The Third Assignment

The professor released the third (and final) assignment for my summer class today. The purpose of the assignment “is for students to develop a greater understanding of catalog construction as well as an appreciation of the consequences of catalog design decisions on catalog usability” (from syllabus). We are to identify 10 OPACs via the web - catalogs should represent holdings of relatively large collections (I’m not sure what exactly is meant by a relatively large collection). The 10 should vary in terms of presentation and feature set. After we review the 10, we need to narrow our selection to 3. We need to become familiar with the 3 catalogs and their features. We need to develop a comparative analysis of the chosen catalogs - addressing both general and specific features (testing catalogs with simple searches). Examinations should include search features, hitlist displays and presentation of individual records. The resulting written report should be no more than 10 pages which outline the strengths and weaknesses of the catalogs - commenting specifically on how successful the catalogs were in responding to users’ needs. Include comments on features that enhance or impact (positively or negatively) the user experience. We should also comment on potential improvements that would improve our experience.

Much like the other three assignments, this one is worth 25% of the final overall grade. The worst part is that we haven’t yet received our grades from the first or second assignment. It is so difficult to have any sense of how the class is going. I’m not sure where I stand. I am especially nervous about the paper that was due last week. There was so little direction - no firm guidelines. And at this point, the final exam is less than 2 weeks away. I think I might be panicking!!!!!!!!!

It is All in One’s Perspective on Things

In my last post about becoming a librarian, I was trying to point out that we all need to take responsibility for our choices in life - for what we choose to become - for what we learn - and for what type of librarian we become. I admittedly am the type of person who chooses to dwell on the positive and prefers to view the world through a rose-colored hue. As such, I really enjoyed Iris’s post, Happily Sheltered, over at Pegasus Librarian. She wrote:

Maybe I’m living a sheltered life. Maybe I’m naive. Maybe I haven’t worked long enough to have the rose tint fade from my contact lenses. But as it turns out, I like it like that. I’d prefer not to get bitter. I’d prefer not to reach a state when everybody’s never-ending, half-hearted job search becomes perfectly acceptable workplace conversation.

Sure, there are days when nothing goes right, when you bend over backwards for someone and receive nothing but complaints, or when you’ve exceeded the legal limit of meeting hours per 15-hour work day. But this profession is WAY too exciting, challenging, rewarding, and generally cool for those days to warrant a place in our primary focus. What’s more, the disgruntled attitude is far too contagious to be handled safely, even in small doses. So I’m going to stop reading those blogs. I’m having way too much fun living in my happy-librarian bubble, and I want that bubble to last for at least the next half century or so.

I’m with Iris in that I want that bubble to last for the next 50 years or so. I do think it is important to be aware of what those who are disgruntled are saying - because there certainly are problems, issues, etc. And we need to be aware of the problems in order to try and resolve them. It isn’t just work in libraries that can cause frustration and anger. Life throws its own curve-balls. However, negativity gets very weary after a while, and I often have to distance myself from it in order to be able to maintain my own sense of optimism. I have made a conscious choice not to let bitterness and disillusionment overwhelm me. And it is nice to know that others feel the same way.

Learning to be a Librarian

All of these recents posts about skills needed to be a librarian and how to learn them have really got me thinking. Really, I think graduate school is important - I wouldn’t be spending money that I could certainly use elsewhere, if I didn’t think it was important. Grad school is where you learn about the nuts and bolts, the background, the history and the theories. These are important (although not always the most interesting material), but don’t always translate into the actual skills that you need to perform a librarian job day to day. How best to learn the daily life of a librarian??? Talk to one. One of the most wonderful things about online world is the ability to connect with people in a variety of ways. You can learn about the good, the bad and the ugly - and get realistic, real world visions into the world of librarians and libraries. I mean just reading all of the recent posts about skills needed to be a librarian (along with the fascinating comments) will tell you an awful lot.

So, you want to be a librarian? Read up on it. Send an email to a librarian. Comment on the blog of a librarian. Ask questions. Get involved in the discussions going on in cyberspace. Join the newlib listserv or one of the many others. Many of the librarians who get involved in blogs and discussion lists love to talk about this stuff. Investigate graduate programs. Understand that the job market can be tough - people’s experiences trying to find work varies wildly. Try and get a sense of how many libraries are in your area and how often they hire. This may give you a sense of whether or not you will have to move to find a job. And, ultimately, take a hard look at why you want to be a librarian and then make a decision about what kind of librarian you want to be.

