Archives for January, 2008:
January 31st, 2008 Brian Herzog
A friend of mine forwarded me this - someone posted to a message board asking if anyone knew of a book rental service.
Read the original post, and then read the comments left by others. Rather humorous.
The idea of someone not knowing what a library does echoes a recent discussion on MELIBS-L - one Maine librarian shared this story:
I just had a nanny who has recently started bringing a little boy to story time come into the children's library and see me sitting at the children's reference desk. She said, "Oh, you work here, too?" I looked at her, puzzled, and she said, "You don't just come in for the children's programs?" I explained to her that I am the children's librarian and that I work full-time. She said, "Oh, what a cute little job!"
This led to a discussion about how the public sees libraries, and how we need to do a good (better?) job of marketing ourselves.
But as Jessamyn points out, if we don't ourselves understand what we do and what libraries are for, then why should we expect the public to know this - or support their local library?
libraries, library, public, what are you for
Posted under Uncategorized | Comments Off on “Book Rental Service?”
January 29th, 2008 Brian Herzog
Last week, the Greater Manchester Integrated Library Cooperative System (GMILCS to its friends) became the first large library system to integrate Chili Fresh into its online catalog.
I talked about Chili Fresh last September, when I was helping with some initial testing and design. Unfortunately, my consortium was not in a position to pursue the product at the time, so I'm glad the progressive and flexible GMILCS was able to step in for final testing and be a beta site.
Chili Fresh is neat because it doesn't require sweeping changes to a library catalog to bring about improvements. It is a plug-in that allows patrons to add comments and reviews of books right into the library's catalog, for other patrons to read. We need more tools like this.
A link to the ratings and reviews is shown on both the search results page and the item details page, and the reviews are displayed in a popup window. Although all the data is stored on Chili Fresh servers, the way it is displayed can be customized to match the look of the catalog.
This concept not only provides a valuable readers advisory service, but also gets patrons engaged in the catalog - and, by extension, the library.
I don't want to sound like I'm selling this product - I'm not. But I am selling the idea. ILSs are huge, cumbersome and complex, and often wholly lacking in necessary features. Small plug-ins like this (and LibraryThing for Libraries) add tremendous utility to the tools we provide our patrons, at relatively little cost and involvement from libraries.
A screenshot of the Chili Fresh admin screen is shown here - click to see a larger view, and for a description of what it allows you to do. More screenshots are on flickr.
Please leave a comment if you know of other tools like this - I'd like to make a list of catalog plug-in tools, because until ILSs catch up with patron needs, libraries need a way to provide these features.
catalog, chili fresh, chilifresh, gmilcs, ils, libraries, library, opac, plug-in, public, reviews
Tags: catalog, chili fresh, chilifresh, gmilcs, ils, libraries, Library, opac, plug-in, public, reviews, Technology
Posted under Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
January 26th, 2008 Brian Herzog
A patron came up to the desk and said:
I keep hearing on the news about other states' primaries and caucuses. I know it's for the President, but what's the big deal? We don't vote until November, right? What's the difference between a caucus and a primary? What happens if you don't win them? Does Massachusetts have one? And I keep hearing good and bad things about all the candidates - who is winning?
I love easy questions like this.
I knew the Massachusetts primary is coming up, so the first thing I wanted to do is search the state's website for information on that. While doing that, I tried to give a brief description of the whole primary/caucus system: candidates win delegates in each state, who then cast votes in the party conventions to decide who actually runs for President...
By this time I had found a few Massachusetts resources:
- MA Elections Division, which listed the primary's date (Feb. 5th), as well as lots of information on both state- and national-level elections
- The Voting Process website, which explained how to register, how to apply for an absentee ballot, what do to and where to go on election day, and more
At this point, the patron confessed that she was far more interested in who was winning than in how the process itself worked. A website I found a few weeks ago is perfect to answer this: CNN Election Center 2008.
I like this website for the same reason I don't like USAToday - it breaks everything down into easy to understand chunks, and does so with lots of colors and graphs. It lists who has won each primary/caucus so far, and how many delegates each candidate has earned.
It also explains the major issues and where each candidate stands, has an easy-to-use calendar for upcoming primaries and caucuses, shows which candidates have dropped out, how much money each candidate has raised and spent, and more.
All in all, it seems like a fairly complete election coverage source. And it satisfied the patron (actually, it outright delighted her to see Ron Paul has won more delegates than Rudy Giuliani even though Giuliani has spent $30.6 million to Paul's $2.8 million). She wrote down the url and promised to read more about the issues before Feb. 5th.
