Social networking grows up

Have a look at this interesting article called Social networking grows up. It explores and lists social networking sites for scientists. I thought a link to this kind of site, or a networking site of our own, might be a good addition to our Portal...?

RLC201 Godzilla on our Stoep!!!

The second and last week has for me been about opportunities, challenges, and threats.

1. Case studies of Librarians who are now Researchers themselves.
2. Very good examples of Librarians successfully working with Researchers.
3. Avenues of research that Librarians could explore.
4. Gentle nudges for Librarians to get on that bus, or be left behind.
5. Where to with LIS education - continuous relevance?

A lot of work lies ahead.We need to gird our loins.We must not miss the opportunity NOT to keep quiet!

Assumptions!

Finding out what the researchers want vs offering what you think they need has been emphasized throughout the Academy. I must confess I have never given it much thought before attending the Academy. It is so easy to assume and generalise but I've learned.

Accredited journals

What I really wanted to say this morning was we're looking at the whole picture of research in South Africa, and nothing is above critique, not even our one or two accredited professional journals: there must be ways to improve and speed up the processes of peer reviewing especially in the digital context. As one presenter said: inevitably one reviewer will be a 'flat tyre!'

In a workflow of digitised/electronic processes with regular automated email prompts until you got the job done, it is almost impossible to miss deadlines. This way more reseach can get published at a faster rate. I've been involved in such a process this year, not completely done yet but I can already view my typeset article in the journal as it will appear in print. An interesting and rewarding ride! Will share it with you at a later stage.

The interesting thing about this particular journal is that the onus is on the author for final editing - and you take the responsibility as the author. This means you find yourself a professional assistant/editor or else. If you're lucky to have a friend to do the professional part, that's okay, otherwise you may have to pay someone to assist you. Not so different iif you think about what some researchers have to pay to have their work published!

You may think it is a controversial way of getting your work published, but in the changing environment, as we learnt the last two weeks, it may be part of the solution. Our world is a-changing! And you're a new researcher keen to create a platform for yourself.....

Comments?

Wow

It is the second last day of our two week stay. I am now convinced that I am a re-born librarian/researcher. The day's I have spend here has made me look at life, my self and the world through different eyes. I now understand much more. To write is to do something permanent. My curiosity could lead me into finding out and sharing my thoughts. The danger being peer reviewed does not seem so bad right now. I should actually remember that when the time comes. I must say that I am very excited going down this avenue. To seek knowledge, to find it and report it, and maybe be trashed for it. Wow...

Plagiarism, Stealing and Cheating

We had an interesting conversation yesterday about plagiarism.

I've never really thought about the definition of plagiarism and what exactly it is. We were asked whether we thought it constituted a criminal act and a few of us thought that because it amounted to stealing someone else's work, it was a criminal act.

Karin's point really made me think: if you steal my laptop, then I no longer have it, but if you steal my words, they haven't been taken away from me. Can you steal someone's intellectual property? Is intellectual property actually property?

Colin also raised an interesting point: that plagiarism can take two forms: cheating - deliberate fraudulence - and incompetence - when a student is still learning about how to quote and cite other authors and fails to acknowledge an author by accident.

Let's publish local research

Eve Gray gave us serious food for thought. Think about how we can change the picture of global research if we publish local research in D-space or whatever other space! Africa will then look normal, not like the sceleton of an undernourished orphin child the way we saw it today.... why don't we take up this challenge. Come to think about it, we don't owe those fat cats in the north anything- why give it to them? And then still having to pay 'them' for it, like our Wits professor mentioned this morning. Rubbish! Writing is on the wall - let's read it!

Week 2 program

Week two is entirely dedicated to research support that the librarians should render to their researchers. Topics such as research portal; evaluation of research support services; research resources shall be discussed. I am particularly interested in Prof. Thornton's workshop on doing research. It is scheduled for tomorrow 22. I think this workshop has a potential to enhance my understanding of research process that I have leant so far - looking forward to it.

Research Acronyms: food for thought

Alphabet soup is on the RLC menu.
The challenge to learn research terminology and develop a vocabulary includes becoming familiar with a large, varied assortment of acronyms.
Recipes for understanding would not be amiss here.

