Is this my curtain call? Where is the encore?

I have been preparing my semester projects summaries today; its an odd feeling to look back and see what you have learned, how far you have come. This is double for me; this is the last bit of work I have for FSU. Aside from a quick presentation/Q&A session tonight in my Collection Development class, and submitting this report for Virtual Reference, I am DONE. Completely done. Diploma is in the mail and all that.

This has been 2.5 years of my life--evenings, weekends, projects squeezed in at work in quiet times at the circulation desk....its done. No longer will I be the stressball running out of preschool, racing home to put in two quiet hours of schoolwork before I leave for work (and then work until 9.) I will time to visit my friends again, time to talk on the phone, time to setup playdates for my little people. Time to relax and smile rather than rush off to work on another assignment.

It has been hard, but I have had a lot of help. FaveSpouse, my mum and my sister have put in some serious kid-watching time for me. They have cheered me all the way. We did it. I did it.

But...now what? (I know, how sad is this that I am not celebrating.) I carved out such a big space for school, and now without it there is this huge gaping hole! And honestly, I am not sure I KNOW how to relax!!!!

But....other changes have been good. I went from a SAHM to a REAL librarian! I am hugely more confident now, I am ready to argue knowing my opinion is important AND I already have a job in my field! Three years ago I would have never predicted this future for myself--but its a good one.

But...the loss of identity is tough too. When I left the computer industry after the dot-bomb (and to stay home with the kids) it was really disconcerting. I had no real deadlines and a VERY ACTIVE baby to care for. It was hard. And here I am again, loss of identity.

Maybe its time to have a beer and pick up a new knitting project!

Yeeee---Haw!!!!!

I am flying high after my presentation last night--talking about yarn and knitting can really get me going. I just don't have a receptive audience very often (except maybe for the dogs.) All I know is that it was around 7 and I started and then Dr. Mon said "this is a really nice yarn tour but we have to move on sometime" and it was 7:20. I have no idea if I talked only part of that time, all of that time.....its a YARN BLACKOUT!

You cannot get much past Mitch, he did call me on my re-using of a few slides (only three! I love the bulldozer joke!) from a class we had together in the summer. I did add more slides, but I really wanted to bore the class with bits of my life story and it WAS my five minutes of fame.

I was surprised that no one knew how cool knitting is. Someone even commented on one of the photos, it was some Pomatamus socks inside some very modern patent pumps. Good times!

I am really happy with my resources. I created two Subject Headings (knititng and knitting blogs) and one even had sub-groups after it, genius suggestion on Cheryl and Mike's part. Knitblogs right now has 21 entries; knitting has 17. I have also cross-referenced some of them with the teen site (like Knitty and the Anti-craft); teens need knitting too!

I know that the semester is winding down; it seems so long since I answered those reference questions for Slam the Boards back in September. I am trying to concentrate and celebrate my successes.....and maybe build up some momentum for finishing my Collection Development paper. Now if I could only write it about yarn.....

Those resources, they keep rolling along!

I am on a bit of a roll with the resources--in the past week I have brought my total added to 36. I have two entire headings that I am "in charge" of--Knitting and Knitting Blogs. My goal is 40, but I will most likely over-reach that. I can add a few more blogs, but then I need to go back to the Knitting resources. I had wanted each to have about 20 and Knitting itself has only about 12.
The problem.....many of the "free" pattern and knitting sites out there just aren't any good! They have free stuff, but they are so full of ads and popups that its hardly worth going there. The surfing is just too frustrating. I might include some from yarn companies; Berocco still has free ones but Lion Brand Yarn requires registration. Say NO to registration!

FaveSpouse is on the schedule for helping me tomorrow with my Say Hello site. Things are really coming together (not to mention most of the research is done for the massive Collection Development paper I have been working on. That is considerably less fun than working on knitting resources.)

