Ballad in Plain E

The May issue of InsuranceWest magazine has a cover story on the portrayal of insurance industry folks on the big screen and in fiction. We’ve all heard stereotypes about librarians, obviously. We law library people have heard many a lawyer joke and cliche, too (who could forget last year’s “Lawyers Are Rats”-Gate?). But I’d never given much thought to the image of insurance adjusters. The authors of the InsuranceWest article analyse the way that agents, claims managers, adjusters, company reps, and brokers are portrayed in several movies and books. And it turns out, we’re not the only ones with bad stereotypes. Apparently, people in the insurance industry are “right up there with used-car salesmen, shady lawyers, and corrupt cops.”

It reminded me of an item I’d recently seen on Library Link of the Day called “Old Maids, Policeman, and Social Rejects: Mass Media Representations and Public Perceptions of Librarians” in the Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship. This short paper surveys the literature and identifies five broad categories of stereotypes. Guess what? Only one of them (The Hero/ine Librarian) offers a remotely positive image of our profession. (Incidentally, one they seem to have overlooked is the sexy/dominatrix librarian–not to say that that’s any better than the ones they do identify. It’s just a lot more entertaining and on the surface, anyway, appealing.)

Just as I sat down to write this post, my witty and observant friend and colleague Christina Tribe e-mailed a few of us to ask if we’d seen the insurance article (great minds think alike?). She thinks insurance types still get a better deal: “At least their characters are main characters, and more interesting. Their stereotypes seem grander, and not paltry or trifling!” She’s got a point. As the InsuranceWest article concludes, “It also helps that in most movies, even Bad Guys are played by good-looking people. And they always dress well.”
I think, in the end, most professions have a stereotype, and stereotypes, for the most part, comprise unflattering, generalised views. But I think knowing just one person who doesn’t fit a preconceived notion of a given line of work can do wonders for all members of that field. Just as getting to know a lot of lawyers personally has shown me that the “lawyers are evil” notion simply isn’t true, I think library techs and librarians have a great opportunity to be that one person who’s an information superhero, and not just embody a cookie-cutter, generic idea of a profession. So what if we’re sometimes nerdy? Being nerdy [read: detail-oriented, persistent, attentive] is a huge part of what makes us good at what we do.

I get asked, all the time, things like, “Gee, you’re a librarian…you must have a secret wild side. Do you drive a Corvette or something?” Um, no. But I do play the mandolin!

Go ahead - be the exception to what others think is the rule.

Rex Turgano, one of the good folks at Andornot, has developed a neat site called LibraryDevCamp.ca, dubbed “a web playground for the library community”. It’s a place where people can try out open source software that might be of use to them in their jobs. Lately they’ve been adding links to libraries and other websites that are using particular software so that you can see it in action. Some recent posts have been on PBWiki, Scriblio, and Blogger.

A great idea, Rex. Keep up the good work!

From Stray Questions for Douglas Coupland, in the New York Times Papercuts blog:

“Without hesitation the Web is a blessing, but you know what I miss? Reference librarians. I used to live in the reference library but it’s now been over a year since I’ve visited one. They must be doing a lot of sudoku puzzles at their desks these days.”

Check out the comments from librarians, and a response from ol’ Doug himself, looks like.

There’s a good article in today’s Globe & Mail (BC Edition) on the strike currently happening at the Victoria Public Library. The article reminds us that public libraries are not just about books, and fulfill different needs depending on the user group. The last few lines are especially moving:

“Go on down to the picket line at one of the nine branches and you can meet your neighbourhood library workers. What a fine bunch of assets they are.

“I’ve never been ashamed to say I’m a librarian,” Mr. Thompson said.

That’s a statement not many of us - and certainly no newspaper reporter - can make.”

It’s a shame that libraries don’t usually make headlines until there’s a strike.

Check out the uber-cute “The Library Never Sleeps” constellation jpeg at the U of A Library Website. The image is part of an announcement about 24/7 library service during the final exam period. I think I want that on a t-shirt!

