The end

Although it's the end of the course that required this blog, I think I will take a break and come back to it.

I'd like to now enjoy what is left of the summer.

Done with LIS 2000!

I turned in my last paper! I really enjoyed the course and I hope there are more like them to come. I felt that I could have done more, learned more if it wasn't for the time constraint. I would really, really like to be a full time student but with a mortgage to pay and a son to support the best I can it isn't a choice I can in good conscious make. I really appreciated Dr. A's comments (I assume they were hers) as they motivated me to do well and I felt the sacrifice to put the papers together were worth it. I'm no fool though, I think the grading was liberal this term as Cohort 9 is getting started and I expect the bar to be raised. I'm up for it.

I'm still playing around with trying to do a Pitt website but I do feel like I finished the last project in good faith. I hope it is good enough to keep my grade in high.

I feel great relief in finishing this term and I'm glad I did it...over the weekend I'm going to read one of the many books I have waiting for me to read and there will not be a pencil or highlighter in sight! Time to enjoy the summer and get some much needed sleep.

Kindle

I read my first assigned book on my Kindle2 this week, it was Free Culture, and as appropriate I was able to obtain the book for free-and Amazon even converted to the Kindle format for free.

Jury is out. I used the highlighting feature to both highlight and make notes and I was able to review all that I highlighted in a summary format that was great, but I found it cumbersome to scroll around for page numbers for citations. I'm not sure if it was more efficient than thumbing through a book for what I previously highlighted, but if was great to have it with me in such a compact version while I was traveling on Friday.

I'm going to give it another shot next term. I orginally thought that I would put all my books on my Kindle, but I'm not ready to make that leap yet...

Last Db posting

I almost missed the posting...although I have loved my class work, I'm excited to conclude this semester. I'm exhausted!

I'm off to SC for a second interview for a job in Pittsburgh. I'm in and out the same day so by the time I get home tomorrow night I won't even be checking e-mails. It will be a rough day of travel but I can look forward to a nice weather weekend, seeing Harry Potter with my mother and sister-in-law and going to the pool with my son. As this was one of the worse days of work in my whole career, I just need to check out for a few days-good thing it's a weekend:)

It's weird that I can't find anything in Philly but have three opportunities in Pittsburgh. But, if I don't sell my house or get a full relo package I'm not going to be able to take an offer anyway. I'm glad it's dragging out. Hopefully my house will sell before I have to make a decision...

Back home in Philly

I really enjoyed being in school but it's nice to be back home. I think when I get back to Pittsburgh I'd like to take a couple courses on campus.

I think both of my interviews went well last week and my second interview in SC is scheduled for this Friday. I'm hoping to get an offer from at least two so that I can weigh my options. I need a relo package to make it work and they are harder to come by these days. All of this needs to be settled in a couple weeks because Tommy has to start back to school. So much on my mind...

Being on campus is great

I'm so glad we got to be on campus this week. It was great to meet everyone and I enjoyed being in class. I think I might try the WISE program to further the experience.

One more day and back to Philly. At least I got some Pitt gear while I was here:)

Off to campus...

I'm excited about going on campus. I'm looking forward to meeting my professors and the students I've come to know during the semester. I'm also looking forward to the casual dinner tonight with Drs. A and T.

Since I found out the presentations are Wednesday and not Monday as I thought, I feel better about the presentations. We have Tuesday afternoon to work on it so it should come together.

I'm hoping to bookstores are open, I'd like to get a couple pieces of Pitt gear...and since I didn't bring anything particularly warm, I'm going to pick up a sweatshirt before class.

Not feeling good about the group work

I hope we have time tomorrow to work on our presentation because it is far from finished. I'm hoping group work doesn't account for more of the course work in the future as it is extremely difficult to pull together to the finished product in a distance learning course.

If this was work, we would have worked on it to completion by now. Not the model I'm used to...

I'm happy with my grades so far though, particularly Dr. A's comments.

Pittsburgh

I'm happy to be in Pittsburgh. I really need to get together with my hot topic group. I don't think we are prepared as much as we need to be. Maybe we can find some time on Sunday to work together.

