Okay, last night I had one of those dreams that makes you wake up mad! I’m sure you’ve all had them - so you can understand how I started my morning in a bad mood only to read 2 lines on 2 different blogs that set me off!!

#1 - Chad of Library Voice included a quote from Business Week Online: “You’ve heard that MySpace is dangerous for your kids, but what about for your business?”

#2 - LibraryLaw had an interview with Beth Yoke about DOPA in which she says: “I would describe the atmosphere at the hearing as one of fear. So much of the talk was about how there are untold numbers of would-be murders out there just waiting to snare our children via chat rooms and other Internet sites.”

COME ON PEOPLE!!!

The problem is not the Internet and chat rooms and MySpace - the problem is ignorance - which breeds fear.

I thought of a great comparison this morning while I was ranting (in my head) on the train ride to work. In the 1970s there was an incident with a boy named James Dallas Egbert III - do you know what I’m talking about?? James disappeared in 1979 and a private investigator surmised that he had disappeared during a live action session of D&D - assumed dead. Was this true? NO! James was a depressed boy who had disappeared to try and kill himself - did he like D&D? Yes. Did the 2 have anything to do with each other? NO!

One other incident led to mass fear - and that was the suicide of “Bink” Pulling in 1982. Patricia Pulling (Bink’s mother) decided that her son had committed suicide because of a curse that was placed on him in a game of D&D. Pulling started a crusade (an insane crusade if I do say so myself) against game makers and players alike, spreading the word that D&D was the work of the devil and those who played these games worshiped Satan. (side note - The Pulling Report by Michael Stackpole is a fascinating read if you want more info on this topic)

What does this have to do with MySpace? Well, I grew up with my mother telling me that D&D was evil and that only Satan worshippers played D&D. I had no idea that it was a role-playing game - all I knew was that it was evil and not to be talked about. Imagine my surprise when I met my future husband at college and he started talking about playing D&D!!! Why did I grow up with this fear? Because (sorry mom) of my mother’s ignorance on the topic. The media didn’t care what the truth was - they cared about selling a story and it didn’t matter that the stories spread by the private investigator and Patricia Pulling were based solely in fear of the unknown.

This is why our government is trying to pass a silly law banning sites like MySpace in schools and libraries. This is why publications like Business Week are starting their article by mentioning the dangers of MySpace to our children.

The only danger out there is misinformation and lack of education (well the only danger related to this rant). When I was growing up child molesters would pluck kids off of school yards - it’s much harder for a kid to fight against a grown up when they are pulling you to their car than when they’re on the other side of a computer screen. Teach your children to not talk to strangers - use safe words (mine was “bubbles”), explain that these sites are fun, but we don’t share our personal information with people online - or people we don’t know. Sit with your kids while they’re on the computer and show them what’s appropriate and what’s not.

But it’s not just kids - education is required for about 12 years of our lives - but what about after that. What did you learn in grammar school that you still use today? Reading, writing, math - those don’t change (although there are some new rules related to commas since I was in school). But what did you use computers for? Did you use computers? Education should be a constant in our lives - we should always be learning - whether in an organized setting or just by reading a book about a topic you may not know that much about. This is why I work on the board of our township’s night school - I love helping people learn about things they didn’t know much about before.

Fear and ignorance lead to silly laws and crusades against things like games where kids (and adults as most of us geeks know) pretend to be elves and orcs and adventure through some far off land.

MySpace is not evil, it’s an unknown and we need to get out there and show people that there is just as much a chance that the “would-be murders” are living 3 doors down as there is that your child will bump into them on the Internet - banning things from children makes them want to use them more - educating them on the proper use of these things however might just turn out to be the right answer.

Technorati Tags: DOPA, MySpace

So the host I use had a huge server crash - 2 of the sites I have hosted on it are down and have been for over 24 hours. Why am I lucky? Because this site is hosted at the same place - on a different machine!! I did however backup last night and will be doing so again all throughout today as I make changes!!

