I have also used the ILS at the medical library where I volunteer.  They use Innovative Millennium and have the medical databases (and others).  I have taken a workshop on PubMed and am aware (though not familiar) with MESH subject headings.  The MARCIVE cataloging is done at a central location

I first heard of Library Thing in a class for Young Adult Services; like Jameson I think it was originally conceived as a tool for one’s personal collection.  How interesting to hear it adds a layer of social networking to catalogs.  At my elementary practicum I saw Aquabrowser tag clouds this fall at the elementary school; they were lauded as helpful for weak spellers because they provided “near misses” for words—so probably a different version from the one talked about with Bob and Jason.

At the Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) annual conference last weekend was a session titled “The Effects of Implementing a Next-Generation Catalog or Discovery Tool on Catalogers and Cataloging Functions in Academic Libraries.”  Project website: http://nextgencatsandcatalogers.wikispaces.com/CAL2009 I did not attend but grabbed a flyer in my way.  The speakers were from the University of Wyoming, I see their outline mentions “the difference between WorldCat Local and most other NCGs” which Bob and Jason talked about.  I’d guess that having faceted browsing would bring some welcome precision.

My thoughts on the future of ILS systems.  As the discussion brought out, depending on the context, need for precision and desire for speedy results each types of search has its place.  In the future as suggested Goolization quality may increase to the extent that “traditional” scholarly methods are extinct.  But that is not now on our radar.

Both the comments following the article and the discussion have validated my choice to be an information professional—there is a need

The other book I found but haven’t studied is Designing the Digital Experience: How to use experience design tools and techniques to build websites customers love by David Lee King. It seems to supplement the “polar bear” book nicely.

If I access the library website from my home and want to use the databases, I follow the path to Research Tools where I am asked for my library card number when I select a db.  This authenticates me as an authorized user. If I’m at the library on one of their computers I do not have to enter my library card number, I am already recognized as an authorized user.  Sometimes individual dbs want further authentication.

At the medical library where I volunteer there are similar issues.  I log-on to the hospital site, then go to the library portal where there are many resources.  For electronic journals there are two main places.  We call them OnlineJournals and E-Journals.  One of them has journals that are readily accessible from the Portal, the other has journals that for the most part require further authentication which is provided on the library site (by journal title).  These differences are due to the licensing agreements with the publishers.

You may be interested to know that some publishers do not provide electronic versions of their journals.  Therefore the library has those journals in print.

As an exercise for LI851 (school Library Media) we joined a Listserv and posted a question.  Mine was about how professional school librarians used social networking.  Specifically I asked whether they used Facebook, Twitter or the Listserv.  Some replied one or the other but several said it depended on the issue at hand—that each had its purpose.

I know people that are fascinated by Second Life, but it seems it can take a lot of time just to learn to walk there.

I’m a bit mystified by how people have time to do all this connecting—because iot seems to be while people are at work.  Perhaps it’s the time we used to spend standing around the coffee cart or walking to the water cooler.

The American Alpine Club where I work a couple Saturdays a month has a blog called High Places:  http://aaclibrary.wordpress.com/

I volunteered to help with an Oral History project at Children’s Hospital—learning as we go along.  The librarian create a wiki to share information: http://tchoralhistory.wikispaces.com/Welcome+to+The+Children%27s+Hospital+Oral+History+Project.

I wish my brother would use Flickr or create a wiki to share photos; he posted some on a dreadful site that I have to join to view the picture.

No other place I work has social networking.  I think it depends on your members/users whether it’s a good idea—and depend what other means of communication are readily for them to chat.

I’ll be attending a workshop on Archives and Web 2.0 this Friday (SRMA: Society of Rocky Mt Archivists) http://www.srmarchivists.org/index.php?q=content/fall-2009-meeting

The phrase “the strength of weak ties” from Granovetter is perfect to explain the serendipity of social networking. A link that still works is: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1999/01/11/1999_01_11_052_TNY_LIBRY_000017251

I like this thought-provoking quote: “what matters in getting ahead is not the quality of your relationships but the quantity.”

I’d never heard of the Creepy Treehouse effect but the concept perfectly explains the uneasy feeling I get when considering whether to Facebook friend my daughter.  I totally don’t want to spy and feel we need to maintain our individualness by not “friending” each other.  The film clip from the Onion was a hoot!

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/facebook_twitter_revolutionizing?utm_source=most_pop_pop

Was there someone acting as a project manager?

Were roles assigned?

Did the project get completed on time?