I don’t mean a public services, a cataloging, or an electronic resources librarian. I’m talking about becoming an engaged librarian who cares and understands that the patron is center of our universe. You will be responsible for what you learn and what type of librarian you become. Although I often get frustrated with apathetic and distant professors, I try to work around that to make the learning process far more valuable. You will have great professors, so-so professors and awful ones. There are classes and professors that require little or no work, and you can choose to fall into that rut or rise above it. I don’t always succeed at this myself - my job, my life, etc. sometimes interferes. Sometimes, I whine and complain about a class or a professor. But, I try - and I try very hard to get the most out my graduate school experience that I possibly can.

Blog posts about skills needed to become a librarian:

• 20 points on excellent library customer service - A post by Steve at Blog about Libraries about excellent customer service in libraries. (July 6, 2006).
• 21st Century Librarian: Further Thoughts and Your Comments - A follow-up post by Meredith Farkas at Information Wants to Be Free to her Skills for the 21st Century Librarian post. (July 20, 2006).
• Are Librarians Customer Service Oriented? - A response by Steve from Blog about Libraries to Meredith Farkas’ “The 21st Century Librarian: Further Thoughts and Your Comments.” Steve argues that the role of the librarian is changing: “We just can’t afford to be “wait until they ask us for help” librarians anymore and we can’t assume that our worth is self evident. We know that we have a lot to offer and now it’s time to stop the handwringing and start strengthening the value that people place on us.” (July 21, 2006).
• Internal Customer Service Skills - A post by Steve at Blog about Libraries which is a follow-up to his post entitled 20 points on excellent library customer service. Steve expounds upon his third point “Treat each other well and you will find that treating patrons nicely becomes easier.” (July 19, 2006).
• LibraryLand Skills for Any Century - A post by Karen Schneider at Free Range Librarian containing a list of skills needed for those who work in libraries. These skills include cunning, impatience, pessimism, fiscal-horse sense, cajones [sic] and feistiness. (July 20, 2006).
• LibraryLand Skills, Part Deux - A post by Karen Schneider at Free Range Librarian with skills needed to succeed in libraryland, including stubbornness, high grubbyness tolerance, be lucky, and know how to be in the moment. (July 20, 2006).
• Shamelessly glomming onto meredith’s awesome post - A post by Sarah over at the Scattered Librarian in response to Meredith’s Skills for the 21st Century Librarian. Sarah writes “However, with those caveats, i stand by my initial post. We can have all the tech savvy in the world, but if we are not adding value by what we do and how we do it, and (at least) as importantly, putting forth a compelling message about the value we add to the communities we serve, it’s time to fold our tents and go home, because we don’t deserve to win the battle for eyeballs against wikigoogazon, et al.” (July 20, 2006).
• Skills for the 21st Century Librarian - A post by Meredith Farkas from Information Wants to Be Free detailing skills needed by librarian, focusing on “big topic” items. Be sure to read all of the comments on this post.
• Skills for Success - from Info*Nation - includes cloud tags of personal and professional competencies for librarians. Found via Infoblog.
• Teaching New Tricks - A post from Joshua M. Neff at the goblin in the library. Joshua focuses more practically on the things he did and did not learn in graduate school. (July 18, 2006).
• Technical Skills and the Librarian - A post about the technical skills that everyone who works in a library should possess. (July 19, 2006).

LibraryThing to Add Media

Given the tremendous popularity of LibraryThing, I really thought that I ought to check it out. It really is right up my alley - given that I have handwritten lists of books that I own. I hesitated about creating an account because I really didn’t need to get hooked on something else, but felt as if I needed to check it out while I was doing research for my paper on library catalogs. I, of course, created an account right before they started having some issues - and the system was a bit slow. When I finally got back to it (by which time it was working great), I definitely enjoyed the process of adding my books. I was incredibly disappointed when I tried to add my DVD collections and found out that I couldn’t. As such, I was THRILLED to read via davidrothman.net that LibraryThing would be adding the ability to add movies and music later this summer. So, I guess I will just work on adding my books until then. Cool!!

