 | Content associated with the teaching activities of Candy Schwartz, Professor at the Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Simmons College. |
I e-mailed everyone who had entered into the wiki. If you got two points for many entries, then I said "2 points" - otherwise you got one point, and I just said "thanks" (or zero, of course, if you didn't touch the wiki). I will be pruning the wiki between semesters, but I much appreciate your helping me put together a place where we can find forward-looking libraries and OPACs.
A number of you also introduced Putnam, as did Mariana Oller:
Cutter lived in MA for most of his life, 1837-1903, and was at Harvard and the Boston Athenaeum. Bush was in MA from 1890-1974, and since all of his education was in Boston, I'll assume that he himself lived in Boston for most of his life. Dewey graduated from Amherst College in 1874, so I'll assume he was there for four years and that he was in MA from 1870-1874. Putnam was in Boston from around 1879-1899, studied in Harvard and worked in the BPL. He was also president of the Mass. Library Club and the ALA.
The most plausible meetup would be between Cutter and his later rival, Dewey, since their dates line up well and the biographies already indicate that they at least knew each other well enough to be rivals. Dewey may have met Cutter when Dewey was in Amherst College, with Dewey going to Boston for some sort of summer job, internship, or possibly a convention. Chances are they didn't “have lunch,” but rather disagreed with each other in meetings and then were bitter rivals.
Bush was in MA as a child when Cutter was in his later years, and while it may have been possible that Bush met with him on some level, it would most likely be because of some connection between Cutter and his parents. He could have met with Dewey, but an age gap still would have existed, especially since Dewey retreated to Florida by the time Bush was a teenager.
Putnam could have met quite a few people. As president of the ALA, he must have met Dewey on many occasions. Since the ALA was so well-connected with Cutter, Putnam was probably in contact with him through these professional organizations. They would have had lunch, but that would be determined by where the ALA conventions were. Of course, they could have visited each other, the most probable situation being Cutter visiting Putnam, checking up on the LC. They may have had a picnic on the National Mall. He probably would have met Bush only at conventions, where Bush may have described his Memex system in a presentation. They may have had lunch and talked about what the Memex system could do for the LC.
Prize (my admiration) for the most inventive answer to the bonus question, from your classmate John Brigham:
The year: 1893
The Place: Mr. Bartley’s Burgers, Mass. Ave. Cambridge (a little poetic license on this, please)
The conversation:
Charles Cutter and Herbert Putnam are having a quiet lunch discussing Cutter’s departure from the Boston Athenaeum. They’ve returned to their old haunts near the Harvard campus in part to avoid the Boston scene (Charles wanted to get some discrete advice from his friend, who was now practicing law in Boston). More than that, though, they had always loved to meet here and come up with any number of better ways to organize the long lists of burger names scrawled on the walls.
“Maybe they could be Cuttered by condiment?” suggested Putnam, with a wry smile, absent-mindedly also trying to come with a good rhyme for Gouda.
“Or perhaps, they should figure out a way to share out their splendid burgers with other fine institutions?” chuckled Chuck.
At this moment, a young couple came in and sat down with their young child at the next table. The child seemed to take a special interest in the librarian banter. Both Cutter and Putnam were distracted by his stares and finally struck up a conversation with the boy’s parents.
“What’s his name?” asked Charles.
“Vannevar!” exclaimed the proud father.
“How wonderful!” said Charles as his friend muttered under his breath “the boys are going to tease him.”
“You’re one to talk, Herbert, I think the boy looks quite wise – just look at how he’s carefully organizing his rattles by size and by shape!”
Is in eLearning. YAY!!! And I finished grading Asst 5 earlier today. Class will end about an hour early, and we will have a wee celebration of the end of semester.
I have almost finished putting LCSH assignments back in eLearning. If you would like an opporunity to improve your grade for this assignment, you can complete the make-up assignment (fewer questions) that I have put on the front page of the course eLearning site. Just turn it in to me by e-mail no later than next Friday by 5pm. If you intend to do this, please look at where you went wrong by examining the answer sheet which I placed in your dropbox along with your returned assignment.
