OR: Rockstars and Punk Rock and What Does It Have to do With Libraries?
This post is an attempt for me to coalesce some thoughts that have been bubbling in my head for a few weeks now. It’s going to be messy, but I want to write them out since the next few weeks are going to be crazy busy with moving, new job and such…Also, after this post, I’m going on a blogging hiatus, probably until late-April at the earliest.
A few weeks ago I went up to Northern Indiana with my parents to house hunt. And, because my future co-workers are all super nice, they toured my parents around while I was doing administrative stuff and then we all went out to lunch together. At some point during the day, someone took my parents aside and said, “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but your daughter is a Rockstar Librarian.”
My parents were…puzzled. (And amused. Oh, the jokes flew fast and furiously that weekend.) They are not librarians and I think they are still somewhat mystified by my job and librarian culture in general. By this I mean that I don’t think they have fully reconciled me, my friends and our jobs with the librarian stereotype. To their ears, “Rockstar Librarian” seems like a contradiction in terms.
So what do we mean by “Rockstar Librarian”? Well, I don’t mean “Rockstar” in the hard partying, groupie having, tattooed and leather pants wearing, sunglasses at the reference desk because they’re hungover SEXDRUGS&ROCKNROLLWOO sense…although I do have librarian friends that fit that mold. (Well, I don’t think they’d be hungover at work…but at conferences, though? Um…) I think that’s what my parents assumed my future co-worker meant and why they were so amused, since by most objective standards I am a total dork.
When I (and others) say “Rockstar Librarian”, I mean Rockstar in the celebrity sense. For better or worse, some librarians become “famous”…I don’t really want to name names (especially since every flavor of librarian has its own rockstars), but you can probably think of a few off the top of your head. These are the people that we raise up…we listen to their conference presentations (and it seems like they always get a conference session approved), read their articles/blogs/tweets, give them awards and otherwise admire them from afar and get a little fanboy or fangirlish about them. And rockstar status is not a function of age…some of the people that I consider Rockstars are nearing retirement age.
(Oh, that reminds me. With my move to Valpo, I will be leaving SEAALL and now only have one opportunity a year to stalk a certain southern gentleman and legal history scholar. Well, it’s probably for the best…restraining orders are so embarrassing. )
It’s not necessarily a bad thing to have Rockstars. Librarianship as a whole will never make progress without a few individuals out on the bleeding edge, trying (and failing) at a variety of things so that the rest of us get ideas and know what works and doesn’t. The Rockstar Librarian phenomenon is not without its drawbacks, however. Given the size of LibraryLand, only a rarefied few can be “Rockstars” which risks that the conversation and future will be shaped by only a few voices. There’s a huge danger of professional librarian discourse becoming one giant echo chamber.
I don’t blame the Rockstars. I’m sure that there are some out there that are just writing what they write or saying what they say for the “fame.” But for the most part (myself included if you want to include me as a Rockstar in my minor corner of LibraryLand), most of the Rockstars are just the ones who try something new (or try a twist on something someone else has tried), and then aren’t shy about telling others about it, either through writing or presentations. Which brings me to the bigger problem with Libraryland Rockstars…
Okay, check it…here’s my sure to be controversial and a little insulting theory about Library Rockstars. Every profession has its rockstars. Library Rockstars are especially pernicious because, well….how can I say this? For the most part, the Captain of the Football team or Head Cheerleader did not grow up to be a librarian. Many – NOT ALL – librarians are a nerdy bunch who aren’t comfortable with the limelight and are more adept at being followers than leaders. I think there’s a self-confidence issue where librarians don’t believe that they could ever do the types of things that Rockstars do. So they don’t try something unless a Rockstar said to do it, the Rockstar membership becomes more insular and pretty soon we’re all caught in a vicious cycle. This is how some ideas that, frankly, are stupid and impractical get touted as the Next Big Thing in librarianship because a Rockstar said it and the masses think, “Well, if X said it, it must be the cool thing to do! My library needs one those ASAP!”
This is absolutely maddening to me.
EMBRACE YOUR INNER ROCKSTAR, PEOPLE.
Part of why I get uncomfortable at being labeled a “Rockstar” is that I know that I really don’t have any special skill set. I’m not being completely modest…I know I’m a good writer, especially when it comes to blogging (which is may or may not be for everyone), I think I’m good at connecting tools with practical uses, and I’m not shy about talking about it. But it’s not like I’m making Lead into Gold here, is what I’m saying. Anything I can do, anyone else can too. I just blog about it.
Another reason I’m uncomfortable with Rockstar status (both mine and others) is that I am more interested in what people do in the day to day. I’m good at “Library 2.0 theory”, but I don’t feel like I accomplished much in my day to day job at UK. Budget and staffing issues have resulted in a dead blog and facebook page and I never did get to implement most of my ideas. I’m hoping that changes at my new job since outreach and digital initiatives are a major part of the position, but until that time I feel like a fraud every time someone calls me a Web 2.0 expert. “Wouldn’t it be neat if we could…” discussions are great, but what are you doing now? While it’s important to be forward thinking, the daily grind and serving the patrons’ and library’s interests are much more critcal. Out of all the LSW’s Shovers and Makers last year, my absolute favorite was my friend Anna’s profile. That’s what makes her a Rockstar to me.
