Recently in Library Category

I hadn't uploaded some of my past displays to Flickr yet, I had a bulletin board I did for the Big Read and my Banned Books display from last fall still on my computer.

The Big Read title this year was "To Kill a Mockingbird", our book club didn't do it, but we got some great promotional stuff so I wanted to use it in our branch.

I drew, cut, and painted the tree.  This turned out to be a huge amount of work.  The projector I wanted to use to enlarge the tree from a picture had a burnt bulb, which I needed to drive to a photography store to replace.  Of course I did this all last minute so I was running around trying to get it done.

I did this other display last fall during Banned Books Week, I like to do something every year, but this year was a pirate theme, which I was all over.

This treasure chest was so much fun to put together.  I used craft paper and construction paper, which I painted and drew on to make it look like wood.  I found some of the coins around the library, I think I bought the cloth (which is a nice velvety fabric), the jewels, and the necklace.  I cut up some boxes that we never use to create a leveled effect inside the big box.

I think I've now uploaded all of them I took a picture of, I may have some on my old computer with my old camera though.  I like taking pictures of the things I put together like this because it helps me remember what I've done in the past.  Sometimes I look around online for ideas for displays from other libraries too, so I hope these help out other people looking too.

Yikes! Just got this error as I was trying to access Google Scholar through Wayne State's authentication.  Not cool...

I was able to get in, but I've never encountered this error before using Google Scholar through WSU.

***

Update:  Ok, so I wasn't actually able to get in.  Typing in the captcha takes me to Google Scholar but it doesn't log me on to WSU's network.  I'm using a public wireless internet network, but I was using Google Scholar with authentication here the other day and it worked fine.

Update:  Ok, I'm starting to think that this is Wayne State's problem, I can't even get into their databases now, I'm getting an "IP address access denied" error or something.  How frustrating!  What's the point of off campus access if I can't access resources off campus?!  It figures something like this would happen as soon as I was having a sudden burst of creativity...

Thursday I participated in the second Ann Arbor Library Camp (and also the second I've attended!)  The event was hosted again at the Ann Arbor District Library.  There were roughly two to three sessions per time slot, I think it was a good mix of things and every session I attended was interesting and lively.

Eli from AADL kicked the event by editing the agenda on the wiki.  The agenda was as follows: 

9:00-9:30 AM

• 4th Floor Board Room: Coffee, Bagels, and Schmoozing

9:30-10:00

• 4th Floor Board Room: Welcome and construction of Agenda

10:00-11:00

• 4th Floor Board Room: Drupal users and user wannabes
• 4th Floor Conference Room A: Killing NetFlix Dead
• 3rd Floor Freespace: Digitization Standards for Digital Libraries

11:00-12:00

• 4th Floor Board Room: ILS
• 4th Floor Conference Room A: Virtual Reference & IM

12:00-1:30

• Lunch on your own. Check out http://arborwiki.org/index.php/Category:Restaurants for some ideas!

1:30-2:00

• 4th Floor Board Room: Reconvene and adjust afternoon schedule if needed.

2:00-3:00

• 4th Floor Board Room: Developer Collaboration
• 4th Floor Conference Room A: Selling 2.0 in a 1.0 world
• 3rd Floor Training Center: Subject Resources Pages & Pathfinders

3:00-4:00

• Lower Level Multipurpose Room: Show & Tell / Super Smash Bros. Brawl Tournament.

4:00

• Lower Level Multipurpose Room: Wrapup & Farewell!

Notes and thoughts from the sessions I attended are included below:

 

Killing Netflix Dead:  Alternate Circulation Models

A discussion of library circulation models with the popular DVD rental service, Netflix, in mind.  Some points discussed:

