Librarian Trading Card

Librarian Trading Card, originally uploaded by rfisher2861.

I just had to try this!

Internet Down!

The Internet went down yesterday. I reached for the phone to call ITS, but realized that it's an IP phone and THE INTERNET IS DOWN!! I tried calling ITS with my cell, but wasn't able to get through as their phones are also IP...

Fortunately this only lasted for an hour. I sent a student to the ITS department to find out what was going on. They told him that the connection had been down for 4 hours...How could that be?

You don't really know how much you depend on the 'Net until it's down. I had almost forgotten that I could use my computer if I checked the "workstation only" option.

Advice? Stay calm and breathe deeply. Enjoy the silence!

Web 2.0: Info Lit

I'm getting ready to co-present a workshop for adjunct faculty on the info lit implications of the Web 2.0. My main question is: "Is user created content reliable?"

Looking back to the BPC (before personal computers) days, we classified information resources not by format but by the proximity of the creator to the information provided:

• Primary sources--journals, diaries, letters (all created by the person with first hand experience of the event described)
• Secondary sources--journal articles, newspaper articles, etc. (information gleaned from primary source)
  
• Tertiary sources--encyclopedias, textbooks, library catalogs, survey articles, reading lists, bibliographies, etc. (information gathered from both primary and secondary sources)

Couldn't Blogs and photos on Flickr be considered primary sources? When it is so easy to create content, how do we determine if the creator is indeed knowledgeable/truthful about the topic presented?

OPAC Design--It's the People, Stupid!

Library OPACs are technological dinosaurs. They are based on what came before--the card catalog. The card catalog served us well for many years but really wasn't able to make a graceful transition into the digital world.

I remember coaching patrons on the use of the early OPAC--many tried typing their requests as sentences in the search box. I always felt embarrassed explaining that it wasn't that easy and thinking that they really should be able to find information that way. What ever happened to natural language searching? I guess it didn't work that well and was abandoned (have to do some research on this).

Some patrons got so annoyed with the technology that they threatened to toss all the computers out the window. I'll admit that there were days when I felt that way myself.

Should librarians give up on the controlled vocabulary approach? Is keyword searching the best approach? Keyword searching works well when you have a large collection of data to deal with. When the amount of information is limited as it is in an OPAC, controlled vocabulary works well--you will be less likely to miss the good stuff.

Should I try to explain this in my Information Literacy classes? I'm seriously considering this...

Life Hacking

“Meet the Life Hackers” by Clive Thompson New York Times Magazine, October 15, 2005  (retrieved from LexisNexis Academic December 6, 2005)

We have all become like it or not—multitaskers.  How many times a day are we interrupted by cell phones, e-mails, IMs, etc.?  Thompson interviews some social scientists who have completed some studies on how we handle multitasking in the workplace.

Some interesting observations from these studies:

• It takes on an average 25 minutes to return to the original task


• Interruptions have become our work


• Our jobs are “interruption driven”


• We spend an average of 11 minutes on a project before interruption occurs


• Each 11 minute session is divided into several 3 minute smaller tasks


• We are so busy keeping an eye on everything, we can never focus on anything

Solutions suggested:

• Multiple computer monitors (up to three)


• Larger monitors (45 inch!)


• “to do” lists in Word

My solution was a mini whiteboard that I kept on my desk like an easel.  I had my “to do” list there with the tasks prioritized. This way I could always see my list and try to keep focused.  It’s low-tech, but it works.

Because I am easily bored, I enjoy being interrupted.  I wouldn’t want to work any other way.

Morphed Librarian

Many older librarians have found that their jobs have changed since they graduated from library school many ages ago....When I was getting my degree the Internet was not available to us. We had computer access by creating a query using punched cards or tape (telex machine). We've come along way and it's been fun for me to be a part of it.

In 1980 or so, I purchased an Atari 800 and signed on to the Source, CompuServe, and other online resources. It was a great way to educate myself and keep up with changes in the profession. Since then I've tinkered with the major operating systems and now have a wireless LAN at home.

My jobs have changed over time: reference assistant, young adult librarian, interlibrary loan assistant, head of reference, technology trainer, and virtual reference librarian.

I love showing people how to use technology to educate themselves and locate quality information. It's been a great journey!

I'll be posting information on what I've been trying and reading as far as using technology in libraries goes.

I recently returned from the VRD Conference in San Francisco and am raring to go with some of the ideas I brought back: librarians on location, using tablet pcs while roaming, IM the Librarian, etc.

Stay tuned for updates on how we implement these ideas!