I'm all about new resources and one from the CDC was just posted to the MEDLIB-L listserv I'm on: an online course on proper hand washing (CDC Hand Hygiene Resource Web Page). Features of note are the "Quick Questions" (which allow you to test yourself and your hand washing practices) and the ability to go forward and back through the course. Though the course is based on slides, there is some video and audio which helps to demonstrate proper hand washing (and you can view the transcript of the video as well - which works great if you have to keep your speakers off when working at your desk!). It also did not take long to go through and was extremely informative.
Why does this online course interest me so much? In a previous life, I was the coordinator for staff training at an assisted living center for the disabled in a small, rural community. One of the sections we taught was proper hand washing and PPE (personal protective equipment). It was a non-profit organization and we had a large number of staff members. Not only did they recieve training when they were first hired, they also had training refreshers. Accomplishing their daily tasks let alone in class training was a lot to ask. Freely available online courses such as this would have been an asset.
Materials such as this are a blessing, but the problem is how to best share these resources with organizations that many libraries do not reach on a consistent basis. How do you connect with those who need you most but know you least?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Who's Space is it?!
After work Friday night, you have a few friends over for dinner to play cards, order take out, and to just unwind after a long work week. As everyone is arriving, your one friend brings along a buddy of his. You’ve never met this person before and he’s a decent enough guy, but he just doesn’t fit in. No one wants to talk or play cards anymore. There are long gaps of silence and your friends who had been laughing and joking before don’t have anything to say.
Now, enter social networking and libraries.
Though I can’t speak for all libraries or librarians, I find Myspace and Facebook to be places where librarians need to tread carefully. Many go to these social networking sites to get away from work and school – to have a fun, relaxed place to go to and connect with friends and family. Though many like their jobs, enjoy their academic experiences, patrons may not be too thrilled with librarians trying to be their friends. At this time, I do not see our library starting a Myspace page: though many of our students may have pages, our other target audiences (clinicians, faculty, administrators) may not. As for if larger organizations such as MLA had a Myspace page, I would be hesitant to join. Myspace is just that: my space. Its not a place where I network professionally. Now, a LinkedIn page, that would be different…
For the class I’m taking I had to make set up a Facebook account. After trying out the different features and exploring the page, I definitely prefer Myspace. I like the organization and personalization of Myspace – it’s a lot more fun as well as easier to use. And what’s scary about Facebook is that there is a page within your profile where you can put your credit card information (Why would you have this page on there?! Does this freak anyone else out?). There are so many privacy issues using social networking sites (especially for minors), then you throw in credit card numbers... Myspace and similar pages are fun, but use with care! For about a day, my Myspace page was open for anyone to view. After my 10th risque message from some most definitly not my friend, I set my page to private had have not turned back. If our library made the move to start a Myspace or similar page, we would need to be aware of the different privacy (and the spam issues) it could cause.
With Myspace as my fun and social page, I also have a LinkedIn account which is amazing. I had no idea this social networking site existed. It’s professional, easy to use, and has so many features (finding and posting job ads, asking and answering professional questions, etc). For anyone looking to change or expand their careers, LinkedIn is a fantastic resource. I would interested to know too, if others have any other professional social networking sites they are interested in…
Now, enter social networking and libraries.
Though I can’t speak for all libraries or librarians, I find Myspace and Facebook to be places where librarians need to tread carefully. Many go to these social networking sites to get away from work and school – to have a fun, relaxed place to go to and connect with friends and family. Though many like their jobs, enjoy their academic experiences, patrons may not be too thrilled with librarians trying to be their friends. At this time, I do not see our library starting a Myspace page: though many of our students may have pages, our other target audiences (clinicians, faculty, administrators) may not. As for if larger organizations such as MLA had a Myspace page, I would be hesitant to join. Myspace is just that: my space. Its not a place where I network professionally. Now, a LinkedIn page, that would be different…
For the class I’m taking I had to make set up a Facebook account. After trying out the different features and exploring the page, I definitely prefer Myspace. I like the organization and personalization of Myspace – it’s a lot more fun as well as easier to use. And what’s scary about Facebook is that there is a page within your profile where you can put your credit card information (Why would you have this page on there?! Does this freak anyone else out?). There are so many privacy issues using social networking sites (especially for minors), then you throw in credit card numbers... Myspace and similar pages are fun, but use with care! For about a day, my Myspace page was open for anyone to view. After my 10th risque message from some most definitly not my friend, I set my page to private had have not turned back. If our library made the move to start a Myspace or similar page, we would need to be aware of the different privacy (and the spam issues) it could cause.
