Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Computers?

A lady came in the other day and wanted me to print out her house association CCRs. Great. I'm more than happy to. Until I saw that it was 87 pages. Then she wanted me to look through the document and find the specific pages that were to do with her issues. Not going to happen.

I'm not an attorney, I'm not familiar with legal issues (which is what she is dealing with) and I certainly did not feel comfortable picking and choosing what information she would "need". In the end I printed out the entire document and charged her for it. I remember her being the same lady that came in and wanted to print out an entire cell phone manual because she lost it. I believe that was somewhere around 200 pages... eek.

Another gentlemen came in today and wanted me to print out a bunch of articles on Jews. Great. But it was going to cost money. I told him that we could get him on the computer and stuff but he was another one that was just not "into" computers.

I understand that there is a gap between those who use computers and those who don't. And I would love to teach people, especially the older generation how to use the computers to their advantage, but on the other hand... I feel like they are never going to get it.

There are some people that it is just easier to do the work myself and give them the print out. I don't have the time to sit next to them, read the screen to them, and teach them how to use the mouse. It's frustrating when people don't know how to use the techonology, but I have to remember that I am lucky. I basically grew up with it and I use it every day. They didn't, but it's still a hard thing for me to deal with.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Can professionals use facebook?

I just read an article Facebook--cautionary tales for nurses: nurses need to be wary about what they post on social networking sites that talks about how nurses should be careful of what they post online. While the article mostly talks about patient confidentiality, it reminded me of a situation that happened at my library recently.

At my library we were had started to implement a wiki page in order for all the employees to be update on current situations in the library. As there are a lot of staff that are part time and on opposite schedules it can be difficult to make sure that situations with patrons or just issues in general are passed along to everyone. Wikis are part of Web 2.0 and we thought it would be a great way for us to have a centralized location that we could all look at . We even got the support and go ahead from our HQ. Then they decided that the wiki was not on a secure network and it could violate patron privacy. They needed to discuss the idea of a wiki and create a policy regarding it. It was unfortunate, but not surprising. Sometimes with all the new technology coming so fast, we just get excited and want to use it and implement it! And then we find out that it doesn't really work out for us.

We were all very bummed about it, because it really was a great way for all of us to keep informed about current goings-on in the library. In Stephen's article The Ongoing Web Revolution he talks about how libraries are using different technologies in order to communicate and create new relationships with their patrons. I think his ideas are great, but what is slow to catch up is the policy that goes along with all these new technologies. We loved our wiki, everyone thought it was a great idea, and it was. But in order for all these new technologies to be implemented, new policies need to be implemented as well. And we all know how long it takes for policies to be made and voted on and implemented, they just don't match up to the speed of technology.

Stephens, M. (2007). The ongoing web revolution. Library Technology Reports, 43(5), 10-14.

Thompson, C (2010, August). Facebook--Cautionary tales for nurses: nurses need to be wary about what they post on social networking sites. Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand, 16(7), 26.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

No I in team...

I hate teamwork. I really do. I'm not a group project type of gal, I don't like to share my duties at work, I just don't like it. I like knowing that I'm the one that is responsible for the work and if it's not getting done it's my fault. I don't like having to rely on other people because for the most part other people let you down.

Now, I know that working on group projects and as a team with fellow students is a big part of the MLIS program. I get that and am willing to do it but not without being a little grumpy about it.

Enid talks about every problem I have with teamwork in her powerpoint "The Monster Inside Library School Student Teams". I hate the lack of control. I don't have trust. Blah blah blah.

But the reality is, teams are a part of life. Teams are good, they solve problems, they bring different sides to the table and the allow for different ideas to be fleshed out. The best advice I can think of for a team to work out is to communicate.

Rules need to be set at the beginning of the team. Everything needs to be planned out and expectations need to be voiced and agreed upon. Respect needs to be held for each and every member and support as well.

I remember being back in elementary school and doing a group science fair project. Our group decided that it would be best if we split up the work and then put everything together at the end right before it was due. It didn't work out very well, we didn't communicate to each other what was expected and what really needed to be done in order for our project to be successful. Luckily I have gained some experience since then. I think that I will be able to succeed in teams in library school, as long communication is at the forefront of our teams.

Just an FYI

I'm currently enrolled in a class for grad school that requires me to make a few blog posts. Because I'm lazy and did not want to create another blog just for that class I'm using this one. The next two posts will be assignments for that class.

To be honest, I've put off the last two assignments because they were requiring me to post on my blog and I was just feeling a little blog lazy. But now that the class is ending tomorrow, I need to get my last two assignments in.