I lost a few days this week to illness. My stomach was unhappy at work on Monday night and I was having trouble concentrating.....it developed into full-blown stomach flu with all of the bells and whistles. I took some medicine I had hoarded from my morning sickness days and it helped. I slept through most of Tuesday (thank goodness it was a work day and the kids were at the sitter's; it would have been very difficult to care for the preschoolers in that state!) I hate being ill, but with small kids and working with the public I am bound to catch as few nasty bugs. I'll cross my fingers for the last few weeks of school!

Digital Divide getting smaller?

I spend a lot of my days helping students cross the Digital Divide--especially mature students. In this tiny community college library we have 103 computers and they get A LOT of use. Many mature students have no confidence (I'm not good with computers) and the staff helps out a lot.

Online life is more and more important..."check online" or "apply online" is said more often.

What about the rest of the world?

I've been following the $100 laptop story for a few years now; look at the promotion that is going on now!

http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

If I were a wealthy internet millionaire--or even a prosperous one, and not a lowly grad student--I'd purchase one of these for every kid on my list. They could play with it--I could play with it--and kids in the rest of the world would get a chance as well. I can see the extended family "chatting" on these all around the Xmas tree.....playing games from across the room....

A bit of a thrill......!

.....well, at least to a knitting librarian.

I am starting to load my resources to the IPL. Why did I not do this sooner? ITS SO COOL!

For some reason I thought I would have to collect all my resources and then get only one chance to load them up. Why did I think that? It's much more fun to see them loaded....kinda in person. And more official! This weekend I loaded a chunk I had found and written the abstracts for, maybe 25 or so. Its not done yet.

A few steps that need to be taken:

1. Some of my resources are also listed in the TeenSpace. Mike Galloway suggested that I cross-reference them with the adult one. I have done this for some of them--I'll probably add more. Knitting is ageless!

2. Waiting for approval. I have made all of my posts PENDING and emailed Mike about them. He needs to check them before I can be more ACTIVE!

3. More sites. Surprisingly, good, non-commercial knitting sites are tough to find. So many are just terrible, and one of my faves, the Dishcloth Boutique, is offline. I dug up some more really great knitting blogs (with the help of Alexa for rankings) and have written their abstracts. I'll then post those after I receive the green light for my past posts. I am aiming for at least 30 sites total.

I cannot wait to see my sites approved.....Its like I am archiving for the ages, controlling the flow of craft information for the ages, increasing good knitting and good writing about knitting.....for the good of mankind.....!

Or maybe just for fun.

Where are we going?

The question on everyone's minds and lips is Where are Libraries Going? That has been an issue since I began library school, and is still an issue now as I finish.

As pointed out by Jessamyn Librarian.net, many library articles are about four topics:
1. Crisis: no library jobs for young librarians!
2. Crisis: no young librarians to fill jobs of retiring librarians!
3. Crisis: libraries are closing due to budget/Google/disuse/pick a scenario!
4. Crisis: libraries are the hot spot for everyone!

Somehow I think this is more about READ MY ARTICLE than about need-to-know information. Plus, I find this general panic mongering exhausting. I have plenty in my normal life to panic about without questioning and regretting the last 2.5 years of my life spent in library school (to the exclusion of more hobbies and time with my kids and spouse than I wanted.)

But the world of information is changing, and its tough to know where its all going to go. Is Google books going to replace libraries and turn into the Evil Empire? Maybe. Are brick and mortar libraries and books dying? Maybe. I still read. Will the Millennial Generation drive libraries--and the world--into a need for speed and digitalization? Probably (and not a bad thing, we all benefit when tools are easy to use and understand.)

This is all more than Web and Library 2.0. Digital Reference is part of it, and we are still in the infancy stages of the art. I am still waiting for the AHA! tool. Second Life is cool, but the world is not there yet. Chat Reference is not popular (in my very PERSONAL experience.) Blogs are fun, but its not reference as we knew it. Digital Libraries are getting there.....as are databases. For me, there is still a perfect tool on the horizon to integrate everything and really make it sing. Knowing loads about everything we have worked on in class helps us to be ready, but its just not here yet.

