encourage you to write your representatives.

Rep. John Kriesel,

Thank you for voting out of your party lines on the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Frankly, I’m absolutely sickened by what your colleagues have done to push this to the ballot. I worry about the shame felt by gay adolescents. I worry daily about suicide. The majority (straight voters) cannot make decisions about the rights of the minority. I ask that you keep pressuring your Republican colleagues about these social justice issues. Thank you for your gay rights support up until this point.

Thanks, Amy Springer

P.S. I enjoy you on KFAN.

C&RL News Article - Jersey Shore as a popular culture example in information literacy classes

I co-wrote an article with Kathryl Yelinek about using Jersey Shore as a theme in library instruction sessions.

Here it is! Enjoy!

HTML version:
Teaching with The Situation-
Jersey Shore as a popular culture example in information literacy classes

PDF version:
Teaching with The Situation-
Jersey Shore as a popular culture example in information literacy classes

Print access:
February 2011. College & Research Libraries News. vol. 72 no. 2 78-118.

Click here to read my past blog posts about Jersey Shore themed library instruction sessions.

Change Your Tune

Here are my favorite songs about change. I hope that you are inspired.

1. Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come


2. Bob Dylan's The Times They Are a-Changing.

Watch the full episode. See more In Performance at The White House.

3. David Bowie's Changes