Yesterday my husband got some great news! He has recently designed a card game (a fun one) and a small game company wants him to send them a copy so they can decide if they want to distribute it. He was also mentioned on a gamer podcast!! I just had to share!

I just realized how long it has been since I’ve written anything. I’m trying to get things organized around the house before I start classes. I’m currently reading The Accidental Systems Librarian. In addition, at work I’m working on a huge project to replace the software we’re using for ILL. So as you can see I’ve been a little busy.

This project I’m working on is so much bigger than I thought it would be when I started - I’m loving it, but it takes up a lot of my time. I find myself solving problems in my dreams - you know it’s big when that starts happening. Last summer I developed an application for our Document Delivery department. They weren’t using any particular software to handle their orders or statistics so it was a fresh start for me - hard, but still easier than replacing something that has been in place for several years. When I completed that the Research and ILL departments wanted something to replace what they use to bill time and keep track of ILL requests. So this summer that’s my project. I have decided to replace 2 applications with one. Right now the ILL department uses one application to bill time and create invoices and another to send out ILL requests to other libraries. This means that there is a ton of duplication going on. Plus, neither application is specifically designed for our type of library.

After at least 6 hours of meetings and 2 months of programming - we thought we were ready to pass the new product on to the ILL and Research departments for testing, so my assistant and I sat down yesterday and went over the entire process and how it will be entered into our database. We left the meeting with a weeks worth of fixes before we can let it go into the testing phase.

As hard as it is to keep track of all of the information we need to keep (both for statistical purposes and to produce an accurate invoice) I’m really learning a lot about the way things are done on the other side of the library. I have no idea how they kept track of everything so accurately without an all in one solution (like I’m building), but they did!

Anyway, I’m still here, reading what everyone else is talking about - but I have one thought on my mind - finish this project!!!

At least that’s what Tom (from Tombrarian) said to me today.

This is completely not library related - but I need to vent - feel free to read on - or not.

Yesterday I went into my basement to do a wash and found that my basement was flooded - not with water from the rain - but with sewage from the power room we have down there. Turns out my 50 year old house has never had the sewage pipes cleaned out - and now my basement is a disaster area. I’ve had 4 different sets of workmen in my house today - the township (here to tell me it’s my responsibility and not theirs), the sewer people (to clean the clog), the cleaning crew (to rip apart my entire basement - walls and everything to sanitize), and a plumber (to rip out the bathroom fixtures so that the cleaning crew can come back and finish their work).

The smell in my house was horrible as you can imagine - and my semi-finished basement has been restored and it’s unfinished original self. This fiasco is going to cost me more than I want to think about to clean and rebuild.

This is how I spent my first day after vacation - not at work - at home with men coming in and out of my house. Oh! And I forgot when I was with workmen #3 my puppy decided to jump up on the couch and climb onto the TV tray I had out and ate my lunch! Can you believe it??!!

Well that was my day - hope you all had better ones.

I’ve heard a few speakers say that you should include your IM information and blog address on your business card - but what about designing your business card to match your blog?

I haven’t ordered this card yet, but my sister gave me a hand designing a new personal (not the one my library gave me) business card.

What do you think?

Last week was my birthday so I had some time off of work and then some time catching up at work.

I’m also on the board of directors for our township’s adult education program and we’re desperately trying to build onto our class offerings, but unlike the other area night schools, ours is not supported by the school district. So I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to come up with class ideas and finding local businesses we can contact.

Lastly, I was working on moving the LITA National Forum Wiki over to Wetpaint. I’ll be honest, for a few days I was worried I had made the wrong decision. My first shock was that Wetpaint didn’t allow me to see the code for my page. I emailed my contact and he said they wanted to make the site accessible to everyone - which I’m totally for - but I responded by reminding him that almost every WYSIWYG editor I’ve ever used allows you to see the code so that you can troubleshoot. The next shock was that there wasn’t any functionality to add a table - and without the ability to see the code you’re stuck with what you’ve got. So I emailed again and learned that tables will be available within the next couple of weeks.