• Library Delivery Services
  • Some libraries offer these services to patrons, but many only to homebound patrons.
• Can the Netflix model for queues and hold be applied to library services?
• Are libraries more like Blockbuster given that they have a physical and online presence?
• How will "watch instantly" online service change library services
  • Netflix Instant Movie Streaming
  • Hulu.com
• How can patrons control when their holds come in:
  • Improved queuing systems
  • Handle long hold waits
• Some libraries mail all their holds, would this be a premium service or an expectation.
• Wishlists vs. Holds
  • AADL is working on implementing this in their catalog.
  • Need to balance "I want this item as soon as possible with I want it someday."
  • It's easy to have "too many holds" in your queue with a wishlist implementation.
• Vendors vs. IT
  • Evergreen and Open Source ILS may have an advantage to implement changes quickly
    • Individual institution ILS vs Consortia
• Netflix Model with Friends
  • Can we implement a community model into our catalogs?
• Digital Divide
  • Still an imbalance between the people who have the connectivity and those who don't.
• Test it first then figure out how it works later
• BookMooch & Paperback Swap
  • Existing models for swapping and mailing books users.
• Hold Waits
  • How long are you willing to wait?  Some might be willing to wait long, others might not be.
• Digital Content
  • How long will be before we're not physically picking things up from a library?
  • Where do libraries fit in?
  • Libraries circulating popular materials may go away (note: I can see this happening, one comment I made during this discussion is that services like Netflix and Rhapsody are not expensive and are often more convenient than the library)
  • Digital Divide again?  Are we really just there for the patrons who can get this stuff?
  • Ebooks and readers will become more accessible over time.

 

Virtual Reference & IM

• Meebo still seems to be the tool of choice for IM reference and libraries
  • Bar is low to use
  • Lightweight
• QuestionPoint for Virtual Reference
• Co-Browsing
  • Rikhei doesn't think co-browsing works
  • Technology is hit or miss for this
  • In theory a good idea but harder to implement and may not be very useful for patrons
• Fewer steps and questions for patrons may enable them to become more engaged
• They like to know that there is a person there
  • Away messages if you are busy
  • Indicating that you're helping another patron and will be with them shortly is beneficial
• Two different chat models
  • Focused completely
    • This may be more of what the librarian is or expects of the patron
  • Multi-tasking
    • This may be what the patron is actually doing while you're helping them
• How to implement in library services?
  • Schedule staff for IM
  • On the floor?
    • Chat reference may not be easy or appropriate when you're also trying to work the desk.
  • Staffing Issues
    • 24/7 Reference?
• Nature of Questions
  • One person commented that there is a variety but more reference questions (public library)
  • Another person commented that questions happened in the late evening (academic)
    • Policy Questions
    • Problems using electronic resources
    • Sociology/Psychology Students seem to use virtual reference more
    • Helping students getting started on papers
• Filtering on the Front
  • Could filtering be turning people away
    • I likened this to calling Customer Support, and how frustrating this is
    • I also commented that we don't bounce patrons around to other staff immediately when we're on the desk, we help the patron first and then transfer them to a subject specialist if we're running into walls
  • Virtual Reference tends to hand people off to different people
  • Physical reference desk have no filters
• Text Reference
  • Smart Phones
  • Set up texting through AOL Instant Messenger (Rikhei has some experience with this)
  • Consider shorter IM names for texting
  • Limiting characters
  • No additional training
• Gaim (Pidgin) Software, Trillian
• Like Meebo, but download software to computer
• Twitter Reference?
• One librarian pondered it
• Also discussed recently on Uncontrolled Vocabulary
• Younger people don't check their email anymore
• They are texting
• They are using MySpace
• I commented that this may change when they go to school or enter the workforce, I personally don't see email as a communication tool leaving these institutions anytime soon.
• Libraries on Facebook
• UM Did a Survey
• 60/40, don't want libraries on their Facebook
• Say it's kind of creepy
• But found that Facebook Marketplace is a great way to recruit people for usability studies
• I commented that I find the only people who add library applications to their Facebook pages are librarians, kinda funny.
• Second Life
• Huge Overhead
• Download Software
• Huge Learning Curve
• Have to learn to walk before you can even visit the library
• Portable Devices/Roving Reference (jblyberg)
• No Reference Desks, how do you connect with patrons on the floor
• Virtual Library Initiatives
• iPhones in the Library?
• What do you use for Roving Reference?

 

Lunch

Raja Rani, 400 S. Division St, Ann Arbor MI

Indian buffet, yum!

