Yesterday, Alice and I were set free from the SSL in order to attend 'First-Aid for Books' training course. It was nice to *finally* go, as we (through our acquisitions librarian) have been bugging the Bod about this for months (they were withholding supplies until we'd complete the training, before they'd actually arranged to put any on!)
In attendance were representatives from the SSL (us) the RSL, the Sackler and the Oriental Institute (2 from each.) The only other trainee there though was Adrienne from the Union, everyone else was assistants/catalogers etc. All of us were at different levels of experience, from people who only send damaged books for binding to a woman from the RSL who'd actually been to one of the old 'Alternatives to Sellotape' course a few years ago.
In general it was a great course. As well as teaching the techniques of repair, such as guarding, tipping and hinging spines (and the jargon that goes with them ;) they also told us about different types binding, the pros and cons of, and steps we could take to minimise book damage. It was all helpful knowledge, theory as well as practice, and I thought it worked well as a course.
There was one, admittedly huge, sticking point though and that came when we were told (quite early on) that paperbacks are not repairable.
The key to successful book repairs are flexibility. Flexible books are healthy books and the moment you stiffen a book, say by adding hinging tape or a large amount of paste to one page, you compromise the book's flexibility and with it, it's shelf life. This is not a hard concept to grasp, but one that hadn't really occurred to me before.
And that's great for conservators working with special collections, who are thinking long term and whose priority is to preserve the books. But for us, assistants in incredibly busy circulating libraries our priority is availability: getting the books into a usable condition and back out onto the shelves as soon as possible.
And here was where the session broke down a little
(It didn't actually break down - it lead to a very interesting discussion, with the RSL women explaining the issues to the course leader, with Alice backing up the RSL for good measure. I, being a wimp, just sat back and took mental notes, and I think the rest of the group were cowering too!)
C&C's suggestion was that when paperbacks come apart (even when one of two pages come out) they should be replaced and retired. The damage has come about because their binding (the glue holding them together) is too cheap, too old, and thus too stiff - trying to stick them back together will ultimately exasperate this problem.
But of the, say 10, books we have added to the repair pile a week, at least half will be paperbacks, almost all textbooks, ranging in cost between £10-£50 usually. That would eat up most of a yearly acquisitions budget without beginning to factor in actual acquisitions. Replacing that volume of books would be so impractical it would be impossible.
There was also a suggestion that replacement is quicker than repairs - again, this shows the huge gulf between what C&C perceive our libraries to be like, and the realities. Book ordering can take months. If book repairs take longer than a week, then there is something seriously wrong.
The debate ended amicably, with the new head of book and paper conservation concluding that if we're going to repair paperbacks, doing them properly with the right equipment, is a good way to encourage readers to treat damaged books carefully. In the interim, or for books who just can't be repaired, we were advised to tie them with cotton tape and attach notices to ask readers to be careful.
It seems that (as per) I have gone off on a bit of a rant here, but I didn't mean too. Yesterday, as the conversation was taking place, I was frustrated because of the huge discrepancy between what us in-house repairs *should* be doing (in the eyes of C&C) and what we *have* to do, to give our readers the service they require (and that is set out in our good practice standards.) In hindsight, I thought that the eventual agreement was a good one, and both sides ended up understanding each others views.
What was also great, is that we were told Virginia (new head of book + paper conservation) is planning to do alot to raise awareness of book conservation, including meeting with head librarians to discuss what should be expected of in-house repairs, and training on handling books correctly to prolong their life.
The chance to explore these issues was a great aside of this course, which would have been helpful and informative anyway. I found all the theory (binding types etc) fascination, and was pleased to find answers for all the smaller, niggling questions I've had during my time doing repairs. I'm glad the bod have decided to bring back these 'First-aid' courses, and I hope they continue to work at raising awareness with all library staff, and with readers as well, to the ins and outs of conservation.
(Moral of this blogpost - clearly there is a conservationist in me dying to get out, and if I were to stop in the library profession, that would be my area!)
Thursday 15 April 2010
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Thing 23 - Goodbyeeeeee
not sure how many e's there should be to make that a Blackadder reference
So, here we are at the end of our 23 things, how sad.
Back in my first post, I said I hoped 23 Things would give me a kick-up the backside with updating all my current 2.0 things: its worked with Twitter atleast. I'm enjoying using twitter to converse with the other trainees and it is a case of the more I use it, the more I use it, if you catch my drift.
Three months on, I am still using my igoogle page everyday, and expect to keep using it in future - definitely for the rest of my time at the SSL. I've learnt nifty things about things I already used, and will probably return to both flickr and picnik in future.
My favourite thing was definitely the igoogle, my least probably linkedin because I found the site deeply flawed, though the concept behind it interested me. Forcing myself to update a blog was a nice, new, experience, as was getting involved on Twitter again.
All in all, I am glad I took part in 23 Things, and look forward to applying my new found knowledge.
So, here we are at the end of our 23 things, how sad.
Back in my first post, I said I hoped 23 Things would give me a kick-up the backside with updating all my current 2.0 things: its worked with Twitter atleast. I'm enjoying using twitter to converse with the other trainees and it is a case of the more I use it, the more I use it, if you catch my drift.
Three months on, I am still using my igoogle page everyday, and expect to keep using it in future - definitely for the rest of my time at the SSL. I've learnt nifty things about things I already used, and will probably return to both flickr and picnik in future.
My favourite thing was definitely the igoogle, my least probably linkedin because I found the site deeply flawed, though the concept behind it interested me. Forcing myself to update a blog was a nice, new, experience, as was getting involved on Twitter again.
All in all, I am glad I took part in 23 Things, and look forward to applying my new found knowledge.
Things 21 and 22
It seemed slightly odd to me, to end on widgets. I can see the reasoning behind it (as it involved using programmes/apps from throughout 23 things) but also feel it would have fitted eariler on.
I added the flickr photo stream to my blog, though it serves little point as all I have up there at the moment is pictures of super + milkman chick, and a couple of photos of thesis' (I am that cool!).
I am trailing the Delicious widget, but am not sure I will keep it. As I said whilst discussing delicious way back in thing 9, I don't use my delicious bookmarks all that often - they are an extensive library of places I want to check occasionally, and this isn't really served well by a widget.
I added the flickr photo stream to my blog, though it serves little point as all I have up there at the moment is pictures of super + milkman chick, and a couple of photos of thesis' (I am that cool!).
I am trailing the Delicious widget, but am not sure I will keep it. As I said whilst discussing delicious way back in thing 9, I don't use my delicious bookmarks all that often - they are an extensive library of places I want to check occasionally, and this isn't really served well by a widget.
Things 7 &8: Flickr and Picnik
I've been waiting to do these two things because I wanted to put aside some time to fiddle with Picnik.
Flickr is something I am familar with, since many of my unversity friends dabbled in digital photography and uploaded all their photos there. I've always seen it as something akin to photobucket, which I used in the olden days to host my livejournal headers, just more professional looking. Having played around with it, I hold to this opinion.
What I found more interesting was picnik. Back in the aforementioned olden days, I was quite keen on (though never very good at) making graphics (icons and headers mainly, though the odd banner too) for livejournal. As with most people, I started off with basics, just cropping images, and progressed to adding text, changing the colours, hues, saturations etc; I still wasn't very good. My software of choice was paint shop pro - for no reason other than my father bought it for his own use so I could steal it. I still use that software, even though I have 7 and by the looks of things the latest version is 13! I don't mind it being out-of-date because I am familiar with it and not really savvy enough to need the extra features the newer versions offer.
