Bloggie Importer Thingies August 20, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in General Incoherency, Librarianship, Web/Tech, Weblogs.Tags: Ann Z, Facebook, import blogs, Myspace
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For those of you who don’t know (and the only person I can say for certain who DOES know is the incomparable Ann Z, cuz she told me about this in the first place), but some social networking sites, like Facebook, have this awesome little feature that allows you to blog in one place (say here, for instance), then import it over to the most blog-like feature at that site–in Facebook’s case, the Notes application. The effect is that I can blog from one place and have my thoughts broadcast (in Hi-Def! no, not really) at other places fairly soon afterwards, with no additional effort.
I think this sort of thing is great, particularly because I’m one of those people who has footprints all over the net.
(Seriously, I’m pretty easy to find. If you know any of my usernames–and I have several–you can pretty much map out a good chunk of my life. One of the women I recently dated told me some pretty surprising things about myself, though nothing really unsettling. Still, it makes you wonder how much of yourself is really out there. If SkyNet ever comes after me, I’ll need a miracle.)
Digressions aside, I think it’s more than a little appalling that a popular social networking site like Myspace doesn’t have this same awesome capability (or if they do, I sure as hell can’t find it). For those of you interested in tracking down even more of me, here’s my Myspace page, but I don’t really maintain it that well anymore. I check in, occasionally do a survey or something, and sometimes re-connect with people who have found me, but that’s pretty much it. I’m much more active on Facebook (such as it is), primarily because I’ve found their applications to be a little more user friendly. But the Myspace blog hasn’t been touched in over two years, in part because of limitations like this.
Now, I’m holding out hope that Myspace will change its ways. The application is still pretty popular with the young adult and teen crowd (though others are gaining ground), and they have made some pretty nifty modifications in the last couple of years. They need to work on the functionality of their blogs, and internal calendars if I’m going to continue using it as an outreach tool to advertise YA programs and services to Houston-area teens. Still, I continue to hold out hope that they’ll improve. Until then, check for my updates on Facebook.
And, oh yeah… it’s been nearly 6 months since my last post. Miss me? 
Alright, MP3 Player NOT Going Back… January 2, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Librarianship, Web/Tech.Tags: Chip, ebooks, mp3 players
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A big hearty thank-you to Chip, who showed me how to change the settings on the player itself to a mode that would accept e-audiobook files. This arms me with another important piece of knowledge in terms of helping out patrons who want their e-audiobooks to be truly mobile. And, of course, now I can start listening to The Gunslinger!
MP3 Player Going Back January 1, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Librarianship, Web/Tech.Tags: DRM, ebooks, iPod, mp3 players
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One thing I can’t stand, as an information professional, is a surprise brought on by a lack of information that I should have had from the get-go.
I’ve been wanting to get an mp3 player for quite some time, and I knew pretty much from the start that I wouldn’t be going with an iPod of any type. Main reason: they work with iTunes files only, they have a well-known lack of battery life after a certain point, and the digital media providers that my library contracts with have stated that iPods will NOT play their files.
Seeing as I planned to use my mp3 player to download and listen to e-audiobooks through these services, I made sure I got a player that was: 1. not beholden to any one proprietary playback format; and 2. equipped with a file converter of its own. That way I had a good deal of flexibility in dealing with the formats issue.
After downloading an e-audiobook from one of the services, acquiring the license, and transferring it to my mp3 player, I encountered a most unpleasant surprise. It wouldn’t play the audiobook. My COMPUTER could play it just fine, but somehow the license didn’t make the jump to my mp3 player when I synched them up. Windows Media Player informed me that it was because my device was “unable to play subscription files.”
What?
It turns out this was a firsthand introduction to the issue of digital rights management (DRM) that I’ve read about so many times. Don’t get me wrong, I figured it would come into play eventually, given that I was downloading freely and legally a copy of material that, ostensibly, is made to profit the publisher creator. What I wasn’t figuring on was having to confront it from the point of purchase.
Apparently, neither were the salespeople. I went back to the store and asked them about the issue after explaining what happened, and while they could point me to at least one player that could allegedly play subscription media, it clearly wasn’t an issue that came to their attention very often. After listening to my story, I was very sympathetically told that I should probably return the player and look for another one.
