tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-277080922024-03-14T00:20:13.039-07:00ILLing with an ASD Librarian Who Loves Anime (and Manga)Musings of an ASD male underemployed former librarian, now library clerk (and Texas A&M alumnus). Refocusing for now on the intersection of Manga & Anime with Librarianship. Older content was random rants about Academic Libraries and Higher Ed in general, brief forays into culture and politics as needed. I may still do that from time to time but mostly I save that for Twitter, Facebook and Discord. The world's very different now from the great Blogging era of the early 2000s.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-73359669194476474682023-02-14T14:21:00.001-08:002023-02-14T14:21:27.865-08:00Renewals should be automatic if your shit arrives late<p> Renewals should be automatic and unquestioned if your material arrives late to my library and vice versa. It's neither library's fault the courier or USPS somehow delayed the delivery, and the patron should not suffer because of it. Don't be a jerk and refuse to renew just because the item now has a hold back home. The book does nobody any good in transit between libraries, either coming or going. If you couldn't spare your copy and holds build up, you shouldn't have lent it in the first place.<br /><br />I'm only asking for a renewal as a courtesy. If you stiff me, screw you. I have the book and you don't. It's here now and by god it's gonna circulate one way or another, whether you like it or not. If you invoice me, fine. But my patron is going to get a normal circ out of the title you sent. We don't pay overdue fines, only replacement costs. If you don't like that, don't do business with us. Answer my renewal requests promptly and don't waste my user's time. If you dilly-dally, I'm taking matters into my own hands and circulating the material for a month no matter what you say. If you come back belatedly and want to give MORE time than that, great, I'll take it. But the material doesn't do anyone any good sitting on my desk over multiple days waiting on you to get around to answering my renewal request.<br /><br />If we're both in the TAE courier system but I marked delivery method "postal" it's because there are also non-Texas or non-TAE Texas libraries also further down the lender string. I leave it to your best judgement to use the courier or not. Just seems obvious to me you'd use the courier, why would you bother calling to confirm? Just pop it in a purple bag and get it out the door. End of ILL rant.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-84023319968785827122023-01-19T22:07:00.003-08:002023-01-19T22:07:36.743-08:00Deprofessionalization STILL SUCKS<p> So subsequent to and concurrent with my petition to have my position upgraded formally to that of Librarian I, I have since encountered job postings for Interlibrary Loan managerial type positions in two separate Academic Libraries, one in Texas, one out of state, and both positions list the educational requirement as Bachelor's Degree, and decidedly NOT an American Library Association accredited Master of Library Science (or Information Science, what have you).<br /><br />This is very depressing because I feel like this kind of work requires a myriad set of skills that one does indeed sometimes pick up in Library School, especially cataloging courses and database design. You can learn to ILL on the job, for sure, but Library School is an actual help here.<br /><br />If you are in charge of an entire Document Delivery Unit or Interlibrary Loan staff then you should be a Librarian I. Period. It's clearly a managerial role if you have underlings, and regardless it is a very demanding and multifaceted job that deserves compensation on par with other Librarian professionals.<br /><br />I deplore and lament the merciless march of deprofessionalization according to neoliberal economic logic that eats away at the heart of our profession like a corrosive acid.</p><p>We deserve fair pay not hyper-explotation.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-36509529662019576922023-01-04T20:02:00.000-08:002023-01-04T20:02:37.246-08:00Yeah, if I'm not getting extra help imma need some extra pay.<p>So had a open and honest discussion with my Support Services manager just before lunch today and she let it be known that it looks as though instead of filling the Clerk II position that I vacated to fill the Paraprofessional position I currently hold after my workplace partner abruptly quit instead of taking ordered medical leave and time off to retool and de-stress and come back ready to work would not be filled after all but eliminated.<br /><br />Since I'm able to run all of ILL operations so efficiently by myself at present there's no need to hire a Clerk II that can even do ILL just part time to help me out.<br /><br />Reminder that I have an ALA-accredited Master of Library Science from the University of North Texas (2004) and have work experience as a professional librarian, too.<br /><br />I told my boss that as complex and multi-layered a job it is running ILL operations for the ENTIRE library system BY MYSELF, I should at least be promoted to Librarian I if no additional help is forthcoming, if I am to be denied a formal cross-trained back-up person as my assistant. I would be a lot more flexible as a Salaried librarian than an hourly Paraprofessional. I could stay past 5pm, I could come in on weekends, all kinds of stuff to get caught up than an hourly worker cannot.<br /><br />I was fine being the Paraprofessional running everything in ILL as a temporary thing, with the promise of future help arriving sometime. But no future help? No, I'm gonna need another promotion to feel right about that.<br /><br />Also, according to our library's Public Information Office, we had to make our email signatures uniform system wide. And according to their own requirements, Interlibrary Loan Department is where I work. And in a Library, a Department Head should be led by at least a Librarian I; it only stands to reason.<br />I don't think this is an unreasonable ask.<br /><br />They will probably resist / deny, and not like I have any leverage on them, but I wanted to make the affirmative moral case that if they don't promote me, they're engaging in immoral exploitation. I'm going above and beyond what a simple 8-5 library staffer should reasonably be expected to do. I'm doing professional work. I was and remain a superior searcher to my predecessor & former partner, who eventually just permanently switched primary functions with me. I was originally the primary Lending person while my work partner was the Borrowing Paraprofessional. As someone with an actual library education, I was far better skilled at Borrowing & Requesting and thus she pushed all of that work off onto me while taking on the less skilled Lending job full time. My former work partner was good at understanding ILL from a top down systems level better than me, perhaps, but I was good at focusing on keeping current operations running at peak efficiency. <br /><br />Anyway, my work partner suddenly quit and much to her surprise no doubt the heavens did not fall and ILL kept on chugging away under my direction. The irony is she felt like ILL should be its own department and SHE should run it, but as someone without an MLS, that was never in the cards for her. The ultimate irony will be if ILL becomes its own thing but I'm the one in charge as the actual librarian.<br /><br />I'm middle aged now and feel embarrassed to still be an hourly employee. I would like to retire as an actual Librarian with Librarian in my job title, even if I only ever make Librarian I.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-12133591989535492092022-09-23T23:03:00.002-07:002022-09-23T23:05:06.057-07:00The special mission of Interlibrary Loan in a time of crisis.<p> We Interlibrary Loan Librarians have a special mission in a time of crisis, especially the one faced by us librarians in Republican-dominated States in the present era. Capital F Fascism is a genuine threat to Western liberal democracy at home and abroad. Whatever can be said for library neutrality as a virtue, in the present time merely asserting a Freedom To Read IS NOT NEUTRAL. It never has been. And that's OKAY. We are unabashedly small d-democratic civic institutions. We oppose authoritarian rule EVERYWHERE as contrary to the library's mission.<br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTGVTu6km_3FbtGnPrykJXHgXNIA3VTU8TI0KfYjQ4OsgY71Aabg56qwXf-mvPZFojzbN5G9CIANd2WL2vSzKpi1ZINKHvi7mXCYN1UrXtmz_XW71pDmIFAiqq4cD3gQfobYxVsbmEeb9QdJpuR2YJAoapr4kEc4k8x-UZTU1KapMyBOIeI8/s681/ChicagoMausReader.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="678" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTGVTu6km_3FbtGnPrykJXHgXNIA3VTU8TI0KfYjQ4OsgY71Aabg56qwXf-mvPZFojzbN5G9CIANd2WL2vSzKpi1ZINKHvi7mXCYN1UrXtmz_XW71pDmIFAiqq4cD3gQfobYxVsbmEeb9QdJpuR2YJAoapr4kEc4k8x-UZTU1KapMyBOIeI8/s320/ChicagoMausReader.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">(Pictured above: Freedom to Read t-shirt sold by the Chicago Public Library, featuring the artwork of Art Spiegelman of the series MAUS, recently banned in some schools).<br /><br />It is our civic duty to provide reading materials to our patrons, especially in cases where such books have been challenged and (temporarily or permanently) removed from our shelves locally....as Mister Universe stated in the movie Serenity, you can't stop the signal. We have a duty to provide such material on the down low via Interlibrary Loan whenever and wherever possible to #resist. Our opponents are brutes but they're also quite stupid and just as likely to forget ILL exists as an option to patrons. Hell, I even obtain the craziest right-wing dreck and religious drivel for my patrons. They love me for it. I may privately deplore them for wanting such material but I still work hard to get it for them nonetheless. Benefit of the doubt, maybe they're doing Op-O research... Probably not but I'm in no position to judge that particular question. A freedom to read means a freedom to read even that garbage. But it also means I will obtain whatever LGBT+ material my patrons want, regardless of local collection policy.<br /><br />I definitely salute the Brooklyn Public Library for making its ebook collection accessible all teens nationwide in an effort to fight #censorship and make materials available virtually and remotely what local tyrants are trying to stamp out locally, from so-called "CRT" (e.g. any material providing an open and honest account of historic and systemic racism in the United States) to LGBT+ material, They are doing heroic work and are worthy of our support. The Brooklyn Public Library has a webstore where you can support their library system directly and land yourself some dope-ass swag like this:<br /><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNMmLOAQGUp4ufHtEXRQFga5gCNhhcdfS9ry_A8ajvW1vnalC1jWCrzv76H-CNQ7wVcPJSxv2IlKmNaRifjBv36c7yDYzRRqeEl9AhExEOmtftzlbu7k4wkFjQLpMQtNggQrrVbJhNeNSTFSSt0XJB9RwWrta8h8XPeWuP0CmeRxXcAtUgtAQ/s753/BrooklynLiteratureAF.