Last problems

I'm still working on the web page. I could not get the external style sheet to publish, but, during the chat and with some advice of Dr. Tomer, it published. NOw I need to fiddle with it a bit for formatting. Back to work.

Still working on web page

I'm down to the last few items on the web page. Unfortunately, some of my earlier successes have disappeared, so I'm trying again. Sigh. But I'm enjoying the process. Hope I get it all done by tomorrow. Took a break to see the poor, ignored garden. I'm happy to see many varieties of tomatoes have appeared, including an heirloom one that is pink striped. That should be interesting to serve.

Tying up loose ends

Here as we approach the end of the term, I'm working on the last Thoreau assignment and trying to tie up loose ends from other assignments. I'm having problems with stuff disappearing from the web page, but there are some clues as to how to fix this on the discussion board. I'm busy tomorrow with the Ida Tarbell house reception - an historic home that the Historical Society is helping to restore. I've been cleaning it (when I don't have time to clean my own house!). Also looking for jobs is on the horizen.

Web page

I'm still working on the web page. I managed to get all the photo links up. I might have done this in a way that is not acceptable, but I just made a new blog and kept copied all the photos to it. That way, the links will probably keep reloading when requested (if I understood the discussion board correctly). I am concerned about copyright, so I tried to use photos where the website said they granted permission for use, or I used my own photos (my own cat, for example) and for two libraries, I used their masthead. Is that a problem? I guess I should query the discussion board. On to other papers.

Web site styles

I'm interested to see the details for this assignment. I would like to be able to reproduce a vintage look for texts on a website. I'm still working on the widget and other aspects, but they should be up soon.

Still working on that website...

I'm trying to get all the pieces of the web assignment in this week. Running a little behind on Sunday's parts, but hopefully will get caught up tomorrow. Things seem to be speeding up here at the end, but I think I'll get it all done. I've certainly learned a ton in the past ten weeks. HOpefully I'll have lots of applications for this stuff later.

Interesting weekend

Well, I only attended the non fast-track session for 2600, but it was informative and fun to meet some of the folks in the class. Of course, after being up half the night with the baby, poor Dr. Tomer probably was subjected to some very heavy eyelids on my part, but I was writing notes and trying to take in all I could regardless of fatigue. I'm back to the webpage work tonight, but I've got another paper to work on and a major project as well, plus the kids, so I'll have to do it in bits and pieces.

Finally got my Koha project done

Well, I had to keep logging in and out and trying over and over at different times of the day, but I finally got my books cataloged in Koha. It is a neat system when it works. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why it stalls out. I followed the same steps each time. Sometimes it would works; sometimes it would not. I tried to catalog some works in Russian and they never had all the required fields filled in, so that is something to keep in mind when trying to use this for foreign-language works. Here is my list:

Revelations from the Russian archives :		BK		Reserves
	Some materials for the study of the historical geography of Russia of the 18th and early 19th centuries in the archives and libraries of Moscow and St. Petersburg /	Kabuzan, V. M.	BK		Reserves
	Guide to documents and manuscripts in the United Kingdom relating to Russia and the Soviet Union /	Hartley, Janet M.	BK		Reserves
	Beyond glasnost :	Goldfarb, Jeffrey C.	BK		Reserves
	From glasnost to freedom of speech :	Benn, David Wedgwood,	BK		Reserves
	Mikhail and the multiplying media /	Ganley, Gladys D.	BK		Reserves
	Gorbachev's glasnost :	Gibbs, Joseph,	BK		Reserves
	Years of change :	Simes, Natasha.	BK		Reserves
	Adopting in Russia :	O'Rear, Irina Mikhailovna.	BK		Reserves
	Information dissemination and access in Russia and Eastern Europe :		BK		Reserves
	Russian libraries in transition :		BK		Reserves
	Reading the Russian language;	Kent, Rosalind.	BK		Reserves
	Russia and the information revolution /	Peterson, D. J.	BK		Reserves
	Civil society and the search for justice in Russia /		BK		Reserves
	From perestroika to privatisation :	Cox, Terry,	BK		Reserves
	Russian society in transition /		BK		Reserves

Koha seems to be different every time I log in. Perhaps my settings are creating problems? I cannot even log in in the most recent attempts. I do have one book added to the Koha collection, but I cannot get it on my shelf, even after attempting it a couple of different ways. Sigh.

Koha

Well, the web page is up, but Koha is most uncooperative today. I am having a lot of fun digging around in the LC catalog. I usually get lost there for quite some time before I emerge from my virtual trip to the stacks, but, unfortunately, I am discouraged by the server error that is disallowing my attempts to catalog books to Koha. I'll check back again later, but time is getting quite short.

