Ever since the start of term wifi in the Library seems to have been more than a little flakey. (This is reminding me of a former colleague who used to catalog books about 'whiffy'. Some mocked but it is apparently how the French say it in any case.)
Several of us with iPhones/iPods were struggling to connect and our IT guys told us it was because so many students now had mobile devices that wanted to connect, it was overloading the system. Of course it would be since the beginning of term as during the holidays there is hardly anyone here. An upgrade is promised - but not till January!
Well a fat lot of use that is.
What was odder was that it didn't merely seem to be a wifi issue. For starters I wondered if was my iPod - but others were getting the same and my connection to the wifi network at home was fine.
Then too, laptops seemed to connect with no trouble. At which point IT started blaming the Apple devices themselves.
The nearest I can make out is that a recent Apple upgrade to their OS may have made connecting to the particular kind of wifi network we have here difficult. Or something.
In any case, it's been a real pain as what I hadn't realized until now was just how much I was beginning to use the iPod/wifi for work. Here are just some of the things I realized I was struggling with:
Keeping abreast of other librarians work/interests/URLfinds via Twitter (much more convenient than via PC). *
Posting to the Library twitter feed. *
Tracking my shared email diary when away from PC (and email). *
Managing To Do lists.
Note taking via Evernote. @
PDF journal article reading via GoodReader (iPad will make this rather more doable).
Keeping abreast of ebook developments as part of book chapter writing etc. @
Able to do quick web look ups (Google, Library Catalogue) etc when away from PC. *
Handy to have a good dictionary to hand at all times! @
Collaborating with external academics via Skype. *
Ongoing CPD learning aided by flash cards.
Investigating FourSquare and utility for Library engagement with students. *
* = items which don't work without wifi
@ = items with reduced functionality without wifi
Anyway, I've noticed that over the latter half of last week and today, I seem to be able to connect again. So what's that about? (Not that I'm complaining.)
Monday, November 15, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
An interesting meeting with 'Z' in our academic skills unit this afternoon. They're the ones that help students with writing essays and the like. (Sorry, that's a gross simplification! Like libraries help students borrow books!)
A long time back they were going to produce some support for 'academic reading' so I blithely made a place for it as the fifth element of our first floor 'information literacy' links in the pre-entry project I've been involved with (and, no doubt, wittered on about endlessly here).
The resource never came to be so rather than have a dead URL, we linked to the excellent work another university had produced which worked well enough although it seemed a little surreal. *That* link has now vanished forcing me to think again.
Thinking again made me wonder why I just didn't create something. After all, I read. I do academic reading. How hard can it be?
Thinking I'd have time last weekend I had nothing by Monday morning when I was due to turn over what I'd done to Z. Not to worry. I used the bus journey to work to knock out a mindmap and the first hour of work to write two sides of notes on the map which would do as a starter.
That seems to have gone down well and although Z's approach is very different - much more rooted in research and a bit beyond the scope of what I wanted for students about to start Uni - we were able to share some ideas. I'm not sure a fruitful collaboration will result, but it was good to get a closer glimpse of the work they do and also to be assured that what I'd done wasn't completely barking up the wrong tree.
Now if I can just turn it into something 'pretty' that students might enjoy engaging with. (I'm reluctant to hand it over to the pre-entry wizzes as it will almost certainly be turned into Flash and sit behind the login which we've been endeavoring to avoid with the info literacy tools.) Surely I can do something in PowerPoint?
A long time back they were going to produce some support for 'academic reading' so I blithely made a place for it as the fifth element of our first floor 'information literacy' links in the pre-entry project I've been involved with (and, no doubt, wittered on about endlessly here).
The resource never came to be so rather than have a dead URL, we linked to the excellent work another university had produced which worked well enough although it seemed a little surreal. *That* link has now vanished forcing me to think again.
Thinking again made me wonder why I just didn't create something. After all, I read. I do academic reading. How hard can it be?
Thinking I'd have time last weekend I had nothing by Monday morning when I was due to turn over what I'd done to Z. Not to worry. I used the bus journey to work to knock out a mindmap and the first hour of work to write two sides of notes on the map which would do as a starter.
That seems to have gone down well and although Z's approach is very different - much more rooted in research and a bit beyond the scope of what I wanted for students about to start Uni - we were able to share some ideas. I'm not sure a fruitful collaboration will result, but it was good to get a closer glimpse of the work they do and also to be assured that what I'd done wasn't completely barking up the wrong tree.
Now if I can just turn it into something 'pretty' that students might enjoy engaging with. (I'm reluctant to hand it over to the pre-entry wizzes as it will almost certainly be turned into Flash and sit behind the login which we've been endeavoring to avoid with the info literacy tools.) Surely I can do something in PowerPoint?
Very gratified to have a doctoral researcher come and see me today.
An unusual event in itself as they seem to manage quite happily without me for the most part. But this one was looking at social networking and library use of it. I understand he was a librarian back in Africa, so that might explain his interest.
He'd not only found (and apparently read!) the papers I'd written which are stored in our institutional repository and found several more that exist online in various places, but he wanted all the rest which aren't either online or in the IR.
So it was a good opportunity to tidy up my bibliography which I was surprised to find now runs to 4 pages (not to mention the further 8 pages of non-professional material). I know it's been a busy year, but it's interesting to see how it builds up and how one thing leads to another.
(If anyone does have nothing better to do with their lives, get in touch and I can send you the list).
Anyway, as I said, it was very gratifying to think that anyone was actually interested. Anyone that I hadn't battered over the head with the stuff, that is.
