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Packed, prepped, and poised: #ALA12 in Anaheim!

21 Jun

T-minus 12 hours before I board my flight for ALA. Yes, it’s a bit late of a flight but I am there until mid-day Tuesday–that’s what happens when attending ALA Annual is a last minute decision. It’s a rather D.I.Y. trip that I got together a couple weeks ago myself; with my husband there leading a couple of sessions and library grad school friends wanting to meet up, despite my panel speaking falling through in the end, I decided to head out to Anaheim and make the best of it anyway. I’m going on my own from PQ as no fellow co-workers are headed out this year and the sales reps and trainers have plans. That means flying out tonight, which is fine because tomorrow is when all the fun starts, anyway–and I have that all day session! In the end, degrees (Forbes, 60-second survey brief and full reports), jobs (Annoyed Librarian), and conferences are what you make of them.

With Steve making me on-the-fly free business cards–woot!–I’m absolutely ready for this conference. Now, I just have to wait all day and a four hour flight. My scheduled is planned and online through the ALA Scheduler if you are curious where I’ll be and when. Please, tweet me up or hunt me down at a session–I’m always looking to meet other passionate catalogers. Don’t let my working for ProQuest fool you, I’m a true cataloger through and through. If you read this blog regularly or have perused it at all, that should be quite evident. At the conference, I’ll post about the session, likely in an evening recap once back at the hotel or during down time (if any) between sessions themselves. There is a lot going on and I’m trying to hit as much big stuff as possible, i.e. Linked Data and RDA and FRBR especially. Plus we’ll go see George R. R. Martin for fun.

Before heading off to work and trying to keep myself as busy as possible all day so that I’m not thinking about the flight and how Steve’s already in the air and will be in Anaheim soon with some of our grad school friends that got in last night (lucky duckies!), there’s a matter of a super cool subject heading. Did you think I’d leave you, dear reader, longing for another sub. head. to mull over while I’m away having fun at ALA?

BONUS: There’s a Subject Heading for that!?: Crime prevention, and its narrower terms

“Crime prevention” isn’t the sub. head. that I want to talk about but it is the umbrella term for a lot of cool, odd narrower terms nested in it. The one that got me started, and pertained to my item in hand, was “private security services”. Since this was the first time that I saw it, I chased it down a bit because my curiosity needed feeding; lately it’s been a diet of business management and techie books–nothing wrong with that but I know those sub. head. down pat. Things didn’t get interesting until I looked at the broader term “crime prevention”.

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All look pretty run-of-the-mill and typically what you’d think it’d have for narrower terms, except “surety of the peace”. I’m sure that I can figure that one out but what an odd phrases, even for a sub. head. Seriously, who is going to type that in? Perhaps it’s another “Easter egg” sub. head. that when you find it, your reward is great because now you know this specific term that leads to a very specific topic. Score!

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Even better, though, is its narrower term:

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“Good behavior (Law)” as opposed to unlawful good behavior? Bad joke. I guess this would get at maybe a person’s behavior as it affects their legal status, such as being in prison or on parole. Yet when I saw this for the first time, it hit me as useful only if you knew the topic already. For lawyers and law student, legal researchers and maybe judges, it’s a great fit; law librarians, rejoice!

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Popping over to the LC Online Catalog, “surety of the peace” has 4 basic LCSH and the remaining dozen or so are subdivided by place. For “good behavior (law)”, the pickings are even more slim with only 10 totally hits and all are subdivided geographically. Alright, so you’ll find something if you use these sub. heads. but you won’t find much–which makes it a perfect topic for a thesis, right? Have at it! Just try to remain peaceful and on your best behavior as you duke it out over this amazing thesis topic–you’re welcome!

Better get to work so I can catch that flight tonight! See you in Anaheim, or follow me on Twitter @ReadWriteLib or stay tuned here for more posts!

 
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Posted by on June 21, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

Emily’s Tech Talk Episode 3: Lock down and light up your LinkedIn

18 Jun

Emily’s Tech Talk episode 3: Password breach and how it affects LinkedIn

ALA Annual in Anaheim is this week! In the video I say “next week” because I thought I’d get it up this weekend. Alas, here it is. ALA Annual runs from June 21-26, 2012. A large mass of librarians will descend on Anaheim for a meeting of the minds! And if you are going, one more thing to remember as you prepare and pack for the event is to make sure your online self if ready too, namely LinkedIn.

As important as business cards and resumes, your online presence is something that matters greatly and what is found online about you can impact your work and job search. So, update any of your websites and professional blogs or personas. The easiest and probably most widely used social media tool for this is LinkedIn.

Last week, they were infamously in the news media for their password breach that didn’t result in any confirmed account breaches but it has caused a call for changing and improving passwords as well as warning against bad passwords. Being a Millennial, I have the art of passwords down pat and use a variety of levels and variations based on the importance of the site to me. All these links are used in the video above as the cutaways.

Hope this helps! And please track me down at ALA Annual 2012 if you go, follow me on twitter, or keep up with my blog as I post about all the different sessions I attend and the conference in general. Until next time, stay techie!

 
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Posted by on June 18, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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There’s a subject heading for that!?: architecture and cosmology

12 Jun

This subject headings is one of those gems that enamor me when I discover them–hardly believing they exist sometimes. There are days in which the best course of action is the take the best stab at a topic then scroll through the subject authority file, carefully looking for something pertaining to what’s in hand. “Architecture and …” is a very fruitful and interesting area of SAF. But the best one by far is:

“Architecture and cosmology”

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See!? How cool is that? Do I know what it means–no. Does the SAF tell me anything further, such as in a scope note–apparently we aren’t that lucky. I thought that scope notes were abundant and the norm; guess I just happened to find sub. head. with lots of them, which makes sense since I did catalog legal material for a while and that stuff is confusing no matter who you are and what degrees you have.

Where to now? The LC Online Catalog, of course! Let’s dive in and see what we find. Since it didn’t fit my item, I am just now searching for this as I write the post. I sure hope something turns up! Subject Browse rocks. Oooo, 12 hits and additional ones divided geographically. It always makes me sad to find a sub. head. that has only one or two uses.

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Ah, ha! Now we have some answers. Yes, if you guessed that this sub. head. got at the symbolism of architecture for religious meaning and buildings then you are right! Who knew this niche existed? Now we do, and so can your users now too if you so choose to spread this knowledge! While there aren’t many titles, and some are in other languages, it still looks like an interesting topic.

It’s too nice a day to complain about bad subject headings today, although I did fill in a co-worker on the topic of “computer drawing” vs. “computer graphics”–maybe in another post of you all are dying to know my thoughts. Besides, since I don’t do authority work right now, I figure it’s best not to complain about something that I’m not working to change. Same with voting, right? If you don’t vote, don’t complain!

Enjoy your afternoon! I’m camped out on the porch for Camp today, and working on finishing this time!

 
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Posted by on June 12, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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Cataloging and coding: more similarities than you might realize

07 Jun

I’ve talked about Code Academy before and it’s a great starting point if you don’t know how to code, or need a quick refresher. However, there is no pressure since it’s not a real project so my completion level is fairly low. I’ll do a lot sometimes when I’m really in the mood but normally I can find something more interesting or pressing to do–like blogging!

At ProQuest HQ, we have a really cool Library Volunteer Program set up that does Summer of Service with local libraries and school libraries. This spring, I joined the planning committee and got asked to update the internal wiki pages with HTML. My coding nerd was very happy indeed! Cleaning up and writing HTML code, what’s not to love! At the UMich Law Library, I worked a lot on HTML websites so it was returning to something very routine for me. Since the project had a deadline and a purpose, I poured my time and effort into making it not only look good for the users but tidying the backend code with the HTML viewer. (Now that I say this, I realize that I don’t use HTML view when doing my blogs. lol Not that I ever do anything complex for posts but that’s the next time to do–hack my WordPress blogs with my own code!)

Now, in the title I promised “cataloging and coding”, so here you are: let’s talk about similarities between them. Most obviously attention to detail, for coding that entails closing all the tags that you open and pairing them up correctly, while with cataloging it’s getting MARC indicators right and finding out things like the title proper and actual date of publication. Both are an art and a science–there are rules and standards yet flexibility and interpretation are encouraged and well used. Also, for the majority you work alone but still work with others from time to time, to engage, make decisions or work together on something. I’d also wager that both require being either tech savvy or tech willing; for cataloging it’s mainly software use and online research skills, while for coding it’s programming and probably online research skills as well. Also, both have robust Internet networks–usually ListServs for catalogers, and web forums for programmers/coders/developers.

However, there are many differences. Coding requires more technological knowledge, like knowing computer programming languages (and yes “languages” is appropriate because they are like foreign languages with their own vocab, rules, and patterns). Cataloging can be and is done by paraprofessionals without Master’s degrees; more complex stuff is done by professionals usually but now with vendors such as ProQuest (like me!) creating I-Level records, shelf-ready items that are fully cataloged are appealing to a lot of libraries these days. Also, coders and catalogers are generally two very different nerd types–geeks versus bookworms; happy hours might not be very fruitful between the two, one cares about the latest Doctor Who episode and the other cares about the 50 Shades of Grey kerfuffle in Florida. Okay that’s not entirely an accurate depiction but many people see those distinctions. Lastly, coding builds something, like a website or iPhone app, and cataloging records information for an item so it can be found. The purposes are very different as well as the end products.

But at the end of the day, I believe if you can do one that you’d be good at the other. Come on you coders, leave loftily FaceBook and come work for a library! Hee hee! Or if you are a cataloger, taking a programming or web coding course; you can always start on Code Academy!

For me, the future looks exciting and bright, with the possibility of cloud cataloging. What a perfect combo of coding and cataloging! Granted that like most ILSs, the code will only be viewed by the Systems Librarian but still I can dream.

P.S. GREAT NEWS! I’m attending ALA Annual in Anaheim after all! Woot! If you read my blog and will be there and want to meet up, drop me a line–or maybe I’ll bump into you at a cataloging or e-book session! If you do happen to sit next to be during a session, though, be warned, I’ll talk about MARC indicators, subject headings, and perhaps even the dreaded RDA. Plus, I’m signed up for a session entitled “Creating Library Linked Data: What Catalogers and Coders Can Build”! It looks so cool and I can’t wait (see, there’s that nerdy side again)! And to think, I planned this post before I knew I was going to ALA and found that killer event. Yea for serendipity!

 
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Posted by on June 7, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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Emily’s Tech Talk Episode 2: Tweet, tweet!

03 Jun

Emily’s Tech Talk, episode 2: Twitter is what you make of it

Since I only worked three days last week, I didn’t see as many subject headings as I normally do and none stood out. So, time for another episode of Tech Talk, still making the rounds of social media. Enjoy!

This episode is just under 5 minutes but I cover a lot of ground. Do you like this length or the under 3 minutes better?

 
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Posted by on June 3, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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New video blogging: Emily’s Tech Talk

30 May

The word vlog is just bizarre; I prefer video blog, though that’s still odd. (Now I’m thinking about subject headings–perhaps that will be next! I know there’s Internet videos…)

Anyway, my latest adventure, “Emily’s Tech Talk” goes live! I’ve posted the first episode on my YouTube page and figure that I will start out by walking through social media and its professional and personal uses, what I like and dislike. First up, Google+, which I’ve titled the episode for it “Google Minus” and explain in under 3 minutes why I don’t use it.

Did you like it? Comments, suggestions? I’ve got plans for a Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and WordPress ones in mind. Anything else that you’d like to see covered? Perhaps I’ll do one on Code Academy!

Remember, these are only my opinions. 🙂

 
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Posted by on May 30, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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There’s a subject heading for that!?: multiple confounding subject headings

21 May

Lately new subject headings kept to themselves, hidden away in other items in other people’s catalogs. I enjoy TASHFT!? posts (or is that acronym ridiculous, ha!) because sometimes they are more fun to discuss than cataloging issues since they are practical and get used each day, subject headings in general that is and not necessarily the ones I highlight in these posts.

But after stumbling, as we so often do, upon the third, I knew it was time for a post. All three start with the letter c and only offer brief discussion so they work well together.

“Cheating at video games” caught my attention first. Now, before you or perhaps your kids get super excited about winning your favorite video games, just know that it only occurs twice in the LC catalog. Part of the issue with its low use is that game-specific guides are listed under that particular game. So, the Super Mario Bros. 3 guide that my friend had and used to get all the items and match up all the memory card rounds, is listed under that game rather than in this general LC classification that corresponds to this LCSH. Which is great for the users but begs why this was created, yes yes literary warrant but still I would have (almost) bet money that there were more books on this topic, and so did the person who set up the sub. head. in the first place. Yet, there isn’t a parallel one for computer games but maybe people only cheat at video games (which LC defines as television games, i.e. consoles). Or perhaps people just cheat rather than writing about cheating because if you can’t figure it out on your own or with the help of the internet than you don’t deserve to be able to cheat. Despite the straight-forward SAF, here’s a screenshot anyway, because it’s always fun to look at!:

Next up, “children’s paraphernalia”–gripping, isn’t it? It is if that’s the topic you’re cataloging! This is a sneaky sub. head. that looks vague but is actually specific, kinda. Let’s take a look and see why:

Alright, this is basically a broad term for children’s stuff. See, specific, sort of. To really cover the bases, there should be 450s for “children’s stuff” and “children’s things”, right? Since the item with this sub. head. dealt with making and assessing new products for kids, it fit well! Clearly, narrower terms are available and some are very specific if you continue down the nesting of some. Many of the narrower terms lead to items involving crafts for kid stuff, mainly knitted and crocheted blankets.

And finally, the third sub. head. that starts with a c, “cardsharping”. Huh? Comment if you recognize this term before I talk about it because I had no idea what they meant. Oh, Wikipedia, please explain! Thanks! Meaning card shark, got it. Wait, where is the cross-reference?:

I guess no one says “card sharking” and this is meant for the action and not the people. In fact, there isn’t a sub. head. for card sharks or card sharps. While there is “card players” and some narrower terms, cheating card players aren’t represented:

As always with subject headings, you have to work with what’s there. Or propose/create your own if you’re able. Seriously, I might have to write a book about card sharks to justify literary warrant. Watching those cable professional poker marathons are fun during a hotel stay!

 
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Posted by on May 21, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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Famous!: At least among librarians and educators…who listen to the LiTTech podcast

09 May

My awesome friend, Emily Thompson the Learning Technologies Librarian at SUNY Oswego, invited me to speak as a guest on her podcast, LitTech. I enjoyed explaining cataloging, touching on RDA and FRBR and the  future of cataloging. She includes great podcast notes with links.

Really, there’s not much more that I can say about it…please go listen, especially if you aren’t a cataloger or librarian.

So, want to hear the inside scoop about subject headings, get an explanation of cataloging, hear some library science history, or why paraprofessional jobs in cataloging are become more prevalent, listen to LiTTech show 29 and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

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Note: The above screen shot is only an image, so the listen now/play buttons won’t work; click the link above that says LiTTech 29! 🙂  (This will be obvious for most of my blog readers but my mom and family does read it, too!)

 
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Posted by on May 9, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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There’s a subject heading for that!?: night photography

06 May

Sometimes subject headings are cool and introduce a concept or topic that otherwise wouldn’t have crossed your mind. This week, “night photography” fit that case.

When I came across it, the sub. head. made sense but got me wondering why it needed separation from simply “photography” and all the narrow terms that go along with it. But as I looked into night photography further, the need for such a sub. head. easily made a case for itself, as seen in the linked examples near the end of this post.

First, let’s look at where this sub. head. is located. In the LC Authorities for “photography”, though there is a long list of narrower terms, you won’t find this one at first glance. Oddly enough, it’s nested within a narrower term. Can you guess which one? Spoiler: it’s under “available light photography”.

Available light photography covers the idea that only the natural light and the light already there is used when taking a photo, hence night photography listed as a narrower term of this concept. The authority for it is straight-forward:

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As the 680 explains, “night photography” covers “works on the technique of taking photographs outdoors at night and collections of these photographs”. While the description explains the concept simply, the photos and collections are anything but mundane. Have you opened a new tab yet to search for it? Regardless, here are some of my new favorite night photographers and their awesome night photos; for the photographer’s sake, I’ve linked to their works.

A graveyard with some streaking stars. Circus Krone in Augsburg, Germany. The Red Eyed Grouper, which uses some added light from flashlights for effect. 50 exposures needed for this beautiful streaking stars photo. A large collection of 60 night photographers. And finally, a more intimate gallery.

In addition to night photography in the pure sense, many photographers use flashlights to add mood, color, and dimension to their photos. One cool phenomenon seen in some of the photos is “light painting”, which can range from adding color to the Buick in the Red Eyed Grouper photo to actually creating another image in the photo via the flashlight such as orbs or shapes or even words.

Here’s an amazing collection of light photography that range from adding emphasis to the photo, outlining, and creating the main focus/subject from added light. LC doesn’t have a “light photography” sub. head. but since this occurs in night photography itself, one isn’t needed, not yet anyway. In the LC catalog, there are 63 works with the sub. head. “night photography” and a handful more with subdivisions. From what I can tell, there are no works explicitly on “light painting” by itself but it is addressed in some night photography items.

Here’s a more technical description about night photography and the light needed. Plus Wikipedia has a good article for starters.

While I am not a late-night person, these photos are so inspiring that I might take up this hobby myself! Who knows, maybe I’ll give up librarianship to become a night photographer.

On second thought, what cataloger could leave this wonderful world of subject headings?

 
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Posted by on May 6, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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MARC21 must die–according to one internet user

30 Apr

Aren’t life’s serendipitous moments amazing? I find it fascinating when things in my life suddenly collide. This time: cataloging and Code Academy.

First, have you heard of Code Academy? It’s a website that teaches people code in a simple yet robust manner in order to make the world more code/tech literate. Be warned, once you start it’s easy to get hooked! When I do get around to logging back in and coding again, I usually do a bunch of exercises in a sitting. The chunks are broken down really well so it’s easy to come back to and you do quite a few exercises in a whole lesson. More lessons are added to the site, especially since I started a couple of months ago and now it’s becoming a bigger website.

Today I sat down for the first time in a while and picked up the coding again. After I finally finished another segment (yes!), I stumbled upon an MARC21 lesson. In the description, the submitted says:

This is a project to build a short script to read a raw MARC record and display it in a more readable format. I hope that it gives cataloguing coders an idea of what a MARC21 record looks like under the hood and helps clarify the cataloguer’s opinions as to whether MARC must or mustn’t die. (HINT: it must). For more information about this project, MARC21, and a HTML version of the finished code, see http://www.aurochs.org/aurlog/2012/03/20/marc-viewer-codecademy-project/. However, do note that 1. This project was designed for someone who has done the first few weeks of the Code Year course. By necessity it introduces some new things and an attempt has been made to explain them and encourage the cataloguer to enter the actual lines of Javascript that make up the programme. In any case, the Hints always contain the correct code needed to proceed. 2. Output will often consist of many lines, so sometimes you will have to scroll up in the console to see what has happened. 3. Some lines (including line 1!) will always produce errors, although the script will still run. This is because MARC uses BAD and DANGEROUS characters. BAD and DANGEROUS characters are of course common in the world of cataloguing (mentioning no names…). #catcode @Orangeaurochs

Ha! The purpose of this lesson is to show catalogers just how ugly and messy MARC21 is and how it should be replaced already. I’m sure Orangeaurochs has to be an RDA supporter, since that too calls for a replacement for MARC21. On Twitter, I found his professional blog with a post that explains his Code Academy project a bit more–sweet! Also, he has more links to MARC21 information as well, for a more in-depth look, it seems. I haven’t been following the #catcode on Twitter but perhaps I will now, having gotten back into this once again.

I enjoy Code Academy and I hope you will try it out if you haven’t already. The website makes it learning code accessible to all, and there has been much refinement in the systems and interface that I’ve noticed over the months I’ve used it. Plus, the Q&A tab is very useful so check it out if the hints and tinkering still leave you stumped!

Code literacy–add that to your resume and job skills; it’s not too difficult, promise.

 
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Posted by on April 30, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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