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A Day in the Life: Career Options in
Library and Information Science

A Day in the Life: Career Options in Library and Information Science
What can you do with a degree in library and information science? The 95 chapters in A Day in the Life: Career Options in Library and Information Science cover the many possibilities, whether inside or outside the library. Excerpts available online include those from less traditional positions like multimedia librarian, distance education librarian, Internet trainer and web marketing coordinator. Check out the table of contents for other job titles.

Some of the contributors are well-known author-bloggers, like Jessamyn West, Steven Cohen and Judith Siess, who have already written about this new book on their blogs. But the best post, so far, is by Katie Dunneback, who sent in her contribution with the very revealing title, "Chapter XXX: Adult Services Librarian."

My own contribution will be listed in my resume as follows:

Totanes, Vernon. 2007. Freelance Book Producer. In A Day in the Life: Career Options in Library and Information Science, ed. Priscilla Shontz and Richard Murray. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
It's different from the other chapters because I did not become a book producer after I got my LIS degree. In fact, it was my experience as a book producer that led me to wonder if there was such a thing as a master's degree for librarians. But what exactly does a "freelance book producer" do? Here's the first paragraph from my chapter:
I get hired to make sure that a book gets published. The job includes most (if not all) of the following: correcting grammatical or factual errors; improving readability and consistency; laying out the text; designing the cover; and coordinating the project with the authors/editors, cover designers, printers, and publishers.

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Magellan Did Not Discover the Philippines

According to Wow Philippines, the official Philippine tourism website, Limasawa Island was "the site of the celebration of the first Christian mass in the Orient, following the discovery of the Philippines by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521." There may be some doubt whether the first mass was held in Limasawa or Masawa, but there can be no doubt that Magellan did not discover the Philippines.

As Teodoro Agoncillo wrote almost fifty years ago in "A Reinterpretation of Our History Under Spain" (Sunday Times Magazine, 21 September 1958),

There are misconceptions in the treatment of our history that should be exposed and corrected for the intellectual health of our students and general readers. Foremost among them is the belief, so current even today, that Magellan discovered the Philippines. This belief originated from the Spaniard chroniclers whose purpose was to put into as wide a circulation as possible the greatness of Spain. This is natural and should not be counted against Spain or Spaniards, for indeed Spain was great and wealthy at the time Magellan reached the Philippines. The statement, however, becomes funny when Filipinos repeat such obvious prevarication of truth, for our country already had commercial relations with her Asian neighbors hundreds of years before Magellan was born.
So who discovered the Philippines? As far as I'm concerned, it's an irrelevant question to Filipinos because it is essentially a foreigner's question. I suppose someone before Magellan could lay claim to have discovered the Philippines, but from the point of view of the Filipino who was already there, s/he would not have thought that the foreigner discovered her/him. If s/he had a diary, it would probably have said something about foreigners arriving; no mention would have been made of being "discovered." And that's what looking at Philippine history from the Filipino point of view is all about.

Then there's the fact that references are made to the Philippines and Filipinos as if what exists today has been around since time immemorial. But that will have to wait for another post =)

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Magellan Did Not Circumnavigate the World

Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen
What is wrong with the book cover above?

Ferdinand Magellan sailed from Spain on 10 August 1519 to circumnavigate the world, but died in what is now known as the Philippines on 27 April 1521. He, of course, did not make it around the world =)

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My Digital Odyssey 2007


The photos above were live-blogged for Digital Odyssey 2007 after we figured out why I couldn't post right away. Since then, I've also finished the notes for the sessions I volunteered to blog.

Tim Spalding on Social Cataloging and the Fun OPAC
Meeting Tim Spalding, the founder of LibraryThing, was a big deal for me, especially after he referred to a scene from the Tom Hanks movie that is probably my favorite movie of all time. What he says about OPACs applies, of course, to libraries in the Philippines as well. Incidentally, thanks to Micketymoc for the link to the PinoyThing group.
Art Rhyno and Dan Scott on Evergreen
When I wrote "Free Library Software" last year, Evergreen was not yet fully in place. Well, this open source software was developed specifically for large library consortia. Click on the link above and see if Evergreen will work for your library.

