Seeking the (digital) Librarian within

Designing the Digital Experience and David Lee King

2009-03-13T09:53:00.002-04:00

In David Lee King's book, Designing the Digital Experience: How to Use Experience Design Tools & Techniques to Build Websites Customers Love, he talks about designing websites that easily facilitate interaction, whether it be for for shopping, looking for information, researching or social interaction like many of us do on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. He talks about how to to design with the user in mind to easily facilitate a great (and we hope SUCCESSFUL) experience through intentional design. "Experience design", a concept described by Nathan Shedroff, as the "sensation of interaction with a product, service, or event, through all of our senses, over time, and on both physical and cognitive levels." David Lee King introduces us to this concept through the digital experience in his book, where he also talks staging experiences and customer focus, and how to counter negative and neutral experiences into positive and memorable ones by turning ordinary websites into award-winning ones. You can buy his book from Amazon.com.

(Cover image from the davidleeking.com website)

SLA 2009, Washington, DC

2009-01-14T14:33:00.005-05:00

SLA will hold its Annual Conference in Washington, DC USA at the Washington Walter E. Washington Convention Center 14-17 June 2009. The conference will create an environment for networking, communication, learning and other developmental opportunities for information professionals.

Keynote speakers include:

Colin L. Powell - Sunday, 14 June 2009
Opening General Session

Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Closing General Session Panel - Judy Woodruff will be moderating this closing session, with Robyn Meredith, Neil deGrasse Tyson and John Patrick, discussing leading topics of the future of their fields and information professionals.

Registration Information (see website for registration and fees)

See website for hotel information
(image courtesy of the SLA website)

Looking for a hotel in DC for SLA? Check out my Google Map with WMATA metro points for traveling on metro!

View Larger Map

Computers in Libraries Conference 2009

2009-01-06T13:36:00.005-05:00

Computer In Libraries 2009 Conference begins this March at the Crystal City Hyatt Regency. The dates of the conference are March 30th- April 1, 2009. For groups rates, contact David White (800-300-9868).

March 30 - April 1, 2009
Hyatt Regency Crystal City
2799 Jefferson Davis Highway • Arlington, VA

View Larger Map

Check out the Conference at a Glance (pdf), and Register online

Flickr Goes Mobile

2008-12-05T14:21:00.004-05:00

In a posting on the Flickr blog, Flickr announced accessibility several features and functions to Flickr from smartphones. This is the new version of their mobile site . Users will now be able to view Flickr videos on your mobile phone from today forward. These vids will be immediately viewable through the mobile site. As of today this particular feature is available to iPhone and iPod Touch users only, but it is expected to rapidly expand the number of devices that are supported by Flickr.

The activity stream now has more information in it, all synched to the settings you specify on the main Flickr site. You will be able to comment on and add as a favorite, photos from your mobile phone. Users will also be able to add and and manage contacts from their devices as well.

Flickr also has enhanced emailing photos from mobile phones to your Flickr account. also gets a little easier. Flickr upload email addresses are now a cinch to find and use. Just enter it in your address book under the name “Flickr”, then email Flickr whenever you shoot something interesting.

They've also made it very easy to browse recent photos added on Flickr, with search capability! Hows THAT for a Christmas gift! Thanks, Flickr!!!

(photo courtesy of Flickr.com

Roy Tennant to speak in Future of Libraries, Museums and Archives series

2008-10-20T12:56:00.003-04:00

Roy Tennant, a very well respected and well-known speaker in the library and information world, is speaking at the Smithsonian on October 23, 2008, from 10:00-Noon in the Ripley Center Lecture Hall, Room 3027. He will be speaking on Libraries in a Networked World. The lecture will also be webcast live. Go to the Smithsonian Libraries' blog for more information and to listen to the live webcast on October 23rd.

Other useful links:
Roy Tennant website
Roy Tennant's Blog
Smithsonian Libraries' blog
Smithsonian Institution

Web 2.0 Expo Comes to New York

2008-07-17T14:12:00.003-04:00

Web 2.0 Expo Comes to New York
"Well, it's about time."
-Anil Dash, Blogger, Evangelist, Web 2.0 Expo Advisory Board member, and proud New Yorker, on the idea of a Web 2.0 Expo in New York

September 16-19, 2008
Javits Center, New York, NY

Web 2.0 Expo comes to NYC! September 16-19, 2008 at the Javits Center
Experience Web 2.0 Expo
From the website:
Web 2.0 Expo New York happens September 16-19, 2008 at the Javits Center. Whether you're new to the Web 2.0 world or an expert or in Ajax, Ruby, tagging, the social graph, user experience, meta-programming, search engine marketing, community building, web operations, user-generated content, building startups from scratch, or "Web2.0-ifying" the enterprise, come to Web 2.0 Expo New York and immerse yourself in the Web 2.0 experience. Web 2.0 Expo is a global annual gathering of technical, design, marketing, and business professionals who are building the next generation web.