Kompozer

Well, I'm struggling with the first little webpage assignment. I have used a template before to produce a finding aid that was written with EAD, but I'm not as familiar with HTML coding. I think I can figure out the program to simply let it insert the code, but right now I'm just looking around the site.

Moving on to Koha and Kompozer

Well, I'm just starting into the Koha and Kompozer assignments. I hope to spend a good bit of time on them Sunday. I am looking forward to the web page assignment. I want to try to find out as much as I can about how to build one, especially whether or not it is possible to have a database that is accessible from remote users. I'm not sure where to begin, but I did tag a number of articles on remote database access for a previous assignment. After I build the basic website, I'll look at them.

Happy Fourth

Just had a nice meal with friends outside despite drizzle and a bit of a cool evening for the fourth. It was nice to compare gardens with our friends and slow down for a bit. Back to Pittsburgh tomorrow for doctor's appointments and work. I'm trying to get Skype going again, since a sister is traveling and can be accessed that way through her computer. I am getting my headphones and webcam set up in case our class decides to use it. All for now.

Grant is in

Hey, the grant is in. It is a great feeling to finish something like that. Hope we get good news. I'm working on my Bloglines/Grazr assignment now. It is so nice to have help from the other students on the discussion board. It really helps.

Grant-writing blues

Well, I'm slogging through another grant proposal. Actually, this is the third of four for the same project (indexing an historical local newspaper), so it is a breeze compared to the others. I'd just rather be doing my other homework or garage sale hopping! The two-year old wants to go to "sales" too! The indexing is interesting. We are doing a grant for "traditional," that is, people driven indexing. However, I want to create a database that is accessible from remote users, so that the indexing process can occur in more than one place. In addition, the controlled vocabulary for subject terminology will be created ahead of indexing, so the indexers will choose from the available terms instead of having to create them. They will be able to suggest new terms and also to directly input corporate bodies or names. Eventually we want this to be a database of several regional papers maintained by an appropriate body interested in regional history. ("We" here is the Titusville Historical Society). Yes, digitization of the paper is coming soon, but an index will help more people to find what they want for subject searches. OCR for historic fonts is much better now, but it still yields multiple false hits, even on name searches. The average person does not want to slog through large numbers of false hits. We hope to integrate new and old technology by linking digitized or scanned texts, such as obituaries, to indexed entries. Each newspaper article is indexed by subject, but listed by article title under the subject.

Blogging tags and petting zoo

Well, you missed a real show if you did not drive through historic Titusville today. Our local library hosted a petting zoo and it caused a real traffic jam on Franklin. It actually is a lot of fun and my kids enjoy the hands-on experience. Meanwhile I'm trying to go back and tag my blog entries in order to make the ZoomCloud work. I am not enrolled in LIS 2000, so I'll have to find another 2 sources for my cloud(s)?, though I did do 25 Connotea tags for an earlier assignment. Perhaps I'll just add 25 more and use that one like the rest of the class. HOpe that's ok.

World Digital Library

Here is another look at the World Digital LIbrary Initiative

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World Digital Library

The Library of Congress and the National Library of Russia came to an agreement about the formation of a World Digital Library. Here is an early article on this in Russian. There are others in English on the LOC homepage.

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National Digital Library of China

This is a fascinating website. So much is now available, even in English, to the historian and/or researcher.

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Working on Zotero

I'm working with Zotero more today and trying to learn all the possible utilities. I want to be able to find a bib program that can handle alternate scripts, so I'll play around with that today. Happily, most of my garden is in, so I don't have to dash out to the yard today like the last couple of days. Already, the garden is late, but, perhaps we'll have some sunflowers yet. Tomatoes went in a couple of weeks ago.

Creating a custom search engine

I was excited to create a custom search engine that allows for
quick updates on news concerning Russian archives and libraries. What
really struck me as useful was the process of deciding which web sites
would be most helpful. Of course, I included major archival and
library sites, but I also added sites such as PBS and NPR, which often
do pieces on the changes in Russia since 1991. The searches I've done
using "Russian archives," for example, are very fruitful. I also took
the opportunity to re-discover some of the English-language newspaper
sites that monitor daily events in Russia. Overall, I'm very happy
with this tool and will be using it on a regular basis. Check it out!



Russian Library and Archive Information

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Neat bookstore

While checking out some of the online magazine searches available via online libraries, I found an article on collector books that might appeal to library types. The frustrating thing about these sites is the constant disruption of the flow of information - one is constantly prompted to join this or that and the ads at the top, side and bottom of the pages distracts as well. On the other hand, some information will be available through these sites that a conventional library just won't have. Enjoy the book site.



