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Working in acquisitions and resource sharing, I sometimes struggle to navigate my unique and shared place in the various communities of this profession (ACRL, ALCTS, LLAMA, etc.). I'm often characterized as a "technical services" librarian, but this does not always adequately describe the work I do. In the past 15 years that I have worked in this part of the library, I have seen dramatic changes as a result of the material transition of print to electronic resources. Beyond just the physical format, these changes have meant that technical services staff now work more directly with library users and no longer just process behind the scenes. Our work also involves direct and frequent interaction across more areas of the library than ever before.
I genuinely enjoy working with people. Discovering new ways to communicate across the library, especially through radical change, fascinates me. In spite of these interpersonal interests, in many ways I fall right into the technical services stereotype. I'm a cautious communicator, and my go-to mode of thinking is to solve every issue with a systematized process. Give me a problem and I'll "put a process on it"!
A particularly cogent example of this tendency occurred recently with some of my colleagues in "public services" (another phrase that no longer adequately describes their work). We were discussing our campus-wide initiatives in diversity, equity, and social justice and how the libraries could support these initiatives throughout all of our services, not just at the service desk. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to once again lower the barriers between technical and public services. But I worried because I found myself expressing the challenge many of us in technical services face even initiating discussions about our own day-to-day work conflicts. I was fearful about my ability, especially as a leader, to initiate a productive conversation with my staff about conflicts, like microagressions, of which individuals may not even be aware. So, I did what I often do when faced with uncertainty — I put a process on it! I suggested that we solicit the help of trained facilitators from the libraries' organizational development unit. As one of those trained facilitators, this seemed both a safe way for me get involved, while at the same time satisfying the requirements of scale.
I was amazed at how my colleague's response could all at once genuinely honor my approach and also persuasively encourage each of us to find our own (maybe different) path. This was not the first time I have questioned the appropriateness of my knack to put a process on things. But that discussion was moment of clarity shaping everything I've encountered and thought about since. It has prompted me to examine more closely and even question this tendency that has served me well so far in my path in technical services. I thought I'd begin my introductory post to ACRLog sharing my experience as this kind of librarian, and hopefully in the process discover more about a path forward.
The draw of process
When I talk about process in this context, I mean the way in which I think through the steps of workflow, understand cause and effect, and most efficiently move from point A to point B, all while accounting for the connections in between. For acquisitions and resource sharing, the overarching process we are concerned with is the scholarly communication supply chain and its ability to get the resources users need as efficiently as possible. Individual motivations for this work vary, of course. Some enjoy improving these processes for the economic reasons: the joy of saving money, cutting costs, and demonstrating a return on investment. Some like the ever present source of a puzzle to solve. Many still are motivated by service and how the process makes it easy for other people. Some like fighting for our core values through the process of negotiation with vendors. For the more introverted among us, it seems that processes at their root help create predictability where a thing might otherwise be or feel out of control. This certainly describes the environment in which libraries and we librarians of all types have found ourselves ever since change became the new normal.
The benefit of process is not just for the individual coping with change. It has a direct benefit to the organization as a whole. In my experience, process helps me discover and understand how to use new technologies effectively. Process has been the language I use to help others through ongoing training. In my library as whole, that language enables me to translate the impact of larger change on our work. Becoming a trained facilitator, I've learned better processes of communication between individuals or groups, made meetings run more smoothly, facilitated strategic planning and assessment efforts, and contributed to larger organizational change. How each area within the library addresses their own particular management of perpetual change has brought about all manner of processes, frameworks, assessment models, and mission statements. It seems librarians of all types can put a process on just about everything.
Process in the extreme
The consequence of taking process thinking too far is that it can get in the way of actual doing, or worse, overlook the human need in all of us for deeper meaning and connection. Technical process efficiency taken to its extreme is automation. Even the rise in library automation processes, however, has not eliminated the need for human aspects in the most technical of workflow processes because the environment is filled with people serving people. I tend to perceive my own process as an act of creativity. As my leadership responsibilities move me from introversion to ambiversion, I prefer to process with others, creating new things and building new relationships. Additional research, suggesting that our minds do not even process or recall like computers at all, supports the notion that there is a more creative present and future for our work.
Processes involved in addressing continual change on an organizational level are essentially human-oriented. These can't achieve the extreme of automation because they too require ongoing attention for the people involved. How our relationships change, how we communicate across new organizational structures, and how we respond to actual people, are a necessary part of our response to the rapid changes in our work. People and their relationships certainly don't want to be processed; they need to be seen, understood, and valued.
Process to path
The conclusions I've come to are:
Getting myself to that point means rediscovering the areas of research that piqued my curiosity and inspired my passion for this profession from the start – Devin's sense-making and research around the reference interview. This research speaks directly to how our systematized human processes and automated systems can and should be relational. The fundamentals of communicating in our profession are constructive, "tied to specific times, place, and perspectives" (Foreman-Wernet, 2003, p.5). This applies not only for dealing with patrons, but for dealing with one another, inside and across library departments.
I intend to stay involved in interactions and discussion like the one that prompted this reflection. I may not have the capacity yet to effectively communicate, or know how to take action, on issue of diversity, equity and social justice. But I know enough that it is my privilege to learn. My awareness and willingness seem small to me, but I can accept them as important and necessary steps on my larger path.
Dervin, B. and Foreman-Wernet, L. (2003). Sense-making methodology reader: Selected writings of Brenda Dervin. New Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc.]]>
Navigating the transition from large to small academic library employers, or vice versa, can be challenging. Early-career librarians in particular can find themselves navigating radically new landscapes: specialized, bureaucratic, and complex.
Recently I moved from a small, career-focused, private, nonprofit institution in Florida, to a large, tier-one public research university in New England. Now six months along my new path, I am ready to share some generalizations and guidance about navigating the transition from small private to large public universities and libraries. (For the opposite path, check out Seven Keys to Switching from a Big Company to a Small One—yes, it's a Harvard Business Review piece, but the advice applies equally to librarians.)
Scaling Size
Large public universities are vast and complex. Libraries can be six stories high and filled with millions of volumes. A hundred staff and student assistants may be working inside the building during business hours. Millions of dollars may be spent on collections and salaries. Contrast this with smaller universities, where the library may boast four staff, a $250,000 budget, and one big room lined with eighteen thousand volumes and branded "the library." A difference of 25,000 students is another huge numerical contrast.
Imagine changing jobs from one to the other of these environments. Maybe you already have. Either way, this can be a stunning adjustment. Example 1: Walking from parking lot to office takes twenty times longer at my massive public university than it did at my small private university. Example 2: I still manage electronic resources, but my budget is fifty times larger. Example 3: I used to negotiate e-resource licenses solo; now we have attorneys who write five pages of state-mandated provisions into all new contracts.
How to thrive in a larger environment? Chunk your experience into bite-sized pieces. One hundred colleagues to get to know? Set up meetings with each of them in turn, and then allocate time each week to walk about and schmooze. Many complex projects to manage concurrently? Start using Evernote, Trello, a notepad, or other tracking tool to divide your projects into manageable tasks and triage them according to stakeholder impact. Rethink goals as forward momentum. Reassess priorities, eliminate redundancy and excess, and clean up data and processes. Like Thoreau, "simplify, simplify."
Personalizing Bureaucracy
Small universities are intimate to the point of claustrophobic. You know a great many of the professors and students by name, you work closely with each colleague, and you run into the college president at the neighborhood bakery. In contrast, your large university is a bureaucracy, "effective through its mass rather than through its agility," notes Peter Drucker. Generally you will need to navigate layer after layer of approval and mediation. Destroying 20-year-old papers requires permission from the state capital. Managers ask you to make appointments to see them. Implementing innovations can take way longer than they should because of the many stakeholders you must consult or persuade.
How to thrive amid bureaucracy? Accept that change is slower in complex environments and that large universities value consensus, whereas small organizations can just decide. So stay patient, but bring your enthusiasm and energy. Bureaucracy tends to sap drive from its members, so as a newcomer setting a faster pace, your drive adds value to the organization. And if you counter-interviewed your search committee as rigorously as they interviewed you, your new colleagues will appreciate you and your vitality.
