And the literate towns in Oklahoma are...

All the cool internet kids on places Fark, Digg, and Lisnews are talking about the latest America's Most Literate Cities Rankings. For those not familiar with how this is determined:

This study attempts to capture one critical index of our nation’s social health—the literacy of its major cities (population of 250,000 and above). This study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.

This set of factors measures people's use of their literacy and thus presents a complex and nuanced portrait of our nation’s cultural vitality. From this data we can better perceive the extent and quality of the long-term literacy essential to individual economic success, civic participation, and the quality of life in a community and a nation....

And where do Oklahoma's cities rank? /insert drumroll

Tulsa, OK
2007 Rank: 16
2006 Rank: 19.5
2005 Rank: 24.5

Oklahoma City, OK
2007 Rank: 38.5
2006 Rank: 43
2005 Rank: 38

Very interesting....

America ill of literacy?

Chronicle is reporting (subscription required)

Americans aren't just reading fewer books, but are reading less and less of everything, in any medium. That's the doleful conclusion of "To Read or Not to Read," a report scheduled for release today by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Subtitled "A Question of National Consequence," the report piles on the bad news delivered by "Reading at Risk," the NEA's 2004 warning about the nation's rapidly declining literacy...

"The story the data tell is simple, consistent, and alarming," writes Dana Gioia. the NEA's chairman, in the new report's preface. Elementary-school children have posted some gains in literacy, but "there is a general decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans."

"Most alarming," he continues, "both reading ability and the habit of regular reading have greatly declined among college graduates."

Unlike the 2004 study, "To Read or Not to Read" examined not just literary reading but all kinds of reading, including online. And it tapped a far wider range of sources, notably statistics from the Department of Education and the Department of Labor, as well as academic and corporate studies....

Visit the Chronicle for the entire article.

University libraries are 1337

Inside Higher Ed | For IT, More Risk and More Music reports
More than 63 percent of colleges and universities in a new survey reported that they had completed a campus IT security risk assessment. One highlight they share is:

The highest level of wireless network access is in libraries, with over 80 percent of respondents reporting that 76–100 percent of their libraries provide wireless access, an increase of nearly 10 percent from last year and 30 percent over the previous three years...

Ticking people - will flat library structures work?

LISnews points to an article about a flat library structure.

"At walking paper, Aaron Schmidt writes a post about creating a flat organizational structure at his library through encouraging a "Culture of Maybe." A nice organizational structure is fine and dandy but it is also meaningless without the right attitude to back it up. Libraries with severe hierarchies either are the result of or set the stage for a strong Culture of No. It is probably a "chicken or egg" question but either way, a library can't have a free flowing exchange of ideas in a collaborative environment if the Culture of No dominates."

In it the article the writer has these main talking points:

Encourage collaboration.
Listen to everyone.
Let natural talents develop
Make people responsible.
Set deadlines and stick to them.

Each point is spelled out and worth reading. But prior to reading the above piece I read something else over at LifeHack -- which makes me wonder if the above will actually work.

Four rules to understanding what makes people tick points out the 4 rules of human behavior -- and has a rather depressing graphic to bring the point home.

Rule One: People Mostly Care About Themselves
Rule Two: People are Motivated by Selfish Altruism (being Dominance, Reciprocity, Trade, Familial)
Rule Three: People Don’t Think Much
Rule Four: Conformity is the Norm

and then offers tips on applying the above rules

What layers are you communicating with? If people are selfish, self-absorbed and fail to think much, just working on the words you use isn’t enough. Everything about you is communicating something, and unless you get that message straight, the most persuasive argument won’t win anyone over.

Give reminders. Although some people are meticulously organized, most aren’t. Give people the reminders they need so you don’t get left out unintentionally.

What’s your social value? This isn’t your worth as a person, but what you have to offer in terms of other peoples needs and wants. It is easy to get depressed about human issues, if you don’t see the calculations behind it. Improve the value you offer and you can access the selfish altruism in us all.

