TU Librarian in Training

Okay, what in the world should we discuss next?  There isn’t much going on here in the library this week with classes out and no students on campus.  I really don’t know what to do with my self when there isn’t anyone here to help!  So, what can I teach you guys next?

Let me see, we did Interlibrary Loans and some of Library 2.0, which I still haven’t had much time to look into myself.  How about our children’s collection, since all of the schools are about to be vacant for the holidays.  The Thomas University Library’s children’s collection consists of 1500 books.  829 of them are part of the Juvenile collection and the other 671 are in the Easy Readers.  The main highlights of these collections are the Newberry and Caldecott award winners.  We worked (and nagged) hard to complete our collection of these books in spring of 2007.  We are still missing one or two that are no longer in print, but hope to get our hand on them in the future.

The Caldecott Medal is awarded each year by the Association for Library Service to Children, to the “artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children” (ALA).  This award is named for Randolph Caldecott, a nineteenth-century English illustrator.  The winner of the 2007 Caldecott Medal was Flotsam, by David Wiesner.  This and other past Caldecott Medal winners are available for checkout in the Easy Readers section of the library.

The Newbery Medal is awarded each year by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the ALA, to the “author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” (ALA).  This award is named for John Newbery, an eighteenth-century British bookseller.  The winner of the 2007 Newbery Medal was The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron.  This and other past Newbery award winners are available for checkout in the Juvenile section of the library.

Other than these books, our collection is full of a great variety of interesting fiction and non-fiction books to share with little ones or to use in classes you teach.  These kids’ books are all circulating materials and all available for checkout!

Okay, so technology changes almost daily now, right?  Call phones get tiny and all of these technological gadgets that we have grown attached to are breeding and creating new species, such as phones with cameras and MP3 players.  GPS is literally everywhere (pun totally intended) and computers are smaller and more portable then ever before.  Not only are the devices changing, but the services that they help provide change too.

Going through some old floppies that I found a few weeks ago, I found a sign that someone had saved ten years ago that they had to print for our library.  It read: “Please limit internet use to one hour per person…this is only fair since we only have the internet on one computer.”  I laughed and laughed, and then I realized how cool this must have been ten years ago.  We actually let students in the library use the internet for a whole hour!  On a computer none-the-less!

I just wonder what those students would think of our little library now.  We have 22 computers, all networked and internet ready.  We have our own website.  We have an online catalog, we are doing interlibrary loans, and we use email for overdue notices and exciting library news.  We have come a long, long way, but are we using all of the technology available to libraries today?

We could do so much more.  We aren’t quite ready for all of it that is out there, but we are taking baby steps.  What I want to learn more about is this Library 2.0.

A new term enters the library scene: Library 2.0.  Needs and wants of library users are changing right along with all of these technology upgrades I mentioned above.  Libraries are attempting to meet these changing needs and wants using the technology of Web 2.0.  Library 2.0 borrows from Web 2.0’s technologies and philosophies to aid in changing the way that users access library services.  Library 2.0 is about innovation, people, and community building, made possible by social computing.  Using social computing encourages users to write, rate, and comment about or on anything in the library’s collection.  This is something that works a lot like customer ratings and comments on Amazon.com.  All of these things help make the library more user driven.

My Opinions (from my Foundations Class Final)

I think that library 2.0 consists of many valuable and practical ideas.  Libraries do need to advance along with technology and stay up-to-date in order to keep track of the current and upcoming generations of library users.  I feel that these advanced ideas do more to enhance traditional library services then to threaten them.  Traditional library services aren’t going any where yet.  The need for assistance due to computer illiteracy and the past generations of library users who are still attached to their visions of library services are still going to need the library as a place and the helpful librarians who keep these services alive.  However, the upcoming generations who are computer “spoiled” want and need access to information and materials in new formats.  Ken Chad states in his article, “Do Libraries Matter? The Rise of Library 2.0,” that “the concept of Library 2.0 builds upon all that has been best about libraries to date, harnesses technology potential and community capability in order to deliver valuable, valued and world-class services directly to those who stand to benefit from them, whether they (ever) physically enter a library building or not.”

            My library is taking baby steps toward becoming a 2.0 library.  We have been working just this week on adding library blogs for each individual staff member and talking about using a library-wide blog for news and events, much like the Odum Library page.  We are not much of a 2.0 library when it comes to any other aspect of the services that we provide.  We of course have an online catalog, and we have online forms for interlibrary loan and for other various services.  For our small library, I really do not know where we would start when it comes to further changes and enhancements.  We are moving toward an era of increased interest in our online learning programs and we use the Blackboard system for online course content delivery.  I would be most interested in establishing a stronger link between library services and the Blackboard courses.  I think that using the course interface protects library sources that are intended for use by enrolled students only from outside users, for things such as Galileo password delivery and perhaps access to some of our online journals. 