TV Planner Online!!

Comcast has released a new web-based product called TVplanner (beta version) which allows you to search for upcoming tv shows (2 weeks). I am so excited by this!!! Admittedly, I am a wicked tv junkie who scrolls through the tv guide listing rather than surfs - and likes to plan what I am going to watch. This online version is so much easier to scroll through than the tv version. The search capabilities are much better - and the results are much, much easier to read. On Demand content is available - and again, is so much easier to read through than doing so on the tv with the remote control. The first time you visit the site, it ask for your zip code so that you can set your cable area. Very easy to use!!!!

Robert S. Taylor Web Resources

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Pet Peeves

Bill Drew posted a rant yesterday about Out of Office messages, which made me laugh (in sympathy). While I understand why people use out of office auto-replies, I do admit to finding them annoying when sent to listservs. Of course, I try and get over my annoyance because I doubt the problem will ever go away and I make lots of mistakes too. I even find myself chuckling at certain times. On one of the listservs to which I subscribe, there is one person who always sets an out of office auto reply and (as far as I can tell) never sets the listserv option to nomail. I keep a mental calendar of when this person is “out of the office.” I often wonder if the person has gone away somewhere fascinating. For me, I never use the out of office auto-reply option - mostly because I can’t even remember how many listservs I subscribe to so there isn’t any way that I can set them to nomail.

In honor of pet peeves, I thought I add some of mine:

• Unsubscribe messages sent to a listserv and the subsequent heated debate about it. What I find comical in this situation is when there is a heated debate about someone’s unsubscribe message that is immediately followed by at least one other unsubscribe command. Part of me thinks that people do this on purpose to keep the love alive. I keep a mental tally of how long it takes for the subsequent unsubscribe email.
• Patrons taking data cables from computers. This tends to be the biggest reason why computers are out of order. Since patrons obviously need them, we try to supply them at the circulation desk - but they generally don’t ask. I now need to tie wrap everything to discourage this habit of removing the cables. I try and think of this as a game that we play. Since I don’t necessarily like to win, this is a good strategy for me. On the positive side, this must mean laptop use is up.
• The fact that my husband doesn’t mind wearing two different socks. This can throw off my whole day and I can’t find anything funny about it (other than the fact that it is amusing and odd that it bothers me).

1/3 of the Way Through the Program - Some Reflections

Okay, I really won’t be 1/3 of the way through my masters program until August 4th, but it makes me happy to think of myself as being that far along. And, I like to be happy!! But given some recent posts about skills needed to be a librarian, it seemed like an appropriate time for some reflective introspection. So far, my experience in graduate school has been positive. I’m in my fourth class and in this short time, I have thought that the material covered in all of my classes has ranged from useful to extremely important. Nothing so far has struck me as downright useless. Overall, I am learning valuable information that I think will make me a better librarian - and that is the point, right? Are there problems, things that could be done differently or classes that could have been so much more??? You bet!! In a couple of classes, the majority of what I have learned happened outside of the virtual classroom and of the professor’s perview. Something in particular sparked my interest, confused me or challenged me. I felt the need to learn more, dig deeper and to think about something in a new and different way. This process probably would have been better served inside of the class, but that wasn’t to be. I’m way to early in the program to have a good handle on how many of Meredith’s “big topics” will be covered, but I’m hopeful.

Technical Skills & the Librarian

What type of technical skills do you need to be a librarian? A tough question to answer. Specific skills will vary depending on type of library one works in, will vary by departments within a library, will also vary from library to library - and will most definitely change rapidly. Most libraries do not have a tech support person in the building during all hours they are open - many do not have one in the building at all. This often requires that everyone have a good sense of basic computer troubleshooting skills. Some technical skills that I think everyone who works in a library should have are as follows:

