Atomic Antelope

2008-01-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, here it is: the new blog!

http://northmidwest.blogspot.com/

The only thing I have left to say about school is that now I'm having nightmares about some math class I never attended and I have assignments due for it but I don't know anything and they're due tomorrow along with 8 other assignments and it's already after 7pm and I have too much to do!!! Ack! I hope I don't have these dreams for the rest of my life now. =)

Well, thanks for reading and enjoy the new blog!

2007-12-13T15:34:00.000-08:00

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!!!

I turned in my last project last night and my professor actually had it graded and responded to me by 1 a.m.! I passed with flying colors!!

I must admit I feel a certain sense of... something missing...guilt...I must be forgetting something, some other assignment I was supposed to do. Am I really done!? Is that it!? It seems so anticlimactic. Oh well, I'm enjoying my freedom anyway.

I don't know that there is much more to say in this blog, since it is a blog all about my library school experience. So...stay tuned for an all new blog!! (Just what you wanted, I know =)

2007-12-10T15:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm down to one assignment left!! I finished up my last Research Methods assignment on Sunday.

My last assignment is to "create an international NGO that addresses an important social issue of our time." I'm pretty excited about this assignment especially since I see it as a way to really bring together much of what I've learned in both Library classes and Development classes.

My original thought was to create some library organization in some country overseas, but I was a bit discouraged about coming up with some new innovative idea, what with how many innovate ideas are already out there. I mean, could I really, in a couple weeks time, come up with something more creative than libraries on camel-back or boat libraries or stuff like that?

So I've gone to the other side of my interest and am looking more locally. After some research in my Research Methods class I found out that there hasn't been a whole lot of research done on the information needs of the Spanish-speaking population in the US. If this hasn't been done for one of the largest minority populations here - just imagine all the others!

Let me back up and say more broadly that Information Behavior is the idea of how people look for information, what information they need, what they do with it, how they store it or retrieve it, how they share it, etc. The Information Needs of a 20-something versus an 80-something are quite different. It's the same with people living in cities versus in the country; or think about what information you need to get your job done versus what information the CEO of your company needs.
Information Needs are important for libraries to know so they can develop their collections and services in appropriate ways. If you're in a community that really wants to know about gardening and bee-keeping, you'll have a good selection of materials about that.

The problem with not knowing Information Needs is that you can't necessarily develop a really useful collection. That's why Collection Development often starts with assessing who is in your community.

Anyway, the organization I dreamed up is a sort of research/consulting thing where researchers help libraries find out who is in their community and what their needs are so they can develop collections and programs appropriately.

And right now I'm procrastinating, so...back to work...

2007-12-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

My last week of school had been mostly unremarkable. The same somewhat-inane classes, boring discussions, the minute hand seemingly stuck in place - until tonight.

My Thursday night class never fails to deliver! What a perfect last class it was. We started out with class evaluations which took a few minutes.
Some of the students in class had decided it would be fun to thank our professor by buying him a goat through World Vision (which is where he works). Everyone was secretly passing money around so the whole class was in on it. Our teacher was really touched by the gift.
He had announced last week that tonight we would have treats and if anyone wanted to bring stuff we could. So there was a huge spread of sandwiches, chips and dips, muffins, cookies, veggies, bread and cheese. It was such a party atmosphere!

And then the guest speaker, Angela, began. She was a wonderful woman who works with World Vision on women's & children's issues. She's from England originally so has a great accent - and you all know how much I love accents! =)

She started out telling us her personal story, how she had been a successful actress in England and then moved to San Francisco without any real skills and no money. She managed to get a job as a receptionist of sorts at a job agency and in a number of years managed to rise up to be one of the most successful head-hunters in the US.

Then in 1990 she was flipping channels and came across the Barbara Walters special about the orphanages in Romania. She was watching these horrible images of children with disabilities living alone and virtually uncared for, naked and hungry, with no one ever touching them. And she suddenly knew without a shadow of a doubt what she needed to do with the rest of her life.

She described to us how she went to Romania to help the people, how she started a non-profit to take in funds, how she helped send money and resources to Romania, and how lives were improved and now all of this care is done in the country and the non-profit was ended.

She eventually went to work for World Vision. She talked about work she did in Bosnia when the war was going on. She told the story of a woman who had returned to her village with her husband and child to check on their father. Soon after they arrived the militia/army/whoever arrived. Without asking questions, they shot all the men in front of their wives and children. They burned down the houses (this woman's father was burned to death in the house). Then they took the women to a local school and made them prisoners there and raped them until they were almost all pregnant. I guess they wanted to start a new generation of a specific ethnicity. They kept the women there and tried to keep them from aborting. When this particular woman was 8 months pregnant, they kicked her out with nothing in the middle of winter. She had the baby and named him after her dead husband. But many women tried to abort. Some gave birth and put their babies in the icy river and let them float away. Some gave up their children for adoption.
The horrible things people did I just can't imagine or believe. So Angela goes into Bosnia to ask the widows what they need and how they can be supported - since they aren't talking to the men relief workers. She meets with some of the women and they ask for Prozac! Angela doesn't have any, but you know what she did bring for them? She says to us, you're in a war torn country, you're a widow, everything is wretched...what do you want? Angela brought a suitcase full of sexy underwear! It was so simple, but it made the women feel like women again.

Angela also worked on issues like female genital mutilation in Africa and a host of other things.

Relief work, transformational development, stuff like this - it is incredibly hard. It's hard just to hear what is going on! Someone in class asked her, what does she do to keep from going crazy? Because some people do - they can't take the stress and the horrific nature of what they see. They turn to alcohol, smoking, becoming emotionally cold and turned off, they have anger problems. So Angela shared what she does.
During the day when she's doing work she keeps her heart at 1 and her mind at 10. She's not cold or heartless, but she keeps her heart and emotions under control.
At night, she puts her mind at 0 and her heart at 10. She makes sure she has a room of her own so she can have alone time. She cries her eyes out and prays. And then, she pulls out a trashy romance novel!

Anyway, she went on for almost three hours about her experiences, what she'd learned, answering questions from us - all with humor and passion. She was an incredible speaker, very encouraging and uplifting. I laughed, I cried (okay, I almost did anyway).

What an incredible way to end my graduate school career.

Well, it's not quite over yet. I have two papers to finish, but by next Thursday I'll have turned it all in and I'll be done.

I'm not quite sure what to think. It seems somewhat anti-climactic - probably because graduation isn't till next summer! I wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad when class was over. I know, I know. I've been counting down like a maniac, obviously I've been excited to get this over with! But, while there are a lot of things I won't miss about school, there are plenty of things I will miss.

I'll miss all my peers that are so intelligent and the incredible class discussions we sometimes have.
I'll miss that camaraderie around big projects and dumb homework.
I'll miss the passionate professors.

I was passing the time in a class recently and trying to write up a list of what made for a good prof and what made for a bad one. It hit me tonight finally - and it seems sort of obvious, and perhaps too simple - what makes a good professor is someone who is really passionate about what they're teaching! I can look back at some of my favorite classes and favorite teachers, and they were so good because the professor was passionate about the subject and that came through in their teaching.
I don't feel like I often meet fellow co-workers who are gung-ho passionate about their job. So I'll miss that a bit.

I could go on, but it's too late to keep putting sentences together. Don't worry though, I'm not quite done with this whole blog just yet! More to come...

2007-12-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

Seven hours, 20 minutes left to go - not that I'm counting down or anything!! =)

I'm celebrating my birthday today, so hopefully I'll get around to writing something about school one last time this week.

2007-11-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

Six days left. Heck, might as well get down to days at this point. 16 hours even! That's sort of misleading since it doesn't include finals week. I don't have finals of course, but I do have one paper due on Thursday of finals week so that means I really won't be done for 2 1/2 weeks (December 13th).

Almost all the assignments for my research class are due in the last couple weeks of school. Last week I turned in an interesting paper that proposed a research project to find out the information behavior of Spanish-speaking immigrants in the US. Today I turned in a quick assignment on analyzing statistical data. I have another one like that due, and an assignment on human subjects in research and ethics. Following that is an assignment about analyzing a research scenario or something.

I finished that paper for my Transformation class and am now just working on the final assignment. Holy cow. I have to create my own NGO. We're supposed to center our work around the Hedgehog Principle developed by Jim Collins. In a nutshell, it has three parts:

1. What are you deeply passionate about?
2. What can you do better than anyone else in the world?
3. What drives your resource engine? (i.e. money, time, other resources that keep you going)

Of course I'm trying to think of some library-related NGO to develop but I've hit a major wall. Yes, I'm passionate about libraries and all that. And I can even think of an assortment of ways to keep the resources flowing. I just don't know that I can come up with a better idea than some of the ones I've learned about. There are some incredible examples out there:

Probigua in Guatemala
Northern Territory Library in Australia
Rural Education and Development in Nepal
Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha in Bangladesh
Smart Cape Access Project in South Africa
BiblioRedes project in Chile
Blue Trunk Libraries throughout Africa and Southeast Asia
Camel Mobile Library Service in Kenya
Everyone's Reading in Africa initiative out of South Africa

There are more than this I'm sure. I don't know how to compete with such fantastic ideas. Of course, I could focus on some NGO based in the US. I kind of feel at a loss there too.

Perhaps I should sleep on it another night... =)

2007-11-11T15:33:00.001-08:00

Brief procrastinating break-time...

Okay, so I'm working on my third paper for my Thursday night class. I'm comparing, contrasting, and critiquing Muhamad Yunus' Banker to the Poor, Amartya Sen's Development as Freedom, and C.K. Prahalad's The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

I've been slogging through Sen's book for a good week or two, and I do mean slogging. The guy is very intelligent and he makes some really good points, but I have two issues with his book that have become very distracting.

The first is his incessant habit of mentioning things he's already mentioned. Following are a few quotes from pages 217-218:

"...which I have already articulated in earlier chapters..."
"I have presented these issues already in the book..."
"...discussed in chapter 8."
"As was noted..."
"...cited earlier."
"...referred to earlier..."

All in two pages! He spends so much time going over things he's already gone over it's a wonder there is much content in the book. Okay, I'm being a bit cynical, but he did do this 13 times just in this one chapter. It's starting to wear on me.

Second, he has a tendency to use interjections. A lot. Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of interjections - but within reason. Sen will write a sentence, for example, that makes immense use (such as this one), of interjections in commas, interjections in parentheses - not to mention interjections in dashes - as well as italicized words and "phrases" in quotes - but not because he's quoting someone (he's just making a comment - I guess - about the particular words in quotes (and yes, he'll even have an interjection within an interjection!)).

Sometimes I have no idea what he has said by the time I get to the end of a sentence. Perhaps I'm a moron. Who knows. But he did say in the beginning that he wanted this book to be more accessible and understandable to non-economists. That's why he put his other interjections, in the form of notes, at the end of the book. All 53 pages of them.

I've heard Prahalad is much more readable. Here's hoping.

2007-11-09T16:40:00.000-08:00

4 weeks left. Sigh.

I have nothing much to report this week. I've been sick and only made it to one class this week! I shouldn't have gone to that one either, it was a bit of a time-waster. Oh well. I was really sad to miss my Thursday night class. It is the highlight of my week so now I feel like my life is incomplete!

On the upside, I did some calculations in my boring class and realized I only have 28 hours of classes left! It seems so short when I put it that way (sort of) - but it is spread over 4 weeks.

That light at the end of the tunnel has not changed size at all...

2007-11-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

5 weeks left - wahoo!

Okay, the good news of the week is that I passed my portfolio! Yay! So, when classes wrap up at the end of the quarter, I'll be done! done! done!

It will be sort of anticlimactic. I don't think I'll get a diploma or any paperwork or anything. I just stop going to school. Graduation with all the pomp and everything is in mid-June. I'm thinking about walking then.

In the meantime, here is a link to my portfolio: http://students.washington.edu/aimeee/

Enjoy!

2007-11-02T17:32:00.000-07:00

Warning: graphic images!

Just thought I'd share with you all the great pumpkins that Jeremy and I carved for Halloween:

(in the light)

(in the dark)

(after several weeks sitting inside)

(warning! this is gross!)

How's that for super scary? =)

Now, to impress you with my skills of the librarian...

Mold is bad! It can cause all sorts of health problems like asthma, coughing, rashes, memory impairment, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, mood swings, etc.

Here are a couple websites about the dangers of mold:

Mold Dangers & Remedies
Molds - The Hidden Danger
The Dangers of Mold in Homes
The Serious Dangers of Mold and Mildew in your House

I could go on. I'm not usually a fear-monger but we're pretty sure mold is what caused the virus that eventually led to my sister's heart problems/heart failure/brain damage. So if you have moldy pumpkins lying around - get rid of them! And carefully.

2007-10-25T21:58:00.000-07:00

6 weeks left now. I guess.

It never fails to happen every Thursday night. Sometimes it takes an hour, sometimes two, sometimes two and a half. At some point my eyes begin to glaze over. My ears glaze over, my brain glazes over – if that’s even possible. Not from boredom though, but too much information. I want to start thinking, processing, wondering, imagining, carrying thoughts on a little farther, tugging on things – but I can’t because more information is flowing in and it’s all so good! All I can do is take notes and try not to think or I’ll be totally lost.

