Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with library

Looking for an App or program to record time/task details.

aetg — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:08:30 -0800

I am starting a new job in the fall and I'm looking for something to record how much time I spend on different tasks. I will be a librarian and supervising four different buildings, so I need to be able to keep track of similar tasks such as shelving, cataloging, etc per building. I've looked at some of the past questions about time/task management, but I'm not specifically looking for something to pop up on my desktop, I'm fine with opening and entering it in.

I suppose I could do this via a spreadsheet in iCal or Google Docs, but I'd prefer something pre-made.

Any other time-to-task tips for a school librarian would be helpful. I've been a librarian in a school for years, but always with a fixed schedule. This is the first time I've been both supervising others and with a flexible schedule for myself. I'd like to be able to see how much time I spend on different activities.

In short, I want a way to record my work activities that will allow me to create graphs based on both building and activity, sometimes separately, sometimes together.

help me manage a hybrid library?

idlethink — Sat, 11 May 2013 09:35:17 -0800

After years of academia & the endemic rootlessness that comes with it, I have finally gotten myself a Permanent Job (yay!!) which means, among many things, that I can finally consolidate my book diaspora into one place. I've a huge number of books which are both physical and digital. Here's the problem: I want my library space to reflect both. Any suggestions? Details below. I think of books not just as repositories of information, but physical souvenirs of both the past and future: things I plan to or need to read, and things I have read. I'm planning to implement a full Library of Congress cataloguing system in my office/permanent home, and I want to have some kind of physical thing which can stand for a book which I own virtually. I love James Bridle's idea of the Bookcube, but it's too flimsy. The principle is the same though: I want a visual reminder of my virtual library that can be integrated with my physical library. The thing in question should be cheap, sturdy but light, hopefully not ugly. Maybe book-shaped, but not necessarily, and certainly should be much thinner than an actual book, for space purposes. I should be able to put a label on it, and perhaps a post-it note or two. And it should be something I can get hold of easily, or made of something very common, so that it's at least easily replicable. I would love any thoughts, any ideas about what thing I should use, any further suggestions about the whole system in general! Many thanks in advance.

Filtering tools for the scientific literature?

pombe — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:45:53 -0800

I'm a research scientist (in biology, focused on microscopy), and I'm looking for new tools that will point me towards relevant research papers. I've been playing around with Readcube and its recommend feature, which looks good, as does Google Scholar's 'updates', and I have various journals send me their table of contents, but I feel like there must be better tools out there to point me towards new research that I should know about. Particularly with the ever increasing number of papers being published in journals like PLOS One, I'd like to find a better way to pull out the few that are relevant to me from the torrent of new data being published. It seems like there must be novel tools to do this out there, but what are they? I run a core research laboratory for the university and so I'd like to be kept up to date on new techniques and new methods. Also welcome are tools for organizing papers. I use Zotero right now and have been playing with Readcube, but other suggestions are welcome.

Low-budget DIY microfiche scanning?

naturalog — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:32:56 -0800

In the next day or two, I'll be getting some microfiche via ILL for an academic project. Ideally, I'd be able to digitize portions (50-100pp, probably) of them for future use in a way more efficient (and cheaper...) than printing out paper copies and scanning them. I have a Nikon D80 with a 50mm f/1.8 and a 105mm f/2.8 (I think) and a tripod, an iPad 3, a MacBook Pro, and a grad student budget. My campus has photocopiers that are also flatbed scanners; I'd be able to use one for an extended period of time if necessary. Any suggestions about the best ways to do this?

Hole punched letters?

Sreiny — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:23:17 -0800

Hello all, I'm looking for the name of the tool that would be used to punch letters into paper. Example 1
Example 2

I've mainly seen these in library books, but have also seen them with passports.

Passport Example

In the end, I would like to have one of these made for a client I'm working with, but I'm having difficulty locating this tool. I've checked library supply websites, but nothing so far. Any help? Thanks.

PS—Manually doing so with a single hole punch is not an option.

