Library News

What ARE they teaching in Library School these days?

Well, as many of you may know, I am going to school to get my Masters in Library Science through Drexel University’s online program.  I thought maybe you would be interested in hearing about the classes I am taking (this quarter, at least). I am taking two courses, the first of which is Introduction to Information Systems Analysis (fancy-speak for just Systems Analysis).  It’s basically an overview of what it is to be a systems analyst.  To be perfectly honest…this is not my favorite course.  There are a lot of dense terms, that when read in a 40-page chapter can make my head fuzzy.  But, the professor teaching the class has a really good sense of humor and likes to joke around, so that definitely lightens the mood.  For my final project, we are asked to analyze a system (real or made up) and write a proposal to the “powers that be” in how to implement or improve that system.  I decided I wanted to analyze and propose a system on implementing a library blog! The second course I am taking is Internet Information and Resource Design (fancy-speak for Web Design).  In this course, we are making webpages, while learning about the different aspects of designing for the web.  By the end of the quarter, we will have two webpages- one by using HTML code and the other with a website design software (namely, Dreamweaver).  As you may have guessed, the first website we are creating is being done strictly with HTML code.  Which is really…how can I put this?…DAUNTING.  I have nightmares about tags, lists, and tables.  The website I am working on now is on my writing-more specifically, poetry.  I promise to post the link when it is finished, but I am warning you.  Let me just put it this way- not only will you get to see my horrible website making skills, you’ll also get to see my horrible writing skills as well! (Just kidding!…I suppose.) I have been asked a lot of questions on how online classes actually work on a daily basis.  I’m sure each program at each school is different, but I think Drexel has it down pretty well.  Drexel uses Blackboard as a learning space.  Each week new lectures (usually Word documents) and assignments are posted by the professors.  We, as the students, read the lectures and any other readings that are given to us, whether from our books, websites, or journal articles.  Then, we complete the assignments (usually exercises or activities) submit them through either email, the Assignment Manager, or the Digital Dropbox in Blackboard.  Finally, we post to the class discussion board on the topic given for the week.  Everything is posted by the professor by Monday morning and is due on the following Sunday by midnight.  This is all done very independently and at “one’s own pace.” Although I am enjoying my courses and look forward to the outcome, Library School + Full-time job = Stress City.  I have decided to take the summer off and then start again in the Fall with only one course a quarter.  I will get my degree a little slower than anticipated, but definitely with my sanity intact.

Vintage Ads

I’ve been reading more about the history of graphic design lately. During the first part of the 20th century, the large portion of the client-base for graphic designers were cigarette companies. Looking back at ads from the 30s, 40s and 50s, I can appreciate the craft (they’re all illustrated by hand), but it raises a lot of questions in my mind about ethics in a profession like graphic design. Like most, these designers did not know just how bad cigarettes were when these advertisements were composed. And this makes me wonder how many of the ads we see now will prove to be as ironic as these do now:
  • And read the reasons why you should change to Philip Morris. They’re recommended by nose and throat specialists!
  • Nevermind what they recommend. What do doctors smoke?
  • This isn’t intended to be marketed towards children. I know many adults who still play with their paper dolls.
  • This is just terrible.

Authority Records and Databases

Today (4/4/08) Christine Oka was describing a citation/author search issue in the Gale/Thompson databases. The Gale/Thompson databases do not have authority records listing known variations( such as misspellings and regional variants) in author names. This lack of meta data makes searching for a given citation somewhat of a challenge as you have to systematically search the database on each variant search term. This is analogous to have to driving down every street in a subdivision to locate every house with the last name smith on the mailbox.

Teaching with Technology

On April 29th I will be making a poster presentation on Teaching with Video: Preproduction planning and Post Production resources for YouTube presentations. My coworkers Thomas and Andrew will be leading the afternoon breakout sessions. Here is the website to learn more about the conference. http://www.edtech.neu.edu/news_events/index.php?id=50 This will be held on campus at the Curry Center and Attendance is free for Northeastern attendees. If you are interested just register to attend.

Del.icio.us-ly a-Twitter about Second Life? Or something?

So I recently returned from a conference called Computers in Libraries 2008. It was way more interesting than it sounds! 🙂 Lots of librarians around the country (and the world) are talking about finding ways to use so-called Web 2.0 technologies in their libraries. There were sessions about Facebook, blogging, wikis, etc. I went to a couple of particularly interesting sessions — interesting in that they dealt with technologies that I personally haven’t used very much, but that are growing in popularity. These include the sites Twitter (which I’ve never tried) and del.icio.us (which I have), and the virtual world of Second Life (never been there either). In case anyone is not familiar with one or more of these, let me briefly explain them. Twitter lets you post very brief responses to “what are you doing now?” and follow other people’s responses to the same question. It’s been referred to as “micro-blogging.” del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site — you can save websites you like, tag them with descriptions, access them from anywhere (unlike bookmarks in your web browser) and share them with others. And Second Life is a virtual world in which you can create an avatar and simulate real-world activities, such as shopping, building things, attending concerts or lectures, and meeting people from around the world. The conference session on Twitter and del.icio.us failed to convince me about the former, but had some good ideas for using the latter in the library, especially in reference and instruction. The session on Second Life showed a few interesting examples but mainly served to point out that there’s not a huge demand for library services in Second Life because not that many people use Second Life itself, at least not yet. So, I’m curious about others’ usage of these three items. The only one I’ve tried at all, as I said, is del.icio.us. Do you use it, and for what? How about Twitter? What’s so great about it? How about Second Life? Can you see a role for any of these in the library, or for educational purposes in general? I’d be very interested to know about others’ experiences with these technologies.