What issues were there from an organizational perspective? (problems with the organization, policy change, sponsor change)

As I reinvent myself for my third career I’m hard pressed to think of IT project management scenarios I’m involved with. : I volunteered to help with an oral history project at The Children’s Hospital of Denver.  Due to lack of funds they no longer have an archivist; the medical librarian is concerned with for the safety of archival items—that they might “walk away” from the closet they been allotted to.  Also that the founders and early pioneers of the hospital are increasingly fragile with age and may not be around much longer to tell their stories.  So the librarian has recruited several volunteers to do a project about which we know little: the policies, procedures and mechanics of acquiring, recording and preserving oral histories.  It’s a work in process.

However, I think better suited to respond to the project management lecture and what kept occurring to me as I listened to the lecture were the analogies to my work experience in book publishing.

Especially when I worked at a large publishing company—Prentice-Hall in Englewood Cliffs, NJ.  “Launch” meetings were held to formalize the start of the production process for a title (book).  The Acquisitions Editor and representatives from each department:  Editorial-Production, Art, Manufacturing.  Depending on the significance of the book, that is, expectations of sales and issues related to artwork or unique features of the book then more representatives would be needed.  The Acquisitions editor had solicited the author, got the signed contract and had sales expectations.  At the launch meeting all aspects with regard to design expectation, a preliminary schedule, possible cost factors known to that point were discussed.

A launch meeting that accounted for as many vagaries as possible and a schedule that allowed for same was critical for success.  Some issues that could affect schedule: whether the art would be drawn in-house or freelanced, the amount of editing needed, were the authors in the US, were the typesetters in the US, was artwork from a previous edition to be used in whole or part?

After that, all departments used the Production Schedule to plan activities related to production and manufacture of the book.  Any revisions to the schedule meant issuing a revised Production Schedule and depending on the nature of the change it would have a ripple effect through the system.  So, for example the Acquisitions editor had to decide early on whether to provide a supplementary Answer booklet so it could be planned for in terms of design, printing costs, and coordinating with the textbook.  Production started designing text specifications and getting sample pages for approval by the art dept and author and estimates for typesetting.  The manuscript had to be typeset, and proofread by the author.  Manufacturing (printing and binding) needed to get estimates from printers and binders based on the length of print runs, page count, trim size, and whether the book could be ganged with others titles for better pricing.  The art department had to schedule for prepress activities such as pasteup of camera ready art and for checking the “blues” once camera copy had been shot by the printer and negs produced.  .

Some dates were softer and some were “set in stone.”  The date for camera ready copy to go to the printer was vital.  The schedule was carefully orchestrated for all essential steps to interweave harmoniously for the end result: a book produced on time. A launch meeting that included as many vagaries as possible and a schedule that allowed for same was critical for success.  Some issues that could affect schedule: whether the art would be drawn in-house or freelanced, the amount of editing needed, were the authors in the US, were the typesetters in the US.

Well, as production editor I was responsible for the production of the text from ms to camera ready copy.  I had supervision for these tasks.  I guess my supervisors boss, head of College-Book Editorial was the project supervisor.  The Acquisitions editor was the ultimate boss—he made the decision about print run size based on the information manufacturing provided.

Most of the projects I worked on got done in time.  That is due in part to the fact that most of the books I was assigned to were fairly “standard.”  Books with unusual demands in terms of design, artwork or other special circumstances were assigned to more experienced editors.  One of the most unusual books I handled was about Dairy Cattle and the author was in Nigeria.  But the book was not “high priority” so not too stressful.

And the music so loud I never could bring myself to watch it.  I liked Pt 1 of this version so much I watched it twice, and Pt 2 once.

I especially liked the visual depictions of The Router and Router Switch, and appreciated the analogy of the switch as a “pinball wizard”—probably since I’m from the Woodstock generation.  As a visual learner I learned a lot—never heard of LAN accidents before.  Pt 2 started with a corporate firewall, then to the www, then ending firewall, interface to server (browser).

Using SnagIt I captured screenshots of the exercises described in the lecture!

The first is my IP address:

Screenshot of my IP address

I was astonished to learn there are only 13 root DNS servers in the world—ten of them in the US.

The nefarious tone of the ping of death prompted me to look up the definition of SONAR:

From Wikipedia:

Sonar (originally an acronym for sound navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater) to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels. There are two kinds of sonar: active and passive. Sonar may be used as a means of acoustic location and of measurement of the echo characteristics of “targets” in the water. Acoustic location in air was used before the introduction of radar. …. The term sonar is also used for the equipment used to generate and receive the sound. The frequencies used in sonar systems vary from infrasonic to ultrasonic. The study of underwater sound is known as underwater acoustics or sometimes hydroacoustics.

