Newsfeed updates!

Thanks for the update and info regarding RSS feeds. This is new to me and so it helps me alot in undersatnding how to really maximise the blogging world!
We're all home now and what a 2 weeks it has been!
Too much to comment on now so I'm using the weekend to go through my notes, disseminate and unpack what it is that I need to do.

Working with Newsfeeds

Almost all blogs and a growing number of other websites automatically generate newsfeeds. Often this is in a format called RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and sometimes in other formats like ATOM. We can use these feeds to clear our e-mail Inboxes, keep track of whats new in our areas of interest in one place and to get some content on our websites to update automatically.

My colleague Ingrid Thomson from the Humanities Information Division in the UCT Library has kindly agreed to share a presentation which she prepared about making effective use of newsfeeds. Educause has a good , quick resource on "7 Things You Should Know About RSS" and you may want to check out a really nice short video by Lee Lefeaver on "RSS in Plain English".

Ingrid likes to use Bloglines as her online feed reader / news aggregator but I prefer the newer Google Reader which does very similar things. If you mostly work with one computer and want a desktop based news reader then I'd recommend Blogbridge or RSSOwl.

10 Steps to Better Blogging

Of course there are many more than 10 ways to become a better blogger, but the items discussed in this presentation are a good place to start. For the run-down, get a copy of the powerpoint by my UCT colleague Andrea Ressell.

Thanks!

Dear colleagues,

Its been a delight working with you. What I've noticed is that you are:

Endurance experts
Passionate about your work
Dynamic
The real library action figures
Knowledge professionals
Boundary Spanners
Adventurous
Creative

In short ... librarians !!!

See you later this morning

:)
Tony

Transfering blogs from Williamslibrary to librarians

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Island of research
I am looking forward to exploring the info in thr CD and booklet, sharing it with other librarians and emerging researchers. The story about the various layers of questioning Mrs Shell had to go through before geting to the real question that the couple had in mind reminds us of the importance of the research interview, the need to ask the right questions, watch body language and above make sure that we have assisted the user to clearly articulate what his/her information need is
Posted by williamslibrary at 9:14 AM 0 comments

Wednesday 26 Sept
The talk on research genre, creating research space was very interactive and engaging. It will be useful when we recieve queries from students who may be struggling to write an article. It is equally useful for us as librarians when we decide to write adout what we do to contribute to the literature. The second session on writing circles (UCT), providing a space for post grads "to say stupid things" in a non threatening enviroment intoduced another dinension to how we can assist researchers. I don't think we have such a centre at UKZN and we (the UKZN librarians) should consider having such a unit in future at UKZN. The most important point, in my opinion was a contribution which proposed that the resarch commons ideally should be a space where ideas can be exchanged among researchers and librarians in a "neutral" and "non threatening" mannerI am looking forward to the session on strategies for outreach, communication and collaboration with researchers tomorow because I think those strategies will be the "route map" of our "research support journey" in the various institutions
Posted by williamslibrary at 8:39 AM 0 comments

ETHICS, COPYRIGHT/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The presentation on ethics made me see ethics in a much broader sense. It also made me ethics critically. One important point that was raised was that the responsibility of the of the researcher does not end with the completion of the research but it it continuous - it covers what happens with the collected data, how it is stored. Sometimes it is easy to identify individuals and there is one individual whose name was not mentioned in a study that i did but I think will be easily identified.In retrospect maybe I should jave consulted before writing the final report.The political economy driving Intellectual property issues especially in the US was an eye-opener. I retained one lesson- a librarian should not be a copyright policeman but should promote acces to information in all possible ways- without getting entangled with the law! Ethics, intellectual property, plagiarism- I think I am better equiped to deal with these issues when I encounter them in my engagement with researchers.The last session on Tuesday 25 Sept was a bit difficult because of lack on current information on the structure of the research portal. The report back session was helpful all the same because some of the issues that we shall have to deal with were highlightedThe outing to 96 Winery road was very nice. I loved the the atmoshere in the restaurant. It helped me to unwind
Posted by williamslibrary at 8:18 AM 0 comments
Monday, September 24, 2007