Web 2.0 Expo NY Brochure

Download the Web 2.0 Expo New York Brochure (PDF)

Click here for full details about the Expo!

Information & Registration
Register Now
Attendee Registration
To register for Web 2.0 Expo New York, select one of the two options below. Please keep in mind early registration ends on July 28. Register now and SAVE up to $350.
For more info, view pricing and packages.

Register Online
Register as an attendee online (login required).

(Text and image from website)

DSpace Manakin

2007-11-19T15:13:00.000-05:00

DSpace Manakin

DSpace Manakin is a "user interface developed by Texas A&M University which supports major improvements for the DSpace system."

Manakin introduces a modular interface layer, enabling an institution to easily customize the interface according to the specific needs of the particular repository, community or collection. A repository service can be separated from its implementation my modifying its interface, making it possible to change repository platforms in the future while maintaining a consistent set of functionalities and "look-and-feel."

Features: The primary feature of Manakin is the "ability for each community and collection within DSpace to establish a unique look-and-feel that might extend outside of DSpace into an existing web presence, which is believed to increase a greater interest and buy-in from these communities.

Other features:

* Allow each community & collection to maintain a distinct look and feel.
* Separate business logic from stylistic design.
* Establish an interface level component architecture. (New with Manakin)
* Enable internationalization & localization of content.
* Provide an alternative interface that does not replace the existing JSP based interface.

Amazon debuts Kindle e-book reader

2007-11-19T14:19:00.000-05:00

(photo courtesy of CNet's News.com website)

November 19, 2007 7:04 AM PST
Amazon debuts Kindle e-book reader, Posted by Caroline McCarthy

From CNet's news.com:

NEW YORK--"Why are books the last bastion of analog?" Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asked an audience at New York's W Hotel in Union Square as he unveiled Amazon Kindle, the online-retail giant's new electronic book reader.

Today, November 19th, Amazon.com's CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled a new e-book reader called the Kindle. This is the latest electronic hand-held device for reading anything from novel to a newspaper!!! Check out the images from CNet's website.

"Books Aren't Dead. (They're Just Going Digital)"

2007-11-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

The November 26 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, November 19), "Books Aren't Dead. (They're Just Going Digital.)" - Examines the impact of digital-age technology on the future of reading and the launch of the Amazon Kindle, a handheld reader.(Photo: PRNewsFoto/Newsweek)

In this article, The Future of Reading, Amazon's Jeff Bezos has not only built a better bookstore; he now believes he can improve the book itself.
Article By Steven Levy | NEWSWEEK, Nov 26, 2007 Issue. Read more!

"Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time".

2007-11-07T08:39:00.000-05:00

My friend David (thanks, Omar!) mentioned this website to me last night called Blackle. Blackle, which is powered by Google, supposedly:

"Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002."

My friend Robert tends to disagree, saying:

"This is actually a bit inaccurate. On LCD screens the same amount of
light is emitted always for black or white colors. The crystals have
to rearrange to block out the light, so the hardest color to form is
black, which arguably can take more energy on an LCD screen. LCD
screens are in all laptops and most modern flat panel monitors are
LCDs as well. On CRT(old big monitors) and plasma screens, however,
black will take less energy to generate. The same will probably be
true of OLEDs when they come out."

I'm not sure who's right or wrong, but I suppose every little bit of energy-saving helps! Perhaps it's also just a marketing scheme to promote a new Google product, but anything technology-oriented is worth giving a try.

Check out Blackle's energy-saving tips!

Open-Source Software for Libraries by Casey Bisson (LTR 43:3)

2007-08-27T08:09:00.000-04:00

Open-Source Software for Libraries by Casey Bisson (LTR 43:3)

In this issue of Library Technology Reports Casey Bisson engagingly narrates the history of open source software, explains how the OSS "movement" came about, details key players in OSS development, and discusses how open source can work for libraries. Bisson also shares success stories including:

* How Thomas Ford Memorial Library in Western Springs, IL used OSS to build its popular and interactive Western Springs History Web site, which uses the widely used WordPress platform.
* Why the Meadville, PA Public Library started using OSS and how librarians and library staff have embraced and benefitted from OSS.

This issue also includes "Open-Source Software on the Desktop" by community technology librarian Jessamyn West, and an overview of open-source server applications, digital library and repository software and OPAC replacements by Ryan Eby.

