Season Opener: Library Orientation for PostGrad students doing Social Sciences. Covered the “basics:” Library Services & Facilities, Introducing our new OneSearch web discovery layer etc. Shared my “library stories” with the audience. Hoping that our students would try out the new search engine over Google Scholar 🙂
Tips for social media committees in academic libraries
It’s summer, a time of year for academic librarians to reflect, assess and revamp. For this librarian, it is a time to reflect on social media activities, both successes and failures, that have become an essential way the academic library connects with its students.
Source: Tips for social media committees in academic libraries
Instagram: the new way to connect with students
After it became clear that Instagram was making gains in social media with their students, Saskatchewan Polytech began efforts to reinvigorate their dwindling Instagram presence as a way to further student engagement. Read how they have embraced trends and technologies to reach students where they socialize.
Hiring for Libraries – Princh.com
“Watch for potential staff in unexpected places: phone stores, hospitality, theater, airline attendants, and anywhere else that prepares people to deliver great service in a changing landscape. ” – excerpt from article.
What the Library means to me? – Princh.com
Imho:
“It’s a place to discover new knowledge whether reinforcing an existing one or a completely new and uncharted area that could make a difference in your life. It also provides the opportunity to network with peers and attend community programs. Making new friends as well as re-igniting old ones”
Speed Reading
Just had a quick read on an article on reading faster. For those who are interested, you’ll probably want to check out the article. Three main points brought out by the author that constitutes bad reading habits are:
- subvocalization
- regression
- fixation
5 things I’ve learned that enriched my experience
I read an interesting article on “Libraries have a People Problem” written by Jill Hurst-Wahl. I do agree with her opinions and her suggestions on job swapping/rotation as well as doing the same thingy for long periods. I felt the need to move out of my comfort zone – to learn more about myself and others, to expand my horizon, to broaden my thinking and to share and acquire knowledge in my work area and to seek new challenges.
Throughout my 20 years in the library field, I have had the opportunity to work within my country Singapore and then move to the Graduate Research Library located in the Middle East. After working there (Middle East) for nine years, I decided to come home again.
What I’ve learnt?
- Do different things in the library at various places: I’ve started as a Reference Librarian, moved to Access and Digital Services, expanded my portfolio to include Electronic Resources Management, Web Discovery Layer and User Experience Studies. I’m now an Assistant Director at a local university. I was fortunate to be given opportunities to learn and grow in different roles. It has helped me to gain new insights in the library field. They say, the more you learn, the more you realized that there are a lot more than you didn’t know. Well, that’s true. As I move along, I noted how many things have changed, and libraries cannot remain stagnant. Change is imminent and is always happening. If we don’t do anything about it, we will be left behind.
- Learn to lead (even though you may not have the official title given to you). Take initiatives to resolve work issues rather than let them exacerbate. Speak up for yourself and others. Speak the truth. Help others.
- Get out of your comfort zone: Learn new things; Be adventurous and take risks.
- Be ready to accept criticism: keep an open mind to feedback and constructive criticism. Block out the negative ones. If you cannot accept the fact that we have shortcomings, then we would not be able to grow. We are imperfect creatures. One of the best things to do is to accept our weaknesses; deal with it and improve on our strengths.
- Stay abreast of new trends. Use the ready resources to read up on current patterns in the field. Network with fellow professionals. Share your knowledge.
These are the five main ones amongst others. I am sure you will have yours. Do share them.
5 things I love about Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
- Snorkeling – Immerse in the beautiful sea and see the corals
- Seafood
- Mount Kinabalu, Kinabalu Park, and Tea Plantations
- Souvenirs
- Friendly locals
More pictures here
Just returned from a fantastic trip to Kota Kinabalu with my family. We had an enjoyable time there. One of the highlights of our tour would be the Boat trip. I booked a local operator – Borneo Boats and Beaches Private Tours, whose Boss and the owner is Captain Jonathan Shale. More reviews here. Highly recommended. Punctual meeting time, friendly, respectful, experienced and polite boat crews. They ensured our safety during our entire trip. We also had a nice lunch on board the boat; prepared by the boat crew.
We had a five-hour leisure cruise around the Islands off Kota Kinabalu – Mamutik Islands and several others. Had fun snorkeling, jetskiing, etc. Had the opportunity to see the beautiful corals. My kids were so enthralled that they took almost an hour to snorkel nearby. I managed to capture a short amateur video. We were all first-timers so you can imagine the initial anxiety that we all felt.
