Khoa-finnis!

Yay, so I got the Koha assignment done last night after a somewhat rough beginning attempt on Sunday. All I have to say is thank god I happened to read someone else's blog entry regarding the Koha assignment or I probably never would have been pointed in the direction of the instructional video that Dr. Tomer had made on the lis2600 site. I was a bit annoyed because when the Koha log-in information was sent out, I never received anything. The matter was rectified in a couple of days but appearently when you received your log-in information, you received information about the assignment.

Although the assignment completion did not go smooth from start to finish, I did get it done though. I was going to have my topic be on travel books I had in my apartment but they were not in the LCC so I ended up doing colonialism. I realize it's a dry and not very fun topic but I have a huge interest in it, specifically colonialism in the late 19th to 20th century period in Africa and Southeast Asia. My only problem was with the control number identifier section. Sometimes I would enter the random numbers as prescribed by Dr. Tomer and then I would get this error page for the Internet. It didn't happen every time so that's why it was odd although as I was approaching 25, it started happening every new MARC record so I was becoming extremely frustrated and upset. I'm worried I missed or left out something, although I listened to the video a couple of times so I don't think I could have.

Koha seems like a really neat thing, my problem is outside of doing the assignments (not just for this class but all of them), I really don't have time to go back and further explore on my own. This semester is just so overwhelming and busy so it's a bit disheartnening in that aspect.

All for now in week 8-scary :(

Mini meltdown

Well, I planned on completing the Koha assignment this morning but had no idea on where to begin. It started to put me in freak out mode but I was like, I am not going to let it bother me, I'll simply get other things done and then come back to it. As luck would have it, I read someone's latest blog entry tonight and she mentions watching an instructional video on Koha and how much help it was. It's already 9 PM and I am still in shock over what a nightmare another class of mine is, so I plan on getting it done the other night as I don't feel up to trying to complete it tonight. It is making me feeling a little bit better that perhaps it's not as scary and daunting as originally thought. I guess my problem is I don't actively search out things on much as blackboard as I should. My problem is with three other classes besides this one, I feel so overwhelmed with everything, constantly stressed out and exhausted from trying to keep everything straight and separate.

I was seriously brought to tears tonight from another class. I don't understand how some things can happen. In the second week of the semester, I took the first quiz for one of my courses. They are done online, graded electronically, etc. Well there were a total of 20? questions, one though had 13 questions or something like that within the one whole question. I only had two wrong but I lost 13 points. Somehow, the question with the multiple questions within, it graded me that I hadn't gotten anything correctly, even though I should have only been scored for missing two. Well, it took weeks to hear anything back regarding this from my professor. My grade in courseweb still showed the nasty, erronenous grade. A couple of days ago I emailed the professor asking if the grade would be amended to show the correct one. I received an email tonight saying he had erased the grade and that I could take the quiz again! I know no one can understand my utter frustration and almost heart sickness over this-all I was asking was for the correct grade to be posted and now I have to re-take the quiz. I could seriously cry over just typing this. From day one, I have had problems with the class/the prof. but now this takes the cake. With everything else going on, I now have this to contend with? This utter lack of intelligence is what I am paying tens of thousands for? To go into debt for?

Okay I am done crying and griping. Another week tomorrow in a great semester.

Drained and bummed

I truly feel that this semester is/has been the semester from infierno. Sometimes it seems that no matter how hard you try and how much effort you put into things, none of it shows in the end. I just received a grade for my second search and seize in another class and was most disappointed with the mark. I cannot begin to say how disheartening some of my classes have been this semester. For being in such a wired age where everything is connected, I don't think that everyone is aware of that unfortunately. I never got a chance to go back to my html work today, too many other things tp focus on unfortauntely. I did finish answering all of my IPL questions for LIS 2002 so now I don't have to think about that anymore. In an ideal world I would keep answering, but where time is scarce, that really doesn't exist. Maybe I'll do it between summer and fall semesters. I did write up a jazzy cover letter. I am so desperate for a reputable job, worthy of me, my background, credentials, etc. I majored in Spanish as an undergraduate and nothing is more disappointing than living in a city where the only need for Spanish speakers are customer service reps which equates to you having a phone glued to your ear for 8 hours a day. I want so bad to actually become a librarian, not to have to take any job because I must. If only I could just move on elsewhere but is so complicated when having a significant other :( Complicates things oh so much. Well I saw on courseweb that a mid-term review video has been posted. I am curious as to what that means since we don't exactly have mid-terms, or do we? Me thinks not. I did get the eprints assignment done although the koha thing seems daunting and it's due like next week. Please semester, end with good grades for me though.

