Too Many Indonesian Books

Readings due through February 1st

2012-01-27T10:16:00.002-05:00

Foundations of library and information science (worldcat.org)

Chapter 2: From past to present, the history and mission of libraries
Chapter 3: Library and information science, an evolving profession

The invisible substance of information science (asistdl.org)

Our first "class" was technically last night ...

2012-01-26T08:57:00.004-05:00

However, when I tried to use the "Course Map" (as instructed by the professor) in order to access the introductory PowerPoint presentation to the course, I was greeted with a lovely "HTTP Status 403" error message instead :|

Luckily, the syllabus was available, so at least I know which readings will be due for next Wednesday ... Plus, one of the textbooks arrived via ILL yesterday, so that's always a plus!

EDIT (1:15 PM): The link in the left-hand column of the Sakai course website still doesn't work, but I did find the appropriate presentation buried under the "Resources" section ... So, that takes care of that problem, I guess ;)

LSC 544 course website is finally online!

2012-01-22T08:46:00.005-05:00

I got my tuition reimbursement (the full amount) on Friday, so that was appreciated ... I also found another bit of good (?) news this morning when I logged into Sakai, and was able to access the course website at long last:

What's this I see? "You do not need to be at your computers during the designated class-time" ... Please tell me this means that we're not gonna have to waste two-plus hours trying to communicate via Sakai!

That would make my last semester just a little bit easier to digest, let me tell you ;)

Finally!

2012-01-19T09:18:00.005-05:00

There's still a hold showing up on my account (although the mysterious "Exclude from Batch Refund" hold has disappeared), but I decided to just throw caution to the wind and try to sign up for LSC 544 one more time this morning ... and guess what happened?

Success!

Now I just have to wait and see when Sakai will catch up and give me access to the course website ... that is, if the professor has even put it up yet :|

Clarity or confusion?

2012-01-18T11:12:00.005-05:00

I sent the professor another email this morning, hoping to get some additional info on tonight's "class" ... Just got a response:

Dear Alessandro,

I am sorry that the date the class will start is Jan. 25th, Wednesday, not the 18th. I am still working on Sakai issues.

Self introduction means that you will response to my posting to provide a brief bio to the class. Everyone will do the same.

Thank you,

--Yan

Not sure why she mentioned a "6:30 to 9:15" time range if we're just meant to post something on Sakai ... which is still not giving me access to the LSC 544 page, by the way :(

EDIT: As another fun little twist for the beginning of this semester, I apparently have ANOTHER hold on my account ...

"Refund on hold pending account review" ... Seriously, what is going on here? I just wanna take my final class and be done with the program, is that too much to ask?

Uh oh (Part Deux)

2012-01-17T11:23:00.004-05:00

Got a reply from the professor ...

Dear Alessandro,

Thank you for your note.

Welcome to LSC544!

Sakai is down at this point. I just called URI Sakai help desk.

There will be no f2f meetings. The first Online Self Introduction starts in January 18th, Wednesday from 6:30-9:15 pm. We will use that time frame to finish posting. You can post before that time once Sakai is up. Here is a list of textbooks that we will use for the class to gt ready.

Required Textbooks (They are available at the URI Bookstore and the Rhode Island Book Company).

Moore, David and Dwyer, Francis. (1994). Visual Literacy: A Spectrum of Visual Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications. (Required. It is only available at the Rhode Island Book Company. It is called the LSC544 Course packet of "Moore's Visual Literacy Book" )

Rubin, Richard. (2010). Foundations of Library and Information Science. New York : Neal Schuman. (Required)

Barry, Ann Marie. (1997). Visual intelligence: perception, image, and manipulation in visual communication. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN: 0791434362 (Recommended)

Tufte, Edward R. (2001). The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd ed. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press. ISBN: 0961392142 (Recommended)

Tufte, Edward R. (1990). Envisioning Information. Cheshire , CT : Graphics Press. (Recommended)

Tufte, Edward R. (1997). Visual Explanations : Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Cheshire , CT : Graphics Press.

Wait, so the first class is TOMORROW? Hoo boy ...

Problem is (hopefully) solved

2012-01-17T09:58:00.005-05:00

I tried to ask someone at URI about the hold on my account, but (due to the holiday weekend) I couldn't get in contact with anyone until this morning ... Of course, I did a little digging over the weekend and found the answer to my quandry myself:

Considering the fact that this is the LAST CLASS that I need to take - which would complete my requirements for the program - the fact that they're delaying that inevitability up until the last moment is ... a little annoying, to say the least :|

Anyway, I've contacted my academic advisor, who said she will get in touch with the dean and have the hold lifted ... Hopefully, that process will move along rather quickly, since the class starts on Monday (yikes); she did suggest that I contact the professor and let her know that I plan to sign up for the class, just in case registration isn't complete before Monday.

That's not a bad idea, so I think I'll do that right now ... just in case there are any textbooks or the like that need to be acquired beforehand.

Uh oh ...

2012-01-13T11:12:00.004-05:00

Not sure what's that about ... Maybe my new program of study is being processed, and I can't sign up for classes until that's done?

Hmm, I might have to ring up URI just to make this isn't a lingering issue (I checked the schedule and LSC 544 starts up in about a week!) ...

I believe I have made a decision ...

2012-01-10T08:55:00.004-05:00

Re: Question about LSC506
1/9/2012 12:15:14 PM

Either option would be good. And LSC 544 would surely be relevant to your interests; I do think you'd get a lot out of it.

If you were to do an independent study on the portrayal of the librarian stereotype in video games & interactive multimedia and if I were your faculty supervisor for it, I would want you to do a proposal with a brief literature review first, so we could agree how you would sample & analyze the media you looked at. You're just talking about 3 credits worth, and the topic could be a whole dissertation - depending how large a sample you drew & what method of analysis you used - so my instinct would be to limit it & make it a pilot study of sorts. But if you have already seen librarians in video games & other media that you can get your hands on, it sounds like a fine project & one you might get a publication out of. This would all be extra work for you, but if it's something you really want to do, it's an
option.

Either way, yes, you fill out a new program of study & mail it to Jan Hromi's office.

Best,

Gale Eaton

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Monday, January 09, 2012 11:48 AM
Subject: Re: Question about LSC506

Actually, I have given some thought to an independent study project,
although what I had in mind does not have anything to do with technical
services ... In fact, I'm not even sure it would qualify. However, on the
website it does mention that students have used independent study to "review
the research literature on topics of special interest"; I know there have
been plenty of books and articles which examine the portrayal of the
librarian stereotype in movies and television shows, but I was thinking of
looking at the portrayal of librarians in video games and interactive
multimedia.

However, I'm fairly certain that this topic has not been explored within the
academic literature, so this would require truly "original research," so I'm
not sure if that is exactly what URI is looking for in terms of independent
study.

Therefore, I'm leaning more towards just changing my program of study and
taking LSC 544 ("Visual Information Literacy"); it's not exactly technical
services, but it is being taught by Prof. Ma, so perhaps I can glean some
information from her in that regard ... If I do make this change, then I
would have to fill out a new program of study and mail it to your office?

So, it looks like my final class will be Visual Information Science ... but nobody steal my video-games idea, because I am totally still gonna do that!!! ;)

Just a couple of things ...

2012-01-06T11:12:00.003-05:00

I thought I was done with Sakai for the semester, but there was one last message from the LSC 522 professor dated December 28th (I only discovered it a couple of days ago):

You designed a very good layout. The center box works well to set the context of the topic. Excellent selection of books and articles; great selection of videos; I love the box on "What Other Librarians are Doing!"

Final LibGuide Grade: A

Happy New Year!
Sherry

P.S.: Most of the links under Web Sites are actually articles.

Now, this message was sent after grades had been submitted (I believe), but it's still nice to know my efforts were appreciated ;)

Anyway, I now only have a couple weeks to focus on what to do about my last class ... I did turn to my academic advisor for some feedback:

Sadly, I don't see either LSC 506 or LSC 550 on the schedule for 2012; so we need to think of alternatives for you.

One possibility might be for you to take a professional field experience (a number of students have done very rewarding ones in cataloging & digital initiatives at Brown, for instance). But I seem to recall that when we did offer LSC 550, what kept you from taking it was inability to commute, even though the class was not held weekly - so I suspect that you may have transportation and/or scheduling issues with the professional field experience as well.

Another possibility might be for you to do an independent study. Dr. Ma, our expert on cataloging and technical services, returns from sabbatical this spring, and she might be a good mentor for you; if she is unable to take on an additional student at this time, I try to fill the gap. You have already taken LSC 557, and perhaps you developed a research project worth pursuing; or perhaps you have ideas about an area of technical service that you'd most like to investigate. If you're interested in this possibility, you might begin by brainstorming & organizing your thoughts in a brief (1-2 p) proposal.

Hmmm, I wonder if "The Portrayal of Librarians in Video Games" would be an acceptable topic to explore ... Or, I might just bite the bullet and take LSC 544 - "Visual Information Science" (uri.edu) - just to get everything over with.

Stay tuned!

Fall 2011 course websites in snapshots (Part II)

2012-01-05T18:35:00.005-05:00

Now for LSC 547 ...

Fall 2011 course websites in snapshots (Part I)

2012-01-03T18:29:00.009-05:00

Previous entries:

Summer 2011
Fall 2010
Spring 2010
Fall 2009
Spring 2009
Fall 2008
Spring 2008
Fall 2007

First up, screengrabs from the LSC 522 website ...

Phew ... Part Two coming later this week!

Grades for Fall 2011 semester are in!

2011-12-31T08:15:00.005-05:00

Well, my nice week-long vacation is just about over (*SOB!*), so I guess it's time to start focusing on the final semester (*HOORAY!*) in my quest to gain a degree in library science ...

First things first, my grades for the previous semester are now official:

That means I can go about the business of getting my tuition reimbursement, then I can check the schedule for Spring 2011 and see if anything's being offered that would be to my liking; the projected schedule wasn't too promising (I really don't wanna have to take another "leave of absence", I just wanna get this thing done!) but it may have changed by now, so stay tuned for that ...

I can also continue my ritual of posting snapshots from Sakai at the conclusion of each semester ... There were quite a few, so I may split it into two parts and get them up on the blog sometime next week.

Here we go!

Research Paper (LSC 522)

2011-12-22T08:57:00.006-05:00

(professor's comments are in red)

Are students comfortable with the idea of academic libraries using social networking sites?

Over the last several years, members of the library profession have been watching with keen interest (some might even call it jealousy) as social networking sites have exploded in popularity across the online landscape. Sites like Facebook and MySpace – the former now much more so than the latter – are some of the most visited destinations on the internet, as millions of online users spend countless hours interacting with friends and fulfilling their information needs via these outlets.

Librarians, meanwhile, see traffic to their respective institutions' web sites dwindling, as formerly established information retrieval systems like the OPAC experience their relevancy within the virtual landscape being challenged more and more; after all, why seek out the answers to one's questions via an "old fashioned" and "impersonal" model like the online catalog, when one can simply ask their Facebook friends for help? As such, many within the profession look at the popularity of these social networking sites and envision them as tools that can be used to reach out to their patrons, as well as stamp out those stereotypes which portray libraries as "out of touch" and no longer providing their users with the tools necessary to collect/process information in today's world.

Also, since many college-age users seem to make up the bulk of these social-networking sites' audience, it would seem only natural for academic libraries (with their patron population comprised mostly of students) to be the ones to benefit most from adopting these tools within their "community outreach" plans. Indeed, several proponents within the professional literature call for their colleagues to familiarize themselves with these tools, updating their library's Facebook "walls" and sending out "tweets" in order to capture students' attention and remind them that their libraries can provide much more accurate/reliable information than what they can find elsewhere.

For example, Kroski identifies social networking sites as tools which can "offer infinite networking opportunities" (2007, p. 2019) to academic libraries with their students. She goes on to claim that, in terms of the potential for self-promotion and community outreach, sites like MySpace and Facebook "offer libraries a unique opportunity to interact with patrons in their own space (emphasis mine) ... due to their enormous popularity" (2007, p. 2019). This seems to be a recurring theme within the literature, i.e. a lot of students use social networking sites, so academic libraries need to inhabit these spaces in order to be seen/noticed.

Chu echoes these sentiments when she encourages academic libraries to use social networking sites because it would mean "going where the students are at, rather then [sic] expecting them to come to us" (2008, p. 74). Once again, the popularity of these sites is the driving force behind the call for the creation of MySpace and Facebook profiles as "yet another technology added to librarians' repertoire" (2008, p. 74) for interacting with students. In other words, since students are frequent users of these types of sites, academic libraries should ingratiate themselves into this aspect of their users' online experience.

Sachs also encourages academic libraries to "go to the students," and – since social networking sites have "become an integral part of the student culture of most American colleges and universities" – they can accomplish this by offering "resources and services in the media most commonly used by students" (2011, p. 35). She observes that more and more academic libraries are "embracing social networking sites" in order to "promote and market library resources and services" (2011, p. 36), and endorses this strategy as a means of interacting with students in an environment that they are comfortable with. Therefore (by Sachs' way of thinking), since students enjoy interactions within the social-networking world, then academic libraries should join in and become a part of that world.

Sodt examines "several technologies under the Web 2.0 umbrella" that can be used "in the library setting to help the library reach all users [and remain] relevant in today's information society" (2009, p. 99), including the creation of MySpace profiles to entice library patrons (2009, p. 101) and Facebook applications designed to "search across [one's] library holdings" (2009, p. 100). In terms of social networking sites specifically, she points out their ability to serve as "a valuable tool for libraries to ... reach out to an external audience" of potential patrons (2009, p. 103). In other words, by adopting these tools into the library's overall strategy for providing information to its users, Sodt contends that the profession is giving the patrons what they want, i.e. a collaborative and participatory environment more akin to what they are receiving via other outlets on the web.

In her concluding remarks, Sodt states that the mission of academic libraries is to "serve the needs of students," and that "libraries can adopt ... technologies [like social networking sites] to better serve their customers and create a more open and collaborative workplace" (2009, p. 107). So, once again, the idea is for academic libraries to provide students with an "open and collaborative" online environment, emulating the types of interactions that they experience via their social networking site of choice. Therefore, if academic libraries reach out to their patrons through outlets such as MySpace and Facebook, they will be giving their students "what they want" by assuming a more "social" presence within their lives.

Unfortunately, with all this positive talk concerning the adoption of social networking sites into the academic library's outreach strategy, many of the proponents seem to be taking the students' actual participation in such endeavors for granted. In point of fact, there is no guarantee that students will accept librarians into their individual social networks with open arms; it's just as likely that potential patrons will see such actions as an invasion into "their own space" (as Kroski described it), and resent such attempts by academic librarians to encroach upon their online activities. Cassidy calls this the "we don't want parents at the party attitude" (2011, p. 389) - whereby students use these sites for more personal interactions while being distrustful of any authority figures who attempt to take part - and it has the potential to derail any attempts by academic libraries to gain a foothold with students in the social networking world before they even have a chance to get started.

For example, individuals like Chu point out the wide gap between the usage statistics for a library's home page versus those of incredibly popular social networking sites like Facebook, and cite this as a "compelling reason why to meet students at their technology of choice, their choice is not the library's website" (2008, p. 70). However, she takes a bit of a leap in attempting to justify the use of social networking sites by academic libraries when pointing to these types of numbers; just because usage of library websites is low (comparatively speaking) when put up against social networking sites, this does not mean that students will automatically flock to the library's online presence once they attempt to "piggyback" off the success of sites like Facebook. The simple truth of the matter is that students might be looking for a different type of online experience from their social networking activities when compared to what they might expect from a librarian (i.e. the "social" experience might be separate and distinct from the "educational" needs they look to fulfill when visiting the library's web site).

Excellent point!

Nevertheless, Chu uses data from a web-based survey of 89 first-year undergraduate students at California State University San Marcos to argue that "computer-mediated communications" (like those found within social networking sites) can strengthen "strong ties" between librarians and students, as well as provide an opportunity to establish "new, weak ties" between the library and potential users (2008, p. 74). She takes this theoretical solution for strengthening existing relationships with library users – while also luring in new ones – as an argument that "librarians have an appropriate role and opportunity as a weak tie and MySpace/Facebook could possibly be a venue to do this" (2008, p. 75). However, the findings from her survey seem to discourage this line of reasoning; a large percentage of the respondents spoke of using MySpace/Facebook to discuss "school professors or courses," and yet several comments from these same students indicate that they "weren't particularly interested in using [social networking sites] to communicate directly with professors" (2008, p. 77). This indicates to me that students are fine with using their social networks to talk about school figures of authority in their lives (like professors and librarians), but are not necessarily as enthused about talking directly to them via those same means.

Not only that, but Chu points to findings from a later focus group taken at the same school, where the majority of students agreed that "it would be a good thing" if on-campus access to MySpace/Facebook was blocked by the administration (2008, p. 79)! This is certainly an interesting attitude taken by the age group that supposedly considers these sites to be "their own space"; perhaps we can infer that they don't consider it "their space" when it comes to academic pursuits, and that these findings demonstrate the distinction students make between their social and educational lives (i.e. they will not automatically accept academic figures like librarians into their social networking circles).

Chu does acknowledge this seeming contradiction in her argument for the use of social networking sites by academic librarians, questioning whether or not adult authority figures "have an appropriate place in social networking, or if this is an intrusion of a student-centered forum" (2008, p. 80). She tries to dance around the issue by claiming that adult "supervision" on sites like Facebook could be seen as a positive, whereby the presence of faculty and/or librarians "might prompt students to take caution and accountability for their online actions" (2008, p. 80); in other words, if librarians are using social networking sites, they are providing a service to their patrons by making sure that the students are "behaving" themselves. Wow, I'll have to take a look at her research. Talk about making the data fit your hypothesis. It's an interesting theory, although not one that I think the students themselves would agree with; rather, it could just as easily discourage students from using Facebook altogether and instead seek out other online social venues free from authority "infestation" (i.e. the parents have ruined the party, so it's time to move on and find something else that's "cooler").

Connell also attempts to gauge student opinions on the matter, citing several schools within the professional literature who have written about their own experiences while traversing the social networking world. For example, she cites one librarian at the Georgia Institute of Technology who sent out more than 1,500 Facebook messages to students – in an apparent attempt to spread the word about the library's collection – but received only a paltry 48 responses (2009, p. 27). Amazing, considering it was only a 3 percent return rate. The librarian actually had the temerity to claim that his venture was a "success," but the more logical conclusion would be that students were not interested in dealing with such an interloper (especially since this person was in a position of authority at their school).

Connell also mentions another librarian who had her staff sift through MySpace profiles in order to find "4,000 Brooklyn College students, faculty, and graduates" (2009, p. 27). Aside from the fact that such actions could be construed by some as "stalking" Hmmm, I think your reaction here is a bit extreme. This is using publicly available information for marketing purposes. The person is in control of whether or not they respond unlike telemarketers who really do invade your privacy. More importantly, I wonder if she received IRB approval to conduct this research. (and thus having the potential to negatively affect these students' view of the library and drive them away), the librarian sent "friend requests" to her designated targets and "seven months later had approximately 2,350 friends" (2009, p. 27). Actually, a 58 percent return rate is quite high for a "survet." On the surface, this story appears to be a success, but what about the other 2,000-odd students who ignored the request? Were they "turned off" by the obtrusive nature of this "friending" campaign? In addition, there is no indication that any of these new friends of the library had actually come from the original 4,000 targeted; the article is ambiguous on the subject, so for all we know, a majority of those "friends" could have been nothing more than MySpace spam accounts! OK, I haven't read this article yet, but it sounds like you are losing your objectivity here. If she sent them "friend" requests, she should be able to tell that they were responding to the request.

However, not all student opinion on the matter recorded within the literature has been as ambiguous (with the authors extrapolating favorable outcomes against questionable results) or outright negative ("we don't want parents at the party") as the above examples. Cassidy reports that, in a survey of 6,240 students at Sam Houston State University in East Texas, 48 percent of those who responded indicated "an interest in seeing library services in social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace" (2011, p. 386). Although this is still less than half of the respondents surveyed, the percentage was nevertheless "higher than expected", and she attributes this to "changes to Facebook configuration over the years [that] may have helped to change [students'] attitudes" (2011, p. 389), whereby patrons can now "like" a library's fan page – rather than "friend" a library's page – so that "a user's personal profile remains inaccessible to the organization operating the fan page" (2011, p. 389). This allows students the opportunity to maintain some "distance" between themselves and the academic library, rather than placing them on equal footing with the user's regular friends and family members (and thus still somewhat maintaining Facebook as "their own space" rather than a haven for authority figures). Yes, this is a much better way to go.

Sachs refers to a survey of 136 users at Western Michigan University, in which over 90 percent of undergraduate students reacted positively to the idea of the library using Facebook to stay in touch with the campus community (2011, p. 42). In addition, she found that over two-thirds of those who were "friends" of the library's Facebook page had initiated the friend relationship, and "only 31 percent indicated that they received the friend request from Waldo Library first" (2011, p. 41); this is in stark contrast to the examples given by Connell of the librarians at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Brooklyn College, who "spammed" social network users about their respective libraries (only to get back a meager number of responses as a result). It could also be related to the 2 year difference in the studies. Rather than trying to force the issue, the librarians at Western Michigan University seemed to truly let the students come to them first, and Sachs takes this as a sign that "the majority of our friends are actively interested in establishing a relationship with Waldo Library ... [rather than being] uncomfortable with librarians on Facebook" (2011, p. 41).

Connell even moves beyond the negative examples found within her literature review, and points out a survey she conducted with 366 Valparaiso University students It sounds like the literature review was just the background for her own study, which, I'm guessing, was the point of this report of her own research. Was she conducting this research to see if she would get the same results as the earlier studies? This is commonly the case. where "the majority of [users] were willing to accept a friend request from the library" (2009, p. 34); 57.7 percent of the respondents indicated that they "would not be proactive about [a friend request from the library but would still] accept the invitation," while 17.2 percent were "very open to the idea [and would] invite the library to be their friend if they knew about the account" (2009, p. 31). Of course, not all students considered Facebook to be a "school related" activity that librarians should be getting involved with – one went so far as to claim that academic libraries on Facebook were nothing more than "a spy tool [for the administration] to observe our lives" (2009, p. 33)! - and yet a number of respondents identified these "communication efforts" as a welcome addition to their social networking worlds.

In the end, these examples of varying opinions within the student population itself (with some users willing to accept librarians into their social networks and others decrying such endeavors as an intrusion into "their own space") would seem to indicate that the adoption of social networking sites by academic libraries is not some "magic formula" that will draw in 100 percent of an institution's user population. Does anything? Instead, Cassidy encourages other libraries to "focus on extending [their] services into a few popular platforms where the greatest interest [from students] lies but try not to extend comprehensively into all possible technological venues" (2011, p. 390); in other words, just because sites like Facebook are popular with students, don't assume that creating a Facebook page for one's library will automatically make it popular as well. She warns that her fellow librarians cannot start "blindly adapting the most visible emerging technologies touted by popular media ... [but instead] must tailor library service delivery options to the distinct needs and preferences of their particular user population" (2011, p. 380).

Always a good idea!

As such, the problem with adopting social networking sites into the academic library's outreach strategy is that this is not a "one-size-fits-all" type of scenario; people who laud the benefits that can be extracted from these sites seem to discount the fact that their presence within this domain might not work for everyone (particularly those students who consider it to be "their own space" and not a place where they want to interact with librarians). It is certainly true that academic libraries should explore all possible venues in order to remain relevant within their campus community, but that does not mean that they should forego their own particular users' desires and "jump on the bandwagon" just to say that they're part of the latest online fad; Cassidy says as much when she states that "[academic] libraries cannot necessarily follow popular trends without studying the local population" (2011, p. 390). Instead, academic libraries must be willing to investigate what it is that their own individual user groups expect from them in any type of "social initiative", before embarking on an endeavor which might wind up doing more harm (as in a majority of their users ignoring the library's efforts and considering those actions to be an assault on "their own space") than good.