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Message for Filipino LibraryThingers



Tim Spalding, founder of LibraryThing, graciously agreed to record the video above for Filipino LibraryThingers and other potential users after his session at Digital Odyssey 2007. If you would like to know more about LibraryThing, check out the basics, concepts involved, and/or take the tour.

If you're already using LibraryThing, and would like to get involved in the creation of a Tagalog—or even another Philippine language—site, you may email Spalding at tim-at-librarything-dot-com.

If you are a librarian in the Philippines at an institution that can provide LibraryThing with access to its Z39.50 client, you can email Spalding directly if you have the authority to speak for your library, or email me at von-dot-totanes-at-gmail-dot-com, if you think it would be better for someone else to communicate with your library director.

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Digital Odyssey 2007

Trzeciak

I'm now at Digital Odyssey 2007, which is being held at the Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto, where I'm studying. Everyone else is paying hundreds of dollars to pay for this day-long event, but I got in for free by volunteering as a blogger =)

I've actually uploaded photos to the blog already, but apparently someone else needs to approve it first. Right now, I'm at a session for which I'm not officially blogging, so you'll just have to check out the official blog. The speaker is Jeff Trzeciak, who seems to be the coolest university librarian right now—and not just in Canada, but the United States, too. He's a level-70 gamer (Tavrnwr) on World of Warcraft, and has his own Facebook account.

But he's cool not only because of what he does outside the library, but how he uses his interests in the context of his work at McMaster University. And it's not because he's fresh out of school. He actually worked with card catalogs, and has had a lot of experience as an administrator. One of the most impressive aspects of his presentation involved how he was able to manage the retirement of eight librarians and the creation of six new positions in a cost-cutting environment in the past year.

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Changing Library Environments

The three articles below illustrate the differences I've observed between libraries I've visited in Singapore and North America, and those in the Philippines. The first refers to a library that bears more of a resemblance to a mall than a traditional library, while the second laments the fact that silence is not observed in libraries anymore. The last one reminded me that I never actually got to use inter-library loan (ILL) services in the Philippines, that I've been quite delighted that I can get just about any book in North America for free via ILL, and that the United Kingdom is shifting more and more to a fee-based model.

Which of the changes described in the articles below have occurred at your library? Which ones would you like to see?

"Libraries at the Cutting Edge" by Pamela Snelson (Inside Higher Ed, 29 March 2007)
The trendiest meeting place on many college campuses these days features a coffee bar, wireless Internet zones, free entertainment and special programs, modern lounge areas and meeting rooms. And free access to books. Lots of books. This educational social hub is the campus library, which is beginning to look more like an Internet café than the academic library you remember from your college days.
"'Shhh' -- the one thing you won't hear in a library" by Sarah Miller (Los Angeles Times, 10 April 2007)
These days, libraries sound a lot less like libraries and a lot more like the line for the funnel cake booth at a county fair. Teenagers are the most egregious offenders, but they are not, sadly, alone. In this same library, two soccer moms discussed their respective trips to Hawaii in voices at least as loud as they'd have used at each other's kitchen tables, which is where — pity the fiery pits of hell were not available — their rendezvous should have taken place. A young man in Diesel jeans obsessively checked his voice mail on speakerphone.
"What Goes Around" by Susanna Ashton (Chronicle of Higher Education, 14 March 2007)
My realization came at the interlibrary loan desk... The librarian brought out 10 books for me, and I handed him my campus identification card, expecting I would check out the books, and that would be that. Instead, he asked me very pleasantly for 20 voucher tokens. I looked at him blankly and explained that I was a visiting faculty member with the English department and was authorized to check out books... It turned out that he was essentially asking me to pay about $200 in interlibrary-loan fees.

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Infotubey Awards: Libraries on YouTube



They're not quite as well-known as the YouTube Video Awards, but libraries now have their own Infotubey Awards, which is given to libraries that used YouTube "to market their library or its services or enhance the standing of the library in the community."

