This week we have a guest case, from Brian Herzog of Swiss Army Librarian.
Brian's entry:
Patron: I’ve never used a computer before, so can you help me find a job on craigslist?
Sigh. For non-reference librarians, here’s why this simple request is especially hard:
- Almost any kind of job-related request can be difficult
- Most of the job resources available in the library are online, so having no computer experience is automatically a setback
- Craigslist? It is certainly a valid job search tool, but there are other places I’d be more comfortable starting off a computer novice (she never did tell me how she got referred to craigslist)
Sigh! is right.
Brian follows with a good explanation of why this is not the "teaching moment" some might think it is. But he also advocates for public libraries to find some solutions to the challenge.
Thanks, Brian.
Mike
Here are three interesting items from walking paper, the blog of Aaron Schmidt, director of the North Plains Public Library in SE Portland, Oregon.
The first is "rolling answer carts," showing a novel idea from University of Kentucky's HUB info commons.
The second is a simple yet profound comment from a young librarian:
The third is a bit more involved: "NYT Visualization Lab." Here's part of what Schmidt says about it:
The NYT enters further into the world of user generated content and social networking with its Visualization Lab. With your free NYT registration you can now play with datasets that they provide.
I haven't explored this much yet, but it's worth playing with.
Thanks,
Mike
Okay. I can't resist.
Our Call Center patched a customer through to me at Reference this afternoon. Here's the gist of the exchange:
Customer: "I need to find eternal security on the Internet."
Me: "Um...."
[Glancing at Caller ID, I see that it's "_____ Shoes." My colleagues will know who I mean.]
M: "Uh, what is that in this case? A book title? A website?"
C: "It's a belief."
M: "Oh. Um...let me put the phone down while I do a search." [Googling....] "There are a couple of sites here...."
C: "Do they have an 800 number?"
I'll spare you the gory details.
Mike
Randall Munroe has come through again with a sequel to the xkcd comic I linked to a few days ago:
Note: Again it's too big for Blogger to digest, so click on the image to see the whole thing.
BTW, here's a neat Wikipedia article about Munroe and xkcd.
Mike
Librarians' Internet Index: New This Week has some helpful recommendations today.
First is this, about absentee voting:
- Absentee Voter Guide - "This guide contains all the information college students need to vote by absentee ballot from school." Click on the interactive U.S. map to view absentee voting details for each state, including deadlines, dates, and contacts. Also available as a downloadable document. From the Harvard University Institute of Politics.
Next, two sites about law resources:
- The Public Library of Law (PLoL) - Free access to selected U.S. legal materials. Includes cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, Federal Circuit Courts back to 1950, state courts back to 1997, federal statutes, codes from all 50 states, and more. Includes tutorials on finding a case and searching for statutes. Requires free registration to view cases. Additional material available for a fee. From an online legal research provider.
- American Bar Association (ABA): Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service - Website for this "national source of information, resources and assistance to support, facilitate, and expand the delivery of pro bono legal assistance." Features details about committee projects, publications, policies and rules, and related material. Also includes information about the first annual National Pro Bono Celebration, planned for the last week of October 2009. From the American Bar Association (ABA).
There's much more, but these are the ones which caught my eye in regard to our reference needs.
Mike