True!

References
Cassidy, E.D. (2011). Higher education and emerging technologies: student usage, preferences, and lessons for library services. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 50 (4), 380-391.

Chu, M. (2008). The problems and potential of MySpace and Facebook usage in academic libraries. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 13 (1), 69-85.

Connell, R.S. (2009). Academic libraries, Facebook and MySpace, and student outreach: a survey of student opinion. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 9 (1), 25-36.

Kroski, E. (2007). The social tools of Web 2.0: opportunities for academic libraries. Choice, 44 (12), 2011-2021.

Sachs, D.E. (2011). Striking a balance: effective use of Facebook in an academic library. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 16 (1-2), 35-54.

Sodt, J.M. (2009). Beyond the library's walls: using Library 2.0 tools to reach out to all users. Journal of Library Administration, 49, 97-109.

Final Grade: A

Very good work! You have explored the literature in detail and integrated your own interpretations. It shows critical thinking on your part, which is good.

You should be more objective in your analysis, though; at times your language reveals your own bias, which is as much conjecture as what you are criticizing.

Assignment 3 (LSC 522)

2011-12-20T08:54:00.006-05:00

(Professor's comments are in red)

Assignment 3: Space

The academic library I have selected for review in this paper is the Learning Resource Center, located on the campus of Worcester State University (http://www.worcester.edu/library).

According to gate count information collected by the National Center for Education Statistics over the past decade (2011) - numbers were not reported by WSU in 2002 – usage of the building has been fairly consistent, with a high of 6,691 visitors in 2000. Those numbers did see a drop to 5,000 in 2004, which is where gate count pretty much remained (4,500 in 2006 and then back to 5,000 in 2008) until a slight bump to 5,700 visitors in 2010.

I had been to WSU's library/learning resource center a few times over the years, but this on-site visit provided me with the opportunity to truly explore the building and examine how the university was utilizing this space for the benefit of its student body and faculty. Therefore, upon first entering the building (the main entrance leads one immediately to the second floor of the library), I tried to truly "drink in" all of the details that might have otherwise eluded me during previous visits; as a result, I was surprised by how open and spacious the room actually was.

It's interesting how much we don't see when we are not consciously looking.

Instead of dividing the area into a lot of corridors and tight spaces, WSU selected a more "circular" layout with which to greet visitors into their building, situating the circulation desk in the middle of the room while featuring a café to the left (serving food and beverages Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM) and a comfortable-looking student lounge on the right. The book shelves, rather than being front and center, were located at the opposite end of the room, allowing patrons to see that physical books were still a part of the collection (and yet not making them the focal point of the entire room); I believe this to be a good move on the library's part, and it certainly gave the room the appearance of being larger than it actually was (i.e. a good use of space to give the impression of less clutter and more "elbow room" for students to relax).

Very good observation.

Immediately behind the circulation desk, but before the shelves, was another "wide open" area which provided seating for patrons (both individual armchairs and tables for group interaction). Computer terminals, rather than being located within a single section of the room, were spread out at various points amongst the shelves; perhaps this strategy echoes Freeman's call for academic libraries to serve as "the only centralized location where new and emerging information technologies can be combined with traditional knowledge resources" (2005, p. 3), where "old" and "new" intermingle so that both are readily available to patrons.

I should also mention that there was a Children's Collection room, something that I would not necessarily expect to find in an academic library, as well as a "Free Material" shelf provided by the Acquisitions Department ("Take One, Give One If You Can!"). In addition, four or five classrooms were available for use; these weren't just simple "study areas" for students (i.e. one table and a couple of chairs), but rather full-on lecture rooms with seating for multiple students as well as blackboards and projectors. In other words, the library was providing their faculty with the resources necessary to conduct classes within the building itself (an ideal way to encourage their professors to make use of the space); Freeman described academic libraries as holding a "central position as the heart of an institution" (2005, p. 1), and this is a good example of capturing that feeling.

On the third floor of the building, the bookshelves were a little more "in your face" (they were the first thing you see upon walking into the room and take up a little more space), but the circular layout of the area still provided visitors room to maneuver without feeling cramped. There were also more classrooms to be found, as well as individual offices for professors; I found this very interesting, as Freeman stressed that "the library must serve as the principal building on campus where one can truly experience and benefit from the centrality of an institution's intellectual community" (2005, p. 2). Therefore, this setup really gives faculty (and their students) no excuse to ignore the library, if they are conducting office hours in the very same building!

The third floor also housed a computer lab, but that is not the only way in which this space was utilized; there were several computer terminals available for students to use, as well as the IT Help Desk, a "Laptop Repair Depot" and a "Training Lab." Now, these services might not technically be considered "library" services, but they serve the dual purpose of getting people into the building (i.e. get help with one's computer problems or receive training on a new piece of software) as well as show the campus community that the library is not just a "warehouse for an outmoded medium of communication" (2005, p. 2) but instead a place where technology plays a vital role in its continued existence.

... and that there is a natural merging of library resources and technology!

I will close my assessment with a brief rundown on the first floor of the building (i.e. the basement level); while still a part of the "Learning Resource Center," this section would seem to have the least to do with actual library services. Indeed, this part of the building housed several departments/services that one would hardly equate with a "true" library; there was the "Microfilm Collection" tucked away in a dark hallway (more for storage than actual usage, I imagine), but one could also find the campus television studio, the Photography Lab, "Music Practice Rooms" (but I thought libraries were supposed to be quiet!), the Graphic Arts Department, the Department of Performing Arts, and the Criminal Justice Department.

Such a mish-mash of varying disciplines suggests that the university was simply trying to find room for these places somewhere on campus, and "sacrificed" valuable library space as being good enough for that purpose (a situation many librarians would decry as devaluing the importance of the library within the campus community). However, I believe one can also look at this as a way for the library to broaden its reach within the fabric of campus life; after all, one of the services that an academic library can provide is the collection and preservation of materials unique to its individual patron population. Therefore, if students are creating unique content within the library building itself (broadcasts via the TV studio, photographs taken by students, etc.), then that's not so much "surrendering" collection space to other departments as it is a chance for the library to become more integrated within its students' lives by making their creations/contributions a dynamic part of the collection itself. Very well said! In other words, it helps students and faculty see the library as a true part of the campus experience (the "heart of an institution" as Freeman put it), rather than "separate" from the rest of the community.

References
Freeman, G.T. (2005). The library as place: Changes in learning patterns, collections, technology, and use. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources.

National Center for Education Statistics (2011). Worcester State University library details. Retrieved from: nces.ed.gov/ surveys/ libraries/ compare/ LibraryDetails.aspx? id=168430

Excellent work! Good descriptions of the space coupled with a thoughtful analysis. Did you identify any weaknesses?
Final Grade: A

Christmas comes early!

2011-12-18T22:37:00.005-05:00

First, let's start with what LSC 547 left for me under the tree:

Gonna be hard to top that, but I found an email in the LSC 522 Sakai site that arrived later in the day, at 9:47 PM ...

Hi Alessandro,

Attached are your graded assignment 3 and your research paper. Great work! Thanks for being part of this class. I really enjoyed to contributions to our discussions!

Happy Holidays!
Sherry

I'll post those assignments here on the blog sometime this week ... but for now, I think I'll just bask in the afterglow of another successful semester ;)

Research Paper (LSC 547) has been graded

2011-12-16T23:31:00.003-05:00

Points: 18.25
13.6875 out of 15 points
Title: How "Next-Generation" Catalogs Are Delivering Information To Patrons

Mechanics (5%): 3 (Okay - paper long)
Content (50%): 3.5 (Okay - some sources are old - content is relavant)
Organization (30%): 4
Abstract (5%): 3 (long)
Style, Grammar & Spelling (10%): 4 (good)

Comments: Your paper could have looked at some of the more recent improvements to OPACS, such as facets, integration of collections in catalog, etc.

How "Next-Generation" Catalogs Are Delivering Information To Patrons

Abstract
There are many individuals within the library profession who fear that the traditional library catalog is falling behind other online information retrieval systems (such as Google and Amazon) because they do not offer users the simplicity and ease of use that they have grown accustomed to via the web. As such, several "next gen" catalog have been initiated to try and close the gap by adopting features such as social tagging and relevancy ranking. While such features have the potential to improve the search experience for library patrons, there is no guarantee that this is what they truly want when they use the library OPAC.

Introduction
The purpose of a library catalog is to deliver information to users in as orderly and efficient a manner as possible; however, with the ever-growing popularity of online resources outside of the library's scope (i.e. search engines like Google), there is a constant fear within the profession that potential patrons will abandon the library catalog as a resource for information in favor of other means that they – supposedly - perceive to be faster and much easier to use (i.e. a Google search is usually seen as "good enough" to find the answers they're looking for).

As such, librarians are clamoring for the "next generation" of online public access catalogs (OPACs) to match the functions/features of more popular information retrieval systems (Amazon, LibraryThing, etc.) in the hopes of drawing in more patrons. The argument for such an overhaul to the traditional library catalog goes something like this: if these types of features (relevance ranking, social tagging, etc.) are popular in those types of systems, then it follows that this is what patrons want in all of their information-gathering scenarios.

The traditional OPAC versus popular online information retrieval systems
Mercun spells out his belief in the severity of the situation by stating that there "may not be much time left for the necessary changes [to] create better services to keep the current users and attract new ones" (2008, p. 20); to his way of thinking, OPACs must be redesigned to emulate the "technological innovations and trends of the web" or risk becoming permanently obsolete and falling behind "services such as Amazon or Google" (2008, p. 1). In fact, he specifically singles out Amazon as both a "competitor and a model of an innovative tool" (2008, p. 2), an example of the types of services available within the online world which provide their users with a more "user-friendly, intuitive [and] visually attractive" interface that library catalogs need to strive for (2008, p. 19).

Mercun goes on to warn his readers that the information-seeking public of today is "attracted to the ease of use, convenience, and online availability provided by other freely accessible web services" (2008, p. 4), and libraries are losing patrons (both potential and current) because their "face" of the information seeking process – the OPAC – is not designed to "identify and understand the needs and behaviors of [the] new generation of library users" (2008, p. 3). As such, libraries need to "reconsider their services and role in the [new] information environment" by "better reflecting the expectations of web-savvy users" with a newly designed OPAC that brings "convenience, trends and quality closer together" (2008, p. 4); in short, libraries need to "make up for lost time" and "adapt to the new ... demands" of their users by adopting the features of a "next-gen catalog" or risk losing them forever (2008, p. 4).

Wisniewski also mentions Amazon when sharing his assessment of the current state of library OPACs, although he puts it in much more blunt terms: he chastises the profession for keeping quality information "locked inside a decidedly unfriendly discovery layer", which causes users to "bypass the library" for the "convenience and ease of use" of other online information retrieval systems instead (2009, p. 54). This scenario robs patrons of the information-rich resources provided by their local libraries, forcing them to seek out answers that are just "good enough" by their standards (i.e. the OPAC does not connect them to reliable resources in an efficient manner, so they turn to other online sources that may not be as reliable but are at least easy to use); he gives the example that you do not "need to take a library instruction class to learn to use Amazon.com" (2009, p. 54), a scathing rebuke towards libraries intimating that their OPACs are too difficult for the average patron to use.

Much like Mercun, Wisniewski sees sites like Amazon and Google as competition for the attention of potential library users, and that "more and more sources for information" are becoming available for them which look "good enough and [are] far easier to use ... from their perspective" than what they can find through the traditional library OPAC (2009, p. 56). In fact, he further criticizes the profession for offering products that are designed to satisfy "professionally trained searchers" rather than "casual users" (2009, p. 56); in other words, catalogs as they have been traditionally constructed favor the information seeking habits of librarians – not the average user – and if that strategy is not changed to "emphasize ease of use and convenience" then libraries will not be able to "avoid becoming book museums" (2009, p. 56).

Antelman also addresses this argument, listing the "web sites of companies such as Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, IBM, and Home Depot" to illustrate "more sophisticated approaches to searching" than what can be found via the traditional library catalog (2006, p. 129). She calls out the "closed, rigid, and intricate" design of the OPAC in comparison to these types of sites, reducing what was once the "most widely-available retrieval system" to a simple "call-number lookup system, with resource discovery happening elsewhere" (2006, p. 128). Like Wisniewski, Antelman fears that traditional OPACs are based on a "retrieval technique designed for trained and experienced searchers" (2006, p. 128), and that everyday users seeking out information will turn solely to resources providing them with the ease of use that library catalogs have been lacking.

Safley further postulates that library users have been "influenced by searching Yahoo! and Google" (2011, p. 166), fostering a mindset that is not compatible with the rules and regulations established by the library catalog for retrieving information. She backs up this claim with data accumulated from the McDermott Library at the University of Texas at Dallas, which shows that students have trouble looking up information via the school's traditional catalog; they "had problems searching for titles and subjects, were frequently tripped up by punctuation, and were confused by library jargon in field labels and holdings statements" (2011, p. 165). Once again, the argument is made that other online sources for information discovery provide their users with a more intuitive and easy-to-use interface than the traditional library catalog, and that it is the responsibility of the library community to "catch up" with these strategies or risk obsolescence.

Diedrichs highlights this confusion associated with the traditional OPAC, comparing patron expectations for the "simplistic but responsive Google" with the frustration they experience trying to "figure out ... library-sponsored resources [on their own]" (2009, p. 80); as is the case with the other arguments highlighted above, she makes the claim that users expect "complete and immediate discovery" when searching for information in the new "Web 2.0 world" that exists online, and that libraries "must respond to the needs of those users" (emphasis mine) or else risk losing them forever to the "Google-like discovery tools" that are so readily available elsewhere on the internet (2009, p. 79).

Diedrichs further states that one-time library patrons have become "very accustomed to convenient tools" (2009, p. 80) like Google when doing research online, and that they do not find the same type of experience when they use the traditional library catalog; in fact, she argues that users now "depend on Google or other search engines for discovery of information resources, rather than consulting library web pages [or] catalogs" (2009, p. 80). This is in part due to the fact that OPACS continue to divide information into "individual silos by format or type of content" (2009, p. 81); she gives the example of using keywords to search in a traditional catalog and getting a "no matching records" error message, then lambasts this scenario by proclaiming that "no other self-respecting website would give [the user] anything less than a 'did you mean' option" (2009, p. 81).

It is these types of scenarios (i.e. patrons growing accustomed to the search methods provided by sites like Google and Amazon, then finding that their local library catalog does not play by those same rules) which have fostered a disconnect between how libraries provide information and how the typical user seeks out said information. As such, if libraries continue to "hide" their valuable resources behind a "decidedly unfriendly discovery layer" (as Wisniewski described it), then the traditional library OPAC will end up serving as a hindrance to the information seeking process, and that is what makes the library community fear that they are being viewed by the general public as a "book museum" and nothing more.

Features of the "next gen" catalog
To combat this dire situation, members of the library profession point to several examples of next-generation (or "next gen") catalogs within the literature as a way to highlight the work being done to provide patrons with features that are more akin to those online resources which emphasize simplicity and ease of use.

Mercun, for example, evaluates six library catalogs (one traditional and five "modernized") in order to emphasize some of the more user-friendly qualities that are being offered to patrons; such features include "natural language searching, browsing, ranked result sets, expanded coverage and scope, relevance feedback methods [and] different aids [such as] spelling corrections, synonyms, [and] automatic term conversion" (2008, p. 2). It is these types of qualities which he believes are commonplace in other online information retrieval systems, and thus would provide "additional value to the catalog" (2008, p. 5) if they were to be integrated into more libraries' online strategies for the benefit of their users.

Emanuel also makes an effort to define the features which should be standard within a "next gen" catalog, i.e. those aspects which allow libraries to "make customizations to the catalog interface and make the search for library materials easier on users" (2009, p. 118). These features include the ability to "conduct broad keyword searches without limiting until after the results are displayed", a "much simpler [interface which] displays the catalog data in a format that is easier on the eyes", "the ability to either contain or link to such elements as reviews [or] item summaries" from outside sources, and the elimination of "awkward terms" (such as "record" and "subject heading") for terms that are more familiar to the average user (2009, p. 118-119).

Wisniewski lists several "expectations" for what a true "next gen" catalog should offer its users, such as the "capacity for content creation" and an interface which is "more visual and less text-based" (2009, p. 55-56). However, foremost among these expectations would be the ability to "incorporate data from multiple sources in multiple formats" (2009, p. 55); this type of "content integration" can break down the individual silos that Diedrichs mentioned were dividing information by format or type of content, thereby presenting everything to the library patron (books, articles, digital content, etc.) in a single interface.

In terms of specific "discovery platforms" which offer such characteristics to those institutions willing to implement them into their online strategies, Antelman reports on the "state-of-the-art retrieval technologies" (2006, p. 128) provided by Endeca's Information Access Platform for the North Carolina State University Libraries; this "next-gen" catalog introduces such features as "relevance ranking, implied phrase, spell correction, [and] improved topical searching" (2006, p. 130). In addition, she claims that Endeca's advanced "virtual browsing" features provide users with a simulation of the "serendipity" experienced when browsing the physical stacks (2006, p. 130); this gives students the opportunity to experience a unique sense of discovery that they otherwise could not achieve while using the school's traditional OPAC.

McFadden also highlights the "serendipitous discovery of new resources" that can be provided with a "next gen" catalog (2010, p. 56), although his focus lies in their ability to provide users with the option to "tag" items in the collection; he defines "social tags" as "metadata elements that attach to digital objects" (2010, p. 56), and points to institutions such as the University of Michigan's MTagger initiative and the University of Pennsylvania's PennTags project as examples of how such patron participation is "instrumental in presenting resources from a user's perspective and illustrating patterns of access and interest in library catalogs" (2010, p. 57-58). In other words, users are afforded the opportunity to become part of the discovery process themselves, by creating their own metadata and attaching it to "digital objects" that their fellow patrons will be able to discover at a later date.

Mendes uses a somewhat more straightforward definition for social tagging with "next-gen" catalogs, stating that "the act of associating terms [with] an information object ... [describes] the item and [enables] keyword-based classification and retrieval" (2009, p. 32). His example for this phenomena in action is the LibraryThing for Libraries (LTFL) service, which "displays user-generated metadata from the social-cataloging site LibraryThing in an individual library's catalog (2009, p. 32). The stated goal of the LTFL implementation is to "improve resource discovery through tags using user-generated vocabulary" (2009, p. 35), as well as to "foster social and user participation" (2009, p. 31); once again, the objective is to get patrons involved by providing a more social experience than can usually be found in the information retrieval process provided by libraries.

Shadle also brings up WorldCat Local and its ability to serve as the "discovery interface that sits between the user and [their] library's online catalog" (2009, p. 193). This platform works behind the scenes to "obtain item status/availability information and also to obtain any full-text links that can be displayed to the user ... either through screen-scraping the catalog HTML code or by using Z39.50" (2009, p. 193). WorldCat Local can also fulfill requests for materials that are not owned by the local institution, by "means of open URL resolution through [the] link resolver" (2009, p. 195); by taking advantage of this service's advanced programmable capabilities – which provides functions that a traditional OPAC would not be able to handle as smoothly or seamlessly – WorldCat Local is able to offer its users "local requesting, interlibrary loan requesting, link resolution referrals, and linking to full-text [via] external resources or directly into a library's digital content management system" (2009, p. 194).

Conclusion
While it certainly seems as if many of the "next gen" catalogs described above are providing users with the kinds of features that they have been seeking out elsewhere, the most important thing for libraries to strive for is satisfying their patrons' information-seeking needs, regardless of whether they provide the latest technological innovations or not; after all, Diedrichs points out that it is not enough for the library catalog to "help users discover information wherever they are," but it must also "be converted to [provide] fulfillment for the user" (2009, p. 89).

For example, mere speculation about the advantages of "next gen" catalogs does not justify the implementation of a new discovery platform if user data suggests that people are not taking advantage of these features. McFadden trumpets the virtues of user collaboration in a Web 2.0 environment like Wikipedia, but goes on to state that it will be "a challenge (emphasis mine) for librarians to motivate their users to participate in social tagging" (2010, p. 60). Now, if user participation and social collaboration are to play a significant role in the implementation of "next gen" catalogs, why should it be a "challenge" to get people to use said features? This suggests an overestimation on the part of "next gen" proponents concerning the willingness of their patrons to take part in such aspects of the information-seeking process.

In addition, features of the "next gen" catalog do very little in the way of improving user satisfaction if users don't actually take advantage of them; Mercun states that features such as social tagging can only reach their potential if "a sufficient number of people are using the service," and yet user data suggests that "less than ten percent of the public has indicated they would be either extremely or very likely to participate" in services such as social tagging were they to be offered by their local libraries (2008, p. 6). With this being the case, it may be the case that libraries' efforts to engage its users in a more "social" OPAC are going to suffer as a result of being "late comers" in this field; after all, savvy web users are already contributing metadata to sites like Amazon (user reviews) and Flickr (social tags), so what motivation would there be for them to add a "next gen" library catalog to that list?

Libraries should be constantly striving to improve and enhance their OPAC systems for the betterment of their user populations, but such enthusiasm should be tempered by concrete data on whether or not those same users are willing to participate in the process or not. Emanuel emphatically states that she has seen the results of usability testing (which she does not identify) demonstrating that "library users are generally excited about any changes to the online catalog to make it more user friendly" (2009, p. 119), but what exactly it is that those users want seems to be left purely up to speculation; she calls for research to improve the searching capabilities of catalogs in order to compete with commercial search engines (no doubt in order to maintain the library's level of quality while removing the type of "decidedly unfriendly discovery layer" that Wisniewski mentioned) and yet fears that libraries do not have the "resources available to complete such research," nor do they have the resolve to withstand "another momentous shift in [library] culture ... [that] could potentially revolutionize libraries, searching, and metadata in the future" (2009, p. 120). In other words, if neither librarians nor library users are "ready" to take full advantage of the opportunities provided by the promise of "next gen" catalogs (particularly the implementation of more "social" tools), then perhaps a reassessment about what features are most important to the future of the library OPAC needs to be taken before delving further into the subject.

References
Antelman, K. (2006). Toward a twenty-first century library catalog. Information Technology and Libraries, 25 (3), 128-139.

Diedrichs, C. (2009). Discover and delivery: making it work for users. The Serials Librarian, 56, 79-93.

Emanuel, J. (2009). Next generation catalogs: what do they do and why should we care? Reference and User Services Quarterly, 49 (2), 117-120.

McFadden, S. (2010). Collaborative tagging: traditional cataloging meets the "wisdom of crowds." The Serials Librarian, 58, 55-60.

Mendes, L.H. (2009). Subjecting the catalog to tagging. Library Hi Tech, 27 (1), 30-41.

Mercun, T. (2008). New generation of catalogues for the new generation of users. Program, 42 (3), 243-261.

Safley, E. (2011). Oasis or quicksand: implementing a catalog discovery layer to maximize access to electronic resources. The Serials Librarian, 60, 164-168.

Shadle, S. (2009). Electronic resources in a next-generation catalog: the case of WorldCat Local. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 21, 192-199.

Wisniewski, J. (2009). Next-gen OPACS: no time like the present. Online, 33 (5), 54-57.

Module 3 (LSC 547) has been graded

2011-12-15T08:36:00.009-05:00

Please read the comments.
Points 18/20

A. Explain the following ---

1. (2 points) QUEST

From your Module 3 Powerpoint presentation, "QUEST" is a mnemonic for key elements of the reference interview, arranged in descending order from the more important elements to the less important ones.

"Question" signifies the evaluating and summarizing of the user's original question, in order to define the topic of their query and clarify what is actually being asked.

