It’s been a while since I posted an update!
The collection shift is over. Since then, we’ve been working on other things while the Archives expansion continues.
1) New computers. Most of our public computers in the open area on the first floor have been replaced with brand-new computers and super-delish widescreen monitors. They’re pretty, but are considerably larger than our old computers, so we’ve been …
2) Clearing space. We’ve relocated the microform readers from their old space between the public computers and DVD area to the seating area by the emergency exit immediately across the atrium from the Service Desk. It makes more sense when you see it, instead of going by how I’m trying to describe it. The upshot is that we’ve opened up that space between the public computers and DVDs and added …
3) New lights. One oddity we’ve fully recognized for years is that one of the most heavily-trafficked areas in the Library is pretty poorly-lit! It’s like entering a cave once you pass the public computers on your way to the DVDs. One major reason for the gloom is that the leaks we’ve historically had in that area have made it difficult to add any electrical equipment; another one is all the exposed ductwork, which makes positioning pretty awkward. In recent years, though, things have been relatively dry, and moving the microform readers gave us more options for light placement, which we immediately exploited. It’s nice and bright there now, which is good, because we’re getting ready for …
4) New furniture. Because the new computers are so large, and because we’re working on a reconfiguration of that part of the first floor in general, we’ve decided to add more working space there. There will soon be new tables in that area which will let us spread the public computers out a little more and add more elbow room for you to work, whether alone with a lot of stuff, or in groups sharing a single computer. If you think that sounds cramped, think again because we’re actually undertaking a …
5) Small renovation. One space constraint we have in the open public-computer area on the first floor is a low counter that encloses the photocopy area. We’ve used it for years as sort of a throwaway space for equipment that doesn’t quite fit with the rest of our public computers -- like the scanner and printer workstations that are there now -- so it’s fairly convenient, but it definitely limits everyone’s options on how to use the space. So we’re getting rid of it and opening up the whole area! This will allow us to add a …
6) Seating area and printing center. We’ve ordered new couches and chairs for the photocopy area; the copiers will be moved to the railing on the other side of the public-computer area, overlooking the General Stacks in the basement. That way, there’s a nice space for people to relax, drink some coffee, put their feet up, do some work, or socialize right next to our most popular computers. We’re also going to set up both of our printers and the job-release station there, so there’s no need to try to figure out which printer is which and where your paper will come up -- it’ll all be in the same place! In the meantime, the scanner will join the public computers on the newly-added computer tables. That’s not all, because we’re also ordering couches for a new …
7) Quiet study room. The 1404 computer lab will become something more accommodating to students who want to study quietly on an individual basis, but need access to a computer, which isn’t available (yet!) in the study rooms downstairs (it’s on our list). We’re adding more comfortable seating and table space to the room, and plan to figure out ways to keep the area free from both visual and aural noise so you can focus on your work in peace. There’ll be plants and stuff.
That’s it for the more noticeable changes, I think. We’ve gotten rid of the videophone in the Deaf Library Study Center (the computer lab with DVD players and the giant TV), mostly because nobody seemed to use it, and we thought we could use the space to add another computer.
Sorenson also renovated their public videophone booths by the men’s restroom on the first floor; they’re now in spiffy permanent enclosures which are a big improvement over the temporary partitions that had been there for years.
And of course, we can’t help but mention, once again, the collection shift. Not only did the General Stacks move around (with the very nice side effect of making the children’s books, graphic novels, and literature much easier to find! See me for more information), but we also relocated the General Periodicals (both popular magazines and academic publications), Reference (encyclopedias and the like), and the Deaf VHS collection (just a few stacks over).
We’ll have a few opportunities in September for first-timers and lifers alike to get to know the Library a little better. In the meantime, if you’re returning this fall, whether student or faculty, and are a little mixed up, please don’t be shy about asking any of the librarians you see! We’re always happy to help point people in the right direction. Same goes for anyone who’s new to Gallaudet this fall.