This brings us to the key point: personalizing working relationships enables us to break through bureaucratic barriers. Be tough and hard-driving, on yourself above all, but be genuine, kind, and helpful too—and do not allow your frustration with the bureaucracy cause you to become frustrated with the people trapped in it. You're new, and that fact will help you build positive relationships with even the most challenging personalities.
Broadening Scope
Isolation is a byproduct of specialization in large, complex organizations. Small-library staff may do reference, instruction, web design, budgets, resource management, etc. Large-library staff are generally hired for a specialized role. This is fine. The problem is that you can do your job without interacting much with folks outside your immediate working group. This is true for instruction librarians as much as it is for catalogers.
This hyper-specialization is ultimately pernicious. If you do not collaborate or socialize with a broad spectrum of colleagues, or understand how users engage with the services you provide, then you are isolated, not specialized. Isolation's effects can be personal, such as loneliness and loss of motivation. Or they can be work-related. If people do not know you, they will not know to respect you. You will (A) lack control over the direction of your work, and (B) fail to exercise influence outside your cubicle walls.
The key is to broaden the scope of your specialized work. Start by applying or acquiring expertise in areas related to your specialization. For example, if you manage eresources, then get a handle on user experience. If you teach, then study up on open educational resources. Do not try to take over other people's jobs—rather, identify service gaps of which to take ownership. Wrangle appointments to committees and task forces beyond the scope of your immediate duties. Gently, persistently remind your supervisors of the intersections between your work and others'. Communicate openly and frequently. Be transparent with internal stakeholders. Embrace interconnectivity. You'll thrive.
Michael Rodriguez is an Electronic Resources Librarian at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, which has fifteen times as many students and fifty times the operating budget of Hodges University in Florida, where he formerly served as E-Learning Librarian.]]>
After reading the article, I thought about all of the times I have messed up during an instruction session—not pushing back on instructors who insist that a librarian's "job" is to present a laundry list of skills-based concepts during a thirty-minute one-shot session, making assumptions about students, and neglecting to discuss the lack of alternative ideas in the traditional peer-review process. But I also reflected on the aspects of critical information literacy that inherently have been part of my philosophy since day one, such as focusing on student-centered learning, admitting (and explicitly stating) to students that I am not an expert, and telling students "I don't know, maybe we can find an answer together" when stumped by a question. Most important, this reading of Elmborg's article spurred me to think more pedagogically about my work with first-generation college students (FGCS).
Critical lens. If we perceive education as a "profoundly political activity" and value librarianship as guided by a "student-centered educational philosophy," then thinking critically about who our students are is arguably one of the most important parts of our jobs (p. 193). At my institution, approximately fifteen percent of the student body consists of FGCS, which equates to approximately 6,000 students. Expecting FGCS to seamlessly assimilate into the traditionally white elite sociocultural environment of a large private university (like mine) is negligent at best. There are many campus stakeholders who understand this and work with FGCS from the beginning of orientation week to them help navigate the social, cultural, political, and financial waters of my institution. But, there is still so much work to be done, especially within the realm of library instruction.
One of my favorite quotes from Elmborg's article underscores the barriers that schools (and the libraries within them) need to overcome when reaching out to FGCS:
"Rather than define these students (those outside of an idealized student body) as 'deficient,' we might ask whether schools and curriculums themselves are a large part of the problem, especially when they become conservative protectors of traditional, authoritative knowledge and cease to respect students as people capable of agency and meaning-making in their own right. Indeed one of the primary challenges for contemporary education is to find ways to make it possible for all students to succeed, not just those socially preselected for academic success" (p. 194).
So what does this mean for library instruction, which is the primary way that many students at my institution connect to the library? We must first assert our roles as educators. This not only helps us to gain more trust and authority from disciplinary faculty, but it grounds our fundamental purpose. As an educator, my most vital missions are bridging the gap between student and teacher, and breaking down the traditional role of educators as authoritative figures that perpetuate the banking cycle of neoliberal education. And for students whose parents or guardians did not attend or did not complete college, this endeavor becomes even more pressing.
I make my first attempt at chipping away from these traditional roles by telling students that the classroom facilitates a conversation, not a lecture. I also tell students to call me by my first name (sometimes students become visibly uncomfortable with this prospect), and do NOT introduce myself as some sort of expert – because I am not. Yes, those letters behind my email signature represent Master of Library and Information Science, meaning that I completed the necessary coursework to gain the degree. But I explain that they probably know more than I do about many types of information, such as social media, and they bring unique sets of experiences to the table. If I am an expert, then they are, too.
I also try to do my very, very best not to frame one information source as "better" than the other. Rather, I frame the discussion around the purpose of the information, and the power structures inherent in information privilege. These ideas help all students feel comfortable in the classroom, not only "those socially preselected for academic success" (p. 194).
Critical literacy and academic discourse. Elmborg posits that literacy events take many forms in higher education – lectures, debates, essays, etc. – and range from formal to informal (p. 196). These events function, on one hand, as a method of imparting standards in the community and, on the other, as a way of academic exclusion, i.e. they determine "who belongs in college and who does not" (p. 197). The stakes are high for all students, but especially for FGCS, whose families and friends may never have taken part in the tacit and explicit political and academic underpinnings of the college.
Many of my institution's FGCS student task force's conversations have revolved around this point. Office hours are a primary point of contention among our FGCS. If you do not have a family member or peer to initiate you in the structure of college, how do you know office hours are important and, in many cases, crucial for academic success? You do not. Similarly, several FGCS have expressed discomfort, at the least, and embarrassment at most, at the suggestion of going to the Writing Center or contacting a librarian for research help. These are institutionalized processes inherent in the politics of student success in the academy. Critical information literacy means that I, as an educator, take one-shot sessions as an opportunity to underscore the importance of office hours. I explain what the Writing Center does and encourage students to reach out if they need further assistance. If a student is reluctant or grappling with a particularly tricky research question, I remember their name and follow up with them after class. This provides no quick solution to the issue, but it starts the conversation. Critical information literacy means reflecting, challenging, and changing traditional academic models (tenure processes, peer-review, etc.) But what else can librarians do as educators to challenge academic exclusion?
Critically examine what we ask students to do and how we ask them to do it. Elmborg recently participated in a panel at the American Library Association Annual Conference panel Authority Is Constructed and Contextual: A Critical View. I live tweeted much of the presentation and continue to reflect on what Elmborg said about thesis statements.
Thesis statements are so, so hard for me; often, I do not know what I am really trying to say until I have worked out some of the mechanics behind the argument. I do not have any real solution here for how to teach such complex work, but applying critical information literacy means being cognizant of the tremendous tasks we are asking students to do. Thesis statements *are* hard!
One of my favorite critical information literacy articles is Michelle Reale's "Critical Pedagogy in the Classroom: Library Instruction that Gives Voice to Students and Builds a Community of Scholars". During a library instruction session in a course titled English 299: Interpreting Literature, Reale engaged students in an activity to help them develop and interpret topics through a critical lens. Reale role-played the exercise with the course instructor to demonstrate how asking simple questions about feeling, meaning, and subtext lays the groundwork for employing critical theory to student's assigned texts. Students who were working with the same text were paired together and then began replicating the exercise, conceptualizing their partner's text to develop topics and possible keywords for database searches on critical theory (pp. 84-85). This preliminary exercise could lay the foundation for helping students develop thesis statements. Talking about their ideas with a peer yielded much more success than merely lecturing on thesis statements alone. Such an exercise helps transform the traditional power dynamic from teacher to student, to student to student and student to teacher. The exercise made critical theory more accessible.
We need to break stereotypes and back off of our own assumptions about this group. FCGS should not be synonymous with the word poor – all FGCS do not come from low-income families. Three out of five FCGS do not complete a degree within six years. More than a quarter of FGCS leave school after their first year — four times the dropout rate of higher income second-generation students. Even knocking down a common definition for FGCS is contentious. Lots of work remains to be done, but a commitment to critical information literacy for FGCS is an important first step.