"Use" defines how the information provided is going to be used (i.e. is the information going to be required to answer a simple question, write a brief paper, do research for a comprehensive term paper, etc.).

"Evaluate" determines what materials or content sources will meet the user's information needs and whether the quality of said sources will be acceptable in answering their question (i.e. books versus magazines versus newspapers etc.).

"Sources" determines how many sources (i.e. the quantity) will be needed to complete the reference interview.

"Timeframe" is the final step in the reference process, and is used to measure the importance of current versus retrospective coverage (i.e. to satisfy the user's needs, does the type of information need to be very recent, or can historical documents work?), as well as the actual timeframe in which the user is working with (is there a report that needs to be passed in by the next day, or does the user have the luxury of waiting a few weeks for things like interlibrary loan journals to arrive?).

2. (2 points) OpenURL

From your Module 3 Powerpoint presentation, "OpenURL" is an accepted syntax for describing an item using a dynamically created internet link, either by including metadata from the source material or by referencing a unique identifier.

With OpenURL, data is compiled from the source record (i.e. a cited item in a database), then a link server or resolver is needed to identify the proper syntax (i.e. rules of the institution are applied) in order to dynamically create a target URL which points users to services or information relevant to the original item (i.e. the full text targets as selected by the particular institution).

3. (2 points) Federated Search

From your Module 3 Powerpoint presentation, federated searching is a single search tool that can access all resources with a solitary easy-to-use interface; in other words, multiple information sources (library catalog, web sites, subscription databases, etc.) can be inspected by the user via a single search.

One of three major protocols (SRW/U query language; Z39.50 protocol; HTML screen scraping) can be used to accomplish the task of "transforming a query and broadcasting it to a group of disparate databases with the appropriate syntax, merging the results collected from the databases, presenting them in a succinct and unified format with minimal duplication, and allowing the library patron to sort the merged result set by various criteria."

A. Thesaurus Searches ---

1. (3 points) Define the following : broader term, related term, and narrower term.

A broader term refers to a general category that a particular item belongs to (i.e. "Dinosaur" is a broader term for "Velociraptor").

A narrower term refers to a more specific version of the item in question (i.e. "Reference Librarian" is a narrower term for "Library Staff").

A related term refers to the fact that two items can have some form of relationship with one another, while not falling specifically into the previous two categories ... For example, "Televisions" and "Television Broadcasting" are two terms that are obviously related to one another, and yet they still fall into two separate categories (i.e. "Television Broadcasting" is the act of transmitting images via radiowaves, while "Televisions" refers to the actual physical objects needed to receive those broadcasts). Therefore, "Televisions" is not a more general term for "Television Broadcasting" (or vice versa), nor is "Television Broadcasting" a more specific version of "Televisions" (or the other way around); they are both related terms to one another, i.e. a user who is searching for subjects that relate to "Television Broadcasting" may also - but not necessarily - be interested in other materials that refer specifically to the subject of "Televisions."

2. (1 point) Look up "autism" in Wilson's Eric Thesaurus. Provide a broader term, a narrower term, and a related term and look up "junk bonds" in Proquest's ABI/INFORM Complete Thesaurus. Provide a broader term, a narrower term, and a related term.

I visited the Thesaurus section of the ERIC website (http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/thesaurus/thesaurus.jsp) and entered the search term "autism."

The results page listed a single broader term ("Pervasive Developmental Disorders"), did not have any narrower terms ("n/a"), and featured several related terms (including "Anxiety Disorders").

Next, I moved onto the Thesaurus section of ABI/INFORM Complete (http://search.proquest.com/abicomplete/thesaurus/browsepage/$N/queryTermField/false/false) and entered the search term "junk bonds."

The results page listed two broader terms ("Bonds" and "Investments"), seven related terms (including "corporate debt" and "Eurobonds"), and zero narrower terms (although you could explode the other two categories to see their narrower terms, i.e. one of the narrower terms for "Bonds" is "Bond portfolios" and one of the narrower terms for "corporate debt" is "commercial paper").

B. Scavenger Hunt

(10 points) In this scavenger hunt, you will be free to use any database (even the internet) to provide an answer. The resriction: EACH of the following databases must have provided you with at least one of your answers: Lexis-Nexis, JSTOR, the HELIN Catalog, a Wilson Database, and an Ebsco database.

What you are looking for ---

1. Abortion is a hot issue. Which states have laws about restricting abortion?

This question sounds like a "current events" topic, so I started my search with Lexis Nexis and entered the keywords "states restricting abortion" (no quotation marks) under "Search the News". This produced a few results, but I discovered that I could use the "Find Documents with Similar Topics" option to narrow my initial search by keyword.

I selected "ABORTION", "US STATE GOVERNMENT", and "LEGISLATION" under the database's "Power Search" and sorted the results from newest to oldest ... This produced a list of 995 results, several of which provided relevant information to the initial query (including articles like "New laws in 6 U.S. states tighten the rules on abortion" by Erik Eckholm [The International Herald Tribune, June 28 2011] and "State bills are targeting abortion" by Judy Keen [USA Today, April 6 2011]).

2. Are men better at mathematics than women?

Using EBSCOHost's Academic Search Premier, I started off with the simple search "men AND women AND mathematics" (singling out the most relevant keywords from the user's question). This produced a list of 537 results, so I attempted to narrow things down by checking the "Subject: Thesaurus Term" option in the left-hand column. This revealed two promising candidates ("MATHEMATICS" and "SEX differences") so I used these to cut down the list to 108 results.

Most of the resulting articles seemed to focus on an imbalance between the sexes when it comes to work in the professional fields of mathematics (i.e. "Seeking Congruity Between Goals and Roles: A New Look at Why Women Opt Out of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Careers" by Amanda B. Diekman [Psychological Science, August 2010, Vol. 21 Issue 8, p. 1051-1057]), so perhaps the user's question can be answered by pointing to these studies and stating that there may be a perception that men are "better" at mathematics than women simply because those in the field aren't doing enough to encourage young females to actively pursue these disciplines as a career path (and if less women than men are moving forward in the field of mathematics, then it could give the appearance that men are "better" at it).

In addition, the article "Improving performance expectancies in stereotypic domains: task relevance and the reduction of stereotype threat" by Harriet Rosenthal (European Journal of Social Psychology, May/June 2007, Vol. 37 Issue 3, p. 586-597) included the subject heading "MATHEMATICAL ability -- Sex differences"; this sounded promising, so I conducted a new search with that subject and received a list of 143 results, including some very promising candidates (such as "Sex differences in the relation between math performance, spatial skills, and attitudes" by C.M. Ganley [Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, July 2011, Vol. 32 Issue 4, p. 235-242], "Gender and Mathematical Ability" by Richard York [Monthly Review, November 2007, Vol. 59 Issue 6, p. 7-15], and "A comparison of performance and attitudes in mathematics amongst the 'gifted': Are boys better at mathematics or do they just think they are?" by Melanie Hargreaves [Assessment in Education, March 2008, Vol. 15 Issue 1, p. 19-38]).

3. Does media violence make children more violent?

This sounded like a topic that would be covered extensively within scholarly journals, so I accessed EBSCOHost's Academic Search Premier and entered the search “media violence" AND children (since these are the major concepts to be found in the question "Does media violence make children more violent?"). This gave me a list of 146 results, including promising entries like "Media violence, physical aggression, and relational aggression in school age children: a short-term longitudinal study" by Douglas A. Gentile (Aggressive Behavior, March/April 2011, Vol. 37 Issue 2, p. 193-206) and "Media Violence: The Effects Are Both Real and Strong" by John P. Murray (American Behavioral Scientist, April 2008, Vol. 51 Issue 8, p. 1212-1230).

Scanning the list of results also produced a number of meaningful subject entries that could provide further assistance in narrowing down the topic ("VIOLENCE in mass media", "CHILDREN & violence", "VIOLENCE in children", "AGGRESSION (Psychology) in children", "MASS media -- Social aspects", "MASS media & children", etc.).

In addition, selecting the option for "Full Text" only narrowed down the search to sources that are immediately available (in case the user does not have the luxury of waiting for articles to be sent via Interlibrary Loan) ... Relevant results through this filter included "The influence of violent media on children and adolescents: a public-health approach" by Kevin D. Browne (Lancet, February 2005, Vol. 365 Issue 9460, p. 702-710) and "The Media-Violence Myth" by Richard Rhodes (Rolling Stone, November 2000, Issue 854, p. 55) whose abstract includes the statement "Clarifies some of the issues raised by two studies that claim a strong connection between early exposure to televised violence and subsequent violent behavior."

4. I need information on the Nazi politcal party of Germany?

"I need information on the Nazi political party of Germany" is a statement which indicates an interest in the Nazi party's past political power within Germany (i.e. WWII-era information rather than anything on Neo-Nazi activity in the present day); it also makes it sound like the user is in need of a number of different resources. Therefore, I visited the HELIN catalog in hopes of compiling a list of items with historical information on the subject.

I entered the word "Nazi" as a subject search, which resulted in 115 items (including "Nazi Party -- See Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei"). Clicking that link, I was brought to a list of 78 subjects; since the user's request seemed to indicate an interest in general information on the political party, I clicked on "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei" (which contained 126 entries) and ignored the various subheadings for the time being.

Selecting "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei" from the catalog brought up several relevant items within URI's collection that would help the user gain a general understanding of the Nazi party during WWII (the first page of results alone has titles like "1933" by Philip Metcalfe [New York: Permanent Press, 1988] and "Charisma and factionalism in the Nazi Party" by Joseph Nyomarkay [Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1967]). Therefore, this search should be able to provide a satisfactory bibliographical list for the user to accumulate general information on the subject.

5. I need to know who wrote the following :

The tigers leap up when they feel the slow brine
Crawling inch by inch on them; hair, ears, limbs, and eyne,
Stand rigid with horror; a loud, long hoarse cry
Bursts at once from their vital tremendously.

Looking for title/author information for a poem when a user has a few lines available can easily be obtained via a simple Google search, so I entered "tigers leap up when they feel the slow brine" (quotation marks included) and received 180 results.

Several of the results on the first page were from reliable sources, so that I would be comfortable giving the user "Percy Bysshe Shelley" as an answer without questioning its validity ... For example, the second result is a page from the "Keats-Shelley Journal" (http://www.jstor.org/stable/30212741), which reproduces those lines from "A Vision of the Sea" in full. The fourth result is a scan from Volume 3 of "The poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley" via Google Books (http://books.google.com/books?id=Krw8AAAAYAAJ), again displaying the lines in full.

6. I want to know about exercise as a means of reducing stress.

I decided to check the JSTOR database for information on the subject of reducing stress through exercise, and one of the titles that caught my eye was the "Journal of Health and Social Behavior."

Searching their archives for the keywords "exercise AND stress" produced 158 results, including "Body and Mind: The Effect of Exercise, Overweight, and Physical Health on Psychological Well-Being" by Diane Hayes (Journal of Health and Social Behavior, December 1986, Vol. 27, p. 387-400).

7. I was born Roberta Joan Anderson in Canada on November 7, 1943. Who am I?

Finding a person's real name is another task that can easily be handled by an internet search engine, so I entered "Roberta Joan Anderson" (with quotation marks) into Google and received 559,000 results ... Luckily, the first result was to the Wikipedia entry on Joni Mitchell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joni_Mitchell):

"Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson; November 7, 1943) is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter."

For those uncomfortable with trusting Wikipedia's sources, one could move onto the second page and find an entry in the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan (http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/mitchell_joni_1943-.html) as well as the official Joni Mitchell website (http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=2442) to corroborate the name and birthdate.

8. The lawyer, Updegrove, wrote an article for a Bar Journal in 1997. Can you find the citation?

I used Google to search for the terms "updegrove" and "1997", which led to the website "Andrew Updegrove Lawyer Profile on Martindale.com" (http://www.martindale.com/ Andrew-Updegrove/ 658365-lawyer.htm).

Under his biography, I found the line "'Firms of the Future,' The San Francisco Recorder, June 12, 1996, reprinted in Lawyers Business Journal, Summer, 1997 and Intellectual Property Magazine, October, 1996” (emphasis mine) ... This seemed promising, so I did another Google search for the title "Firms of the Future" and found a reprint of the article (http://www.gesmer.com/publications/article.php?ID=91):

While the topic of the following article varies from our usual subject matter, "Firms of the Future" has been so extensively reprinted that we thought it merited inclusion in the Technology Law Bulletin. Originally written by one of our partners by invitation for the San Francisco Recorder , the legal journal for Silicon Valley, it has also appeared in the October, 1996 issue of Intellectual Property, The Magazine of Law and Policy for High Technology , and in the June 24, 1996 edition of the Washington Legal Times, under the title "Quiet Revolution in Business Law."

The fact that this article has been "extensively reprinted" (including in the Lawyers Business Journal of Summer 1997), I would present this article to the user in the hope that this is the one they were thinking of.

(I should note that I also found the following site via Google - http://66.223.107.171/ attorneys/updegrove.php - and it lists Andrew Updegrove as the author of "Essentials of Creating a Successful Legal Blog" in the Boston Bar Journal ... However, the date of publication is listed as May of 2007, not 1997).

You did not find the article that was wanted as the article you retrieved was not from a Bar Journal. The correct article is: Updegrove, R., Thompson, R. L. (1997). The double-edged sword of child relocations: Successful representation of the parents. Rhode Island Bar Journal, 45(11).

9. Can you find the article that Dick is looking for? He had read the article in the journal (JN) Business Week, but he forgot the title. He knows that he saw it recently. The article was about companies that have oil contracts in Iraq. Provide the latest articles.

I decided to start my search using the WilsonWeb database, by looking for "Business Week" (under "Journal Name") along with the keywords "Iraq AND oil". This resulted in a list of 145 records found, so I narrowed things down by limiting the search to "Feature Article" (under "Document Types"). This gave me a list of 138 records, and (sorting by date) I found "Why Big Oil Is Going Back to Iraq" by Stanley Reed.

The abstract seems to fit Dick's description, since it lists several companies that have (or are planning to have) oil contracts in Iraq:

"Iraq's oil industry is reshaping global energy and threatening the dynamics of OPEC. During the summer, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Eni, and others balked at bidding on rich Iraqi fields because of the tough terms Baghdad was proposing, but they have now returned, having accepted roughly the same deal that was on the table in June. The energy giants are reconsidering Iraq because they fear that this may be their last chance to get big volumes of crude. Moreover, after BP and China National Petroleum Corp. agreed to Iraq's terms following the June auctions, the others realized that they were unlikely to reach a better deal."

However, in the reference interview he mentioned that "he saw it recently", and this article is dated November 16, 2009. Now, "recently" is a bit of a subjective term, but - to me - it would seem to indicate that the article he's thinking of is more recent than a couple of years ago.

With that being the case, I don't have the greatest confidence that this is the exact article that Dick is looking for ... I did try replacing the keyword "oil" with "oil contracts" (to see if that would narrow down the results) and it gave me back one hit: "Big Oil Tiptoes Back into Iraq" by the same author (Stanley Reed).

The record for this article included the subject heading "Petroleum industry/Production sharing contracts/Iraq", which sounded very promising. Therefore, I conducted a new search with "Business Week" under "Journal Name" and "Petroleum industry/Production sharing contracts/Iraq" under "Subject"; this produced a list of three results, including the articles "Red Star Over Iraq" and "Iraq's World Class Oil Ambitions."

The former had more to do with China's involvement specifically with the Iraqi oil trade, but the latter (again written by Stanley Reed) promised a listing of "30 oil firms including Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and BP" in its abstract ... Unfortunately, this article was also two years old (April 6, 2009), so I'm once again not entirely positive that this is what Dick is looking for.

Therefore, I would bring these two articles back to Dick to see if they rang any bells, but I would be prepared to search further should they not be as current as what he is looking for.

Did you think about switching databases? The articles you retrieved do not fit the bill as a likely resource for Dick’s request.

10. I need a bibliography of the works of Karen Blixen.

I used the HELIN catalog and searched for "Blixen, Karen" under "subject." This led to just two entries in the catalog ("Blixen, Karen, 1885 1962 -- Aesthetics" and "Blixen, Karen, 1885 1962 -- Drama"), but the search also included a "See Also" note for "Dinesen, Isak, 1885-1962."
I clicked the link, which produced a list of 52 entries found, including "Dinesen, Isak, 1885-1962 -- Bibliography" (unfortunately, the book "Karen Blixen : en bibliografi" seems to be written mostly in Danish).

Still, this title should provide a list of Blixen's original works, and checking some of the titles under "Dinesen, Isak, 1885-1962 -- Criticism and Interpretation" should provide further information to satisfy the user's needs ("The aristocratic universe of Karen Blixen" and "Understanding Isak Dinesen" sound like they would be of particular interest on the matter). If nothing else, it provides a call number ("PT8175.B545") where other works on the subject could be located (perhaps via Interlibrary Loan).

Once you have determined that Blixen was an author, did you consider databases that would provide literary reference resources such as Literature Resource Center (Gale)

You did a fair job on the scavenger hunt. More practice will make you more proficient. Notice that picking the right database is an art in itself.

Final LSC 522 meeting is over!

2011-12-14T21:54:00.006-05:00

And that is (in effect) the end of another semester, huzzah!

Since I was one of only two students to email their PowerPoint presentation to the professor prior to class (the other students eventually got their presentations in), I had the "honor" of going first ... Maybe you can tell from the screenshots provided, but I was a bit verbose, so I think that played a partial role in the class going about 45 minutes over the allotted 9 o'clock ending time :(

Anyway, here are the slides from my presentation (to be honest, I just pulled a few quotes from my paper and slapped them together with a picture I "borrowed" from Wikipedia's entry on social media):

The professor said that she will "return [our] assignment 3 papers tomorrow and the research papers on Sunday" ... We shall see ;)

Starting to get a little impatient

2011-12-12T14:28:00.004-05:00

Grades for LSC 547 are supposed to be posted next week. We're having our final "virtual" meeting in LSC 522 on Wednesday ... And yet, I'm still waiting to hear from either professor about my grades on:

Assignment 3 (LSC 522)
Assignment 4 (LSC 522)
Research Paper (LSC 522)
Assignment 3 (LSC 547)
Research Paper (LSC 547)

And I know it's not just me; one of the students from my LSC 522 group emailed me and said that he hasn't gotten any grades back either ... Now, it's not like I'm in a panic because of some irrational fear that I'm failing both courses or anything like that, but it would be nice to have some kind of idea about where I stand grades-wise before the semester is officially over.

That's not asking too much, is it?

I've completed my portion of the LSC 522 LibGuide!

2011-12-08T21:55:00.005-05:00

I guess I could add a few more links or brush up my intro paragraph on social media, but - unless inspiration strikes - I'm gonna check this one off my "to do" list and move onto the presentation for my paper next week ...

Last night's second-to-last LSC522 meeting was rather uneventful ...

2011-12-08T09:10:00.004-05:00

... except for at the very end of the night:

Just when I thought I was ready to put this semester behind me :(

Oh well, as I've said before, I'm quite happy with the way my research paper turned out, so putting together a quick presentation shouldn't be too difficult ... I also began constructing my portion of the LibGuides assignment (during class, shhh don't tell the professor!), so that should be wrapped up fairly soon as well.

Ah, sweet freedom, it's so close I can taste it ... ;)

Research paper for LSC 522 has been submitted

2011-12-06T19:17:00.003-05:00

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I've gotta say that it came out pretty darn good ...

My other paper this semester? Eh, it kind of lost momentum at the end ... but this one? I daresay it's one of my best efforts since entering graduate school (yes, I'm that confident).

Hopefully, I haven't jinxed things by acting all boastful and "internet brave" ... to be honest, I'm just feeling so giddy about the fact that there's only one week left in the semester, I don't even know what I'm ~~saying~~ typing anymore! Tee hee!

In any event, I'll wait until the professor actually gives out the grades before posting my work here on the blog ... We'll see if my brashness matches her ultimate judgment of my creative outpouring ;)

Anyway, I finished up my forum response for LSC 547 over the weekend ... so all that's left is the social-networking "tab" that I have to create for our class LibGuides assignment (campusguides.com), and I can wash my hands of the whole thing!

See ya later, suckers!

Assignment 3 (LSC 547) has been submitted

2011-12-03T08:59:00.003-05:00

I actually finished the assignment on Wednesday night, but I just wanted to make a few edits/corrections before officially sending it off to the professor ... That appears to be the last of the "big" assignments for this particular class; one down, one to go! :)

We also had to post something in the forums concerning the other students' research papers ... I kind of like how mine turned out, so I'm archiving it here:

Outside of Google, I've always considered the Internet Archive to be one of the most indispensable "search engines" around ... I use the "Wayback Machine" feature all the time to re-visit long forgotten "internet ephemera" that can no longer be accessed via a traditional Google search (either because the site in question no longer exists, or the site's design has transformed over the years to the point where the key information I'm looking for has been moved/deleted from the current build).

Only having the option to search if one has the specific URL is a bit of a roadblock, but I still have an old list of bookmarks (compiled during my college years) saved on my hard drive, filled with sites I once found to be entertaining and/or informative ... Rather than giving up that data as being gone forever (as I said, most of those old sites are either defunct or have changed considerably over the last ten-odd years), I can still plug the URL into the Wayback Machine, if for no other reason than to be reminded of how different the internet landscape looked in the mid-90s (animated "Under Construction" logos, anyone?).

This brings up an important theme that some of the other papers touch on, i.e. the importance of archiving "antiquated" digital information. Whether it's saving data from a long-forgotten website, or preserving a "dead" format (8-track, Betamax, etc.) for future generations, one of the responsibilities that librarians can task themselves with is the development of information retrieval systems that can preserve digital data just as easily as what can be found in the physical format.

In fact, if one uses the Wayback Machine to search for early versions of the "archive.org" site itself, there is an article written by the Internet Archive's founder Brewster Kahle (http://web.archive.org/web/19990422070325/ http://www.archive.org/sciam_article.html), which talks about the idea of preserving digital information before it becomes lost forever:

While the Internet's World Wide Web is unprecedented in spreading the popular voice of millions that would never have been published before, no one recorded these documents and images from 1 year ago. The history of early materials of each medium is one of loss and eventual partial reconstruction through fragments. A group of entrepreneurs and engineers have determined to not let this happen to the early Internet.

Even though the documents on the Internet are the easy documents to collect and archive, the average lifetime of a document is 75 days and then it is gone. While the changing nature of the Internet brings a freshness and vitality, it also creates problems for historians and users alike. A visiting professor at MIT, Carl Malamud, wanted to write a book citing some documents that were only available on the Internet's World Wide Web system, but was concerned that future readers would get a familiar error message "404 Document not found" by the time the book was published. He asked if the Internet was "too unreliable" for scholarly citation.

Where libraries serve this role for books and periodicals that are no longer sold or easily accessible, no such equivalent yet exists for digital information. With the rise of the importance of digital information to the running of our society and culture, accompanied by the drop in costs for digital storage and access, these new digital libraries will soon take shape.

The Internet Archive is such a new organization that is collecting the public materials on the Internet to construct a digital library. The first step is to preserve the contents of this new medium.

Mister Kahle also has given a very interesting talk on the matter at the 2008 TED Conference, which can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch? feature=player_embedded&v=pXoHC2D15hM

Of course, one of the other themes that can be found within these papers is the difficulty that such a task presents to librarians ... For example, we learn that the Internet Archive "contains over 2 petabytes of data and is currently growing at a rate of 20 terabytes per month"; this example alone requires such a Herculean effort as to almost make one want to give up before even starting!

Libraries are expected to collect and preserve information for future generations, yet - in all honesty - information is being produced faster than one can be reasonably expected to "archive" it; if we think about the sheer vast amounts of information being created online (Facebook posts, tweets, articles in electronic journals, etc.), and then consider the numerous iterations that this information goes through (Wikipedia edits, annotations, corrections, etc.), it really seems near-futile ... This is why librarians have to develop some kind of strategy with which to attempt to tackle the situation head-on.