Photo manipulation credit: Brian Powers
Speaking of being a Rockstar, I got a lot of attention from my recent LibPunk Mentorship blog post. LibPunk is an idea that I’m really intrigued by and want to spend some time in the coming months thinking about, fleshing out and attempting to get some action items out of. (Hmmm… ‘action items’ don’t sound very punk rock, do they?) I, of course, did not make up the word/concept. I got that from my friend Kathryn Greenhill, who in turn based it on Jim Groom’s Edupunk.
All of it, however, is based on no-front-modified Punk. Punkrock Punk. It’s more than just than three cord music or spikey hair or safety pins through one’s nose…it’s a lifestyle choice. A quck perusal of the Wikipedia entry on Punk Ideologies says:
One notable attitude common within the punk subculture is the opposition to selling out, which refers to abandonment of personal values in exchange for wealth, status or power….
The do it yourself (DIY) ideal is common in the punk scene, especially in terms of music recording and distribution, concert promotion, zines, posters and flyers…
Despite my previously mentioned dorkitude, I am punk at heart. I may look sweet and innocent, but I got an anti-authoritarianism streak a mile wide. (Okay, actually that my not be a huge secret.) I’m also all about the DIY (read: unconferences and blogs) and anti-selling out (again: not a huge secret.)
I think we are at a really magical time in libraries where being punk makes sense. Prior to the Internet age in general and the past few years of open source and web 2.0 advances particular, it was difficult for librarians to work together, discuss issues outside of professional in-person gatherings and replicate services provided by the giant infovendors. (And while I still maintain that vendors aren’t automatically evil, I do think that they’ve been making some questionable decisions lately that librarians should be mad as Hell about and vow not to take anymore.) I’d love to see more:
concentrated efforts to get vendors to change policies
open source projects
unconferences and loosely organized professional development
open access scholarship (and, particular to my corner of libraryland, support for the Free Law Movement)
alternative forms of professional discourse – podcasts, zines, and even cartoons!
Yes, cartoons.
Can one be a LibPunkRockStar? I dunno…but I’m going to try.
February 22nd, 2010 / 2 Comments » / by sglassmeyer
Photo Credit Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library http://www.flickr.com/photos/topekalibrary/3727452909/
I recently finished my last bibliographic instruction session at UK. (When you are leaving a job, every “last” seems to take on special significance…My last Bibliogrpahic Instruction session. My last coffee run to the student union. My last creepy public patron..*sniff* the memories…but I digress.) Anyhoo, it was for the Advanced Legal Research course and the topic was “Researching Federal Legislative History.”
This is my absolute favorite subject to teach and research task to perform. As I was prepping for the class, I began compiling the usual suspects for my resource show and tell….LexisNexis Congressional, CIS Index, Thomas, USCCAN, GPOAccess/FDsys, etc. I started to think about it, though, and realized that *I* don’t always just use the “accepted” resources. When I’m trying to find a cite for a popular name of a law, I don’t walk over to the reading room and grab a Popular Name Table from the USCS, I just google it. Sometime – just sometimes – I even look at the wikipedia entry to get an idea of what I’m searching for. So why aren’t I telling the students about this?
It hit me like a thunderbolt: I was teaching the bibliographic instruction version of abstinence only education!
I decided to mix it up a bit this year. After all, what are they going to do? Fire me? Heh. (As an aside, is this what it feels like to have tenure? Because it’s a pretty heady feeling! Double heh.) While covering the Usual Suspects, I also mentioned wikipedia and Googling for information. And when doing so, I took the time to mention what you should be looking for in free web resourcesand the pros and cons of using them. Also, in addition to having the students look up information via the traditional sources, I had them in their in-class lab and homework assignments google for popular names and compare the information that they find via sites like Wikipedia to what they find via a traditional source like CIS Index.
I haven’t started grading them, but I did glance through the assignments this morning. (They were just turned in on Friday.) From what I could tell, the students get it. They saw that wikipedia doesn’t always have complete information, but occassionally contains links to official sources from Thomas or GPO. I asked them to explain how they would do a similar legislative history assignment (a no “right” or “wrong” answer question, I just wanted their honest feedback) , and generally they say that they would try a google search first to get the popular name, but then use traditional sources. Not only that…many of them seem to prefer the books!
I am definitely going to try and expand upon including this type of information throughout my future bibliographic instruction sessions. I feel better knowing that my kids are going out into the world better prepared for what they’re probably going to do anyway. And I’m glad that they are hearing it from me rather than getting it second hand from their classmates.
I have said many times – and will continue to say – that I have been very lucky in that I have had some awesome mentors over the course of my career. I know I’m lucky because I hear my peers complain that they would like to have one and although I currently have a few, I still would welcome more. I don’t know if it’s a GenX thing, but we seem to crave mentorship.
Honestly, I don’t really know how I was able to get them – for whatever reason I’ve connected with more experienced people who have reached out and helped me. Has it all been a coincidence that the right people have come into my life at the right time? Have I just been more open to asking for help and receiving guidance? I really don’t know.
What I do know? Never attempt to get a mentor by saying, “Wow. You’ve been a librarian LONGER THAN I’VE BEEN ALIVE!” That, uh, doesn’t work. PROTIP.
