Miles’s Library: Annotated

"Miles's Library: Annotated" appears as a chapter in the just published book Visionary: Leaders for Information compiled by Dr. Arthur Winzenried from the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, Australia. (I still think is my favorite town name!) You can order the book here. (They are still looking for a US distributor.)

Dr. Wizenrund has kindly allowed me to link to my chapter online. (And yes, you may have read a draft version on the Blue Skunk about a year or so ago.)

In story form, the chapter envisions what a school library might look like in 2025. Not much sex or violence, but still a thrilling read.

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Book description:

Visionary Leaders for Information looks in detail at the place of the librarian, particularly the teacher-librarian, as a pivotal part of their organisational. The immediate past and the sometimes confusing present challenge the need for an intermediary. Financial considerations have brought all non-teaching staff in schools into high relief and assumptions are often made on very little evidence.

Just a little of that situation is the fault of the teacher-librarian themselves, Where they immerse themselves in dealing with books and general resources, they provide the bean counters with ample excuse to save the cost of wages.

This new work from Winzenried highlights the need for teacher-librarians and information leaders generally to take a more active role in leading their organisations. Relationships with people, and especially a new vision of client needs that is not marked by antique and out-of-date rules is going to be vital for survival. Client satisfaction needs to be far more prominent in the thinking of information personnel. 

The new work looks at many key aspects of the organisation as well as highlighting aspects that must become more of a focus. Vision is needed. To highlight this, the book contains seven scenarios form experts in the field that take this vision firmly into the future. Doug Johnson and Sue Healy in particular offer rather detailed views of the future.

Visionary Leaders offers both a challenge to review current practices and a timely reminder of the value of the client. Serving their real needs rather than our conceptions of what they are will be an essential aspect of future information provision.

Orders from CIS at  http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/educat/sis/CIS/forms/order-form.pdf

You know you're a 21st century librarian when...

This came in the inbox this past week:

Doug,

I retired 2 years ago and enjoy this list [You Know You're a Librarian in 2005 when... ] every time I come across it. Have you updated it?

Thanks,

Deborah

Nope. But I'm going to start now! Just out of curiosity, how does five years fly by so quickly?

You know you are a 21st century librarian when…

You’ve probably seen some version of this popular list…

You know you’re living in 200x when…

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don’t have e-mail addresses…
6. (15 more…)

So how do you know you’re a 21st century librarian? When…

1. You have to remind kindergarteners to turn off their cell phones before the story starts.
2. You know what an IP number is but not an ISBN number.
3. You have a student who does a better job troubleshooting the circulation system than the district technician.
4. Your students think both The Princess and the Frog and Meet the Robinsons were written by Walt Disney.
5. You know more librarians in Texas than you do in your home state because of LM_Net, TL-Ning and  SecondLife.
6. The best way to remind a student about an overdue book through Facebook.
7. You don’t talk in the teachers lounge about a project because it is not tied directly to a state test.
8. When answering a reference question, you head to an Internet terminal.
9. You’ve started dressing like your avatar.
10. Kids look at you funny when you call it the “the card catalog.”
11. You have 5th grade girls who sport more tats and metal studs than a biker gang.
12. You have more polo shirts with computer logos than you do book logos - and 25% of your wardrobe comes from vendor booths at conferences.
13. Your students show you how to get around the district Internet filter so you can teach a lesson.
14. Your aid spends more time troubleshooting the network than reshelving books.
15. You never see anyone copy out of the print encyclopedia anymore.
16. Your index finger has a callous from tapping the SmartBoard.
17. You didn’t get your last grad class assignment turned in on time because the network was down and you haven't attended a F2F class in years.
18. You’ve Googled the new teachers in your building - and all the kids have Googled you.
19. You don’t remember the last time you’ve had to alphabetize something.
20. You have all your passwords and PIN numbers are on your PDA - and you can’t remember the password for your PDA!

Add your own!

Image source: mahalo.com

Happy 5th Birthday, Blue Skunk!

Had I know I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. - Yogi Berra

The first Blue Skunk blog post, "Getting Blogging Help" appeared on August 8, 2005. Since then:

There have been

• 1364 posts
• 6794 comments (not counting a bajillion spams)
• Unique site visitors range between 20-50K a month
• The site is the number one hit in Google for "Blue Skunk." (There is a strain of marijuana called Blue Skunk that seems to be gaining in the ranking, however.)
• The Blue Skunk logo gets changed twice a month thanks to the drawings by my son Brady. I am hoping to talk him into doing some new ones.
• The younger crowd at conferences identify me as "the Blue Skunk guy" not the author of book or articles
• I have retained by joy in writing in this format

I do all the wrong things with this blog. It has no clear focus - some days it's about libraries, some days about technology, other days about just stuff. It often becomes too personal, too political or too offensive. I've messed up, written critically about folks who read about themselves and were hurt my what I said. I'd like to think I would exercise more discipline in the blog were to I begin again. But I doubt it.

Since I often get asked this and it's hard to find on the site, I will again answer the question: Why the Blue Skunk Blog?:

Dear Readers,

I created this blog reluctantly. Blogging seems so trendy and as anyone who has seen my clothes and haircut knows, I am not a trendy person.

My current, established website seems to be useful to others. I post my "real" articles, columns and workshop materials there often. It has an effective search engine. People can find out how to contact me there. It's my professional face.

So the question remains, why in the devil do I need a blog? I’m somewhat reluctant to share my personal life since it has only two speeds - boring and embarrassing. Intellectually, it’s about all I can do to come up with enough cogent thoughts for published columns and articles. (I still don't understand the economic model of bloggers. Not that writing for professional publication pays much either, but at least it’s beer money.)

What I did not have is a convenient way for people to respond to my writing or presentations. This blog might afford such a means. It has also served as a sounding board for ideas I am currently thinking/writing about. You may have seen some Blue Skunk entries as parts of a published article or book.

As it's turned out, I've continued to write simply because it has been so dang much fun. I amuse myself on a fairly regular basis, and if when doing so, I amuse you as well, so much the better. I love the comments - both contrary and supportive. And I enjoy the simple freedom of having no editor other than one's conscience.

Be aware, of course, that the opinions expressed in this blog are mine alone and do not reflect those of my school district, my children, nor totally rational human beings.

Please continue to read and add your your thoughts to the Blue Skunk. But as always, keep them clean - my mother reads this. You never know - your mother might be reading it too.

All the very best,

Doug

Oh, Blue Skunk? As I understand it, early explorers attempted to give this part of Minnesota the Lakota name for “blue earth” - mah-kah-toe. Somehow this got changed to man-kay-toe, the Lakota word for “blue skunk.”

I like the image and the lesson about how easily things get lost in translation.