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CLIS - Spotlight: Robyn C. Frank (CLIS 1972)

CLIS - Spotlight: Robyn C. Frank (CLIS 1972).

Spotlight
Robyn C. Frank (CLIS 1972)
CLIS Alumni of the year 2006-07

Robyn Frank, of Robyn Frank Strategic Partners is the College of Information Studies' Alumni of the year 2006-07.

Robyn worked for 34 years as a career federal library manager. She began as a research assistant in the D.C. Public Schools during the late sixties, after which, Robyn took a position at the American Society for Information Science to work on developing a national model educational information center for the U.S. Department of Education.  In 1973, Robyn set up the Food and Nutrition Information Center at the National Agricultural Library. She later became the Head of the Information Centers Branch (NAL), where she worked for 25 years developing information centers on specific areas of agriculture. In 1998, Robyn moved to the Library of Congress to head the Library References Services of the Congressional Research Service.  Here she developed three information resource centers and created the first “Virtual Resource Center” Web site. Four short years later, with her extensive background in designing information centers, the U.S. Executive Office of the President selected Robyn to become the Director of Library and Research Services.

  In 2005, Robyn’s professional capability in strategic planning lead to the foundation of her own company, Robyn Frank Strategic Partners, which focuses on consulting services to libraries and information centers.  From 1992-1994, Robyn created and edited the Directory of Food and Nutrition Information for Professionals and Consumers. Followed by work as Chief Editor for the Journal of Agricultural and Food Information from 1993-1997. Robyn is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Special Libraries Association and is also a member of the American Library Association. Robyn enjoys spending time with her three daughters and two granddaughters.  Favorite hobbies include traveling, reading, and watching the Baltimore Orioles play baseball. If you are a CLIS alumni and want to submit a profile of your current position, please contact Christy Moyer at clisumcp@umd.edu.

Congratulations to my former colleague in SLA, and member of FAN (Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition Division) when I was active in FAN and SLA.. she's one tireless worker, smart, savvy, and a good loyal friend.. way to go, Robyn!

Shouts & Murmurs: My Undoing: Humor: The New Yorker

Shouts & Murmurs: My Undoing: Humor: The New Yorker.

My Undoing
by George Meyer, May 28, 2007
Keywords: Conferences; Seminars; Panel Discussions; Obsessions; Powwows; Roundtables; Confabs

I have been called a voluptuary, a sybarite, a hedonist, a creep. I am all of these things. I cannot live without pleasure. It is my oxygen—though I must also have regular oxygen.

Our existence is but an eyeblink. Why, then, should a man not chase down his passions, wrestle them to the dirt, and ride them like ostriches? He should, and I have.

Speedboats have been a lifelong diversion. Scotch, a serious problem. Yet no vice bedevils me like my one desperate fixation, my shameful ravening itch: I simply must attend conferences.

The sheer number is embarrassing—more than eight thousand. Did I make a pig of myself? Of course. What have I learned from all this conference-going? Everything, and nothing. Tout, et rien. It is the conferences themselves that I crave, in all their bewitching varieties.

Especially funny.. for those attending the upcoming summer conferences of ALA and SLA, two of my favorites.. enjoy...

VOA News - Americans Honor War Dead on Memorial Day

VOA News - Americans Honor War Dead on Memorial Day.

Americans Honor War Dead on Memorial Day
By VOA News, 28 May 2007

Americans are remembering those who died in military service to their country on Monday's, Memorial Day holiday.

President Bush lays wreath at tomb of unkown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, 28 May 2007 [image caption]

President Bush will lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery and deliver a speech, as the nation pauses to honor the sacrifice of its war dead. Memorial Day is a national holiday, and ceremonies and other special events are taking place across the United States.

Arlington National Cemetery lies across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The cemetery holds the remains of more than 300,000 Americans - members of the military services from conflicts dating back to the American Civil War, nearly 150 years ago.

We should never forget, nor forget to honor, those who gave their lives in the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and their fellow citizens...

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Hollywood star Newman to retire

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Hollywood star Newman to retire.

Hollywood star Newman to retire Paul Newman

One of Hollywood's best-known stars, veteran actor Paul Newman, says he has given up acting at the age of 82.

Newman, a nine-time Oscar nominee who has starred in more than 50 films, claimed he was no longer able to perform to the best of his ability.