Subject Resource Pages & Pathfinders

• LibGuides
• Rikhei talked a lot about LibGuides at GVSU
• Grand Valley State University
• Good stats on particular databases
• Fun to use!
• Great customer service and tech support
• Hoping to see library guides as a portal for students in their subject areas
• Other Uses
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Looks like html implementation
• Norwich University
• Wiki implementation
• St. Joseph County Public Library
• MediaWiki implementation
• WikiMatrix - Wizard for choosing wiki software
• Public Libraries
• How do you communicate your resources?
• Not sure anybody really had an answer.  I know that this is difficult given the array of questions and interests we have in public libraries compared to the needs to academic library patrons.  Our wiki resources pages are meant to be internal, I have designed our wiki resources around class projects, but printed handouts for parents and students as I pull the books they need for display.
• From personal experience I think I focus mostly on making sure that staff has access to the resources they need to help patrons. My most updated and frequently used wiki page is our Tax Resources page.  It can stay relatively the same every year, but I keep it current by adding and deleting FAQs based on changes I see from the IRS.
• Are the products we use just too hard to use?
• YES!!!!
• Do we need to convince vendors to make things more usable for our patrons?
• YES!!!!
• Google Scholar with Link Resolver
• One of my personal faves at Wayne State
• http://www.lib.wayne.edu/
• Google Scholar right on the front page, off campus access link allows me to use Google Scholar off campus with the link resolver
• Federated Searching
• Nautilus (GVSU Federated Search)
• http://www.serialssolutions.com/ss_360_link.html
• AquaBrowser
• Pulling in databases and other sources
• Tagging
• Quality over quantity in regards to links and electronic resources.
• This was one comment I made during this session.  I personally think that a patron can type in a search in Google already and come up with an overwhelming amount of resources on their own.  The library should be providing quality resources, just a few good links is better than linking to everything you can find on a subject.
• How do we integrate these subject guides into catalog?

Show & Tell/Gaming

We did show and tell first, from 3:00 to 4:00 and unfortunately had to scoot out at 4:00 to get to Detroit for class.  It's too bad because I really wanted to play Guitar Hero too!!!  Here's a list of the great things some people shared with the show and tell though:

• Eli presented on awesome 10 minute video on gaming at the Ann Arbor District Library.  I have to say that I think it made me more proud to be an AADL patron than it did to be a librarian.  I've been to a AADL gaming event once before and the teens there impressed me.  They were engaged and it was fun!
• University of Michigan Libraries MTagger
• Detroit Public Library Teen Blog - The renovations they are planning for the main branch teen area look very interesting too.  I would love to pop in and see it when it's done someday when I'm out at school.
• Allen County Public Library Blog - I liked how Melissa commented about how they are very proud of their blog at the library.  Library staff have posted reviews and information and they see it as a very open and relaxed forum to share with their colleagues and patrons.  I think that's how blogging should be!
• Columbus Metropolitan Library Toolbar - The used Conduit to create the toolbar.  I'm not a big toolbar person but I thought this looked pretty sharp.  I definitely saw potential for something like this in creating standard browser setup for patrons and staff in a library.

A little meme that's floating around the library blogs is "what are your tech-nots"?  I just read Steve Lawson's, and Laura Crossett's I read the other day, plus a few others.  I think like some who have done this already, I consider myself pretty computer savvy, but hardly an expert.  Here's a few of my tech-nots:

• The inside of a computer is not a huge mystery to me, I can probably point out a few key components, but don't ask me to fix anything in there.  It's a good thing my hardware doesn't break down very often, I'm more likely to send that stuff into a repair shop than I am with software issues.
• I learned how to program in high school and college, and if you really want to go back far, I've been typing code into a computer since I was about 9 or 10, but ask me to program anything now and it would take me awhile just to sort everything out.  I think this is just because I don't do it all the time, if I did use those skills I could probably learn a new programming language a week.  I'm happy enough that I can look at some code and not feel like it's a foreign language, it's more like a puzzle I need to work through for awhile.
• I never got into Skype or any sort of voice chatting.  No reason, other than I really didn't have a suitable computer for such things until recently.  Now that I have one I still don't do it.
• I love gadgets, but I always feel far behind the gadget curve.  My cell phone already feels obsolete to me.  Of course this isn't a huge surprise to me either, librarians don't exactly have a lot of money to throw around at new cell phones and iPods every time they come out.  I admit I was drooling over a new phone last night.  It turns out when I do want these things I tend to want the most expensive one in the store.
• Lately we've been a little more ambitious in our tech purchases.  My husband got a PS3 for his birthday, of course with that purchase came a new flat screen TV for Christmas, we finally got cable TV too.  Well, the first time I tried to turn on the TV I couldn't figure it out.  I remember either calling or IMing my husband at work because I couldn't figure out how our 3 remotes worked in conjunction with one another (TV, cable box, and receiver).  I finally gave up and decided to not watch TV (which is probably for the better anyway).  I can turn on the the TV all by myself now but I still have to think a little too hard about the whole process.  Don't even ask me to program a universal remote, I can never get those things to work.
• I love games, but I'm not a gamer.  The closest I come is my Sims 2 obsession, and I don't even have time for that anymore.  Last night we were in Best Buy and I found 2 expansion packs I wanted to buy, even though I have one at home that I haven't played yet.  I leave that gaming stuff to my husband, but I do wish I had more time to play games.  I'm a little more motivated now that we have a decent game console now.  I was doing pretty well with Guitar Hero last night!

