SLA Blog

Gadgets, Gadgets, Gadgets

Who doesn't love gadgets? And a program about gadgets and which ones are super-cool? - that's even better. Brian Neale, Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw; Holly Pinto, Holland & Hart; and Barbara Fullerton, 10-K Wizard, gave us their list of fun, flashy, and phenomenal technologies ready to buy now or coming up soon in their SLA 2007 program: 60 Gadgets in 60 Minutes. You can find a good summary of the program on The InfoToday Blog. The full presentation should also be posted soon on the SLA Law Division website and llrx.com. Go check it out.

And what were my favorite gadgets highlighted in this program? Here's the list:

The Treo 755. The Treo 755 with color touch screen, Palm OS, Versamail 3.5.4 (push email), Integrated google map and IM application, Web, docs to go, speakerphone, keyboard, camera/video, and Bluetooth. Available through Sprint. It's time for me to buy a new cell phone for personal use and the Treo 755 looked like it might fit the bill for me.

Golan i.Tech Virtual Keyboard. I saw something like it on CSI and now I can have one of my very own. It uses Bluetooth technology to connect wirelessly to the user’s handheld device. It harnesses infrared technology to project a full size QWERTY keyboard wherever you like. Sensors recognize keystokes - and there you are - typing wherever you please.

Clocky the Alarm Clock. Maybe this will wake up my kids in the morning. If you don't turn it off quickly enough, it jumps off the table, rolls around on the floor, and hides out until you can find it and finally shut it off. Some things are just worth the money.

Charging Station. I am attracted to anything that will power up to four electronic devices at one time. This charging station has got a space-saving design that allows you to easily recharge cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players, and games from a surge-protected power strip hidden neatly away inside. Finally - an answer to the clutter of today's handheld technologies!

The Cellular- Book Reader. This has a rollable, foldable display that extends to 5 inches. It gives you email, RSS feeds, and e-books. And it has a 10-day battery life. Right now you will have to be in Italy to get hold of it but look for it to migrate our way.

Eye-Fi. Get SD Card format 1 GB Memory (storage) + WiFi all in one card! We're talking CONVERGENCE. Automatically uploads your photos to the internet or your PC. Not yet available.

Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7.  Got noise? Consider getting these. These headphones have 85 % noise cancellation and were rated 9 out of 10 by Wired.

Slingbox PRO. Love your TV shows and movies and hate to miss things when you are out or traveling? Here's your answer. Watch and control up to three standard definition and one high definition video devices anywhere you go. By using an internet-connected computer or mobile device, you can watch and control your home TV, DVR, basic cable, digital cable box, or satellite receiver. This would be so much easier than trying to explain to my husband how to record Ghosthunters over the phone 5 times in a row.

Phone Labs Doc-N-Talk Universal cell phone docking station and charger. If you have a whole lot of cell phone minutes to use up each month this may be for you. Connects to the phone - wired or cordless - in your house but uses your cell phone service/minutes. Caller ID/SMS messages are supported. Talk away!

Digital Microscope. I wish I was signed up for a science class because this would come in handy. It plugs into your PC using a simple USB connection and will magnify up to 200x. It can create movies and take snapshots too. Cool.

Google Voice Local Search Free 411 service. Program this into your cell phone right away. Dial it up and you'll get local business results over the phone. It's a voice-activated directory of info from the Yellow Pages. It's in the experimental stages and there's no charge to use it. Call (877)-GOOG-411 or (800)-GOOG-411.

The Jawbone. Bluetooth headset with excellent sound quality. That's because it uses DARPA Noise Shield technology. It's ergonomic and lightweight, includes an earloop and earbud, and gives you 6 hours talk time. Battlefield technology for you and me.

Closing tips:

Find the gadgets that fit your environment, research the products you are interested in, consider your budget, think about new products but be cautious about first generation models, and know your own learning curve.

Also posted on the Federal Info Pro.

Super Searcher Checklist of Resources

Mary Ellen Bates suggests using a checklist when addressing in-depth or complex research inquiries in her afternoon SLA program: Super Searcher Secrets: What Today's Web Researcher Needs to Know. What's on her checklist? She suggests putting these of your list of potential resources:

• 3 search engines - use more than one as search results often do not overlap
• 2 web directories
• Ready reference sources
• News sources - searching current news will save everyone from being surprised by new developments
• Blog and video search
• Product reviews - provides a window regarding consumer perception
• Company web sites
• Internal resources, desktop search
• Value added resources - Mary Ellen expressed real concern regarding the need for library schools to teach searching on fee-based services and that it was important to find ways to raise awareness about the need for these services in organizations. She sees them as an important part of the checklist. If your organization does not have funding set aside for these resources, she suggests that librarians need to work to bring them in as a critical resource and make a business case for them.
• Government websites - Mary Ellen sees government sites as valuable sources of information because the people who generate content on these are generally experts versus politicians. People like this have information and expertise and are often very happy to talk to you about their area of knowledge. As such, they could be a great resource in getting you the answers that you need. Indeed, she sees them as "my best friends" and "tax dollars put to good use".