With Myspace as my fun and social page, I also have a LinkedIn account which is amazing. I had no idea this social networking site existed. It’s professional, easy to use, and has so many features (finding and posting job ads, asking and answering professional questions, etc). For anyone looking to change or expand their careers, LinkedIn is a fantastic resource. I would interested to know too, if others have any other professional social networking sites they are interested in…
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
How would you like your information today - Blog or Wiki?
Last week I started my first blog and this week my first wiki. I’ve had a pretty good grasp of blogs for a while now, but wiki’s were a bit new. I’ve found blogs useful for providing information about current events – informational articles on blogs can be very interesting (depending on the topic… not everyone loves copyright or Notre Dame like your's truly!); however, having a medium to post current happenings and up to the moment information strike me as the greater purposes for blogs.
Though wiki’s are kept current and up to date (updates can be made immediately), I view wikis as more of encyclopedia/reference resources. Where a blog may tell me how my favorite baseball or football player performed over the weekend, a wiki entry would provide me with information on the rules of baseball and football (or biographical information about the players). Speaking of wikis – feel free to give my wiki, Teach the Teacher, a look and let me know what you think!
In the library world I live in, both blogs and wikis are of value to both library staff and patrons. Though I wonder how many patrons read our library’s blog, with the blog our users are kept up to speed on new classes we are offering, changes in our database subscriptions, and the cool new books we’ve purchased. We don’t have a wiki yet, but I’m venturing a guess that it would be of major value as well: our library’s webpags are full of great resources and help information and having all of those materials on a wiki may aid in finding (and better using) our help information.
Though wiki’s are kept current and up to date (updates can be made immediately), I view wikis as more of encyclopedia/reference resources. Where a blog may tell me how my favorite baseball or football player performed over the weekend, a wiki entry would provide me with information on the rules of baseball and football (or biographical information about the players). Speaking of wikis – feel free to give my wiki, Teach the Teacher, a look and let me know what you think!
In the library world I live in, both blogs and wikis are of value to both library staff and patrons. Though I wonder how many patrons read our library’s blog, with the blog our users are kept up to speed on new classes we are offering, changes in our database subscriptions, and the cool new books we’ve purchased. We don’t have a wiki yet, but I’m venturing a guess that it would be of major value as well: our library’s webpags are full of great resources and help information and having all of those materials on a wiki may aid in finding (and better using) our help information.
Santa Claus and Copyright
An instructor calls the library wanting to donate their copy of a particular text book. This book was given to the instructor by the publisher. Can the library accept this item?
Book donations are what keep many libraries afloat – if it was not for donations, many library’s collections would be lacking considerably. But the question is what really can the library take? Are there limitations on what gifts a library can accept?
Like any other business, there are limitations on gifts. Many companies are no longer able to accept free dinners or golf outings from sales reps and even individuals who work with patients (such as assisted living centers) are not able to accept gifts from residents. So, what is a library’s gift cap?
The First Sale Doctrine (section 109) may help provide an answer. According to the Copyright Clearance Center’s Copyright Basics page, just because someone has purchased a book or was given a book does not make that individual the copyright owner. Though a library may own a copy of a book (or the book was donated to them), the library does not have full copyright of that book - the original owner still does. Even if a library is not the owner of the copyright, the library is still allowed to lend the book – or throw the book away.
