The 5th International Indigenous Librarians’ Forum will take place in Brisbane, Australia from the 4th to the 7th of June 2007.
“The Forum is an opportunity for Indigenous library workers from around the world to share information, contribute in the development of solutions to common concerns, and to discuss issues relating to the communication, documentation and preservation of Indigenous cultures.” — website
Online registration is expected to be available early 2007.
January 8th, 2007
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Peta Hopkins | Queensland, Events, Conferences, International, All sectors |
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We are! Yep, that’s right, according to Best Careers 2007, on USNews, Librarians are hot!
According to the Exec Summary - we must be “high-tech information sleuths, help researchers plumb the oceans of information” amongst many other things, noting that its an “underrated career”. Its a good write-up, although they obviously haven’t worked in a library as they say our “work environment, needless to say, is placid.” Not mine!
We are in good company though, with physicians, school psychologists and urban planners joining librarians as part of the top 25 Best Careers 2007.
And we are at the polar extreme of the over-rated careers, which include attorneys, ad executives and teachers.
We’re forward thinkers, getting in before the rush! Congrats on making the wise choice of being a librarian!
January 6th, 2007
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tango | All sectors |
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Found via ALIA home page news (feed), La Trobe University Library is raising funds to help send African librarians to an IFLA conference in Durban.
Information on how to donate + some ideas for fundraising are available from the La Trobe University Library website.
January 4th, 2007
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Peta Hopkins | Conferences, International, All sectors, Special projects |
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First spotted on LibrarianInBlack. There is a new entrant in the Library systems space and it is called Evergreen. There is a very interesting article on Linux.com about Evergreen including a brief outline of the decision to create their own system.
The most interesting quote, at leas to me based on recent experience, was this:
Librarian Brad LaJeunesse, PINES System Administrator with GPLS in Atlanta says that his “main motivator” for Evergreen was that the world of library software is “pretty dismal, and the products are awful. Trying to run a state-wide library system on duct tape and bailing wire is pretty difficult.”
It’s an open secret that ILS systems today are a frustrating mess for smart librarians (and patrons). Asked what problems he had with prior systems, LaJeunesse is quick to tally off a list: “Scalability. The ability to treat organization units as individual entities. Lack of granular permissions. Poor customer service. Lots more,” he says.
This is the second open source ILS that I’ve heard about. The first was Koha that has been around for quite some time. Another entrant is the WPopac which is concentrating on bringing the features we’ve come to know and love from the Web 2.0 world to an opac system.
The WPopac system has been written about twice, here and here, on the librariesinteract.info blog, which is a measure of how excited some of us have become over it.
The “open secret” that ILS systems are a mess has been around for a long time, and is still with us. Is it too much to hope that a another open source alternative may make the existing vendors take a serious look at what they currently offer?
Perhaps it isn’t the Library systems vendors that need to change, perhaps it is the Libraries and the Library administrators that need to change. A change in outlook away from the monolithic ILMS towards a more Open Source approach that ties together the various components using open protocols and standards may be needed.
I’m very interested in hearing what other people think.
Edit:
A lengthier article on the Evergreen system can be found at the Library Journal website.
January 3rd, 2007
Posted by
techxplorer | All sectors, New technologies, Library2.0 |
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I recently had a family holiday in Hong Kong. We were kept up-to-date by copies of the South China Morning Post, kindly provided by our Hotel. It’s always interesting to read foreign newspapers to get a different view of the world, and it was refreshing to find that the Ashes test was not dominating the pages, although it did rate a mention in the sports pages.
I kept a copy of the Education supplement from December the 16th as there were a few topics that I felt were worth a mention. If you are researching the “net generation” you might also want to include the term “generation c” in your search strings, where the c stands for “content” or “cell phone”. Brendan O’Malley’s article (Generation C report card on universities: must improve, p. E5) covering the Going Global2 conference in the UK discussed this generation and some of the factors for universities to consider in attracting these potential students.
“when it came to choosing which country — never mind which university, department or course — they (generation c) had an unprecedented and growing choice” — Colin Gilligan.
According to Gilligan, these potential students hold all the cards, and they are pickier than anybody before them, with content “coming out of their ears”.
The article also reported that major English-speaking countries were not encouraging their own youth to travel overseas for university education and that traffic was almost one-way. Figures for Australia were quoted in the article with 7000 Australian students going overseas, but 200,000 international students coming in.
The article also touched on the effect on rural and urban poor in developing countries where Universities are working hard to attract the best and brightest from overseas to secure reputations for excellence and foster international research partnerships. It was estimated that some 170 million students would need to be catered for by universities for their countries to achieve ‘developed’ status. Are these prospective students being overlooked in the quest for international reputations of excellence?
Hong Kong is currently being marketed as an education hub for South-East Asia. I’ve always considered a bit of culture shock an educational experience and would encourage students to broaden their horizons with some overseas study experience if they can. But if you are the allergic or asthmatic type, then Hong Kong might not be an ideal locale for extended study. Air pollution was thick in the sky, even on the clearest day and I woke each morning with red eyes and it wasn’t from overindulging! But, it felt very safe and friendly even when out at night shopping.
Education was a hot topic for general letter writers to the paper during our stay. It seems that school teachers are doing it tough in Hong Kong with some reporting that their school staffrooms are often half-full at 9.30pm and on weekends as they try to keep up with administrative tasks. In the same education supplement, Clem and Nora Tong outlined a tumultuous year in education with teacher suicides and mass protests over education reforms (Suicides, mass protests and some very embarrassing translation, p. E3).
I managed a very quick visit to the Hong Kong Public Library’s branch in Central. It was very, very quiet in the reading room and the public law library section was almost empty. There are some photos on FlickR, including a sign asking people to walk gently. I grabbed a few brochures as well, and it looks like the public is well-served by the range of electronic resources on offer and according to my guide-book internet access is free in the library too. 
On a lighter note, it was refreshing to see Hong Kong embrace Christmas with no fear (or at least sign of fear) of litigation or political correctness. Nativity scenes, Santa Town, Christmas trees, and decorations abounded and the air was filled with Christmas carols and songs. Even the buildings were lit up with Christmas greetings. Meanwhile though, we heard of litigation in the UK about some perceived slight due to Christmas celebrations and read of the U.S. custom of only wishing happy holidays so as not to upset any non-Christians.
So in the spirit of harmony, I hope you had a happy Christmas or Hannukah, and offer best wishes for the new year, whenever it may fall for you. I look forward to Diwali, Easter and any other festivities that bring joy to our community.
January 1st, 2007
Posted by
Peta Hopkins | Academic libraries, Public libraries, School libraries, Conferences, International |
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