"I'm not able to work anymore... at the level that I would want to," the actor said in an interview on US television. Newman's films include The Sting, Cool Hand Luke and The Color of Money, which earned him a best actor Oscar in 1987.

Newman announced his decision in an interview with US broadcaster ABC. "You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention," he told ABC's Good Morning America. "So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me."

Ride to your own sunset and choices, Butch.. we have the film legacy, and that immortality, to enjoy forever.. I really liked his work in "Empire Falls," the most recent work I've seen Paul do...

Mission for Memorial Day: Always Remember - New York Times

Mission for Memorial Day: Always Remember - New York Times.

American Journeys
Mission for Memorial Day: Always Remember
By JENNIFER MILLER, Published: May 25, 2007

IF you traveled on one of the nation’s Interstates in these last few days before Memorial Day, you might have encountered an unusual sight: bikers by the dozens stretched half a mile down the highway, their motorcycles flying military banners and spewing exhaust.

They are an intimidating bunch. Sheathed in leather from the neck down, they look like physical extensions of their bikes. But these riders are no motley crew. They are members of Rolling Thunder, a nationwide network of veterans and their supporters. Their destination: the Rolling Thunder Memorial Day rally on the National Mall in Washington.

“In D.C., people were mouthing ‘thank you’ and crying,” Deno Paolini, a Vietnam veteran from Reno, Nev., recalled of his first trip to the Mall. Mr. Paolini said that the Washington run is one of the few times he feels appreciated for his service. In Washington, he said, it “began to make sense.”

Rolling Thunder, which has thousands of members, was founded in 1987 when some Vietnam veterans and advocates for P.O.W.’s and M.I.A.’s befriended one another on the mall. They were looking for a special way to promote their cause. Ray Manzo of Hoboken, N.J., now a former marine, suggested motorcycles. The idea grabbed them. Masses of bikes descending on Washington would literally sound like Rolling Thunder, the code name for the bombing campaign over North Vietnam.

The List: 33 Architectural Favorites in New York - New York Times

The List: 33 Architectural Favorites in New York - New York Times.

The List: 33 Architectural Favorites in New York
By SETH KUGEL, Published: May 27, 2007

IN a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Institute of Architects, 33 of the 150 examples of America’s favorite structures are in New York City. Here is a list of New York’s honorees, with their rankings in the survey.

1. Empire State Building, Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets.
9. Chrysler Building, Lexington Avenue at 42nd Street.
11. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue and 50th Street.
13. Grand Central Station, 42nd Street at Park Avenue.
16. St. Regis Hotel, Fifth Avenue at 55th Street.
17. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street.
19. World Trade Center site, Church Street between Vesey and Liberty Street.
20. Brooklyn Bridge.

See the complete list at the site.. see also the related New York Times' article...

A High-End Remote for a High-Tech Life - New York Times

A High-End Remote for a High-Tech Life - New York Times.

Novelties
A High-End Remote for a High-Tech Life
A touch-screen universal remote control by Logitech can be programmed from the company’s Web site. The RF Wireless Extender, left, lets users operate devices not in a direct line of sight. [image caption]
By ANNE EISENBERG, Published: May 27, 2007

COUCH potatoes who don’t like the clutter of four or five remote controls can buy a single version to rule the television, cable box, DVD player, stereo and even the lighting system. Most of these devices use clickers or buttons the way standard remotes do, but a few luxury versions use colorful touch screens as control panels.

The remotes can be programmed so that one click or touch sets off a series of actions. Touch “Watch a DVD” on the screen, and the gadget flips on the television, turns on the DVD player and even pops open the bay where the DVD is inserted.

But the devices, called universal remotes, can be complicated to program — so complicated, in fact, that many customers hire a professional to install them and make the occasional follow-up visit when a new component is added to the system.

Now Logitech, based in Fremont, Calif., is offering a touch-screen universal remote, the Harmony 1000, that is designed so consumers can set it up and maintain it themselves. Priced at $499, it has a 3.5-inch screen, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and a U.S.B. cable. Customers log on to the Logitech Web site and plug the remote into their computer at a U.S.B. slot. Then the remote downloads the data it needs to be lord of the living room.

Delight in disorder | Salon Books

Delight in disorder | Salon Books.