Learn more about “Open-Source Software for Libraries” from ALA TechSource

Get a sample of the publication here

You can also check out Casey Bisson's MaisonBisson Blog here

International Conference on Digital Preservation at the occasion of the retirement of J. Steenbakkers

2007-08-17T09:23:00.000-04:00

1-2 November 2007, The Hague, the Netherlands, organized by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek

On 1 and 2 November 2007, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands, KB) is organising an international conference on digital preservation. The conference is organised at the occasion of the retirement of Johan Steenbakkers, the KB’s director of e-Strategy & Property Management. Tools and Trends will feature international speakers who will present newest developments of Tools for digital preservation and the latest Trends in long-term archiving. Read more...

ARCHIVES / CHICAGO 2007

2007-06-19T09:57:00.000-04:00

ARCHIVES / CHICAGO 2007

71st Annual Meeting
Pre-conference Programs: August 26–29, 2007
Conference Dates: August 28–September 2, 2007
2007 Exposition Dates: August 30–31, 2007
The Fairmont Chicago

Click here for full conference details.

Persistence of Memory: Stewardship of Digital Assets

2007-06-19T09:55:00.000-04:00

Persistence of Memory: Stewardship of Digital Assets

SAVE THE DATE
Persistence of Memory Conference
Seattle, WA
November 28-29, 2007

A conference on digital preservation for librarians, archivists, museum professionals, information technology professionals, and administrators responsible for managing and preserving digital resources.

What Is Persistence of Memory?
This conference, taught by leading experts in digital preservation, addresses the question of managing and preserving digital assets over the long term.
Conference Fee: $350

If you would like to be added to the mailing list for conference brochures, please email Julie Carlson, jcarlson@nedcc.org

For complete information, visit the Northeast Document Conservation Center (nedcc) website.

Designing a web OPAC for today

2007-06-15T09:26:00.000-04:00

Casey Bisson's Maison Bisson blog discusses Designing an OPAC for Web 2.0.
In this post, he talks about today's "better and more useful" web and how Web 2.0 is a reflection of the critical masses and NOT technology. He also mentions how the web is being used more and more for mundane activities and not so much social software.

Casey raises a major question, and that is:

"...how to design a web OPAC for today is a question of how to design an information service in a world rich with information services and filled with users who make information seeking — though not necessarily at libraries — part of their everyday lives."

So how DO we design a web OPAC using today's technological advances and rich information services?

Read about Fixing the OPAC on Scriblio as well.

Salary Negotiation from Careerbuilder.com

2007-06-05T14:15:00.001-04:00

Kate Lorenz, from Careerbuilder.com, gives some important tips (ten lessons, to be exact) when negotiating salaries

1. Do your homework
2. Script it out
3. Bite your tongue
4. No questions, please
5. Just the facts
6. Stay forward focused
7. Be truthful
8. Make 'em sweat
9. Practice restraint
10. Leave the door open
You can get the full text version with answers from the Careerbuilder website

You can also get more advice from Martin Yate, one of America's leading advocates for working professionals, which can be found on his Web site at www.knockemdead.com (registration required to acccess).

Georgetown Library Recovery and Restoration Fund

2007-05-14T12:29:00.000-04:00

Retrieved from the DCLA website:

Georgetown Library Recovery and Restoration Fund

In response to the tragic fire at the Georgetown Neighborhood Library, the District of Columbia Public Library Foundation has established the “Georgetown Library Recovery and Restoration Fund” which will receive tax-deductible contributions toward restoration of the collection and artwork and rebuilding of the library.

Donations can be made online at: www.dcplfoundation.org by clicking “Donate Now.” A menu will direct donors and ask if they wish their donation to go toward the Georgetown Recovery and Restoration Fund.

Donations may also be made payable to “DC Public Library Foundation” and sent to:

DC Public Library Foundation
901 G St, NW #400
Washington, DC 20008

Click here to read the full press release.

Fire Races Through Georgetown Library

2007-05-02T15:47:00.000-04:00

Fire Races Through Georgetown Library...Fire Claims Library, and Pieces of the Past

(photo cortesy of Washingtonpost.com)

Key Neighborhood Archives May Have Been Destroyed
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 30, 2007; 3:34 PM

Smoke from the Georgetown branch of the D.C. Public Library billowed through a neighborhood of stately mansions today, as the library's archivist said it appeared important documents on the neighborhood were burning.
As he watched the smoke pouring out of the roof and second story of the building at 3260 R Street, N.W., Gerry McCoy, the archivist who also is librarian of the branch's Peabody Room, said photos, maps and oil paintings of the neighborhood were stored in the west end of the building, which he said was built in 1935. "This has always been my worst nightmare. I've always feared this would happen," he said. "I've always thought if there was a fire, what would I grab first."
Click HERE for full Washington Post article.

