Here at the end of all things -- mostly the Semester

So within the week I will finish the last week of my second semester of grad school, and it has been a journey.

I now know how to better conduct reference interviews and look for resources, and I also have expanded my IT capacity, which I never thought would happen. Information Technology is still not my forte, but now I am able to better understand something relating to it.

I saw this once posted somewhere: "Google can provide a thousand answers, a Librarian can provide the right answer." How true that is! Looking for the right information is more than just typing in keywords into a search engine and hoping for the best. There is a method to the madness of the librarian as the scour through the massive amount of information provide both on and off line.  Two sources may cover the same topic but will approached it in a different manner thus one may be more suited to the need of the patron than the other. The librarian may also have to be a code-breaker to understand what the patron is seeking because sometimes the patron himself does not really know what he is looking for. So when the librarian is asking you a bunch of of questions, please bear with him, he is just trying to find the right information for you.

The last two projects I had to do for my IT class dealt with a Usability Study and Database building; for these project I had to work with a group of three other persons. Shout out to the lovey ladies I worked with, you are amazing and I would not hesitate to work with you again!

What I learned beyond the subject matter of the projects was that IT is not a lone wolf field, not in the slightest. My group worked very well together because we played on each other's strengths. I know that if I had to the last two projects by myself I would have been completely lost and in full panic mode. So I employ you dear readers to dispel the image of IT people living deep down in the depths of the basement with zero people skills. They simply have a different way of viewing the world, mostly within ones and zeroes, and a different way of communicating.

So, my dear Elevensies, I am glad to have finished our second semester together. We have had many trials and tribulations, but I'm glad to be with you:

Here at the end of all things.
(Not quite, but if feels like it!)

"It's an Unix system!"

I can now save Jurassic Park before the dinosaurs eat me!!!

To explain, I've just completed the section of my IT class that deals with Unix command lines. All I could think about when I was Unix on the syllabus was Lex, the hacker girl, from Jurassic Park.

Having that movie reference to encourage me onward I buckled down and went through the modules and looked up more coding for Unix. So at this point of the semester I have a better grasp of HTML tagging and Unix line commands, or at least have a good grasp of the basic concept. I almost feel like in those heist movies where the hacker is looking for a backdoor in the computer program to unlock the doors. I would not call myself a hacker in the original sense of the term (a computer programmer enthusiast), but I am now someone who has gain a better appreciation for computer programming.

Do I feel like my IT fluency has improved? Well I can comfortably say that I could hold a conversation about the basics with a computer geek and not be completely lost or have that glazed look in my eyes. Am I just a little overwhelmed? Just a tad. Fortunately I feel like I have a good support from my cohort.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to make sure that all the doors have door knobs so the raptors cannot open them.

IT Fluency Thus Far

<a href= www.thecatholicgeeks.com target=_blank >Catholic Geeks</a>

Gasp! Wait! What did I just type? What is this strange string of letters and symbols? What does it all mean?

Let us all take a moment to take a deep breath - all together now, breathe in and breathe out.

So what you see typed up above is HTML tagging for creating a link to an external website opening it in a new window. What amazes me is that I actually understand what I just said. When my Information Technology class started I knew zero about HTML tagging so color me impressed with myself. Now at this point in the class I understand the basic tags for formatting titles, font styles and size, lists, and even putting in links to other website.

Call me Toto because I have dared to look at the man behind the curtain as the big flaming head of website design is telling me to pay no heed. I will fully admit that I am a little proud of myself for being able to construct a simple website (which is still under development at the time of writing).

As GK Chesterton once stated "There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds." Armed these new lessons I'm excited to see where everything goes next.

To end this post I leave you with a picture of me with my spirit animal, Perry the Platypus.

Information Technology Visual Aid

In one of my classes we had to draw out how we visualize information technology. Below is how I see it; basically it's different topics all interconnected and information technology helps us see all those connections through an access point. Everything is connected.

Very quickly drawn in a coffeeshop

Do We Think Anymore?

Several weeks I took part of a conversation with several co-workers that I do not normally work with; well it was mostly me just standing there and the other three talked. The topic of this conversation was the holds list - to explain if there is a book, let's say a particular book about fishing, if the local library does not have it the librarian (or the patron through their account) can place a request for that fishing book and whichever library has it will send it off. It's a neat system and I have used it on multiple occasions. On the library end of this system the holds list is the list of requested items are we have to go through the stacks to find and send off to the requesting library.When it's printed off it is in order by the call number.