HTML

So I finally cracked the Learning Web Design book today. It wasn't until I was almost falling asleep this evening that I started to dabble myself. I did the assigned readings but then headed to chapter four where the author actually provides "hands on" exercises so to speak. Initially I thought it was quite boring when I went to the Internet to see the file I had created, until my boyfriend informed to go to view, page source and then I could see the HTML markup. I was really proud of myself when I actually added the image correctly although I did forget a < somewhere in the line. I think that this would be really could to know and use, although I worry about not being able to remember all of the markups and which goes where although my boyfriend told me that the order does not matter for things as long as it is included in its proper { or <. Makes sense I guess. I am so deathly concerned about the job market for me especially since the need for librarians in Pittsburgh is as bleak as ever. I don't think I have ever seen a librarian opening at CLP for at least a couple of years. Everything seems to be so techie and nursing related, so obviously since there is no hope of me becoming a NP anytime soon, I really need to hone any potential tech skills I have or could have in the future. I hope to play around more with HTML tomorrow although looking ahead, I didn't see any hands on exercises in the next chapter. I really find that stuff helpful when you're not just reading but participating.

As the saying goes, nothing is ever easy :(

Every time I try to take initiative, get stuff out of the way, it goes to bite me in the behind. I woke up this morning with every intention of getting assignment number five done. Well I was a bit annoyed when I went on eprints3 to not find any tutorial or walk through on how to use it. I'm sure it's not a terribly difficult thing to use, and yet when I am using it for grades purposes, I do want to have some semblance that the work I'm doing is correct. So I started to finagle my way through and thought I was on track. I had my first item related to social networking and uploaded it. I proceeded to enter the metadata for it. So when I went to do another one, I clicked on move item to repository. Well after that I couldn't find it anymore. I kept coming across the list of a classmate of mine. I started to get mad and freak out a bit as it took enough time entering the various metadata. I wasn't about to do another one and then be 0 for 2 so I ended up emailing the person of whose list I had seen was done and looked to be right on task. My complaint for this class is that directions should be actually included in the assignment sheet from the get go. I know that some of the virtual class meetings have been either on Thursdays or Sunday evenings, but both days for me are personally bad, especially Thursdays since I am in class until 9. Not everyone has time to "attend" or to catch up late with the transcripts. If basic directions were just included beneath the actual assignment, I wouldn't be feeling as helpless and frustrated as I am right now. All I want in this semester is to stop feeling overwhelmed and know that I can get assignments out of the way days before they are due if possible, but no, never works out that way. I am not a technology embecil but this class has made me feel like it time and time again. Looking back in past assignments, they were rather easy enough, but you have to jump through such hoops just to get started and know what the heck is going on. I really hope that the person emails me back soon because it looks like an assignment that is going to be time involved with all of the metadata fields you have to enter. I have enough on my plate.

HTML fun

I mentioned before that I work/intern at a community college library. Well over the last couple of weeks a TON of books from the stacks have been discarded and placed in the book sale area. I was a bit bored so I started to browse the selection. I came across a book on html from 2007 that was written by the author of our textbook, Shelly Cashman? I was so excited because I found it looked a little bit more user friendly and beginners oriented than the other HTML book we were required to get. So after lunch, I started to do some reading as I could not handle anything else related to my current read in my museum archives course. For the first time ever, I actually started to make sense of HTML markup and its purpose. I was so proud of myself. I started to have big dreams about possibly designing my wedding website (yes, still waiting on ring though) until that dream buuble was burst at exactly 4:15 this afternoon. On the way home, I told my boyfriend about what I had been up to and we got to talking about bold tags. Well he informed me that what I was describing to him isn't done anymore (all that learning for naught). He proceeded to tell me that they use style sheets now for that kind of stuff. So I felt knowledgable on HTML for a grand total of 2 some hours :( Bummer. Big time.

I will say that I am majorly freaking out about the bleak job market here for library sci persons. It's nice that so many people come to Pittsburgh for the program but then they don't leave lol :( It's a bit disheartening because then there are that many people to compete with for jobs that are already few and far in the first place. That's why I feel I really need to learn a programming language, something, to make me a bit more marketable to prospective employers. Anyone can have the library sci knowledge, I'd also like to have technical enough info sci knowledge. I am registered to take information architecture in the fall so that should be good. I hope to get the eprints assignment done either tomorrow or Friday so I'll let you all know how that goes in my last post for the week.

Happy dreary and rainy Wednesday.

Half Over?

