This post originally appeared on Information Space, the blog of the iSchool at Syracuse University, on 10 February 2012.
Even as a library student, “professional development” seems to have
an ominous ring to it. Visions of mediocre webinars and uninspired
speakers compete with the certainty that professional development will
be expected, even required, as we move into the library field. However,
that sort of thinking is outmoded. Change your expectations, and
professional development becomes diverse, interesting, and something to
get excited about.
Take Advantage of Learning Opportunities
Every profession has a skill set; in library-land, these skills
include community relations, reference, and library advocacy; web
development, blogging, and other virtual ventures; organizational and
cataloguing skills; and dozens more! While there might be certain
minimum standards for entry, even professions that require advanced
education don’t expect practitioners to know everything right off the
bat. Professional development should supplement your knowledge, build on
your education, and keep you current within your field.
At Syracuse, there are myriad opportunities to explore. Lectures,
brown-bags, student symposia–informal and formal concerts and talks are
given nearly every day during the academic year. Other universities are
much the same, and often their programs are accessible to the local
community—check with your local college to see what might be offered!
Sharing Knowledge
Something I’ve noticed about librarians is their willingness to share
with and teach each other, and that seems to hold true throughout long
careers. That sharing “counts” as professional development, even if
people don’t think of it that way. If you have a colleague you
especially respect, find out if they’d share their insight with you.
Graduation, even from a terminal program like the M.S. in Library and
Information Science, marks the beginning, not the end—after a basic
foundation, where do you want to build? What interests haven’t been
explored yet? The art of professional development lies in
(re)discovering curiosity, and holding on to it for dear life. Once
you’re curious, find people passionate about those topics to answer your
questions, and the “professional development” will happen without you
even noticing.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Monday, August 12, 2013
Five Important Factors in Your Internship Hunt
This post originally appeared on Information Space, the blog of the iSchool at Syracuse University, on 19 January 2012.
It’s time to gear up for the spring semester, and for many of us, that means finding the perfect internship. But where do you even begin? Here are five things to consider when you’re weighing internship options:
How would you optimize your internship, or help others optimize theirs? Let us know in the comments!
It’s time to gear up for the spring semester, and for many of us, that means finding the perfect internship. But where do you even begin? Here are five things to consider when you’re weighing internship options:
- The Network: Will your internship give you an entry into your field? Will you meet people who can help you along, as you progress into your career? This isn’t to say that internships are all about name-dropping, or climbing the corporate ladder, but a good internship will build your network of contacts, and the best internships will also give you a mentor or advisor who can help you stay on-track as you start your journey into the professional world.
- Transferrable skills: We all gain skills as we move through life, and we’re constantly refining and redirecting those skills as we enter each new position. Good internships should give you an opportunity to refine the skills you already have, and direct them in new ways. For example, before I was a student at the iSchool, I worked in a non-profit, and among other things I managed their social media efforts. These days, my professional goals have changed— I’d like to be in the corporate world, possibly still working with social media and community management. Because of that, I want to find an internship that will help me take the skills I already have and apply them to a new area. Mentors (see point 1) are great resources for this.
- New skills: Perhaps the biggest single reason people think to take internships are the new skills they might gain. Especially with unpaid internships, the assumption is that you’ll earn valuable experience and get new skills in lieu of payment. The real question becomes, then: what new skills do you need to gain? (Yes, this is another good question for your mentor, or for your academic advisors. Or for anyone else in your field. Or anyone you talk to. #YouGetTheIdea)
- Resume builders: Will an internship give you project experience, or will you be fetching coffee and sorting mail? If the latter, it might still be worth it for networking reasons, but optimal experiences will grant you the chance to solve actual problems in your field, and will also let you take credit for those fixes when you leave. (References, anyone?) It’s becoming more and more important to have a solid resume or CV when you’re applying for jobs—even first jobs—and internships are easy ways to add to yours. Make sure you’re working on interesting projects, and if you’re not? Ask for one.
