Defending a masters thesis at ESI

Today I was the fourth member of a committee for a student masters thesis defense. It was probably the best day I've had at ESI so far.

The student was brilliant, the thesis was very well written, no one had any major complaints, and the whole thing went off beautifully.

The defense had the following structure:

The members of the committee met briefly to discuss overall impressions. We entered the auditorium together, and the President of the committee (Mouna Benslimane) welcomed us all, and actually, she also went out of her way to welcome me in particular (very nice).

The student presented her work using a PowerPoint.

Then I, as the guest committee member, got to point out all of the things I ddin't like about the paper. It's not easy to go first when you've never seen this kind of thing before. The student had done so well and I had such a poor idea of what was expected of students at this level in Morocco that I only really mentioned cosmetic things about the paper itself. It did take me about 15 minutes, though, to go through all of the problems with the bibliography; those, of course, I do not consider cosmetic.

Then the other three members of the committee or "jury" spoke in turn. It was all very formal and very "thank you Mme the Président of the committee" which is kind of fun. I never tire of pomp and circumstance.

There were probably 40 people in attendance, and after the deliberation and the announcement of the decision ("tres bien" for both the presentation and the thesis itself), we all went and had cookies and coffee and mint tea at a lovely reception in the lobby of the school. We'd started at 2:30 and we finished around 5:00.

A fine afternoon and an enjoyable way to begin my last two weeks in Morocco. Thank you all for such a memorable experience. And of course, congratulations Fatima on a job well done!

Recap of guest speakers in my classes at ESI

Although I mentioned a few of the guest speakers in passing, it only seems right to give credit publicly to ALL of the fabulous librarians who gave of their time and energy to share their talents and their passions with a small group of third year undergrads at ESI in the National, University and Special Libraries class.

First semester, our class met at 8:30 in the morning on Monday. It was impossible to coordinate with speakers in America with the time difference, but we did succeed in bring two very interesting speakers to ESI.
Nozha Ben Saadoun from the BNRM spoke in November about her work in Cataloging. She prepared a great talk, brought examples, and came in on her day off to speak to us.
Eric Childress of OCLC visited us in December. He also presented on his day off (during his vacation!) and even agreed to speak again later that week to a different group of interested students.
We also toured the BNRM as a group, which was very enlightening.

During the second semester, class met at 4:00 on Monday, making it possible to invite Americans to participate via Skype or telephone.
Sarah Wenzel, librarian at the University of Chicago, prepared a great presentation describing her library and her work. And she presented the whole in FRENCH. Her keen sense of humor and charm were not lost on the students, nor was her status in WESS, despite her modesty about her leadership roles.
Ray Schwartz, systems librarian at William Patterson University's library, took the time during his vacation to come and talk to us for an entire class period about data mining and evaluation in university libraries. The new director even came to his talk; we were very honored to have Ray, indeed, and he really got us thinking.
Larry Olszewski, director of the library at OCLC, also prepared a wonderful presentation in FRENCH, introducing the topic of special libraries. Of all the people, literally, in the world to talk to my students about special libraries, can there be someone more qualified than Larry? As qualified, perhaps, but not MORE qualified, and naturally his presentation was flawless.
Caroline Szylowicz of the Proust Archive at UIUC spoke about the special collection that she heads. Caroline is French, so speaking in French was simple, and her passion for her subject came across very clearly. However, the Skype connection was unavailable from UIUC the day of the presentation, so Caroline had to bike home (quite heroically!) with her laptop at the last minute to be able to speak with us at the appointed time.
And, as a surprise "end of semester" speaker, we talked with Diane D’Almeida from BU who was able to give us an overview of libraries in different countries, and to help us wrap our brains around the place of ESI graduates in the wide world of libraries and international librarianship.

Yet again, I have reason to be proud of colleagues in libraries. Librarians are above all professionals who truly believe in what they do and who systematically give back to the profession without asking "what's in it for me?" These folks all gave of their time, energy and talent to speak to 16 students in Morocco whom they'd never met... I may be biased, but I don’t know that folks in other professions who would be so giving of their time and talents in this way.