There's a few tricks I've learned that have helped me get to the point where I feel comfortable with technology though.  It helps that we've had computers in my house before computers were cool so they weren't mysterious machines to me.  My dad even gave me one of his to just play on when I was a kid, and that was probably the thing that started it all.  My "no fear" attitude started really young.  When I was in college I remember working in the library and we just got our new Millennium automation system.  I knew nothing about Millennium at the time, it was just another computer program to me.  I remember my circ supervisor couldn't figure out some sort of admin type thing.  I logged in under the admin password and fixed whatever she needed fixed.  She asked how I knew how to do that, for me it was just common sense and playing around, I really didn't know how to do it.  Then she said, "you really have no fear when it comes to this stuff do you?"

I'm constantly telling people at work that you can't really break these things.  I still don't think there's a problem in Millennium that can't be fixed without a little common sense (well most times) and I still have no fear.  And if I really don't know how to do something I pretend I do and I can usually learn something from my successes or failures along the way.  So no fear, and confidence have got me this far.

The other thing that occurred to me while reading through a few of the other librarian's posts is that for everything we're not good at when it comes to computers and technology, there's a lot that we are good at.  For example, Steve Lawson listed relational databases as one of his tech-nots.  Well it turns out that I can confidently say I'm quite good at relational databases and I don't even have to make it up.  For every tech-not I have, there's somebody out there in library land where they are extremely proficient in that skill.  One thing I love about the library community too is that we're willing to help and give advice in the areas where we're most proficient.  So if you sum all of our skills, there's no such thing as a "tech-not" in the library community.  If there's one skill that all librarians share, it is that we're resourceful and there's nothing that we can't do with the help of our colleagues.

I was going through the U.S. News & World Report's Best Careers of 2008 and I happily noticed that both Librarian and Usability/User Experience Specialist were on the list. But then I noticed this:

Librarian

Median Pay:  $51,400

Usability/User Experience Specialist

Median Pay:  $98,800

It's no secret that librarians don't make much money, many librarians are willing to put up with this because the job is satisfying in other ways.  This really bothers me though.  For the same degree and using the same skills I could be making twice as much.  I've been slowly sliding away from being a traditional librarian when I grow up, and I've even been advocating careers outside of traditional librarianship to anybody who will listen.  The pay scale wasn't even my motivation either, I find that jobs outside of librarianship can be equally satisfying given the right circumstances and opportunities.

I'm not saying everybody in library school needs to consider jobs outside of traditional librarianship and that money is everything in choosing a career (although my husband is now convinced of what I should be doing with my life).  I would love to see the librarian number higher though.  We do spend a lot of money to get that piece of paper saying that we're a real librarian now.  But many of the library jobs that are out there are not paid well, or they are even part time.  I know that working part time appeals to a lot of people, I certainly enjoy it now that I'm in school, but why am I paying all this money to go school only to aspire for a part time job when I graduate?  That's not what I want. 

Like I said, money is not a motivating factor for me in choosing a career. I don't require much to be happy given that I'm pretty happy now and I don't make much.  I think my point is more about value.  What is my degree worth to me?  It doesn't matter if I choose to be a librarian or anything else, I would consider carefully what my skills, time, and even my personal happiness is worth.

A few items that didn't make it...
Originally uploaded by heidigoseek.

My library has been closed for about a week now due to a pipe burst. Today was the first time I've been out there since it happened. It first happened when I was in Toronto, then Thursday evening the assistant director called me and asked if I wanted to work at another branch through the weekend. As I told my supervisor in an email, "I just go where they tell me to." Actually I was pretty happy not to have my hours cut since I have taken a lot of time off to travel this month.