I remember the first time I played Donkey Kong; it blew my mind. Pictures and sound, things moving around, the joystick--it was amazing. Pong was fun, but it was nothing like Donkey Kong. Nintendo was the AHA! tool. Play video games at home without quarters? WOW!

I'll keep playing library Pong and wait for my Donkey Kong.

Onward!

The collection is finally starting to come together!

I have about 12 good resources for knitting (I took out about 5, I thought they were too commercial) and have written the descriptions for them. I reviewed the Collection Development Policy (a must, I know) and narrowed my idea of a resource. Its tough to separate knitting from yarn-shopping......but I had to take a stand. It was tough cutting The Loopy Ewe....

I think I will poke the magazines (Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting, Knitters) in the mag section, but leave the all-online ones (like Knitty) in the Knitting section. Knitty CALLS itself a magazine, but its a digital periodical.

The craft blog resources are shaping up too, I'd say I have about 10 already and hope to add 10 more.....or even more!

Paul's mum and dad are here from Ireland for 10 days, and we will see them tomorrow. Since I finally finished my two huge papers for Collection Development (I think I put too much into my work sometimes; its not enough for me to go for an A, it always has to be PERFECTION) I will be coming up for air and actually getting to spend time with them. They can also help me with the resources and the native speaking section for the Say Hello project. Slan!

What a week!

The past two weeks have been like The Cliffs of Insanity! I had a huge professional development presentation at work, and then a week of working extra shifts while our two key people were on vacation, and then two papers to turn in--in addition to life and other kid stuff that is a full time job in itself. My in-laws are coming from Ireland this weekend and will be here for 10 days; fun!

Virtual Reference

I had a lot of fun working on my blog Wiki paper, and looking at other's work I think....mine is a bit long. I just have so much to say about blogging, and I can see a real permanence and future to it. Amateur journalism, electronic newsletter.....all of the promises of the original desktop publishing that began with personal computers being more fully realized in Blogs. The individual as the artist. Doing it My Way. The electronic community--call it what you will, blogs are still an exciting medium.

I have been getting my resources together for the knitting section, and for the craft blogs. These should be taking shape within the week.

Virtual Reference at Work

This week I applied my VR skills....on the job! I had the idea of making audio booktalks for the college's upcoming student book discussion groups. My supervisor was enthusiastic! For about a month we wrote booktalks for the books, recruited staff and faculty to read them, worked out the tech kinks. The week that they were supposed to go live.....the Webmaster left the college! Denied! Hit the post! Tripped at the last hurdle! I wrote off all the work and decided to retry next year.

BUT....the college hired a contractor to do fill in work and we were included! The audio files went live and the page looks great. We have had more requests for the books this year than ever, and I hope that when we take attendance at the event we will blow last year out of the water! Success!

did a blog class today--way cool!

Week 5--WARNING! Pity party ahead

Second Life is so cool--but I think for the first time I experienced what it must be like on the WRONG side of the digital divide. Having to pack up all my crew--food, homework and all--and try to manage their needs while in class is really tough. My machine at home just cannot do SL, and my work machine will not allow it.

In addition, the night before (while I was in Collection Development class) my neighbor called and needed me to keep her kids RIGHT NOW since she had to go to the ER with her infant who had a fever of 107! I was happy to do it, but it trashed my class session (I apologized to my group and to my professor) and kept the kids out really really late, which made them hard to manage. The baby is much better now, though he had to have 3 massive antibiotic shots.

I have said it before--if my professors knew what my study environment was like, I would get an automatic A! Some days the kids are insane, they fight nonstop and its very disruptive. Other days I get spaces of time to work--as much a 20 minutes in a stretch--for a couple of hours. Seems like most of the bad times are around finals though, when the pressure to produce is REALLY on!

