joy at moll projects dot com
In January 2005, Michael Stephens(Tame the Web) listed Twelve Techie Things for Librarians 2005, including one about social software in which he said "I would like to see more librarians present in the social realm of the web." With that inspiration, I engaged myself in 43 Things in 2005. I did it early enough in the life of 43 Things that I was able to claim the username Librarian.
43 Things is a place to list goals (up to 43 of them). It's social because you can see who else has signed up for the same goals, read and write entries about the goals, and give each other cheers for goals and entries (with one quick and easy click). The site makes good use of RSS, so I keep track of goals and people in Bloglines as much as I do on the site itself.
Over the past year, the site has also added 43 Places for travel goals and 43 People for goals about who you want to meet. You can set goals to meet famous people, but 43 People, in practice, is really mostly about keeping track of your virtual friends that you have made on 43 Things.
Is it really social? Oh, yeah. It's not difficult to sink hours into swapping cheers and entries and messages. I care about how KBB is doing in library school and she's excited that I got a job. Mairregirl and I discovered each other this month and she found out that we have a mutual real life friend. My newest friend has produced wonderful, funny podcasts that teach me about what it is like to have been born in South Asia and raised in the United States.
Do people really do the Things? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I recently gave up on my embroidery project. But, if I can read 60 more pages of Be Our Guest, a book by the Disney Institute about customer service, by midnight, I will complete my goal to read 30 books in 2005. Would I have done it without this goal? I don't think so. And I wouldn't know it if I had--I love that I have a log of the books I read this year.
Are there ways to practice librarianship on 43 Things? Sure. I have recommended books, tracked down subject headings for people to try in their OPACs, and cheered many people on their goal to start using the library. Currently 109 people are signed up for that last one. 195 people have done it--and 194 of them say that it's worth doing!
So, if you're making resolutions or setting goals for the new year, I invite you to join us at 43 Things. If you're a library type, sign up for the goal to team all the 43T librarians and I'll send you an invitation for the team. We don't know what our purpose is, but I imagine we'll think of something.
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A friend wrote me about CalorieKing in response to my Fit Day review and my Nutridiary review.
CalorieKing has a super database, with no payment or registration--just go to the top page and type in the food.
Quizno's Turkey Ranch & Swiss? Yes! But only the regular size and I usually got the small. Either way, it looks like a good choice to have eliminated that as daily habit.
Panera's Caesar Salad? Yes!
Ezekiel 4:9 tortilla? Looks like! They call it a taco shell but I use it as a burrito wrap. The nutrients all match so it must be the same thing.
CalorieKing is making money on a number of products, one of which is a Windows-based food and exercise log. I took the tour. It has the meals concept that I liked in Nutridiary. CalorieKing uses a drag and drop interface for adding meals and foods to the daily log--a much more intuitive interface than Nutridiary.
I am already finding that the clunky interface in Nutridiary means I spend more time than I would wish to keep my log. I thought I really wanted the web-based food log, but I think I will take the free trial offer from CalorieKing to see if the ease of use makes up for the fact that I would likely be adding all my foods at once in the evening instead of throughout the day as I imagined.
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I thought yesterday that I wanted a particular functionality: notes with tags--like del.icio.us only instead of storing and tagging websites, it stores and tags my own notes. I found an answer by searching John Tropea's Library clips blog (use the search box in the right column; the one in the left column wants to send him email instead). John writes wonderful long posts about web applications. I generally skim them when they are first posted and then use his blog as a kind of database of ideas.
In September, he wrote about TagFacts in a post called Tag Facts: folksonomy for notes! Exactly what I wanted! Except, that yesterday's need was for private notes and TagFacts only has public notes.
How might one use TagFacts in a library? I had an idea about using del.icio.us for on-the-fly subject guides. TagFacts might work even better because you could include both print sources and web sources.
For my purposes, private tagged notes, I ended up going with Gmail using this tip from Gmail tips. If anyone wants a Gmail account, I have invites to give away.