Slides for May 2 are in eLearning.
Due to poor editing, I did not tell you what nationality Mary Andrews is. You can make her British or American.
I have 17 half hour appointments with students in 415 and 419 in the next two days. The rest of the time is taken up with meetings. So I cannot see anyone else on Wednesday or Thursday - sorry.
The remaining file on classification is in eLearning.
I have marked the bios, and have put the scavenger hunt (Bioquiz) into eLearning. Please note that I also put the Putnam bio into the bioquiz dropbox - this was due to a glitch in eLearning. The rest are all available from the Bio assignment in eLearning. I moved the due date from April 25 to April 28 - an extra weekend.
The first Dewey PPT slide set is in eLearning. We may or may not get to it on Friday. Remember - we start in the Lab.
From a student who took the course recently, and just used Camtasia in the Lab for an assignment in 419 in which she needed to capture Web transactions:
"I just finished making my silent video! This was the first time I've used Camtasia (always wanted a chance to use it) and it is really nice. There is still some time left on the 30 day trial here in the lab. I didn't have any problem with producing the video in .avi format. It would be a good thing to invest in. It is much easier than screen shots and captures so much more of the searches. You might want to suggest this to students in 415 for the OPAC presentation. It would be great especially with the voice over."
It's on the machines in the back of the Lab.
Are both in eLearning now.
I will only be available between 8:00-9:30 and 2:00-3:00 on Thursday. If you are one of the 3 people who have set up a date in those times you will have priority when you arrive, and anyone else can wait in line. Other than those times my door will be closed and I will be grading your previous assignments. I cannot take any more appointments by e-mail for Thursday.
I realize that the campsongs question is a problem, so I will be liberal in considering answers to this one. You can assume that the songs are all in French in both items, and that otherwise they run the gamut of topics that any collection of camp songs would. So my expected answer - "Camping -- [place] -- Songs and music" - is actually not correct, since that would be for songs ABOUT camping, and these songs are not ABOUT camping. If I have misled anyone into thinking that is correct, I apologize. Rethink it.
The new slides for this Friday are in eLearning.
I extracted the groups formed through March 20 from the wiki page, assuming that you had already started to work. I wanted to get the filled groups off the wiki so that people signing up late would not add themselves to an already-working group.
Art-1: Jennifer Parker, Jessica Bitely, Jessie Howell, Jestephen Stose (Stephen..to complete the Je group)
Art-2: Shannon Astolfi, Leslie Ward, Aiden Graham, Jeffrey Gallant
Cooking-1: Maria Tina da Rosa, Laura Krier, Kathleen Keleher, Laura O'Brien
Cooking-2: Marcie Walsh-O'Connor, Sam Smallidge, Kim Giedd, Becky Scott
Handicrafts-1: Laurel Ellison Dantas, Elizabeth Meyers, Pamela Fairlie (group of 3)
Music-1: Molly Caple, Ashley Gaunt, Joey Grant, Katie Mullen
Music-2: Molly Tobin, Anna Kresmer, Nichole Gagnon, Jessica Pindell
Sports-1: Tina Chan, Jenn Warner, John Brigham (group of 3)
Travel and tourism-1: Tina King, Mariana Oller, Michele Chapin, Nancy Hickey
Travel and tourism-2: Joyce Myeza, Anna Cook, Paul Baker, Suzanne Harde
I have had a few questions about this, so a reminder that the browsing and bookstores report is due to be posted in the forum by April 4, and the discussion occurs between then and April 11.
Only one member of each biography group should submit the biography in eLearning.
I have put the next set of slides in eLearning - we will probably get to part of this on Friday. Don't forget - we start in the lab.
The times at which we will be meeting in the back of the Tech Lab have changed. On the Friday after break week, we will meet at 9:30 (for the morning session) and 1:00 (for the afternoon). So go to the Lab not the classroom. Also, it would be good for the Lab days if you came to the session in which you are enrolled - it will be very crowded in the lab if 40 people show up in the morning. This affects March 21, April 11, and April 25.
