Haven't been blogging in weeks

Well, that's not actually true. I am just blogging elsewhere! I have my class blog for my Library 2.0 course with Michael Stephens, and it's right over here. Feel free to check in on me there; mainly, I am writing observations about libraries, library 2.0, technology, etc.

I have a bunch of homework this semester, seemingly more than ever before. My reading list for my Young Adult Materials course is 55 books long--seriously. So, I spend pretty much all spare non-work moments doing homework or spending time with my new husband. Blogging here will be sporadic but probably will resume on November 15th or so.

Edited to add: I am also twittering. Enjoy!

Back, and better than ever

I'm back to blogging, mainly because I'm experiencing some writers block with an assignment I have due in one week, an autobiography of my reading/literacy as a young person. I'm trying to get a jump on this because I am feeling like this semester may be the death of me. I've got two again, Library 2.0 and Materials for Young Adults, but the YA class has a reading list of over 50 titles and the 2.0 class only meets six times, so somehow I already feel behind, like I should have been working on this stuff since July. Except, I was working on wedding stuff in July and enjoying a month free from homework.

This past week, I've read "Doing It" by Melvin Burgess, "Forever..." by Judy Blume, and "Seventeenth Summer" by Maureen Daly. "Doing It" was great, the Blume was typical Blume, and I'll admit that I skimmed vast passages of Daly's book, simply because nothing much happens and I didn't miss anything but five paragraph descriptions of the light and the garden and whatever else was going on in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1942 when the book was written.

I actually managed to cook dinner for me and S before he had work at 4pm, so I feel like that's my primary accomplishment of the day. I made a quiche that tasted like pizza because I used tomatoes and mozzarella cheese in addition to the regular onions and cheddar and other veggies we had in the fridge. S kept saying how good it was, so that was great.

I've watched a very tiny bit of news, catching Hilary's time on the floor during the 6:00 news putting up New York's delegates for Obama. I'll admit that I got goosebumps--the convention floor just must be glittering with excitement.

I promise wedding, honeymoon and vacation photos in the near future, but right now, I'm probably going to start "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel while my brain cooks my ideas for my autobiographical essay.

Update!

S graciously offered to drive to my school in order to pay for the lost library item. He hit the road around 1pm, and made it there, only to discover that the item had been returned, just not checked in. Eek! This happens occasionally at the library where I work, so I was sympathetic, but criminy! The librarian removed the hold on my account and I got into the two courses I wanted (Materials for Young Adults and Library 2.0 with Michael Stephens). Overall though, I just keep thinking, S drove an hour and a half to St. Paul and back for me. That's what we call "a keeper."

Ch-ch-changes

Have I mentioned how much I am loving having an online class? It's been really convenient—no driving, and I think I'm learning as much if not more than in a traditional class. I do miss the human interaction, but I've gotten to e-mail my professor and share a discussion forum with my classmates (many of whom I've already had a class or two with, so they are familiar to me) which has resulted in some interesting threads. We've read about tagging, OPAC web-based adaptations, Drupal, social networking, Library 2.0, search engine optimization, openness/copyright, and so on. I've successfully learned how to develop a webpage using (X)HTML and CSS, and have really enjoyed pretty much every facet of this course. Here's hoping I can take another one before I graduate, since this class ends tomorrow with a final exam...

After class is done, I'll have a new task to look forward to: moving! Here is my new neighborhood, showing the distance from our place (B) to the new library (A, completion date: sometime at the end of August—in the aerial view, it's still a big parking lot):



On the right of the aerial view, you can see the dense buildings that make up the campus of my alma mater and S's current place of education. We'll both be within 10 blocks of the place we go to most frequently. We're going to try to be as green as possible, factoring in that I drive a total of 3 hours merely to get to my school's campus and back at least once or twice a week. See the green spot on the map? That's our 'lake'! And currently, my friend Amanda lives on the corner of the green field near the dot you see in the image.

We have a bit of packing to do, and the plan is to start moving in some larger furniture on Tuesday evening, culminating with the delivery of our new mattress on Wednesday. I see a trip to IKEA in our future...

Fingers crossed

Well, tonight at midnight is the deadline for my final project for this summer's course. There are a few assignments and a test left, but this is the major assignment:

The Final Website!

So, that's the link, and I feel like it really is some of my best work. I actually understand XHTML and CSS now, which is incredible and surprisingly fun. I really got a kick out of making things look how I wanted them to look using simple commands.