Final exams and proctoring

ESI has just started the two-week exam period. Like French schools and universities, they have a very intensive exam period at the middle point in the academic year, and they have an even more demanding schedule at the end of the year. Students have one exam per day for most of the allotted two weeks.

I proctored my first exam yesterday (94 students in the first year), and noticed several differences between what I saw at ESI and what I'd seen in France.

First, students were allowed to have cell phones on their tables during the exams. They were also allowed to share materials (pens, white-out, rulers, etc.). There was a lot of movement during the exam, especially in the back half of the lecture hall.

Things that did NOT happen that I recall from proctoring French exams were the following: proctors didn't seem to move around the room and hover (other than me) -- proctors stayed in the front of the room. None of the students asked to use the rest room (whereas in France, we had a line going).

Lastly, unlike the French university classes in languages and literature that I experienced (both as a student and as a proctor/teaching assistant), there were no oral exams to balance out the writtens.

From my outsider's perspective, the exam structure and application is another case of borrowing from one or two systems, and making the end-product uniquely Moroccan.

In French it's bad luck to wish someone "good luck" -- so I'm wishing all of the ESI students "bon courage" and "bonne continuation" as they prepare for and take this round of exams.

LG X110 Netbook, laptops, and ESI

Before I left for Morocco, I looked into getting a netbook. The small screens were a little off-putting, but what really killed the deal was the small keyboards that I kept seeing. I got a Sony Viao laptop on sale instead.

While in France over spring break this year, I bought a little LG netbook. I don't exactly think of computers when I think of LG, but I took the plunge mostly because I needed something practical. The price was right ($400) and the size/weight of it is unbeatable. It fits in my purse, but it has a full sized keyboard and a 10 inch screen. I'm blogging on it now from a hotel room in Casablanca, connected to the Internet via my LG modem.

Netbooks are showing up all over the place in Morocco now -- as are pay-as-you-go modems that connect to cell towers. I only noticed the netbooks when I returned in April, and the modems have onlyn been competitively priced since the beginning of 2009. Change is afoot.

My students don't seem to have a set-up like mine quite yet... In fact, ESI students rarely brought laptops to school, hardly ever took notes on them in class if they did have them, and didn't seem to be addicted like American students are.

However, there were definitely lots of students with laptops in the common areas of ESI between classes and during lunch. Perhaps the wifi near the library is a kind of siren song? Maybe by next year it will be accepted for students to start bringing them to class. The whole environment reminds me of classes in the United States about 10 years ago. It just wasn't cool to lug around a laptop (besides, what if it broke?) but today, it's impossible to be in a classroom setting without one.

Maybe netbooks/modems like mine will make it easier for ESI student to take the plunge and have unlimited Internet access at school. I've offered to leave my wireless router with the tech guys so that they can have a stronger wifi signal for next year -- it's the same as the router they've already got installed. For the students' sake, I hope they take me up on it.

Moroccan noise levels and the Mediterranean way

Yesterday at the ESI faculty meeting, I finally was able to identify what's different about these Moroccan faculty meetings: it's not that professors disagree vehemently with each other or that attendees arrive late (that happens in the US too); it's not that part of the meeting is in Arabic or that sweet mint tea and almond cookies are served (these elements are less likely to be found in the US, I admit).

It's the volume. Morocco may be an Arabophone country, but its geographical location makes it a Mediterranean one, above all else. Reminded me of the converstaions that one can overhear in Italian where it sounds like all of the parties truly hate each other and are screaming, but in fact they're just "shooting the breeze."

The librarian at the Embassy had me over for dinner earlier this week. Her husband made a point of explaining that the Arabic spoken in Morocco sounds "harsh" to other speakers of Arabic, and that speakers from Egypt, for example, might think that Moroccans are angry. I'll confirm right now that they can sound angry to non-Arabic speakers, too, even when they aren't. The volume though, is what really seals the deal for me.