REVIEW WEEK ONE
The purpose of all the presentations in week one is much clearer to me now. Professor Gevers gave a very good overview of the mechnics of the knowledge creation process. All the other lectures fitted in by giving detailed accounts of "research journey's" in various fields. While learning something new from each of them, what I found most remarkable was the passion they all showed when they spoke about their research. The lesson thatI think we can all learn from this is that when we begin our individual research support journeys in our institutions we should be passionate about what we do. That pasion and enthusiasm, will definately rubb off on our colleagues in the library and hopefully academics and we shall well be on our way to making a difference!It was interesting to hear from Andrew how academics who are applying for NRF rating sometimes battle to put together their profiles. That is one area where we can assist lecturers.Equally interesting were the disagreements on certain issues- open access, the orthodox research methodologies followed by most presenters as opposed to Prof Foster's critical stance on existing theories of knowlegde and knowing. The lesson for me? We are very like to encounter these contradictions as we engage with academics in our institutions and I am better equiped now to deal with them.The statement which keeps coming back to my mind? "You are more needed as librarians than you appreciate??? know???" Dr David Cooper. Help can't recall the exact words now. We definitely have a role to play!
Posted by williamslibrary at 9:59 PM 0 comments
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The Island of research
Wednesday 26 Sept
ETHICS, COPYRIGHT/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
REVIEW WEEK ONE

About Me
williamslibrary View my complete profile

Blogging: Let's see if I can still do this...

Yes, thank goodness ... It seems so yah, - it is not so hard, after all!

I came across an interesting article at the url below:
http://www.jeremybwilliams.net/AJETpaper.pdf


Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sectorJB Williams, J Jacobs - Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2004 - jeremybwilliams.net... You blog, we blog: A guide to how teacher librarians can use weblogs to buildcommunication and research skills. Teacher Librarian. December, 30(2), 7-9. ... Cited by 38 - Related Articles - View as HTML - Web Search



Tony, I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!


Anne

The final countdown

It was a wonderful talk by Renfrew Christie. He gave us a wide view of what an ideal research library would look like - very aspirational and something to work towards.

I am pleased to be going home tomorrow because:

1. I have no clean clothes left
2. I have no clothes that fit me left
3. I am brain dead

and last and not least......I miss my family

Margaret

Group photos

Photo of us all

Almost home!

Yesterday afternoon with Julie and Sandy was most enjoyable. Julie made a conserted effort to get us out of our seats and that kept me awake! It was good for me to have to be honest and identify my weaknesses and strengths afterward. Sandy's presentation was inspiring and has once again invigourated me to find out the 'real question' from the user!

ps. Her little anecdotes were very entertaining!

Developing strategies for outreach...

One of our goals is to satisfy higher-level research needs. So, we have to develop a shared goal and vision for the alliance with the researcher. Open and frequent communication is critical to successful collaboration. We have to build trust with the researcher. Be sensitive to the research needs of, and the constraints on the researcher.

With commitment and determination we can achieve collaborative advantage.

Librarian - Academic Collaboration

It seems that, the more we discuss and engage with academics and researchers regarding the work that we do, the more work needs to be done to improve perception regarding 'what it is that librarians do' and, even more challenging: how can we work with academic and research community members to improve services that support research?

Quite disturbing was the report of an research support group for academic staff at one of the participating institutions. Issues and challenges faced specifically by academic staff in the course of their teaching work notwithstanding, what better way to exclude support staff, with which librarians are unceremoniously lumped? A statement about librarians as postgraduate students and researchers as 'not good enough' to be included in such activities? Hmmm.....

The challenge is loud and clear. How to penetrate the all-encompassing armour in which academia seems determined to envelope itself - that is the all important question!

Mind the gap

The important focus of the research paper is "the value of establishing the gap" and "occupying the niche"

Two more sleeps

The academy has been most useful for the biggger picture of research as well as nitty gritty stuff - the writing input as regards genres was so well presented and adds a whole dimension to being able to help students and the new researcher. The components of the Academy are fitting together so nicely and the bigger picture is starting to take shape as well as worthwhile input for our research papers. The Academy has interwoven layers of thinking, practice and curiosity to fine tune much of what we already know and expand prior knowledge.

R is a prominent letter - the research librarian for the emerging researcher"etc". I think the purpose of the Academy can be summed up with the 'R' words: Review, Remind, Re-examine, Reveal, Reinvent, Replicate and soon to Reflect and Realize the aims of this experience.

Rose and Rani

Warthogs and crocodiles

Thanks Pat for an interesting evening out with such delightful cuisine on Tuesday; sorry I could not be pursuaded to eat those quadrupeds!