Readings due through December 7th

2011-12-01T15:23:00.004-05:00

I forgot to include a post for last week's readings in LSC 522 (can you tell I'm ready for the semester to be over?), so I'll just combine them with the readings that are due for next week ... Also, for LSC 547, we're supposed to read all of our fellow students' research papers and "choose one theme (issue) represented and discuss [then] write an original contribution on a theme or an issue raised in the papers" in the forums. Therefore, I'll just include the titles for each paper here (no links, obviously) and count them as the "readings" that are due for next week in that class.

Cool? Cool.

LSC 522

The changing academic library (worldcat.org)

Chapter 7: Libraries and money

Marketing today's academic library (worldcat.org)

Chapter 2: Defining the user
Chapter 4: The library as product
Chapter 7: Developing brand strategies

The way we have grown (libraryassessment.org)
The library as strategic investment (youtube.com)

LSC 547

Analysis of the information storage and retrieval system at the Internet Archive
Data provenance: issues and solutions
Digital image libraries
Electronic medical records: helpful or harmful?
A look at WorldCat Local's interface via the Washington State University's Summit Union Library catalog
Managing and preserving digital content: considerations and challenges
Metadata in institutional repositories
Metasearch on the way out and discovery tools on the way in
Storage facilities vs. ASRs: which provides more space for less money?

EDIT: I just noticed that two of the readings listed as being due for next week are nowhere to be found on the LSC 522 Sakai site (the syllabus just reads "Howard" and "Staley & Malenfant"), so this is increasingly beginning to feel like an exercise in futility ... :(

Yay, no class tonight!

2011-11-30T19:05:00.004-05:00

We had another "virtual" class meeting scheduled for LSC522 at 7 o'clock tonight ... I haven't checked Sakai since leaving work this afternoon, so OF COURSE there's a message from the professor dated at 5:28 PM:

Hi everyone,

I'm finally back from Sweden and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Instead of meeting in our chat room tonight I want to use the time to catch-up with all of your messages and grading your assignments. So, keep up with the group discussions and I will start responding to all of your messages tonight.

Sherry

Well, I guess I'll use this new-found free time to "catch up" on some assignments myself ... Specifically, Assignment 3 for LSC 547 (due Monday), the forum posting for LSC 547 (also due Monday, which involves commenting on the research papers from our fellow students), as well as the eight-to-ten-page paper that's still waiting in the wings for LSC 522 (due Wednesday).

Sigh ... The catch is that if I had decided to skip out on class tonight to catch up on things, it would've been a mark against me; students aren't afforded such luxuries, I suppose ;)

Assignment 3 (LSC 522) has been submitted ...

2011-11-22T17:55:00.004-05:00

And a day early, even!

We had to write a "site assessment" paper on an academic library of our choosing, pointing out the ways that the space was being utilized for the benefit of both students and faculty at the institution ... I selected the "Learning Resource Center" at Worcester State University (worcester.edu), and I'm actually quite happy with the results, thank you very much; not the best paper I've ever written, but I think things came out rather well.

As always, I'll wait until receiving a grade before posting my work here on the blog ... Of course, we're still waiting for the professor to give us a grade for Assignment 2, so we'll see how long of a wait we have in store for us ;)

Sigh ... Is the semester over yet?

Readings due through November 23rd

2011-11-18T13:04:00.005-05:00

LSC 522

No brief candle (clir.org)

The role of the library in 21st century scholarly publishing

University publishing in a digital age (ithaka.org)

Executive summary

Research paper for LSC 547 has been submitted

2011-11-14T19:23:00.005-05:00

Y'know, I really wanted to finish this paper on Friday, so that I could have the whole weekend to myself for fun and frivolity ... Instead, I wrapped things up (for the most part) during my lunch break this afternoon, and submitted the whole shebang mere moments ago :(

If that wasn't enough, I actually forgot that an abstract was required for this assignment ... Boy, that was an unpleasant five minutes of writing, let me tell you :( :(

Nevertheless, it's done, it's over with, I can move on ... I actually think I had a pretty solid argument going at the beginning of the paper, but things kind of tapered off from there; I'm not too happy with how the last 3-4 pages turned out, I admit it.

But hey, now I get the pleasure of taking all these articles that I printed out and throwing them in the recycling bin! :)

Module 2 (LSC 547) has been graded!

2011-11-11T09:35:00.008-05:00

19.5 points – Well done

A. Indexing – Inverted File

(10 points) Create an inverted file from the attached file

Using the example given in the reading, I first took the file and removed all punctuations (replacing them with spaces), then converted all words to capital letters:

1
CARBON
FUTURES
AND
MACROECONOMIC
RISK
FACTORS
A
VIEW
FROM
THE
EU
ETS

CHEVALLIER
JULIEN

ENERGY
ECONOMICS
JUL2009
VOL
31
ISSUE
4
614
625
12P

10
1016
J
ENECO
2009
02
008

40634841

2
HEALTH
CANADA
CONTEMPLATES
PROVIDING
FOOD
INDUSTRY
WITH
DISCRETIONARY
AUTHORITY
TO FORTIFY
JUNK
FOODS

CMAJ
CANADIAN
MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION
JOURNAL
6
9
2009
VOL
180
ISSUE
12
1196
1197
2P

40831102

3
PRIVACY
FOR
SALE

BALDWIN
WILLIAM

FORBES
6
8
2009
VOL
183
ISSUE
11
12
12
3
5P

40121551

4
REDUCING
SPURIOUS
GRAVITATIONAL
RADIATION
IN
BINARY
BLACK
HOLE
SIMULATIONS
BY
USING
CONFORMALLY
CURVED
INITIAL
DATA

CLASSICAL
&
QUANTUM
GRAVITY
JUN2009
VOL
26
ISSUE
11
P114002
114002
1P

40313246

5
HOW
AVATAR
CUSTOMIZABILITY
AFFECTS
CHILDREN
S
AROUSAL
AND
SUBJECTIVE
PRESENCE
DURING
JUNK
FOOD
SPONSORED
ONLINE
VIDEO
GAMES

BAILEY
RACHEL
WISE
KEVIN
BOLLS
PAUL

CYBERPSYCHOLOGY
&
BEHAVIOR
JUN2009
VOL
12
ISSUE
3
P277
283
7P

10
1089
CPB
2008
0292

41138997

6
JUNK
FOOD
HOME
COOKING
PHYSICAL
ACTIVITY
AND
OBESITY
THE
EFFECT
OF
THE
FAT
TAX
AND
THE
THIN
SUBSIDY

YANIV
GIDEON
ROSIN
ODELIA
TOBOL
YOSSEF

JOURNAL
OF
PUBLIC
ECONOMICS
JUN2009
VOL
93
ISSUE
5
6
P823
830
8

10
1016
J
JPUBECO
2009
02
004

38803825

7
A
FUNCTIONAL
ROLE
FOR
TRANSPOSASES
IN
A
LARGE
EUKARYOTIC
GENOME

NOWACKI
MARIUSZ
HIGGINS
BRIAN
P
MAQUILAN
GENEVIEVE
M
SWART
ESTIENNE
C
DOAK
THOMAS
G
LANDWEBER
LAURA
F

SCIENCE
5
15
2009
VOL
324
ISSUE
5929
P935
938
4P

40105829

8
TIME
FOR
A
FAT
TAX

LAURANCE
JEREMY

LANCET
5
9
2009
VOL
373
ISSUE
9675
P1597
1597
1
2P

39457284

The one thing I'm not positive on is dealing with the punctuation in the journal descriptions and DOI entries; I suppose it's possible to eliminate the spaces in these instances to avoid confusion (perhaps convert 5/9/2009 to "592009" instead of "5" and "9" and "2009"). Also, it might be more desirable to separate "JUL2009" into "JUL" and "2009" for easier searching (i.e. to find other entries published in the year 2009).

However, this might be a necessary step if we were constructing "an inverted file for every field that is required to be searchable" (p. 62) like a journal name inverted file, a journal publication inverted file, etc. Since this assignment only specifies the creation of a single inverted file, I figured this would be the best resolution to the matter.

I then divided the words into three columns: document number, field (TI = title, AU = author, JN = journal information, DO = DOI, AN = AN), and order in which the word appeared in each document ... The list of stop words used by DIALOG (AN AND BY FOR FROM OF THE TO WITH) seemed good enough for me, so I excluded those to get the following:

CARBON                    1          TI          1
FUTURES                   1          TI          2
MACROECONOMIC             1          TI          4
RISK                      1          TI          5
FACTORS                   1          TI          6
RISK FACTORS              1          TI          5,6
VIEW                      1          TI          8
FROM                      1          TI          9
EU                        1          TI         11
ETS                       1          TI         12
CHEVALLIER                1          AU          1
JULIEN                    1          AU          2
CHEVALLIER JULIEN         1          AU          1,2
ENERGY                    1          JN          1
ECONOMICS                 1          JN          2
JUL2009                   1          JN          3
VOL                       1          JN          4
31                        1          JN          5
ISSUE                     1          JN          6
4                         1          JN          7
614                       1          JN          8
625                       1          JN          9
12P                       1          JN         10
10                        1          DO          1
1016                      1          DO          2
J                         1          DO          3
ENECO                     1          DO          4
2009                      1          DO          5
02                        1          DO          6
008                       1          DO          7
40634841                  1          AN          1
HEALTH                    2          TI          1
CANADA                    2          TI          2
HEALTH CANADA             2          TI          1,2
CONTEMPLATES              2          TI          3
PROVIDING                 2          TI          4
FOOD                      2          TI          5
INDUSTRY                  2          TI          6
FOOD INDUSTRY             2          TI          5,6
DISCRETIONARY             2          TI          8
AUTHORITY                 2          TI          9
FORTIFY                   2          TI         11
JUNK                      2          TI         12
FOODS                     2          TI         13
JUNK FOODS                2          TI         12,13
CMAJ                      2          JN          1
CANADIAN                  2          JN          2
MEDICAL                   2          JN          3
ASSOCIATION               2          JN          4
JOURNAL                   2          JN          5
6                         2          JN          6
9                         2          JN          7
2009                      2          JN          8
VOL                       2          JN          9
180                       2          JN         10
ISSUE                     2          JN         11
12                        2          JN         12
1196                      2          JN         13
1197                      2          JN         14
2P                        2          JN         15
40831102                  2          AN          1
PRIVACY                   3          TI          1
SALE                      3          TI          3
BALDWIN                   3          AU          1
WILLIAM                   3          AU          2
BALDWIN WILLIAM           3          AU          1,2
FORBES                    3          JN          1
6                         3          JN          2
8                         3          JN          3
2009                      3          JN          4
VOL                       3          JN          5
183                       3          JN          6
ISSUE                     3          JN          7
11                        3          JN          8
12                        3          JN          9
12                        3          JN         10
3                         3          JN         11
5P                        3          JN         12
40121551                  3          AN          1
REDUCING                  4          TI          1
SPURIOUS                  4          TI          2
GRAVITATIONAL             4          TI          3
RADIATION                 4          TI          4
GRAVITATIONAL RADIATION   4          TI          3,4
IN                        4          TI          5
BINARY                    4          TI          6
BLACK                     4          TI          7
HOLE                      4          TI          8
BINARY BLACK HOLE         4          TI          6,7,8
BLACK HOLE                4          TI          7,8
SIMULATIONS               4          TI          9
USING                     4          TI         11
CONFORMALLY               4          TI         12
CURVED                    4          TI         13
INITIAL                   4          TI         14
DATA                      4          TI         15
CLASSICAL                 4          JN          1
QUANTUM                   4          JN          3
GRAVITY                   4          JN          4
JUN2009                   4          JN          5
VOL                       4          JN          6
26                        4          JN          7
ISSUE                     4          JN          8
11                        4          JN          9
P114002                   4          JN         10
114002                    4          JN         11
1P                        4          JN         12
40313246                  4          AN          1
HOW                       5          TI          1
AVATAR                    5          TI          2
CUSTOMIZABILITY           5          TI          3
AVATAR CUSTOMIZABILITY    5          TI          2,3
AFFECTS                   5          TI          4
CHILDREN                  5          TI          5
S                         5          TI          6
AROUSAL                   5          TI          7
SUBJECTIVE                5          TI          9
PRESENCE                  5          TI         10
SUBJECTIVE PRESENCE       5          TI          9,10
DURING                    5          TI         11
JUNK                      5          TI         12
FOOD                      5          TI         13
JUNK FOOD                 5          TI         12,13
SPONSORED                 5          TI         14
ONLINE                    5          TI         15
VIDEO                     5          TI         16
GAMES                     5          TI         17
ONLINE VIDEO GAMES        5          TI         15,16,17
VIDEO GAME                5          TI         16,17
BAILEY                    5          AU          1
RACHEL                    5          AU          2
BAILEY RACHEL             5          AU          1,2
WISE                      5          AU          3
KEVIN                     5          AU          4
WISE KEVIN                5          AU          3,4
BOLLS                     5          AU          5
PAUL                      5          AU          6
BOLLS PAUL                5          AU          5,6
CYBERPSYCHOLOGY           5          JN          1
BEHAVIOR                  5          JN          3
JUN2009                   5          JN          4
VOL                       5          JN          5
12                        5          JN          6
ISSUE                     5          JN          7
3                         5          JN          8
P277                      5          JN          9
283                       5          JN         10
7P                        5          JN         11
10                        5          DO          1
1089                      5          DO          2
CPB                       5          DO          3
2008                      5          DO          4
0292                      5          DO          5
41138997                  5          AN          1
JUNK                      6          TI          1
FOOD                      6          TI          2
JUNK FOOD                 6          TI          1,2
HOME                      6          TI          3
COOKING                   6          TI          4
HOME COOKING              6          TI          3,4
PHYSICAL                  6          TI          5
ACTIVITY                  6          TI          6
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY         6          TI          5,6
OBESITY                   6          TI          8
EFFECT                    6          TI         10
FAT                       6          TI         13
TAX                       6          TI         14
FAT TAX                   6          TI         13,14
THIN                      6          TI         17
SUBSIDY                   6          TI         18
YANIV                     6          AU          1
GIDEON                    6          AU          2
YANIV GIDEON              6          AU          1,2
ROSIN                     6          AU          3
ODELIA                    6          AU          4
ROSIN ODELIA              6          AU          3,4
TOBOL                     6          AU          5
YOSSEF                    6          AU          6
TOBOL YOSSEF              6          AU          5,6
JOURNAL                   6          JN          1
PUBLIC                    6          JN          3
ECONOMICS                 6          JN          4
JUN2009                   6          JN          5
VOL                       6          JN          6
93                        6          JN          7
ISSUE                     6          JN          8
5                         6          JN          9
6                         6          JN         10
P823                      6          JN         11
830                       6          JN         12
8                         6          JN         13
10                        6          DO          1
1016                      6          DO          2
J                         6          DO          3
JPUBECO                   6          DO          4
2009                      6          DO          5
02                        6          DO          6
004                       6          DO          7
38803825                  6          AN          1
FUNCTIONAL                7          TI          2
ROLE                      7          TI          3
TRANSPOSASES              7          TI          5
IN                        7          TI          6
LARGE                     7          TI          8
EUKARYOTIC                7          TI          9
GENOME                    7          TI         10
EUKARYOTIC GENOME         7          TI         11
NOWACKI                   7          AU          1
MARIUSZ                   7          AU          2
NOWACKI MARIUSZ           7          AU          1,2
HIGGINS                   7          AU          3
BRIAN                     7          AU          4
P                         7          AU          5
HIGGINS BRIAN P           7          AU          3,4,5
MAQUILAN                  7          AU          6
GENEVIEVE                 7          AU          7
M                         7          AU          8
MAQUILAN GENEVIEVE M      7          AU          6,7,8
SWART                     7          AU          9
ESTIENNE                  7          AU         10
C                         7          AU         11
SWART ESTIENNE C          7          AU          9,10,11
DOAK                      7          AU         12
THOMAS                    7          AU         13
G                         7          AU         14
DOAK THOMAS G             7          AU         12,13,14
LANDWEBER                 7          AU         15
LAURA                     7          AU         16
F                         7          AU         17
LANDWEBER LAURA F         7          AU         15,16,17
SCIENCE                   7          JN          1
5                         7          JN          2
15                        7          JN          3
2009                      7          JN          4
VOL                       7          JN          5
324                       7          JN          6
ISSUE                     7          JN          7
5929                      7          JN          8
P935                      7          JN          9
938                       7          JN         10
4P                        7          JN         11
40105829                  7          AN          1
TIME                      8          TI          1
FAT                       8          TI          4
TAX                       8          TI          5
LAURANCE                  8          AU          1
JEREMY                    8          AU          2
LAURANCE JEREMY           8          AU          1,2
LANCET                    8          JN          1
5                         8          JN          2
9                         8          JN          3
2009                      8          JN          4
VOL                       8          JN          5
373                       8          JN          6
ISSUE                     8          JN          7
9675                      8          JN          8
P1597                     8          JN          9
1597                      8          JN         10
1                         8          JN         11
2P                        8          JN         12
39457284                  8          AN          1

Finally, I alphabetized the list (numbers come first, treating each digit like its own entity rather than going by totals, i.e. "1196" comes after "114002" because "9" comes after "4") to get my final inverted file:

004                       6          DO          7
008                       1          DO          7
02                        1          DO          6
02                        6          DO          6
0292                      5          DO          5
1                         8          JN         11
10                        1          DO          1
10                        5          DO          1
10                        6          DO          1
1016                      1          DO          2
1016                      6          DO          2
1089                      5          DO          2
11                        3          JN          8
11                        4          JN          9
114002                    4          JN         11
1196                      2          JN         13
1197                      2          JN         14
12                        2          JN         12
12                        3          JN          9
12                        3          JN         10
12                        5          JN          6
12P                       1          JN         10
15                        7          JN          3
1597                      8          JN         10
180                       2          JN         10
183                       3          JN          6
1P                        4          JN         12
2008                      5          DO          4
2009                      1          DO          5
2009                      2          JN          8
2009                      3          JN          4
2009                      6          DO          5
2009                      7          JN          4
2009                      8          JN          4
26                        4          JN          7
283                       5          JN         10
2P                        2          JN         15
2P                        8          JN         12
3                         3          JN         11
3                         5          JN          8
31                        1          JN          5
324                       7          JN          6
373                       8          JN          6
38803825                  6          AN          1
39457284                  8          AN          1
4                         1          JN          7
40105829                  7          AN          1
40121551                  3          AN          1
40313246                  4          AN          1
40634841                  1          AN          1
40831102                  2          AN          1
41138997                  5          AN          1
4P                        7          JN         11
5                         6          JN          9
5                         7          JN          2
5                         8          JN          2
5929                      7          JN          8
5P                        3          JN         12
6                         2          JN          6
6                         3          JN          2
6                         6          JN         10
614                       1          JN          8
625                       1          JN          9
7P                        5          JN         11
8                         3          JN          3
8                         6          JN         13
830                       6          JN         12
9                         2          JN          7
9                         8          JN          3
93                        6          JN          7
938                       7          JN         10
9675                      8          JN          8
ACTIVITY                  6          TI          6
AFFECTS                   5          TI          4
AROUSAL                   5          TI          7
ASSOCIATION               2          JN          4
AUTHORITY                 2          TI          9
AVATAR                    5          TI          2
AVATAR CUSTOMIZABILITY    5          TI          2,3
BAILEY                    5          AU          1
BAILEY RACHEL             5          AU          1,2
BALDWIN                   3          AU          1
BALDWIN WILLIAM           3          AU          1,2
BEHAVIOR                  5          JN          3
BINARY                    4          TI          6
BINARY BLACK HOLE         4          TI          6,7,8
BLACK                     4          TI          7
BLACK HOLE                4          TI          7,8
BOLLS                     5          AU          5
BOLLS PAUL                5          AU          5,6
BRIAN                     7          AU          4
C                         7          AU         11
CANADA                    2          TI          2
CANADIAN                  2          JN          2
CARBON                    1          TI          1
CHEVALLIER                1          AU          1
CHEVALLIER JULIEN         1          AU          1,2
CHILDREN                  5          TI          5
CLASSICAL                 4          JN          1
CMAJ                      2          JN          1
CONFORMALLY               4          TI         12
CONTEMPLATES              2          TI          3
COOKING                   6          TI          4
CPB                       5          DO          3
CURVED                    4          TI         13
CUSTOMIZABILITY           5          TI          3
CYBERPSYCHOLOGY           5          JN          1
DATA                      4          TI         15
DISCRETIONARY             2          TI          8
DOAK                      7          AU         12
DOAK THOMAS G             7          AU         12,13,14
DURING                    5          TI         11
ECONOMICS                 1          JN          2
ECONOMICS                 6          JN          4
EFFECT                    6          TI         10
ENECO                     1          DO          4
ENERGY                    1          JN          1
ESTIENNE                  7          AU         10
ETS                       1          TI         12
EU                        1          TI         11
EUKARYOTIC                7          TI          9
EUKARYOTIC GENOME         7          TI         11
F                         7          AU         17
FACTORS                   1          TI          6
FAT                       6          TI         13
FAT                       8          TI          4
FAT TAX                   6          TI         13,14
FOOD                      2          TI          5
FOOD                      5          TI         13
FOOD                      6          TI          2
FOOD INDUSTRY             2          TI          5,6
FOODS                     2          TI         13
FORBES                    3          JN          1
FORTIFY                   2          TI         11
FROM                      1          TI          9
FUNCTIONAL                7          TI          2
FUTURES                   1          TI          2
G                         7          AU         14
GAMES                     5          TI         17
GENEVIEVE                 7          AU          7
GENOME                    7          TI         10
GIDEON                    6          AU          2
GRAVITATIONAL             4          TI          3
GRAVITATIONAL RADIATION   4          TI          3,4
GRAVITY                   4          JN          4
HEALTH                    2          TI          1
HEALTH CANADA             2          TI          1,2
HIGGINS                   7          AU          3
HIGGINS BRIAN P           7          AU          3,4,5
HOLE                      4          TI          8
HOME                      6          TI          3
HOME COOKING              6          TI          3,4
HOW                       5          TI          1
IN                        4          TI          5
IN                        7          TI          6
INDUSTRY                  2          TI          6
INITIAL                   4          TI         14
ISSUE                     1          JN          6
ISSUE                     2          JN         11
ISSUE                     3          JN          7
ISSUE                     4          JN          8
ISSUE                     5          JN          7
ISSUE                     6          JN          8
ISSUE                     7          JN          7
ISSUE                     8          JN          7
J                         1          DO          3
J                         6          DO          3
JEREMY                    8          AU          2
JOURNAL                   2          JN          5
JOURNAL                   6          JN          1
JPUBECO                   6          DO          4
JUL2009                   1          JN          3
JULIEN                    1          AU          2
JUN2009                   4          JN          5
JUN2009                   5          JN          4
JUN2009                   6          JN          5
JUNK                      2          TI         12
JUNK                      5          TI         12
JUNK                      6          TI          1
JUNK FOOD                 5          TI         12,13
JUNK FOOD                 6          TI          1,2
JUNK FOODS                2          TI         12,13
KEVIN                     5          AU          4
LANCET                    8          JN          1
LANDWEBER                 7          AU         15
LANDWEBER LAURA F         7          AU         15,16,17
LARGE                     7          TI          8
LAURA                     7          AU         16
LAURANCE                  8          AU          1
LAURANCE JEREMY           8          AU          1,2
M                         7          AU          8
MACROECONOMIC             1          TI          4
MAQUILAN                  7          AU          6
MAQUILAN GENEVIEVE M      7          AU          6,7,8
MARIUSZ                   7          AU          2
MEDICAL                   2          JN          3
NOWACKI                   7          AU          1
NOWACKI MARIUSZ           7          AU          1,2
OBESITY                   6          TI          8
ODELIA                    6          AU          4
ONLINE                    5          TI         15
ONLINE VIDEO GAMES        5          TI         15,16,17
P                         7          AU          5
P114002                   4          JN         10
P1597                     8          JN          9
P277                      5          JN          9
P823                      6          JN         11
P935                      7          JN          9
PAUL                      5          AU          6
PHYSICAL                  6          TI          5
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY         6          TI          5,6
PRESENCE                  5          TI         10
PRIVACY                   3          TI          1
PROVIDING                 2          TI          4
PUBLIC                    6          JN          3
QUANTUM                   4          JN          3
RACHEL                    5          AU          2
RADIATION                 4          TI          4
REDUCING                  4          TI          1
RISK                      1          TI          5
RISK FACTORS              1          TI          5,6
ROLE                      7          TI          3
ROSIN                     6          AU          3
ROSIN ODELIA              6          AU          3,4
S                         5          TI          6
SALE                      3          TI          3
SCIENCE                   7          JN          1
SIMULATIONS               4          TI          9
SPONSORED                 5          TI         14
SPURIOUS                  4          TI          2
SUBJECTIVE                5          TI          9
SUBJECTIVE PRESENCE       5          TI          9,10
SUBSIDY                   6          TI         18
SWART                     7          AU          9
SWART ESTIENNE C          7          AU          9,10,11
TAX                       6          TI         14
TAX                       8          TI          5
THIN                      6          TI         17
THOMAS                    7          AU         13
TIME                      8          TI          1
TOBOL                     6          AU          5
TOBOL YOSSEF              6          AU          5,6
TRANSPOSASES              7          TI          5
USING                     4          TI         11
VIDEO                     5          TI         16
VIDEO GAME                5          TI         16,17
VIEW                      1          TI          8
VOL                       1          JN          4
VOL                       2          JN          9
VOL                       3          JN          5
VOL                       4          JN          6
VOL                       5          JN          5
VOL                       6          JN          6
VOL                       7          JN          5
VOL                       8          JN          5
WILLIAM                   3          AU          2
WISE                      5          AU          3
WISE KEVIN                5          AU          3,4
YANIV                     6          AU          1
YANIV GIDEON              6          AU          1,2
YOSSEF                    6          AU          6

Well done!

