Refworks & Webinar

Dear Diary,

I have had a few meetings on Refworks. I will meet with Jim Cope from OIT next to discuss marketing. I've done the tutorials and learned of the differences between Refworks and Endnote. Basically, Refworks does not have as steep of a learning curve and is more user-friendly and better for Undergraduates. So my job will be to convince people who don't know that they need this...that they need it.

View a silly, 30-second Student Commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MFTvX5PqQ8
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This has it listed across the top Navigation bar
http://www.welch.jhu.edu/index.cfm

This has a link under Managing Citations
http://www.lib.umich.edu/

This has a box added under the A-Z list
http://www.gwumc.edu/library/eresources/search.cfm?i=5766

This has a link for Reference Resources
http://www.library.arizona.edu/search/reference/citation.html

This link is not working currently but it was one we liked
www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/db/eresources.html

This was a separate webpage but has a nice design and information
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/refworks/
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I attended a MARCit Webinar today. My first Webinar. It was interesting, I learned a lot. But the setup itself was interesting. My co-worker used our manager's office to present on the Webinar, while my manager and I walked over to the Business Library to watch the presentation...it was truly a unique experience. It was a novel approach though. They said over 19 countries were taking part. It was dark in the room, and after lunch. Ugh...okay. But it was only 45 minutes of presentation.

I had lunch with my co-worker (who presented at the Webinar) and my manager. She told me that she is so glad to have me in her department and she wants me to stay past the usual rotation of six months, if I would like. I told her I would love that! She said "You are just what our department needed and wanted!" I asked her to make me a sign that states that!

We also discussed some issues involving different opinions and I told her that while we all admit to being "contrary-librarians" we have a purpose. I told her "We are 'Contrarians for the Greater Good'" She loved that and so I suggested we get some Team Shirts made. Ha!

In our Reference meeting, we discussed a little known ZoomText feature that reads to patrons, just like a program called JAWS. JAWS For Windows/JFW Screen Readers for People Who are Blind or Vision Impaired http://www.nanopac.com/JAWS.htm.

Today I did a New International Graduate Student Orientation. Only one showed up so there were 4 librarians present, ha!
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Speaking of students, I saw 2 of our High School Student workers from this summer about town, separately; Saba (my Mentee) and Tarrez. I was pleasantly surprised to see each one.

Podcasting?

Dear Diary,

In our reference meeting we discussed the possibility of my working on a podcasting project involving either Library Instruction or some other function. I told them while I am the uncontested champion on all things electronic, I firmly contend that the purpose must be clear, the medium (podcast) must be a good fit and
if it is an Audio versus Video-podcast...
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for the love of GOD...
make it engaging, entertaining, interesting, something!
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But most of all ... MAKE IT CONCISE!!!

One idea mentioned was this:

Alden Library now has a new way for you to learn about the library. Now you can listen to a tour on your mp3 player or iPOD. Simply download the audio file of the tour to your mp3 player or iPOD, and listen as you walk around the library. The tour hits all seven floors of the library and takes about 30 minutes. You can download the entire tour below (about 15 minutes of audio) to take the entire tour all at once, or visit the Podcast Tour Page to download each floor separately. For the podcast, click here http://www.library.ohiou.edu/newsblog/?p=131

Not Always Easy

Dear Diary,

While I appreciate when people congratulate me on having published a lot in a short time, it is not as easy as it seems.

For every article published there is another one waiting. I have just received some harsh yet needed revision suggestions. I am incredibly overly sensitive when it comes to people reviewing my writing. In fact, that is why I quit my job in Public Relations. I just physically could not tolerate red ink on my (what I considered to be) "masterpiece."

So it is really hard to suck it up and make the requested revisions. But in the end, I am more pleased with the final product. Basically I've been forced to add more statistics and studies corroborating my premises which will make it more "scholarly" and thus more likely to pass this rigorous PEER-REVIEW process...Good Grief Man!!!

But I have learned a lot and the comments weren't all bad. A few were quite flattering and complimentary!

Funny how I only focus on those that were though.
Oh well...back to work.