            I agree with Paul Miller’s view on the fact that the need for a physical library will continue to exist for some time.  In his article, “Library 2.0: The Challenge of Disruptive Innovation,” he states, “the idea of the library remains important to people” and “the continued role of the physical library space should not be underestimated.”  He also goes on to say that “information consumers, whether Internet users or not, make use of libraries for a wide range of purposes, from borrowing or otherwise interacting with books, journals, music or film, through to engaging with library staff and others in a safe and accessible social space.”  Our library is building and developing a larger presence on campus simply by providing better traditional services.  I can only imagine the online presence that we could create within our student user population if we move toward the capabilities and ideas of Library 2.0.

So, the more I learn on this topic, the more I will share and the more I will attempt to have implemented here in the Thomas University Library!

I usually explain Interlibrary Loans as “If I don’t have what you need, I can probably have it for you in a week.” Okay, so this does not explain the ins and outs and the laborious procedures that have to take place for me to get things for you. So, let’s get into a little bit more detail.

Wikipedia defines Interlibrary Loan as: a service whereby a user of one library can borrow books, videos, DVDs, sound recordings, microfilms, or receive photocopies of articles in magazines that are owned by another library. Sometimes for a small fee, or possibly for no cost, a library that has the item will loan or copy it, and the item is transported to the requestor’s library to be checked out or used only within the library. Policies vary about whether the user is charged for the request.

Generally, the term document delivery means more specifically the supply of journal articles and other copies on a personalized basis, with the library charging the user or his academic department for the fees that are often involved.

Without interlibrary loans, if a library patron found an item they wanted, he or she would have to travel to that library, and apply for a local library card if eligible, or present a reciprocal card in order to borrow the item. By taking advantage of interlibrary loan, in comparison, the library staff can search large numbers of libraries at once, transport the item from several miles to thousands of miles away, and allow a patron to borrow the item using his or her local library card.

To request Interlibrary Loan materials, visit the TU Library website at http://lib.thomasu.edu:8080/index.html. Click the Interlibrary Loan link or the Other Libraries link and you should get a form to fill out that goes directly to my email account. If the materials that you are requesting are available at the Thomas County Public Library, I will not request them for you. In this case it becomes your responsibility to go there to check the materials out (but I will let you know that you can find it there!).

At the Thomas University Library, I use a system called FirstSearch, which operates as a unit of OCLC’s WorldCat. When something is requested, I search through these systems to find a library that has the item you requested. I check first for libraries within our state and then within our region, and as far out as nation-wide when that is what it takes to get your materials. I try to find libraries that do not charge to share materials, because if they charge it becomes the responsibility of the patron to pay these fees. I like to keep things free!

Then, I pick five libraries to request the materials from. The request goes to the first library on the list first, and if they ship it, it doesn’t go to the other libraries. However, if they say no, it goes to the next library and so on, until someone says yes we have it and yes we will share it with you, and they send it out. Articles can be emailed, mailed, or faxed, and books ship usually UPS or USPS.

I will not get into the vast amount of paper work and the communications that must go on between to two libraries involved in an interlibrary loan (you have to communicate when the item shipped, when it arrived, when it sent to the patron, when it came back, when it shipped out again, and when it made it back home). It complicated, but it gets my patrons what they need, and that part, I love.

So welcome to the world of being able to access just about any information that you need. This is part of what I hope that our patrons (mostly students) will get out of this blog. I know that when you come into our library that it isn’t the most high tech academic library around, and our books are old, and our selection isn’t great, but you aren’t limited to that mentality of “what you see is what you get.” The amount of material that you can access through the internet, and more importantly-through your librarians, is practically limitless. Believe it or not, our little library has become what is known as a hybrid library. This means that we are part traditional library and part digital library. Both of these halves of this identity are vastly important. Being traditional means that we have materials that you can get your hands on immediately. We have back issues of the periodicals that we subscribe to, we have a reference collection (which is soon to be updated, we hope), and a decent collection of circulating materials. On the digital end, we provide you with access to close to 300 online databases, computers, online catalogs, and a library website (and now my blog!). So, don’t underestimate what you have here in this little library!

Public Services Librarians make the things that you use in your library work; like the website, the online catalog, the Interlibrary Loan Program (and even the way that you locate books on a self).  I take care of all of these things and am also happy to help with basic computer and printing issues and with locating things within the library.

If anyone has any suggestions or questions for me, please feel free to post them in a comment.  Please keep in mind that it is not within my power to do anything about the state of the computers in the library.  Things are in the works for meeting the technology needs of the students, but for the moment will we have to continue to make do with what we have.  Trust me, I know what it is like using the computers in those labs (they are the same ones that we used when I was a student here!).