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNMmLOAQGUp4ufHtEXRQFga5gCNhhcdfS9ry_A8ajvW1vnalC1jWCrzv76H-CNQ7wVcPJSxv2IlKmNaRifjBv36c7yDYzRRqeEl9AhExEOmtftzlbu7k4wkFjQLpMQtNggQrrVbJhNeNSTFSSt0XJB9RwWrta8h8XPeWuP0CmeRxXcAtUgtAQ/s320/BrooklynLiteratureAF.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(Brooklyn Public Library t-shirt)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />It might seem trivial, it might not seem like very much at all, but let me assure you, this too is a form of #antifascism and it matters. I renewed my American Library Association Membership and Texas Library Association Membership on my birthday this past year because it matters to me that much. It matters for me to bolster civic institutions like this as a move to defend small-d democracy in the United States. I support the one political party left in the United States that actually cares about democracy but that alone is not enough. Direct action and bolstering of civil institutions vital to the lifeblood of democracy also matter very much.<br /><br />Publicly reaffirming The Freedom To Read as an American Value is vitally important at this time. Libraries as institutions cannot wade into the political discourse directly but we can make it known we do stand for democracy against authoritarianism. We stand for FREEDOM versus autocracy, we stand against narrow bigotry and for pluralism. This we must do as Librarians and dedicated professionals.<br /><br />I love my job and the part I play in sustaining the democratic discourse in a free society. </div><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-58660518811792646142022-02-24T18:16:00.001-08:002022-02-24T18:16:36.882-08:00Could we stop valorizing Patron ignorance as any kind of guide?<p> Recent discussion on a thread about my Alma Mater's campus library, one contributor noting how she spoke to librarians who said "our newest users don't know Dewey or how to use a card catalog, they use iPads and smart phones...."<br /><br />I replied with a brief caveat: "Academic Libraries use Library of Congress Classification, not Dewey. Dewey is for public libraries."</p><p>More to the point, we still have to use Dewey or LC Classification if we want to have a coherent way to organize physical books in our physical library. Each has its shortcomings, sure, but while patrons may proudly profess their ignorance of our classification schema, it's absolutely necessary for library staff to have a working knowledge of it and organize the collection accordingly.<br /><br />A more experienced patron will at least learn the rudimentary outline of our classification system(s) so they know where to find more books on their specific area of interest. My Russian history professor at Texas A&M told us where to look for Russian History books in Evans Library (6th floor, as I recall). This kind of thing <i>matters</i>, it still matters today. There is no binary "either/or" when it comes to physical books vs. digital media...it's not one or the other, it's how to utilize both to meet patron's information needs and also make the most efficient use of precious library shelving real-estate. Large, unwieldy reference works used mostly for looking up discrete bits of information can definitely go all-digital...are probably improved by doing so, since search-ability can be enhanced that way. <br /><br />Deep dive monographs on the other hand will be with us as long as we have libraries. Proudly ignorant dismissals of Dewey or LC because of some techno-utopia just around the corner is <i>so late 90s</i> and I wish folks would just STAHP already. It wasn't true then, it's not true now.<br /><br />It behooves the average Public Library user to at least learn the top level distinctions for DDC...000s, 100s, 200s, etc. The more fine grain distinctions are less important for everyday users and mostly of concern to cataloging staffers. Every library puts their own spin on things, too. There are local cataloging practices in place if DDC allows books to be placed in multiple locations; the head cataloger will make a firm decision and keep all books of this general type within that chosen call number range, even if valid points can be made to shelve the book elsewhere. This tweak is in keeping with one of Ranganathan's Laws of Library Science....<i>save the time of the user! </i>It's not just a fun intellectual exercise for the individual cataloger; it's a matter of institutional <i>policy </i>to facilitate ease of access for the end user.<br /><br />Another quick & dirty secret of YA & Juvenile cataloging of "controversial" subjects while working in a conservative community is to classify these books as adult materials and shelve them with other adult material, but to let YA & Juvenile users where to find them all the same. It's a low key way to avoid unnecessary confrontations while still providing access to marginalized youth.<br /><br />Similarly the dumb trend in search interfaces to offer only a single search box. I'm glad some catalog systems allow more experienced users to use more fine grain searching. I can live with the single box as the default setting "because that's what most users want/expect" but I don't see any point in hobbling and making life difficult for smarter users who actually know what they're doing and need more refined searching capability. For the experienced library user, it's often as much about excluding irrelevant info as it is gathering available info. Another example of "both and..." that's a win-win for everyone.<br /><br />Sure, we need to "meet users where they are", but we also are, as librarians, also teachers and mentors. We need to help our users become more informed and capable, so they can eventually reach a point of self-directed searching that is fruitful for them without intervention from us.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-79585003533507004882022-02-19T22:27:00.002-08:002022-02-19T22:27:42.371-08:00Goofing off on Social Media is Library Work.<p> Not only is goofing off on Facebook and Twitter fun, it's fun to do at work on the clock. And it is NOT a "waste of taxpayer money", either. How else are librarians and library workers supposed to stay on top of the cultural zeitgeist and keep their fingers on the pulse of the community they serve? Do it on their own time off the clock? That's unpaid labor. Screw that. Besides, I got anime to watch, manga to read, etc. in my leisure time off the clock. Twitter happens in real time, and so long as "normal" library services are not disrupted or hindered, it should be normalized and okay to keep a tab open with Twitter running in the background. Ditto Facebook, for similar reasons.<br /><br />Look, we all freakin' do it, alright? If you're an Gen Xer or younger you know you do it on the sly. We should be okay with doing it out in the open, without fear of reprisal or disciplinary action. It should be a normalized part of regular library work, not this hush hush taboo thing we do on the down low. When left to individual departments you get uneven and unfair enforcement. Some library staff get away with watching MOVIES at their desk while others get griped at just for looking at Facebook for a few minutes.<br /><br />I'm honestly at my happiest when I'm doing some low-level necessary but repetitive mindless work like barcoding new books for the catalogers while I can do a deep dive listen on podcasts I love. I feel too guilty to sit at my desk ONLY listening to podcasts if I'm not actively doing library ILL work also. I refrain from it until the work picks back up in intensity. My daily routines with ILL are often feast or famine....either we're REALLY busy, crunch time, etc, or else it's dead as a doornail. The barcoding tasks are awesome but sometimes there just aren't any new books on trucks that need my attention, so we just kind of do other low-level maintenance work but even that only goes so far. That kind of down time is ripe for hopping on social media....scrolling Facebook & Twitter, interacting with other users, etc, or maybe even writing a brief post on Tumblr about an anime I watched recently. <br /><br />Sidebar, our IT department recently eliminated all physical fax machines in the library system and replaced them with an all-digital fax system accessible from our desktops. I was even given a personalized fax number for ILL work. Since it's a tool in my box, I do actually use it. If a library lists a Fax number in their contact info, I will fax them when I need a book renewal, etc. Emails can be ignored but a fax usually has to be attended to. I'm sure other libraries might find it weird or unorthodox but hey, if my people give me this tool, I'm gonna put it to good use. It's kinda retro but also kinda cool at the same time. The only downside is our system-wide fax utility is tied to our email server in some way, so if email goes down, so do our fax capabilities...stinks but that's how it is with the software we use. We found this out the hard way when our email system had to be taken offline for an entire week for a major upgrade/repair job. We simply had to stop accepting new ILLs completely. It made for some very long work days. We could contend with existing requests but that was all. And so yes, I made covert use of Facebook & Twitter during those lulls in workflow, too. Even if I don't use a particular social media platform, I also read news articles online from reputable sources. The "pocket" widget on Firefox is helpful for that, as is the default news settings in Microsoft Edge. Again, I just feel as though it's a librarian's duty to keep informed about current events, even on the clock--perhaps especially on the clock. It's not a bad thing and it should be encouraged, not discouraged, so long as it is used responsibly and ethically. We should be active participants in the wider culture, promoting literacy and good informative books & authoritative resources. We should bolster small "d" democracy, agitate for accountability in government and from corporations, and we should do our part to dismantle racism and remove barriers to access to vetted & reliable information. Using social media "on the clock" are a means to those noble ends, for real. It's detrimental to democracy to pretend otherwise.<br /><br />I still can't believe my colleagues able to watch entire movies on the clock though...that's WHACK. But whatever. Not what I'm asking for. Just want the ability to participate in Facebook groups and follow Twitter users whose subjects of interests align with my own, whether it's music, art, anime, whatever. I want to be able to do all that without having to look over my shoulder or get the stink eye from some co-workers who might threaten to narc me out over some personal beef with me. That'd be real nice.