- Insight: Do you really want to be doing the things you THINK you want to be doing? Internships are valuable opportunities to find out! Try and intern in a similar setting to the one you think you want to work in. If you hate it, that’s…really good to know. If you love it, that’s also good to know, and there are plenty of things to learn in between. Maybe you loved what you were doing but hated the company—so you’ll know what sort of setting to avoid. On the contrary, maybe you loved the setting and your job was fine, but you did a stint with the art department and now you want to start doing information design. The world is interdisciplinary, and internships help you figure out which threads you want to pull together.
How would you optimize your internship, or help others optimize theirs? Let us know in the comments!
Monday, August 5, 2013
One Librarian’s Resolution for 2012: Battle the Stereotypes
This post originally appeared on Information Space, the blog of the iSchool at Syracuse University, on 4 January 2012.
WHEREAS, Librarianship is a changing field, and;
WHEREAS, too many people inside the profession seem content to rest on old habits, and;
WHEREAS, too few people outside the profession know what lies on the cutting edge;
BE IT RESOLVED, that I, Christopher Daniel Warren Lawton, refuse to be pigeonholed, and further resolve to spend 2012 combating the stereotypes of librarians wherever I encounter them.
In the last year—ever since I started talking about getting a degree in Library & Information Science—I’ve been constantly faced by the assumptions other people have about librarians, and librarianship. Even in the School of Information Studies, some of my colleagues are often surprised when I talk about the sheer breadth and depth of my degree.
Librarianship is an odd paradigm. We are at once expected to be both generalists and specialists, knowing something about nearly everything imaginable, and knowing a great deal about a particular topic of interest when people ask us for detailed information. Certainly, we learn and practice skills to help in that regard (yet another reason why you need a master’s degree to be a librarian), but even with experience, it’s not always easy.
Complicating things even further is an inherited series of stereotypes that every new librarian has to address. I’ve started to feel like a broken record, constantly advocating for a new approach for librarianship—unfortunately, some of the resistance even comes from practicing librarians, who seem to think that “We’ve never done it that way!” is a perfectly valid reason to dismiss ideas, innovation, and enthusiasm stemming from librarians-in-training.
Here’s the deal: I’m one of those librarians in training. I’m not exactly shy, and I’m already a contradiction to some of those stereotypes. How?
I’m male, and relatively young. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked about becoming a librarian, only to be met by raised eyebrows. Even today, the stereotype of librarians is that they are women of a certain age, gathering dust behind a stack of books nobody will read. My cohort at the iSchool is one of the youngest they’ve ever had, with a number of my classmates entering directly from undergrad, or (like me) after just a year or two in the working world. Librarianship will change, as we change it—we’re a generation (or two) younger than many of the people we’ll soon be working alongside, with all of the differences that implies. We all can learn a great deal from each other.
I don’t have my nose stuffed in a book all the time. Or even most of the time. I read, and enjoy reading, but I also enjoy playing card, board, video, & tabletop games; writing, performing, & listening to music; and more! I read, but most of the time I’m not reading print books—instead, I’m following blogs, keeping up with my friends’ posts in the social universe, or link-diving on wikis, learning about whatever might strike my fancy.
I’m interested in technology. In keeping with “Books aren’t everything,” I’m curious about the future of technology. I like learning about haptics, guessing what might be next for information creation & retrieval, trying new apps, finding the coolest resources for my own use, and then sharing them with everyone else I know. I’m interested in web development, in coding. I like making things, both offline and in the digital space—and I don’t just mean knitting new socks for my cat.
I don’t feel forced to work in a library. More than that, I’m not sure I WANT to work in a library. Certainly, I’m becoming a librarian, and I will practice librarianship, but that could be with a library, embedded on a project team, in a hackerspace somewhere, or beyond. Librarianship is not so far removed from information architecture, information management, info design, taxonomy, education, leadership, or advocacy—I could easily see myself in any of those areas as well. Library & Information Science, as a degree, amplifies the skill set I already have, and gives me the tools to add to those skills.
