social research methods take a front seat at ACRL

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Marie Kennedy

It was encouraging to see so many librarians at the ACRL conference using social research methods.  As discussed in the sessions I attended, there is real effort to understand the culture in which we work so that we can serve our patrons effectively.  Some of the methods used to find out about the faculty and student population are contextual inquiry, Q methodology, and focus groups, to name a few.  Awesome!  I think I’ve found the conference that matches my needs and curiosity level.  See you in 2011 in Philadelphia, ACRL.

Here are some posters and presentations that used the methods I mentioned:

(poster, used contextual inquiry) Millennial students’ mental models of search tools. Lucy Holman, Langsdale Library, University of Baltimore
(paper, used Q methodology) Conflict and Consensus – Clusters of Opinions on E-books. Aaron Shrimplin and Andrew Revelle, Miami University
(paper, used focus groups) Fishing for Information: Using Focus Group Research to Discover Student Perceptions of Library Services and Resources. Rebecca Byrum and William Weare, Valparaiso University

bonus geek fact: the word research was used in the titles of eight poster or paper presentations at this conference

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poster sessions, a chance to show off your failures?

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Marie Kennedy

you know what i’d like to see at a national conference someday? a poster session of failures. each poster in the session would have to demonstrate some aspect of a failure in a library, and what was learned from it. so much focus at conferences is given to successes, but i think our profession would gain as much from learning about each other’s failures.

Posted in acrl 2009, library | 1 Comment

Dropbox

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Marie Kennedy

Dropbox

Summary: Online storage tool that synchronize your files across multiple computers.  How can a synchronization system be considered an organizational tool?  I don’t have to remember where I put my thumb drive, remember to bring home my external hard drive, or email myself any files.  Time saved = organization!

Review and how-to: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/dropbox-review-invites-and-7-questions-with-the-founder/

Here’s a link from the cogscilibrarian to a document she wrote and shared with a class via Dropbox.

personal notes: I’ve been testing Dropbox while writing my latest article. I have a PC at work, a Mac desktop at home, along with a Dell Mini laptop. I installed Dropbox on all machines and have been working on my article at whichever computer I happen to be in front of at the time, all without a flash drive or emailing myself files. In my Dropbox for this article I was working with the programs Excel, SPSS, and Word.  Dropbox allows me to save those files in their native formats, no conversions necessary.

Posted in organizational tools | 2 Comments

Permitted Uses

Posted on March 5, 2009 by Marie Kennedy

the language of JSTOR’s terms and conditions is written with positive language. rather than just telling you all the things you *can’t* do, they swing it so they also tell you all the things you *can* do with the archived journal articles.  clause 2.1.e. is especially nice.  i’ve never seen this written explicitly in a license before:

on an ad hoc basis and without commercial gain, sharing Content with an individual who is not an Authorized User for purposes of collaboration, comment, or the scholarly exchange of ideas;

Posted in license agreements | 2 Comments

Today is National Grammar Day

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Marie Kennedy

To celebrate National Grammar Day I will be perusing the Web site, http://nationalgrammarday.com/, in order to look at their Top 10 Grammar Tips.

It is the morning as I post this, but for those already looking forward to Happy Hour may appreciate their recipe for the Grammartini:

How to Mix a Perfect Grammartini

Pour two-and-a-half ounces of gin, a half-ounce of dry vermouth and several ice cubes into a martini shaker.

Shake. (The shaker—not your body or your dog’s paw.)

Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with an olive. If you must, use a lemon twist instead. The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar likes olives, however. When life hands us lemons, we make lemonade.

Posted in the grammar doctor checks in | Comments Off on Today is National Grammar Day

itunes card catalog

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Marie Kennedy

itunes_cardcatalog

Project from Tim Schwartz, Card Catalog

snip from the description of the project on his Web site:

A card catalog designed to hold all of the songs on my iPod, 7,390 songs. Each song is cataloged on a single card. The cards are organized in reverse chronological order, that is the songs I listened to most recently are in the front of the catalog, and the songs I haven’t listened to in two years exist at the back. The piece is seven feet long when closed and just under fourteen feet when opened.

*hands a banana to information aesthetics for pointing me to this artwork*
*p.s. you totally know i would have alphabetized those cards and added some additional ones for see-also references, had i been the one to conceive of the project*

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