So given our natural drive for self can a flat library structure work? Is a partial Culture of No necessary when you have too many people exerting dominance? Can you listen and collaborate when many people don't "think"? And if you have "leads" on a project does that create a niche social group and you have all these "norms" and no cross thought?

After reading the two pieces let me know what you think -- :-)

Accepting Criticism

Found this via Geeks are Sexy - How to Accept Criticism with Grace and Appreciation

When you work with the public you are use to criticism - both constructive and destructive. But this article has some good things to remember on accepting criticism:

Stop Your First Reaction
If your first reaction is to lash back at the person giving the criticism, or to become defensive, take a minute before reacting at all. Take a deep breath, and give it a little thought...

Turn a Negative Into a Positive
...find the positive in it. Sure, it may be rude and mean, but in most criticism, you can find a nugget of gold: honest feedback and a suggestion for improvement...

Thank the Critic
Even if someone is harsh and rude, thank them. They might have been having a bad day, or maybe they’re just a negative person in general. But even so, your attitude of gratitude will probably catch them off-guard...

Learn from the Criticism
After seeing criticism in a positive light, and thanking the critic, don’t just move on and go back to business as usual. Actually try to improve...

Be the Better Person
Too many times we take criticism as a personal attack, as an insult to who we are. But it’s not. Well, perhaps sometimes it is, but we don’t have to take it that way. Take it as a criticism of your actions, not your person. If you do that, you can detach yourself from the criticism emotionally and see what should be done...

My idle observation is that libraries/librarians have a hard time actively soliciting criticism to better their services, collections, collect data for increase staff, etc. With free online surveys and polls there's really no reason why libraries/librarians can't post a little something online (or make something available in print) to see what their patrons think. Yes -- there will be the occasional "U suxx0r5!" but there will also be the "I appreciate the assistance and smiling faces I see when I visit XYZ Library" responses.

I also think librarians are afraid to solicit this information because in library school they teach us the importance of customer feedback but not how to act upon it. That's where having a clear mission statement for your core service areas is vitally important. This includes dealing with both an external mission statement for the public as well as a mission statement for your staff and colleagues and what you hope to accomplish as professionals. And don't forget to revisit these mission statements regularly.

Having said all that -- what are your thoughts?

Muskogee says support adult literacy

The MuskogeePhoenix has an article about adult literacy, Literacy column: Support adult literacy with donations:

...Since we worked together to support childhood literacy, let’s now turn our attention to increasing resources and support for adult literacy. Our state’s literacy organization has discovered a way to raise money for Oklahoma Literacy efforts without asking you to give one cent. In fact, not only can you help raise funds for literacy, you can get rid of the outdated, unused supply of old cell phones, video games, and other such items that are taking up valuable space in your home, office and life. The donated equipment will be sold to EcoPhones for recycling and all the proceeds will benefit the Oklahoma Literacy Coalition, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Donations may be dropped off at the Muskogee Public Library from now until Oct. 24. The following items can be donated; cell phones, ink jet printer cartridges, DVD movies and video games, portable DVD players, laptop computers, MP3 players, X-Boxes, Sony Playstations, Wii, digital cameras, digital video cameras, digital picture frames, portable navigation and GPS devices such as Garmin, Magellan or Tom-Tom. The Oklahoma Literacy Coalition will earn cash for every item, guaranteed. This includes damaged and non-working items, also...

If you find that interesting you may want to check out ODL's Literacy Resource Office.

Many libraries overdue for good Internet access

I plan on reading the report highlighted (6mb pdf) in this article -- probably some night when I'm having problems sleeping. But this TulsaWorld article is a good stop gap in the meantime:
Tulsa World Many libraries overdue for good Internet access

YouTube, online job applications and homework help sites have boosted demand and contributed to lines for Internet access at the nation's public libraries, yet a new survey finds the majority have no immediate plans to add computers.

