My HTML/Webpage Experience

For my LIS 753: Internet Fundamentals and Design I had the awesome opportunity to design a webpage of my choosing using HTML. This was an interesting experience for me. I had used HTML at a minimum before inserting bits and pieces of code into my MySpace and Live Journal pages, but I’d never actually created something from scratch. Not surprisingly I have a very curious personality, so most of the time I was playing around trying to figure out how to do this or how to insert that. To me, putting together a webpage is like putting the pieces of a puzzle together (I also love a good brainteaser). You take the basics and then determine how to put them together to create something that makes sense.

After putting together a majority of the webpage I received the html books I had ordered from Amazon.com in the mail. Before taking a look at the books I had filled my webpage with tables that would create the look and feel I was going for. After taking a look at Wendy Lehnert’s “Web Wizard’s Guide to HTML” and Elizabeth Castro’s “Creating a Web Page with HTML: Visual QuickProject Guide” I learned about the ease of frames for doing somthing similar to what I tried to accomplish. So if I had the chance to do something like this again I would probably include frames.

Since I created this fictitious webpage with the library I work for in mind I tried to keep the look and the feel of the page similar to what the library currently uses. I also wanted to make sure that I included the library’s resources and linked back to the library’s homepage. On the main page I included a “News and Happenings” section which, in a real website, would come from an RSS feed created by a blog. I also found that I did a lot of copy and pasting between the pages I was creating in order to keep the look and feel consistent across the board.

I really had an excellent time creating this page for my class assignment and it has really made me hope that I get to have some input in creating or adding content to the webpage for whatever library I end up working for.  This was an invaluable experience and gave me the background I need to be able to work with HTML in the future.

ALA Annual

This past weekend I had the amazing experience of attending the ALA Annual Conference. While the conference itself was absolutely overwhelming, I still had an excellent time. I had the opportunity to attend some really fun programs and I got more free stuff than I could fit in the extra suitcase I brought for the trip home. One of the interesting things I noticed at the programs I attended was that the things they were saying are exactly what I have been hearing throughout my time at library school.

The big theme in so many of the programs was using technology. Our patrons are using it, so why shouldn’t we be? In the program “Using Technology to Market to Young Adults,” however an interesting point was made by one of the speakers, Kimberly Bolan. She said that not all teens are using technology. I know its shocking, take minute if you need it before continuing to read. But when you think about it, it really makes sense. She told the story of one of her brilliant marketing ideas to send text messages to teens about library programs, however when she investigated the idea she found that text messaging was not a preferred means to communicate with the teens because many of them are not allowed to text.

We’ve all been through this program with the idea of using technology to reach our users being drilled into our heads, but sometimes I think it’s important for us to take a step back and remember that there are people and even teens that aren’t constantly plugged in. And while these ideas of using technology to reach our users is a great idea it’s still important to remember the old fashioned ways of marketing our services. Kimberly’s presentation gave some great information about marketing to teens, and she posted the presentation on her blog!

In a final thought, I highly recommend that anyone who has a chance to attend ALA in the future jump at it. I think it really puts librarianship into a whole new perspective, especially if you’re new to the profession.

Serious Games and Information Literacy

Michelle Boule, a Social Sciences Librarian at the Universtiy of Houston, was a recent guest blogger for ACRLog.  Her post, which was called Serious Games, combines my interest in the library world (information literacy) and my interest outside the library world (video games).  Boule discusses a new type of game called the “serious game.”  These are games that teach people things, such as the games that we have been seeing for over a decade that teach children simple things like spelling and math skills.  Some of the newer games in this genre are tackling issues much more serious than the subjects being taught in schools, however.  Boule points us to some games that address issues such as global warming and the genocide in Darfur.

Then she goes on to discuss what implications these “serious games” can have for libraries.  Boule suggests that libraries should be creating “serious games” that teach information literacy skills.  These games could include solving puzzles that include some sort of information search or require the player to differentiate between good and bad information in order to solve it.  I think that Boule makes some very valid points when she says that these types of games could have a real impact on information literacy instruction.

