Library Voice

Learning Commons:  The “in” in CIL

Tom Ipri  (aka Tombrarian)

Tom has been in Las Vegas for 9 months
Tom connects the idea of place (his old home versus new home)

Tom can see a pyramid and the Chrysler building from his office

Learning Commons=Library Commons=Learning Spaces

Tom says that his Information Commons does not allow for modular furniture.  Most of the furniture is bolted together to the floor.

It was predicted in the late 1990’s that libraries would not exist as a result of the web.

Now, libraries are now putting a lot more money into their spaces.

Typical learning commons stuff
movable furninture, more computer apps, study rooms, laptop loans, tutoring services, writing services, practice presentation room, etc

People have an emotional attachment to space
they form an opinion when the walk into a space

Space can facilitate or hinder learing
space should match teaching objectives, learning styles, and social setting
If students don’t respect the physical environment, they likely won’t respect the teacher

How do you add value to a laptop?
Put Adobe Creative Suite on it.  Students are likely not to have that on their own laptops.

Mobile Search

Gary Price

Megan Fox

getting to the search box is still a challenge for many users

Gary mentions that he used an iPhone the other day.  The older network on the iPhone (AT&T) was slower than the 3G on his Treo (Sprint).

A very fast but good presentation.  Links available at web.simmons,edu/~fox/mobile.

Library Web Presence

Emily Rimland
Binky Lush
Penn State Library

Kristina DeVoe
Derik Badman
Temple University Libraries

Penn State
Research JumpStart page
built around the idea of widgets
designed for the novice user
includes a few tools that users need the most and use the most
provides instant help
includes search box to the catalog
includes search box for proquest  (demonstrates proquest by searching gnomes, but it did not ask her to authenticate.  )
also includes Research Quick Start  (links to research guides)
also includes quick links
good for teaching, as all the resources you are going to teach a class should be on this page
widgets can be added to iGoogle
Binky went to a place called WidgetBox  (maybe a cool idea to do a business search page)
register with WidgetBox, then click to make a new widget
WidgetBox lets you test your widget, and also gives you analytics.
this may make a lot more sense than doing a toolbar, as all you have to do is update the widget and it will update on all pages.
WidgetBox does allow you to make a facebook app, but it does not allow you to take advance of the social
next up is to do some assessment
been a successful project thus far

Temple University
Subject Guides 2.0
Engaging Patrons Empowering Librarians
old subject guides were static pages
used a Contribute system, but didn’t like it
LibGuides  –purchases in Spring 2007
http://guides.temple.edu
key benefits of LibGuides
1.  Ease of Use–easy to add stuff–copy and paste urls, add descriptions, etc.
2.  Content is modular
3.  organization is flexible
4.  comments, polls, etc are available
5.  quick bibs

what the numbers say
looks like the month of march was more than most of fall semester
fairly impressive numbers

guides need marketing

other software options
good article in Code4Lib

This guy wrote this about video games:

I hate video games, on or offline. I hate the way they suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time. I hate being made to feel hateful for saying so, and I hate being told to immerse myself in them before passing judgment, because it feels like being told to immerse myself in smack and teenage pregnancy before passing judgment on them.

This is not because of anything wrong or bad about video games or heroin or teenage parents. It’s not even because of game-induced homicide or web-grooming of little girls by perverts - serious problems, but statistically low-risk. It’s because, compared with everything else on offer in a kid’s life, video games and heroin and teenage pregnancy are a colossal waste of time.

Turns out he’s also written a book, which happens to be on Amazon. Which of course, is now getting glowing reviews like this:

Now that’s web 2.0 in action. Beautiful.

Chris Kohler, from Wired, confesses to have never played a Grand Theft Auto video game. I’m in the same boat, although I did have a brief stint with GTA: San Andreas, and am currently working on GTA: Liberty Series Stories on my PSP. In preparation for the arrival of GTA IV at the end of April, he’s working his way through some of the GTA series. In this post, he writes about his experiences with 2001’s GTA III. While he talk mostly about the gameplay mechanics and story, one thing of note is that he discusses how the game makes him learn. I’ve quoted an excerpt from his post below:

in this mission, you have to drive to a parking lot, grab somebody’s car, take it to a chop shop where a car bomb is put in it, drive it back to the lot, arm the bomb and run.

