Technology

LibraryThing Catalog

Documentation:
• Richard Hugo House Member Library Catalog (website)
• RHH Cataloging Instructions (PDF)
• RHH Catalog, logged in view (screen shot JPG)

One of my proudest achievements since coming to the iSchool has been my involvement in the creation of an online catalog for the Richard Hugo House (RHH) Member Library, mentioned elsewhere in my portfolio. It is not a conventional OPAC, and although we are not the first, we are definitely one of few to use this tool in this manner. In May of 2006, shortly after I began volunteering at RHH, Abby, a fellow student who worked in the RHH zine archive, suggested to me that we look into using LibraryThing after I voiced my frustration over our current inaccessible and awkward use of an Access database for our catalog. I had heard of the tool previously, and knew that LibraryThing (LT) is a social networking site, considered to be a prime example of the Web 2.0 world, where people can enter their books and tag them with whatever combination of letters and numbers they see fit. I researched the possibility, and together with Abby, met with the RHH library manager. Eventually, we convinced her that this would be a good choice for our setting, as it was low cost, we could tag items with our own classification numbers and other useful bits of information, and, most importantly, there would be a catalog that users could access offsite, as well as onsite. Nora, the manager, and I worked together to develop the tag system (it still needs some work) and some basic instructions for entering our books into the catalog. We then realized that we needed more help; I was a volunteer with only a couple hours a week to spare, and Nora was only paid for four hours a week and needed to work on other things besides entering ISBNs. I recruited my friend and housemate, Betsey, who is also a future librarian, and convinced her to help us. We recently completed entering all the books that are on the library’s shelves into the database, and are currently working on finished up entering the donations. Of course, it is the rare information technology that has no technological difficulty, and LibraryThing was not one of them. I was in close contact with the LibraryThing librarian, Abby Blachly, because of issues with the tags. I would enter the term “Richard Hugo House Visiting Writers and Teachers”, the name of one of our classification headings, and moments later, the tag would show up in the tag cloud cut off and without any items. Abby explained that a given tag could have no more than 30 characters, which led to me updating the LT instructions for RHH volunteers with 30 character or fewer versions of every classification heading. I have also been in contact with Abby about batch edit capabilities (we are working on updating our current classification to make it more user friendly). I wish I had thought of the idea originally, but I have had an enormous amount of fun being involved with this project at every step. It is also my own personal example of how some Web 2.0 technologies can be used in library settings in appropriate and useful ways. Although I would have liked to at first, we did not put it into place immediately; Nora did research herself and had me find out everything I could before deciding whether or not to actually go ahead with the idea. As it was, we had the difficulties mentioned above, so as much as I may want to jump in right away with a new technology, and as open as I am to the idea of using these sorts of tools, the next time it comes up I will make sure that there is strong reasoning behind any decisions.

iWorld Website

When I was in 7th grade, I began developing my first website using very basic HTML coding and free Geocities hosting. Somewhere between that time and my undergraduate degree, I completely forgot everything I knew. Since coming to the iSchool, I had done a small amount of work with HTML slides, using freely available templates to create a couple of presentations (528, 560). I had also started a blog on wordpress.com (http://ultimatelibrarian.wordpress.com) and had a vague notion of what CSS is. When someone suggested that I take LIS 541 (Internet Technologies and Applications) to learn more about website creation, I decided that it would be a good skill set to have. At first, the information consisted mostly of things I knew, with a few added UNIX commands. However, I quickly got caught up in learning about scripting languages like JavaScript and “embedded media files”, both of which I may have heard in passing, but had never considered actually using. We were required to develop a website using these tools and a few other requirements (link?), along with good content. I had known about this requirement and went into the class with my idea in hand: I had volunteered to be the webmaster for iWorld, the iSchool’s version of ASIS&T’s International Information Issues Special Interest Group (SIG-III). I had some content, but I had to organize it, find an appropriate JavaScript application, create a mailing form, and dig up some appropriate media. Every one of these proved to be a challenge to me. I wanted a JavaScript calendar that would allow a user to click on dates to see events; it seemed simple enough, but it took me several tries to find a freely available version. I then had to fit it into my template. I did not actually edit the JavaScript, but I had to identify the parts of the code that were HTML in order to change the size, and while doing so, looked at the pieces of the script and put together a vague picture of how it worked. Then I needed to find a media file to place somewhere on the site. I knew that a member of the group, Kara Fox, had participated in a recorded panel during the 2007 iCareer week. I managed to find the file on the iCareer site, and I successfully used Quicktime to cut and save the appropriate section of the recording (there were 3 other people on the panel). Putting the clip up on the site was not as simple as putting up images, however, but I was up for the challenge described by the UW C&C group, and created the necessary reference movie. (I was additionally challenged by the fact that I did this all on my iBook; I had been a PC user until I came to the iSchool and decided to try something new). There were several other challenges during the creation of the page, including changing the entire look of the CSS template I used, getting the mail form set up the way I wanted, putting in a PHP guestbook, and going through the large amounts of information in the iWorld listserv archive to extract important links and other content. Although currently hosted on my staff account, the website will eventually be moved under ASIS&T so that it can continue to be used by next year’s iWorld constituents. My hope is that it will continue to be useful for at least the next year, if not years.

Conclusion

Today’s technologies are rapidly changing, but they are building upon those we already have. In fact, technologies like the book do not seem to be going anywhere; there are simply more and more forms available. It is part of the responsibility of the information professional to be conscious of developing as well as existing technologies, and to be able to evaluate their usefulness. My own experiences with information technology have proven to me the extent to which this is true. I have a whole new skill set as a result of my time at the iSchool: I have the ability to create a decent website, recognizing that useful content presented in a useful manner is always the priority, and I have an appreciation for the unknown uses technology has and will have, and I will be constantly on the lookout for creative uses of technology (both old and new) that will serve my users.