tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11219381790988982872024-03-13T11:32:22.791-04:00Ridiculously Digitally UbiquitousVICTORY THROUGH INFORMATION DOMINANCEUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-84687898946963402752017-07-13T16:43:00.001-04:002017-07-13T16:43:52.108-04:00one time i was mentioned it a book and it was cool and now it can be you being mentioned in a book and feeling cool!hello friends! as you may already know, Tinamarie Vella and I are working on a book (a primer, really) to help archives, libraries, and museums use Twitter more effectively. i know, i know, OH GOD ANOTHER BOOK ON TWITTER SHOOT ME NOW. here's the thing: i've done the research, and the book we're trying to write doesn't actually yet exist in any sort of contemporary incarnation. it's pretty odd but there it is. i decided to write this book for pragmatic reasons, in response to watching organizations (colleges rather than college libraries in specific for the most part) be absolutely terrible at Twitter. how, after all these years, can one still be terrible at Twitter?! so i pitched this book as a more comprehensive followup to my now super old and outdated article, "<a href="http://eprints.rclis.org/18837/" target="_blank">Making Twitter Work: A Guide for the Uninitiated, the Skeptical, and the Pragmatic</a>".<br />
<br />
lately though, i've fallen behind on writing, because, well, writing about Twitter is UGH. i know i have some good advice to share, but i also know that a lot of articles and presentations about HOW TO SOCIAL MEDIA GOOD are pretentious and pedantic in the worst way. i've spent a lot of time thinking about how to toe the line between pragmatic and pretentious, and at one point i even tried to re-pitch the book as a collection of chapters by different authors. that did not go down well with my publisher (and i'm sure Tinamarie wouldn't love going from a co-author to a co-editor either, so it's probably best it didn't go down this way). BUTTTTTTTTT, i still feel this book needs other voices to really useful. Tinamarie and I know what we're talking about, and we're librarians, so obviously research is actually <b>super fun times</b> for us, but i still feel like there's a lot of untold stories out there. sooooooo, as a compromise to the edited chapters idea, we pitched the idea of including brief case studies throughout the book, in order to use real world examples to highlight all the innovative ways archives, libraries, and museums are using Twitter to engage their communities.<br />
<br />
which brings me to my point (finally). we desperately want to hear from you. we created a form to collect stories from people about how their organizations are dealing with Twitter (or why you're NOT dealing with Twitter, that's an important story too!) originally we just wanted to interview people to get this information, but we're having trouble tracking down people who A) are involved with their organization's social media presence, <b>and</b> B) want to talk about how they feel their organizations are succeeding or failing on Twitter. so if you fall into both those categories (or if you know of someone who does, and you want to recommend we take a look at a specific organization/account) we would ADORE you for taking a look at our form.<br />
<br />
most of the questions allow for long-form answers, and not all will apply to everyone, so we recommend you read through all the questions first, and then just answer the ones that help you tell your story. (remember those old school tests that started with "read all the instructions first" and then the last instruction was "don't actually answer any of the questions"? this is like that, only instead of testing your ability to follow directions i am trying to <b>not</b> test your patience. because there are a lot of questions. and you will probably hate me if you try to answer all of them. and i don't want to hate me because i have childhood issues that have resulted in me desperately needing people to like me. tmi? tmi.)<br />
<br />
ideally, we'd like to feature you and your organization but we understand that some people don't feel comfortable speaking in the Royal We, or might be uncomfortable talking about less than successful stuff, so you can submit anonymously, or just name yourself or your organization. we will include as much or as little identifying information as you want.<br />
<br />
here's the form: <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaXb_XHEogCF2qvgrsxg1lOQpqi6_gzlLlCCdlOMhvmBWDKw/viewform?usp%3Dsf_link&source=gmail&ust=1500064164768000&usg=AFQjCNE1EHYCZzn3HtOihE1uXAf5IHKnIA" href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaXb_XHEogCF2qvgrsxg1lOQpqi6_gzlLlCCdlOMhvmBWDKw/viewform?usp=sf_link" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/<wbr></wbr>forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaXb_<wbr></wbr>XHEogCF2qvgrsxg1lOQpqi6_<wbr></wbr>gzlLlCCdlOMhvmBWDKw/viewform?<wbr></wbr>usp=sf_link</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-39355906517108681212017-04-20T16:51:00.000-04:002017-07-13T15:58:41.972-04:00ACRL-NY UX MeetingOn Friday, April 7th, I gave a talk on mobile usability at an ACRL-NY UX Discussion Group meeting. A lively discussion followed about responsive design vs. mobile sites vs. apps. <a href="http://lehman.academia.edu/StefanieHavelka" target="_blank">Stefanie Havelka</a> of Lehman College gave some great pointers on conducting usability testing and using the results to justify improving web services.<br />
<br />
I also mentioned I'd give links to Nielsen Norman Group's UX articles page, something about service design (the name of which I couldn't remember at the time), and the ACRL-NY UX blog, so here are those resources:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/">https://www.nngroup.com/articles/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/service-design-101/">https://www.nngroup.com/articles/service-design-101/</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://trydesignlab.com/blog/what-is-service-design/">http://trydesignlab.com/blog/what-is-service-design/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://acrlnyux.wordpress.com/">https://acrlnyux.wordpress.com/</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="259" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1N2rXSHFAphAIjqduYXFWIwQY8pp-j8GeL4rHqUmJmBo/embed?start=false&loop=false&delayms=60000" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="450"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
Also, if you liked this talk, and think it would make a good Ignite session at ALA in June, please consider voting for it!<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://connect.ala.org/node/265638">http://connect.ala.org/node/265638</a></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-49684058405127162172017-02-10T12:07:00.000-05:002017-02-10T12:18:28.536-05:00#ShePersisted <a href="https://twitter.com/vforrestal/status/829892885386518528" target="_blank">I made myself a "Nevertheless, She Persisted" bracelet last night</a>, and a few people expressed interest in having one of their very own. I'm happy to make and send them to you at cost, which is about $5 per bracelet. If you'd like one, please paypal me the 5 bucks and let me know the <a href="http://www.ebay.com/gds/How-can-I-tell-what-bracelet-size-I-need-/10000000118574532/g.html" target="_blank">size of your wrist</a>, where I should send it, and what kind of beads you want. Here are the options:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjALJ9VFJO_tpvR3zqrProFQoqBzDtkr6unaci1_2L7dMnSflOB-Xj_x-VS9nMvHc8g3AcdgTX-SrxiIo9TgDL6IIa_usjP49FbffV_2j8gmD5qR1GmNp27r7viTGtCpkSfqLg7bD7S515E/s1600/2017-02-10+11_42_38-Your+Shopping+Cart+-+Fire+Mountain+Gems+and+Beads.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="63" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjALJ9VFJO_tpvR3zqrProFQoqBzDtkr6unaci1_2L7dMnSflOB-Xj_x-VS9nMvHc8g3AcdgTX-SrxiIo9TgDL6IIa_usjP49FbffV_2j8gmD5qR1GmNp27r7viTGtCpkSfqLg7bD7S515E/s400/2017-02-10+11_42_38-Your+Shopping+Cart+-+Fire+Mountain+Gems+and+Beads.png" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(gold, silver or black; square or round)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
I stack mine with other beaded bracelets, so if you want a few of those I'll throw them in for 2 bucks a piece. Just tell me what colors you want or if there are any specific things you like, like "sparkly" or "natural stone" or "metal". I also have plain stainless steel chain in fine, medium, or large links.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh321RbIYnJV81bjJV27Er3ahyphenhyphenQnGimtbGjx9omHZTrELoVlRryzZFum1tAdsCN5zK4l8pd0oUyD6tVZx2w-3T93OUNPONlEoObMienQ6NB2F1eJI4wDR81WxFqK9-RN4w2LL3Tn5Bs-H5n/s1600/IMG_0004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh321RbIYnJV81bjJV27Er3ahyphenhyphenQnGimtbGjx9omHZTrELoVlRryzZFum1tAdsCN5zK4l8pd0oUyD6tVZx2w-3T93OUNPONlEoObMienQ6NB2F1eJI4wDR81WxFqK9-RN4w2LL3Tn5Bs-H5n/s200/IMG_0004.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSCJ1C6qlMfufwDPcBC62D_tgtLcRVz1Yx3GVElIz7qMKr6aIvH2z-wBdyxgJWf0gvkYZs8aFh51p-OU0CQnD8AeddmOonCs1c9FMtcYSefzKkxxlb3qTmo3zbyZ45l7pVOsi1B45fw6m4/s1600/IMG_0005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSCJ1C6qlMfufwDPcBC62D_tgtLcRVz1Yx3GVElIz7qMKr6aIvH2z-wBdyxgJWf0gvkYZs8aFh51p-OU0CQnD8AeddmOonCs1c9FMtcYSefzKkxxlb3qTmo3zbyZ45l7pVOsi1B45fw6m4/s200/IMG_0005.JPG" width="150" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxhjlcbXpspAn9lXMkkEAZpnqpmyg6fM7Hk97rrsAEf8wV59uhlQebNe_6V3jQ7bR8CFU47LRuGes1tsAuc0Ti9YbvHXXPIh6ZYkyhrEXTZI3P1z_bAQ1phCVZtQgOdcymv3d3ccZcHfbn/s1600/IMG_0006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxhjlcbXpspAn9lXMkkEAZpnqpmyg6fM7Hk97rrsAEf8wV59uhlQebNe_6V3jQ7bR8CFU47LRuGes1tsAuc0Ti9YbvHXXPIh6ZYkyhrEXTZI3P1z_bAQ1phCVZtQgOdcymv3d3ccZcHfbn/s200/IMG_0006.JPG" width="150" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrQgu7i1pNS28uW8mmtKhyphenhyphenW3EEgOW-9l1Os6xHrtanFSpjeKAN_roCDQDPFnmwd-EkNAzbz4rmcak88-Gb5Xu6gqgb1J6cGhYjU-rNX42aDqhZt9qI-Om7X2tha4UxtWPL_fmGyFNJtxv/s1600/IMG_0007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrQgu7i1pNS28uW8mmtKhyphenhyphenW3EEgOW-9l1Os6xHrtanFSpjeKAN_roCDQDPFnmwd-EkNAzbz4rmcak88-Gb5Xu6gqgb1J6cGhYjU-rNX42aDqhZt9qI-Om7X2tha4UxtWPL_fmGyFNJtxv/s200/IMG_0007.JPG" width="150" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsYHb0UqnnEaFlSeFFgmwtBKdQ5Q5t8VUbczGtS80LxnER_NxFMHkXoYiRofftNyFJuSDjP7mcQr4NTqPtddpQIFr3l-eI9MNRAPPFyIyF5kJHmyCTwtOw65GFq3pG2BEb-3WD6_xnDOv/s1600/IMG_0008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsYHb0UqnnEaFlSeFFgmwtBKdQ5Q5t8VUbczGtS80LxnER_NxFMHkXoYiRofftNyFJuSDjP7mcQr4NTqPtddpQIFr3l-eI9MNRAPPFyIyF5kJHmyCTwtOw65GFq3pG2BEb-3WD6_xnDOv/s200/IMG_0008.JPG" width="150" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVk2EngvL293VZJQAybf9ZnqLMtfXxZFLfIKt_3ilr1C49w1Q1JCKIeaH0hEvrDo9mT-WRAELCInS_aYjXAXESZ9t1hVkvum5xzbdWc5AmYM6TvyaUhn-Cew7D4W-mG1AjTI6LhVmgwPaL/s1600/IMG_0009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVk2EngvL293VZJQAybf9ZnqLMtfXxZFLfIKt_3ilr1C49w1Q1JCKIeaH0hEvrDo9mT-WRAELCInS_aYjXAXESZ9t1hVkvum5xzbdWc5AmYM6TvyaUhn-Cew7D4W-mG1AjTI6LhVmgwPaL/s200/IMG_0009.JPG" width="150" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">
<input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" />
<input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="MYAJ3WJKZSQRW" />
<input alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_paynowCC_LG.gif" type="image" />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" />
</form>
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-4013083362019848952016-06-15T15:54:00.000-04:002016-06-15T16:09:00.206-04:00NJLA 2016 Conference Talks<b>Beyond the CE: Cultivating Your Personal Learning Network</b><br />
<br />
We live in a constantly changing world, and this does not stop at the library doors. There are more continuing education opportunities than ever ranging from Conferences and Unconferences to web sites, blogs, podcasts and social media. Everyone's personal learning network takes a different form, and this panel representing public, school and academic libraries will explore the broad landscape of professional development opportunities for librarians.<br />