Al Gore, speaker

I'd never paid much attention to Al Gore until the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, came out. Once I saw that, he became my own personal hero for spotlighting attention on global warming and the environment. That he was coming to speak at the SLA opening ceremony seemed the perfect icing on the cake. Still, at the back of my mind were the comments I'd always heard said about Gore's presence and speaking style--"wooden", and "dull". That evening, after an hour of awards and speeches, another hour of listening to a monotone speech seemed less and less appealing. Even if it was my hero up there at the podium. Luckily, I didn't leave, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. With a folksy, self-deprecating,  humorous style, Gore talked about global warming and his documentary, and also touched upon the role of Information Professionals, more important than ever in this day and age. He decried the many closings of the EPA libraries, and talked about his work with a thousand plus volunteers who help deliver his message. In short, he was easy to listen to, and the hour flew. There was not a trace of the wooden speaker I'd often heard of. Then, of course, Gore was asked THE question. Will you run for president in 2008? Personally, I felt like screaming. The man is doing a terrific job raising awareness for global warming, to the point where he's become an international figure/better known now than when he was Vice President. At one point Gore spoke about future generations, and how he wanted our grandchildren to thank us for having the sense to do something now to enact change. He spoke from the heart, and we were all hushed as we listened. Gore responded to the question gracefully, talking about how running for the President now would be detract from his current work. But it's a question he shouldn't have to keep responding to. I see a man doing what he's meant to do, and I'm glad we have him.   

Confessions of a Government Librarian

Hi Gang,

    I'm fresh off Government Librarians Get Saavy sponsored by the Government Information Division.  The presenters were Hildy Dworkin - a solo government librarian from NYC, and Roberta Shaffer, director for FLICC.  Donna Scheeder of the Library of Congress was the brilliant moderator.

  One of Hildy's points was about the need for government (and all) Librarians to market their services.  The challenge for us is that we also have to market our profession at the same time.  When an attorney goes into a room - everyone understands what an attorney does (specialties of law aside).  Special Librarians often have to explain what makes us so damn special!

  Her other big point is not to say No to all opportunities.  Those requests for help in the organization that are outside the immediate focus of the Library - will provide networking opportunities that often provide big payoffs for the Library.

After Roberta Shaffer explained that the work of FLICC is more than chopped liver* she proceded to talk about the future for government librarians as horizontal professionals.

Horizontal Professionals are competent (savvy) and more than mere survivors in the organization.  They share their skills and resources for budget, planning etc.  The biggest skill that librarians add to the organization is our ability to analyze and authenticate data and determine our data is authoritative.

In order to stay competent, Roberta encourages us to acquire skills we may not already have.

• Project Management Skills
• Privacy Management
• Digital Rights Management

We also need to understand and develop metrics to support what we do.

Next group of skills are

• Enterprise Risk Management, ERM - identify the vulnerabilites and threats of our organization
• Customer Relation/Resource Management, CRM - provide information to our patrons and help manage their time by effective delivery of our services
• Human/Computer Interaction, HCI - design our web and electronic documents in ways that are more effective and for people to read (color, fonts, graphics, organization)
• Commercial Psychology -- marketing skills
• Competitive Intelligence
• Future developments - what is coming down the road for our organization

Following this was a great exchange of practices and ideas among the assembled folks.  Many thanks to the Government Information Division for this program!!

*Roberta summarizes FLICC's work as Procurement for federal libraries; Advocacy; Advice; Training and Education - PAATE or paté.

From "No Puny Visions" to Leadership

Yesterday's spotlight session with moderator Tom Hogan from Information Today, Stephen Abram, SLA President Elect & VP, Innovation, SirsiDynix, Cliff Lynch, Coalition for Networked Informaiton, and Eugenie Prime, formerly Manager, Research Library, HP Labs was a great way to start the day.  Lots of good conversation but what struck me the most was Eugenie's emphasis on leadership.  It reminded me of her talk 10 years ago when we were in Seattle.  As a keynote speaker there she received a standing ovation by the audience when she proclaimed that we should have, "No puny visions."  As we are going back to Seattle next year for the 2008 SLA conference, June 15-18, the Leadership Division has invited Eugenie to give another talk.  Watch for further details in the fall.  And if you haven't check out Von

Synergy General Session Video Excerpt

Tom Hogan: How do you deal with the different learning and searching styles or techniques used by our colleagues who are under 35, or 25 for that matter? On the one hand, it seems we could learn a lot from them. On the other hand, we need to figure out how to leverage and pass on the knowledge and wisdom of those who soon may be retiring.