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-87353281827617736952021-12-29T09:45:00.003-08:002021-12-29T09:45:40.356-08:00Courier Services vs. USPS in ILL work<p> I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about the use of contracted Courier Services in Interlibrary Loan work. It's usually an annual membership and can be a potential money saver on postage expenses your institution would otherwise incur with USPS. Combined with the Navigator (NRE) interface for ILL, it encourages in-state lending within Texas, Texans helping other Texans. For the most part I have no major complaints with Trans-Amigos Express (TAE) that we utilize here. Our service level gives us 5 days of delivery and pick-up and constitutes the bulk of our ILL business on a daily basis. Where there have been issues have been with our partnership agreements with other library courier consortia like Kansas Library Express and the Missouri based MALA and MOBIUS consortia. On the one hand, it's great to have access to their networks of library and we are happy to lend our materials to them in the heartland. The problem crops up in the hand-off between them and TAE, which seems to cause sometimes intolerable delays to the point that mailing such items USPS would've been faster and less inconvenient....though with Postmaster DeJoy's apparent ongoing sabotage, who can say for sure. The sooner that man is fired the better. The governing board of USPS seems to finally slowly be acting in that direction and I'm eager to see DeJoy get the boot for a whole host of reasons, not just Library ILL work.<br /><br />The pandemic for the most part has caused libraries to be more generous with each other in their loan terms, etc., and I'm heartened to see it. I'm less than thrilled with lenders that don't take into account the courier-to-courier delays and refuse reasonable renewal requests to account for these delays that are out of either library's control. We shouldn't punish each other or our patrons for something that was not our faults. We can't directly fix the couriers, that's up to Amigos Library Services...but we can be more reasonable with each other, more generous, more accommodating. Because that's what's best for the users. Let's not break Ranganathan's 4th Law of Library Science if we can help it: <br /><br />"Save the time of the reader".<br /></p><p>Amen.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-4647960736833325312021-12-29T09:24:00.004-08:002021-12-29T09:24:54.367-08:00Renewing TLA and ALA memberships is bolstering public democratic institutions.<p> In light of recent political events I felt strongly motivated to pony up and renew two long dormant professional memberships that I let expire because I didn't feel like they gave me much personal benefit.</p><p>In the current climate, it's about more than myself. I renewed my membership both in the national <i>American Library Association</i> as well as my state-level <i>Texas Library Association</i> membership. For reasons mainly personal, aesthetic and symbolic I also renewed my membership in the <i>Progressive Librarians Guild</i> that I was more active in when I was in library school in the early 2000s. Yearly membership in <i>PLG </i>is cheap so tossing them a few bucks is no skin off my back.</p><p>No, where I really dug deeper is renewing those aforementioned <i>ALA </i>and <i>TLA </i>memberships and associated round-tables tailored to my current role in Inter-library Loan work. I feel like it is important to bolster these civic institutions in a time of rising authoritarianism and outright white nationalist fascism on the American political right. It's about more than myself and how these professional associations may or may not personally benefit my career aspirations. I want them to remain strong advocates for intellectual freedom, the right to read, etc. It's also because I lack imagination as to what else to do other than keep voting the way I do in every election (e.g. for Democratic Party candidates and against every Republican candidate). But it was something I could do so I did it. If you're still working in the library profession and have let your <i>ALA </i>and state-level library association membership lapse, maybe let the spirit of the season move you to generously revive your memberships and participation in these professional associations. We need all hands on deck in the defense of small-d democracy and intellectual freedom and civil rights.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-7136926690662039802021-07-24T20:24:00.001-07:002021-07-24T20:24:16.875-07:00Why a Cataloging Background helps in ILL<p> So while this post can be fairly accused of being entirely self-serving, I did want to weigh in on why I think a Cataloging background makes one a better Interlibrary Loan staffer. The simplest reason being that your primary tool is OCLC/Worldcat which is the worldwide database used by libraries to report their holdings to all other libraries, with a heavy emphasis on the Anglo-American, English-speaking parts of the world. I don't have experience with ILLiad or other ILL interfaces. Our main interface in Texas is called NRE, or simply "Navigator". And while it is possible to use Navigator to search OCLC/Worldcat indirectly, we've found in actual practice it pays to subscribe to both NRE *and* OCLC/WorldCat for maximum coverage. There are different things each interface does better than the other.</p><p>But the basis of all records in NRE and OCLC/WorldCat is the bibliographic record. A cataloger understands from experience how these are constructed, why they're constructed the way they are, etc. We have an almost intuitive understanding of how search functions work, why books are cataloged the way they are, and also that duplicate records exist sometimes and it can be fruitful to pull from multiple sources. There are ways to "tweak" ILL requests for maximum coverage if you understand these nuances and improve the chances of your patron actually getting the book that they want and getting it to them in a timely manner.</p><p>For academic journal requests we nearly always use OCLC/WorldCat as the preferred search interface. It is easier to facilitate a request using Article Exchange on that platform. Moreover, I usually try to select the digital ISSN whenever possible. While it is technically possible to scan hard-copy as a PDF and send out that way, I prefer not to put that burden on potential lenders if I can help it. I do plenty of that myself and know what a pain it can be. If I can download and send an article completely digitally then I certainly want to do that in favor of manually creating a scanned PDF.</p><p>It is an experienced <i>cataloger </i>that knows about ISSN's and will search relentlessly to track them down. I am damn good at this and that's why my ILL partner nearly always defers to me for these kinds of searches. An ISSN is a more precise search than a clumsy title search, and avoids the difficulty of journal name changes, etc. <br /><br />It's hard to articulate in a comprehensive way why ex-catalogers are good at ILL, just that it shapes your approach to and understanding of bibliographic information in ways that non-catalogers don't have naturally. The job conditions you to be aware of these finer points of bibliographic record construction and dissemination. It makes a good fall-back position for anyone deciding to leave the realm of library cataloging and change directions.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-26530658638256177672021-07-13T14:12:00.003-07:002021-07-13T14:12:36.951-07:00Thank you for your donation {is what i'm obliged to say but...}<p> Oh, lordy the useless things people donate to public libraries...like old encyclopedia sets. Very VERY rarely is something donated which we can/will actually catalog and put on the shelf to circulate. We have an acquisitions budget for actually useful material, thank goodness.</p><p>During the pandemic's worst phases we have to suspend donations entirely in the interest of protecting public health.</p><p>Most of the donations are passed on to our Friends of the Library organization, who store the donations in their own space in the basement and organize a fraction of these for (re)sale back to the public at periodic book sales which raise money for the library's general funds. When I was young and foolish I avidly attended library book sales, both collegiate and public and collected many an interesting book.</p><p>It's fine if you want to donate to the public library and if you're doing it as a tax write off, hey, go for it. But more often than not you'd be better off selling off stuff at Half-Price Books...at least you get a few bucks to either keep & save or spend on something new (to you) for a cheaper price. And there are some books so useless you might as well dump them in paper recycling than burden the staff of Half-Price Books OR the local library. Not every book needs to be archived, and Public Libraries are decidedly NOT archives.</p><p>It's above my pay grade to crunch the numbers to know if the donations we take in and house (and the space we allocate to store them) are "worth" the funds raised through book sales; and I suppose there's the intangible value of people <i>feeling </i>like they're helping a social institution (even when they may not actually be in dollars and cents). Luckily the Friends members are volunteers, so it's not as if much staff time & pay go into managing the donation vault. Weeding is always painful but a necessary part of growing and modernizing and keeping a library collection useful and relevant to its community. The weeded materials get thrown in with the donated (but not usable) material, too, all for re-sale to raise money. Circulation stats drive a lot of the decision-making in weeding. No matter how prestigious a book may be nationally or internationally, if it just collects dust on your shelf it's doing nobody any good. But as my old boss used to say, "a circ is a circ" whether it's in-system or Interlibrary Loaned. If a book isn't popular in your home community but is often borrowed by neighboring systems, you should probably retain the book, because the circulation stats still justify keeping it. I just wish people were better informed what kinds of book donations ARE actually maximally useful (extra copies of high demand recent best sellers, etc) and which are not. Yes, we'll take your donation and yes, thank you, and we'll maintain a polite smile as we accept it, but inwardly we may be rolling our eyes just a bit.