librarygrist

Library Education in Maine

Thanks in large part to Maine's Tom Abbott, the University of Maine at Augusta has a unique role in both distance and library education. According to his online resume, Thomas E. Abbott, Ph.D., has been: "Project Administrator and primary author of a new Associate Degree Program in Library and Information Services, first UMA degree program designed specifically for web-based delivery worldwide (for library support staff).  Coordinated satellite delivery of Masters in Library and Information Science degree from University of South Carolina to Maine. Originally responsible for developing the concept, program and staff who manage statewide Off-Campus Library Services for students and faculty in the Educational Network of Maine – Now part of UMS."

www.uma.edu/assets/docs/libraries/tabbott_resume.doc

Tom shares that the undergraduate offerings in library science at UMA were consumer-driven, having had their origins in requests by the library community for continuing education and formal certification.  A non-accredited MLS program at the University of Maine had shut down in the 1980s, and while the MLS was technically the minimum requirement for a position as a librarian, the reality in Maine was a great many people working in various kinds of libraries needing some kind of preparation or certification with "classifications all over the map."  Tom and his associates subsequently proceeded through the bureaucratically strenuous process of establishing the program and its curriculum at UMA.  Because the program was founded on the distance education model, it provided support for the emergence of a strong role for UMA as an online program service center for the University. Following a natural evolution from a correspondence course via tapes and early email to ITV and Blackboard, the undergraduate programs in library science at UMA now serve more than 100 students enrolled from 25 states and internationally, graduating about 10 students per year.  Beloved Maine library leader Walt Taranko was another key collaborator of Tom's, working to create opportunities for a distance MLIS for Mainers through the University of South Carolina.

Directors' Forum @ Colby '12

Keynote speaker John Szabo--new director of public libraries in Los Angeles--spoke on new and familiar themes. His review of new media and "maker spaces" in libraries puts Quimby Library - Unity College in a good light with our new Media/GIS and Library Lab rooms, although our users of these spaces are only our academic people (Quimby provides limited, mostly pro bono services to members of several tiny local communities). He mentioned various ways in which public libraries may bridge social and literacy services, and talked about the challenges of training staff in new digital and other literacies, mentioning familiar challenges in terms of continually trying to keep up with new content formats and services and thereby risking being spread too thin. He has a unique new challenge: kids who can't get to the library because of gang territorial boundaries. Szabo confirmed that he, too, finds himself at the exploratory stage of ebook and ereader implementation.

One of a panel, longtime Maine librarian/entrepeneur John Clark (who has retired to new jobs at least three times that I can think of) asserted that the future is open source, audiocassettes are dead, but VHS is still alive (even if we're not buying them these days). He's a big proponent of selling unneeded books on Amazon Marketplace (a revenue-generator if you've time and a flexible accounting structure). He also champions library as space for making needed social contacts (especially for the elderly) and the importance of supporting good young adult services (including computers). It was interesting to hear that the Bangor Public Schools have joined the Evergreen open-source consortium for which the ever-resourceful and creative Mr. Clark can no doubt take much credit.

Afternoon session on evolving library spaces: Katherine Blackburn of Shepley Bulfinch talked about helping libraries to think about how to integrate technology into spaces that weren't originally designed for it. "Fusion libraries": combining diverse uses into one space (e.g. libraries sharing with chapels or residence halls).  Examples: Flexibility at Woodruff Library Atlanta University Center--a zoned space that converts to a student  center after hours; a bike corral in Austin's New Central Library; "the borderless library" at Marquette University Library, with integration between the library and the faculty workspaces; Brody Learning Commons at Johns Hopkins University, with one large shared screen in group workspaces; and an interactive screen; writable wall surfaces at Duke University; multi-use spaces with furniture that's light enough to move around; and also at Johns Hopkins a recognition that quiet reading rooms are valued in their learning commons; and, finally, what a difference improved lighting can make.

Calvin Wright of Spatial Discipline talked about Hunter College in New York City, which was severely space-limited, land-locked, and financially challenged, so effective space management is especially vital, and provides opportunity to enhance the institution's sense of community, integrate more academic functions into library spaces, address 1980s inefficiencies, and develop solutions effective for the college's unusual architecture, with its various walkways between buildings and multi-level entrances.  Off-site storage and a learning commons with a combined reference/IT/tutoring desk are part of the plan, as are library IT service spaces for help with video editing and new media.

NELA IFC News at Sturbridge, 2012

The New England Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee is delighted to welcome guest speaker Kent Oliver to the 2012 New England Library Association Conference. 

Kent's recent experiences as president of the Freedom to Read Foundation and Chair of the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee have provided him with great insights and information to share with colleagues about the state of the First Amendment in the nation, especially as it impacts libraries.  Kent is currently director at Nashville Public Library.

I'm so grateful to Marija Sanderling, who has co-chaired the IFC with me in recent years, attending meetings, filing reports, and reaching out to members.  Marija and I are delighted to welcome new NELA IFC Chair Trina Magi, a nationally known and recognized expert on privacy fresh off the ALA-IFC who will continue to accomplish important things for intellectual freedom in her new role.

