I. Love. My. Job.

Today is day 2 as the Metadata and Digital Initiatives Librarian at Wichita State's Ablah Library. I've got a better grasp of what is expected of me, and I can't wait to get my hands dirty.

I didn't expect too much as far as cataloguing, but I will get to do quite a bit. When I started on my masters degree, I never thought that I would want to get into the cataloguing part of the job. I focused a lot on more I(nstitutional) R(epository) type of stuff. At first I was terrified at the thought of being let loose in the realm of the Catalogue. However, I have a lot of support to help me along the way, so I feel less apprehensive and much more ready for the new skill set that I will be taking on in the morning.

For now, I leave you with BlöödHag's 'Ray Bradbury'. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ul-AWTCkM

Finally Settling In...

Just a quick update: Art and I made it to Wichita, KS last Friday with the help of his father, Clair, and brother, Andrew, and the Gas Money Faery (a big thanks to all of you!!!!). Getting through the maze that is Ikea in three hours was nothing to what we ran into in Rawlins, WY. Snowstorm Yogi...what a name. It was a harrowing trip through that state, but as soon as we hit Nebraska, it was absolutely gorgeous: lush, green farmland and rolling hills. It was the same entering Kansas. We passed Lindsborg, otherwise known as Little Sweden. We are definitely going back there at some point. 

The townhouse and the management office thereof are amazing. I will post photos when we have the place set up the way we like it.

I'll post again very soon. For now, I leave you with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OGWrHkzpXc

This is a nice hotel....

 

...but the Internet's kinda slow.

Traveling Adventures

Hello, dear readers. I'm writing this in the banquet room of the hotel Andrew, Clair, Art, and I will be staying in this evening...and possibly tomorrow...only time will tell.

The roads from Sinclair, WY all the way to Cheyenne were closed yesterday due to winter storm Yogi. What a name....if we'd only brought our pic-a-nic basket maybe we could have appeased it. We turned around and head back to Rawlins. I'm pretty sure we ended up getting the last two hotel rooms in the town, and I cannot recommend the place. Unless you want to spend a sleepless night in a dingy, stinky room...then go for it. I had to keep telling myself we would make it. I know I have lived in worse environments. At that time, however, I was a smoker and had no sense of smell!

Despite my complaints, it has been a good trip overall. I'm just impatient to get to our new home. We have new Ikea furniture that needs assembling!

Hopefully we will be on our way to Wichita very soon. For the time being, we are safe, warm, and mostly happy. ;)

Some mood music....

Art and I will be heading for Wichita in a few days. We've both been listening to this song quite a bit lately:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LEKU7cBOak

"Now that the search goes on

For another time to live

I might as well be gone, but I

Tend to always come back in the end... In the end"

(The old dude rocking out reminds me of my dad, only with less white in his hair and beard.)

My awesome friend Amy mentioned this one the last time we hung out with each other. Seems appropriate as well. Thank you, Amy. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9ANOzmSKQg

"I'm goin' to Wichita,

Far from this opera forever more

I'm gonna work the straw

Make the sweat drip out of every pore

And I'm bleeding and I'm bleeding and I'm bleeding

Right before the Lord.

All the words are gonna bleed from me

And I will think no more.

And the stains coming from my blood

Tell me 'Go back home.'"

Occupy Wall Street and the People's Library

An update from the case from New York City and the damage caused to lending materials from the People's Library:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/nyregion/occupy-wall-street-wins-suit-over-seizure-of-library.html?_r=0

I'm glad that the Occupy Wall Street group in New York City proceeded with this case. I'm even happier that they won.

As my last day at the Albertsons Library came to a close yesterday, I thought about the people I have had the pleasure of working with, as well as the building itself. I have helped with the stewardship of various materials under that roof, and will miss every single book and database. As a student employee, I spent countless hours taking trucks up to the stacks and put them way, as well as shelf-reading call numbers to ensure the materials were in their proper place.

When I earned my undergraduate and my work study job terminated, I missed the stacks and overseeing the student employees. It wasn't just the job itself; it was that I was helping patrons, perhaps in a small way, to ensure that they find the materials they needed. It was also helping students become better employees through guidance and assistance at the circulation desk. The folks I worked with in the department helped influence my decision to become a librarian.

My next job when I returned to the library was with the institutional repository. I will miss ScholarWorks very, very much. I would not be nearly as tech savvy as I am today if I had not worked on this project, nor would I have chosen the specific path that I did in regard to my masters program. The department is a small one, only three of us, but I feel that we made an impact with our work on campus. I had the privilege to be there to celebrate half a million full text downloads, and will look forward to them hitting one million.

My work with acquisitions and interlibrary loan has also helped me with various skills, and again I worked with amazing people. I also became more familiar with ebooks and, as a result, I'm more apt to purchase them for myself, as well as check them out from a library. Using a patron-based acquisitions model also falls more into my way of thinking about customer/patron service. Get them what they want, especially in a timely manner, and they are more willing to come back and use the institution again.

I will miss you, Albertsons Library. Thank you for everything.

Librarians versus Google: An Ongoing Drama

Here is an interesting blog post which states what librarians are for versus what Google is for:

http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2011/06/what-librarians-google-are-for.html

That's not to say that we librarians don't use Google. Far from it actually. I use it frequently...for quick facts and similar. I also use it for a jumping off point for research projects. Notice I don't say that I necessarily use the items I locate. I'll take the references, if provided, and look them up in the library's O(nline) P(ublic) A(ccess) C(atalog) and I(ntegrated) (Library) S(ystem), which most of the time yields the information I need, rather than slogging through pages of irrelevant information that Google provides. Sure, you can probably find something on the first page, but does it pass the CRAAP test?

Regardless of the above information, there is still one major problem with OPAC's: users quickly get frustrated with them. Unless they are familiar with search terms and even how to search, they switch to search engines to fill their information need, and risk being the victim of information overload, even potentially wandering away from what it is you started out researching. Don't lie, you know this happened more than once ;)

Like I said, I'm not opposed to Google, and I have even made peace with Wikipedia...mostly. When I need to dig into some serious research, though, there is nothing like what the library creates.

Take a Librarian with You...