I guess what I don’t understand is why this isn’t a bigger issue for consumers. Based on what I’ve discovered so far, the more popular players won’t play these kinds of files. And yet, they’re the best kind I would think the public would be interested in: free (with a library card, of course). I looked up mp3 players in Consumer Reports, and couldn’t find anything that really dealt with the issue of DRM capabilities in their findings.
Many patrons who have mp3 players that come to my library want to know how to download these titles, and I, as a big fan of portable information technology, am always the first one out of my seat to show them how it works. But without a readable, current, and easy-to-find list of players that support the services, it could become a headache trying to put the ‘portable’ into that phrase (“Well, ma’am, at least you can listen to it on your computer at home!” 
).
If anyone knows where I can find information that would help me stay on top of this issue, please feel free to let me know.
Differing Views on Handling “Special” Patrons August 18, 2007
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Librarianship.add a comment
I had an encounter recently that’s made me wonder about customer service and librarianship in general. Near closing time at one of the branches I was at (I cover several others in addition to my own, but don’t get me started on that), a well-known (to the staff) patron–who has a reputation of being more difficult and less liked than average–came in and asked for access to the Internet. Since it was so close to closing time, our reservation system had powered down the computers and it was impossible for this person to get access.
In a move that I later caught a slight amount of grief for, I asked her what she needed from the Internet. What it boiled down to was a print-out of a single page, and after a somewhat haphazard search, I found what she needed on one of the staff computers and printed out the page for her. It took me maybe three or four minutes to do, and led to the branch closing slightly later than normal to the public. My colleagues who witnessed the event had interesting reactions, from, “Wow, you sure are nice to do that for her now!” to “You haven’t learned yet, boy! You should have told her you can’t log on, you’ll have to come back tomorrow, end of story.”
I understand why my co-workers reacted the way they did. They’ve been around a while, and have a long history and lots of experience with a multitude of patrons, from the easy-to-please to the not-so-easily-pleased, from the smooth cats to the rough rhinos, and also the singular “regular” customers who may come at an inconvenient time, or may not have the highest of social graces. I’ve only been around a few months, and am still learning the ropes of the system, and perhaps my handling of these patrons leaves something to be desired.
For my own part, I explained (to varying degrees of non/agreement) that given what she needed, I simply couldn’t tell her no. Yes, she came in as we were starting to close (and she did know it); perhaps she could have prepared a little better and made our lives a little easier. But then again, I don’t know the whole picture; maybe she couldn’t. And really, in my opinion, when someone needs a small print-out of a web page, and it’s what I perceive as a genuine need, I really don’t have it in me to refuse a patron such a simple degree of help.
I don’t really expect to change my approach to the situation, should it arise in the future. But I don’t really begrudge my colleagues their responses. After, I don’t know everything about the patrons they’ve been dealing with for years. Maybe as I learn, I’ll change, but in the mean time, if getting someone something they need means I’ll close a couple minutes later than usual, I’ll choose the tardiness unless the circumstances are extraordinary. Otherwise, I’ll get one of those guilty feelings that accuses me, “Why did you go into librarianship if you can’t be bothered to help others?”
A Humbling Example of Storytime April 17, 2007
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in General Incoherency, Librarianship.add a comment
Last week, during my training at the regional branch, I not only watched but participated in a story hour with the children’s librarian. Overall, I was pretty pleased: I managed to get and (somewhat) hold the attention of about 15 kids, ages 7 and under; I finished one entire book (Little Rabbit Runaway, pictured below) for them; and was told that I did a good job of projecting, doing interesting voices, and overall acing the performance angle of things (yea theatre degree).
Then I watched the gentleman we had at my branch today.
For starters, he was wonderful with children. Contracted to us from the Children’s Museum of Houston for a final installment of a juvenile activities program, he was energetic, playful, and bantered well with this crowd, which was a good 25 or so. He not only read to them (in both English AND Spanish), but set up some crafts and held a prize raffle for the kids and their parents. They ended up getting some bilingual books.