<br />
Presenters:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Joyce Valenza, Ph.D., Rutgers University</li>
<li>Robin Rockman, Youth Services Librarian, Oradell Free Public Library</li>
<li>Valerie Forrestal, Web Services Librarian, College of Staten Island</li>
<li>Alyssa Valenti, Electronic Resources & Web Services Librarian, Raritan Valley Community College</li>
<li>Theresa Agostinelli, Moderator</li>
</ul>
<br />
Slides: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/beyondCE">http://tinyurl.com/beyondCE</a><br />
<br />
<hr />
<b>The Cats Are Herding Us: Neko Atsume and Mobile Usability*</b><br />
<br />
<br />
Neko Atsume, a popular mobile app for smart phones and tablets, was an international hit despite the fact that gameplay was originally directed entirely in Japanese. This presentation assesses the usability of this app using Jakob Nielsen's "5 Aspects of Usability," as well as research on interface design for low-literacy users, in order to point out techniques for designing user-friendly mobile applications.<br />
<br />
*part of the <i>NJLA Ignite: Ideas that Inspire</i> program organized by <a href="https://twitter.com/allenmcginley" target="_blank">Allen McGinley</a><br />
<br />
Slides: <a href="http://bit.ly/NAandUX">http://bit.ly/NAandUX</a><br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-87958502398194477532015-11-23T15:05:00.000-05:002015-11-23T15:05:50.197-05:00on appreciation aka i'm about to get real gross and sappy and i'm not sorryif you're friends with me on twitter or facebook, you probably know about the drama my family had this weekend with a gas leak in our building, getting evacuated for 2 1/2 hours in the cold, and then having no heat or hot water for the rest of the weekend. after taking a very, very cold shower last night and then jumping into bed with like a million covers, washing my hands in warm water this morning was like a dream.<br />
<br />
on my way to work today, there was the usual insane traffic trying to get out of town (all my bayonne peeps know that the struggle is REAL.) a truck driver slowed down to let me merge in, even though he had the right of way (i had a stop sign). i waved and said "thanks sir, i appreciate it!", even though he obviously couldn't hear me. but those words triggered a deep feeling in my cold, dead heart. it's been a rough fall for me, with the book debacle, family issues, and ikey getting sick. and that's not even counting the stress of trying to buy a house, which i totally brought on myself so i know i shouldn't complain about.<br />
<br />
but it occurred to me in that moment that this week, (american) thanksgiving week, is the perfect time to choose to focus on all that i am thankful for. this sounds trite, i know, but in practical terms, i mean to make a conscious effort this week to stop and appreciate the things i do have, the things that go right, the relationships in my life. i'm going to say thank you more; going to stop and think, "wow, that was nice!" when someone goes out of their way for me; going to smile and acknowledge the people around me who make my life livable, from the crossing guards to the trash collectors to the coffee shop workers.<br />
<br />
my parents taught me to be polite, so i'm definitely a please-and-thank-you kind of girl, but i'm going to focus on the words and the sentiment behind them, rather than just as an automatic response. instead of rushing through the thank-you moment, i'm going to pause in each one, and take an extra second or two to really feel the gratitude and appreciation. i have a feeling that just making this effort will make this a happy week for me and the people around me. (and let's hope it forms a habit!)<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p4z1LMr8SLc" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-28455966859014164532015-10-08T15:47:00.000-04:002015-10-08T15:54:20.400-04:00Learned Extroversion: an Anxiety-Sufferer's Guide to Professional DevelopmentThis post has been brewing for a long time, and continues my long-standing tradition of posting about conference talks (basically just a place for people to find my slides) and personal stuff and little else in between. Today is on the personal side of things, with professional implications.<br />
<br />
I was watching a tv show the other day, and someone was talking about how they are a "learned extrovert" and something clicked in my head. This was right after some drama that went down with my dentist's office, whereby they needed me to come in and sign some paperwork and couldn't understand why I never answer my phone. Good question, that. I mean, I'm not a snake person after all, so what's my big deal with the damned phone? (Aside from the fact that I have some hearing issues that make it near impossible for me to actually understand what the other person is saying and result in a constant refrain of "excuse me? can you repeat that?")<br />
<br />
This is where the idea of learned extroversion comes in. People always "accuse" me of being an extrovert, and I try to explain that the colloquial definition (and maybe literal, I don't particularly feel like looking it up right now) of an extrovert is someone who is energized by social interaction, NOT someone who is good at it. If social interaction drains you, you're probably actually an introvert at heart. But definitely somewhere along the line I picked up the rules and rhythm of socializing, and at times can be quite proficient at it. The problem is, in order to do it I need plenty of preparation, a good understanding of the type of people I'll be around, a feel for the type of space and level of formality, and just the right amount of alcohol. If any one of those factors is off, I'm flailing. I can sometimes still do pretty well, but it takes a hell of a lot more out of me. And even the most successful, seemingly effortless social forays leave me exhausted and second-guessing myself for days, or even weeks.<br />
<br />
So this goes back to why I hate answering the phone, or why I hate unplanned social interactions in general. I haven't had time to assess the situation and prepare myself, so they fill me with untold anxiety. (I'm "lucky" in the anxiety department. I don't ever seem to worry about normal things like money or mortality or any of the bad things in life that can ACTUALLY HAPPEN. Anxiety for me comes on suddenly and often inexplicably and lingers even after the trigger event or trigger moment is long gone, and presents itself at various levels of severity, from vague sense of impending doom to all-out hammering heart and shortness of breath.)<br />
<br />
This summer I went to a pretty high-level leadership academy at Harvard, and it was a really tough experience for me, which has been lingering in the back of my brain and bugging me ever since. It was a good example of how awful things can be for the learned extrovert when events are not what they were expecting and they are not properly prepared.<br />
<br />
First, I went into the week-long workshop stressed out about the fact that the only reason I had applied was because my work told me I had funds to spend on professional development, and so I sought out what I thought would be a worthwhile experience, only to be told later that those funds, for unknown reasons, were no longer available. And this is not an inexpensive event, and Cambridge is not an inexpensive place to stay. So being thousands of dollars out of pocket for something I was doing mostly because I thought I had money to spend put me in a bad place right from the start. Then there was the fact that I had 2 vacations with friends in the following 2 weeks, one of which I was flying to directly from Boston. (Vacations are fun, yes, but vacations are also STRESSFUL, duh.)<br />
<br />
Also, the academy was far more intensive than I had prepared for: they were long days with very little opportunity to decompress by oneself built in. I actually had to miss a couple of sessions in order to find a quiet place to sit alone and recover from all the interaction. At the end of the day(s) I really should have holed up in my hotel room, catching up on reading (of which there was A LOT) and ordering room service while mindlessly staring at the tv, but I have friends in Boston, and made new ones at the event, so I did more socializing after hours than I had expected to.<br />
<br />
I feel bad for my fellow attendees, like I let them down by needing to opt out of some of the group work and discussion, but I do feel like it was the only way for me to be "present" at the rest of the sessions. I was also a bit bummed out that my stress levels kept me from getting as much out of the workshop as others did, and the disappointment I felt when I saw (seemingly) everyone else having a transformative and deeply enriching experience when I was feeling cynical and stressed out fed into the anxiety loop and just made everything that much harder.<br />
<br />
My advice for anyone applying for an immersion program or intensive academy, especially if you have depression and/or anxiety, is:<br />
<br />
a) DO NOT FORGET YOUR MEDS (I brought mine on the trip but didn't have them on me during the first day of sessions and that was NOT SMART.)<br />
<br />
b) Choose one or two nights for after hours socializing and resist the temptation to go out on the other nights, even just for dinner. It's a great bonding experience, but if you're anything like me, dinner leads to happy hour leads to hotel bar drinks leads to staying up way later than you had planned.<br />
<br />
c) Be honest with yourself and others about how you're doing. People are surprisingly understanding and accommodating when you're open about where your head's at.<br />
<br />
d) Leave work at work. Let colleagues know ahead of time that you will not be available and don't check your email during the day.<br />
<br />
e) Reach out to your touchstones. Part of my problem was being cut off from my supportive and helpful online community of librarians, who really are a lifeline for me. This academy expressly asked that we not use our phones during sessions, or tweet or post what was being talked about. I definitely understand these rules, but I wish I broke them just a little bit. My online PLN helps me make put ideas and theories in context, and more importantly, helps me feel a little bit less crazy through commiseration, compassion, and humor. Being so out of touch with them added to my feeling a bit adrift and isolated within the group.<br />
<br />
Finally, it's important to know your limits. Conferences and workshops are meant to push you and inspire you, but you have to know when you're overwhelmed and consequently starting to shut down. Prioritize what you want to learn and what you want to get out of an experience, and hold yourself to that, but also give yourself the space you need to unwind and decompress. This is pretty much my lifelong challenge: learning when I should be hard on myself, and when I should just chill the fuck out.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-180029045217426192015-07-02T16:07:00.000-04:002015-07-02T16:07:36.670-04:00ankle injuries and horror moviesso yesterday i was laid up with a strained peroneus brevis muscle which apparently is from walking too much on uneven surfaces in crappy shoes with not enough support. i asked twitter for suggestions for horror movies i could watch on netflix or amazon prime, and i figured i'd share the resulting list here, as a reminder to myself, but also for you good people! i should say that i specified that the movies not feature extreme gore or gratuitous violence towards women, because that sort of thing makes my stomach hurt. thanks to everyone on twitter and facebook for your suggestions, it's much appreciated!!!<br />
<ul>
<li>absentia </li>
<li>american mary</li>