Seems simple enough, right? Well, the difficulty (and a minor one at that) is that each library has set up their collection in their own way. One library might have collected the Christian Inspirational, African American, Large Print, or Short Stories each into one area that is not denoted by the call number. This results, especially when still learning a particular library's setup, in the librarian zigzagging across the library if they are going in strict order of the call number.

The zigzagging was main component of the conversation (it was more like a mini-rant). I listen as one person wondered if there was a way to program the holds list so that the zigzagging could be eliminated. The other two agreed and I was a bit dumbfounded.

I think what bothered me so much about that conversation was how depended some of my co-workers were upon the computer system to arrange everything for them. One of the first things I do when I arrive for work is pull the holds from the shelve. But before I disappear into the stacks I go over the list and make note of which items can be found where, then I go to each section of the collection to find the items. I may change up the order from day to day, like finding the audio-books first before going to non-fiction or looking through the Mysteries before the Large Print.

As I was growing up I was always taught that computer programs and the like were a great supplement, but not a replacement to my thinking. It was a time saver, not my brain. This is how I view the holds list; to quote Pirates of the Caribbean, the list "is more what you'd call 'guidelines'" than a strict order of things. It makes pulling the holds easier, but it is not going to completely dictate how I go about pulling the holds. If somehow the computer program for the library  is set up so that it takes into consideration the format of each collection, fine by me, but I am not going to hold my breath for it.

MLIS, ITF, and Other Fun Things

To some I am known as Livie, others 'what's her face', and to those most dear a friend. The purpose of this posting for for my LS 560 class, Information Technology, in which I will introduce myself to my fellow classmates who are also in pursuit of a MLIS, and a brief rundown of my ITF (information technology fluency).

Fellow classmates - Hello!

A few notes about my person, I currently work as a full time library assistant at a branch library who graduated from Christendom College in Virginia with a strong Liberal Arts education resulting in a B.A. in Scared Theology. It was often stated during my time at Christendom that a Liberal Arts education would give me strong skills in critical thinking, research, and writing; overall, I find that to be true but it also
strengthen my out-of-box thinking.  I have no shame declaring myself a geek in both fantasy and sci-fi - it's how I met some of my closest friends and how I get to have amazing interactions with new people. I am all about learning new things - it turns into a new adventure of discovery and more often than not those new things I learn come back to help in the library because eventually a patron will ask a question about it.

My favorite sight and smell.

A few notes on my ITF; one of my coworkers jokingly refers to me as the IT person of the branch, but I think it is mostly due to the fact that I am the youngest full time employee there. A trait I share with the rest of my generation is that I grew up with the fast growing technology of the world so I have a tendency to figure out things tech-related after messing with it. So when there is a patron  who needs help on a computer, I'm usually the one that gets sent out to assist.

I did not touch a computer until I was in the sixth grade when I remember most distinctly typing in a web address in the URL bar then asking 'Now what?', much to the dismay of my teacher and classmates. But, as evident by this blog, I have since learned to use a computer but I am not what you would call completely tech savvy. I am the person who will take the manual and refer to it often as I'm learning how to use a new device, which is why my parents will simple hand a manual to me with a pleading look saying 'Explain, please!'

I am very thankful for the invention of the mouse with all it's point and click wonderfulness, so please don't ask me how to enter in a command line with all those confusing slashes and dashes. I am hoping by the end of the semester that I will understand those slashes and dashes a little bit better without the need to get the lion tamer's chair and whip for assistance yelling 'Back! Back!'

On to the User Profile Activity (cue dramatic chord): My mother is a very smart woman and is very well liked in our community. But to call her tech savvy would be erroneous. Again she is very smart, but she is the type of person who would be very happy to live without the beepings and dings of technology. But leave her an electric lamp so she can read her books, she loves to read. She knows how to type up a document in Microsoft Word, but would need someone to help her with formatting. Email is something she uses because almost everyone else has an email that she interacts with through her volunteer work and most of the time that how they prefer to communicate; she can attach a file to an email, but needs a few reminders. She does not have a smartphone (she calls the one she currently has a 'dumbphone'), but is willing to learn how to use one if she needs to. I asked her if I gave her my digital camera without the manual would she be lost - there was little to no hesitation when she said that she probably would be lost. But she can use a Kindle Fire!

I am very nervous going into this class, but I am very it as a changllene from which I will not back down.  So bring it on scary technology! Bring it on!