Library Guides Nov 23, 2015 to December 4, 2015

With Library Guides also known as Program Guides, I went back to my love of Braille and expanded on it. This assignment was hard, largely due to the difficulty of finding proper databases, books, and people to follow on social media. Other components of library guides are websites. Once I learned your way around the site it became rather intuitive but I found it difficult getting started despite the video tutorial and the presenters.

Databases were a problem as not too many Braille based databases are out there that I could find. In order to get my required amount of databases I ended up falling back on educational databases. I also had to learn how to make my own database feed as only the educational ones were already on the site.

Books were difficult because, books for people with a visual impairment are not available to the general public. I was able to receive help with this part by R**** letting me browse through the Saskatoon Public School Board’s collection of Braille related books and items. That was fun. However, even when I had taken pictures of the title page and the copyright page, so that I could type them up later, many of the books did not have an ISBN, I could not find an annotation or summary online, or even other standard/ necessary information.

For people on social media, I ended up just following Braille related groups such as the CNIB, Braille Literacy and Braille Works as I could not find actual people to follow.

Some of the other things that Libguides taught me was how to embed a video, a RSS feed, or a twitter feed. I also learned how to insert a photo, yet I wasn’t able to figure out how to make my pictures a uniform size.

The website component I found to be the easiest part to do. Most of the sites are very text heavy and not very visually appealing. This makes sense for the visually impaired population who would be primarily using these sites.

http://lisdemo.libguides.com/c.php?g=419336

Assistive Technology and Alternative Formats Oct 26, 2015-Nov 4, 2015

This was my favourite unit. I kind of went overboard with this unit. In this unit we looked at different kinds of low-tech and high-tech technologies that could be used in a library setting. My favourite part was learning about the Braille code and Braillers, which allows one to type Braille. My want to learn Braille has clouded over all other material learned in this unit. In class, shortly before Hallowe’en we were given the 26 letters of the alphabet with their Braille components and a worksheet with Hallowe’en related words to translate into grade one or uncontracted Braille. After this lesson, I found several apps for my iPad that were free, some had in app purchases, and downloaded them. My favourite is the UEB, Unified English Braille, compliant Braille learning app called Braille Tutor. Braille Tutor gives the user 19 lessons for free and costs two dollars plus change for the rest of the 91 lessons. By the end of the nineteenth lesson, you would have already started grade two or contracted Braille.

UEB Braille is a six dot Braille cell, some languages use an eight dot cell. A cell is a single group of dots to represent one letter, word, punctuation… Each dot is given a number from one to six and when you are typing Braille, the one and four dots are your index fingers and the three and six dots are your ring fingers. Dots one, two and three are for the left hand and dots four, five and six are likewise for your right hand. There are 64 different cells in six dot Braille. Is it not cool that with 64 combinations and seven keys on the keyboard that a person can type anything they want if they know the code? For me, I love learning languages and I like mysteries stories, Braille feels like a combination of the two.

“Effective use of Braille is as important to the blind as independent mobility, knowledge in the use of adaptive technology, and the core belief that equality, opportunity and security are truly possible for all people who are blind.”-Bob Ney http://www.brainyquote.com/search_results.html#Gq5e8Iek4YI2AyYA.99

Mobile devices and applications October 14, 2015

“The Mobile Web Initiative is important - information must be made seamlessly available on any device.” – Tim Berners- Lee http://www.brainyquote.com/search_results.html#vfC21E5o7lXYBMo8.99

What is the Mobile Web:

For this, we looked at the mobile web that is the web component on a cellular telephone. C****** had some rather humourous pictures of the evolution of mobile devices compared with the evolution of man.

Myself and the components of Mobility:

I received my first phone in grade 9 or 10. I primarily used it to schedule once a week lunch dates with my dad. My first cellphone, I never connected it with the web as that would’ve been too expensive same with my second phone. By I think my third phone, web connections or data was a part of my contract. However, I still wasn’t texting by this time, so I could be abnormal on the scale of things. I didn’t start texting until I was in my 20s. My brother however, is forever forgetting to charge his phone, turn on his phone or plain know where his phone is. “Once a week, a lot more when on vacation.” –B*** text message on how often he uses data. So I am not that weird. The first thing I would have used data wise on my phone is the map app as I am forever getting lost.