I really, really hope I get an "A" on this.

It's nice to be living in the future

This video (in case the embed above doesn't work) is something I had to watch for my class, and watching it kind of gives me goosebumps. It's so great to be living in an age of technology; typing this as I sit using my laptop to read articles online and watch Clay Shirky videos for my graduate school class, while thinking of how to design my webpage for my final assignment is pretty incredible when I think about what higher education was like even 20 years ago.

Fun with XHTML

I have been working a lot on my exercises for my online class (Internet Fundamentals and Design). My first assignment was easy. It was basically, here, make a little webpage with some italicized and bolded text with a link. So I put five links. *shrugs* I am all about content.

Next, I made this page which I lost some tiny fraction of points on, because I had two body tags and didn't close a paragraph tag. Oops. I fixed them and put up that identical page without the errors. The assignment got a little more tricky (include an image, resize it, etc.) but it took me back to the days where I made a blog on my Tripod site, superrubypunch, in 1997. Oh, I am nothing if not old school. I taught my sister everything I knew about HTML, and then promptly forgot most of it.

Then, I made this page which was fun, because I spent a ton of time hunting down pretty pictures (and naming them, so when you put your mouse over the images, there's a description). We also learned how to make links that pop up in a new window (or tab) and about ASCII symbols. I got all the points for this one. Hot stuff.

Now, I have worked ahead and created this version of the previous page because we learned how to make tables. I fully realize it would make much more sense to have the images be links directly to the items, but for the assignment, we were to make two tables, one of text that is centered, one with images. I will probably ultimately revise that page to a much larger table with links and image descriptions, etc.

I actually geek out about this stuff, which shouldn't be surprising to me, since I liked it when I did it at age 16, but hey, it's nice to know I haven't changed that much. I still like the same boy I did at age 17, so at least I'm consistent.

Why online classes rule

Okay, so I'm taking this online class this summer with an instructor from Dominican University (my MLIS program is kind of confusing; I understand it, but it's weird to explain) and as I sat down this evening to watch a movie, I realized: I have an assignment to complete!

I'd started working on it yesterday morning, then promptly forgot about it as S and I went about our days. I subbed at a branch library, then we had delicious Chinese dinner with two of his aunts. After that, we watched a 'drive-in' movie, wherin we took my laptop to a parking lot where we could see the sunset and we watched "2 Days in Paris" which was great. This morning, I had a dress fitting with his aunt Jean, a.k.a. the amazing seamstress who sewed her daughter's wedding dress, and then we looked at an apartment.

So, this website is my completed assignment (nice, huh) plus I am reading about "As We May Think". And I just have to have this done by 11:50 pm! Yay for online classes.

#3: RSS, Bloglines, oh my!

Thing #3 is another one I've already done. I use Bloglines, and I really like it. I have a few options that I do regularly: to skim for interesting posts from favorite bloggers, to read all posts by those bloggers since the last time I checked in, or to know it's been updated and to click through to their actual blog and read it from there. It's also one of those browser tabs that rarely gets closed once I open it in Firefox. I just keep it up and look at it once or twice a day when I want something to read.

I think one of the most useful applications of RSS could be for libraries and teachers to put out timely information on a feed instead of e-mailing or expecting users/students to login somewhere. RSS makes it easy to update the masses without masses of 'extra' information overload.

To be completely transparent, I will say that the only reason I found out about Bloglines 2 years ago was because I attended a session on Library 2.0 in Willmar, taught by Michael Stephens himself. I was the only one in the room of about 30 library staff who'd heard of or already used half the things he was talking about (last.fm, Facebook, Flickr, to name a few) and he literally told me, "You need a Bloglines account," so I went home and made one and never looked back.

I used to visit a lot of blogs on a regular basis, just to see if they'd added anything new, and now I don't have to waste time hunting around for updates. Aggregators, I find, are especially nice for keeping up with Michael Stephen's blog, Found Magazine's Daily Finds, and the combined list of LIS jobs. As of right now, I have 43 feeds in my Bloglines. Instead of hunting down where a feed is on a site, I usually just type the URL into Bloglines and let it search for the feed.

