batgirl was a librarian

The Tonalamatl Aubin, Quetzcoatl, Tepeyollotli, and Drew University

2011-06-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

My copy of the Tonalamatl Aubin came in a few weeks ago and I've been spending some time assimilating the images and doing some value-adding...

The library that graciously made it happen was the Drew University Library, in Madison New Jersey.

The book itself was originally published in German by Eduard Seler and is available in PDF format from the FAMSI website here.

Embarassingly, after having spent lots of time finegalling this giantly oversized book to get decent photocopies of the outline explanations - I found that they've all been scanned and look incredible - right here. Albeit in German...

Here's the original plate showing Quetzalcoatl holding a sacrificial victim in one hand and what, accoring to the translation, appears to be a turd or the symbol for "sin" in the other hand. The symbol is given as cuitlatl - excrement, sign of sin.

Here's the original from the PDF available on the FAMSI website.

And finally, here's my version of the line drawings, using Photoshop's filtering effect "Glowing Edges" to give it a LightBrite look, and then Inversing the result to get a nice outline effect.

The book I received gave the explanations for all the regalia and parephenalia depicted in the insets, which I'll transcribe here...

Chief Person: Tepeyollotli - the voice of the mountain

Facing Him: teccizti – sea snail shell

Accompanying Person: Quetzalcouatl, - the Wind God

On His Breast: eca-ilacatz-coatl – the spirally twisted ornament of the Wind God

In His Hand: cuitlatl - excrement – sign of sin

Symbol: atl-tlachinolli – spear throwing (water) and conflagration, symbolic indication of war

METRO, CUNY's Graduate Center, and a Doctoral Thesis walk into a bar...

2011-04-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

So I decided to throw the interlibrary loan department a curve ball by requesting a doctoral thesis instead of just an ordinary book.

Heres the title I was interested in...

Portraying the Mexica past : a comparison of sixteenth-century pictorial accounts of origin in Codex Azcatitlan, Codex Boturini, and Codex Aubin

Our ILL department tried to get it for me - but they said that the Graduate Center's copy was a reference-only. They suggested i tried to get access to the material by requesting a yellow temporary access card from METRO the Metropolitan New York Library Council. Technically its a referral card - which can be accessed from their website here.

So I emailed delivery@metro.org to obtain a card - and never heard back from them. So i called the number (212) 228-2320 x 14 to order - and talked to 3 different people, the last of whom told me to call NYPL to obtain a card.

Considering I'm calling from Queens Library - this was a little insensitive - but I called him back and he gave me the number for the Queens office. Turns out the number if from my own Central Library's Interlibrary Loan Department!

Having come full circle, I requested a few cards, and got them in the next day's mail. Yellow referral card in hand - im off to CUNY's Graduate Center to look at this thesis! Keeping you posted!

The British Museum, Princeton University, and Fair Use

2011-04-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

So after tracking down the digitized version of the Codex Aubin at the British Museum - I decided to petition the institution for a higher resolution scan than the one provided for viewing on the website (to see the difference in quality).

As a quick comparison - the image on the website is 750x452 pixels with a screen resolution of 72dpi.

The scan I received from them, after assuring them I would not become rich using their images, was 2500x1775 pixels with a resolution of 300dpi. Here's the copyrighted file the British Museum sent me.

Pretty impressive and actually adequate for a careful visual inspection and printing reproduction.

Also - checked up on Princeton's copy - which is a watercolor reproduction of the original. Here's a bit from their website...

"The Princeton copy may have been made from the original and contains a page-by-page copy of the drawings in color; the transcript of the Nahuatl text, however, is not exact in regard to the page layout... Rémi Siméon (b. 1827) described a copy of the "Codex Aubin" with 79 leaves or 158 pages owned by an Italian named Chialiva. He has also noted that it has an unnumbered leaf between fols. 32 and 33. This copy was probably owned by Chialiva, as it has Italian glosses and an unnumbered leaf following fol. 32.

Sold in a Sotheby and Co. auction catalog of Nov. 9-10, 1936, as lot no. 240. It was purchased by Garrett through or from the London firm of Bernard Quaritch. Inside the outer wrapper is the inscription "R. G. Nov. 1936," which is Robert Garrett's ownership and accession mark. Garrett deposited this manuscript at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in 1942 at which time he described them briefly in the "Garrett Collection List No. 3." Garrett donated the item along with several other manuscripts to the Princeton University Library in 1949. "

Here's an image they make available on their website... as a side note - their reproduction and permissions page is completely terrifying.

and the corresponding low res version from the British Museum...

As for Princeton's reproduction policy - it basically looks like they waive fees (sometimes) but you have to pay up front and then have the fee refunded back to you? Not sure - here's the section...

