Group Project with Belinda Potter and Michele Johnson

I enjoyed working with both of my group members. This experience has taught me a lot about the subject of cloud computing.

I've published the Google Doc to the web and here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1RhwZ3MzzHv4bFyWI9865LI8kyFQU9xPGGWu9YtPk_Oo

Here is the document:




I had to experiment with the iframe to get it to look like this so if anyone else wants to use the code I ended up with here it is:

<iframe height="600" src="link to published google doc" width="590"></iframe>

Last Day

Today is the second to last day of class and I still can't believe it went so quickly. Our group project is due tomorrow night. My group chose to cover cloud computing. I'm amazed by the different applications for cloud computing. Though I often use Google Docs for class and work, I never thought of it as an example of cloud computing before. A newer service I'm interested in is iTunes Match. It's offered by Apple, of course, and allows you to save your entire music collection in the cloud. I'm hesitant to join now especially with the yearly subscription price but I'll definitely keep up with the news about it to see how others like it.

Almost Done

I find it amazing that this class is almost done. It felt like I just started only a little while ago, maybe because I did just start this class a few weeks ago. Wow, Maymester will get you every time. Despite the short time frame I feel like I have learned a lot in this class. I'm still a little hazy on what web 3.0 will be as well as the differences between open source and free software but at least I now have a better idea than when I started. I have also accomplished a lot, this blog and my website being the best of it.

Interview with Cliff Landis

Cliff Landis is the Web Services librarian at Georgia State University Library. He is also the Interim Department Head of Digital Library Services at Georgia State. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the content management system used by Georgia State University Library.

      • Are we using a content management system for the library’s website and if so, which one?

Currently the library uses the campus-wide CMS, OpenText (formerly RedDot) for its website. Additionally, we manage about 50 different web-based applications that tie in together to provide a seamless user experience of the library’s resources (such as LibGuides for research guides, Kurogo for our mobile website, OpenRooms for group study room reservation, LabStats for computer availability maps, etc.)

     • How and where did the library hear about the CMS?

Other units on campus had been using RedDot since before I came to GSU. In 2009/2010, IS&T (Information Systems and Technology, the central campus IT department) started to require all units on campus to move to RedDot (prior to that we were using a home-grown CMS system). We transitioned over from our home-grown system to RedDot in August of 2010
.
     • What were the library’s motivations for adopting this CMS for its current use (library website or any other purpose)?

We were mandated by central IS&T.

    • What were the decision making criteria?

The decision was made by central IS&T because it was the system that they had been using and developing in for a long time – they did not want to move out of their existing system. As it was told to me, they solicited feedback from other units on campus but made their own decision to move forward with RedDot despite complaints.

    • What are the important benefits or advantages of this CMS over the old system or another CMS system the library (or you) has used in the past?

There is only one benefit that I can think of: RedDot is set up to separate editing, publishing and display on separate servers. So, for example, we edit our work on one server, which is then passed to the publishing server, which then pushes out the work onto the display server. This way, if either the editing server or publishing server go down (which happens regularly) it does not take our public website down. However this also means that seeing changes often takes several minutes, depending on the health of the other two servers.

    • Are there any disadvantages and if so, how did you overcome them? There are a lot of disadvantages:

1. The software is extremely flexible, which means that you basically get an empty box and a development framework, so you have to code all of the tools yourself. This is great if you’re running everything centrally, but unfortunately IS&T was coding all of the tools but not documenting them. Instruction was done in classes by Employee Development folks who did not work on the tool itself, so they often were unable to answer questions and had to throw their hands up when things went wrong. As a result, we (the library) had to figure stuff out on our own and write our own documentation. See the “hide and reveal framework” for an example of the complexity involved.


2. The software’s labeling and user interface is practically impossible to decipher. Standard behavior on other tools (locations of menus and options) are not in place in this software. There was no way to overcome this other than to learn the cryptic labels and document them internally.


3. Simple actions take dozens of steps to complete (uploading a file takes 10-15 steps). There is no way to overcome this.


4. Finding a single element to edit can take a long time if you don’t already know where it is located. Internal documentation is the only way to overcome this.


5. Publishing a page is tedious and takes several steps. Even when those steps are complete, there’s no guarantee how long it will take to publish out to the public website. Again, we can only document and try to be patient.

     • How was the learning curve?

