Presenters for Emory Theology Library (Emory was a RDA test participant), University of Georgia, GPLS (Georgia Public Library System) and UGA’s Law Library.
Overview:
Advantages of RDA - benefits to electronic reproductions in that there is no reproduction note, no GMD; benefits for theses & dissertations; granularity for increased searching
Disadvantages - ambiguoity about publication date
Carrier must change - impact on systems
Discussion of systems and ILS:
We should drive the discussion with vendors or they will design for us and it will not be to our best interests
VS
We have to wait for vendors to develop systems that will meet requirements of RDA
Emory’s experience
What they found in testing:
o Advantages (see above)
o 25 test records+ others including MODS
o used the webpage to compare AACR2 versions and RDA versions for at least 10 records from common set (given to all testing institutions)
o “not all that much difference”
o “will affect us more than the user”
o Love mapping to MARC
o Toolkit needs more examples esp. outside of print
o Workflows a very useful tool
Where they are now:
Decision to postpone adoption until LC statement
No longer producing RDA records
existing RDA records in OCLC used without conversion
GPLS
Discussion of GPLS Cataloging Summit
Resource bibliography distributed
Working on a GPLS Policy Statement, similar to LC
Discussion on training - preconference training @ COMO 12?
UGA Law Library
Where they are:
Change RDA records to AACR2 to use as training examples
Will adopt RDA when LC does
Discussion of training - Free RDA training at AALL
UGA
Where they are:
Information gathering phase
Original catalogers are reviewing records for materials with copy
I posted this some time back, but I think it's something to review every year. I'd love to connect with you on @: twitter, my blog, or linkedIn (please add a note to your request). You can also connect with me at my facebook page.
If I unfollow (or unfan or unfriend or do not accept your request) it's not that I like you any less (if I know you in person). If you are a colleague, it doesn't mean that I respect you any less. If you are a fellow artist/graphics/web, it doesn't mean that I dislike your work.I have good reasons as to why I follow (or don't) and friend (or don't).
Reasons that I will unfriend/unfollow/deny your request:
Already connect with you online (or in real life):If I already connect with you in one space (facebook, twitter, IRL, etc.) I will stick with whichever space is better. No need to duplicate effort and content.
Infrequent posts: If you go 2 months without posting, I will unfriend/unfollow you. If you have just a few tweets, I may wait to follow you back.
Irrelevant posts:
You only (or predominantly) post replies back to your friends -- you know what? it's nice to have a dialogue, but if that is all your twitter feed is, I'd rather not be a 3rd wheel to a conversation I know little about.
You broadcast only - never responding to my mentions, comments or questions. (News agencies/sites are exceptions).
You only post follows: #FF or #FollowFridays -- surely you can think of something to post the other 6 days of the week?
*You only post spam (duh) / spam me.
You only post minutiae -- if I don't know you personally, then I might not really care about that great Thai lunch you just had. Friends who shoe shop -- you're exempt on this one. ;-)
You're the Mayor of _______ in foursquare, and you talk about it all of the time... which leads me to...
Geoposting. I usually do not care where you are. It IS interesting to hear that you are at a conference or event -- I get great ideas that way, but on the corner of 5th and main at starbucks? Didn't need to know that. Maybe the Library of Congress who is archiving tweets will care, but I don't. ;-)
It's all about your family, who I do not know. I'm not a stalker and would prefer not to eavesdrop on your life.
We're not a match. You post on topics that aren't of professional interest to me.
Private/Profile information (not sure who you are or why I should follow you)
Language barriers - you post in a language I don't read - true there are translators out there, but it seems pointless to use those for social space
The Follow/Unfollow game - you follow me just long enough to get me to follow you, then unfollow me.
Wrong request: I will suggest an alternate after all, I'm not mean, just trying to manage my life better. Of course, this is my life and I reserve the right to change the rules. ;-)
I'm finally getting around to sharing my final thoughts and notes on COMO 2011.
