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

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.

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....

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!