Because the tool is overly complex and difficult to use, the learning curve is extremely high. As a result, I (the Web Services Librarian) am the only person who deals extensively with RedDot – it would be a waste of other folks’ time to try to teach them all the ins and outs of this system. We have a “Web Group” in the library who collectively does simple editing, but for complex editing the work falls to me. After the ongoing complaints from the whole campus over the last two years, IS&T is going to provide WordPress as an alternative to RedDot later this summer. Right now they are working with a consultant to develop a migration tool to help units move their content from RedDot to WordPress. In the library we have a lot of experience with WordPress since we use it for both our public and intranet blogs, so this will be an excellent development when it finally becomes available!




Before this interview I did not know what content management system was being used by the library and Georgia State University at large. I also did not take into account the problems having one central system for  multiple departments could cause. From the readings I gained this simplistic view that the biggest problem when dealing with a CMS would be having enough programming expertise. From this interview I learned that you sometimes have to work within existing systems and existing policies that make the job that much harder. I have not used RedDot/OpenText before but it seems to have a number issues which lead me to one of the most important pieces of advice I gleaned from this interview: document everything! Cliff mentioned it several times while explaining how he dealt with the system. A lack of documentation on the part of the central IS&T increased the confusion of the different departments dealing with this software.

What's the Deal with Web 2.0?

I finally located the blog I created during my first attempt at taking MLIS 7505. I wanted to re-post my only post from there because it is still the best description of what I felt then about web 2.0 and to some degree still feel. So here it is from May 16, 2010: Web 2.o seems like an umbrella term used to cover a number of subjects relating to the web. I began learning about it last semester in Information Architecture and became fascinated with the subject. I casually use many of the web applications web 2.0 discusses but did not think of them in the larger context of how and why they are so different now than applications in the early 2000s or even the 1990s and how they have shifted power dynamics on the web. Web 2.0 is a way of explaining the way people are now interacting with each other and content on the web. Ten years ago this interaction would have been browsing content on relatively static pages where the only interaction between the creator and the user might be a feedback form or a contact email address. The flow of information/content was mostly one way. In the past few years interaction has leap beyond that. The users of applications and websites can interact and help shape the content they are seeking. Look at a site like youtube where content is almost entirely supplied by users and includes real time feedback that drives popularity. Sites like Padora, Last.fm, and especially Amazon anticipate the interests of their users in order to provide recommendations. The flow of information and content can now be bi-directional.

Joomla!

I've been trying to catch up on school work. Last night I wrote discussion posts while watching Mick Jagger on Saturday Night Live's season finale. Today I hit the beach one last time before making 6 hour drive back home. I've been working on Joomla ever since getting back. I think the majority of my time was spent trying to change my logo. I still think there has to be an easier way to do it. If anyone knows one, please let me know. After that adding articles wasn't actually that bad.

Vacation and schoolwork

I'm taking a short vacation this weekend. After a busier than usual Spring semester, I felt I could do with a little break so I headed for the beaches of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This weekend is also Harley Davidson weekend here. An event I found out about when the roar of engines and the smell of exhaust greeted me as I drove down Ocean Boulevard Thursday night looking for my hotel. Every night has seen an endless parade of a variety of different bikes up and down the main street. Last night I met a recently retired librarian with a custom pink Harley. We spent a little while talking about libraries in general and my classes. She was really interested in what I was learning in this class and told me that she recently started a blog with some other riders chronicling their trips around the country on their motorcycles. The whole conversation made me think of web 2.0. Partly because I was feeling a little guilty about taking a break from my schoolwork but mostly because whether you want to believe it is a fad that will fade in time or not, the web 2.0 applications have become widespread. You can get book reviews, cooking tips, or news analysis from blogs. Some professors accept wikipedia as a reliable source to reference or at least as a decent starting ground for research. Every library conference I've been to recently and even a few webinars have utilized twitter in some way whether as a vehicle to ask questions or a way to give feedback. It's all very interesting. I'm interested in seeing what ways we're going to be able to use web 3.0 applications.

Choosing Wiki Software

A wiki is a type of website that allows users to add and alter the content of it. The best and most famous example of a wiki is Wikipedia. Over the past couple of days I have been researching wiki software in order to find a good fit for my library. My library serves a middle level research university with around 32,000 students. There are 250 degree programs offered in eight colleges. We have students working towards bachelor’s, master’s, specialist and doctoral degrees. With this varied group of students, a library wiki can be shared meeting ground for communication and help with research.

