Oh, Second Life

Oh, Second Life library: what will you become?

You are currently a gutted observatory with two bookshelves surrounded by a half-circle of medieval-looking merchant stalls promising, but failing to deliver, delectable good for the mind and spirit. You have a pretty carpet with pillows nearby, for socializing. You have a, yes just currently one sole very lonely, monitor linking to our main website. You have our lions!

If you are indeed pretty and usable enough to exists as such, I will give your stalls different programs to share with the curious visitor who happens by. If you are a blight on the eyes, or simply impractical, I will remake you into something more useful, THEN deck you out.

This flurry of Second Life building will be Thanksgiving weekend since my family and friends are largely in Portland and I miss them dearly ='( .

Dear reader, please lend me your feelings! Visit:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City/96/92/24

Let me know what you think should be added and what needs to go before this weekend, and I will enact it.

Thank you, and I am in your debt.

-Andy

The Nobility of the State Library

The most impressive visual display of the South Carolina State Library is the two lions in front, flanking the stairs acceding to the entrance. The symbolism is naturally regal, from Great Britain likely, and a symbol of ferocious power and majesty. This Library claims to be the focal point of the intellectual endeavors of the state, the champion of the county libraries and other intellectual institutions. I think, in part, it warrants this stature.

This stature comes from quiet projects being worked on by many dedicated librarians and technicians. These projects are interesting, such as documenting information on the Gullah people of the Lowcountry (SC speak for the lowlands near the coast including Charleston and Beaufort). That most of these projects are happy to see over 100 hits per month of views speaks to the under-documented nature of these projects and not of their unworthiness.

It is also warranted by leadership positions such as funding bandwidth and support for institutions otherwise unable to afford such technology, dramatically shown in the "corridor of shame." Another example is working with the laptop funding grant for public schools which, for the most part, provided an experience with technology to students which would otherwise be deprived. Sadly, some schools (like one in Richland county) squander such opportunities.

Most of the drama I see around me deals with SC Lends, an integrated library system between the State Library and some county libraries tied through shared use of Evergreen system. Sometimes this systems goes down, and the integration itself requires coordination and meetings to facilitate. It seems to have calmed since I started, with the successful integration of many counties during my stay. That the Library is hiring a new position to deal with this exclusively, basically at least, speaks to our perceived leadership role.

The other services the library provides are likewise valuable to a host of people across this state. Discus brings materials to students and the like who would not be able to access them otherwise. Talking Books, which is much respected in my SLIS, brings books to those that would not be able to enjoy them otherwise.

The daily tasks are handled all around me: documents are scanned to give to patrons (which I have done a couple of times for downstairs), questions are researched, patrons are helped, and outside parties are negotiated with. The main floor has many idle people who seem to be watching Youtube and Facebook and not using the place to its ideal, but this appears acceptable.

The state library is an interesting institution to have been associated with as long as I was. What I "accomplished" or hope to accomplish at the end was/is meager really: Installing and playing with CONTENTdm, toying with scanning, and setting up a shell of a Second Life library (my next blog topic, actually). My scans still need to be retouched in some areas and the metadata details are handled by my partner/overseer and the cataloger, so all I may end up producing, other than the sample display, is my methodology. Perhaps as well, a starting place for a Second Life library.

What I learned, however, was more than I produced which, for an intern, may or may not be justifiable. Sitting in on conferences, learning how this institution runs, talking with fellow librarians and hearing their experiences, seeing how servers work downstairs, and getting a taste for this institution gave me a good impression. Would I work here? The answer is likely no, but because of anything in particular that struck me as overly negative. Sure, the 'tightness' which which this organization runs, with its under-staffed employees, is not a beacon to me but most intellectual public institutions run likewise. The private sector may or may not be more brutally tight: I have seen it both ways.

Regardless of myself, this institution is rather grand. The people I have met are all dedicated and seem to enjoy themselves very well. There is not this fear and fakery that permeates most places of work I have known in my past. The Library accomplishes a lot. I have much respect for it, regardless of where I go and what I become.

Looking to the End

I am losing track of time. Perhaps it is all the other prospective assignments I have before me at the end of my term, and it is distracting me from the end-game here at the State Library.

I am making a Second Life Library. As of Monday, November 9th it lays as a fallow plot of land with a landmark on it, but I intend over the next few days to develop this into an actual Second Life Library center to both advertise the South Carolina institution to fellow users of SL and also as a portal for SCSL resources.

Some basics updates:

Amanda has done a great job putting the meta-data into a document, now, and we await a "second pair of eyes."

