May
15
In this post, I played with embedding different types of information, including an OpenURL link resolver link for an academic journal article, a youtube video, a PressDisplay news article and a slideshare slideshow.
I also touched on an idea to integrate and brand document delivery service and article request together as a seamless service and ponder what happens to dead people’s social networks.
May
15
In this post, I played around with retrieving top journal listings from Scimagojr and Journal Citations Reports. They are presented in a simple table and a table that has some mouse-over effects. With the new “Paste from Word” function in WordPress, adding content from Microsoft Word documents is now a breeze.
Alternative Metrics or altmetrics is new to me and I will need time to explore its usefulness to my work. For now, just to check the altmetric count of an article and embedding an image of that count.
Jun
25
This post contains my thoughts after reading Getting Organized in the Google Era by Douglas C. Merrill and James A. Martin
This is a book about personal information organization. It is about managing the information floating around us and our brains’ inability to contain it all without some help.
A lot of Amazon reviewers’ complaints about this book was Merrill’s personal anecdotes about how he coped with information overload during his girlfriend’s terminal illness. I thought this differentiated him from the rest of the pack.
Most personal organization books are quite matter-of-fact and cover mostly business or normal family activities. His is the first one that I come across who tried to discuss how a person can manage information overload during a stressful and fearful period. People may not know this, but getting sick is a large part of life. Shouldn’t one prepare, even slightly, for it?
A few ideas tossed up by Merrill are quite interesting:
He rightly pointed out that filing digital documents in folders the way we would for physical documents is counter-productive. He suggests using Gmail beyond its email functions to store information. I recall complaining about Gmail’s lack of folders. Then I found out about the search box and I am happier now. He suggests emailing yourself stuff that you think that you might need in future and get it out of your head quickly. I heartily agree.
I am tempted to adopt this same principle with Outlook but I’m not confident of the search function in Outlook. I shouldn’t go all the way and remove all folders yet. I can try moving stuff into broader folders and test out Outlook’s search capability.
I went for e-statements when I was asked to do so to save trees. After receiving them for a while, I realized that they are better on paper. I will glance and check them when I receive them in my mail, not when I get an email notification. Dangerous, isn’t it?
I can’t agree with this more. Whenever I attempt to multi-task too many things, I find myself staring at a previously opened document and asking “Why did I open this for?”.
There are times when one needs to take a mental break but for most times, it takes effort to switch from one task to another, especially if the multiple tasks cannot be completed at one go.
Lastly, I like Encode this, a list of key points in each chapter. I start the chapter by reading the introduction and then jumping to Encode this. If I find the points there interesting, I move on to the details in the preceding pages. I think this is an important feature in a non-fiction book. I hope no non-fiction writer assume that their readers read their book from cover to cover.
In thinking about how this relates to the library world, I find myself pondering over the organization schemas that so many people including librarians are so used to. I agree with Merrill that organizing digital information in arbitrary folders and sub-folders can seem meaningless. Why not just leave everything in one big folder and search instead. This reminds me of Weinberger’s assertion that everything is miscellaneous.
Of course search assumes you can search the full text of all your information. This works with GMAIL as suggested by Merrill but it may not translate well in other information systems. What if you are looking for a poorly titled attachment?
A colleague once commented that it doesn’t matter what schema is being used as long as it is consistently applied. I wanted to agree with that but then information context in which the information was created versus the context in which the information is required might change. I find myself having to tweak the way I file my stuff on a regular basis. Perhaps it is like dusting and cleaning, a never-ending task.
I haven’t come to a conclusion even for my own organizing needs. I am attracted to the SEARCH proposition. I shall try it out for a while by doing away with my folders and see if I can find my stuff just by searching.
Click this link to find out which libraries hold a copy of this book
Jun
6
This is a simple test to embed a Prezi presentation to a wordpress.org blog.
Yesterday, at the Poster Session of the 33rd IATUL Conference 2012, a few presenters opted to use Prezi to present their posters. It got me thinking about how NTU Library’s Subject Rooms can make use of Prezi to jazz up their instructional guides.
The first thing to do is to check whether Prezi presentations can be easily embedded into wordpress.org, the blogging platform at blogs@NTU is using.
I went to the Prezi website and selected a presentation that I like. I looked for the Share option and there it is, the Embed function. I simply copy and paste the HTML code from Prezi to my blog here. I left the width and height to default and click Preview.
It is quite cool. I recommend mousing over the More option and select Autoplay.