Online resources threaten livelihood of libraries

2007-04-27T07:41:00.000-04:00

Online resources threaten livelihood of libraries (retrieved from Nature.com)

What is the future of libraries when everything is going digital? Is digital the answer when budgets are tight and agencies are not only closing but restricting access to public documents? See what happens when 5 of the 26 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional libraries close due to budget restraints.

Quoted from the article:

"Libraries are already working to reinvent themselves in a digital world in which online access is fast reducing the need for rows of books and stacks of journals. But a full transition to electronic resources might not save money as agencies hope."

Click here to get the full article
Nature 446, 958-959 (26 April 2007) | doi:10.1038/446958b; Published online 25 April 2007 (CORBIS photo courtesy of nature.com)

Resume Writing and Interviewing Techniques that Work, by Robert Newlen

2007-04-04T08:35:00.000-04:00

Robert Newlen is one of the most delightful people you could ever meet. I had the pleasure of being introduced to him (virtually) back in August before moving to Washington, DC. After meeting Robert, I realized how connected we are through other friends and colleagues in the profession (Robert is a fellow librarian and head of the Legislative Relations for Congressional Research Services at the Library of Congress). Robert is : 1) professional librarian, 2) writer, 3) francophone, and 4) a bowler, among other things. He's quite witty, a charming and delightful person, very smart, and seems to have had a lot of life-learning experiences. His latest book,
Resume Writing and Interviewing Techniques that Work: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians, is a fantastic guide for helping librarians find the "ideal library job". His book contains samples of résumés, along with tips on how to perform in interviews, how to dress, questions to ask, etiquette, and following up after the interview process.

(Click the title to order a copy of Robert's book)
Resume Writing and Interviewing Techniques that Work: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians
By Robert Newlen (Neal-Schuman, Publisher)
1-55570-538-3 . 2006 . 8 1/2 x 11 . 206 pp.
View Table of Contents
(photo courtesy of bestwebbuys.com)

ALA Annual 2007, Washington, DC

2007-04-02T09:43:00.001-04:00

ALA Conference, June 23-26, 2007 - Washington, DC

The 2007 American Library Association's Annual Conference will be held in Washington D.C., from June 21-27, 2007. The exhibits will be held June 23-26, 2007 in the Washington Convention Center, located at 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW.

Pre-conferences will be held June 21-22. Business, committee and Council meetings are primarily held June 22-27. Programs are held June 23-26.

For those of you who are interested in non-conference hotel accommodations, here are some suggestions:

Courtyard Marriott, Chinatown"Courtyard by Marriott Washington Convention Center has beautifully transformed the historic Riggs Bank Building into one of the most sought after Washington, DC hotels. Sharing a neighborhood with some of the city's finest restaurants, foremost businesses and government offices, you can easily walk to the Metro subway, famed museums and the Verizon Center."

Embassy Suites Hotel Washington, DC -Convention Center
"The newly-constructed Embassy Suites Washington DC Convention Center Hotel is conveniently located in Downtown Washington DC between the White House and the US Capitol - just 1.5 blocks from the new Washington DC Convention Center."

The Swiss Inn
"The Swiss Inn has accommodations for business travelers and families vacationing in Washington DC all with private baths. Many of our rooms in this renovated turn-of-the-century brownstone also include kitchenettes."

Hotel Monaco
"Sophisticated, stylish, warm and inviting describe the downtown luxury Hotel Monaco Washington DC, a Kimpton Hotel located within walking distance of the National Mall.
Hotel Monaco - among the best Washington DC boutique hotels - is located in Penn Quarter by the Verizon Center and Washington Convention Center in the heart of downtown."

Washington Plaza Hotel
"Being centrally located downtown, the Washington Plaza is just five blocks from both the White House and the Convention Center, and a short trek away from the National Mall's various museums."

Washington, D.C. Cool Hotels
Hotel Helix (between Dupont Circle and McPherson Square Metro stops)
Hotel Madera (Near Dupont Circle Metro)
Hotel Palomar (Near Dupont Circle Metro)
One Washington Circle Hotel (near Foggy Bottom Metro)
The Inn at Dupont Circle (Near Dupont Circle Metro)
Jury's Hotel, Dupont Circle (Near Dupont Circle Metro)
Omni Shoreham, Woodley Park (near Woodley Park Metro)
River Inn, Foggy Bottom (Near Foggy Bottom Metro)
DoubleTree, Foggy Bottom (Near Foggy Bottom Metro)

Links to other hotels
Foggy Bottom hotels
Dupont Circle Hotels
Hotels in Foggy Bottom

Libraries in the Digital Age - Lichen Rancourt and Casey Bisson

2007-04-02T09:25:00.000-04:00

(photo courtesy of Lichen Rancourt)

My friend Lichen Rancourt and Casey Bisson had the privilege of being interviewed on New Hampshire's Public Radio show called The Front Porch. They talked about Libraries in the Digital Age (click for the audio).

