Libraries as platforms for Community Publishing

Corrected for typos and missing sentences (9 May 05)

Tonight I sleep a happy man. One of my poem has been published at Poetic Voices in their May 2005 issue (look for the 3rd poem from the bottom up).

In order to save time for the -many thousands ... -hundreds... -handful ... one or two readers who wish to read the poem, I've posted it here:

"What is it that we share?"

Just what is it
That you share with me
From those weeks at sea?

Stomachs, queasy
From rhythmic rolls atop blue waters?

Memories of euphoric music
From our smiles and laughter?

Or perhaps
We are connected,
Simply,

Because we share a loss
Of strangeness,
Now that we are strangers
No longer.

Inspired by my experiences during SSEAYP 2001 (I might blog about it some day)...

The above poem is my second poem to be accepted by Poetic Voices. The first was published in their July 2004 issue, titled "Photographs" (it's the 17th piece from the top).

Seems I have better luck featuring my poems outside Singapore than in the local web publications. Maybe my style don't fit the local scene. Or maybe people overseas find a submission from Singapore "exotic".

It can't be that Poetic Voices have lower standards (unthinkable! What an insult it would be to them). No, of course not. Because they feature poets who've been published in print too (means they got standard one lah). Anyway, I've been rejected by other non-Singapore web publications too, as well as Poetic Voices.

So it means this book really helped:

Poetry for Dummies (2001).
NLB Call No.: 808.1 POE
Click here for item availability.

Which finally brings me to the point of this ramble: What if our public libraries served as platforms for Community Publishing?

For instance, people could submit their works to be posted within the library or library website. Our librarians could go out there to solicit works, e.g. trawl the blogs or websites.

The contributors could decide if they want critiques or comments to their work. They could tag them "I wish to receive constructive feedback" or "I'll pass. I'm a newbie" or "This is my first time, please be gentle".

I'm sure lots of budding writers and amateur poets want a chance to let the world read their work. Public libraries should provide that "intellectually-safe" environment, supported by friendly librarians, so as to encourage people to write or express themselves.

It's also a chance for the library to highlight books or materials relevant to what's being posted (like the above examples with the "Dummies" book). Or get the contributors to say which library book they referred to.

"Why should the library be involved when people are already blogging? Isn't that already a form of community publishing?", you ask. "And won't the submissions become a stream of amateur works?"

My response is this: Not everyone blogs. If they do, then the library could act as an aggregator, like Tomorrow.sg.

If "Amateur" implies low quality, well the intent is to make people try rather than make judgements about "quality". The intent is to encourage, not judge.

Speaking for myself, I get a kick out of seeing my work published (in my case, the e-zine). But beyond the initial buzz, it's not so big a deal subsequently. The key thing is that it makes me want to improve my poetry, because I see my work up there and it's encouraging.

If I'm serious about improving, I'll read up on recommended books or take up the advise by people in that community. Even if no one critiques my work, I read the other poets featured and it's obvious to me that I've got much to learn from them.

The relevance to libraries in the whole thing is that we play a subtle yet fundamental role in connecting people to ideas and other people.


Tag: community publishing, role of libraries

Know of any business blogs in Singapore?

Shel asked if I knew of any business blogs working successfully in Singapore. I don't know of any company or enterprise in Singapore that has done so, let alone successful ones.

Shel & Scoble are writing a book over at The Red Couch, and I guess they may want to interview the company, like this one.

If you have the info, pls email me at weeping_sentinel@hotmail.com or contact the authors at their blog.

[Tag: red couch]

Books as wedding gifts

Incidentally, AKK commented that her dream wedding gift would be the most up-to-date count of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels in paperback, illustrated by Paul Kidby.

She asked what's mine.

Good question.

I don't know, really.

I've always thought that so long I got married (which I did, and still am), that itself is a gift. Anyway, I was thinking, "What's the ideal wedding gift in the eyes of librarians?" I don't think it would be any different from non-librarians, but one never knows.

Or for those reading this post, I wonder if your wedding gift is anything related to books or learning.

Tag: wedding gift

Mentioning the Unmentionables: Books relating to Undergarments

Discovered (via Tomorrow.sg) SG blogger AKK's most entertaining musings about what she saw at an online Men's undergarment catalogue. Far from being an offensive post (it's not even a R21 in my opinion), it's educational to know what some women think!

Out of curiosity, I searched NLB's library catalogue using the keyword "underwear" and discovered some interesting titles. Here's a selection:

Unmentionables: a brief history of underwear/ Elaine Benson, John Esten

NLB Call No.: 391.4209 BEN (located at the 'General' section)
Click here for item availability.

A fashionable history of underwear/ Helen Reynolds
[No Image Available]
NLB Call No.: Y 391.4209 REY (located at Young People Collection)
Click here for item availability.

Lingerie: A lexicon of style/ Caroline Cox

Call No.: 391.42 COX
Click here for item availability.


The Childrens' titles are most amusing:

I'm a big kid: Lift the flaps and see me grow/ Josephine Page

NLB Call No.: J P PAG-[BA]
Click here for item availability.
[There's nothing sinister about the book, should you wonder -- The back cover title says "I'm a big kid: Diapers to underwear". This is what we classify as a Baby Book, i.e. full of pictures and colours, often with movable flaps and/ or textures on the pages. The parent is supposed to sit with the child and read/ play along.]