• Basic knowledge of a personal computer - knowledge of file folder structure - how to save and retrieve documents (including how to organize) - how to navigate between folders - knowledge of network folders vs. local folders - how to add a network drive - how to add printers - difference between local printers vs. network printers - knowledge of how to delete items and empty trash - knowledge of different file formats & ability to recognize virus files
• Internet knowledge- how to search the web - what the internet is vs. what the world wide web is - good searching habits - knowledge of spyware and how it can disable a computer - how to use various browsers including IE, Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Netscape and others - what a URL is - what the format of a URL is - knowledge of domain name structure - knowledge about pop-up blockers & how to disable them - idea of what can and cannot be found on the internet - what the notion of precision vs. recall is
• Software knowledge - Microsoft Office products and other alternatives, anti-virus software, personal firewall software - ftp - telnet - HTML editors - basic ability to understand your operating system (os) - knowledge of what (os) you have on your computer - knowledge of how to figure out what (os) others have - ability to test & learn new software (librarians are often asked to troubleshoot any program installed on library computers), in depth knowledge of email software - understanding of POP3 vs. imap
• Networking knowledge - what is the network? - what do you need to put a computer on a network? (network interface card & data cable) - wireless networks - how to connect to wireless on PCs with various operating systems & on a mac - how to determine if internet connectivity problems are network problems, computer problems or web site failures - what is an IP address? - some knowledge of the following concepts: DNS (internal & external), NAT (network address translation), VPN (virtual private network) - what is a proxy server & the basics of how it works
• Hardware knowledge- familiarity with your cpu - understanding where your USB/Firewire port is - understanding of into where your mouse, keyboard & monitor & possibly barcode scanner plug- familiarity with laptops, tablets & PDAs - knowledge of mp3 players & iPods - familiarity with printers & how to troubleshoot printing problems - knowledge of thumb drives/flash drives - knowledge of projectors
• Other Computer Concepts - Ability to troubleshoot basic computer problems - primary computer user is the first line of defense for their own computer - knowledge of how to reboot, soft and hard boots, and when to use them - ability to clearly articulate and define computer problems
  Ultimately, it is extremely important for everyone to have enough technical knowledge to know when to escalate a problem and to whom to escalate the problem.

Other blog post on technology requirements for librarians:

• 20 Technology Skills Every Librarian Should Have - A post from The Shifted Librarian, dated July 21, 2005, who borrows from an article by Laura Turner from June 2005 issue of T.H.E. Journal entitled 20 Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have.
• Technology Skills For Academic Librarians- A post by StevenB from February 13, 2006) on the ACRL blog referencing the 20 Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have from T.H.E. Journal. StevenB has some great thoughts and observations.
• The “kept-up” distance learning librarian- A post from July 21, 2005 in which Meredith Farkas talks about some technical skills that she believes are important for an “tech-savvy kept-up librarian.”
• Technical skills of librarianship- An August 7, 2005 post in which Eric Lease Morgan lists 5 technologies with which librarians who want to work in systems or a systems-related area should be familiar - from the LITA blog.
• You Only Need To Know 5 Things To Be A Library Geek- Blake posted this piece on August 29, 2005 on LISNews.org.
• Why librarians need to be fluent in IT- The Filipina Teacher-Librarian summarizes a lecture presented in April 2006 in which she discusses why librarians need to understand IT - posted on May 3, 2006.
• Must-Have Technology Skills for Library Staff - A list of 10 skills that the Library Supporter suggests for library paraprofessionals - from July 26, 2005.
• Technology Core Competencies- A post from the Kansas Tech Consultants Blog with suggested core competencies for Kansas library workers - from July 27, 2005.

How About Training in Customer Service?

In re-reading and pondering Meredith Farkas’s Skills for the 21st Century Librarian, it dawned on me that in addition to her well-thought out (and well written) competencies, there really should be some sort of expected competency in customer service. I believe that there is some small level of this in my current program. I have been pleasantly surprised at that in most classes the patron is experience is stressed heavily (as it should be). However, this could be more explicitly stated and studied more in depthly. I think a class that teaches about customer service and/or people skills would be a wonderful addition to any MLS program. Everyone has difficult experiences with patrons, co-workers, etc. and many of us could use help dealing with such problems. Ultimately, it is important for librarians to be able to deal effectively and professionally with patrons, to listen to them, to help them find the information they seek and to ultimately remember that without them we would not have a job.