I enjoy challenging assumptions, and I’m sure I’ll keep doing so throughout 2012 and beyond. Who’s with me? What stereotypes do you see in librarianship? Do you fit them? Do you break them? Let us know in the comments.
WHEREAS, Librarianship is a changing field, and;
WHEREAS, too many people inside the profession seem content to rest on old habits, and;
WHEREAS, too few people outside the profession know what lies on the cutting edge;
BE IT RESOLVED, that I, Christopher Daniel Warren Lawton, refuse to be pigeonholed, and further resolve to spend 2012 combating the stereotypes of librarians wherever I encounter them.
In the last year—ever since I started talking about getting a degree in Library & Information Science—I’ve been constantly faced by the assumptions other people have about librarians, and librarianship. Even in the School of Information Studies, some of my colleagues are often surprised when I talk about the sheer breadth and depth of my degree.
Librarianship is an odd paradigm. We are at once expected to be both generalists and specialists, knowing something about nearly everything imaginable, and knowing a great deal about a particular topic of interest when people ask us for detailed information. Certainly, we learn and practice skills to help in that regard (yet another reason why you need a master’s degree to be a librarian), but even with experience, it’s not always easy.
Complicating things even further is an inherited series of stereotypes that every new librarian has to address. I’ve started to feel like a broken record, constantly advocating for a new approach for librarianship—unfortunately, some of the resistance even comes from practicing librarians, who seem to think that “We’ve never done it that way!” is a perfectly valid reason to dismiss ideas, innovation, and enthusiasm stemming from librarians-in-training.
Here’s the deal: I’m one of those librarians in training. I’m not exactly shy, and I’m already a contradiction to some of those stereotypes. How?
I’m male, and relatively young. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked about becoming a librarian, only to be met by raised eyebrows. Even today, the stereotype of librarians is that they are women of a certain age, gathering dust behind a stack of books nobody will read. My cohort at the iSchool is one of the youngest they’ve ever had, with a number of my classmates entering directly from undergrad, or (like me) after just a year or two in the working world. Librarianship will change, as we change it—we’re a generation (or two) younger than many of the people we’ll soon be working alongside, with all of the differences that implies. We all can learn a great deal from each other.
I don’t have my nose stuffed in a book all the time. Or even most of the time. I read, and enjoy reading, but I also enjoy playing card, board, video, & tabletop games; writing, performing, & listening to music; and more! I read, but most of the time I’m not reading print books—instead, I’m following blogs, keeping up with my friends’ posts in the social universe, or link-diving on wikis, learning about whatever might strike my fancy.
I’m interested in technology. In keeping with “Books aren’t everything,” I’m curious about the future of technology. I like learning about haptics, guessing what might be next for information creation & retrieval, trying new apps, finding the coolest resources for my own use, and then sharing them with everyone else I know. I’m interested in web development, in coding. I like making things, both offline and in the digital space—and I don’t just mean knitting new socks for my cat.
I don’t feel forced to work in a library. More than that, I’m not sure I WANT to work in a library. Certainly, I’m becoming a librarian, and I will practice librarianship, but that could be with a library, embedded on a project team, in a hackerspace somewhere, or beyond. Librarianship is not so far removed from information architecture, information management, info design, taxonomy, education, leadership, or advocacy—I could easily see myself in any of those areas as well. Library & Information Science, as a degree, amplifies the skill set I already have, and gives me the tools to add to those skills.
I enjoy challenging assumptions, and I’m sure I’ll keep doing so throughout 2012 and beyond. Who’s with me? What stereotypes do you see in librarianship? Do you fit them? Do you break them? Let us know in the comments.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Three Awesome Databases to Browse for Fun
This post originally appeared on Information Space, the blog of the iSchool at Syracuse University, on 27 December 2011.
Part of the fun for a college student on winter break is having time to explore. The databases available through the Syracuse University Library are manifold, and I’ve been having a great time poking through the ones that have nothing to do with my current degree. Part of the reason librarianship is such a great field is that it allows for multi-disciplinary learning and varied approaches to problem-solving. However, the downside to this is that the only way to be a good librarian is to know something about nearly everything. It’s the challenge, and the best part, of my vocation.
