This is an official update to the original "Shift Happens" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod. This June 2007 update includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions and a fresh design.

I think that there is a great deal of valuable information that should be considered by academic institutions and librarians here. There are several great videos in this genre that I would like to share & discuss, but I think there might be a better way to conduct those discussions such as through a forum.

If you would consider participating in Library 2.0 discussion group, please let me know because I am very interested in delving into these topics with you. I am curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Chadwick

I have blogging in some form or another since 2003, but a couple of years ago I started blogging at InfoSciPhi about library related issues. There is so much required of us in our offline lives that finding time to blog about work might not be the first thing on the agenda. I know I often go through periods when I write very little because of time constraints. Luckily I have a job that allows me to write about what I do - BONUS!

Like anything else, we have to actually MAKE time for the aspects of our lives, both personal and professional, that we give value to. So, since I do enjoy sharing information and opinions about our field, I plan to begin writing here to share some of that with you and hopefully begin a dialog on issues of importance to us in our everyday roles.

I have so many ideas and plan to do my best to contribute to PALNI in the most positive ways I can. While I am still easing into my new role, I am using some of this time to make notes on the things I would like to focus on. I also took careful notes during the sessions I attended at the PALNI "All Staff meeting" knowing that I might have a chance to address the suggestions and ideas that you brought up in those discussions. I am looking forward to applying my experiences as a Systems Librarian to my new role here and using that to our advantage. I've been on the front line and I know the struggles you face.

ALA Midwinter was my first ALA conference. It's not something I normally attend, but given that my cousin lives 4 blocks from the convention center and I could attend at the student rate, I felt like it was an opportunity I needed to seize. All in all, it was a positive experience. Here's some of my thoughts:

• The New Members Roundtable was a little intimidating. I got there late because I went to the wrong building. By the time I arrived, they were breaking because the speaker had not shown up. ALA is pretty much this big, unfriendly mass to me, and this didn't change that impression any.
• I found things to be very esoteric. It was impossible to know what sessions to attend. Some of them were useful, others not so much. The catalog was very confusing. But when I did get to a good meeting, it was worth it. It's nice to be surrounded by very smart people who are doing cutting edge work (other than those I see every day, of course).
• As with most conferences, the most valuable part was meeting people and getting some face time with vendors. I was able to meet the people at CONTENTdm, and even go over to their offices to work on a few problems I had been having. Got a Primo demonstration (which is no longer vaporware). Very productive.
  

Sometimes it's important to remember that computers are *not* incapable of making mistakes. Take a look at the following picture taken from my Amazon recommendations page:

See what's wrong? This was what Amazon "recommended" to me today due to the fact that I had added "The Charles Bukowski Tapes" to my Amazon wish list. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the writings or life of Bukowski, but let me assure you that Gerald McBoing Boing and Charles Bukowski having nothng in common. In fact, I'm just going to say that Buk fans are going to be highly disappointed with the works of Mr. McBoing Boing, and any parent reading Bukowski poems to their kids are probably unfit, to say the least.
I actually do find a lot of good recommendations through Amazon, but this is a nice reminder that it can just never take the place of human interaction. I get far more recommendations for good media from my friends (both virtual and real-life) than I could from any computer-generated list, and it's hard to see how a screw-up like this could take place anyplace else other than the bowels of impersonal computer code.