Great staff training this morning. Not so much because of its subject (humanities databases - ho hum), but because of the nifty diagrammy, mindmap thing my colleague had produced to help explain what we had, what it was useful for and where it fitted into the bigger picture of things.

I spent the session taking notes but also sketching out my own version for my (ho hum) databases.

No surprise that others liked the format too and at the end suggestions were coming that we could produce a pack of these as more friendly that text based equivalents. (Or perhaps text on one side of a leaflet and the map on the other - take your pick!)

Two interesting meetings today. I think.

One real about the virtual.

One virtual (and real) about the real (and virtual).

The first was this morning when the Head of Library had invited my boss and myself to come and talk about Second Life (and Twitter). He was concerned about the resource implications for our Second Life presence. How we manage virtual enquiries from it, how (if) we develop it, what we'll do with it. I think he's mostly worried that were I run over by a bus we'd not be able to do anything with it.

I assured him that it wasn't that dependent on me (in fact I don't think it's at all dependent on me) and that the Masters' student doing the work would be submitting both her project and her documentation so we'd have resources to handle management and/or development. He was also concerned about Twitter and how we decide what we Twitter and who actually does it.

I guess he's right to be cautious but it's difficult to fit the cautious approach often taken by a university with a 'jump in and try' approach of much of Web 2.0 (or virtual world) type applications. It was interesting having my boss (soon to be Head) in there as referee.


The second meeting was a librarian professional body meeting in the real world while those of who couldn't/wouldn't attend joined in virtually via Twitter.

So I was introduced to the delights of Twitterfall which worked brilliantly and (just) made it possible to keep up with all that was being said. (There was a blog being updated live from within the room as well). The subject this time was about how the professional body can engage more widely (or at all in some people's view) with its membership (and non-members). But it also covered subjects such as how Twitter could or should be used for work purposes.

I'm sure I learned things from the content - but my two biggest learning points were from the process.
1. I really really need two monitors - which I've argued before.
(I might have tried using my laptop as a second screen but Twitterfall didn't seem to work on the uni's install of Internet Explorer so I had to resort to Firefox which is still newish to me and I can't get to work on my uni installed laptop).

2. I really need some means of telling students and also my office colleague that, yes, actually I am busy now and involved in a meeting even if it just looks like I'm sitting at my desk on my own. I'd have gone elsewhere with my laptop except for the IE issues mentioned above.

Those following my twitter feed will know that my boss has been offered the job (and accepted) as Head of Library when our current one retires.

All the best to her and it will be interesting to see how much (or how little) changes.

I'll keep you posted.

Lots of speculation; still no news. I'm taking that as a bad sign that they've not offered it to my boss.

Slight stir the last couple of days because of the arrangements for the interviews for the head of library post. The senior uni person responsible for the day failed to invite any library staff to the presentations the candidates had to give and failed to arrange any tours for the candidates.

After our Head (who retires in June) complained they allowed one 'nominee' and so one of our two 'Associate' librarians was invited. (He's not interested in promotion as he has his eye on a place in France he'll be retiring to soonish).

Some of us, however, continued to press for a more open process. When a new Dean is appointed the presentations are open to anyone in the faculty to attend. Several others apart from myself thought the head of the library post should be treated in the same way. I'd just got our staff association rep on the case, when our Head, who'd heard what was going on pushed again and got four more places to attend the presentations.

So it was that I ended up being one of the four and going off to the exalted towers of University House to spend the morning listening to four 20 minute talks on library problems and strategies. There had been five but one candidate had withdrawn.

And fascinating it was too. At all sorts of levels. I may even have learned things which may stand me in good stead for the future should I ever go to do anything similar. I remember - and you go back to the early days of this blog to read about - my own presentation for my job. So nervous and stressed that I pretty much read it which wasn't great.

Two things I did learn from the day: one - I'm getting older and am no longer going to be having bosses more senior to me in age! two - it wouldn't have been *such* a stretch me going for the job when you saw some of the candidates.

Of the four, there were two men, two women. One of the latter was my boss (the other Associate Librarian). The two guys were unimpressive although one did manage to include the only diagram in his PowerPoint which I liked and he had a natural style (although it included a lot of 'yeahs' which weren't loved). The other only seemed to come alive at the point when we could ask questions. The first woman certainly seemed more like head material although her presentation was a bit theoretical and dry. My boss had good content (and the only handout) but was obviously as stressed as I was and read her 2000 odd words) which didn't impress even though we knew it wasn't her.

Of course I have no idea how the interviews went but I was certainly glad to sit through part of the process. One of my colleagues, the science librarian, has expressed the opinion that we should have an external appointee for a change and some 'new blood' after several internal promotions to the position. We shall see.