Tonight for the first half of class we had a class debate. We had all (supposedly) read both The End of Poverty and The White Man’s Burden. Part of the class took the stance of Sachs and the other part took the stance of Easterly. Then there was an independent third group thrown in to ask us difficult questions.

I definitely started to glaze over during part of the proceedings. The issues of poverty are so immense and so difficult. So many people claim to have the answer or the way. Easterly’s argument is that there are two great tragedies regarding this issue. One is that there are millions in extreme poverty fighting to survive, dying of preventable diseases, etc. The other tragedy is that trillions of dollars of aid has been spent on poverty alleviation over the years, and there are STILL millions of people in extreme poverty fighting to survive, dying of preventable diseases.

Point after point is made about bottom-up solutions and top-down solutions, homegrown methods, multi-lateral organizations, where things fail, where things succeed, etc. There are so many examples.

Sometimes I stop and think about the futility of it all. Someone (a whole lot of someones actually) spent time and energy researching and writing this book. I bought the book. And I’m paying money to sit in a classroom once a week and debate and discuss and learn about issues of poverty and development. And every day thousands of people are dying. I’m reading books and writing papers and people are suffering and dying. The incredible disconnect between the horrible, crushing reality of poverty and the disconnected, distant study of poverty…amazes me. Of course I do think classes like this are important.

And then there is the whole debate format which is only encouraged by Easterly who refutes Sachs in every chapter. Why can’t we all work together? Why can’t we all get along? Why can’t the economists and development people stop bickering about whose theoretical framework is correct and instead look at the strengths of each and where each is definitely right and go from there. Yeah, I’m sometimes naïve and an idealist. But this wasn’t my first reaction when I read the books. The idea came up in class and it spoke to me. Why argue whether development should be top-down or bottom-up – aren’t both methods needed?

I can barely say more than that because I haven’t been able to process much. And then a guest speaker came, Bwalya, who is the World Vision country director for Zambia.

He talked a bit about his background and growing up. He grew up in the middle class in Africa and never experienced poverty. He said that some Africans who live in the upper classes, they don’t believe that there is poverty in Africa – until they see it. That surprised me.

He went on to talk about the first time he was involved in participatory appraisal. He was interpreting for another World Vision person, talking to a woman in a poor village. At one point, the other guy asked Bwalya to ask the woman what she dreamed about at night. Bwalya was surprised at the question. What does this have to do with anything? And then he thought perhaps that she would respond that she dreamed about having a good house or having running water or having good government, etc.

He asked her the question. She didn’t respond. He asked again, in another language. Still no response. He tried a third language, thinking there must be a language barrier but she didn’t respond. After a few moments of tense silence, she finally responded. She dreamed about playing.

She dreamed about time for herself, about having fun, about being human. She had never had a childhood.

Bwalya went on. The poor have a vision for themselves of what their life could look like, but because of such poverty and so many setbacks, they have to lock up their dreams because it is too painful to think of. It is too painful to hope in them because it is too unlikely that they will ever be realized.

Bwalya sees his work with World Vision as peeling back the layers of fear and helping people realize their dreams. This is human development. You have to help people feel safe enough to live out their dreams: this isn’t just the American dream, it’s the human dream. Good development allows you do to this: to realize your dreams, to have the resources for them, and for you to be safe in doing this. Good development helps you get to a place where it’s not too scary to think about your dreams, where thinking about your dreams isn’t painful.

More things…

- When you ask in a community what do the people need, and they respond, what do you do? You can’t be all things to the poor. You can’t provide everything. You can help with some things. The poor will have to do some things on their own. And other things no one can help with.

- When the poor know enough about power dynamics, when they feel empowered, they realize they can come together and make their own power play. But people have to get so upset, so angry about the situation they are in that they no longer have fear. When the poor decide they’ve had enough, they have options. When they decide they’re tired of dying, civil wars will stop

- When you’re working with the extremely poor, they have NOTHING to give you but themselves. They are risk-averse because every situation is life and death for them. We sometimes underestimate the cost of adopting some new idea or process in the eyes of the poor.

This barely scratches the surface I’m sure. The issues of poverty, diseases, government, aid, history of nations, corruption, and so forth are so complex and interwoven it’s not hard to feel a bit overwhelmed and powerless to do anything.

After all that, I guess I do feel overwhelmed, but not yet overwhelmed. =)

My research methods class is still a bit annoying but the group project (due Sunday!) is taking shape and I’m pretty excited about it. We’re looking at the information needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants and how different barriers affect their information behavior. Basically, libraries have not done a good job in general making libraries accessible to immigrants. Even where they have, there is often a cultural gap in understanding about libraries and reading. And not much research has been done on this, apparently because we’re talking about such an enormously diverse population. And yet, programs are designed and libraries try to reach out to the population. Are they designing appropriate programs based on actual needs? How often are these things evaluated?

The professor isn’t taking us much beyond the lit review which is unfortunate. But honestly we wouldn’t have time to research this in 10 weeks anyway.

Back to the books…

2007-10-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

7 weeks left...still? Hasn't it been any longer?

Well, anyway, the portfolio process is on its way I'm happy to report! My advisor sent in his approval on Monday and the portfolio has been passed on to a second, unknown, reader.

I think I'll find out in another week or two what that person says.

Classes this week...interesting. Too tired to say more, hopefully I'll get to it this weekend before next week starts and fills up my brain again. =)

2007-10-12T15:30:00.001-07:00

8 weeks left... I thought it was less.

I've been telling myself I had 7 weeks left so that's a bummer. Well, school is all kinds of crazy right now. I'm even having dreams about it.

I turned in my portfolio a week and a half ago and have heard nothing from my advisor. I had to hang out in the hallways at school until he came walking by just so I could ask if he'd actually gotten the email I sent with the link to my portfolio (even though I specifically asked him to let me know he'd gotten the email). Grr.

Since then I've email, called, and gone to his office. He hasn't acknowledged emails, answered calls or returned, or ever been in his office. Argh.

He has to sign off that he approves of my portfolio (so I can GRADUATE) by this coming Monday at 5:00. If he doesn't approve it and wants me to make changes, there isn't much time left for that! So I'm rather on edge here.

The other night I had a string of dreadful dreams. One of them involved having to catch a ferry to work. The ferry was right there, 20 feet away, I could see it. But I had to buy a ticket first. The ticket agent was slow and rung up the wrong thing and then had to do it over. He finally got me the ticket but by then the ferry had left.
The same night I had a dream that I was in Guatemala in the middle of nowhere and I was due to fly out of there. I didn't know what time my flight was but I knew there was only one flight on that day. I looked up the information and found out it left at 4:00. I thought this was perfect because it was around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. But then the people with me explained that we were 4 hours away from the airport and we'd never make it on time. I missed my only chance out of there!
Okay, so the truth is there were other ferries leaving later in the first dream (though I would be late to work) and there were flights leaving the next day in the second dream. But I'm sure you can all understand the frustration of just missing that departure.
I'm sure everything is fine and my advisor will approve the portfolio with no requested revisions. But until I find out I'm just trying not to stress too much!

Otherwise this has been...another week.

I helped lead my Wednesday class, Computing and the Developing World, with another professor from my school. He talked about participatory design, its background and definition and origins, etc. Then I talked about participatory design in developing countries, some specific examples and some challenges. Then we facilitated a discussion on the topic. It was pretty laid back and interesting.

My research methods class, I'm sorry to say, is a bit inane. I'm a little disappointed.

My Tools for Transformation class is always good. I've got a paper due this weekend that compares three contemporary social entrepreneurs. The first is Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. (I think I mentioned elsewhere that you should all go out and read his book Banker to the Poor.) The second one I'm looking at is Rigoberto Zamora who founded Probigua in Guatemala. The third is Beulah Thumbadoo "who has made it her life's work to get South Africa to read."

I've already finished Banker to the Poor (and started on the paper), and now I'm onto The White Man's Burden (a fascinating book), which I'll eventually be comparing with The End of Poverty.

It's weird to admit, but this development stuff lights my fire a bit more than the library stuff.

2007-10-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

Okay guys, I gotta brain dump.

I'm taking this class called Tools for Transformation taught by a practitioner in the field who works with World Vision. So our first class he has us start brainstorming what are the primary threats to life on earth...

global warming and pollution
homogenization of biosphere / lack of diversity
resource distribution
over-population
terrorism and wars
AIDS and other diseases
corruption and crime
deforestation
lack of cooperation between countries
violence against women
limited access to information and technology
national debt
lack of access to the basics of life like food and water
peak oil crisis
imperialism
urbanization
overconsumption
extreme poverty
waste disposal
wealth gap
species extinction
ozone depletion
loss of top soil
and on and on!

The experts in the field say that if we fail to address these problems it will result in societal collapse or violence. There are a whole range of reasons for why governments and others don't respond to these (which I won't list).

We did start making lists of what are critical success factors that will help development people and others overcome these problems:

Creativity
farsighted planning
clear goals and targets
sustainability
education / knowledge / awareness
evaluation and measurement
cross-cultural awareness and understanding
money/resources
knowledge of history (failures & successes)
cooperation
social networks
guts & brains
technical knowledge

This was the class brainstorm. We also heard about what several different authors had to say:

different kinds of capital (human, resource, etc)
capital, labor, land, ingenuity
Uphoff: ideas, ideals, friendship
Landes: literacy, time consciousness, optimism
Inglehart: need a value system that emphasizes rule of law and tolerance of expression
de Soto: the ability to obtain title to a non-fixed asset

The second half of that list was from tonight. After finishing that discussion, we moved on to defining poverty. Your assumptions about poverty and its causes and impacts determine your responses. So it is important to know what your assumptions are. The class worked to define poverty as follows:

lack of basics: food, shelter, water, education
lack of access to markets, capital, finances, education, etc
poverty as identity, an inherited characteristic
poverty is relative
defined by society
disenfranchised / social isolation / being 'untouchable'
psychological blocks, limiting oneself, lack of options
lack of risk taking
lack of opportunity
having less than the cultural standard as far as resources, mental health, relationships, etc
lack of a social safety net

The discussion kind of broke down somewhere in there as we realized we all had such different experiences with what poverty is and how we define it. And realizing there is a different between relative poverty and absolute poverty - seeing yourself as poor versus really having absolutely nothing.

Our professor shared the idea of scarcity mentality versus abundance mentality. People can have the same amount but some have a mindset of scarcity and lack, while others in the same position have a mentality of abundance.

After this we watched a video called Guns, Germs, and Steel about the research of Jared Diamond who was trying to figure out just how the world became so unequal. He posits that 13,000 years ago we were all at the same place, but then things changed and certain parts of the world started advancing technologically.
His very simplistic answer for why comes down to geography.

People over in the fertile crescent area started farming wheat and barley which was very hardy and nutritious food. In places like Papau New Guinea they've been farming for thousands of years too, but they're growing things like tarot and banana which is much more difficult to grow and not quite as nutritious.

People in the fertile crescent area were able to domesticate animals so they left the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. They also began to use these animals for muscle power. Suddenly they could make a lot more food for themselves, coupled with the new technology of being able to store food. This freed up other people to specialize in other things. So they began to invent new technologies. People in places like Papau New Guinea had no animals they could get to pull a plow. All work is still done by human muscle power. Everyone has to work at this so there is no specialization and no one is able to go off and invent other things.

Diamond argues this comes down to geography because wheat and barley were grown in Eurasia, North America, etc and this is also where many domesticated animals came from. Some parts of the world didn't have barley and wheat and they didn't have these animals that were easily domesticated. (I'm oversimplifying the video, sorry!)

So there was a huge class discussion after this about how Diamond defined poverty, if he was really talking about poverty or about development, the value statements he made about 'us' and 'them,' his assumption that it was better to be developed in the way Westerners are, and so on.

In the midst of all this we're all reading Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunnus which is absolutely fascinating. Yunnus founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and has helped lift thousands and thousands (or millions?) of people out of poverty through micro-credit loans. I'll stop writing this post so you can go out and get a copy of the book right now and read it. =)

2007-10-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

Holy cow guys!!

Okay, you might all be wondering where I've been for the last several months. I've been up to lots of things - traveling in Guatemala for six weeks, getting married, that sort of thing. The other big thing, at least in regards to this blog, is that I've been working on my portfolio.

The portfolio is the graduation requirement for school. It is a narrative, if you will, of my experiences, projects, the things I've learned, etc, while in school. If I pass - I get to graduate in December!!

That's right, I've got 9 1/2 glorious weeks of school left. And I'm sure they'll be interesting. I've got Research Methods, Tools for Transformation, and Computing and the Developing World. Those could use more explanation but I'll have to fill you in later.

The important thing is that I just turned in my portfolio! My advisor has some time now to decide if he likes it or not and if he approves it, it goes to a second mysterious reader in a week and a half. If they approve - holy cow! I'll get to graduate! So say a prayer. And, if everyone approves of it, I'll pass around the link. =)

2007-07-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

There is a cute 4 year old girl that lives in my house. Today she announced: "I'm rich because I have lots of books!"