Information is meant to be shared! I want to highlight some resources that can grab you, and keep you clicking-through and checking out more images, more sound files, more articles—the sort of databases that can make you say, “Cool!”
Here are three fun databases to check out:
ArtStor Digital Library:
The ArtStor Digital Library “provides more than one million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research.” It’s a searchable archive of images, and collections span a sizable range of topics. The native interface takes a bit of getting used to, as with most databases, but it’s time well-spent. This database aggregates some phenomenal collections, but also provides a host of other tools to get you started. Be sure to check out the subject guides, which can provide some search terms and collections of note in most areas of interest. I looked at the ‘Maps & Geography’ and ‘History of Medicine & Natural Science’ guides—from Renaissance navigational charts to anatomical illustrations from the dawn of modern medicine, I found some cool stuff!
Smithsonian Global Sound:
My undergraduate background is in music, among other things, so I was incredibly excited to stumble upon this database while working on a project this year. Smithsonian Global Sound hosts recordings of music from around the world, including,
National Agricultural Library:
The National Agricultural Library, an arm of the US Department of Agriculture, maintains a number of special collections on their website that are worth checking out. Their “spotlights” show off some of the resources that the government can bring to bear, and I found myself reading articles and other content about things I didn’t think I’d find interesting (Entomologist C. V. Riley & Integrated Pest Management, for example). AGRICOLA, the online catalog for the NAL, is also worth checking out, and has been recommended to me by a number of people as a good resource for those interested in nutrition & food science, and agricultural studies. Also of note are the image galleries—enjoy!
What are your favorite resources, and how did you find them? Let us know in the comments!
Part of the fun for a college student on winter break is having time to explore. The databases available through the Syracuse University Library are manifold, and I’ve been having a great time poking through the ones that have nothing to do with my current degree. Part of the reason librarianship is such a great field is that it allows for multi-disciplinary learning and varied approaches to problem-solving. However, the downside to this is that the only way to be a good librarian is to know something about nearly everything. It’s the challenge, and the best part, of my vocation.
Information is meant to be shared! I want to highlight some resources that can grab you, and keep you clicking-through and checking out more images, more sound files, more articles—the sort of databases that can make you say, “Cool!”
Here are three fun databases to check out:
ArtStor Digital Library:
The ArtStor Digital Library “provides more than one million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research.” It’s a searchable archive of images, and collections span a sizable range of topics. The native interface takes a bit of getting used to, as with most databases, but it’s time well-spent. This database aggregates some phenomenal collections, but also provides a host of other tools to get you started. Be sure to check out the subject guides, which can provide some search terms and collections of note in most areas of interest. I looked at the ‘Maps & Geography’ and ‘History of Medicine & Natural Science’ guides—from Renaissance navigational charts to anatomical illustrations from the dawn of modern medicine, I found some cool stuff!
Smithsonian Global Sound:
My undergraduate background is in music, among other things, so I was incredibly excited to stumble upon this database while working on a project this year. Smithsonian Global Sound hosts recordings of music from around the world, including,
“music owned by the non-profit
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label and the archival audio collections
of the legendary Folkways Records, Cook, Dyer-Bennet, Fast Folk,
Monitor, Paredon and other labels. It also includes music recorded
around the African continent by Dr. Hugh Tracey for the International
Library of African Music (ILAM) at Rhodes University as well as material
collected by recordists on the South Asian subcontinent from the
Archive Research Centre for Ethnomusicology (ARCE), sponsored by the
American Institute for Indian Studies.”