Last formal day of the open day tours for students making final uni choices. (There's a 'wash-up' day next week - don't quite know what that will mean).

All got a bit hectic with the last tour arriving just late enough to then have to run over to a library committee for the science faculty. Yes, I know I deal with the technology faculty but I'd been asked to attend by my science colleague who was unable to make it. So interesting to see how the other half live. Much nicer committee meeting - mainly because it was chaired effectively.

Busy at the drop in today. Strange going from sometimes not seeing anyone to being occupied for nearly all the two hour period. Didn't get a lot of things I took 'to do' done, but great to be useful and the students seemed glad of the help. Mostly on referencing and some nicely arcane stuff such as referencing film stills or Google Earth.

This blog is shutting down for the Easter break and a week's vacation afterwards.

Have fun and back again later in April.

Spent the day finished up my contribution to a project for pre-entry students. One of the more creative things I get to do. The Library section is having an 'extension' up on to a first floor where there will be links to an information literacy project that others have been working on. There will also be the friendly (?!) faces of the faculty librarians introducing themselves via photo, text and sound file. And a couple of other things too.

I've also created an 'international' section for students from other countries and tweaked some other parts of it. Fun, but complex.

Just spent $60,475 on a new database. IEEE full text papers and conference proceedings. There's been lots and lots of requests for this from students and staff.
But we're buying it out of savings rather than money that will necessarily be there next year. So it could be just the year trial. We'll see how usage goes (I foresee the next 18 months 'selling' it around the bazaars).

Right. New week. New morning. Easter break with not only the students hopefully somewhere else but my office co-worker somewhere else today at least. Empty diary for a change. Emails are going to die by the dozen today. (Huge backlog from my preoccupation with writing the paper last week and being sick the week before).

Goal: down to 300 by tea break.

A colleague, S, and I are working on a poster sesssion for a conference on our ebook usage - which apparently is very high for a university.

It's based on a survey we've been running but she now has 500+ results and I'm still at 120 or so - not for want of badgering my faculty to let me come and survey their students.

Anyway, I'd arranged with a lecturer to come and survey his 70 odd engineering students for just a few minutes at the start of a class today. Which was fine, except...

- the class was in the middle of our fortnightly library meeting that I always hate missing because I get volunteered for things
- of the 70 students only about 20 had turned up. The rest have evidently decided to take an early Easter break
- the academic involved wasn't even there but one of his colleagues was showing a video.

Despite having arranged the time, and despite having arrived a few minutes early, he was a few minutes into showing a 45/50 minute National Geographic program. So I was invited to sit through it.

I thought it would be something dull but worthy on mechanical engineering and there wasn't much point in returning to the office for 3 minutes so I decided to sit through it.

It turned out to be all about a Japan Air 747 crash in 1985 which killed over 500 people (and if I understood correctly is still the largest single such air disaster). It reconstructed the final half hour or so of flight and finished with the reasons for the crash. It was gripping and fascinating and harrowing. But the reconstruction and the 8 year old girl dying and the tragedy of much of the story left me wracked - not what I was expecting of a Friday morning!

Turns out that somewhat astoundingly 4 people actually survived. Just. And the reason? A previous repair being done incorrectly so that one line of rivets was doing the job of two. Panel blows out, destroys the tail and all the hydraulics, leaving the pilots with next to no control.

The (mostly young) students didn't seemed fazed by it - or by the implications of how vital their future jobs could be. At least if I make a mistake the worst that can happen is a book lies unread on a shelf or some such.

Visitors today from TheOldPlace.

My successor and one of her colleagues who started after I left.

They'd come down to pick the brains of three of us as to how/what we teach and the like. Unfortunately H is sick today so she couldn't make it which is a shame as I think she'd have some great input on her creative side and how she introduces all sorts of things to classes to perk up the students' interest.

But the visit seemed to go well and despite me probably talking too much I think our visitors had a productive time. If nothing else it was encouraging to hear that the problems we think of as 'ours' are pretty widespread and we're not the only ones.

There! It's sent.

The last five days (since Saturday morning) have been spent devoted mostly to getting a paper written to submit to a conference. The deadline was today. I've just found out they've stretched it 10 days. But it's gone now - I can't live with it any longer.

I'm pleased with on the whole but I don't think it's anywhere near technical enough for an IEEE sponsored conference and the journals such papers end up in if they're accepted.

But nothing ventured, nothing gained. And at least the deadline got me motivated to write the wretched thing and when they turn it down I can try some more likely possibilities.

Now I just need to start on the huge backlog of email I've been ignoring the growing mound that I sometimes know as a desk...