For many library systems, the buildings simply do not have enough room, and their electrical wiring couldn't deliver the required power. Others are already struggling to stay open, buy books and encourage youths to read.
...
A new study from the American Library Association, scheduled for release Wednesday, finds the average number of public Internet terminals largely unchanged since 2002, yet only one in five libraries say they have enough computers to meet demand at all times.

The survey is one the Oklahoma Department of Libraries participates in, said Susan McVey, executive director.

"It is well done," she said. "I think it is good data. The information in it is similar to the experiences we have had in Oklahoma with demand."

In fiscal year 2006, Oklahoma public libraries had 2,058 public-access stations with about 4.7 million users, McVey said.

Oklahoma recently received $600,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to replace a number of public-access computers, she said.

"We had a pretty significant private gift, but the vast majority of the funding for public libraries comes from the locals," McVey said.

Besides cost, limitations in space, electrical outlets and cabling are cited as the chief factors preventing libraries from buying more computers. Las Vegas officials, for instance, say they reached capacity a few years ago.

"There are times, especially during those peak usage after school and as people get out of work, that you may have to wait an hour, an hour and a half," said Robb Morss, deputy director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.

Meanwhile, three-quarters of the libraries say they are the only source of free Internet access in their communities. ...

And here's a little more of what some of the data for Oklahoma looks like this:

Oklahoma has 112 public library systems with 206 physical library locations and four bookmobiles to serve almost 2.9 million residents...

EXPENDITURES (library system data)
Total operating expenditures per capita
Oklahoma $23.51
U.S. $30.49

Technology-related expenditures (FY 2006)
Oklahoma $21,848
U.S. $166,181

Download the entire file and go to page 109 if you want to see the full data on Oklahoma.

Librarian unhappy with vendors

Found via someone's del.icio.us feed -- Survey says librarians like their jobs but are displeased with vendors.

o rly?

Even though the article is about law librarians -- I think a lot applys to us non-legal types.

But as the libraries take on more businesslike tasks, they are also facing more businesslike challenges. According to the survey, the average law library budget decreased 3.5 percent in 2007, coming in at $4,251,627 -- compared with $4,408,242 in 2006. And only 45 percent of firms have more full-time library employees than they did two years ago. The average law library staff size is currently 19. Cost recovery has become more difficult, too, with clients increasingly demanding that online research tools be treated as overhead. But perhaps the biggest headaches are coming from the content providers, the vendors who sell access to electronic research tools. They continue to raise licensing fees, introduce new products and market their wares aggressively -- often directly to lawyers.

So librarians are spending an increasing amount of time vetting products, training lawyers how to use them efficiently (read: without running up the tab) and haggling over contracts. "Every vendor thinks we are a cash cow," says Carolyn Ahearn, director of library services at Wiley Rein in Washington, D.C. "But clients are balking at the costs. I've gotten much more unwilling to accept the offer the vendor puts on the table. Librarians are wising up that they can negotiate."...

Worldwide gaming reaches 217 mil peeps

Found via TechCrunch - Worldwide online gaming community reaches 217 million people

World Metrix study took into account all sites that provide online or downloadable games, excluding gambling sites. The sector attracted 28 percent of the total worldwide online population in May and recorded an average of 9 visits per visitor. Said Bob Ivins, EVP and managing director of comScore Europe:

“With one in four Internet users visiting a gaming site, playing games online is extremely popular. The fact that these websites are pulling in over a quarter of the total worldwide Internet population shows what a global phenomenon gaming has become. The potential of the online gaming arena should be especially appealing for advertisers, as the average online gamer visits a gaming site 9 times a month.”

Yahoo! Games was the largest property, attracting 53 million unique visitors. MSN Games followed in second place, having grown by 16 percent since May 2006 to reach 40 million unique visitors in May 2007. Both properties provide a mixture of strategy, trivia, arcade, and board games, with puzzle and card games proving to be the most popular choices for gamers in both cases. The fastest-growing Top 10 gaming property was WildTangent Network, a US company that makes online and downloadable games, which grew by 398 percent year-on-year to attract 11.5 million unique visitors in May 2007. The site also attracted an average 12.2 visits per visitor, notably higher than any of the other top 10 gaming properties.