So far so Good:Library Academy

I would like to pass my sincere thanks to the academy for giving us this opportunity, exposure and experience.Iam very pleased to say that one has learned a lot around research arena, we have also been able to evaluate or gauge ourselves as to how much do we know about research. A lot has been learned especially around research individual experience, research genre, librarians supporting researchers including many other presentations not included. We were also able to get a feel of the language terms used. This was an exciting adventure. This has given us a thought as to what should be changed in our insitutions?
How do we change as individuals in terms of attitudes towards researchers?How can we connect to their environment as well as how do we communicate with them? How do we come in to terms with their frustrations during the process of research.There are so many questions, these questions are ellaborating on a gap between librarians and researchers.

Writing Support for researchers 26 Sept 2007

I think this was a useful session, understanding how writing centre supports research was a phenominal experience. We were able to see the gap as to where do we come in as librarians in terms of facilities and resources that are supporting researchers. It is very imperative that the writing centre is close to the library.May be its time that most institutions develop their own writing centre and those who do not have connect with the insitutions that are already in place with the operations of writing centers. The only question is how much time do we have to be able to do this? How much time do we have to accomplish our goals as set and stipulated?

Academic departments are failing to come to our party or to meet us halfway. What are we suppose to do, leave our jobs and visit them in their offices all the time? How much time do we have. Do you think the time has come that we leave our desk and part of everything in the Faculty ? Do you think we should blow our reference desk and go to their offices. What are the possibilities of making all party members attend the this big part?

Research Topics

I think it could be a great idea if we could start posting our research topics on the blog so that we can start sharing some information around our topics.

Week 2

I am finding week two so stimulating and interesting. I have now been able to put myself and reflect back on what I have beed doing before I came to the academy, and how possibly I can implement practically what I have learned.
In my case things are actually adding up together now.

Wednesday it is!

Glad to be made aware of Swales' genre literature by Dr. Morag Paxton. Will definitely be consulting this resource to assist me in my research. Similarly, a helpful presentation by Mary Nassimbeni. Insightful view that she presented has given me newfound virility to get going with THAT paper!

Bonjour

Bonjour

Yesterday (25/09) we received some great stuff from the presenters. Plagiarism is a serious issue wherever you go. The discussion on the Research Commons and the Portal was also vital because participants were able to raise their concerns. I'm looking forward to today's presentations.

Plagiarism from the academics point of view

Karin gave us very practical guidelines on plagiarism from an academic's point, and very good tips also for our own assignment.When we work with our students we don't always know what the final assignments from students look like and where thay go wrong when it comes to writing and citing.

Research Topic

The discussion on Saturday morning was lively and very encouraging. Each one of us is researching different topics with a little overlap of certain aspects of his/her project. Our coordinator highlighted our strenghts and weaknesses during the course of the discussion which definitely gave me a clear perspective of how approach my research.

Learning about the Portal and Research Commons

Today was informative since I did not reallyt know what the Portal or Research Commons ACTUALLY was. Thanks to Pat and Colin for shedding some light!

Learning

As new person to the field I'm learning a lot of things from the presentations and the participants are very experienced they know a lot about the field. Its so wonderful to have you guys. I will never forget your caring, love and support.

What I can say? YOU ROCK?

17 - 21 Sept

What an amazing week! All those different views on research from researchers in the various fields. Publishing was one of the highlights of all the presenters. However, I was concerned that some of them said that they do not publish in South African journals because of the low impact factor. My question is, " Are the South African journals not a starting point for the emerging researcher?"

I assist a number of emerging and mature researchers with their literature searches and bibliographies, but it did not occur to me to either ask or get them to talk to the librarians about how they do their research. This week has been an eye opener in this regard. I am certainly going to ask a lot more questions about their research.

To do

Karin's presention gives us a very clear indication of the problem areas which we need to be aware of. Practical tips, coming from an academic which we have to follow up on. Very interesting and honest presentations from the libraries and the way forward is beginning to take shape. Looking forward to Open Access in Action today!

Monday's presentations

After the presentation by Karin and the other librarians, I am much more confident about the way forward. That is - what practical steps I can take as I engage with academics to provide research support. On increasing our subject knowledge one very useful source she highlighted was the abstracts and research methodologies in the thesis. At UKZN subject librarians do cataloguing and classification. So I'll pay more attention to the methodologies used in the subjects which I am still learning.

"Blood on the floor" - UCT seems to have a very good & practical collection development policy. But it seems to have taken lots of hard work to get there. I saw tenacity, team work and consistent collecttion of EVIDENCE to support policy.

