Introvert’s Guide to Networking

While written from a business perspective, it’s likely to be  useful to us during conference season — since our profession is well-known for its wild extroverts.

I learned to appreciate my introversion rather than repudiate it.”

Lisa Petrilli talks about networking for introverts in the Harvard Business Review.

Posted in Tips for new faculty. Comments Off on Introvert’s Guide to Networking

Binders!

As Gwen and I are readying our binders, I’m getting a bit obsessed with binder styles.  I was looking for something beyond the basic vinyl binder, but it’s tricky to find anything interesting in the 3″ and larger category.  But, I just came across a blog post on this very topic (well, not necessarily taking the size into account):  http://jdorganizer.blogspot.com/2007/03/3-ring-binders-now-we-are-12.html .  Check out the Bindertek ones, in particular.

Posted in Tips for new faculty. Comments Off on Binders!

The Future of Academic Reading: E-books and E-readers Part 2

Welcome to the afternoon session of the Future of Academic Reading!

Our experts today are Sue Polanka from Wright State and Amy Pawlowski from Cleveland Public Library. They’ll respond to comments from this morning and then engage in an open discussion with our attendees.

Amy worked for Overdrive, which offers the platform for most public library e-books. Now handles e-book collections at Cleveland Public.

Sue is a librarian at Wright State. Blogs at No Shelf Required (and edited book of same name about e-books, with a second part to come).


Amy: Will e-books lead to better dialogue between public and academic libraries? Since we’re all about instant gratification, what will the role of the library be when we have a 21-step process to download and read an e-book? Most of this morning’s panel members have Kindles, which don’t have library check-out options.

Sue: Right now, e-readers owners can’t do most of what they want because of publisher fears. Even if your e-reader has a browser, you can’t always get to read content meant for computer browsers rather than e-readers. Concern: e-books are blossoming, but the library is not yet part of the picure; people go elsewhere to find content.

Interactive textbooks formats like Inkling for the iPad and Nook Study are interesting new textbooks concepts, but what about accessibility issues? A lawsuit was filed recently on behalf of the blind against a university trying to replace textbooks with Kindles.

Many textbook publishers are creating a CMS-like environment for web-based textbooks. We also see a push for open access textbooks. Another angle is cheaper e-versions of textbooks as a compromise with publishers, since students would otherwise mostly buy used books and not give many new sales.


Question: Even many librarians seem not to be knowledgeable about the process of getting a library e-book onto a device with Overdrive. I gave up on it and use Adobe Digital Editions. How can we expect consumers to put up with this much hassle when buying e-book is so easy?

Amy: Overdrive uses Adobe Digital Editions itself, but it’s not clearly spelled out. It’s our only advocate for e-book checkouts for library, and publisher dealings are complex. This is our start; we’re still working out the kinks. Librarians need to take responsibility for their own education when it comes to understand how to use Overdrive.


Question: Harper Collins is limiting circulations on e-books at 26. What’s up with that?

Amy: Overdrive is caught in the middle. We have angry, boycotting librarians and desperate publishers trying to increase revenues.

From the audience: The pricing model is the problem for libraries. In the electronic journal arena, it costs less to publish electronically, but prices continue to escalate. If vendors lend libraries books, librarians will be re-buying books repeatedly. OhioLINK has worked by selling vendors on volume, and this should be our approach with vendors.

Amy: OhioLINK focuses on academic titles, which don’t have as much market outside the academic library world. If libraries say to vendors, “We won’t buy your books,” patrons will get them elsewhere.

From the audience: As faculty, most concerned about access. Access to textbooks, research, etc. Switched to open-source Sierf for textbook. Lacks things like quizzes at ends of chapters, but students seem to prefer this.

From the audience: Are e-book users already heavy readers, or are you trying to make converts? It seems most e-book users are already readers who like having an extra option.

Sue: Heard a student recently explaining that he grew up on print textbooks and will go right back to one as soon as any barriers emerge with electronic textbook.

From the audience: What does it mean to say “Turn to page 264” when everyone has a different device? How do I keep them together? Tried using Wikipedia, but it’s in flux, so it’s hard to have a standard test over it.

Sue: Many electronic textbooks don’t correlate easily with their own print versions–may have numbering, may not. Kindle just recently started using page numbes. ePub 3.1 will have page numbers but doesn’t now. Try using vetted electronic books through BGSU library rather than Wikipedia, such as Safari Books.