The cab driver this morning had the radio on so loud that I could hardly think. And two days ago, when a young man unceremoniously made a grab for my bottom in the street, the absolutely blood-curdling scream I let out (followed by me yelling louder than I ever would have thought possible) didn't seem to get anyone's attention.

Perhaps all the folks on the street were all busy talking animatedly to each other or listening to music, or otherwise being Mediterranean. I wonder what would have come of the same scene in Italy, or in Missouri or New Jersey.

9th Annual ESI Forum

Yesterday and today marked the 9th annual Forum at ESI. While teaching yesterday morning, I was stopped mid-sentence and asked to let Cataloging students out so that they could attend the opening.

It was quite the affair, and everyone was dressed so well!

Today's session drew smaller crowds, but has been an incredible success all the same. The forum is organized entirely by students, and the sponsorship they were able to get was impressive.

The flyer for the event details the names of speakers and other events, and is available on the newly redesigned ESI website as a PDF.

Students had the program printed and had notebooks made; they also had a photographer taking orders for yesterday's photos (reminded me of cruise ships, actually).

As a follow-up to recent posts: my name is no longer listed on the "corps enseignant" page of the new Website. Alas, my 15 minutes of fame have passed. Also, as a visiting professor, I am unable to serve on the jury of the masters student, and had to hand back the masters thesis today. It's unfortunate, but better to know now than later.

Professeur avec chaire, higher ed, and reforms

I'm intent on recording things in this blog that pertain to the current Moroccan educational system, and since it relies heavily on the old French educational system, things pertaining to past-present-future elements of French higher ed. are also of interest, par extension. While at ENSSIB in March, the professors explained to me the notion of "professeur avec chaire" and I admit to having found it fascinating.

The FORMER French UNIVERSITY system (not the ECOLE system, like we have at ESI) involved a hierarchy that was quite complex. Professors did a PhD, then they did a second PhD (doctorat d'état). This second diploma permitted them to join the upper echelons of the teaching faculty at the university. For each area of specializtion in a university department, there was one professor "avec chaire" (meaning, the boss or the "mandarin") and the others under him/her were all "sans chaire". The only way to move up was to wait for a retirement or a change of post of the one professor "avec chaire."

This system is no longer in effect, and Sarkozy is in the middle of making even more dramatic reforms to higher ed in France. Those in universities are striking daily, and the situation doesn't look good. Mr. Sarkozy wants to Americanize education, increasing competition between professors, changing missions and objectives for universities, and doing away with (in the opinion of some) the arts and humanities.

The reforms in Morocco are not as sweeping, but they are also very real. I attend my first meeting about them this week at ESI, and am interested to learn more about the topics that are on the plate in Moroccan Ecoles during this period of higher ed reform.
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Choosing the ESI director, a reprise

Last week, I met with the new director of ESI, Mr. Lemallem. After our meeting, I understand why the students are so excited about his appointment.

Like most of the professors at ESI, Mr. Lemallem is a polyglot. He's also aware of blogs, because he found this one and read it. In response to my blog posting about the difficulty I had following the process of naming a new ESI director, he explained the following :

For those in the system, the selection process was transparent. Each candidate submitted his vision for ESI, and the top eight candidates spoke at the Ministry that sponsors ESI: the Haut Commissariat au Plan. The original call for applications is in Arabic and is still on the ESI website.

The names of the search committee members were known, and the five members were prominent, competent, and came from different but complementary backgrounds. Once the top three finalists were selected by the committee, the names and files were sent to the King who had the final decision.

Since Mr. Lemallem's arrival, he's had a lot of tough tasks to tackle. The educational reform will require ESI to change the structure of the program in the coming year. With the Bologna Accords in Europe and with Sarkozy's sweeping and unpopular “Americanization” reforms in France, the theme of higher ed. reform is definitely in the air. Educational reforms have also been a priority locally since the new King ascended the throne almost a decade ago.