Friday's music is the album Thokozile, by Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens. The style is South African mbaqanga, and the lead singer is Simon 'Mahlathini' Nkabinde, aka "the growler". Mahlathini passed away in 1999, but the Queens carry on. I was lucky enough to see them in the late 80s - an amzing live act. More at Wikipedia.
There are two parts to Friday's lecture, so there are four PPT files, one for each part in 3-to-a-page and one for each part in 6-to-a-page. Also Assignment 4 has been loaded. (not due till April 4).
Biography signups are now closed (the deadline for signup was Feb 22). Go ahead and write your biography. Some of you are groups of two. If you are having difficulties contacting your partner(s), first look at the contact sheet that is in eLearning. If that doesn't help, contact me. The deadline is March 21, and there is a dropbox in eLearning.
There is a signup sheet for the Browsing in bookstores and libraries assignment in the wiki, and the instructions for what you will be doing are in the Handout section of eLearning. The deadline for signup is March 14. The deadline for the report (2 points) to be posted in the eLearning dicussion forum is April 4. The deadline for individual response (1 point) in the forum is April 11.
Since tomorrow is Tuesday, I just wanted you to know that I have not forgotten about you. I will be creating a lecture which completes the thesaurus construction section, and will also include thoughts on your interim report. And of course, there is my grading, your online discussion of Assignment 2, and so on. I will not have time to get to much of this until later this week - so work on your projects and watch this space. I am not going to mandate individual meetings about projects during break, but I want to encourage you to come and talk to me about your projects during this time, especially if you are having problems. I will only be out of town on March 14 and 15.
There are two parts to this Friday, and they are both now in eLearning.
Also, just a reminder that on the Assignments page of the 415 Web pages it says: "I am happy to look at numbered assignments (1-5) and the OPAC presentation ahead of time, if you provide evidence that you have read the readings and made a good effort. I can only do this in person - not by e-mail, fax, phone, Skype, IM, and so on. Just face to face." The reason for this is that it would take me an hour to compose an e-mail or instant message or file which conveys what I can explain in ten minutes in person, and sometimes I explain by using various tools in my office or on the Web. I understand that this was one of many bits of information that went by on Day One, so this is just a reminder that a) I am happy to look at your work, but b) only in person.
I put two big sound files on my Web site. They are .wma files, which means they like Windows Media Player, which also means that they like MS Internet Explorer. So, open Internet Explorer, make sure you have Windows Media Player (or something that will play WMA files) on your desktop, and point the browser at: http://web.simmons.edu/~schwartz/lecture1.wma and http://web.simmons.edu/~schwartz/lecture2.wma.
You will have to fiddle with the volume here and there, but I think everything was captured. You will also need the PowerPoint slide set for this day, which is in eLearning. Good luck.
I did manage to get a recorder, so after class I will figure out how to make the tape available, and if youmissed class you will have to listen to it before next week.
This week's music is extracted from several albums of The Seldom Scene, a Maryland-based bluegrass band. Few of the original members are in the band currently, but the albums from which I selected represent the Seldom Scene at their zenith. More at their Web site.
Hi - On the chance that we might close at noon or 1pm, I am recording this morning's lecture, and you should be able to follow along with the PowerPoint slides. I will leave a note here once I figure out where to put the recordings. 415 goes podcast!
I have loaded the slides (6 to a page and 3 to a page, take your pick) into eLearning, as well as the next assignment (oh noooo!). Also, the deadline for signing up for biographies is tomorrow, and a dozen of you have not yet signed up. Log into eLearning and into the course and click on Biography, a few lines under my picture.
Whoops - I put the study groups in 419 instead of 415 - sorry. Even I find that there are too many places to look. The discussion forum is now in your eLearning course - click on Discussions
I made a forum for people to use in setting up study groups (e.g., "Does anyone want to work on Assignment 4 on Thursday afternoon in teh cat Lab?") and also for general q's and a's. It's in the top box, above the weekly boxes.
The next lecture's slides are in eLearning, and like before you can choose 3-to-a-page or 6-to-a-page.
