New Listserv for Work and Upcoming Finals Week

I've recently joined a new listserv for work. It's mainly for access services folks. It deals with topics such as online/print reserves, circulation fines and fees, the 3M gate that beeps when a customer has a sensitized item as they walk out the door... you know, fun stuff like that. So, I get like at least 20 e-mails a day from that listserv. It's very interesting, but also exhausting! :(

I'm also preparing for our 601 final tomorrow (yes, on a Saturday... ugh) and I'm a bit nervous about it. Our professor has designed it much like the final comprehensive exams that all students have to take in order to get their MLIS degree. I am hoping I do well. After I finish that feat, I'll be able to pay more attention to this final paper in 636. I am still really looking forward to doing more research on blogging and finishing the paper.

Hope everyone else's finals go well!! Good luck!

Finally!

I can't believe it... I just can't believe it. I am finished with my Pathfinder for 601!!!!! I feel like I've really done something, you know? Like I've climbed this impossible mountain. It's an amazing feeling when all that weight is taken off of your shoulders. Now I just have one more task for the semester... the final paper for this class. I've decided on the topic of blogging and web 2.0. I would've liked to have done a paper on the Facebook generation alone, but I enjoy learning about all of it, so I'll figure something out.

I feel like I haven't posted enough blogs this semester. It's been a hectic one, that's for sure. I'm going to try my best to catch-up post some extra blogs before the end of the semester. Perhaps I'll have mercy granted on me, then. :) I have really enjoyed this class, and what I've learned about technology in librarianship. I hope everyone else had a good experience also.

I'll post to this thing again soon enough...

Cheers!

UPDATE: I got Outlook 2007!! Praise be!

Just last week the Morehead State IT guys came to the library and updated everyone's computers to the new Outlook 2007 e-mail client. Everyone except for me hates it, I think. I LOVE the calendar feature, and the out-of-office assistant is pretty neat-o if I do say so myself. Just thought I'd share that with everyone! :-)

Anyone get April-fooled?

I really want an iPhone.

So... I've been thinking about it, and I think I deserve an iPhone. No, really... I want one. I try not to get too caught up in the latest trends and fads, but it seems so cool that we have access to a piece of technology on which you can make phone calls, plan your everyday activities on a personalized calendar, listen to all of your favorite tunes, surf the internet, and locate (and call) the nearest taxi service... all in one handy dandy little device. See what I mean???

There is also this new phone that is supposed to be comparable to the iPhone called the Vu. I've not done much research on it yet, but it's apparently similar to the iPhone only cheaper? Not sure... will check on that and get back with everyone. I'm sure you'll be on the edge of your seats waiting until I update on that topic, right? Don't hold your breath. :)

Finally!

So I've been working at MSU for like 3 months now... and I finally got one of those e-mails (similar to Outlook) where you can stay signed in all day and see exactly when you have new e-mail in real-time. It's so nice!! I just made my first group of e-mail contacts in my Address Book feature, and I can send an e-mail to all faculty and staff within the library in like 3 clicks or less. I just had to check this feature out, so I sent out an e-mail the other day just to make sure it worked... and it did! :-)

As a sidenote, I have a new desk fan. It oscillates, too. I love that feature.

New Scanner! Woohoo! :-)

So I haven't been able to write for several reasons... the main one being that I've stayed extremely busy with class work and work-work. I plan to make up for this by posting a couple more blogs this week... fingers crossed. :P

I have wonderful, and relatively technology-related news: I got a new scanner! You see, one of my most essential job functions is the coordination and management of professors' traditional and online reserves at Morehead State University. So, having a scanner is kind of nifty since I have tons... I repeat... TONS of reserves to place online at the beginning of each semester. This particular scanner, the Fujitsu ScanSnap 550, I believe... is really pretty cool, I think. It is a duplex scanner, which means it scans both sides of the page (in color, 18 ppm) with just one swipe through the scanner. It also scans directly into Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and e-mail documents (in addition to the basic PDF format). I was blown away! I love it. I'm like a kid at Christmas. When next semester begins... I will be ready! :-) Sometimes, I heart technology.

I was just wondering...

I wonder if there is a place online where you can log a list of places you'd like to visit before you die? I'd also like to create a "Bucket List" sort of deal. I think it would be cool to have one online, similar to a blog, but not... you know what I mean? Like where other people could add suggestions or help you to extend and modify your list.

Oh, and a list of books to read... I want to do that too. This really has nothing to do with technology. Well, it kind of does since I added the online/blog-type element to it.

I'll add another blog this weekend... maybe then I'll have a sample "Bucket List".

What I'm thinking...

Why can't I come up with a catchy title for my blog?

I wonder if this new MSU 199 (new employees) class is going to be as fun today as it was yesterday? The lecturer was the Assistant to the Provost, Bruce Maxwell. No one really wanted to talk, so I talked a little. They split us up into these small groups and had us "brainstorm" together. It was odd. There were some awkward technical difficulties with the MSU website and Powerpoint, and we ended up staying 5 minutes late because of that. Oh well. I guess you'll have that at times.

I am hoping that the Beaker Bucks machine is working today. I had to call in the repairman yesterday because a guy had gotten a half-torn dollar bill stuck in the machine. I didn't realize when I gave him a dollar for his change that it was half-torn... so I had to give him a dollar out of my money for the mistake. I felt that was the right thing to do. Besides, he needed to print something.

I can't think of any technology-ish thing to say today. Maybe something will come to mind later in the afternoon.

I hear we're supposed to get some high winds and storms later. I wasn't happy with that news... my MSU 199 class which we are *required* to take (the one I mentioned earlier) is in another building.

A Day off from Technology!! :)

Well, Morehead State University called off all classes and offices today due to inclement weather! That means a day off from work... and a day off from technology! No e-mails, no telephones (cell or otherwise), no copiers (or other copy-related issues and repairs), no printers, no scanners... no technology whatsoever! It's weird that sometimes we need days off from technology which was supposed to make our lives that much easier. At times, it seems as if things become more difficult when all of these "pleasures" are added into the equation. Just yesterday, I was having a nice lunch at my desk. I was all caught up on my work, and was looking forward to some down time. Almost at that exact moment, I received an e-mail forward from a co-worker about a problem that a patron was having and needed me to solve. So, there went my lunch and my relaxing second half of the day.

Oh well... today will be better, because at least I can use my technology at my leisure. :)

Happy Snow Day!!

Measuring Quality in Chat Reference Consortia

I read an article today by Deborah L. Meert and Lisa M. Given entitled "Measuring Quality in Chat Reference Consortia: A Comparative Analysis of Responses to Users' Queries." I thought a lot of it really applied to this class, since new digital technologies have allowed many libraries to develop online chat reference programs.

Our library at Morehead State University has just recently begun promoting our chat reference program called Meebo, and for a short time it will be located on the Camden-Carroll Library Homepage. I think this was done mainly so that its use will grow and we will have a larger variety of reference sources. Check out the link (above) if you'd like to look at Meebo!

More to come...

Blog Numero Uno

So, this is my first time doing the whole blogging thing. However, I do think it's a really neat way to keep a type of online journal, except one that everyone else can read. Kind of neat. We learned about this in an undergraduate LIS class that I had at MSU, but I never set up an account. So, here I am! :)