B. Retrieval – SQL:
(5 points) Look at the employee table again from the module.

1. How do you retrieve the entire table?

To display every column from the employee table (i.e. retrieving the entire table), you can use the SELECT statement with the command:

SELECT * FROM EmployeeAddressTable;

This command (with the "*" symbol) allows each column to be selected and displayed from the table called "EmployeeAddressTable."

2. How would you retrieve particular rows from a table?

To display a particular row from the employee table, you would use the SELECT statement to call up their Social Security number (since that acts as the primary key and is the sole value unique to each employee) and that would display the information from each column pertaining to that employee alone.

For example, if you wanted to retrieve Joe Smith's information, you would use the command:

SELECT SSN, FirstName, LastName, Address, City, State FROM EmployeeAddressTable WHERE SSN = '512687458';

This would produce a one-row table of Joe Smith's information:

512687458     Joe     Smith     83 First Street     Howard     Ohio

3. How would you retrieve particular columns from a table?

To retrieve a particular column from the employee table, you would use the SELECT statement on that column to create a table containing the information from said column.

For example, to see just the last name of each employee from the table, you would use the command:

SELECT LastName FROM EmployeeAddressTable;

This would produce a one-column table of every employee's last name:

Last Name
Smith
Scott
Jones
Ackerman

4. How do you order the retrieved results?

To order the retrieved results, you would use the ORDER BY statement (words are listed in alphabetical order, and I assume that numbers are ordered sequentially as well).

For example, to alphabetize the list by employee's last names (and have the last name appear first in each row), you would use the command:

SELECT LastName, FirstName, SSN, Address, City, State FROM EmployeeAddressTable ORDER BY Lastname;

This would produce the following table:

Ackerman  Sarah   876512563     440 U.S. 110        Upton            Michigan
Jones     Sam     102254896     33 Elm St           Paris            New York
Scott     Mary    758420012     842 Vine Ave        Losantiville     Ohio
Smith     Joe     512687458     83 First Street     Howard           Ohio

5. How are "conditions" of a query specified?

Module 2 defines a "condition" as "an operation which evaluates to True or False", so the conditions of an SQL query are specified by designating a column's value and determining whether that statement is true or false … In other words, using the example from Number 2 of this section, the relational operator "=" evaluates all entries in the SSN column and determines which one – if any – is equal to the value "512687458" (if it is equal, then the condition is "true" and the value is displayed).

Okay

C. Interfaces.

I question your choices for databases to explore in this section, except maybe that these databases reflect the small database that I used in the module.

I selected the following three databases:

Baptisteria Sacra (http://www.library.utoronto.ca/bsi/)
Narragansett Times Index (http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/ntimes/)
Providence Journal Archives (http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/projo/search.html)

1. Type of searching allowed

The Baptisteria Sacra allows users to search by font name, country, region, dates, periods, materials, inscription language, and groups/artists. Unfortunately, the "Guest Database" is limited to only "a sampling of 45 records"; the site promises that "there are 13717 baptismal font records in this inventory list [and] another 3,000 fonts that are in the process of being documented and will be gradually added to the database as resources allow", however it appears that the database hasn't been updated for several years (one section [utoronto.ca] claims that "the full BAPTISTERIA SACRA INDEX is expected to be made available by subscription in 2005").

The Narragansett Times Index allows searching by keyword, location, type (editorial, cartoon, etc.), and date range (clicking "Advanced Search" will allow user to chain multiple search terms together, i.e. Location AND Type AND date range).

The Providence Journal Archives allows searching by keyword, date range, author, headline, and section (Editorial, Sports, etc.). It also includes a link to "Search Tips", where it explains search operators (AND, OR, etc.) and truncation (* symbol for "words sharing a common root or stem" like "educatOR" and "educatION").

2. Browsing allowed of controlled vocabulary

The Baptisteria Sacra interface allows users to search a predetermined list of baptismal fonts (presented in alphabetical order, or a user can select the first letter of the name to access a browse list). In addition, there is an "All_Subjects" option (one can click "Browse" and get the entire list, like "animal - fabulous animal or monster - dragon - shrub" or "Virgin Mary - coronation in heaven").

The Narragansett Times Index does not seem to present a controlled vocabulary for users to browse through, although some results list a subject (such as "Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts|Sports- Football|Agriculture") and placing these terms under "Keyword" will bring up the resulting records.

The Providence Journal Archives does not seem to have a list of controlled vocabulary terms available for browsing either; the database appears to search for keywords only (i.e. terms as they only appear within the text itself, either in the story itself or the byline/headline as it is provided by the newspaper).

3. Presentation of results screen

The results page for the Baptisteria Sacra is presented in plain text format, with links to individual records ("Details & Images"); there are no links provided to expand the initial search for similar fonts.

The Narragansett Times Index's results page displays a list of records with various fields (Record#, Abstract, Location, Subject, Date, Page/Col, Type, etc.) in plain text ... no links are provided to explore further.

The Providence Journal Archives' results page displays a list of returns where each headline is preceded by three clickable images: "Preview (Abstract/Citation)" which is clearly marked "Free", "Full Text (No Photos)" with a dollar sign, and "Buy Page Print".

4. Capability of refining results

As I explained above, none of the three databases seem to provide users with a straightforward way to refine and expand their initials searches; in addition, no "preferred terms" are displayed to help guide users to more helpful results (the Narragansett Times Index comes closest by providing subject terms with most of the results that can be placed in a new search to locate further records).

5. Any Web 2.0 features

The Baptisteria Sacra's copyright date is listed as 2006, so the interface is pretty bare bones (i.e. no "Web 2.0" features to speak of).http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

The "About" page (uri.edu) for the Narragansett Times Index says that the site was last updated in March 2002, and the copyright notice at the bottom of the page stops at 2005, so – once again – the age of this database seems to preclude "Web 2.0" features.

Although the Providence Journal Archives is much more "up to date" than the other two databases, it still does not have any "Web 2.0" features (or other such bells and whistles) to speak of.

(-1/2 point) Providence Journal Archives does allow you to save searches if you lofin and create an account

I would say, since all three databases provide the basic features necessary to conduct a simple search (but without taking the extra care to provide users with an easy way to refine/enchance those searches), that all three would rank as "2. Works Okay for Me."

Readings due through November 16th

2011-11-10T12:31:00.006-05:00

Well, we had another online chat in LSC 522 last night, and the professor actually decided to show up!

So now that things seem to be back on track for the course (and the syllabus has been updated), here are the readings due for next week:

LSC 522

No brief candle (clir.org)

The research library in the 21st century: collecting, preserving, and
making accessible resources for scholarship

Taking our pulse (oclc.org)

Executive summary by Jackie M. Dooley and Katherine Luce

Special Collections surge to the fore (jhu.edu)
Institutional repositories: essential infrastructure for scholarship in the digital age (arl.org)
Innkeeper at the roach motel (wisconsin.edu)

Readings due through November 9th

2011-11-02T10:37:00.009-04:00

The schedule in LSC 522 has been screwed up for awhile now, so I'm just combining the readings that were supposed to be due for tonight's class - which is cancelled - with next week's readings and calling it a day ;)

LSC 522

The changing academic library (worldcat.org)

Chapter 3: The system of scholarly communication
Chapter 8: The collection(s)
Chapter 9: Electronic information and academic libraries

LSC 547

Online retrieval: a dialogue of theory and practice (worldcat.org)

Chapter 6: Search technique
Chapter 7: Using controlled vocabulary
Chapter 8: Searching using free text

Rethinking library linking (worldcat.org)

Chapter 4: The future of OpenURL linking

The extreme searcher's Internet handbook (worldcat.org)

Chapter 4: Search engines, the basics

Open URL: linking through the maze of online resources from ePublications@SCU (scu.edu.au)
An analysis of the impact of federated search products on library instruction using the ACRL standards (jhu.edu)
Federated search 101 (libraryjournal.com)
Easy [does not equal] right (highbeam.com)
Lost in translation: the reality of federated searching (nla.gov.au)
Undergraduate use of federated searching: a survey of preferences and perceptions of value-added functionality (acrl.org)
One box to search them all: implementing federated search at an academic library (emeraldinsight.com)

Assignment 1 (LSC 522) has been graded

2011-11-01T09:47:00.005-04:00

Found the following message from the professor this morning:

Attached is your Assignment 1 with my comments and grade. I don't have any power and I know that others are in the same boat, so I guess we will have to cancel Wednesday night's chat. I will be in touch again soon.

Still doesn't explain where she was last week, but oh well ... No class tomorrow, I'll take it! ;)

Anyway, she finally got around to grading our first assignment (professor's comments in red):

Final Grade: A

Members of the Work Colleges Consortium all have at least these three variables in common according to the Carnegie classification system: They are all 4-year or above, private, not-for-profit, (extremely) small, highly residential colleges. Students attending Work Colleges are expected to help maintain and improve campus buildings, operations, and clerical work in addition to their studies. A common ideology of practical self-reliance, self- determination, debt mitigation and career development has led these institutions to form a federally regulated association. Institutions within the Work Colleges Consortium pride themselves on high retention and graduation rates and lower debt rates among graduates. We wanted to see if this would be evident in the statistics gleaned from the IPEDS data.

To supplement our analysis of the Work Colleges Consortium, we chose to consider three additional institutions who share every variable with Sterling College, a fairly typical member of the consortium, in the Carnegie classification system. Institutional endowment totals, the percentage of students receiving financial aid, and the total graduation rate were the primary categories of information collected from the IPEDS database. A spreadsheet containing these and related, more in-depth results are included in this report.

Upon analysis, the data collected from IPEDS revealed some interesting results. Compared with institutions of similar sized endowments and student populations, members of the Work Colleges Consortium graduated students at a much higher rate than₁ the other institutions investigated. The only non-Work College which acts as a statistical anomaly in this analysis is Virginia Intermont College. Some unseen variable is compelling students there to graduate at a higher than expected rate. Otherwise, the Work Colleges Consortium's claim to higher graduation rates held true. A larger group of similar non-work colleges would provide better data.

Another key factor in predicting graduation rates is the amount and kind of financial aid accepted₂ by students. Across the board, Institutions whose students accepted more financial aid did better than those who did not. By accepting applicants who are, according to the Work Colleges Consortium Site, "students who wanted an education but could not afford one," it seems fitting that a majority of financial aid comes from the institutions themselves, not from the federal government. What's more, students in Work Colleges are encouraged to work and invest themselves into the institutions themselves. This factor may contribute to the higher graduation rates experienced by Work Colleges students.

General Comments: Excellent work! Your selection of variables allowed you to explore the possible relationships between them. The correlation coefficient between F/A and Grad rate shows the strongest relationship. It would be interesting to pursue this with a larger sample!

1. Higher yes, but there are still several WCCs that are 50% or lower. So, the question is "what is a good (average) rate?" As you say below, a larger sample would provide better data.

2. Received?

Module 2 has been submitted

2011-10-31T09:15:00.005-04:00

Thankfully, we didn't lose power - we're one of the lucky ones around here (telegram.com) - but a tree branch did take down our cable line, so we were without internet access yesterday (and Charter won't give us a firm date on when that will be restored) ... In other words, I was unable to submit my assignment for LSC 522 (which is due tonight at 11:55 PM).

Luckily, I was pretty much finished with the actual work (I was able to tie up a few loose ends and give everything a good polish whilst offline during the afternoon) so I just needed to save my work to a flash drive and bring it in to the office ... Thankfully, the internet is working just fine here, so I was able to send it off mere moments ago.

Now, I just have to concentrate on the readings for my other class (LSC 547) before Wednesday ... Still no word from the professor on where she's been :(

Professor was a no-show last night ...

2011-10-27T08:52:00.001-04:00

We were scheduled to have another virtual meeting last night in LSC 522, but the professor never showed up!

So, we all hung around for an hour or so, just going over some of the topics for the week (chat sessions are archived, so I'm pretty sure the professor would've been wise if we all skipped out after the "five minute rule" expired!) and then just called it a night ...

I could think of other more productive uses for my time (like finishing up LSC 547's Module 2 which is due on Monday), but whatever :\

Readings due through October 26th

2011-10-25T08:33:00.007-04:00

A little late with this update ... oh well ;)

LSC 522

No brief candle (clir.org)

The future of the library in the research university
Co-teaching: The library and me

Studying students (ala.org)

Chapter 1: Faculty expectations of student research
Chapter 2: Asking students about their research

All in the family: library servies for LIS online education (illinois.edu)
Can't anyone be a teacher anyway? (unl.edu)
Escaping the land of lost faculty (collaborativelibrarianship.org)
Libraries of the future (jisc.ac.uk)
Library Future.0 (youtube.com)

EDIT: I didn't even realize that this was my 500th blog post! Hooray for milestones! ;)

Just completed another "virtual meeting" for LSC 522

2011-10-19T20:46:00.005-04:00

Well, we had two BBB sessions that didn't go so well, so I thought asynchronous classes would be the way to go from here on out ... However, a message from the professor showed that she wasn't ready to give up just yet:

Hi everyone,

I have received all of your first assignments and am in the middle of reading them. I've also been monitoring the Forum posts in response to the readings and questions. There has been some very thoughtful discussion with good ideas and examples. I did notice that not everyone is participating in the discussions; please remember that this is 15% of your grade.

There is no "class" this week as Wednesday is operating on a Monday schedule. I would like Team 2 (Jared, Christine and Eugenia) to lead the discussion on the next topic "Core functions and services." This topic covers a lot of ground so you might want to divide the coverage. I will post one reading in addition to Budd's Chapter 10. By Friday the Team should post one additional article for each of the five subjects included in the topic, but decide on three questions at the most for discussion.

I would also like to meet as a class next week (10/19) at 7:00 in the Sakai Chat room. Please begin the forum discussions prior to our class, so that we can respond to ideas and questions that arise during those discussions.

Your Research Paper Topics must be approved by the 19th, so please get your topic suggestion to me before then so that we can talk about it.

That's all for now; I will provide more information tomorrow.

Good night,
Sherry

That message was sent last Monday (neither class was "active" this past week due to Columbus Day weekend), so I had a whole week and a half to prepare myself :)

I have to say, all things considered, it wasn't so bad ... Moving to the chatroom streamlined things a bit, and there was actually some productive conversation going on.

Not sure if it was worth eating supper at a quarter to nine, but oh well ;)

Thesis statement for research paper (LSC 547) has been approved!

2011-10-19T08:31:00.003-04:00

Points: 5 – Good topic -- Please re-read APA format and follow recommendations (see reference section below)

How next-gen catalogs are changing to deliver information to patrons (and whether those changes are meeting patrons' expectations)

The purpose of a library catalog is to deliver information to users in as orderly and efficient a manner as possible; however, with the ever-growing popularity of online resources outside of the library's scope (i.e. search engines like Google), there is a constant fear within the profession that potential patrons will abandon the library catalog as a resource for information in favor of other means that they – supposedly - perceive to be faster and much easier to use (i.e. a Google search is usually seen as "good enough" to find the answers they're looking for).

As such, librarians are clamoring for the "next generation" of online public access catalogs (OPACs) to match the functions/features of more popular information retrieval systems (Amazon, LibraryThing, etc.) in the hopes of drawing in more patrons. The argument for such an overhaul to the traditional library catalog goes something like this: if these types of features (relevance ranking, social tagging, etc.) are popular in those types of systems, then it follows that this is what patrons want in all of their information-gathering scenarios.

However, it is unclear whether or not patrons are actually looking for (or even asking for) the implementation of such features within a library setting; it is possible that proponents of the "next-gen" catalog are merely making assumptions about patron attitudes (perhaps these users do not feel that such features fit into the type of "serious" research that they would pursue within a library setting), and thus patrons would not be willing to take advantage of these features if they were offered through their local library's OPAC.

Therefore, in this research paper, I hope to look at a number of "next-gen" catalogs that have been implemented by various libraries, what features those catalogs use to distinguish themselves from the more "traditional" OPACs, and whether or not data has been compiled on patron attitudes towards those features (whether they are being used by patrons, if they are responding favorably to the new features, etc.).

Please use your ruler tool to create "true" hanging indents.
Please provide DOI for online only journals if available (otherwise the URL of the journal home page)

References

Antelman, K. (2006). Toward a twenty-first century library catalog. Information Technology and Libraries, 25 (3), 128-139.

Diedrichs, C. (2009). Discover and delivery: making it work for users. The Serials Librarian, 56, 79-93.

Emanuel, J. (2009). Next generation catalogs: what do they do and why should we care? Reference and User Services Quarterly, 49 (2), 117-120.

McFadden, S. (2010). Collaborative tagging: traditional cataloging meets the "wisdom of crowds." The Serials Librarian, 58, 55-60.

Mendes, L.H. (2009). Subjecting the catalog to tagging. Library Hi Tech, 27 (1), 30-41.

Mercun, T. (2008). New generation of catalogues for the new generation of users. Program, 42 (3), 243-261.

Safley, E. (2011). Oasis or quicksand: implementing a catalog discovery layer to maximize access to electronic resources. The Serials Librarian, 60, 164-168.

Shadle, S. (2009). Electronic resources in a next-generation catalog: the case of WorldCat Local. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 21, 192-199.

Wisniewski, J. (2009). Next-gen OPACS: no time like the present. Online, 33 (5), 54-57.

Readings due through October 19th

2011-10-17T09:24:00.005-04:00

LSC 522

The changing academic library (worldcat.org)

Chapter 10: The communities of the academic library

Studying students (ala.org)

Chapter 7: Mapping diaries, or Where do they go all day?

The new user environment: the end of Technical Services? (ala.org)
Using the iPad for reference services (acrl.org)
Aiding faculty research through convenience in the Interlibrary Loan Department (tandfonline.com)

Module 1 has been graded!

2011-10-12T12:55:00.006-04:00

Points: 20/20 Excellent! You understand all the major concepts presented in this module!

A. Database Basics

(5 points) Answer the following questions (1-2 paragraphs)

1. What is the difference between the data that is stored in a database and the data that describes a database?

Mata-Toledo describes two types of data - the first type is the data that is stored within a database, the "collection of information needed by the organization" (p. 4) to go about its business. The second type is the "metadata" used to maintain that information within the database, such as "information about users, privileges and the internal structure of the database" (p. 4) that is kept within the data dictionary or catalog.

Therefore, the difference is that data stored in the database is the actual information that needs to be recorded and/or manipulated by the user (i.e. employee names, prices, locations, etc.), while the data that describes a database is what allows the user to record and/or manipulate that information in the first place (by giving the database instructions on how to perform any number of actions with that information in a coherent and useful manner for the user).

Good

2. What are the three major functions of a DBMS?

Fife et al. list three major functions of a DBMS (p. 4): database access ("the database software controls the insertion, change, retrieval, and deletion of all content of a database for which it is responsible"); protection of data ("a DBMS protects data assets against unauthorized access, against software or hardware malfunction, and against erroneous transactions"); and the ability to share data ("[multiple users] access the system concurrently, with each user experiencing a level of service that makes it appear as though each transaction had exclusive use of the data").

Similarly, Mata-Toledo breaks down the advantages of using a DBMS into three main categories (p. 8-9): providing access to data ("the job of the DBMS is to allow for speedy access for all the necessary users while still using proper maintenance procedures"); maintaining security of the data ("unauthorized access must be prevented and a variety of levels of permission must be granted to users"); and proper maintenance of the data ("users must be able to trust that the data is accurate and up to date; inconsistency should be avoided and redundancy should be minimized").

Good

3. What is data independence and why is it important?

Mata-Toledo defines "data independence" as a concept whereby "data should be independent of the particular model or architecture" (p. 17) where it is being manipulated. In other words, one of the major features of databases is that "the actual data are separated from the programs that use the data" (p. 2); i.e. the data maintains "independence" from the programs manipulating it in order to insure the stability and integrity of said data.

Likewise, the three-level model used to explain the architecture of a database (internal, conceptual, and external) should be "modifiable without interfering with the next higher level" (p. 17); this is important because it gives users of a database the ability to manipulate data at any stage while maintaining consistency with the other stages. Mata-Toledo gives an example whereby the physical storage of the database (the internal level) might need to be changed, but data independence allows such changes to occur without affecting "either the conceptual view of what is stored or the user's ability to understand and access that data" (p. 17).

Mata-Toledo also stresses the need for data to be logically independent - "different users and application programs require different information via different logical views" - so that a well designed DBMS will maintain data independence "both physically and logically" (p. 17).

Good

B. E-R Diagram:

This module introduced the the E-R Model. In this section the goal is to create an entity-relationship diagram which represents the data structures in a pictorial form. Because the diagram is easily learned, it is a valuable tool for communicating the model to the end-user.

The idea is to model an information library system (ILS), but this would be an enormous task. Instead restrict yourself to modeling the acquisition function of the ILS. the acquisition function includes the ordering from a vendor, receiving an item from a vendor, bookkeeping of updating the monies in a budget line, and much more.

(5 points) Create an E-R Model Diagram of at least three entities (Please use the notation of labeled rectangles, diamonds, ovals and directed arrows) as used in the module presentation.

1. Entities will need to be identified as strong or weak.

The "order record" entity is weak (it cannot exist without the "Acquisitions Department" entity).

2. Each entitiy will need to have corresponding attributes.

Attributes for the three entities ("Acquisitions Department", "Order Record", "Vendor") are represented in the ovals.

3. Relationships need to be given cardinality.

Each of the two arrows points to the "one" in the "one to many" relationship (i.e. one member of the acquisitions department can create many order records, and one order record can be applied to many vendors).

