Tuesday!
8:00 am - arrive at work, load all programs
8:10 am - one of my coworkers is gone for the morning so we're responsible for the email account for the office too. Usually, we're not, so it's nice to have the extra experience!
8:15 am - and... requests! I'm in the "regular" queue for a while...
- Lots of requests for Spanish Language materials today... many of which are available on campus!
-Someone is looking for information on Niue which is in Polynesia, so I'm sending lots of requests to the University of Hawaii!
- _Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies_? Yeah, okay - that's scholarly :)
- Lots of Preservation Department questions about their requests - they (usually) require microfilm and sometimes the lending library sends other formats...
12:00 pm - Lunch Time!! Meeting my dad today, we'll probably go to Chin's. Gotta break my dad of the habit of ONLY going to Subway... State Street is at our front door - don't limit yourself!! :)
1:00 pm - dodged a swarm of rapid grad students making a road block in the stairwell to make it back to work.
1:00 pm - back into requests. I'll be responsible for doc providers all afternoon, hopefully there aren't too many!
1:07 pm - Loving my Aloha 'Oe Pandora radio station- HAPA is on right now!
4:32 pm - wow, the afternoon went pretty quickly. Lots of requests... it happens.
5:00 pm - Quitin' time!
1.31.2012
1.30.2012
Welcome to #libday8 !
Good... afternoon all! (Yikes, where did the morning go?!)
Today is the start of the wonderful Library Day in the Life Project round 8! For those of you unfamiliar with the fantasticness that is this project, this week librarians from all over will track what they do in an average day or week and share with the world! This is the second time I've participated, and I love reading all the posts! I will, primarily, make blog posts here and post those links to my twitter and facebook feeds as well.
Here's a recap of my day so far to get you caught up!
8:00 am - arrived at work. Okay, well, let's be honest, it was really more like 8:03 by the time I got here. I take the bus so my "arrive" time is often a few minutes early or late... but I make up for it!
8:10 am - everything is finally up and running on my computer. I always have to open a bunch of programs (Firefox, Thunderbird, our server, and ILLiad) so it usually takes a little while
8:10 am to 9:10 am - dove in and started processing requests. Usually, I start in what we call our "regular" queue, which is basically the "newest" requests. Patrons will place InterLibrary Loan requests for items they want that our campus does not have, or for articles they'd like electronic copies of - either from our campus or other institutions. We have many other queues to watch too, and we usually rotate through them throughout the day as they all require different type of searching and some are harder then others!
9:10 am - I left the office (gasp!) for my Staff Development Committee Meeting. I've been on this committee for a few years now and it's a lot of fun! We do the programming (both work related and some personal growth type events as well) for the Library Staff which range from tech/how-to type things to staff art shows and travel brownbags.
10:15 am - returned back to the office after my meeting and went into the "Doc Provider" queue. From 10-12 and 2-3 every day, I'm responsible for this queue. These are articles and book chapters that folks have requested that we need to pay copyright on prior to giving our patron access. So, this queue involves going to publisher's websites and buying access to an article. I'm sure most patrons don't have any idea that we spend money to get their items for them - but doc providers can cost almost anything. We do have a limit - if an item is over $55 dollars, we send the patron an email asking them "Are you SURE you want this?" and if they say "yes" we buy it. If it's more then $115 - then we say "Sorry, no can do!" but - just as an example, on 'Cyber Monday' (the Monday after Thanksgiving in the US, where MANY folks make online purchases for Christmas) I did that queue all day and I spent $1143.83 of the University's money. Most people don't realize what they're really getting from their libraries! :)
During our doc provider shifts, we also "clear [the] copyright" list which moves new requests into the queues they should be in based on whether or not we owe copyright fees on them.
12:00 pm - Lunch time! Started typing this post...
1:00 pm - You know what my grandfather says... BACK TO WORK!! :)
2:10 pm - Doc Provider shift again... just bought a five page for $49... see what I mean? :)
3:00 pm - discussion of the likelihood that ghosts exist... of course!
4:59 pm - actually still talking about ghosts... :) Time to go home!
Today is the start of the wonderful Library Day in the Life Project round 8! For those of you unfamiliar with the fantasticness that is this project, this week librarians from all over will track what they do in an average day or week and share with the world! This is the second time I've participated, and I love reading all the posts! I will, primarily, make blog posts here and post those links to my twitter and facebook feeds as well.
Here's a recap of my day so far to get you caught up!