What this means for us is a searchable archive of world music,
available to us whenever we please. It’s great for musicians trying to
tackle music from a new culture, or for listeners who want something a
little different. There are a number of recordings that sound like
they’re straight out of the songcatchers’ equipment—check it out!National Agricultural Library:
The National Agricultural Library, an arm of the US Department of Agriculture, maintains a number of special collections on their website that are worth checking out. Their “spotlights” show off some of the resources that the government can bring to bear, and I found myself reading articles and other content about things I didn’t think I’d find interesting (Entomologist C. V. Riley & Integrated Pest Management, for example). AGRICOLA, the online catalog for the NAL, is also worth checking out, and has been recommended to me by a number of people as a good resource for those interested in nutrition & food science, and agricultural studies. Also of note are the image galleries—enjoy!
What are your favorite resources, and how did you find them? Let us know in the comments!
Monday, July 22, 2013
Top Five Things for LIS Students to Enjoy Over Winter Break
This post originally appeared on Information Space, the blog of the iSchool at Syracuse University, on 13 December 2011.
Here at the School of Information Studies, the semester is rapidly coming to a close, and I’m sure I’m not alone in starting to look forward to the winter break. Besides visiting with friends and family, and celebrating a number of holidays, here are the five things I can’t wait to do:
Here at the School of Information Studies, the semester is rapidly coming to a close, and I’m sure I’m not alone in starting to look forward to the winter break. Besides visiting with friends and family, and celebrating a number of holidays, here are the five things I can’t wait to do:
- Catch up on reading! Life in the iSchool is a constant series of things to read, and I’m definitely looking forward to taking some time for more casual reading over break. That said, I’m also looking forward to catching up on the various blogs I read—librarians, I’ve noticed, tend to write a great deal. I use Google Reader to aggregate all of the RSS feeds I’m subscribed to. I love the simplicity of the user interface, and it’s great to have everything I want to follow in one place. I use it for web comics, my classmates’ blogs (and my own), library (and library-school) blogs, (such as the iSchool’s own Dave Lankes’) and a few other things, too.
- Figure out internship opportunities! It’s time for me to update my resume, start building a CV, and start applying for summer internships. (Any suggestions? Let me know in the comments!) The iSchool has lots of resources for me to use, including our very own Career Services office, and I look forward to discovering the best fit for me.
- Have fun! The holidays wouldn’t be complete without a celebration or two, and I can’t wait to enjoy them! I’m already getting good at answering the question, “So why do we need librarians around?” and I’ve been surprised a few times by people who are very familiar with information science in a number of venues—it never hurts to network! There’s nothing wrong with talking about the things you’re most passionate about, and I’ve already found that people will come out of the woodwork to give you a hand when you’re excited about something. I have every intention of taking advantage of each opportunity to meet someone new—you never know who might have exactly the advice you need.
- Visit libraries! It’s a funny thing about doing a degree in Library & Information Science—I haven’t had much chance to visit other libraries! Sure, we’ve gone on tours in most of my classes, and I’ve seen great “example” libraries in the academic, public, school, and special-library worlds, but nothing can really compare to just poking around the stacks, hanging out, and getting a feel for the way a particular library actually works (or doesn’t!). Now that I have a little bit of experience under my belt, I’m going to start visiting libraries to see what makes them tick, and start talking with more librarians to find the ones for whom it’s more than just a job.
- Relax! Break is, after all, meant to be a break. I have some plans, and some goals, but I also want to be sure to recharge the ol’ batteries before next semester begins. When I’m in school, I stay plenty busy, and even when I’m OUT of school there’s no shortage of cool stuff to do. So I’m planning in time to not-plan—crazy, right? Even just a day, with no phone, no computer, just me. It’s just the ticket!
Monday, July 15, 2013
Thanksgiving: Information Science for Hungry People
This post originally appeared on Information Space, the blog of the iSchool at Syracuse University, on 24 November 2011.
Things are gearing up for the Thanksgiving meal, and I’ve recently realized that Thanksgiving can work as a pretty perfect analogy for information sciences. At the risk of stretching my metaphors beyond all recognition, let’s take a trek through a feast of information…
There are five things required for a good celebration:
Good Friends: Information is social! Just look around at Facebook, Twitter, G+, and any of the niche networks, and you’ll get a sense that it’s just the tip of the iceberg. People are creating and sharing content every chance they get, and the conversations that spark up are every bit as good as those around the thanksgiving table. Holidays bring us together, and the culture of sharing we’re immersed in can spread that togetherness into the virtual realm. Conversations have been happening over meals for centuries: why stop now?
