Learning at the Library » Library Science

ALA’s frequently challenged books of the 21st century

John Sarubbi — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:08:20 +0000

Each year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list of the top ten most frequently challenged books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools. The ALA condemns censorship and works to ensure free access to information.

A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. The number of challenges reflects only incidents reported. It is estimated that for every reported challenge, four or five remain unreported. As such, the findings are not comprehensive.

2012

Out of 464 challenges as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom

Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey.
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.
Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher.
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group

Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit

Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence

The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence

What was so fascinating about the top ten books listed are the reasons why these books are being challenged. Consider that the most common challenges are due to “offensive language”, which appears six times and “sexually explicit” content which appears seven times. “Homosexuality”, “Violence” and “Religious Viewpoint” all tied appearing twice. Although the data is not exhaustive, it is interesting to ponder the reasons books are being challenged and how that might intersect with current trending news stories. Consider more recent news stories about gay marriage, violence and religious viewpoint, for example. Then consider popular television shows, beauty and fashion advertisements and popular music that promote either offensive language and sexual explicitness or both. In a more general sense, it is equally interesting that some categories appear at all but there they are.

Below are some graphs courtesy of the ALA website:

Do you agree or disagree that some books should be censored or banned in schools because of the reasons listed? Would you add categories or take some away? What are your thoughts?

Source

The Digital Public Library of America Launches

Leanora Lange — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:49:10 +0000

(Covers to) A guide to New York City issued by New York Central Lines. (on verso) Rand McNally & Co., New York. (with map). Held by the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) officially launched yesterday. Serving as a central portal for digital resources, the DPLA aims to bring openly available digital materials from American libraries, archives, and museums to anyone with an internet connection.

Practically all formats of resources discoverable through the DPLA, including manuscripts, photographs, 3D objects, audio, video, and books. As a whole, the site offers easy access to rich resources that may otherwise be difficult to discover.

These items can be searched via a single-search, and results can be viewed not only as a list of relevant items, but also geographically and chronologically. See for example the items on the Brooklyn Bridge according to relevance, geography, and date. As you would expect, most of the items on the Brooklyn Bridge come from New York, but the geography of items on, say, ice cream are far more disperse, covering creameries in Minnesota to a photograph of three young Japanese women eating ice cream cones outside of a California relocation center circa 1941-1943.

A few other fun objects include Abraham Lincoln’s watch, The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799; prepared under the direction of the United States George Washington Bicentennial Commission and published by authority of Congress, v. 5 (provided by the Internet Archive), and the diverse result list for searching Harlem, including census records, homecoming programs, and a poster from the Dance Theater of Harlem.

A collaborative initiative, the DPLA was built using the expertise of research librarians, technology specialists, digital humanists, legal advisers, and educators from across the country.

The idea to build a central portal for digital resources reaches back to the 1990s. The push to get DPLA off the ground started in 2010 at a meeting held at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Admirable information professionals that they are, those who planned the DPLA collected their workshop and meeting notes and make these publicly available via the DPLA Historical Materials.

The DPLA can be seen in the larger context of other initiatives that bring together digital objects and metadata on cultural history, such as Europeana, which brings together items from across the European continent (and is connected to DPLA as well!), and the ongoing work at the Library of Congress to provide access to their digital materials via their many digital collections.

For more coverage of DPLA, check out the message written by Executive Director Dan Cohen for the launch as well as coverage by Library Journal.

The Reference Interview: Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers

John Sarubbi — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 01:46:06 +0000

In my current role as a Library Services Associate, I wished to discuss the Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Information Services Providers by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). In reference services, the success of the transaction is measured not only by the information conveyed, but also by the positive or negative impact of the patron/staff interaction. According to RUSA:

The positive or negative behavior of the reference staff member (as observed by the patron) becomes a significant factor in perceived success or failure. This connection has been born out in the work of researchers like Gers and Seward (1985), who found that “behaviors have a strong influence on performance”, and Whitlatch (1990), who stated “Librarian courtesy, interest, and helpfulness are crucial in providing successful reference service. Libraries must select and retain staff who have these service orientations toward users.” Matthew Saxton (2002) put the Guidelines to a statistical test, and found that they did indeed correlate highly to a successful reference transaction.

The RUSA Guidelines cover different forms of reference interactions. Without a doubt, the face of Reference Services has changed significantly since the original RUSA Guidelines for Behavioral Performance were first published in 1996. Nowadays, in addition to in person interviews, there is also remote services such as telephone, email and chat service interactions. The Guidelines deconstruct the reference interview by Approachability, Interest, Listening/Inquiring, Searching, and Follow Up and, within each of these areas, address the specific needs of general, in person and remote patron interactions. For the purposes of this blog post, I will share the recommendations for in person interviews as they appear in the original document. If you are interested in reading the full document, I will provide a link to the source below.