The good:
all of the sessions I attended or heard part of - great> excellent academic papers, Green Library presentation, PBCore presentation, RDA, WREK (when do I get to be on the radio?)
seeing my fellow librarians and compadres from around the state
the vendors had candy and cute fuzzy toy sheep
the paper presentation went really well (thanks Ginny)
the presentation on automating social media (sigh, not so well thanks to everything listed below)
The bad -- egads, the scheduling (cataloging/metadata sessions scheduled against each other), the spotty wifi (!!!!!) and the lack of technical support (no projectors provided, only small portable screens, etc.)
Notes on the academic papers:
Movable, comfortable,configurable furniture is important (Emory paper on info commons)
Gov Docs Librarians wear many hats, often it is a "secondary" duty (Gov Doc Librarian salary)
Automation reduces menial work which then means remaining work is more complex = more training and higher levels of abilities and competencies (Ginny Feher & me on automation in libraries: a DBM case study; submitted to GLQ for publication)
I didn't take notes on the other papers but that doesn't mean they weren't good. ;-)
It seems every time a workaround is uncovered, Facebook blocks it. One workaround that is still working is to manually create a list of all friends and just read that. It is chronological and not by top stories (thankfully!) Of course you have to select the list when you login.
One of the presentations I attended at COMO was a presentation on "Lost in the Stacks" the Library "Rock and Roll" Radio Show hosted at WREK. This show is on at Fridays at noon and if you can't catch it then, you can hear the archives for 2 weeks (hopefully they can do podcasting one day). You can also check them out on Facebook, too. If you're interested in technology, media, the inner workings of a library, like good music, or well, just about anything, you should check it out. It's great fun (not convinced? take a look at the great playlist from the oct. 14 show & to bad my audio clip didn't survive the trek back to atlanta).
Clip from Full Metal Jacket Intro: "Friction" by Television
"No One Will Be A Stranger" by Dax Riggs File this set under F2169:
“Together” by The Raconteurs
“Stranger” by The Presidents of the United States of America Interview with Stella Richardson & Karen Glover (Georgia Tech librarians) File this set under G163:
“Flight Attendant” by Josh Rouse
“Have Love Will Travel” by The Black Keys (live from Bluecats in Knoxville, 2005) Interview with Jon Bodnar (Emory librarian) File this set under P302.7 :
“Start Together” by Sleater-Kinney
“How’s About Telling A Story” by Devendra Banhart
“You Can All Join In” by Traffic
Outro: "Dancing Together" by David Byrne & Fatboy Slim Stay tuned for the next Lost in the Stacks show: "Open Source Part II" on October 21st!
You can hear this show online, any time until October 28th, by visiting: http://www.wrek.org/lostinthestacks/
(in other words the archive contains the 2 most recent shows).
Charlie Bennett and Ameet Doshi did a great job of explaining what they do, how much work goes into producing a radio show, the balance between being prepared/overprepared (& overscripted) and comfortable on the radio. There was also an interesting discussion about copyright, broadcasting and podcasting, too (I hope they can do postcasts). If you haven't checked out Lost in the Stacks yet, isn't it about time you get.... well... Lost in the Stacks?
As many of you have seen now there was a public G+ post from a Google staff person; it has now been taken down and "leaked" (some are wondering whether it was intentionally leaked since there are claims that they have permission to republish it).
Anyhow, these are just my thoughts after reading it yesterday. The post itself is rather long and obviously not meant to be a formal piece of writing, but it is interesting with some very valid discussion points. If nothing else, it is an opinion piece on 2 different companies with very different workplaces and philosophies.
While it mostly focuses on his time spent at Amazon and more recently, Google, the more interesting bits are the thoughts on innovation. He talks about how Amazon made a commitment from the top to change how it worked. Amazon has become a very innovative company (in spite of my feelings about the confusing and unfriendly world of ebooks; I do love my kindle and shop regularly at amazon). I'm just one of millions. He also talks a bit about the culture of working for Amazon at the time (micromanaging, cubeville). The second part covers his time at Google, especially in terms of product development. One thing he talks about is a lack of awareness of user experience/needs in terms of technology - Google looks for products vs. services. He also talked some about the good of Google - their work environment, community service, etc.