Thing #2: Web 2.0 and why I should care

For #2 of 23 things, I'm going to address some questions:

* We know time is always an issue--Stephen Abram shares some ideas on where to find the time for 23 Things. Where will you find the time?
* Why are you participating in 23 Things On a Stick? What do you hope to learn?
* How has the Internet and the vast resource it can be affected your use of time at work and/or at home?
* Where are you in your knowledge and use of Web 2.0 tools? How about your library?
* What are you looking forward to in 23 Things On a Stick?

To answer all of these, first of all, do I get bonus points for being Facebook 'friends' with Stephen Abram? No? Okay, well, anyway, part of why I want to do the 'things' is that I've got a few weeks before my next course begins, and so it will be fun to try these things and think about them differently. I already use so many of the 'things' that I'm going to be blogging about, and my hope is that I can think about these Web 2.0 tools in relation to what I will be doing as a librarian once I graduate and find employment as a 'real librarian.'

I think the perspectives of Millenials/Gen Y'ers are very important for libraries right now. Since most of us already use these Web 2.0 tools for our own personal uses (sharing photos on Flickr, using aggregators to keep up with friends' blogs, etc.) and don't even think about them as being anything 'new' or unusual, I think we can help bridge the gap between the seasoned librarians and even younger generations who simply do not find the library a relevant place. This is where Library 2.0 (or L2) comes in. As Blyberg points out,

"While there are a lot of non-technical components to L2, the fact of the matter is that technology is L2’s impetus. I think this is where a lot of confusion comes in to play. L2 is not about technology, but technology is an important component of it."

Also, I love this point:

"Also, it’s not terribly costly to integrate social software in ways that Jenny Levine, Jessamyn West and Sarah Houghton have been suggesting for a long time now. It just takes energy, enthusiasm and a will to do it."

It's like, come on, people! This stuff is FREE! Why not try it, play around, enjoy it, and embrace it? New things are fun and exciting; don't be afraid of change. Life is all about change. I love that I get to be on my library's Virtual Service Team, and talk about these things with librarians and actually implement change in my organization. What's hard is really making 'radical trust' work in a bureaucracy, which is essentially what all libraries are. I'm glad that our director has been supportive of the VST and overhauling our library's website.

Another Blyberg point I like:

"L2 is not an option. If we don’t acknowledge the weighty significance of L2, we will not just be running the risk of sliding into obscurity, we just wont be that important to society. We will become the functional equivalent of back-room storage full of green hanging-file-folder boxes."

Amen to that.

I'm really looking forward to the next 21 things, and re-energizing myself both in library school and in my current job as a library assistant.

Beginning 23 Things on a Stick

Libraries in Minnesota are involved in a self-guided Library 2.0 tutorial called 23 Things on a Stick, since everything at the Minnesota State Fair is 'on a stick.' The first session of the tutorial is over, but a new round is beginning May 15. The first 'thing' is to create a blog... well, we know I've got that down! I've decided I'm going to attempt the 23 things, and just label them as such with my current blog. I'm getting a jump on the things since they're already posted here.

The other thing I'm supposed to accomplish is to make an avatar with Yahoo avatars. That was fun! I added my little Beth avatar right over there -----> and I really like her! (Note: I would never wear a skirt that short to work, but y'know, she is cuter that way.)

My thoughts on the first 'thing'? Blogging is so easy and fun that anyone can and should do it, except that blogs really need a focus in order to be relevant for readers. As my readers know, I am kind of all over the map, but I write about how I am in library school, my fiance (who appears as 'S' in this public forum) and our upcoming wedding, food, family, and lots more. I'm into a lot of hobbies (knitting, movies, classical voice, etc.) and I also like to take photos. One of my gifts for my recent golden birthday was a sweet new Canon camera from my parents, so more photos will be appearing soon!

So, here's hoping the next 22 things are as fun as the first one.

Homeworkin' it up

Oh my gosh, I am inundated with homework. I actually worked ahead last week in order to feel less pressured this week, but I still feel overwhelmed. I've got the following assignments to complete:

For readers advisory:
-Complete reading of books for booktalk on Wednesday (1.5 books to finish reading, writing booktalk blubs for)
-Complete 10 page paper on publishing/readers advisory significance of "A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton

For services for children and young adults:
-Write grant proposal

Okay, so three assignments looks like piddly nothing, but the final projects are worth significant portions of my grades for both classes, and the booktalk thing is just becoming an afterthought, though I am excited about my chosen books and idea ("Books to try if you liked 'Eat, Pray, Love'—travel and self-discovery abroad"). Thank goodness I am done with my two projects due for class tomorrow (design a summer reading program with $1300 budget, and design a single teen program with $200 budget). I know these assignments are really preparing me well for working with young adults and with readers across genres, but it feels like a lot is on my plate before the end of the semester on Wednesday, April 23.

