Assignment 4 Group 3

Well Nelson, Veronica, and Myself explored the way in which QR (Quick Response) Codes are being introduced into the field of librarianship. Want to know what we uncovered just click on the link below to read what we found out about QR Codes and Librarianship.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PCcCMV5FI_vggO55jp-BV9bHeh5MgwnJ5WyQvkehpQU/edit?pli=1

Video about "Libraries a Digital Bridge"

Yet libraries are constantly getting their budgets cut!! It makes abosolutely no sense what so ever.

http://youtu.be/7cwsrgMOcLA

QR Codes and nearing the End!!

I have just completed my portion of our group project for MLIS 7505. The subject that my group chose was most interesting in how that technology can be applied in the field of librarianship. I throughly enjoyed reading about Quick Response Codes!! This semester has just flown by and I can't believe I only have one more to go and I will be finished with the program.

Summer Reading for 2012

Well the first week of the Summer Reading Program's sign up has drawn to a close. Sadly this year started off strong with the first day rather busy with sign up's, however it is much less than last year by the end of the first week. I don't know if it is due to lack of interest in the library or something else. With the age of technology upon us, children are less and less interested in books and more interested in video games, Facebook, or television. I fear that we will see more of a drop off this year than in previous years. I may be a little pessimistic at the moment, but I remember when I was in the Summer Reading Program during my childhood years and the amount of children that participated. It seems that each year it drops of a little more. "Times are a changing".

Assignment 3: CMS interview

The third assignment for my 7505 course was to identify a library that used a CMS for its website and interview the librarian who was in charge of managing that system. The library I chose was the Ohoopee Regional Library located in Vidalia, Georgia. The librarian who oversees this libraries CMS is Dana Peeler, Assistant Director and Technical Services Librarian. The following is the transcript of the interview conducted with Ms. Peeler.

Myself: “How and where did you hear about Content Management Systems?”

Ms. Peeler: “I first heard about content management systems in the technology courses I was taking a few years ago. At that time, I was using Front Page, a WYSIWYG html editor for the design and maintenance of the library’s web site.”

Myself: “What was your or your systems motivations to adopt a CMS for its use in your library system?”

Ms. Peeler: “Our web site was stored locally on a server housed at the headquarters library.  We chose to move our site to the state library’s server when hosting was offered due to the age of our server and staff shortages locally. In order to move our web site to the state’s server, we had to use an open source CMS, specifically Drupal or Joomla.”

Myself: “What were the decision making criteria the library considered and what is the name of the CMS you are currently using?

Ms. Peeler: “I informally surveyed several colleagues regarding their thoughts about Drupal and Joomla. Based on those recommendations, I chose to go with Drupal.”

Myself: “What would you say are any benefits or advantages to using Drupal over your older system or another CMS you have used in the past?

Ms. Peeler: “Most of the benefits I have seen have more to do with moving the web site to a larger and newer server with constant monitoring rather than the CMS itself. There are many more features available in Drupal than in Front Page allowing for a more professional look.”

Myself: “How would you rate the learning curve for Drupal?”

Ms. Peeler: “The learning curve has been steep. I have purchased a couple of books on Drupal, yet I still have difficulty finding out how to do some things. The features are there but I have not been able to take advantage of many of them.”

Reflection

This interview introduced me to a new CMS in Drupal. I also found, through my interview, that because CMS are constantly changing that there is no way to know everything about the systems. The librarian stated that she still has difficulty in conducting some actions within Drupal. Overall the assignment has given me insight on how librarians learn these types of systems, as well as how they select what system to use for their libraries.

Summer Reading and Joomla

Well another day at the library is coming to a close. Summer reading sign up has been in full swing. I love to see this many eager faces coming to the library for books, instead of computer usage.

I also finished up my assignment with Joomla. That was a very interesting endeavour, but I overcame the obstacles and produced a nice page (in my opinion). I also would like to state that in the future I wouldn't mind taking another crack at a more in depth page.

Well now to turn my sights on this weeks discussions and assignment three. I do like the format of these Maymester courses; I like the fast paced class work.

Well another nice Sunday. About to get started on the second assignment for my MLIS 7505 class. I still feel a little lost on some of this stuff, but it seems to be clearing up. Well I have also enjoyed the moderating of the discussion Mrs. Dill and myself were set to moderate over open source social software.