Literacy Behind Bars

Literacy Behind Bars: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) included the first assessment of the English literacy of incarcerated adults since 1992. The assessment was administered to approximately 1,200 adults (age 16 and older) incarcerated in state and federal prisons, as well as approximately 18,000 adults living in households. Three types of literacy were measured: Prose, Document, and Quantitative. Results were reported in terms of scale scores (on a 500-point scale) and four literacy levels—Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. The findings in this report—Literacy Behind Bars—indicate the changes in literacy among incarcerated adults between 1992 and 2003. The report also compares the literacy of adults in the prison and household populations and across groups of prison inmates with different characteristics, including race/ethnicity, gender, educational attainment, age, language spoken before starting school, and parents’ educational attainment. The report looks at the relationship between literacy, education, and job training, including traditional academic education, vocational education, and skill certification. Additionally, the report examines the relationship between literacy and experiences in prison other than education, including prison work assignments, library use, computer use, and reading frequency. Finally, the report looks at the relationship between literacy, criminal history, and current offense. The results show how the relationship between literacy, type of offense, expected length of incarceration, expected date of release, and previous criminal history has changed since 1992.

America's digital divide

TechCrunch reports on a new study (pdf) from the Pew Internet & American Life Project that shows a growing digital divide across America. Not exactly a light read (65 pages) -- it sorts Americans into 10 distinct groups of information and communication users:

Omnivores: 8% of American adults constitute the most active participants in the information society, consuming information goods and services at a high rate and using them as a platform for participation and self-expression. (Median age 28)

The Connectors: 7% of the adult population surround themselves with technology and use it to connect with people and digital content. They get a lot out of their mobile devices and participate actively in online life. (Median age 38)

Lackluster Veterans: 8% of American adults make up a group who are not at all passionate about their abundance of modern ICTs. Few like the intrusiveness their gadgets add to their lives and not many see ICTs adding to their personal productivity. (Median age 40)

Productivity Enhancers: 9% of American adults happily get a lot of things done with information technology, both at home and at work. (Median age 40)

Mobile Centrics: 10% of the general population are strongly attached to their cell phones and take advantage of a range of mobile applications. (Median age 32)

Connected but Hassled: 9% of American adults fit into this group. They have invested in a lot of technology, but the connectivity is a hassle for them. (Median age 46)

Inexperienced Experimenters: 8% of adults have less ICT on hand than others. They feel competent in dealing with technology, and might do more with it if they had more. (Median age 50)

Light but Satisfied: 15% of adults have the basics of information technology, use it infrequently and it does not register as an important part of their lives. (Median age 53)

Indifferents: 11% of adults have a fair amount of technology on hand, but it does not play a central role in their daily lives. (Median age 47)

Off the Net: 15% of the population, mainly older Americans, is off the modern information network. (Median age 64)

As I was looking at the report I had series of thoughts -- now excuse me while I type out this mental process and let me know if it makes any sense or not... In October 2006 ALA announced Membership looking a little younger with:

54% of membership was born between 1940-1959; 38.5% between 1960-
1979

With me so far? So comparing the two sets of data (which I probably technically can't do but who's gonna stop me?) -- in theory ALA should have 38.5% of it's membership in the top 5 tech savvy groups listed above, right? Of course that's nation (potentially content) wide -- what about your library? When I started my first professional library job back in 1999 I was told that there would be a large number of retirements over the next several years. Even the OLA Recruitment Committee reports:

25% of the current librarians will be 65-years-old in 2009

Which means there's a significant number of our colleagues are are not as comfortable with technology (at least in theory according to the Pew study). So my question for you is, Where do your colleagues reside in the above list? Now remember you can't rely on age alone you have to look at their tech habits. But how do you determine their tech habits or even their tech potential? You can always use resources like WebJunction's Sustaining Public Access Computing: Technology Competencies as starting point.