Thankfully, I have a couple weeks reprieve from April 23 until May 18. S and I have wedding-related work to do on my birthday weekend (April 27) and we are trying to check a few things off the to-do list before then. One nice thing I found out last weekend is that my Colombian sister Cata (exchange student who lived with us for a year) has enlisted her mother to find me some earrings/necklace (?) to wear from Colombia. We'll see how this pans out, but her mom has pretty fabulous taste, and knows I am wearing some red accents. As a backup, I may find something(s) from LuxeDeluxe on Etsy, because her stuff has a good style that I like. This is the fun part of wedding planning! This, and getting to eat tiramisu at the reception instead of cake. And, bugging S to design our invitations soon so we can get them printed and sent out in June.

My mom thinks I'm cool

Well, I've really been neglecting my blog, haven't I? The thing is that, now that I have two courses, I pretty much read. All the time. Readers' Advisory class means I get to read novels, which is awesome, because it's forcing me to branch out in terms of genre fiction ("Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card is actually really cool!).

My sister went to San Francisco (hmm, what a familiar place...) to visit a friend and brought me some souvenirs. One of which was this radical button which now has a place of pride on my backpack, along with the patch S gave me from his Boy Scout days that says "Librarian." Oh, the librarian-in-training regalia! Andrea also got me some stickers ("Reading is sexy" and "Knitting is knotty") and some little sushi stickers, but the piece de resistance is the action figure! I was always kind of anti-Nancy Pearl action figure, because I didn't like the 'shushing action.' I am not the shushing type, but when Andrea gave it to me, I couldn't say no. Then, I found out that Nancy herself is coming to the library where I work in April! Holy cats, I hope she's down with signing my action figure box.

Also, anyone else out there who thinks Michael Stephens of Tame the Web should have a librarian action figure, too? He could be "Librarian 2.0" and come with a laptop. I love this idea! If anyone steals this idea, I would be fine with it. Michael is teaching the Library 2.0 class at my school right now, and I saw him in the eating area on Sunday before my class, and S got to see my mini "That's Michael Stephens who taught that workshop in Willmar, MN back when I first started my MLIS..." freakout. He's just really neat, that's all.

Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure everyone in my Services for Children and Young Adults course thinks I'm totally weird because, when the instructor asked us to say something interesting/memorable about ourselves, I admitted to both being able to sing opera and ride a unicycle (at the same time, no less). I cannot help it that my family unicycles as sport, and that my genetics means I have a pretty good soprano, but usually, I save that kind of information for more intimate acquaintances. Oh, well, sooner or later they were bound to find out. Little do they know I have other secrets, too...

Edit: weirdly enough, after writing this post on a break at work and then getting home, I found a gift from a friend of a friend waiting for me: The Illustrated Librarian temporary tattoos are great! Thanks so much to Jenn who saw these and thought of me. Aww.

Just thought of this...

It's not true yet, but will be once I graduate. I think I may actually get these printed and send them out to prospective employers during my last semester. Script for card generation from Blyberg.

Trials and tribulations

This morning was registration time for both me and S. We both had our course schedules all figured out, but of course, it didn't go off without a hitch.

I register at 6am, so I was up at 5:45 trying to login, to no avail. Our house's internet access was down, and so was, it turns out, all of Charter High-Speed in our service region. So I had to wait until I got to work (early) in order to attempt it, also to no avail. Turns out the system was down! Ack! So at least I wasn't the only one who couldn't register and who lost some sleep over Kateway's lack of response.

Then, I went to register for my dear S because he was on the radio during his registration time. I added all of his courses to a list with no problems... then, I got an error message. He needed special permission for one of his Social Studies Teaching courses. No problem, he said, when I called him, because he knows the professor and would see him later today in class.

A little later, on my break, I tried logging in to Kateway again, and it worked! A miracle! Except when I went to register, I didn't have the necessary pre-requisite for one of my desperately wanted courses. Ugh. So, I called the department for a second time, and the lovely person in the office helped me out by giving me the e-mail of the instructor so I could beg to be let in. So, I at least got into Readers Advisory Services, but Services for Children and Young Adults is a big question mark right now. Here's hoping the instructor can help me out.

