The Referential Librarian

Web 2.0 Resources

2008-10-21T21:29:00.002-04:00

The following are awesome mind-mapping tools on Web 2.0 from Joyce Valenza's article. Check them out and if you like what you see or know anymore, let me know!

Open-Source Web Tools
1. Zoho
http://zoho.com/
Contains useful tools like word processors and spreadsheets.

2. Picnik
http://www.picnik.com/
A free Web-based image editing application that might substitute for PhotoShop Elements.

3. Free Mind
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Free mind-mapping software.

4. Gliffy
http://www.gliffy.com/
Create flowcharts, diagrams and more.

5. Bubbl us
http://bubbl.us/
A simple and free web application that lets you brainstorm online.

6. MindMeister
http://www.mindmeister.com/
An online mind-mapping site.

7. Mindomo
http://www.mindomo.com/
Mindomo is a versatile Web-based mind mapping tool, delivering the capabilities of desktop mind mapping software in a Web browser.

8. Read/Write/Think Webbing Tool
http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=127&title=
Use this interactive website to create free-form graphic organizers, similar to the cluster web shown in the picture.

9. Best4C
http://www.best4c.com/
A Web-based, online diagram tool that allows you to create, edit and share charts anytime, anywhere.

My First Reference Question

2008-09-26T00:00:00.003-04:00

Today I started my new position as Library Tech at the Ft. Jackson Post Library here in Columbia, SC. I do not have technical duties relating to servers, networks and computer systems as the position name implies. In my first day I shelved books, checked books in and out of the system, built bookshelves and answered reference questions. I did much on my first day and hope to learn much, much more.

So here is my first reference question:

"What is that test you have to study for to get into Law School?"

My response:

"That would be the LSAT."

"Do you have any books on that?"

"Yes, I do, let me look it up for you right here."

I proceeded to find a Kaplan LSAT study manual from last year on the OPAC and within 5 minutes he found what he needed.

Needless to say I felt exuberant and proud to help someone as a professional in a library setting for the first time in my life. I can't wait for the tough questions!

A Quick Idea on the Bolstering of a University's Profile

2008-09-25T01:01:00.004-04:00

Talking with a great friend of mine tonight, I came up with an idea to help market a university while improving its academics and student growth.

1. There would be a fund growing in an interest-based account dedicated to projects to involve the college with state-wide efforts.

2. Each department would have a committee of three qualified professors. Each department would come up with ideas and projects to take the accepted theories and practices of their discipline into effect. For example, the English department would come up with a project to improve the composition skills of HS students entering college by focusing on teaching methods of HS teachers. This could be done with the help of education departments.

3. The top 3 projects get the funding to go out and help out people in the state. This whole process would occur yearly.

4. The college will market, market, market these projects across the state. And this will NOT forsake the education of students at the university. They will be an active part of these development of projects through classwork and volunteer work. This will provide valuable planning and fundamental life skills along with REAL WORLD experience that students desperately need before they graduate. That in turn will get the student-professor relationship closer, bringing the university community closer.

What do you think? Keep in mind I thought of this in 5 minutes.

Introducing New Technology Into Libraries

2008-09-15T15:37:00.004-04:00

I don't have to delve into detail on how technology constantly evolves into increasingly compact forms. I don't have to explain how the concept of Library 2.0 allows those in reference to expand services and provide an awesome chance to increase the technoliteracy of our invaluable patrons. We are or will be librarians; connoisseurs of knowledge, educated and trained to answer questions imperative to the individual patron. In other words, we should be confident in our abilities to assist patrons with new technology. What we need to concern ourselves with, first and foremost, is actually planning the use of new technology. Some of you may dismiss this notion first hand. Some of you believe your library may not need new technology. Some of you are resistant to change.

Folks, the world is changing. Rapidly. Search the Internet, visit your local bookstores and realize what services and products with which libraries are competing. Why hang out at the library on the computer terminals when we can drink coffee at Barnes and Noble and use their wireless Internet? We must not remain stagnant. We must form groups, evaluate new technology, decide what technology to use, form a plan for using the technology, do the plan and watch what happens. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Try and try again.

Here are some helpful steps:

1) Talk to your supervisor about your ideas for new technology. Ask to form a Technology Team consisting of various employees of the library from different departments. If you are a supervisor or manager, talk to your employees. See who is interested.

2) Once you have your technology team formed, have a few meetings. Ask everyone for new ideas for bringing emerging technology into the library. It may be a good idea to allow staff to ask customers what kind of technology they would like to see in the library or at the website. Blogs? RSS Feeds? Twitter?

3) Once you look at budget numbers and decide what is feasible to the time and money constraints of the library, gather what you really want to do with the new technology. Write a Mission Statement! They give focus to what you hope to achieve. Write a timeline or list of what you want to do.

4) Do it! Inform and, when needed, instruct patrons on using the focus of your project. Keep track of use if at all possible. Give it time. If it fails, it fails. Try again! If it works, then you have achieved helping patron technoliteracy. Beautiful.

I consider the preceding tips common sense. It is always important to plan when doing anything important in life. But strategic planning is an idea and process we are not taught in Library School. Maybe we should start?

A New Voice...

2008-09-14T19:40:00.002-04:00

While visiting my Grandmother this weekend in rural South Carolina, I read the Sunday newspaper as I always do. In the Florence Morning-News every Sunday is a column entitled "American Life in Poetry." Many of you may be familiar with this weekly section. The weekly poem was based on losing someone during the national and personal tragedy of September 11, 2001. Entitled "Prayer for the Dead," Stuart Kestenbaum's poem is a lament to the transitional nature of our existence and a somber reminder we must try very hard to live in the moment and accept everything which stands before us.

The text:

Prayer for the Dead

The light snow started late last night and continued
all night long while I slept and could hear it occasionally
enter my sleep, where I dreamed my brother
was alive again and possessing the beauty of youth, aware
that he would be leaving again shortly and that is the lesson
of the snow falling and of the seeds of death that are in everything
that is born: we are here for a moment
of a story that is longer than all of us and few of us
remember, the wind is blowing out of someplace
we don’t know, and each moment contains rhythms
within rhythms, and if you discover some old piece
of your own writing, or an old photograph,
you may not remember that it was you and even if it was once you,
it’s not you now, not this moment that the synapses fire
and your hands move to cover your face in a gesture
of grief and remembrance.

End.

Yes, "the wind is blowing out of someplace we don't know." We all believe we know so much about our world when in fact, we know nothing. As brief events in universal existence we are resigned to living day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. We must cherish our families, friends and human existence. This poem is a prayer to the dead, yes, but also a prayer to the rest of our lives.

Librarians are the gatekeepers of our existence. Librarians should carefully and proudly understand that people come and go, are birthed and die, but knowledge is the only true thing we can pass on to future generations. Whatever meaning we apply to the universe as a human species in held in our repositories of information. May the poem above be a simple and profound reminder without our profession the universe is colder than it ever could possibly be.

That being said, welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy my musings and philosophy on libraries, life and everything in between.