Black History Month

Our Black History Month calendar is graced for the fourth time with the colorful cover art of Glenn Franklin. Look for his vibrant painting titled “The Bass Player.” What's inside his colorful cubist painting? A complete listing of musical and cultural activities to enchant all readers. As you open your library's doors, you will be greeted by book displays that explore how African Americans struggled to have their cultural contributions recognized by American society.

Children will enjoy stories and crafts with African trickster tales like “Anansi the Spider” and “Zomo the Rabbit.” Older children can explore Heroes of Flight, a program series that ties flying and freedom themes together. Teens will create Underground Railroad quilt pieces across our library system or can enjoy rap artists at the new Igo branch library. For a lively beat, check out the Capoeira at Carver.

Adults can explore live jazz music with educator Cecil Carter. You may also enjoy dramatic performances by Bobby McMorris in his play, “A Way Out,” a story about a family trying to prevent poverty in the 1970s. The historical researcher can check out our exhibits in the Central Texana Department, which feature photographs of local African American churches from a bygone age, funeral programs from the 1940s to the present, authentic African clothing and carvings, and much more. For a full listing of events, please check out our online calendar or pick up a print calendar at your neighborhood library.

Bibliographic Control 2.0

On January 9, the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control issued their final report to the Library of Congress. The group's charge was to re-examine the concept of bibliographic control in an information landscape that has unlocked vast amounts of new media to catalog. YouTube, for example, has approximately 71,200,000 videos. The self-publishing site lulu.com offers over 300,000 titles that you won’t find anywhere else.

The group made recommendations in five broad areas:

• “Increase the efficiency of bibliographic production for all libraries” – Currently, bibliographic information is generated by different groups in different ways that are not easily connected. For example, community sites like librarything.com, which has already indexed 23,000,000 books, create content that overlaps with that of such corporate producers as amazon.com. There’s no need to compete with or repeat this bibliographic work.
• “Transfer effort into higher-value activity” – As the contributor base for bibliographic work expands, librarians can focus on unlocking their local community collections. A great example of leveraging the Web to expose underused collections and solicit community support to add bibliographic metadata is the Library of Congress flickr.com page. The collection has some 3100 photos available, including a unique color view of the United States from the 1940s.
• “Position our technology for the future” – The group points to the World Wide Web as the platform for new bibliographic standards. The Web’s users aren’t just human, though. Interactive websites need the ability to harvest data from other sites.
• “Position our community for the future” – The group is not abandoning the "control" part of bibliographic control. Instead, they recommend the guidelines of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) as the framework for organizing bibliographic content and strengthening the bonds among the content producers.
• “Strengthen the library profession” – “Lead or get out of the way” seems to be the final recommendation of the working group. Guidelines for professional development will help librarians stay on the forefront of the exciting changes in store.

Though their report is directed to the Library of Congress, the working group acknowledges the roles that all libraries, the public and the corporate world will play. For all of these groups, the report serves as a “call to action” to improve how information is described and found.

Talking 'Bout Our (Google) Generation

So who makes up this so-called “Google Generation” that will shoulder-to-shoulder be assisting librarians with the bibliographic control of the future? Net-savvy, media literate, analytical digesters of information? Not so, according to a report conducted by the Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (CIBER) at the University College London. The CIBER report describes itself as “the first time that anyone has actually profiled on any real scale the information seeking behaviour of the virtual scholar by age.” The goal was to see if there was something uniquely different about the researching techniques used by the Google Generation, described as anyone born after 1993.

Some of the myths that the report sought to understand include:

• “They are the 'cut-and-paste' generation.” – True. CIBER believes there's enough anecdotal evidence that Gen Google is different in this respect and that plagiarism will become a severe problem.
• “[Only] They prefer quick information in the form of easily digested chunks, rather than full text.” – False. CIBER cites findings that all users of Internet resources, regardless of age, are changing their habits to reflect “shallow, horizontal, 'flicking' behaviour” instead of deep, analytical reading.
• “They are expert searchers.” – False. Information skills in young people have either remained the same or have even deteriorated over the last 25 years.