<li>babadook </li>
<li>conqueror worm</li>
<li>dark skies</li>
<li>devil's backbone</li>
<li>grave encounters</li>
<li>harper's island (series)</li>
<li>haunter</li>
<li>hide and seek</li>
<li>housebound </li>
<li>nightcrawler</li>
<li>oculus</li>
<li>pontypool</li>
<li>rosemary's baby</li>
<li>the awakening</li>
<li>the host</li>
<li>the house of the devil </li>
<li>the innkeepers</li>
<li>the others</li>
<li>the pact</li>
<li>the possession </li>
<li>the taking of deborah logan</li>
<li>the tall man</li>
<li>under the skin</li>
<li>what we do in the shadow</li>
</ul>
<div>
ok so that's it for now. i'm also thankful to my lovely internet friends for recommending ankle braces so this recurring injury hopefully decides to recur less often. these are the 2 that people seem to like: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UVZWES/ref=s9_simh_gw_p121_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1G0BAKE7RTGRH50FPCMF&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop">McDavid Laced Ankle Brace</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TGSIMM/ref=s9_simh_gw_p121_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1G0BAKE7RTGRH50FPCMF&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop">ASO Ankle Stabilizing Orthosis</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-234164596880059002015-05-06T13:55:00.000-04:002015-05-06T14:02:19.825-04:00 Google Drive: Going Beyond Docs and SheetsTomorrow I'll be speaking at the <a href="https://longislandlibraryconference.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">2015 Long Island Library Conference</a>, in Melville, NY. <!--The hashtag is #slany if you'll be there and want to share your experience on Twitter.--><br />
<br />
Here's they abstract for my talk, which is at 3pm in Salons 1, 2, & 3 (upstairs):<br />
<br />
Google Drive is a free and easy way to create, share, and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. There are also simple tools for creating forms and surveys. Learn all the tips and tricks for getting the most out of Google Drive, including what you need to know about permissions and revisions, and how to add extra functionality to your spreadsheets and forms with Google Apps Script!<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="400" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/qu3oSDAIz40Kzn" width="445"></iframe>
<br /> <br />
I'll be going over the basics of why and how you can use Google Drive, and then give some live examples of some tips and tricks, including crafting good form questions, analyzing form results, and, if time permits, some more advanced stuff like using functions in spreadsheets.<br />
<br />
Some links and resources I'll be talking about include -<br />
<br />
<div>
Google Drive "Hacks":</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://support.google.com/drive/answer/176692?hl=en">About Optical Character Recognition in Google Drive</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.flubaroo.com/flubaroo-user-guide">Creating self-grading quizzes with Google Forms & Flubaroo</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blog.eipstech.com/2013/03/creating-leaderboard-using-google-docs.html">Creating a Leaderboard using Google Docs</a></li>
<li><a href="http://theinfobabe.blogspot.com/2013/09/hacking-google-forms.html">Hacking Google Forms with Google App Script</a></li>
<li><a href="https://support.google.com/docs/table/25273?hl=en" target="_blank">Google Spreadsheets Function List</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Google Drive Encryption Tools:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.boxcryptor.com/en/google-drive">Boxcryptor</a></li>
<li><a href="https://tresorit.com/">Tresorit</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cloudfogger.com/en/">CloudFogger</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.viivo.com/">Viivo</a></li>
<li><a href="http://stefanstools.sourceforge.net/CryptSync.html">CryptSync</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Google Drive and Privacy:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/">Google Drive Terms of Service</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/">Google Drive Privacy Policy</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
I'll also be talking about Google Drive in my book, "Knowledge Management for Libraries" (Rowman & Littlefield) due out in August 2015, so look out for that! ;)</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-50996787835370920792015-03-27T17:13:00.000-04:002015-03-27T17:13:27.009-04:00as usual, i have a lot to say about a thing...I feel like the library world needs its own rally to restore sanity right now. There are some loud voices on extreme ends of certain issues, but I think the majority of us fall somewhere in the middle, like with US politics. There are some people from outside the field saying some pretty nasty things and I honestly feel like the vitriol has pushed some major issues to the side.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What the hell am I talking about? I'm talking about Lisa Rabey getting sued by Joe Murphy. I'm talking about the reductionist nature of the where the rhetoric has ended up. People who don't work in the field, who've never met any of the people involved, have turned this case into a lot of things it was not. As someone who was close to the case for several reasons, I feel obliged to speak on a few things. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
First, I've met Joe Murphy and worked with him on several projects, one being a special issue of a journal he was editing and I wrote an article for, and the other being a talk series at Yale that he invited me to speak at. He never sexually harassed me, nor did he sexually harass anyone in my presence. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Second, I know Lisa Rabey personally, and quite well. I don't believe she ever lied. I know she went to a conference, and was told stories about Joe by others, and decided to tweet about what she heard. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You don't care about my personal opinion, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. I've been a librarian for over 10 years now, and I feel I have a bit of insight into the profession that some outsiders are missing when they look at this case. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
First, I do worry about people's reputation being ruined based on lies. That's wrong. But I worry that people can get sued for tweeting a completely genuine opinion about someone. Maybe Lisa did not use the right words. I personally would not have used the phrasing she used, because I am a far more timid person than she is. But I think it's telling that she could be sued over her words, while there are men on Twitter right now saying vile things to her and others involved in the case, and even threatening violence, but they will not get sued. There's a power dynamic at play here and to pretend there's not is disingenuous. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I also think that we're in a murky area when we talk about sexual harassment and even sexual assault. A lot of women, myself included, are only just now being exposed to new rhetoric and the stories of others that are causing us to look back at our own life experiences and re-evaluate them. For years we were told that we were being treated in ways deemed acceptable by society, that it's now clear were not, in fact, acceptable. Many of us are horrified to realize that things that happened to us in the past crossed lines and we can finally talk about that out loud, and the effect it had on us. But that doesn't by any means that there's a clear standard for what is sexual harassment or sexual assault. We're all still working this shit out, and it's icky, and it's difficult, and it's not fun for anyone. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So here's the thing. Having met Joe Murphy, having dealt with him professionally, I did not speak out on his behalf when accusations were made against him, because the truth of the matter was that I honestly couldn't in good conscience do so. Knowing that Lisa was basing her comments on things people had said to her, and having had similar experiences at conferences myself (though NOT involving Joe, let's be clear about that) I felt I had no right to question these women's accounts. To me, there were enough creepy dudes in the field who acted in this way, that it all seemed very plausible. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So where are these women now? They have chosen not to be a part of this. That's their decision. You can judge them however you want, but I mentioned before that I'm a timid person, so I wonder if I would have had the courage to come forward. As I said before, sexual harassment is a murky thing. Let's not pretend it's as easy as just saying "I was assaulted." Because it's not. We have our own guilt. Did I get too drunk? Did I flirt? Was I showing too much cleavage? Society has trained us to blame ourselves and we do. So it gets really hard to step forward and point a finger at someone in public when we bear so much of the weight of our own degradation. <a href="https://twitter.com/MrsFridayNext">Margaret H. Willison</a> posted a link to this article, which I think really speaks to the insidiousness of harassment: <a href="http://thehairpin.com/2014/10/stories-like-passwords">http://thehairpin.com/2014/10/stories-like-passwords</a><br />
<br />
I also think there's another reason that more people didn't speak out on Joe's behalf, besides themselves having seen this kind of behavior by other library dudes at conferences. There had been, and may well still be, that whole library rock star trend thing happening. While I feel like the profession does in fact benefit by having dynamic, passionate people speaking on its behalf, I think there began to be a disconnect between the people in the trenches, working actual library jobs, and the people speaking on their behalf at big conferences and venues. Increasingly these people were leaving full-time librarianship to go into consulting or professional speaking, and those of us still working full time in the field didn't feel like these people represented us. We didn't like them getting all the attention or winning all the awards, while we felt like we did all the work. For more on that see Julie Jurgens's excellent post <a href="http://himissjulie.com/2013/01/13/ego-thy-name-is-librarianship/" target="_blank">ego, thy name is librarianship</a>, or my article on the topic in <a href="http://creativelibrarypractice.org/2013/09/18/the-in-crowd-or-fear-and-loathing-in-library-land/" target="_blank">The Journal of Creative Library Practice</a>.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, I honestly do think I've seen this trend dying down, but I think there was a lot of resentment happening for awhile there towards people who seemed to be more passionate about their personal brand than they were about libraries. I'm more than certain that this resentment led me, and others, to judge some people harshly and perhaps unfairly (and in other cases, entirely fairly.) But I don't doubt some good people got grouped in with the bad. I will not give my opinion of Joe Murphy and where he falls on that spectrum. It's not for me to say. I'm trying really hard to balance being honest with being fair, because I do think we could use a little frank discussion here, but I don't think we should vilify anyone in the process.<br />
<br />
The point I mean to make with those last 2 paragraphs is just a long-winded way of saying it's possible Joe was not very liked by some people in library-land, and while I'm certain those people weren't plotting his doom, they also weren't going to be bothered to speak up on his behalf.<br />
<br />
