http://acrlog.org Blogging by and for academic and research librarians Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:08:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Back to school means back to library instruction, and while gearing up for the busy fall season I've found myself mulling over a few instruction issues. Outreach to faculty is something I think about often, especially outreach to those who either don't know about or don't seem interested in library ... http://acrlog.org/2010/08/29/taxonomy-of-collaboration/ Even Lightning Gets More Time I like lightning talks. I have given four of them now. It's a challenge to come up with a sensible presentation that still manages a good learning experience while hopefully entertaining the crowd. All have been in the 5 minute range. That's precious little time to ... http://acrlog.org/2010/08/27/sudden-thoughts-and-second-thoughts-28/ One of the lovely surprises awaiting those who have been away from the reference desk for a while is the numerous spanking new database interfaces that have sprouted up. There seem to be more than usual this year, and while some are improvements, others, frankly, need a good spanking. One ... http://acrlog.org/2010/08/24/new-and-improved-or-not/ There are two kinds of academic librarians. The ones who immediately knew what this post is about, and those who have no clue. Until a short while ago, I'd have put myself in the latter group. That was before I attended this conference session on the topic of staff development. ... http://acrlog.org/2010/08/23/is-there-a-rescue-plan-at-your-library/ A Facebook friend messaged me to say "ACRLog needs to take this on", in reference to this comment associated with a Slate piece on why tenure should be abolished. Andrew Sullivan who blogs for The Atlantic shared a few paragraphs from the Slate piece with his readers. It generated a ... http://acrlog.org/2010/08/18/is-a-response-even-worth-our-time/ It's the middle of August, which means that the Fall semester is coming up fast. Posts about beginning the new academic year on the right foot are starting to pop up all over the higher ed blogosphere. Here's a couple that have caught my eye recently: 1. Earlier this month Tenured ... http://acrlog.org/2010/08/18/just-around-the-corner/ Scenes from a Conference – Part 1 Speaker: I hate PowerPoint. That’s why I’m using Prezi for my presentation today. Who (asks audience) uses Prezi? (a few hands go up). Speaker: Yeah! (fist pump) Prezi is so cool. Speaker’s first slide: Two bullet points. Speaker proceeds to talk over first slide for five ... http://acrlog.org/2010/08/16/scenes-from-a-conference/ I came across an interesting piece of news about how some IHEs are just asking their alumni questions - and listening to the answers. The calls are not about hitting the alums up for contributions. The folks in charge of alumni offices are realizing that they need to learn much ... http://acrlog.org/2010/08/10/learning-from-the-alumni/ Academic libraries are leveraging social networks to increase opportunities to connect with students and faculty. Facebook or Twitter are the primary social media tools used for this purpose, but others are exploring how geo-location sites may play into a social strategy. It's not clear how academic libraries are tackling these ... http://acrlog.org/2010/08/03/is-there-a-social-media-librarian-in-your-librarys-future/ Are you feeling overworked these days? Do you feel the pressure to publish, present and serve on a dozen different committees? Does it seem like you are trying to do the work of two librarians, and that you just never have time to get much of anything truly constructive done? ... http://acrlog.org/2010/07/27/in-the-sweatshop-or-reaping-the-lottery-win/