In Closing

I had very little expectations going into this course.  I knew I wanted to take a Maymester course my last year and this one fit the bill.  A coworker of mine went through the Valdosta program and said he really enjoyed this class.  But I had no idea the kinds of things we would be learning or the amount of work that would be involved.

Oh boy, was I in for a ride.

I have learned about everything from social media campaigns to website design to wikis to trying to wrap my mind around semantic web.  I have a blog, a Twitter, a website, and a poster to show for my efforts, as well as a group of friends I got to know very well "in the trenches" of Twitter late at night as we all struggled to finish our assignments alongside each other.

The only thing I would have done differently about this course would be to make it a full length summer course and to add a bit more material.  I know it sounds crazy, but the compact nature of this course actually helped me focus a bit more on the subjects for each week, but maybe spreading it out a bit more would help me enjoy it in the moment more.  As for topics, I would love to have been able to talk about some of the more library-specific technologies that are popular in libraries currently - such as Electronic Resource Management software or Discovery layers.  I realize these probably have their own course and that's why we didn't cover them, but all the same while we were on that path, let's dive in!  I also wish we had been able to get a bit more into website development and had more time to really make our sites shine - maybe have a period of a "rough drafting", followed by instructor and classmate feedback, and then a polished "final product" stage.

All in all, I have enjoyed this Maymester experiment and wish you all a happy summer!  I'll be taking Academic Libraries if anyone wants to "hang out" again :)

See you around!

- Ashley

The More You Know, The More You Know What You DON'T Know

This class has been an ever-present, humbling reminder of how little I know about technology.

Sure, when we started out I was feeling calm.  I'd blogged before and used to have a Twitter.  I continue to be an active Facebook-er, so social media wasn't really an issue for me.  Even when we started drifting towards web development, I at least knew the parts I didn't know.  I knew ish what CSS and HTML were in so far as I knew what they did and that I didn't know how to make them do those things.  I could manipulate images for website headers and logos and compose some content -- no problem.

But then some of the things in the articles stopped making sense.  I could no longer smile and nod as I read along, neatly brushing under the rug the few things that didn't make complete sense to me before (Oh sure... those server things... those get hosted, right?).  Suddenly the entire article stopped making anything but the smallest modicum of sense to me.  Open-source software, something about SQLs -- just plain forget semantic web.

Prior to library school I was under no illusion that I know a lot about technology, but this class has been a helpful reminder that I need to push myself to step outside of my comfort zone and learn new things.  One of the articles we read this week about millennials overestimating their knowledge of technology really resonated with me.  I have to remind myself that I don't know as much as I should know to be the best at my job that I could be.  Libraries are run on complicated systems, databases, and codes.  And someone out there has to run them.  Not saying it has to be me, but the least I can do for the people who do is understand what it is they have to do to run them.

One area I would like to learn more about is website development, particularly HTML and CSS and such things.  I enjoy the creative aspect of it as well as the opportunity to incorporate my graphic design hobby (which is very, very fledgling) and writing.  Does anyone (who knows about these sorts of things) have any books or web courses they would recommend on the topic?

But first, a little background

So how did I get into library technology, anyway?

I've never been a specifically tech-y person, but I've always believed that my ignorance of technology should never get in the way of what I want to do.  When I was in junior high, I wanted to make British friends (self-diagnosed Anglophile here - no shame!), so I created an AOL account and learned to navigate to British-themed chatrooms.  When I was in high school, I wanted to create a blog to keep up with my friends, so I joined LiveJournal.  When my LJ wasn't as pimped out as my friends', I learned to copy other people's CSS codes to make mine look pretty.  While in library school, I was assigned to create a Google site for my portfolio, so I copied someone else's template and reworked it to be personalized for me (hey, no need to reinvent the wheel, right?).  At work at the library, our circulation system was down, so I investigated how to use Microsoft Access as a work-around using one of the preexisting templates.  I needed new book straps for my interlibrary loan system, so I Googled how to use mail merge in Microsoft Word to edit our old label form.  For our display committee, I fiddled around with Adobe Photoshop and PowerPoint to create posters and fliers.

The basic theme of my approach to technology is 1.) If I don't understand it - Google it, and 2.) Trial and error.  While I was copying other people's CSS code, I didn't understand what I was doing exactly -- so half the time I couldn't figure out how I had made my profile box turn invisible or why the header was now so huge it was obscuring the title.  But I kept experimenting until I figured it out or I found a workaround that obscured how little I knew about coding.  Fake it until you make it, am I right?

I am so surprised by how many people get stumped by small problems and don't try to solve them on their own.  One time a CD-ROM got stuck in my laptop and my husband thought I was going to have to take it to the shop to get it fixed.  I Googled the problem and found out some weird fix where you  restart your computer while maniacally clicking a certain button a million times until the computer eventually vomits out the CD.  It sounded funky, but it worked.  I think that too often people expect to already know the answer to a problem, and if they don't -- they assume they can't solve it.  You don't need to have formal education in technology to try using it in your daily life.

I think that especially in the ever-changing library field, librarians need to be willing to go out on the extra limb and investigate solutions other libraries have tried -- or apply solutions from other fields to the library environment.  Creativity and the willingness to try new things are the keys to managing a learning organization.

Plug In the Library

Hello and welcome to my blog, Plug In the Library!  This blog will be recording my adventures through the Maymester course MLIS 7505 at Valdosta State University.  You may be wondering how I came up with the name of my blog.  Well, for starters, everything more self-explanatory was already taken.  But!  Mostly I chose it because I wanted to juxtapose two ideas:  things that plug in (i.e., technology) and things that are generally considered not to (such as dusty old libraries).  This is a stereotype that is due a quick, merciful death.  Yes, many libraries, such as special collections or archival libraries, still dedicate themselves to preserving stacks and stacks of dusty old books.  However, most libraries have evolved to become a lot more than that.  And to require a lot more plugs.  Sure, you can visit your local public library to check out the latest hardback on the bestseller list, but you’re just as likely to borrow an e-book version of it, or visit a computer terminal there to do research for a school project, or learn to create a resume through a class there.  Any university student will tell you they spend less time doing research at the library than they do remotely from their laptop in their dorm room.  At 4 a.m.  Four hours before their paper is due.  Besides services like these, libraries are taking the opportunity to engage their communities personally and offer assistance to their patrons wherever they are – through social media, reference help chat, or good old-fashioned email.  So while the library is plugging itself in, it’s also inviting you to plug yourself into it.  So come on!  Sit down, plug in, and follow along as I explore technology in libraries over the next few weeks in this course.