Back to school?

I am a huge proponent of self education, and part of my taking my current position is the ability to continue to do art history research as part of my job.  With this thought in mind, I have put on hold most serious thoughts about continuing my formal education. 

 The original plan before I ever seriously formulated my sojourn to New Mexico was to enter the Art History Master’s program at the University of New Mexico.  It’s a great program, very competitive, and offers the unique track in Native American/Art of the Americas that I am pursuing in my own research.  It’s basically what I prepared for in my undergratuate Art History degree, particularly my thesis (prehistoric pottery of the Rio Grande region).

Long story short, I have started to revisit my dream.  It seems like the right time to start taking classes again, probably slowly at first as a non-degree seeker.  I can transfer 12 credits into the program if I eventually enter the program officially.  Yes, it’s more money to put into my education, which is a burden I didn’t really think I wanted to put on myself again, but in the long run…this is something I’ve always wanted to do.  I don’t want to regret deciding against such an opportunity to advance my career, enhance my options, and just get some new experience and knowledge doing something I love.  Quite frankly, I need the challenge.

Library as Place award goes to…

Seriously this time.  The Minneapolis/Hennepin County public libraries have a great sense of what library as place means (maybe because Minnesotans have to spend so much time indoors…), and I really love this latest idea of putting a planetarium on top of the Central Library.  Why shouldn’t a library also be a museum, community center, science exploratorium, etc.?

Reference Cha-Cha-Cha

Another one to file under the category of “Uh…isn’t that what a library does?”

I’d heard a bit about ChaCha a few months ago in a discussion list talking about freelance ideas (and btw, from that perspective it sounds like kind of a bum deal.  Even the most successful “guides” on the site seem to be paid no more than about $3 an hour for their services.  Whether or not you can do it from the comfort of your own home, that doesn’t seem like the greatest trade of time for money).  Regardless, the whole purpose of the enterprise is questionable.  The idea is that folks with queries can text them in to the ChaCha number and receive a response “within minutes.” An article on CNN.com describes a group of people sitting at a bar arguing about a trivia question and getting a response to settle it immediately.  The article makes the point that “Every search engine returns thousands of Web sites, but what if you could always get a simple, one-sentence answer to your question?” Ummm…sorry, but that’s what libraries have been doing, for free, forEVER, in the good old-fashioned form of phone reference.  I have often seen bar trivia arguments that have been quickly and authoritatively resolved with one quick call down to the public library.  So now we need these college student slave laborers trolling the web for answers to trivia questions? I don’t think so.  Hopefully people will wise up to this one.

Library as really weird-looking place

I got a kick out of reading about the proposed library design in Czechoslovakia that ended up getting the Czech National Librarian fired (here’s the full story from the Prague Monitor). I guess that’s a warning that innovative library can be taken too far…It’s one thing to be creative and another thing to look like you’re building the set for Futurama.

Photo courtesy of ALA American Libraries Direct

Collaborative Visual Resource Cataloging

An interesting thread on the Visual Resources Association listserv caught my attention this week about what was originally dubbed a “professional folksonomy” of visual resource metadata – in effect a sort of wiki version of OCLC for visual resource cataloging. The idea (as with OCLC) is that it is a huge waste of time and effort to recreate work records when the cataloging has already been done by another professional and a record is already held by another institution. Perhaps there is a way to set up a centralized wiki database of basic work metadata accessible by member institutions.

Good idea. Of course there are snags – how are the records vetted for authoritativeness? Who does the work of maintenance and oversight (as someone pointed out, sites like Wikipedia have full time staff, and OCLC certainly does – without significant funding this probably could not get off the ground)?

My impression of the VRA from past conferences and discussions is that even though these ideas have been tried in various forms, there’s no real cohesive cross-institution knowledge of the projects underway or resources available. I heard about several institution-level databases holding such metadata that could be harvested by other institutions, IF they knew about it. From the recent discussion, it seems like the dialogue is not getting this across and there is not enough effective collaboration. From the responses to the original idea I can see that there have been many such innovative projects. Centralizing them somehow seems like a great goal with exciting potential.

Then again, many of the VR folks at the 2006 conference had never even heard of OCLC or were aware of its importance to bibliographic cataloging. Not to negate or patronize VR institutions (there are a lot of unique complicating factors to organizing and disseminating visual resources for sure), but this does seem a long time coming…I’m interested to see where it will go.

Aquabrowser

A popular ongoing discussion is making the online presence of the library more comparable to how our users actually interact, or breaking out of the traditional mold of card catalog transferred online. In my mind that’s the whole idea behind Library 2.0, but so far the “innovations” haven’t been all that earth-shattering. Does Aquabrowser provide a glimmer of potential? I’m not sure yet. Aquabrowser, which is a product of Serials Solutions was created as a “search and discovery platform” to integrate the ILS, databases, websites, RSS feeds, and local repositories into one online location.

One of the main selling points (besides centralized functionality) is versatility – this is a system that can be used in public or academic libraries. It’s also Web 2.0 friendly. Users can tag, review and rate library materials, including links to LibraryThing tags. The content can also be shared with other libraries.

Aquabrowser works with a variety of ILS systems and is currently in use in a variety of institutions (mostly public libraries, but also universities such as Tufts, Oklahoma State, and Trinity College). Worth further exploration…

More Book Reviews

It feels like an accomplishment that I just had a book review published in a professional journal (ARLIS NA Reviews of the Art Libraries Society). I wrote about the Lawrence Weiner retrospective book of essays titled As Far As the Eye Can See, which gave me a chance to think about contemporary art in a more critical way than I usually do. I definitely learned a lot from the book and the experience.

