Net Effects: How Librarians Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet

by Marylaine Block

Overview

The Internet is a mixed blessing for libraries and librarians. On the one hand, it provides opportunities to add services and expand collections; on the other, it has increased user expectations and contributed to techno stress. Today, the Net is challenging librarians' ability to select, threatening the survival of the book, necessitating continuous retraining, presenting new problems of access and preservation, putting new demands on budgets, and embroiling information professionals in legal controversies. In Net Effects, librarian, journalist, and Internet guru Marylaine Block examines the issues and brings together a wealth of insights, war stories, and solutions. Almost 50 articles by dozens of imaginative librarians-expertly selected, annotated, and integrated by the editor-suggest practical and creative ways to deal with the range of Internet "side effects," regain control of the library, and avoid being blindsided by technology again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573878654
Publisher:	Information Today, Inc.
Publication date:	06/12/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xi
	About the Net Effects Web Page	xiii
	Introduction	1
Chapter 1	Regaining Control over Selection	7
	Solution: Create Our Own Web Indexes, with Selection Policies for Inclusion	7
	To Link or Not to Link	7
	Selection Criteria: lii.org	16
	Solution: Create Our Own Databases	20
	JSTOR and Electronic Archiving	20
	Solution: Choose Your Journal Titles and Let Vendors Bid for Your Package	27
	California State U. Adopts New Model to Pay for Journals	27
	Solution: Create Our Own Web Search Engine	31
	Creating a Yahoo! with Values	31
	Recommended Reading	37
Chapter 2	Rescuing the Book	39
	Solution: Easier Access by User-Friendly Cataloging	40
	The Convenience Catastrophe	40
	Solution: Easier Physical Access to All Nearby Library Collections	45
	The Best Little Library System in the World	45
	Solution: One City, One Book	48
	"If All Seattle Read the Same Book"	49
	Solution: Creating Readers Through Outreach and ESL	50
	The New Americans Program	50
	Solution: Creating Readers Through Outreach to Boys and Men	56
	You Go, Guys!	56
	Reading Is 'In'	60
	Solution: Partnerships	66
	Making Bookstores Your Partners	66
	Solution: Blogs and Personalized Services by E-Mail	69
	The MatchBook Program	70
	Recommended Reading	70
Chapter 3	Making Them Adapt to Us: Training Our Users	73
	Solution: Teach Them While They're Asking for Information	76
	Reference as a Teachable Moment	76
	Solution: Raise the Stakes. Make Them Care Whether the Information is Right	80
	It's Not Just for Term Papers	80
	Teaching Kids Indirectly	84
	Solution: Co-Opt Them: Let Them Teach Each Other	91
	University Goes Back to Basics to Reach Minority Students	91
	Working with, Not Against, Web-Savvy Users	96
	Solution: Go Where They Are	101
	Mobilize Your Instruction Program with Wireless Technology	101
	Recommended Reading	110
Chapter 4	The Shifted Librarian: Adapting to the Changing Expectations of Our Wired (and Wireless) Users	111
	What IS a Shifted Librarian?	111
	Solution: Use Your Web Site to Attract New Users	113
	Catching (and Keeping) E-Patrons	113
	Solution: Weblogs	121
	Blogging Your Life Away	121
	Solution: Use Their Tools of Choice: Chat	129
	Our Experiment in Online Real-Time Reference	129
	Solution: Use Their Tools of Choice: PDAs	138
	Information Your Fingertips	138
	Solution: Personalized Services Through Your Web Site	145
	News Brief: brarydog.net Launches Web Portal for Students	145
	Recommended Reading	148
Chapter 5	Access Issues	149
	Solution: Accommodating Disabilities on Our Workstations and Web Pages	149
	Providing Equitable Access--From Ergonomics to HTML	149
Figure 5.1	Specialized Applications on Our Workstations	150
Figure 5.2	Coding Tips for Making Your Web Site Accessible	157
	Solution: Provide a Helping Hand Across the Digital Divide for Young Adults	160
	Wiring Teens to the Library	160
	Solution: Help Seniors Cross the Digital Divide	168
	Surf's Up for Seniors!	168
	Solution: Partnerships Within the Community to Reach Across the Digital Divide	176
	Mary Stillwell: Partnerships That Support Public Access Computing	176
	Recommended Reading	185
Chapter 6	The Techno-Economic Imperative	187
	Solution: Build Your Own Systems	187
	Can You Build It? Yes You Can!	187
	Solution: Open Source Systems and Applications	193
	Linux in Your Library?	193
	Solution: Support and Contribute to the Free Online Scholarship Movement	200
	Where Does the Free Online Scholarship Movement Stand Today?	201
	Superarchives' Could Hold All Scholarly Output	206
	Solution: For the High Cost of Systems Technicians: Grow Your Own	216
	A Course in Accidental Systems Librarianship	216
	Recommended Reading	225
Chapter 7	Running to Stay in Place: Continuous Retraining	227
	Stop the World, I Want to Catch Up!	227
	Solution: Individual Professional Learning	228
	To Keep Up, Go Beyond	229
	Solution: An Adequate Dedicated Library Training Budget	236
	The 1.6% Solution	237
	Solution: Systematic Ongoing In-Service Training	242
	The Learning Systems Approach to Staff Development and Training at Multnomah County Library	242
	Recommended Reading	253
Chapter 8	Up to Our Ears in Lawyers: Legal Issues Posed by the Net	255
	Solution: Gather Information	256
	Managing Internet Access	256
	Solution: Try to Change the Law	262
	Americans for Fair Electronic Commerce Transactions (Affect): Why We Oppose UCITA	263
	DMCA Revision to Get New Push	265
	Solution: Understand What the Laws Require of You	267
	Filters and the Public Library	267
	Solution: Policies That Deal with Problems And Honor Library Values	271
	Laying Down the Law: Crafting Acceptable Use Policy	271
	Guide to Multnomah County Library's Policies Regarding Internet Use	277
	Solution: Be Prepared	280
	What to Do Before, During, and After a "Knock at the Door"	280
	Recommended Reading	282
Chapter 9	Disappearing Data	285
	Solution: Link-Checking	285
	On the Link Checking Policy of the Librarians' Index to the Internet	285
	Solution: Have a Technological Disaster Plan	287
	Coping with Disasters	288
	Solution: Advise Legislators on the Impact Proposed Laws Will Have	292
	Statement of Julia F. Wallace before the Joint Committee on Printing, on "Federal Government Printing and Public Access to Government Documents"	293
	Solution: Standards for Preservation of Digital Information	304
	Time Is Not on Our Side	304
	Recommended Reading	310
Chapter 10	How to Avoid Getting Blind-Sided	311
	Solution: Scanning Present Indicators to Foresee Future Needs and Dangers	311
	Introduction to the Library Foresight System	311
	Solution: Dream Big	322
	The Defect in Realism	322
	Recommended Reading	325
	About the Editor	326
	Contributors	327
	URLs	333
	Works Cited	349
	Index	357