Well done!

C. Relational Database:
This module introduced the the relational database. in this section the goal is to create relational tables from the E-R Diagram created previously. The first table should contain one relationship from your E-R Diagram. This means the table should contain the attributes of two entities of the relationship.

(5 points) Create a relational table for one relationship in your E-R Diagram.

1. The table should have at least five entries

2. Normalize the table to 1NF.

I believe that this table is pretty good as-is (there are no repeating columns containing the same kind of data), but I could separate the "Author" column (into first name and last name) so that all columns contain just a single value.

The primary key for this table is “RecordNumber” (it is uniquely identifiable in each row).

Good!

3. Normalize your table to 2NF. If this is not possible, explain why it is not possible.

I believe that it is not possible – or rather, not advisable - to normalize this table to 2NF; in your Flash video from Module 1 ("Chapter 4. Normalization"), you state that Second Normal Form deals with "redundancy across multiple rows" and to "identify columns that have duplicate data and put these columns into a separate table."

However, my assumption is that creating separate tables for this particular example would not be worth the effort; you also state in the Flash video that extraneous normalization should not be attempted when it could cause "slow access time" for the database (i.e. more tables would mean "multiple calls to [the] database for each query"), and - in this case - I believe that this is what would happen if 2NF was attempted here.

I suppose that I could have created a separate "Materials Table," which contained the information on each book/movie/CD/etc. being ordered ("Title", "AuthorLast", "AuthorFirst", "Publicaton"), and then create a new "MaterialsNumber" column to serve as the primary key for that table. This could prove useful if an additional copy of a title already owned by the library was needed (and would save the Acquisitions Department from having to re-enter the same information over again when they could just enter the "MaterialNumber" code) … However, this would be getting into the Cataloging portion of library procedure, and (since this particular example only requires three entities dedicated solely to the Acquisitions process) taking this step strikes me as simply adding more processing time for our hypothetical database then would be necessary at this time.

I agree with you! -- Well done and argued!

Readings due through October 5th

2011-10-02T11:01:00.012-04:00

Well, I've certainly had a busy weekend ... ;)

I just submitted my work for Assignment #1 in LSC 547 (I'll probably post it here on the blog once I receive my grade), so that's a big load off my mind. However, I also discovered that one of the members of my LSC 522 group volunteered us to be the first ones to spearhead the student-led discussion assignment:

Weekly Team-led Discussions: Since this is an advanced level elective course, I will run the class primarily as an online seminar. Each week beginning on ~~September 21st~~, the synchronous class session discussions will be led by the team assigned to that topic. This is designed to actively involve student teams, ensure student engagement in the readings and lectures, and create a sense of community among us all. On the Friday prior to the next week's topic(s) the team will: 1) develop two questions that will focus our discussions; and 2) find two additional pertinent readings. Both the readings and the questions should be posted on Sakai. I will help facilitate the team discussions. If several topics are to be covered in any given week, I will meet with the team members two weeks in advance and together we will decide how to divide up the topics - I will cover some myself.

That was a little unexpected, but (luckily) the professor posted a resource from which we could choose our original readings, so that made things a little easier ... In the end, it's probably best to be the first group to tackle this assignment anyway; if nothing else, the professor might just show a little leniency towards us in the grades deparment for being the "guinea pigs" ;)

So, I posted my question for the student-led discussion, and that just leaves the discussion threads from last week's readings that I have to get to (not to mention the fact that Module 2 in LSC 547 starts up next week as well) ... Busy busy busy!

Anyway, onto the next set of readings:

LSC 522

Library as place: rethinking roles, rethinking space (clir.org)

The Library as place: changes in learning patterns, collections, technology, and use
From the ashes of Alexandria: what's happening in the college library? *
Space designed for lifelong learning: the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Joint-Use Library

LSC 547

Information representation and retrieval in the digital age (worldcat.org)

Chapter 2: Information representation I (basic approaches)
Chapter 3: Information representation II (other related topics)
Chapter 4: Language in information representation and retrieval
Chapter 5: Retrieval techniques and query representation
Chapter 6: Retrieval approaches
Chapter 7: Information retrieval models

Introduction to modern information retrieval (worldcat.org)

Chapter 3: Bibliographic formats
Chapter 4: Cataloguing and metadata
Chapter 5: Subject analysis and representation
Chapter 6: Automatic indexing and file organization
Chapter 7: Vocabulary control
Chapter 8: Abstracts and abstracting
Chapter 9: Searching and retrieval

Information retrieval : searching in the 21st century (worldcat.org)

Introduction
Chapter 5: Web information retrieval
Chapter 10: The role of natural language processing in information retrieval

Information retrieval today (worldcat.org)

Chapter 3: Subject access, problems and performance criteria
Chapter 4: The user-intermediary interface
Chapter 5: Subject analysis and representation
Chapter 6: Language in retrieval

Information storage and retrieval (worldcat.org)

Chapter 2: Document and query forms
Chapter 5: Text Analysis

Managing gigabytes (worldcat.org)

Chapter 2: Text compression

What is a controlled vocabulary? (boxesandarrows.com)
Creating a controlled vocabulary (boxesandarrows.com)

* This is the reading I used to create my discussion thread in the forums: Both Freeman and Demas portray academic libraries as the "heart of the institution"; Demas in particular gives many examples of ways in which the design of the library of the future can turn a possibly overlooked building into a "reflection of college values" and a "symbol of college pride" on campus. Which examples as described by Demas - group study, participating in cultural events and civic discourse, appreciating art, etc. - do you see working particularly well for the type of academic institution that you will be focusing on (small-medium universities, community colleges), and what steps would you take to implement these types of activities within such a library?)

EDIT (10/4 7:44 PM): Okay, that took a bit longer than I thought, but I finally finished my postings for the discussion thread in LSC 522 ... Sheesh, I've submitted some crap in my time, but that effort might have been the crappiest yet :(

No BBB class tomorrow!

2011-09-27T09:39:00.006-04:00

The "Messages" section of the LSC 522 class website - which had previously gone missing - made its return this morning, including the original message from the professor that I had found all those weeks ago (so I'm NOT crazy!) ...

Anyway, this new message - sent by the professor last night around 9 o'clock - held some very interesting information:

Hi everyone,

First, let me apologize for being out of touch since Thursday. I've been sick in bed with a nasty bug that turned my brain to mush. I'm hoping to be back on my feet tomorrow so I can get things rolling again. I will post the discussion questions tomorrow.

Next, I don't think the synchronous online meeting is working well for everyone, especially Jeremy, since he can't make the meeting time; therefore, I would like to move to an asynchronous mode this week. I will set up a Forum for this week's discussion.

Finally, only Team 1 has been formed (Jennie, Allesandro & Eric). They will examine the Work College Consortium+3 (these are 4 year undergraduate colleges). So, I've formed the remaining 2 teams based on your postings in the student lounge. If you didn't express a preference, I assigned you to Team 3:

Team 2: Jared, Christine & Eugenia: Small-Medium Universities.

Team 3: Jeremy, Kristin, Susan: Community Colleges.

I will extend the due date for the assignment until Sunday evening, October 9th, to give you a bit more time.

Ok, I'm fading fast; more tomorrow ...

Sherry

Well, that'll certainly make it easier to eat dinner at a reasonable hour tomorrow evening ;)

Readings due through September 28th

2011-09-25T12:09:00.003-04:00

LSC 522

The changing academic library (worldcat.org)

Chapter 6: The organization and management of academic libraries

Beyond circulation: the evolution of access services and its relationship to reference librarianship (doi.org)
Perspectives on leadership: interview with Mark Winston (tdl.org)
UNH Library restructuring working group: final report and proposals (unh.edu)

Still recovering from last night's BBB class (LSC 522)

2011-09-22T10:09:00.006-04:00

Even though last week's attempt wasn't what one would call a "success", the professor gave it another try last night, with no attempts at audio (chat only) ...

The class began a half-hour later this time (6:30 PM EST) to better accomodate some of the students who couldn't make the earlier start time, and was supposed to only last two hours ... It actually went at least a half-hour over the allotted time; to be honest, I'm not sure when the class actually ended, I was so delirious from putting off eating supper that I had to log off while the professor was still going over the slides :(

On the bright side, I was able to officially join a three-person group for the semester's upcoming assignments:

I received this message Sunday afternoon, but didn't actually respond until a few hours before the class (whoops!) ... Then, during the BBB session, another student by the name of Eric started chatting about whether or not I had a partner, so I got the two together and now our triumvirate for the semester is complete!

Readings due through September 21st

2011-09-16T18:47:00.012-04:00

Okay, I ALMOST finished listening to the F2F meeting for LSC 522 during work (one of the students in attendance recorded the session and sent it to the professor, who duly uploaded it to Sakai in MP3 format); it was divided into two parts, so I have about 20-25 minutes left to go.

Meanwhile, I am currently reading through the first module for LSC 547 (took me long enough!), so I'm still working out what exactly the schedule for readings will be ... In the meantime, let me just combine the readings from this module (a post to the Sakai forums about some of the readings is due this Monday) with the articles due for Wednesday's "virtual" meeting and post them all here:

LSC 522

The changing academic library (worldcat.org)

Chapter 1: Introduction and a little history (p. 1-7)
Chapter 2: Organizational culture and higher education (p. 42-53)

Keeping them enrolled: how academic libraries contribute to student retention (libraryissues.com)
A memo from Machiavelli (jstor.org)

LSC 547

Database concepts (worldcat.org)

Chapter 1: The evolution of database management
Chapter 2: Foundations for database management systems
Chapter 5: Relational Model

Schaum's outline of fundamentals of relational databases (worldcat.org)

Chapter 1: An overview of DBMS and DB systems architecture
Chapter 2: The Relational Database
Chapter 7: The Entity-Relationship Model

An introduction to database systems (worldcat.org)

Chapter1: An overview of database management

Data modeling (utexas.edu)
Overview of the Relational Model (utexas.edu)
Database design for mere mortals (utexas.edu)
The Entity-Relationship Model: toward a unified view of data (lsu.edu)
The Relational Model (sfu.ca)
Database models (wikipedia.org)

Our first BBB class meeting in LSC 522 is now complete

2011-09-14T20:24:00.004-04:00

Well, I just had my first experience with the Big Blue Button voice-over IP software available through Sakai, and it certainly ... went nothing like what I was expecting ;)

For starters, one of the students had their webcam on, causing a very distracting "echo" effect ...

Once that student was "muted", we discovered that the professor's lecture kept dropping in and out on us ...

The professor tried to bravely press forward, hoping to share images using the system's "Share My Desktop" feature ... That didn't work either :(

Finally, we were forced to simply abandon the audio altogether and simply switch to using BBB's chat function instead. This did lead to a very lively discussion, which ended up running almost a half hour over our allotted time ... Unfortunately, people began talking over one other and the conversation diverged into an "intellectualism versus anti-intellectualism" bent at one point; that was kinda unexpected ;)

Anyway, things just wrapped up, and I guess we're gonna give it another try next week at 6:30 ... Hooray?

Well, I feel like a big dummy ...

2011-09-13T18:45:00.007-04:00

All this time, I had been looking for the "Messages" section in the left-hand column (because that's where it's always been in all my other classes) ... Never in all my years in this program have I bothered to look at the links above the discussion forums. And guess what I found when I just happened to glance up there this evening?

/slaps forehead
D'oh!

Geez, I wonder what important messages I've missed out on in previous classes ... :(

Anyway, two things to come out of this discovery:

1) There appear to be only ten students taking this class ... a surprisingly small number.
2) I found a message from the professor (sent at 12:22 this afternoon) asking to speak with me (I'm sorry that this has not been a very auspicious beginning for you. I would like to talk to you on the phone tonight to bring you up to speed. Would 8:00 work for you?) ... Uh oh.

EDIT (9:15 PM): Okay, the professor sent me a follow up message ...

I'm glad you are getting more familiar with the site. Actually, everyone is having Sakai problems. Apparently this new version made some significant changes and we are all having trouble (including me!).

Perhaps we could stay in the meeting room after the class finishes and we can catch-up more then. I'm looking forward to "meeting" you!

I also found another private message from one of my fellow students, who was kind enough to share some information on the F2F meeting that I had missed:

I do have a handful of notes to share if you still need them. The first meeting was very informal with more of us sharing our library interests and course expectations. Sherry walked us through the syllabus, assignments and we logged onto IES nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries . She basically answered our most pertinent questions ie. Is the 10 page Research Paper double spaced? yes. Do we have to Assignment #3 in Groups because we all live so far apart? No.

She did suggest several journals/ websites to become familiar with including:

Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/section/Home/5

Association of Research Libraries (ARL)
http://www.arl.org/

Journal of Academic Librarianship

Association of College & Research Libraries
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/index.cfm

Library Trends
http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/

Library Quarterly (JSTOR)
http://www.jstor.org/page/journal/libraryq/about.html

SPARC
http://www.arl.org/sparc/

Hope that helps you out a bit.

Susan

Oh yeah, I'm in graduate school!

2011-09-13T09:02:00.008-04:00

Man, I really have felt "detached" from graduate school work over the last several days ... and I might end up paying for it :(

The LSC 547 site on Sakai has been fairly active; students have been introducing themselves via the forums (I do recognize a few names from my summer course), and the professor has been posting incremental updates to the first module. However, there aren't really any other readings or assignments (as far as I can tell) until the 19th - the module itself isn't due until the first week of October - so I must admit that I've been putting off doing any actual work for this course, at least for the time being ...

However, moving onto LSC 522, that particular Sakai site has pretty much been maintaining "radio silence" ever since the F2F meeting (which you'll remember I was unable to attend); there was exactly one thread in the forum - started by a student who was looking for a ride to New Hampshire via Kingston RI - and then nothing. No comments about what happened at the meeting, no questions about the group assignments or schedule for the readings; nada zilch zip!

Not only that, but the "Messages" section of the site (basically the private "email system" that each course has available via Sakai for students/professors to communicate with one another) is conspicuous by its absence ... This has me rather confused, as the professor plainly states in the syllabus that she would rather students keep in contact with her via Sakai rather than her work email:

[Y]ou should use the private messages tool in Sakai so that your messages don't get lost among the 2,429 messages currently in the black hole of my UNH email inbox! I suggest reserving the private message tool for questions and concerns that you want to keep confidential. Questions about course content, assignments, or other course related matters should be raised on the class discussion lists, so the entire class may benefit from the discussion.

I'm sure that the "Messages" feature was available when the site first went active, but it seems to have disappeared ... So, with no other options, I sent an email to the professor over the weekend asking her if there was any relevant information I had missed during the meeting; she has yet to get back to me.

As such, I really felt "out of the loop" in terms of keeping track of what's going on in this class ... and that's where things stood when I logged into Sakai this morning :(

I found a number of announcements posted by the professor (they were actually posted around 11 o'clock last night), which kind of caught me off guard ...

I have posted in the discussion forum an additional reading and the questions for reflection for Wednesday's class. Be sure to complete the readings and think about the questions before the class!

Okay, I found the "additional reading" under the "Resources" section, an article on the transformation of American scholarship by Arthur E. Bestor (jstor.org) ... but if that's the additional reading, then what's the original reading assigned for tomorrow?!

Checking the forums for additional information, I was in for another shock:

I will set-up a "meeting" for class using the Big Blue Button (just click on "Meetings" in the Navigation bar to the left). In order to give you time to become familiar with the software prior to Wednesday evening, I will open the meeting time at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) and keep it open through our class meeting on Wednesday evening. This will allow you to drop-in to the meeting and play around with the different components. The BBB recommends that you use a headset with a microphone. Please note that in order for the audio to work there must be more than one person in the meeting (it doesn't like people talking to themselves!).

Finally, I will send a poll to determine if we still want to change the start time to 8:00 pm. In the mean time, I will continue to update the readings list, create the resources list and work on the directions for using the IPEDS and NCES web tools.

BTW, nobody asked how I want to be addressed (???). Here are your options, the choice is yours:

Dr. Vellucci
Dr. V.
Professor Vellucci
Sherry
Yo

P.S.: The bad news ...My magic pen punked out on me and didn't record our class session last Wednesday. If anyone took notes or recorded the session I'd appreciate it if you would post them for the class. Alessandro was unable to attend and needs to catch-up.

So, not only will there be "virtual" classes held every Wednesday (tentatively scheduled for 6 to 8 PM), but I'll be needing a "headset with a microphone", something which I do not currently own ... Bare in mind, I was aware of NONE of this going into the class; it's all been one big reveal to me this morning, and with the first class scheduled for tomorrow no less!

Boy, I guess it serves me right for not attending the F2F meeting, huh? :(

EDIT (12:01 PM): The "meeting room" that the professor mentioned is finally up and active ...

Someone here at work was kind enough to loan me a pair of her headsets (she participates in various meetings via Skype), so that takes care of tomorrow at least ... Of course, I don't want to be rude and hold onto these headsets all semester, so I'll probably have to go shopping this weekend; perhaps a pair of USB headsets (staples.com) will do the trick?

EDIT (12:30 PM): Okay, I finally got a response from the professor via the Sakai forums ...

Thanks for reminding me that I didn't post the readings--I only handed the schedule out in class. The Budd Textbook reading is pp. 13-30.

I need to update the reading list and reduce the number of required readings for this class, since there will be more interactive assignments. So, here is what I propose:
I will post the Class Schedule with the Topics for each week and the Assignment Due Dates in the Syllabus tool.
I will create individual Modules for each weekly session and post the readings, the discussion questions and other resources for that week in the specific Module. (the Bestor reading for tomorrow is posted there under class 2.) The individual Modules will be created before the end of this week and I will post the readings through Class 4 as well.
When we begin to have the groups lead the discussion on October 5th, you will post your discussion questions and any additional readings in the appropriate Module.
I will get to work on this later this evening.

Poking around the LSC 547 website

2011-09-07T13:16:00.006-04:00

Today isn't just the first day of LSC 522, but it also signifies the beginning of my other class as well ... which means that the course website officially went live this morning.

It includes your pretty standard mix of Sakai-related information, including a meet-and greet under the "Student Lounge" section of the forums ("As part of your orientation to the course, please take the time to introduce yourself to your fellow classmates!") as well as a quick "Welcome to the Course" module that needs to be completed before Friday:

Browser Compatability:

Sakai endeavors to support as many browser as possible, however, as with any complex web-based system, being able to support all web browsers is an extremely difficult task. The following operating system and browser combination were used during Quality Assurance (QA) testing for Sakai 2.5.4 and 2.6.0, and can be considered as a suggested list for supported browsers:

Windows XP, Vista : Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Firefox 3
Mac OS X: Firefox 2, Firefox 3

While not widely tested as part of QA, Linux users can likely use Firefox 2 or 3 with Sakai successfully as well.

Adobe Reader:

This course also contains many files in PDF format. This format is viewable only if you have downloaded the Acrobat Reader.

Flash Player:

There will be some video demonstrations which will use a free plug-in called Flash. The demos will be viewable only if you download the Flash Player.

Calendar: The calendar provides you with the "big" picture and will keep you on track. You may wish to print it and hang it up in your work environment.

Syllabus: The course syllabus will provide you with my contract with you and give you the course description, outcomes, requirements and grading scheme.

Due Dates and Time:
Note: This is NOT a self-paced course. It is wise to start each module when it becomes available, as each module will require some time to complete.
All assignments and discussion postings will be due at midnight of the assigned due date. (Please note that the closest time I could set in Sakai is 11:55 PM! - so your assignment will not be late unless submitted after midnight.)
All new modules and discussions will be available at noon of the assigned start date.
Research paper: The focus of this paper will be: "How information storage and retrieval and online searching is used in the modern library." The paper should be 8 to 10 pages (2,000-2,500 words) and written in APA format. The paper should follow the following guide lines;
Include an abstract (maximum 100 words) at the beginning of the paper.
All resources must be cited. Do not risk plagiarism.
Papers written for other classes are not accepted.
Remember that research papers should use the 3rd person voice.
Modules:

Modules are available from the course menu to your left. This semester there will be three(3) modules. Each module will explore aspects of storage, retrieval, and online searching. Each module is divided into sections that cover the various topics. Each module consists of:
Readings
Lecture
Online demonstrations (if needed)
Discussion
Assignment
Assignments

Assignments are available from the course menu to your left. This semester there will be three(3) assignments that correspond to the three(3) modules. Each assignment is designed for you to reflect on the module through the forum, explanations, and application of the concepts.

How to submit an assignment:

Assignments will need to be submitted as attachements. This can be done from the assignment list.

Important: An assignment is only submitted when you have clicked the Submit assignment button.

Viewing graded assignments:

To retrieve your graded assignments, go back to the assignment (use the assignments button on the course menu). Scroll down to where you submitted the assignment. You will note that the status is now Graded. Clicking on this link will lead you to the graded assignment. There you should be able to view comments and download the graded assignment.

Try It -- Go to Assignment tool and start your Orientation Assignment.

Discussions:

Each module has an associated discussion. This is the place where we interact with the rest of the class and learn from each other by making meaningful contributions. Discussions are conducted through the Discussion tool on Course Menu. The discussions are very important in this class and are weighted in grading accordingly. Each discussion topic has a requirement of two minimum postings. Exceeding the minimum postings is encouraged to maximize your learning experience. Note:A contribution to the discussion is required each week.

Try It -- Contribute to the orientation disussion by introducing yourself in the "Student's Lounge".

The only problem (and it's probably just me being paranoid) is that the assignment attached to the Orientation module seems a little bit too simple:

Each student will be expected to complete assignments on time. An assignment submitted late will be penalized 0.5 points for each week it is late. The penalty will begin as soon as the due date has passed.

Note: Be sure you have completed the module before you do this assignment.

Discussion - An Introduction

Partcipation in the discussion under the Discussion in the "Students' Lounge" where you should post an introduction of yourself to the class.

A - Submitting assignments as attachments

What you need to submit through Assignments as attachments --

In a word document, hand in:
Section A: A document with your name and email address.

Any parts of this assignment created by hand (not on a computer) such as your E-R diagram, please scan it and submit as an extra file.

Add your name at the top of each document.

Unless I'm mistaken, the only thing the professor is expecting right now is a Word document with my name and email address ... If that's the case, done and done!

LSC 522 F2F meeting is this evening ...

2011-09-07T08:44:00.004-04:00

Too bad I won't be in attendance :(

LSC 522 website now live

2011-09-02T10:55:00.010-04:00

No sign of LSC 547 on Sakai just yet (although the professor did send a class-wide email the other day which included a link to the syllabus that she already sent me), but at least LSC 522 is up and running:

Of course, there's no syllabus (or anything else of much use) available there for now, but the professor did post this message:

Hello everyone and welcome to LSC 522 College and University Library Services! I hope you all survived hurricane Irene without too much damage or inconvenience. I had a power outage that put me way behind on getting our Sakai site up and running. I'll have lots to do this weekend!

In the mean time I want to let you know that we will use a textbook for the course. The citation is below. The book is published by ALA/ACRL, so if you are a member you can get a discount if you purchase it from the ALA Bookstore.

Budd, John M. (2005). The Changing Academic Library: Operations, Culture, Environments. Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries. ISBN: 0-8389-8318-9.

I'm really looking forward to getting to know everyone on Wednesday evening.

Again, nothing here that wasn't already conveyed to me through our previous correspondence (I'm always one step ahead of everyone!) ... Anyway, while checking out the site, I also just happened to discover the secret of how to remove all of my previous classes from the Sakai masthead (which was really starting to get cluttered up and annoying); it's hidden away under "My Workshop":

In other news, I just submitted my "Tuition Assistance Application" form to our Human Resources department, so hopefully that will be approved ... With two classes this semester to pay for, I sure could use it :(

LSC 597 Literature Review (Part 2)

2011-09-01T19:01:00.005-04:00

Click here for Part 1

Libraries and "Web 2.0" Tools: What Do the Patrons Think?