In the same vein, Steve over at Blog About Libraries has written another great post about customer service (since this is a thinly veiled attempt to promote his original list, I thought I would help. Don’t forget his first followup post either). Steve talks a bit more about one of his original 20 Points on Excellent Customer Service: #3 Treat each other well and you will find that treating patrons nicely becomes easier. I think this harkens back to the old adage that smile and the world smiles back at you. I like the point that if we create a friendlier and more supportive work atmosphere, we will be creating a friendlier and more supportive atmosphere for our communities. These points seems so simple and yet, so often we find ourselves at the mercy of life’s demands and forget how important they really are.

I Can’t Wait for Nelinet’s 2006 IT Conference

I was pretty excited when Nelinet released the topic of the 2006 IT Conference - Social Networking - Plugging New England Libraries into Web 2.0 several weeks ago. This is a topic in which I am extremely interested - and think that hearing people discuss how they have integrated social applications into their libraries will be inspirational (I hope so). I was even more excited when Casey Bisson announced that he has submitted a proposal on a new library deployment of WPopac to Nelinet for the conference. I have read all of his postings about WPopac and think it a great OPAC option, but haven’t been able to attend any conferences or workshops where he has presented. And of course, I’m hooked on the saga. Just who is the mystery library?

Meredith Farkas on 21st Century Librarian Skills

I just finished reading Meredith Farkas’ post on Skills for the 21st Century Librarian over at Information Wants to Be Free. Wow!! This is a great post that is really worth several readings - especially by library students (and those who teach library students). Meredith breaks her list of skills down into two categories: Basic Tech Competencies and Higher Level Competencies. I’m glad that she moved away from specific tech skills and focused on more “big picture” topics that really suggest that students need to understand that technology is an integral part of librarianship and also suggest that critical thinking is a necessity. Certainly, it is important that someone in the library has knowledge of more technically oriented subjects like PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS and network administration, but those are skills that depend highly upon the technological infrastructure of any given institution. And, there are many specialized classes that offer this type of training.

Meredith wrote:
Technologies will come and go. Change is inevitable. But if librarians can adapt to and embrace change, can easily learn technologies, can keep up with changes in the profession, can plan for new services and evaluate old services, can develop services that meet the needs of all stakeholders, can evaluate technologies, and can sell their ideas and market services they will be better able to meet the challenges of changing user populations and changing technologies.

Again, Wow!! This is exactly the type of librarian that I hope I to be and exactly what I am trying to accomplish both in my daily work and in graduate school. I would like to think that I am making significant progress towards this end, but I also believe that one’s development should always be fluid and changing (just like technology).

This post has also got me thinking a bit more about my experiences so far in school and what I hope to actually get out of the experience. I have worked in libraries full time for 12 years and part time for an additional 3 years. It is indeed possible and even desirable to learn most skills on the job. Meredith even points out that some topics are better learned on the job. So, really what does an MLS offer you that on-the-job training cannot (and even more theoretically, what should an MLS offer you)? That is the $50,000 question (Feel free to substitute whatever amount you will spend for your degree. I personally don’t like to tally it up because I find it thoroughly depressing. So no, I don’t think $50,000 is what I will pay). Anyway, I think I will take some time to think about it and save my thoughts for a future post.

An Overview of the Paper

I have submitted my paper. YEAH!!! If I weren’t dying of heat, I would probably be much more excited. As it is, I’m having trouble keeping the sweat that is dripping off my forehead from landing on my keyboard (I bet some ice cream might help). Anyway, I thought I would summarize the paper that I just submitted. I will probably be adding it to the site with the rest of my work from my MLS program, but maybe not until it is graded. I’m a bit of a scaredy cat in that respect.

The Library Catalog Transformed [I’ve never been good at titles. I have very little creative ability and even less patience for the fine art of titling my papers.]

The catalog or OPAC as it stands today is inefficient as an information discovery tool - so inefficient that people have turned to other discovery tools to fulfill their information needs. In order to compete in the race to provide people with information, libraries need to rethink the way they do business and the ways in which they provide information. It isn’t enough to simply transform the catalog without looking at the entirety of information that a library makes available. The catalog is but a small and underutilized pointer to library materials. It is in effect, the library’s shelflist and useful to library staff.