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-32683454835791047422021-07-02T07:40:00.003-07:002021-07-02T07:40:59.648-07:00Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MciL6-2oxmE/YN8lBFx8JFI/AAAAAAAAEAs/gHwaAjT_W-sGWMvfokE6APrG1wmTJfPLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/HeinrichHeinePortrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MciL6-2oxmE/YN8lBFx8JFI/AAAAAAAAEAs/gHwaAjT_W-sGWMvfokE6APrG1wmTJfPLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/HeinrichHeinePortrait.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>"<i>Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen." </i><p></p><p><i>--</i>Heinrich Heine, German Romantic Poet.</p><p>(<b>Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.)</b></p><p><b> </b><br /><i></i></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-16592443295327045282021-07-01T18:11:00.002-07:002021-07-01T18:11:38.051-07:00I dunno, maybe read a book....<p> Of course the contemporary right-winger's newest "Red Scare" McCarthyism, the focus of their Two Minutes Hate is all about the dreaded "CRT" (hushed tone: Critical Race Theory)....not that they have any understanding of what it actually is...</p><p>What it actually is is a legal theory now taught in many law schools. If you actually care, factually, what it's all about, as a librarian I'm duty bound to point you to a reputable book on the subject:<br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0cXkieQJZiY/YN5m5IWsTNI/AAAAAAAAEAg/nHWtcSlBGc0xHNdSnvZI8huSN1w573WfACLcBGAsYHQ/s1041/CRTintroductionBookDelgado.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="1041" height="416" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0cXkieQJZiY/YN5m5IWsTNI/AAAAAAAAEAg/nHWtcSlBGc0xHNdSnvZI8huSN1w573WfACLcBGAsYHQ/w670-h416/CRTintroductionBookDelgado.jpg" width="670" /></a></div><br /><div>My library doesn't own it, which doesn't surprise me as we're a public library and not an academic library or a law library. Confronting zealots with facts won't convince THEM of course but that's not the point. The point is to show them up for the ignoramuses they are to fence-sitting middle of the road folks who haven't made their minds up yet and can be persuaded.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to know more about what CRT <b>genuinely </b>is, then you could do worse than obtain a copy of this book via Interlibrary Loan, just one of the many library services your local library is happy to provide you.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-34880140978002724612021-07-01T10:32:00.002-07:002021-07-01T10:32:32.595-07:00If you don't grant renwals, be generous with our loan periods<p> There's a certain large public library system in my state that I have to deal with semi-regularly in the course of my ILL work. Actually, though, I try to AVOID using them as often as possible. While our borrowing requests are largely semi-automated and we don't normally construct lending strings manually like we used to in OCLC Worldshare, for items that don't have many native Texas lenders, I still do have to build a lending string there and import it over to NRE for processing.</p><p>I won't name this system, but it rhymes with Small-ass Public Library (but they're actually quite large, and radiate big D energy)...and they have the unfortunate perfect shit-storm of loan policies that collectively SUCK. So IGAb about them thus...firstly, they're incredibly stingy with their loan periods...they're the shortest of all the major public library systems in Texas....that's bad enough...if they granted renewals it would be annoying but doable. But here's the thing---THEY DON'T. DFWuck?! Thirdly, the courier between here and there seems to take a long time with their books such that they arrive with even less time in their already short loan periods remaining...and we have to beg, plead, arm-twist to get them to give us at least a few more weeks---especially during COVID partial shut-down and curbside-only service (since lifted)--so our patrons could get full use of their ILL'd material.</p><p>I just HATE having to deal with their books and hate it when they are the supplier....sometimes I wish they'd just turn us down and pass us on to a more reasonable library out of state.</p><p>We deal with some consortium partners in MALA that are nearly as stingy but this one's the worst. The partnership of MALA-Amigos has been actually really good (but I chuckle that MAL(A)-Amigos means "bad friends" in Spanish).....the delays between here and Missouri can be extreme at times. But all in all it's a worthwhile partnership.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-69869621365091014222021-06-30T10:30:00.004-07:002021-06-30T10:31:20.597-07:00ILL and the Anglophone World<p> It really is quite remarkable how often my patrons will request titles that are held in Libraries in the UK and all throughout the British Commonwealth but NOT held by ANY libraries in the United States. Like, NONE. Sometimes it's because the American edition hasn't been published yet, or the patron only knows the British ISBN and I have to revise my search, but other times no, there is no American edition, it's a UK and British Commonwealth Book and nobody in the USA had opted to add it to their holdings! Still boggles my mind a little.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-50637966358582318792021-06-29T08:55:00.000-07:002021-06-29T08:55:00.406-07:00Pro-Tip for requesting multi-volume Manga via Interlibrary Loan<p> It is one of my joys as an Interlibrary Loan librarian to request obscure manga series for patrons. My library system has an impressive manga collection, but as any librarian knows, we can't collect everything, and we depend on other libraries to pick up the slack and collect unique titles we don't own and they depend on us to do the same. That's the essence of the rationale behind Interlibrary Loan generally.</p><p> We Anime & Manga Otaku can be very very enthusiastic about our hobby but I see a lot of patrons making rookie mistakes when it comes to requesting multi-volume sets of manga. They want to request EVERYTHING, all at once, and believe me, as a fan who has pre-ordered multiple volumes of manga at a time via Barnes & Noble to qualify for the free shipping and because I believe in a series so strongly, I get the impulse. But when it comes to Interlibrary Loan, you need to dial it back a notch.</p><p>The best practice for requesting multiple volumes of manga is to do it ONE VOLUME AT A TIME.</p><p>Request it, read it, enjoy it, return it, and request the next one. I often will read a new manga that I've received via ILL in a single night and return it the very next day and fire off the next request for the next volume.</p><p>This is the best way to do it. Why? Well, because what happens when you request a multi-volume set is that the loan requests get placed in random, automated lender strings nearly simultaneously, but not every library at the top of the lender string is able to supply the requested volume for whatever reason, but they have a few days to respond before the system shifts to the next potential lender and so on. So what will frequently happen is Volume 5 will be supplied and shipped immediately, while Volume 1 and 3 could sit in the lender string for quite some time. Then volume 2 ships and arrives at the same time as volume 4 supplied the next day from a geographically closer library. If you've been wanting to avoid spoilers and read the volumes in sequence and just been siting on Vols. 5,4, and 2 while waiting on Vols. 1 & 3 to arrive, you're slowly burning through the loan periods such that by the time volume 1 arrives, you have to binge like crazy to read up through volume 5....you may run out of time and have to return volume 5 unread and request it again. You create needless stress & headaches for yourself because of a lack of understanding how the system works behind the curtain. Not your fault, but I'm here as an ILL librarian to let you in on that "secret".</p><p>If you can find the ISBN of an Omnibus edition that's also a really good way to get the most bang for your ILL buck. Be sure to specify in the "note" field of your request that you specifically want the Omnibus edition. Not all manga get issued in this format, but a lot of the longer running "classic" series have been reissued in this more portable format. If you can get a 3-in-1 Omnibus, that's only 1 active request in your "active" queue instead of 3. Our library limits the number of "active" requests to 10 at a time, and many other libraries have similar restrictions. <br /><br />Other libraries handle manga differently, but I always make sure to attach our ILL bookstrap to the front of the book as it is read in the Japanese way, Right to Left, e.g. reversed from a Western comic book. I do not provide an ILL bookstrap on manga we loan out from our own collection. Other libraries do and I appreciate it, but I always overlay our "native" bookstrap on top of theirs, with our locally assigned temporary barcodes, etc.</p><p>Also, and this is for other ILL librarians, it's good practice to include in the original request, on the title line, the actual book or volume number in brackets, like {v.1} or {bk.2}, even though you should still fill this out (again) in the appropriate field on the request form, too. Our ILS prints automated bookstraps and these little tweaks help. If I forget or the title is too long, I will hand write "v.1" or "bk.2" on the strap next to the title for clarification.</p><p>These are just a few thoughts and tips I have regarding requesting Manga via Interlibrary Loan.</p><p>I hope you found them useful, for patron & fellow librarians alike.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-74259394940212174002019-05-24T20:49:00.002-07:002019-05-24T20:49:19.977-07:00A comfortable rut [or] this blog is stupidSo here it is 2019 and I'm still the Interlibrary Loan clerk for Lending with my medium sized county library system. My pay levels are finally roughly about matching my best and final year with AIG International Services back circa 2007. My pay as librarian at TWU was notably higher but then falling back into unemployment for half a year and having to declare personal bankruptcy along the way and then having to take the para position back in summer 2010, which also nearly coincided with my ASD diagnosis. My pay at first was back down to where it was close to my early years with AIG, which was less than my teacher's salary my first and only year in Friendswood ISD. All of which is a long way of saying my salary has gone up and down instead of up and up as is the norm and I've thus fallen WAY behind my peers in terms of earning, savings, the whole lot.<br />
<br />
