Karen Munro, Learning Librarian

The last few weeks have been very busy at my new job, but I’ve got an overflowing inbox of interesting items, so here’s one to start with:

Bertelsmann Lexicon publishes print version of German Wikipedia (thanks to The Guardian for the link.)  The idea is to “reach people who do not use Wikipedia online.”  This is a fascinating development for Wikipedia and for traditional print reference sources, I think.  What if collaborative authoring could combine with traditional print publishing to create more up-to-date, comprehensive print sources?  Funny how this sort of looks misguided, and sort of looks genius.  I guess that’s what innovation usually looks like.

I’m very happy to be able to link to “Mashing Congress,” the article that Jesse Silva and I wrote for Dttp:  Documents to the People, detailing our wiki mash-up tool for Congressional research.  (ALA login required, rassenfrassen.)

If you’re not interested in Congressional research (and who isn’t?) I think this is still an interesting application for wikis and screencasts.  Basically, we used a wiki framework to open screencast tutorials simultaneously with live database windows for learners to practice their skills in.  No frames, no clicking back and forth between windows.  A little bit of scrolling may be required, depending on your monitor size.  But generally speaking, a more immediate and elegant way to provide active learning opportunities (read:  hands-on practice) and feedback for your tutorial users.

Thanks, Jesse!  And thanks, DttP!

This very question was asked at our ALA preconference, and it’s a perennial one for web designers, librarians, and anyone who spends time on the web. Smashing Magazine has a lengthy and interesting answer, pointing out some new technologies that may, in some cases, make this question moot.

For my own self, I think it’s all about context. I usually open links from this blog in new windows, because when I read blogs I appreciate not losing where I am as I click through all the pointers to other comments and perspectives. Google Reader, my preferred blog reading tool, opens links in new windows so I don’t lose my place in the blog queue. That’s a good use of a new window, I think. There are definitely some good arguments against, though. Stepping stone links within a single site? No new windows!

ETA:  Amusingly, the link in this post does NOT open in a new window, b/c WordPress was having a tantrum and I’m a little too harried to go in and fix it in the code.  Caveat clicker!

Anaheim is sunny and bright, and I’m heading into the Exhibits hall.  But first I wanted to link to Anne-Marie’s blog post listing our preconference materials.  The preconference was great–we had overflow attendance and a terrific group of engaged, interested, thoughtful participants.  And as always, my fabulous co-presenters gave me much food for thought.  Every time we talk about online instruction and 2.0 public services, I feel like I “get” it a little more, and my paradigm shifts just a few more inches in the right direction.  Added bonus:  Rachel’s copyright advocacy sermon.  Accept no substitutes!

Man, oh man, it’s been a busy month.

I’m installed in my new job as Head of the University of Oregon Portland Library and Learning Commons, and am busy getting to know my new phone, computer, colleagues, and responsibilities.  This is a start-up library in a newly-renovated facility, so we’re building from the ground up.  It’s exciting and fun and at times exhausting, and I feel very lucky and grateful to be doing it.

At the same time, I’m getting ready for ALA Annual in Anaheim, where (as luck and long-range planning would have it) I’m presenting a preconference with my esteemed friends and colleagues Anne-Marie Deitering and Rachel Bridgewater.  Ours is the one titled “Instruction 2.0:  Building Your Online Instruction Toolkit.”  It’s going to be a full day of talk and play about why 2.0 is different from 1.0, and what this means for online instruction in libraries.  (And really any kind of instruction–but we’re struggling against scope creep!)

In other news, I’ve changed the title of my blog from “E-Learning Librarian” to just plain old “Learning Librarian.”  Because while my focus may have shifted slightly (I’m still interested in online instruction, but now I’m also thinking about videoconferencing, learning space design, and carpet tiles vs. broadloom), I’m pretty sure I’ll always be learning.  In all of my jobs so far, learning has been a constant.  And that makes me happy.

I can’t pretend that I knew anything about this, but it’s good news:  the InCommon Federation, which the Chronicle of Higher Education describes as a “one-stop shop” for electronic resources, will now include the Microsoft Dreamspark suite…for free.  (For students only.)

This means Visual Studio Pro, SQL Server Developer Edition, and a bunch of other software applications for designers and web developers will be freely available for students whose schools participate in the InCommon Federation.

I’ve been playing around with Google Reader, migrating my RSS feeds from Sage and figuring out some of the cool additional features that GR offers.

One of them–the ability to create and share a feed of your “top picks” from all the feeds you read–is being used in a cool, innovative way by the staff at Berkeley’s Environmental Design Library.  Check out the ENVI home page to see it in action:  at the bottom of the page you’ll see a feed of items drawn from blogs related to architecture, city planning, and environmental design.  The items are constantly updated so there’s always new, relevant, interesting content on the library’s home page.  It’s a great, simple way to leverage a free tool (Google Reader) to keep librarians and patrons up to date on what’s going on outside the library’s walls.

For more help with Google Reader’s sharing features, see the Google Reader Sharing FAQ.  Props to Matthew Prutsman and the other ENVI staff for setting this up!

Well, my blogging has sure gone down the drain in the last few weeks.  There’s a good reason, though–actually, two.

One:  I’m getting ready for a presentation at the Canadian Library Association next week.  I’m presenting with friend and colleague Merinda McLure on a research project we’ve been doing at our respective institutions (UC Berkeley and Colorado State University) investigating how instructors and students experience library services in course management systems, and how they’d *like* to experience them.  We’ll make our presentation materials available on the conference website after the fact; in the meantime, we’re busy crunching data and wrangling Powerpoint.  (We promise to use it responsibly.)

Two:  All going well, I’ll be starting a new position at the beginning of June.  This is big news, obviously!  I’ve accepted a position as Head of the Library and Learning Commons at the University of Oregon, Portland.  I’ll be sad to leave Berkeley, but I’m very excited about the new position and about returning to the UO, which is near and dear to my heart.  The new job will be a little different from what I’ve been doing for the last few years here at Berkeley, so the emphasis in my blog will likely change somewhat.  I’ll still be learning, though!  Perhaps just not e-learning quite as much. 

I may not post regularly again until I’m installed in my new position, but then I hope to be back at it, and I hope you’ll all still read!

One of the great public shaming grounds of higher education right now is the usurious cost of textbooks.  Libraries tend not to buy these books, as they change annually and at $100 - $200 a pop, just buying introductory texts for one discipline could bankrupt the year’s monograph budget.  This means that students are stuck paying tremendous costs for their books every term, or else scrambling to share or borrow or find used (i.e. “out of date”) copies that they can photocopy, skim, and otherwise rifle to find what they need to learn basic chemistry or economics or literature.

So, thanks to reader Olga for drawing my eye to this recent op/ed piece in the NY Times about alternative textbook projects and the cash crunch for students.  It’s good to see the media paying some attention to this issue outside of the silos of higher eduction.  And very good to see that some legislation is starting to appear.

I’m co-chairing the ACRL Green Component Committee for the 2009 National Conference in Seattle–in other words, I’m working to help lighten the environmental impact of the conference.

And so this article in LJ’s Academic Newswire caught my eye:  the Ames Public Library and Iowa State University in Ames Iowa are using bike couriers for their ILL service!  It’s faster, cheaper, and more efficient than using USPS, and look Ma, no petroleum dependency!

Now the question is: how can this kind of idea scale for larger ILL operations?  And how can this kind of creative thinking inform other library processes?