They're working on a new program called Scriblio that will help libraries create a stronger online presence.

Lichen Rancourt is a Web Developer at the University of New Hampshire Library.

Casey Bisson is an information architect for Plymouth State University.

You can seee Lichen's blog at Remaining Relevant

Dreamweaver Course, EEI Communications

2007-01-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

January 10 and 11 I took a course Macromedia Dreamweaver II with Khaled Hadi at EEI Communications (Alexandria, VA location). The class was fantastic! In this course, we learned how to create Cascading Style Sheets, taking advantage of advanced site building features, site management, behaviors, interactivity, and customization.

Other topics include (quoted from website):

Site building features of Dreamweaver
Using CSS for layout and positioning
CSS-based navigations
Creating pop up menus and Windows
Show/Hide CSS-based layers
Working with snippets
Advanced templating features in Dreamweaver
Advanced code control
Advanced layer techniques
Customizing Dreamweaver
Extensibility through third-party objects

Khaled was extremely knowledgeable, and the class was very well taught. They also have brand new Mac computers in their training room, which made the class even better (I'm really a novice when it comes to Macs).

I'm looking forward to using my new skills with Nina Chkhenkeli and Tim Woods on the Status & Trends website for Paul Dresler.

Card Sorting and Usability

2006-12-12T13:45:00.000-05:00

Nina Chkhenkeli, one of my colleagues and fellow digital librarian here at U.S. Geological Survey and Bernadette Guerra, who is a volunteer here working on the Digital Image Library for NBii and myself all attended the Card Sorting - Creating Clear Categories for Your Content seminar at the Department Of Labor on December 5th. The seminar was led by usability specialist Cari Wolfson, who did a fantastic job on familiarizing us with the card sorting process. For those who don't know (I didn't know either), card sorting is a process in usability studies by which a group of "users" are selected and given a group of cards that represent content that would go onto a website. The user is to then group the content and create "containers" or categories for which the content should go. The "cards" are sorted into the categories and the idea is that if this person were clicking on this site, this is where he or she would expect to find this particular content.

The seminar was really very interesting, and Cari did an excellent job at providing us with knowledge about card sorting as a way of analyzing web content and making sure web professionals are categorizing information successfully.

Moving On.....Washington, DC

2006-09-14T12:37:00.001-04:00

A lot has happened since my last blog entry. I was finishing up my MSLIS from Syracuse University this summer. My last class ended in August, 2006. I was also offered a position with a government agency in the metro DC area as a Digital Librarian.

I accepted the job, packed up my wonderful apartment in Atlanta, and moved to Washington, DC. I live in Foggy Bottom, which is walking distance to EVERYWHERE! Close to the WaterGate, Kennedy Center, George Washington University, Georgetown, the Waterfront (Washington Harbour), and Dupont Circle.

So far the job has been very exciting, and moving to Washington, DC has been a very good move for me, professionally. I look forward to a new life and new career here, and hope to take advantage of many opportunities now and in the months to come.

ALA Annual Conference, New Orleans: June 2006

2006-07-14T17:46:00.000-04:00

You can see some of what New Orleans looks like now, just 11 months after Hurricane Katrina.
New Orleans pics

ALA Annual Conference, New Orleans

2006-06-15T07:24:00.000-04:00

ALA Annual Conference, New Orleans. The 2006 Annual Conference will be held in New Orleans, LA, from June 22-28, 2006. Please see the ALA website for more details.

Quick links to Daily Schedules (requires Adobe Acrobat):
Thursday, June 22 and Friday, June 23
Saturday, June 24
Sunday, June 25
Monday, June 26, Tuesday, June 27 and Wednesday, June 28

The Big Trickle: Journals on the move

2006-06-06T10:13:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, my colleagues and I here at the Woodruff Library at Emory University started moving bound volumes of journal titles where we have overlap with electronic subscriptions from Springer and Wiley. These materials are being moved to an on-site storage facility here at the university. We moved over 500 linear ft. (approximately 5000 volumes) of bound volumes of serial titles. This SMALL project (the BIG Trickle) is in preparation for our Stacks Tower Renovation Project. The Serials Team and Technical Services department, being led by Lola Halpin who is the interim team leader of Tech Services and leader of the SCOT Team (Serials), along with Ann Vidor, leader of the Storage Working Group, and Steve Johnson, leader of the Technology Working Group, and myself are all involved in making sure things run smoothly. Cecil Maness of Library Movers of America will be in charge of moving all of our materials to storage, with the help of myself, along with other colleagues from Technical Services.
Today, Steve and I will be going over to Storage Library where we will be working with Kevin Miller who is in charge of managing the facility. We will be using PocketCirc, which is a SirsiDynix product.