As I expected, picnik is a good, simpler alternative, which would be great for editing say, photos of friends.
The one thing picnik doesn't allow you to play with which I'd use, is layers. I find these are much more satisying for editing more artsy photos, and definitely for making headers/icons and other graphics. They give you much more freedom, allow much subtler and in depth changes to be made. Apparently these are available for premium users, but considering how rarely I make these kind of edits anymore, it seems silly me paying for that.
Flickr is something I am familar with, since many of my unversity friends dabbled in digital photography and uploaded all their photos there. I've always seen it as something akin to photobucket, which I used in the olden days to host my livejournal headers, just more professional looking. Having played around with it, I hold to this opinion.
What I found more interesting was picnik. Back in the aforementioned olden days, I was quite keen on (though never very good at) making graphics (icons and headers mainly, though the odd banner too) for livejournal. As with most people, I started off with basics, just cropping images, and progressed to adding text, changing the colours, hues, saturations etc; I still wasn't very good. My software of choice was paint shop pro - for no reason other than my father bought it for his own use so I could steal it. I still use that software, even though I have 7 and by the looks of things the latest version is 13! I don't mind it being out-of-date because I am familiar with it and not really savvy enough to need the extra features the newer versions offer.
As I expected, picnik is a good, simpler alternative, which would be great for editing say, photos of friends.
The one thing picnik doesn't allow you to play with which I'd use, is layers. I find these are much more satisying for editing more artsy photos, and definitely for making headers/icons and other graphics. They give you much more freedom, allow much subtler and in depth changes to be made. Apparently these are available for premium users, but considering how rarely I make these kind of edits anymore, it seems silly me paying for that.
Friday 26 March 2010
Thing 20: Thinkfree
So, in my last post I described my strong working relationship with googledocs. I wasn't sure that thnkfree would offer me anything further, but in the name of 23Things I gave it a go, and it did have a few nice features: better formatting options, a better dictionary, easier-to-work-with layout view. Basically, every complaint I had for googledocs was dealt with.
There is a big but though, because all these extra features come at a price. And that price is ease-of-use; I found the whole thing incredibly slow and clunky.
Though it's a nice touch to be able to use a pre-exsisting log in (I used my googlemail), the time it takes from the program to load is just too long. A couple of people mentioned it got quicker the more often you used it, but on my fifth use it was still taking a good few minutes to get open, and that's too long for me. When I'm all I'm doing is adding one inspired line before it flitters out of my memory, I need a 3 sec log in, not 3 minutes in which I can forget. I also found it slowed my entire browser down, so wasn't convenient to have open in the background for any great length of time.
For me, and what I'm using it for, googledocs is far superior, as I said previously, it compliments word. Thinkfree would probably be better suited for using *instead*, for doing long indepth work.
I can't comment on the use of these programs for shared work, because I've only ever used them on my own. I am sure there is a lot that can be done with them, and the premise seems strong (I've heard other trainee's mention how they are used in their own libraries, and this sounds great) but I don't have much in the way of glittering insight for them.
There is a big but though, because all these extra features come at a price. And that price is ease-of-use; I found the whole thing incredibly slow and clunky.
Though it's a nice touch to be able to use a pre-exsisting log in (I used my googlemail), the time it takes from the program to load is just too long. A couple of people mentioned it got quicker the more often you used it, but on my fifth use it was still taking a good few minutes to get open, and that's too long for me. When I'm all I'm doing is adding one inspired line before it flitters out of my memory, I need a 3 sec log in, not 3 minutes in which I can forget. I also found it slowed my entire browser down, so wasn't convenient to have open in the background for any great length of time.
For me, and what I'm using it for, googledocs is far superior, as I said previously, it compliments word. Thinkfree would probably be better suited for using *instead*, for doing long indepth work.
I can't comment on the use of these programs for shared work, because I've only ever used them on my own. I am sure there is a lot that can be done with them, and the premise seems strong (I've heard other trainee's mention how they are used in their own libraries, and this sounds great) but I don't have much in the way of glittering insight for them.
Thursday 25 March 2010
Things 19: GoogleDocs
I started using googledocs a few months ago, when I got fed-up of emailing my personal statement to myself, everytime I made a teeny update (I've been working on it during my breaks at work as well as at home). I'd heard of thinkfree, but chose to use googledocs because I already had an account (I didn't know you could use google sign on for thinkfree) and it meant I could wack a 'googledocs' gadget into my igoogle page.
I think being able to remotely store work is a great idea. As I've mentioned above, emailing a document when it's been updated by three words can be something of a pain, especially if you edit it again five minutes later. And when your making edits that small, it can occasionally become difficult to identify which is the most recent/relevant copy.
The other alternative, saving to USB, is great in theory but sticks can be forgotten, lost or corrupted and file types can be incompatible; I use word 07 at home and 03 at work, and if I save to the default file type at home (.docx) then the workPC's can't open them.
The main advantage of something like g*docs is that it's quick and easy to use. You can pop into your document at any time, make as many of few edits as you wish and move on. Ofcourse the documents still have to be backed up, as something you were using on USB would, but any edits can be added to the back-up as and when.
g*docs itself has a number of features I found helpful, beyond the idea of it as remote storage. For example the 'revision history' tool, which allows you to roll back to previously saved copy, and gives you a large number of points to choose from (it also saves for you automatically, which is good for numpties like me.)
It does have its downsides though. Despite being great for initial drafts of things, detailed proofing can be difficult. Firstly, the layout view is quite blocky, the wideness of the box can look overwhelming and messy. Secondly the formatting options are not as varied as on word, which means you can lose delicately arranged effects if you transfer from one to the other (I did a lot of copying and pasting whilst writing my statement, and everytime I lost the 'tabbed' formatting.)
Thirdly and finally, the dictionary is really basic, you can't add your own entries which can be annoying.
Obviously, all these drawbacks are to be expected: g*docs is a very basic processor. I would suggest it's best used to compliment word, not instead of, and in that way it is a very helpful, easy to use development.
I think being able to remotely store work is a great idea. As I've mentioned above, emailing a document when it's been updated by three words can be something of a pain, especially if you edit it again five minutes later. And when your making edits that small, it can occasionally become difficult to identify which is the most recent/relevant copy.
The other alternative, saving to USB, is great in theory but sticks can be forgotten, lost or corrupted and file types can be incompatible; I use word 07 at home and 03 at work, and if I save to the default file type at home (.docx) then the workPC's can't open them.
The main advantage of something like g*docs is that it's quick and easy to use. You can pop into your document at any time, make as many of few edits as you wish and move on. Ofcourse the documents still have to be backed up, as something you were using on USB would, but any edits can be added to the back-up as and when.
g*docs itself has a number of features I found helpful, beyond the idea of it as remote storage. For example the 'revision history' tool, which allows you to roll back to previously saved copy, and gives you a large number of points to choose from (it also saves for you automatically, which is good for numpties like me.)
It does have its downsides though. Despite being great for initial drafts of things, detailed proofing can be difficult. Firstly, the layout view is quite blocky, the wideness of the box can look overwhelming and messy. Secondly the formatting options are not as varied as on word, which means you can lose delicately arranged effects if you transfer from one to the other (I did a lot of copying and pasting whilst writing my statement, and everytime I lost the 'tabbed' formatting.)
