Vendor Showcase: SimplyMaps

If you missed the SimplyMaps demo, you missed out. It's available to any libraries that have access to NCLive, and is a great resource for demographic, business, and marketing information.

The database contains a ridiculous number of data sets; you can search all the things you'd expect to, like age, race, and socioeconomic status, but also data sets that concern ice-cream intake and wealthy youngsters. I'm not sure how I'd use all the data, but I'm glad to have it there.

If you haven't played around with this database yet, do. I might start using it in lieu of Reference USA if the opportunity strikes.

Doe vs. Gonzales : In Which Doe, the Humble Librarian, Won and Gonzales, the Attorney General of the United States, lost

George Christian, Executive Director of Library Connection in Hartford, CT, is one of four people in the world who can discuss the National Security Letter (NSL) that his library received. Along with the NSL came a gag order forbidding George to speak about the contents of the letter or the surrounding situation -- ever.

The Patriot Act went into effect two weeks after September 11th, 2001 in an effort to combat terrorism originating in the US. According to George, the Act is a "sweeping overhaul of checks and balances" that can't be understood without looking back through all original legislation referred to throughout the entirety of the Act. The Act operates without any form of judicial oversight.

Throughout the US, some 400,000 NSLs have been distributed since the Patriot Act went into effect. The recipients of these other letters are bound by a lifetime gag order. George, however, along with his Executive Board, decided to fight back against NSLs and the gag order, even though the only way to do so is to sue the Attorney General of the United States, a daunting task. His story is a great one, and I'd recommend making an effort to hear him speak if you ever get a chance to. Despite the persistence and determination of George and the rest of the Executive Board, their court case did not make NSLs declared unconstitutional, but it did set a precedent for future cases.

In March of 2008, former President Bush re-authorized the Patriot Act, with a few small adjustments. Those who receive NSLs are now permitted to consult with an attorney (which was formerly in direct contradiction to wording of the gag order) however (and this is a big however) there are also now punishments for not adhering to the order -- including five years jail time, and the NSLs are now much harder to contest. In the new legislation, libraries are considered exempt from NSLs except those libraries that offer telecommunication services, i.e. offer the internet, i.e. almost all libraries.

What are best practices for ensuring patron confidentiality in your library?

• "Conduct a privacy/confidentiality audit;
• gather the minimum amount of information needed for library operations;
• retain information connecting a user to a particular transaction only as long as need for normal operations, and then discard;"*
• write to your senator and tell them that you support the Justice Act, which supports a system of checks and balances within the Patriot Act.

*From: "Protecting Library Patron Confidentiality -- Checklist of Best Practices." Trina J. Magi, Library Associate Professor, University of Vermont, Fall 2006.

The Manga Experience: Create Your Own

Sarah Arnaudin and Emily King attended Jana Guitar's Manga session Thursday morning. Here is their manga art.

Technology Petting Zoo

Amy Harris and Lynda Kellam (UNCG) gave attendees an overview of a variety of free, open-source, web-based technologies.

Even though many of the technologies do overlap, Amy and Lynda broke them down into three broad categories: Social Networking, Productivity, and Communication. Participants voted for what they wanted to learn about using Poll Everywhere, which allowed them respond on the poll site or via text message or Twitter. Here's an overview of some of the technologies that were discussed:

Social Networking:

• Ning.com - allows you to create your own social network or join an existing one, wide variety of groups, might be an option for class collaboration (alternative to CMS like Blackboard), doesn't allow upload of documents

• Google Groups - also allows you to create a group, can create list-serv, upload docs, another alternative for class collaboration

• FriendFeed.com - aggregator, puts all your updates and your friends' updates in one place, need to be using multiple social networking tools to make this useful - Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Delicious, YouTube, etc., various ways to access - e-mail, feed reader, website

Productivity:

• Rememberthemilk.com - task-based system, go in and create to-do lists for whatever you want, add tags, search by tags or keyword, can download lists in XML for back-up, so robust that can get a little lost

• Evernote.com - note-taking system, both web-based and downloadable for mac, pc, iphone, pre, visible on mobile devices, upgrade to premium (for a fee) for capability to upload other files, such as PDFs, create notebooks that are server-based or computer-based, can share with other ppl

• Google Docs - can create docs, presentations, spreadsheets, forms - not fancy, but they work; add hyperlinks to link to other Google Docs; share with others, invite to view or edit, also publishable to the web or downloadable in other forms (PDF, PPT, etc.)
  

• Google Tasks - view in Google Calendar, can add tasks directly to list from Gmail (under More Actions)

Communication:

• Blogger.com - bloggin platform, owned by Google, so if already have Google account, quick and easy to create blog and invite others to collaborate

• Wordpress.com - blogging platform, need to create separate account, can embed into website, easy to use

• Polleverywhere.com - create polls that update live; audience can vote on poll website, through text messaging (site generates all the numbers), or through Twitter; "poor man's clicker"

There were many other technologies mentioned that we didn't have time to cover, but this session really focused on how these tools can be useful and how different tools suit different people's working, organizational and communication preferences. Get in and find out which one works for you!