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Rick has been teasing me that I'm on the Casablanca Diet. That's the one where I'm going to improve my lifestyle any day now--maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of my life.
In the spirit of getting on with it, I took a look at FitDay, like I promised at the end of my review of Nutridiary.
FitDay is easier to use than Nutridiary. It doesn't have the concept of a meal--so you have to add peanut butter, jelly, and bread as three separate items. Adding items is quite quick, so that might not be too bad.
The database appears to be the ever-present USDA one, but I found it easier to search in FitDay than in Nutridiary. Unfortunately, there seems to be no option to upgrade to a more complete database in FitDay.
The upgrade option in FitDay is to a PC-based version of the software for $20. But that's not really what I'm looking for. I want a food log that is always there--for me, that means web-based so that I can have it on a tab in my Firefox browser both at home and at work.
So, I'm sticking with Nutridiary. And I'm going to get back to using it any day now.
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In response to my post yesterday, Rebecca Hedreen (Frequently Answered Questions) pointed out that every modern organizational scheme needs to include computer backups.
I don't do this as often as I should because my process (involving shutting down my computer, swapping drives, and backing up on a zip cartridge) is a pain in the neck. Now that I have belatedly discovered how easy flash drives are, I'll be changing the process to make it easier.
Since I use a Tickler File, I file a note to myself to do a backup. It's on a 4x5 bright yellow index card and it says "Do anything interesting this week? BACK IT UP!" I usually keep it in the upcoming Friday, but this method makes it easy to move forward if I don't get it done that day.
When I was working on important papers and presentations, I often emailed a current copy to my Yahoo! account to make sure I had a backup if something went wrong. That was good for my peace of mind.
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While dismantling my organization system for my last semester of library school, I thought I would make some notes about what worked for me, to give ideas for other students to try or to modify to suit their own styles.
Accordion files. I had an accordion file for each class. I liked this style from Smead the best. I had a different color for each class. Here is how I labeled the pockets:
Shelves. I assigned each class a shelf in my book case. This is where the accordion file went when I wasn't using it, where the textbook was shelved, and where the library CDs were stacked that I chose for each class (see this post for a description of how I music-coded my classes). I also put any library or other books that I gathered for various assignments for the class on the class shelf. If I were in a hurry, I sometimes threw papers on the shelf to be filed later in the accordion file. One advantage to having a shelf assigned to each class was that if my organization system failed during the semester, I still had one shelf to throw everything related to that class and one shelf to search through to find stuff that didn't get put away more appropriately.
Color-coding. The color for each class was set by the accordion file and notebook. I used this pack of Razor Point Pilot Pens to create color-coded mind maps, calendars, and lists that helped me with planning during the semester. Highlighters, post-it notes, and index cards in class colors were also occasionally useful.
Starting a class checklist. Of course, I needed to set this all up at the beginning of each semester, so I had a checklist to follow that went something like this:
I would usually do those things before the first class. Once I had the syllabus for each class in hand, I could do more items on the checklist. I usually did these calendar-related items the first weekend after classes began:
Ending a class checklist. I also found it helpful to systematically dismantle the previous semester's class organization, clearing space for the next semester. Here's that checklist (and it's what I'm doing today):
Questions? More ideas of your own? Send them to joy at mollprojects dot com. If you send me something regarding this post, I will assume that you intend for me to put it up on the web, so be sure to let me know if you consider the correspondence private.
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Chris Deweese hosted the most recent Carnival of the Infosciences this past Monday--read more about Library 2.0, whether to tag or not to tag, and the beginning of the ALA speaker controversy.
The Carnival is taking a holiday for a couple of weeks. Then Carnival takes what must be one of its shortest moves yet--a few miles across the Mississippi River to my site. I'm hosting the Carnival of the Infosciences, number 19, on January 9. Submit early (joy at mollprojects dot com)--you don't want to forget that great post you wrote or read! If you're looking for a writing prompt, this would be an appropriate time to do a post on "2005 in review" or "predictions for 2006." For information on submitting and hosting, consult the Carnival wiki.