Thirdly and finally, the dictionary is really basic, you can't add your own entries which can be annoying.
Obviously, all these drawbacks are to be expected: g*docs is a very basic processor. I would suggest it's best used to compliment word, not instead of, and in that way it is a very helpful, easy to use development.
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Thing 17&18 - Wikis
My experience with wikis is somewhat limited.
A couple of months ago, I signed up for a PBWorks account, so I could add my name to the 'Library Day in a Life' list, and when I was much younger I had a mini-meltdown at an incorrect hobbit fact on wikipedia which I rectified, but this is as far as its gone. I use wikipedia all the time, it's up there with IMDB in my favourite sites for 'random facts I must check *now*' but as with everything I use online - I am a bystander not a participator.
For Thing 17 I did have a look round the socialouls.wetpaint, though I didn't edit anything because I couldn't find anything that needed it. I looked at the information they had on wikis, librarything and a couple of oxford case studies. All very interesting, all seemed correct.
Though I don't make huge use of wikis, I believe they can be incredibly useful things to have. A couple of weeks ago, Jess, Helen and Laura gave a presentation on them for a trainee session, and they really opened my eyes to how helpful they can be (and are in both the EFL and the Law Library): go here to read Helen's post on how law makes use of them.
A couple of months ago, I signed up for a PBWorks account, so I could add my name to the 'Library Day in a Life' list, and when I was much younger I had a mini-meltdown at an incorrect hobbit fact on wikipedia which I rectified, but this is as far as its gone. I use wikipedia all the time, it's up there with IMDB in my favourite sites for 'random facts I must check *now*' but as with everything I use online - I am a bystander not a participator.
For Thing 17 I did have a look round the socialouls.wetpaint, though I didn't edit anything because I couldn't find anything that needed it. I looked at the information they had on wikis, librarything and a couple of oxford case studies. All very interesting, all seemed correct.
Though I don't make huge use of wikis, I believe they can be incredibly useful things to have. A couple of weeks ago, Jess, Helen and Laura gave a presentation on them for a trainee session, and they really opened my eyes to how helpful they can be (and are in both the EFL and the Law Library): go here to read Helen's post on how law makes use of them.
Wednesday 10 March 2010
Thing 15+16 Twitter
I am a strange internet person. Its not that I'm antisocial, because I read other peoples output, I just don't often give back. I have my ancient old livejournal, which I haven't updated in about a year but I still check my flist every day. I check facebook equally often, but barely speak to anyone, and I am forever appearing offline on msn (though I frequently strike up conversations with other people anyway).
Having read my blog you can probably guess why - I am the most long-winded and stupid 'post-er' ever. I take hours to compose as much as a facebook status, and then have to think it over 15 times before posting. It makes these things tedious and irritating and so I happily nosey about other peoples lives without sharing much of my own (so - less anti-social and more sociopathic?)
I am the same with Twitter. I've had my account for a year, I've got tweetdeck at home and a twitter gadget on my igoogle page, and yet I have only ever made 120 tweets, most of which were @people, arranging things, and atleast a quarter were in the last fortnight since, thanks to 23things, the trainee twitterverse somewhat exploded!
But I do like twitter. My favourite part of facebook is status updates, so Twitter works for me on a theoretical level. That I am fussy and useless with my own updating doesn't mean that I don't read other peoples, and enjoy it as a lazy way to keep up with people. It's also great, and incredibly weird, for the whole 'looking into celeb lives'. In particular, I have recently been stalking various skins cast members to try and find out if they were brainwashed into acting the last series, or genuinely thought it was a good idea. The addictive nature of twitter has caught a lot of *figures in the public eye's* attention, and somehow it seems less weird than going through someone's facebook (where there's pictures, a lot more detail on their lives etc)
I don't follow a huge amount of celebrities though, because I genuinely don't care what Stephen Fry or Mr Pickle are eating (As a listener of Jonathon Ross' radio show, I do know who Mr Pickle is, but I always listen again or podcast, and that way - if he gets too detailed about his dogs toilet habits and every other tiny fact he reports, I can just skip ahead.) My one main requisite to follow someone is that however frequently (or infrequently) they tweet, at least 75% of it is interesting or funny (and this goes for friends aswell!)
So, as a social networking tool, twitter gets my vote; in a library situation I am not so sure. It can be used for the same effect as a facebook page, but the 140 character limit is somewhat....well limiting...because its hard to convey any *real* information in that space. You have to link to somewhere else to give the full information, and that kind of renders the idea pointless for me. I would much rather have all the information in one place, as can be done through facebook.
Having read my blog you can probably guess why - I am the most long-winded and stupid 'post-er' ever. I take hours to compose as much as a facebook status, and then have to think it over 15 times before posting. It makes these things tedious and irritating and so I happily nosey about other peoples lives without sharing much of my own (so - less anti-social and more sociopathic?)
I am the same with Twitter. I've had my account for a year, I've got tweetdeck at home and a twitter gadget on my igoogle page, and yet I have only ever made 120 tweets, most of which were @people, arranging things, and atleast a quarter were in the last fortnight since, thanks to 23things, the trainee twitterverse somewhat exploded!
But I do like twitter. My favourite part of facebook is status updates, so Twitter works for me on a theoretical level. That I am fussy and useless with my own updating doesn't mean that I don't read other peoples, and enjoy it as a lazy way to keep up with people. It's also great, and incredibly weird, for the whole 'looking into celeb lives'. In particular, I have recently been stalking various skins cast members to try and find out if they were brainwashed into acting the last series, or genuinely thought it was a good idea. The addictive nature of twitter has caught a lot of *figures in the public eye's* attention, and somehow it seems less weird than going through someone's facebook (where there's pictures, a lot more detail on their lives etc)
I don't follow a huge amount of celebrities though, because I genuinely don't care what Stephen Fry or Mr Pickle are eating (As a listener of Jonathon Ross' radio show, I do know who Mr Pickle is, but I always listen again or podcast, and that way - if he gets too detailed about his dogs toilet habits and every other tiny fact he reports, I can just skip ahead.) My one main requisite to follow someone is that however frequently (or infrequently) they tweet, at least 75% of it is interesting or funny (and this goes for friends aswell!)
So, as a social networking tool, twitter gets my vote; in a library situation I am not so sure. It can be used for the same effect as a facebook page, but the 140 character limit is somewhat....well limiting...because its hard to convey any *real* information in that space. You have to link to somewhere else to give the full information, and that kind of renders the idea pointless for me. I would much rather have all the information in one place, as can be done through facebook.
Thing 14 Linked In
Linked in was the only thing on 23 things that, not only was I not already a part of, but hadn't even come across and, after my time playing around with it, I can see why.
I can see the point of it, just like I see the point of uploading a CV to somewhere like monster - if you've got a big impressive work history, your job is reliant on who you know (which lets face it, most are) and your are on the hunt for something particular. But I'm not. I know what I want to do, know how to get there, and know that using a site like linked in is going to be very little help.
A couple of fellow trainees have offered opinions about it being hard to navigate because, as with all these things, the users define the company names and not everyone agrees. I've only just realised that the reason I coudn't find anyone who shared my workplace is because everyone else was putting the Uni and I put the library service.
I imagine for the 'creating a network' idea to work, I'd need to put a lot of work in, going out to find people because I don't know that many would come find me. It's popular, but it's not that huge (afterall I hadn't heard of it and I spend far too much time on the internet).
