BiblioTech Web

Would you voluntarily submit to being instructed about a topic where you already consider yourself to qualify as an expert in that subject matter? If you did – or were forced to – you would probably find it incredibly boring or tune it out all together. Well, a new report may help to explain why some students react this way to the academic library’s information literacy education program.

Check out Steven B.’s excellent article about the 2008 ECAR Study and its findings regarding student learning styles and proficiencies with technology. It’s a very good read.

Adding to the confusion regarding copyright, but certainly increasing accessibility for consumers, YouTube has partnered with MGM to provide full-length movies on their site. This will also include episodes of TV shows produced by MGM and will supplement a similar deal already announced last month with CBS.

We all know that the world of librarianship is changing. One of the most noticeable ways this is reflected is in our job titles.

This morning I found a website that lists actual job titles of librarians. These are titles that have been posted on job lists or submitted by employed librarians. The site is called Real Job Titles for Library and Information Science Professionals.

If your job is changing, you can use this site to get ideas for an appropriate job title. You can also check to see if your title is listed. If it’s not, there’s a link to submit that title via email to Michelle Mach, who has done such a wonderful job of assembling and organizing the list.

Barbara Fister recently posted an article on the ACRLog that was called Creepy Treehouse. It discusses an interesting concept that’s being used in the technological realms to describe a certain type of technology use/setting.

A creepy treehouse is a place built by scheming adults to lure in kids. Kids tend to sense there’s something creepy about that treehouse and avoid it. Hence, a new definition: “Any institutionally-created, operated, or controlled environment in which participants are lured in either by mimicking pre-existing open or naturally formed environments, or by force, through a system of punishments or rewards.”

It’s an interesting take on that vaguely unsettled response we sometimes get from students when we try to be too cool, try too hard to seem fun and playful, when we make familiar toys unpalatably “educational.” Setting up an outpost in an attractive playspace with an ulterior motive is just . . . creepy.

Please visit the ACRLog and read her full article. It’s quite insightful and applicable in today’s “Library 2.0″ environment.

At Butler University, we’re changing how we present Reference Services. For the last couple of years, we’ve had a “Reference Team” and shared responsibilities for the department and services. Professional librarians have staffed the desk from 10am to 10pm. As of this fall, we’ll be staffing the desk with a part-time librarian and a few student employees for the daytime hours, but keeping the librarians on during the evening hours. There will be an “on call” schedule where librarians make themselves available during their time, so if there is a question that the person staffing the desk cannot answer, they have a resource to check with.

This is probably not the final stage, but an experimentation in the works. I’ll try to write more about it as we implement this style of Reference Services, to discuss what’s working or not working.

The growth of the internet has really increased the popularity and effectiveness of April Fool’s Day. Now ALL KINDS of pranks can be played online in the guise of “new technologies” or “new services.” Even reputable media companies like CNN or the BBC are getting in on the act.

A big concern for librarians and academics early on was that the internet was going to lead to a loss of credibility. With the possibility of anyone posting anything online and making it sound authoritative, people were afraid that America (and the world) would continue “dumbing down.” Instead, librarians and teachers have stepped up and begun teaching Information Literacy and the need for evaluating information sources.

And creative individuals and companies have become better equipped to play April Fool’s Day jokes on the less-than-critically thinking public. Here are some links to sites that have “celebrated” April Fool’s Day this year. Most of these are pretty clever and funny.

• http://www.google.com/googlecalendar/new_wakeup.html
• http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/01/14FE-april-fool-google-facebook_1.html
• http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/01/14FE-april-fool-google-us-gov_1.html
• http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/personalsoundtrack.html?cpg=70H
• http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/superpiipii.html?cpg=70H
• http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/spazztroids.html?cpg=70H
• http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/titaniumlabyrinth.html?cpg=70H
• http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article983556.ece
• http://youtube.com/watch?v=YU_18r_WtkA (from the BBC)
• http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/5556
• http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0331biz-buzz0401.html
• http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/fearmongers_warmongers

(Okay, that last one was from The Onion, so it’s bound to be funny, even if it’s not April Fool’s Day.)

Feel free to share these with your friends. And even to disguise them like this: Google to Acquire U.S. Government