8:00 am - arrived at work. Okay, well, let's be honest, it was really more like 8:03 by the time I got here. I take the bus so my "arrive" time is often a few minutes early or late... but I make up for it!
8:10 am - everything is finally up and running on my computer. I always have to open a bunch of programs (Firefox, Thunderbird, our server, and ILLiad) so it usually takes a little while
8:10 am to 9:10 am - dove in and started processing requests. Usually, I start in what we call our "regular" queue, which is basically the "newest" requests. Patrons will place InterLibrary Loan requests for items they want that our campus does not have, or for articles they'd like electronic copies of - either from our campus or other institutions. We have many other queues to watch too, and we usually rotate through them throughout the day as they all require different type of searching and some are harder then others!
9:10 am - I left the office (gasp!) for my Staff Development Committee Meeting. I've been on this committee for a few years now and it's a lot of fun! We do the programming (both work related and some personal growth type events as well) for the Library Staff which range from tech/how-to type things to staff art shows and travel brownbags.
10:15 am - returned back to the office after my meeting and went into the "Doc Provider" queue. From 10-12 and 2-3 every day, I'm responsible for this queue. These are articles and book chapters that folks have requested that we need to pay copyright on prior to giving our patron access. So, this queue involves going to publisher's websites and buying access to an article. I'm sure most patrons don't have any idea that we spend money to get their items for them - but doc providers can cost almost anything. We do have a limit - if an item is over $55 dollars, we send the patron an email asking them "Are you SURE you want this?" and if they say "yes" we buy it. If it's more then $115 - then we say "Sorry, no can do!" but - just as an example, on 'Cyber Monday' (the Monday after Thanksgiving in the US, where MANY folks make online purchases for Christmas) I did that queue all day and I spent $1143.83 of the University's money. Most people don't realize what they're really getting from their libraries! :)
During our doc provider shifts, we also "clear [the] copyright" list which moves new requests into the queues they should be in based on whether or not we owe copyright fees on them.
12:00 pm - Lunch time! Started typing this post...
1:00 pm - You know what my grandfather says... BACK TO WORK!! :)
2:10 pm - Doc Provider shift again... just bought a five page for $49... see what I mean? :)
3:00 pm - discussion of the likelihood that ghosts exist... of course!
4:59 pm - actually still talking about ghosts... :) Time to go home!
1.20.2012
Shelf Check #499
Shelf Check #499
Original Page: http://shelfcheck.blogspot.com/2012/01/shelf-check-499.html
Sent from Feeddler RSS Reader
--
-Erin
1.18.2012
SOPA blackout
My blog was blacked out all day, did you notice?
It would appear that the powers that be heard the protests today, eight more previous cheerleaders for the SOPA/PIPA legislation have rescinded their support! Yay for standing up for Freedom of Information!
It would appear that the powers that be heard the protests today, eight more previous cheerleaders for the SOPA/PIPA legislation have rescinded their support! Yay for standing up for Freedom of Information!
1.17.2012
Library day in the life round 8!
Remember back in July when I told you every little thing I did for a week and it was awesome?! Well, it's about to happen again! #libday8 will run January 30 - February 5, 2012. I singed up today on the
wiki
And will make my posts again with the tag "libday8" on this blog. Links will also be posted on my twitter feed (@libraryfrog), and probably on Facebook too, just for good measure!
It will no doubt be a much different story this year... School is done, I now work in ILL, and ONLY in ILL (well, one shift a week at circ and info desk) but, I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless!
wiki
And will make my posts again with the tag "libday8" on this blog. Links will also be posted on my twitter feed (@libraryfrog), and probably on Facebook too, just for good measure!
It will no doubt be a much different story this year... School is done, I now work in ILL, and ONLY in ILL (well, one shift a week at circ and info desk) but, I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless!
Live Webcams!
So amazing!!
------
Check out Waikoloa Cam in Waikoloa
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/hawaii/bigisland/waikoloa/
1.12.2012
1.11.2012
poetry
at 26
it should no longer
be a
'scare'
but -
that termin
-ology
is stuck
lodged
like a brand
new embryo
in my
brain
I want to
loose it
from its
moorings
send it
out
on a
monthly flow
it should no longer
be a
'scare'
but -
that termin
-ology
is stuck
lodged
like a brand
new embryo
in my
brain
I want to
loose it
from its
moorings
send it
out
on a
monthly flow
1.10.2012
Activities booked, suitcases packed!
Okay, the suitcases are not really packed :)
But, the activities are mostly booked! We're all signed up for the Luau at the hotel and (for those of us who wanted to go) the Whale Watching Tour.
