my favorite library moment

I think my favorite library moment from my youth has to be just a slight blip, but something that has stayed with me.
I was about 15. I had read, some months earlier, that one of the most stolen authors of all time was Charles Bukowski. I hadn't thought much of it. Then, someone recommended Ham on Rye and I went to the Cambridge Public Library to track down a copy. The stacks are really scary, with a grate floor. I remember wearing a skirt and feeling uncomfortable about the fact that people could see through the floor up at me.
Anyway, I couldn't find the book, so I asked a lady at the desk. She pulled it up on the (now archaic) computer system and said, "It appears that it's been stolen." I remember being struck by this turn of events, because it was one of the first times that I'd actually read something that proved itself. Now, I always see little signs in bookstores saying that if you're looking for Bukowski, you need to ask at the front desk. And I always think of the Cambridge Public Library.
So, I guess it's weird that my favorite library memory is actually one where they didn't have what I was looking for but I did have them order it from a different library in the city. And I returned it, too.

TaggedFrog

I wrote about this in our small group discussions, but it is worth mentioning here, too. The latest free software craze in my household is TaggedFrog. It's basically a way to apply multiple organizational tags to the scholarly articles you save for future use. As many articles can apply to many niche topics, you can use tags to suit your multiple needs in finding, retrieving and organizing the scores of documents you accumulate. Basically, you create tag clouds for each article that you can manipulate in various ways. This is an example of what Weinberger points out when he suggests that the use of tags is akin to placing one leaf on many trees (Weinberger 2007, 83). If you're like me, you have pdfs scattered throughout your computer that could possibly be of more use if you could only determine what they're about at a quick glance. My husband has basically been obsessed with this for the past couple of weeks. It is admittedly pretty awesome and I am looking forward to seeing what happens with my tag cloud as I collect more articles.

Quiz 2

Whew. I totally could be a google marathon runner. I can't believe I was able to do all that in an hour. Even if I didn't get the questions totally right (though I feel confident about my answers in a way I didn't for the last quiz) I am proud of my ability to find info, process it, and write a decent answer. Also, because we're working with CSS right now, I felt like I could answer those questions with more confidence. I guess I have a hands-on approach to learning or something.
I'm glad that's over with!

Fast Track

So, Fast Track weekend came and went. Aside from general test anxiety and a ragging migraine on Friday, all went well. It was great to meet my fellow classmates and put faces to names. Within a short time (a matter of a few hours) we bonded as any in-person class does, so that was kind of wonderful.

Because I live near Pittsburgh I’ve been in and around the city often. But I haven’t spent much time on campus. It was nice to actually feel like a student again (though there is the stress and there is the work, I would say that doing this online does not make you feel like part of the academe). I think this aspect of Pitt’s program is wonderful. I kind of wish it was a whole week, as it used to be. (Though my boss wouldn’t like that.) I loved chatting with classmates during a break. I kept thinking of Michael Chabon. I can’t wait for October!

And the Nesbitt Room. Hello, dream job! Nice to meet you.

dickens

Here is my Dickens page. I decided to try doing it in two tables to simulate pages. If I make the window smaller, it appears like an actual page of a book, which I find very nifty. I actually had to make myself stop playing around with this because it was actually really fun and I could have kept tweaking it for a long time. I liked finding new things to try in Kompozer. If I didn't have so much to think about, I might be way more excited about the next step to this!

html

I am playing around with the first leg in the Charles Dickens/HTML assignment. I am having HTML flashbacks to 12 years ago when it was really popular for high schoolers to have their own websites. I worked really hard on mine. I would put all of my really bad poetry on it. I thought I was pretty slick stuff, being able to do all that.

This assignment is different from a geocities website by far, but it really brings me back in a weird way.

I think it will be really challenging to make the page look like something from the 1840s, especially for someone who likes things to be just right (and lets face it, if we're in a library sci. program, we're probably all like that). All of the text I've seen from around that time has really funky layout stuff going on, and lots of little letterpress quarks, like ink blots, parts where the ink is heavy and parts where it's light, etc. Also, I'm not sure what the font is I'm thinking of, but I haven't really seen it on computers. I love being able to work with a text like this, though. What fun!