I really enjoy writing book reviews, particularly about art-related subjects. I feel really fortunate to find an outlet like Moonshine, which welcomes my reviews every couple of months. I don’t get paid, but I definitely reap the intellectual rewards. It keeps me reading and pursuing new subject matter, and forces me to think critically. And hopefully it is helping to polish my resume, regardless of the direction I take in the future.

Thinking inside of the box

I just read about a fascinating social experiment on the ARLIS-L discussion list. The contributor is a librarian at Provisions Library in Washington D.C., which is described as “an arts and social change learning resource that amplifies compelling voices that challenge and redefine the mainstream. Its library and online services are a trusted source for alternative perspectives on a wide range of social change topics and its innovative exhibitions strongly engage the arts as a powerful means of exploring social issues and as an agent of change.” That in itself is worth further exploration.

Anyway, apparently this librarian was contacted by an artist with an idea inspired by the recent near-closings of Washington D.C. libraries. He wants to leave small locked boxes around the city that contain books and other objects. Subscription to these “libraries” would be keys mailed to applicants. The interesting concept is the interaction with the boxes and their contents. People would be encouraged to contribute art, poetry, etc. to the boxes. According to the librarian, “the effect would be a dialog between and among the library and its users”.

I think more ideas along these lines should be explored. Not only is this a way to counteract branch closings (if in a very limited manner), but also a really innovative and creative way to integrate art into library services and give people an outlet for creativity and collaboration. Pretty cool!

The Run-Around

I went ahead and set up the meeting with the other library last week, which basically turned into a second interview. I guess the director wanted to be able to ask more in-depth questions without the constraints of calling it a formal interview. Doesn’t seem quite kosher, but then I’m used to the uber-bureaucratic structure of large university search committee hiring. The conversation went well, and she basically asked me to explain in great detail everything I’ve done in my past library jobs. It was pretty intense. Though I felt like I could have explained a few things better (I must admit I was not quite prepared for that level of interrogation), by the end she was pretty enthusiastic. She was talking about how she was going to rewrite the position description to best reflect my experience, and that she was so glad she called me back in to get a better feel for what I would bring to the job. She even talked in detail about the salary and benefits package and showed me what would be my office. The meeting ended with her saying she needed the weekend to think out the details, then would give me a call on Monday.

All weekend, my thought process was along the lines of “is this the right job for me right now?” as I was 95% confident of getting a job offer. Then Monday came and I was informed in a voice mail message from the director that she had reconsidered over the weekend and realized she doesn’t really have the time to train me right now, and couldn’t offer me the position. Then she apologized for wasting my time. ?!?!?!?!?!? What caused such a major 180? I suppose she was thinking about the large amount of collection development involved in the position, and really wanted someone with more experience in that area. But why didn’t she realize that before basically offering me the job? It’s just perplexing. All I can say is that I wasn’t getting the greatest vibes from her or the position, so it’s likely not the right fit anyway. Still…I feel totally misled, and yes, she totally wasted my time.

It’s hard to turn this into a learning opportunity, but that’s been my modus operandi with all my experiences to this point and has worked out pretty well, so I’m going to try. First of all, I got a better perspective on some possible interviewing weaknesses. The things I thought I spelled out pretty clearly in the first interview about my experience obviously were somewhat obtuse. I think sometimes I expect my resume to speak for itself when it’s really up to me to talk up my skills to a greater degree. Second, I should have been better prepared for the second interview. Even if I didn’t know for certain what to expect, I should always be well prepared to describe my past employment in detail, especially as it relates to the position at hand.

Third, and most importantly, I do need to trust my instincts. I don’t think this was ever the right job for me, whether I got an offer or not. The hours were bad (11-8), the location was bad, and the job itself was just too vaguely defined. Obviously the director does not know what she really wants, and that’s a huge warning sign. I just kept going with the “cross that bridge when I come to it” mentality, which now strikes me as a really unhealthy approach. As soon as I realize that a job is not going to be the right fit, I should withdraw from consideration. The thing about my job right now is that I LOOK FORWARD TO GOING TO WORK EVERY DAY (According to anecdotal data, that differentiates me from 80% of Americans). That is huge. I have worked enough jobs that were intensely boring, unchallenging, unstructured, or just a general bad environment (or all of the above) that I have great deal of respect for a job that is personally rewarding and doesn’t cause me anxiety on a daily basis.

I guess it was a learning experience after all…

A Dream Deferred

I placed a follow-up call with the museum to check on the status of the search, and found out I was not the chosen candidate. That was quite a blow, but I am definitely choosing to focus on what I can take from this and keep it in perspective. That’s working pretty well for me. After all, I still have a job that I love and other possibilties in the queue. And as a good friend pointed out last week, what would I have to look forward to if all my dreams came true by the age of 30?

The director was kind enough to give me a bit of feedback on the decision, which provided some consolation as well as some frustration. I had all the qualifications and “would have been a great fit”, but was apparently up against another candidate with more “longevity” in the New Mexico library community. In part I think that refers to professional experience, but in part they went with the person they know. I can’t really compete against that. So it’s not personal…

I am glad I decided to set up the meeting with the other library for later in the week. I’m curious to find out their continued interest – maybe it’s just heads-up on an entirely different position. I think it’s a good sign in any case that I stuck out enough as a candidate to stay in their radar. That’s true with the other interview as well. To be told that I would have had the position if not for the other person is frustrating, but it also means that I was well-liked, qualified, and will be remembered (and hopefully recommended) for that in the future. In the slightly nepotistic environment of library hiring – particularly New Mexico libraries – such name and face recognition will be extremely important to me during the evolution of my career. I’ve only been here a year, and I’m obviously still seen as a newbie. The wisest plan of action seems to be to meet as many librarians as possible and create networking opportunities, so that one day I will be that person who does get the dream job through my qualifications and my name recognition. That’s just how the game is played.