Since I don’t know how it happened, I can’t really offer any advice on how to get them. I’ve participated in formal mentoring programs, and those have been good for meeting people, but my deeper mentoring relationships have arisen organically. In my experience, mentors show up when you least expect it and maybe are not the people you expect…so if you’re looking for the wizened, organizationally active person who is currently running a library to show up and tell you everything you ever wanted to know about librarianship and introduce you to the “right” people, well… that’s probably not going to happen. The person that you happen to strike up a conversation with at a conference and get on like a house afire? DING DING DING! You have a potential mentor! Or mentee…
Many of my mentors are people that could easily be called peers…they are either as experienced as I am or maybe just a little more so. The reason that they are mentors is that they have either completed a step that I haven’t yet (e.g. getting a program accepted at Computers in Libraries) and are willing and able to offer advice to get me there. Or alternatively, they are are there to give me a kick in the butt when I need it – encourage me to run for an office, proofread a blog post or CV or otherwise listen to me vent about what’s on my mind and either offer advice or just an ear. Mainly through online social networks, I’ve developed a posse of people to rely upon professionally. It’s very libpunk.
(Oddly enough, my friend (AND MENTOR) Josh Neff touched upon this same subject today in a blog post that I didn’t see until I started this one. Not only do we support and love each other, but now we are STARTING TO READ EACH OTHER’S MINDS. Spooky…)
I’ve also been surprised to learn that I am already (at a little over 4 years in the profession) a mentor to some people. It’s really not that hard…I just do what I do and when people ask me advice, I give it. I also like to offer praise or constructive criticism when appropriate. (Especially praise – and I try to talk up people when possible.) As with my mentors, these all happened organically – I just happened to meet another person online or at a conference, we get along really well, and it’s sort of flowed from there. You probably have something to offer – so look around and see who you click with, either online or in person and jump on in the mentorship pool.
Because I’ve been asked about it, here is a compilation some of the best advice I’ve been offered by mentors through my life – from high school through law school to present day. Now, I want to warn you…there is some salty language in this. (I mean the F word is going to be used. Have some pearls ready to clutch. I guess I could have used some artfully placed asterisks, but we all know what the words are….) I think it’s sort of a by-product of having mainly male mentors – many of which are ex-military or otherwise not scared to use foul language. And as to why most of my mentors are or have been men? GOOD QUESTION. One of these days I’ll write response to Clay Shirky’s Rant About Women that gets more heavily into professional gender politics. But near as I can guess, it’s because I was raised on a farm around a lot of men and have mainly male friends – it’s just what I’m comfortable with.
So, in the interest of being a mentor to others…
THE ADVICE
1) Own Your Shit
Not elegant, and deceptively simple. I guess this can be best summarized as “mean what you say and say what you mean” or “walk the walk if you’re going to talk the talk.” Don’t be scared of having an opinion and expressing it – a surprisingly hard thing to do sometimes, especially if you are a newer librarian. It really boils down to having self-confidence to jump into the battle and sticking to your guns.
It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes…this appeared on my law school mentor’s wall. I spent many an office hour staring at it:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” – Teddy Roosevelt
And if you screw up? Own up to it and apologize to the appropriate people.
2) It’s Okay to Say “No”
Librarianship is a service profession. We will bend over backward to get someone the appropriate resource, stay late to work on projects and (again, especially if you are new to the profession and trying to make some career progress) take on all sorts of projects. Saying “no” just does not come naturally.
But sometimes you should totally say no.
I had run myself into the ground last spring – we were down a librarian due to sabbatical, I had essentially taken on a second job when I began also covering Interlibrary Loans due to staff loss and I was still trying to do the same amount of organizational work I had been doing previously in order to advance my career. I was a wreck and then when what I realize now ridiculous faculty request landed on my desk, I freaked out and called a mentor. His advice, “That’s stupid. Tell him ‘No.” “But…” “No.” “He’ll…” “No.” “I can do that?” “Yes.”
It should not have been, but this was an amazing revelation to me. It had honestly never occurred to me that I could tell a faculty member “No.” Or say “no” to the offer of a professional opportunity. Or otherwise do anything that didn’t put myself and my well being (physical and mental) last.
Self care, FTW.
3) It’s Okay to Cry
I’m going through a stressful period right now with my job change and interstate move and all of the attention I got last week. By the time Friday rolled around, I was just toast. And so I lost it and started to cry. And I don’t mean that I was stoically wiping tears away, I mean I was *crying*. Ugly crying. Snotting up everything and unable to talk. I kept apologizing for it, but one of my mentors very rationally said to me (paraphrasing) “You’re sick. You’re worried that you just committed professional suicide. And some jerk on the Internet just called you the c-word. Crying is actually a pretty appropriate response right now.”
I don’t know why we’re scared to show any weaknesses. Or any real emotion in professional contexts. You can get angry when someone is deliberately mean to you. Or miffed when you didn’t win that award. Or happy and geeked out when something cool happens. I mean, flipping out and punching someone? Not okay. Taking a quiet moment in your office and fantasizing about it? Not the worst thing you could do.
On a broader level, this advice is about recognizing your own humanity and that of others. My friend (AND MENTOR) Jenica Rogers wrote a great post about something called “charitable reading.” This basically means that you should not assume the worst about others when you interact online. But why limit it to online? When dealing with others, also remember that they are human too. Maybe they spilled their coffee or missed the bus or had a fight with their partner that morning – maybe that’s why they are being obnoxious. So maybe, even if in the most charitable reading you could give someone they are still acting like a jerk, maybe you should try to grant others the same benefit of the doubt that you would want.