Looking forward to fitting in more pieces of the "Library Academy puzzle" in the cousre of this week!

Monday 24, Week two and still going

It certainly did not seem like a public holiday today - thats because of the enthusiasm and spirit of the participants.
The day certainly was a long but rewarding and exciting one. Karin's presentation was excellent with a broad overview of "what researchers want from librarians". Some interesting discussion on Collection Development by Ms Joan Rapp and Mr Digby Sales should be an eyeopener for our institution to take a serious look at our policy of budget allocation and who should be in "control" of the book allocation. The Bill Bryson quiz was fun, but the highlight of the day was certainly catching a glimpse of the last few overs of the cricket when India beat Pakistan, yay....
Omesh

Everything coming together

Hi, After Karin's presentation this morning so many issues have been made clearer. Giving the researchers what they need, seems not to be such an impossible task. Well done to all those that gave their presentations today. Looking forward to an early night without Bill Bryson!
Hilbre

Research Support in Practice, 24 September 2007

The presentations and discussions of 24 September closely addressed some of the issues that kind of remained in the background during the first week of the Academy. Karin offered practical answers to the question: "...what can librarians do?" to deepen support to research. It was also interesting to learn about the sampling technique that UCT used to enhance their LibQUAL response rate.

During an earlier break away session, the challenges of attracting researchers to the Research Commons physical space were noted. One practical suggestion that came out today included the need to offer sophisticated software support essential to researchers, including use of the MS Office suite. The challenge is to ensure that all research librarians are fully equipped with the software knowledge and skills required to offer this support. The experiences with RefWorks training should be quite informative.

Reviewing Week One

Dear colleagues,

Happy Heritage Day to you all!!

You have been so prolific! Perhaps it would be useful to have one message that links you to several messages in this blog where you review week 1 of the Library Academy. Here we go starting from the oldest message:

Paiki shared multiple insights about research and is rethinking his research methodology. He also shares several challenges concerning the integration of librarians into the research process and emphasises the need for the "creativity of librarians". Meanwhile Rose has unmashed and rehashed. Finally she is on track. Seta remarks on Friday afternoon enthusiasm. To her the way forward as a librarian is "An open mind, a fresh perspective and a whole lot of insight into the world of academia". Omesh also survived the week and shares some deep reflection on the research sessions.

Hilbre found the first week to be "intensive but very stimulating". She says that it "awakened parts of my brain that have been asleep for years". Omesh tells us that the first week "made me think what is my purpose here ; how can I make a difference; - what do I hope to achieve at the end of this 2 weeks". Rose reports that "The week's activities are fitting together nicely". She reflects on "the varied nature and individualistic nature of research as a creative enterprise". Finally academyconnect used week one to "look outside the box". This is provoking some changes in strategy for an Engineering subject librarian.

Does anyone have further Week One reviews to share?

Does anyone want to do a similar summary post for Week One reviews from the individual blogs? You can find a listing of all the individual blog posts here.

Sunday outing- Franschoek

It was good to explore a bit of Cape Town and do a bit of sight seeing. Franschoek is more of a tourist attraction and personally I was not too fascinated - guess I was expecting more of a modern shopping complex but nevertheless it was an experience. Food was not too good as the fish and chips tasted like hake back home (even though we were told it was the catch of the day - seems like we were really caught hook, line and sinker). Wonder if this is a marketing tactic....Ohh, forgot to mention I enjoyed the sauna in the morning despite it being a bit chilli....looking forward to another exciting week...
Omesh (Librarians Voice)

Franschoek trip

Wow, it was so brave of us to go out in the rain and explore a town that we all didn't know!!!

Stay outside the Box

The presentations of week one gave us a fresh chance to look outside the box. While most of us are very involved in the research interests of our Faculties I think that when I go back to Wits I will be looking at other interests as well, it does not have to be Engineering only. One can very easily get caught up in the day to day activities of running your library when we go back. We will have to use this blog to remind each other to keep an interest outside the box.

Keep on Blogging

Thanks to all who have shared your lovely reflections, insights, questions and plans in this community blog and in your individual blogs thusfar. If you haven't posted to your blog or the community blog then I'd encourage you to do this either by yourself or with a colleague. If you post together then just indicate who the post is from.