Sounds easy enough when it’s described to you. But there are several reasons why it isn’t, and each one of these problems (that a player is likely to run into) teaches you something critical about the gameplay.

• The cops might pick you up. The parking lot isn’t far from the garage where you get the mission, but situated right between them is the Liberty City police station. Since the mission is timed, and the fastest way to the parking lot is right through a little grassy area that nice people do not drive on, you’re likely to just go straight over it. Then blow a red light. Then maybe wing somebody. All perfectly OK, unless you’re in full view of the cops. More than once, my Wanted level shot up to two stars just by driving by here like a jackass. Lesson learned: Drive carefully.

• You can ruin the car pretty easily. If Mike Lips walks out of the Italian restaurant to find his car’s windshield busted and the hood missing, what’s he going to think? He’s certainly not going to jump in and start the engine, triggering his demise. So if you have any collisions on the way to the chop shop, you’ll need to take the car to the repair shop and get it fixed up. This kills two birds with one stone: It teaches you how to drive a car and not ruin it, first of all, and it also reminds you where the repair shop is, because knowing how to use it is an important part of the game otherwise — if you get your car repaired, the cops can’t find you anymore.

• You have to park the car perfectly. On my second try, I got the car back with time to spare, but pulled it in the wrong way. The game told me I had to park correctly, so I tried to, but the car I’d originally arrived in was blocking the way and I couldn’t get it right. Then, while trying to adjust the car’s position, I slammed it into the wall and now it was busted up. Mission failed. What did this teach me? The next time I did this mission, I parked the first car way outside the lot, thus leaving myself a clean path to pull the bomb-car in next time.

Once you successfully make it out of this mission, you’ll have learned a great deal about the rules of the game. As such, accomplishing all of this was a great feeling.

Yes, while the Grand Theft Auto series is controversial and a bit violent, this excerpt is a prime example the learning process in video games.

As video games become more and more complex, it can become even more difficult to finish games. Also, with so many great titles available to play, it’s very easily to get distracted and buy other games before finishing the one you’re playing. 1UP.com asks Why Don’t People Finish Games Any More and Kotaku asks if gamers finish every game they buy.

The 1Up article addresses several reasons for why people don’t finish games:

• Time: The same gamers who grew up during the Nintendo era no longer has extensive amounts of free time to play games. In other words, “the rent has to be paid and the baby has to be changed.”
• Money: Those same gamers can afford to buy more games, so they’re likely to buy additional games before they finish the ones they’re playing.
• Game disappointment: There can be a variety of factors that cause a player to quit playing a game. The game may suddenly get ridiculously difficult and the player may get frustrated. The player may no longer be drawn to the story. The story may not be progressing as quickly as necessary to keep the gamer interested. Finally, the gameplay may just get plain redundant and boring.
• A not-so-grand finale: According to 1Up, “It’s a grimly accepted fact that videogame endings usually suck.” Gamers are likely to feel cheated if they beat the final boss and the ending is lackluster.
• Leveling up can be a grind: In other words, in order to strengthen your character enough to be able to beat the next boss, you often have to spend hours grinding your way through levels acquiring skills and points. This can be particularly tedious and very time consuming.

The Kotaku article is more of a question, and has been answered by nearly 700 commenters. Here’s a few thoughts from the contributors:

This Friday I am giving the sophomore business clusters and orientation to business research and resources, as I do at the beginning of every quarter.  Some of the research topics are easier than others for a librarian to teach.  In general, the larger the industry (automobile, airlines, retail, music) the easier it is to use business databases to find the necessary information.  Likewise, it’s generally easier to teach the students how to use the necessary databases if they have topics that will actually work with them.