So what is your library doing to recruit or to train professional to become Omnivores and Connectors? Better yet how is your library reaching out to patrons who fall into these broad categories?

I know tons of questions -- and not many answers -- but I never claimed to have them but perhaps together we can figure it out?

Numbers on Second Life

TechCrunch has an interesting short article about Second Life, "Second Life: Europeans Outnumber Americans 3 to 1"

...not only are there more Germans actively using Second Life than Americans, Europeans as a whole outnumber Americans by more that 3 to 1. The figures themselves look even worse than the ratios: only 207,000 people in the United States logged on to Second Life at least once in March. The statistics tracked unique users without considering frequency, so many of those visitors could have easily been one timers, signing up to a free account of the purpose of taking a look, never to return...

And the survey says...

...this is what I learned about you.

A month ago I added a brief 7 question survey to the top of the side bar. I wasn't expecting a lot of responses -- perhaps a friend or two popping in to taunt me about wanting affirmation of my blogging existence. But lo and behold in that one month I've received 40 responses! That's almost 1 person and a toe a day! (by the way it's still up if you want to respond) ;-)

I've gotten some wonderful insight into what some of you are wanting from LibraryStories. And so I hope by sharing a few highlights I can encourage my colleagues in Oklahoma to join me in giving you what you want (by contributing more library stories).

All but 3 of the survey respondents were librarians (for you who are math impaired, like me, that means 37 librarians participated of their own free will). And the type of librarians ran the gamut. Public and Academic librarians are the primary readers -- with Special and School libraries bringing up the rear. Perhaps a reason why there weren't more school librarians is because blogspot is blocked by some of the school filters? I guess one way to test this would be to consider moving LibraryStories to a new domain -- but my question is would the readers make the transition?

The vast majority of you are residing in Oklahoma or at least once did. Where 19 of the responders discovered LibraryStories through the Oklahoma Library Association more of you (combined) discovered it via some other method (via friend, internet search, etc). I have to say that was a pleasant surprise because that means there's a library audience outside of OLA interested in the topics covered. Of course then it also raises the question -- Are those individuals not active in OLA and if not why not?

And related to the last finding -- many of you read LibraryStories via the OLA updates I send out or bookmarks on your browser. Which is to be expected - email and bookmarks are still a staple among majority of internet users. I was very happy to see that many of you use RSS readers like Bloglines or Google Reader to subscribe and I'm curious to know what other blogs you read in the field?

But here's the really good stuff -- What kind of stories interest you? Topics included:

Children's librarianship

Biographies of librarians in Oklahoma (beyond the 100)

Technology - anything and everything

Some sort of Behind the Books (that's my cheesy title) feature where we highlight those things which occur behind the library scenes

More Oklahoma Library news

More Job Postings

Young adult librarianship

Programming ideas

Freedom of Information stories

What Oklahoma librarians read for pleasure

The last question I asked concerned your local library's website -- I wanted to see what you expect of your library's web presence. I did this to trick you into giving me ideas for my library's redesign (mwahahaha!) but also I want to see where Oklahoma library web pages will be moving in the future. Based on your responses our patrons should be very happy -- because you have high standards. This is what you all think of your local library's site:

Rankings: It's Good - Average - So-so - Fair - Poor - Stinks - No comment

Those in charge need look at today's technologies

Statistics show it's getting lots of use

Needs more interactiveness

More 2.0 (many of you wanted to see your sites utilizing RSS, youtube, blogs, social networking sites, flickr, podcasting)

Big redesign coming soon so excitement in the air

More innovation

Need the catalog online

Perhaps you didn't respond - but maybe these comments reflect your thoughts about what you are wanting to hear or see in your library? There's a couple of things to remember 1) If we are thinking these things of our library websites then there is a good chance our users are thinking the same thing 2) Based on the responses none of us are alone.

