Day 15, Hour 75

It has been really interesting and enjoyable to read the responses I've received from my survey. I have compiled all the responses I have gotten so far, and each one has been valuable to my research in some way. For instance, the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill has a Search Room that seems similar to what will be the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library's Archives Reading Room; I took some time to look at their policies on using the room and got some good ideas. Also, I learned from Beth Farrell at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library that there is a Greater Access card provided to patrons by Clevnet that allows members to use all libraries that belong to the Clevnet consortium. This is definitely something to look into.

Something else that Beth shared with me is that the Innovative Millennium program (an integrated library system that the Rock Hall Library will be using, which is also used by the Kent State University Libraries) has a "Count Use" function in its system that could help the Rock Hall Library to track the usage of items in-house. It seems that the function keeps track of usage when a librarian scans into the system items that she/he sees have been used. This would be great, since there will be no information gathered by circulation records (since items here will not circulate).

I finished out my day by continuing with collection development. I found it interesting and reassuring that when I looked into starred reviews on Overbooked.com for Elvis books, the top two books selections were the two titles I recommended for addition to the collection. (On a quite unrelated yet interesting note, I just realized that the web address for Overbooked.com is www.overbooked.org. How curious...)

Coming up next: The survey responses have slowed, but I am hoping I will continue to receive at least 5 or so more in the next two weeks. I am also looking into other local institutions I can send the survey to, since I received such great information from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library. As always, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 11, Hour 55

Today was another great research day, and I found some interesting and helpful articles. One article I liked in particular--"The Use of Registration Forms in Special Collections Libraries" (Kristina Southwell, 2006 in Collections Management, Volume 31, Issue 4)--made a really strong argument for obtaining registration information from patrons, regardless of whether items circulate or there is a fee for membership. I think this is quite important to the library to protect the integrity of the library's materials and policies and to keep accurate records of patrons' information needs. It is also a great way to track any items that are used in an environment where none of the materials will ever be checked out. This process helps to solve questions about collection development, as the library staff is constantly being made aware of the kinds of information their patrons are seeking. It also helps with security, as a certain amount of responsibility comes with membership when a registration process is involved.

I also compiled a second report for Andy that contains the research and questions I have come up with regarding some of my focuses lately. The report covers web filtering, the registration and membership process, and a survey I have been working on. I would like to submit the survey to librarians at similar institutions to find out some information on their policies and procedures. I do not have a solid idea of libraries to send this survey out to, so if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to contact me through this blog.

Coming up next: I want to make sure I have ironed out all the kinks in my survey by the end of the day next Tuesday, as I feel I should be sending it out soon. I would also like to continue researching, and maybe spend some more time on collection development. Now that I am past the midway point in my hours, time seems to be moving much more quickly.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 10, Hour 50

It's amazing how invigorating a break can be! I took some time off from collection development since I've been working on policy, and I am back with an energy you would not believe. As you may remember, before I began my practicum here, I was volunteering by developing a list of videos that would complete the library's collection. For my practicum, I decided to expand this collection development to include books about past inductees. After all, the Rock Hall would not be the Rock Hall without its inductees. Since I now have both lists going, I can work on them simultaneously, which is helping me to fill in holes in each.

When I began to compile the videos list this summer, I had absolutely no experience in collection development. I decided to break down my search into categories, so I started by looking for concert footage. I then moved on to biopics and dramas centered around rock (fictional artists, great soundtracks, etc.). Documentaries were easiest, so I left those for last; interestingly enough, many of the documentary titles I found fell into my lap through looking for the other types of films. I did most of my searching through four sources: WorldCat.org (which is a great site that allows you to search libraries around the world for all kinds of materials), Amazon.com, The Rock & Roll Film Encyclopedia (Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2007), and bibliographies in two books (The Encyclopedia of Popular Music [Omnibus Press, 2007] and The Mojo Collection: the Ultimate Music Companion [Canongate, 2000]). I particularly enjoyed browsing through The Rock & Roll Film Encyclopedia because the author gave great depictions of the films and included some of my favorites. Unfortunately, I sometimes have difficulty deciding which films to include, especially in cases where the artist or inductee is in or is the subject of a long list of titles (such as Elvis). In those cases, I tried to look into the films' ratings through Amazon.com and the Internet Movie Database.

Since I was focusing mainly on books based on inductees, I put off the list of videos for quite a while. It was a pleasant surprise, then, to find that I was able to fill in some empty slots in my videos list with films about inductees. This had not been a category that I was previously searching, so I have been able to find a vast amount of films to add to my list. It is really coming along quite well!

It is possible that some of you would like to see what books and films are on my lists, for personal interest reasons, so I would be happy to provide them to anyone who contacts me through my blog. I know that I, personally, have been adding a lot of titles to my Netflix.com list as I go!