I cann't believe we're already at the halfway mark of the semester. Well my body believes it because I could not feel any more drained or exhausted. I barely slept over the weekend so I have no idea if I met my blog entry quota for last week. I am so drained I have forgotten such basic skills as counting-jk-I think.

I'm a bit scared about the upcoming assignments for this course. As I had mentioned before, the first page seemed simple and okay enough, but the second page are of the degree that they need to be read over at least a couple of times. I am very unsure about the next assignment which is due the 28th, the Koha one. If I have one complaint about this class, it's that I don't feel the directions for the assignments are ever 100% fully explained on the sheet. Emails are of courses responded to as well as blackboard postings, but I just feel if all points between 1-4 were fully explained from the get go, maybe some of us (myself included) wouldn't always feel so scared and overwhelemed with the next academic initiative. Food for thought I guess.

So I have been spending all afternoon in Hillman. I had a search and seize assignment to do for LIS 2002 and it is so annoying when you spend so much time looking for the stupid book even though you discover it's not on the shelf or it doesn't contain the information you need. Grrrr. I know I am going into the library field and all but seriously, old books and the smells they leave behind on your hands. Hand sanitizer please...

I am already dreading fasttrack weekend so much. I still don't 100% see the purpose of some of the classes meeting. I was extremely frustrated last semester when one of my classes did something for a grand total of 20 minutes and then nada and then another class was like some social sorority hour. Time for me is so valued and I hate when it is wasted. I completely understand the fasttrack students meeting once a semester but the on-site ones? Why do we physically attend class each and every week then?

Yuck, I am in such a foul and annoyed mood right now. I hope all the darn penguin stuff is over with so traffic is okay. I am from philly so so not a fan of any of the 'burgh's teams.

Adios a toda la gente.

Lib Tech Guides

I recently checked out the Library Technology Guides which was the assigned reading for this week. Sites like this really help in changing the stereotypical image of librarians often held by society-that everything is in the dark ages and that technology is regarded by librarians to be their greatest enemy.

I thought the link entitled the Library 2.0 Gang was really cute especially upon discovering that it was a "radio" show of sorts with an actual host. It sites like this that make me feel I really should try to think of more tech savvy and modern ways of updating and bringing into the 21st century the community college library where I work at. Although it is not lacking in technology, I guess you could say in library 2.0 mediums it is. There is only one librarian and she is in her mid-60s and I don't think she blogs or does anything similar. Although I think my creative ingenuity may have to wait until the fall semester starts up again and I can actually breathe (yes at the moment I can't metaphorically speaking). I also enjoyed checking out the next generation of catalogs. I experienced a bit of deja-vu when I saw aqua browser library but couldn't place it immediately. It was only after I clicked on was I like "oh yeah, that's pitt cat."

So I finally logged in with my koha and eprints account information yesterday. I read what the assignment was but am majorly confused. I am planning to give it a few days and then ask some questions. I love having the opportunity to get stuff done in advance if possible but it majorly sucks when you have no idea what to do and are stuck. Thank goodness for the constant kindness and help of my fellow classmates though.

Only Wedneday night and I am absolutely beat!

Jing Demonstration

Here is the link to my demonstration on how to install and configure the Firefox extension for Zotero:

http://www.screencast.com/users/librarychica85/folders/Jing/media/035a595d-6fcb-44bf-ad16-4479f527c0d3



I have to admit that I had a lot of fun making the demonstration. Although I did have to do multiple takes because I either hesitated too long when speaking or uttered a mild curse word I didn't want to be picked up lol. It really is a fun application to use and I think would be helpful and useful in a variety of situations. On a random note, I hate hearing my voice when it's recorded. I sound so completely different than what I think I sound like when just naturally speaking. Odd yes, I know.

I just remembered that I really need to check out the whole Koha/eprints thing. I reviewed the transcript from Sunday night's virtual classroom session and saw that it should be done asap. Whenever I remember I need to do something I never have the time to do it that second and then it's forgotten about for a couple of more days. Although Dr. Tomer had mentioned something about Tim sending out username or passwords for it, but I don't think I've received anything. Hopefully this is not going to be a problem. I've had well enough luck tech wise this semester, don't change on me now.

Happy Birthday to me!

Jing

Okay, so the weekend got the best of me, and while I did not actually complete assignment number four, I did do a run-through demo you could say so I plan to attempt it tomorrow evening.

It looks neat enough (Jing that is) and actually got a thumbs-up sign from a software developer I know (my boyfriend). He actually started looking at job openings but the enthusiasm waned when he saw they were based in nowhere ville Michigan.