Amy: How do we let people know we have what they need? How do we make libraries sexy, like the iPad or Kindle?


Question: This morning, we saw two camps: annotaters and non-annotaters. What do you think about this kind of social connection?

From the audience: Sometimes students love an annotated used book, but others want a fresh copy to keep. There’s no one-size-fits-all.

Sue: I think most people don’t react too adversely to other people’s annotations. We have students now who make decisions only after consulting their social networks.

From the audience: Some topics are more “egalitarian” than others. For instance, David Foster Wallace’s works lend themselves to both scholars and regular readers trying to help each other out. Otherwise, I don’t want other people’s annotations interfering with my reading.


Question: Device preferences?

Sue: I own all the e-readers but read on my laptop. I also don’t read fiction now; no time. Like to use the iPad as a single device, rather than carrying around a stack of laptop, tablet, e-reader, phone.


Question: What can an e-reader do that a print book can’t?

Sue: 24/7 anywhere access. They don’t have to come in. Enhanced e-books can have audio, video, games, etc. built-in. iPad has many ehanced children’s book applications. Textbooks can have social elements, quizzes, etc. People always expect e-books to be cheaper, even though all these features cost money. Amazon’s pricing is really devaluing the development money that goes into them.

From the audience: Works because of sheer volume. Loss leader, too–eventually price is bound to rise.

Sue: There is an academic aggregator that, like Haper Collins, caps. But at 250.

Amy: One book, one user means that a large library buys multiple copies. Now we’ll have capping on top of that. It will interesting to see how collection development changes; will they buy fewer copies up front to save purchasing dollars for later? At the end of the day, I don’t think Harper Collins will see much difference in library sales.


Question: People are willing to pay much more for amazing apps, so maybe enhanced books should be marketed more as apps.

Amy: Is it a book anymore? No one knows where this is going. Remember Rocket Books, very early e-books? Very big in public library space for a while, and now no one has heard of them.

Sue: We’ll have completely new devices in five years.

Amy: We should be buying and circulating e-readers, showing people options.


Question: How did you pick what to get for Wright State e-readers?

Sue: Chronicle of Higher Ed publishes what students are reading. I took those, eliminated political books, and bought those. Also, required reading for first years and community read, and some classics. No academic titles. Buy in e-readers in packs of six; Adobe Digital Edition lets you use the license six times for one account.

From the audience: Do you buy the same titles in print?

Sue: No. E-readers circ for seven days and can be renewed if there are no holds. Readers are in catalog, with named of device as title and loaded works in notes field. E-readers are our sexy right now; why not bring them in?

Amy: Remember when we started putting PCs in public libraries, and some librarians were like, we don’t do that? Now that’s one of our mainstays.

Sue: We don’t allow downloading of new titles. Device is connected to your credit card, so you can hook it to a disposable credit card to get around that. Duke University will take requests and download title as you are checking out device. They also do full OCLC cataloging records.


Question: Is checking out Kindles allowed?

Sue: No one has been reprimanded. 🙂 Overdrive has been trying to come up with a certified e-reader for library use that accounts for multiple users. When that comes out, it will probably become the device of choice for public libraries.


Discussion

Sue: Has anyone charged their mind about e-readers?

From the audience: Should have one just to stay informed, as a librarian.

Amy: The e-ink likely matters more to people older than college students, whose young eyes don’t care. Which is another good reason to let people try them out.

From the audience: I prefer the backlit Nook Color, because I can adjust colors to what is easy on my eyes.

From the audience: Deep readers vs. people who like the hyperlink experience–even among adopters of e-readers, this is a strong divide.

Sue: Quote: “I don’t want my book to tell me I have email.” Quote: “After the 3rd-graders played with the enhanced books on the iPad, they wanted to keep reading.”

From the audience: Do you see publishers releasing enhanced and regular versions of books?

Amy: Some children’s books are. Textbooks could be.

From the audience: Can you choose your dictionary on an ebook?

Sue: Usually come with three or four. You can also buy one and make it your default.

From the audience: Do you see stacks of e-books being handed out in classrooms?

Sue: Already happening!

Amy: One-to-one is the language; one device per student.

From the audience: How do you get the content on every device?

