Powerpoint from RSS presentation
Here are the slides from my presentation at Saturday's Atlanta Emerging Librarians meeting, on "RSS Tools For Emerging Librarians." (Click the photo to download.) I gave an overview of what RSS is, reading and subscribing feeds, easy ways to share and publish RSS, and how to incorporate RSS content into an existing page.
I tried to get an audio recording, but in the course of rebooting the laptop and hooking up the projector I lost my default microphone settings in Audacity, so the recording didn't turn out.
I'm not uploading this one to Slideshare since I used so many layered images I don't think it'll convert very well. The Powerpoint file includes my sketchy notes -- I make no guarantees that they'll make sense to anyone but me....
Thomson suing George Mason U over Zotero
Reuters Says George Mason University Is Handing Out Its Proprietary Software
"Thomson Reuters demands $10 million and an injunction to stop George Mason University from distributing its new Web browser application, Zotero software, an open-source format that allows users to convert Reuters' EndNote Software."
I wouldn't call that technically accurate -- Zotero allows users to convert EndNote styles to use with Zotero. Is that much different from OpenOffice's ability to read and convert Word .doc format?
They're also claiming that GMU reverse-engineered EndNote to create Zotero, which seems silly to me, given how differently the two programs operate.
Web Search Strategies video from Commoncraft
Commoncraft has posted the latest in their excellent series of "plain English" instructional videos, Web Search Strategies in Plain English.
This would be a great introduction to basic searching logic and Boolean concepts for new library users.
My LIS job feeds
Before I unsubscribe from all these feeds, and in support of my RSS presentation this weekend, I'm sharing all the librarian job feeds that I've been reading for the last year or so during my search. In no particular order:
Combined LIS Job Postings from Library Job Postings on the Internet and LISjobs.com.
LibGig's job feed: searchable/customizable feed. I set it to search for Atlanta jobs, and only ever saw one posting here. Maybe it just hasn't had time to catch on yet.
ALA JobList: also has a customizable feed -- enter your search and subscribe to new postings for your area/field as they appear.
As it turned out, I found the posting my new job not via RSS, but just by looking at the GSU website at the right time. The posting did hit both the LISjobs feed and the ALA feed about a day later, though!
Job News
This morning I officially accepted an offer from the GSU Library to become their new Instruction Librarian for User Education Technologies. I am absolutely thrilled about the opportunity. I worked at GSU for a long time in various capacities previously to coming to Emory, and I got my undergrad degree there. In a way it feels like going home after a long absence.
If I could have written the job description myself it would be damn close to my new job. I'm really impressed with what I've seen of their new library, and I already know I'll have some fantastic new colleagues. I can't wait.
Emory Library Open House
In previous years the Emory library has had part of the official new student orientation day that we used to give library tours. This involved the students being brought over en masse by handlers, whereupon we'd give them a 10-minute "this is the library" presentation and drag them around the building half-asleep for tours.
This year the college didn't include the library on the mandatory orientation schedule, so we came up with our own show. We put on an Open House night organized and masterminded by my colleague Erin Mooney. There was a self-tour, with a map marked with several service points where students had to go to get stickers for their map. They turned in the completed maps at the end to enter a raffle for several $25 gift cards, and had the option to fill out a survey for an additional raffle ticket.
Meanwhile, around the building, we had:
Library staff performing music by the ref desk.
An immensely popular quiz game with USB drives as prizes.
Food and drinks.
A fantastic student a capella group.
Apparently I only saw about half of what was going on. I was giving technology demos all evening (though at least half of my attendees were just waiting for the next quiz show to start). The business librarians downstairs were doing trivia questions. I didn't even know until the next day that there was a student improv troupe performing elsewhere in the building.
It was a huge success in my book. I heard many students say how much fun they were having and how glad they were that they came. It took more work to set up than the old tours, but we got to have fun along with the students and I think everyone who came left with an impression of the librarians as friendly, helpful and approachable, and they learned something about our services and where to get help.
Library Survival Podcast, first fall episode
I have been so busy since the start of fall semester that I didn't post our first podcast episode of the year over here. (We decided to take the ugly former podcast page and stick the feed into a nice shiny Libguide this year.)
We've got a new catalog, "DiscoverE" (aka Primo by Ex Libris), and Rachel and I thought we should start the school year off by talking about it. We try in these episodes just to give students a teaser telling them about what the resource of the month can do for them, without getting into the how-to of it, and telling them where to go for more info. I think we did a pretty fair job this time.
Oh, and here's the podcast feed.
Online degrees
I had occasion to chat with the director of a large academic library this week, and we talked a bit about online vs. face-to-face degrees. I was putting forth the proposition that earning my MLIS online had given me a better grasp on instructional technology because the only contact I had with my professors was via the technology provided by my library school. In fact, I think it gave me a good perspective on teaching techniques in general, since the program caused me to think about what was (and wasn't) working well for me as a learner as a result of the online environment. It's been valuable to me as a library teacher and particularly as regards my work with instructional technology.
She said that she had been asked as part of a survey whether, in a librarian candidate, she valued online degrees less than face-to-face degrees. She said if anything she considered online degrees more valuable. If I remember her point correctly, among other things it requires a self-motivated and engaged student to succeed in an online degree program.
It was a good discussion and I'd be interested in talking about it here, if anyone cares to comment.
MS Office discount
Hi! I'm still alive. (Also, the cake is a lie.) Back to school is kicking my butt for a bit longer, probably.
Much as I hate to shill for Microsoft, this is a good deal. A friend of mine has alerted me to the fact that if you have a .edu e-mail address, you can get MS Office for $60 right now. Update: Another friend points out to me that this is for Windows only. Another update: You also have to be a current student. It's also not useful to students outside the US, since they have .ca or .uk suffixes or whatever. Hopefully this is still useful for someone?
I don't get a cut, just thought I'd share the info. I'll be back posting more regularly soon.
My Zotero book
Adventures in Library Instruction podcast
- Episode 35: The Guide on the Side w/ Meredith Farkas
- Episode 34: Discovery Layers in the Classroom
- Episode 33: Love the Cataloger; Hate the Catalog
My posts @GSU Library
I Support
Twittering
- @librarycourtney Happy to advise if you ever need it, of course.