internet

Freedom and #Diversity in #Libraries

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I read Marshall Breeding’s May 2017 “Library Systems Report 2017” way back when it was published in American Libraries magazine – but something struck me this morning while reading a completely unrelated article on politics/culture in the US…

systems-report

(accessed from American Libraries magazine, 27 July 2017)

That if, as Breeding states, in the internet age, libraries are moving toward increasingly centralized, for-profit “solutions” for their tools and services – from technical services, authority syncing, reference chat tools and vendors for research materials of all formats (and I think he is correct), then libraries are moving away from their democratic ideals towards arrangements with a more fascist bent.

This trend in libraries of course simply reflects the state of culture at large that works by default with the internet.

But the end result, as I see it, is at least twofold:

  1. That the number of librarians and interested connected professionals are able to engage less and less in the design and implementation of those technologies across almost every front- This not only affects those people’s ability to engage in deep-dive lifelong learning, but it also means that “design local” as a guiding metaphor is being thrown out the window. Even as libraries’ staff talk about how much they like to serve their patrons/community/users (whatever each library wants to call its local constituents, it is actually less able over time to to design solutions built specifically for those very people.
  2.  That one major result of the above trend as partially commented upon in bullet # 1 is a significant decline in diversity – this even as diversity & inclusion committees and working groups are being formed across libraryland in the United States. We talk about diversity and intellectual freedom in libraries. But we define those ideas in increasingly narrow terms if we do not take into consideration the elaborate tools that might be built if local libraries maintained their own servers, ILSs, and well defined privacy policies that could be much better managed if local libraries (of all types) maintained a higher level of control over their own systems.

The result of this trend migrates thinking & tinkering away from local decision making, policies, technological innovation towards a totalitarian model wherein diversity is discouraged and intellectual freedom is hindered across several important fronts – especially meaningful fronts in the information age.

A few thoughts…

Thank you for reading.

This entry was posted in intellectual freedom, internet, libraries, Technology in Libraries and tagged , , .

“Open (Access)” Data and Privacy – A Concern

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I want to first complicate everything I write in the below paragraphs by questioning a mantra of current rhetoric with these words: It is not self-evident information inherently wants to be free.

Now…

On February 22, 2013, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, under orders from the President, published a memorandum putting forth the notion there must be better access to Big Data and publications written as a result of federally funded R & D research. These projects are built on data as well as metadata. In the news currently, it has been made public (though assumed by many to be already underway) the NSA has been collecting metadata on all communications networks including social media, web traffic, e-mail and mobile-device communication.

The NSA is clearly being hugely funded in order to accomplish these goals. There are many private companies that have made a lot of money off this data collection. The question arises whether the metadata collected under “secret” action would also be included in Obama’s open data initiative even though it is not categorized as “research & development” – though this could be a work around. And think about the large private well-funded companies that are in charge of putting together all the necessary technological solutions to the problem of storing for retrievability this collection of big data. Will I, as a scholar or researcher, be able to send a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and receive this data or will it eventually become part of the publication cycle (even after the embargo) subscribed to by universities and research libraries?

I don’t think it’s outlandish to think universities would be “allowed” to subscribe to national security research/ information related to politics and tracking human beings. Despite the President’s push for Open and Transparent Government (a not entirely disingenuous push), I have seen snippets of the Digital National Security Archive (DNSA) only accessible by subscription to research universities and libraries at relatively high cost. The difference is that the data in the DNSA has been only recently declassified (some of it as late as 2008 for notes and information related to the 1970s). Yet, now ProQuest is making money on this and its accessibility is in question because of the subscription-only portal. Are we to think the NSA might do the same with our data and metadata currently being collected? I am not talking about data being collected about armies or issues related to troop/operational safety, I am talking about the National Security Agency collecting metadata on US citizens.

One may think we are in a paradox on this issue because of The Office of Homeland Security and ongoing “need” for national security. Michael German, formerly with the FBI and now with the ACLU, suggests the US Government classifies far too liberally to make the information it collects useful or to restrict it to actual cases or individuals under suspicion. This could be true. I cannot tackle that topic here of course. The seeming paradox of national security is the window dressing that obscures another paradox – one not hidden but in fact staring us right in the face – the paradox of information described as wanting to be free but increasingly hiding behind pay walls. The Open Access debate threatens to disrupt this trend in some ways. The problem of course is that open access publication and big data “freely” available online takes massive and continual input over time to maintain in perpetuity. It’s probably easier to continue charging subscription costs to access high level publications and data. Even governmental information is up for sale as evidenced by the Digital National Security Archive mentioned above.

The paradox I am getting to involves the creation of ever greater numbers of web applications built either for use on the internet or via mobile devices that invite the creation of metadata – information that is worth a fortune. The applications are free but the increasing use of them is valuable TO SOMEONE ELSE.  Yet I see nothing in the President’s initiative about getting open access to the information WE produce accessing social networks, reading our news on the internet, downloading e-books from our local library, accessing subscribed databases of newspaper archives (or something else fun like that) or playing Tertris or Candy Crush on our tablets while sitting on this bus. The irony of this situation at level one is the history of the internet as it was researched and developed reveals it as a governmentally funded research project. Now it has been effectively “sold” to bidders and the rest of the world (including me with this blog) plays along with the trend.

