Almost Done!

Wow! In some ways this has been a long semester, just getting back into the groove of being a student, learning the systems, getting through ALLLLLLL of those readings...but mostly this semester has just gone by in the blink of an eye. Tomorrow is the official last day of class, and aside from another post or two in this blog, I believe I have completed all of my class assignments. 2 classes down, 10 to go! Not bad really - one-sixth of the way through my Master's degree. Next semester I will be taking "Retrieving Information" and "School Library Management." I'm sure that Retrieving Information will be full of new (and frustrating) technology lessons, which is really good for me as much as it makes me want to pull my hair out. But mostly I am excited about the School Library class - I'm really anxious to take some classes directly related to my primary interests. Yesterday I also signed up for an online class through the local community college, Educational Psychology, which will satisfy some of my education requirements. Will be interesting juggling 3 classes, but I *think* I can do it!

Yippee!!!!!!

I just posted my last major assignment for my LIS2000 class. It was due by end of day today, so nothing like waiting til the last minute! For this assignment, I did give in to just skimming if not altogether skipping several chapters in each of the books, and I wasn't really sure if I would be able to put together as convincing and relevant response as I feel I have for the earlier book reviews, but all in all I'm pleased with the finished product. As the instructors reiterate, "Completion not Perfection!" This is actually a fairly difficult concept for my personality to embrace, but with a full-time job, THREE classes on deck for next semester and a baby on the way, I guess I am going to have to learn! :)

Flyby

Holy cow, this week is just flying by! And amazingly, that means this first semester is just about over! With the exception of keeping up my blog, the only assignment I believe I have left is the final book discussion! And THANK YOU Sue & Chris for deciding on an online discussion vs a 1500 word written report. This relieves my stress exponentially! Although..still not sure how to respond in 25 words or less, (God, can I ramble!) but I'm sure I will manage. :) Okay, that's all for now because this is one busy weekend!

Anti-Librites

Okay, that is my attempt at a spoof of the Seinfeld Anti-Dentite episode... :)

I've decide my neighbors are anti-librites! I was so pumped up about my MLS program, and was rambling on about the wonders of library school and trying to fire everyone up over the issue of Network Neutrality, and my neighbors tried their very best to rain on my parade. Granted it was 11:30 Friday Night and we were sitting around a chiminea and mostly everyone was intoxicated but I was miffed. Some of them were only jokingly giving me a hard time, but several friends that are teachers were relaying horror stories of their school librarians and telling me I don't have a snowball's chance in hell at making a difference. That I am just going to turn into a big frumpy shusher. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. For the record, I let it all roll of my back, but I was suprised at all of the *anti-librite* feelings!

Why I Love Being a Library Sciences Student

1) Librarians are cool. I love my fellow students! I have to admit even as a member of this group myself, I wasn't quite sure what to expect of my peers. My mind was full of visions of frumpy bespectacled shushers. Totally not the case. The students I had the opportunity to meet last week during my on-campus visit for my Masters program are passionate, motivated, intelligent, diverse people with such a broad mix of interests, backgrounds, and desires for their careers. It was really inspiring. Although, one stereotype was correct - my program has to be at least 80% women. But women rock. :)

2) Learning is stimulating. It has been way too long since I really learned anything. I mean I read and at work there is always a new process to adapt to, but its been years since I've had a true "ah-hah!" moment. Or added a REAL new skill to my portfolio. Or came home so excited about something that I felt compelled to talk everyone's ears off about my new found knowledge. And being on campus, cruising around with my back-pack, joking about my professors, stealing away for vending machine breaks...how freaking refreshing from working on Excel spreadsheets and listening to corporate conference calls. I felt like an 18 yr old let loose for the first time. School agrees with me.

3) My program is kick-ass. Which I should have known BEFORE applying and accepting, but the University of Pittsburgh's MLS program is really top-notch. As in top 10 in the country. I pretty much chose it without considering alternatives because of the convenience of a 100% online degree program at a local school, but I was really proud to learn more about the credentials of my program. The creators and directors of the program are extremely focused on making sure that on-line students have virtually the same experience an on-campus student receives and they do it very well, employing technology, required on-campus visits, and using a Cohort concept, which bands all of us students who start together in a group that moves through the program together. I am so happy with my educational experience so far, and believe I am going to appreciate it more and more as I move through the next 2 years.