Wikis are meant for collaborations. They can have a number of uses. Wikipedia gathers and spreads knowledge. Other wikis serve as a forum to brainstorm ideas. Currently, my library has an internal wiki that is used for collaborating on projects, papers, and committee work. The new wiki that I am proposing will be for the students at my university. It will contain library guides and other resources added by the subject librarians. For a better idea of what I'm proposing look at what Ohio University Libraries are doing with their business wiki. I would like to do something similar except for more subject areas.

Courtesy of Mediawiki.org

I chose MediaWiki. This software is both free and open source. It is also a popular choice for wiki software amongst libraries. MediaWiki has a number of basic features including support for unicode and 140 interface languages, a rss feed for recent changes, theme and skin changes, section editing, editing preview, a way to avoid editing conflicts, and it is printer friendly. Users can be notified of content changes by email which is a useful feature for letting students know information has been added to library guides.

MediaWiki also allows for embedded flash and video along with graphics and sound. Videos showing students how to navigate the website for specific resources can be added to the wiki by subject librarians. Each article has a talk page that students can use to discuss issues, ask questions or make comments. A chat box can be added to the wiki so students can ask for help directly. Forums can also be added. MediaWiki allows you to add a calendar that can contain library hours, reference desk hours, or the hours a specific subject librarian is available to chat.

You can check out the list of features for MediaWiki at WikiMatrix or visit their site to read more about it: MediaWiki.org.

When you say Web 2.0...

I started this blog as part of an assignment for a class. Two years ago, I started another blog when I originally tried to take this class. Unfortunately my section was dropped and I abandoned my blog to catch up on all the recreational reading I missed out on during the semester. My first and what would turn out to be my only post was filled with the excitement I felt upon discovering web 2.0. I dreamed of all the ways I could apply what I was reading in articles and blogs and watching in vodcasts to help my library. My knowledge was still mostly theoretical and not so much practical.

Now I find that excitement is tempered by time and experience learning that even if it sounds like a good idea, it’s not always feasible. You have to take into account budgetary concerns, training, and getting buy in from fellow staff and administrators. At the end of the day, a great idea may just remain a idea. That being said, I have noticed an increase in the acceptance of web 2.0 in libraries. There is of course the use of social media like twitter, facebook, or social bookmarking sites to get in touch with users. Chat is another big addition to library homepages. Check out the chat function for Odum Library. Libraries have used wikis to help users or other librarians. Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki is a great example of the latter. I expect to blog more on that soonish.

Both personally and professionally (I do a lot of OPAC searching in ILL), I appreciate the updating of OPACs. Here is an example from a record in Georgia State University’s catalog:

Georgia State University Library

Here you’ll find the traditional information of author, title, publisher, year, and location. There are also a couple of new features. Now I have the option to interact with the record and whoever else looks at it by adding tags or my comments. I can look at reviews or the Table of Contents of the item. There are even a number of options to save the record including adding it to my favorites. The similar items section in the right sidebar has been especially useful in finding items students might find useful for their research. A lot of these features appeared in websites like Amazon.com years ago. I’m glad to see them making their way into library OPACs.

Ch-ch-Changes

This is going to be a short post. I finally figured out how to fix the layout for this blog so I'm feeling a little proud right now. I'm even more relieved that I'm no longer having that 'why is this so hard', slightly stupid feeling anymore. Thanks to my fellow classmate, Nelson Fredsell, for the idea of adding the twitter feed.

I've either had or currently have a website, livejournal, dreamwidth, facebook, twitter account, and tumblr so you would think adding a blog to that list wouldn't be that bad but I've been lazy or too busy to keep up with most of that list. This semester promises to be an interesting one. 

Introduction

First things first, here’s a little background. For the last couple of years I've been calling myself a librarian in training as I worked on my library science degree. ‘Librarian-in-training’ has a nice ring to it and is true in more than just being a student. It’s been almost two and a half years since I started my degree. What I think about libraries and librarians has gradually shifted to include all of the information I’ve taken in. Now that I'm at the tail end, I feel like I can truly start claiming the title of librarian but the training is going to continue even after I get my diploma.

Currently, I’m working in the interlibrary loan department of an academic library. Speaking of the continuous learning experience, my main goal for this year has been to become comfortable with working in Illiad 8. We plan on switching to being hosted by OCLC some time this summer which means we’ll have to use the latest version of Illiad instead of lagging behind until all the inevitable bugs are fixed. This won’t mean anything to you if you have nothing to do with ILL but those who do, you understand my pain.