"Reproduction fees are routinely waived for the Princeton University community, including current faculty, staff, and students; as well as the Princeton University Press, Art Museum, Index of Christian Art, and other university offices or publications. Fees are also waived for black-and-white reproduction of a few images of textual or visual materials on inside pages of a scholarly journal (either printed or electronic), in an academic monograph published in a press run of fewer than 750 copies, or in a scholarly micro-form or electronic edition. Reproduction fees in these specific cases will be waived for everyone, whether or not a member of the Princeton University Community. However, even when fees are waived, existing photoduplication charges must be paid in advance, and permission to reproduce images must be requested in writing in order to guarantee that citations are accurate. "

Survey of Mesoamerican Codices

2011-04-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

Preconquest Pictorial Manuscripts

Cental Mexico
Tonalamatl Aubin
Codex Borbonicus

Borgia Group
Codex Borgia
Codex Cospi
Codex Fejervary-Mayer
Codex Laud
Codex Vaticanus B

Western Oaxaca
Aubin Manuscript no. 20
Codex Becker no. 1
Codex Bodley
Codex Colombino
Codex Nuttall
Codex Vienna

Maya Region
Codex Dresden
Codex Madrid
a. Coretesiano
b. Troano
Codex Paris

Pictorial Manuscripts Produced under Spanish Patronage

Cronica X Group
Duran: Historia de las Indias
Tovar: Codice Ramirez
Tovar: Historia de la Benida
Sahagun: Primeros Memoriales
Sahagun: Florentine Codex

Huitzilopochtli Group
Codex Rios
Codex Telleriano-Remensis

Magliabecchiano Group
Codex Ixtlilxochitl, pt. 1
Codex Magliabecchianno
Codice del Museo de America

Ceremonies of the 18 months
Kalendario Mexicano
The Tovar Calendar

Tribute of the Triple Alliance
Codex Mendoza pt. 2
Matricula de Tributos

Calendar Wheels
Sahagun Calendar Wheel
Veytia Calendar Wheel no. 2

Miscellaneous
Cruz: Libellus de Medicinalibus
Codex Ixtlilcochitl pt. 2
Codex Mendoza pt 1, 3
Relacion de Michoacan
Santa Cruz Map of the City and Valley of Mexico

Native Colonial Pictorial Manuscripts

Valley of Mexico
Codex Aubin
Codex Azacatitlan
Boban Calendar Wheel
Codice Boturini
Codice en Cruz
Plano en Papel de Maguey
Codex Mexicanus
Mapa Quinatzin Mapa Siguenza
Tira de Tepechpan
Mapa Tlotzin
Codice Xolotl

Central Mexico
Codices de Azoyu no. 1, 2
Mapas de Cuauhtinchan no. 1-3
Codice de Huamantla
Codice de Huichapan
Humboldt Fragment no. 1
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca
Anales de Tula

Northen and Western Oaxaca
Lienzo Antonio de Leon
Codex Becker no. 2
Lienzo de Coixtlahuaca no. 1,2
Codice de Fernandez Leal
Lienzo de Santiago Ihuitlan
Lienzo de Santa Maria Nativitas
Codice Porfirio Diaz
Codex Selden
Selden Roll
Lienzo de Zapatepec no. 1

Codex Aubin

2011-04-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

So my copy of the Codex Aubin came in through the inter-library loan system - thumbs up Queens Library!

Here are some of the technical details. First the actual book...

Codex Aubin. Historia de la nación mexicana. Reproducción a todo color del Códice de 1576. Madrid: J. Porrua Turanzas, 1963. Commentary in Spanish by Charles Dibble. SPE F 1219 C6368.

My copy came from Syracuse University... Thanks guys, you rock! Wikipedia almost gets it right... A Codex consisting of eighty-one leaves of European paper bound in red leather and guarded out. A pictorial Nahuatl chronicle covering the years 1168-1608 and 1595-96, with an addition for 1597-1607. Begins with the departure from Aztlan and includes the dynastic history of Tenochtitlan and colonial events.

It was most likely begun in 1576 and it is possible that Fray Diego Durán supervised its preparation, since it was published in 1867 as "Historia de las Indias de Nueva-España y isles de Tierra Firme", listing Durán as the author.

Among other topics, the Aubin Codex has a native description of the massacre at the temple in Tenochtitlan in 1520. Also called "Manuscrito de 1576" (“The Manuscript of 1576”), this codex is held by the British Museum in London. A copy of the original is held at the Princeton University library in the Robert Garrett Collection there. The fully digitized version is available at the British Museum’s website - the downloadable images are 72dpi with a pretty decent size of 750x447 pixels

But don't try to just search Codex Aubin from their home page because you get no results... curious.

Here are 2 images which give you a sense of the limitations of reproduction. First, a scanned image from the book I received, a hand-colored lithograph by Charles E Dibble made from the original.

And then a photograph of the original provided by the British Museum.

So where did Wikipedia get it wrong? Their description above notes 81 leaves (with the temple image scans being found on plate 81) - but the book I received goes on for an additional 77 pages and includes a year by year pictorial history, beginning in 1521 and ending in 1607.

The British Museum's website does not include all of these additional plates either, but rather ends on plate 89 with the years 1526 - 1535. Heres the last plate they make available Plate 88 - 89 (1526 - 1535).