The Main Meal: Just as good turkey needs an experienced chef, good information is “roasted” from raw data—and the result is delicious! (Don’t forget to baste.) The raw ingredients (data) are blended in particular ways according to specific recipes, and the product (information) is worth consuming. Information scientists work with different kinds of data all the time, but at the core, they’re each learning to cook them into more palatable forms.
Side Dishes: Accompanying that information is a host of other skills; information organization, evaluation, and access, to name just a few! Look at it this way—for thanksgiving dinner, (and the rest of the year) I can’t get nearly enough cranberry sauce. Standard canned, Cranberry-Orange Relish, sugared cranberries, take your pick! I wouldn’t call cranberry sauce a meal, but neither is the meal quite finished without it. In the same way, information is great, but unless you’ve got the skills to accompany that information then you’re not quite ready to serve it up.
Presentation: Information design is just as important as content—bad design will turn information into mush. On the same wavelength, tables look nice if they’re set properly, and they can be set for different people, different meals. Information design and user experience can be and should be tweaked for every situation, but if it’s a well-designed information experience, people will “come back to the table” again and again.
Pie: The sweet finish, and one of the best parts of Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone has their own style when it comes to pie—there are tons of recipes for crusts, fillings, toppings, and more, and it really comes down to personal preference whether you pick cherry, mincemeat, apple or pecan. (I generally try all of them. You know, to be polite.) Information can be handled the same way. Library scientists, information managers, database specialists, and network administrators all have a slightly different flavor when it comes to work style, but they all try to accomplish similar goals. Information scientists want to curate their world, and help their chosen communities access the information they need. We’re the pie—not a piece of it, but the whole thing. We complement the rest of the information world, just as dessert is the perfect finish to a holiday feast.
How are you sharing your feast? What information are you serving up? How have you set your table? Let us know the answers (and what kind of pie you are) in the comments!
Things are gearing up for the Thanksgiving meal, and I’ve recently realized that Thanksgiving can work as a pretty perfect analogy for information sciences. At the risk of stretching my metaphors beyond all recognition, let’s take a trek through a feast of information…
There are five things required for a good celebration:
Good Friends: Information is social! Just look around at Facebook, Twitter, G+, and any of the niche networks, and you’ll get a sense that it’s just the tip of the iceberg. People are creating and sharing content every chance they get, and the conversations that spark up are every bit as good as those around the thanksgiving table. Holidays bring us together, and the culture of sharing we’re immersed in can spread that togetherness into the virtual realm. Conversations have been happening over meals for centuries: why stop now?
The Main Meal: Just as good turkey needs an experienced chef, good information is “roasted” from raw data—and the result is delicious! (Don’t forget to baste.) The raw ingredients (data) are blended in particular ways according to specific recipes, and the product (information) is worth consuming. Information scientists work with different kinds of data all the time, but at the core, they’re each learning to cook them into more palatable forms.
Side Dishes: Accompanying that information is a host of other skills; information organization, evaluation, and access, to name just a few! Look at it this way—for thanksgiving dinner, (and the rest of the year) I can’t get nearly enough cranberry sauce. Standard canned, Cranberry-Orange Relish, sugared cranberries, take your pick! I wouldn’t call cranberry sauce a meal, but neither is the meal quite finished without it. In the same way, information is great, but unless you’ve got the skills to accompany that information then you’re not quite ready to serve it up.
Presentation: Information design is just as important as content—bad design will turn information into mush. On the same wavelength, tables look nice if they’re set properly, and they can be set for different people, different meals. Information design and user experience can be and should be tweaked for every situation, but if it’s a well-designed information experience, people will “come back to the table” again and again.