Looking Forward to Being the "Pirate Teacher"

Dear Diary,

I am really looking forward to working with my new departments. I have total creative control over my instruction sessions without limitations and I do not have to stick to conventional methods. Watch Out! Ha!

I met with my manager from Collection Development yesterday at 9 to finalize the changes they suggested to out Evaluation Report. Done!

Next I met with my new team members and manager in the Electronic Resources Department and I am gonna love this group. We are kindred spirits, what they call "Contrarians." It will be so nice to have others who love to be "contrary" to the group. Phew!

Finally I met with my manager in Library Instruction to go over the basics I will need to cover for the first year students. Piece of cake. I just learned how to use the SmartBoard and couldn't be more excited. I can hardly wait to flesh out my Pirate & Searching for Buried Treasure (information) Themed-activities!
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RRRRR ... I love my job!

Hoarders vs. Deleters: What Your Inbox Says About You

Dear Diary,

I got an interesting email titled:
Hoarders vs. Deleters: What your inbox says about you.
By JEFFREY ZASLOW Wall Street Journal 2006-08-10

(AP) - You are your inbox.

Take a clear-eyed look at how you answer or file each email. Notice what you choose to keep or delete. Consider your anxiety when your inbox is jammed with unanswered messages.
The makeup and tidiness of your inbox is a reflection of your habits, your mental health and, yes, even the way Mom and Dad raised you.

"If you keep your inbox full rather than empty, it may mean you keep your life cluttered in other ways," says psychologist Dave Greenfield, who founded the Center for Internet Behavior in West Hartford, Conn.
"Do you cling to the past? Do you have a lot of unfinished business in your life?"
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Librarian-in-Excellence says, "Not I"

:)

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On the other hand, if you obsessively clean your inbox every 10 minutes, you may be so quick to move on that you miss opportunities and ignore nuances. Or your compulsion for order may be sapping your energy from other endeavors, such as your family.
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Librarian-in-Excellence says, "Hmmm..could be?"
:(

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Email addiction, of course, is now a cultural given. But a less-noticed byproduct of that is the impulse of the inbox. Some of us are obsessed with moving every email to an appropriate folder while killing junk "spam" on arrival and making sure Mom knows that we got her email and still love her. Meanwhile, others among us are e-procrastinators, modern-day Scarlett O'Haras who figure we'll deal with old email tomorrow. We're discovering that the disorder in our inboxes mirrors the disorder in our homes, marriages and checkbooks.

Those who are too nice in other areas of their lives may be more likely to struggle with unwieldy inboxes, says Merlin Mann, creator of 43folders.com, a Web site about personal productivity. Polite people (or those who want to be liked) feel obliged to participate in ping-pong correspondences with chatty friends. They haven't the heart to give anyone the no-response brush-off. But Mr. Mann says such ruthlessness is necessary.
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Librarian-in-Excellence says, "Suckers!"

Ha!

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In Greensboro, N.C., Internet consultant Wally Bock keeps his inbox down to a manageable few dozen messages. He credits his sense of order to "having disciplined parents who made that a value." Still, he recognizes the downside. Many "Inbox Zero" zealots interrupt their work every time they hear a ping announcing incoming email. "Multitasking is a misnomer," says Mr. Bock. "What you're really doing is switching rapidly between tasks. And every time you switch, you have to start up again. Over the course of a day, you lose a chunk of efficiency."

University of Toronto instructor Christina Cavanagh studied hundreds of office workers for her book "Managing Your Email: Thinking Outside the Inbox." One of her subjects, a finance executive, had 10,000 emails in his inbox. She advised him to simply delete the oldest 9,000. Busy people, drowning in email, may have no choice but to kill old messages and suffer the consequences. (Mr. Mann calls this "euthanasia.")

Because "inboxes are metaphors for our lives," Dr. Greenfield says, there's no cure-all solution to inbox management. We're all too different. But he believes an awareness of our inbox behavior can help us better understand other areas of our lives.

"If you have 1,000 emails in your inbox, it may mean you don't want to miss an opportunity, but there are things you can't pull the trigger on," Dr. Greenfield says.