Overall I was completely underwhelmed by Linkedin. At first I thought it was just me, but I've seen other people now who feel the same, which has cemented my opinion that - for me atleast - it would be a waste of time completing my profile.
I can see the point of it, just like I see the point of uploading a CV to somewhere like monster - if you've got a big impressive work history, your job is reliant on who you know (which lets face it, most are) and your are on the hunt for something particular. But I'm not. I know what I want to do, know how to get there, and know that using a site like linked in is going to be very little help.
A couple of fellow trainees have offered opinions about it being hard to navigate because, as with all these things, the users define the company names and not everyone agrees. I've only just realised that the reason I coudn't find anyone who shared my workplace is because everyone else was putting the Uni and I put the library service.
I imagine for the 'creating a network' idea to work, I'd need to put a lot of work in, going out to find people because I don't know that many would come find me. It's popular, but it's not that huge (afterall I hadn't heard of it and I spend far too much time on the internet).
Overall I was completely underwhelmed by Linkedin. At first I thought it was just me, but I've seen other people now who feel the same, which has cemented my opinion that - for me atleast - it would be a waste of time completing my profile.
Monday 8 March 2010
Thing 13: Facebook
Ah facebook, the procastinators heaven. There is no important deadline that cannot be ignored for an hour whilst you look through the photos of someone you haven't spoken to in nine years or send messages to someone in the next room, who you saw five minutes ago and will see again in another ten (you're all doing it, I'm just saying it!)
Of course it serves a further purpose beyond being a helpful tool for the seasoned stalker. 'Fan pages' and communities are a great way for places to advertise services or events. In the past I've been a 'fan' of a number of bars/societies and used facebook to keep upto date with their goings on.
The main problem people seem to have with libraries using facebook is the intrusion of 'work' into 'social'. Whilst I can understand this theory, and why people would thus chose not to follow a library facebook, I don't think that is a reason for not having one.
I am a forgetful, and frankly slightly dumb, person and I never think to check websites regularly for updates. Take for instance, the Sunday Times festival - the dates are marked in my diary, when I realised in December that I would want to go, but I'd completely forgotten that it was this month until a brochure turned up on my doorstep. At which point it all came flooding back and much excitement ensued. Same goes for Hay - I get very excited when I think of it occasionally, but if I wasn't on the mailing list I would never remember at the right time, and would miss the tickets for all the fun things.
Facebook is just another form of outreach, and one we *know* most students use. Whilst few libraries have enough news constantly occuring that something like a mailing list would be called for, I think alot - both academic and public - would have enough to make a facebook page worthwhile.
The EFL (of whom I am a fan) use facebook for advertising and I think that's great. Things like the Tolkien exhibition, which Jess will have mentioned and I will have promptly forgotten, are there on my facebook feed, waving at me, inviting me across and that sticks in my mind (not that I could go as they close before I finish work but the point stands.)
I, personally, would 'fan' any venue which regularly put events on that interested me, be it a club with theme nights or a society with events - even a public library which put on readings or something. And, to me, this suggests that facebook is a valuable library tool.
(okay, that was a bit ranty wasn't it?)
Of course it serves a further purpose beyond being a helpful tool for the seasoned stalker. 'Fan pages' and communities are a great way for places to advertise services or events. In the past I've been a 'fan' of a number of bars/societies and used facebook to keep upto date with their goings on.
The main problem people seem to have with libraries using facebook is the intrusion of 'work' into 'social'. Whilst I can understand this theory, and why people would thus chose not to follow a library facebook, I don't think that is a reason for not having one.
I am a forgetful, and frankly slightly dumb, person and I never think to check websites regularly for updates. Take for instance, the Sunday Times festival - the dates are marked in my diary, when I realised in December that I would want to go, but I'd completely forgotten that it was this month until a brochure turned up on my doorstep. At which point it all came flooding back and much excitement ensued. Same goes for Hay - I get very excited when I think of it occasionally, but if I wasn't on the mailing list I would never remember at the right time, and would miss the tickets for all the fun things.
Facebook is just another form of outreach, and one we *know* most students use. Whilst few libraries have enough news constantly occuring that something like a mailing list would be called for, I think alot - both academic and public - would have enough to make a facebook page worthwhile.
The EFL (of whom I am a fan) use facebook for advertising and I think that's great. Things like the Tolkien exhibition, which Jess will have mentioned and I will have promptly forgotten, are there on my facebook feed, waving at me, inviting me across and that sticks in my mind (not that I could go as they close before I finish work but the point stands.)
I, personally, would 'fan' any venue which regularly put events on that interested me, be it a club with theme nights or a society with events - even a public library which put on readings or something. And, to me, this suggests that facebook is a valuable library tool.
(okay, that was a bit ranty wasn't it?)
Thursday 4 March 2010
Thing 12: Youtube
Youtube is definitely one of the best things about the internet, without question. I could live without the lazy social interaction, the easy to come-by reading material, even the publishing space, but if I couldn't spend a random day watching the entire series of a dodgy kids television show I haven't thought about in ten years, I don't know how I would could cope (or chase down every weird and wonderful music video from my teenage years, or old spice girl interviews, or cats falling off things....) To this end, I have a youtube account, complete with playlists, favourites and subscriptions.
I had seen educational youtube channels before (I somehow stumbled across the Nottingham one and then started searching) but I had never really thought to explore them. I think the idea of them is great, though I didn't actually find any I found that interesting personally. I don't know that it is as well publicised as it should be, seeing as I stumbled across it accidently and i've noticed a couple of people on 23 Things hadn't heard of it at all.
And now I will leave you with one of my all-time favourite music videos, starring the wonderful Christopher Eccleston and...well....nothing else.
I had seen educational youtube channels before (I somehow stumbled across the Nottingham one and then started searching) but I had never really thought to explore them. I think the idea of them is great, though I didn't actually find any I found that interesting personally. I don't know that it is as well publicised as it should be, seeing as I stumbled across it accidently and i've noticed a couple of people on 23 Things hadn't heard of it at all.
And now I will leave you with one of my all-time favourite music videos, starring the wonderful Christopher Eccleston and...well....nothing else.
Friday 26 February 2010
Thing 11 - Podcasts
So, podcasts. As entertainment, I have been harvesting podcasts since second/third year (whenever the 'Radio 4 Friday Night Comedy' podcast started) I listen to them mainly at night, as an alternative to reading a book or something, and these days am subscribed to a couple (Jonathan Ross, Rhod Gilbert and Front Row.)
I subscribe using itunes, for simplicities sake as much as anything else, but one definite upside of this is that I can keep them for as long as I want (I have about 2 years woirth of News Quiz's and the last six months of Russell Brand's old show) . I am not sure if this is possible with googlereader, and as it's so easy to use itunes I probably won't find out.
As you can see, I like my podcasts for entertainment: I approve of the idea of using them educationall in a library setting, and think it can be a great learning tool
I subscribe using itunes, for simplicities sake as much as anything else, but one definite upside of this is that I can keep them for as long as I want (I have about 2 years woirth of News Quiz's and the last six months of Russell Brand's old show) . I am not sure if this is possible with googlereader, and as it's so easy to use itunes I probably won't find out.
As you can see, I like my podcasts for entertainment: I approve of the idea of using them educationall in a library setting, and think it can be a great learning tool
Wednesday 17 February 2010
Things 9 and 10
No you're not going crazy - I am doing 9&10 without doing 7&8. That's because I've not used picnik before and I want a chance to play around properly with it, and I haven't yet had time.
