Penfold’s CyberPen

I know, I know, it’s been a while since I last posted. Yours truly has been quite a busy little person and I’ve found it difficult to keep up with the blogging times. But, I’m sneaking in while I can!

I haven’t really stumbled across any fun, new tech/library/learning related gadgets, sites or resources lately but I wanted to basically talk about virtual research help.

What did I want to say about it?

That I LOVE it!

Well, that’s not entirely useful, is it? Apologies, but I just get excited about the idea of virtual reference. But am I talking about email? I could be. That is certainly virtual. I could be talking about some text-message type of reference service which you can access via your cellphone — but that’s not what I’m getting at either.

The issues I have with email and text-message service is that it is, ultimately, delayed. You send a message and then wait an unspecified (or sometimes specified, such as 24-48 hours) amount of time for an answer. What a lot of users these days seem to want is virtual service that is immediate, that is, done in real-time.

That’s where instant messenger services come in handy. They are virtual. They happen in real-time. While the user might have to wait a minute or two for a response in case the person on the other end is dealing with another query, it is still no less immediate than going to the research help desk. In fact, it might even be quicker, depending on the length of the line-up at the research help desk versus how good the service person on IM is at multi-tasking.

So from the patron’s point of view, I think they must love it for the following reasons:

• Convenience. They can logon to IM on their cellphones or laptops/computers from home or abroad and get their questions answered without having to come into the library.
• No Lineups (generally). I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand, well, standing in lines. They take a long time. If I send someone a message, I know that they should be able to get to me within a reasonable timeframe (unless they are set as ‘away’), such as a couple of minutes.

And really, I think that sums it up for the basic reasons. Other people will have more personal reasons. Some need help in the middle of class and can’t visit the library nor can they call us, but a quick IM to us and boom, they have their answer. Myself, I hate the phone, so I feel more comfortable just firing off an IM or email — I’m best in-person or in text. Still others just need to know before they make the trip down to the library during bad weather that we have an item they’re looking for or just if we’re even open and just send an IM while their roommate gabs on the phone. Ultimately, I think it really boils down to quickness and convenience.

As a person who mans an IM service for a few hours each week, I love it because of a few reasons as well:

• No ‘uhhhh’ moments. No one sees that momentary blank look on my face when they truly stump me.
• It’s supposed to be quick, but you do have time. Yes, we’re generally quick to find answers for people on IM but most folks are really understanding if you’re swamped and really can’t get to them right away. Some will even leave their question and contact information so you can get back to them when you’re free. This is awesome!
• You can get your own work done in between. During slow times, I can still work on other things between transactions!

Don’t get me wrong; I love working on the service desk, but the virtual service is just so much fun too. It’s a much different pace than the desk and so it’s great to mix it up a little.

For a while now, I’ve said that I love reading books. To me, that definition included only paper versions of books. People who know me, know I’m a geek/techie and spend ungodly amounts of time with my face glued to the screen. But for all the time I spend in front of a computer monitor, the thought of reading a full novel on my computer screen just makes me cringe.

I got glasses about six years ago. Why? One word sums it up: computers.

The monitors we have on our desktop and laptop models are just too incredibly painful on the eyes (and damaging) when you have to spend a metric buttload of time in front of the computer.

But there’s something relatively new that I was only recently made aware of:

The Amazon Kindle

I’m still researching this bad boy, but let me tell you that the idea of carrying hundreds of books in a single, light-weight data-pad a la Star Trek excites me to no end.

It apparently uses this new e-Ink technology which is pretty darned close to how a book looks, offers plenty of contrast and isn’t back-lit like a regular computer monitor. It’s supposed to replicate the experience of reading a regular paper book.

To my knowledge, unfortunately, these things are not available in Canada yet. Bummer. I would have so asked Santa for one (or at least part of the downpayment on one).

But apparently Sony has stepped up to fill this apparent void with their version:

Sony Reader Digital Book PRS-700

I definitely want to sit down and compare but this does sound promising. Sure, they’re expensive. Sure, they’re toys. But if I could get the PRS-700 and nix the need to have 300 of my 600+ book collection sitting in my back room, imagine all that space I’ve reclaimed. No more dust collecting. No more dog-eared pages.

And imagine all the e-books here in the library that I could sign out to read on it — right now, I’m missing out on a good chunk of our collection because I simply cannot handle reading huge blocks of text like that on a computer.

I don’t mind this theme too much as it makes use of the full screen and the text isn’t teeny-tiny like the previous one. BUT…

…Internet Explorer insists on displaying everything as being centred in the content. It looks downright silly.

I might have to look at the CSS file and see if there’s some way to straighten that out.

