In the Freeman article, we get an idea of library design from an architectural/design firms perspective. Here, a successful library expansion or new library design in an academic setting requires flexibility. Separate spaces for contemplation (silent reading rooms) as well as areas for collaboration with others (enclosed study rooms for groups) are both needed. The problem that I have with new library design ideas is that I believe that if possible, room should be made for the physical book stacks to be integrated into the library site. I don't believe that off-site libraries fulfil the needs of most college students on campuses at this time. The actual books need to be readily and easily accessable. If it takes a week to get a book, this may be too late.
As the Freeman article states, projects for classes which used to take two weeks to research now might only take an evening of a students time. Therefore, I feel that the library materials need to be physically accessible both in print and on the web. It goes without saying that flexible library design includes places for plugging in laptops and such but there also need to be adequate spaces for those students using print materials. I think that most libraries on campuses have successfully adapted to this rising need for laptop computer outlets.
Libraries as learning laboratories
The idea of private study rooms is an important one. I feel that a successful collaborative space will have the technology available to do dry-runs of presentations with digital projectors in each study room so that groups of students working on projects may have a good sense of how the next days presentation will go. These group study rooms should be laboratories to test how a presentation might go in the actual classroom setting . This would be very helpful. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to practice in a similar setting before giving a group presentation. Since students don't have access to the classrooms, usually, I believe it is very useful for their academic libraries to have areas where they can reserve space to practice.
Hello! I am finally entering the blogging world so LOOK OUT BLOGGING WORLD!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Gov Docs
All three readings for this week were very interesting but I warmed up most to the Eschenfelder/Miller and the S+R for several reasons. The article from Ithaka S+R was quite useful in helping me understand the many issues with Goverment Documents and their distribution issues. The Eschenfelder/Miller reading brought up issues of different levels and standards for providing information to the general public and how this differs between the GPO and other institutions such as the DNR. Nancy Mulhern from the WHS explained many important points which were needed for me to properly analyze and understand the implications of the readings for this week.
The issues that Nancy covered in her fantastic lecture that I found particularly interesting were: (all while still being obviously sick, which was impressive)
(1.) Explaining more about the mission of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
I am new to this region and being new, all is confusing when it comes to the state buildings surrounding us because we are the capital city. I have never spent much time in a capital city before so it is a bit overwhelming because there is so much to learn. I find it interesting that they collect what they can from all of North America and that, as a result, it has become one of the largest libraries on this subject.
(2.) Questions about going electronic.
In both the Ithaka S+R and the Eschenfelder/Miller readings, I automatically wondered about the issues associated with having fully digitized and digital born documents available for people. With the Eschenfelder/ Clark, I wondered why they didn't have more paper documents available for people with questions about CWD. I realize that this particular study was not about analyzing the information from DNR in paper-format, but in website digital format. I just thought about how much information is probably not being released in paper format either since adding things to the website would probably be easier and definately less expensive that distributing paper documents. I have not looked fully at the website, though I am sure that they do not have all the information that the public wants on that site. It sounds like Wisconsin and Colorado are the only two states who even try to make documents available, even if it is only partial information.
There is definately a problem there in several ways: one way being that many people who might be looking for the info are not on the web and might have no clue that the DNR even has a site; and another being that the DNR might be picking only the information which would benefit their organization and maybe not providing some statistics because they feel there has not been enough research done to warrant placing it on the site and perhaps creating more of a problem for themselves. I say, this only leads to more public mistrust. They can say, "this is what we think....but these are the facts, decide for yourself." In the Ithaka S+R article, I had the same questions about the people who don't use digital formats to recieve their information. The article states that 97% of NEW government documents are available digitally as of 2009, and part of that exists only in digital form. Nancy brought up the fact that many places are able to choose many items to be kept in print, but not others. She seemed to be very suprised that she was even given a choice on anything, that they even bothered to ask. As is stated in the Ithaka S+R article ( in footnote #4), print brochures are a very important way of getting information to the general public that may not have or want to use digital formats for their research. It seems to me that print is a great way to preserve information in an age where we are constantly enundated with new technological concepts and formats. Print will always be print it won't change and I believe that there should be at least one official print version of everthing, just in case. I say, digitize it but also keep as many paper copies as you can because most digitization is not akin to preservation. The problems is, how do you store it.