Another revelation about my Asperger's is that it comes along with some Executive Dysfunction as well. In laymen's terms, I'm not always the best at "adulting"; I only fake it. Paying bills is always anxiety inducing though I do feel better once it's done. Ditto paying taxes, which I always do, but the past several years I always wait until the last minute and this year was no exception. I even got a modest refund. Which is often the case but this was my largest one in awhile. It's just going to get chucked into my modest savings account and forgotten about.<br />
<br />
I've been in some negotiations with my co-worker that handles the Interlibrary Loan Borrowing half of our operation. She feels resentful that her job is more stressful and she's required to do more work. She does make more pay than I do as a Paraprofessional while I am still merely a Clerk II, so I have some difficulty mustering much sympathy for one paid more having to also do more. Seems like it ought to go with the territory. But she put her foot down and basically low key threatened to narc on me to our manager that I futz around on social media in my "down" time. Technically we're not supposed to (spoiler: nearly everyone does anyway), but because I know I'm not the only one I do feel under the microscope a bit and unfairly targeted. We even made the tepid case a few years ago at Staff Development Day that Library employees using social media during work hours aren't necessarily wasting time on frivolity. They're keeping their pulse on pop-culture trends, interests, staying engaged with community, keeping tabs on the course of political discourse, etc, and that using things like Twitter and Facebook on the job aren't inherently selfish, wasteful or unproductive uses of time. But policy didn't change so employees do it on the down low...but ever since losing our own personal cubicles after one too many basement flooding events they moved our whole department to higher ground in an adjacent building, and our workspace was smushed together such that we sit in close proximity to one another, and it is much harder to disguise the fact that I'm futzing around online a bit in between official duties when things get slow.<br />
<br />
Anyway, long story short I've been helping my partner shoulder more of the work burden and making her life easier. I don't mind it per se, though I am a little resentful she wants to be more talkative and interrupts me more now while I'm listening to my podcasts and this is a little irritating. I'd prefer to set a task then be allowed to just drive on through it until the end, in the zone and listening to my podcasts and expanding my mind....the frequent interruptions have cut down on my ability to absorb quite as many podcast episodes daily than before. But maintaining a civil relationship with my work partner is important and so I just put up with it and comply, removing a headphone from one ear when she starts talking and while I fumble for the pause button. We have our ups and downs, and one of my greater points of irritation are her attempts to micromanage my trips between our annex building and the main building. Until this point I had full autonomy to go to the main building as I saw fit, at any time. It helped fill up my day. It was--legitimately--work. But my partner is all about maximizing efficiency, which, if we worked in a for-profit business I could be sympathetic to, but as we're public sector employees it leaves me scratching my head as to why we need to be so maximally efficient...that a little inefficiency here and there isn't necessarily a bad thing. The work always gets done whether we min-max or not. Shifting the balance of the work to something more equitable was probably long overdue and ultimately just, our slight pay differential notwithstanding. But obsessing over maximal efficiency 24-7 is not something I entirely agreed with and having my freedom of movement constricted definitely chafed against my inner since of autonomy and freedom to exercise my own judgement rather than being forced to obey arbitrary dictates cast down from on high. I humor my partner with it because I'm highly conflict averse, but I really do question the value of maximizing efficiency in this particular way. To what use are we putting this "extra time" thusly saved? I'm helping out with secondary duties like barcoding of books which is essential but very repetitive and thus nevertheless kind of Zen, but sometimes our cataloging staff do struggle to keep us supplied with the extra, ancillary work, and forever maximizing efficiency sometimes rather exacerbates this problem of supplying adequate extra work. If we could dial it back a bit and maybe be more tolerant of some system inefficiencies here and there (and allow for more leisure time) it could potentially be better for all parties, or at least for me. <br /><br />I recently watched someone who began with us as a part-time processor still in college graduate, go on to get their library degree online, and just now began working as an Adult Services librarian at a prestigious new branch library in our system that just opened. Meanwhile me with 2 Master's degrees still sits underpaid and underappreciated as a mere Clerk II. But when I read the description of Librarian jobs the managerial side of them always makes me roll my eyes because it's not what I'm really keen to do.<br /><br />I can look back with my Autism googles and see why I raised hackles as a manager back at TWU handing out evaluations. I scored my employees well by the numbers, but my boss was upset with the verbiage I used in the written portions. I was blunt and honest and didn't sugar coat. I mostly praised but didn't hesitate to offer advice and correction as I saw fit. My manager disagreed with my takes so vehemently she redid both evaluations herself as herself, even though the numerical values we assigned didn't vary from each other by very much at all, if any. I guess the numerical values are just window dressing and the real point are the blocks of text, whereas by my logical ASD mind, I gave much more weight to the quantitative (if arbitrary) numerical scores and regarded the subjective text writeups as largely immaterial. Apparently I got this exactly wrong and the reverse is true in terms of actual impact on future promotions, etc. I suppose I should be happy with that, though in my view I think my original textual evaluations were immanently fair and mostly full of praise but the danger being some NT later reading my words and completely misconstruing what I wrote in the most negative, ulterior motive light possible and this being what my then contemporary manager wanted to avoid.<br /><br />The long and short of it, I find the managerial side of Librarianship mentally exhausting and I just really rather not bother if I don't have to. But most job descriptions these days do include a managerial portion of the work, even for the lowest levels of library professionals...there's seemingly no escaping it, alas. This is doubly hard on library professionals who find themselves on the Spectrum and who may provide outstanding reference service generally but may stumble in the managerial work.<br />
<br />
I guess I still like my job but I've feel I've almost resigned myself to just get by in the paraprofessional ranks shy of once again realizing my full potential as an exempt staff librarian someplace either in the system or someplace else.<br />
<br />This post itself is rather pointless but I felt moved to make it by way of updating to 2019. I probably will not update again for quite some time. Not a promise either way, but until then, Happy Trails!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-34805595476079249712016-08-27T19:57:00.000-07:002016-08-27T19:57:04.711-07:00Why doesn't Library Journal pay for its book reviews?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Library_Journal_Movers_%26_Shakers_2007_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Library Journal" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="240" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d4/Library_Journal_Movers_%26_Shakers_2007_cover.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="185" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 185px;">Library Journal (Photo credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Library_Journal_Movers_%26_Shakers_2007_cover.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When I was <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Unemployment">unemployed</a> for 6 months, I had the (entirely predictable)
idea of perhaps writing <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_review" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Book review">book reviews</a> until I could land my next <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Library">library</a>
gig. It was disheartening to read the first bit of LJ's guidelines:<br />
<br /> ===============================================<br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://libraryjournal.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Library Journal">Library Journal</a> Book Review is a selection tool used in both public and
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_library" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Academic library">academic libraries</a>. Each year it offers signed <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Professional">professional</a> reviews of
approximately 7,000 current titles in a wide range of disciplines. Our
service <span class="text_exposed_show">is thus an important one for libraries and their users.</span><br />
Reviewing for LJ is a demanding and time-consuming activity, but one
that can yield a good deal of professional satisfaction. We do not
accept unsolicited reviews. We do try to honor our regular reviewers’
requests for specific <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Book">books</a> or subjects to review (though not, of
course, books written by friends, relatives, or associates). We ask our
contributors to agree not to review for other publications the same
books they review for LJ, and not to send copies of their reviews to
publishers or authors.<br />
There is no payment for reviews. When
possible, the reviewer receives a finished copy of the book. Our service
to the library audience would not be possible without the generosity of
over 1,500 contributors. The quality of Library Journal Book Review
ultimately depends on their expertise, intellectual integrity, and
professional commitment.<br /> =================================================<br />
<br />
What the crap is this classist shit? No payment for reviews? <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_history" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Philosophy of history">History
is written by the winners</a>. So too are its book reviews, apparently.
