Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

I don’t know many people that would say ‘not me’ to that question. The harder question is what are you willing to do to get it? This past week I took a step outside my regular routine and explored my options. Specifically, I had an ‘audition’ to be on the day-time TV game show with the above name.

It was a very simple process and anyone who feels they know a decent amount of trivia ought to give it a try. I simply went online and visited the Millionaire web site, filed out a quick form, and selected my preferred days to attend an audition. The next day I was notified by email when my scheduled appointment would be and where I should go.

On the day of the audition I went to ABC’s studio on 66th street and checked in with the cheerful intern waiting out front to greet people. After standing in line for a short while we were let into what looked like a cafeteria, handed a closed envelope containing a test, and directed to take a seat along with all the other participants in the room. Then, as a group, we were given 10 minutes to answer 30 multiple choice questions. Once the time had passed tests were collected and taken to be corrected. Those who ‘passed’ would be asked to stay for an interview. Those who did not would be asked to leave.

While waiting for our tests to be corrected a number of people asked questions about how the process worked of the intern overseeing the testing. Listening to her cheerful response to every questions, a ubiquitous “that information is on the web site”, I started thinking about how we have all become so reliant on the internet. Not just using it for our own information needs but also using it as a tool to provide information to our patrons.

As I watched the eye rolling around me at the lack of knowledge displayed by using this generic answer I wondered if I rely too much on the “check web site” answer. Have I allowed myself to take a knowledge short cut because the information is easy to access online? Is my staff undertrained because the information is available online? The short answer to that is no simply because I have a very knowledgeable staff. But there is a small piece of me who sees this as a cautionary tale about how we provide information to patrons and making sure we don’t assume that because information is available online people don’t still want good answers provided in person by well trained staff.

We are Library Professionals: we know stuff. Let’s remember to share what we know in all the ways that patrons want to receive the information.

The critical question for this blog though is am I going to be on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? For now I will say maybe… someday…

It is easy enough to try out if you are interested. All the information about how is available online at:
http://www.dadt.com/millionaire/

Renovation

This interesting video, an interview with Bobst renovation architect Jake Alspector, came up on my Google alert this morning. It's an interesting commentary on the previous and current library renovations. Worth watching when you have a spare 17 minutes.

Longevity

The Division of Libraries recently honored 32 of our colleagues who are celebrating milestone years of service at NYU. Five of those honored hail from Access Services, including Allan Frank, Ted Lawton, Liudmilla Hirsch, Sharon Thomas and Lakisha Woodford. First off, I would like to congratulate and thank our colleagues: Allan and Ted for 40 years of service, Liudmilla for 35 years of service, Sharon for 15 years of service and Lakisha for 10 years of service. That's 140 plus years of library experience among only 6 colleagues!

Access Services is such a large department that every

year we honor people for longer service milestones. This makes me think of the years of service put in by those who weren't honored

this year simply because their years of service don't add up to a nice round number. We have 41 regular employees in our department and 27 of them were hired before 2000. More of us have been honored at longer service awards than have not. Together we have over 650 years of experience at NYU!

While Allan, Ted, Liudmilla, Sharon and Lakisha deserve their special recognition this year, we all deserve recognition for our dedication to NYU and the Division of Libraries. Thanks to everyone for their dedication and hard work.

Illiteracy In the Digital Age

While on my way to work reading the newspaper I came across a word I could not read. Not because it was some obscure word that I had never seen before, but something that was written in a text messaging style. I could not finish reading the article as it contained many such acronyms. I started into my mental rant about how this younger generation can’t read, write, or use proper English, when I suddenly had an epiphany. The “they” that could not read, write or spell included me! You may be familiar with the phrase “Johnny can’t read” and now neither can Pat. They were illiterate in my eyes, but on the other side of the coin so was I. I no longer had the vocabulary necessary to read what had been written. OMG! I was illiterate also.

SMS (Short Messaging Service) language also referred to as “text language” or “textese,” has crept its way into a lot of what we read today. SMS is using acronyms, abbreviations, and symbols to create short and to the point messages. The speed of the evolution of language in the digital age is mind boggling. As more of this kind of writing style is entering its way into traditional communications formats, and more digital formats - i.e. WWW, YouTube, wikis, blogs, IM, gain prominence, the landscape is changing. The use of “textese” begs many larger questions. What does all of this mean to us as a society, and to us as individuals? How do we as individuals keep up with the changes? Have traditional classrooms been replaced by the WWW? Will print-based libraries still exist moving forward? Will we continue to learn to read and write on the basis of traditional rules of grammar? Will traditional rules of grammar have to change? These questions and more are being grappled with by many on different fronts.

As we communicate, we have to be aware that there is still a segment of the population that is lagging behind in acquiring these new skills and vocabulary. As always, care must be taken in the use of jargon and acronyms. As a reader, I must make a commitment to build my vocabulary and acquire the tools needed to be an effective writer and reader in the digital arena. Here are some of the tools I found to help me, and you, get started joining the word evolution:

• Netlingo http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php
• Techdictanary.com http://www.techdictionary.com/chat_cont1.html
• Digital landing http://blogs.digitallanding.com/
• Text messaging Dictionary http://tinyurl.com/2dsleu4
  
  

Bobst, move to the head of the class!

