Digg led me to a a good book. I was listening to NPR in the car at lunchtime today, and I heard an interesting discussion with an author. As I was trolling through Digg, I looked at the popular science category, and I found an article from Elle.com about how our brains work to make choices. The article mentions the book, How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer, and I thought, "That's the book they were talking about on the radio." So I clicked over to the library catalog and found a copy of this very book on the shelf, went out and picked it up and checked it out. So NPR gets some credit, but I would not have remembered the title or author's name without having seen it again.
The new diggs looked like a good source of cutting edge stuff in whatever area you might be interested in. I'm sure it's satisfying to participate and vote for things and "bury" things you don't like. Very democratic.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Delicious
I set up an account and imported my favorites, but I don't think there's anything uniquely wonderful there that anyone doesn't already know about.
It is very cool and useful that our reference librarians are all contributing to a Delicious list of great reference websites. We have always shared websites within our library system, and I remember notebooks and note cards in little file boxes. Of course, finding them was sometimes an issue if we weren't all thinking of the same category or subject heading (see previous post). Another problem was that the links would change or disappear after a time.
Is there a way to check currency on your entire list of bookmarks without having to go to each one, one at a time? I didn't look for that on the Delicious site, but maybe there's an app for that?
It is very cool and useful that our reference librarians are all contributing to a Delicious list of great reference websites. We have always shared websites within our library system, and I remember notebooks and note cards in little file boxes. Of course, finding them was sometimes an issue if we weren't all thinking of the same category or subject heading (see previous post). Another problem was that the links would change or disappear after a time.
Is there a way to check currency on your entire list of bookmarks without having to go to each one, one at a time? I didn't look for that on the Delicious site, but maybe there's an app for that?
Tagging is a hot topic for librarians
I have an uncomfortable feeling that a lot of old catalogers are rolling over in their graves. The idea of letting people choose their own tags! Can anarchy and chaos be far behind?
I have always been on the public service side of the library, so I am well acquainted with how people look for things. I have often served as an interpreter, as in, "Let's try this subject heading--or that subject heading."
When our automation system came online, we were so concerned about the subject headings that we placed copies of Sears List of Subject Headings at all OPAC locations. If you are too young, or not into cataloging, this is an 80-year-old resource and guide and was, at the time, a large red book that weighed about 30 lbs. Did anyone EVER look into that book? No. Did they use keyword search? You bet! It wasn't long, in fact, until all of us librarians were using keyword search most of the time.
I have come to the conclusion that it would be added value if people put their own tags on our collection, in addition to the proper librarian-assigned subject headings. People will look for things the way they want to look, and arrange things to their liking, and feel more ownership if we allow them to have some input. The language and our knowledge base are evolving rapidly, and I don't think we can keep pace with it using the old traditional processes.
I have always been on the public service side of the library, so I am well acquainted with how people look for things. I have often served as an interpreter, as in, "Let's try this subject heading--or that subject heading."
When our automation system came online, we were so concerned about the subject headings that we placed copies of Sears List of Subject Headings at all OPAC locations. If you are too young, or not into cataloging, this is an 80-year-old resource and guide and was, at the time, a large red book that weighed about 30 lbs. Did anyone EVER look into that book? No. Did they use keyword search? You bet! It wasn't long, in fact, until all of us librarians were using keyword search most of the time.
I have come to the conclusion that it would be added value if people put their own tags on our collection, in addition to the proper librarian-assigned subject headings. People will look for things the way they want to look, and arrange things to their liking, and feel more ownership if we allow them to have some input. The language and our knowledge base are evolving rapidly, and I don't think we can keep pace with it using the old traditional processes.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Am I a twit?
I now have a twitter account. Does that make me a twit? I have learned what a hashtag is, and some other things. I am still challenged by the amazing abbreviated, unpunctuated vocabulary of texting, twitter and IM. It just goes against the grain and all those years of training in English classes to butcher the language on purpose. Reading it is almost as difficult as trying to compose a message that sounds cool. Capitalization, spelling and punctuation rules are not cool. My children enjoy great hilarity at my expense whenever I send them a text message, so I am equally apprehensive about twitter.
I understand that this can be a valuable tool for sending the same message to lots of people at once. A couple of weeks ago, the Jonas Brothers were at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington getting ready for a concert. They sent out a tweet to followers of the Jonas Brothers that the first 500 fans to arrive could get t-shirts or something, I forget exactly. It took about 20 minutes for 500+ people to congregate. Pretty amazing.
I understand that this can be a valuable tool for sending the same message to lots of people at once. A couple of weeks ago, the Jonas Brothers were at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington getting ready for a concert. They sent out a tweet to followers of the Jonas Brothers that the first 500 fans to arrive could get t-shirts or something, I forget exactly. It took about 20 minutes for 500+ people to congregate. Pretty amazing.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Don't IM. No one's home.
At our library, we have used IM for admin offices and supervisors for a long time. It's really handy for seeing where everyone is and cryptically discussing things you might not want to commit to email. My buddy list has one problem, and I see this in other applications also. We keep adding names and no one ever takes anyone off. There are seven people on my buddy list who are permanently offline. No, no one's dead! Just retired, moved, etc.
I am amazed by the glossary of terms that was listed in our assignment. Many of these seem to be designed to keep parents in the dark--pretty scary. Oh, well, I guess kids have always done this in one way or another. L8R, D. W.
I am amazed by the glossary of terms that was listed in our assignment. Many of these seem to be designed to keep parents in the dark--pretty scary. Oh, well, I guess kids have always done this in one way or another. L8R, D. W.
Ning is pretty nifty
I did like the ALA site and I enjoyed the Open Source song. Who is the guy in the plaid shirt in the background and what is he doing?
The libraries subject yielded quite a few interesting things. I didn't have as much luck with Scrabble. I love to play Scrabble, and my name plate-sign-thingie on my desk is a Scrabble "pew" with the letters that spell my name.
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