I'm thrilled with the results of my discussion with the new director at ESI and my new insights. Further, two days after the meeting, I had a brand new ESI email address and should be added to the list of professors on the ESI website shortly. I also hope to get the chance to participate in the ongoing ESI meetings about the reform (the invitation to which will surely be sent to my new email account).

Through the grapevine

ESI students are great. On Tuesday, several indicated in their FaceBook status that they were pleased with the choice of new director for the school.

It's official: Mr Lemallem will be the new director. The announcement came the day of the week when I'm not on campus, so I'm pleased that the students were so actively mentioning it in the social sphere. It's still difficult for me to understand when news breaks at the school -- my Derija isn't exactly improving and folks here are so bi- and tri-lingual that they forget that not all can understand.

Unlike American university searches for Presidents and Heads, nothing about this process was transparent for me, as a teacher from the outside. Suffice it to say, I'm very much hoping to meet the new director at some point before the end of the year. I tend not to be notified about faculty meetings, so this might be more difficult than it would seem.

On a related front, we'll be receiving two days of vacation for the Prophet's birthday next week. Other Muslim countries will celebrate on Monday and Tuesday, but Morocco started the month a day later, and will have the holiday on Tuesday (with our second day off on Wednesday). Students want to make a long weekend of it and not come in on Monday, and no one can really blame them. Instructors are in a very undesirable position, though, of trying to guess whether it's worth having class, or better to reschedule ahead of time. In one of my Monday classes, my students and I opted to reschedule. In the other class, it's still unclear whether we'll have class on Monday, five days from now.

I must say that one of the draws of coming to Morocco was the knowledge that I would be forced to (re-)learn to "go with the flow". It's just not worth developing high blood pressure over what are, to me, last-minute changes, and ones that are not communicated to the instrutors. Returning to the North American way of things, in a few months, is going to require a good deal of reverse culture-shock training, I think. As of right now, though, I'm trying desperately to hang in there and take Moroccan life as it comes. New director, unplanned days off, and all.

Savoir-faire v. savoir

I've run into the argument often enough with teaching cataloging: how much savoir-faire or know-how needs to be part of the cataloging curriculum (so that students know how to catalog when they finish) v. how much knowlege needs to be presented, so that students have a broad understanding of the past, present, and future of the field.

Practitioners say that savoir-faire should be taught; academics say theory should be the emphasis. This is roughly the distinction between extended practical training that one would get in a workshop and theoretical approaches one expects to find in a university setting.

LIS in North America is in a strange position. The professional degree for librarians is a university masters, requiring that programs integrate both savoir-faire and savoir into the curriculum. For most professional positions in the US/Canada culture, it's expected that candidates will have university credentials anyway, and that continuing education for acquiring new skills is part of just about any professional field.

Recently, I've been struck by the fact that library school in Morocco emphasizes the kind of training I expect to find in N. American trade schools.

ESI is indeed a "School" and not part of a university. Students are in classes more hours per day than high school students in the United States, and they are told just about everything they need to know by their instructors. Perhaps this is a product of the emphaisis on documentalism in Morocco. But what if librarianship requires more theory, and it's just not part of the program?

The interesting thing would be to understand how the choice of education style impacts the field as a whole, librarianship in particular, in Morocco. Apparently "informatists" don't stay too long in their positions before they move up in the ranks at their place of employment. New graduates are brought in to take their places. The second question, then, would be: How does the coming-and-going of information professionals impact the information landscape in Morocco: if there are few who have a robust understanding of the field and who are in professional positions, then how can the large-scale advocacy of libraries be expected?

Cataloging I and II

This week I met both of the classes of students that will be in the undergraduate cataloging classes at ESI. They are the first and second year students, and M. Alli is the main instrutor for the classes.

The first years get a taste of cataloging theory at the beginning, and I get two days during that period to discuss the basics of MARC. That's a whole week -- a lot in terms of the time alloted for the class (and I'm very grateful). The rest of the semester is spent studing the cataloging code used in France (AFNOR) and applying it to examples. At the end of the class, I also get several sessions where I'll be able to walk all 90 or so students through the process of marking up their AFNOR records with MARC 21.