4) Fake it Until You Make It
One of the points of the Skirky Women Rant is that women don’t promote themselves or volunteer for opportunities that they are not 100% confident that they can accomplish. I…do not have that problem. Again, I don’t know if this is because of the masculine socialization I received on the farm, but I throw my name in the ring at the drop of the hat. I’d never completely rebuilt a website before, but did that stop me from volunteering to be an organization webmaster? Heck, no! Give a CLE on business research which I haven’t done since library school? Sure, I can do that! Buy a standard transmission Jeep even though I didn’t know how to drive stick? Well, it seemed silly to get an automatic Jeep…
So, yeah, that’s not a problem for me.
But it goes beyond just volunteering for things. I have been told – by more than one person and on several occasions – that I lack a certain gravitas. Is it because I wear stupid hats? No. Is it because I don’t mind – nay, am compelled – to put goofy pictures of myself (possibly while wearing said stupid hats) on the Internet? No. Apparently I lack gravitas because I admit that I don’t know what I’m talking about.
BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!
Seriously, y’all, I am making this life up as I go along. People ask me if I want to have children and all I can think is “Are you high? Can’t you tell that I just barely made it to work today with my hair brushed and clothes on straight?” I have no idea what I’m doing and I am very open about this fact.This is apparently a bad thing. Apparently the secret to professional success is to act and speak and write confidently.
However, there’s a certain smugness and ability to say “this is what everyone should be doing” that I just am unable to do. I don’t think professional discourse is a zero sum game where there’s a right side and a wrong side and the winner is the one who puts the most comments on a post and out argues everyone else. If I ever get around to writing anything for a print publication, I will probably try for a little more strident tone. However, my blog will remain as my lab notebook for the experiment of my life.
So, while I am not taking this particular bit of advice, I do appreciate my mentors pointing this fact out to me so I don’t spend the next few years banging my head against the wall wondering why I still don’t get respected in certain circles.
5) Fuck ‘em if They Can’t Take a Joke
One side effect of following through with the first four pieces advice is that people are not always going to love you. As a matter of fact, they are going to be quite upset with you. That’s okay. Some might say if people aren’t getting upset at you, you’re not saying or doing anything of consequence. It’s a scary thing to be disliked. But at the end of the day, you’re the one that has to live with yourself. As another one of my favorite quotes says, “Be who you are and say what you feel. Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” That’s Dr. Seuss, by the way.
******
So that’s the formal knowledge I’ve been able to glean from my mentors. Use it in good health, pay it forward and all of that jazz.
Now for some happier news…I have a minor announcement. Minor in the grand scheme of things and major to me, that is.
Last month I accepted a job at the Valparaiso University School of Law Library. My official title will be Faculty Services and Outreach Librarian and this basically means that I’ll be able to concentrate my energies on my most favorite things in librarianship – teaching and training, connecting all sorts of people with information resources and messing around with technology to do it. It also means that I’ll be joining the faculty of the 1L Legal Research program which is absolutely first class. I am very, very excited about all the opportunities and challenges I’ll have with this position, as well as working with my new future co-workers who are all super nice and fun. There is also the not minor fact that I’ll be living in one of my favorite areas of the country (see picture – Indiana ain’t all corn fields and pig farms!) and really close to Chicago. I start April 1, 2010.
It is with mixed feelings that I leave the University of Kentucky Libraries and Law School. I’ve been here a little over three years and have been able to grow so much as a librarian and person. I will especially miss the interaction I’ve had with librarians across campus and the mentorship I’ve received from them, especially Shawn Livingston (who needs to either write a book or run a bootcamp for new librarians) and Stacey Greenwell (the reason I am in SLA, which I highly recommend checking out). I have been also very fortunate to have Helane Davis as a director, mentor and friend who gave me free reign to find and explore my interests. There are others, but if I start listing all the people at UK who have been a great help, I’ll never get done with this post – I have told them in person. My sadness is tempered by the fact that I know I will get to see them at future SLA and AALL events for years to come.
It’s becoming clear that I am sliding toward becoming the stereotypical spinster librarian that devotes herself to her students and her cats. (NTS: Get a cat. Or two. Or dozen.) So I am quite serious when I say that I will also really miss my students, at least three of which are now considering careers in law librarianship. (With another currently working on her MLS out of state.) The current 3L class was my first 1L class as a Legal Research professor and I’ve enjoyed seeing them grow, laughed and cried with them in my office, and watched them slowly turn into baby lawyers. Law students as a rule are generally pretty obnoxious, but I think University of Kentucky Law students are the exception to that. They are a great bunch of kids.
Except when they hang a pinata in the reading room. Or go out the door clearly marked “not an exit.” THEY KNOW WHO THEY ARE.
My last day at the University of Kentucky will be March 12.
As I’ve said, my entire world has changed since I moved to Lexington three and a half years ago. When I was applying for jobs then, I didn’t have any real web presence to speak of and even if I did, no one would have cared. The job application, interview and acceptance process is interesting in the Web 2.0 world.