To see how these patterns have developed, CIBER mentions a report where researchers compared the top and bottom quartile of college students. Successful grades had a strong correlation to information seeking skills. The top quartile had more exposure to library use as children. For the bottom quartile, it was determined that any interventions were too late if this exposure had not happened. This group of students learned to “get by” using Google and were too set in their ways to develop successful information seeking skills.

Just short of apocalyptic, the report outlines a course of action for policy-makers at libraries and for continued research into some of the understudied phenomena. The conclusion is clear: libraries need to understand the changes in information seeking behavior, adjust their services accordingly and do a better job of exposing library collections and services to search engines.

There are some pioneers who have anticipated this call. Ann Arbor District Library's pictureAnnArbor project and its "social catalog" are just some of the tools that model ways that a library can open its collections and strengthen ties to its community. And while Google and other search engines are implicated in the changes in information seeking behavior, at least Google provides one antidote. Its Google Scholar search interface, when properly configured, takes the unmatched strength of Google's search technology and combines it with the best that local library subscription databases have to offer.

Big Read 2008: Central Pie-brary

Central Library will host an old-fashioned “Southern Social” on Sunday, March 2, 1-4 p.m., to launch San Antonio Public Library’s Big Read 2008: To Kill a Mockingbird. This program, held March through April, will involve San Antonio area residents reading and discussing Harper Lee’s classic novel at a number of library events.

To create a nostalgic, small-town Americana atmosphere, the library is sponsoring a friendly pie baking competition. The contest is free and open to all. Contestants will be divided into Adult and Youth categories, and adults can assist young bakers under 17 years. Entries must be baked pies (no tarts) and will be categorized by single crust or double crust/crumb topping. Pies will be judged by professional chefs and celebrity judges, based upon taste, appearance and ingredient creativity. Pre-registration is required for this contest and entries must be received by 5 p.m., February 25, 2008. Entry forms are available at any San Antonio Public Library and on the library’s web site.

Winners will be announced Sunday, March 2, 2008, at the Big Read 2008 Southern Social, on the Central Library lawn. The day will also include performances by the Fox Tech High School marching band, gospel music, refreshments and a presentation by Charles Shields, author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. Parking in the Library Garage will be free for this event.

For more information on this and other planned Big Read 2008: To Kill a Mockingbird events, call 207-2500 or visit the library’s web site.

FEATURED
Event

FEATURED Staff Recommendation

The SAN ANTONIO PUBLIC LIBRARY Staff Loves To Read!

Natasha Arguello (Central Library) immerses herself into the Roman way of life.

Currently Reading
Book 6: The October Horse from the Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough.

My interest in ancient Rome, spawned by the History Channel and the visually enchanting (and occasionally anachronistic) HBO TV series Rome, led me to discovering the Masters of Rome. I’ve been immersed in this series for almost six months, working my way through The First Man in Rome, The Grass Crown, Fortune’s Favorites, Caesar’s Women, and  Caesar: Let the Dice Fly.

With her extraordinary knowledge of ancient Rome, Colleen McCullough brings to life 80 years of Roman history filled with real people. Vibrant and believable characters, hand-drawn maps and an extensive glossary providing a wealth of historical details make this series a fascinating and educational read.

Motivations that drove Roman politicians translate well into today’s political context. Progressives, populists, demagogues, conservatives and any other shade of the political spectrum are well represented in McCullough’s books. The author uncovers hidden political and personal agendas behind decisions they make and how these decisions define the course of history.

Looking Forward To
Antony and Cleopatra, the recently published seventh installment.

Enjoyed Immensely
The Fandorin mystery series by Boris Akunin. Delightful period writing takes us back to 19th-century Russia. I’ve read them in Russian, but four books of the series have already been translated into English. Each one pays an homage to a specific genre: The Winter Queen (conspiracy mystery), The Turkish Gambit (espionage mystery), Murder on the Leviathan (hermetic mystery), and The Death of Achilles (mystery of a hired killer).

Nonfiction That Left a Lasting Impression
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell is a must-read for anybody who is trying to discern presidential candidates’ promises. Sowell presents complex concepts in a logical and understandable way. An important lesson: seemingly attractive political actions (e.g. rent control) usually have unintended economic consequences.

SAPL
Events

If you have any questions about the library or would like to see something included in this newsletter, please contact our Web Administrator at librarywebadmin@sanantonio.gov.

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