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 | On September 10, Librarians Will Be a Presence on Answer Sites
Now that's good marketing: on September 10, librarians are being encouraged to "Slam the Boards!" by visiting online "answer sites" such as Yahoo! Answers, Ask Metafilter, Wikipedia Reference Desk, or Amazon's Askville fielding as many questions as possible, and making it clear that the service users have just enjoyed was provided by a librarian.
What began as a word-of-mouth idea has grown into an international effort, as librarians from the U.K., New Zealand, and beyond have joined the grassroots effort in the United States to raise the profile of librarians and libraries that offer virtual reference services by doing what libraries do best--providing answers from authoritative resources. The idea originated as a conversation between Bill Pardue, virtual services librarian at Arlington Heights Memorial Library, IL, and Caleb Tucker-Raymond, Oregon statewide digital reference project coordinator, Multnomah County Library, Portland.
The idea has since gained steam on blogs, email discussion lists, and American Libraries Direct. There's also an Answer Board Librarians Wiki where librarians can register to participate and find a list of answer boards. Tips and tricks include registering beforehand and closing every answer with a library-promoting tagline, such as "Librarians--we eat questions for breakfast!" While most librarians signing up work in public libraries, several academic librarians have signed up as well.
"We must recognize that resources like Yahoo Answers, et al., don't need to be 'the enemy' of reference services," Pardue said. "Instead, they're a forum in which we can display our quality and promote our services to folks who may not know they exist." After the event, he added, "I'd like to see librarians stay involved in the boards. I want answer-site users to get used to the idea that a librarian might answer their questions--and maybe just visit a library or library web site later on when they have questions."
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ALA-APA Salary Survey: Average MLS Salary Up
The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association's (ALA-APA) latest survey finds that the average salary for librarians with ALA-accredited master's degrees increased 2.8 percent from 2006, up $1550 to $57,800, while the median MLS salary was $53,000. Those findings and more are available in two recently released surveys containing data from more than 800 public and academic libraries: "ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian Public and Academic" and "ALA-APA Salary Survey: Non-MLSPublic and Academic."
The surveys show aggregated data from more than 7500 MLS librarians and almost 20,000 non-MLS individual salaries at the state and regional levels. For the first time, the 2006 surveys included salary data for non-MLS staff, including 62 non-MLS positions in libraries. Non-MLS positions include library-specific jobs such as technical assistants and clerks by functional area, bookmobile drivers, collection development managers, and non-library specific positions, such as senior accountants, administrative assistants, proposal writers, human resources managers, and information technology managers. Librarian positions include the full range of positions: directors/deans, associate/assistant directors, department heads, managers of support staff, librarians who do not supervise, and beginning librarians.
The survey gives national-level mean and quartile data and coinciding printed reports include analyses of salary trends and an extensive appendix of other sources of compensation data within and outside of the library profession. The surveys are available in two ways: for subscribers to the ALA-APA Library Salary Database or in print from the ALA online store. For more salary info, also check out Library Journal's own starting salary survey.
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| Clicks and Mortar: U.K. Survey Finds Student Library Visits Down, Other Stats Up
While gate counts in U.S. academic libraries have been on the rise in recent years, thanks in part to the popularity of the "information commons," annual statistics released this week in the U.K. revealed a continued steady decline in student library visits. Librarians, however, said sharp rises in the use of online services offset that decline. According the annual statistics collected by SCONUL (the Society of College, National and University Libraries) a membership association of U.K. and Irish higher education and national libraries in this year's survey showed three percent decline in the number of library visits by students and a significant 22 percent dip over the last ten years. The statistics are said to cover 96.7 percent of full-time students in 2005/06.
Although U.K. students are "significantly less likely to visit a library than their counterparts a decade ago," Toby Bainton, secretary of SCONUL, said that other trends, such as a continued increase in the number of book loans "shows that university libraries remain at the heart of the student experience." Bainton described U.K. libraries as being in the midst of an evolving "clicks and mortar" approach: combining physical surroundings and services with wide-reaching digital services.
Other key findings: the average U.K. academic library now spends £332 ($669) per student, up from £307 last year; over £523m (over $1 billion) was spent by the 146 responding institutions on their libraries in 2005/06, the most by Oxford University, which spent more than £28m ($56.5 million).
Despite falling library visits, book loans have risen 11.4 percent in the past ten years. The average number of ebooks available per institution, meanwhile, rose by a whopping 60 percent in the last year alone. What to make of this rather mixed bag of findings? "Our libraries are themselves learning," Bainton suggested, "but they also remain true to their fundamental purpose as a unique place to think."
