Library of Congress MODS session, Its a go!!! :-)

I’ve been working with Library of Congress to work on a informational session on MODS for Widernet.  These last couple of days it seems like we’ve finally gotten everything together.  I’m really excited by this because it seems like its going to be useful not only to us at Widernet but to everyone.  SLIS was nice enough to let us use the SLIS Polycomm that from what I understand is really only for the IMLS teacher librarians, but Jim approved that we could use the equipment, which I am really thankful for because LOC really preferred using videoconferencing over Elluminate. 

Yesterday, I approved through Kit that we could use the equipment, then tentatively set up the time/date for 11/7 at 1:00 to 2:30.  Yesterday, I also sent an email to all of the eGranary librarians to make sure that date/time works for them.  Unfortunately Brent P. will not be able to attend the meeting because he will be out of town.  I approved with Cliff yesterday that we should go ahead and have the meeting even thought Brent will not be available.   Today, I’ve inquired with Kit and Cliff to see who I need to speak with regarding a technical training session on how to use Polycomm.   I am also looking at how to set up a conference call in the case that the equipment does not work.

Once I have everything solidified I hope to invite people in SLIS to join in on the meeting.  I am thinking it would be informational for all.

project and task management

We had our weekly meeting on friday to go over everything we’ve been doing.  So today I spent some time updating Confluence and the project and task management lists for my project.  I was a little frusterated because I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to be putting items into the project and task management.  I was putting almost everything into Confluecne.  Then when I did try to catch up with that this weekend, my name wasn’t in the system.  All is well now though because I spoke with Cliff this morning and he added me to the system.  I just wish I would have known this a month ago so I could have been adding tasks that I’ve completed.

As far as feedback in coming things are still going well and I feel like most people I write to ask for feedback are usually very thoughtful in their responses.  Today, I wrote back to OCLC and LOC to follow up on setting up the MODS session with LOC and to see if OCLC had anything else to offer as far as feedback.  I’ve also continued to gather information on various integrated library systems, koha and everygreen.  I’ve found out from Cliff that they have already tried greenstone but it does not scale well so I’ve stopped looking into them.  Overall things are going well, I hope to have a meeting with Nicki S. and Mark at DLS soon.

Today I’m also doing some Drupal training.  We have a DVD from them so I’ve been watching that.  Its interesting and I can see the purpose of it. But honestly, its more of an overview, and stuff I already think I know and understand.  But its good to get it done and it can be helpful in the long run.

meeting at ITS

So today I had a nice meeting at ITS with Bharani to go over apache, mysql, and php. I have installed WAMP on my laptop and I’ve been playing around with it. Its been great to be able to create php programs and to test them out. Even though this isn’t specifically part of my digital fellowship project, I think it will come in handy later. I’ve also signed up for an online course in php and mysql to help me learn more. The course was farily inexpensive and the company has several courses so I hope to take more programming courses after I’m done with this one, maybe in java, i’m not sure yet.  I’ve also  been working with Pico, i’ve downloaded putty.  Again, I know this isn’t specifically related to widernet, but i’m sure it will be useful at some point.

exhibit opening event (off topic)

So today was the opening event for the north exhibit hall of the main library.  We had a lot of fun.  It was so nice to see what we had worked on for the last six months finally come together.  A lot of faculty and staff stopped by to see it and I as happy to see some old professors from the english department and spanish department.  What a great day, I really felt like we had an excellent turnout.  I’m lucky that the staff here let me hang out and help out

getting things done

Well this last week has been really successful and I feel like I’ve been able to get a lot done.  I’ve had several meetings with Cliff and we’re making a lot of progress as far as information gathering for both cataloging standard and library integration software.  There’s a lot of open source projects that I’ve been looking at such as Evergreen, Greenstone, Koha, etc and I’ve been working on reading through information available to see if it would be something we would be interested in.  I’ve also been in touch with Library of Congress and am in the process of setting up a web meeting/informational session regarding MODS.  It took some time to get this meeting worked out because LOC did not respond to my emails or phone calls for about a week.  I decided to use “chat with a librarian” there and was able to get through the the person I needed to speak with right away yesterday.  She’s working out the details with the person in charge of training for MODS and we will be able to have our session hopefully in the next few weeks.

somewhat successful week

This week I was able to gather a lot of feedback, which is what Cliff wants so I feel that it has been somewhat successful.  I have emailed or called nearly everyone I know who could give feedback on this project, DLS, reference librarians, ALA Spectrum Scholars, LAMP Scholars, staff, faculty, you name it.  Most people are saying that LCSH with Dublin Core is the best route to go.  Other people have also asked, what system are we going to be using, such as Horizon, Kola, Evergreen etc, so that’s a question that probably needs to be addressed.

I was really hoping to get an informational session on MODS from Library of Congress, but so far no luck with getting them to respond to my emails, but I will certainly try again.

cataloging and emails

So today I’m back to cataloging and sending emails.  Cliff really wants a lot of feedback from the experts before we proceed in changing the cataloging structure.  It seems the more emails I send out, the more people I am told to ask.  Its nice to know people are trying to help by giving me more names.  So I do feel like that piece has been successful.  Unfortunately, I have not received much concrete feedback, but instead a lot of possibilities.  I’ll take these back to Cliff and Brent, they are the ones that will ultimately make the decision I’m sure. 

Also, everyday there are more site to catalog into the current system, so that’s always part of what I need to be doing.  Its been busy as the site are always building.  I’m looking forward however to moving forward with the actual cataloging in whichever new system is chosen.

emails emails

So today I sent out a bunch of emails asking for advice and expertise.  I’m hoping to get some good feedback so that we can start working on recatalofing everything as soon as possible.  I’m just really hoping to gain some good experience and to do some good work.  I don’t want to let myself or anyone down.  It was kind of a bummer today to see that I could have possibly been reinventing the wheel.  Perhaps I’m being too hard on myself, which is usually the case, but I hate wasting time.

cataloging

I learned today how to catalog using the current system.  I’m am using the remainder of the day to update what needs to be cataloged.  Its a pretty easy system to use and everyone here is great if I have any questions.  I now need to try to get a decision made on which cataloging system we will be using.  Cliff would like to get some of the faculty and staff together to help make that decision.

I have also contacted Sarah to see where she left off on the project. Unfortunately it seems like I may have been reinventing the wheel unknowingly with some of the research I have been doing.  This is a little frustrating, more because I feel like I’ve wasted a little time (luckily only a little).  But its all a learning experience. Nevertheless, I am excited to see what comes next.

completely off subject….;-) Latino Heritage Month Activities

check out the north entrance of the library and see the latino heritage display I helped with. Some of the librarians let me be on the committee, it was a lot of fun!

This weekend, I’ll be in Des Moines volunteering at the Iowa Latino Heritage festival also:-)