Now I want to make it very clear that these are just my impressions of the situation. I could be very wrong. Sometimes I'm bad at gauging a situation, and I think I'm speaking on behalf of people other than myself, and I'm waaaaaaaay off base. To me it just feels like maybe some of us are thinking some of these things, but we're dancing around them. If I'm right, then hopefully the sunshine will act as a disinfectant for some of the toxic stuff going on right now in our field. If I'm wrong, then please know that I'm just trying to work though some of these issues and push the conversation in a productive direction, and forgive me for speaking out of turn. I care so deeply about this profession and this community, I don't want us to waste any more of our energy than is completely necessary on in-fighting, when we should be directing that energy towards fighting for libraries.<br />
<br />
Going forward, I want us to be able to speak openly without fear of lawsuit, and I want us to be able to go to conferences without worrying about getting harassed OR getting our reputations ruined. It's gonna be tricky for awhile. I don't have a prescription here. Conferences are fun, and you are grown adults who should be able to have fun and flirt and hook up if you want. But please remember to treat your colleagues as colleagues, and not potential hookups. Don't go out of your way to make someone feel self-conscious about their appearance or their gender or whatever. The <a href="https://exitpursuedbyabear.net/2014/01/frankensteins-monsters-roundup-of-responses-to-alas-code-of-conduct/" target="_blank">discussion surrounding codes of conduct</a> are a very good start. Also, don't use the profession as your personal dating service or as a vehicle to advance your personal brand. People might not tell you to your face, but it generally rubs them the wrong way. Or me anyway. There I go again speaking on behalf of everyone.<br />
<br />
I'm going to shut the comments off on my blog for a bit, because honestly I'm afraid of trolls. This may sound counter-intuitive when this post is calling for discourse and discussion, but I think Twitter is a more public forum to have those discussions than here. Also, I'm not a brave soul and I'm afraid of people saying mean things to me in my personal space.<br />
<br />
Again, I'm sorry if this missive is way off-base. I love this profession. I love the people in it. I feel extremely protective of the profession AND of the community, and I had to get some of this stuff out of my system so I could move forward in peace. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-37857566764377576532014-10-17T22:06:00.001-04:002014-10-18T19:42:22.124-04:00Bracelets for Bewbs part Deux<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">It's bracelets for breasts part 2! For a $10 donation, I'll send you a fully hypoallergenic stainless steel bracelet (like one of the ones in the pic below), and 100% of the money goes to help my BFF Heidi's mom fight breast cancer. Last time we did this we raised 500 bucks for her treatments and she was so thankful and we all cried a lot (</span></span><a href="http://theinfobabe.blogspot.com/2012/10/bracelets-for-breasts-recap.html"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">http://theinfobabe.blogspot.com/2012/1</span></span>0/bracelets-for-breasts-recap.html</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">). If you want a bracelet you can send your donation through the link below. Please specify the length you'd like! </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0Lb1ZeCEAA9PZf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0Lb1ZeCEAA9PZf.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">
<input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" />
<input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="YF9BBSGEK84K4" />
<input alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" type="image" />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" />
</form>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-41237153563487374002014-09-25T15:11:00.000-04:002014-09-26T14:54:26.442-04:00EDUCAUSE 2014Brian Farr and I will be discussing our library website rebuild and the ins and outs of successfully using Wordpress as a CMS at this year's <a href="http://www.educause.edu/annual-conference">EDUCAUSE</a> conference in Orlando, Florida. We'll be presenting at 2:30pm on Tuesday, in Meeting Room W311F-H. [<a href="http://www.educause.edu/annual-conference/agenda-and-program/annual-conference-face-face-agenda#schedule-tab-5">Tuesday schedule</a>]<br />
<br />
Our talk, <a href="http://www.educause.edu/annual-conference/2014/building-academic-websites-real-world">Building Academic Websites (in the Real World)</a> will also be webcast, so if you'll be attending the virtual conference, you can catch us there too!<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="400" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/39540232" width="450"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
As usual, I'll include links to any of the resources we talk about, and try to keep the list updated as new topics or questions arise:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AkjkdPfW3Av7HyTAGWIWoauW1CCdl-NidpLMohFXh8w/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">List of Helpful WordPress Resources</a></li>
<li><a href="http://theinfobabe.blogspot.com/2013/09/hacking-google-forms.html" target="_blank">Tutorial for using scripts to add functionality to Google Forms</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
And, because animated gifs don't work in slideshare, here's the run-through of the evolution of the new site. Agile development FTW!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrI52GBRUMIlbLyxtpgNRIDOzZBruzBGVRI7bYCCP4q7-yBJ_82zLnIDTp5vcYKj1LbHtWSQaIEJEeAAr39bi8dG3yfg5ZiFRyoofs6xTTyp_FM_RGiCxC-O5GFZw-B1Nc37g_3ogljpx/s1600/newSite.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrI52GBRUMIlbLyxtpgNRIDOzZBruzBGVRI7bYCCP4q7-yBJ_82zLnIDTp5vcYKj1LbHtWSQaIEJEeAAr39bi8dG3yfg5ZiFRyoofs6xTTyp_FM_RGiCxC-O5GFZw-B1Nc37g_3ogljpx/s1600/newSite.gif" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-22982066079913469052014-09-17T18:11:00.002-04:002014-09-17T18:14:32.235-04:00Google Drive for Libraries @ SLA-NYI'll be speaking at the <a href="http://newyork.sla.org/the-sla-new-york-conference-expo/">2014 SLA NY Conference & Expo</a> (<a href="http://newyork.sla.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/AgendaFinal.pdf">9:15, Social Media track</a>) on Thursday, 9/18/14, at <a href="http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/map.html">Baruch's Vertical Campus</a> in Manhattan, on the topic of Google Drive for libraries and information professionals. The hashtag is #slany if you'll be there and want to share your experience on Twitter.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="400" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/39214290" width="450"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
Some links and resources I'll be talking about include -<br />
<br />
<div>
Google Drive "Hacks":</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://support.google.com/drive/answer/176692?hl=en">About Optical Character Recognition in Google Drive</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.flubaroo.com/flubaroo-user-guide">Creating self-grading quizzes with Google Forms & Flubaroo</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blog.eipstech.com/2013/03/creating-leaderboard-using-google-docs.html">Creating a Leaderboard using Google Docs</a></li>
<li><a href="http://theinfobabe.blogspot.com/2013/09/hacking-google-forms.html">Hacking Google Forms with Google App Script</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Google Drive Encryption Tools:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.boxcryptor.com/en/google-drive">Boxcryptor</a></li>
<li><a href="https://tresorit.com/">Tresorit</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cloudfogger.com/en/">CloudFogger</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.viivo.com/">Viivo</a></li>
<li><a href="http://stefanstools.sourceforge.net/CryptSync.html">CryptSync</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Google Drive and Privacy:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/">Google Drive Terms of Service</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/">Google Drive Privacy Policy</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
I'll also be talking about Google Drive in my book, "Library Knowledge Bases Made Easy", which will be published by Rowman & Littlefield some time in 2015, so look out for that! ;)</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-63879563630072878432014-04-21T13:31:00.001-04:002014-06-10T11:41:12.930-04:00want to contribute to #ProjectTiara?it's probably not tax deductible, but it should be...<br />
<br />
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" />
<input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="9SJ2H45SPUCDU" />
<input alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" type="image" />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6etPahkPsLnvR_ChVFQ00r_mvgo46RPZ3lInAjnwIVBIWNR8Dk13mKPhmZCroakbah6zA7OKKggG-NDqjHANDq22b8e-a4AQJVK0SHmEvUKyTeNwoP0k7oa-ktVQhkRoH-B2jP0kobOu/s1600/cashcat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6etPahkPsLnvR_ChVFQ00r_mvgo46RPZ3lInAjnwIVBIWNR8Dk13mKPhmZCroakbah6zA7OKKggG-NDqjHANDq22b8e-a4AQJVK0SHmEvUKyTeNwoP0k7oa-ktVQhkRoH-B2jP0kobOu/s1600/cashcat.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(source: <a href="http://imgur.com/a/5mZHg">http://imgur.com/a/5mZHg</a>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></form>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-83734257452263194232014-04-02T16:28:00.000-04:002014-04-02T16:28:50.828-04:00New Directions in Information Fluency ConferenceI'll be presenting on 4/5/14 at the <a href="http://www.augustana.edu/x11824.xml?eventid=10806" target="_blank">New Directions in Information Fluency</a> conference at <a href="http://www.augustana.edu/" target="_blank">Augustana College</a> in Rock Island, Illinois. If you'll be attending, please consider attending my talk on collaborating with your school's writing center to provide workshops on writing research papers. It's during <a href="http://www.augustana.edu/x58909.xml#sessionsIII" target="_blank">Concurrent Session III</a>, at 2pm, and part of Panel D on Productive Collaborations (Olin 302).<br />
<br />
<script async="" class="speakerdeck-embed" data-id="057e25909c1e01317a09026e4508d1ea" data-ratio="1.77777777777778" src="//speakerdeck.com/assets/embed.js"></script><br />
<br />
This co-teaching experiment was actually from when I was still at Stevens, and all the lesson plans, handouts, and exercises were developed in conjunction with (and sometimes solely by) <a href="http://www.stevens.edu/cal/faculty-profile?id=1685" target="_blank">Jennifer McBryan</a>, who is all kinds of awesome. I ended up leaving before we had a chance to get past anecdotal evidence of the program's success, so we never did get to most of the assessment methods mentioned in the presentation.<br />
<br />
The most popular workshop we gave revolved around helping students understand the correct way to "use" scholarly sources. As in, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B31YIhkKM_BSaUhvYk1PaVhCbDg/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">how to develop a topic</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B31YIhkKM_BSTldhZ21DeFJlLUk/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">how to read and understand an academic journal article</a>, and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B31YIhkKM_BSNks3bkJaWDJUaVk/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">how to responsibly use the content</a> in their own papers. (Those links go to the handouts we used to teach each concept, via Google Docs. Feel free to download, adapt, and use them as you like.)<br />
<br />
