RE: Recommended Reading

2008-10-09T21:09:01Z

It is. I had a review copy.

I once worked in a library that *did* have something akin to a confessional booth for reference staff to use ... but the issue there is staff quality and training, not furniture.

My major concern, of course, is that we librarians had better have a pretty good understanding of our "competition." Secondarily, it's nice to know the type of analytical tools being used out there.

I've used such marketing tools to help understand my library district (by lifestyle and income) ... but to better understand questions? I wish I had access to that!

RE: Recommended Reading

2008-10-08T23:30:47Z

Is this the same book: Click : what millions of people are doing online and why it matters

From yours and those other reviews, it sounds like a fascinating view of society's information seeking behavior. I'm intrigued by the notion of Internet searching as confessional, turning to search engines for therapy and guidance on the most personal of issues.

I'm not sure where libraries fit into this picture. How do we offer something more substantive than "instant answers and an opinion du jour" if that seems to be where most information searches stop. Maybe there should be a confessional booth in every library with a computer terminal and a librarian behind the privacy screen.

Recommended Reading

2008-10-01T18:23:52Z

Click: Unexpected insights for business and life.

Here's a copy of my review for my library's internal discussion boards:

* * *

Click: unexpected insights for business and life, by Bill Tancer (Hyperion, 2008).

First, my apologies … we received an advance reading copy that I “removed to” my office after seeing it lounge for several days in the staff room. I finally got around to reading it.

As many at the library know, I try to stay at least somewhat current on what is happening with the Internet. It affects the library and one of my largest responsibilities is to plan for the future. This book is very useful for understanding what is happening today and gives some thought toward what may be happening tomorrow.

The author’s perspective is that of a marketer. Almost uniquely, he has access to close to real time marketing data on Internet use as it is sliced and diced across various market categories (think income and lifestyle) of Internet searchers. If there’s one thing that can be taken away from this book it is that analyzing Internet search activity opens a window into what people are really thinking … not what they say they are thinking.

From a librarian’s perspective, the Internet is only proving to be competition to the degree that we, too, celebrate celebrity and shallowness. If you want instant answers and an opinion du jour it is the place to be, but much of this is because it reflects the American fixation with “today” and the importance of the individual “me.” These were never library strong points.

The Internet is inescapable and its utility has hardly been explored. Consider: having knowledge of events as they happen allows a person with sophisticated analytical tools to make accurate predictions, and hence money. Wall Street has yet to come to grips with this. It will have to.

Highly recommended as professional reading. Recommended for high school and above.

Re: Recommended Reading

2008-05-27T19:59:24Z

I suppose the following would best fit here (but really do think a higher category for "useful readings" would be a good thing):

I just finished <i>The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church</i>, by Christine Wicker (HarperOne, 2008) and thought that I might bring it to the attention of others.

Two points, in particular, struck me as useful. First, the major thrust ... that "conservative evangelicals" comprise much less than the 25% of Americans that is usually touted. The real number is closer to 7% (but of course much higher in some areas). It is also shrinking. This has large implications re attempted censorship of both books and web.

The second is that one of the reasons why "conservative evangelical" churches are shrinking is the "de-churching" of many members. They are still Christians, and perhaps still conservative, but they are now meeting in homes rather than churches. There are implications here for collection development. Public libraries seldom purchased sectarian material since this was expected to be a church responsibility. However, if there is no church but only individual taxpayers there may be a responsibility to purchase materials they would find useful.

Re: Recommended Reading

2005-07-19T17:00:05Z

I would like to add to this excellent reading list by pointing to the discourse on environmental scanning posted in three parts on the It's all good blog. Written with Alane's characteristic expressive clarity, these posts provide a good overview of environmental scanning --what it is, how it's done, and why.

[url http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/environmental-scanning-pt-1.html ]Environmental Scanning, Pt 1.[/url]

[url http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/environmental-scanning-pt-2.html ]Environmental Scanning, Pt. 2.[/url]

[url http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/environmental-scanning-pt-3.html ] Environmental Scanning, Pt. 3.[/url]