BiblioTech Web

Adding to the confusion regarding copyright, but certainly increasing accessibility for consumers, YouTube has partnered with MGM to provide full-length movies on their site. This will also include episodes of TV shows produced by MGM and will supplement a similar deal already announced last month with CBS.

We all know that the world of librarianship is changing. One of the most noticeable ways this is reflected is in our job titles.

This morning I found a website that lists actual job titles of librarians. These are titles that have been posted on job lists or submitted by employed librarians. The site is called Real Job Titles for Library and Information Science Professionals.

If your job is changing, you can use this site to get ideas for an appropriate job title. You can also check to see if your title is listed. If it’s not, there’s a link to submit that title via email to Michelle Mach, who has done such a wonderful job of assembling and organizing the list.

Barbara Fister recently posted an article on the ACRLog that was called Creepy Treehouse. It discusses an interesting concept that’s being used in the technological realms to describe a certain type of technology use/setting.

A creepy treehouse is a place built by scheming adults to lure in kids. Kids tend to sense there’s something creepy about that treehouse and avoid it. Hence, a new definition: “Any institutionally-created, operated, or controlled environment in which participants are lured in either by mimicking pre-existing open or naturally formed environments, or by force, through a system of punishments or rewards.”

It’s an interesting take on that vaguely unsettled response we sometimes get from students when we try to be too cool, try too hard to seem fun and playful, when we make familiar toys unpalatably “educational.” Setting up an outpost in an attractive playspace with an ulterior motive is just . . . creepy.

Please visit the ACRLog and read her full article. It’s quite insightful and applicable in today’s “Library 2.0″ environment.

At Butler University, we’re changing how we present Reference Services. For the last couple of years, we’ve had a “Reference Team” and shared responsibilities for the department and services. Professional librarians have staffed the desk from 10am to 10pm. As of this fall, we’ll be staffing the desk with a part-time librarian and a few student employees for the daytime hours, but keeping the librarians on during the evening hours. There will be an “on call” schedule where librarians make themselves available during their time, so if there is a question that the person staffing the desk cannot answer, they have a resource to check with.

This is probably not the final stage, but an experimentation in the works. I’ll try to write more about it as we implement this style of Reference Services, to discuss what’s working or not working.

I don’t know how this slipped by me unnoticed for so long, but I just yesterday read Chad Boeninger’s post on Library Voice about the Meebo plugin for Pidgin (used to be GAIM). It’s the answer to our Reference Desk dilemma! Let me explain.

Last fall we implemented Meebo in a test mode as it were, to get the functionality of widgets on our web pages. One of the strengths of Meebo is their MeeboMe widget, which puts an IM window right on your web page, interfacing with the instant messenger at your own computer (in this case, at our Reference Desk). The drawback of Meebo is that it’s web based (a good thing), requiring you to always have a browser window open and dedicated to Meebo (a bad thing). If you’re on another tab in your browser, the only notification was the other tab’s favicon blinking, which is small and easy to miss.

Enter Pidgin. It’s a new and slightly improved version of GAIM, which is what we used at the Reference Desk before Meebo because it allowed us to connect with multiple IM accounts from one interface. And it’s open source.

With this Meebo plugin for Pidgin, you can just use Pidgin the way you normally would (complete with background running when minimized and popups when new messages come in) and still connect with your MeeboMe widgets. It’s the best of both worlds! I’ve tried it at our Reference Desk and on my personal computers and it works great!

As Chad put it, MeeboMe and Pidgin is like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups — two great tastes that taste great together!

Thanks, Chad!

Today I did a presentation at the ILF Annual Conference. It was about using Excel to track Reference statistics (and getting rid of the traditional clipboard). Attendees asked for the code to be made available online so they could copy and paste it rather than retyping all of it and risking mistyping one symbol and having it not work.

So here is the code. Right off my handouts. I welcome any questions you may have.

Reference Macro
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Worksheets("Transactions").Activate
ActiveSheet.Range("a1").End(xlDown).Offset(1, 0).Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = Date
ActiveCell.Offset(rowoffset:=0, columnoffset:=1).Activate
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = Time
ActiveCell.Value = ActiveCell.Value - Int(ActiveCell.Value)
ActiveCell.Offset(rowoffset:=0, columnoffset:=1).Activate
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "1"
Application.CutCopyMode = False
ActiveSheet.Range("a1").Select
Worksheets("Main").Activate
response = MsgBox("Reference Transaction Logged", 64, "Thank you")
ActiveWorkbook.Save
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

General Macro
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Worksheets("Transactions").Activate
ActiveSheet.Range("a1").End(xlDown).Offset(1, 0).Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = Date
ActiveCell.Offset(rowOffset:=0, columnOffset:=1).Activate
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = Time
ActiveCell.Value = ActiveCell.Value - Int(ActiveCell.Value)
ActiveCell.Offset(rowOffset:=0, columnOffset:=1).Activate
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "1"
Application.CutCopyMode = False
ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Select
Worksheets("General").Activate
ActiveSheet.Range("a1").End(xlDown).Offset(1, 0).Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = Date
ActiveCell.Offset(rowOffset:=0, columnOffset:=1).Activate
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "1"
Application.CutCopyMode = False
ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Select
Worksheets("MAIN").Activate
Response = MsgBox("Email Reference Transaction Logged", 64, "Thank you")
ActiveWorkbook.Save
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

Data Collection Code for 8:00 hour, first column
=SUM(IF(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$3"):INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$"&COUNTA(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$A:$A")))>=0.333, IF(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$3"):INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$"&COUNTA(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$A:$A")))<0.375, IF(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!C$3"):INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!C$"&COUNTA(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$A:$A")))=1,1,0))))

Data Collection Code for 9:00 hour, first column
=SUM(IF(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$3"):INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$"&COUNTA(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$A:$A")))>=0.375, IF(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$3"):INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$"&COUNTA(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$A:$A")))<0.416, IF(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!C$3"):INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!C$"&COUNTA(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$A:$A")))=1,1,0))))

Data Collection Code for 8:00 hour, second column
=SUM(IF(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$3"):INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$"&COUNTA(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$A:$A")))>=0.333, IF(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$3"):INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$B$"&COUNTA(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$A:$A")))<0.375, IF(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!D$3"):INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!D$"&COUNTA(INDIRECT("'"&$H$1&"'!$A:$A")))=1,1,0))))

Averages Code for 8:00 hour, first column
=Totals!B3/IF(OR(LEFT($H$1,2)="01",LEFT($H$1,2)="03",LEFT($H$1,2)="05",LEFT($H$1,2)="07",LEFT($H$1,2)="08",LEFT($H$1,2)="10",LEFT($H$1,2)="12"),31,IF(LEFT($H$1,2)="02",28,30))

Averages Code for 9:00 hour, first column
=Totals!B4/IF(OR(LEFT($H$1,2)="01",LEFT($H$1,2)="03",LEFT($H$1,2)="05",LEFT($H$1,2)="07",LEFT($H$1,2)="08",LEFT($H$1,2)="10",LEFT($H$1,2)="12"),31,IF(LEFT($H$1,2)="02",28,30))

Averages Code for 8:00 hour, second column
=Totals!C3/IF(OR(LEFT($H$1,2)="01",LEFT($H$1,2)="03",LEFT($H$1,2)="05",LEFT($H$1,2)="07",LEFT($H$1,2)="08",LEFT($H$1,2)="10",LEFT($H$1,2)="12"),31,IF(LEFT($H$1,2)="02",28,30))

Formula for Title of Totals Page (cell A1)
="TOTAL REFERENCE TRANSACTIONS for "&TEXT(H1,"mmm yyyy")