Or even if you’ve just dropped by to be nosy. Really.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Vlog review of Gay Power
Gay Power: An American Revolution by David Eisenbach.
Error of note: Rock Hudson's AIDS treatment didn't commence until 1985, not 1983 as mentioned in this video.Friday, July 15, 2011
Patrick's conference report!
It's time for another Friday treat: A conference report from one of my fellow librarians, Patrick Oberholtzer!
Patrick joined our director, Sarah Hamrick (see her report here), in New Orleans a few weeks ago to attend the American Library Association's massive annual conference, learn new things, and just have fun.
As you'll see, he managed to accomplish all three!
Once a year, librarians from across the country gather together for the American Library Association’s Annual Conference. This year, fellow Gallaudet librarian Sarah Hamrick and I travelled to a city known as “the Big Easy” -- New Orleans.
The conference of some 20,000 librarians offers something for just about every interest, from technology to library architecture. With so many librarians attending, you need a pretty big place for the conference, and that’s why I found myself in the massive Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The building seems to go forever (from the front door to one of their rooms was over a mile!). There are programs with expert speakers on just about every facet of librarianship; committees that discuss everything from emerging technologies to social media and public services. There is also a very large exhibit hall where you can give the latest gadgets a whirl, talk to authors and publishers, test out the latest library furniture, and enter drawings for iPads that are won by a lucky few. I spoke with the very interesting author of a book about Nazis in Hollywood in the 1930s, Hollywood Agent Provocateur. I didn’t know about that!
As you make your way around the very crowded conference center, with rivers of people going every which way, it is very easy to get lost or at least feel like you are up a creek without a paddle. After carefully studying conference center maps and signs, I made my way to one room and mercifully ran into two old friends. I asked them what programs they were attending. In fact, I ask everyone that question, because I always seem to learn about a good event that I missed. The sheer size and scope of the three-day convention produces a lot of energy, enthusiasm and, of course, new ideas.
At Gallaudet University, the librarians do a variety of work and wear many hats. One of those hats is instruction and thus, we are teachers, too. One thing I have noticed over many years is that teachers love to give out handouts, lots of them. Let’s face it: handouts can be as dull as dishwater and often are not read. At one of the instruction programs I attended, librarians were demonstrating and discussing a much more visual way to do handouts, using Comic Life2. Comic Life permits you to create a graphic story – like a comic book -- using pictures, drawings, cam shots, and photos. You can add captions or speech balloons as needed. The result is a beautiful handout that is more visually driven than plain text.
We hear a lot about Web 2.0 and libraries are using many of these technologies to market our services. The Gallaudet Library already makes good use of everything from video logs and blogs to instant messaging and e-mail. Still, we feel there is more we can do and that is why “the marketing unprogram” got my attention. In that presentation, I heard about one public library director who told his staff to increase library card registration 50% in one year “or else.” One solution the staff came up with was to ride the city buses all day distributing handouts. Sure enough, registration and library use statistics jumped immediately. I sure wouldn’t have thought of that!
Libraries have traditionally used e-mail to advertise various library functions. The rub is: how do you know if anyone reads those e-mails? Well, a public library in Connecticut came up with a solution: a software program called Constant Contact. You collect e-mail addresses, write the copy for your event or program, and send it to Constant Contact which, as if by magic, creates a nifty professional notice and emails it to everyone on your list. Here’s the crackerjack part: You can find out how many of the e-mails were opened!
New Orleans is a fun city and a pretty good place for a conference. The French Quarter is a lively place of shops, bars, restaurants and lots and lots of music. It is chock full of history, complete with haunted houses and hotels. If you find yourself in the French Quarter, take a hike and check it out. It really does look like parts of Paris.
Patrick
Patrick joined our director, Sarah Hamrick (see her report here), in New Orleans a few weeks ago to attend the American Library Association's massive annual conference, learn new things, and just have fun.
As you'll see, he managed to accomplish all three!
