Library School Postscript, #2

From time to time I like to look back on my MLIS blog to reminisce about my library school days. Occasionally, I like to write a postscript post, just in case someone stumbles upon this blog. Here is the latest:

Since my last post, I grew up a lot. I moved to the greater Baltimore, MD region, got married, and finally landed a job in a library-related field. Things were slowly coming together, until my husband and I realized something. We wanted to move to the west coast.

A few years later, and here I am on the west coast! It was quite the journey getting from Baltimore to where we live now, and I do not regret a minute of it. I got to see and experience a whole other side of America that I've never encountered, and strengthened my bond with the love of my life. I hope everyone can have such an experience.

Past and future LEEPers, I wish you all the best ♥

What happened?

I posted this around two years ago:

For personal reasons, it looks like I'll be moving within the next year or two.  The thought is very daunting, and I do not even know where to start on how to look for a good place to live.  It makes me feel like I'm getting older (surprise surprise!).  Jobs for starting librarians are pretty hard to find in general, which is yet another source of pressure in my life.  In short- man, it's hard growing up.

So guess what happened between April 2011 and February 2013?

1. I moved to Rochester, NY to be closer to my long distance boyfriend.
2. Could not find a library job, so I worked at Lord and Taylor and interned at the RIT library (1 year).
3. Boyfriend became fiancé  :D
4. Moved to the Baltimore/DC area and interned at the Smithsonian (3 months).
5. Got married last month!

 I cannot believe how much I have grown and changed over the past few years.  I went from never-left-home to moving far away from everything I know.  Single to married.  Not owning much to owning a couch (and a lot more).

I am still not employed by a library though, so that is something that has not changed.  I have worked for free in libraries, but never paid.  I hope to change that soon...

Catching Up Part I

Today begins a series I' like to call "Catching Up," where I'll post some homework that didn't make the first cut (or I forgot to post in a timely fashion). This oldie but goodie comes from Fall 2011, where I had to evaluate 3 websites and discuss a particular quality they have that reflects a good electronic publication. 

I want to point out the second paragraph, where I wrote about keeping the "site's intention" in mind while judging an electronic publication.  I've done a lot of research about accessibility, usability, and 508 compliance - it is not hard to be 508 compliant!  The Etsy website might not make the cut in accessibility (does it?  I should find out), but most other websites do not have a reason to break the basic rules of website design.  It is quite the topic to research.

Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward. 

For this assignment, I will be looking at three websites: the World Wide Web Consortium , the CSS Zen Garden, and Etsy. I picked these websites because I thought they exemplified at least one important aspect of good electronic publishing. The first two are sites that I frequented in my days of web design, while the third is a fun shopping site.

It is hard for publishers to create an electronic publication that holds to all of the qualities of a “good” publication. An e-zine on art might not be accessible for disabled people, but it could have excellent search capabilities and a well known authority on art. A library’s website might not have such a pleasing interface, but it should strive to be understood by all people, regardless of age or disability. It is unfair to say that one is bad because of poor color judgements, or not 508 compliant. We should judge each electronic publication by the site’s intention, and whether it successfully fulfills it. With that written, these are my sites.

World Wide Web Consortium/W3C (http://www.w3.org/)
Authenticity: Since W3C sets the international standards for the World Wide Web, they are the most reliable source about good electronic publishing. Many different web developers could have their own ideas about how to work around particular bugs caused by web browsers and applications, but W3C gives the official word on markup languages and accessibility issues. It also hosts the “Markup Validator,” which checks for valid coding. Its authenticity is further proved by the website itself, which serves as a great example in electronic publishing.

CSS Zen Garden (http://www.csszengarden.com)
Production/Pages and Interfaces: In 2003, a web designer created the CSS Zen Garden in order to show the power of a stylesheet to display the same data in multiple ways. This is important because good electronic publications should have all potential users in mind while creating its data interface. For example, there can be a stylesheet for browsing via computer, a stylesheet for mobile phone browsing, and a stylesheet for people with disabilities -- all to display the same data. The CSS Zen Garden is a flashy way to show this important principle.