For the paraphrasing exercise, I would find 3 articles related to the course topic, or a sample research paper topic as outlined by the syllabus, and I'd send the first 2 pages of each of those articles to Jenn, who would then create a paraphrased excerpt from each one. (Here are the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B31YIhkKM_BSRmdfTmNXSzZkNkU/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">sample articles</a> referred to in the above-linked exercise.) She would build some errors into each excerpt, either in the in-text citation, or in the way the writer is using the paraphrase or quote. (We were trying to get them to understand that you can't just pull words from an article, and use them out-of-context. You can't imply that the original author is saying something other than what they were actually trying to say, even if you can make the quote sound like it supports your thesis.)<br />
<br />
I have to give all the credit to Jenn for being great at creating these problematic paraphrase excerpts. She was fabulous at making them challenging, but realistic, and I was pleasantly surprised by how adept the students were at catching even subtle misuse of information.<br />
<br />
Finally, I've put together a brief reading list of articles discussing Library-Writing Center collaboration:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Artman, Margaret, Erica Frisicaro-Pawlowski, and Robert Monge. "<a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ944333" target="_blank">Not Just One Shot: Extending the Dialogue about Information Literacy in Composition Classes</a>." Composition Studies 38.2 (2010).</li>
<li>Bronshteyn, Karen, and Rita Baladad. "<a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ744251" target="_blank">Perspectives on… Librarians as Writing Instructors: Using Paraphrasing Exercises to Teach Beginning Information Literacy Students</a>." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 32.5 (2006): 533-536.</li>
<li>Clark, Irene. "<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/875546159590008X" target="_blank">Information literacy and the writing center</a>." Computers and Composition 12.2 (1995): 203-209.</li>
<li>Ferer, Elise. "<a href="http://www.aslib.co.uk/journals.htm?issn=0090-7324&volume=40&issue=4&articleid=17063685&show=html" target="_blank">Working together: library and writing center collaboration</a>." Reference Services Review 40.4 (2012): 543-557.</li>
<li>Palomino, Norma Estela, and Paula Ferreira Gouveia. "<a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1915475" target="_blank">Righting the academic paper: a collaboration between library services and the writing centre in a Canadian academic setting</a>." New Library World 112.3/4 (2011): 131-140.</li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-26681918532677460322014-03-13T14:55:00.000-04:002014-06-10T11:14:00.133-04:00#ProjectTiarai like tiaras. they are sparkly. and i feel special when i'm wearing one. when i was in high school, i was a runner-up for homecoming queen, and instead of all the runners-up (runner-ups?) getting tiaras, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihLHwoYMLa-8Q87T2_Ygn4A89wg29eMzFiGOJMNNtdeQg7XjJhXY5-mpWHrTIBVn_2hFv_ICYCifIEK82yDGLXpJHt5wb0RNuUVV7mBxJAUCrS6CO8KZjTb1YN2SwuCuUQ4lhoTpgnzI-s/s1600/IMG_4987.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihLHwoYMLa-8Q87T2_Ygn4A89wg29eMzFiGOJMNNtdeQg7XjJhXY5-mpWHrTIBVn_2hFv_ICYCifIEK82yDGLXpJHt5wb0RNuUVV7mBxJAUCrS6CO8KZjTb1YN2SwuCuUQ4lhoTpgnzI-s/s1600/IMG_4987.JPG" height="320" style="border-top-width: 10px;" width="242" /></a> as they did every other year, only the queen and the next 2 highest vote-getters got tiaras. this made me sad, because i wanted one. so, like any rational human being with access to a chinatown-esque variety store, i went and bought myself one and wore it to the prom. take that, stupid tiara-nazis!<br />
<br />
aaaaaanyway, about a year or so back i discovered that you can buy ridiculously pretty tiaras on ebay for super cheap. they come from china, and i feel kind of bad about the labor conditions of those making them, but at the moment i'm shoving that emotion deep down inside until i can find an ethical-but-reasonably-priced online tiara store. DREAM BIG, KIDS.<br />
<br />
so now i have a bunch of tiaras, including 2 3D printed ones! (the first is from <a href="https://twitter.com/telephase" target="_blank">Steve Teeri</a>, who made it at the Detroit Public Library's <a href="https://twitter.com/HYPEMakerspace" target="_blank">HYPE Makerspace</a>, and the crown from <a href="https://twitter.com/roosomusic" target="_blank">Tyler Rousseau</a>'s library's makerspace.) i especially enjoy wearing them when i'm doing something i don't particularly want to do, like my chores, just because it cheers me up a bit.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptxI8nB3FaoN6FQU9tPIKM0RTC88G1cmC6tfmFFO_6Sbdm_ZjfwQkQOY4buz4tbxNBhgCVrQF6hzT_Nld7gVqLhlHPla0To9k2-rm5_SH02_-5OfS1SHW22RePq-chvOgrrJ88JpbW63T/s1600/IMG_4470.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptxI8nB3FaoN6FQU9tPIKM0RTC88G1cmC6tfmFFO_6Sbdm_ZjfwQkQOY4buz4tbxNBhgCVrQF6hzT_Nld7gVqLhlHPla0To9k2-rm5_SH02_-5OfS1SHW22RePq-chvOgrrJ88JpbW63T/s1600/IMG_4470.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<a 1em="" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtmxFmKBjXxnwKSVcDoOBVw1rPVRz7Z7gOH8KkKJiV5AHEnFmjflHmicfcI3hl_MreLk9zFu0pEKvPgvmop53hC_qKYqA7eHgZgY8muxouLx4oeDczl7y6g2_w_1-vd9sL0fIF5_UrKHB/s1600/IMG_4980.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtmxFmKBjXxnwKSVcDoOBVw1rPVRz7Z7gOH8KkKJiV5AHEnFmjflHmicfcI3hl_MreLk9zFu0pEKvPgvmop53hC_qKYqA7eHgZgY8muxouLx4oeDczl7y6g2_w_1-vd9sL0fIF5_UrKHB/s1600/IMG_4980.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUDhOOK-_GG_EIDjnKYuo-FxWVTAOPtGr_LyqO5AL-EGIoummKMmN7MTQKkNqMnpPqEdp8gJpq0Zm2iGBKs3NmFoTBL6-ZEBMXV9HmhyphenhyphenOfOO7GJLVkTIpHULagfLidoKvkf6ZfmDmmxuT_/s1600/IMG_3678.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUDhOOK-_GG_EIDjnKYuo-FxWVTAOPtGr_LyqO5AL-EGIoummKMmN7MTQKkNqMnpPqEdp8gJpq0Zm2iGBKs3NmFoTBL6-ZEBMXV9HmhyphenhyphenOfOO7GJLVkTIpHULagfLidoKvkf6ZfmDmmxuT_/s1600/IMG_3678.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZYh83sAgeMYek-be3f3shPdc9ddsvXnJ5lEq1hAiP1y7hL95RczU2UBkm53xXBPHwA_TeOhod309tiocuIRUaYOoORNF1rX0r8_fph2BpHueL8LCRO2gzS8xXY2_OpOV7nTbTtGZBAXi/s1600/val2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZYh83sAgeMYek-be3f3shPdc9ddsvXnJ5lEq1hAiP1y7hL95RczU2UBkm53xXBPHwA_TeOhod309tiocuIRUaYOoORNF1rX0r8_fph2BpHueL8LCRO2gzS8xXY2_OpOV7nTbTtGZBAXi/s1600/val2.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a>
<br />
<br />
anyway, for no reason in particular, i decided one day to send other people tiaras. i feel like my thinking might have gone along the lines of: "oh, this person said they like my tiara, so THEY should have a tiara too!" then the other day i just got it in my head that i needed to send out some congratulatory tiaras. i'm not entirely sure why. i had just found out one of my conference proposals finally got accepted, and i also got a small professional development grant, so maybe i just had celebrating small successes on the brain. also, i'm a huge fan of <a href="http://www.breathoflifedaily.com/2014/02/kid-presidents-address-to-new-life.html" target="_blank">this kid</a>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.breathoflifedaily.com/2014/02/kid-presidents-address-to-new-life.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxjhpMBi93CGcI_V-K0s1HrRNtDmix6nehZ2KjsyXyiTYkUiOsE1pCFiDaL689fyqd6MceE16etfGTVQXA79SjpHG0jkEbHHpxAfoOG3P2LZq5YP3gBWBQbk9yjBpBNJYItEG9N-wLnhxp/s1600/kid1.gif" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.breathoflifedaily.com/2014/02/kid-presidents-address-to-new-life.html" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxLKBfxXdhUN7GHr708iNuXThTtBnrGt2rMUb825-27mOCC3dA65oHENMTNSMwybuvgUbXOY7Rw3kcCheKFrYwO7CPYPLRM7ojFxZy8i3g_uPHtAb27zhbJeWXM3SBXEPXOcBywEfOuH-D/s1600/kid2.gif" height="200" width="200" /></a>
<br />
<br />
he's so right! you're doing great! you need to give yourself more credit! so, i invited twitter to take part in #ProjectTiara. the rules are simple:<br />
<ol>
<li><strike>dm me your name and address (i'm <a href="https://twitter.com/vforrestal" target="_blank">@vforrestal</a> on twitter)</strike></li>
<li><strike>tell me of some small (or large!) success you've had lately (it really can be anything. if ever i make it to work on time for an entire week, i'm going to buy myself a freakin CROWN.)</strike></li>
<li><strike>agree to send me a pic of the tiara when you receive it, so i can do a series of posts celebrating your successes, small and large. (if you're camera shy, it can just be a pic of the top of your head, or you can put the tiara on a pet, or really whatever. be creative!)</strike></li>
</ol>
<div>
<b>never mind all that, i made a form! so now all you have to get a tiara is fill out the form at the end of this post, or <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1S9kGc2oO05fTHgWQhXQ1BU_5viuCuwiwWIC63rnDXrA/viewform" target="_blank">here</a>.</b><br />
<br />
that's it! really! i'm on a mission to sparkle-fy the world, and to fight the trend in the library world that you have to WIN ALL THE AWARDS! and PUBLISH ALL THE ARTICLES! to be a success. you're out there every day doing a job that makes the world a better place, and you deserve to be celebrated for it. you need to pop on a tiara every once in awhile and remind yourself (and the world!) how fucking awesome you are. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHzQw4Fe-O3q97iEJARyAh6W45935MCToxZOKF2WG35ATLkEWR07-fMcESLrbNEWBx6SpdMI-whz7j95JJu_hzVHbO6UPdYChVEQdtRIRq36RrVIs2v1tpYcn4VCtCSx_7kY2Eoi5GXy1k/s1600/IMG_5036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHzQw4Fe-O3q97iEJARyAh6W45935MCToxZOKF2WG35ATLkEWR07-fMcESLrbNEWBx6SpdMI-whz7j95JJu_hzVHbO6UPdYChVEQdtRIRq36RrVIs2v1tpYcn4VCtCSx_7kY2Eoi5GXy1k/s1600/IMG_5036.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2xIum2K9jNdqQYR9MHjr9AfQxR_BcwuDdyM7apNB3VEc_zeBqgaqzCrG97Nlb4ft0YWP-jEVQM2t_Sa1-tSkfgbERgXK0d4C-jw5oruzjNAKTWeMzGz_fkMOFyPfTmRIMS69pGApYkCn/s1600/IMG_2376.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2xIum2K9jNdqQYR9MHjr9AfQxR_BcwuDdyM7apNB3VEc_zeBqgaqzCrG97Nlb4ft0YWP-jEVQM2t_Sa1-tSkfgbERgXK0d4C-jw5oruzjNAKTWeMzGz_fkMOFyPfTmRIMS69pGApYkCn/s1600/IMG_2376.JPG" height="200" width="177" /></a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">****☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺****</span></div>
</div>
<b><br /></b>
<b>UPDATE-- <a href="https://twitter.com/nnschiller" target="_blank">Nicholas Schiller</a> has officially joined the good fight to sparkle-fy the world!!! If you're not a tiara person (which I won't even PRETEND to understand, but hey, to each their own!) head over to <a href="http://informationgames.info/blog/?p=3003" target="_blank">OPERATION: BOW TIE</a> and secure yourself a celebratory bow tie!</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.allgeektome.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/tumblr_mmdmtvbBum1qkw3xvo1_500.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.allgeektome.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/tumblr_mmdmtvbBum1qkw3xvo1_500.gif" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">****☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺****</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">UPDATE 2-- We have <a href="http://projecttiara.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">a tumblr</a>!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">****☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺****</span><br />
<br />
I've had a couple of people ask about helping defray the cost of the tiaras, so if you'd like to donate a few bucks to the cause, you can do so here:
<br />
<br />
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" />
<input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="9SJ2H45SPUCDU" />
<input alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" type="image" />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" />
</form>
<br />
Thank you for your support!!!!