4) It's not just about the books. Most people that find out I am studying to be a librarian look at me like I am telling a funny joke. They think librarians are old ladies shelving books according to the Dewey Decimal system and telling patrons to "Shh." I do love books but there is SO much more to this field, especially now, as the Internet continues to develop. You wouldn't believe all of the political and legal issues that are at the forefront for library professionals. I am absolutely enraged about some of the changes that could be coming if librarians (and other people) don't successfully advocate for the public. And for the first time in my life, I don't feel totally helpless about legal and political issues that upset me. I feel like with this new profession and the support of fellow library science professionals and membership in the American Library Association, maybe little old me can make a difference. But it feels good to be in a position to be motivated to try and make a difference.

5) A job I love...is it possible??? I never really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. Except a Mom. That's the only thing I ever felt passionate about. And that isn't about to change, but I also know that I am going to need more in life. When my children are in school and as I get older, I need to make a difference to the world outside of my immediate family, and I finally have a career to put with that desire. During this on-campus week, I had several group and personal meetings with my adviser who runs the School Library track of this program. I am SO excited about being a school librarian. Encouraging a love of reading and an excitement for knowledge in young people could be MY job. There is SO much information out there, and being able to filter through it, and access the right information in a way that is meaningful to everyone from the class brainiac, to the class clown, to the child with learning disorder could be MY job. Being an aide to teachers so that they can focus on their specialties and not collecting and disseminating resources for projects could be MY job. Teaching children that the best research paper isn't necessarily founded on information collected from a google search and helping them find fun, easy ways to access more reliable information could be MY job. I just can't contain my enthusiasm!

Leonardo's Laptop

I'm finding this book to be very refreshing, it is so whimsical and positive; it is a nice change from some of the scary messages conveyed in the works on copyright or the other works that drag on with technical mumbo jumbo. As a person with an interest in literature, art and history, it is interesting to see the digital world and technological innovations aligned with the thoughts and philosophies of DaVinci. Some of the authors ideas on how technology can be used by individuals to enhance their life, relationships and hobbies sound almost too good to be true...but I hope that is not the case!

Hmm - for some reason, I haven't been able to add a title to my posts for about a week. I wonder if it is a blogger.com issue or something I am doing wrong...

Anyway - just dropping in to say, I am so looking forward to the on-campus visit next week!!
It is so exciting to finally meet some of the people "in real life" that I have worked with via discussion boards, online chat sessions, skype and other collaborative software. Since I work from home for my job, I have often had the experience of meeting my co-workers in real life after working with them virtually for many months if not years. I have found I am not very accurate in my imaginations of people. Regardless, it always makes for a better working relationship to meet someone face to face.

Also, I can definitely use some time away from work, even if it isn't for a relaxing vacation. Although I could go for one of those too! Not until September though... I just have not been in the right mindset at work lately, and a break will surely do me good!

Oncampus Visit

Just dropping in to say, I am so looking forward to the on-campus visit next week!!

It is so exciting to finally meet some of the people "in real life" that I have worked with via discussion boards, online chat sessions, skype and other collaborative software. Since I work from home for my job, I have often had the experience of meeting my co-workers in real life after working with them virtually for many months if not years. I have found I am not very accurate in my imaginations of people. Regardless, it always makes for a better working relationship to meet someone face to face.

Also, I can definitely use some time away from work, even if it isn't for a relaxing vacation....could also go for one of those though. Sadly, no real "vacation" until September. I just have not been in the right mindset at work recently and I think a break will do me good!

Hmm - for some reason, I haven't been able to add a title to my posts for about a week. I wonder if it is a blogger.com issue or something I am doing wrong...

Anyway - just dropping in to say, I am so looking forward to the on-campus visit next week!!

It is so exciting to finally meet some of the people "in real life" that I have worked with via discussion boards, online chat sessions, skype and other collaborative software. Since I work from home for my job, I have often had the experience of meeting my co-workers in real life after working with them virtually for many months if not years. I have found I am not very accurate in my imaginations of people. Regardless, it always makes for a better working relationship to meet someone face to face.

Also, I can definitely use some time away from work, even if it isn't for a relaxing vacation.

The Laws of the Web

This evening I started and finished a required reading for the upcoming book discussions, The Laws of the Web. How very refreshing to have such a short little book to read!

This wasn't my favorite book I have read for class to date, but still interesting. The idea of discovering patterns in use among such a diverse group of users of the Web is fascinating, and the author did a fairly decent job of illustrating some of the patterns he discovered and providing helpful examples. Still, for someone whose primary endeavor was to translate the patterns into layman's terms, I found some of the patterns a bit technical and hard to digest.