Unemployed between jobs? (Under-)<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Employment">Employed</a> full time but weak <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_functions" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Executive functions">executive
functioning</a> due to neurological difference? Who cares what you think,
apparently. Nope, reviews are for closers, er, I mean Type A librarians
who work AND have time to write thoughtful reviews completely gratis,
from their sense of professional commitment.<br />
<br />
I know this is LJ we're talking about, but damn yo. This is some first order noblesse oblige bullshit here. Pay for your damn reviews, LJ. You're extracting valuable intellectual labor and not paying for it. Yes, I know it "pays off" for already-successful librarians in other ways, another feather in their cap, etc. But if you actually paid for your reviews, it might motivate those of us who are struggling to write for you. Otherwise why should I bother? If my time and effort aren't valuable to you, why should I write for you and not myself? Only the already successful can really afford to write for you. It's classist as all getout. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-2600427321536175132016-06-17T17:50:00.002-07:002016-06-17T17:51:22.757-07:00MG reconsideredSo after talking over the MG thing in a non-judgmental, neutral way with a colleague, acting just genuinely curious about it, it seems that maybe there's an in-house rationale for the way we're doing things after all...if only because of distortions owing to our curious local practices. Because whereas in most libraries YA would now come to represent the edgier, high end "older teen" material in a standard collection, that stuff in OUR collection has already been pushed over into the Adult Materials section, such that existing YA in our system would be regarded as MG in any other library, so we might as well change the classification to the prevailing descriptive norm, which effectively phases out YA from current local usage because again all the stuff that would be YA in more standardized libraries are already sharing shelf and classification space with the rest of Adult Materials. I still think it's weird...and believe me, it is...but bowing to local conditions being what they are, there is a certain kind of logic to it, however senseless it might seem at first blush. At first blush it seems merely cosmetic and an empty gesture...and while on some level that's true, it's also an updated and more accurate description of the books in our collection that would other have remained in YA going forward if the MG category did not yet exist in the first place.<br />
<br />
It's a little tough to wrap your head around, but it does make a certain kind of sense that I see more clearly today than in my original post.<br />
<br />
It's hard to admit being wrong, but in this case, I guess I was in my original posting on this topic.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-62801140927601239742016-06-17T07:49:00.001-07:002016-06-17T07:49:19.439-07:00Cool but ironic signage (GML)Snapped a picture of this cool signage we have advertising our manga collection:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IUvFId5J8g4/V2QNKv9BeUI/AAAAAAAACHs/-QNFEijfmj46cdHyHlh8i7_IJ11LnsbGACLcB/s1600/FairyTailManga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IUvFId5J8g4/V2QNKv9BeUI/AAAAAAAACHs/-QNFEijfmj46cdHyHlh8i7_IJ11LnsbGACLcB/s320/FairyTailManga.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Neat, huh? The character in the image is named Natsu Dragneel and his is a major character in the Fairy Tail manga & anime. The irony? We don't actually own any volumes of the Fairy Tail manga itself. I put in a "Suggest A Title" request, advising we collect at least the first 15 volumes or so, but it remains to be seen if those purchases will be made or not. I personally am a huge fan of the Fairy Tail franchise, and its anime adaptation is one of my favorite Anime shows of all time. Are you FIRED UP to discover more manga?<br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-83456520996612230082016-06-16T09:27:00.001-07:002016-06-16T09:27:34.786-07:00Currently reading (brief impression of) Listen, Liberal [by Thomas Frank]I'm currently reading [read: listening to the audiobook] of <i>Listen, Liberal</i> by journalist Thomas Frank, of <i>What's the Matter with Kansas</i> fame. It is basically a critique of the Democratic Party since the late 1960s; specifically a critique of its policy shifts away from the New Deal coalition of FDR and towards courting the young emerging professional class and outright disdain and contempt for traditional working class voters.<br />
<br />
It's a very good and eye-opening book but also incredibly depressing.<br />
<br />
It makes a good companion piece to Chris Hayes' <i>Twilight of the Elites: America after Meritocracy </i>(2013), though Hayes' own programming shifts since 2013, and really since leaving <i>UP with Chris Hayes</i> on Saturday mornings, with its long-format, deep policy dives and landing the more prestigious but greatly abbreviated 7pm slot just before Rachel Maddow, and his coverage of the Bernie Sanders campaign, Hayes himself seems to have sold out and fallen in line with the Meritocratic consensus he once so eloquently deplored in the pages of his 2013 book. It saddens me.<br />
<br />
With the victory of Hillary Clinton over Sanders, the Meritocracy seems as firmly in charge of the Democratic Party's destiny right now as it ever has been. That saddens me, as a "Bernie Bitter Ender", though I will probably reluctantly pull the lever for HRC come November because Trump must be stopped no matter what. It just saddens me that "permanent disillusionment" seems to be the fate I must resign myself to in this country for someone with my particular set of political ideals that HRC pays lip service to at best. I hope I'm wrong and that HRC pleasantly surprises me; but after the disappointments of the first Clinton presidency and the mediocre gains of Obama's two terms, I'm not holding my breath. I feel like Bernie Sanders was our last best hope. My tepid support for HRC is born out of an exhausted fatalism and looking back at the 1990s through rose colored glasses.<br />
<br />
The new Thomas Frank book also reminds me of my ultimate failure to join the Professional Class as a working librarian. I'm shut out, largely owing to my inability to navigate the intricacies of office politics owing to my at the time undiagnosed Asperger's. If I had made it, I might have had to more deeply examine myself as potentially part of the problem...or I'd be more oblivious to that fact, shielded from critical self examination by my larger paycheck.<br />
<br />
I belong to what my friend PK describes as "The Intellectual Proletariat", e.g. highly educated but under-employed, well-read liberal artsy types lacking high tech STEM skills but otherwise skilled at critical thinking, writing, etc. but objecting to The Washington Consensus on moral grounds.<br />
<br />
I'm only a few chapters in so far, but Thomas Frank makes it clear that things went awry by deliberate design as far back as 1972, so basically for as long as I've been alive (born in February 1971). The Great Society was undermined fatally by the Vietnam War and the social split caused by that war, with union hardhats beating hippies with a sense of patriotic zeal, and the over-correction in reaction to that, the undue obsession with the then Youth Culture, as the "new" base of the Democratic Party, and the inculcated disdain for working stiffs and probably returning veterans not lucky enough to get a college deferment from the war, or lacking the economic means to flee to Canada for the war's duration.<br />
<br />
As the old saying has it, "The Personal is the Political"; I'm reminded that Librarianship has become so <i>professionalized </i>that the MLS is today a defacto MBA for Libraryland and if you're not in some kind of managerial role, you're deemed <i>unworthy </i>to call yourself a Library professional or Librarian period if you're "merely" a solo practitioner providing core library services to the public directly. That role is considered unworthy of "professional" level salary compensation, etc. That's what merely college educated "paras" are for, no MLS required. Librarians manage Paras & Clerks first, and provide core library services only as an afterthought, or in more of a consulting capacity at most. It wasn't always this way, and the change isn't necessarily for the better, and definitely hurts ASD people from becoming successful Librarians due to the emphasis on the managerial role, which we often SUCK at. If you have an MLS but are mainly interested in providing core library services directly to the public, well, you're an <i>underachiever </i>by definition and sucks to be you, pal.<br />
<br />
I deplore this state of affairs, but also feel I'm just a lone voice, crying in the wilderness.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-77439969948623218282016-06-15T08:39:00.000-07:002016-06-15T08:39:14.051-07:00Half-assed Public Outreach (HPL @ Anime Matsuri X) I really enjoyed this year's Anime Matsuri X (tenth) convention at the end of February 2016 down at the George R. Brown Convention center. I got to meet voice actor Vic Mignogna and get his autograph on a few of my prized DVD/Blu-Ray combo packs. It was my friend Sarah's first Anime Matsuri, so I devoted my efforts to ensuring she had an enjoyable convention and thus spent a lot more time with her exploring the dealer's room and a lot less time attending panels than I had originally planned for. I'm just about out of shelf space for anime figurines, so I didn't make any purchases of that nature this time around. Probably the first anime convention I've been to where I didn't walk away with at least one purchased figurine. I did pick up a few rare/out-of-print DVDs for myself but otherwise I was good and restrained myself.<br />
<br />
Anyway, while wandering the dealer's room, I noticed that Houston Public Library had purchased and set up a booth at the convention, presumably to do library outreach. That was definitely a cool idea, I thought. However, having attended both Friday and Saturday (the busiest days), I kept walking by the HPL table and there was NEVER any person manning the booth, at all, all day. Just a table laid out with general information about the library and its services and collections, to pick up at your leisure. But no actual library personnel on site to ask questions, sign up people for library cards, etc.<br />
<br />
I thought to myself WOW, this is really half-assed library outreach. Did they just not want to PAY anyone to be there on library time? And even if they had been willing to pay at least one library worker or librarian to sit/stand behind the booth's table, their set-up was really really generic and not at all eye-catching. I was thinking to myself the whole time <i>Guys! You're at an ANIME convention for heaven's sake! Don't you think you ought to be playing up the parts of your collection that would interest this captive audience??</i><br />