Be Approachable:

Establish initial eye contact with patrons, and acknowledge the presence of patrons through smiling and attentive and welcoming body language.

Acknowledge patrons through the use of a friendly greeting to initiate conversation, and by standing up, moving forward, or moving closer to them.

Remain visible to patrons as much as possible.

Rove through the reference area offering assistance whenever possible. Librarians should make themselves available to patrons by offering assistance at their point-of-need rather than waiting for patrons to come to the reference desk. To rove successfully, the librarian should:

Be mobile. Get the patrons started on the initial steps of their search, then move on to other patrons.

Address the patrons before addressing their computer screen. Patrons are more likely to confide in librarians and discuss their needs if they do not perceive the librarians as “policing” the area.

Approach patrons and offer assistance with lines such as, “Are you finding what you need?” “Can I help you with anything?” or “How is your search going?”

Check back on the patron’s progress after helping them start a search.

If the reference desk has been left unattended, check back periodically to see if there are patrons waiting for assistance there.

Show Interest:

Face patrons when speaking and listening.

Maintain or re-establish eye contact with patrons throughout the transaction.

Signal an understanding of patrons’ needs through verbal or non-verbal confirmation, such as nodding of the head or brief comments or questions.

Listen / Inquire:

Communicate in a receptive, cordial, and encouraging manner.

Use a tone of voice and/or written language appropriate to the nature of the transaction.

Allow the patrons to state fully their information need in their own words before responding.

Identify the goals or objectives of the user’s research, when appropriate.

Rephrase the question or request and ask for confirmation to ensure that it is understood.

Seek to clarify confusing terminology and avoid excessive jargon.

Use open-ended questioning techniques to encourage patrons to expand on the request or present additional information. Some examples of such questions include:

Please tell me more about your topic.

What additional information can you give me?

How much information do you need?

Use closed and/or clarifying questions to refine the search query. Some examples of clarifying questions are:

What have you already found?

What type of information do you need (books, articles, etc.)?

Do you need current or historical information?

Maintain objectivity and do not interject value judgments about subject matter or the nature of the question into the transaction.

Searching:

Accompany the patrons in the search (at least in the initial stages of the search process).

Follow Up:

Ask patrons if their questions have been completely answered.

Encourage the patrons to return if they have further questions by making a statement such as “If you don’t find what you are looking for, please come back and we’ll try something else.”

Roving is an excellent technique for follow-up.

Consult other librarians or experts in the field when additional subject expertise is needed.

Make patrons aware of other appropriate reference services (email, etc.).

Make arrangements, when appropriate, with the patrons to research a question even after the reference transaction has been completed.

Refer the patrons to other sources or institutions when the query cannot be answered to the satisfaction of the patron.

Facilitate the process of referring patrons to another library or information agency through activities such as calling ahead, providing direction and instructions, and providing the library and the patrons with as much information as possible about the amount of information required, and sources already consulted.

Take care not to end the reference interview prematurely.

Note: The term librarian in this document applies to all who provide reference and informational services directly to library users.

I hope the Guidelines are useful in your reference interviews. Good luck!

——————

Source:

RUSA. “Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Services Professionals.” RQ, 36 (Winter 1996) 200-3. http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral

Spectacular Photos of Imaginary Libraries

Anne Hays — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:51:41 +0000

What’s the ideal library? How can designers re-envision a studious space to be maximally useful to your research needs? Flavorwire showcases artist JF Rauzier’s new renditions of ye old traditional spaces.

Which is your favorite?

http://flavorwire.com/382871/spectacular-photos-of-ideal-imaginary-libraries-around-the-world

Reference and other Services at the Library

Rebecca Beck — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:35:51 +0000

I’ve started to think about what it means to provide our patrons with excellent service. I first came across the interesting article Library service as theatre that touched on some very interesting issues about the quality of service that librarians provide and the challenges and controversy surrounding retail customer service strategies in libraries.

I recently came across another interesting article, What Will Become of Reference in Academic and Public Libraries? O’Gorman, J., Trott, B. (2009). This article written in 2009 already seems slightly outdated in some ways, but I think certain parts of the article are relevant to our library here at Teachers College and I will explore those areas.

O’Gorman and Trott (2009) state that different libraries see different behavior patterns. At one library mentioned in the article the reference desk was very busy with many questions being asked, while at another library almost no one came to the reference desk. O’Gorman and Trott (2009) stress the importance of thinking locally when thinking about your library. I think that’s essential to any good library, making sure you cater to the needs of the community you are serving. I think we support our community in many ways such as planning relevant talks and events at the library, creating technology tools that support educators, buying the print and online resources our community asks for and providing a wide range of study spaces for our patrons. But, the question is always there…can we do more? Is there a service that our users want that we aren’t providing?