I did become nervous for a moment because I wasn't able to get sound to play. I had to call in the help, which consisted of my bf getting down on all fours and encountering a ton of dust bunnies. I think it was actually something simple, so all should be well to go for tomorrow night. I did post a question on the class' discussion board regarding the part, "configure"-I mean this can mean a lot of things. Are we to configure the look, options, etc? Really hoping that someone replies who knows what it means or what to do.

It's neat that the assignments are coming right along, although they definitely look more difficult and involved on the second page of the syllabus packet. A lot has been said about Koha and whatnot although I admit that I am so swamped with my other classes, I am truly taking one assignment for each of my four classes at a time, although I know I should check it out asap. I saw that Dr. Tomer had posted an announcement that the first? two grades should be available sometime tomorrow. Anxious to see how I am doing.

My birthday is on Tuesday and it will be the first time I'll have school work to do on my birthday :( I supposed after 24 years it was bound to happen ha ha. On a really cool note, I am so pysched as season 3 of Army Wives premieres tonight. Onto the viewing!

Cybercafes!

I was so stoked to find a section on cybercafes included in Chapter 9 of the textbook. Having traveled to every continent except Australia & Anartica, I have visited a ton of internet cafes in my travels abroad. I loved the picture of the cybercafe in what I presume was an east-Asian country-only in these mega tech places, can you have a McDonalds meal while surfing the web. In this country, the majority of people have some sort of computer at home, whereas in other countries its not the case. My fondest cybercafe memory was one I went to in Granada, Nicaragua-not only was the speed fantastic, the place was air-conditioned and provided the most awesome relief from the 110 degree temperatures outside. If cybercafes did not exist, I truly feel that the world would not be nearly as connected and networked as it is.

I wanted to share a new word I learned today-podslurping. Although it sounds really bizarre and funny, it really is a serious matter. The textbook brought up a good point regarding companies that allow workers to bring lap tops home. If an employee's lap top was stolen, what does that mean for the company since immense amounts of confidential information were stored on it? I am torn on whether or not companies should be held legally liable when data theft occurs. On one hand, a company is resposible for safeguarding that information at all costs and yet can they act as the 24/7 monitor for each of their employees and their friends and relatives? It really is a tough call as well as a catch-22 situation-someone always stands to lose.

On an embarassed note (that is for not being up with the times) I finally found out what SMS stands for. YAY! I never was that interested in knowing but I would always see it everywhere. I'm sure it has something to do with that I am not at all text/cell phone obessed. That really is a pet peeve of mine, people who can't put down their darn cell phones.

I've noticed a lot of people posting questions about grades and feedback. To me, I completely share this sentiment. In a semester this short, it is all the more vital to really know how you're doing, and if you're doing bad, how you can change that asap. Nothing is worse than thinking you're doing fine and then only to find out you're actually not. A lot of stuff seems to have been posted on the announcement link recently. Need to check them out before feeling too overwhelmed.

C'est tout pour today.

If it says it's private, is it really?

I just saw on someone else's blog about using refworks for an assignment in another class, and I thought it was funny because I had done the same thing earlier this morning. I have been trying to find resources for a literature review I have to do in an archives class. I started to write down the citations by hand, but then thought to myself how stupid and painful that would be, so I signed in to refworks and imported away. It's nice not only being introduced to these technologies but then also being able to make use of them later on in different scenarios.

Although I have yet to delve into chapter 10 of the textbook or the other two things to check out for this week, I do feel that database management is going to be the role of the librarian inthe future. I know a couple of months ago, Westinghouse (yes, the major multibillion dollar corporation) had a job opening for a position that was akin to database management in terms of job responsbilities and the kind of background they wanted you have-all things pertainable to what a library and information science degree provides. It somewhat depresses/discourages me because it always seems that the most interesting and prospect worthy job openings are always opening up when I am not yet credentialed yet. I am set to graduate in December but hope I won't have a bleak job outlook. I also think the job market for librarians in the Pittsburgh area totally sucks.

On a privacy, who's watching you now kind of a note, I did find the little news tidbit provided in I think either chapter 7 or 9 of the textbook to be majorly disturbing. It was about a medical transcriptionist who was threatening to I think make public certain people's medical records unless she was paid more. It makes one wonder about the state of all of our private records and the people whose job it is to handle them. I also get oddly worried out when writing in this blog. I mean it is for better or worse, a permanent record in cyberspace. In olden times, when people died, that was it, save for family records which had no guarantee that they would be indefinitely preserved. Today, all gloves are off. This is obviously a topic that is worthy of having an entire blog devoted to. Plan to check out the SQL? nerd later this week. Stay tuned, it will no doubt be the focus of blog #3 for this week.

Madre de dios-it's Wednesday.