None of these ideas are revolutionary, and I am far from the first person to write about their own reflections of Elmborg's article (many of those reflections are cited in Eamon Tewell's article titled "A Decade of Critical Information Literacy: A Review of the Literature") or critical information literacy. But critical information literacy is crucial not just for FGCS – it is for everyone. The onus is on librarians to completely re-examine our purpose – are we educators? Is our professional identity tethered to being considered "experts"? Are we committed to agency – both our institutional agency and our student's (especially marginalized groups) agency in the academy? How can we effectively operate in the tension between theory and practice in our daily work? In the ten years since Elmborg published the article, are we any closer to answering these questions?
Elmborg, J. (2006). Critical information literacy: Implications for instructional practice. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(2), 192-199.
Reale, M. (2012). Critical pedagogy in the classroom: Library instruction that gives voice to students and builds a community of scholars. Journal of Library Innovation, 3(2), 80-88.]]>
I am glad to say that my first year has been fantastic. I have great colleagues and amazing support from the library. I have also had the opportunity to participate in symposiums, attend conferences, contribute to university service, and meet great people from outside the library and around the university.
Beyond my work at American University, I have been blessed to be able to write for ACRLog and obtain other opportunities through ACRL. While it's been a great year, I have learned a couple of things that will make me a better librarian in the long run. I believe that even if you've had positive experiences, there are always new things to learn and ways to improve as a librarian.
Here are some things that I have learned the past year:
-Go outside your comfort zone. I know that for myself, I can be a bit shy. However, I know that I am also a professional and that going outside of your comfort zone and experiencing new things is vital for not only personal growth, but professional growth. For me, going outside my comfort zone means talking and interacting to people outside the library. I am currently working on a project where I have reached out to different departments in the university. Through those email exchanges and meetings, I have learned more about our students and the challenges that lie for incoming freshman.
-Participate when you can! One of the great things about my residency is that I have the opportunity to work with other departments, such as technical services or access services. I also participate in the marketing and social media groups, which has not only librarians, but other staff members from departments within the library. These are great opportunities to meet new people and learn about what others do at the library and what their interests are.
-Prioritize conferences. As a new librarian, I was excited about all the conferences and all the great locations they would be held at. However, these conferences cost money and with airfare, hotel, and food, it can get expensive! I am lucky enough to have professional development funds through my position. I also know that not everyone has funds through their place of employment and so they cannot attend many (if any) conferences that are not in their area. I would suggest looking within your own place of employment and finding workshops or small symposiums taking place. I have found these events very informative, especially since they relate to that specific environment. As I have been fortunate enough to attend a couple of conferences this past year, I have learned the immense talent that the librarianship profession has. One of my favorite parts of conferences is meeting new people and finding out what everyone is working on.
In terms of prioritizing conferences, it is going to be different for everyone. Personally, I like to go to conferences that have an emphasis in my own interests and my future career plans.
-Rejection is not the end of the world. Like my residency position ACRLog post, I also wrote one about rejection. While it hurts for a little while, you must learn from it and continue. It might have been the first time, but it won't be the last time. So, how do we move forward? Over the course of a year, I have focused on a couple things. First, working with people on proposals is helpful. It allows you to not only write, but learn from others and different styles. Second, write for yourself. When I do this, I do not write about work. I write about my life, my dreams, and anything that pops into my head. What is important is that you move forward and try again.
-Volunteer. When I arrived in DC, I promised myself that I would take the time to volunteer. Specifically, I wanted to work with English as a Second Language speakers (ESL). However, I wanted to wait until I got settled in DC. A couple months ago, I started co-teaching ESL classes once a week. It's very rewarding when a student who struggled at the beginning, begins to improve every week. Although this is separate than my library work, this experience has shaped how I teach. The ESL program that I am part of is very informal. Teachers have the freedom to either use the ESL book that has been provided with lesson plans or use their own content and design it their way.
I have been using a mix of two, but most importantly, I have learned how to better improvise. During the classes, students will begin to ask questions that cause myself and the co-teacher to further explain a topic. For example, we had a lesson about food and it turned out that a lot of students were unfamiliar with breakfast food vocabulary. So, after the break, the other co-teacher and I decided to do an activity to familiarize the students with that vocabulary.
I think that any instruction experience can serve to improve your teaching and having a diverse set of students will only help you improve and better understand different ways of learning and comprehension.
Finally, I always like to remember that my residency position and my colleagues are the reason that I have had great opportunities over the past year. I am also glad to say that I will continue with ACRLog for another year and look forward to writing more about my residency and the projects I am participating in, as well as collaboration within and outside of the library.]]>
"Open Access empowers all scholars, not just those with a Ph.D appended to their last names."
~char booth, open access as pedagogy
Several recent developments in the scholarly communication world have left the future feeling bleak. An April news piece in Science concluded that millions of pirated papers continue to be downloaded from Sci-Hub. The piece states that for access or convenience (or both), "[o]ver the 6 months leading up to March, Sci-Hub served up 28 million documents" for researchers around the globe (para 6). Some of the papers downloaded were open access, with more than 4,000 papers available from PLoS. Even more surprisingly, "some of the most intense use of Sci-Hub appears to be happening on the campuses of U.S. and European universities" (para 10).
Let me be clear: I believe that Sci-Hub and the work that Alexandra Elbakyan is doing is imperative and eye-opening (if for no other reason than that it "has hastened the speed and vigor of [the OA] conversation.") But I wanted to share two immediate, visceral reactions that I had to these findings. The first is that this is undeniably an indictment of current library systems and how functional and accessible they are to our users, particularly if those that already have access through their library databases and Interlibrary Loan still prefer using Sci-Hub. The second, which is perhaps more important, is that this will have repercussions with vendors. Last open access week, our library hosted two showings of "The Internet's Own Boy," which is a documentary about Aaron Swartz's life and work. One of the people interviewed for the documentary talked a bit about "underground" or illegal movements. This person expressed that they are important and even central to progress (particularly when all legal routes have been exhausted) but that they can inhibit the legal, mainstream progress that is in motion.* I have to wonder how strict vendors will be in the future in an effort to shut Sci-Hub—and sharing—down.
Since the Science article was published, more has happened. It is difficult to say if these developments are a direct result of the Sci-Hub findings or simply part of vendors' constant quest to create more revenue. In May, Kevin Smith published a blog post entitled "Tightening their Grip." In the post, he discusses publishers ever-growing control over access to scholarship, including Wiley's "control over the pre-peer review copy of scholarly manuscripts" (para 2). He ends the post by discussing Elsevier's purchase of SSRN and their interest in data on scholars' behavior and impact. Last week, Phil Davis wrote about two-step authentication and its possible repercussions for Sci-Hub. I would add that this addresses my first reaction—this could potentially make library systems even less intuitive for our users (which, in turn, makes Sci-Hub even more attractive!).
I hope I've made it clear that it's incredibly messy. Yet, while all of this happens—we see more evidence that our students are using Sci-Hub and we watch Elsevier continue to acquire more pieces of scholarly workflow and the scholarly communication system—it becomes more and more evident to me that librarians are missing an important opportunity.
Most of our efforts to move the system closer to openness seem to focus on helping faculty understand the importance and impact of making their work open. This is a start but it is clear that out of all of the populations that the library engages, this group has perhaps the most developed and ingrained practices for sharing their work. I'm not implying that we shouldn't try to work with faculty. But I am asserting that we aren't doing enough to engage graduate students and undergraduate students. Yes, you read that right. Undergraduate students.
In 2010, Warren and Duckett claimed that undergraduate students "largely remain excluded" from scholarly communication outreach (pg. 352). While their article started a conversation and Davis-Kahl and Hensley have added to it, I believe that we haven't come far enough. Amy Mark has written that "[b]ecause of how knowledge and expertise are arranged in the academy, there is little trust in the student voice" (pg. 5).