Another point that O’Gorman and Trott (2009) make that I believe is relevant to our library is making sure that patrons know about the services we do provide. I think it’s hard to share with the community all of our services. Whenever I talk to a group of students they seem pleasantly surprised by many of the services we provide like scheduling in person reference consultations, requesting resources for the library to purchase and the many technologies developed to support students and educators. How can we do a better job of sharing these services with the community?

O’Gorman and Trott (2009) also mention that, ‘it becomes a challenge for staff to keep in mind all the different databases when working with users.’ Teachers College students and faculty have access to many different databases and are able to search 4 different online catalogs, EDUCAT the teachers college catalog, Clio the Columbia University’s catalog, Pegasus the Columbia University Law School Library, and Aleph the Jewish Theological Seminary catalog. It can be challenging for staff to understand how to best navigate these catalogs and all of the resources we have access to. We want to make sure that our staff has ongoing training and support to understand how to best use these resources. Staff knowledge is essential to providing excellent reference and service to our patrons and therefor we are looking at new ways of continuing reference training.

Examining the reference desk is something that O’Gorman and Trott (2009) do in their article. They mention alternatives to the traditional desk, such as roving reference, instant messaging, email, and cellphones. I think that our support request system does a great job of addressing questions from patrons who are not in the library and responding to patrons in a timely manner. I wonder if roving reference would be something that the TC community finds useful or if it’s something that is not relevant to the community we are serving. How can we best determine if roving reference is something worth considering at TC?

This article stresses that reference is changing and that the most important focus for libraries should be their users and their user’s needs. I think it’s always a good idea to think about the service and reference we provide and to think of ways to help further service the population we are working with.

Fear of censorship of federal librarians for ‘duty of loyalty’ to the Canadian government

John Sarubbi — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 23:47:48 +0000

In a recent article titled “Federal librarians fear being ‘muzzled’ under the new code of conduct that stresses ‘duty to loyalty to the government”, Margaret Munro of Postmedia News (March 13, 2013) says that “Federal librarians and archivists who set foot in classrooms, attend conferences or speak up at public meetings on their own time are engaging in ‘high risk’ activities, according to the new code of conduct at Library and Archives Canada”.

According to the code, the department’s staff must get authorization with their managers in advance to ensure there are no conflicts with the Library and Archives Canada (LAC). More to this end, the code is explicit in stressing that federal employees’ have a “duty of loyalty” to the “duly elected government” and, it also includes information about how offenders can be reported.

Does any one have any thoughts about the censorship of librarians and archivists? What are some of the implications of such a code?

Academia.edu : social media and digital repository mashup

Anne Hays — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:17:54 +0000

While scrolling around the internet looking for information about Eli Pariser’s TED talk, I encountered an interview with Umberto Eco from 1995 in which he discusses the distractions of being able to find too much on the internet, verses stumbling upon information in what he considers the more controlled (and curated) environment of the traditional library. The article was posted on Academia.edu, which caught my attention. Academia.edu, it turns out, is an open access digital repository for academics to post materials (published works, works in progress, or even just research topic ideas) and share them with one another. How might this software be useful to our community of educators and academics? Very, if you want to share your works in progress with like-minded researchers

The increasingly urgent battle for Open Access to academic materials has been much documented (in fact, our own Leanora Lange writes about OA often here). As subscription prices rise dramatically while library funding diminishes, we’re reaching a crisis point in terms of making new research accessible to educators and academics, who need to access academic articles in order to produce research. Academics usually are not paid to publish articles in academic journals, and so why are libraries paying such exorbitant fees to re-purchase articles written by their own faculty members (or faculty from other institutions)? To mitigate the problem, most universities now have digital repositories for their own faculty and students to deposit works in. (PocketKnowledge is TC’s answer, while Columbia uses Academic Commons.) This is a simplistic run-down of the argument, but in any case, Academia.edu is an open international digital repository not affiliated with any university–a central software anyone can join. The added perk is it also functions as a social media connector for academics with accounts: once I signed up, I quickly created a profile including my university affiliation (In this case, I had to pick one, even though I’m affiliated with multiple universities. Why can’t users pick more than one?) and added keywords describing my interests. I can also link my account to my Facebook or any of my email accounts to find my friends with existing profiles. And with that, I’m off!