Sue: Power of six! You get six devices per account, and there’s no magic button yet to sync them all up.

From the audience: Vinyl records come with a digital copy; maybe that’s the future of print books.

Sue: Many libraries buy this way from publishers, in bundles.

Amy: Backing up, what do we want these e-books to do? Cater to current users or bring in new ones?

From the audience: I read a lot more, in spare moments. I’m a reader getting more.

Sue: Several times, people have mentioned reading in small bites. Daily Lit sends out a little bit of a book every day for people like you.

Posted in Tips for new faculty. Comments Off on The Future of Academic Reading: E-books and E-readers Part 2

The Future of Academic Reading: E-books and E-readers

We’ll be live-blogging both sessions of the Future of Academic Reading today, so if you can’t make it, tune in!

(First Session starts at 10:30 am. Come join us if you can! There’s food!)

We have eight panelists here to discuss their use of ebooks and ereaders. Pretty good crowd for Monday morning after Spring Break.

Panelist breakdown: Professor (3); Student (3 seniors); Grad Student (3);

Devices currently used to read full-length books: Kindle (5); iPad (1); phone (1); nook (1)

_________________________________________________________________________

Question 1: What device do you use to read full-length books? How long have you had it? What made you decide to try one? Have you tried any other devices?

Andy, on what made him like the Kindle: [Sony 500 eReader (recreation reading); Kindle (recreation; research reading)] “The good thing about this is I can underline and take notes and they are automatically synced with my computer.”

Chad, on what he likes about e-readers: [Kindle (pleasure reading plus homework)] “I can even see what other people have marked. There’s an option to see the Most Marked Passages and see what other people are finding important. It’s almost like having a discussion.”

Kristy, on kids using the iPad: [doesn’t own any sort of e-reader; uses her computer to read ebooks and pdfs. She does check-out an iPad to take to a 3rd grade classroom to study the difference of how kids interact with the ebook compared to print] “Kids seem to find [the iPad] really easy to use and it’s adaptable.”

Bethany, on a downside of the Kindle: [Kindle (leisure reading)] “Can’t imagine taking a text-book and reading it on a 6-inch screen.”

Savilla, on possible distractions reading on an iPad: [nook; Kindle; iPad; phone] “I read in a hyperlinked way, anyway.”

Willie: [phone, using the Kindle app] “You get used to [reading on a phone] and you realize you can read a few pages on the bus or wherever.”

Simon, on why he wanted the Kindle: [Kindle] “I’m an early adopter of technologies, so I coveted it.”

Alex, on switching to Kindle: [Kindle (pleasure reading, database articles, ILLiad articles); Kindle app on Mac] “I bought my Kindle for two reasons. One because I packed up all my books when I moved to Bowling Green and I never want to do that again. And the other reason is when I was looking at textbook prices.”

Christine, on choosing nook: [nook (pleasure reading)] “I tried a Kindle, but I wanted to be able to buy more space for it and I liked that it was run by Android.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Question 2: Where and when are you using your ereader? What kind of e-books do you read? Have you tried different kinds of content?

Gwen, our moderator, notes that a few of our panelists seem to be reading more because they own e-readers. Chad agrees, but says that change has only started for him.

Kristy, who is studying the comprehension differences for print and ebooks (on an iPad) in 3rd graders, noted that she actually didn’t find a huge difference in comprehension between the formats, but the kids all wanted to read from the iPad and were more focused because of it.

While many of our panelists prefer to read in their homes, a few noted that the ereaders have enabled them to read on the run, for shorter periods of time. (Also of note, only three people said they carried books with them everywhere they went before owning an ereader.)

Simon is our first panelist to admit that he does still buy physical books because he likes the package of the physical book. (A self-proclaimed bibliophile.)

Two panelists have said that poetry is not readable on the Kindle.

An audience member says that he can now read in the car on his Kindle, whereas reading a print book would make him car sick.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Question 3: In an ideal world, how would the library supply ebooks to you? Which ebooks do you want? How would you get them from the library? How would you be able to use them?

One of our panelists would love access to as much material as possible on their ereader, while another would really just like new releases.

Savilla, one of the professors on our panel, would like the library as an institution to help work out license issues. She would love to be able to purchase x-number of licenses for ebooks or apps, have that go to the individuals in her class, then have them expire at the end of the term.