Still contemplating the horseback riding at Parker Ranch, and a few others.
I'll keep you updated!
But, the activities are mostly booked! We're all signed up for the Luau at the hotel and (for those of us who wanted to go) the Whale Watching Tour.
Still contemplating the horseback riding at Parker Ranch, and a few others.
I'll keep you updated!
1.09.2012
An eBook is not a Book
I disagree, to an extent - but, on the other hand - isn't this sort of like getting mad when our kids are reading Twilight? Isn't reading [on] something, better then not reading at all?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An eBook is not a Book:
I’d like to explain why I don’t think eReader lending (Nook, Kindle, Sony, any reader at all) is a good plan for public libraries. It’s not that lending eReaders is a *bad* thing at all: if someone gifts your library a garbage bag full of Nooks, what the heck, please use them! Instead I’d argue that libraries can have some foresight and spend their dollars on other programs, equipment, and skillset development for both staff and the people in their communities that will far transcend the fleeting, temporary lifespan of the next version of the Kindle, Nook, or whatever other piece of consumer electronic garbage is currently fashionable.
A few facts:
An eBook is not a book.
A jpg is not a photograph.
An mp3 is not a vinyl record.
Digital media is fundamentally different from a piece of media bound by a physical or mechanical container. The reason that digital rights management, the Harper-Collins 26 checkouts solution, or the Stop Online Piracy Act exist is because we insist on trying to find ways to make digital media fit within the same constraints we’ve become accustomed to for mechanical-era media. We do this in order to preserve existing business models and the complex ecosystems that artists, publishers, and consumers have depended on so that everyone can make a fair living. The problem is that successfully mapping the basic constraints of physical media onto digital media is no wiser an enterprise than making gold from graphite; it is futile and it impedes progress toward the evolution of a new, practical ecosystem for artists, publishers, and end users. For that reason, I’m vehemently opposed to DRM, the 26 circ idea, and SOPA, all of which are similarly flawed solutions to the same problem differing only in scale and scope.
An eBook has more in common with a website or an app than it does a book. Similarly, the nature of a text-only eBook bears more in common with a collection of digital images or a playlist of digital songs than it does a book. Once media is digital, it has a different constraints and affordances than it did when it was in a physical container. There’s a closer constraint/affordance index shared between digital text, images, sound, and moving images than there is between any of those and their physical or mechanical counterpart.
Step away from that copy of John Grisham’s The Litigators that you are reading on your Kindle, and consider the true affordances and constraints of that file. Forget the artificial constraints in place because of the system; leave behind intentional constraints applied by the author of the work, and think of nothing but the potential. That “eBook” could be almost instantly copied and those copies could be transmitted across the globe at no cost. That “eBook” need not remain a static work, it could be concurrently edited by many authors or other computers. The contents of that “eBook” could be networked and intertwined with all other “eBook” content across the web; contextual metadata about chunks of that “eBook” content could be reused and repurposed to make other works. Take a quick look at Small Demons as an example if that last sentence threw you for a loop. I’d suggest that because the properties of digital media mean this can happen then eventually it will happen. Everything eventually reaches it potential, in spite of artificial constraints.
So, when I look at the Nook, the Kindle, or even some of the eReaders on the market today that aren’t associated with their own content sales and distribution network, all I see are tools for lazy consumption that don’t take advantage of what “eBooks” can and eventually will be. That’s A-OK, we all like to read, watch and listen passively to media and traditionally those are the activities public libraries have supported. Still, I think the ROI is questionable at best for a library purchasing these gadgets, and I don’t think such a purchase is a long-term solution that accounts for the evolution of digital media packages and the myriad ways the public might be able to interact with digital media other than simply consuming it. I’ve written a lot about my belief that a bright future for public libraries would be a robust commitment to community content production, rather than just the content consumption we support now.
In this transitional time, public libraries should aim for the future and invest in toolsets and programming that help their communities produce and participate in new digital works, not simply consume them. To make something is to understand something. If you build a radio from parts in your garage, you’ll have a very different relationship with every radio you listen to from that day on. A tomato you grow in your garden will always taste better than the tomato you bought from the grocery store, and you’ll develop a deep understanding of what that tomato is after you’ve nurtured its growth for months. Every time you have tomatoes at a restaurant after you’ve grown your own you’ll have a different understanding of tomatoes; what they are, where they came from, and the potential they hold. To help our communities taste better tomatoes, public libraries need media labs, hacker spaces, coworking spaces, expert staff, and a long term investment in technologies supporting community creativity.