Delight in disorder
Now that the Web has made everything miscellaneous, as David Weinberger argues in his new book, we're free to remix the world.
By Scott Rosenberg
May 23, 2007

The rise of the Web has dethroned authorities, atomized our culture and set us loose in the resulting sea of fragments. This familiar sky-is-falling argument regularly inspires an anguished plea: We must restore order in the messy digital realm! Won't someone organize this endless churning chaos? Can't we clean up the Web?

David Weinberger says, nah. For one thing, such an effort would be futile. More important, it misses a great opportunity technology has opened before us -- a chance to transform how we think about, well, everything.

Weinberger's new book, "Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder," lays out the upside of digital technology's impact on our ways of knowing. The book builds on ideas in Weinberger's previous works -- "Small Pieces Loosely Joined" and "The Cluetrain Manifesto" (which he co-authored) -- to present a key insight into the nature of the Web world.

The argument goes like this: As long as knowledge was organized physically, on paper, in books and card catalogs and such, we remained stuck in the belief that there is "one right way" to define, organize and think about any subject. Now we've moved information into the infinitely mutable realm of digital data -- where anything can point to anything else, space keeps expanding faster than we can fill it, and we can reshuffle and re-sort at a keystroke. In this world, the same thing can "be" in more than one place -- it can, in fact, be in as many places as we want. That means we have a chance to think more nimbly and flexibly -- to reorganize knowledge from multiple perspectives to suit our changing needs. We're not losing context; we're gaining contexts.

We Are Rantasaurus Rex, Hear Us Roar

We Are Rantasaurus Rex, Hear Us Roar.

Memorial Day Madness!
May 26th, 2007 by tyrantasaurus 

Hello, Rantasauruses! This week we had a couple firsts and it was awesome. We had our biggest day of traffic, our first time on the Top Blogs list and our first comment fight but not really because both people are extra nice and let’s keep it that way.

I’ll be back updating on Monday morning. I’m not going anywhere, I’m just turning this machine off and stepping outside or something else fancy. I’m starting to look a little translucent and the cats and I have too great of an understanding.

In the meantime, keep those submissions coming and remember, you can rant about anything anytime, you don’t have to stick to the theme. Since we’re getting such a great response, I’m officially deciding to make the Rantsplosion a bi-monthly thing instead of every week.

Funny site, rants, reminds me of Dennis Miller's stuff.. some rants not for minors.. enjoy!

Audiobook - Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Audiobook - Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.

A Moveable Feast

Category :  Classic Literature
Publisher :  Simon & Schuster
Author :  Ernest Hemingway
Narrator :  James Naughton
Length :  5 hours (Unabridged)
Physical Price :  $29.95
Download Price :  $17.95
Format :  Encoded Windows Media © 2006 Simon & Schuster

ADD TO BASKET
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"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast. " — Ernest Hemingway to a friend, 1950

Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway's most beloved works. It is his classic memoir of Paris in the 1920s, filled with irreverent portraits of other expatriate luminaries such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein; tender memories of his first wife, Hadley; and insightful recollections of his own early experiments with his craft. It is a literary feast, brilliantly evoking the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I and the youthful spirit, unbridled creativity, and unquenchable enthusiasm that Hemingway himself" epitomized.

Biblio Tech Review: San Diego Public Library Selects SirsiDynix Unicorn Solution

Biblio Tech Review: San Diego Public Library Selects SirsiDynix Unicorn Solution.

San Diego Public Library Selects SirsiDynix Unicorn Solution
22 May 07 / contacts: SirsiDynix
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

SirsiDynix, the global leader in strategic technology solutions for libraries, announced today it has signed a multiyear contract with San Diego Data Processing Corp., on behalf of the City of San Diego Public Library, to migrate the library system to SirsiDynix Unicorn(r). As part of the agreement, SirsiDynix will manage and host San Diego's new Unicorn system via the company's Software as a Service (SaaS) offering. San Diego Public Library also will implement the SirsiDynix Enterprise Portal Solution(tm)/Rooms solution to create a one-stop interface to its catalog, databases, digital archives and other library resources and services.

"SirsiDynix Unicorn is a proven integrated library system," said Brad Whittle, SirsiDynix vice president for North America. "With a system the size of San Diego Public Library's - more than 7 million items circulated in a year - the ILS must be able to handle such a volume and provide library users with the service they expect. Unicorn is scalable and flexible enough to meet San Diego's current needs, as well as expand with the library in the future."