Classes start tomorrow. Can't wait to meet everyone.

half way home

I think this is half way through the semester. Distance learning has it's pros and cons. It seems ok for LIS 2000 by I have to wonder what LIS 2600 is like on campus. We get assigments with no guidance as is evident by the discussion board questions. Also can't tie it all together. I'm sure this will be just the basics as I look back next semester.

I need a vacation! I scheduled two weeks in August and I'm taking it if it kills me. No school and no work!

Tommy and I went to the bookstore today, it's one of our favorite things to do together. I had this handful of books for me that I brought back to the children's section to read while Tommy picked out 4-5 books to read this summer and then I realized...I don't have any free time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Too bad. I'll have to get to a beach during August to veg in the sun with a good book-my favorite activity!

Another painful project done

It started out to be interesting to find books lying around my house in the library of congress database, but the instance of koha that we are working on didn't work so well. My theme was books lying around my house but I soon had to resort to my bookshelves by the handful to get enough books to register 25 items. I bet I attempted 80 or more books to get 25 in-it was hours worth of work that should have taken me one hour to complete.

I am enjoying the Wealth of Networks though, sounds stiff but I think the cultural aspect is really interesting. I hope to build my essay around that topic. I also like the economic discussions as it's more to my way of thinking. I've had a few surprises reading so far and that makes it even more interesting.

My busiest time of the month at work starts tomorrow so I'm not sure how much I'll get done on my school work the next several days but I'm really trying to get caught up so that I can enjoy this weekend, unlike Memorial Day weekend when I spent fully two and one half days, about 25 hours, on school work. I could use a break!

I am so glad last week is over...

The interview in Pittsburgh went well last week and today they asked that I go to SC for a second at the corporate office. Still no word on a relo package but I know they are discussing it. My house is up for sale-just in case. I can always pull it off if I get a job in Philly before Pittsburgh. This is my way, to always try to get ahead of a tidal wave. I'm exhausted.

The e-prints project was very frustrating to start and not very interesting after the first few items. By the look of the discussion board, I was not alone. Not sure why we had to do so many, I really got no benefit once I got into a cut and pasting mode. I'm afraid the Koha project looks like more of the same-inadequate background to get started and no directions or tutorial in sight. And tonight, when I had hours to dedicate to getting it started all I could do was post questions to the discussion board. I need all the information I need to be able to work at my own pace as life keeps getting in the way of school. I wonder how much more information the on-sight students get - we have no background in these applications and aren't receiving enough information to avoid frustration.

Getting a stride...

It's so nice to see that the work is slowing down, if you could call it that-only three books to read and write about this week :) I am still enjoying it but wish I had more time to contemplate what I feel like I'm rushing through.

Life takes another turn...

The new au pair arrived on Friday and I'm happy to say she is working our perfectly. On the day she arrived I found out my job will be relocated to South Carolina-which, although not totally surprising, was not good news. So now it is time to very actively look for a new job... I've been lucky before but with the state of the economy I'm not so sure. Just another thing to be stressed over.

Being stressed out about school doesn't seem so stressful now...

Early, Early Bird

I've been up since 4:30-I know better than to go to bed early but I was exhausted. Tea, our new au pair, arrived yesterday afternoon from Sweden. She is a great girl and I'm sure that she will work out well. She brought me a cookbook of Swedish cooking and we're going to make some things together over the year she will be with us. And Tommy likes her-alot. They went to the pool yesterday and she was attentive and playful and they had a good time.

Now that we are getting settled on the home front, time to get back to business. I've haven't been able to give the effort to school or work this week. Hope to catch back up over the weekend-and hopefully ahead. I'm having a hard time with my essay this week. Don't know if its the subject or just me. My work is not as fluid as I would like. I'll do some heavy editing this weekend and hope to improve it.

Off for an hour of early morning gardening-I wish I had more time for that, it really clears my head to work with my hands.

