Library Systems - Post #12

Here it is, kids - the end! Our team is done with our training materials, so the wiki is pretty much finished. All I've got left is the reflection paper, so it's time to kick back and relax, right?

So why do I have this sense of impending doom hanging over me? Oh yeah, because I'm graduating and I have to find a job. This resume/cover letter rigmarole is just driving me bonkers. I can’t imagine what the library job search was like before computers. I guess it probably consisted of glancing through the newest issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, talking to friends in the profession, and maybe making some phone calls. Now, RSS feeds can spew thousands of jobs at us, not to mention all of the e-mail listservs dedicated to job hunting. There’s also some great websites, such as ALA’s JobList and one I just found out about today called indeed. It’s not just for libraries; you just put the job title or keywords in one box, the location in the other, and voila, tons of results.

On the other hand, it seems like for all of the positive aspects of technology on resumes (e-mailing instead of snail mail, easily updateable, no more typewriters!) there are almost as many new problems (formatting problems make your resume unreadable, don’t forget to make your resume a PDF, not to mention forgetting to attach it to the e-mail!). But in the long run, it’s a heck of a lot easier to get your resume out there. I just wish it were easier to get a job!

Byebye, blogosphere!

Intellectual Freedom - Post #10

Wow, this is my last post of the semester! This has been fun.

I thought I'd end with a story that I find both hilarious and scary at the same time. It's about 6 weeks old, but I couldn't resist.

According to an article in the Times Online (UK), a company has been manufacturing a “teen repellent” called the Mosquito. It emits a high pitched noise that only young people can hear. Its purpose is dissuade teens from congregating in large groups. Amazingly, it has been installed in over 3,500 locations since it was made available!

Not surprisingly, people have been complaining about it. The Children’s Commissioner of England said, “These devices are indiscriminate and target all children and young people, including babies, regardless of whether they are behaving or misbehaving…The use of measures such as these are simply demonising children and young people, creating a dangerous and widening divide between the young and the old.” The creators, meanwhile, don’t understand what all of the hubbub is about. One of them said “Of course it doesn't solve the long-term problem, but it does what it says on the box. It disperses the large groups.”

Can you imagine something like this happening in the U.S.? We hear all of the time about teens being disruptive in the library after school. Well, we could just turn the Mosquito on from 3-6pm and that would take care of the problem! I just don’t understand how the creators of this can’t see that if you make these teens leave, they’re going to go somewhere else; probably somewhere that’s not as safe.

P.S. I’m still not sure if this is really true, but apparently some teens recorded the sound from the Mosquito and made it into a ringtone, so they can receive calls in class without anyone knowing! Brilliant!

Library Systems - Post #11

Wow, I can't believe how quickly the semester has gone! It seems like only yesterday that it was January and I thought I’d run out of topics to blog about.

My group is starting our work on training materials, and although at this point we are just doing text and screen capture, we’re hoping to at least do a screencast that covers the basics.

I’ve been thinking about screencasting and how effective it is. On one hand, it’s obviously a very effective tool. I’ve watched several of University Library’s screencasts on electronic databases, and I thought they did a great job of explaining the sometimes arcane tactics for searching that the average Joe is not going to intuitively pick up on. They’re fairly easy to do; I’ve spent only a little bit of time with Captivate but I’m sure I could make a passable screencast in very little time.

So what’s the problem? Well, maybe I have too little faith in humanity, but I’m just not sure that the average college student (or even most adults) has the attention span to sit and watch and listen to someone demonstrate a library catalog or electronic database. I feel like they’d rather try to figure it out themselves (and fail), or think “Oh gosh is it really this hard? Nevermind, I’ll try Google”. I’m not sure I really have any answers for this, since I think the problem is a combination of a fatal flaw in society that can’t stop for anything, and library resources that seem designed to maddeningly confound even experience computer users.

This has been my Debbie Downer post.

P.S. Have any of you had any positive feedback from screencasts you’ve done for your library? And what age group were they?