The winners are:

I'm not suggesting that libraries in the Philippines should start making their own videos and put them on YouTube. But taking a look at the videos might be a good way of picking up new ideas. And if your library is wired enough, making a video that can be used during freshman orientation might get students to pay more attention. And you don't even have to do it yourself. I'm sure students would be more than willing to make videos for a contest =)

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Pacquiao KOs Solis in 8th

Pacquiao KOs Solis
Watch the video of Pacquiao knocking down Solis twice in the 8th round at Pinoy Rickey.

If there was every any doubt before, this just makes it clear that Rep. Pacquiao will be making an appearance at the House of Representatives soon. I just wish he wouldn't push through with it.

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I Shook Hands With a Nobel Prize Winner

Today, Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Prize winner in Literature 1991, offered me her hand and I shook it.

UPDATE: Another blogger wrote about Gordimer's reply to my question =)

The occasion was the reception held after a discussion on "The Book As Prize." The "prize" was the Man Booker International Prize, and the "speakers" were the judges for 2007: Gordimer, Colm Tóibín, and Elaine Showalter. Earlier in the day, they had announced the names of 15 authors who made it to the Judges’ List of Contenders.

At the discussion, I learned that Toronto has the highest concentration of authors per square centimeter. And so, as someone suggested, it was not surprising that three of the 15 authors on the list were Canadians. In fact, two of them were there tonight: Michael Ondaatje and Margaret Atwood. (Alice Munro was the third.) And I was actually talking to Gordimer when Atwood joined us!

It gets better. Gordimer actually remembered me because of the question I asked at the discussion earlier. There were probably 200 people, and I was one of about ten who was able to ask a question. And she said that the discussion we had was much better than the press conference earlier that day, which according to her was "feeble."

But before that, Toibin recognized me, too. He said that I was the one who asked the question about good-looking authors. Well, I had to say that my question was about how they would decide on the winner when they were down to the final two. Would the deciding factor be the more original one, the one who made less money, got less attention, suffered more...? And then I realized he was joking. Yes, I should have added, "more good-looking" =)

I should add that there were other authors around, except that their names weren't familiar to me. But I did sit next to and talked to Vincent Lam, who just won the Giller Prize, an award that Atwood, Ondaatje and Munro had won before.

By the way, in case you're wondering what the big deal is, no, these people are not my favorite authors. It's just that I'm a librarian, and the best thing that anyone can do, for me, is write a good book.

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Pinoy Top Blogs: March 2007

After a shut-down scare last February, Pinoy Top Blogs (PTB) bounced back with the highest number of total unique hits (UH) and this month's hits (TMH) since I started this series in June 2006. And that's without Rickey and his American Idol hits, and Motorcycle Philippines, which Yuga seems to have voluntarily removed from PTB after eight months of being in the Top 5. Maybe the increase in hits is a sign that blogging is really taking off. After all, the willingness of many big-name sponsors to spend for the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards proves that bloggers have clout.

Total UH went up by almost 48 percent, and total TMH more than 51 percent over last month's figures. But the most interesting figure is the UH of the fiftieth blog. For the second time since November 2006, the lowest UH was a five-digit figure. This leads me to think that if the PTB site had not been down a lot between November and March, then perhaps five-digit UH figures should have been—and will be from now on—the norm for Top 50 blogs.

Top gainers for March were Skirmisher, whose "mad. filthy. intriguing." posts propelled it from the 18th spot to 7th, and last month's newcomer i heart np looks like it went up from 33rd to 13th on the strength of "Peekvid Alternative: More Free-to-watch movie sites," which was posted last February. First-timers in the Top 50 include Naruto Blog, whose owner thought "Somethin's wrong" when his blog first made it into the Top 50, and The Four-eyed Journal, who noted the increasing traffic to his blog but provided no clue as to what was driving it.