We have colleagues across the state (truth be told across the world) who are in the same boat as us. We all know about discussion groups and listservs, but have you checked out the many other networking tools now available to us? There the Ning groups (2.0, Okie, Blogs, ALA, etc), the Facebook groups, twitter, heck there's even the (dreaded) Second Life with which you can get involved -- and those are just the beginning. And even if those forms of communication aren't what you are comfortable with there's an entire state of professionals available to assist you -- or at least listen -- all you have to do is call or email.

Thank you everyone who responded to the survey -- and also thank you for the kinds words. And to that one person -- you know who you are -- you aren't alone.

The State of America's Libraries

Click here to visit the report's main page.

In this report on the State of America’s Libraries in 2006, the American Library Association found that:
• Public, school and university libraries are flourishing, both in traditional ways and in the still-exploding universe of the Internet. Library use is up nationwide among all types of library users, continuing a decade-long trend. Almost 1.8 billion visitors checked out more than 2 billion items last year at everything from one-room rural outposts to spectacular facilities such as Seattle’s new Central Library, which attracts thousands of patrons — and tourists — daily.
• Investment in e-books at academic and research libraries rose an astonishing 68
percent from 2002 to 2004, the most recent year for which federal data are available.
• Public libraries remain on the forefront in delivering new programs to their customers while still providing the “nuts-and-bolts” services that people need to lead full lives — for example, the tools to conduct a job search, write a résumé or learn new work skills. Even with the rapid growth of all of these services, people are going to their public library to check out or read books in record numbers.
• The public expressed its continuing strong support for public libraries in 2006 in positive votes on library funding referenda and other local ballot measures.
• Despite a growing body of research that links school libraries and student
achievement, school library media centers were hard hit by funding cuts in the past year.

Time study: Oklahoma Media Specialists (pdf)

I found this via Library Lines:

Oklahoma Association of School Library Media Specialists Time Task Study

Premise: A decade of research, starting with Dr. Keith Lance’s well-known “Colorado II Study,” has shown that quality library media programs contribute to academic achievement and student success.1 Many school libraries, however, remain so understaffed that they fail to achieve their potential to impact student learning. Staff reductions and program elimination, we believe, is often due to a lack of understanding of what professional librarians do. Successful school librarians support teaching and learning while they manage the day-to-day operations of the library media center when they have the assistance of clerical staff. This study sought to clarify the various roles of professional librarians and show how much time is contributed to each in a nominally staffed library that includes one or more professionals and one or more library assistants.

Goals: The study had four goals:

Identify and organize descriptors of school library media roles and specific tasks.

Measure the amount of professional and clerical time needed on specific tasks to provide quality services.

Determine the balance and relationship between “professional time” and “clerical time” spent in quality library media programs.

Develop a baseline profile of a school library media specialist and assistant for communication and reflective practice purposes. The results may also provide a piece of a rationale to support full staffing of school library media programs.

A rather quick 10 page read with lots a graphs. Actually there's a lot of information in it academic and public librarians could use as well.

Inside Higher Ed | Librarians Tackle Information Illiteracy

Inside Higher Ed | Librarians Tackle Information Illiteracy

It came as no surprise to many of those attending the annual meeting of the Association of College and Research Libraries this weekend that the typical liberal arts freshman believes Time and Newsweek to be legitimate scholarly sources. Groans and laughter accompanied this and other non-surprising factoids — 100 percent of incoming liberal arts freshmen surveyed use online sources, most think it’s easy to know when to document a source but nearly half couldn’t determine when one was required — that are familiar to anyone who works at a college library.

But while the problems of “information literacy” and the limitations of otherwise tech-savvy students’ abilities to differentiate between legitimate and unacceptable sources are well known, there is yet to be a unified, coherent approach to combating them...

Your input is needed!

I'm trying to collect some info from and about you -- the LibraryStories reader. If you have a few minutes I have a short 7 question survey with which I need your assistance. Click here to take survey -- and Thank you!