Etsy (http://www.etsy.com)
Queryability: Etsy is known as the “ebay of handmade items,” but a closer look shows Esty as a pioneer in search technology. Etsy lists 16 different ways to shop, not including the basic search option. Some seem irrelevant (shop by shopkeeper’s birthday), but many of the ways rely on data not usually seen by end users, such as log times for posted items. Etsy is currently working on a 17th way of searching, using both photographs and a controlled vocabulary in order to narrow down search results.

It'll All Be Over Soon

I have several deadlines coming up in my life:

April 24th: Data Curation Research Paper Presentation
May 2nd: Data Curation Research Paper due, Digital Library Project Presentation
May 9th: Digital Library needs to be finished
May 10th: Python Final Due
May 15th: I walk!

Yup- I thought I was going to do an extra semester to finish the Data Curation Specialization, but I simply cannot do it anymore.  I do not think I can go through another fall semester.  I will blame this on the fact that I went to graduate school right after my undergraduate career ended.  I have been completing homework for the past 20 years, and I want a break.  I think I would go back to school at some point, but not within the next five years.

To finish my degree, I still need to go to summer school, but I'll be able to walk before completing it.  Funny how that works, huh?  Summer school will involve taking two courses at the same time- Descriptive Bibliography and Reference Sources for Rare Books.  With those, I'll be able to say that I finished the Certificate in Special Collections.  Here are the course descriptions:

590DB-Descriptive Bibliography:

The main purpose of this course is to teach students to understand and to prepare detailed bibliographical descriptions of printed books. In order to prepare an accurate bibliographical description, it is necessary to have some knowledge of the physical components of the printed book (paper, ink, binding materials), as well as an understanding of the processes used to produce the book (typesetting, imposition, presswork, etc.). Will cover the methods of producing books (especially during the hand-press period), as well as the organization and preparation of bibliographical descriptions.

590SR-Reference Sources for Rare Books:

Reference Sources for Rare Books is an introduction to the vast body of reference literature used in cataloguing and reference work in special collections libraries and the antiquarian book trade. Emphasis will be given to major bibliographies, catalogues, and other reference works in the fields of early printed books, British and American literature, historical Americana, voyages and travels, science and medicine, maps and atlases, the book arts, and the antiquarian book trade and auction market. The course is intended for those who have not yet had a systematic introduction to the reference literature of rare books, as well as others who would like to refresh or update their knowledge of the reference works in these fields. The course will cover approximately three to four hundred printed and electronic sources. The instructor will discuss the background of each source, as well as its strengths and weaknesses.

I am hoping that one of these classes will take a field trip to the Rare Book and Manuscript Library.  That place almost makes me wish I lived in the cornfields.

That brings me to another topic.  For personal reasons, it looks like I'll be moving within the next year or two.  The thought is very daunting, and I do not even know where to start on how to look for a good place to live.  It makes me feel like I'm getting older (surprise surprise!).  Jobs for starting librarians are pretty hard to find in general, which is yet another source of pressure in my life.  In short- man, it's hard growing up.

Coming soon- some homework from the fall semester.

Well, Really, I Am

Talk about a tough semester!  I have several group projects to finish up, as well as a research paper.  I would like to post some homework, but many of my written assignments are critiques of 1) data management plans from federal agencies, or 2) digital libraries.  I am not sure how wise it would be, for a student to post such critiques.  Is it strange, that I care so much about offending people I will (probably) never meet?  Perhaps I should just blot the names out and have people figure it out themselves.

In any case, I do not think I'll be posting my standard homework pieces from this semester.  I will, however, provide some Python programming:

#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#5.6:  Write a program that reads in a file and then prints out the number of lines, words, and characters in a file.
#---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

def fileCounts(fileName):
        fileObj = open(fileName)
#makes a list of all of the lines in a file
        lineList = fileObj.readlines() 
#gets amount of items in lineList 
        lineCount = len(lineList) 
#setting counters      
        wordCount = 0                   
        charCount = 0
        for theLine in lineList:
#increase wordCount by the result of len(theline.split())
                wordCount = wordCount + len(theLine.split()) 
#increase charCount by the result of len(theLine)  
                charCount = charCount + len(theLine)           
        print ("There are", lineCount, "lines", wordCount, "words and", charCount, "characters in this document")

Who would have known that I would get into Python programming?  This is one of my later homework assignments- the first few chapters were hard, but only for me.  The rest of the Python programming world would laugh at the hours I spent staring at my computer screen, not knowing what to do.  At least I know that I am learning something.