I remind myself daily (hourly) that I am in the home stretch and only have about 9 week to go. The pressure of balancing work, kids, other people's kids (I do not have full time day care; we trade our kids around the neighborhood to make it work for all the different schedules), other activities (soccer and scouts) and school is often overwhelming. Always overwhelming. I do not do anything nearly as well as I want to do it. I miss just playing with the kids, but most spare moments are dedicated to school or life maintenance--you know, things like laundry, cooking, things that have to be completed for life to continue (cleaning is not in that category!) FavoriteSpouse does a lot--he cooks all 4 nights I am in school or at work--but he works 60+ hours himself, and has little open time himself.

It will all be worth it one day, right?

PITY PART OVER!

Our projects have been approved and I am beginning work on them. I have a good idea for a handful of knitting/fiber sites, and will do searches for the rest. The knitting/craft blog section will be really really fun as well--I will save that for last, like dessert.

Helen (the head librarian at work) has started helping me with the Say Hello project. She knows lots of people and has some connections. We are hoping that through the college network we can fill in some collection gaps in that.

My In-laws are coming from Ireland on the 18th for 2 weeks; I am trying to complete as many projects as possible before then. I am nearly done with my big CD paper; I will start working on the VR wiki this week. After CD, the wiki will be really, really fun. I need to have those done by next week so I can start on the next CD paper, which is due while my in-laws are here. I do not want to be studying nonstop while they are around--they are fun and we need to do fun stuff together.

Elluminate

I watched the archived Eluminate session for collections over the weekend. This is such a thrilling tool! some students have commented how it makes classes as good as live classes--I think it is BETTER. I have difficulty learning by hearing, but taking notes helps--be Ellumintate does it for me. I can see, I can ask questions, but best of all I can REVIEW. I can watch when I am able to pay attention, rather than at the end of the day (like normal class time) when I am exhausted from kids and work. I can watch the good parts over and over, and review later when needed. BRILLIANT!

How could a live class be better?

Now not all people learn visually, or through demonstration, and many people like the class situation, the other students, the personalities. I am too busy for that! I need to get my information and get out so I can complete the huge amount of tasks I have in a day. For me, online classes are perfect--and Elluminate is an amazing tool.

My college is talking about getting the Rumba upgrade for Blackboard. I must tell them about Elluminate--and demonstrate it to Kristin, our distance education head. My librarian supervisor was amazed by it when I demonstrated it after the first class. I bet Kristin would be too. What an amazing tool!

Exciting week

We had our first class in Second Life this week--I had a tough time setting it up, but got it to work in time for class. The story:

I had worked on Second Life at my home computer--I had registered and begun weeks ago--but the graphics were fuzzy and took ages to load, if they loaded at all. Bad times. After searching the help pages (and talking to my classmates) we thought it might be my computer.

So the Sunday before class I loaded Second Life on my mum's computer. It worked as it should! Bright graphics, easy to understand. I was able to change my outfit and customize my avatar a bit. The only problem was I had to go to mum's for class--on the other side of town--and I had to take the kids. Once there it was no problem.

So I did. The kids were fascinated by the whole thing. My niece asked if she could play my game, and mum did not believe that this was class! It was funny. This week, more of the same.

I also have two big projects going at work--I gave a talk to the president's board (president of the college) about blogging. It was very last minute--they called and said please come tomorrow--and I had a lot of information to get together in a short time. Fun though! We have also been doing some podcasts for a book discussion group--writing them and recording them--and that takes extra time. PLUS I had a huge group for library instruction on Thursday. Usually I squeeze some schoolwork into my workday--with my supervisor's permission--but NOT this week!

Back to mum's for Second Life class on Wednesday.

Working towards final projects

I emailed off my proposal for my final project today--I have many things I want to work on.

Individual Projects:
In the spirit of Knitting is Everywhere I was very disappointed that the IPL has only one knitting link. THIS MUST CHANGE! I want to work on Craft blogs as well. I feel like a subject collection librarian on this--I would not call myself and expert, but certainly a high-intermediate in this area.

