http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/580000658/post/1790042979.html?nid=4697
April 6, 2009
from Annoyed Librarian
The LIBRARY (why don't we just capitalize the whole darn word because it's so important!) has roles. One of my favorites is: "Inspires and perpetuates hope." How exactly the LIBRARY is supposed to do this, I have no idea, but it sure does sound good.
... For example, if I'm a librarian, I "must" "Promote openness, kindness, and transparency among libraries and users." What does this mean, though? How am I supposed to promote kindness among libraries, for example? Does that even make sense? Or among users? Should I wander the library stacks and upbraid any users who aren't being kind to each other? Maybe to promote kindness among users, I could put some smiley face stickers everywhere. After all, no one can be unkind if they have a smiley face sticker attached to their forehead.
What about this one: "Be willing and have the expertise to make frequent radical changes." Let's examine this sentence. "Radical" means going to the root, the most basic and foundational thing. "Frequent" means, well...frequent. Can anyone really make frequent, radical changes? ...This would mean having a willingness to change absolutely everything we do possibly every day. In real life, this would basically mean chaos. Every day we could all show up at the LIBRARY and change all of our procedures. Wouldn't that be fun! You might think I'm willfully misreading this statement, but consider it in the context of another statement: "librarians must commit to a culture of continuous operational change." What else can this mean but that we show up every day and start doing things differently?
... Those phrases are just meaningless gibberish, which only serve to make ridiculous whatever value there might be in the grand and possibly even inspiring statement that the purpose of the LIBRARY is to "preserve the integrity of civilization." Nobody ever preserved the integrity of civilization by making "frequent radical changes." Ever.
We're also told that we have to "accept risk and uncertainty as key properties of the profession." Huh. How effective will we librarians be if two of our key properties are risk and uncertainty? This sounds as ridiculous as "frequent radical change." How about we show up and face the risk and uncertainty that we'll be fired? Oh, and next day we'll be rehired. Then fired again. Then rehired. Then required to mop out the restrooms. Then required to sit quietly underneath the reference desk and eat Oreos. That all seems risky and uncertain in a frequently radical way. "Oh no," you say (and you are such a devil's advocate today!), "it can't mean that!" Well, I hate to break it to you, but it can. Because if one really has to make "continuous operational change" in a situation of risk and uncertainty, then there are no limits. Try everything!
...That's not a job; that's just hell.
Monday, April 13, 2009
#amazonfail -- @ YALSA blog
Twitter FTW
By now, many of you have probably already heard the story the Twitterverse has dubbed #amazonfail - the revelation that Amazon.com has stripped sales rankings and searchability from titles it deems “adult.” Consider it the safesearch of the online shopping world. This might be a mere annoyance–most of us prefer to determine for ourselves the parameters of our searches–but many authors and bloggers contend that the stripped titles are overwhelmingly those that cover sexuality, feminism, and LGBTQ themes, with or without content that could be considered “explicit.”
[You can read more about the stripped titles, and why we should even care about rankings and searchability, all over the internets--but you might want to start with Mark R. Probst, Meta Writer, and Jezebel. Oh, and you can watch #amazonfail unfold by following that hashtag in action--if you hop on over to Twitter Search, you'll see that #amazonfail and #amazon are among the top trends at the moment.]
There are very real consequences here for us as young adult librarians–many of the titles being deemed “adult” are actually YA or children’s titles, like Rainbow Boys and Heather Has Two Mommies–but that’s not actually what I want to discuss now.
Anyone with a vested interest in social movements must be using Twitter.
Must. Not should, not could–must.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen stories and movements gain massive momentum by using Twitter. Marriage equality in Iowa and Vermont? Found out via Twitter. Earthquake in Italy? Tweeted. Warnings about viruses and scammers? All over Twitter.
While I’ve been writing this, I have tabs open for #amazonfail and #amazon, and just in the past few minutes over 200 updates have been added for each. Can you imagine if we tapped that same momentum for libraries?
I don’t want this to be another idealistic, vague post, so here are some concrete suggestions:
1. Join Twitter. This one’s sort of a no-brainer for me, but I know plenty of people still don’t see the value. Start out small. Join and just follow me, if you’d like, though I have to warn you I tweet a lot, and sometimes about my cats. (I’m mkeagle on Twitter.)
2. Retweet. See something you like? Pass it on. Make sure you make note of where you saw it–I prefer using my own words and “via @username,” but some folks just copy and paste with RT at the beginning.
3. Use hashtags. I usually don’t know a tag’s even in use until I see someone using it. If you’re going to tweet (or retweet) on the same topic, grab that hashtag. Or you can make your own–that’s what many of us at Women, Action & the Media (WAM!) did two weeks ago, using the general #wam09 tag as well as more specific tags for individual sessions. Hashtagging means you can quickly see the big picture. (If your updates are protected, however, even hashtagged tweets won’t show up in Twitter Search. But your followers will still see the tags.)
4. Cross platform lines. When I put up a new blog post, I immediately tweet it. Many Twitter users send their updates to Facebook. Major media outlets are starting to include tweets in their coverage–which makes sense, since stories are beginning to break through Twitter. You exponentially increase visibility for a cause when you start sharing it over multiple platforms.
5. Tweet about what’s important to you. Movements like #amazonfail pick up momentum because people care. It’s thrilling that so many folks out there are passionate about books and equal access, but I’d be even more thrilled if we could channel that passion into even more causes that need our help. I’m talking about library funding, education, youth advocacy.
Will you be part of the next big Twitter trend?
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