The mantra of hidden collected information as it relates to national security relates to libraries as well – even given our supposed national love of freedom of speech and freedom to read. When the PATRIOT ACT was put into effect, within it was built a small section giving the government the right to request records from libraries on reading habits. This segment of the ACT is called Section 215. When the issue of freedom to read was brought up by library advocates at press conferences, John Ashcroft, a major proponent for the PATRIOT ACT told the press no letters of request had been sent to libraries. But the Library Research Center run out of the University of Illinois had already collected surveys (done under condition of anonymity) suggesting Ashcroft’s statement was a lie. In truth, every letter of request for information sent to libraries comes with a gag order (I have written on this topic in a white paper available here). In other words, not only is our metadata being collected, but security agencies are asking for information from our reading habits – a task made even easier by web-based access to resources and e-formats.

Different libraries have different policies relating to letters of requests for information. Some capitulate quietly and some have created funny ways to bring the issue to the surface for local patrons. Many libraries dump records as soon as items are returned so the information will not be present for capitulation to an information request letter. But as libraries give themselves over to more and more “free” web based applications that track use of e-resources that track metadata increasingly sold to private companies, with Homeland Security asking for direct and explicit records information and now with all these interactions taking place over web-enabled mobile devices (tablets and phones) tracked by NSA funded private contractors, I have to seriously wonder where one’s Freedom to Read is going. If libraries are spaces where people learn and create and one’s ability to create is tied to the quality and freedom of access to creative expressions of all sorts found at libraries, then the tying down of that freedom by data being collected by private companies for hire and by the government, one has to wonder about the future of creative freedom. In fact, it might be argued that as metadata is increasingly collected by the stakeholders already mentioned, it is questionable whether access is free anymore – even as it goes live with “open-access” publication. I would argue this point is the real capstone within the layer of paradox of Open Data “Access” and the President’s claim on Open Government because information and resources downloaded and linked across the internet are ever easier to track and to collect metadata on use.

Thank you for freely reading.

Please reply here or @Twitter.

This entry was posted in internet, knowledge organization, librarianship, libraries, Open Access, Open Data, reading, social media and tagged , , , , , , , .

ALA 2013 in Set-Up Mode

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From CHICAGO’S McCormick Place/Convention Center: Watching traffic heading south along Lake Michigan with the lake a mere 200 yards in the distance – beautiful.

Vendors and exhibitors are currently setting up for 5 days of learning and connecting on all things library. This will include books, ebooks and author events of course. Many publishers are even in attendance. But there are lots of technology vendors as well as committee meetings engaging in “think-tank” planning for the future of academic, public and school libraries’ futures. This exhibition/conference will bring together the current and proposed best practices in technical and patron services.

It’s not too late to register. I for one am excited.
Make sure to follow Ala Annual 2013 events on Twitter with the hashtag: #ala2013

I’ll be tweeting through the event from @jltaglich and @meta21st
Don’t hesitate to chat or express all thoughts.

Thanks for reading.

This entry was posted in ALA, internet, knowledge organization, librarianship, libraries, library, library classification, library collections, library design, machine readable information, MARC, metadata, networking, public libraries, reference works, social media, subject access, Technology in Libraries.

Book Review: The Accidental Systems Librarian, 2nd Ed.

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Technology in the Library and Lifelong Learning

Review of Nicole C. Engard’s (with Rachel Singer Gordon) The Accidental Systems Librarian, 2nd Edition. Information Today, Inc. 2012. ISBN: 9781573874533

tasl.bookcover

One of those ever-famous quotes from library school is that librarians and librarians-in-training must be life-long learners.* The reason for referencing this quote in this review is one of the methods through which Nicole C. Engard gathered anecdotes and examples for her work, The Accidental Systems Librarian, 2nd Edition (TASL) was via a survey sent out to libraries and systems librarians. A general response suggested by many of the respondees was they never expected to be bored. Engard deliberately makes this point 2 or 3 times across the book in varied contexts because one of her main points is systems librarians may go by different titles at their respective institutions, but they are also in charge of teaching staff, teaching patrons, spending a chunk of their scheduled time at the reference desk or some other task in “traditional” library services and keeping current on all kinds of tech services – a task which shows every sign of continual exponential change. Engard’s goal is to explain the types of issues that may fall under the description for Systems Librarian and also the real work/learning load associated with the position.