Coming up next: As of today, I have reached the half-way point for my required on-site hours. This means that it is time for me to re-evaluate my practicum wiki, to make sure I have tracked all of my logged hours correctly, and to contact my off-site practicum advisor to inform him that I have complete 50 hours. I think we are supposed to discuss my project at that time, as well. I have been really enjoying my experience here, and I cannot wait to continue with policy and collection development for the Rock Hall Library!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 9, Hour 45

I continued researching web filtering today, and I'm now thoroughly interested in the topic. I looked into several real-world examples, such as Phoenix Public Library's controversial decision (see further deliberation here) to filter all computers--with no option to turn the filters off--in 2004. After checking the library's current policy on their website, it appears that they continue to adhere to this policy, although they have included the stipulation that patrons can request to have a site unblocked (which is not guaranteed and may take up to 48 hours). I cannot believe that this decision has been upheld at a public institution, and I believe that this is a definite violation of the First Amendment.

That being said, I will once again remind you that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library + Archives, while open to the public (as of May 2011), will not be very comparable to a public library. This library will exist mainly for research purposes, although it will encourage use by the community for any rock and roll information needs. The very nature of the items that will be available for in-house perusal does not lend itself to a situation where children would be walking around unaccompanied. Therefore, there is not much danger that a child would be subject to encountering porn on any of the computers.

Measures will be taken, however, to discourage the use of computers for pornographic viewing. I am working on a mock acceptable use policy that I will submit to the director for suggestion, should he decide to include one in his final policy. There will also most likely be some sort of membership number required at time of log-on to discourage use of the internet for solely personal reasons.

Regardless of any of my findings, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library will be sure to implement its own policies, as it sees fit. I am merely providing the research necessary to make a sound decision, and you can rest assured that--despite my own opinions--I am presenting research on both sides of the argument.

All of the research I've done on this topic has ignited my interest in defending intellectual freedom in libraries. What a truly interesting topic!

Coming up next: I did not get into any collection development today, so I will be continuing with that soon. I spoke with my Selection and Acquisitions professor, Dr. Belinda Boon, about my methods of finding sources so far; she responded that the method I am using to locate quality materials is not unlike what any other collections development librarian would be doing in my position. I will also be using the Rock Hall Library as an example for a collection development policy that I am creating for Dr. Boon's class, which will enrich my practicum experience!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 7, Hour 35

Just as I had hoped, I was able to meet with Andy today to narrow down some details for policy and procedure. I asked a lot of questions, got some really helpful answers, and was able to implement these new findings into my policy draft.

I also looked into some public research libraries--like the Newberry in Chicago and the Boston Public Library Research Libraries--to get a better idea of how they interpret their policies. I am hoping that the next time I am in I can find some other research libraries that are public and not affiliated with a university or other private institution. In the mean time, if you have any suggestions, I would be happy to take them!

I did not work on the mock policy website today at all, as I was more concerned with the details of the policy itself. I have a really great working policy going so far, though, so I should be able to put it into the site on Thursday. The only basic component of policy (using other institutions' websites as a guideline) I have not yet touched on is collection development. It's a pretty big undertaking to write a collection development policy, so I am going to put that off for a bit longer. Luckily, this is something we will be working on in my Selection and Acquisitions course, so I will get some great experience.

Coming up next: Like I said earlier, I will be working on getting the policy I have created so far into the mock website I have created. I am also interested in doing some research on internet filters, as this is a topic that Andy and I spoke about. Neither of us is really in favor of filtering in general, but we did agree that this is a research library--not a public institution--that should be used mainly for research purposes. Thus, it may be worth looking into a mild filtering program, just to make sure the library is being used in the correct fashion.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 1, Hour 5

Today was the first official day of my practicum at the new (and not yet open to the public) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives, though I volunteered here this summer. After a grueling one hour and forty-five minute commute (thanks, I-77 construction!), I sat down with library director Andy Leach (check out his Rock Hall blog posts here) to discuss opportunities for my practicum experience.

As I mentioned earlier, I volunteered at the library this summer. During that time, I got some collection development experience while compiling a basic list of DVDs that should be a part of the library's collection. Andy and I decided that it would be a good experience to continue this work, but to now focus on biographies and other books related to and about the inductees of all years past.

We also talked about my practicum having a second focus: Policy and procedure. Andy has asked me to come up with information to help them decide what their patron experience will look like; we discussed things like membership, borrowing, and organization, just to name a few.

For my day today, I spent my time compiling lists of biographies for the inductees, starting with inductees from the first ceremony in 1986. I began by looking in the bibliographies of two books, and expanded my search with Wikipedia and other informational websites. For some artists, it is difficult to weed through the massive amounts of biographies--books about Elvis are surely in the hundreds--so I tried to narrow my search with recommendations from the authors of the bibliographies and ratings on Amazon. If I determine any other ways to limit those searches, I will surely list them here.

Coming up next: After today, I am really excited to begin research on policy and procedure. That is how I will spend my day here next time I am in, which is Thursday.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura