The blogging learning curve

I am working on the lay out and content of this blog and I think it's looking better. As I have been doing this there has been much learning happening for me. For instance, I never knew what an "add-on" was before I started doing this. These are little functionalities like counters, tag boards, and content analysis software that make web sites more interactive and useful for visitors. To be honest a small part of me just likes the "chicklets" that these add-ons provided in the form of HTML code.

There has also been a speedy evolution in what I would like this blog to be. I have added some links in a java drop down menu to different web content that I think many involved in the library field could use. I have also started linking to some of my academic work. More of this will be coming as soon as I figure out the logistics of FTP.

Speaking of which...File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a subject I knew nothing about until today. Wikipedia (as always) provides a good introduction on the subject-if you are as naive is me on the subject. My problem came about as I was trying to figure the best way to link to files on this blog. I knew I needed to make the files accessible on the web, but I didn't know how.

First I tried to simply upload the file to a new blog post as the help menu instructed. This did not work because the file I wanted to use is a PDF and only JPEG, TIFF, and GIF (non-proprietary files) are allowed. After consulting a librarian here UC I discovered that I could use my AOL account to store files (finally, I had a good reason to keep my AOL account. Here are the steps to upload a file in AOL My FTP Space:

1. You must have AOL software installed on your computer. You cannot access the FTP area by using an IE of Mozilla browser.



2. Log on and go to keyword search



3. Type in "My FTP Space"



4. This links you to the AOL Hometown page



5. Click on My FTP Space



6. To upload, click on upload (duh)



7. The url for linking is "members.aol.com/[directory name]/[file name]"

Now that I know this I will be uploading more of my own work here. Pisceslibrariana is now not merely a blog, it is an experiment in the digital representation of one librarians professional development. Let me know if the experiment works or somehow goes terribly awry

Redesigning a library web site (@#$%)

So we, at UC Library, have taken on the task of redesigning our web site. Currently, we have a team of five laboring away every Thursday from 9:30 til whenever figuring out the best way to provide a usable web presense for the library. We are absolutely determined to have it up live by the start of the fall semester.

Ample discussion has been given to the subject of Information Architecture (IA), and I can tell you that we have cobbled out a great structure with consistent taxonomy. Overall I am proud of what we have accomplished thus far.

Part of this project has been the sifting through of many academic library web sites for benching marking purposes. One issue we discovered was the inconsistency between a library's home page and its secondary pages. Many times really well designed library home pages are supported by a whole bunch of poorly designed secondary pages.

Columbia University has a home page for its libraries which our team took as an inspiration for our library. It looks great, well organized and effective for its purpose. If you click on these links provided on the home page you may find yourself on a page that isn't well designed. Like this one. Can you say scroll city?

The lesson here is to not solely focus on the design of the home page and leave the rest to those responsible for departmental content. It clearly leads to problems. We have taken this lesson to heart in the re-design commitee, at present we are in the process of editing requests forms. Yee Haw!

The NSDL: What is a digital library anyway?!

I was looking at the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) and I couldn't help but go back to the beginning and wonder...What is a digital library anyway? After looking at this site I starting thinking that defining a DL has alot to do with context. While my initial impression of the NSDL was that it is not a digital library. After pondering the idea I decided that my initial definition of the term "DL," with its connection to the creation of content didn't necessarily hold true.

I was connecting the two (content and its creation) when really there seems to be no need to do so. Each resource that is available on the site was not created by the folks at the NSDL (as far as I could tell). It was merely a fancy directory. Similar to the Librarians' Internet Index (LII) but with a different set of criteria for inclusion. Wait...is this a DL or a "meta-DL?"

So this leads me to see the problem of defining "DL" as one of granularity. At what level should these web sites be analyzed? Context is the answer, its almost how the creators of these resources market themselves that makes a DL a DL...and hey, if you want to sell your website as a DL when you really are directory of DLs that is fine. It does lead to confusion but oh well. Am I being fatalistic?

Rochester, NY City Directories

There currently is a digitization project that was brought to my attention by Jill involving city directories in Rochester, NY. This content area is of interest to me because I will working a small city dirctory digitization project at another library. I think exposure to other projects with similar content provides invaluable insight.

Before taking a look at what Rochester Public was doing, my thinking was on how to make these directories searchable in the most efficient manner possible. I think this project does at great job of providing what the user wants. Each year can be downloaded completed or in parts as a PDF file. This provides a degree of flexibility in terms of browsing vs. searching. The documents are also bookmarked to the level of "letter."

The only thing I would like to see is just a tiny bit of color or graphics on the site. It is very plain and utilitarian, which of course serves its purpose but not with any character or style.

Woodgate Digitization Project

This is a new library site that I believe was launch as a DL. It is an interesting concept which I thought I would share. The site is described as a comprehensive collection of newpaper articles, cemetery ledgers, photos, personal correspondence, obituaries and other ephemera from the Woodgate/White Lake area. This is an on-going, growing project with new material added every month.

Although it seems scary that a library would not have a website...the fact that they would not have to go through many web site revisions before having a decent site makes the "late adopter" status helpful. Don't you think? As far as the DL section of this site goes I think the navigation needs help. They used arrows to navigate back and forth, but they also included the up arrow which I always found to be confusing.

The Index of Medieval Medical Images

The UCLA Digital Library Program offers a number of interesting collections in various media formats. The Index of Medieval Medical Images was quite compelling. The project was initiated in 1988 with the intent of describing and indexing “the content of all medieval manuscript images (up to the year 1500) with medical components held in North American collection… [and] to make a substantial sample of the images and descriptions available via a searchable database on the Web.”

This site is very heavy on searching capabilities. For instance the browse function has five separate search categories including: subject, image type, image date, image origin and manuscript. Advance search has four fields that can be both limited by user selected date ranges and can also be sorted by title, date, or origin. Wow!

Also of interest was the “My Virtual Collection” function. Unfortunately, creating one was restricted to users with a UCLA library account, but this function allows for the creation and manipulation of your own collection of images from the index. Some categories that have been created range from the pertinent to the sublime: “pain management,” “surgical tools,” “wild animals”, and “sleep disorders." They can be manipulated by any logged-in members, wiki-style.


The full listing of all projects in the UCLA Digital Library Program can be found here

Southern California LGBT History

This collection offers some compelling primary content on a subject area near and dear to my heart-LGBT (or GLBT, or LGBTQ, or GLBTQI..whatver) History. The project was created by the ONE Archive and the UCLA LGBT Campus Resource Center for Community Patnerships and its primary objective is to offer quality queer content to older students at the end of their secondary school careers.

I found this collection interesting because it offers some of its content in the form of a timeline which can be examined by decades. Coverage includes the 1940s through to the 2000s and organizes into national, California, and Southern California categories. Most of the good (i.e. unduplicated) content is from SoCal and I think the site does an excellent job of filtering out and selecting worthwhile materials for students of this age.

The problems are with displaying options and accessibility issues. The fact that photograhic images are small and there are no further viewing options leaves some content less useful than it could be, while the use of all the animation will cause problems for users accessing the site with older computers or dial up connections. Its worth taking a look at though-check it out

Why?

Libraries are the coolest! That's my take on things and I hope that it's yours too. This blog will be an exploration of my little part of the big (and highly ambiguous) world of "librariana." Currently I am in the process of finishing an MSLIS, I started blogging for a class on digital libraries and I will start here by offering those posts. Enjoy