Then, S called a bit later to say he ran into the professor he needed to talk to, and apparently, he doesn't need to take that course until his Education Block of courses in the fall. Yippee! One less class to take for S next semester. Fingers crossed that I can be so lucky.

Shot to bits

Anniversary plans got completely obscured by homework needs yesterday. S had a group meeting last night for a presentation today, and then tonight he has to work for his political science professor, calling for the next SCSU survey and I have a boatload of work to do for my professor and reading to do for class on Saturday, plus polishing my paper. So, I guess we're going to try to go out tomorrow night instead, when S tags along with me to St. Paul. I'm thinking we could go to fancy sushi at Saji-Ya, or try the Loring Pasta Bar, or possibly Staccato.

S did send lovely roses to work, though:





Here's to another two excellent years together.

My graduate assistantship depends on this Library of Congress table being typed and spaced correctly

SB PLANT CULTURE SB


Pests and diseases
Plant pathology
Diseases and pests of trees and shrubs -- Continued
765 Tree and forest declines
For local, see SB762+
For particular trees, see SB608.A+
767 Galls and gall insects
For special insects, see QL1+
Individual trees, see SB608.A+
781 Damage from frosts, freezing and hail
Cf. QK756, Plant physiology
785 Effect of floods
Cf. QK870+, Plant physiology
791 Effect of drought

More patience required

Weirdly, I am on my lunch break right now, at 4:45 pm. I was supposed to take my lunch at 2 pm, also kind of a weird time, but I got stuck at the circulation desk answering some patron's questions about an item he thought he had inter-library loaned, but which our library then purchased, and so on and so forth, so my 'lunch' ended up being a 20 minute break. So, lunch time is now, but I've already eaten. Hence, the blogging.

I started reading "Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007," the newest in the series, and so far, it's pretty all right. The first story was originally published in Spin Magazine, and it's basically a white 40-something guy writing about his experience at Gothicfest. Pretty neat, actually. I'd recommend any of the Nonrequired series to pretty much anyone, because they're rather mind-expanding. One of the books (can't remember which year) had a profile on Saddam Hussein, which was enlightening.

After work, I need to hunker down with Chapter 20 of the book I'm helping to edit, which I have already read twice, but need to read again in order to get paid. Speaking of getting paid, I have not, as of this moment, seen one red cent for my graduate assistantship, but I hope that all this will change in the next week, as I plan on filling out my timesheet this Friday and seeing a check soon thereafter. Fingers crossed and all of that, since I've been working since September on this, and it's nearly November! Yikes stripes.

I am also hoping to find out sooner rather than later whether or not my work schedule can be modified so I only have to come in three (3) days a week starting in January. I register for classes in mid-November, so I'm not sure of my school schedule yet, but I am not too concerned that I won't get in to the courses I want. I'm going to need more time to study and do homework, and having an extra day off per week would help immensely. I guess I have to wait and see.

Exciting developments

I am super psyched about my group project right now, because not only do we get to interview the Principal Librarian for the Minnesota Orchestra, he invited us to see the orchestra for free next Thursday morning! I am excited beyond all reason. We get to see the concert, then go backstage. Score!

Sometimes, life is just grand.

Educational bureaucracy

I just spent about a half hour calling various departments at my school in order to find the answers to various burning questions, such as:

Where is Public Safety located so I can buy a parking permit?
What do I need to fill out tax forms for my Graduate Assistantship?
Do I need to get a new ID for the new school year?
How do I know if my loans have been processed since the website has been completely redesigned?

The girl I talked to (Kelly) at Public Safety gave me good directions, and the lady in the Human Resources office sounded kind of snooty but told me I just need my social security card and driver's license or my passport. The person who answered the general phone line sounded totally like a robot, so when she said, "College of St. Catherine," I paused and said, "Hello?" but she told me I just need a new sticker for my old ID, which is good, because I like the photo that's on it.

Lastly, the woman I talked to in financial aid was having a tough time talking, which I completely understood, and she commiserated with me about the website being different. Seriously, it now takes five separate log-ins to find out about Student Accounts information. Usability factor=extremely low.

So, I'll be off in about an hour to do my school housekeeping details, and I'm also planning to stop at Trader Joe's on the way for some cheap wine. Now, all I need is to find some lunch...