This is the book on which I will be leading a group discussion for class. A few discussion questions came to mind:

1) What are the major themes conveyed in this work?
2) Does the author make a good argument?
3) The author attempts to translate his sophisticated research into lay terms - does he succeed?
4) What of the laws explained by the author do you find most interesting? Most surprising?
5) What practical purpose do the laws demonstrated in this book have for information science professionals?
6) Have you ever encountered these laws at work in your personal use of the World Wide Web?

Thank Goodness for my cohort!!

Seriously, I don't know if I would be surviving, or at least surviving with any level of sanity if it weren't for my classmates and their extremely helpful tips and questions that are posted in the group discussion boards.

I dedicated this entire day to working on the webpage assignment, expecting it to take hours of frustration. Instead, I finished the assignment in 45 minutes, entirely because all of the problems and issues I would have encountered had already been found, addressed and solutioned by my classmates.

I can't tell if the instructions for some of these assignments are intentionally vague and lacking important detail in order to encourage us to experiment on our own and to collaborate as a group, but I do know that much of the detail necessary to successfully complete assignments comes from my peers vs the syllabus.

Working from home...

I am continuing to be unimpressed with "The Social Life of Information." Overall, I 100% agree with the general premise of the book, that technology does not exist in a vaccuum, that human personality, social interaction, emotions, knowledge are irreplaceable by data and software. I just don't think the examples used by the authors make very strong examples for the argument. I just finished the chapter "Home Alone," about individuals who work out of their homes. As someone who has successfully worked from home for over 3 years, I do not find the picture painted by the authors, of employees sitting alone in isolation and frustration, dealing with failing technology with no support or social networks at all accurate. Thanks to technology like instant messaging, group chats, audio conferences, webcamps, VOIP, and e-mail, even though I do not physically interact with my co-workers during the day, I still feel quite in the loop socially, I still have the opportunity to learn from my peers, I don't find myself confronted with problems and no way to reach out...but if it weren't for technology, my situation could be quite different. So, far from technology isolating work from home employees, I find it to be quite a source of networking and socialization. The authors seem to ignore this aspect of technology in favor of pointing out the negatives.

The Social Life of Information

After the last series of books, which I found to be truly interesting and relevant, I am fairly disappointed so far in The Social Life of Information. I agree with the basic premise, which in simpleton terms seems to be that technology needs to be considered in the grand scope of human social interaction, because there are values inherent in human interaction that can't be translated into data and networks etc. But gosh, this is not a captivating piece of literature. In terms of ease of reading, I'm finding it only slightly better than Thomas Kuhn. Also, an entire chapter dedicated to Bots? I guess I just don't see this as a major concern among some of the more pressing issues raised by Lawrence Lessig or Jessica Litman.

In addition, I am experiencing another technical frustration. I can no longer join the online chats for class. Somehow my Java must have gone crazy, and no matter how many times I uninstall and re-download, I can't get the online office hours to work. On my growing list of things to do...

Free Culture

This book really got me hopping. As I was reading, I could literally feel my blood pressure rise. Some of Mr. Lessig's accounts of how some of the "little people" have been bullied by big business are horrifying.

Making a college student turn over $12,000 in his life savings or face a $250 million dollar lawsuit, just because he improved upon a university search engine, that happened to make it easier for people to share their music collections? I think this is outrageous. Those companies should be focusing on making better music not trying to save their precious millionaire executives by threatening the world's next generations of creators. And this is only one of hundreds of accounts in Free Culture that left me feeling angry and helpless.

When I got to the conclusion and Mr. Lessig applied his argument to that of Africans suffering from HIV and the US Legislature fighting the sharing of life-saving drugs for the benefit of intellectual property law, and Mr. Lessig asked, "how will we explain to our children how we let this happen?" it brought me to tears.

I feel like recommending this book to everyone I know. But then I ask, what in the world am I going to do about it? Even if everyone reads this book, if the Supreme Court isn't interested in holding up the Constitution's written commands that Copyright should only apply for a "limited term" and the purpose should be to further science and progress, what am I going to do about it?

I suppose before I get so caught up in the writings of one person, I should first investigate the opposite side of the equation, in order to balance the opinion of Mr. Lessig. I just can't imagine ever siding with the wealthy powerhouses over the public good....