I was curious, though - even though I think CNN is a reliable source, I also wanted to see what other election coverage and resources were available. I spent some time searching, and here's what I came up with, broken down by type:
Election News Coverage:
Campaign Finances:
Election/Voting Resources:
Political Parties and National Conventions:
I didn't bother linking directly to each candidates' website, because many of the sites above do that. In fact, since they're all reporting on the same thing, most of the information on these sites is duplicated. I guess the point is to pick at least one resource you trust and stay informed.
2008, campaign, candidates, election, elections, libraries, library, politics, president, presidential, public, question, reference, reference question
Tags: 2008, campaign, candidates, election, elections, libraries, Library, politics, president, presidential, public, question, reference, Reference Question, Resources
Posted under Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
January 24th, 2008 Brian Herzog
I know a lot has already been said about the Kindle, Amazon's new book reader. I more or less gave it all a miss, because I am kind of a Luddite when it comes to techno-toys. Go figure.
But a friend of mine forwarded me an article from this week's Entertainment Weekly, in which Stephen King reviews the Kindle. This caught my attention because King has long been out front exploring and playing in the post-print/electronic book world.
It's a short article, and worth reading. King's bottom line is:
[It's] a gadget with stories hiding inside it. What's wrong with that?
His point is that, although a physical book does have its own intrinsic value, it's the text, the story or the information, that's the most important thing. I agree. He says that in the case of the Kindle, once you get used to the device, you forget about it and let the story encompass your attention.
He wasn't "using a Kindle," he was reading a story. And that's what's important.
Another recent development in the "it's the information, not the package" department is Phonepedia. Casey mashed up a voice-recognition front-end with Wikipedia. People call a phone number, ask a question, and the Wikipedia article answering that question is then texted/emailed to them. Information Without Borders in action.
But back to the Kindle: from what I gather (from outside the article now), the biggest drawback seems to be that Kindle-compatible books can only be purchased from Amazon, and only used on the Kindle. Their Whispernet apparently makes it very easy to do, but when you're locked into a technology like that, it essentially is building in a short lifespan. Just ask anyone who bought a laser disc.
From a consumer point of view, it seems like a neat product. But from a library point of view, it just doesn't seem applicable. The adjustable font size is great, as are automatic subscriptions to newspapers and magazines. But for for circulating books to patrons, it just doesn't seem to fit.
amazon, bisson, books, casey, ebooks, electronic, kindle, king, libraries, library, phonepedia, public, stephen
Tags: amazon, bisson, Books, casey, ebooks, electronic, kindle, king, libraries, Library, phonepedia, public, stephen, Technology
Posted under Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
January 22nd, 2008 Brian Herzog
My younger brother pointed out that I've never made anything for him, so for Christmas, I decided to knit him a Cleveland Browns stocking hat. This is how it turned out.
I had made hats before, but never with vertical stripes, so I had to make that part up on my own (and it took a few attempts to get it right). To knit each color/stripe I worked a different yarn end (2 white, 4 brown, and 2 orange) and then joined them at the top. It was a lot of yarn balls to work with, but it's manageable.
I just made this hat up as I went along, but here's pretty much what I did (A printer-friendly version of this pattern is also available [pdf, 80kb], and so are more photos):
Materials
Needles: 5 double-pointed #7 needles
Yarn: To find the right color orange, I used Caron Perfect Match 100% acrylic medium (4) yarn. Their 355-yard skein was plenty, and I got one in orange, one brown and one white. Before starting, I rolled the orange skein into two orange yarn balls, and did the same with the white. For the brown, I rolled four yarn balls. I kept them all in a bag, and the hat works easiest if you keep them from getting too tangled. Also, I brought up all yarn ends through the hat, so that as I worked, all the working yarn strands were inside the hat (instead of being between you and the work).
Pattern:
Brim:
I did the brim in a solid color to give myself a foundation to work from. I think it would be neater to have the colored stripes as part of the brim, too, but that felt a bit beyond me (nor did I attempt to knit a facemask).
- Cast on 90 orange stitches (20 sts on needle 1, 25 sts on needle 2, 20 sts on needle 3, and 25 sts on needle 4)
- Knit 1, purl 1 in the round for about 1-1/2" to 2", depending on desired height
- Knit three rounds in orange (this is so when the brim flips up, the joined-in colors of the stripes won't show)
Hat Body:
Now it's time to start the colored stripes. From now on, the hat is no longer knitted in the round. Instead, one row is knitted all the way around, then the next row is purled back.