Once a year, librarians from across the country gather together for the American Library Association’s Annual Conference. This year, fellow Gallaudet librarian Sarah Hamrick and I travelled to a city known as “the Big Easy” -- New Orleans.
The conference of some 20,000 librarians offers something for just about every interest, from technology to library architecture. With so many librarians attending, you need a pretty big place for the conference, and that’s why I found myself in the massive Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The building seems to go forever (from the front door to one of their rooms was over a mile!). There are programs with expert speakers on just about every facet of librarianship; committees that discuss everything from emerging technologies to social media and public services. There is also a very large exhibit hall where you can give the latest gadgets a whirl, talk to authors and publishers, test out the latest library furniture, and enter drawings for iPads that are won by a lucky few. I spoke with the very interesting author of a book about Nazis in Hollywood in the 1930s, Hollywood Agent Provocateur. I didn’t know about that!
As you make your way around the very crowded conference center, with rivers of people going every which way, it is very easy to get lost or at least feel like you are up a creek without a paddle. After carefully studying conference center maps and signs, I made my way to one room and mercifully ran into two old friends. I asked them what programs they were attending. In fact, I ask everyone that question, because I always seem to learn about a good event that I missed. The sheer size and scope of the three-day convention produces a lot of energy, enthusiasm and, of course, new ideas.
At Gallaudet University, the librarians do a variety of work and wear many hats. One of those hats is instruction and thus, we are teachers, too. One thing I have noticed over many years is that teachers love to give out handouts, lots of them. Let’s face it: handouts can be as dull as dishwater and often are not read. At one of the instruction programs I attended, librarians were demonstrating and discussing a much more visual way to do handouts, using Comic Life2. Comic Life permits you to create a graphic story – like a comic book -- using pictures, drawings, cam shots, and photos. You can add captions or speech balloons as needed. The result is a beautiful handout that is more visually driven than plain text.
We hear a lot about Web 2.0 and libraries are using many of these technologies to market our services. The Gallaudet Library already makes good use of everything from video logs and blogs to instant messaging and e-mail. Still, we feel there is more we can do and that is why “the marketing unprogram” got my attention. In that presentation, I heard about one public library director who told his staff to increase library card registration 50% in one year “or else.” One solution the staff came up with was to ride the city buses all day distributing handouts. Sure enough, registration and library use statistics jumped immediately. I sure wouldn’t have thought of that!
Libraries have traditionally used e-mail to advertise various library functions. The rub is: how do you know if anyone reads those e-mails? Well, a public library in Connecticut came up with a solution: a software program called Constant Contact. You collect e-mail addresses, write the copy for your event or program, and send it to Constant Contact which, as if by magic, creates a nifty professional notice and emails it to everyone on your list. Here’s the crackerjack part: You can find out how many of the e-mails were opened!
New Orleans is a fun city and a pretty good place for a conference. The French Quarter is a lively place of shops, bars, restaurants and lots and lots of music. It is chock full of history, complete with haunted houses and hotels. If you find yourself in the French Quarter, take a hike and check it out. It really does look like parts of Paris.
Patrick
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Director's conference report!
June is always exciting for librarians. The reason is simple: The American Library Association's Annual Conference! It's giant. Think San Diego's Comic-Con with fewer comic books and more library furniture.
I didn't go to this year's conference for two simple reasons:
Because they don't have enough to do (ha), I asked them to write up a report of their experiences for you guys. Today, you get to read Sarah's! Patrick's will come next week.
So: Sarah's conference experience. Here we go!
I was one of 20,000 participants in the American Library Association’s annual conference, held in New Orleans the last weekend of June. ALA has more than 60,000 members who work in all types of libraries, and the annual conference is our opportunity to learn about new trends in libraries, network with colleagues, and meet with vendors to learn about the latest products and services. It’s also our opportunity to slip out of our sensible shoes, unpin our hair buns, and go crazy.