Grazr Widget

http://grazr.com/gzpanel.html?addbar=off&theme=sateen_red&font=Comic%20Sans%20MS&file=http://grazr.com/data/Supergal16/export.opml.xml

Going to be a hectic couple of weeks....

Yikes. I am feeling overwhelmed. It is our 2Q Financial Close at work, and it is going to keep me hopping.

In addition, I need to focus on the following actions for school
- Finish Code 2.0
- Read Digital Copyright
- Read Free Culture (YIKES - I didn't realize this book was also part of the book report. I looked and saw the 3 authors and thought it was 3 books, not 2 books, plus 2 more by the same author.) Luckily I am a fast reader, but I am scared about getting this all done with all that is going on at work.
- Write Book Review
- Tag Cloud assignment
- discussion question response and follow-up
- Hot Topic response
- Discovering Computers text Chapters 12-14
- Prepare for July 2 Quiz
- Supplemental readings, tutorials

Trying to breath deep and take one day at a time.

How is it possible though that my busiest time at work is coinciding w such a busy time at school?? :(

Code 2.0

Really interesting book! I kind of hate that I have so much reading to do and that I can't take as much time to absorb everything that Mr. Lessig has to say the way I would if I were reading for leisure vs trying to finish 4 books for a book review, but I'm enjoying this book the most out of any we have read so far. He has obvious opinions on each issue, but he presents them with evidence and with a continuous message to the reader that the reader should make up their own mind. I prefer that to Mr. Baker's emotional rants, Mr. Lesks overly objective prose and Mr. Vaidhyanathan's underhanded digs at various political groups and corporations (no matter how much I may agree w him!).

In particular, I am really intrigued by the discussion of "latent ambiguity." The idea that the Constitution may support 2 vary diverging viewpoints and that society today has a choice to make is a new concept to me.

Since I am reading for the purpose of writing a review, as I read I try to formulate my arguments. One clear theme between all of the works is legislature and the impact of legal decisions on digital content.

Custom Search Engine

I added my custom search engine into the format of this blog, but am also posting the link here:

http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=015357441138480550212%3Abmkstpecq7k&hl=en

what's going on in my world?

- I finished Anarchist in the Library. Pretty interesting read. I did zone out in a few parts, and for awhile I was getting pretty confused about where the author was going with all of the political, cultural theory and discussions of terrorism and torture and war, but I believe it all wrapped up nicely. I can see the connection between trends towards oligarchy and anarchy in information technology impacting current events. It took me a little longer to get through this book than I hoped, so I need to pick up the pace for the next reading, "Code 2.0." Again, I went ahead and bought the physical book version of Code 2.0 instead of trying to read 200 pages off of my laptop. Guess I am still a late adopter of technology.

- Work has been very frustrating the last few days. Starting Monday I had some unpleasant discussions with my boss's boss about my next role. They are in a tight spot and wanted me to take a job right now that is not what I want to do and certainly not the right time. It has all settled down, and we've agreed I'm going to continue in my current position at least for a few months. HQ also rolled out what I consider to be a ridiculous exercise of very little value with an unrealistic time line for completion. Corporate America. I really shouldn't be surprised. However, what keeps me going is that I am making my way through this Masters program, and graduation from this program is to me an escape from a corporate world that I just can't get too excited about. Obviously I am still at the very beginning of my studies, but at least I've started!

- Totally unrelated to class, this weekend is the BIG birthday party I've been planning for my husband for almost a year now. Yippee!!! I'm expecting 80 people and I just hope the weather cooperates, because I don't know what I'll do with that group if we have to all be inside.

The Anarchist in the Library

This book is scaring me. More than "Double-Fold" even though this author doesn't quite employ the same alarmist passionate tone of Mr. Baker, the possible future scenarios described by Mr Vaidhyanathan are of greater concern to me. ( I can't actually tell if this author is male or female, but am going to refer to him as a he, simply because the term "wank-off" was used in a paragraph about internet porn, and us chics don't talk like that.) ;) The evidence presented by Mr Vaidhyanathan is also much more compelling.

I'm a little over halfway through, and want to note a few paragraphs of particular interest to me both in case they can be used in my book report later, or just as something I would like to discuss with my peers in the future...

Some of the assertions made be Mr Vaidahyanathan...