Even with more of an emphasis on the "student as creator" in library discourse, our outreach seems to reflect this claim. We seem to question whether undergraduates will be able to engage with the complexities of access or even care about the economics of scholarship. By doing this, we're shortchanging our students, compromising their ability to be truly information literate, and impeding the greater open access movement. Introducing undergraduate students to the complexities of access and scholarly communication can make them more informed authors, information consumers, and future advocates for open access. Stephanie Davis-Kahl (2012) adds,
Asking students to consider if and how they want their own work to be shared and used by others shifts the nature of discussions from cautionary and reactive to reflective and proactive, and explicitly acknowledges that the students' work is valued enough to be shared if they choose. (pg. 213; emphasis mine)
At my own institution, students get scholarly communication. I don't mean that they understand the cost of information, how and why they can access it (more on this later), or the stakeholders in the scholarly communication system. I mean that they get the root of scholarly communication—that the point is to share so that knowledge can progress. As an example, in our college's newspaper, The Davidsonian, there is a section called "The Yowl." This satirical section pokes fun at the quirks of Davidson College and the greater Davidson community. Some of the satirical section headings have included "Davidson Creates New Interdisciplinary 'Undecided' Major" and "Local First Grader to Allow 'Unsatisfactory' Report Card Grade to Haunt Him for the Rest of His Life." In the April 2016 issue, one of the headings read, "Student Excited for Thesis to Collect Dust in Dark Corner of the Library."
I know that this is meant to humorous. But I also think that it is telling. Students understand that their work has to be shared to have an impact. Though they might not be able to articulate it, they might even be frustrated with the library's inability to give them a mechanism to share their work widely through an institutional repository. They spend hours and hours of their time researching and writing important, original research and they don't have an avenue to see this research have an impact in the world. Someone has to ILL the print copy of their thesis from us to even read it! As I think about this, I'm reminded of what a faculty member that I admire once said to me: "Davidson students' work is too good to be sitting in a drawer somewhere. We have to share it."
And while they get the root of why scholarly communication is important, so many of our students don't understand how and why access happens. A few weeks ago, my colleagues Cara Evanson, James Sponsel, and I presented at Library Instruction West. We talked about an assessment we created last year that utilized case studies to better understand students' misconceptions and understandings of the research process. One of our most important findings was that our students didn't understand the complexities of access. I presented this finding by using the following slide, which is composed of student quotes. All of the quotes are from incoming Davidson students who were asked to evaluate at least two case studies, one of which describes a researcher hitting a paywall:
Students didn't understand that non-scholarly information, like articles in the New York Times, can also live behind paywalls. They didn't understand the limitations set by copyright and what that means for access. They didn't even understand why someone might have to pay for information or, surprisingly, that some people just can't afford to pay for information. I know that this might appear to reflect poorly on our students. I would argue that this is just as much a reflection of librarians.
These students have presumably accessed subscription-based content, possibly with the help of a librarian. But no one ever explained to them why they could access the content, who couldn't access the content, what that meant for progress and knowledge creation, and what their role in all of this was. Do we systematically explain to students that they will lose access when they graduate? Many of them might be using Sci-Hub right now. Do we even engage them in why Sci-Hub exists? Are we transparent about the role they play in changing the system as an information creator? Don't we think that their understanding of these systems is central to information literacy?
I'm in the process of co-authoring an article that will present some of the ways we've had success in answering these questions at Davidson. I know that I don't have it all figured yet. But I do know that these questions have to be answered in an institutionally-relevant way. We have to use the context of our specific information literacy programs, missions, workflows, and student bodies to engage these questions on our campuses in a way that makes sense. We have to tailor our programs and outreach to fill this gap.
I also know that this work has to be built upon some basic principles: undergraduate students are legitimate creators of information now. They will be the faculty members, scholars, and citizens of the future. Right now, we meticulously train them to use resources they'll lose days after they graduate. We're doing them—and ourselves—a great disservice by not introducing them to the complex, ethical questions surrounding openness.
*I am not critiquing the underground movements both Swartz and Elbakyan have created. It is both shortsighted and privileged to claim that progress can only happen through legal venues. It is outside the scope of this post to get into the complexities of ethics and progress but others have started to speak publicly about this. See John Sherer on our collective needs (last paragraph), Kevin Smith on malum prohibitum and malum in se, and Carolyn Gardner on libraries' complex position.]]>
"Everything is information" is a predominant maxim in librarianship. Ever since library school, with the antelope-as-a-document example we learned, it is clear: librarians are all about this statement. A simple syllogism can then tell us, then, that librarianship focuses on everything having to do with everything. (If everything is information and librarianship focuses on everything having to do with information, such as the research lifecycle, then librarianship focuses on everything having to do with everything. Or, to be a little less meta, just everything!) Of course it may be more complex than this, depending upon definitions and grammatical nuances, and I am no logician. But the focus of our profession is all-encompassing.
In this post, I would like to run with this idea…see where it leads – a sort of thought experiment. I will do that in Part II of this post, and will ask: what are the implications of working in a field where the focus is everything? Yet, first I would like to address some of the problems with the maxim and present a preliminary critique of it. For Part I of this post, I will ask: Does Everything is Information take into account our lived experience? What place does knowledge have? My first draft of this post left out the distinction between information and knowledge, and some of my colleagues pointed this out to me. Now upon further reflection, I think this distinction is critical, because it throws into question the notion that Everything is Information and does a better job of accounting for lived experience.
Part I
Everything is Information suggests information is all there is, but what place does knowledge have, then, in reality? Does Everything is Information take into account the full range and types of human experience?
Along with Tony Stamatoplos, I am co-chairing the ACRL Anthropology and Sociology Section 2017 Program Planning Committee. We are hoping to propose a panel that will incorporate such a critique. We want to focus on non-textual information, on the lived experiences and physical/material realities of social activists, the kind of non-textual information they produce, and what role libraries can/should play when it comes to this kind of information. So of course the panel will address the distinctions between information, knowledge, and human understanding. We are hoping to invite Richard Gilman-Opalsky, a political philosopher, to be on a panel, along with an archivist with experience in this area and hopefully an activist who is on the ground. Gilman-Opalsky's forthcoming book, Specters of Revolt – touches on some of these ideas, as well as how revolt is a form of philosophy that takes place from below as compared to philosophy from above, which characterizes the work done by scholars. While I have to wait for the book to be released, I know that Gilman-Opalsky challenges Thesis 11 from Marx's Theses on Feuerbach: "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it." Gilman-Opalsky believes that activities that change the world are already a form of philosophy. Gilman-Opalsky sees activism as a form of philosophy that is better than philosophy from above in many ways, because of its "collective, experimental, creative, and humanist dimensions" (Richard Gilman-Opalsky, personal email). His work points to the inherent rationality of revolt as well as the historical context of different movements, as revolt makes a lot more sense when understood within the context of surrounding events and root causes. Indeed, sometimes the absence of revolt is actually what is irrational, as revolt can be the most sensible response to a particular reality.
All of this is to say that "Everything is Information" is a gross reduction of "everything" that discounts the full range of human experience insofar as it leaves out knowledge and understanding. Certain things – physical, material realities, cannot be reduced to text, or even to bits. To reduce some things – experiences, perhaps – to text or to bits means they will be compromised somehow. Something is lost in the translation. To go with the example of activism, it is an embodiment of rationality, the result of history, a reaction to systemic violence and racism, for example, as well as the expression of various affective states stemming from prior experience. It is oftentimes an expression of anger and desire – desire for a better world free of injustice. None of these things can be reduced to information.
Yet we can have knowledge about activism. We observe it, have an awareness about it, and even participate in it. We understand it. We know it on a deeper level than we know, say, mathematical formulas, because it has to do with human experience, which is very complex.
In spite of this fixation on this maxim, we actually do take knowledge into account in librarianship, as well, as a part of the research lifecycle, which includes a deep understanding of information in order to be able to communicate it to others, and that is necessary for the whole field of scholarly communication. We cannot communicate well what we do not understand ourselves. Yet in librarianship, sometimes it seems that we minimize the importance of knowledge or understanding, valuing information and evidence more highly. With scholarly communication, the focus seems to be on the transmission or dissemination of information, not knowledge or understanding. At this point, I am merely speculating as I haven't thoroughly examined these ideas in order to make an informed critique of the place of knowledge in librarianship. I wonder what such an examination might reveal?