(3.) The Preservation of these documents, both print and digital.
The Ithaka S+R speaks about the preservation of these documents and the problems associated with having them in digital formats, particularly when the documents are being edited and updated. There is the FDsys federal digital watermark which authenticates the document but what about preservation?
(4.) What is accurate and what has been edited.
We kind of got the impression from the research conducted by Eschenfelder/Miller that there are issues with the DNR only putting certain documents and statistics on their websites, which I really have a problem with. In the area of federal government documents online, there is another issue which pertains to preservation and accuracy in government documents. This issue has been partially solved by using the FDsys to create a way of certifying that the information is accurate and the document is trustworthy. FDsys created a federal kind of digital watermark. I was still a bit confused about exactally what this meant and about FDsys and what it was until Nancy came to speak to the class. This is all new to some of us and just reading an article usually isn't enough to explain some of these devices. Some of these articles that we read assume a previous knowledge base for these issues which we might not have during our first semester.
(5.) Problems associated with the release of this information to the general public without charging a fee.
I was also happy to hear Nancy explain a little more about Hathitrust vs. Google books. I had hear a bit of a complicated professionally informed conversation between Michele Besant and one of the students in the program who knew a lot about the Google digitization project. I have been confused by what Hathitrust did and how it worked with Google books, how they were different. This issue is much more clear now. I had no idea that UW-Madison was so active in the digitization through Google. Nancy was kind enough to explain about the copyright status of government documents which we learned about in the fabulously informative lecture by Kristen Eschenfelder the week before so I understood what she was talking about. When commercial vendors get hold of these materials and start charging fees that the government does not pay for, we have to pay for it. This goes against the basic principles established first, long ago, by people like Thomas Jefferson, that to have a truly democratic state, you must provide the public with the information they need to make an informed decision. I am glad to hear that there is another viable option for the digitization of documents for the public.
What I really thought about after reading all three of these articles is that since so many people rely on the public libraries for their gov. docs, are there special training programs for public librarians who want to take continuing ed. classes or offer them to the employees who will most likely have to deal with reference questions in this area? As a future public librarian (maybe, perhaps), I wonder about how much training most public librarians (and library assistants) have in this area and how much the government can do to help to educate them? Some, if not most of the people trying to access law documents are in the public libraries without any money to spend on these subscriptions or anyway to know where is best to look. This is being left up to the under-paid and overworked public librarians and they need help. For instance, Nancy spoke about the fact that when you search online for government documents, there is no author so you have to have knowledge of which dept. of the govt. this document would be included in? This takes special training and experience.
The issues that Nancy covered in her fantastic lecture that I found particularly interesting were: (all while still being obviously sick, which was impressive)
(1.) Explaining more about the mission of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
I am new to this region and being new, all is confusing when it comes to the state buildings surrounding us because we are the capital city. I have never spent much time in a capital city before so it is a bit overwhelming because there is so much to learn. I find it interesting that they collect what they can from all of North America and that, as a result, it has become one of the largest libraries on this subject.
(2.) Questions about going electronic.
In both the Ithaka S+R and the Eschenfelder/Miller readings, I automatically wondered about the issues associated with having fully digitized and digital born documents available for people. With the Eschenfelder/ Clark, I wondered why they didn't have more paper documents available for people with questions about CWD. I realize that this particular study was not about analyzing the information from DNR in paper-format, but in website digital format. I just thought about how much information is probably not being released in paper format either since adding things to the website would probably be easier and definately less expensive that distributing paper documents. I have not looked fully at the website, though I am sure that they do not have all the information that the public wants on that site. It sounds like Wisconsin and Colorado are the only two states who even try to make documents available, even if it is only partial information.