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">****☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺*♥☼☺****</span><br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="700" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1S9kGc2oO05fTHgWQhXQ1BU_5viuCuwiwWIC63rnDXrA/viewform?embedded=true" width="415">Loading...</iframe>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JOucekyEIDyvaNZcR8uRf3xjbSUZMy_tRuEN-AX8xvZ1a8nysAoH-WwYhgQvFUvUcuJUtOS7YWeI2A6HXus43Q_BQ7fGdpfhe-NsPpD4UJkqVa7S_ZwfWoMJ3APpgpvFy9Ahpj0cUGfP/s1600/val.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JOucekyEIDyvaNZcR8uRf3xjbSUZMy_tRuEN-AX8xvZ1a8nysAoH-WwYhgQvFUvUcuJUtOS7YWeI2A6HXus43Q_BQ7fGdpfhe-NsPpD4UJkqVa7S_ZwfWoMJ3APpgpvFy9Ahpj0cUGfP/s1600/val.jpg" height="320" width="266" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-85086842214284724162014-01-14T16:39:00.000-05:002014-01-14T17:00:52.068-05:00in defense of the crazy cat ladylately, when someone asks me how many cats i have, i've taken to holding up 4 fingers, like saying the number out loud is some sort of admission of guilt. and if i'm lucky, instead of outright derision, i'll be met with a look of pity and an indulgent smirk.<br />
<br />
it doesn't help that i'm a single 35 year old female librarian. i'm pretty thoroughly a stereotype. but the cat thing really isn't my fault. i grew up in a little apartment with my parents and brother, so cats were really the biggest pet you could have, and we had cats the entire time i lived there. people are often fond of the kind of pet they grew up with. it's perfectly normal.<br />
<br />
but 4? ok. maybe that's a bit self-indulgent. i got the 2nd one to keep the first company while i was at work. but they didn't really get along, so when a neighbor found a stray and asked if i was interested in taking him in, i didn't hesitate. and i said 3. never more than 3. that would just be crazy! and then this happened on instagram:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimuql4qZ_7q_mosYePShieJ8g6F5FrTrUsceCWbdzOYu25CTAdCol9CVamTaV2qEoma27RjmRd5FVgMsKR3Ta-MvnQSHnSRYaHO-NnqCSxrq_QSui04yVZrVQ64Jw1ztHS0Gkkv9bE_KLq/s1600/1238076_10153172170700445_1076899980_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimuql4qZ_7q_mosYePShieJ8g6F5FrTrUsceCWbdzOYu25CTAdCol9CVamTaV2qEoma27RjmRd5FVgMsKR3Ta-MvnQSHnSRYaHO-NnqCSxrq_QSui04yVZrVQ64Jw1ztHS0Gkkv9bE_KLq/s320/1238076_10153172170700445_1076899980_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
shut up, clearly that cat had to come home with me. i obviously had no choice but to take him in!<br />
<br />
whenever someone makes fun of me or looks at me funny or calls me a crazy cat lady, i get a bit tongue-tied. i want to defend myself, but i know i shouldn't have to. i know it shouldn't matter what anyone thinks of me. but i'm a 35 year old single lady, and often i feel in a vulnerable position. what if i am crazy? what if i'm weird and un-date-able? women only have value while they're fuckable, and lord knows i'm past my prime in terms of looks, so clearly my decision to have 4 cats is a statement to the world that i've decided to give up and embrace spinsterhood (which i *do* joke about. it's not the worst fate.) but my decision to have 4 cats has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that they utterly and truly bring me nothing but pure joy.<br />
<br />
ok, maybe that's the teensiest, tiniest bit hyperbolic. cleaning puke off my freshly-washed comforter or wiping poop off a writhing, yowling cat's foot will never bring me joy. but those moments are far, far fewer than the moments of pure joy. i can't explain to you how i feel when a happy, purring cat looks up from my lap with sleepy eyes and gives me that contented half-meow.<br />
<br />
and whenever i hear or see things that make me sad, people treating each other awfully, people treating animals awfully, i look at my cats and think, "i can't make everything better in the world, but i can make everything awesome for THEM. i can do just that little bit of good and treat these 4 little creatures with all the love and kindness that i wish i was willing and able to give the rest of the world."<br />
<br />
and that fills me with pure joy.<br />
<br />
i can only hope that you can find something that gives you that feeling on a regular basis. spouse, kid, pet, plants, volunteering, hobbies, work. whatever. i won't ever mock you for finding some harmless thing that makes you truly happy.<br />
<br />
i wish that for you, with all my heart.<br />
<br />
so maybe cut me some slack with the 4 cats, k?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://distilleryimage9.s3.amazonaws.com/1f78622c685f11e388f4127ca6e0622d_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="float: left;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage9.s3.amazonaws.com/1f78622c685f11e388f4127ca6e0622d_8.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<a href="http://distilleryimage8.s3.amazonaws.com/e0083aa86cd811e38fb312b153b26118_8.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage8.s3.amazonaws.com/e0083aa86cd811e38fb312b153b26118_8.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<a href="http://distilleryimage11.s3.amazonaws.com/48deb40e069411e3aaa822000a1fb0dd_7.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage11.s3.amazonaws.com/48deb40e069411e3aaa822000a1fb0dd_7.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<a href="http://distilleryimage11.s3.amazonaws.com/54cf93bc476e11e395c822000ae80c95_8.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage11.s3.amazonaws.com/54cf93bc476e11e395c822000ae80c95_8.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<a href="http://distilleryimage3.s3.amazonaws.com/b274c84062c411e3950d123a7487b243_8.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage3.s3.amazonaws.com/b274c84062c411e3950d123a7487b243_8.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<a href="http://distilleryimage0.s3.amazonaws.com/02f419665c8411e3b9211276cdcf1323_8.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage0.s3.amazonaws.com/02f419665c8411e3b9211276cdcf1323_8.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<a href="http://distilleryimage11.s3.amazonaws.com/f75cf73418d711e3a5b622000a9f1254_7.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage11.s3.amazonaws.com/f75cf73418d711e3a5b622000a9f1254_7.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<a href="http://distilleryimage4.s3.amazonaws.com/d435936c44bd11e3b91e22000ab5c0f2_8.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage4.s3.amazonaws.com/d435936c44bd11e3b91e22000ab5c0f2_8.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*(<a href="http://instagram.com/vforrestal" target="_blank">see more of my cats on instagram</a>)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-34164503553235133232013-12-27T11:41:00.001-05:002016-06-15T16:07:04.920-04:00Val's best books: 2013 editionI decided I was going to keep track of my reading this year. Despite starting off strong, averaging 4/5 books a month, I ended up only finishing 26 books (including the one I'm reading now, which I promise to finish before the year's up! Still, a few were pretty heavy volumes (literally and/or metaphorically) so I'm pretty happy with my effort.<br />
<br />
Last year I was wildly into historical romance, but this year was dominated by sci-fi/fantasy and non-fiction. You can see <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/vforrestal/books-i-ve-read-this-year-2013/" target="_blank">the whole list, with my comments</a>, but I figured I'd just highlight my favorites for now.<br />
<br />
<div style="float: left;">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13429639-the-best-american-science-and-nature-writing-2012" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKLy3eqP6wyU2u6pOVxBJj_cZr0aYa24MNIAObJ9RSxG3E5zHqbTQbyy3KuglXOHmn5gcfTJlAQihc2O9Jdm8IwCzLz1B3FRgnZUz6brATGIpCGa4bVB2aUtt9y0ZdeAEtwZRHs1jMNiMB/s200/0e92d56dec7fcac805e6c3774ed9e6eb.jpg" style="height: 200px; margin-right: 20px; vertical-align: top; width: 150px;" /></a></div>
This was a really good one. I liked the organization, there was a logical progression to it. I particularly liked the articles on quantum computing, bitcoin, and the Turing Test.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Science-Writing-2012/dp/0062117912" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnLaXRVBVESiUaj_9EvoX3vx13xo0TUZM4t07Ipn-ezZJ7q32Kt6a7MTFvu5s6RDW00ogggu_jnZsLajujKR0iXLw4GmaWfhatrgISA0uhjHlvWJLWorjr9EzSzpWAHbaJ7KCfwl-B_ciX/s200/72126969894df3e102b2893dbbca373f.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 20px;">
Every volume of this book is amazing. Like, literally. Science is amazing. Anyway... This edition did have 2 articles in common with the above compilation, but it's worth reading even if only for the fantastic forward by physicist Michio Kaku.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/0307744434" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOiNq-Miq1cwJ7HIG1TdzD8_5eluqF2e1Etfw-7c9vMZccLWdl_o9c6kYNk-7CHOyjeTDF0I7AT19_9mMOrIRmxGxCtXHSDmdYX-bbKSquohCyZyITj0IsGKm-Vdrpuznv8dctZC_khu6Q/s200/98eb6d0817b0f7c73850c87723062ef0.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
I realize pretty much everyone on the planet has read this book by now, but if you haven't: read it! I had some trouble getting into it at first, but I'm glad I stuck with it, because when it got going, it got GOOD. It could just be that I love love. And also, magic. The hero was a teensy bit douchey at points, but for some reason it didn't bother me much. Maybe because the heroine was awesome enough to make up for it.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/46424-sandman-slim" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36X5DKwKXqJF2jF6JHilYbEEINXCbmc4GtTrN59dCCJ71FALAFsf-YDOwxAXrljGt47ENu1krpjmuwz2pR3kDm1qfCUySoW6oM6Xj0RzP0HwEimBMkA63l43af1lkREjQVEZLRahC-eII/s200/2f4118d597006acb8e8d5add5dbe67e9.jpg" width="124" /></a></div>
I'm 2 books into the Sandman Slim series, and really enjoying it. Gritty, but not offensively so. Reminds me of a cross between Jim Butcher and Charlaine Harris. It's meshing perfectly with my recent Supernatural binge-watching. I just wish Kadrey would embrace the concept of a chapter; deciding where to break for the night is a bitch.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Peregrines-Home-Peculiar-Children/dp/1594746036" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUSR_y_oyAFr7D3Nq3AyWasXDvxEhltJxeuIVXsRD-xUetAQ6q4CfWFVFR5iYpNQNEQqjMtDL_9VjmTjtBxSObL2mosGuop8IWtYLiQXazX4cD71Joxv3_aHBIYpSIoQv5eo4JFF2AbhWx/s200/01b3779508c63a2ce9ae951548f16014.jpg" width="156" /></a></div>
Misfit children with special powers being hunted down is not a super original concept, but I couldn't put this book down. Looking forward to the sequel that's due out in January.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.stephanielaurens.com/books/cynster-sisters-trilogy/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4GJwYdpEYrp92r9ymC24Grz_2aMKIRBSyvmKeFFGJTtUzc4hB494lY4TnN_aLshHqdzsev6XiHNV6s5MhlRfHNXrTl9CtUcNXYuWWg9TuQM6o7EcKSaMI0jGOzCPvgZXDO0Ltig9UOtk_/s200/4b871abc9012b3eb3f61f8d14d62987f.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
I found her writing awkward at first, but I loved the story. I love soul-matey historical fiction. That's totally a thing, right? This is the third in a trilogy though, so you may want to start with the first and second before reading this one. [<a href="http://www.stephanielaurens.com/books/cynster-sisters-trilogy/" target="_blank">http://www.stephanielaurens.com/books/cynster-sisters-trilogy/</a>]<br />
<div style="clear: both;">
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-63207147001512354772013-12-05T19:39:00.000-05:002013-12-09T14:44:41.454-05:00CUNY IT Conference - Building Academic Websites (in the Real World)I'm presenting tomorrow at the 2013 CUNY IT Conference, where Brian Farr (our Systems Manager) and I will be talking about the process of developing our new library website. If you'll be at the conference, consider coming to see our talk at 2:15pm. [<a href="http://www.centerdigitaled.com/events/CUNY-IT-Conference-2013.html" target="_blank">Conference schedule</a>]<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/vforrestal/cuny-it" target="_blank">Slides from our talk</a></li>
<li><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AkjkdPfW3Av7HyTAGWIWoauW1CCdl-NidpLMohFXh8w/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">List of Helpful WordPress Resources</a></li>
<li><a href="http://theinfobabe.blogspot.com/2013/09/hacking-google-forms.html" target="_blank">Tutorial for using scripts to add functionality to Google Forms</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/vforrestal/website-migration" target="_blank">Slides from a similar talk I gave for ACRL-NY, which are more boring, but also more informational</a></li>
</ul>
I also have some fun slideshows of the site-building process, with screenshots and mockups and crazy marked up documents, which I'll add next week.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVWfHF0JWFuTxgYfrHKy3NyUGrdtzxGFOVF1mgj0Hbl7-0kXtOIPw2ZyD0x_3taCa_ywf23Xwu0uUbjnpJPzVv_SyLjwtdZq1ossnsJt-Wl8PYZjPG74wjnSMI-JQejlnnSm36NXG95ZV_/s1600/newSite.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVWfHF0JWFuTxgYfrHKy3NyUGrdtzxGFOVF1mgj0Hbl7-0kXtOIPw2ZyD0x_3taCa_ywf23Xwu0uUbjnpJPzVv_SyLjwtdZq1ossnsJt-Wl8PYZjPG74wjnSMI-JQejlnnSm36NXG95ZV_/s400/newSite.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-55021268036886830302013-12-04T11:07:00.000-05:002016-06-15T16:07:04.943-04:00Zen and the art of the conference proposal<span style="color: #666666; font-size: x-small;"><i>(This post originally appeared on <a href="http://letterstoayounglibrarian.blogspot.com/2013/11/zen-and-art-of-conference-proposal-by.html" target="_blank">Letters to a Young Librarian</a>, and was edited by <a href="http://twitter.com/olinj" target="_blank">Jessica Olin</a>.)</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><i><br /></i></span>
Your first year as tenure-track faculty is an odd one. You’re not expected to publish right away, but it’s encouraged that you keep your CV active by adding to it in one way or another. Given the amount of time you spend acclimating to a new workplace during your first year (anywhere, not just in academia), you don’t necessarily have the time or the connections to do anything major. Often you’re expected to spend that first year choosing future research projects, and starting to design your research studies and maybe collect some data if you’re lucky. Sometimes, if you’re like me, you were hired to work on a specific project, and will spend much of your time tackling minor practicalities like building a website from scratch and migrating the entire former site’s content to it. Pish posh.<br />
<br />