Eugenie Prime: Well, just imagine you're working as a team. If you're working as a team, there are a lot of things that don't matter. And the age difference doesn't matter. If we have a common vision, a common goal that we're working towards, and we understand that each of us brings a certain dimension, a certain perspective, that in its differences sometimes lies the greatest value; and we have an openness, which I think is very critical in the library profession, an openness and curiosity that allows us to learn from each other, then a generation gap shouldn't be an issue. Just like any other gap should not be an issue. We have a common goal, a common vision, that we're moving towards, and we bring value in a different perspective. And we learn from each other, we gain from each other.

Ex-Veep Boffo at Info Confab

Former Vice President Al Gore -- who says he isn't running in 2008 because he's conducting "a different campaign" on the environment -- was a hit at the opening general session Sunday evening. Other bloggers in this space have described  the  event well. So I'll save a few thousand words and just add some pictures of his time in the Colorado Convention Center.

In the photo below, Gore poses with SLA COO Nancy Sansalone, left, and CEO Janice Lachance.

Al Gore's Speech

This was the first time I saw Al Gore in person on stage and his speech wasn't quite what I thought I would hear. He crossed up my expectations to some degree, although he said exactly what I expected about global warming.

He started off with some well-delivered jokes and I realized he is a much more polished speaker than I had imagined. Of course he's had plenty of practice lately, but still, his stand-up delivery, in terms of trying to win over an audience, was impressive.

Gore characterized the theme of his new book, The Assault on Reason, as an investigation into the role information should play in the decisions we make together as a nation. This book "bubbled up inside" Gore while he was writing An Inconvenient Truth, he said. Librarians play a key role and are needed now more than ever, because of the information explosion and the growth of the internet. Some people say librarians are less important now, but Gore takes the opposite position. It is a strategic and competitive advantage to find information in today's world, he said, and information is the key resource now, just as oil was the key resource during the industrial age. Gore mentioned his background as an investigative reporter in Tennessee early in his career. He learned about information tools (such as criss-cross directories) from a mentor at his newspaper.

It was expected Gore would address global warming, his pet issue, and he didn't disappoint, as he characterized it several times in terms such as "the most dangerous challenge in the history of civilization." Scientists of the world have released 4 reports--all of them unanimous--that say "Do something now," he said. The scientists say it is a "planetary emergency." The information supporting global warming, Gore emphasized, "is overwhelmingly clear to any reasonable person."

But why hasn't the world acted yet, Gore asked. Sea levels are rising faster than predicted, the north polar cap cold be gone in 34 years, and we are now seeing the hottest years ever on record, he said. But still, no reaction. Gore said the problem was that we invaded Iraq and the false impression was given that Iraq had something to do with 9/11 when it didn't. The assault on Osama bin Laden was "outsourced" to local militias. The information supporting global warming was not organized or presented in a way that affected the decisions of the American people, and therefore didn't affect the decisions of Congress or the Executive branch [Gore didn't directly mention President Bush by name in this speech that I recall].

The information ecosystem has changed dramatically since the founding of the US. TV is now the dominant medium. Gore suggested most people spend far too much time watching TV. He encouraged SLA to stay involved in helping shape information policy decisions, and he mentioned in particular the closing of the EPA libraries, internet neutrality and keeping the internet free.

The inevitable question was asked whether he will run for president in 2008. "I'm not planning to be a candidate," he said, but he has "not completely ruled it out." Gore is now "involved in a different kind of campaign right now." He wants to influence public opinion around the world and effect a sea change in public attitudes so global warming can be defeated, because it is the "most crucial moral challenge we have ever faced." Participating in primaries and caucuses probably isn't the best way to do that, he said. The global warming issue "is burning up in me."

Gore had the easy demeanor of someone who has moved on and let go of something, and if I were to make a prediction, I would say he will not run for president in 2008 simply because his demeanor as I saw it today is so different, so far away from that of a political candidate that it is tough to imagine anyone changing gears in such a short period of time. He's not the same person today as he was in 2000. He is something other than a political animal. I can't believe he has any intention of running, although I would think he would have the best chance of any Democrat as Hillary's negatives are too high and Obama is a neophyte. From my vantage point, he seems to have lost weight from the photos and comments I saw on the internet recently. He was more restrained than I expected in his comments on his political opponents, such as President Bush, probably feeling that this wasn't the proper venue for a red-meat attack on Republicans. He was more suggestive and indirect in his admonishments.