As a closing note, I also read in the Handbook of the Middle American Indians vol. 14 that the Dibble reproductions I obtained are not without errors, and shouldn't be used for scholarly research, as they are inadequate.

They instead suggest the photographs made by William E. Gates which are available at... find out next post!

kindle editions of the codices... i wonder...

2011-02-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

I was planning on covering each codex with a post of its own... with links to WorldCat records and some background info for each, when i came across Amazon's kindle editions of 10 codices in digital format.

And then i did a little more digging and found the books on smashwords too... And then found it's the same guy - jason merkoski, from oscura press... He claims he's a technology evangelist, for Amazon... whats a TE anyway?

So I bought it - because the price was right and you can open Kindle books on your PC now... and then I started thinking the images looked familiar....

So i did a little more digging - and it turns out this merkoski guy had downloaded all the images for these books from a free web source, FAMSI the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, packaged them into a kindle edition, and is now selling it for .99 cents a pop and up. I guess its the american way - but is it the the native american way?

Here's the link to the Codex Tonalamatl Aubin on FAMSI - oh and the resolution is better than the kindle edition, as well.

but what about fair use and value adding - you may say? well, heres an excerpt from the "value" he's added to the hard work FAMSI did in digitizing these masterpieces and making them available to researchers.

"Any of these symbols on any of the codex pages could earn you a great tattoo – and it’s somehow a surprise that lines so bold never graved a person’s skin. And I hope that hipsters of a more feral age will start inking themselves with these living patterns. Because they are alive. They beat with blood, life, something all too familiar, and something so strangerous that you’ll never understand it."

tattooed feral hipsters? strangerous indeed!

revisiting my master's thesis... for a good cause

2011-02-24T12:49:00.000-08:00

having been subjected to countless inter-library loan requests, i decided i would expand on some of the scholarship i undertook at queens college and test the limits of the inter-library loan system of the queens library myself.

my master's thesis was an annotated bibliography which which surveyed the print and digital facsimiles available for pre-columbian codices of the ancient maya and aztec cultures.

the bibliography sought to track the digitization of these rare and out-of-print publications, and how readily available they might be to the 21st century reader...

here is a list of the codices covered in my annotated bibliography, to be followed by an updated version with the links to the WorldCat bibliographic records for each edition...

Aubin

Azcatitlan
Azoyu
Baranda
Barberini (Bandianus)
Becker no. I
Becker no. I / II
Bodley
Borbonicus
Borgia
Chimalpopoca
Colombino
Cospi
Dresden (Dresdensis)
Egerton (Sanchez Solis)
en Cruz
Fejervary-Mayer
Florentine
Grolier
Hall
Ixtlilxochitl
Laud
Madrid (Tro-Cortesianus)
Magliabechiano
Mariano Jimenez
Mexicanus
Osuna
Paris (Peresianus)
Perez / Chilam Balam of Mani
Selden
Telleriano-Remensis
Tlatelolco
Tudela
Vaticanus A (Rios0
Vaticanus B
Vienna (Vindobonensis)
Xolotl
Zouche-Nuttall
Gomesta Manuscript
Tovar Calendar
Tonalamatl Aubin

3 minutes of fame...

2011-02-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

i was written up in a paper for plugging our centennial celebration at the Woodside Library!

http://www.qgazette.com/news/2010-12-15/Features/Bd_2_Reviews_Porch_Renovation.html

who says outreach is dead?

it was probably a breath of fresh air to people used to the controversies of whether or not to allow a porch to be renovated on a historically landmarked building...

and who doesn't like cake? it was an easy sell...

creature from the black blogoon...

2011-01-31T06:17:00.000-08:00

after a three year hiatus (yikes!) just needed a suitably dramatic title to make a re-appearance of my blog...

in one of my earlier posts - i had written about my experience using Queens Library's mobi pocket reader to download audio books to my computer and the rewards and difficulties inherent therein...

here i'd like to detail my experience trying to get an audiobook, mp3 song file, wav movie file and e-book to one of the ubiquitous apple ipod/itouch devices...

i am using the apple i-touch 3rd generation and as 1943 other people have commented - it rocks in terms of what it can do...

unless you're trying to do it for FREE though - in which case the "rock" is what you beat your head against as you try and squeeze functionality from it...

for the ipod - the software you need to download is the Overdrive Media Console. so.. ok - sure, just go to the App store and download and then ... but wait!! you need to have system software 4.2.1 to download overdrive... no problem just... WAIT! you need Itunes 10.1.1.4 or whatever because you havent been downloading Itunes latest version every 3 weeks like a good pod person...

so... downloaded itunes 10.1.1.4, downloaded the ipod touch system software 4.2.1, downloaded Overdrive Media Console version whatever... and was ready for anything!