To continue our engagement with the practices of blogging I'd encourage to try the following between now and the end of the academy:

1) Comment on a message from a colleague
2) Link out from text in one of your messages to somewhere else on the web. When you enter or edit your message just highlight the text that you want link from. Then click on the little symbol at the top of the edit box which shows a small link in a chain on top of a very fuzzy globe. You will then be asked to enter the web address.


3) Refer and link to a colleague's message in one of yours. Clicking on the title of their message in their blog always links to their message.
4) Include an image in one of your messages. If you upload an image file then try to keep it as small as possible to ensure that it opens fast when colleagues access your message. Smaller files also upload far more quickly from your computer to your blog ;)
5) Change your blog template to include links to your favourite sites or a list of your favourite books.

How about it?
:)
Tony

The first week

The week's activities are fitting together nicely; I am able to appreciate the need to have revisited and been exposed to, for the first time in terms of some aspects, as an overview, the varied nature and individualistic nature of research as a creative enterprise. The research journey has no defined beginning or end, although the publication aspects focus research in particular ways; and approaches and methodologies are as varied and contested as there are researchers. The tenacity and passion of researchers has been fascinating and explains how the boundaries of research are constantly being pushed forward. I am now so fully aware of how necessary it is to engage in the 'languages' of the various dsiciplines and in practice one needs to be mindful of differences. The parallels with what Bill Bryson describes have been so useful.

Balancing act

Saturday afternoon brought an opportunity for time out and most of us headed for dreamland, the brave ones watching rugby. Michael took Sonto, Sam, myself and Eileen up the Stellenbosch mountain behind us late afternoon. It was wonderful walking through the protea 'forest' and Michael was so knowledgable about the natural environment. As we climbed we were able to see the harbour, Robben Island and False Bay. Apart from amazing in itself, everything we saw has been the subject of research from so many standpoints as a result of human curiosity. It was great.
Rose

Research project

My project is subject based dealing with freedom of religion and in particular expression of ones religious beliefs in the public arena such as schools and the workplace. Much attention has been given in particular to the wearing of headscarves by Muslim women and this has been controversial in a number of jurisdictions around the world and treated in various ways by the courts. South Africa has taken a more liberal approach. I am interested in tracing the development of SA's constitutional provision re religious expression and bring various strands that have been written about together, and perhaps considerign some of the issues we may yet encounter. Much of the writign on this topic and emanated from my own isntitution.

Saturday's discussion

Well, what can I say - I was stressing how this was going to turn out, like many of the other colleagues I spoke to and surprisingly, there was nothing to stress about at all. The session was very informal and Karin really put us all on the right thinking path. It certainly clarified some of our concerns and expectations of the research report and I also see this as a motivation to do something constructive - afterall, we all seem to be grappling with problems we want to find solutions to and what better way than by engaging in research ourselves. This certainly is a challenge to me and this past week has somehow made me think what is my purpose here ; how can I make a difference; - what do I hope to achieve at the end of this 2 weeks - I am slowly beginning to see the pieces of the puzzle and I know that I WILL make a difference back home..finally, I really enjoyed the cricket this evening when India beat the Aussies..yay....the atmosphere in the lounge was great....
Omesh

Research Project Discussions, 22 Sept. 2007

My interests lie in the value that libraries bring to postgraduate education in the context of many other factors. Together with the sessions that ran from 17 September, the research project discussions were beneficial. Since the Chi-Square lessons I took as a library school student years back, I have always avoided this technique in surveys. Colin constructively interogated my methodology in such a manner that I should go back to this technique to address issues of reliability and validity in my project. In addition, I am rethinking my sampling techniques to narrow my project to a manageable level within the time limits set by the Carnegie project. Depending on the experience and outcomes, this may necessitate a broader research study beyond the Carnegie project in order to fully explore any evidence that may be available.

The first week

Hi, I found the week intensive but very stimulating. It awakened parts of my brain that have been asleep for years - the different discipline research presentations were very thought provoking. We tend to get locked into the subject field our branch library specialises in. The background we obtained will be very valuable in running the research commons as this will cater for all types of researchers needs.
The session this morning with Karin clarified what is expected of us and it now seems less daunting. It was preparing for this, that I realised how much this weeks input has consolidated thoughts I have had about it.
Hilbre

View from Cape Town

I am at the moment sitting in Cape Town and perhaps the distance will help reflect on the week that was. This morning's session on our research was very helpful. I did an about turn in the middle of mine - totally changing topics and I was encouraged and helped while I thought things through in that forum.

