Articles Posted in Libraries

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Is it possible to visit iLibrarian and not find something useful for the online writer? Is it possible to visit Men With Pens and not learn something about — social media (and of course laugh at the great domain name).

I’m sure I’m not the only person who hears “social media” and thinks online social life and personal life. It shouldn’t, but that is what many people hear. The word “media” isn’t powerful enough (sorry, talking heads) to overcome that “social” word. And, like it or not, that word “social” has come to mean personal, not professional (as in the phrase “this is business, not personal” that we hate, love, and use).

I’m not sure we need a new term for our personal social mediating, which we love dearly, but for businesses and organizations looking to hire professionals to manage their “social media” (or for freelancers competing for work), I think a new term is called for, if only from a practical point of view: to reduce the number of job applications from people who think that being a consumer of personal-life social media qualifies them for a job as a professional public information creator, facilitator, and manager.

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This article is written for public library staff members, but members of the public might find it interesting, empowering, and maybe even humorous. And, everyone on the other side of the any public service counter may also find it worthy of contemplation.

First Impressions and Rethinking Restroom Questions, by Lorraine J. Pellack.

All people in public service (government or private business) have Public Restroom Debates, Disasters, and Disagreements. Public restroom issues can absorb as much staff time as parking and health care benefits when policies and procedures are discussed.

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This story might describe a single California county law library, but its description fits county law libraries all over the country:

Hidden gem provides legal knowledge, The Bakersfield Californian, Nov 22, 2009

“Do you have a legal matter you would like to take care of but feel you can’t afford an attorney? Or maybe you would just like to take care of it yourself but don’t know how to get started? Well, you might be interested to know that there is help available, and it costs nothing….” (read full article)

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State law school law reviews often ignore their own state’s laws and it drives me crazy. I can’t count the number of times an attorney has asked for an article on an interesting Oregon legal issue that is worthy of some attention, but alas.

Try searching Oregon law reviews and what do you find? Not much, at least not in the past 30 years. But on occasion, an Oregon law review does include an article about Oregon law, either in the making or after the fact, and I’m pleased to blog about it.

(You can also look for other Oregonians who do write about their state’s history: Oregon Authors and don’t miss their Readers and Writers Groups link):

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The Southern California Association of Law Libraries’ (SCALL) Public Access to Legal Information Committee (PALI) has published the fifth edition of:

Locating the Law: A Handbook for Non-Law Librarians (2009).

Thank the California law librarians for this – it represents a lot of extra work for some very busy people!

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Bob Ambrogi recently posted this to his website: Casemaker Fights Back Over Loss in Oregon (posted Thursday, October 01, 2009):

“… I described the two as “in a head-to-head competition to win the loyalty of America’s lawyers.” That competition reached a critical juncture last month when the Oregon State Bar Association announced it was switching from Casemaker to Fastcase. That switch took effect today.

Today, Casemaker shot back, doing something it has never done before….” (read full post)

The Law Librarian and Non-Attorney Legal Researcher Perspective:

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Did you know that … “There is created the Task Force on Effective and Cost-Efficient Service Provision …”: House Bill 2920 (HTML or PDF) (Chapter 881, (2009 Laws): Effective date August 4, 2009).

“… The task force shall:

(a) Review opportunities to provide services in the most effective and cost-efficient manner;

(b) Consider the ability of intergovernmental agreements, existing or new service districts and technology to achieve costsavings;

(c) Encourage effective fiscal planning for counties managing the phaseout of federal forest safety net payments; and

(d) Recommend to the Governor and the Legislative Assembly anappropriate level of state fiscal support to counties….” (See also: Representative Nathanson appointment to Task Force)

I’m not sure if you are fully aware just how difficult it is to cut a state’s budget, especially one’s own state’s budget. Do you really want to cut programs that have substantial matching funds the state would lose? Do you want to cut programs that bring in self-supporting fees? Do you want to cut programs that would save us all a lot money in the short, medium or long term (e.g. education?) Do you really want to cut money from programs that protect our health and safety? See what I mean?

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I recently posted about the King County (Washington State) debt collection research guides and woefully neglected to link my readers to the excellent OREGON debt collection legal research guides at the Lane County Law Library. Use their Research Guide Index to find Debt Collection and many other useful guides.

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Many years ago a teacher of management reminded his students that the people least in the loop, the ones who don’t know what is going on in their companies (or government agencies), are the ones at the top, its managers and directors. He, of course, had many excellent examples of this.

No one on the front line of any business operation, or any consumer for that matter, is surprised to hear that those at the top “haven’t a clue” what systems and procedures work (or don’t work), but it is hard to know who to fault when the information that CEOs (and the rest of us) need to have is just not available.

A law librarian colleague brought this Law Technology News article to our attention and it provides another example of the problem:

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Libraries don’t bind their own books and journals anymore, at least most of us. (Some rare book libraries do – book conservation and preservation is super-specialized and skilled work.)

If you ever wondered about who does bind books (other than creative types who do it themselves), here’s a great story (from Oregon Business dot com) about a popular bookbinding operation for Oregon libraries and beyond: O Clients, Where Art Thou?

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