- Knitted Row (odd rows):
- Start with needle 1 (which should have 20 sts on it). Knit 3 orange sts, then switch to brown. To do this, drop the orange yarn and pick up the first brown yarn end through the inside of the hat. To twist the brown to the orange, carry the brown around the right side and then over the top of the orange yarn before starting to knit. Knit 4 brown sts.
- Switch to white (drop the brown yarn and pick up the first white yarn end [again, through the inside of the hat] and twist the white to the brown [carry the white around the right side and then over the top of the brown yarn before starting to knit]). Knit 6 white sts.
- Switch to the second brown yarn. For every switch, be sure to twist the yarns (and for the first row, make sure you bring the new yarn though the inside of the hat). Knit 4 brown sts.
- Switch to orange and knit 31 sts (3 to the end of needle 1, 25 on needle 2, and 3 on needle 3)
- Switch to brown, k4
- Switch to white, k6
- Switch to brown, k4
- Switch to orange, k 31 sts (3 to the end of needle 3, 25 on needle 4, and 3 on needle 1)
- At this point, there should be sts on all five needles (3 orange on needle 5). Now it's time to purl back.
- Purled Row (even rows):
- The first row was knitted, or worked on the "right side" (in this case, the outside of the hat). The next row will be purled, or worked on the "wrong side" (the inside of the hat). Hold the work so needle 5 is in your left hand, and purl the 3 orange sts from needle 5 onto needle 1. Then purl normally the 25 orange sts on needle 4, then the 3 orange sts on needle 3
- Switch to brown, p4 (again, be sure to twist the brown yarn with the orange)
- Switch to white, p6
- Switch to brown, p4
- Switch to orange, p31 sts (3 to the end of needle 3, 25 on needle 4, and 3 on needle 1)
- Switch to brown, p4
- Switch to white, p6
- Switch to brown, p4
- Flip the work over and continue with the Knitted Row directions above
- Continue knitting and purling consecutive rows until the hat body is about 7" tall, or to desired height
- End having just worked a purl row
Decreasing the Hat Crown:
Normally, the hat pattern I use calls for decreasing 1 st PER multiple of 10 sts PER row. So, for a hat with 90 sts casted on, there are 9 multiples of 10 on each row, so we'd evenly decrease 9 sts per row (to decrease, just knit [or purl] 2 sts together). But in this case, since the stripes cannot be part of the decreasing (they have to stay the same width), all of the decreasing will be done on the orange sts.
To start with, I did all of the decreasing on needles 2 and 4, leaving the 3 orange sts on the ends of needles 1 and 3 alone until needles 2 and 4 were down to 3 sts each.
Another note on decreasing: I chose to randomly space my decreases on needles 2 and 4, instead of spacing them evenly. I tried doing it evenly on my test hat, but it was a pain. So for this part of the pattern, I'm not giving explicit instructions. I'll tell you the number of sts to decrease in each row, and you space them out along that row however you like (just don't put them all together).
- Starting on needle 1 (having just ended a purl row), k3 orange sts
- k4brown, k6white, k4brown
- Switch to orange, k3 (needle 1), decrease 5 (all on needle 2), k3 (needle 3)
- k4brown, k6white, k4brown
- Switch to orange, k3 (needle 2), decrease 4 (all on needle 4), k3 (needle 1)
- Flip work over to purl back
- Purl 3 orange sts (from needle 5 onto needle 1), decrease 4 (all on needle 4), p3 (needle 3)
- p4brown, p6white, p4brown
- Switch to orange, p3 (needle 3), decrease 4 (needle 2), p3 (needle 1)
- p4brown, p6white, p4brown
- Flip work over to knit
- k3 orange sts (needle 1)
- k4brown, k6white, k4brown
- Switch to orange, k3, decrease 3 (on needle 2), k3
- k4brown, k6white, k4brown
- Switch to orange, k3, decrease 4 (on needle 4), k3
- Flip work over to purl back
- Switch to orange, p3, decrease 3 (on needle 4), p3
- p4brown, p6white, p4brown
- Switch to orange, p3, decrease 3 (on needle 2), p3
- p4brown, p6white, p4brown
- Flip work over to knit
- k3 orange sts (needle 1)
- k4brown, k6white, k4brown
- Switch to orange, k3, decrease 3 (on needle 2), k3
- k4brown, k6white, k4brown
- Switch to orange, k3, decrease 2 (on needle 4), k3
- Flip work over to purl back
- Switch to orange, p3, decrease 2 (on needle 4), p3
- p4brown, p6white, p4brown
- Switch to orange, p3, decrease 2 (on needle 2), p3
- p4brown, p6white, p4brown
- Flip work over to knit
- k3 orange sts (needle 1)
- k4brown, k6white, k4brown
- Switch to orange, k3, decrease 1 (on needle 2), k3
- k4brown, k6white, k4brown
- Switch to orange, k3, decrease 2 (on needle 4), k3
- Flip work over to purl back
- Switch to orange, p3, decrease 1 (on needle 4), p3
- p4brown, p6white, p4brown
- Switch to orange, p3, decrease 1 (on needle 2), p3
- p4brown, p6white, p4brown
- Flip work over to knit
- At this point, there should only be 3 sts on needles 2 and 4. Continue decreasing each row by 2 orange sts, but now include the 3 sts on the ends of needles 1 and 3. After 8 more rows, there should be only 1 orange sts on each side
Finishing
Now all that's left is to close off the top and weave in the loose ends.
