Over at the Chronicle of the Bean we have an excellent example of a new read/write poster. I think it's one that all the men and women will like.
It's just the kind of rebranding that may take libraries into the mainstream...
Friday night was the world premiere of the Hollywood Librarian here in Washington, D.C. They rolled out the red carpet for us librarians, and some of us entered with style (read: did everything we could to get our photo taken). I did OK- its not everyday that an Okie librarian gets his photo and quote in the Washington Post style section. I should have, however, made them agree to mention my blog URL. Next time.
Once I got beyond the flashbulbs of the red carpet, I settled in for the movie. It was all documentary, and its good that Ms. Seidl chose librarians as her inaugural audience. At 100 minutes long, it will be a hard sell to regular audiences. To be marketable to non-librarians, it would need to be cut in half (ie, take out everything but the old movie clips).
Saturday morning there was a discussion panel that noted the movie playing on the library 'victimization' model: "woe is us because look at how others perceive us and gosh we don't have nearly as much money spent on us as we do on military operations around the world." My theory is that until we assert ourselves we will not reach our full potential with regards to funding and respect. We need to practice proactive librarianship and have the ear of key community leaders well before any shutdown occurs. Along those lines, maybe library school needs to include more emphasis on negotiation and proactive marketing (case studies on successful bond measures could be a place to start).
The movie spent a solid 15 minutes on the story of the Salinas Library system quagmire. Ok, what did we learn? Be more proactive and get out the word that the library needs continued support. Next slide, please-let's move on and not dwell on it.
One cool thing that I learned about was the San Quinton State Prison/Marin Literacy program that provided prisoners with the chance to learn how to read.
Other than that, the most relevant parts of the movie were the library-related movie clips and citations:
City of Angels
Cleopatra (twice)
Twilight Zone
Plaza Suite
Big Bully
Goodbye, Columbus
It's a Wonderful Life
Party Girl (thrice)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Matilda
Dangerous Minds
Pat and Mike
Desk Set (twice)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Goodbye Columbus
Librarian: Quest of the Spear
Music Man
Station Agent
No Man of Her Own
Threesome
Love Story
Storm Center (twice)
Time Machine
Battlefield Earth
Soylent Green
Zardoz
Cesar and Cleopatra
Fahrenheit 451
At the end of the film Ms. Seidl mentioned that we could all pick up a free copy of the film in the exhibit hall if we agreed to two things. First, we had to show it in our communities during Banned Books Week, September 29- Oct 6, 2007. Second, we have to charge admission- $8 for adults and I don't recall how much for children. The proceeds would be split among the hosting library, Ms. Seidl, and a third entity that I do not recall. Jury is still out on how many libraries will actually show the film in their town. I agree about charging money so people will respect what they see, though.
The ALA Emerging Leaders program has a short survey out called the 'Library Rebranding Survey.' They ask some great questions such as:
Do librarians wear cardigans and glasses?
Are librarians technology experts, book experts, or research experts? (You can't answer all of the above- they want you to put these in order...)
The results will be presented at ALA next month and I'll bring back the results to share.
So please, spend about 4 minutes of your time filling out this one page online survey.
A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education talks about the changing face of reference work in libraries. The title of the article: Are Reference Desks Dying Out?
An example is made about a student asking about databases (and the answer being given) via instant messaging (IM).
No longer are we able to sit and wait at a desk- we have to be where the users are, and that means IM'ing for reference service. Some institutions are already there, some are very far behind.
Opponents of using IM for reference work say that face to face is very valuable in the question and answer process, and I agree. But there are many students who will never set foot in a physical library, and we'd do well to give them something more than 40 million hits on Google.
How can we get the word out about what we do?
Read about the hidden influencers on the web these days, and then run with it. My goal is to get out the word to the users, where they are and on their devices.
Found at the ACRL blog
A great post over at www.degreetutor.com about the future of librarians.
There are 33 reasons, in fact, why librarians are not totally obsolete (nor will we become so).
Spending 10 minutes reading this will give you ammo for your conversations with skeptical adversaries.
Found via LibrarianInBlack
Check out the ALA's recent resolution on a minimum librarian salary of $40,000. We know we are all worth it, what are we doing to make other people agree?
Nathan Bomer