Next, to check how easy it is to create a dazzling prezi. (^_^)
Sep
2
This post is about this article I read: Flett, A. (2011). Information Management Possible? Business Information Review, 28(2), 92-100. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/10.1177/0266382111411066 on 2 September 2011. (you need to be a NTU staff or student to access full text from this link).
I enjoyed reading this article perhaps because it was timely and relevant for a project that I have been agonizing over how to start. I seldom feel helpless but this one is like “where do I even begin?”. Before I proceed, a summary by the author.
Let me list my learning points here:
Information Management (IM) Subjective Goals
Flett listed a number of subjective goals of IM and I find the ones below to be most pertinent to my organization. I mean, I know the problems vaguely and it was great that Flett fleshed them out in words.
What is an information management review and an information audit
An information management review is a thorough investigation of the current IM systems, culture, policies and environment of an organization. Flett said that this often entails talking to cross-section of stakeholders abou the nature and scope of information and how it is used in business processes and in daily work. An information audit is seen as a part of a IM review which entials the use of e-audit tools.
Wikipedia’s definition of Information Architecture
Richard Saul Wurman (;-P)
Time to get to know this man and his ideas.
Value-based Framework for understanding the value that is added to information as it flows through the IM systems and where IA facilitates the value-add.
Jun
24
This post is on: Choy, F. C. (2011). From library stacks to library-in-a-pocket: will users be around? [DOI: 10.1108/01435121111102584]. Library Management, 32(1), 62-72.
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/10.1108/01435121111102584
Click to get the full text free at DR-NTU
Amidst myriad of library projects here at NTU Library, it is timely to read a viewpoint written by my University Librarian that reminded me of why I am working on some of these projects.
It is not sufficient to provide useful, high quality and innovative library resources and services. The acid test for their success is whether they will be used frequently. 4 factors are suggested – convenience, attention, awareness, and perception of value, that are likely to influence future use of libraries.
The 4 points that Choy raised were not new as he covered them repeatedly during staff meetings. Convenience, attention, awareness and perceptions of value. His explanations and articulation has sharpened though.
I believe most librarians are aware that library resources and services have to be increasingly convenient and easy to use and understand. Marketing and promotion of library resources to create more attention and raise awareness are getting attention. Conversations and sharing of anecdotes abound in listservs and at conferences.
I find the last point “perceptions of value” to be most important and also the hardest to create especially en masse.
As a librarian on the ground and not in senior management, how can I create this perception of value? I think I create a perception of value when I meet and in some instances pre-empt and over-deliver an important information need of a user. Pre-empting the next question and providing the answer even before the user ask it, I am sure, create a bigger and deeper impression. It is a lot more work and requires a lot more attention and focus but the impact and sense of satisfaction is higher.
The good news is that when this perception of value has been created, it lasts a long time. (^_^)
Jun
8
Singapore International Foundation (SIF) is planning to conduct a feasibility study on a training programme for library services in Indonesia. The following is taken from the email sent by the LAS Secretariat.
Dear members
SIF plans to do a feasibility study on new training in library services in the Bung Hatta Proclamation Library in Bukit Tinggi, Indonesia. The feasibility study is scheduled for the period 12-15 June 2011. The areas of training requested are:
- Books classification
- Books cataloguing
- E-Books
- Transition from use of manual to electronic system in the library
SIF would like to sponsor a volunteer or two to undertake the feasibility study together with the SIF country manager. The volunteers need not be a Malay or understand Malay, as SIF will have translator in the team.
Kindly note that this trip is to assess the feasibility of the training (it is not the training itself). Based on the findings of the feasibility study, SIF will determine if it is viable to implement the actual training workshop(s).
Interested member, please contact Wen at this email yongxing.wen@sif.org.sg.
It is nice to know that there is interest to develop library services by a non-profit organization. It also goes to show that the digital divide is very much present. In Singapore, we are talking about how social media is affecting library services while in Bukit Tinggi, Indonesia, they are still using a manual library system.
Story about the Bung Hatta Proclamation Library, 2nd largest public library in Indonesia.
However, this request seems a little short noticed. I visited the SIF website for Indonesia’s current programmes and didn’t see this particular trip listed there. Perhaps there was a sudden change and the volunteer doing the feasibility study couldn’t make it anymore or they felt that this study required a trained librarian and decided to approach the Library Association of Singapore.
I wish the team all the best and hope that the training programme is feasible.
