NOTE: This presentation is based on my book of the same name, http://marylaine.com/book/.

DISAPPEARING DATA

Problem: Link-rot.

Solution: Web Site Maintenance -- see Karen G. Schneider: Web4Lib post on LII policy for link-checking: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/web4lib/2002-April/008282.html

Problem: Disappearing Government Information

Solution: Preserve It Ourselves -- see the CyberCemetery http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ and the Thurgood Marshall Law Library's U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Collection http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/index.asp

Solution: Act To Change Government Practices -- see GODORT's Legislation Committee http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/GODORT/legislation/ and the ALA Washington Office http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/washingtonoffice.htm -- check out both the Issues and Advocacy page and the Legislative Action Center.

Problem: Corruption and Obsolescence of Digital Files. See How Can We Preserve Digital Files and Save Our Collective Memory http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jul05/1568 -- see also The 100 Year Archive Dilemma http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,103382,00.html

Solution: commitment to preservation standards:

• Digital Library Federation http://www.diglib.org/

• National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/

Solution: Duplication: LOCKSS http://lockss.stanford.edu

Solution: Standards-based Scholarly Repositories like DSpace: http://www.dspace.org/

THE COST OF THE TECHNO-ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE

Problem: Costly Proprietary Software.

Solution: Open Source Systems and Software -- see oss4lib http://www.oss4lib.org/ and Alternative Browsers for Libraries http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=7532

Problem: Outrageously expensive scholarship.

Solution: Free Online Scholarship

• Cornell University Library: Sticker Shock http://www.englib.cornell.edu/exhibits/stickershock/

• the Open Archives Initiative http://www.openarchives.org/

• Peter Suber's SPARC Open Access Newsletter, http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/

• MIT's DSpace https://dspace.mit.edu/index.jsp;

• DSpace Federation http://www.dspace.org/

Problem: Expensive system technicians:

Solution: Train your own -- see The Accidental Systems Librarian by Rachel Singer Gordon http://lisjobs.com/tasl/index.htm

COMPETING WITH GOOGLE

Solution: Our Own Metasearch -- see OAIster http://www.oaister.org/o/oaister/

Solution: Get Library Holdings Out Where People Can See Them -- see Open WorldCat, now operative with Yahoo! - http://www.oclc.org/toolbar/default.htm

Solution: Library-created toolbars -- see

• Greene County Public Library, http://www.gcpl.lib.oh.us/toolbar2.asp,

• Harris County Public Library, http://www.hcpl.lib.tx.us/ebranch/toolbar/;

• Stanford Graduate School of Business Jackson Library http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/library/toolbar/

UP TO OUR EARS IN LAWYERS

• Prime reference: Mary Minow's Library Law web site http://www.librarylaw.com/

  Problem: Government Invasion of Patrons' Privacy.

  Solution: Knowing the Law and Fighting it with Advocacy, Legislation, and Lawsuits

  • ALA Legislative Action Center http://capwiz.com/ala/home/

  • the USA Patriot Act and Libraries http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/civilliberties/theusapatriotact/usapatriotact.htm

  • The USA Patriot Act and Patron Privacy on Library Internet Terminals http://www.llrx.com/features/usapatriotact.htm

  • Protecting Patron Privacy on Public PCs http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=7531

  Problem: Restrictions on Open Access to Internet Information: Filtering

  Solution: Know the Law:

  • Office for Intellectual Freedom of the ALA http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=oif

  • Libraries & the Internet Toolkit http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/iftoolkits/litoolkit/librariesinternet.htm

  • WebJunction: CIPA and Filtering: Down to Earth Advice about the CIPA Ruling and Filtering Options http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=496

  Solution: Teach Internet Safety -- See Multnomah County Library's Family Guide to the Internet http://multcolib.org/kids/familyguide.html

  Solution: Establish Acceptable Use Policies -- see Yahooligans! Teachers Guide http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/tg/aup.html and WebJunction's Acceptable Use and Computer Policies http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=43

  Solution: Set Children's Computers Search Default to Children's Search Engines -- see http://multcolib.org/kids/searchengines.html

  Solution: Compare and Choose the Least Unacceptable Filtering Software -- see http://libraryfiltering.org/

  Solution: Don't Take the E-Rate

  Problem: Overly Restrictive New Copyright Laws That Reduce Fair Use.

  Solution: Understand them and interpret them for your users.

  • Stanford's Copyright and Fair Use Center http://fairuse.stanford.edu/

  • ALA: Copyright Advisory Network http://www.librarycopyright.net/

  Solution: Fight for Fair Use -- see ALA Washington Office: Copyright Issues http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/copyrightb/copyright.htm

  
  
  
  

  CROSSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

  Problem: Unequal Access to Computer Resources for People with Disabilities Is Illegal.

  Solution: Standards for Accessible Web Design

  • Accessible Webpage Design Resources http://library.uwsp.edu/aschmetz/Accessible/pub_resources.htm

  • Bobby http://cast.org/bobby/

  • W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI

  Problem: Limited Access for Socio-economic and Linguistic Minorities.