Delicious, however, is another one of those things I've been using for years. Though for the purposes of this exercise I started a new account which I will keep work related.
http://delicious.com/susanfgiles
As that has five bookmarks, and will probably only get a new once a month, I will now continue to talk about my old, personal account, which I have been using for years. On that one I have 400+ bookmarks, 176 tags and 16 bundles.
I feel now would be a good time to point out that I love delicious (though I use it for the 'bookmarking' aspect and not the 'social').
I saved my first bookmark back 2006 apparently, and I've used it constantly since then to keep track on lj links, writing magazines/comps etc etc. I like it because the tagging feature makes it really easy to keep track of the many links I have on similar subjects. These aren't links I use on a truly regular basis, maybe once a month or so - my most frequented bookmarks I stick in my browser bookmarks, usually in the toolbar and now on my iGoogle page.
I saw that Jess was not a huge fan of delicious. Having nosed around her links, I think the reason
for our differing opinions it the way we use it. I've built a structure of tag bundles (see right) with the tags indicating, for example, what format a writing magazine comes in, whether it allows unsolicited submissions, runs competitions etc etc. This means if I have a piece of writing I want to submit, I can easily track down the list of possible places and then see what the best option is. Or, alternately if I want to read/purchase something I can find it.
As a repository for bookmarks, Delicious really works for me. As a social networking tool, time will tell I suppose, but I doubt it is something I will ever use. I have enough of virtual socialising in my life.
Delicious, however, is another one of those things I've been using for years. Though for the purposes of this exercise I started a new account which I will keep work related.
http://delicious.com/susanfgiles
As that has five bookmarks, and will probably only get a new once a month, I will now continue to talk about my old, personal account, which I have been using for years. On that one I have 400+ bookmarks, 176 tags and 16 bundles.
I feel now would be a good time to point out that I love delicious (though I use it for the 'bookmarking' aspect and not the 'social').
I saved my first bookmark back 2006 apparently, and I've used it constantly since then to keep track on lj links, writing magazines/comps etc etc. I like it because the tagging feature makes it really easy to keep track of the many links I have on similar subjects. These aren't links I use on a truly regular basis, maybe once a month or so - my most frequented bookmarks I stick in my browser bookmarks, usually in the toolbar and now on my iGoogle page.
I saw that Jess was not a huge fan of delicious. Having nosed around her links, I think the reason
for our differing opinions it the way we use it. I've built a structure of tag bundles (see right) with the tags indicating, for example, what format a writing magazine comes in, whether it allows unsolicited submissions, runs competitions etc etc. This means if I have a piece of writing I want to submit, I can easily track down the list of possible places and then see what the best option is. Or, alternately if I want to read/purchase something I can find it.As a repository for bookmarks, Delicious really works for me. As a social networking tool, time will tell I suppose, but I doubt it is something I will ever use. I have enough of virtual socialising in my life.
Tuesday 9 February 2010
Library Day in the Life: DAY FOUR
I don't like Thursday's. For the rest of the world it's Mondays but I can't hate a day that brings with it both a lie-in and Hustle: two of my favourite things. Thursday however is my early, which is rubbish (it is also in that horrible no-place, close to the weekend but not close enough to get excited about.)
So, early. Not *that* early admittedly - 8.45 to help open up which is a relatively easy task in itself. It boils down to:
Usually I'll stamp the FT's and pop them out in the wait, and start the mail as well - which today was handy as Alice and I were both on the desk first thing and only had half hour between that and our reader services meeting.
We have reader services meetings every week during term, alternating days so that as many people as possible can make them. In the most part it's just refresher training or running over changes in policy.
Back on the desk for another half hour, then break, then shelving, then desk, then lunch. When I get back from lunch there's only half hour before I'm on the desk again (it's a desk heavy day) so after the post-lunch post I fill the lull with fiddling with my blog (as it's 23 Things related, I figure it's okay).
Time for an hour and a bit of quick repairs, and five minutes of clearing the bits of paper our desk has accumulated before home time, where I can look forward to silent witness: tonight a cracking episode but still not Hustle!
So, early. Not *that* early admittedly - 8.45 to help open up which is a relatively easy task in itself. It boils down to:
- switching on the issue desk computers/logging into OLIS, the staff blog, the library iGoogle
- switching on the reader pcs/logging into the system
- unlocking the discussion rooms
- emptying drop boxes using backdated system (to ensure no unfair fines are accrued)
- clearing the hold shelf of lapsed items (usually left to the senior staff)
- putting cash in the tills (ditto)
Usually I'll stamp the FT's and pop them out in the wait, and start the mail as well - which today was handy as Alice and I were both on the desk first thing and only had half hour between that and our reader services meeting.
We have reader services meetings every week during term, alternating days so that as many people as possible can make them. In the most part it's just refresher training or running over changes in policy.
Back on the desk for another half hour, then break, then shelving, then desk, then lunch. When I get back from lunch there's only half hour before I'm on the desk again (it's a desk heavy day) so after the post-lunch post I fill the lull with fiddling with my blog (as it's 23 Things related, I figure it's okay).
Time for an hour and a bit of quick repairs, and five minutes of clearing the bits of paper our desk has accumulated before home time, where I can look forward to silent witness: tonight a cracking episode but still not Hustle!
Friday 5 February 2010
Thing 5 (and 6)
RSS feeds are another thing I've been using for a while, though not always through googlereader: being lazy and technologically inept, I started with the closest (and easiest) thing to hand, which was the windows mail application I have on my laptop. This was fine when I was only accessing the internet from that computer, but when I started working and thus wanting to access my feeds in new (and not-so exciting places, it became completely redundant.
And, again being lazy and inept, I stuck with the google account I already had and used reader. I'll admit I was hardly reading any blogs: our trainee one, and then a couple of writer ones (fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, who is very interesting (and funny) and often has unusual insights into the publishing world, Sarah Salway who is a favourite writer of mine and posts alot of what she calls 'snaps' - microfictions of 50 words or less.)
As well as 23 Things though, I have now increased that list, mainly adding other trainee's blogs, couple of SSL staff members who are doing 23 things and updating regularly, that kind of thing.
And, again being lazy and inept, I stuck with the google account I already had and used reader. I'll admit I was hardly reading any blogs: our trainee one, and then a couple of writer ones (fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, who is very interesting (and funny) and often has unusual insights into the publishing world, Sarah Salway who is a favourite writer of mine and posts alot of what she calls 'snaps' - microfictions of 50 words or less.)
As well as 23 Things though, I have now increased that list, mainly adding other trainee's blogs, couple of SSL staff members who are doing 23 things and updating regularly, that kind of thing.
Sunday 31 January 2010
Library Day in the Life: DAY THREE
Ah Wednesdays, historically the most fun of all (week)days. If something fun happens on a regular basis, in my life anyway, it's usually a Wednesday.
In the case of this job it's the graduate trainee sessions which are (most) Wednesday afternoons during term-time and far more fun to talk about than my other Wednesday activities (hour on the desk/emails/post/bit of processing).
Ordinarily we have our training sessions out in Osney, which is nice for me as it's about a five minute walk from my house. This week though, we had a field trip. Exciting!
