It's just easier when you get right to the point....

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How do Libraries/Librarians fill roles as New Producers, new Markets and New Tasetmakers?

"The Power of the PC means that the ranks of "producers" - individuals who can now do what just a few years ago only professionals could do - have swelled thousandfold." 

Librarians/Libraries as "New Producers": 

Libraries are often times community technology centers, helping others learn new technologies that enable them to be the "new producers". Libraries by educating patrons on how to use desktop publishing, video editing and audio editing tools are enabling the public to become thier own "creators".  In another aspect libraries and librarians provide the tools for "amateurs" to educate themselves on any number of topics and disciplines. Thus "creating" amateur experts.  Such as the case with Albert Jones and Robert McNaught, I'm sure they both did some amount of astronomical research at the Library and I'm almost doubly sure that a librarian helped them. 

Librarians/Libraries as "New Markets" and "New Tastemakers":  

On a side note, for my entire undergraduate studies, I only purchased previous additions. Already smart to the "only have to change 9 things to justify a new edition" rule. I never had any problems and was always able to figure out what page my teachers were on. I also swear by bookmooch and half.com for all my book purchasing. Yes, I still purchase books from Amazon and B&N, but thats only after I have been unable to find something comperable elsewhere. Libraries create new markets by offering books to patrons that they might not have purchased before in genres mabye they have been unwilling to pay-to-try in the past. If that experimental reader becomes a fan, they have just become particpants in a new market of genre types or "tastes". 

Librarians also through readers advisory can connect people with new authors they might not have tried before, again creating a new market and changing thier patrons "taste" in subjects. Libraries can also offer thier patrons choices of formats. For example NYPL offers e-books for download, thus opening themselves up to a wider set of content for thier patrons. On another level, more and more libraries are following the Amazon model and allowing patrons to post likes and dislikes, thus influencing any number of new readers. An much like the "LAUNCHcast" example, some libraries are even farming data from thier users and recommending titles. 

Libraries still have a ways to go, but if they start following more examples such as the ones mentioned in the chapters they will always provide useful services to thier patrons. 

Google Analytics.....

I could look at Google Analytics forever, I enjoy reading all the different bits of data on everything about my site. Here are some of the more interesting bits: 

General:

• 79 Visits
• 143 Page Views

Browsers:

• Firefox 52%
• IE 39%
• Chrome 3.85%
• Safari 3.85%

OS:

• Win 82%
• Mac 16%
• Linux 1.28%

Connection Speeds: 

• Cable 38%
• T1 23%
• DSL 19%
• Dialup 1.28% -ok, whoever in this class is still using dialup fess up! :) 

There is so much more interesting stuff, such as network locations (what ISPs people are using), countries (I've used this more with my personal site) and languages (I use this one lots with my soccer site). Overall, fun stuff and I can't wait to check in on it again. 

countdown....

countdown
Originally uploaded by ljascils598f08

This is the the official countdown....I can't wait till its over. It's been 15 years of non-stop school, part-time, full-time and next-to-no time. Three degrees later and I can't wait till December. I will soon add an MLIS to my AA (multimedia programming and design) and my BA (museum studies) degrees and it couldn't happen soon enough. 

I chose to attend Rutgers, even though I live in Brooklyn. It was cheaper than Pratt (which I can't really stand anyway) and closer than Queens College (by train NJ is closer than some parts of Queens!). Going from city universities (everything is vertical) to a NJ College town (frat houses and all) was an experience to remember. The commute has been super time consuming and draining. The courses, somewhat rewarding, it's been about half-and-half. However, where they have really shined is the instructors (not always the content-sadly enough). Ok, so I'm not the biggest fan of the current crop of LIS educational offerings. Out of all my courses my favorites have been Records Management with Steve Dalina (super relevant course, everyone should take it) and Interface Design with Jacek Gwizdka. Overall, I am happy to have met such a great crop of MLIS'ers, they are really the stars of the program. 

So, yes, I have been counting the days till its all over and I can reclaim my life, spend time with my family and read whatever I want. I will also enjoy having more time to focus on my career and spend more time on my professional development. It hasn't been the easiest, but it hasn't been the hardest either (classical studies and attempting to read Greek was harder!). 

my-rega

my-rega
Originally uploaded by ljascils598f08

One of my favorite pics from the flickr project.

