Week 13: More LOEX Paper Writing, English 101, and a Fun Surprise!

Though it may not sound jam-packed, this week certainly was. Between juggling LOEX writing, teaching, and assisting patrons at the reference desk, I was definitely kept on my toes! Anne Marie and I have spent several hours fine tuning the LOEX paper, working from a modified outline I used for my presentation at the Iowa Library Association/ACRL conference. Originally we were concerned about being too long-winded, but between the two of us we have been able to be clear and concise (and stay within the required word count limit).

We also continued our work with English 101, finishing up the unit about scholarly research in preparation for their paper deadline. What is unique about this class is that essentially, the entire class writes the "same" paper. They create the same research question, analyze the same resources, take the same notes, and craft their thesis statement together. Even their bibliography is provided from the start. What is left is the writing of the paper. By extracting these elements and doing them together the students really learn the process before jumping in and trying to start from scratch on their own. By giving students this foundation, they are better prepared for assignments later in the semester, and later in their college careers, as they advance to the next level of research writing. In this last class period with the students and librarians together, we explicitly defined the connections between the different articles they dissected before. In making a chart and examining the similar factors and measures of success (factors: student engagement/involvement, metacognitive skills, locus of control, action behaviors, relationships with faculty, relationships with peers; measures of success: degree attainment and the amount of time it takes to earn the degree, cumulative grade point average), students noticed much overlap between the articles. We also worked together to define unfamiliar terms, and crafted a thesis statement together ("Engagement, internal factors, and relationships positively influence college students’ success as measured by cumulative GPA, and timeliness to graduation .").

This week I also received a fun surprise in my email inbox. I was very excited to hear that the American Library Association, New Members Round Table selected Indiana University’s IU ALA-SC as Student Chapter of the Year for our work in 2010. Having served as president in 2010 I was very excited that the efforts and activities of the membership and board were recognized. I, along with the current President, am looking forward to heading to the Annual conference in New Orleans to accept the award and represent Indiana University and the IU School of Library and Information Science!

Week 12: Scholarly Article Dissection, LOEX Preparation, and Reference Work

For the most recent unit in English 101, the students learn to dissect scholarly articles, finding information to answer their research question and guide them in writing their thesis. The process is designed to introduce them to this type of writing and set them up for success in future classes. As this is likely the first time students have had to work with scholarly research, the approach for this unit may feel "backwards" to some. Anne Marie compiled resources that compliment each other. The topic the classes were examining was: student success in college. She compiled three scholarly articles, as well as chapters from their required text, The Naked Roommate, and an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education. Throughout the week the class examined the articles together, identifying the pieces that helped answer their research question, "How do various factors influence college student success?" Students were to have read each of the articles prior to class (and were to have printed them to bring to class, to annotate as we discussed the important factors and results). The first day, Anne Marie popped in at the end of class to give students an idea of what to expect for the next class. On Wednesday the entire class dissected the first scholarly article all together, extracting factors and measures of success. That Friday I helped facilitate small group discussions (we broke into two groups, each discussing a different article). I was impressed with my students' abilities to see past the "fancy-author-talk" and interpret the article to get to the meat of what we were looking for. The next week we discussed both break-out articles as a class.

In addition to teaching, I assisted patrons at the reference desk, and Anne Marie and I spent quite a bit of time preparing our paper for LOEX--It will be here before we know it!

Week 11: Going Abroad (Resources), New Print System, and Added Responsibilities

The week began with a new project. Trina from the Career Services Office was working on a program to assist those thinking of going abroad to work or study. She contacted me about compiling some resources patrons might consult that would help them be successful, whether it is in the application, interview, or moving/living process. Throughout the week I pulled together a list of print resources we have in our collection (as she already had access to the joint Library/Career Services sponsored Career Insider, powered by Vault). Anne Marie was also a bit swamped and was working on an IL session with the LIFE program. She sent an email out asking for suggestions on how to approach helping students with an assignment. I saw she needed a list made of resources, primarily print magazines, with examples of ads the students could use for a project (where they evaluated how the visual aspects conveyed the message of the ad). After wandering the periodicals section of the library I was able to get the list to Anne Marie in time to help her prepare for her IL session.