We really need to abandon the current library catalog concept in favor of one interface or portal that the library presents to the world (with single sign on). This one system should index everything available including the physical items owned by the library, the virtual items owned by the library, the sum total of all physical materials available to users at other libraries (via OpenWorldCat??) and internet resources. This one portal should also include access to interlibrary loan request forms, requests for library cards, online renewals, the ability to place holds, access to journal articles along with all other services that the library provides. Search engines and the like are global in scope and this is a trait that libraries need to copy. Z39.50 (too slow and clunky) may not be the answer, but it illustrates that this can be done.

In addition to adding a global perspective, library portals need to add a great deal of functionality in order to be able to transform into online communities in which patrons want to participate. People expect highly configurable systems with a great degree of interactivity. This would allow the public to be able to log into the library portal, see and interact with their circulation records, save their search strategies, save favorite publications (citations or actual links to full-text documents), create research bibliographies directly from the portal (rather than have to export citations to EndNotes or Refworks), track ILL requests, add their own tags to records, see book jackets, see book reviews, create their own books reviews and to interact with others from the library community. With RSS feeds, patrons could sign up for alerts to remind them about the material they have checked out, sign up for alerts when new issues of journals they are interested in are published or sign up for alerts when new books matching certain criteria (author, subject, etc.) they specify arrive at the library.

MARC structure needs to change. FRBR and RDA are in the works, but most catalogs are still formatted with this outdated standards. Simple things need to be improved for better search outcomes. Last name, first name conventions for searching for authors need to be more flexible. There is no reason why people shouldn’t be able to input author names in natural language format and receive results rather than see also references. LCSH need to be completely scrapped. If patrons need to consult a multi-volume set in order to figure out which subject heading to use, the system is way too complicated. Additionally, searching needs to be improved to handle natural language queries. Relevancy ranking is also important. Ranking algorithms need work - possibly a combination of how often an item is checked out, viewed (online resources), and saved to patron records along with analysis of patron ranking and reviews. This needs some serious thought in order to best serve the patron base.

A well built system that provides real services that library patrons need will attract users by itself. Marketing new and better services is key, but people who like a system will encourage its use among their peers. As for training, if new users cannot successfully use the new interface to execute a search and retrieve relevant information then there is a problem with the design. In addition to a well-built system, help pages and FAQs are a necessity - especially for more advanced search options and features. Libraries can’t forget that significant portions of their populations access library services remotely.

This is a pretty brief overview of the paper which ended up begin 13 1/2 pages. I decided to make the paper pretty basic given that it was an assignment for an beginning graduate course. I cut several points that I would have liked to have made, condensed several sections that could have used more explanation and included a great deal of basic description in the first several pages. This fact has me INCREDIBLY nervous and anxious. I can’t say I’m overly happy with the paper, but can also admit that generally when I complete an assignment I need some serious downtime to even be able to think about it with any objectivity

I’m Done, I’m Done, I’m Done

Well, I just finished my paper on the library catalog for my catalog class. I still need to go back, reread the paper and do some final editing, but the bulk of the work is done. I have to admit that I am feeling pretty fried - whether from the fact that I have done nothing but work on the paper for the past three days, sat in the same chair for the past three days or from the incredibly hot weather that we are currently experience in the New England area, I can’t really say. Right now, I need to take a break and do something unrelated to school work for about an hour. I have until 6PM (is currently 3PM) to turn in the paper - and why would I turn it in early?? I will post a summary of the paper, since someone specifically asked - but may not get to that until tomorrow.

I’m Not Feeling the Love

Okay, my paper is due tomorrow at 6PM. I am currently on page 4 with much, much more to write (10-15 pages total) and I’m finding this one very difficult to write. Writing a paper for an entry level graduate course on how to make the catalog more user friendly is not an easy task. The major problem, you ask? The library catalog can’t really be fixed in 10-15 pages. I have way too many ideas and thoughts - way too many for a 30 page paper even. Scaling down my thoughts has never been my strong suit. Additionally, since this is a paper for an entry level cataloging class, I think it needs to be fairly basic in nature. So, I’m definitely struggling with what to include, what not to include - and how to organize it all. ARGH!!! Anyway, time to get back to work. I needed to take a break in order to rant a bit. But the good news is that now I feel better!!!

