Virginia Libraries Journal
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STAFF Coeditors Cy Dillon Ferrum College Virginia P.O. Box 1000 Ferrum, Virginia 24088 (540) 365-4428 [email protected] Libraries C. A. Gardner Hampton Public Library October/November/December, 2006, Vol. 52, No. 4 4207 Victoria Blvd. Hampton, Virginia 23669 (757) 727-1218 (757) 727-1151 (fax) COLUMNS [email protected] C. A. Gardner 2 Openers Ruth Arnold 3 President’s Column Editorial Board Lydia C. Williams Sara B. Bearss, Ed. 21 Virginia Reviews Longwood University Library Farmville, Virginia 23909 (434) 395-2432 [email protected] FEATURES Ed Lener College Librarian for the Sciences Danny Adams 5 Twisting Paths: An Interview Virginia Tech University Libraries with Mike Allen P.O. Box 90001 Blacksburg, Virginia 24062-9001 Edwin S. Clay III 10 They Don’t Look Like Me: Library (540) 231-9249 Multicultural Awareness and Issues [email protected] Ken Morrison 15 A History of the Lynchburg Public Library Karen Dillon Manager, Library Services Carilion Health System P.O. Box 13367 Roanoke, Virginia 24033 (540) 981-7258 (540) 981-8666 (fax) [email protected] Virginia Libraries is a quarterly journal published by the Virginia Library Association whose purpose is to develop, promote, and improve library and information services and the profes- Douglas Perry sion of librarianship in order to advance literacy and learning and to ensure access to infor- Director mation in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Hampton Public Library 4207 Victoria Blvd. The journal, distributed to the membership, is used as a vehicle for members to exchange Hampton, Virginia 23669 information, ideas, and solutions to mutual problems in professional articles on current top- (757) 727-1153 (extension 104) ics in the library and information field. Views expressed inVirginia Libraries are not necessarily (757) 727-1151 (fax) endorsed by the editors or editorial board. [email protected] The Virginia Library Association (VLA) holds the copyright on all articles published in Virginia Libraries whether the articles appear in print or electronic format. Material may be reproduced for informational, educational, or recreational purposes provided the source of Editor, Virginia Books the material is cited. The print version of Virginia Libraries is designed by Lamp-Post Publicity Sara B. Bearss in Meherrin, Virginia. The electronic version of Virginia Libraries is created by Virginia Tech’s Senior Editor, Dictionary of Virginia Biography Digital Library and Archives and is available at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib or as The Library of Virginia a link from the Virginia Library Association website (http://www.vla.org) and the Directory 800 E. Broad Street of Open Access Journals (http://www.doaj.org/). Virginia Libraries is indexed in Library Litera- Richmond, VA 23219-8000 ture, a database produced by the H.W. Wilson Company. [email protected] Items for publication and editorial inquiries should be addressed to the editors. Inquiries regarding membership, subscriptions, advertising, or claims should be directed to VLA, P.O. Box 8277, Norfolk, VA 23503-0277. All personnel happenings and announcements should On the cover: Mike Allen (page 5). be sent to the VLA Newsletter, Kevin Tapp, Box 7024 Radford University, Radford, VA 24142, Photo by Danny Adams. [email protected]. The guidelines for submissions to Virginia Libraries are found on page 4. PAGE 2 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 Openers by C. A. Gardner ’ve lost count of the number find themselves relying heavily on provides a collaborative means for of times I’ve heard the argu- Internet searches during the course libraries to pool their resources in ments: “The library offers of a day, and computer users aren’t providing 24/7 virtual reference to Imore accurate and valuable infor- going to alter their behavior just all their patrons. Many libraries are mation than the Internet.” Or, “Ask because we tell them to. Let’s face working on digitization projects a librarian, not Google.” Librarians it: Internet search engines such as that will make out-of-copyright protest the prevalence of Internet Google have won this round. Per- holdings available to seekers re- searches over reference interviews haps it is time to spend our energy gardless of location or affiliation. with truisms such as “The Inter- finding ways to embrace the infor- Some libraries are making use of net contains a lot of inaccurate, blogs and RSS feeds to contact misleading, and incomplete infor- computer-savvy patrons about mation,” or “Top-ranked search current happenings, or providing engine results do not necessarily Let’s face it: online tutorials on a wide range of represent the best websites.” Internet search engines library and research topics. Reference librarians in