This week was also the week we began the new print release system. Over spring break, the Office of Technology installed a new program to help both the university and students save paper. Now, after selecting print on their individual computer workstation, students must go to the print release station, select their username, enter their password, select the print jobs they have sent and would like to release, select the printer (they have the option to switch printers if there is a back-up of print jobs at the original station they chose), and click "print." It sounds more complicated than it actually is. The library is trying to "go green" in many areas, particularly paper waste. The library has already seen a significant decrease in print jobs forgotten, and it also helps students keep their print quota points (instead of losing them if they forget to pick up a print job before they leave). Much of my reference desk time, particularly early in the week, was spent orienting students to this new system. As with any new program, there were some bugs to work out (at first documents arranged in a landscape format would not print).

In addition to the new printer system, and the collaborative work with the Career Services Office, we conducted the post-test assessments for students in WV2. Students were given directions as to how to access the TRAILS tests, and submitted them in the first part of their usual class period. Later in the semester we will examine the results.

In preparation for some shifted responsibilities within the library staff, I was offered a part-time, temporary position working as a Reference Assistant, to allow some extra time for others to train for their shifted roles. This week we took care of the paperwork and I began working a few hours as a paid employee at Myers Library. I was excited to have been approached about this opportunity and look forward to gaining added experience. Also, Jenny Parker (the other MLS intern) and I began preparing for an upcoming book discussion of Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach with the UD librarians. The discussion will be held April 29. I'm looking forward to reading more of the book and working with Jenny to facilitate meaningful discussion!

Top Ten List: Number One (LibTech Keynote)

For those who may be just now bumping into my blog, I'll fill you in: my most recent posts have been recapping two conferences I attended in March, the Iowa Library Association/ACRL Conference and the Library Technology Conference (hosted by Macalester College in the Twin Cities). I decided, since I attended ten sessions between the two conferences, to do my own top ten list of Library-Related Conference Sessions (a la The Late Show with David Letterman)! Here's the last post of my list!

From the Library Technology Conference, in reverse chronological order:

1. "The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry)" by Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia

• What does Google do in our society? Google's mission is to organize information and make it universally accessible; however, inherent in the organization of information is the (unintended or intended) hiding of some information and revelation of others. This can be easily seen in the "Google Bombing" process where an organized campaign to raise the page rank of a website is implemented.
  
• Why do we (I) love Google so much (and I really do), if it is hiding information from us? Consumers tend to have blind faith in Google. It provides some pretty amazing services, but are we receiving this speed, power, and convenience at the cost of something greater? At times the question of regulating Google has arisen. What once began with strict regulations (attached to the use of NSF grant funds, copyright, and imposed by the FCC) has shifted, in part due to the increasing size and influence of Google.
  
• The first model of content delivery: Google began as a rank-and-link search engine wherein the material lived beyond Google's control, and were not responsible for content. The service they provided was that of connecting two points.
  
• The second model of content delivery: Google expanded to host and deliver information providing users with information storage via YouTube, Blogger, Google Buzz, etc. The information is integrated within Google's search results and requires registration to upload content. Consumers are the ones who monitor appropriate use (i.e. reporting copyright violations).
  
• The third model is to capture and serve: With advances in Google Maps' street view, Google Earth, and the Books project (all stored on a Google-owned server, and integrated into search results), is there a greater level of responsibility for Google to adhere to copyright and fair use laws? Vaidhyanathan noted that, for the most part, Google uploads whatever content they think is part of their mission to make available, and those not wishing to have their content freely available must "opt out" in order for Google to remove it. (This can also be said for social networking privacy issues, i.e. Facebook, where information must be made private as opposed to choosing to make certain information public.) In this, the third model, Google is no longer a conduit for knowledge, but rather plays a greater role.
  
• Going back to the management of information, whenever information is managed, editorial (value) decisions are made by people. According to Vaidhyanathan, Google seems to not care that "Jew Watch News" is employing Google bombing techniques, but in Germany such sites would not be displayed because of strict laws against distributing hate speech. There has to have been a modification in the algorithm. In the instance of Vaidhyanathan's example, "Jew Watch News," he asserted that Google chooses this morn hands-off approach. He continued saying Google states their ranking is determined by their algorithm but don't reflect the "beliefs and practices of those who work at Google. But, the ethical question is not whether they agree with the content, but rather, is that Google's responsibility here in the United States to not only allow this page to be searchable using their site, but also to be promoted as a result of their code? Google recently reworked their algorithm which lowered the rankings of websites considered "low quality" (i.e. E-How.com) and yet the website Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination remained in the top five results when I searched "Martin Luther King Junior."
  