Queens Library really tries when it comes to offering titles in multiple formats - but until you go through all the pain - its tough to know what downloads and what doesn't to an itouch. basically - nothing from windows media is ever downloadable to an itouch from library land. you can download audiobooks in mp3 format and you can download e-books in adobe's epub format (i believe the same format supported by the Nook ...

but that's about it... you cant download songs for free from library land, because, Steve Jobbs forbid, you don't pay for your music through the itunes store... oh and downloadable movies are a no-go as well, for probably the same reasons... so while Apple and Microsoft battle it out for our dollars - we must continue to wait for the single audo, video, and ebook platforms that wait for us in the promised land...

as for getting one of those adobe e-pub editions to the ipod... that wasn't as cut and dry as could be either... here's the site where the magic happens and that magic includes having to sign up for an Adobe ID so that you can use their digital editions software, registering your device and then going back to Queens Library with all your authorizations, security clearances, vaccinations, and hall passes so you can try and beg for an e-book (providing you haven't given up by this point)...

only to find out that there is a huge waiting period for most e-titles in Queens Library and most of the good stuff is out... so a big plus is the advance search option (for the digital media page) and for the advanced search page...

here we see the drop-down menus for formats

adobe epub (ipod friendly)

adobe pdf (sorry ipod)

mobipocket ebook (sorry again)

overdrive mp3 audiobook (youre in luck ipod)

overdrive wma audiobook (nope)

overdrive music (try itunes, buddy)

overdrive video (you hard of hearing?!)

like the old meatloaf song goes... don't be sad - cause 2 out 7 ain't bad...

so - what you'd want to do is select your format and here's the important one - select search available titles only, if you don't want to wait (and honestly who does?)... in their defense, if you have an email registered with Queens, they will notify you when your e-title becomes available so that you can come back and download it from your Digital Account.

oh and dont believe them when they say you have to download it from a computer outside the library - i downloaded my titles in house with the itouch... they just dont want you hogging their bandwith with your pesky downloads... can't make it too user friendly or else everyone would be at the library :P

Queens Library has its own crosses it makes us bear when it comes to accessibility and ease of use for their website in trying to find these titles - but that's another creature altogether...

woops... almost missed (thing #17 1/2)... facebooking

2007-12-23T18:53:00.000-08:00

Having read the 3 part series on Librarian apps - I discovered I was already using some of the suggestions on my own facebook profile.

The ones I'm using are - Iread, Librarian, and MyFlikr - but I will probably be adding the de.lisc.ious and (dare I admit it) kittens pictures.

I've always been a fan of Facebook; Myspace is a mess - and although I do recognize that it can be used to glean information about people for sinister purposes, I think that overall - the good outweighs the bad.

That being said, however - it was informative to read the article about how to use Facebook without losing your job over it. Even more intersting was the post about why you should never have a job in the first place - posted in response... hehehe - Only on the internet!

Facebook is great for catching up with old friends - and doing genealogical research as well. I recently had a second cousin contact me through facebook - and he has since forwarded a lot of information about my family tree to me.

it was the best of times, it was ... well it wasn't THAT bad :P (thing #23)

2007-12-23T17:50:00.001-08:00

Yay! the end is here...

So if you'd asked me a couple of posts ago whether I thought this undertaking was worth it - I would have had mixed feelings; but now that its Dec 23rd, and all my posts are in - I havta admit I did learn alot.

These exercises were a great opportunity to explore new ideas/technologies and revisit things I already knew; including things beyond just connecting patrons with the information and entertainment they need.

Couple of things I probably would never have done without these exercises -
1)Blogging
2)RSS feeds
3)Wikis
4)anything relating to eBooks.

The last one I'm especially grateful for - because as bandwith increases for regular computer users(with fiber optic and cable becoming the new dial-up), I could definitely see a growing need for video on demand. Being able to help to spread the news about Queen's digital collection and encourage usage through having "been there" is something I can now see myself doing.

As for future eSkills courses... I would consider taking more, if offered - with a condition.

Because this was a beginning to intermediate class, I would hope that there would be a mechanism in place for people who have successfully completed this course to not have to start from "the beginning" of a new set of exercises.

Another thing is - I saw a lot of my colleagues start the program and not complete it because of the size of the undertaking. Future classes could be smaller in size - because 23 things is pretty daunting.

It took me entire days in front of a computer to digest, register at this site or that, explore, and formulate my posts; and for people who aren't as tech savvy - it can seem a mountain too steep to climb.

And that should be the purpose of these exercises - getting everyone up to speed. But seeing how tough one of these exercises can be - and then the mental image of another 22 of them to come - most people wouldn't bother with more than 1 or 2 before giving up.

Well - that's everything! Good luck everyone and Happy Holidays!

digitally Queens... (thing #22)

2007-12-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

Took me a while - but success at last...

Ok - so I started off trying to download an audio book at Queens Library's Media Center- but what caught my eye was downloadable video from Queens Library - which I shamefully did not even know we had! hehehe...

But here's the catch - the learning curve for getting that video from the server to my viewing pleasure is pretty steep. First off - had to download the OverDrive Media console - because I was trying to watch Felini's 8 1/2. Second - tried to upgrade the security patch (which necessitated another download of Windows Media Player 10). I chose 10 because 11 looked like it had bugs (considering there was advice on Microsoft's website telling you how you could roll-back to previous versions of the Player.

