Author Archives: admin

Utah State Library for the Blind loses Radio Reading Service

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Nostalgia washes through me about the Utah State Library for the Blind’s loss of their Radio Reading Service, effective April 2010.

Sure, it may be an outmoded idea, not really a 21st Century Idea.  And sure, the State of Utah has huge budget cuts and we need to keep a balanced budget. And sure, I support our Governor Herbert and our legislature on keeping a balanced budget. After all, we try to do that at home and it seems to be workin’.

I especially support USL admin for doing their homework and finding the least used service, since we can’t keep them all in these tight times. Hopefully one day we’ll be back to the days we had pre-recession. I’m all for that.

Moreover, many people may have given up the radio for something zestier like facebook, like twitter, like Salt Lake Tribune online, who has thoughtfully written an article about it.

But really….

I remember when Frank Layden (President of the Utah Jazz) used to come in and read for the radio. People loved that. They liked to listen in, hear his voice, feel his personality, his presence.

I remember when Gerald Lund donated his latest greatest book to be read to the blind. Right when it was sizzling hot off the press. He brought it right on over, didn’t waste a minute. People loved that too.

I remember when Governor Matheson spoke up for the blind patrons and one of them walked on over, slapped him [hard] on the back and said how much he loved him. Those were the days.

Maybe the time has come to give up sacred  (purple) cows, especially when the State Library is facing such huge budget cuts that we can’t even breathe in and out all day long, but always remember these words:purple cow

I never saw a purple cow
I never hope to see one;
but I can tell you anyhow;
I’d rather see than be one

–Gelett Burgess, 1895

Build your audience like a virus experience

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So I’m sitting here in “Build your audience like a virus” training presented by Victoria Rasmussen of UEN. She has some great ideas. She’s talking about the pros and cons of the different social medias like blogging, facebook, twitter, text messaging, youtube. I’m thinking about whether USL can use youtube to share some of the training experiences that we offer.
There’s another session of this training in Richfield next week. You can sign up on our website: http://library.utah.gov/workshops

My Professional Excellence Grant Experience, June 2009

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By Joanne Gialelis, Library Assistant II, Utah State Law Library

The Utah State Library Division’s UPLIFT Professional Excellence Grant provided me with an excellent opportunity.  With this grant award, I was able to pay for a Collection Management course and apply the credits towards my graduate degree program at SJSU’s School of Library and Information Science. This course showed me how collections are built and changed over time. There was much discussion of the obstacles and challenges faced when trying to build and maintain a strong, relevant collection.  These obstacles include censorship challenges, copyright issues and the increasing annual costs of books, videos, and periodicals.

I had the opportunity to learn about item selection tools that relate to my work in a public law library. I also learned about materials selection in subjects I don’t see in my day to day work, including entrepreneurship, home ownership, and stock investment books. The most challenging assignment was putting together an Opening Day Collection using a predetermined budget. This forced me to choose a few titles among so many available while trying to keep a variety of viewpoints.

The most valuable lesson taken from this course was that networking will be an important part of managing a library collection. Whether being active in a library association, talking to cultural or business leaders, or keeping in touch with teachers or faculty, librarians don’t work in isolation to provide the best collections and services. I learned a lot from my classmates (including two fellow Utah students) how different types of libraries face challenges such as budget crises and shared with other libraries. The class was a valuable experience that will have lasting impact on my emerging professional career.

UPLIFT Professional Excellence Grant- Shelly Maag Heaps

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I received a Professional Excellence Grant from the Utah State Library to attend Emporia State University’s class called “Organization Theories for Administering Information Agencies” this spring. This class provided a great deal of information and ideas about managing libraries and other information institutions. For the final project, each student chose an issue facing library managers and researched that topic. I looked into reasons a library manager should allow teenagers to play computer games and participate in social networking on library computers. In the Fall 2008 issue of Directions, Linda Fields-Richfield discussed her realization that teens gain important literacy skills through gaming (p.4). This is one of many reasons that teen gaming and social networking are valuable to teens and should be allowed in the library. This article outlines one more of those reasons through an interpretation of a recent study on the association between teen gaming and civic involvement.

One benefit of teen gaming that is being explored by researchers is the civic experience teen’s gain from playing games. The link between teens that play games and involvement in the community is investigated in a 2008 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. This study looked at the fact that a vast majority of American teens play video games and that there “are civic dimensions to video game play” (Lenhart, Kahne, Middaugh, Macgill, Evans, Vitak, 2008, p. viii). This study found that teens who play civic computer games, especially in a social setting are more likely to be politically involved. These games include a wide variety of elements that make many games civically tied, including: helping and guiding other players, teaching about a problem in society, exploring a social issue, thinking about moral or ethical issues, helping make decisions about how a community, city or nation should be run and organizing game groups or guilds” (Lenhart, et al., 2008, p. 41). Most teens are benefiting from these skills by playing computer games, and many are doing it in the library, a place where all teens are free to try these games and play them with friends.

While much research is still needed about the connections between gaming and civic involvement, the “Teens, Video Games, and Civics” study by Lenhart, et al. (2008) indicates that teens that play these types of games in a group are significantly more likely to:
• go online to get information about politics or current events
• raise money for charity
• be committed to civic participation
• be interested in politics
• stay informed about current events
• try to persuade others to vote a particular way in an election
• participate in a protest, march, or demonstration (p. 44).

All of these things are important in a society where citizens can make a difference and the library should be promoting these activities. While it is surprising that allowing gaming can result in these activities, and it is not a logical link many people make, showing this connection to local decision-makers and library leaders can make gaming that much more valuable to individual institutions. Continue reading →