Types of research have traditionally been PAR (Pure Applied Research) and PBR (Pure Basic Research). A side order of “social responsiveness” has served up UIBR or Use Inspired Basic Research which advances the concepts of both basic and applied knowledge for the benefit of humankind.

CoPs (Communities of Practice) and CoS (Community of Scholars) allow researchers to move beyond physical boundaries by promoting collaboration, communication and networking. They make it relatively easy now to establish an online identity which expands the concept of the “invisible college” into the virtual realm. VREs (Virtual Research Environments) provide fertile environments for research endeavour by dishing up a selection of tasty resources. These resources assist researchers to manage the tasks of carrying out research successfully. OA (Open Access) literature plays an important role in making free digital scholarly information readily available in these virtual spaces.

Mmm, so much to digest.

RLC103 Academy US Interns

We were privileged, I thought, to have the six 2007 participants descend on Mont Fleur to share their US experiences.Very many good observations were revealed, among them:



1. CRISIS OF ABUNDANCE - The fact that US libraries are well resourced and that they are never short of money( raised through endowments; grants; Alumni)
2. SPACE, SPACE, MORE SPACE - Sufficient bandwidth and state of the art technology are no longer issues of concern.They even have off-site 'warehouses' to store away unwanted material!
3. OUTREACH PROGRAMS - Librarians are very visible through networks of relationships with Faculty and other interest groups.
4. COLLABORATIONS - Librarians have earned the respect and are accorded egalitarian status with academics
5. TEAM WORK & FOCUS GROUPS - A very strong work ethic.Staff complement in many cases more than enough, even for the smallest number of enrolments.

It is very encouraging to hear from the reports that experiences learned are now being applied in respective institutions - THINK GLOBAL , ACT LOCAL?

G6 - Thank you for your report back and visit.Very enlightening.

Prof Shell

I was impressed by Prof. Shell's dedication and passion he has about his research. His research on the subject of slavery is amazing.I like the fact that his research has enormous impact and contribution to the community.His genuiness about the subject touched my heart. I have also learnt that research is about being passionate about what you do things like 'finding a missing link kind of thing'. It does not mean that there will no challenges, but it means discovering yourself, your strengths,and keep a positive mindset.

Monday

Rainy Monday morning, What to expect is the question of the day. After listening toArchie Dick, I feel really positive. Becoming a researcher seems to be something I would really like to explore. The scary part is being peer reviewed. I can just imagine doing something that I think is great and someone else classifying it us junk. Should one really put yourself out for the wolves? But I guess it would be exciting. Wouldn't it? The benefits one would personally gain is just enormous. The Carnegie Corporation has made so much possible. Here I am with people I would have never met, exchanging knowledge I would never had gain, and dreaming dreams I would not have even think about. Awesome huh

RLC102 Academy Hermeneutics

Of all the many concepts we learned about here, I thought the following were hot potato-ish:
1. Exponentialism - The speed and rate at which technology is changing.The belief that this threatens our very existence as a profession.Are we naive in thinking that this will not happen or are we just hoping that it does not happen in our lifetime?Are we ready and what are we doing to protect our sacred canopy?

2. Retrospective Research and Epistemological breaks - Are breaks in the production of knowledge normal? Can Research Librarians recognise such breaks?

3.Bias in Research - Should Research Librarians be pointing out tilted outcomes of some research and to what extent?Should we be envisaging something similar to the US Patriot Act?

4. Second Revolution, Third mission - Are Universities listening to themselves and their researchers?Are they waiting for a totalitarian hijack of the notion of 'social responsiveness", for the state to tell them what to do next?

Librarians are clearly learning from this experience but need to find meaningfull roles to play in the changing landscape of the profession.

RLC103 tomorrow.

Last year's participants report back

Last year's librarians' academy participants who were selected to go abroad, were kind enough to pay us a visit today and share their experiences in various libraries that they visited in the US. For me, the common denominator in their reports was that, "we (librarians) are not doing enough to make ourselves visible to the academic departments." We need to move away from our quiet offices and show our faces to the departments that we serve. To penetrate these departments/faculties should not be as difficult as we think, we only need to be creative and identify the loopholes that are there and use them accordingly.