Today, my plan is to track Santa with NORAD (so far, I liked the Japan sighting the best), bake cookies, and watch A Christmas Story. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukah, happy Kwanzaa, and a belated peaceful Winter Solstice wish to all.
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We're leaving town for the weekend--and I'm not taking my laptop (gasp!). This is our new family Christmas observance. Being an adult orphan means that you no longer have a place to go home for Christmas. But my brother and I were taught to make the best of situations, so that's what we're doing. Or, at least, experimenting with--it may take a while to figure out what "best" is. It was my idea to travel instead of exchanging Christmas gifts. Now, I think maybe I would have liked both :-).
I'm skipping my graduation for this. I had intended to go, have been talking about it for a year or so. But I always pictured my mother there. Now, I think the ceremony would just make me sad.
I'm reading a book called Midlife Orphan: Facing Life's Changes Now that Your Parents are Gone by Jane Brooks. Here's a quote:
Every joyous celebrarion will now have a taste of bittersweet when we remember parents who are not here to share in our happiness.
That applies to graduation, to my new job, and to celebrating holidays. It sucks. But I'll make the best of it, because that's what my parents taught me to do. And it was good teaching--making the best of it has its own reward.
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It's official! The news I was not sharing last week: beginning on January 17, 2006, I will be the Reference/Web Services Librarian at Washington University in St. Louis. This is the right position for me for several reasons including the people, the tasks, and the location.
Meredith Farkas of Information Wants to be Free wisely suggested after reading my panicky first post about my job search that blogging the details would likely increase my stress. I took her advice to be more reticent about the process. But I want to pay forward for the tips and assurances about the academic library job search that I got from other job searchers' blogs, particularly the posts that Dorothea Salo made on Caveat Lector (And she's back again today with a good "serm—I mean rant.") Meredith wrote a great list of tips about job searching, so I won't try to replicate that. I'll just tell my story on the assumption that future job seekers will glean something of use from the details.
The job I applied for in February had a closing date in April. I heard nothing until I got a "we hired someone" letter in June or July. Later, I saw an announcement of who they hired--a man who was much more experienced than me both as an engineer and a librarian. I had given up on the job long before the letter arrived, so there was little sense of rejection.
I applied for two jobs in June--the one I got and another at a very small college library. Again, I heard nothing for months, to the point I had given up on them. The small college library finally sent a letter that said they were reopening the search, but it did not invite me to re-apply or indicate that they would be considering my application. It was subtly worded, but I took it to be a rejection. I met the minimum qualifications. But from what I learned about the job during a short discussion with the library director at the ALA Placement Center, they really needed someone with the experience indicated on the "preferred" list.
I was only slightly bothered by that rejection particularly since, by then, I had learned that Washington University was just being slow (or typical, as I understand that 6 months from announcement to hire is not uncommon in academic libraries). In October, I received email inviting me to an interview. On December 2, I had an all day interview with a presentation (also, dinner the night before). Preparing the presentation was my secret project of late November.
Here are the things I think I had going for me at Wash U.
My practicum
This is the library where I did my practicum in government documents. My practicum supervisor was on the search committee as was her supervisor (my new boss) who I had some interactions with during my practicum, including a positive final evaluation of the experience.
Networking
I arranged that practicum after encountering my practicum supervisor in two ways through my network--she was previously a co-worker of one of my teachers and was, at that time, a co-worker of one of my classmates. My practicum supervisor and I came to be friends and continued to meet at various times after the practicum was complete. Also, my network included a couple of fellow library school students who work at Wash U and were able to attend my presentation. They provided encouraging words before the presentation, friendly faces during the presentation, and reassurances in the days that followed when I got worried. That's what friends are for!
Library instruction experience
Since my library school program was unable to offer a class in Library Use Instruction, I worked with my practicum supervisor to get instruction experience during my practicum. Besides being great experience for both instruction and reference (we did one on one consultations with the students during class time), it also meant that I worked with nearly all of the reference staff at one time or another. This made the 45 minutes when I was interviewed by the reference staff en masse flow comfortably.