- Copyright Law truly impedes Free Speech. Example: the questions raised by "The Wind Done Gone," Alice Randall's retelling of Gone with the Wind. See page 84.
- The DMCA is written so broadly that it has applications beyond creative content. Examples: garage door openers, printer cartridges, car parts. See page 86
- Digital rights management technologies protect material already in the public domain and not subject to property law. Example: Celebrites can shut down websites of non-famous people who share their name. See page 89.
- US desires to protect copyright has a sinister impact in non-developed countries. Example: Violent raids on pirated CD/DVD markets in India. See Chapter 7.

When I first started this book, I was a little bored by the length discussions on the entertainment industry and peer to peer music sharing sites like Napster. I've heard the Napster case study analyzed over and over and thought this book was going to be more of the same. Now that I am in Chapter 7, I am hooked!

Koha Records

Results 1 to 15 of 15 records.


At the very edge of the forest : the influence of literature on storytelling by children /
Fox, Carol. - Cassell, ; London : - x, 227 p. : ; 25 cm.

Children as storytellers /
Mallan, Kerry. - Primary English Teaching Association ; Heinemann, ; Newtown, NSW, Australia : Portsmouth, N.H. : - 87 p. : ; 24 cm.

Children tell stories : teaching and using storytelling in the classroom /
Hamilton, Martha. - Richard C. Owen Publishers, ; Katonah, N.Y. : - xx, 264 p. : ; 26 cm. +


Every child a storyteller : a handbook of ideas /
Kinghorn, Harriet R., - Teachers Ideas Press, ; Englewood, Colo. : - xiii, 211 p. : ; 29 cm.

Give a listen : stories of storytelling in school /
- National Council of Teachers of English, ; Urbana, Ill. : - xii, 136 p. : ; 26 cm.


The importance of storytelling : a study based on field work in northern Alaska /
Rooth, Anna Birgitta. - Univ. ; Almqvist & Wiksell International (distr.), ; Uppsala : Stockholm : - 106 p. ; ; 24 cm.

Joining in : an anthology of audience participation stories & how to tell them /
- Yellow Moon Press, ; Cambridge, Mass. : - 125 p. : ; 28 cm.


On reading books to children : parents and teachers /
- L. Erlbaum Associates, ; Mahwah, N.J. : - xiii, 403 p. : ; 24 cm.


The stories children tell : making sense of the narratives of childhood /
Engel, Susan. - W.H. Freeman, ; [New York, N.Y.] : - xi, 244 p. ; ; 25 cm.


Story dictation : a guide for early childhood professionals /
Gadzikowski, Ann. - Redleaf Press, ; St. Paul, MN : - p. cm.


Storytelling : interdisciplinary & intercultural perspectives /
- Peter Lang, ; New York : - vi, 175 p. : ; 23 cm.

Storytelling for teachers and school library media specialists /
- T.S. Denison, ; Minneapolis, Minn. : - 56 p. ; ; 28 cm.


Storytelling for the fun of it : a handbook for children /
Dubrovin, Vivian. - Storycraft Pub., ; Masonville, CO : - 142 p. : : Includes index. ; 23 cm.


The storytelling handbook : a young people's collection of unusual tales and helpful hints on how to tell them /
Pellowski, Anne. - Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, ; New York : - v, 122 p. : ; 24 cm.


Who says? : essays on pivotal issues in contemporary storytelling /
- August House, ; Little Rock : - 221 p. : ; 24 cm.

Hmmm...

I am confused as to what I am learning by some of the metadata assignments in this class. I feel like due to all of the technical difficulties everyone has, most of us are just motoring through, following the instructions as best we can, but I'm not sure we are gaining an appreciation for the practical use of what we are doing. At least I am not. Right now, I'm just trying to make sure the assignment is complete. I feel like for lessons and assignments to be useful we need to not only learn HOW to do something but WHY we do it, and I do feel like that component is missing in some of the assignments.

Not all - I do like the tagging websites and I really like EndNoteWeb and the Databases we can access through Pitt Library. There really is a wealth of information. But I don't understand why I've posted a list of abstracts into my Bloglines page. I thought Bloglines was for keeping track of blogs or news sites, where the data changes regularly. The articles I found through Scopus aren't going to change, right???? Clearly, I don't get it, and I feel like I am missing the point. If I had more time, I would try to research what I am supposed to be learning, but with so much going on, I'm trying my best just to get through.

Echoing earlier sentiments though, I do enjoy the class readings, especially all of the books we've read so far, and my peers are just awesome. More than one has saved my butt in these assignments!!!