The second years dive straight in to using AFNOR for more complex cataloging problems and formats. I get the last three class periods to introduce them to MARC and to walk them though some record creation. We'll use the Koha with Class service through LibLime (thanks to LibLime for hosting us, and for giving a French interface when possible!) It's all very, very exciting!

In all honesty, I expect that Moroccan libraries will not as a whole adopt the use of MARC records ever. Online catalogs are not yet the norm over here, and I hope that XML formats will be the library gold standard by the time that Moroccans are ready to get online en masse; no one will ever need to learn clunky old MARC. The hope is that our preliminary look at MARC cataloging procedures today will serve as a solid point of departure for the librarians in the trenches in the future.

And for once, I'm trying to be Moroccan about my handouts. I'm trying very hard to prepare handouts that are in the style of the other materials used in class ... to encourage reuse next year when I'm gone.

Email at ESI

As the second week "off" comes to a close, it occurs to me that I'd really like to send my 16 3rd year students an email about the presentations they'll do the week that classes resume. Unfortunately, I can't. Students don't have email accounts at ESI, making mass communication more than a little difficult.

The last week of January was our winter vacation and we did not meet for classes. The first week of February was our exam prep period; also, no classes. Exams begin next week (on Feb. 9) but I was convinced not to give either of the exams to the classes that I teach alone. Therefore, I am off next week, too. As such, my 3rd years will present their wikis the week of the 16th (although the day that class meets is still unsure), and the masters students will meet with me one last time in February, and then sit their exam toward the end of the month.

With the masters students, there are only 4 in the cohort. They took the initaiative to create an email account to which they all have the password. I can send them information (and ppt slides from class) very easily. But communication with the 3rd years isn't as easy. As a student, I had an email account issued to me when I began UMKC in 1991 (I was an honors student and I had to go though some hoops to request it based on my honors status). That makes ESI about 20 years behind in terms of email communication. Luckily the students are clever enough to open their own accounts and to devise short-term solutions.

Kudos to Moroccan Peace Corps Volunteers

More and more, as I talk to educated people here, it becomes clear that a lot of Moroccans' first expericences with meeting Americans come from meeting Peace Corps Volunteers. It's also remarkable that everyone who tells me about a Peace Corps Volunteer talks about 1) what a great person s/he was and 2) how gifted the person was in languages.

My landlady's husband: "Yes, they just send them into the mountains and they come back in three months speaking fluent Berber. It's amazing."

On a train from Fès: "My buddy (a Peace Corps volunteer) spoke Arabic like I do -- and it was Moroccan Arabic. Not Classical!"

Before I came to Morocco, I met with one of these former miracle workers, Kay Cassell who'd been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco some time ago. We're fortunate to have Kay as a lecturer at Rutgers, and she was a very giving and knowledgable resource person for me. Kay was familiar not only with life in Morocco from a Volunteer's perspective, but also from a librarian's. She was the first to tell me about the founding of ESI and to explain the involvement of UNESCO and of the American library school at Pratt.

It's good that I have knowledge about the founding of ESI, because references to Nasser Sharify, then Dean at Pratt and frequent visitor to Morocco, are not sparse around ESI. I hope to meet Mr. Sharify on one of his trips to Morocco before this year is out. I'd also love to run into some Peace Corps folks, but I don't know how likely that really is, since Agdal isn't one of the remote places where many of these folks seem to like to work.

Indoor temperature and ESI

The weather has been consistently cold and rainy since the beginning of the new year. Normally to avoid cold temperatures at home, I'd be tempted to go somewhere: my place of work, office at school, shopping, the car, the gym, a coffee shop, etc.

Here in Morocco, though, none of these are warming options, and folks just keep their coats on indoors and buck up. However, it's been recognized by a few of the ESI instructors that it's simply too cold to work in our offices; my neighbor professor brought a heater from home and blew a fuse last week. I, like the other profs, was without a computer or printer for quite a few days. Now the computer works, but my small wall space-heater is on the blink. At least now I, unlike the students in the lab where I took this photo, can "chatter" online if I want.

