Reflective Journal: Marcia Hannon

Customer service
Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/30/2011 8:05 PM Author Tags: We have a new Standards of Library Customer Service policy at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. This is a new document that will replace the existing Guidelines for Public Service. The current Guidelines for Public Services purpose is to set forth procedures, guidelines and instructions for all Library personnel and volunteer staff. The purpose is to achieve uniform information delivery of the highest possible quality, consistent with available resources, and to provide standards by which staff can judge job performance. The policy starts out restating the ALA Code of Ethics, This old policy is a small book that is 14 pages long and very detailed about our individual services, here are some of the categories from the Guidelines for Public Services book: Objectives, Ethics of Information Service, Service Priorities, Special Services, Orientation, Community Information Service (CIS),Desk Procedures, Professional Courtesy, Switchboard these categories are very detailed. The Guidelines Policy basically touches on all of our services, policies, and procedures, such as: A caller seeking employment confirmation data for a staff member or former staff member must be referred to Human Resources. Not releasing home telephone numbers, addresses, work schedules or other personal information about staff members. Tell the calling party that you are not able to provide that information about staff members. Offer to take the callers name and number or a message and relay it to the staff member. The new Customer Service was re-arranged & modified from the Davenport Public Librarys Standards. The new policy is called Standards of Library Customer Service, and is a service manual for Library personnel. The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library staff and volunteers will follow the ALA Code of Ethics. It has seven categories 1. Take responsibility for protecting customer confidentiality. 2. Take responsibility for understanding and implementing library policies and guidelines. 3. Take responsibility for behaving ethically. 4. Take responsibility for creating a welcoming atmosphere. 5. Take responsibility for providing each customer with an exceptional user experience. 6. Take responsibility for meeting the needs of customers and co-workers.

7. Take responsibility for practicing good work habits. This new Standards of Library Customer Service format is much shorter, just over 2 pages and it is easier to read than the old guidelines. Under each category it gives the important bullet points, it doesnt try to explain all of our policies and services that we provide at the library. An example of the new policy is in category 3. Take responsibility for behaving ethically. a) Acknowledge and serve customers and co-workers equally without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, disability, age, ancestry or any other characteristic. b) Be non-judgmental about a persons abilities in literacy, cultural literacy or technical skills. Be prepared to assist and accommodate the person according to his or her needs. We strive to provide good customer service, having the new standards will help guide all of our employees and volunteers to provide the same level of service. However some of the employees and volunteers will only provide what is necessary to help our patrons find what they are looking for and other employees and volunteers will go beyond the basics to provide an exceptional customer service experience. Great experiences are memorable, special, and make us want to return for more. What you might not know is that many of these great experiences are not left to chance or random possibilities (Bell 2009).

Shawshank Redemption thoughts

Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/29/2011 11:16 PM Author Tags: I watched the movie The Shawshank Redemption. Andy was a banker on the outside, he was an informational professional. Andy used his information knowledge to gain the trust of the warden and become the library curator. Andy relentlessly sent letters to the State Senate, every week asking for additional funding for his library. Eventually his letter writing pays off, the State sends him a check and some boxes of books and records for his library. It seems to me as if Andy has found a way to make his life and the lives of the other prisoners bearable, by reading and listening to music. Rubin says, librarians and informational professionals are moral agents, responsible to themselves, others, and society as a whole. Our values and ethics provide a framework for our conduct, policies, and services. Without them, we are, as Foskett observed, merely lurching about stumbling in the dark. Values are strongly held beliefs that serve to guide our actions Rubin (2010). After all of his hard work, transforming a storage room into the best prison library in New England, the warden takes all the credit by delivering a public speech in front of the prison walls.

Eventually in the movie after Andy has been helping the warden launder money by making up a fictitious person. Andy talks about being on the outside and what an honest person he was, he was straight as an arrow. He had to come to prison to be a crook. Being a prisoner basically took away Andys (and the other prisoners)Intellectual freedom which Dresang defined as, freedom to think or believe what one will, freedom to express ones thoughts and beliefs in unrestricted manners and means, and freedom to access information and ideas regardless of the content or viewpoints of the author(s) or the age, background, or beliefs of the receiver Rubin (2010).

New integrated library system coming

Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/28/2011 9:29 PM Author Tags: We are working on the final steps of our new integrated library system by Polaris. They have been to Topeka and done a library profile. We expect this system to be ready for training in February 2012. They will start with the circulation and cataloging. We really hope this new system will make it easier for our associates and patrons to search for material and place holds on the items. Something similar to keyword and subject searching like Google has. In Rubins textbook chapter 6 Markey (2007) noted that although online catalogs used to be where people started searching for information, Google now takes precedence. He suggested that online catalogs need to be redesigned with similar retrieval capabilities, with improved subject searching and metadata, and with the ability to return precise search results. Rubin (2010) We do know that Polaris will have many more options for add-ons than what our current Horizon ILS has now. In addition to making searches for information easier, the new system will help with our outreach services, services that we provide on our Bookmobiles, and Red Carpet homebound patrons.

Red carpet outreach services

Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/28/2011 8:37 AM Author Tags:

We have talked quite a bit about outreach services this semester, so I thought I would talk about our Red Carpet service from the Topeka and Shawnee County Public library. Our Red Carpet services offer activities and materials like descriptive videos, large print materials, assistive listening devices, low vision, but one of the most important aspects of the Red Carpet Department is the delivery schedule which is maintained by the Red Carpet staff, as well as

volunteers throughout the community. Deliveries are performed on a rotating two week schedule and include long term care facilities and housing communities, as well as service directly to the homes of people who have a physical condition that restricts access to the main library or bookmobiles. Deliveries made to housing communities and long term care facilities are meant to assist the people living at those facilities and are not available to the general public. In a way, Red Carpet staff members are the personal librarians of the people they deliver to, therefore they take very seriously the job of selecting and presenting materials which will be enjoyed by all of their patrons. Retrieved from TSCPL website, (18, November 2011) When a staff member delivers to a housing or apartment community, carts of books and movies are taken inside for residents to browse. Holds and requests are taken in as well, and set out for patrons to pick up at their leisure. Staff members are available to answer various reference questions, assist patrons in finding materials, or conduct reference interviews in order to better serve the residents of the community. Time spent at the site can vary anywhere from fifteen minutes to two hours depending on the size of the site and how many people take advantage of the service provided. Each Red Carpet staff member is in charge of an average of three or four routes every two weeks, and a total of anywhere from fifty to eighty patron accounts. In addition, most routes require two staff members, so the total number of deliveries in a given two week span could be double that amount. Despite this fact, the Red Carpet staff is able to maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with all of the patrons they deliver materials to. This relationship is one of the main reasons the staff enjoy their work so much. Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. Retrieved 18, November 2011. http://www.tscpl.org/senior-services/red-carpet-services/the-basics-of-red-carpet-deliveries/

Computers
Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/25/2011 7:30 PM Author Tags: I volunteer for the drop in computer class at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library; this is a first come first serve drop in class from 3:30 P.M. 5:00 P.M. every Tuesday in our computer training center. I help many people that come in for a variety of reasons, some want help with the basics on how to use the computer while others want help with job applications, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and setting up e-mail accounts, scan photos, and also help people figure out how to use their laptop computers, in addition to many other computer questions and issues. We have over 170 public computers available for use, plus 16 computers in the computer training center, we use this space for employee training as well as training classes for the public. We have training classes for Winway Resume Writing, Powerpoint, Excel: Introduction to Spreadsheets, Excel: Lists, Word: Introduction to Word Processing, Word: Graphics, Word: Tables, Tabs & Columns, Google It, Internet Introduction, Beginning Windows, E-Books with

Kansas OverDrive, and many more. We increased the number of classes on how to use e-readers within the past year, learn how to use your E-reader with our free Kansas OverDrive service. We cover how to browse titles, download OverDrive software and transfer E-books to your compatible Sony E-reader, Barnes & Noble Nook, or the Kobo E-reader. We get lots of positive feedback on all of our classes, and have been told numerous times how we helped someone receive employment benefits or find a job. According to the Rubin textbook, public libraries have significantly increased the numbers of computer workstations, wireless connectivity, and training in the use of these technologies Rubin (2010).

Conclusion to Looking for Information

Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/23/2011 11:58 AM Author Tags: Case talks about the shifting paradigm, and how we pay attention to theory more now than in the past, 30 years. We also have more diversity within those methods. We have talked a lot this semester about theory and other disciplines and how they relate to our Library information Science studies and the information seeking behavior. Case says, There is an important conclusion regarding information seeking that even yet may not be apparent to the reader, even though it has been emphasized in several places in this text: the way we conceptualize and study information seeking has changed profoundly over the last quarter century. As this book emphasizes the more recent literature among nearly a century of publications and the changes in theory and methods may not be so apparent to the reader. Yet the shift in thinking has been major, although slow to emerge. Perhaps the most obvious influences have been various strains of the sense-making paradigm, and constructivist and constructionalist models of thought. I like the way Case used this last chapter to review the textbook chapters of the and pull it all together. I also liked how he reinterpreted Dervins 10 myths and included two of his own.

Readers Advisory Conference

Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/21/2011 9:56 PM Author Tags: I attended the Readers Advisory conference in Topeka on November 4, 2011 with Librarian and Publisher Nancy Pearl. It was another informative meeting with lots of break-out sessions and tips from Nancy Pearl on how to be a better Readers Advisory Librarians. What makes a good Readers Advisory Librarian she asked us? Its not like we can read or are even expected to read all of the books in our collections, so how do we answer the question, can you recommend a good book? Nancy said we should network with our fellow librarians to see what they are reading, talk to the patrons; ask them if they have read any good books, or what they liked most

about a particular book? Nancy also suggested shelving our materials together (which we already do with many of our books) like the book neighborhoods our library has set up. We have cooking, health, pets, lawn & gardening, college & career, travel, and wedding neighborhoods to name a few, and to just walk the stacks and look at the books and read some of their covers. The textbook also talks about putting collections together by subject on pg. 408. Another strategy for maximizing the chances of matching a reader with a book involved how the collection was arranged. Ranganathan suggested that collections should be arranged by subject for the most effective access Rubin (2010). This is the second readers advisory conference I have been to, and both years I came away with some very valuable information.

Book Bike
Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/13/2011 4:43 PM Author Tags: I came across this Book Bike in Chicago article while I was looking for information on library book mobiles. I am on a committee at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library to replace our current book mobiles, they are getting old and space is limited. We are researching what it is our book mobile patrons want. Do they want internet access, story times, programs, more stops, and longer length of the current stops; or are they happy with the current level of service? The Book Bike started in Chicago by Gabriel Levinson, it goes to the great parks in Chicago and gives away free books, regardless of age, economic status or any other factor. He has given away 3,000 books as of May 2010, he has a custom built bicycle/tricycle, that folds open to display the books. Recently a Chicago Parks official tried to shut the Book bike down, move him to the outskirts of the park, or make Levinson buy a permit in order to continue giving away the books. A follow up article I found says, This solution is first and foremost the result of all the people who love books and reading and whove shown unflinching support for the mission and work of the Book Bike. At a practical level, I owe a great debt of thanks to the people of the Chicago Public Library system. Building on the projects weve done together for some two years, they stepped up when the problems arose and worked with cooperative officials at the Chicago Park District to resolve the situtation. The result is a working partnership through which the Book Bikes presence in the parks has the official sanction of the Public Library, satisfying whatever questions the Park District had raised. The Book Bike remains free to continue its independent activities just as before J. Borges (2010)

http://chicagoist.com/2010/05/12/book_bike.php#photo-1

David Lee King's blog

Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/11/2011 12:31 PM Author Tags: I work with David at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library he is our Digital Branch & Services Manager. I didnt know much about David or his blog until I saw his blog listed as one of the required librarian blogs listed to comment on in my journal. I think his blog has a host of valuable information; not just about David, but about podcasts, technology, the web, and privacy. Some of the blog posts are about setting up a Google plus page for libraries, Facebook, twitter, and YouTube. He has links all over his blog page making it easy to connect and find out more about these topics and the technology he is blogging about. David has 18 different ways to connect and share information listed at the bottom of his personal blog page, it includes links to his twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BlinkList and a few others that I had never even heard about before reading his blog. In Davids personal section he says, I create, write, think, and speak about library websites and emerging digital technology. This website reflects those topics. I will continue to follow Davids blog since I now have a link to it. Theres not a link available on our TSCPL website, although someone in his comments suggested he should add a link.

Occupy Wall Street article

Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/10/2011 12:30 PM Author Tags: I had not heard about the Occupy Wall Street Library until we met for our last LI 801 face 2 face class. We were asked to bring an article relating to services provided by information professionals for a small group discussion and then to pick one and share it with the class. Abigail Cuffey was the one in our small group that brought this article up in our small group. I wondered how it was started and how they kept the books protected from the weather. The article talks about the appointment of a librarian and how the first books donated and how the inclement weather destroyed them, however the people at Occupy Wall Street didnt stop there they not only started a new collection, but they continue to get huge amounts of donations daily. The article says, The occupation goes on 24/7 and so do we. There is always someone from library staff on hand round the clock, including members of the homeless population, who have contributed efforts to the cause of this free public library. Its primary purpose remains to cater to the information and entertainment needs of the people at the Occupy Wall Street site C. Zabriskie (2011). There are no library cards, no fees, and no RFIDs, they are not concerned

with the materials actually making it back to the collection as long as the books get passed on to someone else. One thing our libraries dont have to worry about is the weather; we have buildings to house our materials in. The OWS doesnt have this luxury, This library has issues and pressures most librarians will never face. For example, weather is a genuine concern. Because no tents are allowed in Zuccotti Park, the library is completely open to the skya nice venue on a clear autumn afternoon, but problematic during a thunderstorm. The bookshelves are plastic bins ready to be covered and sealed quickly in an emergency and reopened when the weather clears C. Zabriskie (2011). Since this library started in New York, there have been over 100 other occupy libraries that have popped up in other cities where they are protesting. The article says the library volunteers have archived and cataloged for generations to come, which I think is great. But I wonder what happens to all of the materials once these groups quit protesting? C. Zabriskie. A Library Occupies the Heart of the Occupy Movement American Libraries, Tue, 10/18/2011

Toward a New Alexandra

Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/2/2011 2:15 PM Author Tags: I have heard and read quite a bit this semester about new technologies and how it affects the library. Part of this information came from my LI 513 Technology Skills for Graduate Students, through collaboration with the professor and the students; also technology was discussed in classes and the reading material from LI 801 and LI 802 classes. In the LI 513 class we were required to write an essay based on information contained in the new Horizon report. The Horizon Report discussed key trends, critical challenges, technologies to watch, and the Horizon project. The Horizon Report is produced each fall using a carefully constructed process that is informed by both primary and secondary research. Nearly a hundred technologies , as well as dozens of meaningful trends and challenges are examined for possible inclusion in the report each year; an internationally renowned Advisory Board examines each topic in progressively more detail, reducing the set until the final list of technologies, trends, and challenges is selected Johnson, Levine, Smith, Stone (2010). Ultimately, this is not a challenge of technology, finances, or ultimately even laws, difficult though they are. It is a challenge of will and imagination Rausing (2010). This article talks about how technology has affected libraries in the past, currently and into the future, what materials to keep or destroy and what to make available online. In todays era of electronic abundance, how can libraries archive the dreams and experiences of humankind? What do we discard? And if a library can no longer be understood as a warehouse of treasures, a primitively accumulated Schatzkammer, what is it? Rausing (2010)

Another topic that has been discussed lately in my classes is the concept of Gate-Keepers and Gate-Openers. The article says, In other words, the question for scholars and gate-keepers is not whether change is coming. It is whether they will be among the change-makers. And if not them, then who Rausing (2010).

Outreach services
Created by Marcia Hannon, 11/2/2011 10:32 AM Author Tags: Our Bookmobile and Adventure Mobile buses go out into the community to regularly scheduled stops, similar to vehicles in Adapt for Outreach article. The Adventure Mobile is unique; it takes animals and creatures out on it during the summer, when they schedule an animal on the Adventure Mobile it goes out for the whole week. It visits dozens of county schools on a regular basis offering a variety of books and other educational materials to students of all ages as well as teachers. It is one of the most popular vehicles in Shawnee County, Kansas! The Adventure Mobile has books, videos, magazines and all the things you find on a regular bookmobile; but it has that extra wow factor of a dog, kitten, goat, snakes, turtles, crabs, bunnies and too many more animals to list. In a nutshell, the outreach department needed programs that were practical and easy to reproduce Craig, A., Hyatt, J. (2009) We partner with the Helping Hand Humane shelter here in Topeka, and also with several of the pet stores, to ensure we have plenty of animals to take out during the summer months. We are currently reviewing our Bookmobile services at The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, we just finished taking a survey from our Bookmobile users to see what services they like, dont like, what we can improve on or add to the current services we provide. We know we have to reach out to the patron in the community, because they cant and wont always come to us. We also want to make sure we are going to provide the types of services they really want well into the future.