<br />
If I had been in charge, I would have had 1 circulation person on hand ready to sign people up and issue library cards to all Texas residents interested; maybe even with a credit card square on a tablet in case any out-of-state people wanted to pay to get a card for a year (or pay off fines). More importantly I would've had demonstrations of Hoopla! and all the manga that can be found on ComicsPlus (Library edition) and Hoopla! respectively. I would've been showing off all the cool <i>old school</i> anime that Hoopla! currently showcases. THAT would be knowing your audience and catering to their interests. If they liked what they saw but didn't have a library card, you could sign them up on the spot, show them how to download the Hoopla app, and how to sign in with their new library credentials. Then they could go on their merry way, watching anime on their phone, showing it to their friends, who might also want to sign up, etc.<br />
<br />
I mean, I'm glad HPL was there at all, which was more than we did, but damn did they go about it really half-assed. They could've gotten so much more out of their library outreach effort if they'd tried just a little bit harder and invested fractionally a bit more $$ beyond what they already sunk getting a dealer's room table in the first place, probably the biggest single ticket expense item in their effort that weekend.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-44122726352068047712016-06-15T07:21:00.003-07:002016-06-15T07:21:33.477-07:00Watching Folly from the Sidelines. There used to be (and may still be) a column in the monthly professional military periodical <i>Proceedings </i>by the Naval Institute Press that had the title of "Nobody asked me, but..." which were guest articles by active duty, reserve, and retired Navy & Marine personnel who would weigh in with their personal opinion about current Navy or Marine Corps practices.<br />
I remember reading these columns with interest with every new issue of <i>Proceedings </i>that would appear on the periodical shelf in the NJROTC room of my High School. When I think back on it, I wonder how many of the contributors to this column were undiagnosed Aspies in uniform in the late 1980s. People who march to the beat of a different drummer, or had a different, or outsider's perspective on things that could point the way to a new and better way of handling things. <br />
It's been I can't remember how long since I last looked at an issue of <i>Proceedings, </i>of course, and I've long since distanced myself personally from any involvement in military affairs apart from a lingering layman's interest from time to time. But it's funny the things you remember from a few years spent in High School NJROTC and a few semesters of college level NROTC.<br />
All of this is a long-winded way of writing a blog post that is basically the Libraryland equivalent of "Nobody asked me, but..."<br />
Word was passed down that from henceforth we would be re-labeling all of our YA books as MG books, which stands for "Middle Grades"; this was to be implemented system-wide. I thought it was a curiously labor-intensive long term project for such a seemingly cosmetic and superficial change. I'm not a Youth Services librarian, would not want to be one either (unless my outsized interest in manga and anime could be of use in such a context someday). Nor am I actively involved in Cataloging work either. I think RDA is madness and a step backwards or at least weirdly sideways from AACR2. But I've made peace with that philosophical objection and backed away from the active discussions of cataloging professionals. But I was curious about the rationale behind the change, and did some very cursory Googling to find out about why this change from YA to MG suddenly came about. Was it merely fickle fashion or was there a solid reason for it? I consulted YALSA and read a few professional articles to gain a deeper understanding of the debate.<br />
And the debate, as I understand it now from that cursory review of the literature, is that some libraries are agitating for a more fine grained distinction between Young Adult (YA) literature aimed at more mature late teens (16 and up) and Juvenile (read: children's) literature. Literature in the more broad sense of "reading material" (<i>Lektüre </i>in German), beyond the narrow sense of Literary fiction (<i>Literatur</i>, in German). I know most professionals know that already, but it took a number of years for that distinction to become clear to ME, I'm embarrassed to admit. Middle Grades (MG) fiction, as I now understand it, has been proposed by YALSA members to fill the perceived gap, aimed at Tween and Young Teen readers who are beyond Juvenile reading material but for whom some of the material currently found in YA is a bit more mature, serious, emotionally challenging, etc, than this subset of young people. Delineated in this fashion, it makes perfect sense. You would have J, MG, & YA literature in your collective Youth Services collections, ideally speaking, and these readers would eventually age out and begin checking out the majority of their reading materials from the Adult Services main collection. One of the "shell-games" we play locally to head off censorship challenges before they occur is to selectively classify certain controversial topics as the next level of age classification than is standard practice in other, less conservative communities. We place in YA certain materials that other libraries would place in J, and place in the Adult Collection certain very mature YA works (usually those dealing with sexuality and social issues) that might otherwise be challenged by overly nosy & conservative parents. I think it's unfortunate we <i>have </i>to play this game with our public patrons, but I concede it's better than fending off constant challenges and raising public ire against the library, since we exist thanks to the local taxes paid by the general public, and if it maintains goodwill, the game is worth continuing, however much it may offend my inner sense of professionalism and cherished ideals about library ethics in the abstract. The net effect is fewer challenges, we still collect and retain the material, and those that truly need it can still obtain it without shame or judgement, and that is what we call a WIN at the end of the day.<br />
But the fact that we play this delicate, quasi shell-game of classification as a normal part of doing business where we operate fills me with a sense of dread at our ham-fisted implementation of the Middle Grades (MG) classification schema as a complete replacement for YA. I'm beating my head against my desk in frustration at just how stupid our local decision is versus YALSA's original intent with creating MG in the first place. It completely misses the point of what YALSA was advocating; instead of a more fine-grained classification schema, our local decision essentially *collapses* the distinction between MG and YA. The net effect may well be that a lot more material in the upper end of YA maturity levels will get shunted over to compete for shelf space in the Adult Collection. YA will cease to be a meaningful designation in our system, and that's really unfortunate, since it's a perfectly good schema and I personally like a lot of the popular fiction that's written at this level of reader, and the spinoff media that comes from it (think <i>Harry Potter</i> or <i>Percy Jackson</i>).<br />
<br />
To reiterate, I'm not a cataloger, I'm not a Youth Services librarian. It's none of my business and nobody asked me. I'm an obscure Interlibrary loan clerk and just content to keep doing my job. But as someone who once upon a time actually held a professional position as a librarian with an actual ALA-accredited MLS, this boneheaded local decision makes me want to scream on the inside. I don't raise a stink locally because it wouldn't do any good and would be plain disadvantageous for my long term career prospects. But I did feel the need to get this off my chest, since just yelling into my pillow at night wasn't quite enough.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-8657237597353773322015-01-17T07:40:00.003-08:002015-01-17T10:30:43.728-08:00Quick review of Hoopla!So basically this is the "poor man's version" of Netflix for library card holders. It's actually pretty cool, though.<br />
<br />
I had a fun evening last night playing around with Hoopla! online; I created a separate
account for myself via my HPL Link Card, and created an account for my
mom for her FBCL card. Then I poked around and marked a lot of
"favorites" for myself. Unsurprisingly, HPL's holdings in Hoopla! are
slightly more robust than those of FBCL, including several more Anime
titles. Most are, equally unsurprising, sub-only films, but a few are
English dubs, like Ghost in the Shell 2.0. Macross Plus was described
as being in English, with some of the ADR cast listed, but when I
actually checked it out and started watching, it was all in Japanese. I
started Ghost in the Shell 2.0 but didn't quite finish. I'll pick it
up where I left off tomorrow. Maybe Macross Plus, too.<br />
<br />
<span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204862936026066:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:0"></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204862936026066:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204862936026066:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204862936026066:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">I also explored the Hoopla! music catalogs of both collections as well as the audiobook catalogs of both, too. I bookmarked several audiobook "favorites" for possible future check-outs.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864885634805:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864885634805:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864885634805:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">I
noticed there's a lot of "cover bands" in the music section, doing
renditions of more famous songs "in the style of...X" rather than the
original artist. Also, there are a lot of tricky children's animated
movies that seem awful close to more famous original properties from
Disney, Pixar and the like...with parallel, slightly deceptive titles
and artwork. This is a little shady, but I understand why they do it.</span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864885634805:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864885634805:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864885634805:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"></span></span></span><br />
<span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:0"> </span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">I