While preparing to present my own program, "Library Bill of Rights 2012,"  it's been great to review American Library Association intellectual freedom history and gain a new appreciation for the Intellectual Freedom Manual, now in its 8th edition.

While its companion web site provides access to basic documents, the manual is a real treasure trove of information that's truly worth owning for any librarian or information professional.  Available in both digital and print formats, its wealth of background information, tips and tools make it a great read as well as a useful "manual."

As I improve my presentation, I'll post notes, reflections, and updates.

Download Library Bill of Rights 2012 pdf

 

 

Small Academic Libraries & Difficult Choices

This morning, I've appreciated reading about SUNY Potsdam library director Jenica P. Rogers' experiences with ACS publications in the Chronicle.  Ms. Rogers has eloquently and in some detail described the difficult position for small college libraries providing science content.  As prices skyrocket (sometimes 100% or more in a breathtakingly short period of time) and budgets become ever more challenged, the situation becomes urgent.

We at Unity have had similar difficult choices to make.  In an environment where faculty and students increasingly demand online full-text, online content providers and journal publishers offer severely regressive terms.  The token system is perhaps most inequitable, because in order to get a discount, you must buy in large quantities, and a very small institution cannot do that.  Next is the fixed per-title price, which means that a college of 550 students pays the same $4,000 for a journal as a university of 55,000.  While fairer pricing can often be negotiated for database bundles, it is a Faustian choice, because there is no guarantee that publishers will continue to participate.  We have had more than one situation where we cancelled a subscription for a journal that was included in a database, only to see it disappear shortly thereafter.

Last year, we cancelled four science titles with one publisher that represented almost one-quarter of our entire annual periodicals budget in order to subscribe to a different publisher's database of more than 700 titles.  Had it been possible for us to cancel the individual subscriptions with the database provider we might have gotten an even better rate, but they insisted that we continue with our current individual subscriptions--each of which cost more than $1,000--in order to sign up for the database.

Even as I continue to sharpen my street-market-vendor skills in this complex and difficult marketplace, I'll continue to hope that we can somehow re-establish good communication and mutually beneficial relationships with content providers.

The Future of Libraries: Panel at BFL

On Monday, July 16, a panel of library leaders gathered at the Belfast Free Library to discuss the future of libraries.  Maine State Librarian Linda Lord (center); , Director of Maine InfoNet James Jackson Sanborn (left); and Colby College Director of Libraries Clem Guthro were introduced by host and Belfast Free Library Director Steve Norman.

Linda Lord: Programming is key to 21st Century libraries. Services to young pre-school children, and to the elderly; access to sophisticated multimedia equipment for production--libraries as creation centers.

James Jackson Sanborn: Libraries' business model has for decades been based on the "Right of first sale" that applied to paper books--ebooks are not truly "owned" in the same sense, so that is changing.  Prediction: "The Friends of the Library Book Sale" is a thing of the past.

Clem Guthro: Academic libraries will see increasing importance in special collections.  The big challenges for academic libraries--huge changes going on in the publishing industry.  University presses are important, and there are predictions that they'll be going out of business because of the market.  The rise of institutions like Amazon and self-publishing are going to have a huge impact.  Academic libraries' collections are increasingly global, not just U.S. in focus, and students are happy with finding things in Google.  Two projects of note: Europeana and the Digital Public Library.  Europeana has about 20 million digitized books (public domain).  Digital Public Library is coming out of Harvard, and is trying to do the same thing.  The goal is to provide universal access to all, not just the privileged.  There is also a rise in citizen science.  Another challenge will be to collect the uncollectable.  There has always been an effort in libraries to collect ephemera--digital material not easy to collect or pass along, but we need to find a way.  There will be a collapse of print collections in that more libraries will buy collaboratively. 

Linda Lord: Around 1.5 million items are circulating in Maine InfoNet (Karl Beiser, former Maine InfoNet director, shared that number was 40,000 12 years ago).

Library/media/copyright professional Jim Campbell suggested that while libraries have traditionally found out what nobody else is doing and then done it, just as with non-profits, that means that someone else will eventually decide to really focus on it and do it well.  Therefore, simply reacting to opportunity is not a reliable way to ensure longevity.

How can we save digital information for prosperity?  Libraries need to take the initiative here, and we need a collaborative effort to create the technology infrastructure that will be needed for this. 

How are libraries dealing with ebooks? James described how some publishers are refusing to sell books with library digital rights.  Overdrive is the company providing the platform in Maine for library ebooks in the InfoNet Download Library.  It is a per-copy per-user system, and since there are limited resources, it isn't possible to purchase enough copies to immediately satisfy demand for popular titles.  We are spending about $100,000 per year on the service of about 9,000 ebooks.  Download library growth--9,000 checkouts last April 19,000 this April: almost doubled!  There's more "friction" (steps or difficulty) to get/use a library book, but once it becomes a routine, it's easy.  More thoughts: there are efforts underway to see if it could be made possible for a patron to buy an ebook "for" the library. Linda encouraged people to advocate for good library ebook models.  Clem noted that the New York Public Library started an "adopt-a-book" program to encourage donations; libraries have always had innovation and flexibility in their favor!