The conference takes place over a weekend -- there are preconferences and a few early meetings on Thursday and Friday, followed by the big kick-off Friday night. Saturday and Sunday are jam-packed with programs and meetings, and by Monday afternoon most of the sessions are over. The exhibit hall includes about 350,000 square feet of space full of vendors selling/promoting everything you can possibly imagine -- furniture (LOVE the child-sized desks and chairs in bright colors), equipment (I’ve got my eye on a scanner you can use to convert our old microfilm to PDF), clothes (librarians love t-shirts with cute book quotes), software, services, and books. Lots of books. There are always long lines of people waiting for author signings, and the free books many vendors hand out are always hot items!
ALA is spread out across the host city. Many sessions take place in a massive convention center (which in New Orleans is right on the Mississippi River, so it is very LONG), and there are meetings and programs in at least 10 hotels across town. There are always long lines at Starbucks, and at the end of each day there are many weary librarians with bags full of vendor freebies loading up on the buses that shuttle us around to our meetings and hotels. Since we were in New Orleans this time, all of those weary librarians were also kind of sweaty and a little wilted. Fortunately New Orleans offers many kinds of refreshment to perk up the heat- and humidity-bedraggled librarian!
I always learn a lot at ALA conferences and have met many colleagues there who help me do my job better. Of the sessions I attended this year two were particularly good.
The first was entitled “Libraries of the Future: Designing from the User Perspective.” The speaker was a librarian who retired after many working for many years in a college library (I hope that’s me some day!) and has started a new career (I hope that’s not me--I want to spend my retirement years at the ballpark and the dog park!) advising libraries that are designing new buildings. He talked about the importance of planning based on not only how students use the library building now but also how we WANT students to use it and how we THINK students will use it in the future. He spoke of two issues I thought were particularly interesting. Consider the exterior design, particularly at the main building entrance, and try to make it usable space. (A few comfy reading benches and some picnic tables would be nice!) And the first ten feet to the right of the building entrance is the busiest area of the building, so it is important to place the most heavily used materials/services there. (Coffee bar, anyone?)
The best session I attended was called “It’s All About Them: Developing Information Services with User Experience Design.” User experience (UX) is a relatively new field in the library profession, and it’s becoming a very sought-after specialization. UX librarians look at what students want and how they want to get it. It’s a customer service thing. Most UX librarians still do a lot of work in the technology area, but the field has expanded to include all types of library UX. The speakers at this program gave lots of tips about improving the quality of service to library users. One library schedules staff to walk through the building regularly, trying to see it through the eyes of the library user. Another library connects their library web site log-in with Blackboard so students who log into the library’s site get a specialized page based on their specific course needs. One of the program’s speakers works for a major U.S. retailer, doing the indexing for their web site. She talked about the importance of setting up our systems so that users are able to find what they need using the keywords and concepts they know and understand. While that has always been the general idea of library catalog systems, it was interesting to hear her thoughts on the issue from the retail perspective.The best part of the presentation was when a participant asked the speakers if their libraries had a UX brand or motto. The retail indexer said theirs is “Crush Amazon.” Sounds like a worthy goal to me!
That’s what I learned at ALA. I also enjoyed some delicious seafood, window shopped in the French Quarter, gazed at the mighty Mississippi, gawked at the sights on Bourbon Street, and caught a New Orleans Zephyrs ballgame. My favorite evening was spent at a very nice restaurant (delicious oysters) with friends who work in correctional (i.e., prison) libraries in Colorado. It was a very productive trip!
I didn't go to this year's conference for two simple reasons:
- I went to the Midwinter Meeting in January, and one of these things per year is tiring enough. This year's Midwinter was hosted in San Diego, in fact, in the same convention center used for the Comic-Con. If you're familiar with what a huge event it is, you can get an idea of how busy Midwinter was!
- It was in New Orleans. In June. I grew up on the Gulf of Mexico, and there's a reason why I left. The humidity is quite satisfactory here in Washington, DC; why be a glutton for punishment?
Because they don't have enough to do (ha), I asked them to write up a report of their experiences for you guys. Today, you get to read Sarah's! Patrick's will come next week.