Arguments like the ones made by these authors seem to establish a pretty good case for the inclusion of social networking applications into the library's online strategy; after all, if these sites deliver the types of social interactions that patrons are used to and comfortable with when they venture online, then it seems foolhardy for librarians not to deliver that same type of experience to them.

However, in spite of all their proclamations and speculations about the necessity for "Web 2.0" tools, these authors do not seem to take the actual thoughts and desires of the patrons themselves into account. There are a lot of assumptions and conjecture, but very little in the way of actual user input on the matter; perhaps the patrons don't expect libraries to develop an "online community" for them to create and share content with each other, or even want such an experience from the library in the first place.

For example, Rutherford authors two papers which make several presumptions about the level of patron enthusiasm over the use of social networking tools within a library setting. The stated goal of these papers is to report the results of a research project involving seven different public libraries from the USA and New Zealand, and the issues they face in adopting "social software" into their respective web sites. Rutherford attempts to do this by having the respondents answer several questions, including "What impact have social software tools had?" (2008b, p. 414).

However, Rutherford starts off his analysis by stating that the open-ended interview questions sent to participants "related several challenges around the implementation of social software" (2008a, p. 185); this suggests that the librarians responding to these questions are focusing on challenges that they themselves encountered through the use of "Web 2.0" tools (i.e. technical problems with the implementation of the software, etc.), with no real indication of whether or not patron use was affected either positively or negatively. This assumption is solidified by Rutherford's stated hope that his research will provide "empirical exploration of the actual impact of social software as it is experienced by the librarians who are using it [emphasis mine]" (2008b, p. 413); the focus seems to be solely on the librarians' experience, with no regard for the users. Apparently, it is simply assumed that patrons will gladly accept any offering made by librarians in the "Web 2.0" realm; it would be more helpful to solicit feedback from the patrons as well in this regard (technical problems with setting up "Web 2.0" tools are irrelevant if users don't actually want to use them in the first place).

There does seem to be at least some indication that patrons of the libraries in question are making use of the institutions' respective social endeavors, as one respondent comments that "[they] will often have patrons come in and start their inquiry with 'I saw on your blog that ... '" (2008a, p. 189); this statement would seem to indicate that there is a certain level of success in these libraries' efforts to reach out to their patrons via "Web 2.0" tools. However, upon closer review, the study reveals that "the level of commenting on blogs was generally low, [with] two of the blogs [having] no comments at all for the last month" (2008a, p. 190); the ability for readers to leave comments on blogs is the true "social" component of this "social software," so the fact that so few library patrons are taking advantage of this option is a bit disheartening (at least for those proponents of "Web 2.0" tools within the library). After all, a library user can say "I saw on your blog ... ", but if they don't take part in the participatory process that "Web 2.0" software makes available to them, then it really serves no greater value than a static bulletin or flyer found within the physical building itself. Therefore, these findings suggest that patrons are not yet fully embracing the implementation of social software within a library environment.

Along these same lines, Rutherford's respondents provide a lot of predictions and assumptions without any solid evidence to back them up; these librarians "share the feeling that social software would help them deliver what their users wanted [emphasis mine]" (2008a, p. 191), without stating decisively what it is that their patrons actually want. He points out that "one participant specifically mentioned his/her hope that social software could help his/her library [emphasis mine]" (2008a, p. 191), again without defining the reality of the situation ("hope" does not equal "fact"). It is phrases such as these - "[Social software] has the potential to create online communities of people" (2008b, p. 417) - which give the illusion of importance without actually proving the point; any "Web 2.0" tool can show "potential" for making the library more appealing to patrons, but only as long as the patrons are willing to use it.

Looking back at Shu's recommendations, it becomes apparent that - in her study of the ARL library web sites - she too fails to give actual usage statistics to back up her claims; there are plenty of examples given of social networking applications found within those sites, but no mention of how popular they were amongst the patrons themselves (just because a library web site features a blog or allows social tagging within its OPAC does not mean that they are actually being used).

Shu also takes the opportunity to chastise several of the sites in her study for providing "few opportunities for users to create, publish, and exchange content" (2008, p. 8); of course, this makes the assumption that users are actually looking to take advantage of these opportunities (which, if the use of blogging software mentioned in Rutherford's study is any indication, is no sure thing).

Shu's argument for social networking tools hinges on the fact that library patrons can "connect with, inspire, help, and improve one another through [the tools'] participation mechanisms; the service's user-generated content is then available over the network for reuse" (2008, p. 10). However, if patrons aren't interested in participating, then what value will these social functions add to the library's web site (i.e. there will be nothing created for reuse)? The problem is that librarians cannot automatically assume that all patrons will be willing to "play along" and take advantage of these tools without consulting their individual communities first; despite the apparent enthusiasm exhibited by the proponents of these tools, they are not necessarily a "catch-all" strategy that will automatically draw in users from all walks of life without fail.

However, Shu continues to make her argument using these blanket proclamations, at one point stating that "few current academic library web sites offer opportunities for users to create and share user-generated content" (2008, p. 11); what this line of reasoning fails to take into account is that patrons already have a myriad number of opportunities to create user-generated content in places other than the library (posting videos on YouTube, tagging photos on Flickr, sharing opinions via Twitter, etc.). The question proponents of this "movement" need to ask themselves is whether or not patrons are really that interested in having the library act as yet another agent within these social realms. After all, one of the main goals of a library (online or offline) is to "make preselected and preserved information readily available to users for their educational and research needs" (2008, p. 11), while users can go elsewhere to fulfill any desire for sharing user-generated content with their friends and contemporaries. Such initiatives as those adopted by these ARL libraries certainly give the appearance of providing patrons with what they want, but the truth is that librarians cannot simply assume that any of their users might actually be interested in getting that type of content from a library setting.

In the end, Shu's recommendation to "nurture the development of online communities by connecting individuals through online publishing and sharing tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasting, and tagging" (2008, p. 14) may not be a realistic expectation; it's very likely that students can't be bothered to create content for the academic library web site when they're already doing the same thing at any number of other places (Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc.). Her findings do not take into account the fact that students would most likely be asking themselves why they should socialize through the library's nascent online community, when all of their friends can already be found on various other sites; just as a point of reference, even a multi-billion dollar company like Google is facing difficulties in trying to lure users away from Facebook (2011), so librarians are asking a lot of their patrons to set up "residence" within online communities designed by their libraries (the problem is the same in both cases, i.e. the users' social ties have already been established elsewhere).

In truth, the desire to "create and share content using blog, wiki, or podcast" (2008, p. 13) may be viewed by academic library students as merely "fun" diversions that are separate from an academic setting; the users' online socializing needs are fulfilled by outside sources, and anything else initiated by their local library may be viewed as extraneous (activities like social tagging and blogging could be seen as distinct and separate from the more accepted library-related activities of studying and research). If this is the case, then such social features will end up being ignored by users, which means that the library's social efforts will wind up looking "barren" - like the dearth of posts on the library blogs in Rutherford's study - as a result, and the entire exercise will appear to be a waste of time. After all, libraries want to remain relevant, but at the same time they can't shoehorn these types of features into their current online plans and simply expect patrons to automatically join in.

The earlier OCLC report delves deeper into this question of patron attitudes towards librarians and social networking tools, and the organization has given no indication that these attitudes have changed over the past four years. The report states that, while 56 percent of college students use social networking sites, just 13 percent of that group think libraries should build social networking sites for their own communities (2007, p. A-11). Obviously, this is a distressingly low figure, as OCLC concludes that "most college students would be unlikely to participate in social networking services offered by a library" (2007, p. A-12).

Even if the focus is taken away from academic libraries (which admittedly exclude older patrons and users of public libraries from the conversation), the OCLC report finds that "the general public respondents do not see a role for libraries in constructing social sites, and most would not be very likely to contribute content, self-publish or join discussion groups if a library were to offer these services" (2007, p. 5-1). Furthermore, just 13 percent of total general public respondents indicate that "it should be the role of the library to build a social networking site for its community," with one respondent stating that the library is a place where you can "borrow books and ... use computers, not for people's social lives [emphasis mine]" (2007, p. 5-4).

While proponents of the "social library" movement would argue otherwise, these findings demonstrate a clear distinction within the collective minds of the user community between libraries and social networking tools; OCLC solidifies this point when it declares in its report that "the total general public ... believe that the library is for learning/information and do not see the connection with social networking and libraries" (2007, p. 5-6). Statements like this are a sobering indication that patrons do not view libraries as a viable source for the so-called "online social community" that is espoused by the likes of Shu and Rutherford.

Conclusion

It is apparent that there is a lot of speculation and conjecture within the professional literature as it pertains to patron interest in libraries' adoption of "Web 2.0" tools. Now, it's certainly possible that the inclusion of "social software" can lure in new patrons that might otherwise have not been interested in using their local institution's resources; however, librarians cannot act like it is the be-all-end-all "magic formula" that will automatically grab the users' attention and grow library usage to unprecedented levels.

Many patrons might not see a need for such tools to be included in the library's virtual offerings, and thus be unwilling to participate; if that's the case, "Web 2.0" applications employed by libraries will lose their effectiveness and become - for all intents and purposes - useless. After all, just because social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are popular, librarians can't simply emulate their efforts and expect people to think that they're the "hip" place to be; instead, librarians should take the time and effort to address their particular patron populations and find out what they desire/expect out of the library experience.

It's wonderful if those expectations include "Web 2.0" tools; if not, then libraries should not force it upon their users just to appear to be "part of the trend."

References

Mon, L. (2009). On the boundaries of reference services: questioning and Library 2.0. Journal of Education & Information Science, 50 (3), 164-175. Retrieved May 28, 2011, from Academic Search Premier.

OCLC (2010). Perceptions of libraries, 2010. Retrieved from http://www. oclc.org/reports/2010perceptions.htm.

OCLC (2007). Sharing, privacy, and trust in our networked world. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/reports/sharing/default.htm.

Rutherford, L.L. (2008a). Building participative library services: the impact of social software use in public libraries. Library Hi Tech, 26 (3), 411-423.

Rutherford, L.L. (2008b). Implementing social software in public libraries. Library Hi Tech, 26 (2), 184-200.

Shu, L. (2008). Engaging users: the future of academic library web sites. College & Research Libraries, 69 (1), 6-27. Retrieved May 28, 2011, from Academic Search Premier.

Tennant, R. (2011). Google+: trying to fill a void I no longer have. Retrieved from http://blog.libraryjournal.com/tennantdigitallibraries/ 2011/07/07/ google-trying-to-fill-a- void-i-no-longer-have/

Webb, P.L. (2009). OPACS in the clouds. Computers in Libraries, 29 (9), 18-22. Retrieved May 28, 2011, from Academic Search Premier.

LSC 597 Literature Review (Part 1)

2011-08-30T18:27:00.003-04:00

Libraries and "Web 2.0" Tools: Librarians' Assumptions Versus Patrons' Expectations

Introduction

Members of the library profession are constantly looking for ways to remain relevant in today's technologically-driven world. Since potential patrons have so many options available to them within the online realm that they can use to fulfill their information needs (a simple Google search is usually viewed as "good enough" by most people when looking for answers), it is imperative that librarians try to stand out amongst the crowd and demonstrate their superior skills in locating relevant and factual resources to satisfy their patrons' queries.

With this being the case, librarians are seeking out any competitive edge they can find to entice their local patron populations to keep the library in mind when they are seeking out information. As such, the prevailing notion within the professional literature seems to indicate that the best way to accomplish this task is to follow the example of the so-called "Web 2.0" movement, with its increased emphasis on interaction and user participation.

For example, a 2010 survey conducted by OCLC states that "66 percent of [American library users are] now using social sites," and that over the last four years "there has been triple-digit growth in the use of social sites among Americans age 25 and older" (2010, p. 31-32). In comparison, library web site usage has remained flat since 2005, with only one percent of users surveyed indicating that "they started their search for information on a library web site" (2010, p. 32). Numbers like this suggest that patrons are familiar and comfortable with using these types of social networking tools, so it only stands to reason (as the argument goes) that libraries should follow suit and integrate these types of tools into their online outreach efforts.

Unfortunately, the survey also refers to an earlier OCLC report which says that "less than 10 percent of information consumers thought it was the library's role to build a social site" (2010, p. 5). Such numbers suggest that patrons may not be all that interested in having a "social" experience when they visit the library web site after all, and that they consider their online interactions with the library to be separate from their interactions via social networking tools; however, findings like this do not seem to dissuade the proponents of this initiative within the library field. In fact, the professional literature highlights many librarians who are declaring that this strategy is the future of the profession, and that such "Web 2.0" applications (from user-driven tools like blogs and wikis to third-party sites such as Facebook and Twitter) should be adopted to supplement - perhaps even supplant entirely - the traditional library web site. For such proponents, these "Web 2.0" tools are the key to transforming the library's current online presence (which they fear is seen by many as stagnant and outdated) into a "virtual community" where patrons will congregate in ever-growing numbers and freely share information with one another.

Libraries and "Web 2.0" Tools: What the Librarians Think

Shu makes this argument when she states that library web sites are falling behind "social software"-driven online sites (such as YouTube, Flickr, and Delicious) in the race to provide users with "more power, ease, and fun in information seeking" (2008, p. 6). Despite the fact that academic library web sites "provide considerably higher quality and better scholarly information" (2008, p. 6), students are opting for ease of use and social interaction, often settling for inferior information (i.e. "good enough") as long as they can retrieve it quickly and easily. Shu identifies this as a "turning point" in the evolution of academic library web sites, whereby change is necessary in order to maintain relevancy, because "the library of the future will need to be designed [emphasis mine] to accommodate the changing needs of its constituency" (2008, p. 6).

Shu makes several recommendations for future academic library web site design, in order to build sites that "minimize the distance between users and library resources/services" (2008, p. 14) and "harness network effects to get better the more people use them" (2008, p. 7). These recommendations include providing a "flexible and user-oriented interface," engaging users by encouraging "collective intelligence," and supporting "content sharing and [nurturing] online communities" (2008, p. 7). It certainly sounds like Shu has social networking tools in mind for addressing these needs, i.e. if a library web site adds more social features, then more people will use them and thus improve the overall effect of the site.

In order to "combat increasing competition from commercial services," Shu maintains that library web sites must fight fire with fire and follow the example of sites like Wikipedia and Facebook, by switching the emphasis of the library's virtual presence from "publishing to participation" (2008, p. 8). Social networking tools are identified by Shu as the tools which can be used to initiate this change, as she conducted an investigation of 111 ARL member library web sites in order to highlight any "innovative features" which set out to transform the library web site into a "social space" for students to create and maintain a personalized presence within the institution (2008, p. 8); Shu identifies such initiatives with names like "My Personal Library" and "My Library Space," whereby libraries include social software within their own sites that can "compete" with outside sources (such as blogs, wikis, social tagging within the online catalog, audio/video created by students, etc.). It is Shu's contention that taking such steps will endear the academic library web site to its students, by designing a "seamless, one-stop information environment that minimizes users' way-finding effort and nurtures the formation and dissemination of knowledge, ideas and experiences" (2008, p. 14); she maintains that this is what patrons are looking for when they delve into the online world, and libraries must deliver such an experience in order to "keep up" with other potential student destinations.

Webb continues this line of thinking in her argument that librarians "must embrace [social applications and] new innovations that are beneficial to their users and that promote the library's presence as the center for information retrieval" (2009, p. 22); she does not mince words here, using the term "must" to emphasize her point that it is imperative for librarians to adopt these "Web 2.0" tools into their online strategies or risk losing their patrons entirely.

Maintaining the focus on academic libraries (whose patron clientele are the target demographic for social networking tools), Webb decries the loss of students who walk away from the traditional library web site because "they could not find what they were looking for." She feels that academic librarians could do more to "ease the library anxiety some students experience" when presented with the unfamiliar OPAC interface; one strategy that she claims can alleviate this problem is the adoption of social-networking tools, to make the library more familiar and accommodating in order to "attract users" and "get them to use the library as the first stop to discovering information and locating resources" (2009, p. 19).

Webb's study focuses on four universities aiming to construct "enhanced" library OPACs, by placing "more user-friendly [and] interactive interfaces on the traditional catalog" (2009, p. 19). The institutions she examines use social networking tools (such as LibraryThing at San Francisco State University and PennTags at the University of Pennsylvania) in order to make the search experience more interactive and "fun" for the end user. Webb addresses several key concepts from these examples which can be derived from social networking applications, in order to make searches more enjoyable and less frustrating for students. These include "user control and freedom" (where patrons could "clearly see exits" from their current sessions and not feel "trapped"), "recognition rather than recall" (in order to minimize the user's memory load and make "objects, actions and options visible"), "flexibility and efficiency of use," and "aesthetic and minimalist design" (2009, p. 20); overall, Webb is impressed by the "seamless" way that these tools interact with the schools' current OPACs, and seems confident that such initiatives will "increase the value of the OPAC and definitely [emphasis mine] increase usage" (2009, p. 22).

Mon also makes an argument for the integration of social networking features into the library experience, as she lists various examples of how libraries can implement these technologies - "such as blogs, wikis, Flickr and RSS feeds" - into their current online strategies (2009, p. 165). She stresses the importance of incorporating these "Web 2.0" tools into the library web site because "users not only read the news but 'write the news' within their blogs and 'write the encyclopedia' through their Wikipedia edits" (2009, p. 165); her argument is that today's patrons don't want to be passive observers, but rather active participants who interact with their online surroundings. Mon warns that the library's web presence should reflect this interactive element, and if librarians do not provide such an experience for their patrons, then they will look elsewhere (and thus abandon the library in favor of other online endeavors).

Final Project (LSC 597)

2011-08-25T10:19:00.007-04:00

"Our Town Library" Blog Proposal

Executive Summary

It has been determined by the Our Town Public Library board of directors that the library is in need of a centralized location for patrons to virtually access information about the organization's latest announcements/services. The library does maintain a presence within the social media realm (via accounts on Facebook and Twitter) and has a website hosted through the SAILS Library Network (http://sailsinc.org/); however, the board of directors believes that these services lack the consistency (older tweets are not easily searchable and surveys have determined that only roughly half of our patrons have Facebook accounts) or immediacy (staff have complained about having difficulty posting information to the SAILS website) necessary to truly get the word out about what the library has to offer.

Therefore, it has been decided that the library should maintain a blog for its patrons and the town residents, which will be used to help publicize information on programs, events and new additions to our growing collection. In this manner, the blog can keep patrons up to date on all of the exciting happenings at the library and around town.

Our Town reference librarians Cassandra ******* and Alessandro ******* were tasked with determining the best strategy for creating such a blog; since the library does not currently have the resources necessary to host a blog on its own web space, third-party options were considered (WordPress, SquareSpace, etc.) before it was decided that Blogger would be used because (1) it is free and (2) it is a popular service that interacts well with Google users.

The reference librarians have pledged to keep the blog updated, and an average of four posts per week will be contributed to the blog in order to maintain the patrons' interests (this level of activity should demonstrate a consistent presence on the blog and thus encourage patrons to keep checking in for the latest updates). The objectives of this blog are:

To increase patron interest in events at the library by posting details and photos
To generate interest in new library materials through reviews and patrons' added comments
To enhance our online presence beyond the current SNS
To get library news and highlights to users faster

Our Town Public Library Description

Our Town Library serves a diverse demographic in a primarily suburban community. The community, risen from the roots of the manufacturing industry, has an old-fashioned town center at its heart. Our Town Library is centrally located and easily accessible by public transportation, located on the bus line and within a short walk from the commuter rail.

Our Town Public Library serves a population of approximately 43,400 residents
We serve a total number of 21,930 registered library patrons
On average, we circulate 700 items each day
Our Town Public Library serves 5,735 juvenile residents (children, young adults, and teens)
We serve 1,170 senior residents

Our Town Library offers a variety of services and materials, including books, downloadable e-books, DVDs, audiobooks, music CDs, and internet access. Teen volunteers as well as our senior members of the Friends of the Library help support our efforts and our programs. We have six public access computers for use by adults and young adults (14+) as well as computers reserved for searching the catalog throughout the library. Our children's room features four public access computers for children and families to use.

Our Town Library often serves as a meeting place for groups and organizations to gather. Our meeting room features a projection screen for films and presentations, and a laptop or television is available for use as well. Groups meeting at the library may also use our activity room for smaller gatherings.

Blog Description

The blog will be accessible through the URL http://********************.blogspot.com/ and will provide patrons with the following features:

Links to the library's Twitter and Facebook accounts (in order to provide patrons with other means of interacting with the library, should they be so inclined)
A list of library hours and contact information in the left-hand column (this information will always be present on the blog, so that it will be readily available for patrons)
Posts about events taking place at the library (film presentations, public meetings, etc.)
Posts about guest speakers visiting the library (authors, town officials, etc.)
Whenever a particularly high-demand item is added to the collection (a new novel or DVD, for example), a post will be made to highlight the fact that the library does indeed have the item in question … The post can include background information on the item, a review by one of the reference librarians, and a link to the online catalog (so that patrons can check for availability and whether it has already been checked out)

Staffing

It has been determined that each reference librarian will create their own account in order to add content to the blog; there will be one "moderator" account (to which both Cassandra and Alessandro, as well as the head librarian, will have access to the username and password when the blog is initially created), but both Cassandra and Alessandro will also have separate Blogger accounts which will give them permission to edit and post. In this manner, the reference librarians will be able to "sign" each of their posts ("Cassandra" or "Alessandro" will appear at the bottom of each post along with the date and time), and patrons will be able to see which librarians are posting information like news updates and reviews; it has been determined that this will give the blog a more "personal" feel and help the users put a face to the librarians who are communicating with them (rather than creating a more "generic" environment where the patrons don't even realize who is posting the information).

The reference librarians will also be in charge of moderating user comments; it has been determined that the blog will allow anyone (even patrons without Google/Blogger accounts) to leave comments on each post, but these comments will not become "active" (i.e. visible to anyone visiting the blog) until either Cassandra or Alessandro have approved it for publishing … While moderation of this type inhibits some of the immediacy that commenting on blogs provides our patrons, the risk of having insulting/degrading/vulgar language or "spam" clog up the blog was a deciding factor in having the comments moderated.

One possible alternative that the librarians considered was having only registered users (i.e. people with Google/Blogger accounts) be able to leave comments; this way, if a user was abusing their privileges by leaving inappropriate comments (either by insulting other patrons or discussing matters not germane to the subject at hand), the offending account could be banned from making any further comments … However, this would exclude patrons who do not have Google/Blogger accounts from participating in the conversation, and (since the blog would still be in its nascent stages and trying to build up an audience) it was determined that it would be better to have a slight delay in user response rather than potentially leaving users out of the discussion entirely. In addition, this will not "force" patrons to sign up for Google accounts (in case they do not want one for privacy/security reasons).

While the above initiatives would be added to the reference librarians' current workloads, it should not create an unnecessary strain on their day-to-day responsibilities; both Cassandra and Alessandro have expressed enthusiasm over the responsibility of handling the new blog, and it has been determined that (with the decreased number of face-to-face conversations at the physical reference desk as shown through compiled statistics over the last several months) the blog can work as another avenue for the librarians to fulfill their users' reference needs, by answering any questions/comments that may appear via the blog's comments section.

The posting of information and moderation of comments should take up no more than 2-3 hours per week between the two librarians (especially in the early months of the service when user participation will be at a minimum as patron awareness slowly starts to grow), so other duties should not be affected in a negative manner.

Methods of Promotion-Marketing

In order to get the word out that the library has a new blog available for its patrons, a large poster board will be placed above the reference desk, which will feature the blog's URL and various screenshots of what users can find there (several posts will be created prior to the printing of the poster board, in order to have some material available for inclusion in the poster board's graphics); some of the more artistically-inclined members of the Friend of the Library have volunteered to create the poster board.