Bloglines Scopus Results

http://www.bloglines.com/public/Supergal16

Trying to get organized!

This program sure is a whirlwind!

Friday, through the assistance of a help staff member at Hillman Library, I was able to set-up my EndNoteWeb account, and I spent all day Saturday completing the EndNoteWeb assignment.

Sunday, I spend writing my paper, comparing the 3 books. I used the issue of economics to tie all of the works together. I'm hoping that I took an acceptable approach. There were so many unique viewpoints and SO much information contained in the works, I needed to narrow the paper down to one unifying theme in order to do an analysis in 1500 words. I'm a naturally verbose person so staying within the limits is always hard for me.

I wish that this assignment was submitted in small groups instead of individually, in the way the Kuhn discussion was handled. I really liked reading my peers' papers and seeing what different approaches were taken by different students.

I'm off now to complete the Zotero assignment and set-up for the bloglines and Koha assignments. I took a day off yesterday to refresh, and I'm already feeling behind!

VERY FRUSTRATED

I am having one of those days. I am frustrated by the lack of time I have to things well. I am frustrated by ongoing technological issues at both school and work that make things that should be simple, difficult.

To start:
I can't establish an EndNoteWeb account, and by Sunday, I need to establish an account, make 50 bibliographical references, transfer 25 references from my Connotea account and submit. I can't even get started until I establish an account. When I follow the instructions for establishing an account, I get through to the very last step, and then I get this error:

"Cannot read from the server wf2la6.webfeat.org. The server may be temporarily unavailable. If the problem persists, contact your system administrator."

The Pitt Helpdesk couldn't help, I've emailed our TA and the professor, and posted a request for help in the Technical Q&A discussion board, and received no response. I don't know what to do and I feel totally helpless.

Meanwhile, I am still trying to get through the 2nd of 3 books that need to be read and analyzed so that I can write a 1500 word book report for Monday.

Also on the agenda a response to the "Professional Publications" hot topic.

And I have yet to finalize finding 50 unique items for my Zotero account. I don't understand why "50" was chosen. I feel like I could get the same learning experience by finding 25 or 30 unique items, and finding 50 of each for 4 different accounts is just eating into my ability to focus on other assignments that seem more inherently valuable to my career.

PLUS WORK IS MAKING ME CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have to remember that this program is going to help get me out of corporate America, which seriously is like stepping into a Dilbert cartoon.

I literally can feel my blood pressure skyrocketing today and I feel like I am not making any progress towards alleviating it.

Must repeat: "This too will pass. This too will pass...."

Understanding Digital Libraries & Double Fold

This weekend I finished "Understanding Digital Libraries" by Michael Lesk, and I am now halfway through "Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper" by Nicholson Baker. I feel like different readers could come away with different feelings of these two books depending on which is read first.

I found "Understanding Digital Libraries" to be a very informative objective analysis of the issues surrounding digital libraries, as well as a practical reference regarding some of the technology associated w digital libraries. I feel like I trust Mr. Lesk as an expert on the subject.

Now that I am into "Double Fold," I'm thinking...."whoa." Mr. Baker is so intense!!! I respect his passion and admire all that he is doing personally to preserve our world's history, but I can't help but feeling that his anger is misdirected and that his passion on the subject is keeping him from creating an objective analysis.

Just to reiterate - I agree with a lot of his points! If a historic newspaper can be maintained in it's original format, I don't believe it should be destroyed and converted to microfilm just to save space. I do believe libraries have been trusted w preserving this history of these documents and that responsibility shouldn't be taken lightly. But Mr. Baker seems to be accusing the entire community of library professionals of ignorancy, conspiracy and blatant disregard for valuable historic objects, and I just don't think that is accurate. Many of these librarians ARE just doing their jobs. They've been instructed by authority figures to convert these documents and educated by influential figures that newspaper is not durable and the only way to preserve the history is to microfilm. Many of these professionals truly believe they are doing the right thing and meeting their responsibility to maintain history for future generations. I know if I personally were taught the newspaper is bound to disintigrate, I would believe it...I'm certainly no paper scientist - why would I think other wise? Similarly, if I was instructed by the Director of Harvard libraries to microfilm collections of newspapers because that was in the best interest of the collection, I would also perform that request. The point I am trying to make is that while Mr. Baker may be correct that destroying these newspapers and converting all to microfilm is the correct way to proceed in all cases, I also believe that his assertation that there is a widespread assault on paper by librarians is inaccurate. I feel like readers who have not looked at other opinions on this matter could really get angry over Mr. Baker's emotional tirade against libraries, and miss the good intentions of many libraries in their efforts to digitize information for future readers.

