NET EFFECTS: HOW LIBRARIANS CAN MANAGE THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THE INTERNET

a presentation by Marylaine Block for the New Jersey Library Association Conference, April 21, 2004


NOTE: This presentation is based on my book of the same name, http://marylaine.com/book/.


RECLAIMING THE RIGHT TO SELECT

Build our Own Indexes and Selection Policies:

  • Librarians' Index to the Internet Selection Policy http://lii.org/search/file/pubcriteria

  • Selection Policy for Best Information on the Net http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/selpolicy.htm

  • Colorado Virtual Library for Teachers http://www.aclin.org/ -- click on Teachers. Sites are searchable not only by grade level but by state mandated curriculum guidelines.

    • Build Our Own Search Engine

  • Fiat Luxe Initiative http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA232358

    • Fight Back Against Unfair Publisher Tactics

  • Cornell's Sticker Shock pages http://www.englib.cornell.edu/exhibits/stickershock/

  • Use your economic power to negotiate for what you want.

    • Create Our Own Digital Library

  • JSTOR: the Scholarly Journal Archive http://www.jstor.org/

  • Making of America http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/

  • Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/Online-Exhibitions/



    • RESCUING THE BOOK

    Use Books as Springboards for Community Discussions

  • Center for the Book http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/

  • Seattle Reads http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=about_leaders_washingtoncenter_seattlereads

  • Waterboro Lib Blog: What Books Cities Are Reading Together http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blogs/blog381402.htm#onebook -- updated March, 2004.

    • Make It Easy for People To Get Exactly What They Want

  • Morton Grove Public Library: MatchBook http://www.webrary.org/rs/matchbookabout.html and their Fiction-L Booklists http://www.webrary.org/rs/FLbklistmenu.html

  • Hassle-Free Access: River Bend Library System's QuadLinC http://qlweb.rbls.lib.il.us/

  • MCPL Readers' Cafe http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/libraries/readerscafe/index.asp

  • You've Got Books To Go http://www.library.vcu.edu/cfapps/jbc/instruct/newbooks/pda/ -- temporarily unavailable, but try it in a few weeks.

  • Patron oriented Blogs, such as Waterboro Public Library Blog http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm

    • Select Books Young People and Guys Will Like

  • Boy Meets Book http://www.geocities.com/talestoldtall/BoyMeetsBook.html

  • Guys Read: a Literacy Initiative for Boys http://www.guysread.com/

  • Recommended Graphic Novels for Public Libraries http://my.voyager.net/~sraiteri/graphicnovels.htm



    • TRAINING OUR CHANGING USERS

  • Teach them indirectly. See Multnomah County's Homework Center Social Issues Page http://www.multcolib.org/homework/sochc.html

  • Enlist students to teach each other. See the Peer Information Counseling Program, University of Arizona http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/library/teams/ust/pichome.htm

  • Teach Them through Their Personal Interests -- see Multnomah County Library's Genealogy Tutorial http://www.multcolib.org/train/jumpstart/family/ and Tacoma Public Library's guide to Researching Your Older Tacoma Home http://www.tpl.lib.wa.us/v2/NWRoom/Build.htm

  • Challenge them to show off their web research and site construction skills. See Thinkquest http://thinkquest.org/


    IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, JOIN 'EM

    Key Idea Sources

  • The Shifted Librarian http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/

  • Wilton Library: Innovative Internet Applications in Libraries http://www.wiltonlibrary.org/innovate.html

    • Use their Tools of Choice

  • RSS for NonTechie Librarians http://www.llrx.com/features/rssforlibrarians.htm

  • Reference by Live Chat. See Bernie Sloan's Digital Reference Services Bibliography http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~b-sloan/digiref.html and his guide to Digital Reference Question Logs. http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~b-sloan/log.htm

  • The Handheld Librarian http://www.handheldlib.blogspot.com/

  • PDA Initiatives for Health Sciences Libraries http://educ.ahsl.arizona.edu/pda/lib.htm

  • Science and Engineering Resources for Your PDA http://www.library.ualberta.ca/pdazone/science/index.cfm

  • Wireless Librarian http://people.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/wireless/



    • DISAPPEARING DATA

    Web Site Maintenance -- Link Rot, Security, etc.