My blog and reading other blogs
I gave my presentation on "Library 2.0" before the ink was dry on the Talis White Paper (pdf). I discussed the Cluetrain Manifesto, wikis and blogs in libraries, and web usability--all topics I learned about or learned more about by reading blogs. I demonstrated my credentials in Web Services on my web site and by speaking knowledgeably about the latest developments.
Presentations at MLA
I went into the interview presentation with confidence taken from my successful presentations at the Missouri Library Association conference.
Teamwork
During the interview, I frequently discussed the two team projects I did in library school (for Digital Libraries and Management) and the various study groups I helped start for on-line classes and for Comps.
Attitude
Here's what worked for me (but, I suspect, it has to be genuine, so everyone probably has to figure out his or her own best attitude): enthusiasm, confidence, and willingness to learn.
What did I learn about the academic library job search?
1. It's normal to get a "we received your application and would you please fill out this ethnicity survey" notice immediately and then hear nothing for months.
2. Many people will look at your website if you encourage them to do so. I rarely used my print portfolio, but interviewers frequently mentioned things they saw on my blog or website. Although, I'm not sure that I still wouldn't make the print portfolio--I liked the confidence it gave me that if I encountered someone who had nothing to say, I would have a good starting point.
3. Applying for only three jobs can work--but only if one of them is the right job! I wouldn't recommend it and would have applied to many more had my summer not taken an unexpected turn. I was lucky that one of the jobs I had applied to before my mother died turned out to be the right one, because I never completed an application afterwards--all of that energy went into emptying her house and other things. If it hadn't been the right job, I would be starting my job search all over again about now.
4. Having the minimum qualifications does not mean you will be considered for the job--even if there are no better candidates. But, you might be considered and hired! Some aspects of job hunting are like crap shooting.
5. Trust that things will work out is a healthy attitude for the parts of the job search that the seeker can not control.
6.The things "they" say work for library job searchers, do work--practicums, networking, being out there with a website and/or presentations, teamwork, enthusiasm.
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We could use some good thoughts and prayers today in Missouri. A reservoir dam broke this morning in southern Missouri sending a flash flood down the Black River. Johnson's Shut-Ins have flooded. For those unfamiliar with our state, this a beautiful area where the river passes through a canyon, creating a kind of natural water park. Channel 5 has just reported that the house of the superintendent of the park was washed away and the three children of the family have been flown to a hospital in St. Louis.
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Out of the Flames by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone
This book was on the reading list for the "History of Books and Print" class that was offered in my library school last fall. I didn't take that class, but put the book on my Christmas list last year and have finally got around to reading it. It's a well-written historical piece that talks about the violence (both physical and intellectual) of the Reformation, the slow process of understanding the workings of the human body, and the strange story of a book related to both of these that disappeared from history and slowly came to the surface again.
John Calvin is one of the bad guys in this book. Sometime in my late twenties or early thirties, I attempted to read some of John Calvin's writings as a way to be in touch with the religion of my youth (Presbyterian) and was appalled by most of what I read. Around the same time, I read some George Fox (a founder of the Society of Friends, or Quakers--the religion of one branch of my ancestry) and was equally disillusioned. Perhaps, the lesson I should have drawn from that was it takes a zealot to start a religious movement and that the movement is best judged by the actions of those engaged in it generations later. At the time I read Calvin and Fox, however, I took away the notion that all religions are intolerant at the core and, therefore, unsuitable spiritual outlets for a lifelong learner.
Given that background while reading this book, I was intrigued to hear an interview on To the Best of our Knowledge of author Marilynne Robinson who seems to have a real appreciation for Calvinism. I now seem to have thoroughly exposed myself to some of the worst parts of Calvinism, but there surely has to be some good things since more than one modern religion has roots there.
