So we got this enormous plant for the reference desk which looks like it came from the "Little Shop of Horror". It's looking at me all the time and I know it's probably eaten a student or two when my back was turned. So naturally I'm taking a poll among my colleagues to see what we should call it: "Harvey or Irene?"
At this point it's a tie.
You don't get in -- no way, no how -- unless you own a flash drive (and know how to use it).
-- That way, if you're in a lab and the computer goes bonkers, you won't lose the paper you've been working on all day because you didn't save it.
So we were developing some survey or the other and I thought I'd try it on a couple real live students before releasing it to the world.
Our first real-live student (guinea pig) comes in and is completely stumped by the drop-down menu asking her to indicate her major.
"What's the problem," I ask.
"Well," she replied, "I'm a freshman and I haven't decided."
Hello, Homer Simpson -- Duh!
And yes, we immediately added "Major Not Yet Chosen" to the thing, and lived happily ever after.
Wow, I just checked the number of members for the Drupal4Lib ListServ and it's over 600! Not bad.
Blogger is shutting down its FTP service. That's a shame. It's what allowed me to put together one of the early blogs on a library web site -- at the end of 2002.
In fact it was so early that library administration didn't quite know what to do with it. Months passed and I ended up putting up the first post myself on 2/9/2003:
Test Drive the New Version of CUNY+
Sunday, February 09, 2003(note: many functions are currently not available). CUNY has released a new web-based version of CUNY+, the online library catalog. The new CUNY+ has improved features that were requested by our users. See for yourself by going to the CUNY+ page. - posted by lrk on 11:56 PM
Ah, those were the days!
Current Cites for January 2010 is out! You can find the issue here...
I listed an article by two librarians at Univ. of Minnesota that explained their elaborate but ultimately successful decision-making process to improve library services.
Equally as interesting: Roy recommended the "2010 Horizon Report" on emerging technology in higher ed, and Susan Gibbons recommended "The Library Study at Fresno State" (pdf), a study of students using "a wide array of anthropological and ethnographic methods".
Following up from last week, here's what I heard on the El going to Skokie last night:
"Attention Passengers: Please do not attempt to board the train -- the doors are closing".
Actually the delivery for this one was pretty good, though again, a touch on the long side.
Somewhat late to the game, but I'm impressed with where the California Digital Library is heading -- the digital arm of California's extensive university system. They've repositioned themselves, they say, moving from a static "repository" where old files go to die to a proactive "publishing platform" for their faculty.
Some of this is semantics, I'm sure, but I think it's the right direction for any academic library. In fact, the smaller the institution, the greater the need on the part of faculty.
In any case, see Roy Tennant's two posts on this:
Sells itself.
I think in the eagerness to embrace Smartphone technology, librarians need to develop a sense of proportion.
I mean, yes, of course someday everyone will have a smartphone but that hardly precludes owning any other device. In fact, by far the most likely scenario, at least for students, is that they'll come equipped with a smartphone in one hand and a laptop in the other. Indeed, this is practically the case nowadays.
The real challenge then is to figure out what makes most sense to offer on what device. Snappier and more immediate information is obviously appropriate for smaller devices and this alone opens up a whole world of possibilities.
But for 'hard core' research -- for research requiring the cutting and pasting of ideas -- for that people will continue to use larger devices and they'll do so because buckets make more sense than thimbles when you need to carry a gallon of water.
Current Readings around Town...
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