  Solution: Outreach and Training

  • Prime resource: The Digital Divide Network http://digitaldividenetwork.org/

  • Digital Divide Solutions http://www.asu.edu/DigitalDivideSolutions/

  • Queens Borough Public Library http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx

  • Sitios hispanohablantes escogidos por bibliotecarios http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/library/spanish/bibredesp.htm
    Links to libraries' pages of links to web resources in Spanish. Critical annotations of the links are in English.

  
  
  
  

  TRAINING OUR CHANGING USERS

  Problem: They think they know it all already

  Solution: Teach them indirectly. See Multnomah County's Homework Center Social Issues Page http://www.multcolib.org/homework/sochc.html and the guide to the 2005 Debate Topic created by librarians at University of Michigan Library's Documents Center http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/debate05.html

  Solution: Enlist students to teach each other, as in the no-longer-extant Peer Information Counseling Program at the University of Arizona

  Solution: Teach Them through Their Personal Interests -- see Tacoma Public Library's guide to Researching Your Older Tacoma Home http://wwwv3.tacomapubliclibrary.org/Page.aspx?hid=69

  Solution: Challenge them to show off their web research and site construction skills. See Thinkquest http://thinkquest.org/, and Web Quest Kids http://horizon.nmsu.edu/ddl/wqkids.html

  
  
  
  

  IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, JOIN 'EM

  Problem: They Have Already Chosen Their Preferred Information-Seeking Tools and Methods

  Some Key Idea Sources:

  • The Shifted Librarian http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/

  • Tame the Web http://www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/

  • Wilton Library: Innovative Internet Applications in Libraries http://www.wiltonlibrary.org/innovate.html

  Solution: Use their Tools of Choice

  • blogwithoutalibrary.net http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/?page_id=94

  • RSS. See

    • RSS for NonTechie Librarians http://www.llrx.com/features/rssforlibrarians.htm

    • Georgia State University News Feeds http://www.library.gsu.edu/news/index.asp

    • Kansas City Public Library Feeds http://www.kclibrary.org/rss/

  • Instant Messaging. See St. Joseph County Public Library Ask a Librarian page http://www.sjcpl.org/askalibrarian/askalibrarian.html

  • Handheld Devices

    • The Handheld Librarian http://www.handheldlib.blogspot.com/

    • PDAs, Handhelds and Mobile Technologies in Libraries http://web.simmons.edu/~fox/pda/

    • Science and Engineering Resources for Your PDA http://www.library.ualberta.ca/pdazone/science/index.cfm

    • Services for PDA's http://library.curtin.edu.au/pda_services/index.html

  • Wi-Fi

  Solution: Give Them Some Control over Your Web Pages -- see brarydog http://www.brarydog.net/about.asp

  
  
  
  

  RECLAIMING THE RIGHT TO SELECT

  Problem: Publishers Decide What's in the Collection

  Solution: Build our Own Indexes and Selection Policies:

  • Librarians' Index to the Internet Selection Policy http://lii.org/search/file/pubcriteria

  • Selection Policy for Best Information on the Net http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/selpolicy.htm

  • Colorado Virtual Library for Teachers http://www.aclin.org/ -- click on Teachers. Sites are searchable not only by grade level but by state mandated curriculum guidelines.

  Solution: Fight Back Against Unfair Publisher Tactics -- Use economic clout to negotiate for what you want. Or Ask your jobbers to do it for you.

  Solution: Create Our Own Digital Library

  • JSTOR: the Scholarly Journal Archive http://www.jstor.org/

  • Making of America http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/

  • Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/Online-Exhibitions/

  • OAIster http://www.oaister.org/o/oaister/

  
  
  
  

  CONTINUOUS RETRAINING

  Problem: "No one likes having their knowledge and skills and equipment depreciate, but in today's information world, that's life." Barbara Quint

  Solution: Build Your Own Library of Keeping-Up Resources

  • Steven Bell's Keeping Up Page http://staff.philau.edu/bells/keepup

  • Current Cites http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/monthly.html

  • The Information Professional's Guide To Career Development Online http://lisjobs.com/careerdev/index.htm

  • Library Weblogs http://www.libdex.com/weblogs.html

  
  
  
  

  RESCUING THE BOOK

  Solution: Use Books as Springboards for Community Discussions -- see Center for the Book: One-Book Projects by State http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/one-book.html

  Solution: Make It Easy for People To Get Exactly What They Want

  • Morton Grove Public Library: MatchBook http://www.webrary.org/rs/matchbookabout.html and their Fiction-L Booklists http://www.webrary.org/rs/FLbklistmenu.html

  • Hassle-Free Access: River Bend Library System's QuadLinC http://qlweb.rbls.lib.il.us/

  • MCPL Readers' Cafe http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/libraries/readerscafe/index.asp

  • Patron-oriented Book Blogs, such as Waterboro Public Library Blog http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm

  Solution: Select Books Young People and Guys Will Like

  • Boy Meets Book http://www.geocities.com/talestoldtall/BoyMeetsBook.html

  • Guys Read: a Literacy Initiative for Boys http://www.guysread.com/