PocketCirc allows you perform circulation transactions wirelessly throughout the library without having to sit at a workstation. Since we will be shelf-charging in the Storage libary, this will make the process much easier, and also introduces us to some new technology that should make the process more efficient and wireless!

Special thanks to all of you who helped make this project successful!

Need to move your library materials?

Contact:
Mr. Cecil Maness
Library Movers of America, Inc.
P. O. Box 367
Franklin, Indiana 46131-0367
Phone 317-933-3558

Society of American Archivists, IT Training for Practicing Archivists Series

2006-05-05T10:21:00.000-04:00

As part of a series of courses offered by the Society of American Archivists, I will be participating in a two-day training session from the IT Training for Practicing Archivists Series.
This course will touch on a wide range of important pieces to digitizing, including "information technology, networking, telecommunications, the Internet, Web technology, databases, and digitization." This portion of the series will take place in Atlanta, GA this month.

The program was developed by archivists and faculty members from various institutions from around the country - Yale University Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

I will be participating in a two-day session:

Digitization of Archival Materials

Co-sponsors: Georgia Archives Institute, Inc.

Friday, May 19, 2006
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Upon completion of this course you will have:

* Discussed how to select which collections to digitize
* Reviewed key definitions and concepts;
* Examined the managerial decisions most important to developing technical specifications, choosing appropriate technology and services, and projecting costs—via lecture.
* Observed the concepts above in hands-on demonstrations of document preparation and digitization workflows in a digitization laboratory.

Digital Libraries and Digital Archives

Co-sponsors: Georgia Archives Institute, Inc.

Saturday, May 20, 2006
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Upon completion of this course you will have discussed questions including:

* How to develop requirements
* How to develop a digital object management workflow
* Where will the technical infrastructure come from?
* Who will support it?

RSS Feeds...Feed me, read me!

2006-04-18T17:04:00.000-04:00

RSS readers keep you up-to-date with your favorite sites
So what is an RSS feed, and why all the rage?
RSS, sometimes known as "Really Simple Syndication" or "RDF Site Summary", has become a "popular means of sharing content (such as news headlines) without requiring readers to constantly visit a Web site to see what's new", according to USAToday. These feeds contain headlines and provide the hyperlink to the much longer article. So you "preview" the article before diving into it.
RSS creates "lists" (titles, dates, content) of what's on a website. These lists update as the pages update. So that a user won't have to check all of his or her regularly checked pages RSS is created and the user is "notified" when the content has been modified in any way.
RSS comes in a XML file, written in XML code, and displays what is on the site and when the content was updated. Developer tools deal with RSS in Java technology, PERL, PHP, Python, and other major programming languages.
RSS feeds can be accessed through desktop software applications known as "news readers" or "aggregators". These applications can collect, update and display RSS feeds from a wide variety of sources. There are many readers out there that are free to download and install. There are other versions, however, that are Web and browser-based.
Andrew Kantor says is best when he says:

"Having a RSS reader is like having a newspaper that's filled with only the stuff you like. Personalized content, delivered to your desktop, to be read at your leisure. Yum."

Sphider

2006-04-13T17:33:00.000-04:00

Sphider is a "lightweight search engine" that was created using PHP and uses MySQL as the database. It can be used for accommodating small to medium search engine functionality that can be added to your website.
Sphider does a database dump of the Sphider MySQL database. it has the ability to create searching functionality instead of browsing lots of pages.
Sphider is not full-featured, and not as comprehensive as most search engines. This searches within and across given websites.
Sphider works in a LAMP application. There is a server working behind the scenes.
When the PHP code executes, it will grab web pages from the internet and store it in MySQL.

You give it a list of sites and then it goes out and indexes it. It grabs the text from the web pages and stores it into a database.
It also gives options to fully index or to-depth indexing. This means Sphider wants to know what to do when it gets to a link. Does it keep going until there no more links, or just to depth, which is selected by the indexer?
There are some down sides to Sphider, however. You have to manually re-index the site, page linking and ranking aren’t supported by Sphider like Google and Yahoo.