Reading circle

Group discussions and workshop are awesome. They make you think and ideas that comes out of group discussion are very useful. The concept of Research Librarian is very interesting and makes one think about the ways of' re-inventing' oneself as they call it.

Iam looking forward to the next coming week.For me the first week went very fast. I don't know how do you guys feel.

RLC101 - Passions, Curiosities, Outcomes

Great presentations by carefully selected distinguished resarchers.Fascinated by very high levels of inquisitiveness and the new discoveries resultant thereby.Rare opportunity to be in the same space with twenty great thinkers and inventors over five days talkinag about their craft.



The workshop spurred on creative juices.Innovative modelled solutions answers for any problems can come out of such exercises.The session on Motivation and Passion was particularly therapeutic, helping to reduce negative energy and keep us focussed.

This is an enriching experience that every professional lirarian should be exposed to.

Watch this space.RLC102 to follow.

Simon

AHA!

What an experience! How does one explain in such away that you can exactly feel what I am feeling. Yesterday I had an AHA! moment. After professor Kaniki spoke to us I suddenly realize where I am and what I am suppose to do. Working in the Government Publications library has been challenging. Especially when you do not know how you should get the academics to use your rich collection. Professor Kaniki solved my problem. I was sitting and listening to him talking about material that we have in our collection and I did not know what it meant and for who it was meant. I must confess that I was also thinking of the big job ahead. People I saw the light and it was/is bright.

End of first week

Dear colleagues

The first five days were amazing. I have learnt a lot within a short space of time. Prof Stiwel's preresentation made more sense as we are working on our papers. The other speakers were also amazing and wonderful different presentation styles particularly Prof. Foster. He managed to kickstart our mind and keep us alive throughout the session. Shuh! What a week.

End of 1st week Library Academy 2008

G-R-E-A-T week. Being exposed to so many ideas and so much knowledge makes me feel quite empowered! As Colin answered a question this afternoon as to what do the organisers really 'want' from us - I agree with him that what the Academy does is equip us with knowledge which act as a backbone in our professional careers.

The old saying is ' knowledge is power' - on the contrary 'knowledge can also corrupt!' Now isn't that knowledge? Don Foster made us very aware of it: What is knowledge, he asked. So did Prof Bonner by pointing out examples in history - Smuts was no angel in every way of thinking, but then who is? And Prof Luigi Lessibeni paved the way with clear pebbles as to how knowledge can be gathered. Prof Wienand Gevers made it clear that the ISI journal sytem and Citation Index has the ability to distort the reflection of knowledge we experience and receive.

I loved the exposure. More reflections later this weekend .

Janie

Memorable quote of the day

"I'm not only talking about librarians here. I'm talking about human beings and librarians."

Are Metaphors Misleading?

Professor Bonner from UCT would have us believe so. In his talk on SA History and How Research Interests Change, he denounced their use. He actively discourages his students from using metaphors and suggests they rather use other ways to communicate history accurately.

However, a creative workshop facilitated by a duo of professors from both the Sciences and the Humanities chose to demonstrate otherwise. Their fun-filled workshop used exercises which encouraged the Library Academy participants to explore their identity as librarians through creative freeflow writing – “keep your pen on the page … blah…blah…blah … and don’t think!!” Easy for some but not so natural for others ;-).

This creative process utilized bright paper (“landscape, not portrait please”), pens and smiles to stimulate 'action without thought'. Then, by means of identifying an appropriate metaphor, the research relationship between librarian, researcher and supervisor was depicted in a variety of diagrams, sketches and symbols. These graphical representions displayed varying levels of drawing expertise, but what was clearly communicated in all of them, was the positive and pivotal role of the librarian in the research process.

Can this in fact become a reality or as Prof Bonner says are metaphors misleading?

Yes, but are we really extinct?

Today, Jasper Reese gave a provocative talk about whether the library as a place is really necessary. I don't think he presented his case very well, though. For example, he spoke about his department buying books. A few minutes later, he spoke about how irrelevant books are to his research and how in a few years time, we can expect all books to be digitised. He also showed us his PhD thesis (only in book form).