One blog I’ve been reading a lot lately is Meredith Farkas’s “Information Wants to be Free“. She does a great job of bringing to light what other library bloggers are talking about, which is great for me, since I discovered long ago that I can’t possibly read all the blogs I’d like to read. What got me hooked on her blog was a very thoughtful response to a Library Revolution post on overachievers, underachievers, and motivation - which had me thinking about the debate all day. That’s the sign of a great blog! Meredith seems to be level-headed with a good sense of humour, and her writing is a pleasure to read.

In today’s post, she describes a “Library 2.0 idea adoption spectrum” that she and a colleague devised, which ranges from “Twopointopians” (awesome term apparently coined by Annoyed Librarian) to “Alienated”. It was an interesting exercise to determine where I fit into the spectrum. According to Meredith,

“I think most people who are into this stuff, me included, fall into the “Pragmatists” category. We are big technology fans, but we understand that these tools should only be used in libraries to fill needs. We realize that not all of our patrons are tech-savvy and that many of them have needs that can’t be filled by 2.0 technologies. We know that any time we focus on a 2.0 technology, we take time and resources away from something else, so we must carefully prioritize our technology use at work. Pragmatists manage to be both excited and skeptical.”

[my emphasis]

I guess I must be a pragmatist, but I suspect I may be headed towards becoming a grazer, because my excitement is wearing thin. Some days, I think I’ll scream if I read about one more new 2.0 application - library-related or not. I think it’s silly that it even needs a name anymore, which I guess it why I find the term “Library 2.0″ so ridiculous. For me, it comes down to one main thing. Either an application is useful, or it is not. I like Meredith’s assessment of why some uses of new technologies work, and others don’t:

“And a lot of the initial things I tried to implement failed. Why? Because I put the tool before the need, I didn’t consider the fact that my colleagues may not want to use these tools, and I didn’t really consider the maintenance burden these tools have.

…

[W]e’ve been successfully providing IM reference now since January 2006. But it’s mainly because it was done right, putting the need before the tool.”

[my emphasis]

Another aspect that comes into play here, I think, must be a generational divide. Had these new sorts of user-generated, AJAXy applications not been given a name and given the cool factor, I don’t think anyone my age (26) would have batted an eye. For my generation, “the next thing” has always been an inherent feature of the internet. I think when it comes to the internet, “progress” is a neutral descriptor - it’s just time marching on. The internet isn’t necessarily improving with all these allegedly 2.0 applications.

It just occurred to me, right now, that for me, keeping up with changes in web technologies has never really been “keeping up”–it’s just been the way it’s always been: finding out about new things, trying them out, using them if they’re good, and not if they’re bad. Maybe I’m biased because I’m the kind of person who enjoys reading about this sort of stuff — I know that not everyone does. Maybe for them, keeping up is an active effort.

It’s like this: when I was in high school, I had a couple of Tripod and Geocities homepages dedicated to assorted musicians and actors (and okay, yes, some bad teen poetry). In college, I had a Livejournal. Now in my working life, I have this blog. It’s just one thing replacing the other. But did people 20 years older than me have this experience? Or are they now looking at the internet with all these crazy things you can do and feeling totally overwhelmed - and either thinking “I have to master every single thing out there” or conversely, “I got along fine for ages without these, so why should I bother?”. I don’t know - I’m just speculating. Maybe what I’m wondering is whether you would find these types of “Library 2.0 - boon or bane?” discussions at all in a strictly under-30 set? It’s just interesting to ponder.

I know I’m all over the place here. I’m just trying to figure out where I stand in all of this. I guess I’m also a little worried that my growing wariness of this hype is going to turn me off of the internet–and that would probably not be good for my career. I’m already a curmudgeon in many other aspects of my life–and work is one area where I can’t afford to be!

Anyway, thanks, Meredith, for giving me a lot to think about and the fodder to break out of my blogging rut!