There is definately a problem there in several ways: one way being that many people who might be looking for the info are not on the web and might have no clue that the DNR even has a site; and another being that the DNR might be picking only the information which would benefit their organization and maybe not providing some statistics because they feel there has not been enough research done to warrant placing it on the site and perhaps creating more of a problem for themselves. I say, this only leads to more public mistrust. They can say, "this is what we think....but these are the facts, decide for yourself." In the Ithaka S+R article, I had the same questions about the people who don't use digital formats to recieve their information. The article states that 97% of NEW government documents are available digitally as of 2009, and part of that exists only in digital form. Nancy brought up the fact that many places are able to choose many items to be kept in print, but not others. She seemed to be very suprised that she was even given a choice on anything, that they even bothered to ask. As is stated in the Ithaka S+R article ( in footnote #4), print brochures are a very important way of getting information to the general public that may not have or want to use digital formats for their research. It seems to me that print is a great way to preserve information in an age where we are constantly enundated with new technological concepts and formats. Print will always be print it won't change and I believe that there should be at least one official print version of everthing, just in case. I say, digitize it but also keep as many paper copies as you can because most digitization is not akin to preservation. The problems is, how do you store it.
(3.) The Preservation of these documents, both print and digital.
The Ithaka S+R speaks about the preservation of these documents and the problems associated with having them in digital formats, particularly when the documents are being edited and updated. There is the FDsys federal digital watermark which authenticates the document but what about preservation?
(4.) What is accurate and what has been edited.
We kind of got the impression from the research conducted by Eschenfelder/Miller that there are issues with the DNR only putting certain documents and statistics on their websites, which I really have a problem with. In the area of federal government documents online, there is another issue which pertains to preservation and accuracy in government documents. This issue has been partially solved by using the FDsys to create a way of certifying that the information is accurate and the document is trustworthy. FDsys created a federal kind of digital watermark. I was still a bit confused about exactally what this meant and about FDsys and what it was until Nancy came to speak to the class. This is all new to some of us and just reading an article usually isn't enough to explain some of these devices. Some of these articles that we read assume a previous knowledge base for these issues which we might not have during our first semester.
(5.) Problems associated with the release of this information to the general public without charging a fee.
I was also happy to hear Nancy explain a little more about Hathitrust vs. Google books. I had hear a bit of a complicated professionally informed conversation between Michele Besant and one of the students in the program who knew a lot about the Google digitization project. I have been confused by what Hathitrust did and how it worked with Google books, how they were different. This issue is much more clear now. I had no idea that UW-Madison was so active in the digitization through Google. Nancy was kind enough to explain about the copyright status of government documents which we learned about in the fabulously informative lecture by Kristen Eschenfelder the week before so I understood what she was talking about. When commercial vendors get hold of these materials and start charging fees that the government does not pay for, we have to pay for it. This goes against the basic principles established first, long ago, by people like Thomas Jefferson, that to have a truly democratic state, you must provide the public with the information they need to make an informed decision. I am glad to hear that there is another viable option for the digitization of documents for the public.
What I really thought about after reading all three of these articles is that since so many people rely on the public libraries for their gov. docs, are there special training programs for public librarians who want to take continuing ed. classes or offer them to the employees who will most likely have to deal with reference questions in this area? As a future public librarian (maybe, perhaps), I wonder about how much training most public librarians (and library assistants) have in this area and how much the government can do to help to educate them? Some, if not most of the people trying to access law documents are in the public libraries without any money to spend on these subscriptions or anyway to know where is best to look. This is being left up to the under-paid and overworked public librarians and they need help. For instance, Nancy spoke about the fact that when you search online for government documents, there is no author so you have to have knowledge of which dept. of the govt. this document would be included in? This takes special training and experience.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Intellectual Property Laws and Heritage Protection
I disagree as much with the author on certain points which are made in this article as a I agree with other viewpoints that were illustrated. What I really disagree with in this article is the paragraph on page 54 where the author states that he feels Johnny Bulun Bulun leaves important questions unanswered in his statement in the that the author places in the above paragraph. The author states that he does not see how a reproduction in a book or in this article has less negative impact than the art reproduced on a T-shirt or blanket to be sold by someone other than the community and person who has made the art. I disagree totally. I think that if the artist was given a chance to explain this, he would. I believe, having read this article and it's issues very carefully, that the artist and his community might not have as big of a problem with the reproduction in a book because the art is reproduced to be a teaching tool about the culture and it's aesthetics, whereas reproducting this on another type of product implies that the person wearing this art reproduction might in fact be trying to embody the art. This cannot be done by anyone outside the community.I guess this would be considered part of the fair use doctrine? I am not going to say what this is an what this isn't because I just don't know enough about it. I think the author should have done the same in regards to the spiritual issues of this case. I feel that the author could have tried to take a more neutral stance here but instead he interjects his own opinions which lead the reader to believe that he finds Bulun Bulun's claim to be fraudulent. Otherwise, I actually found this article and it's discussions to be very interesting and important. I don't really know anything about Aboriginal cultures in Australia but I know that in some ways, these issues mirror issues closer to home for all of us. Unfortunately in this country, we do not hear very much about the constant battles which still go on in American courtrooms since our ancestors colonized the U.S. and took land away from our own native peoples.