Huh?

I don't doubt that libraries are changing. That's pretty much all we're about, isn't it? We've moved from card catalogues to online catalogues, from sending photocopied journal alerts to departments to offering RSS feeds. We communicate on listservs, write blogs and teach students with PowerPoint presentations.

So are we irrelevant? I don't think so. We're the people who work behind the scenes to make the information available on Jasper's desktop. We're the people who train his students to find information in the first place. Yes, more and more journals and books will be digitised in years to come, but will they all be digitised and available on Google. Nope.

I have to say, I'm a bit bored by this approach. I've spoken to one too many academics who believe librarians are an extinct, irrelevant breed. We know our jobs are changing and that in the future, they probably won't look anything like they do at the moment. But to call us a dying breed is just short-sighted. Electronic journal subscriptions don't just magically appear on your desktop. They're there because librarians have spoken to academics and decided together that this is what they need. Students aren't born with the knowledge of how to look for information - it's a learned skill and generally, it's the librarian who teaches it to them.

If librarians were a dying breed, I'd be the first one outta here. There are plenty of other careers that interest me. But I'm willing to stick around for awhile. And that's only because I believe there's still a lot of work to do.

Library or Librarian: does it really matter to a researcher?

It is a wonderful opportunity, that the Academy has provided. Wonderful in the sense that we learn not only of all the perceptions about our profession but also about the space that we work in. I think most of the researchers gave their honest opinions about the way they see the library and the librarian. Negative as they are sometimes about the future of the library and the librarian, but they gave us something to think about. We know for a fact that technology come and go although to a greater degree do change the way we do things. The question we should ask is: Are we doing what is enough to showcase our value to the reseachers? Are we aware of what the researchers need? What strategies could we use to make sure that we don't fall behind? Do we have to re-invent ourselves? So many questions ....

Lovely place

Mont Fleur, what a beautiful and peaceful place!

We had a nice ice breaking session on Sunday. Chatting to colleauges that are not from your
institution about personal, profesional goals and passions.

Today was a second day of thought provoking sessions with researchers from various fields.
Learning about their work and research interests.

I am really learning to concentrate and listen criticaly to the speakers. Which is changelling
for some talks especially in the field of science.

I'm really enjoying interacting with colleagues from WITS and UKZN.

Looking forward to more sessions!

Thundeza

First Day

The first day is over and I'm a bit shattered. It's been intense, but incredibly stimulating.

Last night we started off by introducing ourselves to each other. We wore boards around our necks with post-it notes stuck to them, listing our personal and professional goals and our passions. It was something that, a few years ago, would probably have scared the living daylights out of me, but it was actually a lot of fun and it really helped break the ice.

This morning, we started with an overview of the research process, by Wieland Gevers. I've heard him talk before about this at UCT, but it was still helpful to be reminded that publication is the heart of scholarship and that there are unwritten rules of publication which all scholars have to follow.

After Prof. Gevers's talk, we were given an outline of the vision, plans and progress of the Carnegie Project by the three library directors. I still haven't quite got my mind around how exactly the Research Commons will operate, so it was good to put it into its context and begin to see how that might work. I also realised that staffing and operational policy will depend on the instititution - there are really no rules for how it should work, as long as it fulfills the goal of supporting research.

Luigi Nassimbeni was next, talking about the Emerging Researchers Programme at UCT. This was a brilliantly entertaining and enlightening talk about what new recruits are told about how to get published. I'd never heard of the h-index before, or that you could find out who has cited you simply by searching for your r name in Web of Science.

Our last talk of the day was by Don Foster on Research in Social Science. Don started by asking us what Knowledge is and more than that, How we know.

Um.

He interacted wonderfully with us and took us on a tour of the history of what qualifies as knowledge. Ah: I've finally found out what the term "epistemology" means!

Academy08

looking forward to seeing u 2

Time is up

I am looking forward to meeting all of you on Sunday. I must admit that I am both nervous and excited at the same time. Hope you are all in good cheer till we meet.

Ray