WordPress

2006-04-13T17:32:00.002-04:00

Wordpress is an open source LAMP application blogging application. It allows you to set it up on your own server. For the sake of my course requirement and public access, I created a blog using Blogger, which is also open source software that allows a user to create and modify a webspace (blog) to his or her specifications. Like Wordpress, Blogger builds on web standards, usability, and aesthetics. Both are very easy to install and easy to use.
For the installation of Wordpress, you have to create an empty database in PHPMyAdmin so that PHP can update the files when edited. You have to make sure to name the database, create a user name and password, which you’d use the same log-in and password created in LAMP.
You can download and install presentations and themes. You can also upload pictures, allow comments to be posted on your site. You can also create categories. One of the features of Blogger is that it allows you to write a page, which is unlike creating a blog entry. Blogger doesn’t allow you to create a page, but you are able to create a profile page.

XAMPP

2006-04-13T17:32:00.001-04:00

XAMPP is "an easy to install Apache software package. XAMPP includes MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and easy to use once you get the hang of it. For my Digital Libraries class, I installed this software and purchased PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites by Larry Ullman. I followed the examples in the book and was able to create PHP pages, passing them through the MySQL database, getting some impressive results. Unfortunately there was a huge learning curve for me, and since I have SOME HTML knowledge, but not TONS, it took me a while to get the hang of it, but I did, and was rather impressed with my work!

TikiWiki

2006-04-13T17:32:00.000-04:00

TikiWiki is a content management package, allowing multiple to add content using the web itself. Has blog, wiki, full-featured web community, open source with LAMP applications.
You have to create an empty database using PHPMyAdmin, and place the extracted files in the document root. In the installation, you have to make sure you tell it the database type, which is MySQL, configure the user name, password, and then place the database name you create in PHPMyAdmin in the Database name field.
There are many features to TikiWiki. The homepage is automatically created in basic HTML form, but does not use HTML to edit or create the page. TikiWiki has its own syntax for editing and creating pages. You can also create and search photo galleries in TikiWiki.
Click the image to enlarge the view.

Fernbank Museum's Digital Library Proposal

2006-04-11T19:59:00.000-04:00

I've been working on this proposal since last fall, from David Lankes' IST 676 Digital Libraries course. In this course, we discussed the "evolving concept" of digital libraries from many angles: from a definition approach, technical view (designing and building a digital library), services (intermediation), and the socio-political views.

The objectives of the course were to:
a. gain an understanding of what a digital library is, and get an understanding of their emerging roles
b. become versant in digital library vocabulary
c. assess the social, economic, and technological environment that is encompassed by a digital library and the growing interest.
d. gain a knowledge and understanding of the issues, trends, and current technologies.
e. study and evaluate the major national and international digital library projects.
f. give the opportunity to plan a digital library.

One of the assignments was to define a digital library. I define a digital library as a portal for gathering and accessing primary source materials for research. These materials are typically accessed via the internet (versus a print collection) with no physical boundaries. These tend to be collections of materials that users would not normally have ready access to (could be a collection of old manuscripts or objects of artifacts).

Next, we were to create a digital library topic. I was presented with an opportunity to investigate these issues via an internship opportunity with the Fernbank Museum of Natural History as my model., I thought it would be wise to use this as my topic. I discussed the collection and the importance and value of it to researchers. At the Fernbank, Dennis and I talked about this St. Catherine's Island collection of artifacts, and developing this digital archive around it.

Next, I selected and evaluated three existing digital archives:
American Museum of Natural History Congo Exhibition, 1909-1915
Colorado Digitization Program
Digitized Library Collections (Research at the Getty)
In this evaluation, I discussed the content of each archive, its features and interface design, metadata standard and schema.

I used this evaluation to help determine the needs of our own project; how we would organize the content and what the archive's architecture would be like, and also, what kind of content would be useful to users, and how would they want to access this information.

I gained a tremendous understanding of the various angles and issues dealing with digital libraries.

Since last Fall, I've been working with Dennis Blanton of the Fernbank Museum. Our project has revolved around a collection of artifacts from St. Catherine's Island, which is in Georgia. The purpose of this project is to create a digital archive, which would become a portal for research and resources that relate to the archive and St. Catherine's Island. With the help of my class, IST 676, and conversations with Dennis, we were able to come up with a design and plan for the archive - the PROPOSAL. In this proposal, we discuss various issues like who our user base would be, choosing metadata schemes, interoperability, staffing, web design, and timeline, among other things. I also make some suggestions for open source digital library software and have been experimenting with Greenstone.