DaVinci is credited for using it for the first time in about 1490, in water.

Here is my screenshot of a ping:

Screenshot of Ping

And here is the screenshot of my tracert:

Screenshot of Tracert

I noticed the verbiage of “over a maximum of 30 hops” and guess this is a self-limiting move for “self-preservation.”

I read a bit about TTL but the mind starts to boggle.

One successful example I can think of (as I continue to apply for jobs) is that of a library website that offers a pdf of the job application form.  In this case the form can be filled out online (and saved) but then must be printed and mailed.  This is a refreshing user-friendly version because so many proferred forms have to be downloaded, filled out by hand and then mailed.  So the mailing part still slows it down, but required because of the signature requirement.

I looked at the website of the artist I work for and have a few comments (some of which I mentioned to Laura). The site is: http://www.lauramehmertdesigns.com/ .  When I first looked at it I saw many things I’d change and Iwas put off by the 2007 catalog image on the home page because it immediately looked dated.  [I mentioned this to Laura and she replied that her webmaster asked her for the more recent catalogs, which are issued yearly, but that Laura did not supply it.]  Then on closer inspection I was impressed with  a few things: I did find there was a “Gallery” where the user could look for images by topic.  Also there’s a search box with the options of searching within the site or on Google. Adjacent to this is a box where the user can enter an email address to receive updates on Laura’s activities.

The guestbook feature is nice but there are no entries.

I think a box for queries would be helpful; but there are many links with contact information.  Laura only supplies thumbnail images to curtail the pirating of her images (she explained to me). If you click on an image you get a larger image, but not larger than about 1-1/2 by 2 inches. Also she only gives the image/design number, not the name of the work. Until you click for the larger image, then the name.  However the image number alone is not searchable.  But you arrive at a Google page where suggestions are offered.  You have to search for the combination of jpg title.

Visually the site is attractive and I like the continually slide show of images.  But I think the left column is a bit cluttered as the evergreen tree motif repeats for every item, even each subheading.

She does not mention the classes she teaches. Other items I’d check: Navigation Stress Test, color changes of visited hyperlink, analyze the search logs.

Last, I think a site map would be helpful.

I also looked at Blum Computer Solutions (my husband’s business website): http://www.b-b-inc.com/ ..  I did not pour over it but did think that scope notes might be useful to explain some things—especially the support category.

We’ve all encountered dysfunctional web sites.  I’ve heard that the typical user gives a website about 90 seconds before moving elsewhere.  There was one that tempts me to write/email the college—where there is no side bar to scroll down the page to find things.  To their credit however, they had an ample variety of dropdown boxes organized logically on the home page.  Now, of course, there is the possibility that my trouble was due to “operator error.”

Pages 9 and 10 got me thinking about a job posting I would never otherwise have looked at twice.  I had to wonder whether my library school knowledge would be a suitable fit for the job.  I’ll post it here for your interest:

Employment Opportunity

Title: Data Integrity Specialist Department: Editorial Operations

Location: Santa Barbara

Responsibilities include: The Data Integrity Specialist will establish, coordinate, maintain and own data integrity procedures, processes and policies that efficiently enhance data flow and integrity. This position requires quality/control assurance experience and an understanding of relational data structures, processes, procedures and policies. Understanding the principles of information organization, indexing, classification, information management, architecture diagrams, data models, navigation maps, and relational databases is a must. This position is part of the master data dictionary team, which defines new data fields, writes data rules, and determines data flow and dependencies. The Data Integrity Specialist must have experience working with databases and managing data, be detail-oriented, possess strong analytical skills, and demonstrate independent thought and critical thinking. Strong organizational and project management skills will be extremely helpful. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A PROGAMMING/SOFTWARE ENGINEERING POSITION.

I think the caveat in capital letters is interesting.

I’ve also given thought to what real life situations I could use for my final “project.”  The artist I work for PT really needs organizing.  She has granted me authority control for certain tasks.  However when I mentioned to her that she could easily have her documents in alphabetical order she did not want anything changed,  She is accustomed to having her most used doc in position 2 (so to speak) and does not want anything changed.

The medical library has a very utilitarian website and I think the librarian might be willing for some changes to the home page—that is, the arrangement of items.  But there is a strict hierarchy of procedures there.

I’ll continue to give thought to the challenge of a cause for my project.