Ted Nelson

I was so pleasantly surprised to read about Nelson and his anti-establishment view of education. I often struggle with my son's elementary school education program as they take all these bright, active, dynamic children through the same mold. I think the school systems' vision is lacking and limited. When I lived in another town my son was enrolled in montessori school which allows free thinking and I'm sorry I don't have that opportunity for him where I currently live. I remember a TV interview with Sergey Brin and Larry Page (the founders of Google) who both attributed their success to their early elementary school education in a montisorri school!

Although Nelson is a little radical for me, I appreciate that he was included in GLUT. I will try to find a way to work him into essay #3. Afterall, he invent the word "hypertext" which is already an element of my outline.

I'm looking forward to more surprises...

Half and Half

I'm working in the mornings at home and taking time off in the afternoon to be with my son Tommy. So far, so good. This is the way I planned to work the rest of the week until the new au pair arrives on Friday afternoon. I will be happy to be back on schedule next week.

The good news is that I good chunk of Assignment 3 framed, if not complete. This is the way that I work best. Put a lot of ideas on paper-a couple sentences per topic, jump around a bit and then organize and back fill with more content. This helps me not loose track of ideas. I end up deleting probably as much as I keep, but I end up satisfied with the end result. I'm happy no discussion board posting this week-that exercise takes me longer that it should considering it's length, actually, I think the short length is what trips me up, I'm very wordy :)

I'm going back to my school work-Tommy is watching a movie and I hope to get a couple hours in and go to bed early.

What a week!

Good thing I got ahead of the two deliverables this week because the time outside of work has been completely consumed with personal affairs. We said good by to Alex on Friday and before he left I thought I had a great new au pair in Edie but since Edie couldn't drive I had to send her to another family. It may be a new world record, certainly for me, in that Edie didn't even start working before I had to transition her. We will be welcoming Tea from Sweden to our home on Friday-fingers crossed.

So not that I'm without an au pair, I can't go into work next week so I'm doing a combination of working from home in the mornings and taking vacation time in the afternoons. I'm hoping to get ahead of the essay due next Sunday during this time-three books and a bunch of articles is entirely too much reading with a full time job. I've fallen asleep reading a couple times this week because I'm exhausted. I hope to catch up on my sleep as well this week. A new au pair requires a lot of training so I'm going to be super busy next weekend. First out, driving.

It's all about size

No idea how to size the embedded video below after great effort. I'll work on that later in the week and hopefully get it presentable by the time it is due.

Please use link on left hand side to view in proper format.

Second Act Presents: Zotero

Well, I found two drafts from last month I thought I posted...par for the course.

It was fun playing around with Jing. I showed the presentation to my son and he loved it-the fact that I recorded a movie. He can't wait to play around with it himself-that will have to wait until tomorrow. Without further ado...



This link is also presented on left side of the blog as a link.

Scholarship in the Digital Age and my laptop

Not enjoying this book so much, half way through so I have a good feel. Odd to say, but I think it is too wordy. I'm used to more concise business writing-on point and clear conclusions. I also find all the citations distracting when I read. I seem to be always hunting for the close parenthesis...I wonder if this blog has spell check?

Buying a laptop for school was a good idea. First, all my bookmarks are at hand. Second, there is not a competing need for the home computer with my son. The drawback is that the keys on the keyboard are too flat so I make more typos-very distracting-and I therefore can't type at my typical speed. I'm indifferent on the portability but I suppose it will be most beneficial when I'm in Pittsburgh and have everything with me. Hope there isn't much need to use it outside of class though, I'm really looking forward to some time with family and friends.

Still feeling the stress of not being able to do any school work during the week.

Just as I expected...

Worked too long and was too tired this week to get much school work done-glad I was ahead going into the week. Much to do this weekend but I think it is manageable.

So here it is, Friday night, I'm exhausted from the long week and have hours of reading to do. One step at a time...

The party continues...

So much going on. Not sure what effect the GM backruptcy will have on my company/job (I work for GMAC). I'm so busy this week with the month end closing of the books (I'm an accountant) that I don't have time to think about it.

I'm changing au pairs-again-which is very disruptive for me and especially my son. The good news is that Tommy's school year is almost over, the bad news is that Tommy's school year is almost over!

