 | Content associated with the teaching activities of Candy Schwartz, Professor at the Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Simmons College. |
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If you are looking for libraries to add to the course wiki - scroll down this page from a blog. Check first to see whether a library has already been added to the wiki by someone else. I also hope that someone will enter you to enter, Phoenix Public Library, an update on U Penn (found on the Folksonomy page), YakPac (the cutest OPAC), applications of faceted browing using Scriblio, and faceted browing at the State University Libraries of Florida.
Now that everyone has signed up in the "Libs and bookstores..." (aka "Browsing") assignment, I have posted detailed instructions on the main page in VISTA. I think this should be fun (of course, that's easy for me to say). You will find that I have made private discussion areas for each group - please read about these in the instructions.
1) I have added a third PPT file for July 2 - I suspect that we will not be able to cover all of it, but hope to get started. Since the assignment that goes with this section, Assignment 4, is not due till July 23, I will not be too worried if we don't make it to this third PPT on July 2.
2) With regard to question 2 of Assignment 2 - I would like this answered in plain English, without using MARC jargon. Please use the full online version of the Bibliographic formats and standards manual (bookmarked on the Resources page). Do not rely on the squished unintelligible two-page handout that I loaded yesterday - that is really just a quick guide for the manual.
I have put two PPT PDFs in VISTA for July 2, so if you wanted to getstarted over the weekend on Assignment 3, you could (just in case you were planning on going away for the 4th "non-weekend").. There are also the two handouts on MARC coding and OCLC right underneath them. There will be one more PPT PDF for July 2, possibly tomorrow.
You might find it easier to use the LC Authorities from the LC Web site rather than the Authorities in OCLC. It's a lot easier to print/capture from the former. Either one is fine for use as your attached authority file information for Assignment 3, question 1. I will quickly demo both in class on Monday.
I have added a few handouts on MARC - these will be useful for class on Monday July 2.
I see that all of the biographies are signed up - so you could start working on your biographies now. I have made a VISTA drop box where you can submit them (just one member of the group needs to submit). Review the instructions on the assignment page.
I put up two PPT PDFs, Assignment 3, and two additional handouts along with Assignment 3.
A slight change in the course outline - I removed "Practice session" on June 27. We a) won't be ready, and b) will have practice, but at several points in the classroom over June 27 and July 2.
I am told that some of you have had trouble with your ID cards and access to the Lab (that explains why the door was propped open the other day). I have been on the phone with the people who control this part of your lives. Turns out it's not just you, it's all the GSLIS summer students, and they have spent today and will spend tomorrow making sure you all get entered. By Wednesday things should have improved. Please let me know if, by the end of the break on Wednesday, you still can't swipe in to P-214, but please also check first to see whether your card opens anything, like the front door of the building on Palace Road. I want to keep "has no access to P-214" from "has no access at all".
I have been through all the Introquizzes, made comments, and attached an answer key. In the answer key, the second question is incomplete. In fact, the following libraries use tag clouds: University of Adelaide, Ann Arbor District Library, Gwinnett County Public Library, and University of Pennsylvania.
The PowerPoint PDF for Monday (tomorrow) is now in WebCT. It's big!
Thomas Mann, LC reference librarian, is well known as a staunch and outspoken supporter of many of the tools we use in cataloguing. He has a new essay - “The Peloponnesian War and the Future of Reference, Cataloging, and Scholarship in Research Libraries”. One of you could put this on the Bibliography page of the wiki.
From Linda Watkins:
Over the past few months, you may have noticed increasing slowness when accessing the Library's online catalog and databases. This has been traced and attributed to the server that hosts the Integrated Library System, and we are happy to announce that to improve performance, we will be replacing the server! The installation of the new server will require that some of our services be offline for one day. We know there never is a good time for this, but it must be done. The installation has been scheduled for Thursday, June 28. We are aware this falls during the summer session, but it is the best time at which the Library, Simmons Technology and Innovative Interfaces can coordinate the replacement. I am confident the much improved performance will far outweigh this one day inconvenience.
It is anticipated that the shutdown will last from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm on that Thursday June 28. During that time there will be no access to the Library?s online catalog and ereserves. The shutdown will affect all users, both on-campus, as well as those at Mount Holyoke, Vietnam, and distance education programs such as MLIP and WISE, as well as others working off campus. Affected access also includes any linked subscription databases or articles you have included in WebCT.
We will be able to create a workaround for databases, both from on site and off site. See http://my.simmons.edu/library/june28.shtml for more information.
I put the class contact and snack sheet in VISTA, in the same folder as the Infosheet. I am missing a few phone numbers (but no snacks - yay), and will update the sheet as needed.
The next PowerPoint, as well as a handout, and Assignment 2, are now in VISTA.
I have removed one of the assignments and replaced it with other things. We will go over this in class tomorrow.