Teaching Trendspotting& Build Your Own Instructional Literacy 10 Tricks for Tracking Trends How to Be an Effective Moderator
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ADVOCACY Frontline n TWITTER Archiving at LC n PUBLIC AWARENESS Say Cheese! JUNE/JUly 2010 THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Plus: n Academic Library Space in the Age of Facebook n A Sneak Peek at The Librarian’s Book of Lists n The National Broadband Plan Teaching Trendspotting& Build Your Own Instructional Literacy 10 Tricks for Tracking Trends How to Be an Effective Moderator 2010 ANNUAL CON&F ERENCED.CG. UIDERestaurant P REVIEWINSIDE! Hello, My Name is Symphony Development You may not know Anne Arthur personally, but, if you’ve used a SirsiDynix product you’ve likely felt her infl uence. No, she’s not an engineer. Anne is the librarian behind the library solution products and, thus, the unoffi cial head of the SirsiDynix Symphony development team. Anne began working at the St. Louis County Library when she was in high school – an experience she describes as “life-changing.” Now she’s on the other side of the table, creating the solutions that make libraries run better. "Our biggest focus is on what the people in the Anne Arthur, MLS libraries want. We do a lot of listening so we can Manager, ILS Product Management create that perfect solution. We want them to love it. SirsiDynix staff since 1987 We want them to use it. It’s exciting." SirsiDynix librarians like Anne, alongside a team of highly talented engineers, are listening to libraries and constantly tweaking their approach to library technology to better meet the evolving needs of today’s library users. As active members of the library industry, they continually seek out what works, what’s needed and what the next thing is so that libraries can continue to serve their vital role as resources to their communities. 800-288-8020 | www.sirsidynix.com Copyright © 2010 SirsiDynix, Global Headquarters 800-288-8020 CONTENTS AMERICAN LIBRARIES | June/July 2010 Features 10 TIPS FOR TRACKING TRENDS 44 Libraries can stay relevant to their users by strategically riding the wave of societal trends BY ELISABETH DOUCETT MASTERING MODERATION 48 How to make sure your session is a great experience for everyone involved. BY STEVEN J. BELL THE MYTH OF BROWSING 52 Academic library space in the age of Facebook BY DONALD A. BARCLAY 57 CONFERENCE PREVIEW 52 ADVOCATES TO RALLY IN D.C. A day on the Hill and appearances by Toni Morrison and John Grisham highlight Annual BY PAMELA A. GOODES 70 70 DINING IN THE DISTRICT A guide to great restaurants to try at Annual by TRACY SUMLER 82 FRONTLINE ADVOCACY IS EVERYBody’s JoB 48 ALA President Camila Alire’s initiative offers a systematic approach to staff participation BY PATTY WONG AND JULIE TODARO 57 COVER STORY 40 BUILD YOUR OWN INSTRUCTIONAL LITERACY As librarians, we can shape ourselves into educators by devising our teacher identities BY CHAR BOOTH Cover design by Taína Lagodzinski CONTENTS AMERICAN LIBRARIES | JUNE/JULY 2010 | VOLUME 41 #6&7 | ISSN 0002-9769 Departments 40 6 AmERICANLIBRARIESMAGAZINE.ORG INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 36 DISPATCHES FROM THE FIELD Aggregating Web Resources BY MICHAEL WITT 37 INTERNET LIBRARIAN The Public Book BY JOSEPH JANES 38 IN PRACTICE A Library in Your Pocket BY MEREDITH FARKAS PEOPLE 86 CURRENTS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 88 YOUTH MATTERS My Artful Diversion BY JENNIFER BUREK PIERCE Updates and Trends 89 NEXT STEPS 16 AmERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Seeing with Social Eyes BY BRIAN MATHEWS 20 PERSPECTIVES 90 LIBrarian’s LIBRARY Historical Thesaurus BY MARY ELLEN QUINN Special Report 91 ROUSING READS Hidden Treasures BY BILL OTT 30 LISTING THE TOP 10 LISTS IN 92 SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES The Librarian’s BOOK OF LISTS New Products and a Case Study OPINION AND COMMENTARY 4 FROM THE EDITOR Rolling with the Punches BY LEONARD KNIFFEL 8 PRESIDENT’s Message Sustaining Advocacy BY CAMILA ALIRE 10 EXECUTIVE DIRECTor’s Message Planning and Budgeting BY KEITH MICHAEL FIELS 6 28 12 Treasurer’s Message Economic Impact BY ROD HERSBERGER 14 READER FORUM advertisers | page Comment Enabled 32 PUBLIC PERCEPTION AWE | 74 Mango Languages | 35 APA | 7 Modern Language Association | 85, 66 How the World Sees Us B&H Publishing Group | 29, 59 OCLC | Cover 3 Brodart | 9 ProQuest | 65 34 ON MY MIND Drexel E-Learning, Inc. | 5 S-T Imaging Inc. | 39 A Passion for Copyright BY SHARON M. BRITTON E-Image Data Corporation | 11 San Jose State University | 51 EBSCO | 25 SirsiDynix | Cover 2 96 WILL’s WORLD Ex Libris | 13 The Library Corporation | Cover 4 Gale | 63 Verizon Foundation | 55 Winning the Budget Wars BY WILL MANLEY Geico | 61 H.W. Wilson | 3 American Library Association Innovative Interfaces | 19 Development Office | 75–81 JOBS Kingsley Library Equipment | 69 Graphics 71 Lexis Nexis | 33 LITA | 56 94 CAREER LEADS FROM JOBLIST Library of Congress | 26, 28 Public Information Office | 