TASL is divided in two major sections: The first four chapters, titled Systems Librarianship 101 – 104, are followed by 8 chapters with specific titles focused on subtasks and the granularity of higher level involvement and projects. I would suggest one justification for this structure is a quote by Eric Morgan in his penned Forward, “Working with technology is as much about collection development as it is about knowing how to use computers” (xvi). Technology in libraries is not about adding more “stuff” for staff and patrons to learn – though more learning is hopefully the inevitable result. Technology is built into more facets of library work and library services because it reflects the types of resources that are in current use and in demand by patrons. As a pathway to being involved in culture, learning about whatever topic, or checking e-mail, networked systems of all kinds must be maintained in order to make that pathway easier to traverse. Hardware, web applications and other e-formats are simply used in tandem with resources such as magazines, newspapers and books.

Engard makes clear, however, throughout the book the need for constant education. Not simply personally in efforts for life-long learning. This notion we have already mentioned and will be touched upon once more below. Rather, education designed to bring all staff in-line with expectations held by patrons. In other words, many patrons need help with various aspects of devices, software and some hardware. Many libraries (or library systems), including the one at which I currently work, schedule technology classes in order to teach patrons skills as diverse as how to use subscribed databases for genealogy, how to navigate their e-readers to use the library’s e-collections and how they might use social media to collect ideas for new reading interests. And there are so many others Engard details in the book. The point is it takes educated staff members, confident with these same technological resources in the library’s collections/services arsenal to assist patrons. Also, when a patron comes to ask a question, it is okay for the librarian and the patron to learn something together. But, honestly, the staff member should be the “expert” up to a point and Engard suggests it’s up the systems librarian to collaborate with the rest of the staff and make sure this is the case.

How the local Systems Librarian works and what he or she accomplishes is partly up to her and how distributed the technological work load is in the librarian’s respective setting. There are no set tasks declared in the book. There is not an absolute description of what A Systems Librarian is supposed to do because needs vary so greatly. And in this, Nicole C. Engard’s book, The Accidental Systems Librarian, 2nd Edition, has its greatest strength. Sure it lists a ton of web, journal and book resources to learn network troubleshooting, research techniques and modes of instruction. But it emphasizes life-long learning as the mode of interaction across technological “borders,” changes and constant problem solving which fine-tunes that learning.

A strength indeed.

*This is a phrase I come back to pseudo-regularly as I find it of high value to my own motivations.

PS: A copy of my review has also been published at LibraryThing.

This entry was posted in collection development, internet, knowledge organization, librarianship, libraries, library, library collections, library design, networking, reference books, reference works, social media, Technology in Libraries.

Networked and Networking – 2 Questions

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Wikipedia defines Business Networking as, “a socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded businesspeople recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities.” Of course, there are all kinds of other networked human beings who use a similar approach to accomplish goals or tasks that may not on the surface be about business. But Wikipedia seems to have no such entry.  The Riley Guide defines Networking in its own way – which has more to do with humans finding ways to interact with other human beings.
My life as a library worker, volunteer and intern with plans for a lifetime of work in libraries is one that will surely require more and more networking in order to learn new techniques and best practices, gather information about potential projects and to increase the odds of finding the perfect next job necessary to accompany each new stage of my professional development and skill set. There are lots of suggestions as to what tools produce the best results in this area. Within library-dom, there are plenty who say that staying abreast of events and discussions within professional associations produces quality results. I am of course referring to associations such as American Library Association, Society of American Archivists, and Special Libraries of America among others.
I am very interested in reactions – which leads me to my first question: Does anyone have real stories (hopefully about library work) to share that show examples of how networking has grown your professional persona and added to potential (past occurrences or planned) for new jobs or projects? Any productive response that encourages dialogue on this topic is appreciated and can be added as a comment in this post.
There is, however, a second interesting aspect to Networking – that of connected computers. Two years ago, David Fincher directed the very popular and slightly controversial film, The Social Network. Hard to believe that it has already been two years. Since then, obviously, Facebook has entered a new phase of its business model, that of increasing its levels of advertising within its popular platform and floating itself onto the Stock Market with its IPO. But one of the constant mantras spouted by the character named Mark Zuckerberg in the film is that he really wants to connect people. But what happens as the film progresses? Well, most of the groups of people, even supposedly good friends, fragment as the plot moves toward the ending credits. Slightly ironic, but definitely amusing and worthy of note at least for those interested in film. One can’t say this is inevitable. But one can say that the first thing actually connected via Facebook is computers. And in so being connected (networked), Facebook, as only one such platform, has become widely used for promotion, company blogs and updates from all kinds of institutions (including libraries). This shows me there is still a hierarchical aspect to this technology – social media and networking platforms both – which may prove a limitation to internet based networking and knowledge dissemination as a whole.
This brings me to my second question: Does anyone have real examples (hopefully about library work) they can share on how networked computer or internet-based networking tools specifically have grown your professional persona and added to potential (past occurrences or planned) for new jobs or projects? And, again, Any productive response that encourages dialogue on this topic is appreciated and can be added as a comment in this post. 

Thank you. 

This entry was posted in culture questions, definitions, film commentary, human connections, internet, library, networking, social media.