2007-04-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

I'm back to this sort of reading again, you know: reading about things like:

global analysis, global neorealist perspectives, metatheoretical styles, reductionist rationalism, false consciousness, international relations theory, neoliberal institutionalism, scholars of a postconstructuralist or neo-Grotian bent, epistemological and methodological polemics, transnational social movements, rational voluntaristic authority, dialectical and internally contradictory character of overarching cultural frameworks, conflictual differentiation, cognitive ontology, Durkheimian social facts, dialectical processes of world-polity development, Tocquevillean world, existential assumptions, universalism, plebiscitarian world polity, and the penetrative capacity of global processes.

Judging from the photo below, you can see the reading is enthralling and I've had no problem staying conscious...

2007-04-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, more interesting stuff today. In my Management of Information Organizations class (or whatever it's called), we focused on ethics. Heady stuff. What are ethics? Why are they important? What is the difference between ethics and morals? Between ethics and law? We discussed 5 streams of ethics, including deontolgical, utilitarian, social contract, rights-based, and virtue.

We also did an interesting exercise. We were handed a long list of values. Take a look at this list, then cross off 10 that don't really describe you/ don't describe you all the time/ aren't that important to you/ ones you can live without.

 
Fairness          Flexibility           Experimentation
Initiative         Cautiousness      Cooperation
Innovation       Quality             Independence
Hierarchy         Diversity           Broad-mindedness
Democracy       Courtesy          Change
Autonomy         Humor             Forgiveness
Formality         Cost-               Conformity
Control            consciousness   Customer service
Individuality     Creativity          Respect for the individual
Obedience       Openness          Teamwork
Honesty           Adaptability      Changing the status quo
Merit               Community        Consideration
Accountability    Aggressiveness      Logic
Development       Diligence         Social equality
Integrity           Orderliness        Loyalty
Self-discipline    Courage            Professionalism
Compassion       Transparency     Politeness
Precision           Revenge           Accuracy
                    Perfection

Think about yourself and be honest - cross off another 10.
Have you done that?
Now cross off another 10.
This is probably getting difficult and hard to cross things off. But you have to cross off 10 more. You should be left with 4 values.

Do these reflect who you are the most? Are these indeed the most important values to you - the ones you can't live without?
These values probably have a price though. Would you even be willing to give these up in certain situations? What situations? What is the price of these values?

For the record, I was left with integrity, compassion, humor, and adaptability.

I'm still not sure about those - I've been going back and forth all day. Do those really describe me the most? Are those the most important values to me? Are they important but not really the ones I ascribe to all the time, merely what I hope to? Or do they describe me quite well? I'm sure the resulting list also depends on what mood you're in and all those things.

Well, I'm off to read some particularly exciting stuff on globalization. =)

2007-04-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

I've started this post over several times - but now I'm glad I waited till after my class. I just returned from my class on Cross Cultural Communication. During the class today and during my preparation reading for it, I had several 'aha' moments that I'm still thinking about. I can't believe how much is being packed into this little 1 credit class!

So first, today I was reading a long chapter by Milton Bennett called Towards Ethnorelativism: A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. Bennett's model includes two major stages: the ethnocentric stages and the ethnorelative stages. Within the ethnocentric stages are Denial (isolation & separation), Defense (Denigration, Superiority, & Reversal), and Minimization (Physical Universalism & Transcendant Universalism). The ethnorelative stages are Acceptance (respect for behavioral difference & respect for value difference), Adaptation (empathy & pluralism), and Integration (contextual evaluation & constructive marginality).

It was interesting, I'll be honest, as I was reading through the section on ethnocentrism to see myself a little bit. Specifically, I know there have been times in the past when I probably had a sense of cultural superiority. I think it was innocent, and definitely before I had travelled! And I've also seen instances of Reversal - when a person turns around and thinks all other cultures are good and his/her own is bad.

But then I read the following paragraph:

"In a kind of abstract parallel to the concrete behavioral assumptions of physical universalism, transcendant universalism suggests that all human beings, whether they know it or not, are products of some single transcendent principle, law, or imperative. The obvious example of this view is any religion which holds that all people are creations of a particular supernatural entity or force. The statement, "We are all God's children," is indicative of this religious form of universalism, particularly when the "children" include people who don't subscribe to the same god."

I have been in a bit of shock most of the day after reading this, trying to grapple with it. I am a person of faith and grew up with that particular phrase. I never thought of that as indicative of ethnocentric behavior. On the one hand, it makes sense. Other people, other cultures, have different religions, different realities, different truths. But on the other hand... - I grew up a person of faith and that's where I'm at. I'm not sure what else to say here, though there are a lot of thoughts swirling around. I'm curious what response there is from all of you?

With that fresh in my mind I went off to class. One of the first things the professor did was attempt to give us a crash course in speaking Arabic! She spoke only in Arabic, with lots of gestures and pointing and trying to get us to understand and repeat words and phrases and learn. It was overwhelming. I felt lost, confused, a bit dumb - as did most of us in the class. If only these things were written down! I thought, then I could say them more easily.

As we were discussing the experience that idea came up. But then the professor related that to some of our reading about the Hmong who, until recently, were a pre-literate group. They had no written alphabet and no concept of reading and understanding those symbols. If a person isn't able to read, if they're illiterate, they can't use that extra assistance for learning. They can't write things down or take notes or see something visually.

And the realizations and connections kept rolling on. I did that huge project in one class last quarter about the literacy rates and education in Guatemala. I suddenly had a better understanding of what that meant. I especially remembered that literacy is defined differently in different places. In some areas, being literate is being able to write your name - and that's it!
It made me think of experiences on the bus, when someone is trying to get to a particular address. They know enough English to say the address or place they want to go. If the driver doesn't know where that is the person is in trouble. Sometimes I think the drivers don't realize that was all the English that person might have known. I can see the complete look of confusion as the driver goes off about other streets, other routes to take, where to find those routes, etc. And of course the person doesn't understand and asks the same question again. The communication breakdown is amazing.

Of course I keep thinking of this because of my approaching trip to Guatemala. When I went briefly last year I thought I knew enough Spanish to get along...but I had another thing coming! I was the person standing there, trying to figure out what was going on, realizing I had a very small vocabulary and I could not communicate. It's a scary and overwhelming place to be. And I'm taking myself back there in about 9 weeks!

I should sign off for now and go on to my readings for tomorrow, on business ethics. Oh joy!

2007-04-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

How dry...my reading is.

I'm in the midst of reading for my last required International Development class. This class is Managing Policy in a Global Context. It has more of a macro view than some of the other classes I've taken in the program. The reading is pretty intense. In preparation for tomorrow's class I've been reading a series of articles and reports that touch on the following topics:

the Westphalian conception of sovereignty, international law, International Convention on the Protection of Civil and Political Rights, the Helsinki Convention, global governance, multilateral cooperation among states, democratic theory, nation states, IGOs, NGOs, GANs, UN, BIS, the IMF, the World Bank, WTO, NATO, globalization, globalism, human rights norms, transgovernmental networks, transnational networks, International Organization of Securities Regulators, liberalism, Agenda 21, Bretton Woods institutions, USAID, embedded autonomy, neo-utilitarian theories, nation-state failure, human security, authoritarianism, neo-liberalism, Sicilian politics, populist politics, Stackelberg leaders and followers, constitutional political economy, infant industry protection, theory of bureaucracy, the Official Secrets Act of 1923, the Washington Consensus, mainstream economics, macroeconomic volatility, and asymmetries in market access, just to name a few.

As I'm reading these articles I'm supposed to think about and answer a few questions:
1. How is governance different from government?
2. What are my notions of good governance?
3. What is the range of different kinds of nation-states and how does this affect human security and development?
4. What is my notion of democracy and how does this relate to human security and development?
5. What is the difference between institutions and organizations?

It's interesting stuff, but I haven't quite wrapped my head around all of it yet...

2007-03-08T23:07:00.000-08:00

10 weeks of the quarter

Hey readers,

I know, I know – it has been way too long! And it’s too bad I haven’t written because this has been a really fascinating quarter. It all ends tomorrow though. Thank goodness!!

My classes this time around were Cultural Competency in Public Healthcare (absolutely amazing, phenomenal, the best!), Economics of International Development (interesting…economics, what more needs to be said?), and another International Development Seminar (with a couple super fascinating classes).

It has been a very difficult quarter in school and out of school. After all the things piling up, I started thinking of it as “the 10 weeks of this quarter,” though I’m just not creative enough to actually write good witty lyrics. And besides, I have to talk about the good things that happened to keep it all in perspective. So, without further adieu…

For the first two weeks of my quarter: I went to class a day early, and was otherwise late for class, way early for class, or went to the wrong room, for every class!
On the good side, I enjoyed celebrating New Year’s with my boyfriend finally in town.

For the third week of my quarter: my 26-year-old sister had a heart attack/seizures/brain damage, etc, etc. I spent half of this week in Portland with my family and things were very difficult and uncertain there for awhile.
On the good side, my friends O&J had their baby boy safe and sound and he’s a real cutie!

For the fourth week of my quarter: I came back from Portland in time for a group presentation with people I’d never met before; I worked hard all week on an annotated bibliography assignment then found out it wasn’t due till the following week; then I went down to be with my family again.
On the good side, uh… I think I did some yoga this week, which was good.

For the fifth week of my quarter: I turned in a book report and was expecting to do a presentation, only to be bumped to the next week; I finished the bibliography project but in class came to the conclusion that I had done it completely wrong and there was no time to fix it. I was a bit devastated.
On the good side, I took my little brother to dinner for his birthday and also had a lovely dinner with some friends

For the sixth week of my quarter: Prepared for the book report presentation and it is pushed off again; I was in the throes of preparing for a huge group presentation the following week; and I had yet another school committee meeting where no one showed up but me and the other co-leader.
On the good side, I went to a fun Super Bowl party, did my taxes, had another nice dinner with some friends, had a great chat with one of my professors, then found out I aced my bibliography assignment!

For the seventh week of my quarter: I think I might have finally given that book report; finally had that giant group presentation that we’ve been working on for…12 weeks or so; and then getting the run-around with registration but finally managing to get most classes I wanted.
On the good side, had a great chat with a Quaker on the east coast, our presentation went well, and I had a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

For the eighth week of my quarter: I began work on a huge assignment due for one class which sucked up a ton of time and energy; this same week, after weeks of trying, I realized that I had ended up without a group in another class and would now have to do the humongous group project and presentation by myself – joy; and then my computer died (fan isn’t working, so it gets too hot and shuts down).
On the good side, I prayed for my computer and it revived! It’s still hanging in there till I get it into the shop, but it managed to make the last three weeks of the quarter without being too ornery. I got to go see the Shins, go to a baby shower for a good friend of mine, and had an amazing class session with a Quileute Indian elder. It was amazing.

For the ninth week of my quarter: I finally had a chance to begin work on the huge “group” project; then I got a letter from the landlords saying that the time has come and we all have to move out. I’m not joking.
On the good side… had a great iworld meeting learning about public libraries in India; went to FWCC which was good and while there got to have dinner and talk with my family (of course the best of al is that my sister seems to be doing great!).

For the tenth week of my quarter: I got the “group” project done in time and presented it and all went well! I got the final assignment for my other class done and just turned it in! My computer is still working! There was a great multi-Quaker/YAF dinner with plans to visit each other’s meetings! I think that’s all good.

If you’re tired reading through all that, just imagine how tired and overwhelmed I feel! One day left…what could possibly happen??

2007-02-10T21:32:00.001-08:00

hee hee, good old librarian humor...

The Book

2006-11-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

I love this (except the librarian image - I'd prefer a different one). But isn't it great! =)

2006-11-03T18:47:00.000-08:00

Ran across this quote today...

"Only librarians like to search; everyone else likes to find."

Roy Tennant, Library Journal

2006-10-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

Pardon the delay - I've been working on papers for weeks on end. And massive amounts of reading. Definitely some interesting stuff. And some really, really boring stuff, I'm sorry to say.

I'm taking this brief pause from paper-writing to share with you all one of the most disturbing things I've seen in awhile.

www.msdewey.com

This requires Flash I believe and you'll need sound to 'enjoy' the whole experience. It's actually quite interesting, though I don't like the results interface. And frankly, Ms Dewey pours it on a little too thick. I'm sure there are some people that will really enjoy this though...

Back to writing...

2006-10-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

Well I've had all my classes once now and things have been quite interesting.

In my very first class, the seminar class, there were students from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Vietnam, Sudan, Mozambique, Bhutan, Tunisia, Russia, South Korea, Mexico, India, Montenegro, Morrocco, and some other places too I think. It was amazing!! We're going to have to work on some group projects together so that will be an experience. I've already made connections with some women from India and Russia.

In my Intructional Training class the professor came in wearing a grubby sweatshirt inside-out and a backwards baseball cap. He proceeded to give the worst powerpoint presentation ever! Mumbling, reading off the slides with his back to the class, there was way too much text on the slides to read any of it, etc, etc. He was obviously making a point! With such a fun and energetic teacher, this is sure to be a great class.

In my Collection Development class we had a panel of library-type people who work with collection development. An interesting observation was made about people from other cultures not understanding libraries or the idea of borrowing items. Some people found it hard to understand borrowing something and not owning it then. It reminded me of a story I may have posted last year about a new librarian somewhere in South America. Parents came in crying and embarassed, believing their child had stolen a book from the library, when he had only checked it out. They didn't understand the concept.
Think about it for a minute. What would it be like to have no concept of the idea of borrowing?