Willie thinks that simultaneous uses is the way to go. He doesn’t want to have to wait for ebooks like he does for physical books that are in use.

Alex just added a second on getting new material in the library in e-form. He would also like a way to request a book and having it delivered (and renewable) on his Kindle. In addition, he would like the databases to have more HTML full-text because the PDF full-text doesn’t really jive with Kindle and he spends a lot of time reformatting.

_______________________________________________________________________

Questions from the audience:

How much research did you do before you purchased your e-reader?

Most of our panelists did SOME research (if they didn’t receive it as a gift) before purchasing. Cost factored in for most, but others asked people they saw using ereaders in public. From the audience we had one person purchase a nook because the library option and someone else purchased a Kindle because it didn’t drastically change their reading experience.

How long would you like an ereader to circulate from the library?

Two weeks or longer. (With the ability to get books/apps/etc.)

________________________________________________________________________

That’s it for the first session! Tune back in for the afternoon session!

Posted in Tips for new faculty. Comments Off on The Future of Academic Reading: E-books and E-readers

Talk with Colleen Boff — Collaborations Across Campus

Guest Faculty Member: Colleen Boff

“Cheesy Advice”

Rejections — you will experience a lot of it, you can use your frustration to fuel determination

Importance of picking something to write about that you are passionate about — spin your passion into something you can publish

First Year Experience — luckily, a wide open field and still is. Connected with a woman outside her field, had a bunch of mutual questions. Approached a (non-library) funding agency and did a nationwide survey. Published in Reference Services Review — first of its kind, gets cited out. Presented (separately) at Loex West and East — opted out of publishing in the proceedings because wanted to publish elsewhere. Remember that is an option.

10 years later, approached by ACRL to redo the survey. More elaborate methodology, a new partner, a much larger enterprise.

Common Reading Experience — started a few years after she got here. Not a lot published on this in the literature (lead role for librarians in Common Read program). Wanted an ACRL panel — got rejected, but turned it into a journal article instead. Cold calling sometimes works really well, but it can be really be challenging.

Pre-planning? Did that make any difference with unknown collaborators? Maybe would have prevented some bad experiences.

Q: did you weed people out? Or did it depend on who responded? A: Tenure-track librarians were more interested and reliable.

Q: Did you ask for writing samples, etc.? A: No, not really. Knew some people’s work, and wasn’t in a position (like book editor) to ask. Is a leap of faith to work with people.

Other, non-FYE experiences: At one point, did a lot of work with College of Ed. Brand new faculty member in Intervention Services — she was publication-hungry too. Got grant money to develop collaborations across campus. One session done for this faculty member, had a good session. $1000 each for this grant, but she was more interested in the publication opportunity.  EDIS 440 — capstone class, how to mine the literature to find teaching strategies to teach fractions, etc.

Between her skills and her recruiting some other faculty to create a database: ISOD. Used students to mine literature, built the database with citations. LOEX Presentations — LOEX really likes if you can bring non-librarians with you — really well-received, a lot of questions were asked. Depended on grant seed funding.

Graduate Course taught and developed with Sara Bushong — Teacher/Practitioners. Lots of research opportunities there.

Q to Susannah — thought about research opportunities out of teaching? A: Maybe the online part — not done online a lot.

Q: Was the FYE position posted that way, or were you hired and then given a charge? Posted as a FYE job. Has to tweak the job a lot, because what BGSU does for FY students changes all the time.

Minefields with crafting own position as untenured faculty member?  “Let me get back to you on that” — buy time, keep your supervisor informed when asked to do something big.

Untapped in the literature — this sort of “learning community” — online learning community; community of practice for academic librarian literature.

Posted in Tips for new faculty. Comments Off on Talk with Colleen Boff — Collaborations Across Campus

Would you like to write a survey?

The Applied Statistics and Operations Research people in the College of Business work with BG faculty.

From their website:
“Consulting Services Available To Faculty: Planning of Experiments and Surveys, Method of Analysis, Use of Statistical Computer Programs, Interpretation of Results, for research and instructional activity involving statistics.”

Find them here:
http://www.business.bgsu.edu/asor/ConsultingServices.html

Posted in Tips for new faculty, Tools: Professional Development, Writing. Comments Off on Would you like to write a survey?

General Faculty Tips

Posted in Tips for new faculty. Comments Off on General Faculty Tips