The end of Twitter?

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The end of Twitter?free the information!, librarianship, our digital future, social software, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 11/18/2022 with Comments Off on The end of Twitter?

The tl:dr is in whatever online communities you frequent, do you ever ask yourself “who isn’t here? Who doesn’t feel welcome here? What barriers are there to participation?” If not, you should. What I like about Twitter is how much more diverse it was than any place I’ve been online, and also how so many …

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We are atomized. We are monetized. We are ephemera. Do we deserve more online?

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We are atomized. We are monetized. We are ephemera. Do we deserve more online?our digital future, social software, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 6/12/2018 with 5 comments

In March and April, I took about 5 weeks off from social media. I didn’t post anything to or look at Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. I’d wondered if I’d feel disconnected or feel some irresistible pull like an addict to their drug of choice. To be honest, I didn’t really feel any of that. I didn’t …

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The dangers of the backchannel: my observations from the #ACRL2017 hashtag

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The dangers of the backchannel: my observations from the #ACRL2017 hashtaglibrarianship, libraries, social software, speaking, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 3/30/2017 with 9 comments

When I took my current job at PCC almost three years ago, I gained so many things: work I love, amazing engaged colleagues, a mission I identify with, terrific students, and great faculty collaborators. One of the things I lost was sufficient professional development funding. I haven’t attended an out-of-state conference in almost three years, and while …

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Holding to our values during difficult times

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Holding to our values during difficult timesALA, free the information!, intellectual freedom, librarianship, libraries, open access, our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 1/3/2017 with Comments Off on Holding to our values during difficult times

I write a lot in my American Libraries column about library values, particularly those around access and privacy. My latest column (Jan/Feb 17), which should be out soon online just also came out this morning, is a love letter to critical librarianship in which I share my conviction (shared by many) that libraries are not …

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Are online MLIS degree-holders “less than?”

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Are online MLIS degree-holders “less than?”library school, online education, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 6/22/2015 with 42 comments

When I graduated from library school, I worried about anti-online-degree bias. I worried that people would think my degree was somehow “less than” because I’d done it fully online. I remember being asked some questions about it at one interview that made the search committee’s biases pretty clear, but the people who eventually hired me …

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My year in books

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My year in booksabout me, ebooks

by Meredith Farkas on 12/29/2014 with 12 comments

Growing up, I was a voracious reader. What a surprise, right? Gee, a librarian who likes to read. But something happened to me between college and grad school where I lost that zeal to lose myself in a great book. That’s not to suggest that I didn’t read, but I didn’t read much for pleasure. I …

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Free and Cheap Technologies to Supercharge Your Teaching

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Free and Cheap Technologies to Supercharge Your Teachinginstruction, speaking, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 9/3/2014 with 1 comment

Just gave a fun whirlwind instructional technology talk and I wanted to provide the slides and links below for the attendees (and anyone else who’s interested). Slides: Links: Tools for Point of Need and/or Mobile Instruction Library DIY ARIS QR Codes QR Codes Video Demo QR Code Generators Kaywa QR Stuff QR Code Readers Kaywa Quickmark …

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Reflections on library assessment and the Library Assessment Conference

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Reflections on library assessment and the Library Assessment Conferenceassessment, free the information!, instruction, knowledge management, librarianship, libraries, our digital future, research, speaking

by Meredith Farkas on 8/22/2014 with 7 comments

I wanted to write about the Library Assessment Conference as soon as I returned, but unfortunately, life got in the way. I got barely a week and a half before I was set to leave my job and, not surprisingly, there was a lot of wrapping up of projects and getting things to a good …

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Getting into the gray areas with the draft Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

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Getting into the gray areas with the draft Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Educationinstruction, librarianship, libraries, our digital future, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 3/3/2014 with 5 comments

This semester, I’m teaching I new course I developed for San Jose State’s MLIS program entitled “Embedded Librarians/Embedded Libraries: Embedding the Library into the Fabric of Higher Education.” It’s been a pleasure so far because the students are so ridiculously smart, insightful, and engaged that I can’t help but be excited about the future of …

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Good for what? Considering context in building learning objects.

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Good for what? Considering context in building learning objects.hi, instruction, librarianship, libraries, reference, tech trends, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 8/19/2013 with 12 comments

I’m working with a colleague of mine (Amy Hofer of Threshold Concepts fame) to create a suite of tutorials that are going to be integrated into online University Studies (think General Education) classes. One of the learning objects we plan to create is envisioned as being called “good for what?” Students tend to look at …

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Library DIY: Unmediated point-of-need support

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Library DIY: Unmediated point-of-need supportinstruction, librarianship, libraries, management, MPOW, our digital future, reference, tech trends, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 7/2/2013 with 18 comments

I recently realized that while I write about a lot of things, I do not often write about the work I’m doing at Portland State and through the Oregon Library Association. I think it comes partly from a desire not to toot my own horn, but it also reflects my nervousness about writing about work …

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Mobile Learning: The Teacher in Your Pocket

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Mobile Learning: The Teacher in Your Pocketfree the information!, instruction, libraries, open access, our digital future, tech trends, writing

by Meredith Farkas on 4/23/2013 with 4 comments

There’s a great new book out on mobile technologies in libraries and I was fortunate to have been asked to contribute a chapter on mobile learning and mobile instruction in libraries. The book is called The Handheld Library: Mobile Technology and the Librarian and it was edited by the undeniably awesome Tom Peters and Lori …

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The changing professional conversationblogging, free the information!, librarianship, our digital future, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 8/23/2011 with 14 comments

I have had some great discussions on Twitter. Professional discussions, discussions about parenting, conversations with friends. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that you can have a quality professional discussion with multiple people (some of whom you may not normally follow) in that medium. I have also gotten great information and advice in response to “querying the …

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Faculty inertia and change in scholarly publishingfree the information!, librarianship, libraries, open access, our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 8/1/2011 with 8 comments

I loved Barbara Fister’s recent post, “Breaking News: Academic Journals are Really Expensive!”, about faculty who seem surprised that journals cost the library a lot. Kind of amazing to think that these are people who produce and review content for these journals. And the quote from Peter Murray-Rust’s blog stating that “[librarians] should have altered …

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Interview on mobile technologies at ALA TechSource Bloglibraries, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 7/11/2011 with Comments Off on Interview on mobile technologies at ALA TechSource Blog

In anticipation of my upcoming two-part workshop on mobile technologies for libraries, Dan Freeman of ALA TechSource interviewed me, asking me about my thoughts on the present and future challenges and possibilities for mobile tech in libraries. The interview is now up on the ALA TechSource blog and I’m just pleased that I didn’t say …

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New Webinar: Delivering Innovative Mobile Services through Your Librarylibraries, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 6/22/2011 with 2 comments

When I wrote my book Social Software in Libraries five years ago, I decided to include a chapter on mobile technologies. As I started researching the topic, I was disappointed to find that very few libraries were doing anything to make their services (including their website) accessible via a mobile device. I’d written a paper …

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