Part II
Back to Everything is Information, a thought experiment. What does it imply for us? I will also take into account that librarianship covers knowledge and understanding as well, not just information. We do truly cover everything! What are the implications of working in an all-encompassing field?
First, there is this idea that as our focus is information, we gather, process, comprehend, understand, and create information that is about information. This is very meta, and I think as human beings who are rational, sensing, thinking creatures we have a need for this meta aspect to thought that is provided by our field. We have a need to think about and ask questions about what information, knowledge, and understanding are – in order to fully engage with them, experience them, and create new knowledge (although Plato would disagree with that last bit – there is no new knowledge!). Speaking of Plato, just as philosophers point to the human need to think about reality, so we, as librarians, point to the human need to think about information and knowledge. Insofar as we facilitate these processes, our field – and thinking about everything – will never go out of style.
I also think this means as librarians, we really have opportunities to be creative and think outside the box. There are many different ways to think about information and knowledge, and thus many different ways to think about our field. Especially with information literacy instruction, there are all kinds of ways we can rethink the meaning and practices within information literacy. For example, information literacy also includes literacy – reading and comprehending information. This type of skill certainly crosses the distinction between information and knowledge, as to read deeply and comprehend a text is to have knowledge of the content or topic of the text. On this basis, I developed a critical reading workshop to help undergraduates learn skills in reading dense theoretical texts. These are skills that are important, yet often left to classroom instructors who in most cases probably can rarely take the time to teach such skills. As experts in information literacy and literacy, we are perfectly positioned to do so. This example, too, points to this idea that as information professionals and librarians, we need to challenge ourselves to think more deeply about the information/knowledge distinction, and what constitutes knowledge, because students learn from us, as well, how to arrive at a place where they actually know something. We don't just look at the evidence when we teach information literacy. Even evaluation and formulating a research question require some degree of knowledge, and we assist with these activities.
Finally, the fact that librarianship is very meta also means that the library means different things to different people, and serves different roles for different people. The library isn't everything to everybody, but it is something to everyone. That is a good thing, but it also can be a point of confusion and contention, especially between librarians and those outside the profession. The broadness and narrowness of our field (as etymologically, it is simply a place for books) sometimes means that the importance of the librarianship is minimized or discounted, but librarians will always be tasked with providing a space where "everything" can be explored, a space where the mind grows – where the real is the rational – a space where we can gather the evidence or information, contemplate it, and experience knowledge and understanding. This is profound.]]>
Here is some background. I was not an FGCS myself, but I taught many of them in my introduction to information literacy course during graduate school. Planning, coordinating, and delivering lesson plans for that course was probably the most challenging part of my job assignment as a teaching assistant, but it was also the most rewarding – the experience also inspired me to pursue instruction as a library career. If possible, I wanted to continue working with this student population but knew that it may not be within the purview of my job responsibilities, especially in my first job.
At my current institution, the number of FGCS is increasing and the number of corresponding university services dedicated to FGCS is, thankfully, increasing as well. Groups dedicated to peer mentoring, career services, and internships for FCGS are going strong on campus, some of them with years of institutional history and experience under their belts. The First Generation College Student Task Force guides many of these groups. Developed under the auspice of the Office for Diversity and Strategic Initiatives, the group is dedicated to connecting FGCS students with myriad resources available to them on campus. In addition to connecting students to academic resources such as the Writing Center and cultural resources such as El Centro Chicano, the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs, and the Women's Student Assembly, the Task Force encourages student well being and offers support for stress management. The Task Force also supports FGCS fellowships, awards, internships, and study abroad programs
So how did the library fit into this campus support system for FGCS? Was there a need for a library program for FGCS? I certainly wasn't sure. I knew that collaboration was key – collaboration with my library colleagues and campus groups dedicated to helping FGCS.
It took six months for me to put out a call to library staff and faculty. I sent an email via the lib-all listserv (which was terrifying!) to gauge interest. Were any of my colleagues interested in starting a FGCS working group in the library? They were. We ended up with a fairly agile group of library faculty and staff – many whom were FGCS themselves – who wanted to develop library interventions for FGCS or, at least, think more intentionally about library outreach to this student population.
But what should these library interventions look like? Are they workshops? Personal librarian programs? A position dedicated to FGCS? Our initial conversations were informal and concentrated on reviewing the literature on FGCS and learning more about campus FGCS partners. We started out as an information-seeking group. We knew that the insight of campus partners dedicated to FGCS was crucial to guiding our charge. And let me tell you, it took time to gain buy-in from these partners – understandably so. Like so many on college campuses, these groups are understaffed and over worked; we were a freshly developed group who needed more of their time. So immediate buy-in was, frankly, non-existent. After months of contacting the Task Force, introducing myself to stakeholders, and describing the charge of our library group, I finally convinced the Vice Dean and Assistant Dean of Diversity and Strategic Initiatives – and leaders of the Task Force – to chat with our group about how the library could help FGCS.
We learned that 16% of the undergraduates at our institution are FGCS, defined as students where neither parents attended or completed college. We learned more about the many academic and non-academic campus groups dedicated to FGCS. We talked about the tacit barriers to college, such as working full-time while maintaining a full course load, managing anxiety about financial support, and negotiating the pressure to select a career aligned with familial goals or values. They discussed how crucial it is to include families in the FGCS experience. The Vice Dean, who teaches a general education seminar, talked to us in-depth about his philosophy and lesson plans for the class. I knew that many FGCS don't self-identify as FCGS, but these conversations encouraged me to really ruminate on what that meant for our groups' outreach philosophy. We were slated to meet for only an hour but collaboration flowed beyond that allotted time frame.
This conversation caused us to completely re-shift our focus. Instead of focusing on developing robust workshops, we are focused on changing the library's perspective among FGCS. We need to simplify library language and heighten the library's visibility on campus, which means that we need to get out of the library to help FGCS where they naturally fall on campus. We need to focus on what we can do to help them succeed in college. We need to educate academic advisors and campus peer mentoring groups on what the libraries has to offer FGCS. I'm focusing on developing an interactive library tutorial about many of the tacit barriers to academic success – such as breaking down the stigma of attending office hours, or reaching out the Writing Center for help. I'm also focusing my effort on developing campus awareness of OER and laying the groundwork on, hopefully, lowering the costs associated with textbook purchases.
Of course, all of this is in development. But our group now has a set of goals, and that's a big deal! Group participation may wax and wane during the academic year, but at least we have an objective and related goals. But I'd love to learn more about what other university libraries provide for FGCS. Does your library provide outreach to FGCS? Are such outreach initiatives folded into another program? How does your library approach this outreach experience? I'd really like to develop a support network for librarians to share and collaborate on ideas for FGCS library programs. If you'd like to reach out to me directly (again, I'd really like to hear from you!), I'm on Twitter @therealcalliek.]]>
Early on in her book, Carrie reflects on the massive stadium-size concerts she attended as a girl. Seeing Madonna and George Michael live was awe-inspiring and set her young adolescent heart and mind alight. She describes "witnessing" the "spectacle" of these events: "The experience … was immense; the grandiosity was ungraspable, it was the Olympics, it was a mountain, it was outer space."
But Carrie's story is not just about watching and witnessing; it's about becoming and making. Which brings me to the part I really love (the underlining is mine for emphasis):
Yet the music I was hearing and the concerts I was witnessing were also mystifying and inaccessible. It was the '80s, and much of what I loved was synthed-out pop and Top 40 music, more programmed than played. The music was in the room and in my body, yet I had no idea how it had been assembled or how to break it apart.
