View from the Hill

What's your favourite flavour of ice cream? Mine's Gooey Decimal System.

The Guardian newspaper has reported that there is a facebook petition going around asking Ben & Jerry's to make a library themed series of ice creams.  Flavours suggested so far include Sh-sh-sh-sherbet and Li-Berry Pie.  What would your library themed ice cream be and what flavours would you have in it?

- Katharine Liu

An Archiving Answer?

I noticed this article on the BBC website recently about a new and reliable way to back up and archive digital material.  A team of researchers in Japan are confident that they have come up with a breakthrough piece of archiving technology which will still be readable well into the next Millennium.  Basically they are semiconductor memory chips made from silicon.

Now that is future proofing for you.

- Katharine Liu

Isn't it on my CV? ... Oh

When writing CVs, we know there is a fine line between writing a personal memoir and presenting a snapshot of your experience that is so short it doesn't give much more information than may be found on your telephone voice mail.  The difficulty is always knowing what to include and what not to include.

We are seeing a lot of CVs at present from people with varied and interesting skills gained across the information sector, but we are always wary of the fact that a CV may not be giving an employer the full impression of someones relevant experience.

How easy it is to claim familiarity with a 'range of legal databases' but without showing Westlaw, Lawtel, Lexis, and the rest of the usual suspects on your CV it is possible that the lack of detail in this bland statement may not get you through the door.

The importance of including the details of your experience is never more true than when you have gained some really valuable niche skills which employers find difficult to source and are therefore very saleable commodities.  For instance, at the moment I am searching for someone with experience of using a CMS called 'RightNow' which was a new one to me and is proving rather scarce.

To paraphrase AJ Kiesling, where have all the RightNow-CMS-Content-Editors gone?

- Jeremy Clarke

Liberian Girl

Michael Jackon's sad, early demise this morning reminded me of the song Liberian Girl.  Many years ago in another life I met the Liberian President, also sadly no longer with us.

Today's news caused me to reflect how many times in my career I have been asked to find a Liberian.  Yes I knew they wanted a librarian, but it was so tempting to say I would get back once I had spoken to the Liberian President.  But then I would think - who I am to talk.  I often mention the Boys' Brigrade.  Not for nothing are there ontologists working on natural language searching projects.  That has to include natural language mistakes as well.

Yes, it's Friday, and the weather is warm and muggy.   Off now to find that ontologist.  I'll leave the Liberians til Monday. - Sue Hill

Learning or working - similar issues affect us

I have just been reading with interest a new JISC report - ostensibly relating to HE information matters http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/heweb2.aspx but in fact it reflects much that I encounter managing a fully diverse workforce.

I like to consider myself reasonably technically aware and competent even though the hair is grey (underneath the artifice) and my pensionable age is drawing ever nearer.  It is still a jolt to realise that across each decade of age the interest in, ability with and capability to learn and use all aspects of IT, Web 2.0 technologies included, varies widely.  The digital divide is not vastly different in those in their twenties and those in the forties. We are not yet hiring 11-15 year olds so I await their arrival with interest.

Something that struck me in a planning meeting with a public libraries client today is that access to technology varies widely from street to street, never mind social demographics.  This can result in the need for one public library branch in an authority to need to focus all their resources on computing technology for those nearby who do not have the wherewithall to have it at home and yet just across the borough the need may be for books and meeting spaces.   We need to take the findings of this report out beyond education and take note for our every day lives. 

Among the key findings nestles a statement that says 'Face to face contact with (academic) staff matters to students.'  This is good to hear, as although we are all increasingly being warned we will all work from home, there is no doubt that our best and most productive business relationships are formed through face to face contact.  This carries through to CPD and continued learning in the work place as well. - Sue Hill

#clex09

CILIP - All of a Twitter?

Very interesting post from Phil Bradley on CILIP's response to discussion about whether CILIP has (or should have) any "official" presence on Twitter or other micro-blogging sites.

Bob McKee had said "The simple answer, of course, is no. In terms of "official" activity, cyber life is just like real like - if it happens in a CILIP-sanctioned space, it's official; if it happens down the pub or in someone else's space, it isn't."

Phil picks this apart thoughtfully and comprehensively. If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend reading his post. It raises important questions not only about the role of our professional body but also about inclusion, communication and the importance of adapting to new technologies.

Phil's follow up post on responses he received is also interesting.

Local news goes viral

Interesting post from David Lee King yesterday about the power of social media in making local news global. King works at Topeka & Shawnee County Library which recently took the controversial decision to restrict access to four books in their collection. King decided to tweet the board meeting and was surprised to find his feed sparked interest and comments from not only local Topekans but people from around the world.

His conclusion? That Twitter works great as a real-time information spreader and conversation starter. That people are interested even in seemingly local stuff. That … yes … even your small library board meeting is no longer private.

TED Archive

This may be old news to a lot of you but I was recently pointed in the direction of TED.  TED stands for Technology, Entertainment & Design and they are a series of talks by a series of "facinating thinkers and doers".  Over 200 of previos talks have been archived and are available to view online.  One that may be of particualr interest is a talk by Brewster Kahle, who has some very interesting things to say about archiving the web.

Check it out. 

A limbo of libraries

Two subjects that are very important to me joined forces yet again today - no, not shoes and champagne, but Photography and Libraries. I logged on to Flickr to see what people have been saying about my photos (they liked them, you'll be pleased to know!) and was presented with a Ralph Waldo Emerson quotation about libraries and an intriguing link. I followed it. It introduced me to the New York Public Library and a fascinating array of photographs. The Library is hoping that anyone and everyone will be help to tag the photos and that this will provoke activity and debate in this area of Flickr - The Commons. I've mentioned this initiative before and had hoped to see some more UK libraries joining in. Our NZ contingent here will be pleased to see The National Library of New Zealand is part of the Flickr Family.

Have you joined the Flickr Family yet?

Why are law firms reluctant to adopt web 2.0 technologies?

Interesting post from the Running Librarian James Mullan on Web 2.0 Resistance in Law Firms. The Am Law Tech 2008 survey shows that relatively few law firms have deployed Web 2.0 tools and James's post considers the reasons why this might be. The comments particularly suggest that this is due to cultural barriers within law firms rather than problems with the technologies themselves...