As a blogger, I feel compelled to say I think there are problems with Gore's anti-global warming initiative and the way he has conducted it. Gore has been upbraided by scientists and others for an "alarmist" crusade; and a number of respected scientists are going public and have questioned whether global warming is as great a problem as he says, and that it may well not be made-made. Others suggests global warming benefits some people in colder climates. I am skeptical that "information" is being used in its proper way by Gore and his supporters. One of the first things a person learns in journalism school is to consider both sides of a story--at least that's what I was taught, although journalism seems to have changed lately. There isn't much of that in the global warming debate because it is now an emotional issue, not an intellectual one.

Gore is a man who believes what he says, and is intent on rallying people behind his vision. Clearly he had many fans in the auditorium tonight.

Highlights from Leader & Keynote Address at Leadership Summit

While this is by no means a complete report, below are some of the notes I took during the leader and keynote presentations at this morning's Leadership Summit in Denver. 

After introductions and announcements from Division Cabinet Chair Agnes Mattis's, SLA President Rebecca Vargha shared short remarks on leadership, offering a definition from Margaret Truman Daniel: "Leadership is the art of persuading people to do what they should have done in the first place."  She also recommended "The Carolina Way" as a good, applicable book for those wanting to learn more about effective leadership. (Gotta love those Tar Heels!)

Keynote speaker Jose Marie Griffiths, Dean of the School of Information and Library Science at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, started out by sharing her thoughts on the top values needed to be a good leader: 1. Integrity - Operate transparently so as to build trust; 2. Collaborate because nobody leads alone and 3. Promote excellence!

Griffiths feels that library schools could be more proactive recruiting new students to MLIS programs and to that end talked about how the the Future of Librarians in the Workforce Study Group (http://libraryworkforce.org/tiki-index.php) plans to talk with high school and college guidance counselors and educate them as to what special librarians are doing today and educate them so that they may advise students as to the wide variety of opportunities in our profession.

While the often predicted shortage of librarians hasn't happened quite yet, (due to the slow economy fewer people are retiring) our numbers are declining and a major shrinking is still expected.  That may not translate directly into new librarian jobs but it could translate into different types of jobs for librarians.  There is growth in jobs outside the traditional library sector and titles are becoming more diverse.   

As a result, some library schools are looking for ways to better educate information professionals to meet these needs by better.  UNC at Chapel Hill is planning to expand with a new library school and working to partner with other colleges on campus such as medical, law and business schools.  They are one of several MLIS schools that have joined to create the "I-Schools Movement", a collective of larger library schools wanting to work together to educate people about the information profession and "brand" it better.  Requirements for being an "I-School" are that you have a dean reporting directly to the university's chief academic officer and a certain amount of research funding.

Trends and challenges noted by Griffiths included how librarians are moving from collection development to knowledge protectors, i.e. working to find key "nuggets" of information relevant for our clients.  Librarians are also becoming more knowledge navigators and expedition guides as they not only help people find the info they need but how to use different tools and mediums to access it.

Griffiths also talked about a new buzzword presenting us with a challenge: Infomatics.  This relates to how the future of many other professions depends on our ability to help them find, organize and analyze the information they need to plan and grow.  One financial executive told her "we need people who can liaison between IT and our fund managers."  Her reply: We've got the people you need."

So now the challenge is educating those people.  As UNC plans to expand the size of their school and make it one of the top "green" buildings in the country (for your architects and engineers that means going for LEED's platinum plus level) they hope to talk more with executives and special librarians to find out what kinds of requirements are needed in tomorrow's info pros.  "We need to learn more about the needs of the workplace" says Griffith.

Sounds like the right plan at the right time - should be exciting to see it all unfold!

Scott Adams thinks libraries have an expiration date?

A friend of mine who knows I'm about to head out to Denver for the conference just sent me an e-mail with a link to the latest post on Scott Adams' Dilbert Blog. The post is on old-fashioned words. Here's an excerpt:

"Recently a friend joked about going to the library to help with his son's school project. He said it felt like going back in time, to pre-Internet days. I wonder if libraries have an expiration date on them. I'm guessing yes."

I wonder if this will come up during Q&A at the keynote? It would be interesting to know why, or in what context, he thinks this.