After a somewhat (okay complete) failure to meet and make the journey with other people in the area, Alice and I set off alone with only the vaguest of ideas of where we were going (took me three attempts to find the right bus stop). Ofcourse in the end, the bus stopped right outside the campus and even I couldn't get lost crossing the road (though Alice will attest that I did try!) Ultimately the hardest part was finding Jess (EFL trainee) who we were supposed to be meeting for lunch.
Brookes campus was....different. Obviously from Oxford, but Jess was quite happy because Brookes was a 'real' university (Campus based, newish, the kind us ex-poly girls are used to). I was less enthused - I found it a bit...depressing, like a cross between a school and a shopping centre (but depressing ones). However as I am considering going to UEA, my opinion probably can't be trusted (definite candidate for the ugliest university ever built.)
The library however, definitely made me feel more at home. Despite working in one of the largest libraries in the Oxford system, it was nice to be back in an actually *big*library (and by *big* what I really mean is 'not subject specific'). Though I paid particular attention to the social science area whilst on the tour, it was great to see books on photography, biology, catering etc.
As well as the tour we had a couple of talks, one about their special collections and one about the work of a subject consultant. The latter was especially interesting for me, because as far as academic libraries go, that's the job I would most like to do. Last term Alice and I collared the RSC subject librarian to ask about her job, what it involves and how she got there etc, and whilst that was great, she said she had quite an unusal way for ending up here, and not one that could be easily replicated. It was good to have these differences outlined, though it turns out they're alot more similar than I'd thought.
The special collections/archiving talk was also interesting but from less of a career view for me. Though everyone keeps saying how wonderful archiving is, how hard an area it is to get into because everyone wants to do it, etc etc, I can't say the thought of being stuck in a darkened room cataloguing day-in-day-out appeals to me that much. Obviously there is more too it, and showing readers the collections seems like a great thing to do - but, to me, the downsides definitely outweigh the good.
Brookes library houses a number of different collections: the national brewing library, the man booker collection for example but the ones I most enjoyed hearing about were the personal ones (mainly catering/food+drink related ones) because I liked the nitty gritty of having to fit to the original donator's preferences (such as the refusal for duplicated books to be disposed of.)
It also got me in the mood for next week's training session, which is special collections in the Bod: I'm really hoping they'll mention the Wilfred Owen archive (even if that is Jess's area) and Alan Bennett's recent donation. *NB: As I am typing this up a week after it was written, I am free to say they mentioned neither. Which is rubbish in one way, but also gives me an excuse to go visit Jess for an afternoon so it's not all lose!
The session ended with a q&a session, during which a question about short (4hr) loans came up - from a trainee who was under the impression that this was something Oxford didn't do which gave me and Alice a chance to show off our 'trailblazing' [;)] library's core course collection (2hr loans which can be booked in advance).
Then it was bus home (during which we had an interesting conversations about guy-brarians and one of the Oxford Alumni trainee's mentioned how weird it was to have so many subjects in one library - which had the rest of us amused) and cheap cocktails for one of the trainee's birthdays.
In the case of this job it's the graduate trainee sessions which are (most) Wednesday afternoons during term-time and far more fun to talk about than my other Wednesday activities (hour on the desk/emails/post/bit of processing).
Ordinarily we have our training sessions out in Osney, which is nice for me as it's about a five minute walk from my house. This week though, we had a field trip. Exciting!
After a somewhat (okay complete) failure to meet and make the journey with other people in the area, Alice and I set off alone with only the vaguest of ideas of where we were going (took me three attempts to find the right bus stop). Ofcourse in the end, the bus stopped right outside the campus and even I couldn't get lost crossing the road (though Alice will attest that I did try!) Ultimately the hardest part was finding Jess (EFL trainee) who we were supposed to be meeting for lunch.
Brookes campus was....different. Obviously from Oxford, but Jess was quite happy because Brookes was a 'real' university (Campus based, newish, the kind us ex-poly girls are used to). I was less enthused - I found it a bit...depressing, like a cross between a school and a shopping centre (but depressing ones). However as I am considering going to UEA, my opinion probably can't be trusted (definite candidate for the ugliest university ever built.)
The library however, definitely made me feel more at home. Despite working in one of the largest libraries in the Oxford system, it was nice to be back in an actually *big*library (and by *big* what I really mean is 'not subject specific'). Though I paid particular attention to the social science area whilst on the tour, it was great to see books on photography, biology, catering etc.
As well as the tour we had a couple of talks, one about their special collections and one about the work of a subject consultant. The latter was especially interesting for me, because as far as academic libraries go, that's the job I would most like to do. Last term Alice and I collared the RSC subject librarian to ask about her job, what it involves and how she got there etc, and whilst that was great, she said she had quite an unusal way for ending up here, and not one that could be easily replicated. It was good to have these differences outlined, though it turns out they're alot more similar than I'd thought.
The special collections/archiving talk was also interesting but from less of a career view for me. Though everyone keeps saying how wonderful archiving is, how hard an area it is to get into because everyone wants to do it, etc etc, I can't say the thought of being stuck in a darkened room cataloguing day-in-day-out appeals to me that much. Obviously there is more too it, and showing readers the collections seems like a great thing to do - but, to me, the downsides definitely outweigh the good.
Brookes library houses a number of different collections: the national brewing library, the man booker collection for example but the ones I most enjoyed hearing about were the personal ones (mainly catering/food+drink related ones) because I liked the nitty gritty of having to fit to the original donator's preferences (such as the refusal for duplicated books to be disposed of.)
It also got me in the mood for next week's training session, which is special collections in the Bod: I'm really hoping they'll mention the Wilfred Owen archive (even if that is Jess's area) and Alan Bennett's recent donation. *NB: As I am typing this up a week after it was written, I am free to say they mentioned neither. Which is rubbish in one way, but also gives me an excuse to go visit Jess for an afternoon so it's not all lose!
The session ended with a q&a session, during which a question about short (4hr) loans came up - from a trainee who was under the impression that this was something Oxford didn't do which gave me and Alice a chance to show off our 'trailblazing' [;)] library's core course collection (2hr loans which can be booked in advance).
Then it was bus home (during which we had an interesting conversations about guy-brarians and one of the Oxford Alumni trainee's mentioned how weird it was to have so many subjects in one library - which had the rest of us amused) and cheap cocktails for one of the trainee's birthdays.
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Library Day in the Life: DAY ONE
As if I haven't updated enough for one day already, I wanted to (library) Day in the Life this week. Since today is the first time I've been able to stop long enough to make my blog, I've been handwriting my entries and am a bit behind but oh well - better late I suppose.
During term time, Mondays tend to be my late shift, so I get to start at the lovely and sociable 9.45 instead of 9.00. For my first hour I am on the desk.
Alice (other SSL trainee) and I are usually on the issue desk around two /two and a half hours a day, though that is obviously dependant on whether its term time or not. 'Health and Safety' states we should not be on for more than an hour at a time, though sometimes it's hard to get away if there is a long queue of readers.
Luckily for me, early on a Monday is not too busy a time so I spend most of my shift ordering the shelving trolleys.
Someone requested a room booking while I was on the desk, so that's the first thing I do when I get back to my desk.
The SSL has 3 rooms available for booking: 2 discussion rooms and the IT Training Room. They can be booked by anyone belonging to a social science department, from Undergraduate to Academics and they're incredibly popular.
After that it's processing, trying to keep on top of the Dawsons shelf.