I have enjoyed getting to see the inner workings of the State Library over the last month, and sit in on many conferences and proceedings. I also get to see the new server in action.

As I have said in previous posts, my expectations and demands are non-existent, and I want to have flow here as much as possible. I want to recap everything in far greater detail after my time is expired than I hitherto have done now. I want to have an intuitive grasp of this environment to the fullest extent before I leave, and afterward intellectualizing the experience will not kill it.

The Weeks Fly By

I cannot believe it is already the mid-point of my term and my experience at the State Library. My how does the time fly when I am having... fun.  I must say that the experience is indeed fun, and I do not have this dread when I enter the building like I would if I found this internship over-my-head or under-stimulating.  

The digitalization effort's items are all organized now and, starting Tuesday the 13th (likely) I will start to digitize and upload the objects to CONTENTdm.  It should take a few weeks to get these objects converted and organized.  As of now I have some clues to what "Dublin Core" metadata standards will be employed, but I do not know what Innovations would like to pair it to: our own standards or the standards of the confederated group to which we belong.  The digitalization process physically using the scanner is easy, perhaps dull, and fairly painless.

What the other portion of my internship is about is basically observation: I do not know what I will do professionally in this ever-changing information environment, nor do I want to constrain myself to a projection.  I want to gain enough of a close embrace with this environment to see how Catherine Morgan deals with the issues before her, which are many.  I am grateful to get to see, for instance, the back-end of technical issues around SCLends and Evergreen data-merging.  I am grateful to see how the library takes a leadership role in cataloging training.  I am grateful for my future experiences in this regard, for it gives me a vista into what being a Systems Librarian is about, as it seems a close cousin to my desired role (still vaporously defined) as a information professional / eventual CIO who must coordinate different departments and alliances as a leader both in technology and central position. 

Oh, and I may be recreating the South Carolina State Library in Second Life =D

Digitalization: CONTENTdm

I am finding working at the State Library to be a great decision.  I am remaining in a "flow" without imposing any preconceptions or expectations for my time.  I am happy coming onto the second floor twice a week doing whatever.  I think I am in favor of this because it is a microcosm of what going into where I want to go with this education: an environment that will throw me alien things to figure out, manipulate, and turn back to my employer, patron or client (depending on my level of independence) something of value.  I am going to have to learn CONTENTdm from OCLC faster than my coursework would permit me, which I welcome.  The practical, hands-on tackling of these issues is a more valuable experience to me than reading than intellectually touching on it but never getting down and doing it.  I also find my level of enthusiasm is high, because for one it is fun but another is that I want to raise my competencies and cooperation to the standards around me. 

Last week proved interesting in @ the State Library:

I gained insight into administrative challenges of how to bring diverse institutions into a shared line of operation.  SC Lends, a confederation of different libraries across the state using Evergreen systems, is a challenge in coordination as their divergent operations and levels of expertise interfere.  For instance, Catherine Morgan pointed out an administrator who, ignorant of basic database structures, imposed a bit of chaos on the shared systems which necessitated correction.  Technology plans/proposals required of many institutions receiving state funding show wild differences in how to match reporting on required key points with their presentation skills/sophistication.  Some flatly fail, but the staffing and training of some librarians in the rural libraries who operate on hair-thin budgets makes any attempt heroic, in a way.

  

Systems Librarian: Day One

Hello, and welcome to my blog where I will chronicle my experiences with the South Carolina State Library.  For this internship I was assigned to read a book entitled "Systems Librarian" by Thomas C. Wilson.  Although the book was written more than a decade ago the points presented are still valid.  How do we as professional librarians weight the organizational mores and the non-degreed technicians vantage points against our own expertise?  For example, in the State Library's goal of digitalizing a portion of its holdings yet not all the librarian staff are aware of metadata standards applicable to the document itself or interoperability of these files to the database(s).  As a special librarian or information worker of some definition, a systems librarian is a kissing cousin of sorts: they act, as one of a number of interpretations of the role, as liaisons between computer workers and technical staff... a generalist in many ways which must gain an appreciation for both technology and psychology, a 'wearer of multiple hats.' 

A keen difference between a systems librarian and a special solo librarian is a system librarian is no soloist, and between training staff and projects that require people to sign off on the completion which might not share my goals.  This might be a change from my comfort zone.  In the past I felt I could find a creative solution and complete it myself with select consultation and when the project is near finished, simplify to make it communicable.  Making my ideas communicable beforehand is the challenge.  

I am happy learning how precise technologies function, like how the staff will scan the documents and ascribe standards.  I am also exited for this is my first assistantship.