95 Your #1 Source for Job Openings Organizing the world...one topic at a time ontinuing its acclaimed Current Issues Series, H.W. Wilson introduces Careers, bringing a wealth of careers information and a practical toolbox of job-hunting resources to your library’s patrons. Careers is a relevant, reliable source of information for high- school students, vocational and technical college students, and anyone considering a career change. It offers comprehensive full-text coverage of all aspects of careers and career-related issues, including: n Qualifications n Duties and responsibilities n Pay scales n Application processes n Future prospects n How long does it take to train as a plumber? Unique to this resource, the Job Finder’s Toolbox n Where can I find out more about jobs in the music business? gathers in one place many of the n Do I need a college degree to be a commercial pilot? What online tools patrons need for qualifications do I need? their career search including: n How can I make the move into the green economy? interviewing tips, resume help, n What’s the difference between a nutritionist and a dietician? and job listings. n Which colleges in my region offer the best training for journalism? n Why does a dentist need more qualifications than a dental hygienist? Less Searching, More Finding REGISTER FOR A FREE TRIAL www.hwwilson.com/trial FROM THE EDITOR | Masthead Rolling with the Punches THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION by Leonard Kniffel 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611 americanlibrariesmagazine.org don’t know anybody who hasn’t been hurt by this economic de- e-mail [email protected] toll free 800-545-2433 plus extension bacle that seems to be turning the entire country on its head—any local 312-944-6780 • fax 312-440-0901 number of countries, in fact. At the American Library Associ- online career classified ads: JobLIST.ala.org I editor and publisher ation, we’ve been hit just like everybody else. It is tempting to do Leonard Kniffel • [email protected] • x4215 a lot of hand-wringing and tooth-gnashing because it seems as if senior editor Beverly Goldberg • [email protected] • x4217 nothing will ever be the same. But honestly, when has anything ever associate editor Pamela A. Goodes • [email protected] • x4218 been the same? And we have to ask ourselves, “The same as what?” american libraries direct editor George M. Eberhart • [email protected] • x4212 When expenses exceed revenue something has got to give, but after it american libraries focus editor does, forward is the only viable direction. It’s hard to argue otherwise. Re- Greg Landgraf • [email protected] • x4216 american libraries website manager sponsible employers have to reorganize and adjust during these difficult Sean F. Fitzpatrick • [email protected] • x4219 times. Most managers at ALA, including me, have never lived through an design and production economic situation as serious as the one we production director Benjamin Segedin production editors Jennifer Brinson When expenses exceed face today. In the round of staff reductions Taína Lagodzinski Carlos Orellana revenue, something has that occurred at ALA in May, eight positions were regretfully eliminated (following the publishing department got to give . associate executive director Donald Chatham elimination of 10 last year). Among them marketing and sales director Mary Mackay publishing technology director Troy Linker was a senior editor at American Libraries, a joblist classified advertising/ad traffic Katie Bane post occupied by Gordon Flagg, who had been with AL since 1982. rights, permissions, reprints Mary Jo Bolduc • x5416 Moving forward as ALA Publishing reorganizes, our top priority is to columnists Meredith Farkas, Joseph Janes, Will Manley, Brian continue to deliver the professional content that library professionals need Mathews, Bill Ott, Jennifer Burek Pierce, Mary Ellen Quinn and want, when they need it most. Part of our plan for reorganization in- membership development volves the shift to web-first publishing, which we undertook in January. In director John Chrastka • [email protected] 2011 we will be moving to six bimonthly print issues of AL, which will con- advisory committee tain as much to read as ever but will be less costly to produce and mail. In chair John Sandstrom, Susan Franklin, Jill Grogg, Andrew K. Pace, Amber A. Prentiss, Paul Signorelli, addition, we are planning to lower the institutional subscription rate. We Jim Teliha; interns Cynthia Bischoff, Lori Reed will continue to produce quarterly digital supplements that will be deliv- Editorial policy: ALA Policy Manual, section 10.2 advertising representatives ered electronically, and, of course, the AL Direct e-newsletter will fly into associate publisher Brian Searles your e-mailbox every week. [email protected] • x5282 Meanwhile, this issue features “10 Tips for Tracking Trends,” in which Acceptance of advertising does not constitute endorse- Elisabeth Doucett previews her forthcoming book from ALA Editions with ment.