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| Bush Library Officially Names an Architect, If Not a Site
The George W. Bush Library has officially named an architect for the project, selecting New York-based Robert A.M. Stern Architects to design what stands to be the most expensive presidential library project in history. According to a report in the New York Times, the decision comes after Stern met with the president last week at Bush's Crawford, TX, ranch. Among Stern's library projects is the recent Baker Library Renovation at the Harvard Business School.
The Times noted that the Bush Library selection committee is engaged in talks with Southern Methodist University (SMU), and reported that "a decision is expected later this year," suggesting there may indeed be a few months before SMU is officially named. The selection committee was first expected to announce its decision last fall, before announcing in December in 2006 that it had entered exclusive talks with SMU. SMU, meanwhile, is embroiled in a contentious suit filed by a condo owner on the edge of campus, who alleges he was improperly forced out to make way for the library.
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| Announcement: Críticas Call for Reviewers!
Críticas, a sister publication of Library Journal covering the U.S. Spanish-language market, is seeking reviewers for books, videos, and audio for children and adults. Reviewers should be familiar with general collection development in public and academic libraries and be willing to review books on a regular basis.
If you are interested in reviewing Spanish-language books, write to the editor, Aída Bardales at: aida.bardales@reedbusiness.com for further information.
Currently, Críticas is seeking reviewers with an interest or expertise in the following subjects:
art/art history
autobiography/biography
commercial and/or literary fiction
gastronomy/cookbooks
reference (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, ESL/ language guides, etc.)
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Best Sellers in Philosophy (13 digit ISBNs in brackets), December 2006-present, as compiled by YBP Library Services
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Locke: A Biography
Woolhouse, R.S.
Cambridge University Press
2007. ISBN 0521817862 [9780521817868]. $39.99
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War Crimes and Just War
May, Larry
Cambridge University Press
2007. ISBN 052187114x [9780521871143]. $80.00
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What Is Good and Why: The Ethics of Well-Being
Kraut, Richard
Harvard University Press
2007. ISBN 0674024419 [9780674024410]. $35.00
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Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe
Frayn, Michael
Metropolitan Henry Holt
2007. ISBN 0805081488 [9780805081480]. $32.50
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Intricate Ethics: Rights, Responsibilities, and Permissible Harm
Kamm, F.M.
Oxford University Press
2007. ISBN 0195189698 [9780195189698]. $45.00
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Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives
Wilson, David Sloan
Delacorte
2007. ISBN 0385340214 [9780385340212]. $24.00
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Moral Value and Human Diversity
Audi, Robert
Oxford University Press
2007. ISBN 0195312945 [9780195312942]. $25.00
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Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art
Nehamas, Alexander
Princeton University Press
2007. ISBN 0691095213 [9780691095219]. $29.95
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Heidegger's Topology: Being, Place, World
Malpas, J.E
MIT Press
2006. ISBN 0262134705 [9780262134705]. $38.00
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Theory of Virtue: Excellence in Being for the Good
Adams, Robert Merrihew
Clarendon Oxford
2006. ISBN 0199207518 [9780199207510]. $45.00
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Meaning of Life
Eagleton, Terry
Oxford University Press
2007. ISBN 0199210705 [9780199210701]. $19.95
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Reasons Without Rationalism
Setiya, Kieran
Princeton University Press
2007. ISBN 0691127492 [9780691127491]. $29.95
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Self Awakened: Pragmatism Unbound
Unger, Roberto
Harvard University Press
2007. ISBN 0674023544 [9780674023543]. $29.95
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What's the Use of Truth?
Rorty, Richard
Ed. By: Patrick Savidan
Columbia University Press
2007. ISBN 0231140142. [9780231140140]. $12.95
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Thought and Reality
Dummett, Michael
Clarendon Oxford
2006. ISBN 0199207275 [9780199207275]. $29.95
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Impossible Nude: Chinese Art and Western Aesthetics
Trans. by Maev De La Guardia
Jullien, Francois
University of Chicago Press
2007. ISBN 0226415325 [9780226415321]. $40.00
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Abysmal: A Critique of Cartographic Reason
Olsson, Gunnar
University of Chicago Press
2007. ISBN 0226629309 [9780226629308]. $40.00
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Kant and Idealism
Rockmore, Tom
Yale University Press
2007. ISBN 0300120087 [9780300120080]. $55.00
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In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America
Glaude, Eddie S.
University of Chicago Press
2007. ISBN 0226298248 [9780226298245]. $25.00
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Darwin
Lewens, Tim
Routledge
2007. ISBN 0415346371 [9780415346375]. $93.95
Library Journal Academic Newswire
Contributing Editor: Andrew R. Albanese
Phone: 646-746-6852 E-mail: aalbanese@reedbusiness.com
Editor: Francine Fialkoff
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