I actually cant believe how quickly the week flew and hopefully I will remember all that happened....perhaps there can be some kind of abstracts written of the different sessions put together by one of the notetakers?

Otherwise, I think the highlight of the week was Professor Shell's talk - coming from a history angle it had particular resonance to me. In addition, after what I thought was his rocky start it was a surprise and pleasure to follow his unassuming presentation. His passion was infectious!

Research projects discussion sessions

This morning's session with the facilitators gave us a much-needed opportunity to discuss our ideas in a supportive and enthusiastic environment. I especially valued Karin's comments and advice. I was able to clarify my ideas somewhat and now have more confidence in approaching this previously rather daunting exercise. I hope to be able to produce a report which will be useful in my library and institutional context (apart from the satisfaction I will personally achieve!)

Good luck everybody


Eileen

Research Project progress discussions

Oh the discussions helped me, now I know what to do and how to do it.

Friday 21 - The week we've survived

Today was a great session with lots of discussion and questions that have no real answers. Dr Kaniki's talk was informative and even though I felt something was missing, my interaction with him during the tea break put my mind at ease to some of the questions I raised. The issue of Who owns the research if the NRF is providing us with the Funds; the implications of publishing externally or selling our knowledge to international journals, etc made interesting discussion at tea.
Peter Vale's explanation of bureaucracy of the NRF as he sees it and of placing more importance on Science and Technology ; the issue of what constitutes valuable research in the Human and Social sciences are certainly valid issues that needs to be addressed; David Cooper's explanation/ distinction of First and Second Academic Revolution and Prof Ntsebeza's talk on Fieldwork research all seems to slowly fall into place. Despite a late Friday afternoon, everyone seemed so enthusiastic which really shows the dedication and commitment of every participant to the Academy - Well done and keep up the good spirit.....
Omesh

Enthusiasm on a Friday afternoon!

It was really interesting to observe the levels of enthusiasm displayed by all present at the afternoon sessions today, especially since it was Friday - a time of week when we usually seem to be dragging our tails behind us!

Stimulating and thought-provoking as usual, the variety of speakers that we have heard has left us speechless at times, but also forced us to see research from their perspectives - step into their spheres of existence for a short time and get some insight into what makes them tick. The more I learn about their research, the more I understand why individuals from certain domains are the way they are, and my resolve to not take personally interactions with them that I may otherwise have perceived negatively strengthens considerably.

So, the way forward? An open mind, a fresh perspective and a whole lot of insight into the world of academia - utterly refreshing!

Intelligent mash

What an interesting week - I have unmashed, rehashed and feel I am on track: the research overview has provided such a useful background and the basis for more inquiry. The range of speakers certainly confirms the diverse, contested and individualistic nature of research.

Rose

UKZN Librarians on the move

Dear Colleagues

I am glad that everybody made it through this week and still so enthusiatic this Friday afternoon.

Now there's a pic for you to see. Click on the link

http://library.ukzn.ac.za/Traininganewbreedofsuperlibrarians911.aspx

Cheers

I am almost there!

Dear Tony

I have been hearing about blogging from colleagues & thought that I don't think my brain will be able to handle this piece of technology but surprise, surprise it's making sense now, thanks to you, I really appreciate your patience, it's getting clearer by the day!




Sonto

upload your photos to the Vula site

Hi everyone

I've eventually got my access to the blogs sorted out. PLEASE post your photos to the Vula site. If you need assistance on how to do this, just ask.

Blogging

Dear Carr

Iam so happy, I have created my blog, Iam able to view posts and that is exciting but now how do I sell the idea to students-any tips?

Linda Mbonambi

Part II: Other Academy Thoughts, 17 - 21 Sept. 2007

The Academy continues to comprehensively address the South African research environment. At the same time, quite a few challenges are coming to the fore: there are no immediate practical answers on how best to integrate the library into the researcher's workflow; initially, unreliable computing frustrated the great "blogging" experience; and academics still have to give thought to embracing the librarian in their quest to improve the quality of research. It appears that putting in place structures to smoothen the integration of the librarian into the research process may not happen in the immediate future. The practical use of the wealth of knowledge coming from the Academy will depend on the creativity of the librarians.

Part 1: Academy High Spots, 17 - 21 Sept. 2007

The 1st week of the Academy has been great and gave new insights into the following: conducting reproducible research; narrowing a topic and reading extensively around it; issues to consider in enhancing postgraduate research; Masters students may not necessarily publish articles from their theses; current research thinking in disciplines; terminologies in use; technologies such as blogs provide opportunities to get into researchers' online environments; practical experience in creating blogs and sharing knowledge through this medium; refreshed my knowledge about documents/census records as original source materials; role of information professionals in opening up hidden resources to researchers and defining performance indicators in research.


