Preliminary ALA Conference Schedule

My preliminary 2012 ALA Conference Schedule. I know there are several of time conflicts so I'll need to narrow some of these down.

Libraries and Foursquare: What's In A Name?

Several months back Foursquare released a major update to their iPhone app. At the time I was still using the iPhone 3G so I was slow to download the update. Since then I upgraded to the new iPhone 4S and begun using many of the new Foursqaure features.

One thing I quickly noticed was that Foursquare now gives less room for venue titles. At this point it appears that they are allowing about 30 characters to be visible on the venue search screen (including spaces). This is problematic for libraries on university campuses as the word 'university' is 1/3 of the 30 character limit. For universities with long names, such as my school 'University of Hawaii at Manoa' this is even more problematic as our school's name is 30 characters long itself. Below is a screenshot of the search results for 'University of Hawaii at Manoa'.

As is customary on the Foursquare App 6 venues are viewable above the fold but if you were to scroll down you would find at least 30 venues that all look the exact same. I was intending to check into our Quad by searching for the university's name then browsing venues on campus. Obviously this is not going to work. I am still unsure as to if someone at my university added each of these venues or if they were automatically imported at some point from an online map application such as Google Maps. Either way this creates a problem for venues on campus that are aiming to engage students through Foursquare.

What I did to fix this problem was to simply reverse the order of our title on Foursquare. I know this sounds really basic but had I not spent the time to check into other buildings on campus I may not have noticed this issue.

The title of our library went from 'University of Hawaii at Manoa: Hamilton Library' to 'Hamilton Library: University of Hawaii at Manoa'. I believe that maintaining the institutional name helps keep the library's page looking official.

Take the time to find the library's Foursquare page in different ways and on different devices. This will allow you to maintain the visibility you are aiming for by using Foursquare in the first place and will allow you to see what the patron sees.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa Libraries Foursquare Page:
https://foursquare.com/user/13773510

Hamilton Library:
https://foursquare.com/v/hamilton-library--university-of-hawaii-at-manoa/4b613d2ef964a520ca0d2ae3

Sinclair Library:
https://foursquare.com/v/sinclair-library--university-of-hawaii-at-manoa/4b613cd3f964a520bd0d2ae3

Book Review: Raised Right by Alisa Harris

          The issues surrounding our political landscape are not black and white, no matter how much the mainstream media wants you to believe this. “Raised Right: How I Untangled My Faith from Politics” by Alisa Harris is a great example showing how some within the conservative movement are struggling with their ideologies and what that means in our current political landscape.

            I read this book because I was interested in how Harris’ story compared to my own. I consider myself raised conservative but now holding to progressive points of view. What I learned was that what was lacking from my own story, and I imagine from most evangelical Christians, is a strong stance politically. Harris shows in her book that for Culture Warriors of the 80s and 90s politics and Christianity are never separated.

            The audience that Harris writes to is a generation of conservatives struggling to understand their stance in a post-Bush America. Conservative Christianity has always been a single-issue machine, they have always had their one “sin” that they have fought against. For Harris’ generation (and mine) that issue was abortion, before that it was divorce and today the issue is homosexuality. “Raised Right” works as an inside account into what it meant to be anti-abortion in the mid-90s.

            Today however, more and more young conservative Christians are struggling to identify themselves through these single issues. Harris’ story shows how voting for a candidate simply because of the position on abortion is no longer a responsible decision.

            Where Harris’ book falls short is in the details. “Raised Right” reads more like a collection of vague antidotes then a detailed account of her transition from conservative Christian politics. Not once does she name the Christian denominations that formed her ideologies nor does she discuss important theologies or doctrines important to her outside of the general political concerns that framed her life. While this does not render the book useless it does make it impractical outside of one’s personal library. There is nothing in this book that would add to an academic collection. Harris also has the tendency to quote things as if the reader already knew the source. Adding more context in the text itself would make the few footnotes she does use that much more valuable.

            The book is also slow to get to the point. This is a book that is being marketed as a memoir of an ultra-conservative that has transitioned into a more moderate political position. However, she presents herself as more and more progressive with each chapter. If I knew where she was politically at the beginning of the book instead of needing to wait until the final chapter the rest of the book would have benefited. Instead, the way that she organized her story made for a bit of a confused and inconsistent mess by the end.

            Even with all this being said, Harris came to some profound conclusions on many of the issues she described. The book is a quick read and is insightful. Transitioning one’s ideologies is not an easy task. For those struggling to understand their position in our current political landscape, especially if their background leans right, this is a good book to read. “Raised Right” is a great reminder that there are many issues outside of what the conservative Christian movement is attempting to market as the current “big issue”. Harris’ ability to interweave concerns for all Americans, no matter their political identification, is what helps keep this book relevant.