Collector Books Library Bookwatch - Find Articles

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Libraries and tagging

I've been reading a lot of the articles I'm tagging about social tagging. The implications for libraries are pretty interesting. As a person who prefers a systematic approach to indexing, I was first unsure as to how the tagging would work. It seems so haphazard. But, after reading through many articles, I can see how tagging would be useful, especially in a collaborative research setting or to locate kindred spirits in the research world. (Please, forgive my constant referrals to Cyrillic and Russian libraries, but that is my research area). Especially when looking at Russian-language sites and who tagged them, how they were tagged in other languages, it was very interesting to find the large internet world suddenly became smaller and created a kind of community in which I could participate.

Interesting article on metasearching

(Meta)search Like Google - 2/15/2007 - Library Journal

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I've been having trouble with Scribefire...

I've been posting the same information over and over, trying to get it to link properly, but finally got the info I needed. Thanks.

Neat website for Russian library

Try this site for a neat overview of Russian digital efforts (in English and links to Russian too).



National Library of Russia

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Russian National Library Site

I love this website. It has links to Russian digital library holdings in English and in Russian.

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Photos of Romanovs on a Russian Archives Site - in English

It seems everyone enjoys the history of the Romanovs, especially the mysteries surrounding their tragic demise. Here is a site with some interesting photos and a little history.

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Russian Digital Library site

This is a neat site with links to many electronic texts.It uses the term "digital libraries" on the page. Even if you cannot read the words, you can see the similar structure to American websites, with sponsors, email links, feeds, and hyperlinks to texts.

Русская виртуальная библиотека / Russian Virtual Library


I'm still not getting the links quite right, but getting better.

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Using add-ons

I've been trying to use some of the add-ons to add to my blog, but am still struggling with some of the technical details. In the meantime, I stumbled onto a Firefox extension to toggle to Cyrillic keyboard. I downloaded it and it has made googling so productive for Russian-language sites. I am able to access far more information, particularly bibliographic information, for my research topics than I have been able to through sites that require transliteration. It is amazing what resources has popped up in the last few years in Russian that just were not there before. The library links are really developing, including a lot of digital libraries. I'm appreciating this opportunity to explore the technology.

Looking into Skype

I was excited about all the possibilities of using Skype. I am wondering how it will work for an international hookup? I'd love to see my friends and colleagues in Russia as we spoke. I'll have to check that out when my webcam arrives.

Digital cameras and technology

I've spent the better part of the evening looking for the company that gives the best prices on a Nikon D200. I've enlisted the help of complete strangers in their reviews on these companies and I've entered a cohort of fellow photographers, specifically Nikon lovers (there does seem to be a divide between Nikon and Canon users that is irreconcilable). Though I do not know these people, I have more in common with them than I do my physical neighbors up and down this street I chose to live on. Once I receive this camera, it will allow me to create historical montages in a faster and more efficient way than I have been able to with film cameras. As I downloaded the many links required for the first two weeks in this course, I am struck with how much all of this technology is about building new communities. I liked the many comments on discussion board about how some libraries may exist or do exist only in cyberspace. The virtual librarian is here. And the tension I feel within myself about moving to a digital camera is similar to that I experience with each new technological acquisition. I love being able to access Russian archives from here. Compared to getting funding, flying, visa woes.... it is great! But, there is nothing so educational as sitting in those archives for months, being cold, hungry and watching the politics of the day unfold. I was in Russia in August of 1991 and I cannot ever replace the reality of that experience and its importance in my political cognizance. Well, I'm repeating myself at this point. So I'll sign off.

I was interested to see how MySpace.com is allowing for a new kind of history to be maintained. This particular article was on the postings of soldiers in Iraq who died. The online entries serve as a new kind of document. This, I suppose, makes MySpace an archive of sorts, though questions of organization and access of and to this information arises. How will librarians and archivists of the future create links to this type of information? How do we teach researchers to use this type of information? Open forums have always been difficult to evaluate. Like nineteenth-century letters and diaries, these online postings reflect what the writer wanted to portray about him/herself and the situation he or she lived in. Individually they are tributes; collectively they can create a history of sorts, but one that might tell us more about self-perception than about actual events.

New to Blogging

This is my first blog post. I'm new to the technology, but am excited about the opportunity to create. I'm not in the fast-track cohort, but am joining you as a student who normally is on campus at Pittsburgh. I'm happy for this opportunity, since I commute two hours, have a three-month old daughter and a two-year old daughter and other work obligations. So the busy life theme I've seen here resonates. I have a past life as a Russian History professor, but, with small children, no longer teach full time and am taking the opportunity to add skills to my resume with this program. I'm interested in the philosophy of archives, helping local organizations to take care of their historical documents, and helping them to create history.