I think that the author makes some really solid points later in the article and provides good examples to give his readers a sense of how complicated all of this is and how different our cultures are from one another. We cannot infringe our own rules onto others because, as Michael Brown states late in the article, "the theft of musical and artistic genres becomes the final assault after colonialism has taken away everything else.
Michael Brown also starts a conversation about the expiration of intellectual property and what this might mean for cultures like the aboriginal community that Bulun, Bulun belongs. I feel like these rights should extend to the communities from which the artist comes. They are from a different culture than we are and we should not try to impose our laws or ways of being upon them.
I think that the author makes some really solid points later in the article and provides good examples to give his readers a sense of how complicated all of this is and how different our cultures are from one another. We cannot infringe our own rules onto others because, as Michael Brown states late in the article, "the theft of musical and artistic genres becomes the final assault after colonialism has taken away everything else.
Michael Brown also starts a conversation about the expiration of intellectual property and what this might mean for cultures like the aboriginal community that Bulun, Bulun belongs. I feel like these rights should extend to the communities from which the artist comes. They are from a different culture than we are and we should not try to impose our laws or ways of being upon them.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Literacy in American Lives
Although this book is a bit outdated, because as Brandt states, what held true of valuable levels and kinds of literacy might not be true in the future. Her research is still fairly relevant today and I believe that she charts the changes in the standards of literacy very well.
The thing that I warmed to the most about this book is the way in which Deborah Brandt uses economic research into education to show her points. I liked especially, the example of how employers may use their own funds to provide an education to improve literacy in a certain area for certain employees. This way, the employer may be guaranteed to earn more money from this employee in the future because of their increased literacy. Because this book is older, there are issues which Deborah did not really have a chance to cover totally, simply because things have changed so quickly in the area of computer literacy standards of today.
Continuing with this thought I was thinking of my own literacy experiences growing up, thinking about others' experiences growing up now, who may not have even the regular opportunity to be "computer literate." These young, poor people live in many areas, even here in Madison. They might not have access to computers as often as we do. When I was growing up as a kid and teenager, it was the 90's. I was at the tail-end of Generation X. Since my parents did not (and still do not) own a computer at home or even know how to email. I didn't even get my first computer lesson until 2002, when I took a beginners level computer class and got my first email, this is way later than most other people I knew. The best places to play with computers in the early 2000's was at the public library, although you could either get a 15 minute computer or an hour-long computer to practice on. When I was in high-school, my school recieved some sort of grant because our scores were so low and they gave us one computer in every room for the teachers and students to use. Of course what happened there was that inevitably, the people who were already familiar with how to use a computer were the ones to play on them. This was the same at the public library. Since I didn't really know how to use one, even after my beginning computer class, I just kind of avoided them.
Flash forward to now, 2010. I have had a good 10 years to become acquainted to computers and have one at home but I still feel like I am constantly behind everyone else in my computer literacy. I think this is because I had such a slow and disjointed introduction to them. When you are uncomfortable with something, you tend to avoid it. Now, I have my husband to help me when I don't know how to do something on the computer and I think that even if I didn't have a husband who had dreamed at one point, about 10 years ago, of becoming a computer programmer, I would probably still own one. But I don't really know how comfortable I would be with one, if I had not had 10 years of uncomfortable computer training from taking classes in college. If I had just chosen to work a job that did not require me to use a computer, how computer literate would I be right now?
We do not all have the same skills in computers. A lot of adults and children cannot afford computers and therefore probably have an even harder time than I do. When I think of my own experiences, I also think about how someone else, with less materially than I have or have had in my life, might deal with the same issues. The children in most school districts are taught on computers, but how many have them at home? I know that they can easily access them at the public libraries but what if they cannot get to them?
