Categories
Library Issues

Library Salary Database

So the ALA has launched a Librarian Salary Database, which collects (according to the email press release):

The Library Salary Database includes aggregated data from 10,631 actual salaries for six librarian positions in 1053 public and academic libraries.

The site itself, however, says:

The Library Salary Database has current aggregated salary data for 68 library positions from more than 35,000 individual salaries of actual employees in academic and public libraries in the United States.

So which is it? 6 positions, or 68? I’m certainly not paying to find out! Jenifer kindly clarifies in the comments…

As unclear as the actual sources may be, no one disputes that the data they are aggregating is collected from their own constituents. Who else is reporting this, if not ALA members. So the ALA is collecting the info, and then selling it back to us. For an annual rate of $150!!!!!

This is yet another of the absolutely insane things that come out of ALA. I might understand charging outside interests for the information, but this should be free for members. Then again, I think that the ALA should be operating in a far more open and free manner than it has for years (some of you might remember my Master’s Paper, which, flawed as I admit portions are, spoke strongly against the locking up of ALA content)

I’ve not talked at length about my individual issues with the organization yet, but if I could be a LITA member without being an ALA member, you can bet I’d go there. ALA as a whole is overgrown and needs a good weeding.

Now that I think about it, sets of facts really aren’t copyrightable. Anyone out there with the ability to scrape this database and produce a free version? I’ll pony up the $30 for a months access if it frees the data behind the scenes.
Categories
Library Issues

OPAC and ILS

So pretty much everyone is convinced that their OPAC sucks. With the exception of the GA system, is there anyone out there actively trying to switch to Open Source?

I admit, I desperately want to give it a go, but it’s the backend stuff that gives me pause. I would be curious if others out there are tinkering, behind the scenes, out of sight. If so, let me know…

Categories
Digital Culture

WordPress 2.2

Updating to WP 2.2 today…if there is weirdness, that’s why.

More, including a review of new features, after the upgrade.

Categories
Digital Culture

LibraryThing for Libraries launches

The most excellent Tim Spalding announced today that LibraryThing for Libraries officially went live with the Danbury Library in Danbury, CT.

I’m in awe of the results.

Seriously, I’m certain this is the future of the catalog. Not just the specific tools, but the idea of leveraging one set of data against another set using easily modified and extensible tools. It’s many-pieces-loosely-joined for the OPAC, and it’s brilliant.

I particularly love the tag browser, as well as the similar books links. Leveraging the LibraryThing data is a wonderful way to start this, but eventually libraries will need a way to share in a P2P system rather than having a central storehouse. We need to be sharing our data in a P2P format, with always-on trickle-and-compare running, updating the tag clouds and recommendations. If we just managed to collect the click-through data of our catalogs, we could manage to put together some pretty robust recommendations, all driven by scholarly activity.

Categories
Library Issues

More on authority

I just had to laugh at one of the more recent posts on the ACRLblog about questioning the standard spiel of authority in Information Literacy instruction. Mark Meola says:

This is very simple advice yet I seldom see it recommended outright in the checklists. It’s a tricky balancing act, but in our drumbeat for students to “use authoritative sources” let’s not forget to recommend questioning authority.

I seem to remember someone talking about it at length over the course of the last few years.

Indeed, that is the focus of an entire class that I do, using the sources on this slide (also, up for many years).

Information evaluation without reliance on authority is being taught, and I maintain it is the way it should be taught. Authority is the thing we used to have to use as an explanation, back when actual verification wasn’t possible except for those willing to spend weeks/months/years doing so. We relied on the magical word “authority” in the same way we relied on phlogiston and ether. And just like those, authority is just an explanatory shortcut that is no longer needed.

Categories
Library Issues

Jessamyn gets BoingBoing’d

Check it out! Our very own Jessamyn West gets on BoingBoing, and is called an “Internet Folk Hero” by Cory Doctorow…I’ve always been a huge fan of Jessamyn, and happy to call her a friend, but my “proud to know” radar just went ballistic!

Congrats, Jess! (and if you haven’t read her Ubuntu post, or seen the video, do it now!)

Categories
Twitter

Twitter from 2007-05-06

  • Feelin better. Working on article. #
  • @Size23more: Play some Skynyrd, man! #
  • getting ready to go to graduation, dusting off the hood #
  • @kgs: UTC graduation, no personal. For the work, you know… #
Categories
Twitter

Twitter from 2007-05-05

  • Oh so sick…something I ate yesterday is NOT well within me. Ick. #
  • Watching the KY Derby #
  • @ijastram: not really, but I can watch the derby without much strain. 🙂 #
Categories
Images Media

Drillbrarian

Thanks to Jessamyn for directing me to lolbrarians.

drillbrarian

Categories
Twitter

Twitter from 2007-05-04

  • finishing up some long-overdue work #
  • WordPress Plugins | alexking.org : http://tinyurl.com/33o3f8 #
  • @dwfree: I’m having the same issues…I’d love a bit more granularity from Twitter #
  • fighting a virus/spyware infection on our main reference PC #
  • finalizing a few details for next week, getting ready for the weekend #
  • GAIM becomes Pidgin 2.0 : http://tinyurl.com/2gmj4t #
  • heading to food with friends #