This has been a great help in rethinking my research methodology and the extent of my literature review. I was convinced on the the importance of "deep transformative theory" in the production of new knowledge;

Some thoughts...

I really enjoyed this afternoons session whereby we broke up into groups and did some brainstorming on what our expectations were and how we can find answers to the so called "missing links". Perhaps the ideas that came about will help the organisers to rethink certain issues for next years academy - afterall, we are the guinea pigs so am positive we will come out tops.
Omesh

Links to our blogs

Dear colleagues, I really want to congratulate you on your blog postings since we met. I know that you have a lot going on in the Academy!

You can find messages by your colleagues in their own blogs
1) by clicking on the links to our blogs in the top right hand corner of the blog. These will sometimes be up to several hours out of date.
OR
2) by clicking through to the profiles of your colleagues from their names in the list of contributors.

Bye for now
:)
Tony

Presentations

I noticed a passion for their subject and enthusiasm in the presenters at the academy. This is what fascinated me in subject areas that are sometimes quite new to me. It rubs off on the audience, are we as librarians as passionate about our profession when we talk about it?
Prof Shell was excellent. I am definitely going to have a closer look at the CD he promised to send to us.
I am looking forward to tomorrow, it should be one of many highlights.
Maryna

Problems sorted!

Hi,
Password problems finally solved and I'm on my way to be part of the librarian bloggers. At least now I know it works. Thanks for all the interesting postings.

Some useful references

I came across these last night while browsing and thought they looked useful:

Play Matters: The Academic Librarian's Role in Fostering Historical ThinkingLisa Norberg, Coordinator of Instructional Services, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://www.readex.com/readex/newsletter.cfm?newsletter=58

and a book review on ScienceDirect
doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2006.08.003

Higher Education in the Internet Age: Libraries Creating a Strategic Edge.
By Patricia Senn Breivik and E. Gordon Gee. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006. 322 pp. $49.95
(UK Sterling Price: £28.99). ISBN 0-275-98194-0 (alk. paper).

Eileen Shepherd

Fascinating and challenging

I know I'm not the only one not certain exactly how to respond to some of the challenges posed during our daily discussions. I think it is wonderful that the forum is open to expression, and that dictatorial opinions have no place in the Academy, since that is no way to promote learning. Not for a long time and on such a continuous basis have I felt so intellectually stimulated, deliberately forced to evaluate my own opinions, viewpoints and preconception, and I am enjoying myself thoroughly!

An ongoing debate rages over professional versus paraprofessional librarian roles in the library, and limitations or opportunities for improvement made available to each group. I find myself puzzled by the differences in content of the library science programmes offered by the various institutions and the seeming lack of discourse between employers and library schools with regard to employment opportunities offered to members of both groups (i.e. professional vs. paraprofessional library staff). So it seems to me that the sooner that a coherent strategy with regard to what is acceptable and what is not can be agreed upon, the sooner steps towards role definition in the workplace and employee expectations can be managed, and, hopefully, conflict averted. So the debate rages, and, for now, I am content to ruminate on my thoughts around the issue, until next time...

Knowledge sharing

As much as we don't have time on our hands,but I think we can use this blogging as a platform for knowledge sharing - which actually is very critical to our careers. Let's stop working in silos, and share what we know to each other.

Library academy presentations

These have been very interesting. There is an emerging trend. One trend is how to critically view information and understand the theoretical framework or the position from which a researcher is operating. It forces the librarians think critically when engaging with researchers. On the missing link of Research methodology, I wish the presenters would give a broad framework of research methodology, let us say in Engineering. Now with this framework in mind, I will be able to fit in what a researcher tells me. In other words, a panoramic view of research methodology first, then the details of a specific research can be given. Of course the advice of Prof Peter Vale is also very useful: ask the researcher to tell you the topic and the methodology. If the researcher is unable to do this coherently, it is not worth the trouble following up on this research. Should we turn away this researcher? No! W can't. We will have to assist him/her. How?........

Blogger librarian

Research librarian, Blogging librarian, Virtual librarian and on and on we can go. The world of librarianship is ever increasing. The possibilities are huge. Do we have the time in our day to do it all?