Despite these two problems, Wetpaint has some interesting functionality. First (although I haven’t tested this out) it has structure. What do I mean? Well, I mention in my article about our Intranet that I wrote our wiki software myself because I wanted to be able to have an organizational structure - this page goes under this page - an understandable site map. Well Wetpaint has that. It also has a menu to all of the pages so that you don’t have to rely on links from one page to another.

So, my first thoughts were “Oh no! What have I done?!” but now I’m going to stick with it. And next time I’ll make sure to play with the product beofre I accept a tempting offer to move everything. There is a ton of potential there - and remember it’s much newer than the other sites out there so it’s still growing.

Please update your links/bookmarks and if you’re attending the conference I hope you participate in this wiki, it will really help a lot of new people who will be attending the conference.

Technorati Tags: lita2006, lita06

I had a nice day on the beach yesterday (even if I am a bit burnt). My in-laws were reading “beach books” but I was happily reading The Accidental Library Manager. I’m such a geek - I was so happy when the book arrived in time for my vacation that I did a little happy hop

I am about 1/3 of the way through the book - I will write more about it as I finish the book. What I can say now is that this is the second book by Rachel Singer Gordon that I’ve read and I really like her writing style - she always makes me want to go out and do something!

Ii’m heading the beach today and may not be able to find a wireless connection - so - I may be disconnected for a while. If you leave a comment, it will be blocked as spam, but I will approve it when I get back next week. Enjoy your weekend!

I sent about an hour yesterday reading through the class descriptions - and I want to take so many of the classes - I have no idea how to choose! I want to learn more about cataloging, so that I can make educated arguments regarding the choices that are out there. I’m also interested in taking some of the admin classes. Then there are the obvious choices like Database Management - but I’m worried it will end up being a review for me. I can’t wait to set up a meeting with an advisor so that I can start to make some decisions.

My plan is to take 3 classes a term - that will get me my degree in 1 year! It will be a crazy year. Some people have contacted me to let me know that they hope I don’t stop writing when I start school - I don’t plan on stopping - but I’m sure it will slow down!!

Thanks for all of your kind words! I’ll keep you all posted.

I got my acceptance letter yesterday! I am going to Drexel University for my Masters in Library and Information Science starting in September! Now it’s time to hunt for all available money.

Meredith had a long post a couple of weeks ago that I saved to read when I had time - apparently I’ve been busy. I just finished reading it and I couldn’t help thinking “She’s talking about me”! While I did not (and do not) suffer from fear when participating in public speaking (my fear came when I had to have a conversation with someone new) - everything else was right on the money.

[Meredith] never believed that any of her ideas or insights were worth much. Meredith never felt like she fit anywhere. She had friends, but, because she didn't think she had much to offer, she was uncomfortable among crowds and was scared of meeting new people. As a result, she avoided parties and didn't join any groups in college.

I have been attending Computers in Libraries for 3 of the last 5 years and I was lucky enough to attend Internet Librarian last year. At all of those conferences I kept to myself, talking to the few people who sat next to me in sessions (if they talked first) but never making a connection. I attended one dine around and let everyone around me talk - only jumping in when asked. Then after Internet Librarian 2005 I decide to start What I Learned Today… I thought it would help me keep up with all of the great new tools I was reading about - and like Meredith I figured, what’s the worst that can happen? No one will read what I write (I should mention here that I started off as a Creative Writing Major in college - and a few teachers sort of ruined writing for me - so I switched to Literature - and then added Computer Programming). But people did read - and responded and quoted and linked to me - and then when I went to Computers in Libraries this year I was determined to throw myself out there and see what happened.

I had people coming up to me and asking where they knew my name from - I got to talk to people I had been watching at these conferences for the last 5 years (never approaching them) - and most importantly - I had fun!!! So much fun that I can’t wait for October so I can see everyone again at Internet Librarian - where I will be presenting at my first national conference.