The temperature problems are a shame, because I would like to work at school. It would be nice to talk to M. Alli about our Cataloging classes next semester, for example.

In the mean time, at home, I use the two space heaters that I have and I wear gloves that Kirstin brought (I cut off the fingers so that I can type). My favorite way to combat the cold is by taking a bath in my jumbo bathtub. The hot water heater turns off about three times per bath, and the water in the tub is usually cold by the time it warms the porcelain. However, it's by far the warmest things get in my house, and I love it.

In fact, of the things/people I'd like to bring back to the States with me, the bathtub ranks way up there. Maybe Nadia and the pharmacist can carry it onto the plane... and perhaps they can fill it with the delicious Moroccan yogurt that I just love!

Midyear updates

As I think about the upcoming end-of-semester rituals ("mid-year" collaborative pathfinder wikis for third years, final exam for the Masters students, etc.), it only seems right to fill in a few blanks in terms of this blog.

Most of December I was either sick, travelling, or entertaining visitors. Here's Eric pictured with my students after his stellar presentation on OCLC.

Also:

Jallal kindly explained to me that, for the question of how best to care for one's baguette overnight, the answer is simple. Either go to the boulangerie in the morning or freeze the bread overnight. I've tried the bread-freezing trick, and I must say, it works like a charm.

Although there is plenty of concern over the situation in the Middle East, classes have not been interrupted at ESI.

The 2 kilo ball of Edam cheese that I bought when visiting Tangers is almost finished. I gave some to Nadia about a month ago, but ended up eating most of it myself. I really don't care to look at Edam again for a very long time.

Although the subtile spices in Moroccan cooking are good, they're aren't hot (not so much cayenne). I like spicy foods, and finally discovered harissa. Here's a stand selling some in the market at Fès. There's a jarred version at the supermarkets made with cayenne and lemon. It's heavenly.

December was much less cold and rainy than November, but now the cold and rain are back. At least I now have a second space heater.

Conference: the Bibliothèque nationale du Royaume du Maroc

On Thursday and Friday, November 13 and 14, 2008, the Moroccan national library (the Bibliothèque nationale du Royaume du Maroc or BNRM) sponsorsed a colloquium on national libraries entitled

« Les bibliothèques nationales : enjeux et perspectives »

Because the building was recently inaugerated by His Majesty the King of Morocco on October 15, 2008, it was exciting that so many librarians from foreign countries came to participate and to see the new facilities.

Third year students in the "Librarian" option at the Ecole des Sciences de l'Information take a class with me that covers national libraries. We were fortunate to have been invited to attend the second day of the conference. Yet again, students came to the conference instead of going home to their families, even though we'd already had class that week on Monday as usual. Four students from the 2nd year also snuck in (with permission from yours truly). It was a great experience for all concerned, and one that is absolutely unique. One of the third-year ESI students even asked a question of one of the presenters during the question-and-answer session (and the question was a good one!)

My office at ESI

My office at the Ecole des Sciences de l'Information (ESI) is quite a change from the office I had last year when I was TA. This office was actually meant for two professors, but somehow I've managed to get it all to myself. There's a desktop computer, a laser printer (to myself!), several shelves that lock for all my books and files, and my own photo of the King to keep me company during my office hours.

The four boxes of materials I sent over via the Embassy diplomatic pouch arrived in Morocco before I did, although they were a little worse for wear. I managed to pick them up at MACECE in a taxi and transport them to ESI before the start of classes.

Some of the books I brought are pictured below (at least one's already been loaned out to a colleague, actually). The folks at OCLC were kind enough to let me have a set of Dewey 22, but I had to promise to leave it in Morocco. One less thing to carry back? An offer I couldn't refuse....

The meaning of exchange

Fulbrights are meant to facilitate exchange between Americans and folks from other cultures. I get to bring bits of Morocco to the United States (or, pictured here, to SCILS at the LIS tea from atop my camel in Tangiers!), and I, just by virtue of being myself, am bringing "American-ness" to Morocco and to the library school here.