And, oh yeah. This guy was BILINGUAL. Switched in and out, and back and forth between English and Spanish with such ease he made it look like a cakewalk. I was not only impressed, but also envious; here I thought I’d been making decent progress in my quest to master Spanish (it’s one of my New Year’s resolutions for ‘07), but clearly saw that I have a LONG way to go, in terms of both speaking and understanding the language.
So, as I’m sure you can imagine, my jaw was on the floor by the time this guy was done.
He was, of course, not only happy to see me (as were many of my new co-workers; my branch had apparently been without a children’s librarian for some time), but also ready and free with advice for the performances and activities I will be giving. Essentially, he said that he had the same problem I did with the language when he started, but to just dive in and hold Spanish storytimes, and that the parents and the kids would be happy to help me out and that I’d get it in good time.
Still, I was kind of left with that feeling a new stand-up comic might get if they were going on after, say, Jeff Dunham or Jerry Seinfeld. The sentiment of, "How the heck am I gonna top that?"
Needless to say, I’ve got my work cut out for me. With some help from my co-workers, I’ll hopefully be up to the challenge. 
Training Week Over! April 15, 2007
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in General Incoherency, Librarianship.add a comment
I did something I haven’t done in a long time: SLEEP for a couple hours during the evening! From about 7:30-9:30 I dozed on the couch while Sarabeth watch TV and surfed the net. I was only awoken when something worthy (the movie, Addams Family Values) came on the TV.
This was the result of a very full work week, one that now doesn’t involve pulling fifty-something hours at a movie theater, but is nonetheless very challenging and exhausting. I learned a lot of new procedures and tasks, but the real change for me was the public services aspect. My last library position in serials mostly had me dealing just with coworkers, so interacting with the many library patrons and the general public was both educational and an exciting challenge.
What I noticed in particular was the constant repetition of several kinds of questions, mostly having to do with either registering for the public computers or using the printer/copier units (which I admit can be confusing). It was just a constant. There are dead periods, hectic periods where there are constant demands on your time, and patrons of all ages, personalities, and ethnicities that can affect how you interact with them.
Clearly, public services will be an interesting challenge!
I was told I did a good job this week, so I’m looking forward to going to my branch and continuing to rise to the challenge.
Everybody to the Qunu! August 10, 2006
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Librarianship, Web/Tech.1 comment so far
Following a post I read about online reference services, I checked out Qunu, an expertise matching service
that provides its searchers with a list of experts on a search topic
instead of a list of websites. Experts set up a Jabber-compliant chat client on their computers (I currently use Miranda) and create an agent with self-created subject tags to interface with Qunu and through which they can receive IMs from users of the site who run across their area of expertise.
This is pretty cool stuff, in my opinion, as it seems to represent a great leap forward in terms of connecting users with the information they seek. I mean, there are plenty of great website resources out there, but they tend to be limited by their content (and, sometimes, the form), which often isn’t as wide-ranging or in-depth as a user’s particular needs. It is at this point that having people proficient in, for instance, a particular academic discipline (like chemistry) or the use of a particular software, fills an important potential information gap.
After trying a couple of Jabber-compliant chat clients, reading and re-reading the connection instructions, and puttering around with the service’s website interface a bit, I’ve volunteered my services as an "expert" on this site, mostly with regard to providing general help with research. Whenever I’m online through Miranda, I’ll be available to anyone looking for a helping hand with their assignments. So far I’ve just used the tags Luke mentions in his post about Qunu, with "general reference" added.
Some things I’ve noticed thus far:
- From what I’ve seen browsing other expert tags, there is a LOT of emphasis on helping others out with software, programs, and computer applications. I’ve so far seen very few subject disciplines tagged, even among the sciences. This is potentially very fertile ground for subject librarians to connect to patrons who may need their services. For that reason, librarians should strongly consider creating a presence through this or similar services.
- For Miranda users: The agent sometimes doesn’t acknowledge when you’ve responded to a help request, even when you actually do. I’m not sure if this is problem is indigenous to Miranda, the Qunu site, or somewhere in between them. Just remember to reset your status in the agent message interface to get yourself re-listed, or you’ll be considered "offline" the next time someone else searches your tags on Qunu.