...and, I'm back?

Happy New Years everyone!

Believe it or not, I'm still alive and well.  I will soon be starting my 4th semester at GSLIS -- not my last, but getting there.  I think I will be done Fall 2011.

Here is what you missed: I took Special Collections: Collection Development, Electronic Publishing, and Information Modeling.  The first one is going towards the Special Collections Certificate I want to receive.  The other two go towards my new goal: a specialization in Data Curation.  The two last classes were very interlinked -- so much, that sometimes I forgot what class I was in at the moment  o.o

This semester, I'm taking another three classes: Foundations of Information Processing in LIS, Digital Libraries: Research and Practice, and Foundations of Data Curation.  Of course, these are all for the Data Curation specialization.  I will be posting my homework, as well as projects from last semester, on this blog. 

Hopefully, I will keep blogging this semester and keep up with my newsfeeds.  I am very behind in the library world  :(

Final Learning Reflection LIS 458

Ok, it is not the summer yet, but I am posting my final learning reflection of LIS 458 (Instruction and Assistant Systems).  I took a very different approach to this assignment, but I think it answers the question.

Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward.

Write a 1,000-1,500 word essay in which you reflect on what you have learned this semester. 
 
You might start by thinking about the following questions. You are not required to answer any of these and you
certainly should not attempt to answer them all – these are merely offered to jumpstart self reflection.  
 
• What did you hope to learn in this class? What did you learn? What do you now wish you had learned? 
• How has your knowledge and understanding of higher education and academic libraries grown or changed
since the beginning of the semester? 
• What are your career plans and how has this class informed or influenced those career plans? 
• What is the most important thing you learned this semester?  
• What is the most surprising thing you learned this semester? 
• If you were advising a future student, what would you tell them to expect to learn?

Entering the End Game

I am now entering the "end game" of my semester, and what a semester its been!

Last semester I took the easy route and did two classes, with a total of 6 credit hours.  I thought to myself, Wow, that was EASY!  I can probably take more!  With that in mind, I took three classes: Cataloging and Classification I, Digital Preservation, and Instruction and Assistance Systems, for a total of 10 hours.  What a difference.  Even though one class was only for 2 credits, I had to work very hard to earn them.

Cataloging and Classification can only be described as a tornado- the 15 weeks you are in class you feel like a bunch of information is being thrown at you, and afterwards you look around and think WHAT JUST HAPPENED?  What happened was you learned the basic concepts of cataloging without even realizing it.  As I am now finishing my final assignment, a mock MARC record of a fake book, The Easter Eggroll: Chinese Dim Sum Snacks for Spring Occasions, I figured out just what accomplished in the class.  I may not remember every single rule of AACR2 or every MARC field, but I know what to look for and where to find the answers.  Isn't that the best description of what a librarian does?  We might not know all of the answers, but e certainly know where to find them.

I might have not been the number one participator in Digital Preservation, but it certainly made me think a lot about the present (and future) problems digital objects present to librarians, archivists, and preservationists.  I talked about some of these topics with my family, friends, and everyone else in the bar who would listen to me.  They were annoyed, but I was happy to discuss one of the big ideas of the class to anyone- in this digital age, can we really preserve everything?  Maybe the LoC will answer that with its Twitter collection- will all tweets be there, or just a select few?  If a select few, which tweets?  Who gets to pick the tweets?  I could go on forever with these questions.