The following are the raw data as of 29 March 2007:



FE

1
2
3
5
9
7
18
8
6
11
16
12
33
14
10
17
15
13
19
20
31
24
-
32
22
26
21
28
25
23
35
30
27
29
-
36
37
42
34
41
39
40
-
45
38
49
48
44
-
47


MA

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50


NAME OF BLOG

Starmometer
Blogged
Bryanboy: Le Superstar Fabuleux
Retzwerx - Ang Inyong Pinoy Big Blogger
Pinoy Rickey
Kiven
Skirmisher
Mukamo Philippines
Pinoy Cook
Our Awesome Planet
Putanginamo.com
High Denzity
i heart np
SELaplana
laurganism.com
Pinoy Tech Blog
Philippines For Men
Inside PCIJ: Stories behind our stories
Chikadora
Ellen Tordesillas
Leon Kilat: The Cybercafe Experiments
Cellphone9
Naruto Blog
[m]channel!
textmates
Touched by an Angel
Basang Panaginip
Pinoy Travel Blog
Photojunkie
Filipina Soul
Pinoy Money Talk :: Pinoys making money together
Quezon.ph
Pinoy BSN
EntrePinoys Atbp
The Four-eyed Journal
Finance Manila
GPCarreon
Shopping Finds
Composed Gentleman
WeddingsAtWork.com News Blog
Alleba Blog
The J Spot
The Man Blog
The Sunday Punch
ABS-CBN Kapamilya Aficionado
Straight From The Doc
Coconuter
Parenting-Weblog.com
Pinoy Food Photo Blog
Filipino Librarian

TOTAL
UH

205,406
186,321
126,019
98,576
98,147
66,673
65,460
60,879
59,532
50,075
43,254
36,305
35,992
34,618
29,849
29,418
29,354
29,025
28,432
26,296
25,662
25,479
25,226
24,482
24,069
23,824
23,663
23,538
20,690
20,390
20,041
18,688
18,055
16,436
15,660
15,576
15,266
14,927
13,829
13,742
13,102
12,703
12,700
12,658
11,300
10,611
10,450
10,448
10,379
10,227

1,853,452
TMH

481,801
272,740
302,899
239,173
266,947
207,593
94,237
143,170
226,844
104,915
99,937
56,301
63,447
60,428
57,932
51,889
84,962
45,676
56,422
84,555
37,358
34,021
43,596
38,531
54,832
38,877
56,479
59,442
31,650
29,605
98,187
40,638
33,356
60,134
22,141
21,209
29,722
22,129
22,135
26,493
16,906
19,365
88,198
51,996
19,632
14,932
37,920
13,805
27,553
19,298

4,112,008

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UP's School of Library and Information Studies

The Institute of Library and Information Science is now officially the "School of Library and Information Studies" (SLIS).

For those who are wondering about the significance of this change, and whether non-UP alumni should care, this is what my alma mater's name change means to me: our profession is changing—for the better.

It used to be that someone who wanted to become a librarian, got a degree in library science. If s/he happened to be from the University of the Philippines, then that meant s/he was a student at the Institute of Library Science, which was established in 1961. Students pursuing degrees in library science at other universities were—and still are, I believe—usually part of larger colleges, schools, faculties, etc., not a separate entity whose name was the same as the degree its students received.

In 2002, the Institute of Library Science was renamed the Institute of Library and Information Science because it was "the accepted nomenclature for the field in other parts of the world" and coincided with "the 1995 University Council's approved titles for the Institute’s new course offerings." The institute was also supposed to become a "college" at the same time, but "due to the limited number of students entering the Institute and ILS’ insufficient academic programs," the proposal was not approved. Since then, the proposal has been revised, and the word "school" substituted for "college." It was explained to me that a "school" is bigger than an "institute," but smaller than a "college." And that's exactly what SLIS has become.

I know that the brief history above does not quite fully explain the significance of the word "institute," the addition of the words "and information," or the shift from "institute" to "school," but I hope it gives you some idea of the reasoning behind the changes. That leaves the shift from "science" to "studies," which I think is part of the whole science-or-art debate. But I have to say that I don't know for sure why the change was made. What I do know is that more and more institutions are using the word "studies" in their school names. In fact, many are now known as just "information schools."

Our profession is changing. Information isn't just found in books anymore, and more and more books are turning up online. Librarians are now expected to do more than just acquire, catalog and circulate materials. In some cases, librarians don't even work in libraries anymore. This name change doesn't quite mean that the school is "already" what its name implies. But it is an acknowledgment of what is already... but not yet.


