The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu

Did you think librarians led peaceful lives?  Not in Timbuktu, they don't!  Book review in Times Higher Education this week ... 

Joshua Hammer - The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu

We Are Expecting Visitors!

A national library conference is taking place in Glasgow, beginning today: the National Acquisitions Group is coming to town.

At the end of the day's sessions, we're proud to say that the Whittaker Library is one of the optional local library tours.  If it suddenly looks as though there are a lot of librarians about - you're right!  Of course, librarians don't always look like librarians, though .... 

What's the collective noun for a crowd of librarians?  A shelf? A trolley? A stack?

How can you tell we're librarians?!

CILIP, the librarians' professional body, sent us a link to 6 Terms that Instantly Reveal You as a Librarian.  We must be atypical - I don't think many of us have ever used these words in conversation with our readers.  Except ephemera, maybe.  Karen does like her ephemera.

Studying with Special Needs: Some Personal Narratives

Back in 2005, when Karen was in a group for academic librarians providing disability support, she wrote an article for Library Review, about studying with special needs, and how libraries can help.

The article is still attracting interest - Emerald reminded her that there's a live link to it, if your library subscribes to Library Review.  So, here it is:-

Title:	Studying with special needs: some personal narratives
Author(s):	Karen E. McAulay, (Music and Academic Services Librarian, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow, UK)
Citation:	Karen E. McAulay, (2005) "Studying with special needs: some personal narratives", Library Review, Vol. 54 Iss: 8, pp.486 - 491
Keywords:	Academic libraries, Disabled people, Scotland
Article type:	Conceptual paper

Live Link

Library Volunteer Opportunity in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire

'Whittaker' has heard that Leadhills Miners Library, an old Scottish subscription library, needs skilled volunteers.  This could be a good opportunity for someone with library skills and a bit of time to spare - and would enrich your CV at the same time.

Contact details can be found at the website:-
http://www.leadhillslibrary.co.uk/

Librarians as Curators

If you thought a curator was a museum person in an overall, think again.  Very much thought goes into curating these days.  Indeed, the word is used in the wider sense for a thoughtful assembly of related items.

So, someone disenchanted with a particular dictionary definition of curation, posted her own definition of what it means these days:-

Jessica Backus, a disenchanted M-W reader, commented:Would love for Merriam-Webster to address this: Not only does “curation” refer to concrete practices of digital curation, or a human making a selection [...], “curation” has become the word par excellence to describe a thoughtful selection of inspiration in today’s unwieldy and diverse cultural and media landscape. (From 'Perigrinating the Web' blog.)
 

So you see, by this definition, librarians curate their collections. I like it!

Why don't readers ask?!

In a fit of pure introspection, I tried to work out what my motivations were when I went to Waterstones and W H Smiths today. Obviously, I can’t tap into my subconscious, so the exercise was hardly scientific.


Amazon was promoting Grace Dent, How to leave Twitter. I wanted to see it before deciding whether to buy. I’d also come across Maureen Callahan's Poker Face: the Rise and Rise of Lady Gaga, about Lady Gaga’s astounding success at self-promotion. Again, I wanted to assess how much of it actually was about self-promotion.  I started in Waterstones. But where would I find these titles?

• What did the Twitter book come under?  No catalogue, no classification to help me. A mass-appeal paperback on promotion (piles on tables, special displays)? Autobiographical? Humour? No sign of it. Did I ask for help? Not initially. Finally, I learned it wasn’t currently in stock. As for Lady Gaga - I found the music section, but that title wasn’t there. (Mind you, there was an interesting book about Beethoven - Harvey Sachs, The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824. I have an obsessive research interest in musical culture in the 1820’s…)

Given that I wanted to see the books, I gave up and went to Smiths, where I faced the same conundrum, although I asked sooner!

But why don’t we want to ask? Reticence? Pride? Reluctance to fall prey to a pushy salesperson?  Transfer all this to a library, though, and the parameters change.

• Catalogues available to the readers, for a start.
• A more detailed classification, too - at least in an academic library. I spotted the new Beethoven book on a promotional display at Waterstones, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have found it. On the other hand, books on the same narrow subject will be side by side on a college bookshelf.
• No financial risk - and if you don’t like the book, you just return it, read or unread. There’s a lot to be said for libraries!

So, that leaves us with my initial question: Why won’t we ask? Would you ask for help finding something in a bookshop? In a library?  If the librarians were more visible, would that change things at all? Should we be more proactive, or sit in our office like books on shelves, waiting to be consulted?


Which is one of the reasons why I blog.  Someone commented on Twitter the other day that libraries aren’t just books - they’re also people. Knowledgeable people, who not only know their subjects, but also know how to interrogate a catalogue!  (See 'Libraries are about People', by The Wikiman.)  But we need to reach out to our readers, who perhaps don't realise our "unique selling point".


So I’ll share something with you right now. I ordered the Twitter and Beethoven books on Amazon at home just now. I’ll let you know if they’re any good. Promise!

The Sound of a Librarian

Tara Brabazon argues that "Shhhh" is not the sound of a shushing librarian, but of the steam coming out of their ears ... Provocative podcast! Listen here ... Tara suggests that we should all be podcasting more. Much more. Visit her @ Academia.com

Accessible formats for learners with special needs

JISC, TechDis and the Publishers Association have collaborated in producing this online resource:-

Guide to obtaining publications in alternative formats

Here's what they say by way of introduction:-

The guide is for anyone who needs to source text books in an alternative format for a reading impaired learner. This is potentially a complicated area.

Disability law protects disabled learners by requiring the educational institution to make appropriate provision. Copyright law protects publishers from inappropriate copying of textbooks.

Between these two sets of rights are the staff who have to provide alternative formats in a timely manner to disabled learners. In most cases the optimum accessibility solution is to obtain the textbook in electronic format. This allows immediate personalisation of text size, colours and contrast. In addition, electronic text is usually an important intermediate stage for the production of non-text formats such as audio or braille.

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Flickr image from msbellee, with thanks.

IAML (UK & Irl)

What has your Music Librarian been up to this weekend?

Why, attending the IAML (UK & Irl) Annual Study Weekend, of course! (Where else?) It's the annual music librarians' conference, this year being held in Canterbury. See what she's been up to here - ASW overview.

Flickr image by robjtak, with thanks.