Then I ran the security patch. Then I was ready for the download... All 750MBs of it :P

The next thing was the Mobipocket Reader download. Pretty straightforward installation - followed the directions on registering my device when prompted at checkout - and voila!

I have to say I was surprised that some audio books are burnable to CD's. Doesnt this result in a permanent hardcopy that's yours to keep? If so... cool!

And while direct video is great in concept - the huge download times and inability to download in chapters makes it pretty time consuming. I guess if you've got your computer up for a while - it can run in the background - but expect to wait at least an hour or more with a DSL line. Which isn't terrible I guess... takes longer than that to motivate myself to go to Blockbuster and its definitely a shorter wait than having Netflix send you a movie - so kudos to you Queens!

greetings from the pod people... (thing #21)

2007-12-23T16:04:00.000-08:00

Soo.. I have a confession - this is my first time listening to podcasts.

I downloaded iTunes a couple of years ago because it is a great way to organize music - and did manage to explore and bookmark some cool internet radio sites - but I never got around to subscribing to podcasts.

Perhaps it's because I never joined the masses in getting an iPod (I always thought it more constructive to read during long commutes). Having an iPod definitely encourages one to follow podcasts (because once you get tired of your music - it's natural to turn to podcasts for some variety).

I was able to find some interesting podcast feeds though - and subsequently added them to the ole Bloglines account. It brought me back to my NPR listening days when I saw Gary Null's podcast - that soothing voice of vegan reason...

My preference was for the Podcast Alley site - because it offered rankings for usage (here's their top 50) - but I could also see how Yahoo's site with their tie-in for podcasting to your Yahoo page could be useful (I already use their messenger service).

boobtube with a vengeance (thing #20)

2007-12-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

ok - lemme start off by saying I was a huge fan of Youtube... before Google bought them out and made intellectual property a household name. Where's the fair use Google? :(

I had opened an account with Youtube close to a year ago and had been slowly collecting and sharing my favorite clips from tv shows, animated shorts, and full length movies - but now all that has changed. 3/4's of my clips were unavailable due to terms violations (read "if we cant make money - you ain't welcome to watch") and the result is some pretty slim pickins...

I'm going to throw out a useful site called Video Codezone which allows you to grab and download Youtube videos to your hard drive before they get a chance to disapear. The file is downloadable and converted into any file format you like (.avi for windows media player). The site is very slow though - so if you dont mind downloading a .flv player, there are other sites like KeepVid which allow you to download unconverted video and play it with a flv player

Oh and almost forgot - here's a terrifying video I found on Youtube - inciting Palestinian children to throw rocks at Israeli troops and be martyred for Allah...

and the winner is... (thing #19)

2007-12-23T13:42:00.000-08:00

Yay! I knew that we would eventually hit upon the most important habit of lifelong learning - the habit #7 1/2... the one about PLAY!

So - I picked Arcaplay's Website from the list of award winners. This is a gem of a site which allows you to not only play flash-based arcade games on their website, but also gives you the option of embedding your favorite games into your blog, the ability to bookmark your favorites games, and an option to rate and post comments about games for other users.

You can also download these games to your computer - be emailed about new games, or subscribe to their RSS feed.

This site was nominated as an award winner by the SEOmoz website - which tracked various Web 2.0 apps and webistes. An SEO is a Search Engine Optimizer, so chances are they sifted through a lot of chaff to get to the wheat they neatly serve up. Some of the other categories and winners included social networking sites (Facebook), Blog guides (Technorati), classifieds (Craigslist), and search engines (Rollyo).

Enjoy!

work with me people... (thing #18)

2007-12-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

I love the smell of collaboration in the morning...

Our next foray into the realm of inter-connectivity is similar to wikis, but with a heavier emphasis on project-based collaboration.

I chose GoogleDocs because I liked the clean interface, ability to publish to both my own blog (through Blogger) and to GoogleDocs, and because of the option to share a variety of files, including text documents, Powerpoint presentations, and Excel spreadsheets.

Another feature which I found impressive was the option to save the document as a PDF file - which previously required purchasing Adobe's Acrobat Writer program (currently priced at $449).

Another great feature is the invite function - which allows users to invite people to collaborate on projects - or just to view them with no editing privileges- with the option of allowing invitees to invite others to join in the fun as well.

So - I uploaded a short txt file on tarot card meanings - and published to both my blog and to GoogleDocs - and invited myself (through an alternate email) to collaborate. Heres the file below (complete with preserved font styles and text effects)...

the tarot trumps

the fool ( innocence ) = the magician ( knowledge )

the empress ( understanding ) = apocalypse ( fear )

the emporer ( inspiration ) = the star ( evolution )

the high priestess ( mystery ) = the moon ( illusion )

the heirophant ( harmony ) = the sun ( truth )

the lovers ( prudence ) = the devil ( lust )

the chariot ( humility ) = the tower ( pride )

temperance ( restraint ) = force ( rage )

the hermit ( sacrifice ) = the hanged man ( desire )

the world ( life ) = death ( stillness )

justice ( karma ) = fortune ( whim )

wiki when youre feeling blue (thing #17)

2007-12-23T09:47:00.000-08:00

Ill admit - I was kind of shy about this exercise because its one thing to blog when you think no ones reading - but another to throw a post out into a hugely public place like wikipedia. But i was pleasantly surprised to find I could contribute in a meaningful way on topics I was sure of...