Evolution of Music

Here is an article from NPR's "Morning Edition" that I find really relevant to the concepts we've been looking at regarding copyright and intellectual ownership in LIS 2000. I highly recommend listening to the article, as it takes a sound from Lady Gaga, which is obviously derivative, and traces it back to chamber music. It really makes you appreciate humanity to think that everything is so connected.

Thinking about collection building on the job

The library I work for is in the process of acquiring a new branch on a very limited budget. For the past eight months, or so, we’ve been pilfering through book donations given to the main branch to create the collection at our new location. It is really incredible to watch how we are all working together on this project. There are four or five of us who contribute our literary strengths each morning, pulling the books we know and love to add to this project. Some of us are most knowledgeable about mysteries; some know which best sellers to pull. I take some time out each morning to see which classics and children’s books I think this small rural library might need. Thinking about the kinds of patrons we’ll have and what they’d be interested in checking out has been a huge part of this. Likewise, thinking about the books that every library “should” have has also been a major part of the process. So far, we have created a fairly decent sized collection just based on donations. It’s really pretty incredible.

Creativity and Learning Through Copyright Infringement, chapter 2

I thought I'd share a very old-fashioned and quaint way of doing what I had mentioned in the last post. One of my favorite blogs posted a bit about her daughter often "copying" favorite books, and adding herself into the mix, or even a sibling. Please checkout the link, it's really phenomenal.

I think about how incredible a learning tool this type of self-expression is all the time. Being able to take something you love and make it your own is only one part to this. Being able to look at something (in this case, an illustration) and spend time 1) figuring out how it's done, and 2) figuring out how to manipulate it to your liking (in this case, drawing it for yourself and adding a sibling) is mind-blowing stuff for someone of any age, let alone a child. I can't imagine the brilliance we'd see if kids were taught to do this kind of thing. I would also argue that it is incredibly self-building. Even though you are taking something from someone else, it is typically something you love, so being able to apply yourself to it is really significant on a personal level.

This girl is incredibly lucky to be doing something so important.

Creativity and Learning Through Copyright Infringement, chapter 1

As I noted previously, Remix is giving me quite a bit of food for thought about what is right and wrong and how my generation and generations after mine see big concepts like access, art, culture, education, among other things, in relation to the law.

In Remix, Lessig mentions Girl Talk. I am familiar with this one-man-band. My husband and I were at a party in the fall that we probably shouldn't have been at. We were definitely the oldest people there. Anyway, at that party, we got a good listen to what Girl Talk has to offer. As the evening wore on and we were several hours into Girl Talk's catalog, my husband finally spoke up. I remember it distinctly: "What is this? Music for the ADD generation?"

On the whole, it is really good stuff. I know what Lessig is talking about when he calls it art. It's very well-crafted and it really does speak to the pop culture iconography embedded in us all. Girl Talk weaves a web of cultural references beautifully. It is something that is very important and I think it will continue to be a very necessary and intriguing part of our pop culture as technology progresses. This is one very creative and unique way to process and come to terms with the world around you. Girl Talk's music likely facilitates in the processing and synthesizing of others, which is a very meaningful service. What happens if people push to ban this kind of self-expression and culture-processing? What happens to generations who need this to deal with the world around them but have to face the fact that by doing so, they are criminals? I think that will have more of a negative effect on future generations than the act itself.

Is it okay?

I'm reading Remix by Lawrence Lessig and it just dawned on me that it might not be okay to post that clip of Mitch and Webb. I'm not sure what the policy is. Every blog I read does it. Also, I would not have found out about the show if I hadn't seen a youtube clip on someone else's blog (knew about the comedy duo from seeing Peepshow on British tv, but didn't know they were an English comedy machine! Score.). By the way, you can watch That Mitchell and Webb Look on Netflix's Watch Instantly.

How is it not obvious that this kind of technology increases exposure, which leads to more exposure which inevitably leads to profit? I would totally buy some Sir Digby Chicken Caesar products. We're living in a small world. British comedy should be at our fingertips. If they don't play it on our tvs, we should be able to have access to it through other means. Has anyone seen the Australian show The Librarians? It is brilliant and very topical. I haven't been able to find any viable source for it state-side, though. I think an episode of The Librarians and some pizza once a month would be a great staff bonding ritual at my work, but I'm not about to suggest something illicit. Why is it hard to find? Nothing should be, these days.

For your viewing pleasure

This is from one of my favorite shows: That Mitchell and Webb Look.