This is a fairly new service, so a lot of bugs are being worked out. Still, it looks like it could be yet another interesting change on the forefront of library services. I’m really excited about seeing where this goes!
And Speaking of Changes… July 19, 2006
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in General Incoherency, Librarianship, Serials.3 comments
… I’m moving to Houston.
I figure it’s just not warm enough in Minnesota right now. Because, while you can cook an egg on the sidewalk with the heat here the last few days, in Texas you can flash-fry them! How cool is that?
No, I don’t have a new job in Houston yet. Yes, I’ve resigned my serials position at St. Olaf (and no, I won’t go into details–let’s call it a mutual split and leave it at that). Where this will lead professionally, I’m not yet sure, but I’m also certain that this isn’t a bad thing.
The flat-out truth is that I’m still not sure what I want to do within the profession. As much as I enjoy my work with serials, I also have to confess that I find working strictly within technical services to be a little stifling. I also like working with patrons, and get a good deal of fulfillment and satisfaction out of the patron-librarian interaction. I think now–between positions, as it were–is a good time for me to think hard about the kind of role I want to play in the library world, and why.
I don’t want to abandon serials entirely. I’ve learned a lot in working with them, and think my experience in serials cataloging and management could be an asset in a public services capacity. But I’ve gotten a thrill–not to mention a solid sense of accomplishment–from helping patrons locate the resources they need, from teaching, and from interacting with students, faculty, and staff on a more regular basis. And I think, at this point, that’s probably what I need from my work.
I’m thinking back to a paper I wrote in library school, where we had to think about the importance of technical services and its relation to public service librarianship. My argument, as I recall, was that the ideal librarian would have a solid understanding of how all parts of the library functioned, and that to achieve this understanding, needed to have some experience in performing the duties of those areas: circulation, reference, instruction, cataloging, acquisitions, etc.
This is the type of position in which I would be most interested. A reference librarian with a hand back in serials cataloging. A departmental liaison who also does acquisitions work for their serials collections (beyond asking serials to order such titles). Or a serials librarian who takes a few hours a week at the reference desk and occasionally does instruction work, either for a particular class or in conjunction with another instruction librarian.
Of course, I’m not sure how plentiful or even existent these kinds of posts are, but again, I’m just thinking "out loud." For the time being, Sarabeth and I have more packing to do and other arrangements to make for our long trek south.
More NASIG: Day Two May 10, 2006
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Librarianship, Serials.add a comment
The next day was the start of what I call the "meat and potatoes" of the conference, the sessions. I sat and took as many notes as I could, which necessitated sitting near an outlet whenever possible. On a related note, does anyone know if there’s a non-wired way to keep your notebooks powered up? I’m rather ignorant about this kind of technology. Something like Bluetooth, except for batteries?
So, the day started off with our opening Vision Session, which was given by Robin Sloan. He showed us Epic 2014, a "documentary" about how information has evolved by the year 2014. I was happy to say I’d seen this before during a meeting at St. Olaf, but was still awed by the message it conveyed. Robin went on to show a slideshow about how this phenomenon might more directly affect libraries and information access, which was fascinating, raising the possibility that gatekeepers essentially may cease to exist. Some of my colleagues take issue with this projection, and I can see their reasons for doing so, but it was still a provocative statement that was too feasible to simply be ignored. Needless to say, it set the tone for the conference, getting we serialists talking about how information is handled and wondering how to keep relevant in the information economy. A great beginning.
From there I went on to my first (and for today, only) Tactics Session, which dealt with using methods and workflows common to the check-in of print journals to keep an eye on and "check in" electronic journals–which of course are always a hot topic in libraries these days. It was a good session, with me thinking along two lines as I left it.
Firstly, it makes a certain amount of sense to perform basic oversight on your e-journals: it’s easy to assume that since we should have access, for whatever reason we simply do, and that can be an easily fallacious presupposition. This, of course, was the point of the presentation, so from that standpoint it was a good session.