Then I had my Development Management class. One of the most interesting topics to come up (something I had never heard about) is that Bhutan has replaced the GNP with GNH: Gross National Happiness. I know it sounds a bit kooky, but it's interesting.
Their king has declared that the ultimate purpose of government is to promote the happiness of the people. He has said that Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product and he is giving happiness precedence over economic prosperity.

If you're interested, you can read multiple papers about this at The Centre for Bhutan Studies.

I'm off to study about ARCS, an instructional model, in preparation for my first assignment, due Friday!

2006-09-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to school everyone!

Okay, so most people who are going to school have already started, days or weeks ago. But today is my first day of school.

I have to say this has been one of the best, longest....best summer vacations I've ever had! Plenty of relaxing, hanging out with different Quaker groups, a little travel, a little bike riding, a little reading. I think I'm ready to go back to school now.

This week I gathered with fellow committee members of iServe to promote our committee and get some new students interested in volunteering. It was a great success and I have a lot of hope for the group this year.

I also tried to advertise iWorld but didn't do so well. I'm sort of taking over the website, but haven't been able to touch it yet...and I'm not sure who all is interested in this committee! It looks like me and maybe a couple others. I've got to get busy and do something with this committee...

In half an hour I head off for a full day of classes. First it's a three hour seminar for the International Development Certificate Program. Then it's an hour brown bag to discuss the IDCP and what it will look like this year. Then it's a three hour LIS class: Instructional and Training Strategies for Information Professionals. I've got descriptions of some of these on my website...which I meant to work on more this summer but just couldn't be bothered. =)

Then I might possibly go to a barbeque after all that! But we'll see. Off to school now...

2006-09-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks Jedidiah!

2006-08-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

New books!

I was checking out my schedule the other day and saw that the required reading had been posted for some classes.

So, gift certificate in hand, I traipsed over to the enormous campus bookstore to search for my books. I picked up:

Developing Library and Information Center Collections,
Reducing Poverty, Building Peace,
Whose Reality Counts? Putting the First Last.

While I was waiting for my books (which were still unshelved and hiding in storage), another book caught my attention which I just had to get: The End of Poverty

I've already started into the poverty/peace book. I'm excited about the collection development title as well - though I imagine it's a bit more of a dry read.

I've actually been getting a little work done on the church library project. Just a little.

Still about a month and a half till school starts!

2006-08-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ahh, Sesame Street. I may even remember seeing this segment when I was a kid. Enjoy!

2006-07-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm geeking out on Library Thing! It's a free online catalog that I heard about ages and ages ago. I finally decided to try it out. Why? I have no idea why these strange impulses jump into my head. Perhaps I'm procrastinating a bit...
It's in process, but if you want to see some books I have on my shelf, go here.

And hey, you can catalog your own books at www.librarything.com. It's insanely easy. Sorry to sound like an infomercial...

I've been enjoying my summer immensely so far...at the price of not doing as much work as I had wanted on some different projects. I'm finally starting to do some work on my church's library. Wow, they have an odd process set up for cataloging new books. I've got some work to do, but I'm actually looking forward to it and hope I can improve the whole thing.

I also haven't done much with my new position as "community liaison" of the iServe Committee. I think I'll procrastinate on that one more week and start in to contacting "the community" as soon as I return from yearly meeting down in Oregon.

Hope you are all doing well, and remember, if you need to stay cool, libraries are air-conditioned.

2006-05-31T23:28:00.000-07:00

One day left.

1 1/2 hours - or 2 1/2 depending on the professor. One giant group project paper to turn in, due in 9 1/2 hours. Worth only 5% of our grade.

One year down, one and 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, who knows - to go.

Four glorious months of vacation.

If all goes well, 12 1/2 hours till I'm free and can party non-stop...or sleep...I'll decide tomorrow. =)

2006-05-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

Three days left!!! I have three days left of this quarter and I can't tell you how excited I am! I've barely had a break since October. I'm looking forward to having only one job this summer - no school or large conferences to plan, not two jobs, just one. How sweet it will be.

Of course, I'm sure I'll manage to keep busy. I have plans for my room - like finally unpacking boxes and getting my curtains up!

My roomies and I are planning to build a milk carton boat and enter a Milk Carton Derby in July. We still have to think of what to build...

And I'm going to be taking over the church library for the summer and whipping it into shape. =) This will hopefully become one element in my portfolio - which is required for graduation.

Hmm, and I need to work on my website. Yep, I have one through school but it doesn't have anything on it now except a little man digging with a shovel.

Ooh, and I hope to get some bike-rides in and perhaps some camping - we'll see.

So I got plans. But no school! =)

2006-05-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hey, just what you wanted: another story! It's quite serious, this one. It's interesting because everyone else in my class did really silly or funny or audience participation or sing-song stories and I did this real serious one. It seemed a bit weird. But everyone commented and someone said they appreciated finally having a serious story! So that was cool. It's not all about telling stories to little kids you know; adults like stories too!

So enjoy!

2006-05-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

At possible great embarassment to myself, I have decided to post this link. This could be dangerous. I don't know if it's a good idea. But...I'm doing it anyway. You'll need speakers for this, and I think it plays with windows media or something like that.

So...enjoy, and let me know what you think!

2006-05-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

While I'm posting images, here's a great shirt from Unshelved, my favorite comic. =)

2006-05-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of BeaucoupKevin(dot)com (and who knows where he got it!)

2006-04-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

I got in!! So, I'll be starting a certificate program for International Development Policy & Management next quarter. It's actually a good thing since it seems like there aren't many LIS classes offered this coming year that I want to take. So I can fill in the slack time with this great program.

Wahoo!!

2006-04-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

For a while there I thought I was learning how to say no, but that's just crazy-talk. There is just too much to do - responsibility-wise and fun-wise.

An update, in no particular order:

- had a mid term today. Wow. The last time a took a test in school was probably 5 years ago! I'm trying not to whine too much since all my siblings have regular tests and most of my friends in other grad programs have midterms and finals. It was kind of a weird experience. I hope I did well. I'm pretty sure I didn't bomb it, but afterwards I knew there were a few things I didn't get.

- I've got a group project coming up on Integrated Pest Management in libraries. We got stuck with the first presentation date, so that's in like two and a half weeks! But our goal is to make everyone have the creepy-crawlies by the time we're done. =) We've talked about getting plastic bugs to put out on the desks and have images of bugs crawling on our powerpoint. And I'm tracking down books that have been eaten by pests.

- my database class is insane with assignments due every class time and so much reading! And I don't know what it is with this reading, but I cannot stay awake and concentrate when I read this stuff. I can stay up till 1 am studying for a test, reading through notes, etc without feeling too tired. But if I start to do the readings for this class ... it's like I develop narcolepsy all of a sudden. The best bed-time reading material EVER.

- I should be finding out this week about the International Development certificate program. Yep, I applied. I'm not sure how much time this will add, probably a year. So we'll see - and I'll certainly post when I hear.

- And lastly, I nominated myself for a student committee. Can you believe it!? I've never served on a student committee or really considered it. I applied for the service committees "community liaison." So, I'll let you know about that too.

Well, I'm off to do some reading...zzzzzzzzzzz

2006-04-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

One of my first assignments for my Storytelling class, other than telling stories (more on that later), was to write a poem. A poem!? Are you kidding me!? I thought I escaped that torture by choosing not to get a masters in poetry! But it wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be. Mostly because I didn't worry about rhyming or rhythm or any of that nonsense; I just focused on the content. So, here it is:

Where I’m From

I’m from Birkenstocks, books, and teapots; and a basket of un-mated socks; from baklava and Christmas cookies; from sweet ripe blackberries and tart huckleberries – picked every summer.

I’m from thousands of brightly colored Legos scattered around the living room, my three siblings and I building castles and boats. “Has anyone seen a piece that looks like this?” My mom discovers a stray piece…in the middle of the night…in her bare feet. “Kids!”

I’m from sand in the bathroom, dirt from the garden, and pine needles in the carpet.
I’m from pansies and poppies, rosemary and nasturtiums – with leaves as big as dinner plates. I’m from bird feeders scattering seed all over the yard. And the cats often scattering the birds.

I’m from my grandpa, telling funny stories of growing up until tears are streaming down his face. And ours too. “Bean, beans the American fruit, the more you eat the more you toot!”
I’m from my grandma, making clam fritters from memory, after a long day of clamming.

I’m from Uncle Eldon and Aunt Betty, and from great grandmother Jayne, with poor eyesight, who once sat talking to a wooden Indian. I’m from great aunt Paula, great uncle Axel, and Inge and Arne in Denmark. So many relatives I never met, but who had such influence on me.

I’m from only one bathroom and five people getting ready for church. “We’re going to be late again.” “Shotgun!”
I’m from church potlucks and game night: Take Off, cards and Scrabble. Don’t know a word? “Look it up!”

I’m from fun and games, and “it’s not fair.” From all of this, and more.

That's probably the best poem I ever wrote. Can I be done with poems now?

Another class assignment, obviously, is to tell stories. I have to tell stories to three "audiences" each week. An audience has to be at least one person. Thanks to my roommate for listening to the story about why dogs hate cats.

Next I tracked down two little girls - a six year old and her younger sister. They were in a pretty wild mood but settled down enough to listen to two stories. The older girl guessed everything that was going to happen in the tailor story though! They wanted to hear more stories but I didn't have any...so they told stories. Stories that they made up. That went on and on and had no point. And then they got more and more riled up. The older girl decided that we were buddies now which meant she could try to attack me and steal my glasses. Kids. I just don't get them sometimes.

Lastly I went to tell stories to the little girl in my house and her parents. She reacted much better. She listened well and joined in at her parts. And at the end she wrapped her arms around me and thanked me. It was very cute.

I get to learn two new stories tomorrow and will have to tell them next week. So if anyone wants a story, come on over...

2006-04-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

You need to create an Educational Information System for kids aged 8-16 in Bangladesh. You have a budget of $500,000. Go.

That's the gist of an assignment we got in class today. Wow, I was pretty excited about it! We actually have a guest professor - who is the professor for the other section of this class. I've been hearing the other class complain about this assignment since last week but when I heard the description I was a little sad I'd missed out! An information system for a developing country!? Come on - how cool is that!

And difficult too. When the assignment was given to us today it wasn't as official (won't be graded, etc). I think the professor chose these random countries (Sierra Leone, Somalia, Bangladesh, etc) because he didn't actually want us to know everything about the place and to 'solve' the problem easily. Of course in our group there is one guy who has lived in SE Asia for almost 10 years before coming to school, a girl from China, and me. Oh, I just happened to know about Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, an NGO in Bangladesh that uses boats to bring mobile libraries, schools, and internet-enabled computer labs to poor communities in a Northern Bangladesh watershed. =)

But even with the knowledge we did have, we didn't know everything. Does the religion and culture of the country allow girls to be educated, or only boys? Does the country have the infrastructure to support computers and internet access (do they have reliable electricity)? Should our 'information system' be book-based? The climate is very humid which can wreak havoc with paper and books and computer alike. Can we design a system to handle this? Will it be sustainable? Will our system run through an NGO, the government, or some school district? What does education look like in the first place? Should this be focused on a city, or out in the rural areas?

And the list goes on. This is the beginning of project development, a very complex process.

2006-04-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

Love your library - and love your favorite authors! I ran across this article in The Morning News. A few quotes to pull you in:

Libraries are fundamental pieces of any community, as vital as sewers or snowplows or good pizza. Libraries are little holy lands with giant invisible tentacles of imagination that fly out the doors and plunge through the windows of the houses around them. Libraries are often the greatest thing that has ever happened to any child in any neighborhood in any country.

But! If you get a book out of the library, read it, and really love it, one good thing you can do for its writer and for yourself is go to a bookstore and buy a copy of his or her book. Because it will help that particular artist continue to put art out into the world.

So do what you want. But remember that while a book purchase isn’t necessarily food in a writer’s pantry, it is a message to a publisher that a writer matters, that you want to see more of her kinds of books out there in the world. And, in a capitalist market, whose primary goal is not to improve society but to maximize the wealth of the capitalist, that’s one of the most important messages you can send.

Read. Visit libraries. Love books. And consider buying them once in a while.

2006-04-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

A lesson in googlebombing for all of you. First, go to Google and look up the phrase "miserable failure." (Failure will work as well.)

Wonder why that happens? It's called googlebombing!

Each search engine has an algorithm that ranks results, hopefully putting the best one first. Search engines can do this based on date (newest first) or by number (the pages with the most occurences of the word first) or other ways. Google's genius is ranking by popularity. I think part of this has to do with how many people click on a result in the results list and how long people stay at that site. But another big part is how many pages link to certain pages. The more pages that link to a particular site, the more relevant it must be and the higher it goes in the rankings.

So some of you may have blogs and you may have been hit by spam comments. I got hit by this last year. I had no idea why anyone would want to do this and thought they were just trying to sell a product. That was indeed the aim, but it was more sneaky than I realized. Some companies have 'robots' (little bits of code) that trawl through blogs and post their little blurb and a link to their website. The hope is that when Google goes through blogs indexing all the posts and comments, it will see all the links to this certain company and their site will show up higher in the search results for that particular product.