Some days just feel like this.

the quiz

So, the quiz. What can I say? It was an ordeal. I deserve ice cream. Tests really make me nervous in general. I freeze up, my hands shake, I lose words, I watch the clock to the point of distraction. I think I had the main questions down pretty good. I spent the last few days reciting functions of what Dr. T had talked about in last week's class over and over until I had it down. I even made a little song to help me remember, but let's not get into that.

There were some questions from left field, and I won't lie: I might have done some serious educated guesswork a couple of times. I just wasn't prepared to answer some of them. I don't blame myself: there is a lot of terminology in this class that is new to me; not knowing that I had to focus on certain topics basically meant not memorizing their meanings. How could I memorize everything? How can I internalize every name of every function of computers that we've learned so far? I can't, and that's all there is to it. I am letting go of a lot of undergraduate habits in this program...I have come to realize - and this quiz was confirmation - that there are some things I'm just going to not know/not do my best on. Whereas in undergrad, I felt like I was in control of what I internalized, here it's just too much information to make efforts to internalize all of it.

Maybe I'm way smarter than I could ever know and my answers were actually correct, but I'm really not so sure of that. I tired to at least sound intelligent, but I'm sure it came out foolish.

Also, there was a major grammatical error in the extra credit question which left me momentarily stunned, but I think I managed to pick myself up and actually produce a somewhat coherent answer. Thanks for the extra credit. I have a feeling I'll need it.

The World's Tiniest Open-Source Violin

Here is a comic that someone emailed to me. It makes light of certain things that some may find offensive, so beware. Anyway, before taking these classes, I wouldn't have gotten any of it. I get it now! I get geek humor. I actually laughed out loud at a joke about infrastructures. What is happening to me?!

Magazine experiment

I heard about magazine barcoding on the radio this morning and promptly Googled. Here is an article about it. The gist:

Readers simply scan the barcodes and a menu on their phone will open with several options, including the choice to instantly purchase the product. Users will also be able to find retailers carrying the item or learn more about how to style the products.

I think this is a really interesting use of technology already out there. I often read magazines and won't hop to the back to see where I can purchase a product I'm interested in...I'll just sigh and dream. If I were the type to be inclined to carry a smartphone, I might make a lot more impulse purchases with this service! I imagine we will be seeing a lot more of this in many different aspects of our lives. Just scan the barcode on a restaurant door and up pops the Zagat review. Scan the barcode on fast food and up pops the nutrition information. Scan the barcode on a library book and useful information will pop up. I don't really know that I like that it will be easy to determine what magazines you're interested in, which pages grab you, what you choose to buy as a result. However, that information is likely already out there.

Zotero

Here is my tutorial on how to install and configure Zotero!

Boy, Google has changed

Still thinking on that RefWorks assignment. The last time a librarian showed me how to use Google Scholar it was 2006 and things were a bit more rough. It was a little bleak and I didn't use a whole lot of reference from my searches. It was still fun to play with, but not what I needed for a paper. But the RefWorks assignment really gave me an idea of how much it has changed in just a few years. It's like night and day. There is so much on it that it kind of made me afraid for libraries, I have to say. Not everything you need is there, but a good deal of the sources were identical to the Scopus searches I did. It's very impressive.

Amazon Searches

My previous blog post about library catalogs, along with the fact that I’m reading Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger got me thinking about how I search for material to use for work. I do a lot of community services work, which means I do a good deal of children’s programming. I am always on the look out for good children’s books and educational activities for various age groups. This is not always easy and sometimes it can take a good deal of time finding something worthwhile.

Weinberger put into words why I usually start my quest for books with a quick scan through Amazon.com. He writes that “it is in Amazon’s interest to introduce you quickly to books you didn’t know you wanted” (Weinberger, 59). There are so many “related” books that pop up based on many different factors (Weinberger, 61), that, by the end of a search for picture books about bumblebees, you’ll have more than enough leads for your bumblebee-themed program, and likely stumble across interesting prospects for future ventures. I haven’t noticed whether or not this method is faster than going to the catalog first, but it sure feels faster. It certainly feels more productive.

I usually take the information I find on Amazon and then search our library catalog to see if we have the books I’ve become interested in. I have found some of my best resources using this method, but it doesn’t say much for our current library catalog system, unfortunately.

Can we make the internet suitable as an infrastructure in times of crisis?

