Alaska Bush Library Service

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.

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.

It is great to be a librarian right now. There are so many technologies we can use to bring information to our patrons that it is mind boggling.  I just want to know how to not just learn of the new technologies but learn how to use them effectively with staff and students.  I am very excited to be going to the NECC 2007 conference.  I have wanted to go for years.

Today I got on the conference site and started planning my schedule.  There are so many technologies that I know about.  I hope to better learn how to use them.

An email came today through lm_net that asked about districts using Koha.  I tried to call the person, but no one was there.  I emailed him and hope he gets back to me tomorrow.  I would love to help someone new join in.  The more school districts that are using it the less money we would each have to contribute to make the changes that would make the program more school friendly.

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.

I learned an important lesson yesterday. The definition of the terms biblioitems and items. biblioitems refers to the marc record for a book. Items refers to each individual book. Thanks to Josh at Liblime.

I took a chance to call Liblime yesterday. I am not one of their customers. I was hoping that they would help me with a couple of questions. They were. Now I am changing Marc records again to put all the individual information in 952 rather than 852. Itemtype is staying in 852.

I am using Marc Edit by Terry Reese which is another OS program to edit the Marc Records. Marc Edit is a nice program that allows me to do uniform changes throughout the records. Before you can do that, you break the marc records down so that they can be read by text editor. Then there are some find and change commands that you can use. In the end the program rebuilds the text file into MARC so that you can use it.

What this means for me, over the next few days I will be rebuilding the marc records for 17 different sites. In the end event, I will take the records to Dan at DanTech services and he will upload them to the computer. He will have dumped the current records that are in the system. We should have a great system at that point.

After that, patron records and beyond…..

Wow,

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving has now come and gone. I have so much that I am thankful for this year that I didn’t realize I would be at this time of my life. My family is doing great. I was really worried that I would miss being a mom when my kids were out of the house. Instead I take great joy in their steps toward productive adult life. This is not to say I am a little bit taken aback with Michael’s move to Oregon today, but I am thrilled he has the skills and the self knowledge to set out on this road.

Robert had to go to Fairbanks this afternoon on an emergency fix it trip due to a renter that seems bent to bother the other renters by turning off the water. I can be very thankful that I work full time and he has to deal with the renters. I would want to drop kick this guy who has cost us two hundred dollars in repairs from shutting down the heat over the weekend. Mike got it up and going this morning and then this afternoon we get a call that it is messed up again.

I love being a librarian. I think librarians have the best jobs in the world. We hook people up with the information they need so that they can make their decisions. If we do it correctly, we teach them to find the information so that they will always be able to get the knowledge they desire. If you ever need to get a shot in the arm about how important the job of a librarian is, go to visit The Library of Congress. The ability of the public to have access to quality information is a cornerstone to our democracy.

I am happy that I have had this time in town to work on Koha. We are still updating the records, but that is a lot easier to do here in town where I can deliver the information to Dan than where I have to upload over the Internet.

I am thankful for the district that I work in. The growth we are making in open source programming is great to watch. I like the feeling that we are helping our money go further. If we can provide the programs that our teachers and students need for a fraction of the money, we can pursue new academic programming for students to get even more excited about learning.

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.

Okay,

I am back to work on Koha.  Setting up parameters is still thwarting me.  I need to look at what I have gained.  I know where my itemtype is listed in the MARC record (field 001).  I found this number by downloading one record and using textedit to look at the information.  It was a hidden field in my current library program.

The good news is that I am moving forward.  We have decided to have our Koha hosted on a computer that is not in the district.  The cost will be $350.00 a year for the hosting.  The best part of this is Dan Foote, who is the gentleman that will be hosting it, speaks English rather than technologese.  He will take care of the upgrades.  I will take care of the library records.

Off to work on this now.  My hope is that by the end of the weekend I will be able to post the site for other people to look at.