like the fact that, like Netflix, Hoopla! remembers where you stopped
and allows you to play back from that point instead of the beginning of
the video. It would be much more frustrating if they didn't do that. Reportedly audiobooks do the same, even across multiple check-outs on the same card.</span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><br /></span></span></span>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">Users are limited to a set number of check outs per 30-day period, there is no benefit for returning an item early, the embargo is still enforced to the end of the period. For a smaller system like FBCL, our checkout limit is 5 items. For a slightly larger system like HPL, their limit is 7.</span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><br /></span></span></span>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">I like that there are even a few Spanish audiobooks available. I checked out and started listening to a Spanish translation of Sun Tsu's The Art of War ("El Arte de la Guerra"). I wish this service had existed when I was learning Spanish in the late 1990s. Side note, Houston Atheists now have a Spanish-language meetup for Freethinkers whose primary language is Spanish...I wish *this* group had been around in the late 1990s, too...I longed to discuss philosophical concepts with someone of a more rational, non-religious mindset back then, en español.</span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><br /></span></span></span>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">I watched the trailer (these are demos that one may check out that don't count against one's check out limit) for a movie about The Red Baron, von Richthofen, that looked pretty good...probably better than that James Franco movie "Flyboys", about the American volunteers for the French Air Force before formal U.S. entry into WW1, that I did manage to see in theaters. It is in English, but with German actors and their noticeable German accents.</span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0"><br /></span></span></span>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">I like that the library is extending a service like this to the less fortunate library card users among us who can't afford a monthly Netflix subscription or an iTunes account. It is possible to access Hoopla! over the web and also on the main mobile devices like iPhone/iPad and Android and also the Kindle Fire app for Hoopla! It's fun to explore this digital content and is much, much simpler to use than Overdrive. It should help discourage online content piracy and encourage users to access legal, legitimate content paid for by their local library system.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">One fault I find with both Overdrive and Hoopla! is that in the audiobook content, right-wing views predominate in certain select categories like economics, history, and general nonfiction. Next is mainstream centrist views and bringing up the rear far behind are left-wing critiques of mainstream economics, politics, history, etc. These views are either few and far between or just non-existent, especially in newer digital media. Such views do catch up eventually over time, like in Overdrive, but in Hoopla! the right-wing view dominates to a disturbing degree. The Conservative and Reactionary movements seem far more media and tech savvy than the Lib/Left opposition, sad to say.</span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".9i.1:3:1:$comment10204862932545979_10204864858674131:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">They are much quicker on the draw to get their views presented and available to the eyes and ears of library users, and this is an issue of concern. </span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-48943070853375498652013-09-06T06:53:00.002-07:002013-09-06T06:53:30.968-07:00Why ILL should be headed by a Librarian<div class="MsoNormal">
The public library workplace is all too often a minefield of
office politics. So much depends on one’s
professional rank insofar as who gets listened to and whom can be safely
ignored or snubbed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Any department or unit that is NOT headed by a librarian is
at a distinct disadvantage vis a vis other departments and units which are.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a large system, cooperation between the branches is key, especially
for system-wide functions like Interlibrary loan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our main library building is undergoing extensive renovations
and as such had to make the painful decision to close our doors to the public. We only have a skeleton crew of the circulation
staff on site besides Support Services, which in our organizational structure
includes ILL. The OPAC had to be
adjusted to disallow holds to be routed to our main branch, but this impacted
ILL as well, as I was no longer able to place holds myself. We engineered a low-tech work around, wherein
I would simply email my ILL Liaisons at each branch with my daily pull requests
from their stacks and they would route the items to me via the interoffice mail
system (which is still operational) instead of through the traditional
circulation system.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This worked well at first, but there has been a regression
to the mean insofar as, once again, some branches are more responsive and
reliable than others. Also, apparently,
my email sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, is easy to ignore, etc. I’ve also been scolded for improper use of
the “Mark as urgent” function in email. Evidently because of my Asperger’s, I’m just
not competent or to be trusted with this function. ;-)
Just because I subjectively think something is urgent is not sufficient
cause for me to mark it as such. I’ve
tried to argue my case but been shouted down one too many times, even by one of
my local advocates. It’s just a fight
not worth having. You’ve got to pick
your battles and found this ground to be untenable.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Many of my ILL Branch liaisons are actual librarians, and in
the smaller branches, the actual branch manager. They easily outrank me, a mere Clerk. All of my efforts to get them to respond to
my ILL requests have to be done by begging, obsequious pleading, etc. It’s not as if I can throw my weight around
or apply the pressure of collegiality, as an equal.
I feel as though ILL as a whole unit gets less respect because the
highest ranking person in our unit is a Paraprofessional. I feel like if we had an actual librarian in
charge, our requests might be attended to more promptly by all branches. If we were headed by a librarian, we would be
better positioned to complain directly to the administration about recalcitrant
branches who were lax in their responsiveness to ILL requests, which reflects
negatively on the system as a whole. As
it stands, we just have to keep our heads down and fill our existing requests
to the best of our ability during this time of utter dependency on the
branches. Alas, the stacks in the main building
are temporarily closed and thus I’m not able to pull books held in my own
building until we-reopen at the end of the month.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Although I think things will improve once our stacks revert
from closed to open and we resume full circulation operations, I still think
the lack of a librarian in charge of ILL has an impact on the effectiveness of
ILL as a whole within the system.
Because we’re not headed up by a peer of equal standing, we can be
snubbed and ignored more easily by those units which are so headed. It’s not as if this is mean-spirited or
deliberate. It’s just benign neglect and
inattention, mostly, though in the end our ability to be a full ILL partner
with other libraries still suffers regardless.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27708092.post-81192310631389453452013-08-10T22:52:00.000-07:002013-08-10T22:52:50.804-07:00Pleasant surprise(s)One lemon-to-lemonade moment I've experienced lately; It turns out my ILL liaisons at the various branches are quite a bit more responsive and efficient than regular circulation staff.<br />
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I've had to fall back to relying on them, actually, because my main building is currently closed to the public and we have only a skeleton crew on staff in circulation. Hold requests have been completely shut off for the main building in the catalog, which disrupted my daily operations immediately. Evidently this hadn't been taken into account despite my having raised the issue in a staff meeting and being reassured that it would all be taken care of. I was pretty enraged about this for the better part of a day but bit my tongue and maintained a cool, factual facade to my supervisor on what I needed and why the current arrangement needed a work-around. I'm grateful to the Assistant Director of the system for intervening directly and directing me to rely instead on old-fashioned email directly to the ILL liaisons still staffing the various branches in the system.<br />
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Turns out these folks are more on-the-ball than their regular circulation counterparts when it comes to responding to my requests via email instead of via the internal hold mechanism of the OPAC. Some branches are more reliable than others, some circ staff more dependable than others. It's just the reality out there. But my ILL Liaisons are amazing. NOT ONE request has arrived too late at the main building to fill an existing ILL request since we had to jury-rig the current set-up in lieu of using the OPAC's internal hold system. So proud of my Liaisons out there! The main building stacks are also currently closed, which is frustrating since it means I can't just go upstairs and grab something off the shelves to fill a request. I'm 100% relying on my pull requests via email now. The current adult collection is now a work-zone, with the book shelves covered by protective tarp while the ceiling is being completely replaced, the wiring redone, etc. We basically have to steer clear of the rest of the building outside of the basement for the next couple of months.<br />
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I'm also grateful for the books I'm sometimes able to add in the catalog--donations of duplicates already cataloged and in-system that need additional copies at other branch libraries. They're not put out on the shelf every day, but I'm grateful every time new books of this type appear for me to work on. It's not actual cataloging, but it's often close enough to keep me happy. I'm certainly more efficient at it than our other clerks without professional experience as a working librarian.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0