  • Karen G. Schneider on LII policy for link-checking, http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Web4Lib/archive/0204/0218.html

    • Preserving Access to Public Information

  • CyberCemetery http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/

  • GODORT Legislation Committee http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/GODORT/legislation/

  • ALA Washington Office http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/washingtonoffice.htm

    • Preserving Digital Documents

  • Council on Library and Information Resources http://www.clir.org/home.html

  • Digital Library Federation http://www.diglib.org/

  • LOCKSS http://lockss.stanford.edu



    • THE COST OF THE TECHNO-ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE

  • Source Systems and Software -- see oss4lib http://www.oss4lib.org/

  • Institutional Archives -- see College Archives Dig Deeper http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,54229,00.html; Caltech Collection ofDigital Archives http://library.caltech.edu/digital; DSpace http://web.mit.edu/dspace

  • Free Online Scholarship see Peter Suber's SPARCAccess Newsletter, http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/ and theArchives Initiative http://www.rchives.org/

  • Train your own techies -- see The Accidental Systems Librarian by Rachel Singer Gordon http://lisjobs.com/tasl/index.htm


    UP TO OUR EARS IN LAWYERS

    Prime reference: Mary Minow's Library Law web site http://www.librarylaw.com/

    Privacy

  • ALA Washington Office http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/washingtonoffice.htm

  • COPPA for Librarians http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/civilliberties/coppa/coppalibrarians.htm

  • the USA Patriot Act and Libraries http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/civilliberties/theusapatriotact/usapatriotact.htm

  • The USA Patriot Act and Patron Privacy on Library Internet Terminals http://www.llrx.com/features/usapatriotact.htm

    • Filtering

  • Office for Intellectual Freedom of the ALA http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=oif

  • Libraries & the Internet Toolkit http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/iftoolkits/litoolkit/librariesinternet.htm

  • Acceptable Use Policies -- see Yahooligans! Teachers Guide http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/tg/aup.html and WebJunction's Acceptable Use and Computer Policies http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=43

    • Copyright

  • Regional Campus Nomad's Distance Education Page -- Copyright Issues http://internet.ggu.edu/university_library/disted.html#e

  • Copyright in the Library http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/l-intro.htm



    • CROSSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

    Crossing It Through Standards Compliance

  • Accessible Webpage Design Resources http://library.uwsp.edu/aschmetz/Accessible/pub_resources.htm

  • Bobby http://cast.org/bobby/

  • HTML Writers Guild AWARE Center http://aware.hwg.org/

  • W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI

  • WebJunction - Accessibility http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=91
    Tips and tools to ensure accessible use of computers and Web site design for patrons and staff with disabilities.

  • Web Standards Project http://www.webstandards.org/
    "a grassroots coalition fighting for standards that ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all." Tutorials, reference charts, and templates help you learn to use the standards.

    • Outreach to Groups with Limited Access

  • Arlington Library New Americans Information Center http://www.co.arlington.va.us/lib/info/americans/magazines.htm#websites
  • Digital Divide Network http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/sections/index.cfm

  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Libraries http://www.gatesfoundation.org/libraries/default.htm

  • Digital Divide Solutions http://www.asu.edu/DigitalDivideSolutions/

  • Health Care Information for Seniors on the Net http://marylaine.com/seniors.html

  • Sitios hispanohablantes escogidos por bibliotecarios http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/library/spanish/bibredesp.htm
    Links to libraries' pages of links to web resources in Spanish. Critical annotations of the links are in English.

  • SOL [Spanish in our Libraries] http://www.sol-plus.net/index.htm




    • CONTINUOUS RETRAINING

  • Current Cites http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/monthly.html

  • The Information Professional's Guide To Career Development Online http://lisjobs.com/careerdev/index.htm

  • Blogs: See "Stop the World, I Want To Catch Up, Part 2" http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib148.html

  • Library Weblogs http://www.libdex.com/weblogs.html

  • Steven Bell's Keeping Up Page http://staff.philau.edu/bells/keepup


    ON NOT GETTING BLIND-SIDED BY THE NEXT TECHNOLOGY

  • Library Futures Quarterly http://libraryfutures.com/

  • The Defect in Realism http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib86.html -- in which I argue for thinking big and worrying later about how to fund your goals.


    THE CHAPTERS I DIDN'T THINK TO WRITE: THE LIBRARY AS PLACE

  • Boston Public Library Guides to the Library http://www.bpl.org/guides/index.htm

  • Cerritos Library http://library.ci.cerritos.ca.us/ -- web cam, library photos, of a library designed to be exciting public space

  • King County Library System http://www.kcls.org/ -- front page header has images of people enjoying the library.


    THE CHAPTERS I DIDN'T THINK TO WRITE: GETTING OUT OF A TRAP OF OUR OWN MAKING

  • In Need of a Better Business Model http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib207.html

  • Ideas Talking To Each Other http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib209.html

  • A Predictable Funding Disaster http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib149.html




    • Marylaine Block, formerly head of reference at St. Ambrose University where she created the site Best Information on the Net [http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/], is now a writer, speaker, and publisher of the e-zines ExLibris [http://marylaine.com/exlibris/] and Neat New Stuff I Found This Week on the Web [http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html].

    Marylaine Block: Writer, Internet Trainer Help

    marylaine.net v 4_3