• Google continues to add personalization, localization, user satisfaction, and speed to their services, but do we as consumers have to hold them to higher standards when it comes to corporate social responsibility? This was one of many ethical questions Vaidhyanathan put forth, questioning not only Google's responsibility, but also our responsibility as consumers. At this point the solution is to remind ourselves of corporate weaknesses (and our own weaknesses as consumers) and diversify our searching in order to diversify our results.
  

Top Ten List: Number Two

From the Library Technology Conference, in reverse chronological order:

2. Getting Back into the Library Business: Moving Library IT to the Cloud, Marc Davis, Drake University

• Marc Davis began by noting there can be a resistance to completely dismantling the server systems we have depended on and invested money in. The goal with cloud computing is to refocus our attention away from the hardware and back onto service. The assumption is that cloud computing is inevitiable, at least to some extent, as the "old" server infrastructure is inefficient to sustain in the long run. By sharing on an extremely large-scale resulting electricity costs, network bandwitdth , operations, software, and hardware costs were dramatically decreased as compared to providing similar results via local servers. Other benefits include elasticity and transference of risk. Cloud computing is not necessarily web based, rather serivces outside of the comapus firewall. This may include using software and storing data outside of the library.
• Three terms to know:
  
  • SAAS: Software as a Service: use of hosted services, i.e. Springshare Libguides; though you have no access to the underlying infrastructure, you are also not responsible for managing the underlying software
  • Infrastructure as a Service: is "Utilizing a provided servier environment but retaining responsibility for configuration and operation" i.e. Amazon Web Services
  • PAAS: Platform as a Service is an environment that supports "building, testing, and deploying (Web-based) applications" i.e. Windows Azure, twilio, and Boopsie (discussed in this post)
• Moving IT infrastructure elsewhere, to vendors or others out-of-house (i.e. centralized campus IT) is one characteristic of Library Cloud migration. Of course, you need to make sure that what your doing meets your needs, both financially and in terms of your goals and priorities). At Drake, they moved the information they supported on their servers from the libray to a centralized IT location.
• An interesting question Marc Davis brought up was: are libraries uniquely positioned to migrate from on-site to cloud IT? While libraries do have expertise with hosted solutions, contracts, and discovery layer services, and are part of a service-rich environment, they may not necessarily be uniquely positioned because such services must be considered with local needs/conditions, sustainability, organizational culture, and other factors specific to the users you serve in mind. If there is extreme resistance based on campus culture, or concerns over information security, cloud computing may be dismissed as an IT possibility for where you are.
• Benefits of Cloud Migration
  • Experience vs. Hype: cost effectiveness, keeping in mind availability, data integrity (continuous back-up), provisioning, capacity (bandwidth); cloud costs tend to be more predictable, identifiable, and incrementally adjustable (to align with acutal usage amounts)
  • Flexibility: quick service without infrasturcutre costs or system administrator duties,the focus is moved from hardware/operating systems to service
  • Innovation: service effectiveness, budgeting and planning, partnerships develop into collaborations
  • IT Skills: IT professionals develop managerial, project manangement, and budgeting/contract skills
• Services:
  
  • Free (SAAS-like): Meebo, Vimeo, Dropbox, Social networks
  • Hosted Services (SAAS): ILLiad by OCLC, Docutek E-reserves by SirsiDynix, DSpace by Longsight, ContentDM by OCLC, Wikis (i.e. Wikispaces, PB Works), Springshare Libguides, Discovery by Ebsco Discovery Service, Web Help Desk by MacsDesign Studio
• Drake is looking to continuing the transfer of resources from on-site IT to the cloud over the next several years (with a select few pieces remaining on-site for security or licensing reasons). While some of their data is processed through on-campus, centralized servers, other is done off-campus. You may learn more about the details of this transition in the presentation found here.