This forces you to be a bit creative with adding lines to your CV. I’ve looked for limited time and energy-commitment obligations, like less formal writing projects and talks at local chapter meetings. One opportunity I stumbled across on <a href="http://libprofdev.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">one of the</a> <a href="http://librarywriting.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">CFP blogs</a> <a href="http://www.personal.psu.edu/dxf19/blogs/dolores_list_of_cfps/" target="_blank">I follow</a> was a call for conference proposal reviewers. I’ve acted as a peer reviewer in the past, so it seemed like a good opportunity for some professional service.<br />
<br />
About halfway through the 20-or-so proposals assigned to me for review, I realized that this was much more than just a line on my CV. I’ve submitted many conference proposals in the past (a handful of which were actually accepted,) but being on the other side of the submission process gave me some useful insights for the future. (For the record, the conference was not library-focused, and it was a blind review process, so I feel ok about talking about it publicly.)<br />
<br />
First, I shouldn’t have to say this, but based on many of the submissions I reviewed it warrants a mention: <b><i>Follow. The. Instructions.</i></b> You’ll read this advice a lot in posts about applying for jobs, but it goes for pretty much any official process in the professional world. Sometimes you think can skip steps. Maybe you know someone. Maybe you’re a big name in the field. Maybe you presented last year. Well, I can’t see your name and I wasn’t at last year’s conference, so do us all a favor and complete all the fields in the form. If I don’t need a certain piece of information I’ll skim over it. Better safe than sorry.<br />
<br />
Here’s another piece of advice that comes directly from job application best practices: <b><i>customize, customize, customize</i></b>. Maybe you’re submitting a similar proposal to several similar conferences. I don’t care. Take the time to tweak your proposal to at least touch upon this specific conference’s mission and theme. I know you have to put out a lot of proposals just to get a few acceptances, but try to make it feel like this conference is one you actually *want* to present at.<br />
<br />
GradHacker recently did a post on <a href="http://www.gradhacker.org/2013/10/28/5-steps-to-a-killer-conference-proposal/" target="_blank">Killer Conference Proposals</a>, and while all their tips are good ones, I think their final tip is of particular importance: “Explicitly state an audience takeaway.” Of course *you* find your research interesting and relevant (or at least I hope so). But take a step back and think like a marketer. What are you offering presentation/panel attendees? So many proposals I reviewed talked exclusively about their own experience without in any way addressing why that experience should matter to anyone else. Is the technology you used attainably-priced? Are your assessment standards widely accepted? What kind of implementation time/resources did it take? I’ve sat through many presentations where the project discussed was fabulous, but I came away frustrated because the presenters made no effort to tell me how I could replicate all or part of it, or apply the knowledge elsewhere. Give me something I can use, or reserve this talk for a showcase or project update event.<br />
<br />
My last piece of advice doesn’t really apply to a blind review, but I’ll mention it anyway. When I’m participating in an event, I make sure to publicize it throughout my own networks. I like to think this gives a person a reputation as someone who will actively work to help draw in attendees, and thus be an asset to future events.<br />
<br />
If anyone else has been part of the conference proposal review process, please leave some tips in the comments! What causes you to reject a proposal outright? What puts a presenter on your good side right away?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-89199906316572257512013-11-13T14:52:00.003-05:002013-11-13T15:03:05.171-05:00this is not a work-related postIt's pretty obvious from my last few weeks of posts that I'm currently binge-watching and obsessed with the show Supernatural. A couple of people mentioned to me that it inspired them to watch/rewatch the show from the beginning, so I decided to feed the mania so you all can be as entrenched in fandom as I currently am. Scroll through the tweets from the bottom up; it will be like we're watching together! (If you can't get back to the very early tweets, which start on 10/13/13 fittingly enough, you should be able to get the full timeline here: <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=supernatural%20from%3Avforrestal&src=typd&f=realtime">https://twitter.com/search?q=supernatural%20from%3Avforrestal&src=typd&f=realtime</a>)<br />
<br />
Oh! Also, you're gonna wanna check out all the amazing animated gifs from the show, which I've been dutifully curating on pinterest: <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/vforrestal/superwholock/">http://www.pinterest.com/vforrestal/superwholock/</a><br />
(or, for the <i>even more</i> obsessive of you, dive into this tumblr: <a href="http://allthesupernaturalgifs.tumblr.com/">http://allthesupernaturalgifs.tumblr.com/</a>)<br />
<br />
If you know of any fun #spn sites I should add, let me know!<br />
<br />
<a class="twitter-timeline" data-widget-id="400710627389214720" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=supernatural+from%3Avforrestal">Tweets about "supernatural from:vforrestal"</a>
<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-28545726376727958662013-09-30T15:20:00.000-04:002014-05-23T15:24:33.893-04:00Hacking Google FormsA few months back I pitched the idea of using Google forms for all the forms on the new website. Our current forms were created through a Joomla-specific add-on, and I'm not proficient enough in PHP or SQL to feel comfortable recreating them from scratch. Also, the forms on our current site turned into a pretty huge security risk as they aged, and I like the thought of using Google's servers to house the forms and resulting data. However, on their own, Google forms are pretty limited in their functionality, just dumping data into a Google spreadsheet document (which can be exported, but you still have to regularly log into your Google account to view the data.)<br />
<br />
Forms do have the option of sending an email alert whenever someone fills out the form, but the alerting email doesn't include the actual form data, so you're still tied to constantly logging into that account to get the information. Enter: <a href="https://developers.google.com/apps-script/" target="_blank">Google Apps Script</a>. With a little knowledge of JavaScript, you can use their library of classes and methods to add functionality to basic Google forms.<br />
<br />
I started out just wanting to be able to receive an email when someone submitted a form, with all the responses included. For this I found a really nice tutorial from Amit Agarwal (<a href="http://www.labnol.org/internet/google-docs-email-form/20884/">http://www.labnol.org/internet/google-docs-email-form/20884/</a>). If that's all you need your form to do, great! You got it, dude.<br />
<br />
I needed a few extras though. First, some of the forms need to go to multiple people. You can easily do this with a slightly more advanced version of the sendEmail method. (You can find documentation on the MailApp class and various iterations of the sendEmail method here: <a href="https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/mail/mail-app">https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/mail/mail-app</a>. Also helpful, their Understanding Events cheat sheet: <a href="https://developers.google.com/apps-script/understanding_events">https://developers.google.com/apps-script/understanding_events</a>)<br />
<br />
Essentially, you just need to find this line in the original code:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">MailApp.sendEmail(email, subject, message);</span><br />
<br />
and change it to:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">MailApp.sendEmail(email, subject, message, {cc: <i>email </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i> of person you want to copy</i>});</span><br />
<br />
You can cc multiple people by just separating their email addresses with commas.<br />
<br />
One of the librarians, however, wanted users to indicate what department they were affiliated with, and then have a copy of the form results go to the department liaison. This is where things start to get a little complicated, and it's helpful to know a little bit about programming languages. I wrote a simple switch statement (with some help from <a href="https://twitter.com/barbarnett" target="_blank">Babs</a>, of course, my go-to programming guru.)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> var dept = e.values[<i>array location </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i> of dropdown</i>].toString();</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> var contact = toString("xx");</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> switch (dept) {</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> case "<i>dropdown value 1</i>": </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> contact = "<i>email address 1</i>";</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> break;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> case "<i>dropdown value 2</i>": </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> contact = "<i>email address 2</i>";</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> break;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> default:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> contact = "<i>default email address</i>";</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> }</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
The first line of code pulls whatever drop-down value the user selected (the associated Google spreadsheet stores these values as an array. 'e.values' accesses the values in this array. Position [0] of the array is the time-date stamp that gets put in automatically, so your array location is just the exact question number of the drop-down question.)<br />
<br />
Your switch statement is then just comparing that value to values that you associate with email addresses, and then assigning the associated email address to the variable "contact", so now your method call looks like this:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">MailApp.sendEmail(email, subject, message, {cc: contact});</span><br />
<br />
Ok, if I haven't given you a headache yet, there's one more tweak you can do to increase the usability of the form submission email. Using 'e.values' again, you can pull the user's email address from their form submission, and set it as the reply-to on the resulting email. That way, if the person who gets the email has a question for the submitter, they can just hit reply (default reply-to is the gmail account that you're using to create the form.)<br />
<br />
Again, since the time-date stamp is [0], you just need the question number where you ask for the user's email address, and now you've got:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">var reply = e.values[<i>array location of user’s </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i> email</i>].toString();</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">MailApp.sendEmail(email, subject, message, {cc: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> contact, replyTo: reply});</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can check out the whole script, as I use it, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SKXy4ELjBHllQ_dFx-SD_IK-ThCBBFAYxQogKRvLBBA/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<br />
If you've done any Google form hacking, I'd love to hear about it in the comments. I've only just begun delving into the possibilities here!<br />
<br />
<b>5/23/14</b> - I just stumbled across <a href="http://blog.eipstech.com/2013/03/creating-leaderboard-using-google-docs.html" target="_blank">this post</a> about using Google Forms for leaderboards/summer reading programs. It's also another good example of hacking Google Forms with formulas and scripts.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-29066958511147597542013-09-12T14:04:00.002-04:002013-09-12T14:09:14.515-04:00anatomy of a crash, part deuxSo say your site gets hacked, and you try fixing the index and config files, as I mentioned in the last post. And you try checking the server logs to see what files were messed with so you can replace them with backups. And you turn on error-reporting in your CMS to try to see what's going wrong. And you Google some of the malicious code you found in your files. And say none of these fixes work, or yield any useful information. What now?<br />
<br />
Well next you'll want to search for common hacks to your specific CMS and version, to see if anyone can walk you through fixing them. Here's a pro-tip though: in the end, most fixes will just tell you to install a fresh version of the software, and if you're in my situation that's not an option, so learn from our fail. Set up your website in such a way that disaster recovery is a relatively easy job, or at LEAST a viable option.<br />
<br />
I will admit that much of this advice is based on my experience with Joomla and Wordpress. I have much less experience with Drupal, so some of it may not apply there. If you're a Drupal person, and have advice for keeping your site safe from hackers, please post it in the comments!<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Keep your site software up to date.</b><br />Also your plug-ins. Also your themes. Because chances are, if they're all from reputable sources, the developers will be addressing vulnerabilities as they pop up. The world of hacking is a shifting landscape, and what's secure today is not necessarily secure tomorrow.</li> <br />
<li><b>Keep your customization modular.</b><br />In WordPress, this means using a child theme, rather than making changes to the main theme. When you update a theme, it will override any changes you made to those files. Now you're in a situation where you have stop updating your theme, and are thus breaking RULE NUMBER ONE. <i>You will regret this</i>.</li> <br />
<li><b>Keep your site root clean.</b><br />Actually, not just the site root, but all its sub-directories. Part of the problem with our site is that the root folder is cluttered up with custom includes, images, project folders, etc. If you're not the one who put them there (as in my case, where I'm taking over a site from someone who is no longer here) it's hard to know what folders are part of the CMS's software, and which ones are not. <br /><br />In general, if you re-install the software, it should just ignore these unrelated files and folders, but if the software contains new files and folders that have the same name as yours, you can accidentally overwrite your files. I'd say either place these files one level up, OR, if you want them to have the site root's url, create <i>one</i> folder in the site root, and put all of it in there. Clearly mark that that folder is NOT part of the CMS's file structure.</li> <br />