"If you have only 10 emails in your inbox, you may be pulling the trigger too fast and missing the richness of life."
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Librarian-in-Excellence says, "Says You!"

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**Cartoon image from http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/i/inboxes.asp

Gamers in Library

What a Great Concept

Dear Diary,

I am reading the American Libraries journal article titled, "Carvers Bay (SC) Branch Library: Gaming the Way to Literacy"

Description: If you thought gaming in libraries is only for the big-city systems, take a look at this library next to a corn field in rural South Carolina."
Author: Betha GutschePublisher: Date Posted: Aug 1, 2006 Copyright: OCLC 2006

A new library for a new century
Innovation happens in the most surprising places. If asked which US library is pushing the envelope on introducing interactive computer gaming in public libraries, how many would look to the most rural, poor, and isolated corner of a county in South Carolina? And if informed that this corner of the library world has a 30% illiteracy rate, a 15% unemployment rate, a poverty level exceeding 30% with up to 90% of school kids eligible for free or reduced-rate lunches, and a meager 2% rate for library card registration, what odds would you give that it can even keep its doors open?

Where’s the literacy?

Gaming is the key. The library has extended its hours until 7 PM most nights to accommodate the students’ schedules. However, McInvaill intends for the new library to have an impact on the low literacy and high dropout rates, so he’s applying a few rules to the video game lure, linking reading with gaming. In the spirit of the game, kids can aspire to different levels of accomplishment.

The gaming consoles are filled to capacity. The library extended its weekday hours until 8 PM in order to accommodate the teens' school schedules.

Level one: Any individual can use the games for two hours/week

Level two: Extra gaming time is earned by joining the Gaming Club.
Joining requires:
a current library card
good standing (no serious misbehavior)
a commitment to checking out four items/month, two of which must be books

Level three: Once in the Club, points are accumulated to be eligible for additional gaming time, group gaming parties, special prizes (headphones, memory units, gift certificates), or use of the conference room with the 46" TV.
Points are earned by doing at least one of the following:
writing book reports
attending an after-school program
participating in a youth service organization
embracing other positive, self-improvement activities

For the complete article http://www.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=13796

1/4 + 3/4 = 1 Crazed Resident :)

Nobody can do everything

But

Everyone can do something!

- Unknown

http://www.booksforafrica.org/

http://www.booksforafrica.org/newsarchive.html#bwb

New Rotation 1/4 and 3/4 split....

Dear Diary,

Today I attended the weekly Reference Meeting, too early in the morning but I learned some things. We discussed interesting topics such as adding drop down menus from our Ask a Librarian to add subject librarians such as "Ask a Chemistry Librarian" etc...I will spend roughly a QUARTER of my time doing Library Instruction.

We discussed the use of Podcasts at Ohio University for libary tours. It is called "Learning to Speak: Creating a Library Podcast with a Unique voice" and is by Chris Kretz from Dowling College in New York. Dowling College began podcatsting in October 2005 with a monthly radio program entitled Omnibus: http://tinyurl.com/jw37g

The presentation shows how one library approached podcasting to produce a "unique interesting program that would appeal to its various user groups"

I then attended the Electronic Resources meeting. I will spend 3/4 of my time in this department. This should be interesting. I guess the two are manageable, something just is unsettling about being in 2 departments simultaneously. But as always, I'll figure it out and make it happen.

We discussed my working on publicizing our new RefWorks. I suggested we can create a minor stir in anticipation of it using a "Coming Soon" concept since we cannot access it yet: http://www.refworks.com/ RefWorks -- an online research management, writing and collaboration tool -- is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies. I found an interesting RefWorks Blog: http://www.lib.k-state.edu/services/refworks.html

In my second meeting we discussed the complexities of counting electronic journals. This e-matrix is made more difficult by changing definitions and criteria. Do you include individual tiltes in databases, or free web-based journals that are cataloged? Do you count each title available or accessible from JSTOR and Project Muse?

There is a lot written about this challenging situation. For more information see the
Library and Information Technology Association LITA Blog:
http://litablog.org/2005/10/07/e-matrix-ncsu-library-eresources-management-system/