I hope that my own projects will be approved.

Group work:
To help coordinate my group I added a FINAL PROJECTS page to the wiki and put my proposal there. I asked everyone else to do the same. If the SAY HELLO project gets off the ground we will create a separate Wiki page for it and then coordinate it from there. I also think we should each take a section to proofread.

Its exciting to see it all develop!

Slam the boards!

I did it! I managed to get approved this weekend (the IPL never sleeps!) and was approved to answer reference questions. I answered two this morning--one about genealogy and one about author's birthdays. It was straightforward and fun--but answering questions usually is fun. New things to research is helpful--I always learn new things.

I hope to answer one more tonight, maybe after I get off work.

Elluminate!

I was excited by class this week--this was my first time using Elluminate! and I thought it was brilliant. All of us together, sharing information and meeting, but so far apart geographically. I found too that I have less distractions online--seeing it all happen on my desktop, and participating, was a much deeper learning experience than sitting in a live classroom.

In fact, I showed the librarian at work the class recording, complete with the SHOW SCREEN section (which I thought was exceptionally helpful.) She found the whole thing exciting as well (the college has been looking at Rumba, but E! can only be better!) I think E! fulfills some of the promises of Online Ed--the things that we could see were possible, but that we did not yet have the technology to do.

I wonder if Second Life will be even more exciting!?!

Nearly there!

I finished my practice question this morning--I had chosen a question about Ireland, and it was really fun to prepare the answer. I had no idea that Kerry was known as the Kingdom County of Ireland! That certainly puts the old Kerryman jokes in a different light.

I submitted my evaluation form as well, so I should hear back from the IPL soon--and it looks like I will make the deadline for Slam The Boards!

I missed the 24 hour deadline by a few minutes--I have been very ill this week, and I have had to cut back on my hours working at the computer. I should hear back from the doctor about the tests that were run last week; my fingers are crossed that it is nothing ultra-serious or incurable.

Limbo

I was very excited in class about doing the Slam the Boards event on Monday. I worked through the tutorials and emailed Cathay Crosby for a login yesterday, but I have not heard anything back. I REALLY want to participate, but I fear that I have missed it this time.

If I have missed it, I will just use the time to study the IPL more carefully. I certainly want to answer some questions, whether it happens by Monday or not. I can set myself the goal of one a week.

Fingers crossed!

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UPDATE! Cathay got back to me! I am doing my practice question this am--and I chose one on Ireland (my husband is from Ireland and we visit his family every year. Maybe I should ask him if he has ever heard of this factual piece? Protecting the identity and privacy of the quester, of course.)

Week 1: The journey begins

This week class began; the blog begins as well.

I had been watching Dr. Mon's blog and knew we had to choose an area and a group for our work. I was torn on this; I do reference work at work, so that I need less practice with. I am taking Dr. Chavez-Hernadez's Collection Development class this semester, and Helen (my mentor and the librarian at work) and I try to do some collection development there. We both read Library Journal and pick out things we think would be read--generally more popular works, like Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

I have a huge gripe with the (tiny) fiction collection at work (it is a community college, so fiction is not a huge part of the mission statement.) The collection is almost completely Middle Everything--white bread, hardback romances, realistic fiction, with a few mysteries thrown in. I am not a fan of realistic fiction. In that library, we hope to add more variety to the purchasing--science fiction is probably going too far, but to have SOME minority writers, some variety of any sort would be an improvement.

So when I start this semester, this problem will be on my mind. What are the holes in the collection? How can we reach more readers, how can we interest more people? I volunteered to be the Team Leader for Collections, mostly because no one else spoke up. I hope that after the nightmare of group work in the spring semester, where one person quit our group, I will be able to do ANYTHING! Maybe not.

This week I assigned myself the task of looking around the IPL, getting familiar with what is there. I know that when I looked at the Knitting section of the IPL there was only ONE entry! That must be improved!