Computer literacy is now, in my opinion the most important type of literacy, when it comes to getting into a better program in school, or getting a job. Unfortunately, we still live in a very uneven and unfair system here is the U.S. and people in other places around the world have it even worse. Look at the children in certain countries in Africa or the Middle East; they might not have a chance to even go to school, let alone enough time to become proficient in computer usage.
You asked us in class to think about our own and others' experiences with literacy. I have thought about it and I have come to the conclusion that our experiences differ more than they are the same. This is an issue that Deborah Brandt touched on but I really started to think about after I read most of the book and after the last class. How much has literacy changed since Deborah wrote this book? Will the gap grow even wider in the future? I hope not, especially with the web so easily at our fingertips, for some of us.
Literacy changes and we constantly have to learn more and more just to keep our heads above water. One of the reasons why I am so happy to be in this program is because there is such a push to become a computer expert in library work.
The thing that I warmed to the most about this book is the way in which Deborah Brandt uses economic research into education to show her points. I liked especially, the example of how employers may use their own funds to provide an education to improve literacy in a certain area for certain employees. This way, the employer may be guaranteed to earn more money from this employee in the future because of their increased literacy. Because this book is older, there are issues which Deborah did not really have a chance to cover totally, simply because things have changed so quickly in the area of computer literacy standards of today.
Continuing with this thought I was thinking of my own literacy experiences growing up, thinking about others' experiences growing up now, who may not have even the regular opportunity to be "computer literate." These young, poor people live in many areas, even here in Madison. They might not have access to computers as often as we do. When I was growing up as a kid and teenager, it was the 90's. I was at the tail-end of Generation X. Since my parents did not (and still do not) own a computer at home or even know how to email. I didn't even get my first computer lesson until 2002, when I took a beginners level computer class and got my first email, this is way later than most other people I knew. The best places to play with computers in the early 2000's was at the public library, although you could either get a 15 minute computer or an hour-long computer to practice on. When I was in high-school, my school recieved some sort of grant because our scores were so low and they gave us one computer in every room for the teachers and students to use. Of course what happened there was that inevitably, the people who were already familiar with how to use a computer were the ones to play on them. This was the same at the public library. Since I didn't really know how to use one, even after my beginning computer class, I just kind of avoided them.
Flash forward to now, 2010. I have had a good 10 years to become acquainted to computers and have one at home but I still feel like I am constantly behind everyone else in my computer literacy. I think this is because I had such a slow and disjointed introduction to them. When you are uncomfortable with something, you tend to avoid it. Now, I have my husband to help me when I don't know how to do something on the computer and I think that even if I didn't have a husband who had dreamed at one point, about 10 years ago, of becoming a computer programmer, I would probably still own one. But I don't really know how comfortable I would be with one, if I had not had 10 years of uncomfortable computer training from taking classes in college. If I had just chosen to work a job that did not require me to use a computer, how computer literate would I be right now?
We do not all have the same skills in computers. A lot of adults and children cannot afford computers and therefore probably have an even harder time than I do. When I think of my own experiences, I also think about how someone else, with less materially than I have or have had in my life, might deal with the same issues. The children in most school districts are taught on computers, but how many have them at home? I know that they can easily access them at the public libraries but what if they cannot get to them?
Computer literacy is now, in my opinion the most important type of literacy, when it comes to getting into a better program in school, or getting a job. Unfortunately, we still live in a very uneven and unfair system here is the U.S. and people in other places around the world have it even worse. Look at the children in certain countries in Africa or the Middle East; they might not have a chance to even go to school, let alone enough time to become proficient in computer usage.
You asked us in class to think about our own and others' experiences with literacy. I have thought about it and I have come to the conclusion that our experiences differ more than they are the same. This is an issue that Deborah Brandt touched on but I really started to think about after I read most of the book and after the last class. How much has literacy changed since Deborah wrote this book? Will the gap grow even wider in the future? I hope not, especially with the web so easily at our fingertips, for some of us.
Literacy changes and we constantly have to learn more and more just to keep our heads above water. One of the reasons why I am so happy to be in this program is because there is such a push to become a computer expert in library work.
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