Games are one of the mediums of choice for today’s youth and there’s no reason that libraries shouldn’t be using this medium to reach them.  I’ve seen first hand gaming servers and the collaborative work that goes into completing or playing a game on a something such as Xbox Live.  It seems like the implications for creating a collaborative information literacy game would be just as great.  I’ve read in a number of articles on information literacy that say that one of the best ways for students to learn information literacy skills is to learn with the help of peers.

 The implications made by Boule are great for information literacy and would make it a more interesting subject for today’s younger generation.  In addition they would learn much more from something that they didn’t even realize they were learning from.

found via The Information Literacy Land of Confusion

“But you don’t look like a librarian!”

In one of my random searches for library related websites/blogs/videos/anything-to-humorous-to-help-me-remember-why-I’m-putting-myself- through-the-torture-of-some-of-my-classes I came across a very interesting site entitled You don’t look like a librarian! This website is the creation of Ruth Kneale. The cool thing about this website is that it features Kneale’s work on the image that being a librarian has in today’s society. Kneale began doing research and giving presentations, most of which is provided on the web page, about the image of librarians in today’s society after she received many a comment along the lines of the title of this website.

The webpage is entirely navigateable through the sidebar. Not only does Kneale post copies of her research and information about her talks, she also has links to the articles from her bimonthly column called Spectacles: How Pop Culture Sees Librarians which can be found in Marketing Library Services, and a list of links to other library-related websites that are humorous or help break the librarian stereotype. Some of the more amusing ones include The Bellydancing Librarian (no further explanation needed) and Butt Kicking Librarians! (librarians who do karate). Another cool feature to the site is that Kneale has a Flickr feed at the bottom of the page for photos tagged with “librarian,” so she can show the world what librarians really look like.

If you’re looking for some fun reading on the subject of librarians’ image in society or just something to use are a conversation piece next time you’re talking about your profession and someone says to you “But you don’t look like a librarian” then I suggest reading her article You Don’t Look Like a Librarian! Librarians’ views of public perception in the Internet age.

And the winner is…

On May 9, 2007 SEOmoz announced its 2007 Web 2.0 Awards.  The list includes over 200 Web 2.0 sites in 41 different categories.  In addition to the top 3 with a mini summary of what it does for each category, all of the honorable mentions are also listed.  If you’re looking for a summary chart it can be found here. 

There were a few surprises along with many I expected to see.  It was no surprise that several Google sites showed up including GoogleMaps in the Mapping category, Personalized Google in the Start Pages category, and Picasa in the Photos and Digital Images category just to name a few.  I was excited to see some of my favorites like Flickr, NetVibes, Craigslist, LibraryThing, and YouTube. 

There were also a couple surprises as well.  In the Social Networking category Facebook got number 1, while MySpace only received an honorable mention.  This surprises me because of the way in which Facebook limits its members while MySpace is open to anyone and everyone.  Facebook, for those of you who don’t know, was originally created as a social networking website for colleges who chose to allow their students to sign-up using their institution’s email address. At some point they began allowing high school students to sign-up (I’m not sure how they moderated who was allowed to join from this point on) and then began allowing anyone associated with some sort of institution to join.

Another surprise was that Amazon didn’t make the cut.  I assumed with their user recommendations and recent addition of tagging that they would be a great contestant for a Web 2.0 application that would at least receive an honorable mention.

If nothing else, this list was a great tool for me to learn about some Web 2.0 applications that I might not have known about.  In fact it even taught me about some Web 2.0 categories that I didn’t know about.  I had a lot of fun exploring the sites that I had never heard about or knew very little about.  This would also be a great resource for any library hoping to jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon because it would help them to start with the best of the best.  I was also very impressed that all of the sites I looked at offered most, if not all, of their service(s) for free!

found via LibrarianInBlack