I took Instruction and Assistance Systems as a 2 credit hour course, but I feel like I learned 8 credit hours worth in that time.  Maybe the most important thing I learned was about myself and how I learn.  Knowing how I learn makes me feel better simply because I now understand that its ok not to be the most vocal person in class.  My brain simply does not function that way.  Instead, I like soaking up the knowledge and thinking about it for a while before I try to discuss it with people.  No wonder my rhetorical questions on topics of digital preservation and the anonymity of the Internet come out in bars, after some time to think and a beer to ponder on (the anonymity of the Internet deserves its own post- I've been reading some books....). 

Now, as I am at the "end game," I know that I did not participate as much as I wanted to.  This past semester, in terms of my personal life, was a roller coaster of emotions and happenings, and while I won't write what they are, believe me when I say that they were indeed life changing.  You know, when you think to yourself I'm going to look back in 5, 10 years and know that my life is this way because I did _______?  Yup, that kind of life changing.  It might have made my student/"professional" life harder, but I still feel a little more at ease with things. 

Now, to get back to my work!  Here are the things I have left to do....

Cataloging Final: Due today (Edit: finished 2:54 pm Sunday)
Learning Response: Due tomorrow (Edit: finished 8:32 pm Monday)

DRAMBORA group project: Due Thursday

Next time I write, it will be "summer"  :D

My Alternative Spring Break

I had to write a report about my Alternative Spring Break.  It definitely does not cover everything I did, but its a start!

Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward. 

I was not sure what to expect my first day for ASB at Columbia College Library, Chicago, IL. April Levy, my site supervisor, emailed me a week ahead of time telling me that she filled my agenda with people to meet and libraries to see. I was not certain that these tours would be of any use to me, nor would meeting with a couple of librarians. Looking back, it seems silly to question this because I know meeting the librarians I met made me think about what direction I wanted to take in selecting my courses. The experience made me think about what kind of job I wanted when I graduate from GSLIS.

My first day started with an interview. I never had to interview someone before, so I felt very nervous about the situation. What if I did not ask the right questions? Fortunately for me, the librarians at Columbia College are very understanding. My first interviewee, along with everyone else I talked to that week, made me feel as comfortable as possible and included me in all of their activities.

It was my luck that the reference librarians had a “Peer Teaching” session the week I was there, and they invited me to participate in the session. As the reference librarians went over typical reference questions they answered, I felt that the Columbia College Library was an institution people could say they enjoyed working for. From what I saw, they felt as if their bosses would listen to their problems and take their suggestions. I started thinking to myself that I would be lucky if I worked for an institution such as the Columbia College Library.

I also had a few tours, which was probably my favorite part of the week. Columbia College has a few unique collections, which certainly represent the unique character of the college. Their Special Collections department, though tragically squashed in a small room, holds items that are popular to show in class or very expensive. My favorites included the Visionaire publications and some conceptual art from the movie Ratatouille. The Center for Book and Paper Arts allowed me to see their presses and typesetting collections, some of which were wooden. The most unique, in my opinion, is the Fashion Columbia Study Collection. Their collection of clothing requires special cataloging and treatment from typical items found in a special collection.

The Library and Archives of the Center for Black Music Research was where I realized what I wanted to do in my career, though I did not expect to find the revelation there. I have been struggling to figure out how to merge my two interests in library science: rare/special collections and new technologies. The librarians at the Center for Black Music Research found a way to combine both. The three librarians in charge of the center have to do many tasks themselves, like cataloging, as well as answer reference questions and take care of the fragile materials. They have record players, tape decks, and even a keyboard for musicians who want to play one hundred year old hymns. As I toured this library, I thought about how this would be a dream come true for me. I would be able to manage all aspects of librarianship if I worked in a specialized collection such as the Center for Black Music Research.

Though I did not complete project during my stay at Columbia College Library, I did learn a lot about my future profession. I saw the “daily grind” of the library, and how a cohesive library “team” works. I met many librarians, most who had jobs I did not even realize librarians did. I also met people who were only support staff, but want to become future librarians because of their time working at the Columbia College Library. Most importantly, I think I figured out what I want to do when I complete my degree at GSLIS.