So: Sarah's conference experience. Here we go!
I was one of 20,000 participants in the American Library Association’s annual conference, held in New Orleans the last weekend of June. ALA has more than 60,000 members who work in all types of libraries, and the annual conference is our opportunity to learn about new trends in libraries, network with colleagues, and meet with vendors to learn about the latest products and services. It’s also our opportunity to slip out of our sensible shoes, unpin our hair buns, and go crazy.
The conference takes place over a weekend -- there are preconferences and a few early meetings on Thursday and Friday, followed by the big kick-off Friday night. Saturday and Sunday are jam-packed with programs and meetings, and by Monday afternoon most of the sessions are over. The exhibit hall includes about 350,000 square feet of space full of vendors selling/promoting everything you can possibly imagine -- furniture (LOVE the child-sized desks and chairs in bright colors), equipment (I’ve got my eye on a scanner you can use to convert our old microfilm to PDF), clothes (librarians love t-shirts with cute book quotes), software, services, and books. Lots of books. There are always long lines of people waiting for author signings, and the free books many vendors hand out are always hot items!
ALA is spread out across the host city. Many sessions take place in a massive convention center (which in New Orleans is right on the Mississippi River, so it is very LONG), and there are meetings and programs in at least 10 hotels across town. There are always long lines at Starbucks, and at the end of each day there are many weary librarians with bags full of vendor freebies loading up on the buses that shuttle us around to our meetings and hotels. Since we were in New Orleans this time, all of those weary librarians were also kind of sweaty and a little wilted. Fortunately New Orleans offers many kinds of refreshment to perk up the heat- and humidity-bedraggled librarian!
I always learn a lot at ALA conferences and have met many colleagues there who help me do my job better. Of the sessions I attended this year two were particularly good.
The first was entitled “Libraries of the Future: Designing from the User Perspective.” The speaker was a librarian who retired after many working for many years in a college library (I hope that’s me some day!) and has started a new career (I hope that’s not me--I want to spend my retirement years at the ballpark and the dog park!) advising libraries that are designing new buildings. He talked about the importance of planning based on not only how students use the library building now but also how we WANT students to use it and how we THINK students will use it in the future. He spoke of two issues I thought were particularly interesting. Consider the exterior design, particularly at the main building entrance, and try to make it usable space. (A few comfy reading benches and some picnic tables would be nice!) And the first ten feet to the right of the building entrance is the busiest area of the building, so it is important to place the most heavily used materials/services there. (Coffee bar, anyone?)
The best session I attended was called “It’s All About Them: Developing Information Services with User Experience Design.” User experience (UX) is a relatively new field in the library profession, and it’s becoming a very sought-after specialization. UX librarians look at what students want and how they want to get it. It’s a customer service thing. Most UX librarians still do a lot of work in the technology area, but the field has expanded to include all types of library UX. The speakers at this program gave lots of tips about improving the quality of service to library users. One library schedules staff to walk through the building regularly, trying to see it through the eyes of the library user. Another library connects their library web site log-in with Blackboard so students who log into the library’s site get a specialized page based on their specific course needs. One of the program’s speakers works for a major U.S. retailer, doing the indexing for their web site. She talked about the importance of setting up our systems so that users are able to find what they need using the keywords and concepts they know and understand. While that has always been the general idea of library catalog systems, it was interesting to hear her thoughts on the issue from the retail perspective.The best part of the presentation was when a participant asked the speakers if their libraries had a UX brand or motto. The retail indexer said theirs is “Crush Amazon.” Sounds like a worthy goal to me!
That’s what I learned at ALA. I also enjoyed some delicious seafood, window shopped in the French Quarter, gazed at the mighty Mississippi, gawked at the sights on Bourbon Street, and caught a New Orleans Zephyrs ballgame. My favorite evening was spent at a very nice restaurant (delicious oysters) with friends who work in correctional (i.e., prison) libraries in Colorado. It was a very productive trip!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
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