Then it's lunch, which today is split so we* can attend a '24hr building access' induction. Though we are never in the building past half six, we have 24hr swipe access to the building to cover our early shifts which start at 8:45: technically out of hours, if only just (and I've never had to swipe in yet!)
The talk is pretty standard Health and Safety (fire, first aid, security and personal safety) - pretty much common sense. Luckily our building manager (George) has a number of more interesting anecdotes to spice it up: some funny, such as the image of a woman in her pyjamas chasing two burly blokes up St Cross Rd, and some sobering, such as muggers on the Marston footpath threatening people with guns and putting one student in hospital.
Back from lunch, I make time to steal a crafty (but delicious) blondie, courtesy of Alice's excellent baking skills before heading back to the desk. This time only for half an hour, which is a good thing as I barely stop during that time. 12.30-2.30 is usually our busiest time, and there is usually an extra person on the desk to cover, but there is always some crossover into the 2.30-3.00 slot.
Off the desk and next on the agenda is book repairs.
Since vacation loans finished last Tuesday our repair workload has gone insane, so expect this to be a running theme of the week. This is one of the jobs Alice and I take full responsibility for and, as it's fairly time consuming, we normally prioritise processing over it.
On this occasion I am called away by our Head Librarian, who makes a desperate plea to the whole office for shelving. Again, this is always a problem in the aftermath of vacation loans but we've been down at least one shelver since Friday so this is a particularly critical situation.
Finally my day ends where it started: on the desk.
*This is not the royal 'we': Alice and I tend to work together on most things and by extension take breaks etc together.
During term time, Mondays tend to be my late shift, so I get to start at the lovely and sociable 9.45 instead of 9.00. For my first hour I am on the desk.
Alice (other SSL trainee) and I are usually on the issue desk around two /two and a half hours a day, though that is obviously dependant on whether its term time or not. 'Health and Safety' states we should not be on for more than an hour at a time, though sometimes it's hard to get away if there is a long queue of readers.
Luckily for me, early on a Monday is not too busy a time so I spend most of my shift ordering the shelving trolleys.
Someone requested a room booking while I was on the desk, so that's the first thing I do when I get back to my desk.
The SSL has 3 rooms available for booking: 2 discussion rooms and the IT Training Room. They can be booked by anyone belonging to a social science department, from Undergraduate to Academics and they're incredibly popular.
After that it's processing, trying to keep on top of the Dawsons shelf.
Then it's lunch, which today is split so we* can attend a '24hr building access' induction. Though we are never in the building past half six, we have 24hr swipe access to the building to cover our early shifts which start at 8:45: technically out of hours, if only just (and I've never had to swipe in yet!)
The talk is pretty standard Health and Safety (fire, first aid, security and personal safety) - pretty much common sense. Luckily our building manager (George) has a number of more interesting anecdotes to spice it up: some funny, such as the image of a woman in her pyjamas chasing two burly blokes up St Cross Rd, and some sobering, such as muggers on the Marston footpath threatening people with guns and putting one student in hospital.
Back from lunch, I make time to steal a crafty (but delicious) blondie, courtesy of Alice's excellent baking skills before heading back to the desk. This time only for half an hour, which is a good thing as I barely stop during that time. 12.30-2.30 is usually our busiest time, and there is usually an extra person on the desk to cover, but there is always some crossover into the 2.30-3.00 slot.
Off the desk and next on the agenda is book repairs.
Since vacation loans finished last Tuesday our repair workload has gone insane, so expect this to be a running theme of the week. This is one of the jobs Alice and I take full responsibility for and, as it's fairly time consuming, we normally prioritise processing over it.
On this occasion I am called away by our Head Librarian, who makes a desperate plea to the whole office for shelving. Again, this is always a problem in the aftermath of vacation loans but we've been down at least one shelver since Friday so this is a particularly critical situation.
Finally my day ends where it started: on the desk.
*This is not the royal 'we': Alice and I tend to work together on most things and by extension take breaks etc together.
Library Day in the Life: DAY TWO
Most days, the first job of the day is 'communications'. Post, which is pretty self-explanatory, then email which is dealt with (week days) exclusively by the SSL trainee's. Though it appears quite tedious (and sometimes is) its quite a helpful thing to do. As the frontline for a whole barrage of questions about renewing loans (a:you can't by email) promotional bits (forwarded to our subject consultant) and room bookings (see yesterday) it's a quick and intense way to familiarising a range of library policies.
Occasionally we get some more interesting questions: before Christmas we had an architecture student from Bath University ask about the design of the Manor Road building, about which we knew very little (other than it is pretty awful!) A quick google search returned little in the way of helpful information - we did find a picture of the foyer of the building, labelled 'Manor Road is one of Norman Foster's less impressive buildings.' which gave us (and the other members of staff intrigued by our giggling) a laugh but that was about it. In the end it was a case of offering the little we knew (date of opening etc) and asking for specific questions we could forward onto someone more in the know (though we weren't 100% sure who that would be!)
Another morning job that is almost daily, is posting the printed final reminder notices - pretty simple - and the invoices for readers who have ignored even those.
This is equally simple, but is probably one of the most tedious jobs we have. There are three steps to the invoice - first is to check the books haven't been returned by checking the readers record but also by checking the shelves - the longest and most tedious part. Then we have to find prices for the books, and write them on the invoice, and finally add a block to the reader's record to say the reader has been invoiced. It can be a incredibly long process for someone with 10 or more books, and during vacation we had some insane ones: a reader earned over £900 worth of fines from 20 books and we have another at £500 for only 5 or so.
Blissfully, there was only one today, which meant I had time to unwrap my repaired books for Monday, before our project meeting.
Anyone who knows about the OULS trainee scheme will be aware that we are encouraged to complete a project during our year, something which will enhance the library experience available. For our project, Alice and I have agreed to reclassify the SSL thesis section because it is, currently, a bit of mess because the collection has outgrown the original shelfmark system (the SSL absorbs other departmental libraries almost yearly, and each one brings its own collection - not to mention that more are written every year!)
In the meeting was, obviously me and Alice, then the SSL Librarian in Charge, Reader Services Librarian, Senior Cataloguer and Senior Technical Services Assistant. So it was quite a busy meeting, but also really interesting. Whilst I'd been aware how much work would go into something like this, a 'pep' talk from our LiC opened my eyes to a)how much *variation* of work would be needed and b)just how much responsibility would be on our shoulders.
It was also suggested that we might like to look into the policy aspect of the thesis collection as well - such as why certain thesis' are deposited with us when others aren't and how the Bod handles its thesis collection. This appealed to me because I do love a bit of research, and I think it will make a nice (and different) counterpoint to the more repetitive processing that we will be a substantial part of the project.
So all round, despite having little in the way of concrete decisions made, it was an informative and successful hour or so. Then, there a quick half an hour processing and another on the desk and it was time for lunch.
Our afternoon was to be spent in OUCS for training, which made lunch a quickie before walking round to Banbury Road (detouring on the way to pick up some macaroons from Maison Blanc on the way, because I've been craving them for too long.)
In previous years trainees have been given a free ECDL course but that hasn't happened this year (which is good for me as I already have a basic ECDL qualification and found most of it pretty boring the first time round!) Instead we are allowed to attend 3 training courses and we decided on an InDesign course for our first (with the intention of using it to make guides to compliment our new thesis shelving system.)
The course, like all OUCS run, was informative, interesting and (most importantly) well-paced. One of the things I like about OUCS courses is that they give you a coursebook to work through at your own pace, as well as the step by step demonstrations.