And to top it off, the MLIS program I thought I was following-after great thought, no longer exists. It would have been nice to know that before I enrolled, although I'm not sure it makes a difference. Just another thing to sort out.

Still caught up though...

Week three comes to an end...

I'm reading Double Fold and enjoying it. I find myself torn between the business proposition of storage and the fact I think that all the newspapers should be kept in perpetuity-not so sure about all the books. I imagine there is a potential for some books to never be used. That reminds me of two analogies I often use that will work well in my essay...I need to make a note...

I really need to get way ahead this weekend for next week. It's a high stress week and I will be working late at least two days as we close the books for May. It will be the first time I've gone through my busy cycle at work since classes started. I'll be too tired to do anything when I come home and there isn't even enough time to do anything during lunch as I'll work right through. I'm still a little ahead but this weeks reading is huge.

Glad to see my grades coming in, I like feedback.

Need a good nights sleep this week-signing off.

Book Lady

Not sure if I should let the Book Lady follow my blog-weird not knowing who it is. Maybe I'll- post the question to the Db. Like the name...

Enjoyed Dr. Pat Lawton's interview. I thought the interview (didn't catch his name) had a very nice style and the interview was well done. I'm going to order the book that was recommended by Dr. Lawton. It makes sense to have a basis understanding of cataloging philosophy as a user of the catalog. I'll probably have to read it between semesters.

I'm still debating on whether or not to drop out of my book club. Thank goodness I hosted last and it was a successful, enjoyable dinner +. Maybe at this months meeting I can suggest a book that I read like "Outliers" and then I can just show up for dinner with a bottle of wine and not feel guilty. It's a good group, I would hate to loose them.

Still caught up but none of the LIS 2600 feeds work. Hopefully an alternative link can be provided before the weekend. I think I'll send a note to Dr. Tomer...

Memorial Day

I love gmail/reader/docs, etc! I'm inviting my friends and family. I can't believe no one has recommended it to me before.

I'm enjoying all the new applications, even the blog which I would not have started on my own. Only two weeks in and I know I made the right choice for me with the MLIS. This will be the second great career choice I made-how did I get to be so lucky. I count my blessings everyday that I like what I am currently doing but I'm ready for a new career with less pressure and more pleasure. Corporate accounting in these times is not for the faint of heart.

Tommy, my son, is back from canoeing/camping. I missed him. He's sound asleep already. Second grade requires a lot of sleep-I can't wait until summer vacation starts so we can relax from this ridiculous schedule. He's up at 6:30 for a 7:30 bus so I'm up at 5:45, that's the schedule you get when you are in Catholic school-school starts at 7:50 so the buses can go back for the public school kids. The trip was great by all physical measurement-he was filthy, exhausted, numerous black-and-blue marks including one toe that is completely bruised, and the palms of his hands have some red "dye" stains from some insect he was playing with that look like henna stains. He came home with a little color in his face and looked healthy and happy-just the way you want your kids to look and feel. Seems we both had a successful weekend.

Moving ahead a little at a time

I'm getting ahead of the week 3 & 4 assignments. I put my picture up on gmail and my blog tonight and changed the timezone for both to that which I am working from--EST. I don't remember having to do this before, I'll have to notice my other clocks:)

Tired but feeling much better-not frazzled anymore. I enjoyed the two LIS 2000 lectures-made me wish I was in class. I'll have to work on that.

All Caught up, Ready to Move ahead

Finally, everything is in that is due. Not so happy with the quality, I would expect a higher standard from myself but there is only so much I can do.

I'm going to take half a day to relax and recharge and then on to Week 3! I really miss my son who is canoeing/camping with his Dad now that I can take a breath. Couldn't have gotten so much done with him here so I need to get ahead while I still have half a weekend.

It's too bad that there is so much work to these courses, when I stop to think of it I am really enjoying the content but hate just breezing over it- it is not my style to not give everything 100%. That style has worked well for me in business and my personal life.

So much for the pile on my desk at work, that could use some attention as well...Tuesday will be here before I know it.