An unusual event in itself as they seem to manage quite happily without me for the most part. But this one was looking at social networking and library use of it. I understand he was a librarian back in Africa, so that might explain his interest.
He'd not only found (and apparently read!) the papers I'd written which are stored in our institutional repository and found several more that exist online in various places, but he wanted all the rest which aren't either online or in the IR.
So it was a good opportunity to tidy up my bibliography which I was surprised to find now runs to 4 pages (not to mention the further 8 pages of non-professional material). I know it's been a busy year, but it's interesting to see how it builds up and how one thing leads to another.
(If anyone does have nothing better to do with their lives, get in touch and I can send you the list).
Anyway, as I said, it was very gratifying to think that anyone was actually interested. Anyone that I hadn't battered over the head with the stuff, that is.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
OK, that must be a candidate for the most humiliating moment of my professional career. [1]
I'd been invited by the head of the math department to deliver a lunchtime seminar to all the academics and researchers in the department about journal access - which is never straightforward at the best of times.
I'd been quite apprehensive about the thing for a few days before as it's always difficult to know what to include and what they know (or more generally don't know) without feeling as if you're patronizing them.
Anyway, it was all going as well as I might expect until about half way through I was demonstrating an ebook collection and asked the audience for a suggestion of what to search for. "Popular math" came the response from one of the few lecturers in the room I knew reasonably well.
OK, fine. I dutifully type in a nice search term in quotes "popular mathamatics" and realized immediately I'd spelt it wrong. Now of course I'd normally be happy enough to pass it off as a typo, move on, no problems. But for some reaons I'm still not sure of, the stress of it all hit me and my mind just froze. I couldn't see how to correct it, I knew it was wrong, and I couldn't just choose a new search term.
A kindly researcher in the front row put me out of my misery and spelt it for me and they seemed very patient with the incident. But aside from the humiliation, I can't help but think that they must question my competence at quite a fundamental level! Ah well. Nothing I can do now.
[1] Of my non-professional career it might have been when I was driving a cab and was reversing in the dark. My passengers asked if I'd seen the street light which I thought I had (a different one) just before I hit the one they'd seen.
I'd been invited by the head of the math department to deliver a lunchtime seminar to all the academics and researchers in the department about journal access - which is never straightforward at the best of times.
I'd been quite apprehensive about the thing for a few days before as it's always difficult to know what to include and what they know (or more generally don't know) without feeling as if you're patronizing them.
Anyway, it was all going as well as I might expect until about half way through I was demonstrating an ebook collection and asked the audience for a suggestion of what to search for. "Popular math" came the response from one of the few lecturers in the room I knew reasonably well.
OK, fine. I dutifully type in a nice search term in quotes "popular mathamatics" and realized immediately I'd spelt it wrong. Now of course I'd normally be happy enough to pass it off as a typo, move on, no problems. But for some reaons I'm still not sure of, the stress of it all hit me and my mind just froze. I couldn't see how to correct it, I knew it was wrong, and I couldn't just choose a new search term.
A kindly researcher in the front row put me out of my misery and spelt it for me and they seemed very patient with the incident. But aside from the humiliation, I can't help but think that they must question my competence at quite a fundamental level! Ah well. Nothing I can do now.
[1] Of my non-professional career it might have been when I was driving a cab and was reversing in the dark. My passengers asked if I'd seen the street light which I thought I had (a different one) just before I hit the one they'd seen.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Our appraisal scheme, I think I mentioned, has been revised. It's now a PDR. Not a 'Professional Development Report' I had to produce to become chartered but a 'Personal Development Review' or something.
It seems to be pretty identical to the old appraisal except for two things:
- there's a more regular (very short) review of goals etc three or four times through the year
- your goals and CPD stuff have to be related to the Library's strategic plan
Hopefully, it will make the PDR less of a once a year paper exercise and more of a relevant document.
As my immediate boss (who was promoted to Head of Library) still hasn't been replaced, she's farmed out three of her six PDRs to her former immediate equivalent. So probably for this year only I have O interviewing me. He was fine, not that different to the Head really. And I still got lots of flak for the fact I do the least amount of teaching amongst my colleagues. The other thing I struggle with is the amount of time spent on, for example, on the *two*, just *two* goals I didn't achieve as opposed to the *18* I did achieve. And I tried to make sure I emphasised how I was struggling with (lack of) assistance while we're still in the middle of this staffing review and haven't replaced some key people who my assistant is filling in for. But it was still my fault.
At least I could counter some of that with the very productive year I've had with regard to publications and conference presentations. Only even that led into a sharp conversation about whether I was focussing my energies on the right thing.
It seems to be pretty identical to the old appraisal except for two things:
- there's a more regular (very short) review of goals etc three or four times through the year
- your goals and CPD stuff have to be related to the Library's strategic plan
Hopefully, it will make the PDR less of a once a year paper exercise and more of a relevant document.
As my immediate boss (who was promoted to Head of Library) still hasn't been replaced, she's farmed out three of her six PDRs to her former immediate equivalent. So probably for this year only I have O interviewing me. He was fine, not that different to the Head really. And I still got lots of flak for the fact I do the least amount of teaching amongst my colleagues. The other thing I struggle with is the amount of time spent on, for example, on the *two*, just *two* goals I didn't achieve as opposed to the *18* I did achieve. And I tried to make sure I emphasised how I was struggling with (lack of) assistance while we're still in the middle of this staffing review and haven't replaced some key people who my assistant is filling in for. But it was still my fault.
At least I could counter some of that with the very productive year I've had with regard to publications and conference presentations. Only even that led into a sharp conversation about whether I was focussing my energies on the right thing.
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