- Break off all yarns, leaving about a 6" tail. Pull them all out to the outside of the hat, through the top
- Slip one orange st to needle 1 and one to needle 3, and hold the needles parallel
- Pull the orange yarn through the orange loop, and slide the orange st off the needle. Leave orange end loose for now
- Using the Kitchener Stitch (below), bind together an off the 8 brown sts. Before starting, be sure to twist the brown yarn around the orange yarn
- Switch to white (twist white and brown) and continue with Kitchener Stitch
- Switch to brown (twist brown and white) and continue with Kitchener Stitch
- Twist orange and brown and pull orange yarn through orange loop and off needle
- Pull all loose ends (top and bottom of hat) to the inside of hat to tie off and weave in
This seems a lot more complicated written out than when I was knitting. If you have any trouble, or see any errors in my pattern, please let me know. Good luck. A printer-friendly version of this pattern is also available [pdf, 80kb].
Kitchener Stitch:
Tread yarn through tapestry needle. Hold needles parallel. Pull tapestry needle through first st on FRONT needle as if to purl & leave on needle, pull yarn through first st on BACK needle as if to knit & leave on needle. *pull tapestry needle through first st on FRONT needle as if to knit & slip st off needle, pull yarn through second st on FRONT needle as if to purl & leave on needle. Pull yarn through first st on BACK needle as if to purl & slip off needle, pull yarn through second st on BACK needle as if to knit & leave on needle*. Repeat from * to * until all sts have been used. Illustrated instructions available at http://www.knitty.com/issuesummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html and http://www.stitchdiva.com/custom.aspx?id=50.
browns,
See more patterns and projects on my Knitting page.
Tags: browns, cleveland, football, hat, hats, knit, Knitting, nfl, pattern, patterns, Personal, stocking
Posted under Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
January 19th, 2008 Brian Herzog
Reference questions don't need to be very challenging to be interesting. This is interesting for many reasons:
Early in the week, one of our regular patrons, a nice woman in her late fifties or early sixties, came up to me and says:
I'm part of an adult women's dance group, and for our upcoming recital, we all are going to dress as superheroes. Do you have a list of women superheroes?
I thought this was neat - I read a lot of comic books while growing up (mostly Sgt. Rock, G.I. Combat, The Punisher), so I like superheroes. I don't think I could ever bring myself to dress as one, let alone while dancing in front of people, but I often pale in comparison to other people.
Anyway, she said she had tried Google but had no luck with the internet, and so was interested in a book that might list them. We have a respectable collection of illustration and animation books, so I took her to the shelf of 741.5 to see what we could find.
While she flipped through books with titles like DC Comics : 60 Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heros and The World Encyclopedia of Comics, I went back to the desk to check the internet. I thought surely there would be some superhero internet resource.
I started with a simple Google search for "list of female superheroes," and the first return was a Wikipedia's List of superheroines article.
Perfect. It lists over 400 superheroines (as opposed to superheroes), and each is a link to more information about that character - often with a picture, too.
I went back to the patron to ask how she was doing. She said that everyone listed in the books were already taken by another dancer, or the costume was too skimpy or too complicated for her to make.
I brought her to one of the public computers and showed her how I searched and found the Wikipedia list, and she was amazed. She couldn't remember exactly how she had searched herself, but she could hardly believe that I could find something that she missed. So, she wrote down the URL and was said she'd look at the list at home.
Usually, that's the end of the story. However, yesterday, the patron came back in, with a printout. She came to the Reference Desk, held it up, and proudly announced "I'm going to be Mary Marvel!"
costume, hero, heroes, heroine, heroines, heros, libraries, library, public, super, superheroes, superheroines, superheros
Tags: costume, hero, heroes, heroine, heroines, heros, libraries, Library, public, Reference Question, super, superheroes, superheroines, superheros
Posted under Uncategorized | Comments Off on Reference Question of the Week – 1/13/08