What I found interesting with the First Sale Doctrine is section b-1-A, which list strict guidelines in what you can (and cannot) do with a computer program.
By this, if Santa gave me TurboFLOORPLAN for Christmas, can I throw it way?
What do you think?
Book donations are what keep many libraries afloat – if it was not for donations, many library’s collections would be lacking considerably. But the question is what really can the library take? Are there limitations on what gifts a library can accept?
Like any other business, there are limitations on gifts. Many companies are no longer able to accept free dinners or golf outings from sales reps and even individuals who work with patients (such as assisted living centers) are not able to accept gifts from residents. So, what is a library’s gift cap?
The First Sale Doctrine (section 109) may help provide an answer. According to the Copyright Clearance Center’s Copyright Basics page, just because someone has purchased a book or was given a book does not make that individual the copyright owner. Though a library may own a copy of a book (or the book was donated to them), the library does not have full copyright of that book - the original owner still does. Even if a library is not the owner of the copyright, the library is still allowed to lend the book – or throw the book away.
What I found interesting with the First Sale Doctrine is section b-1-A, which list strict guidelines in what you can (and cannot) do with a computer program.
By this, if Santa gave me TurboFLOORPLAN for Christmas, can I throw it way?
What do you think?
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
What Works with Keeping Up - Post for Course
For a long time, whenever I'd find a page or blog of interest, I would bookmark the page in my browser's favorites. At first, I would check my favorites daily, then it became cumbersome, very cumbersome.
Almost a year ago, I started up a Bloglines account and began taking advantage of RSS feeds. Using Bloglines has saved me a lot of valuable time: everything is sent to me in one spot and I don't feel that I am missing out on information most important to me. I now use the beta version of Bloglines and subscribe to 36 feeds (and growing!). My feeds range from blogs from other libraries and librarians (Paper Cuts, the Krafty Librarian, A Library Writer's Blog) to copyright (Copyright Advisory Network, Tarlton Law Library). Having a PubMed search feed on copyright as well as having the table of contents to Library and Information Science Research are additional ways RSS helps me to keep up to date. And how can I forget my Notre Dame and Travel blogs?
Bloglines has had a major impact in how I keep up on information and I see it having a similar impact on our library's patrons: busy physicians and students who need to find information quickly and efficiently. To spread the good word of RSS and aggregators such as Bloglines, I conduct a 2 hour session on the benefits of and how to use RSS feeds. We just started the sessions this spring and the session is still in its trial phase, but having the opportunity to teach others different tips and tricks to help them save time is the highlight of the sessions.
Almost a year ago, I started up a Bloglines account and began taking advantage of RSS feeds. Using Bloglines has saved me a lot of valuable time: everything is sent to me in one spot and I don't feel that I am missing out on information most important to me. I now use the beta version of Bloglines and subscribe to 36 feeds (and growing!). My feeds range from blogs from other libraries and librarians (Paper Cuts, the Krafty Librarian, A Library Writer's Blog) to copyright (Copyright Advisory Network, Tarlton Law Library). Having a PubMed search feed on copyright as well as having the table of contents to Library and Information Science Research are additional ways RSS helps me to keep up to date. And how can I forget my Notre Dame and Travel blogs?
Bloglines has had a major impact in how I keep up on information and I see it having a similar impact on our library's patrons: busy physicians and students who need to find information quickly and efficiently. To spread the good word of RSS and aggregators such as Bloglines, I conduct a 2 hour session on the benefits of and how to use RSS feeds. We just started the sessions this spring and the session is still in its trial phase, but having the opportunity to teach others different tips and tricks to help them save time is the highlight of the sessions.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The adventure begins... day one of the blog
Welcome to the Globetrotting Librarian blog! Today is the inaugural day of the blog and I hope you enjoy reading my posts! I'm still getting out of vacation mode - we just made the trek back from Las Vegas Wednesday - I'm rested and ready for the week's teaching! Most memorable Vegas experience... Bellagio fountains and my first taxi cab ride.
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