This, I thought to myself, is exactly what I mean when I talk about information literacy. Carrie's reflection continued as she described how she bought her first guitar and started going to punk and rock shows at smaller venues (again, the underlining is mine for emphasis):
Here I could get close to the players themselves. I could see how the drums worked with the guitars and bass, I could watch fingers move along frets and feet stomp down on effects pedals, I saw the set lists taped to the floor, and sometimes I was close enough to see the amp or pickup settings. I observed the nature of the bands, their internal interactions, their relationships to one another, as much as I listened. It seems obvious, but it was the first time I realized that music was playable, not just performable–that it had a process and a seed, a beginning, middle, and end. Everyone who plays music needs to have a moment that ignites and inspires them, calls them into the world of sound and urges them to make it. And I suppose this form of witness could happen aurally; perhaps it's as easy as hearing an Andy Gill riff or a Kim Gordon cadence and knowing intuitively how that all works. Then you form those sounds yourself, with your own hands and your own voice. Or maybe you see it on a video, in footage of a musician who finally translates and unlocks what you thought was a mystery. For me, however, I needed to be there–to see guitarists … in the wholly relatable attire of threadbare T-shirts and jean shorts, enact a weird nerd sexiness, strangely minimal, maximally perverse. I could watch them play songs that weren't coming out of thin air or from behind a curtain. I needed to press myself up against small stages, risking crushed toes, bruised sides, and the unpredictable undulation of the pit, just so I could get a glimpse of who I wanted to be.
It was in the small clubs with small bands, up close and personal, that Carrie could not only experience the music and witness the final product in all its glory, but also figure out how the music was constructed. And better still, how she could construct it, too. I'm not suggesting information literacy has the allure of music shows, large or small. Ha! Instead, I'm saying that I recognize in Carrie's reflection the power of uncovering process to enable an individual's participation and agency that is also at the core of information literacy. Her story serves as an illustration of the disconnects that students experience and why it's important to help them uncover, develop, and articulate process. To see the "mystifying" final product (of scholarly research as published in a journal article or book, for example) is impressive and edifying, but for many is a closed door. To instead understand how something (again, that research) is made–to see its final whole, but also the pieces that make it up and the process of its making–is to open the door to one's own potential participation.
A few months ago, I posted about some activities I used with students to "dissect" articles. Through these guided activities, we explored how sample articles (one from a scholarly journal, one from The New Yorker) were constructed. The most immediate goal was to help students parse these samples to see how authors use and synthesize sources and to what effect. Dissecting the sources broke open the elegant final products such that students could better see their component parts. By "decoding complexities that can sometimes seem a mystery and make research and writing feel insurmountable," then, the goal was to set students up for constructing their own work, helping them recognize their own potential participation. Not quite the blood and guts of the pit at a punk rock show, but still a developmental and empowering step in its own right.
I've put Carrie's story to use a few times in recent weeks, most notably in conversation with faculty about assignment design and pedagogy. The anecdote's resonance was apparent in their faces and in our conversation. It occurs to me that this is, at least in part, the kind of thing I meant when I wrote about "writing it better" over a year ago. I'm calling to mind now some of the disappointing moments when I attempted to show others the breadth and depth of information literacy as I see it, but my message fell short or our connection was missed. Compelling examples, stories, and metaphors go a long way to helping us all recognize our common ground. How do you effectively tell the story of information literacy and its power? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments…]]>
One of the insights I've gained as I've grown older, is how deeply and comprehensively injuries and illness can effect someone. Or non medical issues – the regular ups and downs of life. Especially on the job.
A few weeks ago a friend called out a scholar for not caring about their research. The presentation was bad, they were unenthusiastic and, frankly, it sounds like it sucked. It sucked for my friend to sit through it. Maybe the presenter doesn't care, and if a presenter doesn't care it's hard for anyone else to care. But I kept defending this unknown person, thinking maybe they were doing the absolute best they could and we just don't know what is going on.
What if they have plantar fasciitis and standing is painful? Or if they have a bulging disc between their vertebra that is pressing directly on a nerve? What if they suffer depression – that wounds so many, kills some, and hides in plain sight?
What if they have lost someone?
What if they have an autoimmune disorder that is causing a cascade of seemingly unconnected problems that just makes them tired and miserable? Maybe their doctor thinks they are a hypochondriac.
Muscular sclerosis.
Prescription drug side effects.
Nonacceptance of gender identity.
A belittling, tyrannical supervisor.
Their child is being bullied.
Marital problems.
Financial troubles.
Sick family.
You get the idea.
There are a nearly infinite number of reasons someone might be flat or uninspired that have nothing to do with their passion for a subject. Personal matters and illness can intersect in ways both traumatic and invisible that harm our work performance – and I mean the affective state we try to project.
As I age and endure some of these issues I usually choose not to share my troubles with coworkers. I imagine they are doing the same – the best they can. (EDIT – a friend notes this suggests that people normally and perhaps should hide their problems. She is right, and that is not what I wanted to communicate. I was speaking to my tendency to not share. Sharing of problems can be therapeutic and I hope people can seek help and not be isolated by the problems they face.) I have had to become better at self care to combat the little aches that accrue as my birthdays pile up. I get off lightly and I never will know what others are enduring. Maybe you are healthy and happy in your job – awesome! But please have a generous heart and at least assume others are doing their best within the framework of their life. And of course, practice self care to the extent you can.]]>
As I imagine many of us do, I've been looking forward to this summer slowdown (though not the hot & humid weather that's accompanied it this year). The summertime can offer mental, physical, and temporal space for us to work on library or research projects that can be tough to schedule during the academic year, or even just the opportunity to take a day to clean our offices and organize files (surely I'm not the only person who's really looking forward to that day?).
I've had an unusually busy semester and am getting ready for a week of research leave coming up soon, so it's not quite time for me to hit those summer projects yet. But I've already started thinking about how to organize my time this summer. Every year I'm surprised at how challenging it can be to schedule project work over the summer when it seems like it should be the exact opposite, since there are fewer meetings and other commitments. My fellow ACRLoggers (and others in higher ed) have written about this in the past, and today I find myself revisiting these posts for tips and suggestions:
And as we go into a long holiday weekend in the U.S., I hope everyone has a chance for rest, relaxation, and whatever forms of self-care you prefer, in order to start the summer off right.]]>


text:
THE BASQUE COASTThe Côte Basque is a colourful mix of history, people and cultures where old-fashioned elegance tangles with surfer culture, all with such joie de vivre, as JOY DODDS discovered. On France's Basque Coast, north of Spain, the Pyrénées plunge into the Bay of Biscay, such ruggedness giving the area its exotic character – a mix of resort and sanctuary, sophistication and charm. Whales were the first sea bathers at Biarritz, not the elegant femmes of the 19th century and today's surfers.
ORVIETO – SLOW CITY ON THE ROCKS: Orvieto's tufo and labyrinth of caves have shaped its independent identity, its Etruscan altars and relics – and the character of a renowned white wine, writes JOY DODDS.
TAKE A NIGHT RIDE: With a Eurail Pass, rail travel is convenient and economical. What's more, travelling on night trains makes a great alternative to costly hotels. JOY DODDS reports. Train travel throughout Europe is a breeze with comprehensive rail networks, covering legendary scenic routes and high-speed/express trains that are efficient and affordable.
CAPTURED WW1 GERMAN TANK ON EXHIBITION: MEPHISTO is a German A7V tank captured by the 26th Battalion of the Australian Infantry Forces in 1918. One of only 20 originally manufactured, this rare tank is the only surviving one of its kind. Come to Canberra and visit Mephisto at the Australian War Memorial from 27 July, 2015.
SPARTA'S PAST NOT TO BE MYTH-ED: JOY DODDS discovers a seamless blend of the ancient and modern in Historic Greece. SPARTA – the very name epitomises Homeric daring, valour and resilience. But what of today's Sparta? Its setting is just as dramatic as its past, broodingly located among the high mountains and deep gorges of the Greek Peloponnesus.
THE CALM BEFORE THE VOYAGE: It's 11pm on the Chinese Lunar New Year and the competent, friendly staff of the Mercure Sydney International Airport Hotel are checking in some late arrivals.
BLACK SEA CRUISING: LOOKING or a cruise with a difference? The Black Sea is one of cruising's best-kept secrets, a perfect antidote to the increasingly overcrowded Caribbean and Mediterranean, writes JOY DODDS. The Black Sea laps up against Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, land is inked to the Aegean/Mediterranean by the Bosphorus.
PRINCELY POSTAGE STAMP - MONACO: The tiny principality of Monaco celebrates its patron day on January 27, symbolically with a blessing of the sea and a fishing boat - and loads of colour and music.
LIGHT-FILLED COASTAL ART ENCLAVE - ANTIBES-JUAN-LES-PINS: ANTIBES JUAN-LES-PINS is a more reticent jewel that sparkles on France's rather glitzy Cote d'Azur, writes JOY DODDS.
CARIBBEAN MAGIC - CUBA: THERE is nowhere quite like Cuba. The island pulsates with energy – in its Old World Spanish traditions, its music, its dance and its outdoor adventure. JOY DODDS reports.
BORDEAUX - GLOBAL WINE CAPITAL: Aquitaine's elegant capital offers UNESCO World Heritage, a ravishing facelift – and grapes, as JOY DODDS discovered.
JAKARTA'S OLD BATAVIA: Indonesia is increasingly the flavour of the month with Australian tourists, more than one million of us having visited , a 266% increase, in 2013-14.
NEW DANUBE FRONTIERS: Cruising the Danube has taken on a new dimension, extending beyond Hungary's Budapest into Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. JOY DODDS reports.
WORLD HERITAGE ISLAND ESCAPE: FRASER Island is the world's largest sand island - with adventures that come in bucketloads.
ANGKOR AWAY: The Mekong is real life – its banks stacked with visual delights from floating villages and longboats to serene temples and orange-clad monks. JOY DODDS reports.
VENICE OF THE NORTH: THE former capital of Russia, St Petersburg is unlike any other Russian city and a historic and cultural gem. JOY DODDS reports.
UPPER LACHLAN TRIANGLE: LESS than an hour's drive from Canberra, this triangle of fertile rural land, bounded by Yass, Gunning and Crookwell, is steeped in history and physical beauty.
THE RESIDENCES IN CENTENNIAL PARK: WIN a night's accommodation in Sydney's favourite playground, Centennial Park - with the grounds to yourself.
BERLIN - WORLD WITHOUT WALLS: CELEBRATE with locals the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall amid fascinating memorials to the struggle. JOY DODDS reports.
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Holidays Away is published by Fairfax Media
Telephone: 02 9478 1200
Holidays Away is published by Fairfax Media

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Florida critics like `Network'
Falling in step with practically every other critics' group thus far, the Florida Film Critics Circle, which is comprised of 19 film journalists from around the state (including The Miami Herald...
Falling in step with practically every other critics' group thus far, the Florida Film Critics Circle, which is comprised of 19 film journalists from around the state (including The Miami Herald's Rene Rodriguez and Connie Ogle), bestowed its biggest honors on the juggernaut The Social Network, which nabbed Best Picture, Best Director (with David Fincher beating out Darren Aronofsky by one vote) and Best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin.
Christopher Nolan's Inception won four awards (more than any other film), earning Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography. The Italian melodrama I Am Love, starring Tilda Swinton, was named Best Foreign Language Film.
Toy Story 3 got Best Animated Feature, while The Tillman Story was named Best Documentary. Winter's Bone's Jennifer Lawrence earned this year's Breakout Award. Matthew Curtis, programming director of Orlando's Florida Film Festival, which is in its 19th year, earned the Golden Orange award for his contributions to film culture in Florida.
For more information about the FFCC, visit http://floridafilmcriticscircle.webs.com/
Michelle Bernstein is set to appear on the Today show 9:50 a.m. Tuesday to gab about crab, among other things.
The local restaurateur (Sra Martinez, Michy's) will show how to make seasonal dishes like chestnut soup, roasted calabaza salad and a newfangled combo of spaghetti and crabmeat. ``It's a take on classic clams and spaghetti,'' says Bernstein, 42.
Spotted at the Fins vs. Bills game Sunday: Johnny Depp and girlfriend Vanessa Paradis. The Tourist star requested that no photog know he was there and waited until all the fans cleared before he left, reports Page2Live.com.
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Quality Assurance Software
Hot topics in Quality Assurance Softwaremarathon user acceptance test marathon testing tool abbot java swing gui automation python 3.5 library gui gui testing swing testing python gui
Marathon - GUI Acceptance Test Runner
Marathon runs gui based acceptance tests against Java/Swing applications. Marathon provides an integrated environment for test script creation and execution. Currently, Marathon supports Jython and JRuby script models for recording the test scripts.59 weekly downloads
Collaboration for developers and complete development teams. An approach to integrate bugtracker (Bugzilla), Wiki (MoinMoin), subversion and other tools. Inspired by trac.
xTests - lightweight test suites
Simple, easy-to-use, efficient testing library, for C, C++, Java, .NET, Python and Ruby. Combining high discoverability and low coupling, xTests is a lightweight solution designed for use in verifying other libraries.1 weekly downloads


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Kendra Wilkinson's Son Hospitalized After Passing Out
Kendra Wilkinson reportedly made an emergency call to 911 recently. According to TMZ, her two-year-old son, Hank Baskett IV, was hospitalized for medical attention on Wednesday evening, October 3 after he suddenly fainted.
The kid was taken to a nearby hospital and released shortly after. The doctor who treated him told the former Playboy model that the little boy lost consciousness due to overheating for running around the house. He's in full recovery and fine now.
The child is Kendra's first son with husband Hank Baskett. Two years after giving birth, she once revealed that she had overcome her battle against post-partum depression. "[After I had a baby,] I felt like I had to be a different person. I had to be conservative and wear turtlenecks and be someone that I wasn't," she explained.
"Now that I have my body back and I feel good again, I have the perfect amount of balance. It's all about finding the balance," she continued. "I was a great mom and did what I needed to, but I was definitely very depressed. [Motherhood is] a big change in life and it happened overnight."
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- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- May 23, 2012
- 290 views
- 3 comments
The Hanes "Just MY Size" catalog (summer 2) has seriously misleading pricing.
On Page 30 they show pajamas. "Two for 16.99" says the one-inch headline by the photos. No. They are $18.99 each and if you buy two, they are 16.99 **each**. So that's actually "two for 33.98."
One would think this is a misprint. No, they do the same thing on page 31. ("Two for 15.99" but when you go to pay, they become "two for 31.98"). Same thing again on page 33. "Our best selling shpaers only $9.25 each" says the one-inch headline. But everything on the page costs $18.49 and up. Some are 36.99 and 41.99 each.
Nothing in catalog copy is accidental. This wording is misleading to the point of being deceptive. I called to order these items but they would not give me the items for the price they showed.
"Just My Size"? Maybe they should change the catalog name to "Just My Lies."
More Review Details
- Product or service
- Pricing
- Review category
- Footwear and Clothing
- Review rating
- 4 out of 5
Jul 17, 2012
I contacted Hanes in writing (through this board--I joined). They never responded to my letter calling attention to their misleading catalog pricing. A reputable company doesn't use misleading pricing. A reputable company responds to consumer feedback.0 0 Reply
Jul 17, 2012
I have used Hanes panties for years and have always been very satisfied. I appreciate finding them online as I am disabled now.0 0 Reply
May 23, 2012
Why does this website posts a Google Ad for Hanes "Just My Size" right under the complaint? We complain about something and they then advertize it? Are they being paid for this advertizement?0 0 Reply
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After driving some balls at the driving range we went to the clubhouse restaurant right next-door for lunch. The servers were friendly and drinks were refilled many times and they... read more
Golf facility located in the Outer Banks region.
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A global approach to effective mercury reduction strategies
EU-funded scientists are pioneering the development of a coordinated, global mercury observation system. It will help policy makers and researchers from around the world to monitor the presence of mercury in ecosystems and food chains and assess the effectiveness of emission reduction measures.
