"I certainly never write a review about a book I don't think worth reviewing, a flat-out bad book, unless it's an enormously fashionable bad book." --
says, John Gardner in Conversations with John Gardner
Quoted from 'Dictionary of Library and Information Science Quotations'     Edited by Mohamed Taher & L S Ramaiah. ISBN: 8185689423 (New Delhi , Aditya, 1994) p.150. Available @ Amazon.com

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

A Visible Pathfinder for Increasing Blog Traffic in 2007

The wise learn from their own experiences but the truly intelligent will learn from someone else's!" - Benjamin Franklin.

My 2007 resolution for return-on-investments in blogging is to have a two-way traffic. The prescription is, please:
1. post a comment--aka, visual signature--in this blog on whatever subject (spam and phishing EXEMPTED)
2. turn on your blog comments' button; I will reciprocate not once, but every post that you create in 2007. This is my own idea of live and let live. I do reciprocate; my 2006 ledger shows Bloggers, such as, Sukhdev Singh, K. G. Schneider, Nancy White, Nirmala Palaniappan, David Tebbutt, Peachy Limpin, Thomas Brevik, Steven Edward Streight, Neil Patel, Diane Levin, and more.


PUNCHLINE: Increasing Blog traffic is a major concern, even for many Gurus [e.g., Adrian W Kingsley-Hughes' Three simple actions that doubled my website traffic in 30 days]
Previous post:
  • Visualizing Comments on Blogs
  • Visualizing Traffic At My Blog Via Mapping The Pathways
  • Blog As A Teaching Tool

    Idea courtesy: Bloggers Compose Their Yearly Ledgers, By Jeralyn; and How to Pay for Blog Comments, @ usability blog of John S. Rhodes; So what'd you get? by Ryan Block


    Technorati Tags: blog comments   2007 blog   blog traffic   2007 resolution   2007 blogging     popular bloggers   popular comments   top bloggers   Reward-program   return-on-investments

  • Monday, December 25, 2006

    What is Christian Fiction?


    "Christian fiction for our purposes is defined as works reflecting biblically (Old and New Testament) based attitudes, philosophies, and actions in their storylines through whatever fictional genre, whether fantasy, mystery, realistic fiction, picture books, board books, and so on."(p. 7) in Librarian's Guide to Developing Christian Fiction collections for Children, by Barbara J. Walker (2005)
    Neal-Schuman Publishers
    Bibliographic record @ Library of Congress catalog.
    About the book:
    compiles a core list of recommended books, literary series, DVDs and videos with annotations and reviews, and delivers lists of reward winning titles, author biographies, and Christian fiction publishers.

    What others say:
    "This is a reasonably thorough resource for librarians-Christian or not-who may find themselves in need of a Christian fiction collection." -Jodi Kearns, University of Akron, OH bn.com

    See also: Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

    Saturday, December 09, 2006

    Christian Librarianship

    Librarianship for the faithful, revisited.

    Christian Librarianship: Essays on the Integration of Faith and Profession. Gregory A. Smith (edited by), Donald G. Davis (Foreword by). ISBN: 0786413298, ISBN-13: 9780786413294 ,Paperback, 239pp, McFarland & Company.

    Some interesting quotes:
  • "Thus Christian librarianship worthy of the name is less a matter of managing things and less a matter of managing things and more a matter of interacting with people." (p. 73)
  • "Christians have been villians and heroes as preservers of culture. Part of the destruction of the great library at Alexandria has been laid to the charge of Christians. On the other hand, the Renaissance was able to build on the storehouses of culture preserved by Christian institutions." (p. 88)

  • My 2 cents:
    Of the 16 essays, I see some insights meant for the global audience in the essay by John Allen Delivuk, "Multiculturalism and Libraries: A Biblical Perspective," an extract is as follows:
    Implications for Christian librarians
    First, we reject the view that moral standards create a cultural group.
    {Second ...}
    Third, Christian librarians need to influence the selection of America's cultural canon.
    Fourth, Christians must reject the view that race, ethnic background, or sexual orientation is more important in job selection than one's accomplishments.
    {Fifth, ...}
    Sixth, Christians should also remember their multicultural religious heritage.
    Finally, Christians should beware of the power struggle philosophy of some multiculturalists, and beware of abusing the political and media power we are increasingly gaining.


    Synopsis:
    "The text's intended aims are to help Christians in the library profession integrate their faith into their work, to provide a foundation for further dialogue of library issues from a Christian perspective, and provide students and scholars of library science with an understanding of Christian librarians and their unique concerns."

    What others say:
    VOYA - Sherrie Williams
    This professional resource offers direction to Christian librarians in all types of library settings on integrating their beliefs into the workplace... The strong evangelical Christian flavor of this book might limit its audience. It could be valuable in the education of librarians for Christian institutions, but it lacks wide professional appeal. [source: bn.com] See also Table of Contents at bn.com

    As a reader of this book, and a professional librarian, I wish the book had answers to my questions:
    a) where on the earth are such librarians trained and who certifies them?
    b) With technical education and information sharing skills (neutral as they are for every perspective), how do librarians perform as evangelists or ministers
    c) While there is some literature on faith-based librarianship, this book makes no mention whatsoever (not even in its bibliography), for a general librarian, about Jewish, Islamic and other genres of librarianship.

    Friday, December 01, 2006

    The librarian’s career guidebook

    PS. This review is not from desk!

    The Librarian’s Career Guidebook, by: Priscilla K. Shontz (Editor) Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2004. 592 pp. $43.00. ISBN: # 0-8108-5034-6.

    From the Publisher
    Sixty-four information professionals from diverse positions, workplaces, and locations offer practical advice on a wide variety of career issues. The advice is aimed at librarians in various stages of a career prospective librarians, M.L.S. students, and entry-level librarians, as well as experienced information professionals.

    See also Table of Contents @ BarnesandNoble.com; Library of Congress Catalog Record

    Reviewed by:
    Deborah Hicks, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada:
    "The Librarian’s Career Guidebook offers practical strategies and ideas to potential, new, and even established librarians to help them design a career in librarianship."

    Above info Courtesy of Drew's message @ College Libraries Section, COLLIB-L@ala.org:
    I am forwarding and posting this message because it deserves the widest dissemination. This is a great opportunity for LIS students and LIS faculty as well as the rest of us to publish in an Open-Access peer reviewed publication.

    The November Issue of Library Student Journal is now available at http://www.librarystudentjournal.com

    Previous posts:
  • Job Pathfinder - Join the race
  • Top Ten Ways to Find a Law Library Job
  • Promoting your grads: what all library schools should be doing