The Assignment

The assignment from my professor for the paper due on Monday reads: “How do you make the catalog more user friendly? How would you get the patron to use the catalog? How would you provide training for the patron?” This is one of 15 project topices that the professor provided us, along with the instructions that “You are to choose one topic from the suggested topic below for your project. Papers need to be 10-15 pages in length and are due on July 17th. Now this seems a bit vague - especially to a student like myself who likes specific directions and details in an assignment. I suspect this means there is some leeway in how we write the paper - and I am a bit excited about the topic. Not only will I be able to learn a great deal about OPACs/library catalogs, but will able to use that knowledge at work in order to help improve our patron experience. Now it is time to get back to work!!

Some Unrelated Thoughts & Responses

OPAChy reminds us in a post entitled Why we’ll never be as good at search as Google that the major problem in using Google’s page-ranking algorithms to compare with OPAC search ranking is that their page-ranking system is not necessarily applicable to our data. OPAChy writes that “PageRank presupposes that (a) there are lots of people “voting” by making links to given resources, and (b) the best resources are the most popular/linked-to.” The fact that the majority of our collection is not heavily used makes the use of relevancy ranking much more complicated. Just because an item hasn’t ever been used doesn’t mean that it isn’t highly relevant to a specific research topic. How does one convey this in terms of relevance? Obviously, academic, public and special libraries may have extremely different needs in terms of relevancy ranking. Since much of the recent criticism of OPACs relates to lack of relevancy ranking, I think we need to look closer at this issue in order to determine what we need for relevancy ranking. Our collections are very different from Google and even from Amazon and sometimes I think we forget this fact. Ultimately, I think this relates to the fact that Google provides users with many sources for a given topic, but that libraries are trying not to provide just sources, but the best sources available for a given topic. This is a critical distinction.

There was an interesting response to Steve’s 20 points on excellent library service (from Blog about Libraries) over at The Itinerant Librarian yesterday. Angel takes issue with two of Steve’s points. First, she points out that is difficult not to take extremely bad behavior from patrons personally - and that some behavior is inexcusable. I think that Angel has a point, but sometimes we need to remember that patrons who cause problems are generally in the minority - and the small minority - thank goodness. Despite this fact, we do have policies in place to deal with this type of behavior in order to protect ourselves and have had to bar patrons from using our facilities. Second, Angel disagrees about being flexible with policies. I can see both sides of this issue. Ultimately, I think the best way to handle this is to reevaluate policies often. If you find that you are often being lenient about certain policies, maybe they aren’t really necessary. Maybe fewer policies will help. Of course, I work in a library and I know that we often have to put policies in place so that we can point patrons to them when we have to speak to them about an issue. I would like to point out that this usually happens because students complain (loudly) about other’s behaviors. I admit that we have signs forbidding the use of cell phones - but this is because of the pervasive nature of their use. Students started a campaign to ban the use in the library because they found cell phone use distracting while studying. Ultimately, the library belongs to the students and they have the right to have input into our policies and procedures. Angel sums up her post nicely - “Now, someone will say, “oh, but you are just worried about covering your behind.” You bet I am. Another thing I learned in my years as a educator. Always cover your ass. In the litigious land we live in, not doing it is just foolish. Making some exceptions just opens you to all sorts of vulnerabilities that are better avoided. Why would you do that to yourself, or to your colleagues? So, very nice rules, very true, but take them with a grain of salt, as one should probably take a lot of things in life. And just use some common sense.” I think this is great advice - especially since I try to take everything with a grain of salt.

How to Deal with Schoolwork

When I read this post over at the Eventual Librarian, I was very jealous. Imagine being about to complete an assignment without hysteria - I certainly can’t. Fortunately, Kate posted two followups: How to write a paper for library school without hysterics, part 1 and part 2 to explain a bit more about how she accomplished this miraculous feat. I like many of Kate’s suggestions - most of which have to do with using automated tools in favor of highlighters and post-it notes. This saves one time since anything written by hand will probably have to be entered into a computer at some point anyway. I agree with Kate on this. However, I need to confess that although I do use some social applications/web-based applications like del.ico.us, Google Notebook and Refworks, I still do most of my work by hand. I have started writing some of my papers on my computer, but still hand write papers more often than not. For some reason, I find it easier to to get the paper written by hand - when I am curled up on the couch in front of the tv with my big, 5 subject notebook. When I type a paper from scratch, I feel like I have to edit it/revise it/fix it as I go. I often find it very difficult to get beyond the opening paragraph. I use highlighters and paper notes on a daily basis - especially since I can’t stand to read articles and/or anything of length on the computer screen.