There's a few pictures of what I came to work to today, only crappy camera phone quality though. We spent most of the day putting books back on shelves. I think they moved them in order to raise the shelving to suck out the water or something. I really don't know.

It also sounds like I got the cushy deal this weekend, some of my co-workers were the ones that had to move the books off the shelves. They also went to another branch that is opening from renovations soon to unpack boxes. They were there today putting the books back on the shelves, one of them said, "I'm really starting to hate books." I don't blame them. I now appreciate the opportunity I had to play reference librarian for the weekend, even if it wasn't the most exciting thing in the world.

We're planning to be open by Thursday. I'm back in tomorrow to help get things ready to open the library. It's not so bad, at least I get to hang out with my cool co-workers. Based on the number of phone calls we got today, I think we're going to be slammed when we finally open. I don't work Thursdays but I'm sure Friday, when I do work, will be equally busy.

I am the Annoyed Librarian
Originally uploaded by heidigoseek.

Everybody is wrong. I'm the Annoyed Librarian. I know what you're thinking, it can't possibly be true, but it is. I've been hiding behind heidi go seek for some time now. Have you ever wondered why you only ever see del.icio.us links posted to my blog? It's because I spend all of my time posting to Annoyed Librarian.

The unnatural zeal I portray here for the Information Profession is only a cover for my real pessimistic alter-ego. I've been living among you all this time you never suspected.

So, it's already an hour into MLA and I've already skipped out of the conference for coffee and free wireless. I wasn't too interested in any of the morning sessions anyway but I did want to stop in to the planned Unconference just to see what was up with that. I was not impressed. Of course, to be fair, I was skeptical of the whole Unconference at MLA idea anyway. Here are my short notes from the session (I did not stay long). Also I was 20 minutes late and the Unconference just started as I showed up.

Why is there a speaker?

Speaker talking about internet security for 40 minutes, blah!

His group manages Michigan.gov, eek!

It's snowing outside!

As you can see I started to get bored and at that moment I packed up my things and left.

I realize there was a keynote at ArbCamp but that was optional and at the end of the event, which was perfectly acceptable. I believe that starting off with a speaker (which was not in the program by the way) killed the whole deal for me. I wonder if any of the people organizing the Unconference event has actually been to one (?)

Of course once I left I still had no interest in any of the sessions so I wondered down the hall. I asked in the 'Internet Cafe' if there is free wireless, there was not. And every single computer they had in the room was filled up. There was also not free wireless at ASIS&T, and from the rumblings I've heard online from Internet Librarian this was the case there too. I think this should be absolute requirement for any conference! Note to event planners, if the conference center you are planning your event in does not offer wireless to your attendees you should seriously consider this, especially for events such as ASIS&T and IL, where sessions are mainly focused around technology.

I walked several blocks away from the conference and now I'm at Beaner's enjoying my coffee and free internet. I don't have to be at my next session for another 45 minutes. I think I finally decided on going to a Libraries in Second Life session at 10:00. I've been spending a lot of time in the virtual world lately and it would be nice to supplement that examples of what libraries are doing in there.

However, now I need to find out a good place with wireless to eat for lunch. Maybe I'll scope out a few geocaches while I'm here, I noticed several historical markers on my walk over here, there might be a few!

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Originally found via Library Stuff is this blog post through Seattlest, Does Self-Checkout Make Libraries Less Friendly?

*sigh*

This is one of those issues with me that drives me nuts. I will forewarn you that this post will probably make me sound like a horrible librarian, but here's the deal; I hate chit chatting with patrons. I'm not unfriendly, on the contrary, I'm quite friendly to anybody who walks through the door of my library, but I wish most people would just save their life stories for somebody else. I'm there to do a job, and even without checking books in and out all day, I have more than enough on my plate to occupy my time.

Then there's the patron perspective, I love self-checkout as a patron because I don't have to talk to anybody! I have no desire to get to know the librarians at my own branch (which is not the library I work for); probably because I know they have more pressing matters than to chit chat with their patrons all day.

I've never been one for small talk anyway, brief snippets of "how do you dos" are fine, but we've had patrons come to the library and talk to various members of our staff for hours, yes hours! You're like a deer caught in the headlights, there's nowhere to run, nowhere to go! Some of our more chatty patrons probably think I'm not friendly, but one thing most people have come to realize is that no matter how I feel about that person, I will bend over backwards to find what they're looking for. It's not because I care about why they're looking for something, it's because it's my job to help them. I don't need to know the back story to be good at my job. I don't even need to like a person to be good at my job. They come in with a problem, and hopefully they leave with some more information to help them with the solution. That is my goal for everybody.