My wiki posts were done on the Wikimapia website - which I found on Wikipedia's list of wikis. Its a very cool tool which allows you to share first hand info on any types of sites or geographical locations that you've been to - or know about.

Here's a link to the Greater Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks map page - and there was also a feature which allowed users to open a frame on their web pages to show a map they had saved. This was done by allowing users to draw and drag a square box around an area - while the mapping tool dynamically returned coordinates. Neat! Here it is below...

Check out my posts to help hikers find some Yellowstone bears and scenic mountaintops (Turbid Lake and Avalanche Peak).

the house that wiki built (thing #16)

2007-12-23T06:12:00.000-08:00

I have mixed feelings about wiki technology - and I'm sure I'm not the only one..

Ever since Stephen Colbert featured Wikipedia on his comedy show (demonstrating how easy it was to mislead the unsuspecting) - or on a more sinister note the debacle surrounding the post about John Seigenthaler, I've approached wikipedia as a necessary evil...

But in the right hands - wiki technology can be an invaluable and very efficient way of collaborating and disseminating important information. I particularly enjoyed the Library's Best Practices website, because a) the content is by and for librarians and b) the accountability factor (having to verify your email address to be able to post). The lack of accountability in wikis is really the biggest problem I have with them - and anything that can be done to address that is appreciated.

And as for what I found that was helpful? Well - working with 50+ teens a day in reading room with only 8 chairs - programming is the name of the game for me. Getting teens motivated to do anything besides stare at Myspace pages and chase each other around the library is a sometime Herculean task - but here are some pointers and success stories I found in this Library's Best Practices wiki.

Also - a very helpful programming database by the Mid-Hudson Library system which is useful for targeting specific groups and interests, while staying within a budget. Its a gem...

And last but not least - a Genealogy wiki gleaned from the SJCPL Subject Guides which I found helpful :)

library land take 2.0... (thing #15)

2007-12-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

Having read the OCLC article and the Library Journal article I came away with a couple of points common to both analyses...

1. user participation in the library services model - this seems to be a critical part of the Web/Library 2.0 scheme. Following the lead of sites like Wikipedia, Amazon, and the blogoshpere in general - libraries should be encouraging user participation in the creation, maintenance, and delivery of content. What type of content should libraries be focusing on? Well, things like book reviews, programming requests and suggestions, book discussions, online reference, remote access to library tools and databases, etc... and integrating these new features into current library interfaces (for example - having user reviews of books available in search results for titles being searched for in the libraries OPAC.

2. user oriented services - know your customers, basically. Streamlining the delivery of services to users is another key component of library 2.0. As libraries move away from the model of "storehouses for books" to a one which serves a community of technologically savvy information seekers - our idea of what a library IS needs to change in order to remain relevant. This includes collection development policies (only stocking what sells) providing critical services to diverse populations (the marriage of demographics and programming) and developing an open system which seeks out and responds to feedback.

There were many other points outlined in the articles - but in the interest of time and space - I'll leave off at these two - which struck me as being the most important...

again - user participation, and active, meaningful engagement with the patrons of the library system will become increasingly urgent as Library land enters the 21st century. Addressing these issues through technological and other means will mean the difference between success and failure for the profession. And failure is not an option :P

that techno beat (thing #14)

2007-11-13T18:20:00.000-08:00

Spent some time on technorati - looking over their advanced search features and putting a claim in for my own blog :)

Couple of things that jumped out at me that I appreciated;

1. user reviews - again a very useful feature in determining which sites will warrant investigation is the "authority" feature.
2. advanced searching features - the ability to search blogs by boolean search strategies - or thru browsing how the blogs themselves have tagged their areas of coverage.
3. self tagging - really liked the way I could assign tags to my blog to bring users interested in particular issues (in my case libraries, information science, and internet technologies).

As for some of the results I obtained while searching - I found that using "learning 2.0" as a search term - even an exact term - didn't reveal that many hits from our blogging experiment. A tag search with the same term revealed a lot more hits - along with a revelation that there were some busy bees that have already finished the 23 things in an explosion of impressive effort ;)

And my own humble batgirl blog? Well let's just say that after sorting through pages of search results (with the optional authority limiter set to "any authority") i was still only able to find my blog using the "blog search" feature in advance search mode - and with the limiter of "fresh" blogs... I guess it has been a bit naughty - but still undervisited! Hopefully registering in with techorati will change that in the future. hehe

mucho del.icio.so (thing #13)

2007-11-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

After poking around on the del.icio.us site for a while - I could see how it would be useful to have a tool like this at our disposal as librarians...

Part of the problem with search engines is that they use algorithms for ranking website relevance that may not be a true indication of a site's usefulness to certain audiences, or an accurate analysis of a site's content.

