Cross-posted from LISNews...
Revenge of the
Miscellany
By Stephen Michael Kellat
Why Kiwis Get Airtime So Much
It might be an interesting question to ponder why the Library
Association of New Zealand, LIANZA, gets so much airtime on
LISTen while the American Library Association and its myriad
components do not. Was the air staff bribed? Are there agents of
New Zealand's intelligence services working on the air staff?
What is going on is a simple point in terms of media relations.
Libraries where library staff cannot afford the benefit of having a
media relations officer stand to learn something here. When media
people make an inquiry about setting up an interview or simply
request information there is normally a deadline involved. It is a
very grave offense to the media member when you ignore them
entirely and act as if they do not exist. Timeliness is also a
grave concern as taking over a week to even return a call generally
means that not only has the pending story died but the media member
likely moved on to the next project.
The main reason why LIANZA gets the airtime they do is that Megan
Button, the media relations contact for the association, actually
replies to our inquiries. After multiple repeated failed attempts
to book guests from the ALA and OCLC since December 2007, we gave
up on them. There are often plenty of stories out there and we have
a hard upper limit on program length of thirty or so minutes
anyhow. If we have to wait well over a week after the launch of a
new product to even start discussing an interview, the editorial
thought processes kick into high gear questioning whether the
release is actually all that interesting if those making the
release are so seemingly unenthusiastic spreading the word. If I
had to choose between a product release that has no seemingly
enthusiastic backing and a feature on Linux in Libraries, I will
definitely be choosing Linux in Libraries when I put together the
Order of Show.
While LIANZA has had plenty of cool stories come up as of late that
have caught my eye, I do not doubt I have probably missed a few
throughout the Anglosphere.
Release Frequency
What can I say? Frequency is a matter of concern to librarians.
Librarians have such as an every day concern when it comes to
serials like magazines and journals. We sometimes forget, though,
that online resources fall under the relevant cataloging rules
known as continuing resources that happen to be shared with
serials.
Just as a serial item has to meet or exceed a minimum publication
cycle to be considered an actual serial, so it may need to be with
podcasts. At the barest elemental level, all a podcast happens to
be is a set of audio or video files with appropriate XML
description. The problem with that look at the barest level,
though, is that it does not recognize distribution frequency.
What do librarians call a serial publication released only once per
year? Our piece of jargon for that is annual. Such continues onward
with weeklies, dailies, and more existing. When there is not a
normal pattern, we often see coded in the 362 tag in USMARC-based
records a notation of irregular frequency which recognizes leniency
on the library's end when postal authorities might well decide the
publication is not quite a serial.
When it comes to podcasts, though, cycles sometimes are
ignored.
CNET's flagship podcast Buzz Out Loud is released weekdays
with occasional special episodes. At LISNews you can find
LISTen released weekly on Mondays with special episodes
released on-demand by the air staff. Far too many library-related
podcasts take months or years between making releases and do not
follow any conformed release pattern. Podcasts are conventionally
considered regular programs on regular schedules that mimic
magazines and journals.
How could a cataloging record be best handled for a podcast? How
can the library world include teaching not only about the
preservation of cultural expression but also how new professionals
can best create their own cultural expressions?
Internal Insecurity
In the past couple months we had a post at LISNews about a
community in California having to choose between cutting the
library budget and cutting the public safety budget. At the time,
it was only a hypothetical exercise that led to plenty of
hyperventillation. Nobody ever thought such could happen.
Last week, the Board of County Commissioners here in Ashtabula
County slashed the budget of Sheriff William Johnson pretty
severely. Ashtabula County is the largest county geographically in
the state even though the local population is barely above one
hundred thousand. Over a county of slightly over seven hundred
square miles in size, Sheriff Johnson's staff policed about six
hundred to six hundred fifty of those square miles as municipal
forces covered their municipalities. With the budget cuts the
Sheriff was slapped with, there are now only two deputies on the
road covering the county. If you need a police response now for
anything less than a fairly drastic felony or an outright capital
crime like murder, you will not be getting one. Many crimes will go
undetected and potentially unpunished all for the lack of
greenbacks.
Due to the byzantine complexity of budgeting for local government
in Ohio with a system barely changed from that imposed in the 19th
century, the county commissioners could not burgle the library
budget to shore up public safety. Ashtabula County District Library
will be safe. Kingsville Public Library, a separate library service
district in which Erie Looking Productions operates, is also
similarly safe as the county would automatically trigger a fiscal
emergency situation if they tried to pillage Kingsville Public
Library's tax revenue.
This creates a bizarre situation within the continental United
States where a community has less of a policing presence than some
Third World/Global South nations. That the budget cuts created a
drastic enough change to where the fictional Mayberry of The
Andy Griffith Show looks like a fascist police state in
contrast does not help either. With the question of the county
defaulting financially becoming not so much a matter of if but
when, a new example for textbooks on failures in local government
will soon be created.
Big questions arise from this. What good is it to have a library
open when you have no legal way to eject ruffians and others who
disrupt the order of the library? Self-help by library staff in
kicking out those who might be defacing materials could potentially
lead to lawsuits. Assuming good will on the part of all who may
come is a nice ideal but as this is a fallen world it must be
remembered that there is evil out there. If you like the odds of
nothing bad happening to your library in such a degraded policing
situation, there are casino owners who would love to take all your
cash.
Relocation, Relocation, Relocation
It looks like economic pressures are forcing relocation of Erie
Looking Productions by April. There is no plan yet as to what may
come. Stay tuned for more.
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Kellat serves as the Head Writer of Erie Looking Productions.