How our library uses mobile devices

Created by Marcia Hannon, 10/26/2011 1:10 PM Author Tags: More and more people are relying on mobile devices to communicate with each other and to search for information. Why should libraries be any different? According to (Hauroo, 2010) During the last few years, a diverse array of network-capable mobile devices- ranging from smart phones, e-readers, PDAs, netbooks and laptops has hit the consumer market. These devices along with global cellular networks; have had a profound impact on the informationseeking behavior of users (p. 1). Our libraries are a main source for information and they should be able to retrieve information and share it with our customers using whatever device is easiest for our library employee and the customer; whether it is a desktop or laptop computer, smart

phone, I-pad or other electronic or mobile device. Pew (2010) says that cell phones lead the pack in mobile devices. Pew Internet and American Life Project found that some 85 percent of U.S. citizens now own a cell phone, with 96 percent of 18 29 year olds owning a handset to make calls and send text messages or surf the web and use internet applications (p. 1) Helal (2002) asserts that By the late 1980s over 10 million units had been sold worldwide and the cell phone became a necessity for many and a status symbol for many others. (p. 30) Many of our managers and supervisors at The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library have smart phones. They carry them around with them at work, and they openly lay them on the conference tables as they are having their meetings. This allows them to keep in touch with their departments and employees, and to respond to messages. The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library now also has the ability to use text messaging and instant messaging for reference questions. On the main page of our website at tscpl.org, about half way down there is a box that says, Ask a librarian. Where you can chose to use text messaging, instant messaging, a phone call, or send an e-mail. Hauroo (2010) says, The mobile phone has become over the past 10 years, one of the major methods by which people interact with information around the world. Librarians need to be aware of these changes, peer forward, and prepare for the future of library mobile interaction. (p. 1 & 2)

Working at the reference desk

Created by Marcia Hannon, 10/26/2011 8:51 AM Author Tags: On occasion our supervisor Ruthie will assign us in the circulation department to help out at the reference desk in the media room. Her intention is for us to help answer the telephone, and patron inquiries about movies we have. However once in a while we answer the phone call and they ask a reference question, and of course we are expected to answer the question, since we did answer the phone. Sometimes it is a simple question, what a phone number is or an address; but on occasion they want to know where to find information on a particular subject. We are required to keep track of any and all questions that we answer, whether it is a short telephone reference, long telephone reference, in person short/long or a directional question. We use a form that is already formatted for different types of calls, and use tally marks to keep track. Adult Services uses this form and keeps statistics on the type of phone calls they receive. In the article Reference Futures: outsourcing, the web, or knowledge counseling, Mann distinguishes between reference questions, which are those with reasonably determinable right answer, and research questions, which are more open-ended. Research questions generally take more time than reference questions Whitlach, pp.27 (2003)

I find it interesting that out of the many reference phone calls I have taken, I have not taken any that were from students researching a topic. Thinking back to my undergrauate studies research I did not use personal recommendations from faculty or students. According to the textbook,

Although the role of the librarian was considered to be quite narrow, the participants frequently turned to informal mediators, including parents, siblings, and friends Kuhlthau, pp. 109 (2004). Most of my research was done on my own using web based searches and ocassionally the University library. I really feel like I got a lot out of this learning module, it really related to some of the tasks I help with at work on the reference desk.

Gate-Keepers and Gate-Openers

Created by Marcia Hannon, 10/20/2011 8:33 PM Author Tags: We all want to make access to our materials and websites easier to find and navigate. The position of a gate-keeper, historically determining what books, media, and other materials to acquire, and then creating the structures that allow our community members to access them Bell (2009). This reminds me of our website update a few months ago at The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. We did this website update to make things easier to find. However it took quite a bit of browsing the site for me to find where all of our links had moved to. We had numerous calls from our patrons asking for assistance in finding the links to something as simple as our bookmobile schedule or how to pay a fine link. We are now used to the new design, and it is easier to find the links because they are grouped together. We could have left the website alone, but according to our digital services manager this new design is easier to use. The new design uses drop down menus instead of pop up boxes, which you had to use the back arrow to return to the previous screen. Now with the drop down boxes, you still have the menu options at the top of the page and can navigate them with ease. Most people would say there was nothing wrong with the old website but as the article From Gate-Keepers to Gate-Opener states, Libraries of all types are well positioned to design the type of experiences that deliver meaning. But business as usual thinking is not likely to get us there Bell (2009). Our digital services department tries to keep up with the latest technology they try to make navigating through the catalog and website as user friendly as possible. We also try to make locating materials on the floor easier to find. We have the media room, where all of the adult DVDs, BOCDs, and music CDs are located. We have the childrens and teen sections where the childrens DVDs, BOCDs, music CDs, and books are located. We also have the east and west wing stacks, which houses our neighborhood, fiction, and biography sections. Finally we have the red carpet area that has all of our large print, realia, and computers for reading or hearing impaired. It sounds like a lot of area to cover, and it is a large building. By keeping the adult and childrens materials together make locating them a lot easier for all of us.

Conducting Interviews
Created by Marcia Hannon, 10/13/2011 8:25 PM

Author Tags: I have had the chance to do a couple of interviews in the last 3 weeks. One was for my Information Seeker Interview for LI 802, and the other was for the Professional Interview LI 801. It has been a great and insightful experience. I have conducted interviews before, but they were job applicants looking for a job. I was already familiar with the open ended questions, because this is what I used for the job interviews. It was always a challenge trying to get job applicants to open up about their previous experience, as a manager I needed to know how much and what kind of work related experience they had. So I could determine if they had enough experience to hire them. As a manager the worst thing I could do was to ask closed questions. The closed question method told me absolutely nothing about their experience when they just answered yes or no. I wished I had heard of the neutral questioning back when I was a manager. I really liked some of the suggestions that were in the article Neutral Questioning. It gives examples about how to assess the situation, how to assess the gaps, and how to assess the uses Dervin & Dewdney (1986). Some of the examples would be great follow up questions for a job interview. I know as a librarian I will get to use this neutral questioning method many times in the future. The article says, In essence then, the neutral questioning provides the librarian with a tool for controlling the nature of the reference interview. At the same time, the technique provides users with control - the freedom to unfold their stories in a human way Dervin & Dewdney (1986). This is a method I will be eager to try. And I am curious to see how many of our reference librarians currently use this method or if they have even heard of this neutral questioning method.

Who's an information activist?

Created by Marcia Hannon, 10/7/2011 10:06 AM Author Tags: Okay I am going to take a trip back in my reading to Molaro in our getting started reading module. Mainly because I just finished writing my research paper for LI513 on the emerging technologies highlighted in the new Horizon report. The research had to explain how the emerging technologies relate to libraries. I chose to write my paper on mobile computing; the paper requirements were to use 3 resources, one from the internet (but not Wikipedia) and two journal articles from different databases. So after finding my journal articles, I decided to focus on a website that I accessed from bing.com, looking at the results the first two were advertisements to purchase a mobile computing device, the third was from Kaplan University for a degree in information systems, and the third result was Wikipedia. There were a number of other results after Wikipedia and I did eventually choose one to use in my research paper. But I was curious to see what would happen

if I googled mobile computing, well I got similar results. The first result was again an advertisement to purchase a mobile computing device, and the second was Wikipedia. In reading the article from Molaro (2009) Wales said, he wants Wikipedia to be a sledgehammer to break down the barriers to censorship, of ignorance, of apathy about the state of the world. The article by Molaro (2009) said, He was surprised to see the cable network call Wales an information activist, giving the power of knowledge back to the people. Okay so he gives the power back to the people by allowing them to post to this site, but whats the point if the information cant be verified. Most professors or instructors like Professor Rocci wont even let you use it as a source of information, why because any post can be edited. If Mr. Wales really wants to give the power back to the people he should ensure that the content posted is accurate and not allow editing by others. The Molaro (2009) article goes on to define an information activist as a vigorous advocate of knowledge gained through study, communication, research, or instruction. Thats what librarians are, and the Molaro (2009) CNNs Heros for 2008 included a librarian from Ethiopia, that is a tremendous example of an information activist. Unlike USA Network that used Wikipedia as an example, Gebregeorgis not only wrote a book in Amharic, but he also donated the proceeds to fund a library in Ethiopia. Molaro (2009) I have to agree with Molaro, that we librarians have strived to remove barriers between users and information. But maybe we have let that message, that grand noble truth take a back seat. He doesnt know if we are all information activist or not, but he believes we should be. Molaro (2009) Author Discussion: Molaro, Wikipedia, and instructor comments First--minor point but still important for future writing--be sure to get the author's name spelled correctly. It's Molaro, no Malaro. Second--the authority of Wikipedia versus more traditionally verified information sources is an ongoing debate. You might be interested in a paper by Jean Goodwin at Iowa State University. She makes some valid points. See it at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~goodwin/pubs/goodwinwikipedia.pdf Finally--your journal entries indicate that you're reading, reflecting, making significant connections between course content, outside readings, and your own experiences. Good work!

Censorship by who??
Created by Marcia Hannon, 10/5/2011 6:26 PM Author Tags: For our group presentation I was in charge of finding a book or two from our library that a child might accidentally run across while browsing the shelves. The book(s) are supposed to upset the

parent enough that they come in to the library to confront the librarian. As in the article we read from Dr. Sara Fine (1996) she says, youll find that reasoning, arguing, and debating dont work lecturing, intellectualizing, moralizing, standing behind regulations and procedures they dont work either. When someone storms in enraged at something that a child brought home I cant believe the library let my child bring this filth home. This library is corrupting the minds of innocent children. This is the type of presentation we are going to present. However my problem was our library here in Topeka has been censored. But not by our librarians, according to our youth services department manager; she said we have been censored by the Phelps family. They walked out with almost our whole collection of childrens books on same sex partners. There were more than 10 titles I found missing from our shelves, some of them were King & King, And Tango makes three, Mommy, Mama, and Me to name a few. I am not the only one who looked for these titles, several youth services librarians looked for them as well. LeAnn our youth services manager said the Phelps family used to come in before we had security cameras and would walk out with the books on same sex partners because they believe it is a sin, although we could never prove it. When I talked to the selectors, they were disappointed that these titles were missing. So since we have been censored, and we believe we should have these titles in our collection, I sent an e-mail to our selectors giving them the titles that we found missing, and they are going to reorder the ones that are missing, and even add a couple that we didnt have before. I really believe our selectors want a good representation of families in our society today in our collection. They want these books on our shelves. As Lester Asheim (1953) asserts; negative or positive? The major characteristic which makes for the all-important difference seems to me to be this: that the selectors approach is positive, while that of the censor is negative. This is more than a verbal quibble; it transforms the entire act and the steps included in it. For to the selector, the important thing is to find reasons to keep the book. Given such a guiding principle, the selector looks for values, for strengths, for virtues which will over shadow minor objections. For the censor on the other hand, the important thing is to find reasons to reject the book; his guiding principle leads him to seek out the objectionable features, the weaknesses, the possibilities for misinterpretation. I am glad we will be replacing these titles. As for our group presentation, I did find a couple of books that were brand new or that needed repairs coming from or technical services department. I put them on hold and now have what I need to complete my portion of the presentation. As for our selectors, I am pretty sure they will be keeping a closer eye on these titles once they are replaced. Author Discussion: ! What an interesting anecdote! And bravo to your library for replacing the missing titles!

The value of our library

Created by Marcia Hannon, 9/28/2011 10:52 AM Author Tags: Our Library started rearranging the way we shelve books several years ago. Instead of just putting them on the shelves in Dewey decimal order, we now group them in neighborhoods. Our adult services area started out with a crime neighborhood, now we have over 12 categories; which include neighborhoods like wedding, health, pets, college & testing, travel and career neighborhoods to name a few. Our collection development department has been keeping an eye on the checkout numbers, and noticed when books are grouped together by subject they get checked out more often. In addition to the book neighborhood that allows them to browse within a subject like the health neighborhood, we have categories like diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol. We also present programs and computer classes around what we hear our customers are interested in. This week we have a computer class, to help our customers find reliable information from trustworthy sources. They can learn how use medlinePlus, healthfinder.gov and more to find prescription drug information, latest research, and general information to support the health information needs of the whole family. I noticed in the article Value & Vision by E.J. Rodger (2010) she says, It is a mystery to me why we still organize library subject departments around the scope of books rather than user queries. I view it as encouraging that a few of the urban libraries are beginning to break out, cluster, and market services designed to help people with questions about health and health care. Our reference librarians have blogs on our main website that correlate to the different neighborhoods, and encourage people to ask questions. Our travel neighborhood has travel bags with information by location, and when they bring the bag to the checkout counter a window pops up that tells our circulation staff the customer is eligible for a travel t-shirt. It says I booked my trip at the Library we encourage them to take a picture and post it to our travel blog on our main website. We value the input from our customers and listen to what they say about the changes we make. Another new venture for us that we have heard positive feedback from our customers, is a table in front of our circulation desk. On this table we put out current events, such as after the Tsunami in Japan we put items on the table about Tsunamis, after the Tornado in Joplin, we put out books and videos on tornadoes and natural disasters this also gives us a chance to promote knowledge about subjects that dont come up in everyday life. If we try something and get negative feedback, we pass this on to the selectors and managers so we can change what doesnt work for us and focus on what our customers want.

Filtering or lack of in our Library childrens section

Created by Marcia Hannon, 9/22/2011 11:38 AM

Author Tags: As I was doing some research for our group presentation on the computers at the library where I work, I noticed that there was a lot of information available on my subject. I intentionally used the computers in the youth services department first to see what would be filtered out vs. what would be available in the adult reference area that I searched second. Imagine my surprise when I got the exact same results on both computers. I went to our digital services department to ask why I was getting the same information and was told, we do not filter our youth services computers any differently than we do the adult computers. What really? I mean after reading chapter 9 in Rubin, I fully expected to have my search filtered in the youth services area. But what I found out instead was that our board of directors and management team has decided that the children, if aware that there is filtering on their computers would just go to the adult services section to use the computers that are not filtered. So therefore we do not filter them any differently. In the Rubin textbook pg. 384 he talks about how most states now have the harmful to juvenile statutes. But Rubin goes on to say, there is no substantive evidence that such laws actually protect children. And that is similar to what the digital services department told me. They said we can't protect the kids when the just move elsewhere in the library so they can access the information they are looking for. So our library only blocks or filters sites such as pornography.

Patriot Act and Library records

Created by Marcia Hannon, 9/16/2011 2:36 PM Author Tags: I was at home the morning of September 11, 2001. I watched the horrible events unfolding on the Today Show, I was stunned in utter disbelief as the terrorists flew the airplanes into the World Trade center buildings. Then we heard the news about the airplane being flown into the Pentagon and flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania. These events changed many things for Americans and also for other Countries around the World I mention this not only because we just had the 10th anniversary of the World Trade center attacks, but also because while reading Chapter 8, Information Policy in the Rubin textbook. It reminded me of when we quit keeping records of what materials our patrons checked out at the Library. I dont remember exactly when we quit keeping these records, but I do know it was tied directly to the Patriot Act that was signed in October of 2006. According to Rubin, The Patriot Act significantly expanded the power of FISA. It broadened FISAs definition of business records that can be searched. Initially the Patriot Act only covered searches conducted for business records, transportation carriers, vehicle rental agencies and hotels. But according to Rubin, the Patriot Act (section 215) expanded this definition to any relevant tangible item which could include books, circulation records or electronic records of Internet searches in libraries.

Today the only records we keep are the history of items that were overdue, fines, damaged or lost. While most of these items are irrelevant, I can see where even keeping just these few records could give alarm to someone. Again as with the privacy issue I discussed earlier in my journal, I think I need to look into this and ask Ruthie if these records could be used against our patrons by a Government agency to prosecute them for illegal activity or terrorism.

Privacy Issues
Created by Marcia Hannon, 9/9/2011 8:04 PM Author Tags: I have just finished the assigned reading materials, and I am trying to grasp the idea that I am not protecting the privacy of my patrons! According to Rubin in Chapter 10, we are supposed to protect the privacy and confidentiality of our patrons. But I had an adult mother that paid her adult daughters fines today and as I was handing her the receipt it dawned on me that the receipt had the daughters barcode on it and then she could use the daughters computer time or check out DVD dispenser items (all the mother needed to know is the phone # to the patron). She also had a list of all of the materials that the daughter had fines on. I have not brought this up to my supervisor yet, but I am going to next week. While I think its great that a mother, father, or anyone else for that matter wants to do a nice deed for someone. How am I supposed to protect that other persons privacy? So after talking to Ruthie, we have found that when someone wants to pay for items on an account other than their own; we can do a partial payment and it does not show what items the fee is for, but just a total amount paid. I also talked to her about the barcode printing on the check-in receipt. She did not know the barcode was printing on them, and called digital services to have them change it from a barcode to the horizon number. There is nothing a patron can access or do with the horizon number, it is used by the Library employees. Author Discussion: Privacy Did the mother come to the library with the list of her daughter's fines or did you provide it? If she brought it with her, it's probably safe to assume that the daughter voluntarily shared that information. If you provided it--oops! Not so good. As for the barcode--interesting that it's on the receipt, given the chance that it could easily be discarded by the receiver and picked up by someone else. I'd be interested to hear what your supervisor thinks.