Sometimes these elements of exchange work seamlessly. Everyone loves a camel. Moroccans call them something like "Sand Schooners" (yes, I just coined that expression on the spot) and consider them to be almost magical (again, my words) since they can survive under the harsh conditions of the desert. Myself, I don't think I laughed as hard that whole weekend as the 5 minutes I was on the camel, and lots of folks in the States have commented to me in emails, on this blog, and especially on Facebook about the photo. This is a good exchange -- we all like camels. It's nice to have something in common.

I'm currently working through some of the more difficult aspects of exchange as well: the nuts and bolts of lecturing to Moroccan students. My students have a reflex to memorize the notes they take during hours of lectures and to recite them back rotely at the exam. There's no textbook. I can assign outside readings, but it's difficult/impossible to test throughout the year. It's also impossible to know in advance how many times our class will meet, since we don't make up classes missed for religious holidays, and holidays are established the night before the event.

This is one part of the exchange that's less easy for me to navigate. I talked about new internet technologies (Web 2.0) using slides that had worked just fine in France. I gave a similar lecture in March 2007 (a year and a half ago) at the French national library school (ENSSIB). In France, the lecture took 1 hour. Here, we've already spent 4 hours on it, we're still not finished, and apparently there wasn't enough text on my slides to suit some students. I can't blame them for being conditioned to a certain kind of system, but I must say that this is making me think an awful lot about the role of the teacher in higher education.

This is only the first week where I've done a significant amount of lecturing, so it'll come. We'll adapt to each other, certainly. That or I'll bring a camel to school.

Blogs in class

Today we talked about blogs in Technologies de l'information. I took a photo of the class at the beginning of the hour, and posted these photos, as well as a first draft of this post, at the end of class. Everyone seemed to agree that it's an easy process, and about eight students came up after class and asked for me to transfer the photos to their USB keys.

The co-instructor has agreed that students can develop a blog as their end-of-semester assignment, so now's about the time that students exploring this option need to get underway. I've been basing my approach to introducing blogs on a book by Will Richardson called "Blogs, wikis, podcases, and other powerful web tools for classrooms."

Dreams of MARC?

The course called National, University, and Special Libraries met today, for the second time, at 8:30. It's a great bunch of students -- 16 total, who are in their third years. Until last year, all of the courses they took were in a group, with their 65 other classmates. Now, as third years, they are able to declare which speciality they'd like to pursue: they will either specialize to become librarians who will work in libraries or to become documentalists who will work in archives. There are more jobs for documentalists in corporate offices. Fewer jobs in libraries (fewer libraries) means fewer (but more highly-motivated) students self-selecting for the libraries option.

I'd gotten in touch with the woman teaching the "partner" course for the librarian option: School and Public Libraries. It turns out, we're on the same page in a lot of respects, so today was full speed ahead with introductory content in my class.

The students are very engaged and were asking a ton of questions. I know they all took Cataloging in their first and second years, so to answer one question, I brought up an element that we code in the fixed field of MARC records that are loaded into OCLC. The conversation then turned.

Then a few minutes later, I got another question: "Can we please talk about MARC records in this class?" "I'm sorry, WHAT?" "We only covered manual cataloging in our Cataloging course -- can we talk about MARC here, since you know so much about it?" Heads nodding throughout the room. "We know MARC is great for sharing information between libraries, but we don't know how it works."

I've been teaching MARC for at least 6 years. I've talked about teaching catalgoing at international conferences. The reaction is always the same, across the board: "Ugh." Enthousiam about the mark-up language for bibliographic materials devised by the Library of Congress in the 1960s (and a very un-sexy language, at that) among 3rd year students in Morocco is still blowing me away. "Yes, I'll be happy to talk about MARC -- let's plan to do it when we talk about cooperation and university libraries, since that's a context that's natural for me and we have some time in the syllabus."

As I say, I'm still recovering.