A Generational Gap Debunked

Either I'm catching up or ignorance is bliss:)

I'm ending my day with my response to my Db posting on the changing roles of librarians which required me to read my classmate's postings first. Here is my response in the long form. It's over the word limit so I have to cut it, but this is what I want to say:


I am so surprised at the mixed impressions of what librarians currently do and what they will do in the future. As a professional I can tell you that the generational references are inaccurate and in a business settling could have resulted in collateral damage to your career. I’m not sure of the relevance of a new generations growing up with computers when the generation to which you are referencing to as out of date invented those computers and applications and contributed to the content you currently use. To those who think librarians are out of date, I would suggest you consider the librarians that are teaching us
Speaking for myself, I’ve been using a computer professionally since 1992, actually it was a Mac, for work and pleasure. I acquired and maintained my computer skills in an ever changing environment as well as contributed content to early searchable databases as they were being built. I’ve also worked in a profession that requires me to be current with those skills and able to do research which leads me to my second point, high quality research can not be done from your bedroom-everything is not on the internet!


When your job requires research it needs to be complete and performed efficiently and timely. Following on my theme from the first posting, finding relevant information efficiently on the internet is an illusion for all but the simplist searches. This is why we need librarians. There is no time to sort through the gazillion postings retrieved in a internet/database search plus the paper publications. Let me provide an example, in a business setting, the Scopus search we did for “open source” would have required a review of each cited work retrieved so that only RELEVANT references to the full topic were referenced and saved. Life is not a college exercise and librarians are not limited to helping undergraduates.



With that said...Good night.

RSS Feed to Google Reader-update

That was easy. I have to remember to go back to the chat session tonight to find out who told us the RSS in Plain English was on youtube. I still can't open the course documents and that was extremely useful.

Test of RSS feed to Google Reader

Feeling a little better

I enjoyed the chat session tonight. I haven't done that before and it was useful. I think this is what the DB will eventually do once it is monitored.

I'm ready to post my first discussion question. I think I will also get a better idea of the process once I read others, just haven't had time yet. I like to write and I have a lot of ideas, just need to understand the format and expectations a little better. I wonder if they are graded for content, I'll have to ask at the next chat session.

I thought my essay was done last weekend but the addition of a citation supporting the essay sends me back to scratch. I suppose the way to do it is to find the citation first and write an essay around it. I'll try to find a citation but it doesn't seem likely that I will. Just another of many set backs.

I like more order in my life, that's how I keep all the balls in the air that I'm juggling.

I'm going to try to get a Philly study/support group together this weekend. I think that will help.

3rd times a charm

This is my third attempt, I'm too tired to repeat myself. Issue of the week is technology. Would have expected more from an online program. Why is no one monitoring the Dbs?????

What exactly do the teaching assistants do?

It is hard to understand how this is acceptable...

The week is not progressing much better. Technology is a big issue. Resource materials aren't available and they can't be gotten independently. Db issues are going unaddressed which makes me wonder why we are posting there. I would have expected much more from an established online program.

Where are the teaching assistants? I wonder what their role is. Are they seeing the questions and student frustrations? Did they feel the same way themselves and are therefore passive.

So far I couldn't be more disappointed. Communications are sketchy, materials are not available timely, technology is failing and no one is monitoring the Dbs which makes posting issues there pointless.

After the chaos of week 1 I only feel marginally better in week two. Work appears by e-mail when I'm expecting it in course documents, I began the week with no week two assignments and now I feel I'm playing catch up again on Tuesday night when I would have liked to get a head start over the weekend and I have no idea if I did everything that was required last week. I wonder why there is so much reading material for the week. I know Dr. Alman said it doesn't all need to be read word for word but I can't even digest what that means. I have no practical reference for this advise. I don't skim anything but the newspaper headlines. I'm a reader.

I don't know that this program is for working professionals. The other students are challenged as well without my work and family pressures. We've taken some conversations off line. This cannot be a desired outcome for our first courses.

Note to self: be more flexible.
Note for future: remember these frustrations and difficulties and be patient, helpful, and sympathetic if you ever teach or assist.

Just getting set up. More to come...