Pie: The sweet finish, and one of the best parts of Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone has their own style when it comes to pie—there are tons of recipes for crusts, fillings, toppings, and more, and it really comes down to personal preference whether you pick cherry, mincemeat, apple or pecan. (I generally try all of them. You know, to be polite.) Information can be handled the same way. Library scientists, information managers, database specialists, and network administrators all have a slightly different flavor when it comes to work style, but they all try to accomplish similar goals. Information scientists want to curate their world, and help their chosen communities access the information they need. We’re the pie—not a piece of it, but the whole thing. We complement the rest of the information world, just as dessert is the perfect finish to a holiday feast.
How are you sharing your feast? What information are you serving up? How have you set your table? Let us know the answers (and what kind of pie you are) in the comments!
Monday, July 8, 2013
48 Hours at NYLA: A Student’s Trip to the 2011 Library Conference
This post originally appeared on Information Space, the blog of the iSchool at Syracuse University, on 9 November 2011.
I’ve just returned to Syracuse after two packed days at the 2011 New York Library Association conference. The trip was great, Saratoga Springs has a beautiful downtown, I met a bunch of great people and I learned a lot! People have been asking me why librarians bother going to conferences, but I think my schedule speaks for itself.
THURSDAY, November 3rd, 2011
12:00 PM: Arrived at the conference center and headed straight for the exhibition hall. Said hello to the SU School of information Studies booth, then talked with vendors about their offerings—learned about audiobooks, library bindings, jobbers and acquisitions assistance, digitization and tracking tools—too much for one visit!
1:45 PM: “21 More Ideas for 21st Century Libraries,” a presentation given by Kimberly Bolan Cullin (SU alumna ’95) and Rob Cullin. We looked at some of the coolest ideas showing up in libraries worldwide, from collaborative workspaces to specially-zoned teen, children’s, & reference areas, and started to re-envision the library!
3:00 PM: Got food, explored the area around the conference center. Headed back just in time for the next workshop.
4:00 PM: “Sex in YA fiction: How Far is Too Far?” Lecture by Eric Luper, author of numerous YA novels. Learned a litmus test for sex and other questionable content in Young Adult fiction, and how to judge whether or not a scene is gratuitous. We explored the issues surrounding graphic content in YA that will face librarians as authors explore more radical subject areas.
5:15 PM: Back to exhibition halls to meet up with the iSchool contingent (a bunch of us attended!), and headed to a networking reception at a local restaurant. Met great librarians in every facet of librarianship, and connected with them for the future!
8:00 PM: Homeward bound—Friday’s another long day!
FRIDAY, November 4th, 2011
9:00 AM: Arrived, stopped by the exhibition hall to say hello, and headed to first session!
9:30 AM: “Building a Dynamic Website ROCKS!” This workshop presented a number of tools and strategies for website creation that libraries might find useful. I had already explored most of the tips and resources that were presented, thanks to the coursework here at SU, so I left the presentation a bit early and headed back to the exhibition.
10:15 AM: Spent the rest of the morning concluding my information-gathering in the exhibition hall, but was also excited to see the poster sessions! Two of them especially stood out:
2:15 PM: “Teen Spaces Reimagined,” with two SU alums on the panel, discussed the implications on community and library use when teenagers are given their own library space. This was a great panel because both school and public libraries were represented, and all of the presenters mentioned again and again how connected their libraries were to each other. This panel drove home some of the ideas I’ve been hearing in my classes about participatory librarianship—we’re all connected, and librarians are rapidly becoming guides to digital creation and collaboration, not just assisting patrons looking for a new book.
3:45 PM: In keeping with the participatory librarianship theme, my next panel was “Making Music at Your Library,” presenting ways to get libraries involved as venues for the archiving, creating, and presenting of music. I think there’s great potential here—the Far Rockaway branch of the Queens Library has recently introduced a recording studio, and is training young people to use it!
5:00 PM: After the last presentation of the day, I headed down to Mouzon House, a local restaurant, for the Syracuse University iSchool reception. It was wonderful to spend time with alumni, students, faculty, and staff, the food was delicious, and it certainly helped my time at the conference end on a high note!