Edit: I keep forgetting that I don’t have access to things like the CSS file for this blog.  *sighs*

Edit #2: Reminds me why I hate I.E. so much. *grumbles*

If you haven’t already, check out this article at boingboing: USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect blind people’s access to written material

After spending some time working in the Library Services for Students with Disabilities (LSSD) office in our library, these sorts of articles are really starting to stand out and grab my attention more. I will admit that I don’t know the full story and the co-ordinator here knows far more about the issue than I do, but from what I understand, this treaty is trying to ensure that people with vision issues will have the right to get copyrighted material in alternate formats.

Personally, I think this is a good thing. Even if it’s just an e-format which a screen reader can read aloud for the individual, that would be an improvement. Someone I know who works at a Canadian publishing company (name withheld) said to me that they’re looking at the possibility of going strictly with e-book formats down the road — this was not an official word, but just someone I know adding to a conversation about books — saying it’s the way to the future.

Perhaps it is, despite the fact that I personally prefer to read from a book since a regular computer monitor is harsh on the eyes when you read that much text on it (when will there be better screen technology?). But the e-book needs to be made in an accessible manner, too. Apparently, not all e-books are made equal in this — if it’s just a straight scan of a printed book and is therefore an image file (even converted to a PDF), screen readers can’t read that.

Regardless, the co-ordinator here was saying that currently, the percentage of print material available in alternate formats is but a tiny percentage of total written material available. We were talking maybe even single-digit percentage. As a sighted person, I find it appalling (and horrifying!) to think that if I were to lose my vision tomorrow, I could not hope to keep reading (or listening?) to my favourite genre of books and that I would be limited to what material is available to me.

I don’t believe the treaty is talking about free versions of anything. The books would still need to be bought, one way or another, so I’m not sure where the balking is really coming from. And I know there are some issues about e-formats and issues with crossing the border, but that’s all fuzzy to me too. I will need to do some more investigating into this. If anyone else knows of other articles explaining all of this in greater detail, please feel free to share them. I realize I’m commenting on this without knowing all the details, so please take all of my own comments with a grain of salt.

EDIT: Ah ha, I found more information! At the heart of the matter is that publishers who have opted not to provide accessible versions of written material are up in arms over this treaty because it would allow cross-border sharing of accessible materials from other countries to those who need them in the US, EU and Canada, etc. Check out this article at Accessibility News here: RE: USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect blind people’s access to written material

I’ve been babbling for the last two days at whomever will listen, so I figured I’d better just blog this.

Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to get a tour of Research Collections here at the library. I want, first and foremost, to thank Carl for being so wonderful as to grant me a personal tour through the place.

He showed me some amazing things. At first, I said to him, “I love old things.” Graciously, he went on to correct me that the items in the archives were not just “old things”, but spectacular artifacts which represent our history, the history of real people — not his exact words, but that’s what I was hearing. I was too quick with my words, honestly, and did really mean to convey just that. I just have a love for history and items from this truly remarkable collection are physical representations and proof of that history.

First, he showed me the display on the holocaust which consisted of books and mail cards, journals and the yellow stars from prisoner uniforms in the camps. It was all I could do not to burst into tears while considering the pain and torment these people went through, all the anger and hatred… and realizing that I am rather fortunate to truly not understand what they experienced and endured, having nothing in my own experience to compare. But it was truly a remarkable exhibit.

He showed me books upon books dating back, he said, all the way back to the 12th Century (if memory serves me). I saw trench maps from World War I, laminated so as to preserve them. I held in my hands a hand-written manuscript with tiny calligraphy and illumination from sometime in the middle ages — this was in the preservation area. I also got to see what the Archivist, Audrie, said would have been a Medieval best-seller, covered in its green velvet, closed with its silver clasp — it was a women’s religious book of days. I was instantly reminded of the Book of Kells.

A very large piece of stiff, almost leathery parchment was brought out for me to see and touch, which had written upon it a Bill of Treason from Upper Canada which spoke of how the accused had turned away from God and filled his soul with the devil. Breathtaking. Heck, I even got a quick lesson on the difference between parchment and paper, as I didn’t realize what parchment was!

Eventually we ended up in the Bertrand Russell room. He told me that the books they had from Russell’s own library were preserved and even shelved in the same order he had them shelved. It is a truly impressive collection. Seeing his desk and wing-back chair brought more of a realism to the concept that all of this belonged to one man or was about that one man. It was quite the overwhelming experience.

But what really blew me away was when I asked Carl if I could see Bertrand Russell’s Nobel Prize which he received in 1950 for literature. The document was impressive to see. It was bound in what might have been blue leather (I should ask Carl what it’s made of) and the letter’s “BR” for Bertrand Russell are stitched onto the front prominently. When it was opened, the inside reminded me of two illuminated scrolls from the Middle Ages. I think the left one was in Latin, perhaps. The right one looked to be maybe English but I didn’t take a close enough look.