Here is a quote about the nature of Calvinism, from the Marilynne Robinson interview, that makes me think I could find something attractive in it, something so basic to my nature that I'm barely aware of it as part of my belief system:
It assumes that experience is a continuing revelation. It's not as if you believe once and then adhere to what you believe in a frozen moment in effect. But that you are continuously being reinstructed. And that whenever your ideas harden around one set of conceptions, that's a form of idolatry because you think you have something that equals truth or equals God. It made very tough people, really, because they always assumed if things fell apart, there must be some wonderful lesson in it. And it also dignifies our experience. Anything can be absolutely meaningful.
So I have requested her novel Gilead and a nonfiction work, The death of Adam : essays on modern thought, through the library.
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After a planned and unplanned hiatus, the Carnival of the Infosciences is back. Check out Number 17 at the Krafty Librarian.
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As an up and coming academic librarian, I have a new and narrow interest in gaming in libraries--mostly centered on learning through games. The Blogger Alley reports from the Gaming in Libraries 2005 conference were amazing, but a bit overwhelming. I've gone back through them to highlight some I may want to revisit.
If Chad Haefele of Hidden Peanuts was live blogging, I'm incredibly jealous. His posts sound like what I write when I post-blog conference events--often days (or weeks--I'm still meaning to get some stuff up about the Missouri Library Association from October) after the event.
Keynote
From Chad's post about the keynote address by Les Gasser:
Some faculty at the University of Illinois are holding meetings in-game of Second Life! They bought an island and are working on transforming it into their own information repository.
The Civilization series even has its own library in the in-game society. In this case it teaches players how to better play the game. Provide service in venues where we don’t usually go.
The Gaming Landscape
Four bloggers captured all or most of the statistics that Steve Jones of Pew presented in "The Gaming Landscape," Chad , Chris Deweese of Clam Chowder, Jenny Levine of The Shifted Librarian, and Beth Gallaway of Game On: Games in Libraries. Sixty-five percent of college students are regular or occasional players of video/computer/online games. Jenny captured this odd fact:
what was interesting is that to them, pulling out your cell phone and playing a game while waiting for a friend didn’t constitute “gaming” for them
MMOGs
Constance A. Steinkuehler in "The Gaming Generation & Libraries: Intersections" session discussed Massively Multiplayer Online Games or MMOGs (Chad called these Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, MMORPGs). She discussed the role of literacy in these virtual worlds--including fan fiction written by the players. This quote, from Chad's account, gave me hope that there is a role for librarians in this venue:
Success in the game requires use of outside technologies (web browser, research, voice communication, etc.)
Running a tournament
If I ever have the opportunity to run a gaming tournament, I'll start with these notes from Eli Neiburger's talk: Chris' version and Chad's version. Eli runs the popular gaming tournaments for the Ann Arbor District Library.
Game-based learning & library instruction
This is possibly the most directly relevant talk for academic librarians, delivered by Christy Branston, gov docs librarian at the University of Waterloo. She recommended the book What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy by James Gee (just requested that through Mobius--I guess my student account is good for another week or so.) I loved this suggestion for incorporating games into library instruction (from Chad's account): "Experiment on staff!" Christy developed a course for government information instruction. She discovered that it worked better for team play, from Jenny's post:
the team idea worked well because the peer pressure made sure they played the gameJenny also recorded a call to action:
put out a call for others that want to work on gaming in instructional learning to collaborate and make it open source – contact Christy!
What Libraries Can Do for Gamers
The last talk before the speakers' panel was by Beth Gallaway. I really liked her suggestions about "Be a Strategy Guide" (see that section of Chad's post) which seems pretty good advice for a reference librarian, in general.
Speakers Panel
Jenny captured the most thorough version of this. One line has sparked a controversy at Walt Crawford's blog. As someone observing her first holiday season as an adult orphan, I agree with Walt that there's nothing humorous about the previous generation dying off.
Women go through the experience of using the phrase "golf widow" or "football widow" humorously in their twenties and thirties. In most groups of women, this practice usually stops later in life as one of their mothers, or, worse yet, one of their friends becomes an actual widow, because the humor disappears. Maybe this controversy will have a similar dampening affect on librarians using death as a metaphorical device when discussing new technologies. I suspect that will elevate the conversation, not diminish it--make it more about how to bring people along at speeds that are comfortable to them.