Although I haven’t gotten the knack of taking notes on the computer, I have to second Kate’s advice about using introductory and concluding paragraphs, using book reviews to narrow down sources and using RSS feeds and blogs as a source of information. When doing papers or projects, one has to learn how not to read everything. If you can’t scan the introduction to a work and immediately decide if the item is relevant or not, you will waste a great deal of time.

Anyway, it is time for me to get back to work on my paper. I can say that one important part of being able to write a paper without having an attack of hysteria is to actually work on the paper - and not allowing other things to get in the way (like blogging). Thanks for sharing your methods Kate. I appreciate it - and am looking forward to your next installment.

OPAC Resources

These are more resources that I am using for my paper that is due next week. This list is by no means comprehensive - at this point, it is just a starting point.

• A “Next generation” library catalog - Eric Lease Morgan’s essay in which he outlines a his ideas for the next generation catalog.

Examples of Enhanced Library Catalogs

• Ann Arbor District Library’s Catalog -
• Carroll County Public Library - Using Aquabrowser
• FictionConnection - Bowker’s Aquabrowser interface - username and password required
• King County Library System - Using Aquabrowser
• Lamson Library - Plymouth State University - Casey Bisson’s WordPress OPAC
• North Carolina State University Libraries Online Catalog - The catalog is powered by Endeca’s ProFind with Guided Navigation.
• Penn Library Catalog - The University of Pennsylvania catalog allows users to tag catalog entries.
• University of Huddersfield Library - Addition of “did you mean?” suggestions for failed searches.

Enhanced Services for the Library Catalog

• Aquabrowser
• Drupal - A content management system used by Ann Arbor District Library.
• Endeca
• LibraryElf
• RedLightGreen

ILS Vendors

• Endeavor Information Systems - Voyager
• Ex Libris - Aleph 500, SFX, Metalib, DigiTool, Verde, primo
• Extensity - VubisSmart
• Innovative Interfaces, Inc. - Millennium
• SirsiDynix - Unicorn, Corinthian
• VTLS - Viruta
• Full listing - From Library Technolog Guide edited by Marshall Breeding

Some Reflections and a Surprise

For the past couple of years, I have felt my professional development has been pretty stagnant. I took over as Head of Library Systems at my library in January 2000. Honestly, I was relatively new to library systems (I was a library systems technician from 1998 to 2000) and was pretty aware of the fact that I needed to learn a great deal to do my new job well. I read voraciously, took as many classes as I could and poured over material relating to library systems. I was excited and filled with ideas. The new job was challenging and rewarding in so many ways. However, over the years, I got much more comfortable and confident in my job - and a great deal of my day-to-day tasks became fairly routine. I have been aware of a feeling of disquiet and restlessness over the past two years - this slowly evolved into a sense that I wasn’t as engaged in the overall mission and purpose of the library as I could be. I certainly had lost my feelings of excitement. It seemed to me that there needed to be more - in what capacity I wasn’t sure. These vague feelings eventually led me to graduate school. I felt that school would engage my mind, expand my horizons and really get me thinking about my job in a new way. Additionally, I had found my calling in library systems - and it became important to me to formalize that realization with a masters in library science.

I have only been taking classes for about 10 months - and am currently taking my 4th class (out of 12). The learning process has been wonderful - and it has certainly stimulated my mind. Even though, I am often studying subjects that I am very familiar with, I have been able to think about these subjects in new and different ways. I’m much more engaged while I am at work - and thinking about the library from the patron perspective. So, school has done what I had hoped it would do for me. However, one thing that has been so unexpected has been the effect of blogging on this entire process. As I have mentioned before, I started this blog as a way to document my process through school. Because I am taking classes online, I think it is important to have a online way to document the experience. I also thought that actually creating a blog would be the best way to learn about them, understand them and discover how they could be useful in a library setting. I honestly did not expect to get much out of the process. Surprisingly, I have to admit that blogging has been a wonderful experience that I am enjoying for more than I would have thought. Additionally, it gets me thinking much more creatively about my work than I would have thought possible. Who would’ve thought?