<li><b>Documentation!!!</b><br />Srsly. Updating or re-installing your CMS may not be a difficult process, but YOU may not be around when it needs to be done. YOU may be on another continent, or at another job. YOU may have gotten hit on the head or killed those particular brain cells with alcohol. There are so many pieces to a CMS (plugins, templates, images, forms, database(s), etc,) it's supremely helpful to know which of these need to be backed up in like six places before you re-install, so you don't lose the hours and hours of work you put into customizing them. Which leads to...</li> <br />
<li><b>Keep backups of important files and folders.</b><br />Yes, I know you're backing up your entire site on a regular basis, because to not do so would be INSANE, but even so, keep an extra copy of important stuff, JUST. IN. CASE. I have a folder on my desktop with my config file, my entire child theme folder, and my custom plugin folders. WordPress is smart, and names the blank config file something else, so when you update, that default config file doesn't overwrite yours, but still. (Remember to update these backups every time you make a change. I got in that habit anyway, because I keep an entirely local copy of the site to make changes to before making them live, so it's kind of a reflex at this point that when I make a change in one place, I update those files everywhere else.)</li> <br />
<li><b>Minimize the use of 3rd party modules or vulnerable code.</b><br />Wherever possible on our WordPress site, I used CSS/jQuery to create my own custom features (like our tabbed search box) rather than install another plugins. Plugins <a href="https://community.qualys.com/blogs/securitylabs/2013/06/19/hacking-into-wordpress-using-a-vulnerable-plug-in" target="_blank">can increase the vulnerability of your site</a>, so use them with caution (and, not to drill it into your head or anything, but <i>keep them updated!</i>) We've also made the switch to Google forms for all our forms, so we have the benefit of their security features (and so the forms are connected to off-site databases, rather than databases on our servers.)</li> <br />
<li><b>Create a simple html backup site ready to go at all times.</b><br />Honestly, I never even thought of this until the head of Media Services suggested it. Libraries subscribe to many services that are hosted off-site (such as the catalog, research guides, databases, resource managers, and discovery services.) These services are the core of our business, and are still available even when your site is down. Create a simple site that links to whatever services and resources are still available, as well as basic information like hours and contact info. I just downloaded a free CSS template and created a quick and dirty <a href="http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/valCrashTempSite/" target="_blank">2 page website</a> that can be put up during downtime (unless the entire server is down. Then I guess you have to put them elsewhere and do a redirect? ACK! SERVER STUFF FRIGHTENS AND CONFUSES ME.)</li>
</ol>
<div>
So ok, there you have it. I am by no means an expert on the topic of hacking, or disaster recovery, or even web development for that matter. This is just an attempt to learn from my own experiences, and to put what I learned out there, just in case it can help someone else in a similar situation. If anyone else has some advice on these matters, please share in the comments!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-14503263151800652142013-09-11T12:53:00.000-04:002013-09-11T12:53:34.279-04:00the anatomy of a crash, part 1In accordance with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finagle's_law" target="_blank">Finagle's corollary</a> to Murphy's Law, the website broke the day our sysadmin went on a 2 week vacation on another continent. What's most surprising about this is how little it surprised me. First, what happened:<br />
<br />
Our library website is using a very old installation of the Joomla content management system (1.5.7 I believe.) Our implementation, for whatever reason, is insecure. I know very little about Joomla or server security, other than to nod sagely and say, "could be an SQL injection attack" (much in the same way dudes will surround an open car hood, though they know nothing about fixing cars, and say, "it's probably the transmission.")<br />
<br />
So last Friday, sometime around 11am, our website stopped being an actual website, and started being just a page that displayed the site title. Not so useful for users, I'd imagine. My first instinct is to look at the main index.php page to see if it's been replaced with a different one. I've dealt with this hack in the past, just the result of some asshole saying "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!" You just delete the new index file they put in, and put yours back in.<br />
<br />
When I checked our index file, it was present, not renamed, and all the content was accounted for. At the end of the file there was a php command that was trying to redirect the site to some .biz.tr website, so I took out that code and figured the problem was fixed. Nope, site was still b0rked. I went into all the sub-folders' index files, and found some malicious code in them too, so I decided to just replace all of them with clean backup versions. Still. B0rked. On to the config file. Everything looks fine there, but I replace it with a back up version anyway.<br />
<br />
Also it was about this time I sent out an email to the staff that basically said YES I KNOW THE SITE IS DOWN YOU CAN ALL STOP CALLING ME ABOUT IT.<br />
<br />
At this point I'm stumped, so I call the head of Media Services, who maintains the servers. He goes in to check which files were accessed at 11am that day. None. Uh, ok. He has me go into the database, to see if the content looks ok, and it does. It occurs to me that I'm able to get into the site from the admin panel, which is a subfolder in the site root, so it's not that the whole site directory is corrupt. Subpages of the actual site, however, are not loading.<br />
<br />
We finally realize that this is not going to be an easy fix, so I put up a temporary webpage linking to common services, most of which are on different servers, so they're fine (catalog, database list, LibGuides, and Google forms.)<br />
<br />
The head of Media Services then spent his weekend picking through all the myriad of folders on the server to find workable backups of pretty much all the pieces of the site (which, in a content management system, are many.) He then pieced the site back together, file by file. I honestly don't know the details of how he made this happen, because whenever I asked him about it, he sounded like he was going to cry or murder a baby panda, so I'm just gonna let that go. He obviously has some sort of PTSD, and I don't want to poke the painful memories of "the incident." He did mention something about finding out that the site was actually hacked in June, and was only taken down just now by a remotely-issued command that activated the previously-inserted code. Insidious bastards.<br />
<br />
I did a Google search for the spam url I found in the main index page, and it's been injected into tons of insecure Joomla installs. I only mention this because people keep asking what kind of douchebag hacker makes it his life work to take down crappy college library websites. It was just a bot that looked for vulnerable targets. Nothing personal, my friends.<br />
<br />
The good news is that I learned many lessons from this whole debacle, and have much to share with you along the lines of "how to make sure this doesn't happen to you because it's not fun." I'm going to put that in another post though, because I need to go pour myself a giant tumbler of whiskey right now. Stay tuned...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-17516210392637931232013-05-22T13:18:00.000-04:002013-05-22T13:21:28.965-04:00Spring cleaning your LibGuidesI'm in the process of revamping <a href="http://guides.library.csi.cuny.edu/index.php">my library's LibGuides</a>, and I've come across a few small changes you can make to your guides that make a world a difference for design and usability. First of all, as far as headers/banners go, I am NOT a graphic designer, so I kept it simple, with just the school logo, and "Library Research Guides" in our official font. I don't recommend random images and color-fading if you're not really, really good at it. Otherwise it looks like a page for your local pre-K, coded with Microsoft Word.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-HB7p6DriSqMrqCaQ0Zj9i44JNZXm6TWGnHI34lFyzAwUoW9lWWgdbn1skLA6f-oKGT8X7f-svGGpSWT_HZbCNH3Npg_YbSbAVB5854vPD6EsDl8cS60e0fbskCdGpksAhmYZLvcDmN_/s1600/libguides-fall2012SS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-HB7p6DriSqMrqCaQ0Zj9i44JNZXm6TWGnHI34lFyzAwUoW9lWWgdbn1skLA6f-oKGT8X7f-svGGpSWT_HZbCNH3Npg_YbSbAVB5854vPD6EsDl8cS60e0fbskCdGpksAhmYZLvcDmN_/s320/libguides-fall2012SS.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">old design</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVahp2kMvxx7Y97WewLWNWPKFSA7sCDZpOs3kdopl39NfgYsdJOwgwVt-HY3AYfa_lqKm663t0HyE7NnsD3qRCRYF4YLfFzLBSIP4xTX6cQ4bTxeTLAjJkFS99MFoUr81zNJBWOhxAcjRo/s1600/libguides-spring2013SS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVahp2kMvxx7Y97WewLWNWPKFSA7sCDZpOs3kdopl39NfgYsdJOwgwVt-HY3AYfa_lqKm663t0HyE7NnsD3qRCRYF4YLfFzLBSIP4xTX6cQ4bTxeTLAjJkFS99MFoUr81zNJBWOhxAcjRo/s320/libguides-spring2013SS2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">new design</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Second, take advantage of <a href="http://help.springshare.com/">SpringShare's excellent documentation</a>. As a company that markets guide-creation software, they really put their money where their mouth is. Seriously, they've created a guide for pretty much everything. Here are some I found particularly useful:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://guidefaq.com/a.php?qid=5724">Changing your banner/adding an image map to your banner</a></li>
<li><a href="http://help.springshare.com/content.php?pid=28624&sid=209088">Customizing LibGuides CSS</a></li>
<li><a href="http://help.springshare.com/azlist">Creating a database A-Z guide with the Serials Solutions importer</a></li>
<li><a href="http://help.springshare.com/searchboxes">Creating search boxes for your catalog/individual databases</a></li>
</ul>
As the library's LibGuides admin, I'm currently building a template that all librarians can start from when creating new guides. They are free to not use it if they don't want to, but if the majority of them do use it, this will ensure some consistency across guides. It also acts as a repository for all the custom search-boxes I've built, so other librarians can pick and choose which ones they want to add to their guides.<br />
<br />
I've also created a hidden tab (hidden from public view, that is. It's visible to anyone signed in through the admin interface.) I'm using this tab to post instructions, screenshots, and tips for guide creators. I'm also using it as a content repository for boxes I want to be available, but that don't necessarily have a logical home in the template itself (more on this in a minute...)<br />
<br />
I've recommended that users link to boxes in the template, rather than copying them, so the template can also act as a content hub, where changes can be made in one place and pushed to all guides linking to the content. This is also why it's a good idea to import your database A-Z list into LibGuides, even if you have one on your library website. If librarians link to links in the database A-Z guide, it will automatically pull the description (which can be hidden or changed if they want) and it will allow you to make changes to database links and names in one place, that, again, will be pushed to all guides that use those links.<br />
<br />
I've also noticed that most libraries that use LibGuides just use the default homepage options, which include a list of guides (featured, popular or recent,) a random user profile, email sign-up and/or a tag cloud. But you can choose instead to display a box from elsewhere in the site, by just entering the box id. So, on my hidden template page, I created a box of popular links (I called them "quick links") and put that on the homepage. I also replaced one of the boxes with our "help" box, that contains our various methods of contact. A good example of a nice customized LibGuides homepage is Worcester Poly's site: <a href="http://libguides.wpi.edu/">http://libguides.wpi.edu/</a><br />
<br />
I also like how Rutgers made their homepage a complete list of guides, listed alphabetically on one tab, and by discipline on another: <a href="http://libguides.rutgers.edu/home">http://libguides.rutgers.edu/home</a><br />
<br />
This is still a work-in-progress, so if anyone has any other helpful hints, please leave them in the comments!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1121938179098898287.post-13229615985372517362013-05-13T12:36:00.000-04:002016-06-15T16:07:04.915-04:00Is tenure academic?I really wanted to make the switch to an academic library where the librarians had faculty status, because I'm on a career path that includes publishing and presenting, and I wanted some credit for that. I'm noticing a scary trend though. Because it was not required in my old job, my scholarly projects were organic. If I did something I felt was interesting enough to share, I wrote about it or presented on it. Now that I'm at a school where librarians are faculty members, I see some of them (and this seems to be encouraged) coming up with half-cocked projects that are not of any real use to the library or the school, just so they can write them up and get articles on their CV.<br />
<br />
This is just taking librarians away from their regular (and, in my opinion, more important) job of being useful to their local communities. And, if not that much thought is going into their written content, they're not adding much to their professional community either.<br />
<br />
When all that debate was happening over whether or not librarians should have faculty status, I was firmly on the side of YES, because I don't want all my scholarly work to be done on my own time, and for nothing. But if we're just going to adopt all the problems of a crumbling tenure system, I'm less sure of where I stand.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com