What's next?
Steven Cohen of Library Stuff has news he can't share. And some that he can--all the best to Hallie and her growing family!
I know just how he feels. I'm not sharing my news on the blog until the paperwork shows up at my door. And I'm about to bust!
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I received my first "please blog this for us" email from an organization. I hit the big time now, boy oh boy.
Worse yet, I fell for it....So here's a funny holiday-themed animation and song about credit card debt, brought to us by the Consumers Union (the Consumer Reports people). I got an "are you sure you want to run this?" kind of message when I started the download, so I backed up, started at the Consumers Union page and went from there. I still got the message, but I had at least confirmed that the download is from a source I trust.
This is an issue I care about--life is better without consumer credit debt. I try to follow this advice from Mr. Micawber (David Copperfield), which I always hear in the voice of W.C. Fields who played the character in a movie:
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I have been using Firefox for over a year, but have become aware that there are cool things I'm not using because I didn't know they existed. Today I found a way to use tabbed browsing that suits me better than my previous method.
In the middle of October when I was going nuts trying to prepare for my presentations at the Missouri Library Association and the Comprehensive Exam at the same time, I bookmarked this 43 Folders post called "How are you using tabs?" Reading the post and the comments, I have learned three things.
I've been using a tabbed set of home pages. The problem with that is that File-->New brings up the five or six home pages when usually what I want is a fresh window to start exploring in new tabs. Now, I will have my home page be blank and use my tabbed sets to bring up what I want. To start with I'm going to have two tabbed sets. One is called daily that has my My Yahoo! page, my online courseware, and some Getting Things Done tools. The other will have my Bloglines account and the Blogger dashboard for making new blog entries. That way I'll be less likely to get sucked into reading blogs and writing blog entries when I really should be doing something else.
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I want to try a web-based calendar. I'm still using the desktop software that came with my PDA even though the PDA broke months ago and I didn't replace it.
The best list of online calendars that I found was on the I want to: page--which has a number of other useful lists as well. Librarian Phil Bradley is the author of the site. If you prefer learning about these neat new things as they are added, there's an accompanying I Want to blog.
I am amazed at how many of the calendars don't have any kind of demo or practice calendar. You have to register before you see what you're getting. I don't register for anything if I haven't seen at least a screen shot.
Here are some brief notes for the calendars I tried.
Looks like CalendarHub is my winner. Although, I'm uncomfortable that there is nothing on the site that indicates who runs CalendarHub, why they are doing it, how they can offer it for free, etc. Not very comforting when I think about depending on this software. I have never lost my calendar, even when I was using a physical one, probably because I knew it would be a traumatic event for me. Am I really going to depend on a nameless, faceless website to not lose my calendar? Hmmm.
To see if I could learn more, I Googled the company name (CalendarHub, Inc. which I learned from the Terms of Use). I discovered that NUrd Radio discussed CalendarHub on the November 22 show at about minute 16 into the show. Their evaluators had problems with CalendarHub. The reminders by phone didn't work at all and some confusion led to a private calendar being public.
Searching on CalendarHub led me to other lists of online calendars which reminded me that Yahoo! has a calendar. I still use My Yahoo!, alongside my Bloglines account, for news headlines, more comic strips, and easy access to some Yahoo! features including my email and maps. Maybe their calendar would be a better choice for me.
Cool! I already have a Calendar--it's picking up information from My Yahoo! page. Since I have the St. Louis Rams scores on My Yahoo! page, it put the games on the calendar. On the day and week views, I also get the weather--for Minneapolis, oddly enough, but I suspect if I rearrange the cities that I want weather reports for so that St. Louis is at the top of the list, that will be what shows up in my calendar.
Events can be defined as appointments, birthdays, bill payments, classes, and many other options. The features include repeating events and reminders. The company is probably not going to disappear without warning. This isn't as pretty as my PDA's desktop software and I'll have to live with some ads, but I think I will give Yahoo! Calendar a try.
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