The reason for this is that sites which are very image rich - and may be sparse in meta tags - might still be very worthwhile - and search engines like Google would possibly miss them because they were looking for certain criteria (like target word occurence or other factors) and sites which have a big visual component may suffer in their rankings.

I did appreciate the democratic feel of user reviewed sites and links - and seeing the statistics regarding user bookmarks is definitely helpful in determining which sites are worthwile - because other people have taken the trouble to catalog and document their experiences at the web site or link.

All in all - del.icio.us is most helpful in adding a dimension of depth to a search engine's finding that would otherwise cost me valuable time in research myself :)

Roll the bones (thing #12)

2007-10-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

Just popped over to Rollyo and created an account for my searching needs. When I tried to add Google as one of my sources though, I was told the results would only be from Google's corporate page because the website is limited to static (non-dynamic) search results.

In other words - I could search Google's privacy policy because this doesnt change - but search results which are dynamically generated aren't browsable by Rollyo. This is a strange limitation for a metasearch engine (an engine which searches and obtains results from other engines).

Personally - I don't see it replacing Google anytime soon - because I found myself searching google for the links i was gonna use in my "roll". Considering you can also use google to search individual sites through the advanced search option - the usefulness of this product drops even more.

http://rollyo.com/secretsketcher/mesoamerican_art/

But for what it's worth - here's my lean and mean Mesoamerican page. Mostly art and manuscripts - with some general information and cultural sites thrown in for good measure. And to round it out - I threw in amazon for links to relevant books - which explodes the search results into the tens of thousands - because there is no intelligent filtering going on under rollyo, unfortunately. Enjoy!

It came from the library lagoon (thing #11)

2007-10-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

Can I just say - I love Library Thing?

Previously - Amazon was my library thing - but this is much more efficient, user friendly, and customizable. I love that I can use it on my blog (it looks great as one of my page elements on the right hand side here) and it's probably gonna make its way onto my myspace page in a few more minutes here...

And actually - I'm seeing that Library Thing has a way of importing items from Amazon - but I havent figured out how to do it yet... hmmm - more poking around will be required.

Ok - i think I got it - you open your Amazon wish list - copy the url - go to the "add books" link on Library Thing - import books - paste the url and click "grab"... The Thing will queue your books and add them to your library. My estimated wait time was between 30 and 50 minutes for 20 isbn numbers - so Im not sure if this will do the trick...

while we wait for the magic to work - you can browse my awesome titles of doom to the right...

mixing up the medicine (thing #10)

2007-10-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

This post referers to a Bob Dylan messaging site that lets you create your own messages to Dylan's famous flip card video Subterranean Homesick Blues. There's a way to embed this video into a website - but the code expires every so often - so if you can get it to work in more than a simple email - kudos to you...

This week's foray into image generators turned up this gem on The Generator Blog and I must say I was pleased as punch to come across it. The autoplay feature now gives my blog a little musical edge to it - and you can still mute it if you find the musical note option in the upper left corner fast enough - but everyone could stand a little more "medicine" in their lives - so why would you want to?

Honorable mention should also go to the haiku generator (found the link on the same page) which came up with this....

happily, egg rises
humbly, ducks hallucinate
tiredly, seagull speaks

Oh - and there are 844 more generators where these 2 came from - so you should definitely stop by and take a peek. Go ahead - I'll wait...

Fed up, and down, and all around (thing #9)

2007-10-28T14:05:00.001-07:00

So - having created an account in bloglines - I set out to explore some of the other rss search engines and see if I could find any diamonds amidst the roughage...

My first step was Feedster, and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. The site does offer a cute widget option which you can post to your own blog page (which will update your feeds for you) - but most of the hits being returned for my searches were coming from the site Topix - which I'll review below. I will say the layout was a little more user-friendly than the others - with ads only taking up the right third and banner - but the results were kinda, eh...

What I liked about Topix.net is the combination of forums and rss feed results. There are polls, wire feed for the latest news on your topic, and the feeds themselves - but what I wasn't crazy about was the fact that almost 2/3 of the page on the right is ads and self promotion...

Technorati had a strong showing - with user ratings for feeds, videos, photos, and news articles about search topics. Very few ads and a user-friendly layout. They also had a sexy live update on their topics page - which spewed newly updated blogs in a constant stream.

And Syndic8.com... more ho hum... lots of useless stats - poor layout - didnt even bother to check search results after Technocrati - because it was anti-climactic...

So the clear winner is Technorati on all levels. Topix did seem to have a pretty robust user community - but it wasnt enough to tip the balance past the poor layout and annoying ads.

Feed Me, See-More (thing #8)

2007-10-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

what can i say about Bloglines except yummm!