Note: The news has been spreading via email. I will link to the official announcement once the SLIS website is updated.

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Manny "Pac Man" Pacquiao vs
Jorge "Coloradito" Solis

UPDATE 15 April 2007: Pacquiao KOs Solis in 8th!



The video above is the teaser for the upcoming Manny Pacquiao-Jorge Solis fight—dubbed "Blaze of Glory"—on Sunday, 15 April 2007, starting at 9 am on GMA and Solar Sports. (Note: Due to time zone differences, the fight takes place in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday, 14 April 2007, 7 pm.)

During previous fights, there wasn't really much of a story outside the ring except for the fact that the crime rate went down to zero for a few hours, and even those who did not like boxing knew that the fight was going on. Well, this time, just about everyone knows that Pacquiao has also thrown his hat into another ring: he's running for congress. And even the Los Angeles Times has noted that it's just one more bizarre aspect of the "Pacquiao Circus." See "Boxing needs to hype-ventilate" by Bill Dwyre (25 March 2007).

If you're a Filipino or just interested in the fight, you may want to check out the following sites:

GMA is the go-to site this time for the latest fight news and the "Tale of the Tape." If you're worried that Solis (rhymes with "police") is too tall for Pacquiao at 5'10, take a look at what Recah Trinidad has to say about this in "Did Arum have to cheat on Jorge Solis' height?" (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 9 April 2007). By the way, as far as I can tell, you'll have to get in touch with your local cable provider to get the fight on pay-per-view. If you're in Australia, Main Event has instructions on its website.

Can you watch it online? Well, there doesn't seem to be any way of watching it via the Internet even if you're willing to pay. You can probably search YouTube using "pacquiao solis" as keywords, but right now the most interesting video available is "Jorge Solis - Pacquiao's next opponent" (Part 1 | Part 2), in case you'd like to see who Pacquiao is up against. And if anyone uploads clips of the fight, it will most likely be taken down right away. So our best bet is that Pinoy Rickey will be able to do it again on Dailymotion.

Finally, Pacland has the latest news about Pacquiao from different sources, plus information about all previous fights and a forum for his fans. And if you really can't watch the fight on TV, news updates will be available on Inquirer.net's "The Pacquiao Files," Google News, Yahoo! News, and Topix.net. Or you can check out what bloggers are saying on Technorati and Google Blog Search.

By the way, for the benefit of those with editor-itis—and search engines LOL!—PacqUIAO is not spelled PacqUAIO.

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Epifanio de los Santos Day 2007

Today is Epifanio de los Santos Day. This year's featured librarian is Maria Lea Vilvar, whose story made it to this blog last year in "Blind Librarian Leads the Way." What she says about being able to connect with patrons—because she knows and has experienced their concerns—applies to all librarians.

The passage below is from "Shining through in world of darkness" by Margaux C. Ortiz (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 21 May 2006):

As the division’s sole blind librarian, Vilvar has the special task of classifying and arranging books in Braille which her colleagues cannot read.

"Of course, it is also easier for me to connect with our patrons because I know and have actually experienced their concerns," the librarian said. "All this has been a realization of my greatest dream: to put into practice what I learned in college and help other blind people at the same time."

For more information about the significance of this day, see the following:
Epifanio de los Santos Day 2006
Epifanio de los Santos Day
Epifanio de los Santos Avenue
Epifanio de los Santos

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Holy Hiatus

Happy Holy Week! =)

I'm way behind on a paper I should have started a long time ago, so I think it will probably be good if I just abstain from blogging, and checking my email and Facebook accounts every few hours until I finish the paper.

And to the readers who will miss my posts—if there are any out there, leave a comment LOL!—take a look at my first and, so far, only Holy Week post: "Are We Poor Because We're Catholic?"

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Gmail Paper... Happy April Fools' Day!

If Gmail Paper sounds too good—and outlandish—to be true, then it probably is. Remember that it's April Fools' Day. And that's why I don't think Steven Cohen is really giving up blogging. Have fun!

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