Visual Delights

I've got to run home and feed guests, but I just had to say that I only yesterday discovered EBSCOhost's Visual Search function.

Oh....my...gosh.

Did you hear that sound? That was the sound of visual learners everywhere, myself included, their jaws hitting the carpet. Genius.

Progress--Like Success--Is Sweet

I've only got 61 metadata records left to reconcile (or so it appears now--that doesn't mean I won't find another 500 tomorrow that somehow previously escaped my notice). Which means I can start creating a name authority file for both DC Creator and DC Title. It's nice to see some real progress on this project--namely, to see all the nasty red (or rather, dark pink) highlights in the metadata tool dwindling away.

I actually got about 143 records edited today--and all of that after lunch--which is a daily record, I think. My breakthrough appears to have been getting out my headphones (although it seems counter-intuitive) and letting my brain munch on something in the background instead of listing around for something more challenging to do. That, the new second monitor, and re-programming my extra mouse keys with copy and paste (so that I can perform almost all functions exclusively with my right hand), have really speeded me up.

Floating in Cyberspace

I...love...having a second monitor at work. Boo-ya!

Metadata issues. Sometimes it's difficult to choose between standarization of records and accessibility for users. What if the user types in the exact title as it appears on the report? What if the title contains a misspelling? What if I go crazy pondering these philosophical questions at my desk?

Wish I could have gone to LITA's packed "Next Stop Blogging" panel at ALA. Found some notes and slides from it, though--posted to the Library Blog Overview on my wiki.

Speaking of wikis... Creating my own wiki has given me a sense of the directionless-ness of cyberspace in a way that I'd not previously experienced. Starting afresh with each page, leaving documents dangling if I wished, is a slightly unnerving possibility.

Online Yearbooks

In yet another proof of how online-savvy and interactive/participation-minded millennials are...
CNN: "MySpace Generation Going Online for Yearbooks"

Comical Reference

I know you need some more librarian comic-y-goodness, so here you are (thanks to Bill Barnes of Unshelved for this tip). There are also a couple other librarian-themed episodes linked at the bottom of it.

No More, I'm Stuffed!

I just finished uploading more scrumptious content to my wiki; primarily training notes from my new job and some OPAL sessions. My eyes are beginning to cross from using the wiki-style formatting.

NPR and my GovDocs training are reinforcing each other--I learn more about current news topics on NPR on my hour-long commute each way because I'm learning more about the government, and I understand and retain more of my fledgling GovDocs knowledge because of the topics that come up on NPR. It's pretty neat--although I'm also pretty sure that I'll hit the Information Overload Glass Ceiling soon.

Interesting Tidbits:

• online comic about copyright issues affecting a documentary filmmaker
• more copyright humor goodness
• just in time for ALA Annual
: Tips on Conference Attendance
• U of Penn offers tagging in their OPAC
• CEA Stands Up for Home Recording (check out the not-so-timely quotes!)
• Need to display to your library director or other authority figure how insecure RFID is? Build yourself a skimmer.

My Librarian Trading Card

Starrlett's Librarian Trading Card, originally uploaded by Starrlett.

Yep, I finally did it. Been waiting since LiB posted her awesome Batgirl-costume-card to do this; just figured I'd wait until I was all graduated and job-i-fied.

Goal accomplished!

IM me!

By the way, I'm also on IM now, thanks to Trillian: you can find me as geekyartistlibrarian. We're looking to experiment with using IM for reference service, so it's primarily for work. No, really.

I love my job!

Notes, Part One

"You're Missing It!"
Don't miss this tomorrow, if you have the ability to participate in real-time in any of the four sessions--you can easily participate from your own PC, if you have either speakers or headphones.

Here is the first round of my notes.

(I just uploaded my .doc to the wiki, but plan to add the text itself into the wiki soon. The other notes will be forthcoming... I promise! Done!)

Hello, World... Again!

For those of you who know me via Starrlett's Stuff, welcome. For those of you who'd rather not have such a visceral glimpse into my personal life, I admire you.

I've created this blog to provide a space for my professional posts, relating to techie-librarian things primarily, and dabbling in some history, art, literature, and plain old-fashioned bibliophilia.

Have a glance at my ePortfolio, if you dare. And again, welcome.