Why did the underwear cross the road?/ Gordon Korman

NLB Call No.: J KOR
Click here for item availability.

The secret life of the underwear champ/ by Betty Miles ; illustrated by Dan Jones. Capers

NLB Call No.: J MIL
Click here for item availability.

Let's not forget the popular Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey. Here's one:
Captain Underpants and the wrath of the wicked Wedgie Woman: The fifth epic novel/ Dav Pilkey.

NLB Call No.: JS DAV (under Simple Fiction in the Children's section)
Click here for item availability.

Hmm.. suppose a society's development could be measured by its willingness to mention the "unmentionables". Anyway, those interested in reading up on this topic could also try a Subject search using terms like "Lingerie", "Lingerie History", "Lingerie Industry" or "Lingerie Pictorial works".


[Tag: books lingerie, books for children]

Why are librarians associated with the physical building?

About two months back, I had the pleasure of meeting Prof. Robert D. Stueart when he was giving a closed-door presentation at EPCL to a few NLB staff.

There's a particular point he mentioned, which I thought was astute. He said that librarians were perhaps the only profession whose job title was associated with the physical building, i.e. the Library.

Like, you know, how come doctors aren't called "Hospitalarians" or "Hospitalists"? How about curators calling themselves "Museumists"? Imagine our kids telling parents "Today my Schoolarian gave me 100 marks for the pop quiz".

Why indeed.

And is that why many non-librarians assume that anyone who works in a library is called a librarian? How come that doesn't seem to apply to doctors and nurses? After all, doctors and nurses work in a hosiptal too? So how do people tell the difference?


[Tag:librarianship, perception of libraries, marketing the library]

More blogs in three Asian countries than the rest of the world combined

Via Blogspotting:

... someone asked if blogs were a big deal outside the U.S. The panelists barely seemed to know. PubSub founder Bob Wyman had to grab the mike and set the record straight.

He said that there were more bloggers in Korea, China and Japan combined than in the rest of the world. He said Brazil was "totally bloghappy."

Full article here.

Philippines and Malaysia got mentioned. Where does Singapore stand? Doesn't matter. If Singapore does get mentioned, I'd rather we are deemed to have blogs that generate civil and quality conversations.

Tag: singapore

If Bandwidth + CPU = 0

James Seng poses this intriguing equation: What if Bandwidth & Computer-processing power approaches Zero (i.e. limitless).

I left a comment in his post, which I've touched up here (what follows are not necessarily related nor in sequence) :

• Internet replaces TV & radio
• Rise of a new Art-form
• It would be common for individuals to create and use (online) 3D-rendered Avatars
• Advent of Transactions-by-Proxies (where your online Personalities, complete with your psych-profile, carry out shopping and other transactional decisions on your behalf while you sleep or work)
• Rise of the Bandwidth-Wars
• Countries are judged not by their size but by the bandwidth they command
• Power failure causes economic collapse
• Increased bandwidth gives rise to Info-overkill (beyond overload)
• Shift from reliance of online to offline (e.g. books)
• Librarians get paid obscene amounts of money to be consults on how to deal with Info-overkill
• Librarian charged in court -- guilty of massive data-dump in desperate bid to ensure continued employment

Too much Sci-Fi in my reading diet, I think.

[Tag:random musings]

Workplace speech: Never been free, but has always been exercised

Michael McGrorty of Library Dust fame is one of my favourite liblogarians. He writes quite "cheem" (Singlish for "deep" or "thoughtful") stuff. From his recent post on Workplace Speech, I learnt that the ALA Council is considering a ALA policy on allowing library staff to have freedom in expressing their views on non-confidential professional and policy matters.

BTW, I borrowed the header to this post from his 6th paragraph:

Workplace speech is not and has never been free, if free means the right to say whatever an individual pleases. This is true regardless of whether you like it or not. The reason for that is expressed in dozens of court cases and decisions, but the gist of it is that the worker and the employer each retain certain rights in the employment relationship while surrendering others. Neither party is permitted to pull down the other; the boss hires an employee, not a muted slave; the worker may not use the employment relationship to destroy the firm...

McGrorty also lists URLs to related US public sector court cases.

If I understand McGrorty's last paragraph, he's suggesting that the outcomes of the ALA resolution won't really change reality. End of the day, courts will still uphold legal precedents.

I like the idea of my employer stating upfront what employees can or cannot say. Something like this: "Employees are empowered to exercise discretion in expressing their views on non-confidential professional and policy matters."

But come to think of it, do we really need a written statement like that? NLB frontline staff already exercise discretion when expressing views on professional and policy matters. Being in the public service, we get public enquiries all the time. Some of those enquiries broach on policy, like "Why does the library charge a reservation fee? Don't I pay my tax already?"

In days past, before staff went for Customer Service indoctrination courses, I suppose the typical response from staff would be, "I don't know. I just do what the policy says." Bet if you got that kind of reply, you'd be cheesed off. No wonder visits to the library were low.