I was more focused on the object which was set into my hands: the medal itself. I was awestruck as I held this 24k gold solid coin that was the size of one of my palms. Here I was, a library assistant in a steeltown, holding a Nobel Prize.

I cannot fully express how I felt at that moment, holding such a monumental thing, such a great piece of history — for it is part of Bertrand Russell’s history! — and such a symbol of someone’s achievements and the recognition of that. I’m truly not explaining this well enough, but let’s just say that I was in utter awe.

So, with all of that said, may I suggest to the rest of my colleagues and friends that if you have not had a chance to peruse through the archives at Mills Library, that maybe you should? Carl and his staff are truly passionate about what it is that they do there and that love shines through in how they treat the material there, how they present it and most importantly, how they talk about it.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to get a small glimpse of the wondrous treasures you house here. I hope to be back soon!

Bookmarks at work. Bookmarks at home. Bookmarks on my laptop… how do I manage those bookmarks?

Admittedly, I am a creature of habit and still use my browser bookmarking system wherever I happen to be, then I kick myself in the pants for not emailing myself that darned link so I can look at it elsewhere. Typical. One of these days, I will make a full switch to web 2.0 bookmarking systems and stop using the local options.

Anyway, I’ve played around with Delicious for a couple of years now and while I love the concept of it, it’s just another login and password for me to recall in my Swiss cheese-like memory. You can install buttons on your browser for fast adding of your Delicious bookmarks too, which makes it even easier to use. But I still had to physically go to their website to recall my bookmarks, no matter where I was, even on the ‘home’ computer where I bookmarked it.

Google Notebook seems to take this one step farther, however.

If you have a Gmail account, you only have to login to that and you’re already logged into Google Notebook. It, too, has an addon you can download and install on your browser such as Flock or Firefox. It puts a button in the lower right-hand corner of your status bar that says “Open Notebook”, staying unobtrusively out of the way. Click on this button and it pops open a menu of notebooks where you can keep notes on various things, links, etc. I love that you can type whatever you want so that you remember, six months down the road, why you bookmarked that website all about monkeys in pajamas (oh yes, I remember, my cousin would find that amusing!).

It took me a moment to figure out how to add a link, originally, but there’s a button with a star that says “Clip”. At first, I couldn’t figure out what this meant, but I think it’s like putting a paperclip on a page in a book to return to it (I used to use paperclips as bookmarks!), so you’re “clipping” your bookmark to return to it later. So long as you’re on the page in question, it snags the URL for you as well as the title of the page, then you can just put your notes in about it (or not). To get the notebook out of the way, simply click on the button which now reads “Close Notebook” and away you go.

But you can also access this listing on computers where the Notebook button is not installed. If you’re in Gmail, up in the top, click the “More” link, then “Even more…” to find it halfway down on the left list. Click on it and you have access to your bookmarks just like your RSS feeds in Google Reader or emails in Gmail, etc.

The other thing about this is that it is not really web 2.0 in that it is not “social” as far as I can see. You have access to it, but the public does not, unlike Delicious.

Out of all of the online bookmarking options, I think I like Google Notebook the best because maybe I don’t want to share my bookmarks but want easy access and easy addition/editing and don’t want to remember yet another login sequence and URL. Just log into email, point and click and you’re there (or install the button).

I like it.

UPDATE: Sadly, it seems I’m a little late, as Google will not be further developing this service and I’m not sure if the button feature will continue to be offered: read the blog posting here. Looks like it’s being replaced by Google Bookmarks, which still means solely accessing bookmarks via the web, however, it’s still just the one login to recall and it’s still private.

Going to also check out Zoho Notebook and its helper (Firefox addon).

Alright, so yesterday, I posted about the morning sessions at the Inspiring from Within conference on Feb 28th. Today, I’d like to talk about the two afternoon sessions.

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The afternoon breakout session which I chose to go to was the Art Gallery of Hamilton workshop. Let me tell you, this was SO much fun. We walked across the traffic bridge to the AGH and sat in a little area near the gift shop. An artist then explained that we were going to do collages and told us the basics of what a collage is, the basics of colour theory and composition, and then pointed to where all the materials were before setting us loose on our masterpieces.

This was all about tapping into our inner creativeness and artistic selves. We were given no other guidelines than what materials we could use and those basics on colours and compositions, the use of lines, etc. We were, in essence, given free reign with these projects.