Greenstone

2006-04-06T21:43:00.000-04:00

Tonight, I've been working on a project for my internship. My hope was to create a mock-up of the website using Greenstone. Greenstone is open source software that is used to create and manage digital archives, allowing the collection to be accessible via the web. Greenstone is the product of the New Zealand Digital Library Project, and has been endorsed by the Communication Sub-Commission of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO as part of New Zealand's contribution to UNESCO's programme (see website for more details). After talking to some of my colleagues at Emory about DSpace, and explaining the difficulty I had just unbundling the software, it was suggested that I try Greenstone.

With the help of Anna Semon from the AMNH and Dennis Blanton at Fernbank, I was able to get a sampling of images from a field survey at St. Catherine's Island, along with metadata. Using Dublin Core Metadata Element Set which was one of the options in Greenstone, I was able to add the metadata provided by Anna. I'm still trying to figure out the software, but it's very staightforward. There are pretty detailed instructions for each of the sections, and I was able to load the content and view the gallery. One of the problems I encountered was indexing and was unable to figure out how to successfully create the fields for searching the collection. I am not sure what went wrong. Maybe I should have completed the settings before building the library. At any rate, I hope that I can delete and rebuild the index, and that will fix the problem.

IST 759 Planning and Creating a Digital Library with David Lankes

2006-04-06T10:51:00.000-04:00

I've been taking IST 759 Planning and Designing Digital Library Services with David Lankes this spring semester at Syracuse. I've learned a LOT of things in this class. I think the one main thing I've learned is to not be afraid of technology, and even more than that, don't be afraid to LEARN technology.

For the final project of this class, we were asked to create a portfolio. The portfolio will be used to display all of the technologies we've used in this class. It will show its installation and use, and we will be graded accordingly.

In this class, we were introduced to various open source technologies:
Apache Friends - XAMPP (which is a WAMP environment - Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
Sphider - a lightweight search engine in PHP
Gallery
TikiWiki
WordPress Free Blog Software
Blogger
Using these applications, all open source, we were to develop a digital library.
I've given some information on each of the applications, and have also added some screen shots of the work I've done. We were also asked to create a portfolio which will be graded.

Moving Right Along....PROGRESS!

2006-04-04T18:43:00.001-04:00

After many months of researching and revisions, I finally wrapped up a
project I've been working on in my internship (I'll soon link my digital proposal on this site)! The curator at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Dennis Blanton, and I have finally reached what I think to be the final version of my digital library
proposal. I'm putting some finishing touches on the document and will
post it soon.

The past few weeks I've been working on creating a Wiki, a blog (not this one, but one for my Planning and Creating a Digital Library class), indexing, creating PHP forms, and creating a photo gallery for my internship. I will continue to create the website and hopefully create an archive that will be very similar to the one the museum wants.

This week, I will also explore some other management tools like DSpace and ContentDM. Although I'm enjoying building my own using XAMPP, homegrown systems are
not easy, as my buddy Lichen Rancourt pointed out. It takes someone with a lot of programming experience, and for sustainability, it's best to have something like DSpace or contentDM. Otherwise, if I'm stuck with all the knowledge, it would be
hard on the museum if something happened where I would have to leave. I hope I can figure out a way to share all of these things I've been learning with you. I will be putting together a portfolio for Lankes' 759 course, so hopefully I will be able to share that with other classes, since it will reflect the work I've been doing with my internship. Since I'm creating a blog for the course, I will probably load the same or similar content on this one, or until I can figure out how to link the one I created in my LAMP environment.

Digital Library Sustainability

2006-04-03T21:14:00.000-04:00

If you take away nothing else about digital library sustainability, remember:

...an important and key piece of sustainability is to ensure that your digital archive is considered a LIBRARY (long-term) and not a PROJECT (short-term). It is very important that the digital archive is thought of as an integral part of the organization and not just an “add-on”.

About Me, professionally

2006-04-03T15:59:00.001-04:00

My name is Lakegan Harris and I am from Atlanta, GA. I am near the end of the Masters in Library and Information Studies program at Syracuse University, hopefully finishing up at the end of summer semester, 2006. I am currently working at Emory University where I am a cataloger and also do acquisitions work. I decided a couple of semesters ago to pursue the CAS in Advanced Studies in Digital Libraries . In pursuing a career in Digital Libraries, I thought it would be to my benefit to do an internship, so I decided to line up one at a local museum, Fernbank Museum of Natural History. I have been working with a curator at the museum on developing a plan/proposal to create a digital archive for a collection of artifacts. I have been exploring metadata schemas, content management tools, and have developed an architecture for their webpage (GULP!). I’m excited about continuing this opportunity and look forward to sharing it with my fellow classmates. I’m currently taking IST 759 Planning and Designing Digital Library Services with David Lankes. This class will hopefully teach me how to use different databases and programs like PHP and MySQL, giving me ideas for designing and managing the website for the Fernbank’s artifact collection.