Top Ten List: Number Three

From the Library Technology Conference, in reverse chronological order:

3. From the Library Technology Conference:

• Why go mobile? Many reports indicate the increase in the use of mobile technologies is on the rise and here to stay (the presenter noted studies by the Pew Research Center, Horizon Report 2011, and the Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2010). Mobile technologies are increasingly becoming a student's first choice.
• Things to consider: Is your library website ready? What do your users want? Surveys may be an effective way to determine which features you need to include in your mobile website, though the speaker did not mention focus groups (which could be quite helpful, as was the case of the Kent State library).
• Features to consider:
  
  • Direct link to call
  • Link to text message ("Ask Me" instant messaging)
  • A customizable mobile environment--What are the tools/resources each individual patron uses most frequently? Can they add that to their customized mobile library page?
  • LibGuides mobile interface
  • Ebsco and other mobile databases
  • The ability to reserve spaces (i.e. group study rooms, computers with specialized software, scanners, etc.)
  • Perhaps a library QR code tour or podcast
  • Encourage interaction with the library's social media presence
  • Easy access to e-books, streaming videos/music on demand
• Programming considerations from the library's end:
  
  • Are you willing to write native apps (specific to each type of device: Android, Blackberry, iPhone)? The benefits of this are that it is easier for users to navigate, faster than mobile web, and the app can capitalize on device features (i.e. GPS). Having an internet connection may or may not be necessary (bandwidth), and the apps are usually written in Objective-C or Java. Updates do need to be installed, and the program does need to be marketed in app stores (which means it is up to users to download).
  • Would you rather scale down your website to be accessed using a smaller browser, taking a mobile web approach? Things to keep in mind when using this approach are that the page needs to be optimized for use on a smaller, mobile device. Also, there is the need to connect to the server. Usability tends to be lower because of the many steps it takes to navigate the links and time it may take to connect via a server. Programming is typically HTML, with CSS and Java. While mobile web sites tend to be designed with simplicity in mind, they are not targeted at one specific platform, making the user experience less customizable. The benefits include the ease with which such websites are created and maintained, and that the user does not need to install updates as they might with apps.
  • The hybrid approach (combining apps and mobile web) may work best for some libraries. The app is installed on the mobile device, is platform specific, and can utilize device features, but some of the areas accessed may be mobile web. Some features may need to be periodically updated (app) but some will be instant (and require network access).
• Names to know when it comes to integrating a mobile version of your website into your offerings:
  
  • MOPAC: Mobile OPAC is a customized catalog for mobile devices. AirPAC, by Innovative Interfaces, is one example. Another is the Mobile PAC by Polaris Library Systems.
  • BookMyne from Sirsi Dynix offers library users with iPhones the ability to scan bar codes (to see if the item in the store or at a friend's house is available via the library), social recommendations powered by Goodreads, the ability to cross-reference books in the library with the New York Times best sellers, and the ability to view their account information (i.e. fines, fees, current holds, checked out items). Libraries running SirsiDynix Symphony 3.3, Horizon 7.5 or higher may use BookMyne.
  • Discovery services include: Primo by Ex Libris, Serials Solutions Summon, and EBSCOhost Mobile.
  • Third party vendors include Blackboard Mobile Central (an app with a library portion to it, very limited, just one page of information and no access to user library account information), Boopsie for libraries (users can log in, place holds, renew items, and the app utilizes phone model features), Library Anywhere (by Library Thing), and Mobile Bridge (by Quipu GrouP).
  • Open Source options include the Washington D.C. Public Library iPhone app, Molly (the opens source mobile portal from Oxford University), or librarians may develop their own apps.
• Usability considerations: Just as we consider those with disabilities in designing standard HTML websites, we must also do so with mobile pages. Issues with typing, viewing, etc. occur. The W3C has released their Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0; their aim "is to improve the user experience of the Web when accessed from such [mobile] devices." Other testing tools include EvalAccess 2.0, and Mobi Ready.
• Analytic tools: chartbeat, Clicky, Google Analytics for mobile, Piwik, and Sitemeter.
  
• App development tools: Appcelerator, Mother App, Netbiscuits, PhoneGap, and Rhomobile.
• Mobile helper utilities: Skweezer.com, Mobile Site Generator, iWebkit, Google App Engine, and JQTouch.