I have come to understand documents by analogy with human beings.  Documents are surrogates for people.  They are bits of the material world (stone, clay, wood pulp, and now silicon) that we create to speak for us and take on jobs for us.
 David Levy

When we say that a digital object has "integrity," we mean that it has not been corrupted over time or in transit; in other words, that we have in hand the same set of sequences of bits that came into existence when the object was created.
Clifford Lynch

Both from: Council on Library & Information Resources (May 2000). Authenticity in a Digital Environment. Washington, DC: Author. Available at: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub92/pub92.pdf

These are two of the quotes my professor put on the whiteboard yesterday during our Digital Preservation class on "Authenticity, Integrity & Trust."  I feel like during the discussion, we kept going in circles, which I pointed out.  I do not want to re-post what people wrote without their permission, so I'll try to paraphrase.

It seems that whenever we end up talking about ideas such as "integrity," "authenticity," and "trust," we end up with the same questions:

1) What IS authentic in the digital world?
2) Can a copy be authentic?
3) How much needs to be preserved in order for it to be called authentic?
4) Who figures out what is authentic and what is not?

What burning questions!  But what are the answers to these questions?  We keep circling and circling around them, but I don't know whether we ever find the answers.  I am thinking that we never find a definite answer is because digital preservation is such a new issue.  We have ideas and practices on preserving books, art, and music because professionals have been discussing this for a long time.  We are still developing new types of digital objects, let alone some standards for digital preservation.

Another idea that comes with these questions is "intent."  I discussed this a little earlier in the semester.  It would be much easier to figure out what to do with digital objects if creators left a "will" of sorts for their creations, like "I want these to be preserved, but since I cannot predict the future, please decide for me how you would like to preserve this," or "BURN THEM!"  Maybe not in those words, but wouldn't it be nice?

Anyways, this is a bit muddled, but this post has been sitting in my drafts folder for a while and I want the world to see it.  I don't know what to do with everything right now, but I know what to do on a case by case basis.

LoC and Twitter?

I was doing so well posting on the blog!  And then, it happened again- no postings.  I am pulling the personal life card on this one.  It happens every once in a while.

Big news in the library world: the Library of Congress is going to archive ALL tweets tweeted since March 2006.  I'm not sure how to reply to this, except Did they think this through?  I am not an expert by any means, but this is a serious undertaking.  Some of the questions that are already racing through my mind are:

How will these be stored?  Will there be paper copies? (I hope not)
Where will these be stored?
Who will go through every tweet and organize them, along with create millions of new authority headings and bibliographic entries?  (My CV is linked above)

Self Directed Reading #3

 Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward. 

For the Self Directed Readings, I had to 1) read an article, 2) write a paragraph summary, and 3) write a paragraph of my reactions to the article.  A short but sweet assignment.

Julian, Suzanne and Kimball Benson. “Clicking your way to library instruction assessment: using a personal response system at Brigham Young University.” College and Research Libraries News 69.5 (May 2008): 258-60.

In order to facilitate student participation in their library instruction sessions, Brigham Young University instructors purchased a PRS, or a Personal Response System.  This involves the students using "clickers" to answer predetermined questions about the different topics covered in the session.  The instructors were quickly recognized several benefits to using the clickers, which included more student participation, checking student comprehension, and hearing more of the students' opinion because results were posted anonymously.  The authors cautioned interested clicker users to word questions wisely and not to rely on the clickers too much throughout the presentation. Instructors at Brigham Young University recommend the clicker system to anyone searching for a new way to assess their library instruction sessions.

As a former user of the clicker, I saw that there was a lot of potential in the clicker for a physics class I took several years ago.  Unfortunately, the professor never tested the clickers before class and most people would forget to bring them, which made clicker ultimately useless.  After reading this article, I am again hopeful that clicker technology will expand and be used to its fullest extent.  Instructors can easily find out what students need help with, or whether they are paying attention, and change their session accordingly.  Any data received can be examined later, to better plan future sessions.  The Personal Response System is an easy way to get quick answers.

507 Cataloging Woes and On-Campus

These were my thoughts on cataloging written during the on-campus visit....