I can protect their privacy The mother came in with the items to return. However since this time we have added a feature where we can print a reciept for payment without the titles showing on the reciept. And the check- in reciept now has the horizon number and not the barcode number. I can live with these changes, I feel that this protects the patron's privacy much better than before. First look response It's clear that you're interested in the profession and in acting ethically. Good! That being said, please review the directions for the Reflective Journal and, in particular, the criteria for evaluating the entries. Challenge yourself to read more deeply, to respond in greater depth, and to provide solid evidence to support your reasoning. 1/2

New entry
Created by Marcia Hannon, 9/4/2011 11:31 AM Author Tags:

Reading thoughts
Created by Marcia Hannon, 9/1/2011 10:08 AM Author Tags: I find it sort of strange, that as I'm reading through the article by Don Fallis, "Information Ethics for twenty-first century library professionals," that I get pleasure out of making somebody happy, by simply helping them get the information they are looking for. Sub-consciously I am applying a couple of the ethical theories in everyday life. The first one as I was reading the article is the consequence based theory, according to Fallis, the main example of a consequence based theory is utilitarianism. According to utilitarianism, goodness is measured in terms of the amount of happiness in the world. Thus the right action is the one that maximizes overall happiness. Everyone I help at the desk, are truly grateful that I was able to help them, regardless of the length of time it took to get the information. The second theory is the duty based theory; W.D. Ross developed a more recent duty based theory. He presents a whole list of duties, this list includes a duty to keep our promises, a duty to distribute goods justly (justice), a duty to improve the lot of others with respect to virtue, intelligence, and happiness (beneficence) and a duty to avoid injury to others. Okay so maybe that is too simplified, even for me. But I do think by making someone happy, by providing them with the right information, at the right time. Not only helps the person, but it makes me feel good knowing that I helped make a difference. I feel good, just for finding the name of an Author, or Title they were looking for.

Working in groups
Created by Marcia Hannon, 8/31/2011 9:32 AM Author Tags: Near the end of the weekend, we started discussing what we needed to do for Learning Module 1. We started talking about the four stages of group development as discussed in the article by Tuckman and Jensen as. We realized that we had totally skipped the storming stage at this point, and moved right into the norming stage. As we were talking about the stages, we realized that just because we skipped the storming stage at this point, does not mean it wont still come up as we get further into our discussions and plans for the presentation. The 7 suggestions from the article McKeachie and Svinicki (2006) were a big help in keeping our group on track. We made sure that everyone contributed to the discussion on our presentation. We set our goal of when to have our reading for the presentation done, and when to start posting ideas on the blackboard group discussion board for what we wanted to do our presentation on. After we figured out what our presentation was on we posted the tasks on our group blackboard for each of us to sign up for. We then arranged to meet face 2 face before our LI802 class on Sept. 30th. We also set up our last meeting before the presentation on Oct. 21st before class. We are now well on our way, with the scenario and the roll play characters assigned for our presentation. On the 21st of October we will do a brief run through of the whole presentation, we will time the rehearsal to make any adjustments needed to comply with the assignment requirements. Okay so we practiced or role play a couple of times last evening, it went relatively well. We are missing the virtues part of our presentation because we are missing a group member. We tried to get Wexi involved, but we feel the communication barrier is an issue for him. Although we don't know this for sure, because he never out right told us that. Matter of fact he just kept answering yes, he understood to everything that was discussed. But he never participated in our blackboard discussions, and last night he didn't come to class. I have to say I am saddened that he dropped out of our group; I would have loved to get to know more about him and his culture, which I believe was Chinese. He could possibly have added a different perspective to our presentation subject. But now we must move on. We are second to give our presentation today. I am excited about giving our presentation today; I feel it turned out very well prepared. Everyone else did their part, and seems to be happy with the group effort.

Informational Professional.
Created by Marcia Hannon, 8/27/2011 4:38 PM

Author Tags: I see myself being more like Lankes, in that I will be a Liaison of some sort to our Library. I am excited that I currently get to try out a Liaison project with our Youth Services Department and the Public Elementary Schools. I want to be able to help teach students the importance of our Library Services, I want to make them life-long users of the Public Libraries. In trying this with our Youth Services Department, I hope that it will give me a clearer picture of where and what type of Liaison I want to be. It could also teach me that I really do not want to be a Liaison to Elementary Students but maybe to adults or an older group of students. According to Lankes on librarians and leadership.(2010) The world is changed by those who act, who shape, who reach not when asked but when necessary. Serve, yes, but also be an instrument of radical positive change and in the face of ignorance lead to a better tomorrow. That is the calling we have; it is not stacking and shelving. It is improving societies and communities. That we not only have to serve, but we have to innovate constantly look for whats new and whats better. Have a vision of the future, not simply for your organization or your task or your function, but for the whole community. I want to help make a difference to the children and adults in our community. I feel this liaison project with the school is as opportunity to see if I can get out in the community and make some connections, to show people we can move outside the box. Working with the schools and the liaison program reminds me of a sentence I read in Rubin chapter 3(2010) he says, what makes library and information science attractive as a profession is not merely satisfying information needs but caring about people, solving human problems, and improving lives. I do hope I can help improve lives, through this program. I will not know how this will work out until after I try it with the direction of our Youth Services Department. I do hope we can show the community we are here to help in any way we can.