Back to miserable failure. Loads of people have put this phrase into their websites and used the phrase as a direct link to certain peoples' biographies or websites. So when Google trawls through reading anchor links it doesn't know that this is an incorrect or misleading link - it's just a computer after all!

So that's googlebombing and that's how it happens, more or less. Any questions class?

2006-04-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

Quotes of the week - okay, so it's only been two days, but I've got quotes from both of my classes.

From the preservation class:

Rags Make Paper
Paper Makes Money
Money Makes Banks
Banks Make Loans
Loans Make Beggars
Beggars Make Rags
---Anon. English 19th C.

And from my information systems class, a direct quote from the professor:

"All search engines lie!"

2006-03-28T21:25:00.000-08:00

Quarter 3 has just begun and it's looking pretty good so far!

My first class is about preservation and conservation of library materials. We just had an overview class yesterday, but it's already fascinating. We watched this old video about 'slow fires' - books and library materials disintegrating through time. So it seems paper used to be made of linen and other stronger materials. Then when they started printing more books they were running out of linen and needed a lot more cheap materials to make paper. So they turned to wood fiber, and they also were adding acid to the mix - haven't figured that part out yet (I think that comes tomorrow). So you've got all this acidic paper that after a century or two is 'burning up' and falling to pieces.

A man on the video demonstrated the problem. He took a book from the shelves and opened it to the middle. The pages were breaking out. He took out a page and crumbled it in his hand. It literally turned to dust. Wow.

Another problem is that libraries aren't aware of potential problems and don't prepare and do dumb things - like storing things in the basement! The video mentioned the flood in Florence and Venice in 1966 which caused a lot of damage and washed away a lot of priceless things - like art by Botticelli and millions of old and rare books. Hello! Storing things in the basement is a bad idea!

Anyway, this is why we have acid-free paper now - so it won't crumble to dust in hundred years or so.

My class on information systems, architectures and retrieval has also just gotten started. There hasn't been a whole lot yet, but the professor is originally from Greece so he has a fun accent and he is also a really funny professor!

2006-03-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!!! I just turned in my final assignment for my cataloging/classification class. I'm so glad that is done. I kept second-guessing myself and changing my evaluation of the controlled vocabulary I was...evaluating. Anyway, I'm relatively happy with the final product - let's hope the professor is too!

So now I'm going to start planning and preparing like crazy for my impending trip to Guatemala! For starters, I'm going to blow the dust off the Vicarious Travelblog and keep you all up to date on my travels for the 10 days while I'm gone. So head over there and I'll see you back here on the 27th!

2006-03-07T21:28:00.000-08:00

3 days of class left now and only one project left to go! Therefore, I must procrastinate...

Today I was reading an article about Malawi, one of the poorest nations on earth. Malawi is getting help from the Millenium Cities Project to work with the extreme poverty. The magazine had pictures of daily life, including women carrying water and children in a school. The children were sitting on the ground and a teacher was writing on the wall. They had photos of the math exercises - scratched in the dirt on the ground. And they had a photo of some "textbooks" - bundles of tattered papers tied together with cord. The caption said they had something like 10 books for 150 students.

I was thinking about all this on my way to class; the extreme poverty and disease and hunger in the world and the many groups and organizations trying to do something about it.

I realized my goal, what I am studying, is very hopeful.

Let's face it, if people have the choice between being healed from some disease or learning to read, they'd go with the former. Education is important, but living, surviving, takes precedence. So why hope? I have hope that when I go out into the world and find a place to work, the people there will be past surviving. They'll be moving to the next steps. I have hope for a world where reading and learning is the priority, not eating or drinking or surviving (these things will be guaranteed to all).
Preparing to be a librarian in developing countries feels like such a hopeful thing.

2006-02-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

7 days left. That's all!! Seven days left of this winter quarter. Both classes continue to be interesting, thought provoking, and sometimes plain confusing. =) I have two big projects left to complete so I'll be a busy girl.

On top of that, I'm going to GUATEMALA in two weeks!! Ack! I'm very excited about this and look forward to telling you all all about it.

The day after I return I start the Spring quarter. I know you're all dying to know what I've signed up for, so here it is:

Preservation and Conservation of Library Materials,
Information Systems, Architectures and Retrieval,
Storytelling: Art and Techniques

Sounds exciting, eh? Well I'm looking forward to it!

Back to reading now...I'm getting into classification issues in arrangement and display...whatever that means. =)

2006-02-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

I am in doubt. Oh so much doubt. I'm working on the second assignment for my class, Organization of Information and Resources. (I should say that I did quite well on the first assignment - yay!)

Anyway, this one is on subject analysis and indexing. What is this all about you ask? Well, let me tell you (because I feel like procrastinating!).

Let's say you want to find an article all about the controversy between enrollment and achievement status at charter schools versus public schools in the US. Without subject analysis/indexing, here's what you'd have to do: read through every article in the world till you found what you were looking for. That's a slight exaggeration. Obviously you could narrow your search down by only looking in journals about education. And you could narrow it down to all articles written after 2003 (or whatever). But that's still a hefty stack of journals to look through.
And you can't necessarily judge what the article is about by just looking at the title. No siree. What about "Toward a Pragmatic Understanding of Status-Consciousness"? Would you guess from the title that this is about charter schools? I'm thinking not.

So librarians, many, many, many years ago realized that the number of articles (and books) was growing huge and it was getting really difficult to find a document on a specific topic. So now librarians take it upon themselves to look at documents and index them so they can be found more easily.

So first you have to look at a document and decide: what is this about? This is way more difficult than you may think. Why? Because people are different and they see things in different ways. I might read an article and think it's about deer and index it so. But you may think it's about hunting or some other related topic. There are a dozen or more methods describing different ways to do this subject analysis, but in the end, it is "problematic," as our professor keeps saying. But we do the best we can.

Secondly, we take these subjects and turn them into indexing terms. Often a controlled vocabulary is used. (I'm not even going to try to explain that. Sorry.) So let's say I have an article about dogs in movies. I assign it the terms Dogs and Movies. If you're searching in the library database using those terms, you'll find the article.

So, one disadvantage. What happens if you don't use one of those terms? What if you search under 'motion pictures' instead? You wouldn't find anything. Of course there is cross referencing and preferred terms, etc, but this sort of problem does happen from time to time. That's why when you search you should use different keywords to find what you're looking for.

And one advantage... who cares about indexing and whatnot anyway because now we can do fulltext searches and we don't have to read through all the text anyway? Well, say you have an article about Old Yeller (or whatever that movie was). What if that article doesn't have the word 'dog' in it anywhere? It's obviously about a dog, but your search wouldn't bring it up. That's where indexing comes in because that term would be added and you could find the article.

All that said, it sounds like I know what I'm talking about, but for some reason this assignment is just not coming together!

So, I pulled out my "When in doubt, put the kettle on!" mug (thanks Anna!) and made a lovely cup of Yorkshire tea.

And then I reminded myself:
1. This teacher grades section by section through all the papers, so you don't really have to write a flowing paper (in fact it could hurt you!)
2. She's looking to see that I understand the concepts, so the actual document I'm indexing and maybe even the terms I pick don't matter so much.
3. I can email her and ask questions and hopefully I'll get an answer that makes sense!
4. And, it's not due till Wednesday. =)

2006-02-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

And you thought overdue fines were bad! I came across this quote a couple years ago. I desperately wanted to post it in the library I worked at but my boss would not allow it. =) I did post it in my own little area where my pictures are hanging. No one really sees it, but I think about it as I'm looking daggers at anyone walking around with a book they haven't checked out. (Not that I'm possessive or anything!)

For him that steals, or borrows and returns not, a book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him.

Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw at his entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not.

And when at last he goes to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever.

--From an inscription at the library of the San Pedro monastery in Barcelona

2006-02-03T21:43:00.000-08:00

I've been poring over course offerings for days. This program is going to go fast and I don't want to miss out on some cool things. Some classes are only offered once a year (or less) so I have to stay on top of this. I've been ranking my interest in different classes and narrowing and narrowing. I have it down to 88 credits I'm interested in (which includes the required courses). The thing is, I only need 63 to graduate! So I narrowed down further and I thought I had it all figured out. But then everything changed.

See, as I said before, I'm interested in the international aspect and what I can do there. My first week here I talked to someone who said this program does not have any international-type offerings so if I want that I'm going to have to find it myself. I might have to go to some other school and take classes elsewhere to get what I want. I was a bit discouraged by that. It took me long enough to get here in the first place! So the other day I attended my second meeting of ASIST's SIG-III. That's The American Society for Information Science and Technology's Special Interest Group in International Information Issues (see? acronyms are good sometimes!).

Anyway, I went to the meeting the other day and got to talking with one of the leaders of the group. (She's the one who told me about PROBIGUA which I'll be doing next month!) She told me about a certificate program she's taking through the Evans School of Public Affairs. It's an International Relief & Development Certificate Program that I could take right here, concurrently with my degree. And some of the classes could even double count for both programs. There is also a 200-hour practicum which could potentially work for my directed field work credits. 200 hours is basically 5 40-hour weeks. I would basically have to take vacation or leave of absence from my current job to do this! I'm still not sure about it, but I'm really intrigued. The application is due April 15th (tax day!) so I have till then to decide. It definitely means staying in school a bit longer. But I already realized I wouldn’t be able to get done in exactly 6 quarters (2 years).

Oh, and there is also the Jackson School of International Studies . I think I can take a class or two there through the Evans School. They have some really interesting classes. Of course it's all up the air and I'm just collecting ideas at this point.

2006-01-23T23:54:00.000-08:00

11:54 p.m. I just squeaked by. I had to turn in this huge assignment by 11:59pm today. I've been working on it for the last 5 or 6 days. I've seen too much of my computer, too much of this kitchen table. The assignment was a metadata schema evaluation. Somewhat interesting, but very involved. There were 17 parts!! And there was a huge amount of overlap. So much so that I began to worry if I was really getting it. Metadata is a weird thing.

11:56. Let's see if I can squeak by and get to bed before tomorrow! Then it's on to the next big assignment, a literature review...

2006-01-12T14:37:00.000-08:00

I’ve got to post before more fun and exciting class sessions!

For the last week I listened to six online lectures and read countless articles, but I didn’t quite understand my organization class until we had our first actual class yesterday.

One the main things we’re studying is Document Representation. A document representation is a surrogate, a stand-in, for the actual thing. It’s basically a description. There are standards in various places on what this includes, but can include author, title, publisher, date published, brief summary, subject headings, etc. It sounds sort of basic, but it’s really not. (Librarians have to organize the heck out of everything and make it all difficult. =)

But here is the importance of document representations – imagine using a library that doesn’t use document representations. All the books are on the shelves and you have to look through all of them till you find what you want. There is no searchable catalog (those are document representations you’re searching). There is no list of any sort. Luckily you at least have book titles and blurbs on the back covers (all bits of metadata which describe the contents of the book).

It’s the same with articles. If you’re searching for an article in a database, the list of results is made of document representations. And it’s the same with internet search engines. Imagine if Google didn’t return that list of results (which are document representations). Instead you’d go straight to the first website. If that’s not it you click Next to view the next site, and so forth. You don’t get to see all the options at a glance.

Any time you’re looking at a brief description of a book, article, movie, website, audio, etc – and not the item itself – you’re looking at a document representation. These things were created to help you, the public, find what you’re looking for.

And who creates these things? Sometimes they’re automatic (as with internet search engines), but mostly they’re created by people; quite often, librarians. =)

2006-01-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

My other class this quarter hasn't met yet. The professor is in Hawaii so the class is listening to online lectures and reading a stack of articles in preparation for the class to start next week. I made it through the three online lectures for this week. So far it's a lot of overview. The professor went on and on about this being a really in-depth, difficult class, hard stuff, confusing, etc, etc. I don't doubt her, but it's on the subject of organization, so I'm pretty excited about it.

In a nutshell, this class is about the process of organizing information. First you decide what you are organizing; then you choose or create techniques, tools, and standards; then you create resource representatives; then you figure out organizing, retrieving, and displaying the resource representations; and lastly you provide access to resources. Sounds a bit dry I suppose, but I'm sure it will be fun.

First Day

2006-01-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first day of Winter quarter! I'm taking two classes this quarter: Information in Social Context and Organization of Information and Resources. I haven't had the organization class yet, so not much to say there.

The first class will be quite interesting though. This covers intellectual freedom, intellectual property, privacy, confidentiality, information liability, censorship, book banning, free speech, surveillance & monitoring, fair use, copyright; little things like that. Yeah, it's going to be quite a class.

We started today by talking about the American Library Association's Code of Ethics. There are a lot of packed sentences in this code, for instance:

We significantly influence or control the selection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information.

We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions.

We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources.

One thing we talked about: kids in libraries. Some parents look at every book with their kids and know what they're reading. Other parents drop their kids off and have no idea what they're looking at. Sometimes parents get upset about what their kids can find in a library. But are librarians supposed to be parents? Uh, no.

So we can't stop kids (or anyone) from looking at items in the library. But what do we stock in the library? Libraries I think pride themselves on being open to everything. You may not agree with it, but people will need the information and it's your job to provide it. So libraries have books on homosexuality, religion, how to make bombs, etc, etc. There will always be someone who has a problem with some topic in the library.

