Ccc. Harvard Magazine May-Jun 2010. “Throw it in the charles,” one scientist recently suggested as a fitting end for Widener Library’s collection.
The remark was outrageous—especially at an institution whose very name honors a gift of books—but it was pointed. Increasingly, in the scientific disciplines, information ranging from online journals to databases must be recent to be relevant, so Widener’s collection of books, its miles of stacks, can appear museum-like. Likewise, Google’s massive project to digitize all the books in the world will, by some accounts, cause research libraries to fade to irrelevance as mere warehouses for printed material. The skills that librarians have traditionally possessed seem devalued by the power of online search, and less sexy than a Google query launched from a mobile platform. “People want information ‘anytime, anyplace, anywhere,’” says Helen Shenton, the former head of collection care for the British Library who is now deputy director of the Harvard University Library.
Are Librarian's Becoming Totally Obsolete. 10 ways library schools should be teaching social media. 10 ways library schools should be teaching social media A few days ago I came across a wonderful article on Mashable entitled “ 10 Ways Journalism Schools are teaching social media .” The thought struck me about 30 seconds in: all these concepts should apply to library school, but why aren’t they being pushed and taught in the same way? I thought since I wasn’t being explicitly instructed on how social media can increase the quality and relevance of the library school curriculum, that I would break them down for us and attempt to explain the urgency with which librarians (and our schools’ faculty) need to be catching up in this area. Social media tools bring traffic, and they connect with users who aren’t physically able or necessarily willing to come into the library.
We already do a lot of passive web advertising on library home pages, and of course some form of virtual reference services is available almost everywhere. Hello. “Students can’t stay in school forever.” 9. Tame The Web » Blog Archive » The Cluetrain is leaving the stati. Kay wrote a paper for LIS768 on the Cluetrain ten years later.
She graciously allowed me to post an edit here. Thanks Kay! Michael Today’s economic situation would seemingly make libraries indispensible. Yet with budget cuts, many libraries are threatened with cut backs and closings. I recently read The Cluetrain Manifesto (www.cluetrain.com) and it opened my eyes to why our economy is in the shape it’s in. My main focus will be libraries, but I thought it was important to stop for a moment and look at a business that truly understands what the Cluetrain is about. Zappos.com (www.zapposcom) is an online retailer whose About Us page states: Internally, we have a saying: We are a service company that happens to sell ________ . #2 is Embrace and Drive Change. #4 is to be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-minded. #6 Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication.
Does a company like this emerge by chance? Another thing they have is customer buy in.