The hazy lazy days of summer that are anything but!
I find that in terms of patron numbers and reference questions they usually are much quieter due to the far smaller number of students on campus. However, summer is generally the time where I work with my projects. And this summer there are a number of them. Everything from preparing the presentation of the OPAC catalog to working on technology savvy ideas for the upcoming school year.
This morning's project included creating a search form that will rest inside the online class software for the institution so that professor's can place the widget on their course home pages and students can search the catalog directly from their course page. Now, it's currently only sitting on my home page, but that's because I haven't shared it yet. Next week I'll be figuring out how to share it properly, but it appears to work and has all the most used information of the library page, which is the exciting part!
There are continual updates on the web pages. It seems like I keep finding typos are realising that information is no longer accurate after the library has joined a large consortium. And so I rewrite and send that information to tech services to get it properly updated.
I'm also interested in working with Camtasia to create library tutorials and potentially working to create podcast files as well. Specifically I'm looking at blogging software so that the library can host its own blog. I'm looking into WordPress and Moveable Type, looking mildly at TypePad as well. I know there are likely other blogging products as well and I'll need to figure out exactly which one is right for the library.
Combine that with reworking the library with carpet and furniture and you have a very full summer!
21 July, 2006
12 July, 2006
My Space -> At the library??
I keep running into personalized portal pages. Everyone has them: MSN, Netscape, even LiveJournal has jumped on board. They're nifty. I've found the LJ portal handy before, and I've customized them in several places so that it's useful, and so that it's my home page.
I love personalizing pages. I also love communication.
I have this dream of a library website that does a bit of everything. It's personalized, perhaps you get to select which databases show up in a module. You sign in and you automatically can see your checked out books, or what items might need to be renewed. The librarians keep up a blog that gives interesting information about changes in the website, databases, or new collection additions. You can save searches in your library catalog so that if you're working on a lengthy semester long project you don't have to repeat the search over and over again.
Beyond that you can choose to save books for check-out later. (How many times have you ran across a book that is of very little assistance to your current research but you really want to read it later? You can write it down of course, but inevitably that little piece of paper gets lost and later you think, what was that book? Who was it by? Did I write down the call number? And it's lost forever to the black hole of your backpack.) This library website has a "reading list" similar to Amazon's wishlist feature. Perhaps like LibraryThing's social statistics for a book it might tell you what other books people reading that book have also read.
As a librarian I use Library of Congress Subject Headings all the time, and I don't believe that any serious researcher would ever want to see them disappear. But what about personal tagging features? Language changes and LC subject headings change much less quickly. What about user generated keywords attached to librarian cataloged book records to help other users find that book or article?
There are pieces of this puzzle out there. Innovative Interfaces: My Millennium allows users to do some of these things. Yet, I have yet to see anyone pulling all of the pieces together. I think it's a market for an online library community that I have yet to see any library fill.
If you built it, the users will come.
I love personalizing pages. I also love communication.
I have this dream of a library website that does a bit of everything. It's personalized, perhaps you get to select which databases show up in a module. You sign in and you automatically can see your checked out books, or what items might need to be renewed. The librarians keep up a blog that gives interesting information about changes in the website, databases, or new collection additions. You can save searches in your library catalog so that if you're working on a lengthy semester long project you don't have to repeat the search over and over again.
Beyond that you can choose to save books for check-out later. (How many times have you ran across a book that is of very little assistance to your current research but you really want to read it later? You can write it down of course, but inevitably that little piece of paper gets lost and later you think, what was that book? Who was it by? Did I write down the call number? And it's lost forever to the black hole of your backpack.) This library website has a "reading list" similar to Amazon's wishlist feature. Perhaps like LibraryThing's social statistics for a book it might tell you what other books people reading that book have also read.
As a librarian I use Library of Congress Subject Headings all the time, and I don't believe that any serious researcher would ever want to see them disappear. But what about personal tagging features? Language changes and LC subject headings change much less quickly. What about user generated keywords attached to librarian cataloged book records to help other users find that book or article?
There are pieces of this puzzle out there. Innovative Interfaces: My Millennium allows users to do some of these things. Yet, I have yet to see anyone pulling all of the pieces together. I think it's a market for an online library community that I have yet to see any library fill.
If you built it, the users will come.
02 July, 2006
The joys of Wikipedia
I get asked about Wikipedia all of the time. What I've found is that librarians and even other subject professionals have reviewed wikipedia, it's often with mixed results - some things manage to stay very up-to-date and other subjects and topics have incorrect information.
To be brief, I appreciate wikipedia for a very quick and dirty look up of something that I'm not knowledgeable about, however if I'm going to do in-depth research, I want information from other sources - at the very least more sources. I do find it interesting that even the founder of Wikipedia discourages academic use.
Generally speaking, it's not terribly different from asking students to look for subject encyclopedias edited by specialists in a field or area rather than using a general encyclopedia like World Book or Encyclopedia Americana. The general encyclopedias are obviously edited more than Wikipedia, but oddly enough, in some cases Wikipedia is probably more up-to-date and in some cases even more specific than a general encyclopedia, but that is the nature of the beast.
For those unfamiliar with Wikipedia, there's a basic lowdown here.
To be brief, I appreciate wikipedia for a very quick and dirty look up of something that I'm not knowledgeable about, however if I'm going to do in-depth research, I want information from other sources - at the very least more sources. I do find it interesting that even the founder of Wikipedia discourages academic use.
Generally speaking, it's not terribly different from asking students to look for subject encyclopedias edited by specialists in a field or area rather than using a general encyclopedia like World Book or Encyclopedia Americana. The general encyclopedias are obviously edited more than Wikipedia, but oddly enough, in some cases Wikipedia is probably more up-to-date and in some cases even more specific than a general encyclopedia, but that is the nature of the beast.
For those unfamiliar with Wikipedia, there's a basic lowdown here.
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