I like organizing things.  I do, really.  Send me to an Officemax and I will reorganize your life!


But sometimes, certain cataloging practices make me confused.  I am sure there are really good reasons for why it is like this, but I am still a total "n00b" in MARC so bear with me.


I understand why you would want to transcribe information exactly as it is in the book.  In the end, the cataloger could misinterpret information and write something totally different.  But then, there are times where you don't have to write it as it is in the book, like the title.  Where does the line get drawn?  

Well, so now you know.  Cataloging makes me frustrated!  I don't want to say that I hate cataloging, but I feel like we are got off on the wrong foot  :D

OTHERWISE, the weekend was great!  Unfortunately, I just realized that my card reader for my camera is somewhere I can't get to for a long while, so no on-campus pictures yet. 

Anyone who was there could say that the weather was perfect.  Even when it rained it was perfect!  I am very ready for spring to come, my body is tired of sitting in front of the computer.  I mean, I love reading and surfing the net, but nothing beats being outside and moving around (or reading, or surfing the net). 

Before I can scamper off into the sunlight, I have a lot of projects coming up.  Digital Preservation is keeping me very busy- there was a good reason to warn me about this class!  Let us hope I can keep up with it....

In the Cornfields!

It's that time of the semester- I'm in the cornfields!  It was absolutely beautiful outside, I wish we could somehow have had class outside.  For Digital Preservation, that would've been hard.

Hopefully I'll get some photos from this weekend, hopefully the weather will stay this way through the weekend.  Cannot wait to report all of the LEEPness of the weekend....

Self Directed Reading #2

Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward. 

For the Self Directed Readings, I had to 1) read an article, 2) write a paragraph summary, and 3) write a paragraph of my reactions to the article.  A short but sweet assignment.

The CIBER research team at University College London conducted this study to determine how the Google Generation, those born in 1993 and later, will search for digital objects.  It also points out the many "myths" about the Google Generation being inherently different from previous generations, finding that “power browsing” and a need for immediate gratification is instead a “truism of our time” (CIBER 2008 19).  CIBER strongly recommends libraries to increase visibility in social networking sites, educate users in navigating their catalogs, and “evaluate their users” to understand their needs (CIBER 2008 32-3).  In closing, the report warns that the future is grim for a society that cannot properly navigate the all of the information available.

This study tied in very well with this past week’s readings.  It addressed library anxiety as a major problem for freshmen college students, and that library literacy should start at an earlier age for students to become proficient in it.  The study also pointed to the fact that the Google Generation is not any more competent in searching than previous generations.  In my opinion, this myth arises because as a society, we equate expertise in finding friends on Facebook to mean we are experts in all types of information technology.  People can become overconfident in their skills, and not even realize that they do not know how to use the plethora of library resources available to them.  We need to stop assuming that the Google Generation knows things that they do not.

 

“Information Behavior of the Researcher of the Future.” CIBER. University College of London. Retrieved from http://www.bl.uk/news/2008/pressrelease20080116.html.

Self Directed Reading #1

Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward. 

For the Self Directed Readings, I had to 1) read an article, 2) write a paragraph summary, and 3) write a paragraph of my reactions to the article.  A short but sweet assignment.

In his article “Prove Your Case: A New Approach to Teaching Research Papers,” Stephen Broskoske, an assistant professor in the College Misericordia, explains a new technique for teaching research papers. To get his freshmen students to understand the importance of a specific thesis and sound research, Broskoske now equates a research paper to a lawyer’s preparation for a trial. Lawyers must first decide how to frame their case, as students must figure out how to “define their topic.” Then, as lawyers sift through evidence to prepare their arguments, so do students with their search for sources. The act of writing their paper became their day in court, where they could “present the evidence” they collected from a variety of sources. The “closing statement” to their “case” would be their conclusion, where they would have to summarize their argument and strongly finish their paper (Broskoske 31).