RSS Feeds are like an information smoothie; you put in the raw web pages (with their flashing ads and diversionary tactics) - grind them up - extract the usable content - and present it in a clean format that saves you valuable search time.

theyre faster than using Internet Explorer favorites for surfing - easier to browse than internet - and personalized for the user (with options for blogging about news items or easy email forwarding for sharing news items with friends.)

the interface resembles a table of contents - and thats essentially what it is; the book in this case being a Frankenstein monster of my own informational needs ;)

my recipe for madness?

take a healthy dose of library science, add some liberally slanted news, a dash of techie, some establishment propaganda (keep your enemies close - im looking at you CNN), a touch of finance news, and voila!!!

1. Queens Library Learning 2.0
2. batgirl was a librarian
3. The Shifted Librarian
4. Librarians' Internet Index: New This Week
5. NYT Book Review
6. Salon
7. Wired Top Stories
8. Lifehacker
9. CNN.com
10. Reuters: Top News
11. Guardian Unlimited home Guardian Unlimited
12. BBC News News Front Page World Edition
13. WSJ.com: Markets

enjoy!

the horror, the horror (thing #7)

2007-10-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

if you've ever spent an afternoon in a public library; you've encountered them...

the myspace undead...

shuffling from screen to screen - scavenging unused minutes from early departees; climbing over each other to claw at badly tiled profiles beaming virtual friends and celebrtiy/media carpet-bombing...

and then there appeared... a knight in blue and white :P

its name was facebook; and they looked, and they saw that it was good.

my techonology is social networking - particularly facebook.

facebook is clean in design - its interfaces encourage networking along many lines (professional, interests/hobbies, schools, geography, looking for love, etc). The applications and add ons is where facebook excels though.

heres an example of librarian oriented apps that i discovered on de.lisc.ious while briefly poking around...

http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2007/top-ten-facebook-apps-for-librarians-part-one/

I was a teenage myspace zombie...(thing # 6)

2007-10-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

Teenage myspace zombie, originally uploaded by tastytreat2012.

Fun with flickr!

Heres my tribute to the human mass of teens that descend on our computers every afternoon.

I actually had alot of fun with this one - but having photoshop definitely did help to get the picture just right. Really liked the fact that you can add icons to the side - and wish they had more to choose from - but it gives it a really "Magic" or "Yu-Gi-Oh" feel to it.

The website was BigHugeLabs.com - and they gave you the option of uploading it to Flickr or saving it to your desktop. I popped it into Flikr - then used Flikr's blog option to pop it into here... the wonders never cease :)

Welcome to Hell (thing #5)

2007-10-13T11:45:00.001-07:00

Guildford Cathedral, originally uploaded by Stan160.

was exploring flickr's wares when i came across the group "entrances to hell"...

i've always been intrigued by gateways to the Otherworld, and this group showcased alot of pictures which scratched that particular itch...

these pics range from eerie and beautiful, to whimsical and / or just strange - but the ones that are REALLY inspired leave you with a kind of dread which you wouldnt expect from an image of a doorway or hole in the ground...

check out the slideshow for a bit :)

http://www.flickr.com/groups/entrancetohell/pool/show/

These are a few of my favorite things (things #1-4)

2007-10-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

well - the hills may not be alive with the sounds of lifetime learning - but i couldnt resist :P

so having gone through the 7 1/2 habits - i've returned to you, o reader, to share my mulling and musings.

first - the habits
1. determine goals and develop a plan
2. accept resposibility and be proactive
3. view problems as challenges and opportunities
4. maintain a positive outlook and mindset
5. build a toolkit
6. use technology
7. teach others
and, as an afterthought, PLAY!

so - my easiest and most difficult habits to put into practice?

my easiest habit is, of course, play - which, if i was independently wealthy - i could devote a lifetime of learning to...

but if i had to pick - i would say the easiest would be the use of technology (#6).

although i am a late adopter of technology - this is purely a function of economics - and when given the opportunity to adopt a technology free of charge (like file sharing, web authoring, email, surfing, or whatever - i am very comfortable around computers and take to it very quickly). paying 600 dollars for the latest iphone though - thats another story...

the most difficult habit for me would be to determine a goal and develop a plan (#1). i'm more of a learner for learning's sake - and while my interests are wide ranging there doesnt seem to be a method to the madness. most of my interests don't have practical applications (like mythology and mysticism) - so developing a plan around my knowledge of greek gods and heroes is pretty difficult. also - creating lists and formalizing plans is more structure than i usually apply to pursuing intellectual interests - so it would take some getting used to (if i undertook it at all).

so there's 2 cents worth of opinion on 7 1/2 habits on the long road to 23 1/2 learnings. :)

a day in the life of a queens librarian

2007-10-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

first blog ever!

so - a bit about myself...

I have been with the Queens Library system for just over 3 months now and I have to say it has been a fun and sometimes wild ride. Sometimes fun and mostly wild? Well - the truth lies somewhere in between probably...

I graduated from Queens College CUNY in 2005 and actually had a difficult time landing a library job. My previous work experience had included many stints as a Library Assistant, Circulation Clerk, or Corporate Docs. work with Wontauk but it was tough getting a foot in the door at the professional level.

Having been given the opportunity though - I must say it's been a rewarding and learning experience...

More on the rewards and lessons in the next installment of The Blog!!!