Comments about assignments

LIS 2600 assignments have been a pleasure to complete. I've enjoyed the practicality of the latest Jing assignment and foresee using that technology in the future. I'm a little anxious about the midterm exam because I'm not sure what it might cover. There seems to be quite a bit of information over the past 10 chapters of the textbook and I'm having trouble identifying the most important parts. My hope is that the review this week in class will put me on a good path for success on the midterm exam.

LIS 2000 has been a challenge. Critical thinking and reading large amount of material can be a real challenge. I'm sure the latest essay on scholarly communication is the most difficult assignment I've ever done in my school career. The fact that there were three books to read along with the requirement of an additional six outside sources has made it challenging and I fear not having made decent connections.

I think the reason writing this latest essay in LIS 2000 has been so challenging is that I didn't have a clear road map or outline for the essay before I started. I've also not had to write many essays in school before. In contrast, the Double Fold essay was practically written in my mind before I started. I think I can handle short essays with at most one book and a few outside sources where a thesis can be formed much easier. The biggest challenge I'm having is critically analyzing what I've read and figuring out what the influence is on scholarly communication.

The advice I'm giving myself is that this is the first time I've tried an assignment like this and that going through the process will make it easier the next time.

Jing Assignment: Video (with audio narrative) demonstrating how to install and configure the Firefox extension for Zotero

2010-06-04_2010

The link to the video presentation is above and the embedded video below. I used the entire 5 minutes allowed by Jing. I successfully installed Zotero and walked through the preferences. I would have liked to introduce the Zotero interface by clicking on the Zotero name in the lower right hand side of the browser window. In any event, enjoy the presentation. Thank you for watching.

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Benefits of Web 2.0 for Libraries

After reading an article in the online magazine Ariadne, I wanted to share a few of the highlights in my blog. I think one of the ways this blog is developing is like a journal or a place for me to organize my thoughts and discoveries about library science and technology. I still reach for a typical journal to jot down a note, but I can see myself using this blog more and more. It has it's advantages (searching, easy to organize) and it's disadvantages (need to have a computer handy, privacy.)

The link to the full article is below.

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue63/nogueira/

The article focused on libraries (and by extension archives) using Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. An LIS professional Dongmei Cao listed these benefits:

• increased importance of the library to the user;
• improvement in the library’s image;
• potential of new interactive services to raise the level and quality of the service provided;
• increased involvement of users and improved communication of the library with such users;
• improvement in communication among librarians;
• greater ability to find quick solutions to meet the needs of users;
• improvement in shared knowledge and collaboration.

Other advantages listed in the article include: an increased awareness of the collection; varies access of the collection; diversification of users; improved relationships and links; new dynamic ways to engage; free of charge; contributes to the improved information literacy of users and the general public; the recognition of users as a valid source of information; and the opportunity to enthuse users with the type of contact established and better communication through contact that is simultaneously institutional and informal, professional and personal.