In addition, small signs will be printed out and placed at each of the six public access computer terminals, with the following text:

Be sure to visit the library's brand-new blog!
Keep up on the latest events at the library!
Learn about new books and DVDs added to the collection!
Join in on the conversation!
Visit us right now at http://********************.blogspot.com/

These signs can easily be printed out on 8" x 12" inkjet paper at minimal cost to the library; it has been determined that there does not need to be anything "fancy" about these advertisements, as long as they get the message across to anyone sitting at the computer terminals that they can easily access the blog and add it to their daily web-surfing routine.

Cassie and Alessandro have also agreed to mention the blog during their shifts at the reference desk, but not in an overly obtrusive manner; if a patron has a question that could be answered via the blog (i.e. "When is such-and-such author speaking at the library?" or "Will this movie be available in the library's DVD collection soon?"), they will first give them the information that they are looking for and then remind them that any future inquiries they might have on the subject can be found by visiting the blog for up-to-the-minute updates.

The social networking tools that the library is already involved with (Twitter and Facebook) will also aid in the promotion of the blog. For the library users who are already following OTPL on these sites, links to the blog will be provided on the Facebook page and in the Twitter profile. When a new post is added to the blog, a tweet will alert users to check the site.

Goals and Outcomes

The goal of the blog is to increase outreach to the Our Town community through enhancing the library's online presence. Many of Our Town Library's patrons have increased their personal online presence, and the board would like to meet them there in the social networking community. The Our Town Library would also like to increase their presence online to be more accessible to users who prefer the option of online communities.

The goals and objectives of this blog as previously stated (to increase patron interest in events at the library; to generate interest in new library materials; to enhance the library's online presence; to get library news and highlights to users faster) are in line with the library mission, which states The Our Town Public Library "serves as a learning and educational center providing access to resources and services for the information, recreation, intellectual development, and enrichment of our community and its members" (Attleboro Public Library).

Evaluation Methods

After a period of three months (in order for the blog to accumulate a sizable number of posts and – hopefully – a large number of visitors), an online survey will be created via http://www.surveymonkey.com and advertised by again posting signs at the public computer terminals with the URL and instructions that participation in the survey will help determine the usefulness of the blog and what areas patrons believe can be improved upon.

A series of questions will be put forth via the survey to the patron, the first asking whether they have actually ever visited the blog and (if they answer in the affirmative) how often they visit (just once and never went back, once a week, several times a week, etc.). In addition, the patron will be presented with several questions where they will be able to rate their opinions on a scale of 1 to 5 (with "1" being "strongly disagree" and "5" being "strongly agree"); the questions will be structured along the lines of statements such as "This blog is updated regularly" and "I have discovered new items added to the collection through announcements on this blog." In this manner, the board of directors can determine whether or not the blog is fulfilling the stated objectives that were set out in this original proposal (i.e. generating interest in new materials and alerting patrons to events being held at the library).

Also, a public forum in the meeting room will be advertised, where patrons will be encouraged to stop in and discuss the blog with the reference librarians; they can address any changes or concerns they have in person.

After the survey results have been compiled and the public forum has been held, Alessandro and Cassie will meet to discuss the patron responses. Together they will determine what necessary changes need to be made to the blog in terms of format, design, content, maintenance, marketing and promotion. They will also evaluate their own contributions to the site based on the patrons' comments. The librarians will re-evaluate their objectives and goals to ensure they are continuing to fulfill what they set out to accomplish with the site. If new ideas or developments call for changes in the objectives and goals, Alessandro and Cassie will react accordingly.

Once the necessary changes have been made to the site, Alessandro and Cassie will create a report for administrators to view the developments and changes. In addition to the patron evaluation and personal assessments, a formal evaluation from the administrators will be requested.

Bibliography

Attleboro Farmers Market, Inc. (2011). Attleboro Farmers Market. Retrieved from http://attleborofarmersmarket.com

Attleboro Public Library (2011a). Attleboro Public Library – Library – Attleboro, MA. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/pages/Attleboro-Public-Library/47018095906

Attleboro Public Library (2011b). Attleboro Public Library Homepage. Retrieved from http://sailsinc.org/Attleboro/apl.asp

Attleboro Public Library (2011c). Attleboro Public Library Twitter feed. Retrieved from http://www.twitter.com/AttleboroPL

Circulation Department, Attleboro Public Library (2011, July 13). Swift analysis print review current patron count.

SAILS Library Network (2011). SAILS Library Network. Retrieved from http://sailsinc.org

Individual Reflection

Contribution

I suggested the creation of a blog for our final project, with the objectives of giving our fictitious library patrons a place where they could:

Find information about upcoming library events
Learn about guest speakers visiting the library
See descriptions/reviews of the latest additions to the library's collection

I also designed the layout of the blog; I took the original template selected by Cassandra (she was the one who created the account via Blogger), and manipulated the HTML/CSS code – a personal hobby of mine! – in order to create a three columned layout. The first column contains contact information/library hours, the second houses the actual blog posts, and the third column is for links to archived posts as well as our other "social networking" outlets (rather than create actual accounts, I simply created "dummy" images to look like they were Twitter/Facebook feeds). I also designed the logo at the top of the blog (which includes a thumbnail image supplied by Cassandra).

As for the implementation plan, I worked on the following sections:

Executive Summary
Blog Description
Staffing
Methods of Promotion-Marketing
Evaluation Methods

Reflection

Working on this project, I learned some of the responsibilities necessary in constructing an actual blog that would serve as the "online face" of a public library. I learned that any member of the library staff who is tasked with maintaining such a blog must take that responsibility seriously. In other words, keeping the blog continuously updated with new information/posts is crucial to the overall success of such an endeavor (patrons will not frequent a blog that hasn't seen a new update in months, rendering the service useless as a promotional tool). Likewise, monitoring the blog to make sure that comments contributed by the public are appropriate for all patrons (both in terms of weeding out inappropriate remarks as well as making sure false/misleading information that could damage the public face of said library is not carelessly circulated) is another crucial element in the proper maintenance of a blog, and such a vital component to the job must not be overlooked by library staff.

I also learned that the delegation of responsibilities concerning the upkeep of such a blog should not be left to chance; everyone's role must be clearly defined from the start, so that everyone understands what part they will play in such an endeavor. If this portion of the project is not carefully planned out ahead of time, then certain members of the library staff might end up feeling as if the blog's maintenance has been left to rest solely on their shoulders; not only that, but confusion/miscommunication along these lines could work the other way, and certain staff members - unwittingly or otherwise - might dismiss their newly created roles in maintaining the blog as less of a priority than their other library-related duties (perhaps even writing it off as a "waste of time") and thus leave certain tasks regarding the blog's upkeep to go unfulfilled. Such scenarios might cause unnecessary hostilities amongst the staff (either resentment that a select few are doing all the work or resentment that certain staff members are "slacking off"), thus taking something that is supposed to be a fun and socially active way to reach out to patrons and turning it into something that will end up causing more "harm" than good to the library's overall goals (which would certainly defeat the purpose of such an endeavor!).

In terms of the implications of this project towards my future career, I believe it has demonstrated how valuable my previous "training" in HTML/CSS design will be within the library profession. The ability for individuals to create/design web sites and/or blogs (great outreach tools for drawing in the interest of patrons) is a valuable skill for soon-to-be librarians to have when entering the workforce; rather than relying on the IT staff (or some other outside tech-support resource) to do the work for them, librarians can use their own expertise to tackle web -related tasks on their own terms.

For example, rather than "settling" for one of Blogger's predetermined templates, I was able to use my knowledge in HTML and CSS to design something that was a little more unique in its look; in this regard, the blog for our fictitious "Our Town Public Library" was (hopefully) able to stand out a bit more from the crowd, rather than appearing to be just a "cookie-cutter" example of other standard designs available through the service. Of course, there are other blogging services available which give the layman such a plethora of options (i.e. "hand holding") that individual coding knowledge is hardly necessary, but that does rob an individual of being secure in the knowledge that they are in possession of the skills necessary to make a site look exactly the way they want it to (plus, those types of blogging services are usually not free!).

Upcoming semester is slowly coming into focus ...

2011-08-24T16:30:00.002-04:00

With the Fall 2010 semester only a couple of weeks away (guh), I decided to take the initiative - since Sakai has yet to update with my new classes - and email the two professors for information, particularly whether or not there will be textbooks involved.

The professor for LSC 547 replied almost immediately, with good news no less:

Will be updates for this upcoming semester this week. There are no required text although there are some recommended ones.

The professor for LSC 522 replied not long after that ... Was it good news from her? Eh, not as much:

Thanks for contacting me! I'm sorry that the Sakai site has not been built yet. We are having some difficulty getting me into the system.

Yes, there is a textbook for the course and here is the information:

The changing academic library : operations, culture, environments / John Budd, 2005. v, 323 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
Chicago : Association of College and Research Libraries, ; ISBN: 0838983189 9780838983188 (pbk. : alk. paper)

I look forward to meeting you and engaging with the class this semester!

Oh well, looks like I'll have to bother our Interlibrary Loan office to see if they can scrounge up a copy for me (haven't had to go through them in awhile now) ...

Screeching Tires

2011-08-23T11:30:00.007-04:00

That's the sound of me putting the brakes on my original plans for this upcoming semester ...

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you; I have added a second class to my course schedule for Fall 2011 ... which might actually end up being one class again when all is said and done, but not the original class that I was expecting to take. Confused yet?

It all started with an email I received from URI's LSC office this morning around 10:30 ...

As I was updating our files, I noticed that your original Program of Study lists LSC549. Since this course has been merged with LSC547, it will require a new Program of Study.

As you are close to completion, please be sure to submit a new form.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Curious, I checked the graduate school's academics page (uri.edu), and - sure enough - the course listing has been updated ...

LSC547 Information Storage and Retrieval, and Online Searching and Services (3) Theory, methods, evaluation, and research of analyzing, storing, indexing languages, information storage media, information storage and retrieval systems, and information seeking and retrieving in libraries and information services. Elective.

Not only that, but I took another look at the Fall 2011 semester schedule and discovered that this course if being offered ONLINE ONLY (no driving required!) ...

I couldn't pass up this opportunity, so (as much as it pains me to take on a two-class workload after I just sacrificed my summer vacation for graduate school) I immediately signed up ... Hopefully my eagerness won't turn out to be a problem; I'm assuming it will be alright if my new Program of Study form isn't technically filed away in the department's records yet. I guess we shall see :(

However, my original choice for this semester (LSC 522) might now be a little up in the air ... The original professor has been changed (at least on the eCampus website), and the schedule - which called for just one F2F meeting while the rest of the class would be conducted online - is a little more ambiguous now. Whether or not the format of the class has been changed remains to be seen, but (to be completely honest) I have no plans on driving to and from New Hampshire on a weekly basis, ESPECIALLY once the snow starts to fall :(

EDIT (11:45 AM): Okay, that's one mystery solved:

To my knowledge Sherry Vellucci is still scheduled to teach LSC 522 as an
on-line course. Dr. Eaton's name was listed to cover an administrative
glitch that recently arose.

Summer 2011 course website in snapshots (Part IV)

2011-08-19T09:53:00.010-04:00

The thrilling conclusion!

Summer 2011 course website in snapshots (Part III)

2011-08-18T12:37:00.011-04:00

Back on track for next semester!

2011-08-18T10:25:00.005-04:00

I needed to make a quick call to Enrollment Services, but that problem I was having with adding a class has been resolved, and I'm now set for the Fall 2011 semester:

Summer 2011 course website in snapshots (Part II)

2011-08-17T14:33:00.011-04:00

Summer 2011 course website in snapshots (Part I)

2011-08-16T08:39:00.027-04:00

Previous entries:

Fall 2010
Spring 2010
Fall 2009
Spring 2009
Fall 2008
Spring 2008
Fall 2007

Okay, I went a little crazy with the screenshots this semester, so I'm going to break up this post into four parts ... Also, I'm not going to post these pics in any particular order, just gonna throw them up on the web in a mad jumble and see what happens ;)

So, here is Part the First (look for the other entries during the rest of the week ... hopefully):

Still waiting to sign up for next semester ...

2011-08-15T13:23:00.005-04:00

Hmm, I might have to give URI a call and see what the deal is ... Classes start the first week of September, after all :(

Fancy new digs ...

2011-08-12T08:34:00.004-04:00

I still plan on posting some screenshots from our Sakai course website here on the blog next week (for my semi-regular "Semester in Review" feature), but I see that - in the meantime - URI has upgraded their system to the latest version within the last couple of days ...

I must admit, the interface is a lot "cleaner" now; very pretty!

Luckily, I had already started taking some screenshots last weekend, so I'll still be able to archive the old (or should I say "classic") look that our course website had during the actual semester ... We need to be historically accurate, after all ;)

Grades are in!

2011-08-10T08:37:00.004-04:00

The end of another successful semester ...

So, I'll try and get the traditional "Screenshots" post up sometime next week, then I'll (hopefully) post both the literature review and final project not long after that ... I'd also like to sign up for my next class - less than a month away already?!? - but apparently enrollment is not yet open. Oh well, soon enough.

Final project graded!

2011-08-04T11:19:00.002-04:00

Grade: 28.5 (max 30.0)

Really nicely done! I looks like you made great use of complementary talents and both of you learned something.

Okay, so I guess I can check off this semester as a success ... ;)

Tweets for the week of July 28th

2011-07-29T08:48:00.006-04:00

Blog post for the week of July 28th

2011-07-29T08:48:00.005-04:00

What I have learned and what might come next

To be honest, answering a question about what I have learned from this course is a little difficult, since I must admit to having had plenty of experience using social networking tools prior to taking this class ... I first logged on to the World Wide Web the summer prior to my freshman year of college (1995), and have been "hooked" ever since, always eager to try the next "revolutionary" social service or join the latest "flavor of the month" web site (which, to be honest, more often than not simply fizzle and disappear with little fanfare). As such, I've always been interested in how these types of online tools could be applied to an institution - such as a library - as another avenue for reaching out to potential users.

So, I would have to say that a lot of the things that I have learned from this class have come from observing those of my fellow students who might not be as familiar with social networking tools as I was ... Now, I hope this doesn't come across as condescending (because that is certainly not my intent), but it was interesting coming from a place steeped in the "culture" of the online world, and seeing how other people adopt and interpret that world from a fresh perspective.

Seeing their growth over the course of this semester (I remember one person in particular stating that they never thought much about social networking before this class, which was just so different from my own experiences) was truly interesting to behold; I wish them all the best of luck in continuing to learn and grow within the virtual landscape (and convincing their respective libraries to adopt social networking policies of their own!) ...

As for what might come next for me personally, I will continue exploring options for my academic library (I'm a member of our Web Development Committee) in terms of advertising and promoting library services to our students within the virtual realm ... For example, while I maintain an "unofficial" Twitter feed that points out interesting materials found within the collection, there was a time when our library actually had its own account (@HCDinand) which has since been abandoned. At the time, the reason given to me was that (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Twitter is for celebrities, not libraries."

After taking this course, I believe I have some extra "ammunition" to try and persuade them otherwise!

Final project has been submitted!

2011-07-27T19:14:00.009-04:00

Phew, what a long strange trip it's been to get that final project completed ...

May 28 - I send an email to the professor, asking if students were already "pairing off" for the final project at the F2F meeting (the one that I missed) ... She gets back to me later in the day, suggesting that I send out a "blanket e-mail" to the class and ask if anyone is still looking for partners
May 28 - Only a couple of hours after I sent that email to the professor (and before I got a response from her), another student sends a "blanket e-mail" asking if anyone is still looking for a partner ... Heather says she would be willing to "drive down to Mass. or RI if we needed to meet in person at some point" (which sounds pretty good to me!)
May 31 - After emailing her and letting her know I'm interested, she sends me an email saying that she's already found a partner ... Too late!
May 31 - I immediately recover by sending out a "blanket e-mail" to the rest of the class (excluding the student I'd already spoken with and the professor) to say that I "would be happy to try and work on this project solely online (via Sakai and/or email) in order to save everyone some gas money ;)"
May 31 - Later in the day, I get a nibble ("I am interested in working a project for a public library but am flexible and have experience with both academic and public libraries")
June 1 - The next morning (after I agree to partner up with Cassie), she sets up a wiki for our final project ... I suggest that the project should be about setting up a blog for a public library, and she agrees
June 7 - After receiving the invite from my partner to edit the wiki, I make a few quick changes (nothing major, just a little bit of cleanup) ... and then promptly ignore it in order to focus on the other assignments!
July 7 - With the end of the semester quickly approaching (and my other major assignments pretty much taken care of), I email my partner and ask if she'd like to start talking about the final project again
July 8 - She responds, and says that she can get user statistics from the library where she works (which we will use to create our fictitious library for the project) on Monday
July 9 - I email the professor about adding the "chat room" feature to Sakai ("It's not necessary, I just thought that it might be better than Sakai mail for having a more fluid back-and-forth conversation") ... She responds and says she will add it to the site (she also recommends using Skype as an alternative)
July 14 - A week goes by, so I email my partner and ask if she was able to get those stats ... She immediately responds and says she will have them by "tomorrow"
July 14 - The professor adds the "chat room" feature to Sakai, but I see no option to create an individual "room" where my partner and I can discuss the project amongst ourselves
July 17 - The professor emails me and tells me that she changed the permissions in order to allow students to create new rooms ... I initially believe that this works, but then I actually try to create a room and get the error message "Insufficient Permissions for chat.revise.channel"
July 18 - The professor makes some more changes and that finally does the trick, as I'm able to create a room called "Cassie-Alessandro (Final Project)" ... which, of course, we never end up using ;)
July 18 - I hate to be a "nag," but I end up emailing my partner once again to see if she's gotten the stats (I don't want to actually start the project until I've gotten some idea of what type of institution we're going to be working with) ... She responds less than an hour later, saying that she will create a library profile using the stats and post it to the wiki
July 18 - Later that afternoon, she adds the information to the wiki, and even creates a couple of subpages ("Blog Implementation Plan" and "Library Profile")
July 19 - My partner also goes ahead and creates an account for the blog to our fictitious library
July 23 - I wake up bright and early on Saturday morning in order to edit/expand upon the information posted by my partner (adding subpages like "Evaluation Methods" and "Staffing" to the wiki) in order to flesh things out to the point where we would have enough material for an 8-12 page paper ... I power through my initial bout of writer's block and come up with some fairly decent stuff (if I do say so myself!)
July 23 - Later that morning, I get an email from my partner letting me know that she has added me as an "administrator" to the blog (previously I had only been able to create posts and nothing more) ... This gave me the power to redesign the layout of the blog (which was the part of the project I was most looking forward to!), so I immediately set about completely overhauling the look of the blog for the rest of the afternoon
July 24 - My partner agrees to add some more material to what I've already created for the final paper (including a bibliography), and also make some posts for our newly-redesigned blog
July 24 - About a half hour after sending me the previous email, my partner creates the first real post for our blog (I had created a test post which simply read "This is a test post", just to make sure everything lined up correctly with the new layout) ... A call for our fictitious patrons to "peruse the selection at the Our Town Farmers' Market, located right in the Our Town Public Library parking lot."
July 24 - My partner creates another post for the blog, advertising a "Harry Potter Party" ("Wands optional").
July 25 - My partner emails me back a revised version of the final paper ... Even though it only clocks in at seven pages, she doesn't want to "be repetitive, or force more information that is not necessary" (I agree!)
July 25 - My partner creates another post on the blog later that afternoon ("OTPL is so pleased to announce the book for The Big Read program, Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. The display has just been set up in the library lobby so hurry in to get your copy. Last year we had an unprecedented amount of participants at our kickoff so let's make sure we top the record this year! The date for the kickoff party and events to follow will be released in the coming weeks so be sure to check this site and the OTPL homepage for updates.")
July 25 - Later that night, I make some edits of my own to the paper (changing a bullet list to avoid redundancy, reformatting her bibliography in APA style, etc.) and send them to my partner, as well as updating the wiki to reflect said changes ... She accepts the revisions, meaning that the "final paper" portion of this project is pretty much complete (whew!)
July 26 - My parter adds the final (?) post to our blog at 4:58 PM, a "new book alert" for Elizabeth Stuckey-French's "Revenge of the Radioactive Lady" ... She includes a link to the New York Times book review (nytimes.com) for more information.
July 26 - At approximately 7:36 PM, I complete my two-page "individual reflection" on the project, meaning that (aside from a quick review for spelling errors and the like) this thing is over!
July 27 - At approximately 7:11 PM, I submit all relevant material to the professor via Sakai, wipe my hands of the whole thing, and say "Adios!" to this semester!

Readings due through ... hey, wait a minute!

2011-07-22T19:39:00.004-04:00

There are no more readings ... Hooray!

However, I did receive the following message from the professor in my Sakai inbox this morning:

Dear all--

What a fast-paced and busy summer! As we wind down our course, I would like to see one final blog post (or two if you want to break it down), including these two things...a reflection of one or two things you have either learned or rethought in the course of the term and a reflection on what you think might come next.

I am enjoying your lit. reviews and look forward to your final projects!

Suellen

Tweets for the week of July 21st

2011-07-22T16:33:00.004-04:00

Too Many Indonesian Books

Readings due through February 1st

Our first "class" was technically last night ...

LSC 544 course website is finally online!

Finally!

Clarity or confusion?

Uh oh (Part Deux)

Problem is (hopefully) solved

Uh oh ...

I believe I have made a decision ...

Just a couple of things ...

Fall 2011 course websites in snapshots (Part II)

Fall 2011 course websites in snapshots (Part I)

Grades for Fall 2011 semester are in!

Research Paper (LSC 522)

Assignment 3 (LSC 522)

Christmas comes early!

Research Paper (LSC 547) has been graded

Module 3 (LSC 547) has been graded

Final LSC 522 meeting is over!

Starting to get a little impatient

I've completed my portion of the LSC 522 LibGuide!

Last night's second-to-last LSC522 meeting was rather uneventful ...

Research paper for LSC 522 has been submitted

Assignment 3 (LSC 547) has been submitted

Readings due through December 7th

Yay, no class tonight!

Assignment 3 (LSC 522) has been submitted ...

Readings due through November 23rd

Research paper for LSC 547 has been submitted

Module 2 (LSC 547) has been graded!

Readings due through November 16th

Readings due through November 9th

Assignment 1 (LSC 522) has been graded

Module 2 has been submitted

Professor was a no-show last night ...

Readings due through October 26th

Just completed another "virtual meeting" for LSC 522

Thesis statement for research paper (LSC 547) has been approved!

Readings due through October 19th

Module 1 has been graded!

Readings due through October 5th

No BBB class tomorrow!

Readings due through September 28th

Still recovering from last night's BBB class (LSC 522)

Readings due through September 21st

Our first BBB class meeting in LSC 522 is now complete

Well, I feel like a big dummy ...

Oh yeah, I'm in graduate school!

Poking around the LSC 547 website

LSC 522 F2F meeting is this evening ...

LSC 522 website now live

LSC 597 Literature Review (Part 2)

LSC 597 Literature Review (Part 1)

Final Project (LSC 597)

Upcoming semester is slowly coming into focus ...

*Screeching Tires*

Summer 2011 course website in snapshots (Part IV)

Summer 2011 course website in snapshots (Part III)

Back on track for next semester!

Summer 2011 course website in snapshots (Part II)

Summer 2011 course website in snapshots (Part I)

Still waiting to sign up for next semester ...

Fancy new digs ...

Grades are in!

Final project graded!

Tweets for the week of July 28th

Blog post for the week of July 28th

Final project has been submitted!

Readings due through ... hey, wait a minute!

Tweets for the week of July 21st

Screeching Tires