You are welcome to sign up in groups that cross morning and afternoon sections. In fact, you can do it all virtuallyand never actually see each other.
The class contact list is in eLearning - in the Handouts section
I have put a signup sheet for the Biography assignment in eLearning. On the main page, in the list, you will see "Biography". You will be able to sign up, three to a personage. Once everyone has signed up, I will create a dropbox for the biographies.
I have placed Assignment 2 into eLearning. Please do not go looking for the books in the Lab yet - I have two that need to be repaired first, and I will take care of that today.
I have put two versions of the PDFs of the PPT slides for Friday in eLearning. One is 6-to-a-page to save paper and ink, and the other is 3-to-a-page with note-taking space. Up to you. I have also loaded a handout on Searching OCLC into the Handouts section.
The music playing before class was Moving Hearts, The Storm. This is my number 1 desert island disc. I had the good fortune to see this entire set (and then some) performed in Glasgow two weeks ago, and saw Moving Hearts twice in the 80s - here and in Galway, and in the 90s in Glasgow. Their web site is here - http://www.movinghearts.ie/index.shtml.
Hi all - I have edited the 415 course Web pages so that they are now ready for the Spring semester. All that remains is to load up your first assignments, and I will try to get to that soon. Nothing is due until the second week of classes, so don't worry. And please do read the FAQ, especially about buying books.
Hi all - I have edited the 415 course Web pages so that they are now ready for the Spring semester. All that remains is to load up your first assignments, and I will try to get to that soon. Nothing is due until the second week of classes, so don't worry. And please do read the FAQ, especially about buying books.
School is closing at 12:30 - the Library will stay open. No call on classes tomorrow.
I will post on the blog as soon as I know whether the College is going to cancel classes tomorrow. If the College does not close, then I will be here, but I will understand if you are unable to make it in.
Is in Moodle.
Don't forget to sign up to bring something for the party, if you can. http://gslis.simmons.edu/mw/lis415-cs/PARTY.
Last week, in LIS 415, I played music from several albums of The Seldom Scene, a Maryland-based bluegrass band. Few of the original members are in the band currently, but the albums from which I selected represent the Seldom Scene at their zenith. More at Wikipedia. This week I am playing The Oyster Band, based in Kent (England). We have followed this band since their beginnings as Fiddler's Dram, and hosted them on our living room floor in the days when they had no money. Raucous but intelligent, fine musicians, and with a fervent fan base, they do a great live show. Their home page and Wikipedia will tell you more. I was planning on adding a few cuts from the blessed Richard Thompson, but I only have them on my iPod.
As I have been revising, I have noticed that some of you have neglected to cite tables in your hierarchies. For example, in the literature questions, I want to see where your decisions came from - so in LCC I would expect to see a citation to Table P-PZ40 or Table H9, or in Dewey to Table 1 or Table 3A, and so on. It's not enough to give me a number. I am also looking for how you constructed that number.
On Friday, I will finish up the classification part, and then work on the pieces of metadata that went missing when I lost my voice. So, in case you have forgotten, those slides are available in the week marked "21 September 27 September" in Moodle.
For Assignment 5, the instructions at the top say to do LC for 1-15 and DDC for 16-30. Ignore that. Do what the headings say (the first bunch in LC, the second bunch in Dewey, and the third bunch in both). Sorry.
I have put the bioquiz questions in the Moodle space for Thanksgiving week, and the dropbox and folder containing the biographies in the next week's space. Let me know if you have trouble accessing any of this.
Thanks for all the fascinating reports of experiences and observations, and for your individual reactions to others' reports. I enjoyed reading through all of this, and will bring it up in class this morning.
Since I will have precious little time between getting back home and our class after the break, I have also put the PPT file for November 30 up in Moodle.
The two Dewey PPT files are in Moodle. I will review LCC literature schedules, since we whipped through that way too fast, and will also field questions on the H schedules too. I will not answer assignment questions, so review the PPT files from last week to see if I can clarify anything for you using those as examples.