Brown & Druguid Ch5 & Ch8

...thoughts on the conclusions in Brown & Druguid. Every time I pickup this book, I really want to put it back down again. The tone is always so negative, almost agressive, and I don't really care that Publishers Weekly thinks it's and "intellectual gem". However, when I dig into the chapter I tend to change my opinions. It's like they always seem to be having a rough start of it, but usually successful in making me think in the end. 

Ch5 - I get the battle between HR & IT. In libraries it's always been IT against another department or the library as a whole. Possibly cause half the time no-one knows what they are doing (B&D aren't the only ones that can get negative) and the other half thinks they know better, when everyone really knows nothing. I've never been one for epistemological debates, cause everything is all really lots of jargon and buzz words these days. However, their description of knowledge -vs- information is sufficient for the discussion and the personalization of knowledge is a given. Its no surprise that ELP failed at its attempts to harness the essence of what made Grimes so good. This happens all the time, again I'm going to reference advertising. Advertising companies buy each other up all the time only to find that what made that firm so special is out of reach. Same thing with Design agencies, its the culture of the people that make the place and make the work either substandard or great. Buy the agency, mix it in with another agency you change the dynamic, therefore changing the human factor that made it so great to begin with. So B&D really win me over in this section. The other way they really win me over (when they are not being so negative) is with their insights through their examples. They really stick with me and I've even used a few of them later in conversation with colleagues. In the "practical value of phone cords" - you really see evidence of the change of patterns in telecommunications and how customer service centers are run. You always seem to have to start at square 1 every time you get on a tech-support call, it doesn't seem to be a "learning" process anymore. 

Ch8 - Reading through this section makes me take a sigh of relief that, I'm almost outta here. Education seems to be getting messier and messier and I'm hoping to get as far away from the fallout as possible. In "solutions" again B&D go a bit negative, but they win me back with "resistance" - the idea that I could get a "turfgrass management certificate" woo hoo! In misrepresentation, I thought back to when I was looking to fill some part-time archivists slot at my old institution. I would immediately disregard certain applicants based on their education. It's horrible, I know, but every staffer that I ever had from that particular institution turned out to be a dud and I didn't want to get burned again. That particular institution had "lost my trust" when it came to finding and hiring qualified archivists. "A Distant Prospect" is incredibly relevant to the means of distribution of our Social-Software course. I often times work late at night and only on the weekends, my course "documents" are available 24/7, thus adding to my learning experience. However, I prefer the "old-system", but who has the time these days? Further on in the section when B&D state that "with a powerful website and some packaged content they can do away with everything but the students". More and more it seems as though students are just being "churned" out, to fill some unknown quota, without regard to the experience of learning itself. B&D are right when they say "catalyst for further conversation" as yet another reading of theirs causes me to think, rather than just shallowly read. 

RSS and Information Overload

RSS and Information Overload --- A means to an end, whew!

Honestly, without RSS I think I would be suffering from information overload. RSS readers allow me to get everything I need, from all the sites I normally read, in one centralized location. I could never keep track of all those as bookmarks and would never have the time to visit each site individually. I subscribe to over 140 different feeds, and RSS allows me to read all those feeds in one go. Although I do see another classmates point about narrowing my field of information vision to only what I want to read, and not experiencing other topics. That's what my undergrad was for, having to read lots of stuff, I really wasn't that interested in. So, I figure now I am on an information vacation. Getting to read what I want as soon enough someone will force me to read stuff I don't want to anyway. At least here I have a choice. The overload aspect can happen when you RSS something that is an aggregator such as Digg, which in my case ends up being duplicates of all the other Tech blogs I follow. So it's knowing what to RSS and what not to. You have to really implement good judgement. I try to only subscribe to feeds that relate somehow to my professional development and expose me to topics that I otherwise would not have the time to pursue. The ability to use RSS readers in order to organize your information intake is invaluable, thus taking away from information overload. You can read what you want, and however much of it you want. RSS by iself is only one half of the whole, it has to be combined with a reader to have its value truly seen.