when a database is not a database is it still a database?

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Marie Kennedy

when our patrons go to our library’s research databases webpage they’ll see databases listed there, as one might expect. they’ll also bump into single newspapers, e-journal collections, and encyclopedias.

this amalgam didn’t occur overnight, and it certainly wasn’t intentional. as the library began to acquire e-resources it naturally needed some place to put them to show our patrons that we had these special, new things; the research databases hand-coded html page was born. over time that page became the dumping ground for all new e-resources. that was the place the library told users to begin their e-research.

speed forward several years and several hundred e-resources, and enter our new electronic resource management system (erms), a metadata dream. the erms allows for the categorization of all of those e-resources so that they cluster together easily to make them more readily findable. now that we’re intentionally tagging e-resources with categories, the question of “what do we tag as a database?” came up. if an e-resource isn’t tagged as a database, it disappears from the research databases page and is discoverable only through our catalog. as a result we’re having some pretty lively conversations about how to manage that metadata.

we’ve talked about three possible ways to handle this, more intelligently than summarized in these bullet points:

  1. ignore the problem. we’ve always told our users to go to the research databases page and that’s what we should continue to do.
  2. put your foot down that if it’s not a database, it’s not a database! off the list it goes!
  3. decide that well, mmmmaybe that one title can stay even though it’s not a database, and maybe that one, too.

of the three options, number 3 seems like the way most libraries are handling it but i really don’t see how that will scale as we continue to increase the numbers of e-resources. do we have time to pull together a small committee each time we license a new e-resource to determine if it should display on the research databases page?

how has your library handled this? is there perhaps a fourth option we haven’t considered?

Posted in e-resource mgmt, library | 5 Comments

genetics

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Marie Kennedy

i was talking to my dad on the phone the other night about deadlines. i mentioned that when i agree on a deadline i always make sure it is met. there’s hardly anything worse in my mind than making somebody wait on me for something. he said, “that’s grandpa, you get that from grandpa.” i’m off the hook, it’s genetics!

my grandpa would be 101 years old today. look how cute we were.

marie and grandpa

Posted in images | 1 Comment

infinite monkey theorem

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Marie Kennedy

“If there are as many monkeys as there are particles in the observable universe (1080), and each types 1,000 keystrokes per second for 100 times the life of the universe (1020 seconds), the probability of the monkeys replicating even a short book is nearly zero.” (via wikipedia)

yes, but how many would it take, and how long, to create an index of the book i’m co-authoring? since it’s not replication i assume it would be quicker. who wants to test this for me?

monkey typing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(yes, i’m kidding)

 

Posted in writing | 3 Comments

Time to think

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Marie Kennedy

i’m working on chapter 6 of our book and have decided to include a section called “time to think.” the end of a marketing cycle is assessment, and that step feeds right back into the next cycle’s first step, project description. my mind has run through the literature on assessment and i’ve been hoping to see quotes that say things like, “part of assessment is to sit there and think about what you’ve accomplished,” or “reflect, you’ve earned it,” or “celebrate your completion of this process.” i’m including a section about this in my book because i think it’s important to sit, to just *be* at the end of a project. time to reflect, to synthesize, to take what you’ve learned and apply it to future actions is the key for information to become knowledge.

usually when i finish a project i celebrate by organizing digital and paper files but i’ll be making an effort to still myself at completion to let it all really sink in, rather than rushing on to the next thing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/way2go/4112797721/in/photostream/

Posted in management, marketing, organization tips, writing | Comments Off on Time to think

“the elements”

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Marie Kennedy

Reviewing the force majeure clause in a license agreement today and came across the following language: “For purposes of this Agreement, a ‘Force Majeure’ event shall be any cause beyond the reasonable control of the Party so failing including, without limitation, . . . the elements . . . .” Usually events such as war, civil disorder, collapse of government are included in that clause. Seeing “the elements” listed made me smile. Can’t argue with the elements!

Posted in e-resource mgmt, license agreements | Comments Off on “the elements”

evidence of ways that libraries are marketing their electronic resources

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Marie Kennedy

i’m curating a collection of web snippets that show evidence of ways that libraries are marketing their electronic resources over at scoop.it. add it to your feed reader to stay up on how libraries are connecting with their patrons related to e-resources. http://www.scoop.it/t/marketing-electronic-resources
scoop.it logo

Posted in articles i'm reading, e-resource mgmt, library | Comments Off on evidence of ways that libraries are marketing their electronic resources