Then after a brief stop off at the public library to renew my Simon Armitage auto, it was home for me.
Occasionally we get some more interesting questions: before Christmas we had an architecture student from Bath University ask about the design of the Manor Road building, about which we knew very little (other than it is pretty awful!) A quick google search returned little in the way of helpful information - we did find a picture of the foyer of the building, labelled 'Manor Road is one of Norman Foster's less impressive buildings.' which gave us (and the other members of staff intrigued by our giggling) a laugh but that was about it. In the end it was a case of offering the little we knew (date of opening etc) and asking for specific questions we could forward onto someone more in the know (though we weren't 100% sure who that would be!)
Another morning job that is almost daily, is posting the printed final reminder notices - pretty simple - and the invoices for readers who have ignored even those.
This is equally simple, but is probably one of the most tedious jobs we have. There are three steps to the invoice - first is to check the books haven't been returned by checking the readers record but also by checking the shelves - the longest and most tedious part. Then we have to find prices for the books, and write them on the invoice, and finally add a block to the reader's record to say the reader has been invoiced. It can be a incredibly long process for someone with 10 or more books, and during vacation we had some insane ones: a reader earned over £900 worth of fines from 20 books and we have another at £500 for only 5 or so.
Blissfully, there was only one today, which meant I had time to unwrap my repaired books for Monday, before our project meeting.
Anyone who knows about the OULS trainee scheme will be aware that we are encouraged to complete a project during our year, something which will enhance the library experience available. For our project, Alice and I have agreed to reclassify the SSL thesis section because it is, currently, a bit of mess because the collection has outgrown the original shelfmark system (the SSL absorbs other departmental libraries almost yearly, and each one brings its own collection - not to mention that more are written every year!)
In the meeting was, obviously me and Alice, then the SSL Librarian in Charge, Reader Services Librarian, Senior Cataloguer and Senior Technical Services Assistant. So it was quite a busy meeting, but also really interesting. Whilst I'd been aware how much work would go into something like this, a 'pep' talk from our LiC opened my eyes to a)how much *variation* of work would be needed and b)just how much responsibility would be on our shoulders.
It was also suggested that we might like to look into the policy aspect of the thesis collection as well - such as why certain thesis' are deposited with us when others aren't and how the Bod handles its thesis collection. This appealed to me because I do love a bit of research, and I think it will make a nice (and different) counterpoint to the more repetitive processing that we will be a substantial part of the project.
So all round, despite having little in the way of concrete decisions made, it was an informative and successful hour or so. Then, there a quick half an hour processing and another on the desk and it was time for lunch.
Our afternoon was to be spent in OUCS for training, which made lunch a quickie before walking round to Banbury Road (detouring on the way to pick up some macaroons from Maison Blanc on the way, because I've been craving them for too long.)
In previous years trainees have been given a free ECDL course but that hasn't happened this year (which is good for me as I already have a basic ECDL qualification and found most of it pretty boring the first time round!) Instead we are allowed to attend 3 training courses and we decided on an InDesign course for our first (with the intention of using it to make guides to compliment our new thesis shelving system.)
The course, like all OUCS run, was informative, interesting and (most importantly) well-paced. One of the things I like about OUCS courses is that they give you a coursebook to work through at your own pace, as well as the step by step demonstrations.
Then after a brief stop off at the public library to renew my Simon Armitage auto, it was home for me.
Oh dear...
Have nosed around a couple of other people's 23 Things blogs, and my posts are about 3x the length...Alice will be ashamed when she sees :(
iGoogle
As I mentioned, briefly, in my first post, my 23 Things is already worth it, purely because of my iGoogle page.
Because I am never one to do things by halves, I have set up two tabs in my page - one for work and one for home (the one pictured is my home tab, because that's the one I've set a background for). The main difference on them is what's featured in the bookmark gadgets and the to do lists.
My favourite gadget so far, I must admit, serves no purpose other than making me childishly happy - there's something mesmerising about watching the penguins chasing the mouse - but this is because inside I am still six.
The most useful gadets are the links boxes. In order to find out which is best I have enchanced bookmarks on my home-tab and the offical google bookmarks on my work tab. So far, both are pretty even on the pros and cons: 'enhanced' has some nifty icons but not all of them work and has an immediate option to open in a new tab, 'google bookmarks' is a more basic list which actually looks more tidy without the 'default' icons of enhanced, but has to be right-clicked and selected to open in a new tab, which is something I always forget to do.
I don't want to talk about googlereader now, incase it leaves me with nothing for next week, and the to-do lists are pretty obvious. On my home tab, I've modified one to be my reading list, with an option for 'To Read' and another for 'Currently Reading'. If I manage to keep on top of that it will make yearly round-ups alot easier.
23 Things
So, this is my new 23 things blog. I could make lofty promises about keeping it updated for longer, but as I struggle to keep my personal one active, they would be very empty.
Actually, one of the reasons I've decided to do 23 Things is to give me an imperative to keep on top of the many 2.0 activities I already do. Twitter, for example, which I never update despite having tweetdeck on my home computer - I am determined to break my habit of being an online lurker.
Ofcourse my other reason is to learn about the many applications out there that I'm either not aware of, or just not using for whatever reason. And already it's been worth it: my iGoogle page is proving invaluable as a place to store links/gadgets that I need to transfer between work and home. Plus, because I am impatient and ran on ahead as per, I'm really enjoying the googlereader gadget and the freedom it gives me to keep up with all the blogs I read in one place.
Being a 'young person' (well, youngish) I am already all over social networking (myspace, twitter, facebook) and, though this is my first blogspot blog, I've been on livejournal since the good ol' days of invite only (about 2001) so I'm relatively experience with blogging. Thanks to Livejournal, I've also been using de.lic.ious for years (and have resigned myself to the fact I will never be able to spell it right.)
And, looking at the summary I'm also comfortable with podcasts (Now Show, yeay!) and youtube and have a (very old) photobucket account for holding LJ layouts, so should take to flickr like a duck...
But I'm looking forward to learning more about RSS feeds in the coming weeks, as well as exploring googledocs which I've not actually used before.
Actually, one of the reasons I've decided to do 23 Things is to give me an imperative to keep on top of the many 2.0 activities I already do. Twitter, for example, which I never update despite having tweetdeck on my home computer - I am determined to break my habit of being an online lurker.
Ofcourse my other reason is to learn about the many applications out there that I'm either not aware of, or just not using for whatever reason. And already it's been worth it: my iGoogle page is proving invaluable as a place to store links/gadgets that I need to transfer between work and home. Plus, because I am impatient and ran on ahead as per, I'm really enjoying the googlereader gadget and the freedom it gives me to keep up with all the blogs I read in one place.
Being a 'young person' (well, youngish) I am already all over social networking (myspace, twitter, facebook) and, though this is my first blogspot blog, I've been on livejournal since the good ol' days of invite only (about 2001) so I'm relatively experience with blogging. Thanks to Livejournal, I've also been using de.lic.ious for years (and have resigned myself to the fact I will never be able to spell it right.)
And, looking at the summary I'm also comfortable with podcasts (Now Show, yeay!) and youtube and have a (very old) photobucket account for holding LJ layouts, so should take to flickr like a duck...
But I'm looking forward to learning more about RSS feeds in the coming weeks, as well as exploring googledocs which I've not actually used before.
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