Video Production: One Novice’s Workflow
Like lots of us, my work pretty quickly shifted this year to emphasize remote instruction. And remote instruction means (among other things) instructional videos. And I have never made an...
View ArticleDIY Cloth Masks: Socially distant hugs you can launder
If you’re curious about how I arrived at this design, I wrote about that in this post. Materials tightly woven cotton or cotton/polyester cloth (like the cloth quilters use, or high quality...
View ArticleLibraries Are About Connections
Image by geralt People tend to see libraries as houses for collections. Sometimes they also see that we’re full of other things, too. People often see librarians as people who know how to navigate the...
View ArticleI coded from an API for the first time, and so can you!
A couple of weeks ago, my library upped our Libguides instance to Libguides CMS, which means that a few weeks ago I came to be in charge of a system that has APIs for the first time in my life. We got...
View ArticleThe Library Society of the World: Origin Story
Eleven years ago, in a browser far, far away, a dedicated and creative public librarian named Josh Neff opened his ALA membership renewal notice and sighed as he looked at the dues he would owe....
View ArticleCalling All LSW Members: It’s time to reunite
Back in the ancient days of social networking, all the way back in 2007, my friend and former classmate Josh Neff posted a tweet that rocked the library world, we just didn’t know it yet. He declared...
View ArticleRIP FriendFeed, 2007-2015
You’d think I’d have a lot to say about the shuttering of FriendFeed, my online community, the place where I lived day in and day out for nearly 8 years (which matches the longest span of time I’ve...
View ArticleACRL Framework for Information Literacy: 3rd draft released
This is planned to be the last draft for comment on this Framework before it gets presented to the Powers That Be at ALA Midwinter, and the committee really has been good about listening to feedback...
View ArticleACRL Information Literacy Framework Feedback Deadline Extended
In case you haven’t heard (as I hadn’t) the deadline for submitting feedback on the ACRL Draft Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education (part 1 and part 2) has been extended. Submit...
View ArticleResponding to the ACRL draft Information Literacy Framework
As you are no doubt aware, ACRL is drafting a replacement for the Information Literacy Standards. They’re hoping for feedback on their draft of the Framework for Information Literacy in Higher...
View ArticleArtStudio for iPad: or, PhotoShop for 5 Bucks
Over the Christmas break, someone in my Facebook feed shared a YouTube video of artist Seikou Yamaoka recreating “The Girl With A Pearl Earring” using an iPad. Before I go on, you should watch it too,...
View ArticleFriendFeed Resurrected: the Afterstory
As with most stories involving hacktivism, major corporations, insanity, and backwater social media platforms, we will probably never know exactly what happened this past weekend when FriendFeed went...
View ArticleThe day Anonymous took down … FriendFeed?
Apparently, Anonymous has mistaken FriendFeed for “One of the biggest social networks” and is therefore venting spleen in the form of a DDoS attack. Why? Because hashtag searching for something...
View ArticleMorning of Nerddom: appointment schedulers and feedback forms
First of all, I’m back! I’ve been devoting any writing energy to some article revisions, but now those are all submitted and I don’t have to feel guilty about cheating on my article with my blog. What...
View ArticleHoly paper reams, Batman
The care and feeding of the library’s public printers takes a lot of our time, both in the library and in ITS. We have a special load-balancing set-up designed to keep individual printers from melting...
View ArticleWhat do I teach, anyway?
This morning I got an email from a librarian wondering what kinds of concepts I teach, particularly in 300-level courses, beyond how to search. As it turns out, that’s something I think about a lot!...
View ArticleLibraries, IT departments, and complex relationships
We have what I consider to be a really good working relationship with our IT department. When I talk to other people on campus I come away thinking of it as shockingly good, but most of the time I...
View ArticleSome 100-level information literacy concepts in lesson plan form
Several people have asked for examples of my lesson plans lately, which is both flattering and terrifying. Flattering for all the obvious reasons, and terrifying because I can always see the flaws in...
View ArticleWell no wonder it’s felt like a marathon!
We’re in our last week of classes for the term (I know, I know, our academic calendar is weird), and whenever people on campus ask how things are going at the library I always say something like “Oh,...
View ArticleHeads they win, tails we lose: Discovery tools will never deliver on their...
A couple of years ago, discovery tools landed on the scene promising technological and pedagogical advances beyond federated search’s wildest dreams. Libraries naturally thought the evolution of these...
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