What about a library that decides not to stock those things they don't agree with? Hmm. I think that would be your own personal library, or perhaps a private corporate library. I think as long as libraries are supported by the public, they will represent the many varied interests of the public.

So as far as a public library goes, librarians aren't going to keep out items that may be deemed offensive by some. And they aren't going to protect anyone from seeing those items or stop people from checking things out. Obviously librarians aren't totally neutral on every subject, but it seems they try to be.

2005-12-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

I made it through my first quarter! I'm done now and on break till January 3rd. I don't know if I can drag myself back to the computer to blog more...so you may not hear from me till January.

Until then, happy holidays!

2005-12-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

These professors know how to pile everything up at the end of the quarter! I got my paper done on the comparison of IB models. I think it's a decent paper, we'll see what the professor says.

I also recently finished a huge group project and presentation. I'm so glad that is over! We looked at the information behavior of baristas, which ended up being quite interesting. Perhaps we were stretching it a bit at times, but that's only because there wasn't much literature to go on. Not any on baristas and not much on the service industry.

I've got one little assignment in that class and then it's done! Yay!

But the other class is a different story. I have a search assignment due at the end of the week. I've got a number of questions and I have to find the answers for. We've had two search assignments so far and I've done well on them.
I also have to do a research consultation with someone. I've picked my person, but she went out of town and I still don't know what she wants research on! Hopefully it won't take too long to do the research though. I'm interested to see if my new knowledge of searching techniques and resources will be helpful.

I also have another group assignment. For this one we have to pick some particular place and pick 10 reference resources they would need, and our reasoning for that.
This could be interesting. We're looking at a tour boat that goes around the world on educational trips, with lectures, etc. Right now we're trying to see if the trip could be about going to Quaker areas in Latin America. This should be an interesting one.

As you can see, I'm up to my eyes in papers and projects!

2005-11-27T21:47:00.000-08:00

I found a new blog today on international libraries. There are only three posts as of today, but I'm intrigued at what this person will find. Here is the link http://globallibraries.blogspot.com/

Check out the second post and related links. It's about a bookmobile service in northeastern Kenya - traveling by way of camel!!

2005-11-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, here are the instructions for a paper I've been working on for several days:

"Compare two models or theories of information behavior. Your paper should demonstrate how well you understand the key concepts, assumptions, contexts, and practice implications of the frameworks that you choose to compare. It should also demonstrate your ability to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and critically reflect on the range of ideas presented by the frameworks chosen."

The instructions go on from there. So how does that sound? Though it was killing me at first, I am having so much fun writing this paper!! Obviously getting a decent grade is a hope of mine, but even more so, I really want to understand the two theories I'm comparing.

I chose to compare Granovetter's Strength of Weak Ties and Elfreda Chatman's Information Poverty. In a nutshell, SWT says that people are "tied" to each other by strong ties and weak ties. Strong ties are people you know and trust (close friends, family). Weak ties are people you don't know as well, but have contact with and get information from (possibly co-workers, other acquaintances). Granovetter believes that people who have strong ties are similar to one another and generally have the same information sources. Acquaintances are less likely to be similar and more likely to have a wider variety of beliefs, thoughts, experiences, and perspectives. A community that has no links to "outsiders" is a very insular group and doesn't learn a lot information outside of their own experiences. Granovetter believes ideas and information travel through these weak ties. A lack of weak ties leads to a fragmented society. Very interesting.

Chatman's theory says that some groups of people, because of social norms, lack of ability, etc, choose not to seek information. You see this very often with poor people. It can also happen with people who don't have good technology skills or easy access to information. The idea of information poverty is very interesting.

While researching these theories I came across an excellent article by an 'information professional' in South Africa, Johannes Britz. His article, To know or not to know: a moral reflection on information poverty, was published in 2004 in the Journal of Information Science. Go find it and read it!

A few tidbits from the article:

“Information poverty is not restricted or limited to a technology/digital divide only. The information divide is not limited to the ‘technology insiders’ and ‘technology outsiders’ of cyberspace. It is a much more complex phenomenon including issues such as cultural and language diversity, levels of education and the ability/inability to access and benefit from information. Furthermore, the divide between the information rich and the information poor is not only a divide between societies and countries. It occurs also between individuals who might share the same cultural and physical space."

"It can be concluded that information poverty affects the quality of life of the vast majority of people on this earth. It has considerable social, political, cultural and economic implications, and therefore solutions must be found."

"In Egypt the minimum information standard for its citizens is affordable access to the Internet and a computer for every household. As an outcome of a National Information Project, which was initiated by the Egyption government, it was decided in 2000 that Internet services would be provided free to all Egyptian citizens. The only cost would be the telephone call. This was followed by a so-called 'computer for every home' project according to which the government subsidizes computers for poor households by means of easy instalments. Two other examples are the Netherlands and South Africa. In the Netherlands it was decided to provide the homeless with a permanent e-mail address. As early as 1994 the South African government drew up a policy that it should be possible for each South African to be within walking distance of a telephone."

And we whine when we get lousy cell-phone service while we're on our air-conditioned buses driving through town.

2005-11-21T19:17:00.000-08:00

Bonus thought for the day, a quote I saw today:

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." --James Nicoll

2005-11-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

We spent time last week talking about the reference interview. What a fascinating subject! Here are a couple of the quotes I've pulled out of the reading:

"The famous dictum, 'Speech was given to man to conceal thought,' is often forcibly brought into mind by the ingenuity with which visitors of the reference-room succeed in hiding their desires behind their questions" (Woodruff, 1897).

The most salient features of the reference interview are "mind-reading and cross examination" (Wyer, 1930).

"You see they will choke to death and die with the secret in them rather than tell you what they want" (Wyer).

Surely this can't be so! When a person goes to a library, don't they want help? Don't they want information? Why are people so difficult?

The problem comes down to 'how one person tries to find out what another person wants to know, when the latter cannot describe his need precisely" (Taylor, 1968). I guess you can think about it like a word. You know when you are trying to think of a word? You practically end up playing charades with people, trying to describe the thought or idea behind this word, trying to define it, but you don't really know or can't remember. And it's hard to describe a vague thought or feeling, and sometimes the descriptions you come up with have nothing to do with what the word really is.

So that's point one: people want information about something they can't even begin to describe.

But there is more than that.

Often, people will have looked everywhere themselves before they come to the librarian. When they come to the librarian to ask for help, they are admitting they failed, they couldn't find the information, they aren't good enough. (A bit exaggerated it would seem, but some people feel this way.) A lot of people hate to ask for help!

People often don't realize that finding information is a librarian's job. So they feel like they can't ask because they'd be bothering the librarian, or asking a dumb question, or it's not worthwhile, etc. (Unfortunately there are some librarians who make you feel this way - they're bad!)

Some people are shy. They are embarrassed about whatever they need to know and they'd rather muddle through on their own than ask someone.

Sometimes people direct their question to the librarian based on what sources of information they think are available. Say a person really wants to find out where Lincoln was born. They figure the answer will be in a book (undoubtedly) so they'll just ask for a book on presidents, or maybe even a book on Lincoln. Then they'll have to skim through the book till they find the answer. There are MUCH BETTER ways to find information that librarians know all about.

So just get over it and tell the librarian what you really want!! Geesh! =)

2005-11-09T20:13:00.001-08:00

I found an amazing article today, and an amazing quote. I was flipping through the November issue of American Libraries and came upon their international section. The title of the article was Have MLS, Will Travel. It was an interview of several people working in school libraries around the world: Vietnam, Bolivia, Saudia Arabia, Hong Kong, the Phillippines, etc.

It started off:

Here are four questions that could change your life: Do you like to travel and have a spirit of adventure? Are you interested in learning ﬁrsthand about other cultures? Do you enjoy being a librarian but want a change from your current position? Have you considered becoming a librarian in an international school?

Hmm, very interesting... In an interview with one woman, her reason for going abroad was:

“A friend reminded me that I had been interested in mission work years before and maybe this was the time to trust God and make the move,” she says. That “move” eventually guided her to library positions in Bolivia, Ecuador, and the Philippines.

The last paragraph of the article was so touching to me:

Van Brocklin shared this anecdote: “I always think of my ﬁrst year of working in the Bolivian school and a parent who showed up in tears after the ﬁrst week of school. They were convinced their kindergarten son had ‘stolen’ a book from the school because the idea of a lending library was just totally new to them. . . . It was that kind of experience that I knew I was in the right place.”

Wow, I can't imagine not knowing what a library is, or not having experience with a library that lends books! This is what it's all about for me. In classes it sometimes seems like it's all going to end. No more books, no more journals, everything online or in some weird form, and everything is crazy. Well it hasn't happened yet. And I think of poorer countries that just don't have the infrastructure for people to have internet in every home. For some people books are the only option; and many are too poor to even afford these.

This is from the Probigua website:

In Guatemala, where 50% of the population cannot read, educational opportunities are severely limited by a lack of access to books and other written material.
Most towns and villages do not have libraries; neither do the public schools, which also do not supply any textbooks. Parents, many of whom earn the minimum wage of only $18 per week, simply cannot afford to buy books for their children.
Instructional methods in the public schools are limited to listening to the teacher and copying what is written on the blackboard. Many children simply do not learn to read and drop out of school after a few years. Many of those who do achieve some literacy begin losing it as they grow older. Only 10% attend school past sixth grade. As adults, most of these children are limited to doing manual labor - when they can find it.

Probigua is a non-profit Spanish language school. They donate all their profits to building libraries in the country.

As of 2004 our project has started, and is maintaining, 23 libraries as well as the first mobile library of Guatemala. For use by the early education reading programs we have established 350 reading corners in school and libraries under the motivation: "Book by book Guatemala will change." Furthermore, we have opened 16 computer centers and installed additional computers in 14 libraries. Our goal is to improve the services in our existing libraries and to provide access to technology to many children and teachers in rural areas. Tuition fees for Academia de Español support the libraries and provide scholarships for youngsters to attend school beyond sixth grade.

This sounds like an excellent program to me and I'm hoping to visit there in March.

2005-11-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

One thing public libraries have to deal with is homeless people (wow, I don't like how that was phrased). I found this blog post talking about the library as shelter.

There was an interesting quote in the blog:

Fear in all its forms stands out. It seems to take the shape of a giant circle of mutuality: the shelter staff and other providers are afraid of the homeless and the homeless are afraid of the staff; the citizen on the street, the merchant the householder, and whole communities fear the homeless, and the homeless fear the non-homeless citizens. And to complete the circle, the homeless are afraid of the homeless. Thus, everyone is afraid of the homeless, including the homeless themselves, and what is so terrible and intractable about this situation is that everyone is right to be afraid.

Right to be afraid?!? Why!? Why is it right to be afraid of the homeless? In any interaction with a homeless person are you likely to be mugged? I don't know. I'm not sure what the fear is. Although, I've had it myself wandering through downtown Seattle on my own. What am I afraid of?

I then read an excellent post on a friend's blog. Actually, the part I enjoyed was in the comment. Here is the whole exchange.

But how does this translate to libraries? Sure there can be a Christian (or 'good person') response to homeless or poor people in the library. But can you expect that from librarians or other patrons in the library? I wish. The comment to the first blog entry is quite interesting.

I have no answers. I don't know if I'll be working in public libraries...but I'm interested in this 'problem' of a population that needs information as well and are feared so much in our society (and apparently other parts of the world as well).

2005-10-30T09:53:00.000-08:00

It's true, I daydream a lot. In class, on the bus, at work, whenever. I daydream often about different ideas for libraries. And of course now different ideas for projects for my portfolio! So here is one strand of daydream I had in class this last Thursday.

We've been talking about information behavior so I'm not sure exactly where this came from. I was thinking about large public libraries (and most other libraries I suppose) and their collection development policies. They do their best to figure out what the population wants, not just what they want today, but what people will want years down the road. Not an easy job. But you can narrow things down based on the type of library you're in.

So I was thinking about small community libraries. Like a library on an Indian reservation. Or a library in some other sort of under-served population area. It would be cool to get together a representative group of people from the community to pour over all the lists of books available and help select what titles the library should get. I would hope then that the community would be that much more aware of what is in the library and they would also be excited about the resources, because they helped pick them out.
Of course, what is the likelihood of getting people to care? But I like wishful thinking.

So, more wishful thinking... I was daydreaming about putting together some sort of library club where people get together once a month to share "what did you learn this month." People could share as much or little about some particular thing they learned about. There could be a list somewhere of ideas of things to learn about. Sure this wouldn't appeal to everyone, but there are definitely some who are always eager to learn more things. I think it's important to share these things with others (helps give you more of a purpose) and you learn more that way from what other people are sharing.

All right, more on this later...perhaps.

2005-10-30T09:42:00.000-08:00

More thoughts on the future of the book. We've been discussing the future of just about everything and I'm still thinking about the book. I don't know if transfering print books to online formats is the best idea, but some people seem to like it. My thought is that it's a whole different creature so why work so hard to make it look like a real book! Why do they have page numbers and margins and paragraphs? For that matter, why do they put one page of text per screen so you have to keep clicking to the next page? That's a bit annoying. This is all structural change though, as I said before. It's not content change. Perhaps this structure change is so huge that content change will be necessary.