Good Old Fashioned Books

All of the content of this course truly has made me think about how much I value a good old fashioned book. There is so much analysis being done preservation and digitization of information, and I understand and believe that it is a fascinating, relavent, necessary topic, but I can't stand the thought of books "going away."

This weekend, I went online to start reading "The Access Principle." After a few moments I realized I absolutely would not be reading a 380 page book from my laptop. Contrary to what has been suggested by everything I've been reading about the desire of consumers for fast, free content, I was very willing to spend the hour required to get in my car, drive to Barnes & Noble, wait in line, pay $35, and drive home, just so I could have a physical copy instead of a free digital version of this book. (Well, not entirely physical, I'm still waiting for it to be shipped to me!)

Interestingly, as I read "Understanding Digital Libraries," the book covered this topic, but not to the extent I would expect. In fact, several articles I've read mention that people like to have books because they are portable, lighter, less subject to damage, and don't require battery power. I would agree these are benefits of books, but it's more than that to me. Today I laid outside in my hammock with the breeze blowing, sun shining and leaves rustling reading my copy of "Double Fold." My head was comfortable on the hammock pillow and even though I read for over an hour, my eyes never grew tired. This experience would never have been possible even if I had been reading from a notebook computer. I sit in front of my laptop 9 hours a day for work, another hour sending e-mails and writing in my LiveJournal account to keep up with friends in other states, and more recently another 2-3 hours doing school work. Being able to take a good old-fashioned paper book and get outside AWAY from all technology is intrinsically very valueable to me - but that benefit of a print book seems to be ignored in all of the writings I've encountered.

Two Weeks

Well, I have officially made it through my first two weeks as an MLIS student!!!

For the most part, I am enjoying this program. The cohort concept is great; I love reading all of the responses from my peers to the various topics. Each individual's personal experience is always apparent and I like how the different viewpoints bring unique ideas to the same question. I still feel a bit intimidated by how many of my fellow students already have library experience, but so far I am keeping up. I feel like I've already learned a lot and continue to find everything interesting.

I do have a few frustrations with the program as well.

Primarily, the information continues to come from so many sources - emails, announcements, original syllabi, discussion boards. I live in fear that I am going to forget or totally miss something.

Related to that, a lot of assignments particularly reading material and video clips tend to show up on the announcements pages mid-week, once I have already planned how to allocate my time. And the last-minute reading assignments can be quite lengthy. Not to be a whiner, but it's hard to manage my time when new assignments are continually being added - I'd prefer if all of the readings were included in the original syllabus.

A smaller issue is I feel that our "Hot Topics" group is too large. A group of 4 or 5 could easily handle the workload and everyone would get more out of it and the presentation would be more cohesive than with a team of 13.

Overall rating: A- :)

And just as a test, I'm going to attempt to post a photo....

Literacy Advocacy

Today while researching the topic of "Library Advocacy" for my small group presentation, I was distracted by a link on the Friends of Libraries website about the 50th birthday of The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. For this milestone, Random House is teaming with a literacy group, called First Book. For every birthday e-card sent to the infamous Cat via this link, Random House is donating one book to the First Book organization.
http://www.seussville.com/CITH_50th/

I of course sent Mr. Cat a card, and then emailed some friends and family urging them to do the same. It's really important to me to dedicate a significant part of my future career as a library science professional to promoting literacy for children. Adults also, but the earlier that you can introduce literacy in a person's life, obviously the more they can benefit. Looking at this website, and sending my little e-card contribution got me thinking - "why can't I start now?" Juggling a full-time job, a Masters program, and keeping up with my house, pets, husband, friends and family is certainly time-consuming, but I want to start looking for little ways that I can become more involved in the literacy movement.

I started by searching for national literacy groups, but decided instead to start with my own public library. I sent an e-mail to the coordinator of youth services....we will see what happens!

Associations

This week our hot topic for discussion is library associations.

In doing some research for my response, I've decided I would like to apply for membership to:

ALA http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/membership/membership.htm
PSLA http://www.psla.org/association/memapp.php3

Within the ALA, there are 11 divisions. Given my interest in becoming a school librarian, I'd really like to be involved in the Association for Library Service to Children and the Young Adult Library Services Association. Members of both of these divisions are involved in programs advocating literacy programs for children and adults, an issue I am personally passionate about.