To a librarian instructor in an academic library, this approach to teaching research papers could prove very effective. Broskoske, himself, wrote, that this teaching method works because students can relate to the “high-visibility court cases in the news” (31). The "lawyer arguing a case" method relies on the students’ past experiences with popular court cases to help understand a similar process – writing. Constructivist teaching methods, a topic of last Wednesday's class, relies on the past experiences of a student to help develop new ideas, which the proposed method does. Many popular television shows, such as Law and Order and and The Good Wife, show the same process as the real court cases in the news. As a librarian instructor, I can use these shows the same way Broskoske used court cases, and create a library session framed around an episode of one of these shows and have the students "defend" cases. I would highly recommend library instructors faced with similar challenges to read this article.

Broskoske, S. (2007). "Prove Your Case: A New Approach to Teaching Research Papers." College Teaching 55(1), 31-2.

You know you've been to library school when....part 1

You know when you've been to library school when you're looking at an onstage performance and thinking about the complex digital object it would become, if someone went and tried to digitize it.

Yesterday night I went to see my cousin, Pavi Proczko, play in the new Quest Ensemble play, "Evolution/Creation."  Why this show is different from your normal show takes a few lines to explain.  The play is actually two plays running at the same time on a partitioned stage: one side shows Evolution, from the big bang to the dawn of humans, while the other shows Creation, up to the story of Noah.  during intermission, the audience switches sides to see the part they did not see.  Each side has no dialogue, and run to the same score. 

So, how would I preserve a recording of this play?  I would probably have two videos, one with Evolution and the other for Creation, just so the user can chose themselves which one they want to see first.  Since this play is not supposed to be biased, why would I show any bias and put one part of the play in front of the other?

Otherwise, the play was great and I think anyone in the area should check it out.  My cousin is Adam on the creation side, and the modern Homo sapiens on the other.  The best part- the show is FREE!! 

It's February?

((looks over shoulder))

Wait, it's February?  That's crazy....I feel like I'll have 1-2 posts like this every semester until blogging finally becomes second nature to me.  Anyone can recommend blogging classes, preferably free ones? ; )

Week 5 Analytic Essay

This assignment was for my Digital Preservation class.  I was supposed to summarize and analyze the four required readings for the week, as well as lead class discussions with questions.

Please read the rules about posted assignments before reading onward.

The readings for the fifth week primarily deal with two ways to preserve digital files, via migration or emulation.  Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but in choosing one over the other librarians, museum curators, and archivists cast a vote in the great debate in digital preservation — what exactly does it mean to preserve a digital document?  Is it enough to preserve the content, and not the appearance, of a digital document?  Should it function in the same exact way as it did when it was created, or can it be updated to contemporary standards?  The readings try to answer these questions with research and surveys.

Spring Semester, coming up!

For my spring semester, be ready to hear about these three classes"

458, Instruction and Assistance Systems: "Provides an overview to instruction and assistance methods used in a variety of information systems, including libraries, archives, museums, and electronic environments. Includes an overview of theoretical and applied research and discusses relevant issues and concepts. Students will have an opportunity to design and present an instruction or assistance program.

507, Cataloging and Classification I. One of the "classic" courses of library school: "Theory and application of basic principles and concepts of descriptive and subject cataloging; emphasis on interpreting catalog entries and making a catalog responsive to the needs of users; provides beginning-level experience with choice of entries, construction of headings, description of monographs (and, to a lesser extent, of serial publications and nonprint media), filing codes, Dewey and Library of Congress classification systems, and Library of Congress subject headings."

590PDL, Digital Preservation.  It seems that everyone wanted to take this course this semester....AND it counts for the Special Collections certificate:  "This course examines the current problems with and approaches to digital preservation that are fundamental to the long-term accessibility of digital materials. We will examine the range of current research problems, along with emerging methods and tools, and assess a variety of organizational scenarios to plan and implement a preservation plan. Topics will include basic information theory, preservation of complex digital objects; standards and specifications; sustainability and risk assessment; authenticity, integrity, quality control, and certification; and management of preservation activities. [Elective course for Graduate Certificate in Special Collections]"

I was going to take one more class, but then I realized that due to certain things happening, I had no $.  Let's hope I can take these classes and still eat through May!