Database of US Congress votes

Found this via the Law Librarian Blog

"This site, washingtonpost.com's U.S. Congress Votes Database, is a deep database of every vote in the United States Congress since the 102nd Congress (1991). It lets you browse votes in a variety of ways -- both in aggregate and for individual members of Congress.

Browse the database by drilling down to a particular Congress (e.g. 109th Congress) or particular member (e.g. 109th Congress senators).

This site publishes an RSS feed of recent votes by each member of Congress, and a feed of the most recent votes in both chambers. See the RSS page for full details."

New Library Professional

Found this via everywhere :-)

Chronicle Careers | The New Library Professional

If you work in an academic library and are under 35, you probably don't have a lot in common with your older counterparts. You are far more likely to work in areas beyond the confines of traditional librarianship, often in information technology. You are less likely to hold a degree in library science. You are more diverse in ethnic and racial terms. And while those of you in nonsupervisory jobs generally earn less than your comparable older colleagues, some of you in high-tech jobs earn much more.

All of those conclusions are based on 2005 demographic data, the latest available, from the Association of Research Libraries, which collects information on the professional staffs at its member libraries.

Viewed collectively, the members of the under-35 cohort are a harbinger of a new kind of academic library professional, one whose traits bear directly on the ability of libraries to thrive amid the continuing revolutions in scholarship, teaching, and learning.

The generation gap in research libraries begins with the large proportion of young people who work at jobs that either did not exist for their older colleagues, or weren't associated years ago with librarianship.

James G. Neal, university librarian at Columbia University, invented the phrase "feral professionals" to describe individuals in such positions. Feral professionals, he wrote in a February 15, 2006, article in LibraryJournal.com, work in jobs that don't require them to have a background in library education, and so "bring to the academic library a 'feral' set of values, outlooks, styles, and expectations." Examples of feral job categories include "systems, human resources, fund-raising, publishing, instructional technology, [and] facilities management."

As an academic librarian myself, I've been writing about the demographics of the profession for the research-library association for years. Using its 2005 data, I have isolated the nontraditional types of jobs that Neal mentioned, and found some dramatic results. For example, people in nontraditional positions accounted for 23 percent of the professionals at research libraries in 2005, compared to just 7 percent in 1985.

But the most compelling aspect of the nontraditional population is its youth: 39 percent of library professionals under 35 work in such nontraditional jobs, compared with only 21 percent of those 35 and older.

It is hard to say which is more significant -- that young people work in nontraditional jobs at a rate almost double that of their older colleagues, or that nearly 40 percent of the under-35 crowd is not working at jobs commonly associated with librarianship. The former speaks to a new generation gap within the library, the latter to the kinds of work the academic library is prepared to do and its future direction....

ZDnet | Newspapers don't make the grade in Web-savvy schools

Newspapers don't make the grade in Web-savvy schools

More U.S. teachers are using national and international online-news sites in the classroom, leaving behind newspapers that fail to grasp the Internet's importance in trying to reach students, a study found.

Fifty-seven percent of teachers use Internet-based news in the classroom with some frequency, said the study, which was based on a survey of 1,262 teachers in grades 5 through 12 in the fall of 2006 and released on Monday by the Carnegie-Knight Task Force on the Future of Journalism Education.

That compares with 31 percent for national television news and 28 percent for daily papers. Local television news, at 13 percent, was at the bottom of the list, the study found.

"Students do not relate to newspapers at all--any more than they would to vinyl records," one teacher said in the study.

The findings reflect a wider trend in the United States of falling circulation and advertising revenue at many daily papers as people go online for news and entertainment.

The trend has led to worries about the future of news and the financial future of the companies that traffic in it. Tribune, for example, has been pressed into weighing bids to sell itself to appease disgruntled shareholders.

The most popular sites are run by large news organizations like the BBC, The New York Times Co. and CNN, the study found said...