Something said in the Webcast “Why the Internet is the Way It Is…” struck me as extremely significant. Is it possible for the internet to be a suitable alert system in times of crisis? Of course, I get the impression that we’d have to have a battery-operated device to access the web if the power was out. But the real question I have concerns finding the correct information on the web to help you get through an emergency and help you find out what is going on. I suspect that, unless there was strict protocol, it would be very difficult to know where to find what you need in a time of crisis. I recently had an experience that I can relate to this topic.

I don’t have cable and no television channels come in. I also don’t get any newspapers, and I check my phone messages once a week or so. I check my email more often, but not on the weekends. I work very hard to maintain the lack of these things in my life. (Dr. Tomer: I’ve heard of this Lady Gaga of which you speak, but that’s about it.) However, one day, I needed to find information about a current, potentially tragic event, and I didn’t know how.

I was driving through town and I noticed that the American flags at local banks and car dealerships and whatnot were all flying at half-mast. I was listening to NPR, but they weren’t talking about any major crisis and apparently I only think there is one radio station, because it didn’t cross my mind to hit the seek button. Instead, I went home quickly to get on the internet to see if I could find out any information. I was honestly worried that someone had been assassinated or I had somehow missed a memo about a past president’s death.

When I got home, I checked the New York Times website first. Nothing. Then I went to Google to see if I could find something out. There wasn’t anything indicating it in the news section. I decided to Google information, but what would I search for? I sat there for a minute trying to figure out what I should type in to get the results I needed. For some unknown reason, I settled on “who died today?” It was at that moment that I realized how ridiculous it was to be searching for information on the web that wasn’t obviously present. Usually Google “guesses” what I want before I’m even done (or at least comes up with some really interesting suggestions), but this time I didn’t know what to search for. It's funny now, but I couldn’t find anything and I honestly felt very frustrated and lost at the time. News becomes old news so fast that I was worried I’d missed something significant.

Several days later I found out that they were flying the flags at half-mast for the miners lost in the recent accident in south WV. I had asked a coworker.

On the most basic level, I am sure that if some kind of serious emergency took place, the internet news providers would do their best to inform as many people as possible. But what happens of someone misses the latest yahoo update that said not to drink the water, or to stay put because help is on the way? Could the internet be trusted with such important information? I think so, but there would have to be clear rules and instructions on both the sides of the news providers and the general public.

Library Catalog

Dr. Tomer talked about whether library catalogs are user-friendly in our 2000 class, but it applies to this class as well. This is something I have thought about with regularity for the past seven months. Last October, I had the chance to see Tim Spaulding, creator of Library Thing, give a lecture. He really opened my eyes as to how user-unfriendly most library catalogs actually are. I think his lecture ruffled a lot of feathers in the room, but for me, it really hit home.

The catalog at our library is really not developed with users in mind. The aspect that always gets me into trouble is the search bar. I really hate that it doesn’t guess which words you mean if you happen to type something in incorrectly. It just comes up with no results. I’m sure we lose people right there if they’re searching from home.

The other thing that I’ve found disappointing is our “shopping cart” feature. Yes, you can save titles into a list; however, it does not save the call number. How they can design this feature and not include the call number, I have no idea. It doesn’t seem logical and it’s totally frustrating. I try to pull related books for a program or display and I have to actually write down every call number, rather than click, click, print.

Spaulding mentioned the fact that our catalog does not come up on a Google search. I’m not a computer expert, but I think it’s because your screen will refresh after 30 minutes and totally clear out, which in itself is troublesome. We aren’t marketing ourselves very well through our catalogs. What would happen if someone could Google a title and our catalog would come up, saying the book was available? That would be incredibly fortunate, I think. At least people would think of the library, which is not something everyone does anymore.

Discussion Boards as Idea Formulation, Blog as Idea Builder?

I just realized that I should probably clarify that part of my last post was originally an idea that I got from one of my courseweb discussion board topics for 2000. I am realizing that there is a lot of cross-referencing for these classes, at least on my part. I’m not going to worry too much about it, as I feel that much of the information I am gathering for both can be applied to both. Also, I think it’s great that we are able to formulate ideas and discuss them in the discussion boards. What a great, informal (yet semi-formal, as we’re being graded) venue to “try out” new ideas on others. I feel like it’s been less than a week and I’ve already put so many things regarding libraries into a different perspective. I have a feeling I might often discover something on the discussion boards and take it here to the blog for a bit more hashing out. I assume that is the point, though.