This quarter, the first project is the social networking industry.  Needless to say, you can’t exactly find company financials for Facebook in Hoover’s since it is a private company, and the most appropriate NAICS classification for the industry is “Internet Content Providers.”  I’ve got a few ideas of places to go for articles, but I thought I would ask other experts in social networking (my fellow librarians) where they might look for information.  The project description is below, and I would love to show my students how librarians used a social software (this blog) to do research on the social networking industry.  Please leave a comment below if you’d like to help out.  This will also be cross-posted on my Business Blog.

Your team is to conduct extensive research on the history, current condition, and future of the social networking industry.  You are expected to make extensive use of library as well as internet resources for this study.  PLEASE REMEMBER:  It is always our expectation that you back up your findings with the data found in your research, and that you make EXPLICIT REFERENCE to numbers where necessary.

In particular, you will answer the following questions:

1.    How do social networking firms make money?
2.    Two of the main competitors in this field are facebook.com and myspace.com.  Which one stands the best chance of winning this competitive battle?
3.    Other than the threat they pose to each other, what is the biggest threat these two organizations face?

Each observation or recommendation you make must be substantiated by the research you conduct, with clear justifications provided in all cases.

Steven Bell writes on the ACRLog:

If staying fit and exercising regularly are important to your lifestyle, it pays to be an academic librarian. If this is one of the benefits you have as an academic librarian, give some thought to putting it to good use.

In the post, Steven looks at the results of the ALA’s Library Workplace Wellness survey.  He writes that while the results for academic librarians look good, it would be ideal if more academic librarians would take advantage of their campus wellness initiatives.

I agree with Steven on this one, and I do my best to use our staff/faculty exercise facility almost every day.  My employer offers memberships to a staff facility called Wellworks for a very reasonable price.  Wellworks is in close proximity to the library, so I am able to get down to the gym and work out during my lunch break.   Since I have two kids, the most convenient time for me to take time for exercise is on my lunch break.   I can generally get to the gym, get a good 30-minute workout in, shower, and be back at my desk in an hour.  Granted, I would love to spend more time down there, but I generally make the most of my 30 minutes with a pretty vigorous routine.  This is often one of the few times where it pays to be folicularly challenged, as I don’t have to worry about drying my hair after the shower.

Like most exercisers and New Year’s resoluters, my exercise participation can often have ebbs and flows.  Since the first of January, I’ve stayed pretty much on course with my routine.  During most weeks I have been able to get to the gym at least 3-4 times during the workweek.  Going at lunch is really nice, and once you start to get a rhythm you start seeing the same people on a regular basis.  The lunchtime camaraderie can actually encourage you not to miss the next workout.  I find that on days that I miss my workout, I’m a little more edgy and not nearly as relaxed.  I also find that if I miss my workout, I wind up not taking a lunch break at all, as I’m more inclined to eat my sandwich at my desk.  So for me, getting my daily dose of exercise is not only for my physical health, but for my mental health as well.

I’m fortunate that I have an employer who offers a workout facility, and I am really thankful that I am able to go exercise at lunch.  If you have a facility near your library, I encourage you to check it out and try working out a few days a week for a couple of months.  Hopefully you’ll enjoy taking time for yourself and get away from the daily grind, while helping your physical and mental health.

WordPress 2.5 was just released yesterday. The upgrade is as easy as ever, and it includes some really cool features. It includes a new gallery feature, which I’m hoping will be useful on my family blogs. For some of the features of the new version, take a look at this video. Maybe this version comes with a little extra motivation to blog more.

Update: After updating two other blogs, I realized that something is wrong with the Image/Media uploader in WordPress 2.5.  The folks at WordPress are aware of the issue.

I just got a PlayStation Portable right after Christmas.  I’m looking to right a full review of my experiences pretty soon, but let me just say that I love the handheld.  The PSP is great little console, and the number of quality games is starting to pick up.   To help you decide on the best games for the system, GamePro has a list of the 21 Best Games for the PSP.