I got my LibraryThing Author designation (like another librarian I know) and along the way, became an interesting exercise in authority control.
Month: May 2006
ALA, at large, not at large
I found out via a roundabout way that my bid to be the Vermont Library Association’s chapter councilor wasn’t successful. This is good news and bad news. The woman they elected was probably more qualified than me, and will probably not dislike her time on Council as much as I have historically. I am not sure if she will advocate as strongly for web site improvements and increased technological access to ALA generally, but I’m sure there are things she is planning on promoting. I would have liked to have been a Councilor representing a specific group and not just the “at large” world but I’m young and there is still time.
For me, this means that ALA in New Orleans is the last meeting I will go to as a Councilor, for a while, if not forever. This means I can, if I want, cancel my membership to ALA. It means I can plan a Fourth of July party without being on my way back from a conference. It means that I don’t have to travel out of state twice a year in addition to all the other travelling I do. It means I probably won’t try to explain some of ALA’s decisions that I find inexplicable. It means I’ll get more involved with my local chapter — the irony being that if I had been at VLA’s annnual meeting, I might have had more of a shot at getting elected, but I was in Ohio at the Small Libraries Conference talking about the digital divide, and the libraries I worked with back home.
I’ve been following some of the ALA L2 kerfuffle which I was more interested in as a friend of Michael Stephens and Jenny Levine than as an ALA member. As a Councilor, I didn’t hear word one about this endeavor. As a member, I’m not surprised that ALA chose to hire a consultant group that talked a better game than they delivered, though for them the price was right. All I know is that if your consultant starts making blog posts like this one complaining about being complained about, and not getting paid enough, it’s going to be a hard tailspin to pull out of. I wish everyone the best possible luck making the best of things.
blind librarian helps blind patrons with reading
There are not nearly enough stories about disabled librarians, considering how large and ubiquitous the profession is and how much we strive to serve disabled patrons. I enjoyed this article about a blind librarian and the work she does at the Philippine National School for the Blind. [filipino librarian]
OSLC: Unique Events, PT Barnum and Muffin Stumps
This was presented by Jim Mann. I have no idea why the “ten things” talk was so popular and this one was so sparsely attended. It was a program on upgrading public PCs to make them live longer. “All you need is a screwdriver and a credit card” the problem is mostly about the philosophy and somewhat about the budget.
Unique events are the ones that shape policy, patrons wanting to do a specific thing. Sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re bad. They spur people to action more than tech planning. Keep an eye out for them, they will cause change to happen, quickly.
The Digital Divide is really between the board, staff and public.
– Actual images of hardware installation, put in USB drives, DVD burners and XP upgrades (and of course memory)
– Lock the machine down (old PAC securityo tool, DeepFreeze, Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit)
– Deploy it using Ghost or Altiris
BUT there may be other ways to buy computers that are as functional and as cheap “how much money do you want to put into that Gates Computer?” According to users, what makes a computer up to date? They’re black, flat panel monitor, “XP feel”
In the Ohio library system, “entertainment” is in their mission statement which means they have to have computers to support that (for videos, for music, games, social networking). Why upgrade? Well if you can’t get parts for it anywhere but EBay. When you’re deciding who gets the best computers: reference, circ, public, OPAC in that order. “Use throwaway computers for your OPACs”
We looked at the Tiger Direct site just to see that computers really were as cheap as he was saying they were.
OSLC: Ten Things to Do to Your Computer Today
Presented by Don Yarman & Jim Mann. Online at www.oplin.org/presentations/tenthings.ppt
This was a nice “how to” discussion which had matter-of-fact advice about keeping your Windows machines current. It’s rare to see these go smoothly without a lot of “Why is Microsoft so BAD?!” talk, this was very value neutral and very well-received.
The best thing I learned: how to change nag messages telling you about updates/firewall/virus protection
baseline: updates, firewall, anitvirus, spyware removal. details vary
for: windows pc with internet connections
suggested sites: Windows Secrets, How to keep your PC spyware and malware free for nothing
meta information: ConsumerSearch.com
firewall: Microsoft Firewall info, ZoneAlarm if you don’t have XP
antivirus: Avast, AVG Free, House Call (free online scanner) and SysClean (triage computer fixing)
adware: “one program is not enough” SpyWare Sweeper, Spyware Doctor. Free: MS Windows Defender Ad-Aware
They discussed the difference between upgrading and updating and problems that are associated with each one.
“You will be amazed how many of your programs want to communicate with the Internet. PowerPoint communicates with the Internet.” How do you decide? “Google it and find out what other people are saying about it. We’re all good reference librarians.”
Know where to get help: Google, WebJunction, Vendor sites, Microsoft, Join a user group
The road less travelled: Firefox, Open Office, Gmail, Apple, Linux [Linspire/Ubuntu]
buy twice as much of everything: RAM, hard drives, wireless, new monitor, upgraded software, have a test/throw away computer (tigerdirect.com)
update: operating system, firewall rules, antivirus definitions, adware definitions
book suggestion: How to Expand and Upgrade your PC