Alaska Bush Library Service

Today I finished up the Battle Book Posters for this year.  These posters will be printed out on a large printer.  I am hoping that these posters will serve as a reminder to students to read their batttle books so that we have more student participation.

This weekend I will work on merging the MARC records.  That job does not work if you have other people around to interrupt you.  This weekend will be a good one to work on that.

Last night I couldn’t sleep and I had the interesting experience or watching the sunset merge into the sunrise.  I thought we were too close to fall to see that at this time of year.  The sky does get dark for a while, but you can always see the rim of light at the edge.

I had a lot of plans of what to finish this summer.  I need to get a list started and put a few hours a day into working on it.  I want all my MARC records to be combined into a union catalog, I want to run Linux on a computer and start my own programming, and I want to digest all the information that I received at the NECC 2007 conference.

I know that it shouldn’t be hard to have a program compare ISBNs of books and combine the records.  That will probably be the next step.

Koha version 2.2.9 was released today.  I will try to upload it to a machine that is running Linux Ubunto today.  I hope that all goes well and that I can see what the Opac looks like before I send off records or updates to Dan to upload, only to find that I don’t like the changes.

Book Expo 07 is shaping up nicely.  They have a scheduler in which you can check off the sessions that you want to attend and print out a schedule to follow.  I say print off, because I feel that I will have enough books to gather that I won’t be carrying my computers with me.  That in itself will be a different experience.  I don’t think I have attended a conference without a laptop in eight years.  I wonder if I can still take notes in the normal way.

A new website that I found today through the ACRLog post about how to keep up with technology.  I want to Web 2.0 applications  has listings of new Web 2.0 technologies that we may want to know how to use.  They are categorized by what they do.  I will use this site a lot over the summer to teach myself some of these technologies.

If I can get to all I want to this summer, I will be busy and productive.  That will be a lot of fun.

I have now decided what to do next.  I am working with a coworker to set up a Linux machine.  I will attempt to run my own programs and teach myself some programming.  I honestly think this is the future that librarians need to go into.  Not all librarians, but I like the ones that can choose what they want the computer to do and make it so.  I see more of these at the university level and I would like to see some at the school library level.  Therefore, I am stepping up to this for me now.

My mom asked me the other day what am I planning on doing now that I have finished the work on Koha.  I don’t think she understood that getting the program up and running was just the first step.  I am now building training modules using Adobe Captivate on how to use Koha.

The other main task I have is to visit all of the libraries in my system to make sure that the library aides are comfortable using Koha and teach students better information searching techniques. Those two things will take me to the end of the year.  I also want to edit my records to make sure that if the picture of a book cover is available, it shows up in the OPAC.  Add to that ordering materials for subject kits, RIF books, and getting ready to attend three conferences in June… Somehow I don’t think March, April,  or May will be boring.

I am excited to be going to NECC in Atlanta the end of June and BookExpo in New York the end of May.  Both of these conferences are on my own time and without school district money, thanks to the  Alaska Association of School Librarians.  I received a $750.00 scholarship to attend a national conference.  I will spend more than that money, but I will go to two different conferences in which I hope to bring back a lot of good information for the association and for me.

The problem was a directory that hadn’t been installed. I posted my problem to the listserv for Koha today and found that information. Tonight Dan looked at the file and uploaded the necessary file and we are uploading MARC records.

SirsiDynix put on a great webcast this morning entitled 25 technologies in 50 minutes. This was very well done. I am happy that 90% of the technologies I have used. Now I just need to learn the other 10%. One of the best ideas I got from the class was to just spend 15 minutes a day learning the new technologies. With that we should be able to keep up.

As I have now been at work for 13 hours, I think it is time to go home. I can guarantee that I will be back here at 7 am tomorrow for the fun of uploading the records to Koha. It feels so good to have made progress.

I read the article Disconnects Between Library Culture and Millennial Generation Values  in the new issue of Educause.  A checklist is mentioned that would be good for libraries at all levels to ask themselves:

What is your library doing to:

• Support the user’s affinity for self-paced, independent, trial-and-error methods of learning? - Are we putting up online tutorials for students to look at when they need to?  I have seen some libraries that have iPod guides for library tours. Currently, I have built some online tutorials for using the Alaska Statewide Databases.
• Create opportunities to make library information look and behave like information that exists in online entertainment venues?  This may be the best place and time to install Worldcat buttons and the new search features of Google for each of our libraries.  Websites that interact with the students rather than sit there and wait for student to search and the OPAC to distribute information.  Why haven’t we added the ability for students to leave their book reviews in our OPACs?  I think a lot of this has to do with the software we have at our disposal.  I am hoping that this is something that will be able to the added to Koha down the road.
• Explore alternative options for delivering information literacy skills to users in online environments and alternate spaces?  I return to the online tutorials for students to gain information.  In my position, I am usually not at the student’s side when they need the information.  I am connected through three different IM programs for students to get a hold of me when they need to.  The problem I am finding is how do I advertise this so it is there when students need it.
• Apply the typical user’s desire for instant gratification to the ways that libraries could be using technology for streamlined services? I am not sure how we can meet these needs.  I do know what I do which is offer inter library loan so that users know that their needs are met, even if it will take a week to get the book.  I have added downloads to my district’s wiki of sites that give students the information they need to meet different standards.
• Redefine administrative, security, and policy restrictions to permit online users an online library experience that rivals that of a library site visit? I think we need more audiobooks that are downloadable and a better way to provide this service.  Copyright stipulations need to be met, but I would love to figure a way that students have access to the electronic resources, electronically rather than having to visit the library.
• Preserve born-digital information?  This is a matter of who is willing to stand up and pay for the storage medium.  It is easy to be in charge of the digital medium as long as you are willing to ensure that the materials are always accessible through current technology.  I think we have seen enough errors in this by now that we know how to keep abreast of changing technologies that we can revisit our ability to preserve materials on a yearly basis. — or am I the only one who lost all my MARC records by using an antiquated back up method?

I hope this gets us thinking to how we can provide the millennials the best library experience they can get.  We have moved a long way with technology.

My high school librarian was so afraid that the computer would make her unnecessary to the research process that she actually removed subjects, ISBNs, authors, and other parts of the MARC records so that students would have to come to her for the information.  I only know this because I became a library aide there before getting my own school library.  I spent the year adding full records and deleting a LOT of books that wouldn’t ever be used.

We need to embrace the technologies that our students are embracing and make sure that our libraries will always be the place that our students can gain more access to information.

After spending all day yesterday playing with Koha and trying to get it started on the Linux machine it is loaded on, I came into work this morning to find an email with the announcement of an upgrade for Koha. I will now start over with the upgraded Koha and see if I can get something moving on this before I have all the librarians in my district show up next week for training. I would love to be able to train them on Koha, but it is doubtful that I will be that far along in the project.

The main problem for me to figure out is how to talk to the machine that has the programming on it. I have read enough of the instructions to know how to type in the commands, but it is maddening to be stuck on something simple. I keep reminding myself that feeling this way is a part of learning something new but, part of me feels like a two year old: “I want this knowledge, and I WANT IT NOW.” I know I will appreciate and remember the information longer if I work for it, but I really wish someone would invent a machine to do brain scans and then transfer the information from one person to another.