What I got from reading this post is that Google culture (& not necessarily individuals although individuals in leadership positions do drive culture or conversely, stagnant it) does not really grasp the why of community driven content (such as social media). I said recently of G+ that unlike Facebook which has a centralized upload for photos, videos, posts, etc. ; for G+, it's picassa for photos, youtube for video, _____ ? (perhaps G buzz?) for posts. Not having an API makes it nearly impossible to push content from G+ to other social media networks. For alot of us, that is CRUCIAL.
Thinking about all of that, it seems that a lot of companies and organizations are struggling with adapting their workflows to new technology products (such as software) in the information age. Rather than trying to think about things in a new way, old thinking and understandings of the world are applied to the new workflow. Leadership (& others) do not grasp the fundamental point: our culture has changed. The way we do things should change - and it's not just the product being developed or the service being offered. It's not about taking our workflow and bending it around a new thing. While some would argue why fix (or break!) what's working - innovation NEVER comes out of stagnation. I would also argue that just because you can make a workflow (or worse - a WORK AROUND) work, does not make it a good, efficient, or productive workflow.
So, it really is a cultural shift - yes, Michael Wesch really did know what he was talking about almost 5 years ago when he posted the Machine is Us/ing Us on Youtube:
...and this is where we are. Digital advocates (fundamentalists? I hate the term digital natives and technological stereotyping based upon age, btw) don't see technology as something that is frivalous (ok, maybe the Xbox is); technology just is. Having technology at hand (& connected - egads the U.S. needs more wifi) is an expectation. Creating content is part of life now -- and that act of creating content and sharing it is driving new ways of looking at work, new workflows - community sourced knowledge.
It's easy to create one post and post to many automatically; to "mashup" (who says mashup anymore? nobody) multiple formats to create a new digital object; to repackage, repurpose, reuse (recycle). One of the biggest fundamental changes that technology has delivered is the shift of power - creative power, especially. Anyone can take a photo and upload it Flickr. Anyone can create a website. So, if your everyday foundation involves using technology to create content and contribute (reviews, writings, etc.) and the tools support creating automatic linked paths (linking data), how can a workflow structured as a line from point A>E work? How can a business or organization SUCCEED as a traditional hierarchy with traditional linear workflows? Because after all, there is a big difference between succeeding and existing. ;-)
Looking at our history, the 2nd Industrial Revolution was focused on science and innovation and lasted until some time after WWII (I would say up through the 1960s and the peak of the space race). A lot of our corporate (but especially higher ed and govermental) workflows were put into place during that time.
For libraries and many information organizations, the 1970s were the beginning of the digital revolution (although it is usually dated as beginning in the 80s with the rise of PCs) and we saw the rise of automation in the 1970s-80s, moving from printed card catalogs to some sort of automated system (database) using MARC language. Nothing really has changed for libraries from the 1970s until the mid 2000s, except our platforms and databases got better (more integrated and powerful; data more portable; reduction of manual work).
As a whole, as the digital revolution became more fully realized, we saw the true beginning of the information revolution (focusing on service rather than products). We're now in the Information Age, with the rise of social media and mobile, community created content, "citizen" journalism, and immediacy of information (real time). WE all are creative collaborative -- well -- creators. As whole, we have moved fully into a service based culture focused with a dependence on technological tools; other members of our society are either catching up, will be forced to adapt once the culture changes around them entirely, OR will be left behind.
...and that is where many libraries and organizations got stuck. Due to budget cuts and an assortment of other issues (aging networks, outdated hardware, hierarchical structures, a lack of understanding of how cultural shifts impact organizations), the leap across from the digital revolution to the information revolution seems at times, nearly impossible. It involves a dedicated vision - not just a migration or conversion (both of which would leave behind remnants of old thinking, but a complete re-envisioning from the ground up. That's not to say that libraries (& others) should throw out all of their products (such as books) or their services (such as circulating those books), but that there are different ways of doing things (self check, ebooks sent automatically to account when available, etc.) but without addressing fundamental problems from a holistic view, the institution or library will never be truly innovative.
of course, some folks get this. Maybe everyone will one day.