I think of my sister and others who play computer games. No simple Tetris, mind you. These seem to be pretty involved and well thought out worlds with players who are joining you from around the world. They're creating a story as they play the game. It's a living, evolving story. Is this the future of books? A story that's interactive and visual and created by more than one person? How can you share a story like this with others? How can you pass it down through the generations?

Perhaps this will just be one recognized genre. It still seems unlikely that a paper-based book you hold in your hands will ever go away.

2005-10-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

Wow! Where does the time go!? This has been a busy week. One of my classes has a lot of reading. A LOT! I think there were something like 12 articles/chapters to read, discussion questions, another 16 or so "supplemental" readings, looking things up online, etc, etc. Most of us thought it was for one day, but then it turned out to be for two days worth of class discussion.

And absolutely fascinating discussion, let me tell you! Last week we talked about parts of the book and this week we talked about the history of the book, back to the beginning of time it seems. It was really amazing, I thought. We started with Sumerians making clay balls thousands of years ago to record business transactions. Then they started stamping them with pictures. Then you get pictographys, hieroglyphs, and hieratics from the Egyptians. People were 'writing' things in stone or in wax tablets, but then someone got the bright idea to write things in sheets of papyrus and scrolls were born. It was done that way for a long time and then some time in the second century the book as we know it today was invented.

There were a number of factors in this. First, searching through a scroll for some piece of text you wanted was not easy. Second, Alexandria was the sole producer of papyrus and they decided to put an embargo on it because they were scared Rome was trying to take over the world and their scroll business (which they were). So Rome starts using parchment (which doesn't roll well) and papyrus basically dies after that. Somebody got the idea to cut scrolls up into sheets, sew them together, and bind them between two codicies (those wood and wax slabs people used to write on). Thus the book was born, and it has stayed in basically the same format for almost 2000 years.

Everything that has happened to books since then has had to do with the structure of the book and with making it easier to use. Paragraphs and punctuation and capitals didn't really come into use until the 1400s. Indentations in paragraphs showed up in the 1700s. Copyright started in 1709 and the first dust jacket appeared in 1833. Margins were a medieval invention and the table of contents showed up in the 1400s as well.

Of course up till the mid-1400s all books are made by hand by monks sitting in cold, dark, cramped shacks. Then in 1453 Guttenburg pulls together moveable, reusable type, ink, and a press and the world changes! We can now mass produce books!

The most interesting part of the conversation (which I think I mentioned before) is that all the changes that have happened over 2000 years have been to the structure of the book and not the content. The way we write stories has not changed. Books have always contained words, sentences, paragraphs. Now they also have pictures, graphs, etc.

But with the advent of electronic books, we may see the content of books change. Already ebooks have links to dictionaries, thesaurus, and other resources. Let's say we also throw in animation, sound, video, instant messaging, chat, blog, wiki, podcast, and commentary. The nature of books is totally different. Who is the author? What's authority now and who decides? Editions are pretty much out the door. And can you really call something like this a book?

I don't know but it is absolutenly fascinating.

2005-10-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

Side note: This isn't really about grad school, but it was such a great experience!

Last Saturday night I went to the Seattle Symphony. They played three things: Dvorak's Slavonic Dances; Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor."

The guy who set up this trip to the symphony gets student prices or something so we got some cheap tickets. As we were arriving he said that our seats were in the front, so we'd be able to see well. Really well.

I couldn't believe how close we were! We walked down the aisle to the very front row where the seats were about one foot from the stage!

I sat down right in front of the conductor's podium. The stage was over my head so I had to look way up the whole time to see the orchestra. The music was beautiful and I enjoyed sitting so close so I could see all the detail.

But as I sat there, I looked at the conductor's pants. They were wrinkled! I mean, not just from sitting. I started wondering if he'd just picked them up off the floor from the day before - or perhaps he just hadn't ironed them from the day before. I was quite amazed that they were wrinkled.
And then I kept hearing this loud breathing. It was the first violinist, off to my left. He breathed so loud I could hear him each time he breathed in - even while the music was going on.
Every time the conductor really got into it and was bouncing on the podium to get some energy into his baton-waving, the podium would make this thunking noise, like it wasn't quite flat on the floor.
One woman a few seats in kept slipping out of her shoes.
When pieces would end and the audience clapped, a couple of the people looked really grumpy, which surprised me. I would hope playing in an orchestra wouldn't be a boring, ho-hum "job," but I guess a person could feel that way.
Part way through one of the crazier pieces, one of the violinists bows broke a bit. There was a big hunk of it (horse hair?) flying about since it was still attached at the top and bottom of the bow. He kept playing away, which would have driven me crazy. He finally got a few seconds rest and he grabbed hold of the offending broken bits and ripped them out of his bow, then jumped right back into the music.

Anyway, it was quite amazing to be that close. True, the violins were a bit overwhelming and it was hard to hear much else. But I really enjoyed the Dvorak and Beethoven pieces. For the record, Bartok is not one of my favorite composers.

2005-10-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

What is a book? (I think we're eventually going to question everything there is in a library, or anything related to information - whatever that is!) So in class yesterday we came up with a huge list of all the parts and components of a book.

Just some are: cover, pages, index, margins, page numbers, illustrations, captions, blurbs, notes, parts, chapters, paragraphs, sentences, words, characters, punctuation, spaces, white space, spine glue, footnotes, endnotes, price, colophon, fonts, signature, pulisher, indentation, block quotes, title, foreward, preface, dedication, table of contents, title page, verso, epilogue, and on and on and on!

We came up with a list of almost 70 items that make up a book. Then we separated them all into categories: things that are part of the structure of the book, things that are the content, and things that are metadata. When we were done, the amazing thing is the majority of that stuff was structure! Content had the smallest share. Obviously when you look at a book it's all content - or all you really see is content.

How many of us are aware of spaces and indents and page numbers and capitalization in a book? What all this means is that structure in a book is really important. We need all that structure to help us use the book, to help us navigate and find things. It is difficult to use a book without these structural pieces. Can you imagine readingsomethingwithoutanyspacesorpunctuationorcapitalization? Or reading a book without page numbers or chapters?

Now, as we looked at all these parts, we realized that only about three or four things had been created in the past few years (barcodes, ISBN, etc). Everything else has been around for a long time. And those things that are new have to do with metadata and structure - not content. Content has not been evolving, structure has!

One way it has been evolving of course is into ebooks. I just looked at my first ebook yesterday. It is an interesting idea, but it doesn't seem to have caught on quite yet. (Although many large universities have subscriptions with ebook vendors.) What I'm wondering is, why are ebooks trying to look so much like physical books? True they don't seem to have page numbers - but I think the book I looked at had the title page, running headers, white space, indents, most of the same stuff. They even had that blank page you have on the opposite side of the title page. You know why it's blank in a book, but online? They had to have a phrase on the page "this page left intentionally blank." Why have the page at all!?
People are in love with the idea of the book and many are struggling with the idea of an electronic book. Ebook people are trying to make ebooks look just like 'real' books, or as close as possible.

My feelings? You can't compare them. All the structure you have with a physical book is needed to help you read it. A website or online book is a different creature. It's just never going to look or act like a "real" book. Ebook publishers need to create their own structure for what a book looks like and how you read it online. I don't have any ideas on this... yet.

2005-10-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

I don't think anyone is reading this, so I'm feeling safer about posting. Then again, people could be reading this - so this could be a bit embarrassing. True confession time. I'm really struggling with the reading. First of all I haven't been in school for several years. But even then, I don't think I had much experience with analytical/critical reading. I'm pretty good at just reading articles. I can usually understand what I'm reading and could repeat some concepts.

But these classes expect way more than that. The professors want us to really understand the concepts. To think about whether the author's viewpoint is right or wrong. To know the background of the time when the article was written. To think about things the author didn't think about. To ask questions about the article and answer them. And on and on.

My brain is maxed out just trying to stay focused on all the readings and get them done for the next class! Let alone analyze them all and figure out how they apply to me and information science and the main themes of the class. Plenty of other people don't seem to be struggling at all. I'm sure plenty are struggling to get into this - I just haven't found them.

Well, I've got some reading to do now...

2005-10-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

2 credits down, 61 to go! LIS 500 ended today with evaluations and a brief overview of upcoming attractions. These had to be four of the longest days of my life!

I was amazed to hear a fellow student today share that she had also thought libraries would be a stable place to work and was a bit surprised to find out that was not the case. I'm glad I wasn't the only one to think that.

Hey, I met more people interested in international libraries today. I sat next to Amy who has done a bit of work with Russian libraries. At the ALISS Mixer (to celebrate the end of LIS 500) I met Emily who is also interested in international work and is part of SIG-III.
So I was talking to Emily and she mentioned she'd done some work in Guatemala this summer with some libraries there. Wow! I've been really, really thinking about going to Guatemala in March for a Quaker conference. I've been thinking about it for months, but when school started the idea cooled off a bit. I should be a serious student and not think about traveling, and besides, it's going to cost a fair amount.
Anyway, as I talked to Emily she said I should go and if I wanted any contacts, she could try to set me up. Hmm, I'm starting to think I could do this after all and perhaps work in a library down there for a week. See what it's like, if I really do like it after all.
Also, when I told Emily about the Quaker conference, she mentioned that she'd gone to her first Quaker church in Philadelphia recently. She said she'd always been interested in the Quakers and wanted to try a meeting. Cool.

I'm seeing another aspect of this interest develop, and that's with native Americans or other populations that are different cultures within the US. What sort of library/information services are they getting? Is it useful? What do they need?

One of our guest speakers this morning works with Native Americans and is developing a new thesaurus of terms that is more culturally sensitive and understanding. She talked about how different cultures have different worldviews, different ways of knowing. I realize this, to some extent, but haven't done a lot of study into different worldviews.

Cheryl shared a somewhat generalized, but probably quite accurate, list of cultural differences.

traditional white european values---------Navajo values
mastery of nature ------------------------------ harmony with nature
scheduled living ---------------------------------non-scheduled
future-oriented -------------------------------- present-oriented
very competitive ------------------------------- non-competitive / deference
acceptance on basis of role/status------------- acceptance based on integrity
punishment related to guilt----------------------punishment related to shame
individuality/fame ------------------------------aninymity and humility
save for the future ----------------------------- share resources now

I thought this was very interesting.

Well, I really need to go. I have reading for tomorrow. A new class! Information Resources, Services and Collections. Then on Thursday I have Information Behavior. Sounds exciting, I know. =)

2005-10-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

Is the internet a library? That's the question that's been rolling around in a class forum for the last few days. Most people say no, it's not a library, based on the criteria of a certain author we've all read. What makes a library, or a collection, even?

It is finite for one. The internet is infinite, changing every second. When I click "Publish Post" in a few minutes, there will be yet another piece of information out there in cyberspace. The internet has no bounds, no walls, no stopping.

A library, or collection, is gathered by a person (or more than one person) for a certain audience or community. There is no defined community for the internet as a whole - other than everyone who has access. And, in general, there is not one person or group or entity gathering or collecting information. Anyone with access can add information to this thing.

And there is no one checking this information to say what is valuable and correct and helpful. There is a lot of crap out there, a lot of incorrect information, a lot of things that are totally un-helpful. There are a lot of out-of-date things that no one is getting rid of. But it's all out there and no one can really say no.

So if I do a search in Google on some subject and pull up a list of 10,000 results, is that a collection, a library? That's a bit iffy. I mean it is a bit more finite and it does have an audience (me), but it's still a bit random.

One thing fellow class-mates brought up is whether a blog can be considered a library. I'm pretty close to saying yes on this. Blogs contain various types of information: images, videos, sounds, text, links to other resources. These are all selected by the "collection developer," or blog author. A community often forms around blogs, even if its just friends and family. They come because of what they can find there - meaning there is definitely a purpose behind the collection.

Part of the reality we live with is that there are many people saying "I can find everything I need through Google, so why do I need the library?" This is a very valid question. Yes, this causes some of us to roll our eyes because of the quality of information (or lack thereof) from Google, and because libraries are about so much more! But as we also found out, people don't care! Librarians, information professionals, have a lot of work to do on this...

2005-10-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm collecting all these links and I have to share them!!

Librarians Against Bush - hee hee, just thought it was funny there was an actual group and website! Hmm, this is actually an interesting issue I've learned I'll have to talk about another time.

Here was an interesting blog posting about the usefulness of libraries. In the third paragraph the writer says, "Dare I say it? We don't need the library." She brings up an intersting point, and this is being discussed a lot amongst librarians and other people.

Here's a great article about librarian's challenging stereotypes. NO - not all librarians are older white women of indeterminate age, wearing sensible shoes and a bun and glasses and shushing people! This joke comes up quite a bit in our classes so far, the 'stereotypical' librarian. There aren't really any people in my class of 72 that look the part.

Here is the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, or IFLA. IFLA is "the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users." I'll definitely be checking them out.
IFLA and ALA have started a public education campaign called The Campaign for the World's Libraries.

And here is the International Library Informationa and Analytical Center, or ILIAC. Looks possibly interesting...

Here's something I really want to look into, the international library initiatives sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Now, I can't give you links to this one, but there is a chapter of ASIS&T on campus, or, The American Society for Information Science and Technology. One of their special information groups is called International Information Issues, so of course their acronym is SIG-III. They have a meeting next week so I'll report back!