What I truly loved about this was that everyone’s collage was different and every one of them said a little something about the individual, even if it was just what colours they were drawn toward. Here’s the result of my mucking about:

I apologize for the blurriness and lack of quality as I snapped this with my iphone. I invite you, my readers, to tell me what you think of when you look at this, if you’d like!

Anyway, I had a load of fun and appreciated the chance to be a little creative — it’s been a while!

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And finally, the Smart Cookies joined us for the fourth session of the day to talk about how to be smart with your money and really know what you owe, what you have and to find that little bit of hidden cash you didn’t realize you had. Apparently they owed, collectively, $50,000 and managed to bind together and pay it off within a year. That’s great, really.

I found it was interesting, but I’m not sure how their session would help me out too much. I deal with a financial advisor through my bank and she’s been doing what she can (including working a couple of miracles) to help me out. Slowly but surely, I’m getting there.

But I wonder if that session wouldn’t have made a better break-out session. Talking about finances intimidates and stresses me out. Granted, their enthusiasm kept me awake for the afternoon and I’m very pleased for their success story, but I honestly didn’t feel that I could truly relate and felt more bummed out about my own situation than feeling ‘inspired’, honestly.

Don’t get me wrong, I got their message, but I really found that personally it wasn’t a session for me. But I hope they got through to other people. I think they could really help some folks out.

If it makes them feel any better, I did find some hidden money in my desk drawer at work I had forgotten about later that week (just $5 but SCORE!).

As previously posted, I attended the Inspiring From Within conference at the end of last month and over all, I have to say I enjoyed it immensely.

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Dr. Marla Shapiro started us off with her “Work Life Harmony” talk. There were a lot of statistics thrown at us about how women are more affected by certain things when it comes to stress, the ‘silent treatment’, and so on but I’ll admit it wasn’t the specifics that I paid much attention to.  What I did pay attention to was the over all message. What was she trying to say?

We need to find balance in our lives and that we can’t juggle it all.

Basically, she had three volunteers come up to the front and asked them to juggle three pieces of fruit labeled as ‘work’, ‘family’ and ‘self’. The visual cracked the audience right up, but the message was clear: you can’t juggle it all at once and if you try, you’re going to drop at least one ball. (Though one fellow in the trio managed to juggle them longer than the two ladies, even he ended up fumbling.)

If you focus too much on work and family, the ‘self’ gets ignored, or if you focus too much on work-work-work, family and self get dropped and so on. It was a very valuable message: sometimes we all get too wrapped up in what we’re doing that we don’t notice what we’re letting slide or pass us by.

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The next session was done by our very own Sonia Hawrylyshyn from Employee Career Services. There was a very interesting YouTube video called “Did You Know?” (I highly recommend giving this a look!) about the progression of information due to the evolution of technology. In the end, she asked people what they thought and several people said things such as, “Overwhelming!” and “Scary!” I put up my hand and said, “I LOVE it!!” Hehe. I really should watch what I say because she singled me out at that point!

But it’s all good, really. She went on to say that the library is doing wonderful things with all this information and technology (which is why I was singled out, so I was fine with it!). And it’s so true! It seems that more and more, the library is being looked at as the “centre of the universe of knowledge” and that we who work there “know all”. Which, well, maybe we do, maybe we don’t, but I personally think it’s awesome that people look to us to help them find that little gold nugget of information that they’re having trouble finding because there’s just so much to dig through. And that YouTube video says it all, doesn’t it?

The message I really picked up from her session was that technology is ever-present in virtually all work environments and that we have to become rather versatile and be willing to continue to grow and be lifetime learners to thrive in today’s employment market and even in the McMaster work environment.

There was much more to this session, of course, but I have some other notes on my laptop which I will have to confer with for more about this perhaps in its own blog posting. The session was so chock-full of information that I just can’t recall it all right this minute. I promise another posting about this in the very near future!

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End Part One…

Next Up: Inspiring from Within – Thoughts on the afternoon sessions (Hamilton Art Gallery workshop & The Smart Cookies!)

Friday, I went to McMaster’s Inspiring From Within conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Hamilton. The day went as follows:

• Key-Note: Work Life Balance by Dr. Marla Shapiro
• Morning Break-Out Session: Skills For Today, Trends for Tomorrow by Sonia Hawrylyshyn from Career Services
• Afternoon Break-Out Session: Art Gallery Workshop Interactive Workshop
• Key-Note: The Smart Cookies: Smart Cookies’ Secrets to Finding More Dough

Over all, I had a great time. It was a wonderful experience and I look forward to writing about this later. Unfortunately, I have to be out on the research help desk in about 5 minutes, so this is just a note to say that I will be blogging in more detail about these sessions… just a wee bit later. Ciao!