This is all one man’s opinion with nothing but the best of intentions. Feedback and criticism is accepted with a smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An eBook is not a Book:
I’d like to explain why I don’t think eReader lending (Nook, Kindle, Sony, any reader at all) is a good plan for public libraries. It’s not that lending eReaders is a *bad* thing at all: if someone gifts your library a garbage bag full of Nooks, what the heck, please use them! Instead I’d argue that libraries can have some foresight and spend their dollars on other programs, equipment, and skillset development for both staff and the people in their communities that will far transcend the fleeting, temporary lifespan of the next version of the Kindle, Nook, or whatever other piece of consumer electronic garbage is currently fashionable.
A few facts:
An eBook is not a book.
A jpg is not a photograph.
An mp3 is not a vinyl record.
Digital media is fundamentally different from a piece of media bound by a physical or mechanical container. The reason that digital rights management, the Harper-Collins 26 checkouts solution, or the Stop Online Piracy Act exist is because we insist on trying to find ways to make digital media fit within the same constraints we’ve become accustomed to for mechanical-era media. We do this in order to preserve existing business models and the complex ecosystems that artists, publishers, and consumers have depended on so that everyone can make a fair living. The problem is that successfully mapping the basic constraints of physical media onto digital media is no wiser an enterprise than making gold from graphite; it is futile and it impedes progress toward the evolution of a new, practical ecosystem for artists, publishers, and end users. For that reason, I’m vehemently opposed to DRM, the 26 circ idea, and SOPA, all of which are similarly flawed solutions to the same problem differing only in scale and scope.
An eBook has more in common with a website or an app than it does a book. Similarly, the nature of a text-only eBook bears more in common with a collection of digital images or a playlist of digital songs than it does a book. Once media is digital, it has a different constraints and affordances than it did when it was in a physical container. There’s a closer constraint/affordance index shared between digital text, images, sound, and moving images than there is between any of those and their physical or mechanical counterpart.
Step away from that copy of John Grisham’s The Litigators that you are reading on your Kindle, and consider the true affordances and constraints of that file. Forget the artificial constraints in place because of the system; leave behind intentional constraints applied by the author of the work, and think of nothing but the potential. That “eBook” could be almost instantly copied and those copies could be transmitted across the globe at no cost. That “eBook” need not remain a static work, it could be concurrently edited by many authors or other computers. The contents of that “eBook” could be networked and intertwined with all other “eBook” content across the web; contextual metadata about chunks of that “eBook” content could be reused and repurposed to make other works. Take a quick look at Small Demons as an example if that last sentence threw you for a loop. I’d suggest that because the properties of digital media mean this can happen then eventually it will happen. Everything eventually reaches it potential, in spite of artificial constraints.
So, when I look at the Nook, the Kindle, or even some of the eReaders on the market today that aren’t associated with their own content sales and distribution network, all I see are tools for lazy consumption that don’t take advantage of what “eBooks” can and eventually will be. That’s A-OK, we all like to read, watch and listen passively to media and traditionally those are the activities public libraries have supported. Still, I think the ROI is questionable at best for a library purchasing these gadgets, and I don’t think such a purchase is a long-term solution that accounts for the evolution of digital media packages and the myriad ways the public might be able to interact with digital media other than simply consuming it. I’ve written a lot about my belief that a bright future for public libraries would be a robust commitment to community content production, rather than just the content consumption we support now.
In this transitional time, public libraries should aim for the future and invest in toolsets and programming that help their communities produce and participate in new digital works, not simply consume them. To make something is to understand something. If you build a radio from parts in your garage, you’ll have a very different relationship with every radio you listen to from that day on. A tomato you grow in your garden will always taste better than the tomato you bought from the grocery store, and you’ll develop a deep understanding of what that tomato is after you’ve nurtured its growth for months. Every time you have tomatoes at a restaurant after you’ve grown your own you’ll have a different understanding of tomatoes; what they are, where they came from, and the potential they hold. To help our communities taste better tomatoes, public libraries need media labs, hacker spaces, coworking spaces, expert staff, and a long term investment in technologies supporting community creativity.
This is all one man’s opinion with nothing but the best of intentions. Feedback and criticism is accepted with a smile.
1.01.2012
Happy New Year! 41 days left!
Well, welcome to 2012! In 41 days we'll be on our way to Hawai'i!
--
-Erin
--
-Erin
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