I didn’t receive that many submissions for this carnival at all. Maybe many are beginning their holidays in the Northern Hemisphere? Still, the submissions are an interesting selection:
ISHUSH shares one librarian’s thoughts on a newish technology that hasn’t taken off in libraries much yet, as far as I know: “eewww! you’ve got arphids!” and “RFIDs not ARPHIDS”. For those who haven’t heard of this term, RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification, and is a technology that is being promoted as a means of keeping tabs on stock: using “tags (aka chips) that emit short-range radiofrequency signals” and “devices (aka readers) that pick up the signal and that may be networked to databases of varying sophistication” (See this article for more information on RFID; Wikipedia also has an article).
RFID could be used in libraries too. So far, in my experience, whenever RFID is discussed we tend to get stuck on the security issues, which, as Woody points out, continue to be serious concerns. Despite this, it’s important for us to “Learn the facts, learn the technology”, and stay informed. Thanks for raising the topic, Woody.
From the Laughing Librarian, an innovative service for parents visiting their local library. I thought it was funny and timely given the recent comments on our childhood experiences with school librarians. Don’t follow the link to the fungal infection if you have a weak stomach, but the link to the cybersex chat is worth a look (but don’t read if easily offended).
Next we have a series of posts from NeoArch, blogging about his experiences at ELUNA 2006. This is pretty much a specialist interest I guess, given that ELUNA stands for the ExLibris Users of North America. ExLibris is a company that provides software for libraries – and, as it happens, the library I work for uses ExLibris products! I was interested to see that the issue of an online script repository for ExLibris users was discussed – I wonder how many scripts our library has created.
John Dupuis, of Confessions of a Science Librarian, nominates the Free Range Librarian‘s recent post: The user is not broken, and presents his response to the issues FRL brings up in her post. I note that John takes issue with the tone of FRL’s original post, while agreeing with many of its sentiments. The tone reminds me of The Cluetrain Manifesto – which I think many Australian readers would find has a particularly American brashness to it. I mean no disrespect here – just pointing out cultural differences that could affect how people from different parts of the world might express themselves (and perceive others).
Finally, from lis.dom, a post on the Great Divide, defined as “the gap between the way the biblioblogger talks and sees the world and the way the branch librarian [non-blogging-obsessed librarian] does”. It is all too easy for me to get completely immersed in the blogosphere and forget that many people around me don’t even know what a blog is, and those who do don’t blog, or they don’t get blogging – and that that’s okay. I usually have to refrain from gushing on and on about how much they’re missing out on by not participating, but I do because I prefer not to alienate anyone. (I will happily talk about it, though!)
I was going to share a few interesting posts I noticed over the last week, but because I have been on holidays my serious reading of blogs seems to have dropped off a bit for the last few days, so I don’t have all that much to share:
The Gypsy Librarian‘s report on a teleconference he watched to recently: Confronting the crisis in LIS education. I particularly liked this point: “A professional should have professional attributes and a theoretical knowledge. The staff the library hires will set the tone for the library and its environment. The organization hires for the vision of the future.” Very important to keep in mind, given the current atmosphere of constrained budgets (I am thinking of university libraries in Australia at present; my colleagues in public libraries may be rolling their eyes if they are always facing budgetary constraints!).
From the Zenformation Professional, a great post about blogging, people, and the connections we can make using technology.. Also worth reading if only to shatter any illusions you might have about librarians 😉 (again, if you don’t like to read swear words you may wish to avoid. I didn’t set out to link to anything with ‘profanity’ in it, it just happened.)
Next carnival (Monday, 19 June) is at …the thoughts are broken… .
Categories: carnival