In case you’re wondering, prospective employers do google you. One would think that I would not have been surprised when someone asked me about my then recent trip to New Orleans, or about something I had written, or about my pet cow. But I was. It also took me about half of the interview day to realize why they kept offering me more coffee every time I turned around and made sure to point out their super fancy coffee maker on the library tour.
Oh, that reminds me..in addition to the awesome coworkers and unique job challenges, I AM SUPER EXCITED ABOUT THIS COFFEE MAKER.
Since you’re reading this, you are probably aware that I am fairly comfortable living publicly on the web. I took and posted a picture of myself every day for a year, I’m pretty much constantly on Twitter and a somewhat active Facebooker. I am also pretty much incapable of keeping a secret. (Ask my sister – she can provide a litany of ruined surprise parties, gifts, etc.) A REAL FUN COMBINATION, LET ME TELL YOU. However, I knew it would be impolitic to mention any of the aspects of the job hunt and acceptance process before I made all of the proper actions in the non-web world. I’ve been white-knuckling it since I got the interview offer way back in early November that I would say the wrong thing too early.
It’s harder than you think! I’ve caught myself almost posting things like “Snowing today..better get used to that, I guess.” or “Why did I just buy all of these books..I’m just going to have to repack them to move in a few weeks.” or “Ooh, a Wordcamp in Chicago! I can actually go to these things now that I’ll living close to a big city!” I’ve also had to watch out for comments by others in the know. My resignation was announced to the library and law school communities in mid-January. I immediately started getting congratulatory tweets and public messages about it, which was very nice, but I hadn’t signed anything yet and couldn’t really say anything publicly.
The next few weeks are going to be kinda crazy. I have some major projects I need to wrap up at work. Find a place to live. (House hunting in northern Indiana in February is going to be an absolute joy and delight, I’m sure. I have this nightmare that the snow will melt and I’ll discover that I unknowingly picked a house with a bunch of rusted out abandoned cars in the backyard.) Divest myself of some stuff here, pack up everything, find a mover and then move. And then do it all in reverse up there. I’ll also be starting a new job and adjusting to all of those changes (and getting my co-workers used to having me around), moving from a large public institution in a medium sized city to a small private one in a small town, make sure that new office has a couch to stand on…you know, important stuff. Lots and lots of changes happening in the next two months.
Do you want an iPod Nano, specifically an iPod Nano 8G sent out by Westlaw as part of their recent WestlawNext promotion? Because I sure as Hell don’t.
I’ve waited a week and I can’t a definitive answer on whether or not my initial plan to auction off the iPod and donate the proceeds to charity is allowable. And honestly? I’ve had just about enough hassles this week and I’m sure any money changing hands with this thing would just be more trouble than it would be worth. I have been in contact with West throughout this process and they said it is mine to dispose of as I wish.
So I’m giving the sucker away.
Here’s how it’s gonna work: You want the iPod? Leave a comment here with a valid email address that I can contact you at. (Don’t worry, you don’t have to write it out so everyone can see it..I’ll see it if you put it in when you leave the comment . You don’t have to even leave your real name publicly if you want a Westlaw iPod on the DL.) You have until 12:01 am, Saturday February 13, 2010. At that time I’ll randomly select a comment and notify the winner. I’ll even ship it to you out of my own pocket.
Please note: any comment that calls me a name that rhymes with “punt” or “witch” will be automatically disqualified from the raffle and not published per my blog comment policy.
I have an iPhone, but I’m not a real expert on apple products. I guess it’s a real nifty whiz bang sort of gadget. You can read the specs on it here. It’s 8G, orange, shoots and shows video. Retail value $149. As you can see in the picture of the back, it does have “compliments of WestlawNext” written on it. I guess there’s some sort of advertisement also pre-loaded on it, but I haven’t watched it. I’ve not even taken it out of the box except to get the picture you see here.
So, free iPod. Woo.
(EDITED TO ADD: Just to be clear, I’m going to assign each comment a number (e.g. 1 – 57) and have a friend pick a number between 1 and 57. The winning number gets the iPod. So you can leave your thoughts, comments, etc in addition to your name, but it really is going to be a random drawing.)
Ye Olde Blogge here has gotten some pretty heavy traffic lately. Some of what I have been writing is provoking strong feelings and people are leaving comments. That’s awesome. If I didn’t want comments, I wouldn’t leave my blog open to them. However, this is my space on the Internet, I pay the bills, and therefore I make the rules. There aren’t many, but here they are:
Anonymous comments are fine. I can understand being shy about putting your name out on the Internet.
I check the IP addresses of commentators. Sock puppetry is not cool. If you work for a major international information corporation and leave a comment while at work in support of said major international information corporation, yet do not identify yourself as an employee of this hypothetical major international information corporation? I will call you out and call you out hard.
I don’t censor comments and me letting a comment stand on my blog does not mean I agree or disagree with what it says or facts it represents. If you disagree with a comment, feel free to offer up a comment of your own.
A slight addendum to the above: I will delete (or not publish if you are a first time commentator) comments that are unecessarily profane, insulting to me or others, obviously defamatory of myself or others, a sock puppet comment or otherwise a blatant advertisement.
I generally don’t reply to comments. I try to make all the points that I want to make or get my thoughts across in my posts. I’m not interested in debating with people and frankly, I don’t really have the time. But don’t worry, I get notified when I get comments….I do see them all.