This is one of them sticky issues, but a question has been floating around in my head ever since a recent meeting at work. I'm not asking this to be sarcastic, I'm actually serious because I don't know how other librarians feel; but how far should customer service go in libraries? Is it really my job to listen to a patron's life story for 2 hours in the name of customer service or is there a point where you have to say, "Hey listen, it's been nice chatting with you, but I really have to get back to work?" I've been thinking about this for some time because I actually think that some people within my organization believe it is my job to listen to their life stories in the name of customer service. My prior customer service experience was in food service, there's just no way a person has the luxury of chatting up another person that long when you're working in food service. My dad owned a bakery most of my childhood and he's probably more like me in personality. Many of his customers loved to talk to him, but he was good at breaking off the conversation when he needed to get back to work without offending his customer. If they wanted to talk for a long time he had no problem calling them into the back while he was baking to work as they talked. He seemed to know the right balance to keep the customer happy but still be able to get his work done in the day. There are some patrons I do genuinely enjoy talking to, but for the most part I see conversing with patrons as a necessity to a point.

That being said, I don't always dislike working on the desk. Of course all of my time is desk time when I work; I don't have a choice otherwise. I love the challenge of helping people find what they need, and I'm lucky enough to work with some great people who prefer the chit chatting, so we generally tag-team (I find the stuff and then they can chit chat with my co-workers if they so desire).

Of course nobody uses our self-checkout anyway because it's set up poorly. The user interface is horrible, the error messages are generic and unhelpful, and I suspect most people bypass it to chat with us at the desk. I actually had one patron said he wouldn't use it because it would "put us out of a job". The irony of that is it was a Saturday and we had a two page list of things to do that day from our supervisor sitting on the desk in front of him.

Maybe the answer boils down to what you expect from a library. I expect libraries to be a place to find information and for somebody to be helpful when I need help. The customer service I expect from a library is no different than the customer service I expect from a restaurant or a store of any kind. My standards in customer service are actually surprisingly high given my indifference to most things. I suppose it's hard for me to step out of that and realize the motivation others feel to share their life stories with complete strangers (because even though they see me every day at the library, I am really a complete stranger to them).

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A lot of hoopla is going around about doing away with the Dewey Classification System. A NYT article popped into our school list about one library who has decided to drop Dewey altogether. Do I think we should get rid of Dewey? Yes and no. I applaud the libraries that are finally looking at ways to make libraries more usable for their patrons. What I don't think we should do is to stop making it usable for our staff; although logic tells me that a simple classification for patrons should also be simple for staff to use. I don't necessarily think that that Dewey should be abandoned; I do think that if used it should invisible to our patrons.

The Dewey Decimal Classification has been around for 131 years now, and in the span of those years, our patrons still have not figured out how to use it. They don't know what the numbers mean, they don't care what the numbers mean, and I don't think we should have to force them to. I'm in favor of a more bookstore like classification for our patrons in public libraries. As librarians we need to stop thinking like librarians when it comes to our patrons needs too. We want everything to have a place, a number, a home on the shelf, but this is not how our patrons think anymore. Some are already used to iTunes and Amazon, the world of the miscellaneous.

Appropriately, I just spent the last few work days, with the rest of the staff at my branch, relabeling our CDs away from Dewey to a genre based classification (much like you would find at a music store). I've already noticed considerable positive differences in the organization of our CD collection. It is much easier to find things in the Classical music section for one. Finally, Halloween sound effects and Halloween music are brought together from opposite ends of the Dewey spectrum into a Holiday classification. It's not perfect, there are some things that are missing, one being Alternative and Rap sections, although I know the exclusion of one has to do with subject headings and the other was a conscious decision not to add. Since the changes were done globally by subject headings, there are some assignments that I don't disagree with, namely the distinction between what is Rock and what is Pop. Of course the problems have to do more with the limitations we have when dealing with physical items.

I think we do need to step back, take a deep breath, and do a huge reality check in the profession. We need to decide if we are really serving our patrons, and if some libraries decide that Dewey is not serving our patrons effectively then I am in total support.

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