UGAers ~ New & free class for you! If you're a Facebook user and don't know about security settings, this is a class for you. If you travel and use public wifi, this is a class for you!
Privacy & YOU:
Focusing on best practices and practical tips for maintaining your privacy using skills that can be applied to any website from Facebook to Google+. We will explore basics of online security: tips for using public Wifi safely, how to create a more secure password, and how to use social media sites more securely.
An open letter to my friends on facebook:
I hope we can be adults about this but just like a garden, my Facebook network is in need of a little maintenance. I need to weed out the folks who aren't using Facebook anymore. It's also apparent that Facebook is not the most efficient place to network professionally with some of you - perhaps, you could be transplanted over to linkedin (http://www.linkedin.com/in/robinfay) or Google+ (georgiawebgurl) or my page (http:/www.facebook.com/RobinFayArts) as I revamp that to include more technology stuff.
Statistics have shown that at MOST 150 people is about the limit to which we can have a meaningful network - I'm well over that. I don't want my Facebook account to turn into Twitter, either (tho you can network with me there, http://www.twitter.com/georgiawebgurl, too, just make sure to DM or @ me to give me a little nudge), and while I know I can use lists to whittle down my news feed - what's the point? If I don't want to network/communicate/share with you on Facebook, then why would you I keep you in my network (and conversely on your side?) And if it's all one sided (all me) then again, what's the point?
So, for some of you this will be the last status update you see from me. If I unfriend you, it truly doesn't mean that I don't respect you or like you IRL. It just means that Facebook is not working for us. That's all -- and if your feelings are hurt, I am really sorry about that.
Hey there, Want to connect with me at facebook? Please visit http://www.facebook.com/RobinFayArts - I share a weekly photo, technology news and more. I'd love to start a conversation with you there!
I don't accept friend requests to my PERSONAL account unless
I tell you to friend me.
we're close friends in real life.
we already have a relationship at another social media site.
you're family and use facebook instead of email. ;-)
So, my question of the day (QOD) is:
I use Dreamweaver to design web pages. Do any of you use something that you would consider "easy" to use? I am trying to teach someone else how to manage a simple web site.
A:
Some questions to consider:
How big is the site
Is it hosted on their own webspace
Can it migrated to a simple CMS (content management system)?
What does it need to do? What is the audience?
My approach would be to rethink the whole site workflow. If it needs to be easy to use & simple, Dreamweaver seems like overkill to me. In fact, I don't see a reason to handedit a website any more unless it's absolutely essential or you're building it with CSS3 (preprocessor preferred) + HTML5 to show off your madskillz.
...and if it's simple, you are probably not trying to show off your madskillz. LOL
So, what to use for a basic website:
Hosted elsewhere choices (excluding niche sites like photography or art portfolio sites):
Facebook pages : If you're on Facebook, you can use Facebook Pages to build a site. Granted, it is somewhat limited, but it is very easy to do and maintain - plus you have the added benefit of the Facebook community.
Google sites: If you're a Google/Gmail user, Google sites is available to you. You can build all sorts things at Google - again very easy.
Wordpress. (.org not .com) Wordpress (WP) is blogging software but can be used to build a simple website. Of course, you (or someone) would need the ability to install it (it does have a self installer), but if you own your owndomain and webspace, (most likely) it has what is needed to run WP.
Blogger. Although blogger is usually hosted by google at blogspot.com once the site is built at blogspot.com it can be migrated to a domain using built-in tools. So, that might be even easier.
Advantages to using this sort of software to create a simple website (or any other blogging software for that matter):
Drag and Drop widgets to increase functionality (calendars, categories, etc.)
Ability to easily add social media and dynamic content
Out of the box templates and design help
Pages features - this is key as you would use pages feature in each to build the actual website ;-) You could either suppress the blog entries or not, depending on what is needed (in other words, make the page the front of the website) or keep them if a blog is needed.
Easy to subscribe to and easy to update through a web based form.
Often supports mobile.
Both would provide a simple web based interface for maintenance purposes.