Well, that's it for now!

2005-10-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

Day three of school. I feel like there is so much bursting in my brain, I either start talking/typing and never stop, or I step outside myself and just observe (which means I'm quiet and stare off into space a lot).

Today I realized I was misinformed... or naive... or just not experienced enough to know. The library world, the "information world" is changing at an amazing pace. I think part of that is because it's so closely related to technology, which changes so quickly.

I learned in undergrad, as a computer science major, that technology changes a lot. We used to joke about the fact that when you buy a computer it's already outdated when you take it out of the box. Of course it's not a joke - it's true.

For some reason, I thought the library world would be more stable than this. I'd learn the bits of library info I needed to know, cataloging, the ins and outs of the Dewey Decimal System and Library of Congress, etc. Yeah, we will learn those things, but it's much more than that. Libraries are changing - or should be changing or they won't be around much more. They're changing and growing and adapting.

Not that this is a bad thing. I just have to readjust some expectations I had....

2005-10-04T21:11:00.000-07:00

I have questions. Questions that need answers...

Day 2 of library school. Several of us are feeling a certain information overload - that feeling that your brain is going to explode. One of the professors suggested that we use duct tape to keep our heads together, because masking tape just won't do the job.

What is information? What is a document? What is a collection? Who are the users? What is a library? What about boundaries? Is Yahoo's new digitization project going to create a library? Is a digital library really a library?

And who freakin' cares??!?

No one, that's who. Well, only us library-types. Yep, that's one thing I learned today. See, 'information professionals' love this stuff. We love the process involved in how to find a book or article or some random piece of information. We love the search. But 99% of people - they could care less how you find something, they just want it and they want it now. This explains everything! Like that story of the book I found for someone in the library... I love to tell all the places I looked and how I found it, etc. When I tell people this story, their eyes glaze over. Who cares!! Boring! But it's still fun for me.

So did I mention on the orientation day I found a woman who is also interested in international work? I chatted with her today and she had some more information to give me.

First, one of the chapters of a campus group is focused on International library work. I'm going to check them out.
My friend said that basically I wouldn't get the international library work flavor I'm looking for here at this school. There is a track for that at UCLA, if I want to transfer. I will really have to design my own program to look the way I want to get the most out of it.

Hmm, I thought. Is this what I want to do? I don't want to transfer to UCLA! Maybe this is too hard. It's going to take too much work. And will I even come out knowing what I ned to know? Yep, I'm afraid I really did think this. I'm kind of a wimp.

But then I was thinking of alternatives. I guess I could be a reference librarian. That's the thing that's interested me the most. Could I be a reference librarian for the rest of my life? Work in a public or university setting... I know the atmosphere would be fine, I'd probably enjoy the people. But then I knew I just wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't be fulfilled that way. I would be missing out.

So onward I go, still trying to define what it is I want to do and how I want to serve in the world...

2005-10-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

One day I'll get my degree and rule the world! Er, uh, the library. Well, I won't rule it, per se.

I'm talking about being a library director, the head of the library. This is something several family members can see in my future, but I'm not leaning that way.

Where in the library world will I work?

This has increasingly been my focus. I've already ruled out school librarian - I'd have to get a teaching certificate too, be a "teacher-librarian." Children's librarian? Not for me. Reference librarian? I've thought about it. There are various positions in a library I could go for, but the last several years have shown me that I don't want to be 'trapped' in a library position like that. Not that circulation or ILL or technical services or whatever is bad. Let me explain....

Part one: For the last several years while I've been waiting to get into school I've been working for a little Christian ministry called Mustard Seed Associates. They work to network the church around many different ideas: whole life faith, stewardship, community, cohousing, etc, etc. Check out the website. I've also been really involved in my church, North Seattle Friends Church. For several years we had an "alternative" Sunday night worship service. I was part of the planning for that and we did a lot of interesting, creative things. I've also been helping plan a big international gathering of Quaker young adults, the World Gathering of Young Friends. All of this "church work" has been exciting and compelling. So part one is that I want to continue in church ministry somehow. I should point out that for some time I believed that it would be the library world or the church world, and never the 'twain shall meet...

Part two: I really like libraries! One thing I really like is the potential for communities. Libraries can be a "third place" and they aren't necessarily your stereotypical hushed, darkened buildings. They can be lively and noisy as well! I love the idea of the library being a meeting place, a social place, a place to connect, a community center. Seattle Public Library is currently constructing a new branch in Northgate, complete with community center and park. Yes!

So how do these two come together? Along with all my other interests/skills, of course...

Last February I took a very brief trip to England for the WGYF. After landing at the airport we all climbed off the plane and had to take a shuttle over to the terminal. Standing there on the shuttle, swaying back and forth and holding onto our luggage, I began to speak with the woman next to me. she explained that she had only completed half of her journey. She was headed to southern Africa to work in a theological university... to teach computer... and to be the librarian!

I just about fell over. This was my job! This is what I wanted to do! I didn't know it until I heard it, but there it was.

A few months later I was part of a meeting for clearness for a friend who was trying to decide an issue. I didn't know the issue until a little beforehand. She was trying to decide if she should go to an orphanage in Mexico to teach and set up a library!

A little while later I was checking out a cool organization I found once, called Room to Read. RTR sets up libraries and schools in less developed areas, mostly in Southeast Asia. I checked out their site and they were advertising that they needed a librarian to join their staff and help develop collections and give advice to people on the ground in these countries. My dream job!

Well, maybe not quite, but you get the picture.

I don't know if this will lead me to other countries eventually, or even just to less priveleged places here in the US. I hope at some point to work with Christian colleges/universities/schools/organizations in setting up useful libraries. Libraries that are accessible and welcoming; real community centers. Undoubtedly this won't make me the millions of dollars some are thinking I could make - but for me it's not about the money. It's about service. It's helping people find information. To some extent, it is teaching people. It's empowering people. It's meeting the needs of a community.

Perhaps I'm a bit naive. But hey, maybe grad school will beat it out of me. =)

2005-10-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a librarian! Not just a statement, but a song as well: http://www.churchnoise.com/clips/09Librarian.mp3.

While you're listening, check out these stories on "You Don't Look Like a Librarian!" http://www.librarian-image.net/stories.html

2005-10-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

So why libraries?

I took part in summer reading programs and library programs since I was little. In sixth grade I was too old to be in those programs but my mom found out the children's librarian had a program for older kids. We would meet after school at the library and do a number of projects. Sometimes we'd clean books, or pull book collections, or write puppet shows for the children's program. Kathy also taught us about the reference section and what information we could find there. After an hour or so, we all went up to the staff room and had snacks while Kathy read a book from the young adult section.

When I got to be a freshman or so in high school I realized I was a bit too old for this now - now that there were fifth and sixth graders in the group. But I didn't want to leave the library. I asked if I could be a volunteer for the library. So for the next few years I worked for Kathy. Kathy ordered all the books for the children's collection. She circled the ones she wanted in the catalogs and I filled out all the forms by hand. I did a lot of filing and copying and put together welcome packs about the library for new moms. Once they even let me go into the library database and delete records of patrons who hadn't used the library in a long time. That was one of my first experiences with a computer.

I was a teacher assistant for the high school librarian when I was a junior and senior. There I checked in all the new magazines and helped process new books. While I worked there we converted from a card catalog system to barcode system. I cleaned almost every book in the library, stuck on barcodes, and read them into the new system. This of course generated some rumors about me in the library with alcohol. =)

I was accepted to George Fox University and I had been told that a library job was hard to come by, but one of the best. (Who knows if that's true - but I really didn't want to be scrubbing toilets or raking leaves!) I got a library job working in the Interlibrary Loan department. I spent the next four years learning the ins and outs of ILL. It was a lot of standing at a copy machine making copies of articles. That is one thing I certainly don't miss! One thing I do remember was some of the weird requests we'd get. A form would come in and some library somewhere was looking for some obscure article. They weren't sure of the author, title, date, and/or volume, etc. I lived for these! I would sometimes hide them so no one else could get to them before me. I didn't know as much then about searching databases for information so often it was flipping through indexes to find the article. Ah, the thrill of the hunt.

I also got to encourage friends to use the library. Some of them had weird ideas about the library, or were scared to use them. I was always trying to 'demystify' the library for them and take them on tours. I didn't see any reason to be afraid of the library or the staff (okay, so there were one or two people to be afraid of... =)

One summer break I volunteered at the Salem Public Library. I worked in technical services I believe. I ordered books again, but this time it was on the computer! So much easier! I checked all the books when they came in against what I'd ordered and sent them on their way to be processed. And again, lots of filing. That's all I remember from that job.

When I came up to Seattle several years ago I got a job in a local business library, what they call a 'special library' in the library world. There is just my boss and I. She does the research and I do everything else. I pay bills, order books, process books, check items in and out, do interlibrary loan, send overdues, check in and route journals, shelve items, send TOCs and maintain the look of the library. I've also been handed responsibility for our organization's facilities directory, fax directory, and committees pages, as well as keeping our own library intranet site up to date. My boss calls me the glue that holds the library together, and I guess that's true. =)

Some days are hard and I wonder what I'm doing. But more often I love my work, it's ever changing and sometimes challenging. One story I remember in particular.

A woman from another department contacted me and said they were looking for a certain book they needed right away. It was one of those medical resources that puts out a new edition every year. Many libraries don't update these often, or they buy the new one and toss out the old one. I got to work with my contacts and found there was a library here in Seattle that had the right edition. I called them up and they were willing to lend the book. I took a bus over and picked up the book. The woman was amazed! She had called everywhere, including the publisher, tried everything she could think of to no avail. I had the book in hand within a few hours. Not to toot my own horn, but it was a good feeling to track that down for her. She requests a lot of stuff now and I have to say I don't always find what she needs, and not always so quickly. That was definitely a rare situation. But she has been very grateful. After that incident I got a box of chocolates! Each year she sends me a nice basket of flowers.

Hey, if you use the library often - show some appreciation to your librarian!!! I do what I do no matter what, but that appreciation sure is a bonus.

So there you have it. I've worked in a small county library, high school library, university library, state public library, and business library.

Why do I continue? I enjoy helping people find information. I also really like the atmosphere and the people I've worked with over the years. Librarians are some of the most fascinating people. I see a lot of potential with libraries as community places.

What sort of library am I interested in? That will have to wait for next time...

2005-09-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well I suppose I'd better explain the title.

Short story: .... no, I really like long stories better.

Long story: I've just begun the new school year. I'm in a master's program to get my master's in Library and Information Science. This is something I've been working toward for years. Perhaps I'll share that background another time.
The first day of class was yesterday - an eight-hour class, if you can believe that. Actually, with a few breaks thrown in, it was more like 5 1/2 hours. I thought it would be unbelievably intense and overwhelming but the professors kept it moving along and it felt, at times, fun and relaxing.

Anyway, back to the story. We had a couple readings for class, "Information as Thing," and "What are Documents?" Both articles tried to define information and documents. A simple thing you would think, but not so. One part really stood out to me:

A French documentalist defined "document" as "any concrete or symbolic indication, preserved or recorded, for reconstructing or for proving a phenomenon, whether physical or mental." ("Tout indice concret ou symbolique, conserve ou enregistre, aux fins de representer ou de prouver un phenomene ou physique ou intellectual" (Briet, 1951, p.7)). On this view objects are not ordinarily documents but become so if they are processed for informational purposes. A wild antelope woulod not be a document, but a captured specimen of a newly discovered species that was being studied, described, and exhibited in a zoo would not only have become a document, but "the catalogued antelope is a primary document and other documents are secondary and derived. ("L'antilope cataloguee est un document initial et les autres documents sont seconds ou derives." (Briet, 1951, p.8)).

An antelope a document!? You have to be kidding me! This is about as crazy as it gets. Are these people sitting around in their offices too much, not getting out into the real world? Who knows. But it was definitely eye-catching.

During class we were split up into groups and asked to draw on a large piece of paper a representation of The Lifecycle of Information. This, by the way, is the title of our class. Thank goodness, my group started talking about the antelope right away. But we also got bogged down a bit, as did other groups, in 'just what is information?"

I'll describe what we drew, but hopefully I'll be able to put a picture in here eventually so it will make more sense.

To represent the process we drew three intersecting circles. "Things" moved around on these lines, infinitely. For instance, an antelope. So we drew an antelope in the middle of our circles. Around the outside we drew these weird squiggly blobs that represented brains with eyes. These represented perceivers/receivers. At each intersecting line we drew a large dot. These were information points. We were trying to show that 'things' traveled along and at certain points they became information.
Something can be informational for a time and then not be. Perhaps I can say the mug sitting on my desk is information. It says the words "Saint Alban's Episcopal Church," so I know where it came from. But if breaks tomorrow and I throw it in the trash, it isn't information anymore. But if someone excavates a dumb 100 years from now and pieces together the mug, it will be information to them.

I think. I've only had one class so far and it was a bit overwhelming. Perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about.

Anway, as the professor was going around getting groups to explain their posters, she came to ours and said, 'And here we have an atomic antelope." And then I had a name for my new blog!

This blog will probably just be musings for the next two years on this whole grad school thing. I'm sure you'll all be bored to tears to read it, but if it helps me process a bit - then it's worth it.

Until next time...