That’s all, really. I mean, really, these can be summed up in the biggest Internet rule of all, to wit: Don’t be an ass. It’s surprising how many people have trouble with that one, though, huh?
My Westlaw/iPod experience has reminded me of yet another Something I Didn’t Learn In Library School – Librarian Ethics.
Sure, we covered the basics, like “don’t give out patron information” and…um…actually, that’s the only one I really remember talking about. There must have been others (something about whether or not you can let a teenager have a book on how to commit suicide, maybe?), but I’m positive I was never confronted with a hypothetical of the sort I just experienced in real life.
As the comments on my iPod post (and ones I’ve received privately) have shown me, this is clearly an issue that librarians feel strongly about. It is also an issue open to wide interpretation – ranging from “So, hot damn, enjoy who you are, and all the benefits that come from it.” to “Accepting such gifts certainly clouds our ability to evaluate a product fairly and anyone who says otherwise is most likely kidding themselves.”
I can’t say what the right action is for others. I do want to make it clear that I don’t judge the librarians that went to Eagan or the ones that are keeping the iPods. (Or take pens or gift cards or stuffed animals, etc.) Counted among that group are some people that I consider good friends and I trust that their judgment is not clouded by vendor swag. I can only do what my gut tells me feels right, and for me that means not accepting any gifts from vendors.
The guy you see pictured here is one of my favorite fictional characters ever. His name is Omar Little and he is a thief, murderer and perjurer, amongst other things. He also has a personal code of honor that he upholds no matter what. (Apparently if you are involved in a drug war in Baltimore, you never, ever, EVER fight on Sundays. Nice.) While my stance on vendor swag may appear to be smug and self-righteous, I am the first to admit that I am not a perfect person. I haven’t publicly been called on it yet, but I do want to admit that when I was in Boston for ALA Midwinter, yes I took several free books from publishers in the exhibit hall…because I never do business with those vendors. I also take candy that they leave in Tech Services during the holidays and will eat the meals our reps bring when they demonstrate a new product.
I am also at any one time committing at least 4 of the 7 deadly sins.
So, no, I’m not perfect. I do, however, feel strongly that the librarian profession is more than just a job. Librarians are the gatekeepers to the world’s knowledge. This profession is an important one that has a greater duty to society, on par with doctors and teachers and, yes get your giggles out now, lawyers. So, yes, I do take these things seriously, perhaps a little more seriously than others. (In addition to this iPod dustup, this week I found myself harping on a nascent librarian friend on FriendFeed for talking about a celebrity patron publicly.) Maybe I do need to just chill out, just a little.
While I’ve been waiting to see what the legal department at MPOW has to say about how I can dispose of the iPod, I thought I’d check to see what my professional organizations have suggested with regards to ethics and to specifically see if they have any guidance to offer librarians when presented with gifts. Guess what? THEY DON’T.
Ethical Roundup:
AALL has a code of ethics that hasn’t been updated in over 10 years. It states: ” We have a duty to avoid situations in which personal interests might be served or significant benefits gained at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions.” which I guess is the most applicable. The Committee on Vendor Relations, near as I can tell, is silent on the swag issue.
SLA doesn’t have a code of ethics (???!!!???) , but instead refers people to ASIS&T and AIIP, among others.
I can’t believe I’m actually suggesting this, but perhaps we need a committee for hashing out this issue and coming up with a more explicit policy? Or maybe also an ethical hotline where librarians can ask for opinions when confronted by the many sticky wickets of modern librarianship? Just a thought…
Ten days ago or so I received an email from someone at Westlaw. It said, “Just wanted to send you a quick note… We’ll be revealing the new Westlaw on Feb. 1 at LegalTech New York… I’d like to get you some information about it… What’s the best address to FedEx you something?“ I sent my work address and didn’t think too much about it.
Flash forward to today.
My package from West arrived. There was some paper and a nice letter from someone, the details of which I don’t remember, because also included was what you see to the left. An iPod Nano, 8GB with video capabilities, retail value $149. I guess there’s a video or something on the iPod detailing the WestlawNext features, but I wouldn’t know as I couldn’t bring myself to open it.
Here’s the thing, y’all: I was absolutely livid when I opened this.
I’ve briefly mentioned before my feelings about accepting vendor swag. It’s advertising, I understand that. It’s built into their budgets and it’s not like they would charge less if they weren’t giving out the pens. However, I also don’t feel comfortable being a billboard for the legal information duopoly in front of my students who expect me to speak freely about the pluses and negatives of each service, so I don’t accept the little gifts of pens, coffee mugs, note pads, etc.
But an iPod? I don’t really like to take pens and here they’ve gone and sent me an iPod? As I said to one of my correspondents today, “this is just re-goddamn-diculous.” (Pardon my language, but I was really mad.) It does have “Compliments of WestlawNext” written on, but in super-tiny font. It feels like a bribe, frankly. Gross.
I guess I was expected to tweet/blog my “Thank you, Westlaw!” for it? Well, thanks but no thanks, Westlaw. I hate to seem rude or ungrateful, but I simply cannot accept this gift. (1) I’m an employee of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and we have rules about the monetary value of gifts. (2) Even if I disclose the iPod receipt before blogging about the info sent to me, I still wouldn’t ever feel right about saying positive things about WestlawNext. As I said to another one of my correspondents, “Congratulations, Westlaw, you just bought my silence.” (3) My usual rules of swag acceptance are in effect, no matter how much I love the way it looks or the fact that it shoots video or that my Zune seems to be dying and ZOMG IT’S SO PRETTY AND SHINY AND I LOVE NEW TOYS.