What are some of the benefits of the mobile web:

Many websites today have a mobile webpage or app so that they are easier to read on a small screen. It is easy to tell when a website has not been made mobile user friendly. A person has to continuously pinch to zoom in and out to read everything on the page.

My brother not included, most of the younger generation, millennials, and many of the older generation use a mobile device on a daily basis, having a mobile friendly web page is necessary to bring users to your page where ever they are. People will not use a site that they find difficult to use, no matter the reliability of the information.

What are some mobile library initiatives:

The Saskatoon library has started making their service more mobile friendly. If you sign up for it, they will send you a text letting you know that your item is due or if your item on hold is in.

Current Issues and Trends Oct 7, 2015

We started off this unit looking at how social media has affected how libraries catalogue. One of the ways it has affected cataloguing is that Edmonton Public Library and Vancouver Public Library among others allow collective tagging or folksonomies on items in the catalogue. The common way to do this is through the softwear Bibliocommons. Folksonomies are a good thing because it allows the patrons to have a say on items they like or dislike in the library. This is also why folksonomies are a bad thing, the library who uses it, would need to have someone who goes through periodically, or a program, and checks items for appropriateness and language. (Bibliocommons does this for libraries that use their service). One of the ways that folksonomies have an advantage over say Library of Congress subject headings is that the common populace does not know LOC nor do all LOC headings make sense to Average Joe. For the library community Kropp says this about Bibliocommons:

Bibliocommons is the best library automation company we’ve ever worked with, a great partner. Implementation was smooth, support is responsive and lines of communication are always open. BiblioCommons has made our catalog an online "go-to" destination throughout our communities. The return on investment is ongoing. Definitely some of the best money we ever spent! http://www.bibliocommons.com/

It is usually easy to tell if I library is using Bibliocommons because the Biblicommons logo will be right beside the library name in the address bar. Even though the VPL uses this software the logo doesn’t show up right now, I wonder why?

Advantage of LOCSH: On topic, specific, supplied by one person and regulated.

Disadvantage of LOCSH: Not as current, one person’s opinion, and more needless repetition.

Advantage of Folksonomies: Easier to find similar tags due to layman’s terms than LOCSH which looks convoluted and repeats itself unnecessarily. Bibliocommons groups same wordings together.

Disadvantage of Folksonomies: Only in widely read books, seems to be more common in fiction than non-fiction. Really popular books seem (Harry Potter) attracts too many folksonomies and can lead to irrelevant tags (Nazi Occult) and can lead to confusion. Similar wordings (magic and magical) could be grouped together but are not at this time.

Social Networking sites

“Twitter isn't a social network, it's an information network.” –Evan Williams http://www.brainyquote.com/search_results.html#YFhSMXSEJ7d7zoky.99

In this unit we learned about a variety of different social networking websites and tools that could have a possible application in the library world. We started off looking at Instagram and Twitter. Then we moved on to Facebook, YouTube, Goodreads, and finally onto social bookmarking tools. Lastly, we looked at the dangers and the benefits of social media.

J***** and I focused on the social book marking tool known as Pocket. The others were Diigo, Pearltree, Livebinders, Delicious, Paper.li, Pinterest, and Scoop.it. The most popular and easy to use site is Pinterest. Pocket, however, was an odd little site that would be more useful as an internal bookmarking tool than an external bookmarking tool. Pocket works by downloading the icon and having it in your tool bar. Anytime you come across a website or article or picture that you want to save for future reference, you use your Pocket icon to pocket it. Later, when you visit your page on the site, you can assign tags, organize and categorize your pocketed items. Libraries could use this site internally as a go to aid for reference. There is a free and a paid version of Pocket. The paid version will save the website even if the original webpage is no longer in use.

One of the dangers of social media, is the amount of work and effort into creating and maintaining their page. With some forms of social media there is a limit on how many characters can be added at a time. This requires focus, attention, and consideration into the best way to say what you want to say and still get your message across. Twitter is an example of this form of social media. Another form of social media is one that does not have a limit in how much can be added at a time. Facebook is good example of this. Both formats can lead to over posting and becoming a nuisance on the platform.

September 1, 2015

Several of my classes, I have nine total this semester, have mentioned that we will be doing blogs for different assignments. So I am creating a blog for this purpose.