The Access Services Advisory Council was fortunate enough to be able to attend Metro's 13th Annual Library Assistant's Day. The Conference was held at the beautiful Flushing Branch of Queen's Library. Despite appearances it is not a complex, mall or an art museum. It is a beautiful four story mecca for book enthusiasts. Not to mention the impressive international section with books in Bengali, Chinese, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish and Urdu. Whew!

The event opened with an inspiring call to action from speaker and Deputy Chief Librarian at the Bronx, Community College, LaRoi Lawton. His excitement, drive and personal story of his rise to the top from shelving books at the local library to a tenured professor and librarian at BCC, alone was worth the long subway ride.

It was encouraging to meet individuals that do much of the same kinds of work that we as staff members do everyday. It was also interesting to note just how far ahead we are and how much we do here at Bobst. For example, one presenter kindly pointed out how a very innovative University in California was allowing students to text in their questions to the librarians. It was exhilarating to be able to speak out and say that we do that as well and yes I think we did hear a few "awes."

Software developers can bring librarians to tears (of joy)!

I recently attended the 2010 ILLiad International Conference in Virginia Beach. There were ILL people a-plenty, and it felt good to talk about ILL-specific things with a crowd who could relate. Kind of made me feel like I'm not alone in my struggles to always improve our ILL functionality and services.

The conference was hosted by Atlas Systems, the company that makes our ILL software, ILLiad, in partnership with OCLC, the library cooperative that provides WorldCat (the largest online library catlog). At the conference, there were a host of sessions to attend. I attended several session on ILLiad version 8, the next update of our software. We are planning an upgrade in the summer and I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Of course there was a bit of mingling, networking, and socializing too. This is where most of the communication happens, where the exchange of ideas can resonate down a big hotel corridor or around a lunch table and where people's passion and commitment to their work really shine. At this year's conference, the buzz was particularly acute due to one thing: ILLiad 8.

During the last day of the conference, we all gathered in a large room to hear an update from Atlas Systems. This is where they share their latest attempts to assuage our complaints about ILLiad functionality. This year, though, they took it to the next level: not only did they listen and fix things, but they actually made a whole new ILLiad that surpassed every ILL librarian's wildest dreams.

The progress and innovation that Atlas has demonstrated in creating a functional piece of library software gives me hope for the future as librarians and software developers continue to collaborate on creating and changing systems to meet our needs.

It was also encouraging to see a number of systems administrators, library web developers, and other Systems/Client Services-type people from other libraries at the ILLiad Conference. They have a different level of engagement with ILLiad, but it is nonetheless valuable (and necessary). Their involvement with the conference (leading sessions, talking with librarians) will aid collaboration within libraries themselves.

In all, it was a breath of fresh air to attend the conference and bring the good news back to Bobst Library, especially after The Great Aleph Crisis of 2009.

The Interlibrary Loan Department will be upgrading to ILLiad Version 8 this summer. Once we're up and running, we will be glad to share with everyone the power and potential it has for helping Access Services as a whole achieve its service goals.

Fill the room with your intelligence!

The IVY Plus Access Services Conference at Harvard this year featured a Keynote speech by John Palfrey (not pictured), Vice Dean for the Harvard Law Library. His speech focused on the Law Library’s recent radical organizational re-design. These changes were deemed necessary because departments were not communicating well between each other, staff were afraid or discouraged to offer opinions, information did not flow well from the top down, people were unsure of who was responsible for what areas and duties, and patrons were often shuffled from one place to another.

Vice Dean Palfrey was committed to transparency in the re-organization process, and he commissioned a group that included librarians, administrators, and union staff to re-imagine the organizational chart of the library personnel. He asked that the re-organization be based on functionality of jobs, not merely titles and descriptions, and that the new jobs become more permeable.

This diverse group:
· Created an organizational chart in which everyone was responsible to everyone else, not just managers.
· Devised a plan (based on the Google method) by which staff would spend 80% of their week on their jobs, and 20% on a personal or pet project within the library. They did not want to presume that staff could do, or were interested in doing, just one job.
· Determined that the library needed a Project Manager position, rather than forcing the various Department Managers to be the default project planners and developers. They believed that a library-wide Project Manager allowed for multiple departments and personnel to be involved in the projects that directly affect them.
· Concluded that patrons should be able to stop at just one location, and have any question or problem resolved behind the scenes, without the patron being shuttled about the library.

Once this committee had determined its re-organization plan, it was brought back to the entire library staff for feedback; and they adjusted it based on their suggestions.

The re-organization began by asking people what jobs they wanted, and to write their own job descriptions. Vice Dean Palfrey concludes that about 90% of the personnel were able to get the jobs they asked for. There was a month and half transition period where people worked their old job, while learning their new one. After six months, they had a review period where they fixed any problems with their original re-organization and job descriptions.

The cultural change of this re-organization has demonstrated itself in that people are now more engaged in their jobs, their ideas are not stifled, and they communicate better as a group to resolve patron and library issues. Vice Dean Palfrey admits that this is still a Work in Progress, and not everyone is comfortable with the changes, but he is committed to finding progressive solutions that will satisfy patrons and personnel equally.