What kind of learner am I prepared to be?

Created by Marcia Hannon, 8/26/2011 8:37 PM Author Tags: I am prepared to be an active member of my groups, the small group as well as the classroom group. According to the learning styles test we took in LI802, I am a visual and social learner. As a social learner, the learning styles inventory say I communicate well with people, both verbally and non-verbally. It also says I listen well and understand others views.

I want to be the person my group mates can count on to get the assignments done on time and with a good grade. I want to have great discussions in our F2F sessions as well as on the blackboard. I am prepared to step up to the plate and be the best student I can, by preparing myself for classes and discussions on blackboard ahead of time. I will ask questions and make comments. I will ask my group mates for their opinions and comments, and if they feel I am not participating 100% I want them to let me know. At some point I would like to get to know what my group mates learning styles are. We did this for LI802 for a group project and it was interesting to see which group members have similar learning styles and which ones did not.

Library branches and Bookmobile service

Created by Marcia Hannon, 8/25/2011 7:58 PM Author Tags: The Rubin (2010) textbook talks about Library branches in chapter 2, it says the most notable service to ethnic groups and minorities was the creation of branch Libraries in urban areas. Branches provided extension services that could reach special populations, especially industrial workers and those who did not speak English. While we do not have Library branches here in Topeka, our Bookmobiles serve as our branches into the community. Today was my 4th time out working on the Bookmobile. It is always nice to be able to get out of the building and into the community. We go to many different areas of town, so those that are not close to the main Library can come and browse the bookmobile shelves or pick up their reserves. It is so much different than working in the main Library; you really have that one on one experience with the patrons. Checking materials in for them and checking materials out. Helping them select the materials or placing them on hold for items to be brought out another time. It's like you are their "personal" Librarian. Todays stop was busier than the other stops I have been to in the past. I definitely like being at the busier stop; it makes the day go by so quickly.

Technology issues at work

Created by Marcia Hannon, 8/25/2011 7:47 PM Author Tags: Ah technology.....what would we do without it? It's hard to remember what it was like growing up, when we didn't have computers or at least they were very scarce.

In Rubin (2010) he asserts, that once materials could be accessed electronically, the next logical step was automating circulation. When we renovated our Library starting in 1999 we put in our automated material handling machine. This made checking in materials a lot easier and quicker, we can check in p to 7,000 items per day (on a busy summer day). Well last night the Automated Material Handling Machine was struck by the lightening or I should say a frequency box was hit. In any case the machine was down when I came in to work today, oh boy was that fun. We had to go back to the stone ages...ok not quite that far back. Today checking materials in by hand threw me back a number of years, we still had the computers to scan in the materials, but sorting by hand was a challenge to some of the employees. I love technology. But when it breaks down it really wreaks havoc in many areas. We survived getting everything checked-in and the machine is back in working order, but it was definitely a challenge.

Thoughts about dicusssion boards

Created by Marcia Hannon, 8/24/2011 12:06 PM Author Tags: As I am reading through the introductions for my Classes 801 & 513, I have noticed a lot of my classmates are English majors. Many of them are working or have worked in a Library at some point, so I think we should have a lot to talk about. It will be great to share stories and ideas with other Librarians outside of my own Library. Having a variety of class mates with different Under-Grad degrees and interests, should keep the conversations stay lively. As the article about aggressive, passive and assertive communications styles points out Sherman (1999), Good communication skills require a high level of self-awareness. Understanding your personal style of communicating will go a long way toward helping you to create good and lasting impressions on others. By becoming more aware of how others perceive you, you can adapt more readily to their styles of communicating. This does not mean you have to be a chameleon, changing with every personality you meet. Instead, you can make another person more comfortable with you by selecting and emphasizing certain behaviors that fit within your personality and resonate with another. Everyone sounds pretty much down to earth, and I am having a great time reading about the children, pets and travels. I can't wait to meet everyone at the first face-to-face class. I think for me it will make it easier for me to communicate online with them, and will put a face with all of the names.

Learned helplessness thoughts

Created by Marcia Hannon, 8/23/2011 8:32 PM

Author Tags:

The Ethics of Learner-Centered Education article reminds me of when I was back in my Under Graduate studies at Washburn. I have to agree with the article by Hansen and Stephens (2000) they said that despite the ideological appeal of learner-centered instruction, the lecture remains the predominant teaching method on campuses. The 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty indicated that about three-fourths of all faculty still relied primarily on lectures. I have sat in many classrooms just listening to the instructors lecture and taking notes on the parts that I thought were the important, only to find that what I thought was important and taking notes on was not on the review. I would go home and study and work really hard to try and memorize what the professor had gone over in the review. Do we really learn the information this way? Is there a better way to teach students the content of the subject? As I read through this article it is easy to see myself as one of these students they are talking about. Hansen and Stephens (2000) go on to say, Combined with a climate in which students' class preparation at home has become an almost negligible activity (according to the UCLA annual freshman surveys, fewer than four hours per week during senior year in high school), this atmosphere has taught students that they can rely almost exclusively on the instructor to tell them what they need to know. Not surprisingly, this leads students to rely on memorization more than understanding. A recent unpublished survey on the Emporia State University campus showed that close to half of the respondents favored memorization as their favorite study method (see Hansen, in Res.), and over a quarter of the students reported having a hard time distinguishing between important and less important information in class. We just took a learning style quiz for LI802 I found that I am a visual and a social learner, I knew I like looking at diagrams, pictures they make more sense to me than just looking at words on a whiteboard. The social learner was not surprising to me, I was in retail for over 20 years and I always enjoy communicating with others. I like working in groups, it helps to bounce ideas off of other one another, or to get their opinion on the projects we are working on.