Photos

The photos are evidence that we enjoyed the Blogging.Thanks for showing it Tony,
Maryna

It was great to get to work with such amazing Library Academy colleagues! Thanks to all of you. Here are some photos deliberately taken at low resolution just to suggest that even a cellphone photo can sometimes help to document an event

Librarians blog suggestion

A suggestion to add to our Blogging librarians list is Academic librarian http://blogs.princeton.edu/librarian/

Maryna

Your invite

Thank you for your invitation. Good to be joining your space. It is only the third day of the Academy and I suddenly rock on Mont Fleur and the direction our discussions took this afternoon caused us to feel mashed (according to Rosemary) we hit some pertinent questions and I have the feeling that the answers are going to "rock" us. Looking forward to hearing more.
Maryna

This is a big relief - that I can do it all by myself!
Margaret

Views on Blogging

The group views are as follows:
Its a move from the isolation of the listserv to the public arena.
It is e-learning on the move.
A new way of communication with users and staff members.
It allows you to embed into the academic and learning workflow.
It brings you closer to the where the users are.
Its a good idea to have it in subject portals
Its a means of interactive communication and source of new ideas.
It creates an online discussion forum.

Top Librarian Bloggers

We were alerted to quite an interesting site:

http://oedb.org/library/features/top-25-librarian-bloggers-by-the-numbers

It helps to know who else has been busy!

Seta
Cyrill

Blogging presentation

Presentation was funtastic..very enlightening..we will definitely explore this new way of communicating effectively with students and lecturers....
Omesh Rani Maryna Suzette

Tony's presentation

I have learnt new things in the presentation. Hope to apply them at work when I return. Will Also use it to find out what other academy participants think of what we have been exposed to since Monday.

Bombarded by blogs

Eish! A lot to learn, amazing - we are here and here to stay.

Sam
Margaret
Sonto
Gcobisa

Wow - I managed to do it!

Hi everyone
Blogging is a fantastic way to communicate with students


Eileen

tony's presentation

Tony's presentation on blogging has been most enlightening; we hope to take advantage of this technology to communicate appropriately with other academy members

Our New Blogs

Please post the name and web address of your new blog as a comment to this message.

This will make it easier for us to access each others' blogs and stay in contact after the Academy Meetings are over.

Signing Up for Blogger

At this point we need to sign up for our own blogs in on the Blogger server. We don't have enough computers here for everyone to be signing up at the same time so .... we'll pursue two processes in parallel.

1) Its back to your groups of four or five. By now I'll have sent you all invitations to join this blog as authors. One person per group should respond to this invitation including signing up for a Google ID if needed . Then work together as a group to compose and post a message sharing your reflections and insights or sharing a resource / blog that we should have listed on this blog. After that respond in to posts by colleagues in the comments.

2) We'll take turns signing up for our individual blogs using the remaining computers. The required steps are shown in the folder entitled "images for blogger signup". Please note that the address for your blog has to be unique but the name doesn't have to be. This part of the process could go a bit faster if some of us are signing up during teatime.

Blogging the World

A discussion about blogging generally starts in the wild early days of the World Wide Web of the early 90s. The history of blogs starts with easily updated "Whats new?" lists of new and interesting websites hence the term weblogs. The genre then diversifies? fragments? into forms such as the online journal, the citizen journalist, the bridge blog which comments on postings from several other blogs, teaching blogs and research blogs. At UCT we have examples of research units like SALDRU which use their blogs to inform and grow a community of interest. Perhaps of most interest to us here today is the phenomenon of the blogging librarian.

What all these blogs have in common is separation of content from appearance, easy updating, listing of postings from most to least recent and a collection of recommended links (often to other blogs).

Please reply with a comment outlining some of the objectives for your blog.

Are bloggers really like this?

Source: The Blog Herald, 8th May 2005

What are your assumptions about bloggers?

Welcome to our Workshop

Welcome to the workshop on Blogging for Library 2.0! This blog will be the main online environment for the workshop alongside  your blogs. There are links from our site to resources about blogging and examples of blogs of different genres including several by librarians.

Maybe now would be a good opportunity to chat in groups of four or five and share any burning questions that have been provoked by the presentation as comments to this message.

Starting the blog

My first post in this blog for the SA Library Academy Workshop in Mont Fleur. I am really looking forward to meeting and working with this group because I know that librarians are among the leaders in educational improvements in all our universities. Often librarians as knowledge professionals are ahead of the rest of the university.