All in all, NYLA was a great way to get my feet wet, and start learning about professional conferences in librarianship. Can’t wait for next year!
I’ve just returned to Syracuse after two packed days at the 2011 New York Library Association conference. The trip was great, Saratoga Springs has a beautiful downtown, I met a bunch of great people and I learned a lot! People have been asking me why librarians bother going to conferences, but I think my schedule speaks for itself.
THURSDAY, November 3rd, 2011
12:00 PM: Arrived at the conference center and headed straight for the exhibition hall. Said hello to the SU School of information Studies booth, then talked with vendors about their offerings—learned about audiobooks, library bindings, jobbers and acquisitions assistance, digitization and tracking tools—too much for one visit!
1:45 PM: “21 More Ideas for 21st Century Libraries,” a presentation given by Kimberly Bolan Cullin (SU alumna ’95) and Rob Cullin. We looked at some of the coolest ideas showing up in libraries worldwide, from collaborative workspaces to specially-zoned teen, children’s, & reference areas, and started to re-envision the library!
3:00 PM: Got food, explored the area around the conference center. Headed back just in time for the next workshop.
4:00 PM: “Sex in YA fiction: How Far is Too Far?” Lecture by Eric Luper, author of numerous YA novels. Learned a litmus test for sex and other questionable content in Young Adult fiction, and how to judge whether or not a scene is gratuitous. We explored the issues surrounding graphic content in YA that will face librarians as authors explore more radical subject areas.
5:15 PM: Back to exhibition halls to meet up with the iSchool contingent (a bunch of us attended!), and headed to a networking reception at a local restaurant. Met great librarians in every facet of librarianship, and connected with them for the future!
8:00 PM: Homeward bound—Friday’s another long day!
FRIDAY, November 4th, 2011
9:00 AM: Arrived, stopped by the exhibition hall to say hello, and headed to first session!
9:30 AM: “Building a Dynamic Website ROCKS!” This workshop presented a number of tools and strategies for website creation that libraries might find useful. I had already explored most of the tips and resources that were presented, thanks to the coursework here at SU, so I left the presentation a bit early and headed back to the exhibition.
10:15 AM: Spent the rest of the morning concluding my information-gathering in the exhibition hall, but was also excited to see the poster sessions! Two of them especially stood out:
- LibraryPalooza at the University at Albany, SUNY. It was great to see how the library is introduced to incoming first-years. I was also really glad to see a presentation using the “lightning talk” Pecha Kucha model (Similar to the Ignite format, and a presentation style I can’t wait to try).
- The Fayetteville Free library has recently embarked on a new venture: the Fayetteville Fab Lab. It’s designed to help people become creators of information, not just consumers, and will feature all sorts of cool gadgets to help people create–with librarians there to guide them!
2:15 PM: “Teen Spaces Reimagined,” with two SU alums on the panel, discussed the implications on community and library use when teenagers are given their own library space. This was a great panel because both school and public libraries were represented, and all of the presenters mentioned again and again how connected their libraries were to each other. This panel drove home some of the ideas I’ve been hearing in my classes about participatory librarianship—we’re all connected, and librarians are rapidly becoming guides to digital creation and collaboration, not just assisting patrons looking for a new book.
3:45 PM: In keeping with the participatory librarianship theme, my next panel was “Making Music at Your Library,” presenting ways to get libraries involved as venues for the archiving, creating, and presenting of music. I think there’s great potential here—the Far Rockaway branch of the Queens Library has recently introduced a recording studio, and is training young people to use it!
5:00 PM: After the last presentation of the day, I headed down to Mouzon House, a local restaurant, for the Syracuse University iSchool reception. It was wonderful to spend time with alumni, students, faculty, and staff, the food was delicious, and it certainly helped my time at the conference end on a high note!
All in all, NYLA was a great way to get my feet wet, and start learning about professional conferences in librarianship. Can’t wait for next year!
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