There's this news at my POW.. interesting times, Chinese malediction indeed.. there's also the press release (PDF) on this on the SirsiDynix site...

Chronicle Careers: 5/23/2007: The Four Habits of Highly Effective Librarians

Chronicle Careers: 5/23/2007: The Four Habits of Highly Effective Librarians.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007 / First Person - Personal experiences on the job market
The Four Habits of Highly Effective Librarians
By Todd Gilman
Todd Gilman is the librarian for literature in English at Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library.

Last fall, when I wrote about why many academic librarians feel unappreciated on their campuses, I pointed to their relationships with professors as a major culprit.

Yet it also has to be said that many of us librarians are our own (or one another's) worst enemies and that if we were more adept at working together, we could improve our lives and those of our colleagues.

In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey argues that the most effective are those who have moved beyond both independence and dependence to master the art of interdependence -- of working as members of a team, of knowing when two or more heads are better than one. In the spirit of Covey, then, I would like to offer my list of four traits that would not only make librarians more effective, but happier and more productive, too.

Openness
All too often, librarians -- like all human beings -- do not listen to one another. In a well-meaning attempt to be proactive we may dutifully invite co-workers or subordinates to weigh in on how we might improve some aspect of our services.

MyFox Twin Cities | Minneapolis, Hennepin County Library Merger

MyFox Twin Cities | Minneapolis, Hennepin County Library Merger.

Minneapolis, Hennepin County Library Merger
Consolidation of state’s two largest library systems almost done
Last Edited: Monday, 21 May 2007, 11:36 AM CDT
Created: Monday, 21 May 2007, 11:36 AM CDT

The Minnesota legislature approved a bill on Saturday allowing the Hennepin County Library and Minneapolis Public Library systems to merge. The merger can happen as soon as Jan. 1, 2008 and no later than Dec. 31, 2008.

The bill now goes to the Gov. Pawlenty for signature.

Major library world merger.. I wish them the best.. I think many counties have gone this way; my home town libraries, in Charlotte, North Carolina, merged a long time ago? with Mecklenburg County.. it's been a win-win, I do believe.. I hope for the same for Minnesota's gambit...

Hire Walt Crawford

Walt Crawford: Hire Walt Crawford.

Walt Crawford: Hire Walt Crawford
Cites & Insights | Weblog | Professional | Cites & Insights Books | Contact | Archive

A special message:
Ever thought you or one of the groups you work for or with could use a Walt Crawford? Here's your chance.

The RLG-OCLC transition will be complete in September. I've received a termination notice from OCLC, effective September 30, 2007.

I'm interested in exploring new possibilities. For now I'm trying not to narrow the options too much.    

The basics: A new position could start any time after October 15, 2007 (possibly earlier). January to April 2008 might be ideal as a starting date, but earlier or later is quite possible.

Sorry to hear you are getting terminated, Walt.. see also this link for the information on Walt.. good luck on the hunt, and you have my solid recommendation.. any organization or group would be fortunate to have you on, or leading, their team...

Charlotte Observer | 05/18/2007 | Library learning goes beyond the printed page

Charlotte Observer | 05/18/2007 | Library learning goes beyond the printed page.

READING LIFE EDITOR
Library learning goes beyond the printed page
JERI KRENTZ

If you know nothing about blogs or podcasts ... If you feel hopelessly left behind, overwhelmed -- but curious ...

Meet Helene Blowers, technology director for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County.

Last year, she developed an online program to teach staff about Web technology and new communication channels -- and now more than four dozen libraries across the world are using her work. Museums, a public relations firm, universities and nonprofits have shown interest as well.

"Learning 2.0" is free, so you and I can use it, too. Through 23 short, self-paced exercises, you'll find out about blogs, Flickr, podcasts and wikis.

In her sunny office at the Main Library, Blowers told me that she developed the program last spring to help staff members understand the exploding Web 2.0 phenomenon and how it was important for their jobs.

Great story, and how Helene Blowers has helped learning new technologies take off in libraries.. it's almost "easy" to get staff to try this out.. there's some good signs the replication of the program is continuing to grow.. way to go, Helene...