Hands-down, the lack of library services - when I’m at work, anyway. I didn’t realise how often I used VPL’s electronic resources! I keep forgetting that they’re unavailable, and getting a no-service message from the website.

I have an electronic alert set up to tell me every time the phrase “library technician” appears in the news. The unfortunate thing is that library techs are never in the news so much as when there’s a strike.

How are VPL’s staff doing, I wonder? There were a couple of interesting (brings up the gender-wage gap) letters (brings up the “not everyone who works in a library is a librarian” issue) to the editor a few days ago in the Vancouver Sun. Leave a comment if you’ve been affected by the strike.

As seen in Librarian of Fortune, an interesting article in the NY Times (”Fashion & Style” section) on how librarians are really, really cool. And, a hilarious rebuttal from Librarian’s Guide to Etiquette (”Trying too hard” section).

Just got this press release from a good friend in Winnipeg, about a 24-Hour Freedom to Read Marathon. Very cool event, one I wish I could attend.

Speaking of freedom to read, I’m going to the Deb Ellis reading tomorrow night at VPL Central. She’s the author of a book called “Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak” that has been quite controversial in the last while (the book is mentioned in the press release below). Should be really good.

Use it or Lose It! . . . your Freedom to Read

EVENT: 24hr Freedom to Read Marathon
DATE: 10am. Saturday, February 24 - 10am. Sunday, February 25
LOCATION: Millennium Library (251 Donald Street)

At 10am Saturday, February 25th the Manitoba Writers’ Guild will kick off the 5th annual 24hr Freedom to Read Marathon as part of the upcoming national Freedom to Read Week celebrations.

Staged in Winnipeg’s Millennium Library (251 Donald Street) the marathon will have participants work in a relay fashion, reading aloud a book that has been banned or challenged, for ten minutes. As each reader finishes their ten minutes of reading they are replaced with a new reader, who then shares a passage from a different banned or challenged book. In this way the words of authors who have been silenced, are celebrated for the 24-hour period.

From 10am until the library closes (5pm.) the marathon will take place in the reader services area on the main floor of the library. At the closing of the library the marathon proceedings will be escorted from the library in a symbolic gesture and the library gates will be drawn closed. From 5pm. onwards the marathon will take place in the foyer of the Millennium Library, with the shuttered gates of the Library looming in the background.

Titles read at the marathon are varied and far reaching, from kids books like Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax” and “Harry Potter” to the Bible and Margaret Laurence’s “The Diviners.” Readers are also encouraged to read works by authors who face persecution for their writing around the world.

Recently, censorship issues have risen to the forefront with titles such as “Three Wishes” by Deborah Ellis and “The Higher Power of Lucky” by Susan Patron being banned and challenged in Canada and the United States respectively.

While freedom of speech is often taken for granted in Western Democracies, it continues to be challenged to this day. The 24hr Freedom to Read Marathon allows people from all walks of life a chance to raise their voice and use their FREEDOM TO READ.

People wanting to take part in this important event can learn more or sign up as a reader at the Manitoba Writers’ Guild website, www.mbwriter.mb.ca.

A couple of weeks ago, we hosted a meeting of the Vancouver Inmagic Users Group, at which the fine folks at Andornot showed off all the great new features of Textworks & Webpublisher Pro v10, which will be released soon for us CS peeps.

First cool thing: Webpublisher PRO v10 will support Firefox (fully, I assume). ‘Nuff said.

Second cool thing: you can now switch from the somewhat unintuitive standard Webpublisher Pro syntax to an alternative search syntax that allows you to use operators that were until recently limited to my search engine dreams: you can now use OR instead of the slash, a minus sign instead of the exclamation mark for NOT, and…ooohh….ahhhh…a space between words is an implied AND, not a phrase!

Third cool thing: ability to generate RSS feeds — for instance, you can generate a feed of the latest additions to your library catalogue, to use on your library’s intranet page or website.

Word is that we won’t get upgraded until at least March, which can’t come soon enough - I’m chomping at the bit to fool around with these new features.