Editorial Reviews

Now that we have lived with the Internet for a while, the shine is wearing off even for the non-Luddites among us, and the ugly underside is more apparent. While many of the difficulties encountered in libraries by net access have been discussed ad nauseum, some others are only now coming to light. Managing the consequences of the Internet, both intended and unintended, will be with us for the foreseeable future. Editor Block, a former associate director for public services at St. Ambrose University Library, has gathered some 50 articles by such leading librarians as Roy Tennant, Leigh Estabrook, Nancy Pearl, James Casey, Steven Bell, and Karen Schneider. The pieces are organized into thematic chapters ["Regaining Control Over Selection," "Rescuing the Book," "Making Them Adapt to Us: Training Our Users," "The Shifted Librarian: Adapting to the Changing Expectations of Our Wired (and Wireless) Users," "Access Issues," "The Techno-Economic Imperative," "Running To Stay in Place: Continuous Retraining," "Up to Our Ears in Lawyers: Legal Issues Posed by the Net," "Disappearing Data," "How To Avoid Getting Blind Sided"], and each chapter includes a recommended reading list. With so many difficulties to deal with, not every one has a simple solution, or a solution that is appropriate for every library. However, even if this book does not hold all the definitive answers, there are certainly a lot of good suggestions. And just being aware of possible problems helps stave off being blindsided by the unexpected. In this vein, there is also a section on identifying potential future threats. Recommended for all libraries.-Margaret Sylvia, Blume Lib., St. Mary's Univ., San Antonio Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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