*sigh*
So, here’s the thing: I’m not keeping it. I’m auctioning my WestlawNext iPod and donating the proceeds to an appropriate organization or two. The details are still being worked out (my legal obligations as an public employee, whether or not my target charities will accept the donation, how to set up an auction, if other law librarians want to donate their iPods as well…details, people, details.) So, basically: WATCH THIS SPACE. I’ll have something hammered out by the end of the week. If you received a WestlawNext iPod and would like to get in on this action, contact me at Sarah dot Glassmeyer at gmail and we’ll work it out. And if you are Westlaw reading this (and I know at least someone at West does) and you’d rather that I not do this, I will gladly ship your iPod back to you. Seriously, I’m not trying to be rude about this.
I know my standards are higher than others when it comes to accepting swag from vendors. I have to admit to being a little weirded out by the trip to Minnesota some of my colleagues were offered. (Of course, I also wasn’t sure if there was some jealously on my part that I wasn’t asked to go, so I held my tongue. Some of us are just kinda bigger deals than others, I guess…. I KID BECAUSE I LOVE, JASON AND TOM.) I’m not entirely sure where to draw the line…coffee mugs? iPods? Drinks at the Bender Baby Dinner/Westlaw party? Trips to Minnesota? It not an easy line to figure out. Where does the appearance of impropriety show up? When does one start to feel a little like a corporate whore?
Despite all of my cheerleading for Free Law and complaints about pricing, duopolies, etc., I really don’t believe that vendors are the enemies. But I also realize that they are in business to make a profit and that will always take precedence for them. The vendor-librarian relationship is complicated enough…..please stop clouding the issue with over the top gifts of swag.
January 24th, 2010 / 2 Comments » / by sglassmeyer
In Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 philosophies, there is a concept called “Radical Trust.” The idea behind Radical Trust is pretty simple: trust your patrons. Trust them to leave comments on your blogs. Trust them to edit wikis. Trust them to add tags to your Flickr photos or OPACs. Yes, there will always be jerks and 12 year old hackers with nothing better to do than vandalize the materials that you have so lovingly placed out in the Internet for people to interact with. But guess what? You also have to trust that the community will step up and re-edit out the wiki mis-edits and/or trust that are users are savvy enough to ignore a trollish comment on a blog.
Radical trust really isn’t that radical..it’s just trust. It only feels radical to us because librarians and other gatekeepers of information have spent centuries trying our damndest to preserve, protect and defend information resources from theft, loss and corruptions. As I’ve said before, this is a noble and just raison d’etre. However, the digital age has changed the game in many ways. We don’t need to keep materials chained up and out of patrons hands because they may destroy them…now we can digitize and allow many more users access to them. And if they do somehow corrupt the digital versions? Well, it’s easy enough to have master copies locked away that can replace the corrupted versions.
In Law LibraryLand, there is currently a major issue of conflict between librarians and information providers in the area of authentication of digital legal materials. I don’t claim to be an expert on the issue and I haven’t entirely decided what is the best solution to the conflict between the two camps. However, John Joergenson, the digital services librarian at Rutgers University School of Law – Camden, wrote an excellent blog post last year which breaks down much of the conflict.
The American Association of Law Libraries has recently issued a report on Authentication of State Documents which outlines the concerns of the librarian community. If I’m reading it correctly, here’s the problem. (1) Digital materials are vulnerable to lapses in management and control, corruption and tampering. (2) To make up for these vulnerabilities, the digital materials need to equivalent to the official print versions. (3) To become equivalent, they must become “authentic.” (4) To be “authentic”, they must be capable of being “authenticated.” (Um…yeah.) There is no standard or endorsed method of authentication, but it can involve things like digital water marks, chain of custody, certification, etc.
Currently no state-provided (i.e. FREE) digital legal materials are “authentic” and as such, “citizens and law researchers may reasonably doubt their authority and should approach such resources critically.” I guess these researchers are supposed to try and get a hold of a print resource (assuming a library is close by, the state still issues a print verison and/or the library hasn’t canceled its order) OR utilize Wexis (which also isn’t “authentic” and is quite costly)?
I propose it’s time we extend the concept of radical trust upwards…not only should we trust our users to take the information we safeguard and remix and run with it, but also maybe we should start trusting people who want to provide the information to our patrons.I could also put in a plea for open source ILSes, but that’s another blog post for another day.
If an entity like the Legal Information Institute wants to take raw data from the government and put it up on the web in a more easily navigable way than what the government provides on the GPO website, maybe we should trust that they are not altering the text of the materials or even being sloppy in the updating of them? If enough providers get in the game, there will be plenty of copies to compare against to make sure they are accurate. Why is accuracy not enough?
Perhaps if librarians can learn to radically trust information brokers, we will be able to work together and start to see new ways to use and manipulate legal information. Input from the librarian community will allow the information providers to make more useful tools and provide stability, which in turn, will lead to better donor funding for long term preservation and maintenance of the information. And finally, patrons will be able to access accurate legal information much more easily, which ultimately, is what everyone wants.