For me, the most exciting aspect of logging in and starting my research was this discovery: when I typed in my research interests I discovered five authors whose works I have read who each have accounts in Academia.edu. How exciting! Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter shrink the line between pedestrian and celebrity users (or it feels that way, at least) which strikes me as one of the many features of globalized digital technologies. Academia.edu offers a similar possibility to those whose intellectual work overlaps. They allow users to “follow” other users, and their blog keeps track of “trending” in their academic vaults. For a meta-analysis of how this works, Academia.edu also has a blog. Is it as useful as it seems? You’ll have to play around and test it to find out.

EdLab launches New Learning Times

John Sarubbi — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:45:05 +0000

This past Thursday, January 31st, the lobby of TC’s Zankel Hall was busier than usual, as Teachers College commenced its year-long celebration of its 125th year.

EdLab had a table at the kick off event to promote its newest app, New Learning Times (NLT) which is part of a series of new learning technologies available to the TC academic community. New Learning Times is a publishing project that highlights new ideas for the transformation of the Education Sector.

NLT, which began publishing daily in October 2012, features content that illustrates current developments and future possibilities in education that promise to make learning more accessible, more powerful, and less costly.

Please visit New Learning Times at http://www.newlearningtimes.com

To learn about all the exciting projects at EdLab, please visit http://edlab.tc.columbia.edu/ and select PROJECTS.

Best Free Reference Web Sites 2012 (RUSA)

Clare O'Dowd — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:04:31 +0000

Encyclopedia of Life entry on bobcats

Figuring out what resources you need can be quite the undertaking, and once you know what you need you may still run into trouble trying to read or navigate them if they’re not well-organized or simply trying to get access to them if your library doesn’t already have them.

While not every source is perfect or free or easily accessible, you can still find some excellent free reference resources online. So, stay in your PJ’s, put away your wallet, and check out RUSA’s (Reference and User Services Association) Best Free Reference Web Sites 2012.

While not comprehensive or specific to any one subject area, RUSA’s roll call has reviews of 26 sites and descriptions of their content and features. The list contains sites with expansive databases, ratings and metrics, lesson plans, encyclopedic entries, and interactive activities, and lots of other neat stuff.

The list includes Citation Fox, which is super easy to navigate with its faceted browsing and provides general form as well as examples for each type of resource. Common Sense Media has reviews of a variety of media and gives rating based on age-appropriateness. The Encyclopedia of Earth and the Encyclopedia of Life are both rich sites, which serve as alternatives to Wikipedia for their covered subject areas. Sites with health information include HealthyChildren.org, Kaiser State Health Facts, and Merck Manuals. Yad Vashem, the Khan Academy, and the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database all provide lesson plans among other dynamic content. And why not just check out the FBI’s Vault and spend a pleasant afternoon perusing declassified documents?

Khan Academy homepage

Check out the whole list and complete reviews yourself and feel free to leave a comment letting us know about any other resources this list might have missed!

In case you still haven’t found what you’re looking for, feel free to ask the library staff here about research assistance or finding books. You can also go here to request materials you’d like that Columbia doesn’t have.

‘Tis the Season: Professional Development Opportunity

Jennifer Govan — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 21:42:47 +0000

Christmas trees made out of books, elevator speeches, and soundbites? These are just a few ideas shared by Kathy Dempsey, Consultant and Owner of Libraries Are Essential, in a workshop, What Accidental Library Marketers Need to Know”, held on December 8^th at the New York Metropolitan Reference and Research Library Agency. Ms. Dempsey enthusiastically outlined key terms and definitions in marketing, focusing on the 4 P’s (product, price, place, and promotion) and the importance of conducting SWOT analysis (a review of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). She presented the “true cycle of marketing”, with recommended strategies, tools, and communication skills for librarians to develop programs, services, and/or collections.

Ringing true, action items for all those who work in libraries — and in whatever particular line of work –include:

Asking what our customers want.

Understanding what marketing is.

Separating people into target markets and treating the groups differently.

Studying the people who make up our user base.

Evaluating the results of programs and campaigns and applying data to improve future efforts.

Using word of mouth to seek out ideas, responses, reactions –- without using library jargon that is bound to confuse!

More information can be found in Dempsey’s eponymous book (Information Today, 2009).

Learning at the Library » Library Science

ALA’s frequently challenged books of the 21st century

The Digital Public Library of America Launches

The Reference Interview: Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers

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Spectacular Photos of Imaginary Libraries

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Reference and other Services at the Library

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Fear of censorship of federal librarians for ‘duty of loyalty’ to the Canadian government

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Academia.edu : social media and digital repository mashup

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Best Free Reference Web Sites 2012 (RUSA)

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‘Tis the Season: Professional Development Opportunity

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