Other places that I would recommend to visit
- Kinabalu Park
- Mount Kinabalu
- Pekan Nabalu
- Desa Dairy Farm
- The Philippine market, KK
- Seafood Restaurants
- and the list goes on ….
We stayed at Grandis Hotel which is just beside the Jesselton Jetty, where most of the boats/ferries start their journey. There’s an attached mall, Suria Mall, beside it. There are some grocery shops available within the mall plus several pharmacies like Watson and Guardian. Fast Food restaurants are also in abundance (Kenny Rogers, KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, etc.). I saw a particular interesting sushi restaurant which had long queues almost every nite. Plus there are other branded stores and bookstores available within the mall premises.
My family has a mixture of young and senior citizens. Therefore I had to take into consideration of our daily tour activities: not too much energy exertion BUT lots of shopping and market tours plus seafood. I also had to balance with the youthful activities which involved my teens and boy – who clamored for lots of swimming and nature walks. All in all, we had an enjoyable holiday; would plan for another trip back to Sabah one day 🙂
InfoBit Today
Are you managing the emotional side of change?
– OCLC Next
“When you’re leading any kind of change, maneuvering to get an ideal outcome can be tricky. I’m often asked by leaders in the throes of change management efforts, “What’s the one thing that can’t be missed?” The one element that could deter all the work to build awareness, acceptance, and action. My response is pretty much always the same: Never underestimate the emotional side of change. ” (From the article)
Grow with Google is heading to libraries in all 50 states, starting today
“For many people in cities and towns across America, the public library is the central place to access information, search for a job or even learn about running a small business. And librarians aren’t just checking out books to patrons—they’re providing key digital resources for their communities. ” – (From the article)
Library Acquisition Patterns Report From Ithaka S+R
– Ithaka S-R
” The Library Acquisition Patterns (LAP) project was undertaken with the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with the aim of examining trends in US academic libraries’ book purchasing. The project utilizes data supplied by libraries that record their acquisitions in either Ex Libris’s integrated library system, Alma, or OCLC’s WorldShare Management Services (WMS). The sample of acquisition items is limited to print and electronic books acquired on a one-time, title-by-title basis within a specified price range to mitigate the inclusion of miscategorized items. This is in contrast to information materials acquired via subscription and/or grouped together within a package, which may also be important mechanisms for acquiring book content in many academic libraries. ” – (From the article).
Continuing our work to improve recommendations on YouTube
– YouTube
” While this shift will apply to less than one percent of the content on YouTube, we believe that limiting the recommendation of these types of videos will mean a better experience for the YouTube community. To be clear, this will only affect recommendations of what videos to watch, not whether a video is available on YouTube. ” (From the article)
ProQuest Launches ProQuest One™ Academic
– Proquest
” ProQuest One debuts with the launch of the ProQuest One Academic product: the world’s most comprehensive interdisciplinary destination for research, teaching and learning. This pioneering resource unifies more than 250 years of curated content across journals, ebooks, video, dissertations, newspapers and more, covering 175+ subjects, organizing it within a single experience to improve research outcomes and teaching workflows. ” (From the article)
Expat Life Survival Guide 1: Doing research
I recalled the ‘euphoria’ of landing the job – as an expat librarian in the Middle -East. I remembered sharing this with my wife, and she reminded me that it was kind of long overdue – apparently, she had wanted us to move abroad after getting married. Well, better late than never.
Back to the topic. Before making the BIG move, do your research, extensively. My wife even got on board to find more information about the place, the people, the climate, etc. Know what are the dos and don’ts of the area, the cultural aspect of the region – this includes social and work culture. Take note of the climate as well. (Get ready those skin cream if needed). It would also be worthwhile to know specific administrative rules, policies, and procedures: such as applying for the driving license, buying a car, registering kids to local/international schools, making that doctor’s appointment for health check-ups, etc. The information obtained will help you and your family prepare your mindset so that you and your family won’t come in ‘blindly’ and get a ‘rude shock.’
Don’t forget to reach out and network to those who had been there and done that. For me, I was fortunate to re-connect with a friend who was working in the region at that time. I conducted an informal ‘reference interview’ with the person. It was a fruitful session. There were surprising answers to questions which I thought are quite straightforward. One of the most important lessons that I learned was to ensure that before you sign on that dotted line, make sure that these 3 things (among others) are covered for you and your family: medical coverage, housing or housing allowance, and your children’s education.
Here’s a quick list of information sources that I’ve used:
- Human expertise
- Books esp “How to” guides
- Magazines / Journals
- Travel Guides
- Social Media such as Blogs, Twitters, Facebook
- Websites – Governmental websites
- Newspapers
Rain D Librarian 