particu- There are so many ways to use lar have expressed concern that such as Google information technology to our their staff and resources are being advantage — so many new ways underused while Internet searches have won this round. that we can step forward and pro- seem to rule the day, particularly vide the accurate, complete infor- among younger patrons. Stud- mation that we’ve complained the ies of Internet searching behavior mation revolution, rather than ex- Internet users are failing to obtain. have revealed that users are aware tolling what’s left by the wayside. Let’s be honest: at least some of our that their hits may not generate There are already several proj- protests stem from fear that com- the most complete or appropri- ects underway that take advantage puters will eventually put many of ate information, but that overall, of Internet use behavior to pro- us out of our jobs. But if we aggres- they are still satisfied with the re- vide traditional services in a new sively pursue new ways to engage sults — getting something usable in way. The Open WorldCat initiative our users in the style that they pre- a fraction of the time is preferred keeps getting stronger in its union fer, instead of continuing to spend to getting something great after with Google to provide users our time touting the admitted taking the trouble to call, let alone around the world with knowledge value of our traditional services, visit, a library and then hunt for, of their local library holdings with- we should find more need for our or wait while a librarian searches out requiring the hassle of locating services than ever. VL for, the results. regional libraries and searching The problem is, even librarians individual catalogs. QuestionPoint OCTOBER–DECEMBER, 2006 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 3 President’s Column by Ruth Arnold ’ve come to that place in my highlights of my year. Imagine my work and the many phone calls term when as outgoing VLA surprise when, instead of meeting they had to make to line up speak- president I get to write my with an aide as expected, we were ers and sponsors. IYear in Review column. It’s my ushered into the office to meet I am pleased that we were able time to tout my achievements and with my congressman himself. to add some extra content to our exit in triumph. However, I realize Another high spot for me was VLA Council meetings. After a that what I really want to do with attending the VLA Paraprofes- discussion of membership issues, this space is thank all the people sional Forum Annual Conference. Second Vice President Libby Lewis who helped me during my presi- All VLA can be proud of our Para- agreed to chair an ad hoc commit- dential year. I know I am taking a professional Forum. Not only are tee on the subject. As with many risk naming names because I am they nationally recognized and VLA undertakings, this is one that sure that there will be some people award-winning, but they also put will cover more than one year. I fail to mention. I hope that, who- on a really good conference. I rec- On my personal checklist, I en- ever they are, they will also accept ommend it to all VLA members. joyed being VLA president. I would my apologies and my thanks. One of our goals was to improve recommend the position to others. Legislative activities, as usual, our website and add some online Although on occasion I felt over- were a main focus of the year. I services. Input from the task force whelmed with extra work, this was am grateful for the efforts of the chaired by Past President Sam Clay usually only in spurts, not continu- Legislative Committee, cochaired and many hours of work by Steve ously. I did learn something about by John Moorman and Jerry Mc- Helm, our webmaster, allowed our myself and organization and time Kenna, and the work of Legislative executive director to be able to pro- management (more to accomplish Liaison Phil Abraham. Although cess credit card payments online, here, too). we advanced very little toward our both a cost- and time-saving mea- I would have liked to have more goal of full funding of state aid to sure. Online registration debuted opportunity to get to know individ- public libraries, we did manage in October, just in time for the fall ual members of the VLA Council. to stave off mandatory Internet conference. The revamped www. Maybe that can happen in the com- filtering for one more year, with vla.org is still in process, but we are ing year now that I am past presi- great assistance from Senator John very excited about its new look and dent. And of course I need to thank Chichester. Our biggest success the planned use of blogs to facili- the members of Executive Council: was with a bill that restored lan- tate more participation from the Sam Clay, Pat Howe, Lydia Wil- guage requiring certification to the membership.