Utilizing Library Space for Learning Opportunities

UNC-G's Jackson Libary was built in 1950 and added on in 1970, but is in need of a face-lift. Instead of relying on what the librarians thought would be best for the space, they went to the users to understand:

• Where do they study in the library?
• How do they study in the library?
• What are they using while they were in the library?

Through a three prong assessment technique, using surveys, focus groups, and observation they found:

• The top five reasons that students are coming into the library are 1 - to use a library computer, 2 - work on a project by themselves, 3 - study quietly, 4 - just walk through, 5 - meet a group
• The students wanted more physical access to the library building (24/5 hours)
• Undergrad students want group areas with lots of tables
• Students want to use library computers (laptops to check out and computers with software that students need to complete projects on them)
• Students don't really like carrying their laptops around (too heavy)
  
• Undergrads really wanted a "3rd place" to go to study
• Quiet space with soft seating is essential
• The circ desk was a bottleneck
• Grad students wanted library materials, but don't want to come into the library for library materials (they want it online)
• Students wanted a fax service
• Students wanted coffee in the library
• There are many things they weren't aware of -- printing, carrols, lockers, IM assistance

Space changes as a result of assessment

• laptop checkout
• expanded collaboratories
• added vending options
• opened carrel checkout to all students
• expanded 24/5 available space
• targeted marketing of IM, collaboratories and other services
• added messaging board
• weeded collection and added more study space
• assigned quiet and group study floors
• soft furniture in quiet areas
• tables and outlets in group areas
• moved circ desk
  

Finding Your Footing

New Member's Round Table hosted a panel discussion among five new librarians in five different types of libraries (public, academic, school, and database were all covered.)

Some of the tips that came up throughout the talk for those looking for a professional position:

• think outside the box -- One panelist got her footing in a library by having an informational meetings with library managers to find out what they were looking for in an employee. This led to her volunteering at the reference desk of one library, letting her gain the skills she needed to get a paid job.
• use your contacts and resources -- Knowing people comes in handy! If you prove that you're dedicated and hard-working, they may be willing to go to bat for you in the future when a job comes up.
• take advantage of internships, volunteer opportunities, and any other ways that you can get involved -- Although not being paid isn't fun, it may pay off in the long run, big time. One panelist cited how several other students going through Library School with her wouldn't leave their full-time paid jobs for unpaid jobs that provided library experience. Many of these people are now unable to find positions in the library world because they never made the necessary connections.
• have a portfolio of your work -- Examples of things that you have done in the past (even if it's work from school) can go a long way in your interview.
• be persistent!

Good luck to all you job searchers out there!

Literacy Changes Lives: What Your Library Can Do to Assure That There is "Literacy for All."

Laura Smith, director of the Pitt County Literacy Council, Donna Phillips from Wayne County Public Library, and Steve Sumerford from Greensboro Public Library gave a fabulous presentation on adult literacy in North Carolina.

Donna, along with a committee assembled from various community leaders and businesses, established a literacy council in Wayne County to fill an obvious gap that that had been identified in through community assessment; that of adult illiteracy throughout the county. She provided some tips about how to start a literacy program for your own community. She talked about the importance of making all types of community partnerships, including:

• businesses, which might be able to provide financial backing to a literacy program;
• marketing professionals, including newspapers, that can help promote the program;
• faith-based organizations, which can provide both financial backing as well as volunteers to help with getting the program on its feet;
• educators in the community, and
• the public.

Laura gave some tips for public libraries that already have a literacy program established within their community to begin collaborating with those programs. Often, literacy programs do not have space available for individual tutoring or for group meetings -- this is where public libraries can jump in and offer those services, if they have them available. Public libraries bulletin boards and display areas are also a great area to have literacy pamphlets and information, both to spread the word to potential students and to find volunteer tutors for programs.

Another tip is to team up with your local community-college to see if they need space and/or publicity for GED classes. Literacy programs often reach out to those with a pre-high school education (generally 3rd to 8th grade levels), meaning that students on a slightly higher level might be more suited to a community college course.

Also discussed were family literacy programs such as MotherRead and FatherRead, which are NC-based programs.

And if your library doesn't have the means to host or collaborate with literacy programs, fear not; as Steve said, libraries "create a literacy-rich environment every single day" -- meaning those things we do on a daily basis to create a love of learning and reading are also promoting literacy within our communities.

The Literacy Round Table hosted a great discussion today! Be sure to join them tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. for Latinos, Libraries, & Literacy for more specifics on starting a program of your own, and reaching out to specific demographics.