Top Ten List: Number Four

From the Library Technology Conference, in reverse chronological order:

4. Things in a Flash: The Latest Web 2.0 Tools, Amy Springer, St. John's University/College of St. Benedict; Jenny Sippel, Minneapolis Community and Technical College; Martha Hardy, Metropolitan State University; Diana Symons, St. John's University/College of St. Benedict; LeAnn Suchy, Metronet

This session gave an overview of six Web 2.0 technologies that may be used in libraries.

• Prezi was presented by Amy Springer. While I was glad this technology was included, and some great points did come up when attendees were asking questions, the presentation of Prezi was somewhat lacking. Prezi, like any presentation software, is just a tool. The important message you are trying to convey is that of your lesson content. Some are hesitant to use Prezi because of the "sea sick" factor. When presenters get lost in the excitement of flipping, turning, outlining, and the seemingly infinite zoom, the audience looses the message and is concentrating instead on keeping their lunch down. I think Becky Canovan describes it well--Prezi should tell a story. As I mentoned earlier, there were some good questions that came out of the attendees. Prezi can be embedded into another webpage, downloaded as a flash file (should you need to present somewhere where internet is not accessible, and the flash file is only editable if you purchase Prezi Pro or Edu Pro licenses), and the recent upgrades make embedding a YouTube video a snap!
• QR Codes, presented by Jenny Sippel, was a great introduction for those unfamiliar with QR codes. QR codes originated in Japan and are the trademarked name for a 2D barcode. The codes are scanned with a device (usually a smart phone with a camera and scanner app). This can be very useful for connecting users with polls (i.e. Google Forms), facilitating library tours, linking to electronic versions of handouts or slides (making information accessible in a variety of formats), instant ask a librarian link, and when you use bit.ly to create the QR code (by addidng ".qr" after the created short link) allows for analytics when you add "+" to the end of the shortened link.
  
• Dropbox, presented by Martha Hardy, is a user-friendly cloud storage account that comes with a desktop client. It not only provides cloud storage, but also performs auto back-up and version control for your files. Any file type can be stored, including photos and music, and you can easily share work (it syncs documents through multiple computers for those files in your shared folder). I have been using Dropbox since the conference and LOVE it--especially since now I no longer have to carry around a flash drive (and/or lose said flash drive). Currently storage for the free account is limited to 2 GB, with expansion possible when you invite new users or when you purchase additional storage (up to 100 GB). Dropbox works with Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.
• Diana Symons spoke about Diigo, a bookmarking/annotating tool with social networking possibilities. It allows you to highlight, add sticky note comments, choose whether your content is public or private, download the Diigo toolbar, and tag websites. You can take screenshots of just the content you would like to share. The annotations stay every time you return to the same page. You can upload a snapshot (to make sure you have the information, even if the site disappears in the future) and it is saved as html and as an image. A great tool for those who do a lot of online reading or for those just wanting to keep track of information they find online.
• Posterous is one of the easiest blogging tools around today, and was presented by LeAnn Suchy. You set up your account (it can be either a group or individual blog), add the email accounts that can update the blog, and ready, set, blog! Just send an email to post@posterous.com, or you can use the web interface. If posting via email, the subject line is the post title and the body is the text. If you send an attachment, the file becomes embedded within the blog; you can even attach mp3 files. You can set up your account so you have to click to approve a blog post (particularly helpful when having a class post to a group blog, as it gives you a chance to proof the post to make sure it is appropriate).
• Last, but not least, is Topicmarks, also presented by LeAnn Suchy. Topicmarks allows you to log in using an existing account (i.e. Yahoo or Google) or you may create an account specific to Topicmarks. New since the end of 2010, this program summarizes documents you upload (i.e. Word documents, PDFs), text you paste into the box for analysis, or web links (and there is a bookmarklet you can use to have Topicmarks analyze the website with one click instead of copying and pasting the link url). Your uploads are automatically visible to "friends" you have added on Topicmarks, but keep in mind when you upload a copyrighted document you have to remember to change the security settings to "private." While this tool is still very much in the beta stage, it can be a helpful tool for analyzing your own writing, and for identifying key words and basic facts (though, keep in mind, just as is the case with citation tools, the final result may be far from perfect so users have to keep in mind this is a tool to help them understand the item they uploaded, not an authority or necessarily accurate interpretation of the work).
  

More information may be found here: http://libtech2011.pbworks.com/w/page/37057543/FrontPage