Tag Archives: librarians

Quiet No Longer: Law Librarians ‘Forgo the Status Quo’ | Law.com #librarianship #law #research #librarians

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The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) recently concluded its 110th Annual Meeting and Conference. From the outset, it was abundantly clear that the organization’s members, consisting primarily of legal sector library, research, and knowledge services professionals, are more than ready to make themselves heard. Outside in their communities, within the legal services sector, and inside their own organizations, they are making a difference in a multitude of ways.

READ MORE: Quiet No Longer: Law Librarians ‘Forgo the Status Quo’ | Law.com

Curation: Buzzword or What? | Lucidea #news #curation #info #librarians #librarianship #MLIS

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One of the most popular buzzwords in library-land at the moment is ‘curation’. It’s used to describe anything from old-fashioned collection development to human filtering activities on social media like Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and blogs. The word ‘curator’ gets used too liberally to describe the stuff people do on the web and, in my humble option, dilutes and pollutes the professional things that librarians do.

Librarians are so much more than assemblers of information, but let’s begin a discussion in this column about the difference between ‘curation’ and the activities performed by librarians. Is there really any way what someone does on Facebook is remotely like the work product of information professionals in special libraries? READ MORE: Curation: Buzzword or What? | Lucidea

Librarians Provide the Tools for Readers to Rise Up | BOOKRIOT #libguide #subjectguide #LIS #libraries #advocacy #fakenews #libraries #librarians #activism

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Libraries…are acting as flash points of resistance, putting together special book displays, hosting timely exhibits, collaborating on art projects, and more. And then there are the libguides. READ MORE: Librarians Provide the Tools for Readers to Rise Up | BOOKRIOT

Libguides, aka research guides aka subject guides aka study guides aka topic guides aka pathfinders aka resource lists aka information portals, have a special place in my heart. Whenever I find a great one I always have one of those Hallelujah ah-ha moments. Then I bookmark!

Librarians have probably created libguides for every topic you can think of. The libguides mentioned in the above article are relevant to the current news cycle of nationalism vs populism and the shifting economic climate of globalization to protectionism. Librarians advocate for and uphold intellectual freedom, diversity and privacy. Libguides represent these values as they provide unbiased, valid sources of information on a specific topic and are a helpful tool in verifying information and combating fake news. 

 

How entrepreneurship librarians help campus accelerators grow | University Affairs #librarians #business #entrepreneur #careers #LIS

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While academic librarians have supported campus start-ups and entrepreneurs since before the dot-com boom, the title “entrepreneurship librarian” is a relatively new one. When I started in that role at University of Toronto Library (UTL), St. George Campus, I was given a lot of freedom to define the role as I saw fit. I started by reaching out to the growing network of campus-linked accelerators formalized under the campus entrepreneurship office. READ MORE: How entrepreneurship librarians help campus accelerators grow | University Affairs

Maine State Library study finds that Librarian is one of the most trusted professions | LRS #Librarians #fakenews #librarianship #research #ethics

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A recent survey by the Maine State Library shows that librarians are the second most trusted professionals out of the 22 professions studied. The purpose of this research was to determine the perceived trustworthiness of librarians compared to other professions and to assess perceptions of librarians across demographic groups. READ MORE: Maine State Library study finds that Librarian is one of the most trusted professions | Library Research Service

 

More research supporting that Librarians are the solution…and always have been the solution…to the fake news problem! Verify, verify, verify. ALA Code of Ethics “We provide the highest level of service to all library users through appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests. We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions. We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources.” – infophile.ca

How to solve Facebook’s fake news problem: experts pitch their ideas | The Guardian #news #facts #authority #validation #HireALibrarian #duh

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The past few months there was quite the vacuum of factual, non-fake news to post to infophile. Thankfully, with the U.S. election finally over, some cool, timely and hopefully accurate stories are percolating up in my news feeds. Interesting times. How about just Hire a Librarian!!!

A cadre of technologists, academics and media experts are thinking up solutions, from hiring human editors, to crowdsourcing or creating algorithms

Source: How to solve Facebook’s fake news problem: experts pitch their ideas | Technology | The Guardian

Are Librarians becoming Data Analysts? | Linex Systems #Librarians #data #analysis #analytics #dataanalysts #analysts

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Right now, one of the most discussed trends is that of data – big data, small data, data analytics, predictive data. It’s all relevant, it’s all important and it should be on all our radars. Data is constantly growing and, as it does, we are finding new ways to harness it and fulfill our potential. Within this, two significant themes emerge which we shall explore here:

  1. Using data to improve your current awareness service
  2. Your current awareness service including more data, and different types of data

Read More: Are Librarians becoming Data Analysts? | Linex Systems

 

My Comment: An excellent article providing an overview of some services data analysts may provide. My role as a Research Analyst includes the following data related activities: analyzing data sets to provide insights to the public and fulfill client requests; using data to tell stories; analyzing click rates to determine content relevancy; peer comparison; crafting factual statements for business development and marketing collateral and presentations; sourcing, organizing and managing data sets; and the list goes on!

So You Want to Be a Librarian? | BookRiot #librarians #LIS #InfoProf #librarianship #MLIS #MIS

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The comments to this post provide some great insights as well. Be sure to read these too!

Is librarianship a career you’ve been considering? Have you been told you should work in a library since you’re a huge book lover? We thought it would be worthwhile to talk about some of the awesome and some of the, err, less awesome aspects of working in libraries. These are the things you won’t learn in a glossy brochure or on a fancy website dedicated to the career. Instead, these are lessons from librarians who’ve been in the trenches. READ : So You Want to Be a Librarian? | BookRiot

The Role of Librarians in Data Science | JoEsL #datascience #librarians #LIS #research

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Many academic institutions and their libraries have developed research data services, but sometimes institutional objectives, professional organizations, and librarians’ current and future roles aren’t always in sync. In this issue of the Journal of eScience Librarianship, librarians report on moving forward with various services, but frequently face institutional and professional obstacles. READ: “The Role of Librarians in Data Science” by Elaine R. Martin | Journal of eScience Librarianship

Things You Can Do as a Library Student to Prepare for a Career as a Data Librarian | hls

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We do so much in library school—take classes, work, study, and figure out how to market ourselves when we graduate. In this post, I’d like to talk about how I became a data librarian, and what you can learn about data while still in library school! READ: Things You Can Do as a Library Student to Prepare for a Career as a Data Librarian | hls