My second thought, however, was a bit more probing: why, in this whole session, was the possibility of using RSS technology never discussed? Applying print check-in methods to the digital equivalents apparently saves a lot of time over the former method: essentially, you’re clicking down to the article level, which is essentially much less cumbersome than receiving, handling, and physically processing a journal. Some providers have RSS feeds for their ejournals, which makes the process of digitally "checking them in" MUCH more streamlined (i.e., fewer clicks) than even the application of print check-in methods to e-journals. From what (admittedly little) understanding I have of RSS, there’s even the possibility of creating RSS feeds from scratch for those journals that don’t have them (again, I know very little about the specifics of this… someone, anyone, PLEASE feel free to educate me or set me straight if I’m just spewing misinformation).
The Strategy Session that followed was a presentation about the inclusion of Open Access journals in the OPAC: the pros and cons, how it would affect workflow, etc. I’ll say from the get-go that OA is not really my thing–it’s a possible solution to some of the larger puzzle of how to fix the scholarly communication system, but it’s still a bit too varied, nebulous and uncertain for me to have a sustained interest in it. With that said, the librarians who spoke had much to say about how OA journals in the OPAC could alleviate budget crunch issues, make holdings more robust through exposure, and how some services are starting to index the more popular OA journals (making them more likely to be seeked out in the first place). Of course, there were drawbacks, including life expectancy issues (OA journals can be notoriously shortlived), subject headings, and criteria for determining quality of the journals.
For my own part, this is an interesting subject, but I wouldn’t want to put OA journals into the OPAC here unless we had some pretty clear ideas regarding standards for them. And at present, I am content to let someone else look into the constantly changing minutiae of what OA providers are doing, how they’re improving, and whether or not to include them. Until a few more aspects become clear (what publishing/business models will work for OA, who the core providers are, and something approaching reassurance of their continued existence), it just seems a little too transparent for me to really grab on to the OA bandwagon.
The final session for the day was an examination of what it would take for those publishers that haven’t done so to "flip" to the electronic-only format for the journals they publish. Large publishers, of course, have for the most part done this, and offer e-only as at least an option, though in some cases they have morphed some of their titles into truly e-only titles, offering them only through the online environment. Smaller publishers, of course, are less likely to have done this, due to financial constraints and the absence of a viable strategic plan for doing so. This will cause some "growing pains" for libraries, as these changes will start to push up prices, and of course feel like price gouging.
Being interested in the scholarly communication system as I am, it was informative to see the pressures and obstacles faced by publishers from a more neutral theoretical perspective (the presenter was a theorist, and tended to stutter a lot). I know I’ve had my share of problems with apparent publisher attitudes toward libraries, so it’s nice to see what issues they are confronted with and how they are dealing with them (and what they MUST do to deal with them). I’m not certain I share the presenter’s hypothesis that the move to e-only will be inevitable–there are too many good points to print for it to vanish completely, even if the market might like that–but it certainly clarified some of the questions I’ve had about publishers. More on that for Day 2…
Rising Journal Costs April 13, 2006
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Librarianship, Serials.add a comment
I know the continual escalation of journal prices in the academic world pre-dates my relatively new arrival on the library scene, but I think one of the most frustrating characteristics of this topic is that there seems to be little that can be done about it. This story about U of Kentucky and their journal budget woes is undoubtedly the latest in a long line of reports on the problems these price inflations are hurting library budgets and causing deep cuts, both in their funds and the quality of educational resources and information they can provide their patrons. Unfortunately, I have yet to see much in the way of articulated strategies for combating or responding effectively to these hikes.
Honestly, what can libraries do to fix this situation? Find a way to stonewall publishers price increases? I haven’t seen a particularly effective example of this lately, so if that’s the route we plan to go, we need to seriously re-work our approach. Find a way to keep pace with the price increases? Good luck! Even creative solutions like Open Access and institutional repositories seem to only be contributing so far in alleviating the situation.
Libraries are charged with bringing their patrons the resources they need. Many publishers, it seems, are almost directly opposing these efforts with price increases well above the rate of inflation. We HAVE to find a way to deal with this, and soon. I don’t pretend to be a genius about this sort of thing, though, so I’m asking what others may have in mind.