Like I said, I have no answers. Personally, in my ideal world, the various state and federal governments would step up and provide stable and easily navigable law for free. However, as my mother always says, “…and people in Hell want ice water.” Clearly, we as librarians are going to have to choose between forever being at the mercy of Wexis or working with the free legal information providers. I’m hoping that by writing this, a dialog can be opened between the library camp and the legal information world and some solutions can be negotiated.
One of my favorite movies is Thirteen Days, which is the behind-the-scenes story of the Cuban Missile Crisis from the perspective of Kenny O’Donnell, a longtime Kennedy Family friend. As the movie depicts, the United States wasn’t quite sure how to react to threat of nuclear weapons in Cuba. A committee of the National Security Council and close presidential advisors – EXCOMM - was formed.
Robert Kennedy – Attorney General at the time – was given control of the group. He describes the committee’s mission thusly (in one of my all time favorite movie lines): We’ve got a bunch of smart guys. We lock ‘em in a room and kick ‘em in the ass until they come up with some solutions!
Oh, that RFK…always a charmer.
I don’t think I’ll be spoiling the movie to say that EXCOMM did come up with a viable solution and nuclear war and total destruction of civilization as we know it was averted. If that did spoil the movie for you, I suggest you stop reading my blog now and maybe check out some history books? Or at least a wikipedia article?
Anyhoo, what that scene shows – and what I’m a big believer in – is the power of brainstorming with other people. Don’t get me wrong, I am also a big believer in the power of social media and have found valuable interactions to be had with others through that medium. But there’s something that happens while chatting with someone – intentionally in a meeting or just while hanging out, eating a pizza – that can’t be replicated in a chat, emails or phone calls. I don’t know if humans subconsciously pick up on facial clues, hand signals or other visuals. Hell, maybe those late night History Channels specials are right and humans all share some sort of psychic bond. All I know is that I can generate ideas and plan things much faster during and after an in-person sit down than I can after instant messaging service.
This is also one of the things I love about unconferences. First, and most obviously, there is the knowledge gained by all attendees. Secondly, there’s the empowerment of people sharing their knowledge, especially if they think that they have nothing to share. But there’s also the Big Unknown – the fact that when you get a group of people in a room with no set agenda and let them talk about the things that interest them, they can bounce ideas off of each other, combine ideas and come up with things that they didn’t realize they knew.
I know this all makes me sound like some sort of dirty hippie and I assure you that I’m not. (Not that there’s anything wrong with dirty hippies….) I don’t even really like talking to people most of the time. But occasionally I pull myself out of my shell and chat with people and that’s when the magic happens.
We had about 20 librarians from all stripes of law libraries attend. After a fascinating unkeynote address by David Weinberger, we had some great discussions ranging from infoliteracy standards for law students to an iPhone apps petting zoo to the law school bubble. (I hope some of the attendees write up some of what they’ve learned – in retrospect I wish we would have had official reporters from each section.)
There’s already been a result from the converstation…we had a giant roundtable discussion about research guides. One of the ideas bandied about was that it would great if there could be a central repository for law librarians to share research guides. I was tweeting the discussion, and John Mayer of CALI responded that Legal Education Commons is available for this. So. Yay.
Sarah and Tom Bruce - photo credit Jason Eiseman
I was very lucky in that post-lawberry camp, my adventures continued. I made my way to New Haven to hang out with my friend and Lawberry Camp co-organizer Jason Eiseman. It was really amazing to me how much fun and productive the days were. We communicate almost daily, yet once we got in the same room together we were able to really makes some plans. On one of the days, we were joined by Tom Bruce of the Cornell Legal Information Institute. We had both talked with Tom via various forms of media, and had briefly met at CALI in Boulder last year, but this was the first time that we had gotten to have an extensive chat. It was almost a min-summit between librarians and a legal information provider and the start of a conversation that we hope to continue.
This is the official website of Sarah Glassmeyer - Law Librarian. Free law enthusiast. Social media aficionado. Emerging Tech Geek. Coffee addict. Raconteur and bon vivant..
Wondering if there's any good reason for me to keep every issue of Spectrum and LLJ in print that I've received. So hard to recycle, though!
about 14 hours ago
from TweetDeck
Now for some happier news…I have a minor announcement. Minor in the grand scheme of things and major to me, that is.
Do you want an iPod Nano, specifically an iPod Nano 8G sent out by Westlaw as part of their recent WestlawNext promotion? Because I sure as Hell don’t.
Here’s how it’s gonna work: You want the iPod? Leave a comment here with a valid email address that I can contact you at. (Don’t worry, you don’t have to write it out so everyone can see it..I’ll see it if you put it in when you leave the comment . You don’t have to even leave your real name publicly if you want a Westlaw iPod on the DL.) You have until 12:01 am, Saturday February 13, 2010. At that time I’ll randomly select a comment and notify the winner. I’ll even ship it to you out of my own pocket.
My 
Ten days ago or so I received an email from someone at Westlaw. It said, “Just wanted to send you a quick note… We’ll be revealing the new Westlaw on Feb. 1 at LegalTech New York… I’d like to get you some information about it… What’s the best address to FedEx you something?“ I sent my work address and didn’t think too much about it.
In Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 philosophies, there is a concept called “