Response: Meredith Farkas Lecture

The video of Meredith Farkas’ lecture really got me excited about the future of libraries because she addressed so many ways to achieve what she calls Library 2.0, or this idea of a collaborative library system. I got a lot out of this lecture because these are things I think about everyday in my job. I could compare what she was talking about with a real, functioning library system while at the same time evaluate what we’ve done in our library system to make us more 2.0 and, more specifically, what I’ve done personally in my position to make the library more 2.0 (without knowing that this was a buzzword or that these concepts were significant).

Since I’ve worked in the library system, we’ve made several advances in making our library more user-friendly and more tech. savvy. We’ve implemented an online eBook and audiobook service so people can download from home. I started a Facebook page and blogs for the library as ways to get our name out there and become more interactive with our community. I also ran an in-house “librarian recommendations” display to make us seem more friendly, which admittedly was stolen directly from bookstore marketing techniques. Our eBooks are now IPhone compatible.

But there are things we still can’t quite manage. We may have material patrons can use on their IPhone, but I don’t think any staff members could actually help if a patron had issues. We can’t quite manage to open an hour earlier on Saturdays to accommodate the hundreds of people just across the street from us at the farmer’s market. We have had the workings of placing online holds ready for almost a year and still haven’t managed to get it out to the public.

But I think that the more we can push forward to accomplish these things, the more it puts the library into focus and not only will more people use it more often, more people will use the library in different ways. This seems to be where we, as a profession, are headed. Perhaps some day we will be able to put into place more collaborative concepts like visible comments, catalog tagging, and what have you. I think some people will embrace this and some people will never quite get there.

Farkas does mention the fact that not all library users will appreciate these technologically advanced services. I think she is absolutely right. I don’t often work on the service floors, but when I do I am amazed at how many patrons are resistant to and almost fearful of something as simple as learning to use our online catalog computer stations to see if we have what they’re looking for. The replacement of a physical card catalog to a digital one took place many, many years ago, and yet, daily we have people who come in and prefer not to use it. So, in ways, I think the gap in what all patrons want widens further as we progress with Library 2.0 services. Trying to navigate on which party to focus your services, or how to find a balance between the two will be of utmost importance.

It's a Wiki World Out There

This is a test post. After having watched the first class session of 2600, I am realizing how much “unlearning” and reevaluating I might have to do to get a degree in Library Science. It is so different from what I was taught in my B.A. For starters, Wikipedia is linked right off the bat in the syllabus. As a faithful believer in wiki and all it stands for, I warmly welcome it into academia. However, my mentors from English would probably faint. If there was one motto I learned in the last two years of school, it was that Wikipedia does not count as a factual source. I understand that, even as a faithful user. However, questions arise: are there places where it counts and where it doesn’t? What happens when it starts to count? What is its role in libraries versus academia and what could its role be in the future for both of these venues?

I think these are questions that the librarian asks but the English major doesn’t ask. When I started my career in libraries, I thought: “This fits perfectly with my interest in books! What better place for a book lover to work than a library?” As I move forward, I see every day that I don’t actually work with books, I work with people. I work with getting the information and entertainment that people want and need into their hands. For me, this really connects with what Dr. Tomer was talking about in class: we have to make library materials accessible on our patrons’ terms and those terms are increasingly mobile and wiki-fied. Seeing it linked in the syllabus helped me realized that Wikipedia is counting more and more as a factual source and I need to realize that as a librarian.

I see Wikipedia as a jumping off point on a subject. What I mean is this: if I want some basic, introductory information on a subject, a bit more than (or even just) a definition, I’ll start there. It leads me to more Wikipedia articles -- I’ll likely open ten new tabs on various topics mentioned within an article, which might closely or more loosely relate to the beginning topic – and it leads me to sources outside the wiki-realm. Dr. Tomer talked about location reading abilities. What if it was able to do that and libraries could set up a system to link their available related materials to articles? Would people use it? Would I myself use it as a library patron and Wikipedia bottom feeder? I think I would, if I were interested enough in the topic, especially if it linked to a library’s eBook or whatnot and I could simply click a link to access library materials. If I were really interested in the topic, I might even physically go to the library for something listed that seemed worthwhile. With that, I can see that I am already getting ahead of myself.