Now, our staff take time to explain the rationale of the policies. But rote responses or standard replies only go so far. I often advise staff to try to explain a little bit more rather than hide behind policy statements. For instance, in addition to explaining that the reservation fee is to discourage the hoarding of books or the abuse of the reservation service, I'd also add that:

1. The fee of $1.55 cost less than the average MRT ride. Plus, readers can choose their most convenient pick-up location at no additional cost. It's value for money since it saves the reader time from having to hunt for the item.
2. Unlike other countries where they may not impose a fee for reservations, the Singapore system operates under a different context. For instance, our tax rates are way lower, so we can't compare such things.

By offering my personal take on the policy and practice, am I deemed to be free in expressing my views on policy? I would say Yes.

OK, one could argue that in the above example, I am just doing a positive spin on the organisation policy so it doesn't really count. Well, let's say my alternative response is this:

Sir, like you, I too don't agree we should pay for the $1.55 reservation (library staff have to pay reservation fees like anybody else). But this is my personal view. And because I don't agree with the terms of use, that's why I never place a reservation and prefer to look for the book myself.

In the above, I didn't agree with the organisation policy. I was honest in how I felt about it. Did I break any organisational rules? Don't think so.

Have I exercised discretion and tact by providing additional points? Yes, I would think so.

Back to the question -- Do we need a policy on Workplace Speech? I guess it depends. Overall, in the bigger scheme of things, I'd say the fewer the organisation policies, the better.

In today's work environment and in light of customer's expectations, we still need policies but unless it's those dealing with... I don't know... life-and-death issues or something that will impact very much on public-interest, whatever policies set should guide the employee but should not end up removing the employee's ability to make decisions. If not, you might as well put machines in place of humans.


[Tag: library policy, work speech]

Winning entries from the NLB Stop Vandalism Drawing/ Comics Competition 2005

Show me a public library whose materials are never vandalised and I'll start looking for flying pigs... point being that all public libraries would have their fair share of vandalised materials (as opposed to normal wear and tear).

As part of raising public awareness on this issue, the NLB organised a Stop Vandalism Drawing/ Comics Competition. The contest was open to children, teens and adults.

The winning entries are here (or try this link in case the page has moved). Click on the images to view in larger size. Might some of the winners be your niece or nephews?

I was part of the judging committee and had the following observations as I went through the entries:

• The younger the participants, the greater their tendency to see things in "black" or "white", i.e. Good Vs Bad, like this one.

• Some kids protrayed the library as having many rules, mostly Negatives or Do Nots, like this example and this one -- hmm, is this the message we are sending the kids? Or maybe the parents are nudging them in that direction.

• Some chose to personify the library materials, perhaps to appeal at the emotional level of would-be vandals, like this. Well, I'm not sure if it works for vandals who typically don't see beyond themselves.

• The entries that presented the message better were those what didn't preach, but tried to offer a different perspective of the consequence of vandalism, i.e. that vandalism affects others as well. Like this entry and this one.
  

• This one could be from an adult, offering the monetary perspective.

• There were those who used humour, or maybe thinly disguised sarcasm, like this.

• Finally, THIS ONE is my favourite! Very subtle. I mean, who doesn't know Mickey Mouse, Snow White and Pinocchio? And just look at one of the seven dwarfs sitting at Snow White's feet? No wonder he's grumpy!

The winning entries are on display at Woodlands Regional Library from 27 April – 7 May 2005.

[Tag:library vandalism, vandalism]

Taxi drivers, Libraries & Learning

Am on doctor's advice to rest at home for a persisent flu (who am I to argue with a doctor, right?). But inevitably, I'm checking office mail (so much for doctor's advice and work-life balance -- my fault, really).

Anyway, then I'm checking my bloglines* and I came across this from Tomorrow.sg, about taxi drivers in Singapore, by TigerLim (his full post is here).

I'm thinking about Taxi Drivers these days because my colleagues and I are interested in influencing a perception change among Singaporeans about learning & reading. Many Singaporeans intuitively view libraries and reading as something of high importance, but when asked why they don't use the library or read, the single most common refrain is "I have no time".

If the library could get Taxi Drivers to say, "I can make time, in my own way, to learn", from "I have no time", then we're on to something.

As Tigerlim posted, these cabbies are matured people in their 30s, with a wealth of experience and tacit knowledge. Far from being embarassed about the circumstances leading them to become cabbies, they should be proud of what they know and the fact that they are doing something their situation. Could the public library not tap on their expertise? Actually, the real question is, "How can we do it meaningfully?"

Also, if these taxi driver who are on the road 10 to 12 hours a day can get just 1 in 10 passengers to read a book or pick up a new learning experience at the library...

Conversely, if people like Tigerlim could try to influence a driver to change their perception of reading and learning... hmm, Library/ Learning Advocacy at the grassroots.

Suggestions, or comments? You know any taxi driver willing to do this?


--------------------------------------
Related post: Kudos to Comfort Cab & Cabbie SH6178P (17 Apr 05)

Tag: taxi service singapore, role of libraries, reading promotion, promotion public library, marketing the library, library advocacy, life experience, life stories