Crawling out from my cave...

I am actually amazed at how quickly I am picking up on some of the new technologies I am learning about in this program. I really consider myself a "late adopter" of technology - I'm usually the last to have the newest thing, but in a week of my MLIS program I have established accounts on numerous websites, downloaded more applications than I can count to my laptop, and in the past 30 minutes have gone from ZERO knowledge of RSS Feeds to adding subscriptions to both my Bloglines and Google Reader accounts. My friends would be impressed. ;) This is definitely good for me.

I am having some problems keeping up with the reading for both of my classes. After taking on Kuhn's Stucture of Scientific Revolutions, I couldn't bring myself to delve into the Discovering Computers 2008 text. I plan to catch up on the 200+ pages I am behind over Memorial Weekend.

I'm really looking forward to the on-campus weekend in July. I feel like that weekend will really give me more of a sense that I am "in school." My peers all seem like really fascinating people, and it's always interesting to see people in person. I tend to do a very bad job at guessing what a person will look like in real life. I've met many of my co-workers after years of working with them over the phone/email and been totally shocked by their real life persona. I'm sure it will be similar with this program.

Fleshmet

I enjoyed this vocab word from the OCLC article, "Content, Not Containers."

Fleshmet And old but revived term. Fleshmet is the past tense of fleshmeet, which means to meet a person in the flesh rather than virtually. As in, "Have we fleshmet?" Gartner predicts that by 2012 "70% of the populations of developed countries will spend 10 times longer per day interacting with people in the e-world than in the physical one."

I have a group of friends from around the US that I met online when I was planning my wedding on the weddingchannel.com. We've kept in touch and spend quite a lot of time online keeping in touch. Now that I am also doing my Masters program online, and I telecommute for my job 100% of the time, I definitely fit into the group that spends 10 times longer per day interacting with people in the e-world! SO I guess I am at the forefront of the trend. :)

Thomas Kuhn's - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

I finally finished The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and amazingly by completion I managed to appreciate Kuhn's work. I listened to Steve Fuller's lecture on the work before I finished the book and while I know it is an understatement to say Fuller has done considerably more research of Kuhn than I, I still came away from my reading with very different ideas.

For my review due tomorrow, I am going to focus on how Kuhn's ideas on revolution relate to the article we read from OCLC on trends in information formats. Notes for me on similarities I observed:
- importance of debates/diverging opinions
- cyclical pattern
- new vocabularies/equipment
- anomalies spawning new ideas
- specialization

My First Week

Some late Sunday night thoughts on this first week of classes:

I do feel overwhelmed by the quantity of assignments, length of reading materials, and all of the various sources of information, such as the main discussion boards, individual course discussion boards, individual course group discussion boards, the announcements pages for each class, syllabi, etc. I tried getting organized today so that I have all my assignments in one place, but it does seem like new things continually pop-up. I guess my biggest fear is that I will flat out forget to do something or not realize I was supposed to do something. I'm also intimidated by the amount of time I will have to get everything done in addition to my full time job, but as long as I'm aware I am supposed to do something, I know I will take my best crack at completing the work.

On the bright side, everything I've read or listened to so far, I have found very interesting. Even though I work for a globally dominant IT company, I feel rather ignorant about emerging technologies, and if nothing else, I know these two classes will help bring me out of my cave. :)

My classmates seem like super cool people. People from all different states and countries, educational backgrounds, age groups, careers...

Assignments I've been able to absorb so far:
- NPR Broadcast on Digital Libraries
- Content, not Containers Article
- Why the Internet is the Way it Is
- Future of Blogging
- LIS2600 Installments 1 & 2

Things I need to catch-up on:
- Kuhn. Ugh. On page 4. I'm sure this is an interesting and relevant book or it wouldn't be part of the curriculum, but I really can't stand books that insist on using such ostentatious vocabulary.
- Listen to the Lecture on Kuhn, once I make more headway in reading.
- Still waiting for my "Discovering Computers 2008" text to arrive from B&N.
- Also, was unable to get Real Player to work during the online office hours tonight, which is wierd because I used Real Player all day for other webcasts.

Unfortunately, my head is throbbing right now, so no Kuhn tonight. Need to take a hot shower, lots of Advil and hit the sack.

Good night!

Purpose

This blog is for me to capture my thoughts, observations, comments and other thoughts during my first semester as a graduate student in a Master of Library Sciences program.