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EU project offers fresh perspective on climate change and food safety
The global fresh produce supply chain must take into account climate change in order to ensure food safety, warn EU-funded researchers.
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Fresh resources from food processing
When oil-seed plants and fish are processed, how can we use the parts not traditionally used in food? How about food ingredients, skincare and pesticides? EU-funded researchers have demonstrated sustainable ways to get the most out of produce. Companies are already building factories and machines to put the results to good use.
Published: 11 February 2016
A guide to spotting forgotten diseases
With cures increasingly available for infectious diseases that hit the world's poorest regions, doctors need low-cost diagnostic tests to use these new treatments. An EU-funded project helps identify these diseases from early symptoms, saving lives and cutting healthcare costs.
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Community level health insurance: does it work?
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Thoroughly analysing the vibrations made by a machine can help diagnose its mechanical state of health. In Turin, Italy, a European research project aims to understand the vibrations made by machine tools. The idea is to use the data gathered by a network of sensors to forecast and therefore prevent breakdowns.
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In a time of climate change, when fuel resources are under pressure and lands face potential erosion risks, humble grass seems an unlikely saviour. The European research project OPTIMA is helping cultivate high-yielding perennial grasses that could address these possible challenges, offering a number of valuable environmental and economic benefits.
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Customer Reviews Of:
Mountain Hardwear Felix II Jacket - Insulated (For Men)
Closeouts. A look at warmth done right: Mountain Hardwear's Felix II jacket features 120g Thermal.Q insulation in the body and 100g in the sleeves, allowing for more warmth where you need it and less bulk where you don't. Plus, the water-resistant shell supplies ample flexibility, and both hem and hood can be adjusted with one hand.
Average Rating based on 13 reviews 4.384615 0 5
Verified Buyer Reviewed by Dawn from Brookfield, WI on Monday, April 20, 2015This jacket is lighter weight than expected. Based on the description, I was expecting a heavy winter coat, but it's very thin. Since we ordered this at the end of the season, we won't have the chance to test the level of warmth it provides. It's a tad longer than my husband wanted. The length will be fine when standing/walking, but it may bunch up when sitting.
Verified Buyer Reviewed by Steve from South Carolina on Wednesday, March 4, 2015This jacket is very nice. It's all black color and textured finish make it something that you could even where over work clothes on days that are cold and or wet. Pockets are felt lined, which is always nice. The synthetic insulation is warm, without providing too much bulk. The hood is nice to have, although I would prefer if it was removable since the jacket has a nice look to it.
As with a lot of Mountain Hardware gear, it runs a little large. It is a little long, and fits pretty loose for a large. I am 6'1, 185 and I wouldn't want it any bigger. However, the extra space gives me room to layer underneath. If you want a snug fit, maybe consider going a size down.
Verified Buyer Reviewed by Christophe from Jersey City on Tuesday, March 3, 2015This is a great mid-weight jacket, and a whole lot of warmth for the price. With a little bit of layering, this jacket can easily handle a northeastern winter. I should add that its effectively weather resistant. Its not water or wind "proof" in the sense that I could stand outside in driving rain and be 100 percent dry. But it keeps the wind and rain out for most reasonable purposes.
My only gripe, and why I haven't given it 5 stars, is that is a little baggy in the midsection. I am 5'11, 185 lbs., athletic build, with fairly broad shoulders. I bought both the large and the medium for sizing purposes and ultimately went with the large. But the large, again, feels just a tad baggy through the middle. The medium was too tight. I also wish the coat was a little shorter. This might just have to do with my body type.
Anyway, its a great coat over all. This is my fifth Mountain Hardware product, and once again, I am not disappointed.
Verified Buyer Reviewed by Mike from North Carolina on Monday, February 23, 2015Got this coat the day before record cold temperatures hit in February. Very pleased with its performance. Slim fit looks great. Highly recommend.
Verified Buyer Reviewed by Jerry dude from Colorado on Tuesday, February 3, 2015I couldn't be happier with this coat. Fits great, keeps me warm in the colorado mountains and looks sharp!
Reviewed by Warm in the Midwest from Illinois on Wednesday, January 14, 2015Very pleased. This jacket is perfect for someone who has trouble finding siim fit clothes, especially outerwear. Not too heavy or bulky. A little longer in the back, which is good for sitting down. Inside of the collar is lined with a soft knit, so it's comfortable when zipped all the way up. Sleeves were just the right length, the many pockets are very useful, nicely placed inside and out for all necessities and gear. Hood has a brim to keep rain or snow out. First Mountain Harweard purchase; would now buy this brand again.
Verified Buyer Reviewed by Me Me from Boston on Tuesday, December 16, 2014Jacket is made from really nice materials and is very warm while still maintaining a thinner and less bulky cut. It is essentially designed like a "slim fit," which works for me since I am on the thinner side.
Verified Buyer Reviewed by Steve from Boston on Wednesday, December 10, 2014I ordered this one based on the size chart but it's too small. I ordered another one later.
Verified Buyer Reviewed by Steve from Boston on Wednesday, December 10, 2014well produced product
Verified Buyer Reviewed by MRJB from Wisconsin on Monday, November 17, 2014This is an excellent jacket functional, simple and warm!


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Wade Davis, National Geographic's Explorer-in-Residence
Friday, February 15, 2013
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Wade Davis, National Geographic Society Explorer-in Residence
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Wade Davis is an anthropologist and ethnobotantist who has travelled and worked in some of the world's most remote places, documenting the array of human culture.
Wade Davis has unravelled the mystery of zombie ritual in Haiti, written about the traditional use of psychotropic drugs in traditional societies and studied the botany of the Andes and Amazon.
Wade Davis has been chosen by the National Geographic Society to reach out to members and the general public to talk about the loss of human culture and languages.
His most recent, award winning book is Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest.
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Cakewalk has released a free update for Sonar 8.5 Producer and Sonar 8.5 Studio.
The Sonar 8.5.3 update is focused on AudioSnap 2.0, providing usability enhancements, optimizations, and overall improved stability when performing complex audio timing tasks.
The SONAR 8.5.3 AudioSnap Update Features:
In addition, the update addresses some bug fixes and other improvements. Details are available at the Cakewalk site.
Pricing and Availability
Registered Sonar 8.5 Producer, Sonar 8.5 Studio, and V-Studio 700 customers can download the Sonar 8.5.3 AudioSnap Update for free.
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Martin shows of the new wares from Rebel Tech
A modern classic that you will find in almost all high end studios
SV-1 and KB-1 combine for suprising amount of control


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31, Baltimore, MDI'm a happy fun-loving woman who loves her life. : ) In addition to work (which I do have a lot of fun at - teaching 4th and 5th graders) I'm always up to something active and...
46, Baltimore, MDI just moved back to Maryland and I am intelligent, out going, honest, and sincere guy. who is looking to meet a woman that I can share my life with. I grew up in big Catholi...
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33, Baltimore, MDGod is everything. Jesus is Lord. I am a simple girl. I enjoy natural beauty - my own, in others and in God's creation. I have been known to create a peaceful atmosphere ar...
31, Baltimore, MDI recently passed the eight year mark in my job contracting for the federal government. I like it pretty well...there's variety in the work, and most people I work with, like ...
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Woven Wednesday: Free Shipping on 1+ Yards of any woven fabrics through 11:59 p.m. EDT July 27th.
Preview scale: 21.0 x 18.0 inches

Change DPI Base size is 150
Designs by bee&lotus
paper (1518),
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paula's_designs says:
Lovely to look at, such great eye play with the positive and negative space, really nice!
Posted over 2 years ago.
su_g says:
Yummy! Love the fretwork background and the chunkiness of the horse cut outs - very believable as a paper cutting!
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The Church celebrates the great feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16th. It was on July 16, 1251, that the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Simon Stock to entrust to him her Brown Scapular, with the promise that "those who die wearing this habit will not suffer eternal fire." This feast commemorates the apparition and the love and protection of Mary signified by the Scapular.
The Scapular is the ancient Jewish garment worn underneath the clothes to signify that the Jew belonged to Continue reading