So Meredith, you’re right, you’re not the only one out there with doubts. Thanks for sharing - it’s great to learn that someone so confident in writing has fears not too unlike my own.

I am on leave from work for 2 weeks. My mom is coming to stay while she recovers from surgery (nothing serious). So now that I finally caught up after CIL I’m going to fall behind again. Just a little warning

This makes me happy! I’m house hunting and I don’t know the area we want to move to very well so I like that I can see my results on a map. The problem is that there aren’t a lot of listings yet.

Search Google for “real estate” and you’ll see a search box in your results to search Google Real Estate.

Thanks B2Day for pointing this out - and for telling me the one drawback:

It appears that all the listings come from Google Base, rather than from other Websites.

Hopefully they’ll pull results from other real estate databases down the road - that would be super handy!

Due to my limited internet access last week and my busy writing this weekend I have over 1500 posts to read in Bloglines - Yikes! I’m hoping a lot of those are conference summaries of sessions I attended Anyway … I’m off to read and catch up.

Our Internet decided to go down this weekend - talk about withdrawal!! I was able to get things to work if the computer is hooked directly into the modem - but our wireless router seems to be on the fritz (it was free - you get what you pay for) - so my laptop is useless and I have to use my husband’s computer - which right now is my old computer with his hard drive in it because his computer died last week - Geeze!!!

Anyway, just a little (poorly punctuated) rant from an Internet starved Internet junkie.

This weekend my husband and I are going back to our alma mater, Juniata College, to participate in a career event on campus. It has been almost 5 years since we’ve been back so we’re excited! If I’m quite it’s because I couldn’t find wireless in the hotel we’re staying at - but I’ll be back on Monday!

That’s right folks, I’ve decided to take the plunge and get my MLS. It’s been a while since I’ve been in school - so this should be an interesting step and huge adjustment for me.

Back in December I posted about not being a librarian - but after reading through the comments and doing a little research I have decided that getting my MLS is a step I want to take. So I’ve started the application process and the hunt for money. For those of you who have recently gone through this process, feel free to share any resources you may have to make this easier for me

I have been rushing to get my article about our Intranet redesign project done before my deadline - sorry I haven’t been posting much - but I really want this article to be great so that it can help the rest of you out there design collaborative Intranets like ours.

I just read about Simply Hired - Dog Friendly. It lets you search for jobs at places that will allow dogs in the office! How great is that? Of course, I doubt that there are any libraries on the list … but it’s still a nice idea!

I’m presenting for GPLLA (Greater Philadelphia Law Library Association) right here at work next month. You can learn more about it on our Jenkins News page. I’ll be showing local law librarians how to find, keep up with, and start their own blogs - should be a fun afternoon.

Today I got a new keyboard. I’ve been using the same ergonomic keyboard for ages now - since college - so when I got some money for Christmas I decided to splurge!

I bought the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 - and it is so pretty!

I just unpacked it and needed to write something to try it out So I thought I’d let you all know about it. The keys are still a bit tight and a few of them are in different places - but for the most part I am very pleased.

There are 2 very handy resources I need to tell you about. One I’ve known about for a while and one I just found today.

Ever get annoyed with those automated systems where you have to hit a hundred different numbers before you get a person? Well this IVR Cheat Sheet from Paul English will solve all of your problems. It includes the shortcuts to getting a person on the phone at over 250 companies!!

Now - what if you don’t know the 800 number to get in touch with the company? Well you can use the Hard to Find 800 Numbers guide. Top hard to find numbers include: Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo.

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Steven Cohen frequently mentions how unorganized he is - well maybe this nifty tool would help - ReminderFeed.

ReminderFeed is a FREE reminder service tool that works through your feed reader. Simply fill out the form below, then add the RSS Link to your feed reader. It’s that simple!

What I’d like to see is a way to add multiple reminders easily - right now it’s just one reminder - or a reminder for something that re-occurs everyday.