Moving to SSD, moving iTunes, overthinking beans

Admiral Haddock — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:08:03 -0800

I am adding an SSD as a boot drive in my Mac Pro. I am comfortable installing it, and intend to clone the existing boot drive onto it with SuperDuper! However, I'm confused about how and WHEN to move my documents, iTunes library, etc. in the process. Can you help? I am adding a 512GB SSD as a fifth drive in the Mac Pro using the spare optical bay. Right now, this is the setup:

Drive 1: 640GB Boot drive, with all programs and documents (inc. iTunes, etc.)
Drive 2: 1TB photo drive
Drive 3: 2TB photo drive
Drive 4: Time Machine.

I'm using about 540GB of the current boot drive, of which about 200GB is iTunes, documents, pictures, and videos. Ultimately, I'd like to separate all of those from the SSD boot drive, either locating them on Drive 3, or the current Drive 1 (which will no longer be the boot drive).

I don't know how to proceed though--I don't have enough room on the SSD to do a straight clone without moving those directories, but I know some of them (iTunes library) can't just be moved willy nilly. (I DO want to keep playcounts, etc.) And, again, to complicate things, I probably would ultimately want them to stay where they are (Drive 1) and just move the boot drive and applications to the SSD.

Would it be better to try to take the time to move everything but the iTunes library to another drive (which could theoretically get me below 512GB (yes, I realize it will be smaller once formatted)), and then clone Drive 1 with the iTunes library where it is, and THEN target iTunes back to Drive 1? Maybe I should just dump everything into Drive 3, which has 1.4TB free?

And how do I move the documents and downloads folders?

Bonus Question: I've been backing up to Time Machine (which I know can back up multiple volumes) and to a SuperDuper! clone on an external drive. What's the best way to use SuperDuper now that I'm splitting off the boot drive from all my documents?

Blerg! Thanks!

Closing Songs for a Library?

robocop is bleeding — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:38:25 -0800

I was talking with one of my student employees the other day and it turns out he's a member of one of the college's acapella groups. We thought it would be pretty cool for his group to record a song to be played before the library closes for the night. I can make this happen. What song(s) should they sing? This is a medium sized academic library. We usually close at midnight. It is a hard close (that is, everyone out, doors locked at 12am on the dot) due to the fact that lingering students could mean my staff miss their trains/buses home. Library patrons have already been notified of closing over the PA (and usually in person) multiple times.

Playing a closing song has some added benefit - frees up a staff person from the PA, gives the library some outreach with student groups, sets up a bit of a fun tradition.

Lyrics can be altered (and would probably need to be in some cases - no cursing, etc) to make things library-relevant, so we can remove the references to whiskey and beer from Semisonic's 'Closing Time', plus they can do mashups/medleys of multiple songs. I'd like the track to be around 5 minutes or so, including announcement.

Given those constraints, what songs would you suggest? What lyrics would you alter?

The Transatlantic Librarian

Isingthebodyelectric — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:37:37 -0800

Give me insight, tips, and strategies for transitioning from American to British librarianship. My husband (British citizen) and I (American) currently live in the US, but are considering moving to England. We're not yet sure where we'll be located.

I have an MLIS and nearly 4 years of professional experience as a librarian. I've worked in a research library/archive, a small business school library, and am now employed as a reference/electronic resource librarian at a community college.

Right now my job includes instruction, reference, web development, electronic resource management, library media, programming, and publicity. I do not currently perform cataloging or collection development, but have done so in past positions. Areas of expertise include Humanities (Language, Literature, History, Art), Social Sciences (Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Business), and Culinary Science.

I'm hoping to find employment in an academic library in England. I will not begin applying for jobs until I have a visa (through my husband) and eligibility to work, so I do not need a university to sponsor my visa.

Things I'm already doing/plan on doing:
1. Searching for jobs on LISJobNet.
2. Setting up a couple of informational interviews with academic librarians (probably in London) to ask questions and make contacts.
3. Browsing some university library websites to get a sense of what types of resources are offered to students, and how they're presented.
4. Making sure that my application materials are correctly sized and have the right date & phone number format! :)

But I have so many questions!

1. Do I need to apply for chartership with CILIP? Would that be a prerequisite for being considered for a position?

2. What are some of the key differences between working in this field in the US and UK? In particular, I wondered about: electronic resources, citation styles, research, and instruction. But any insight regarding cultural differences would also be appreciated!

3. Are there any good information sources regarding this type of transition?

4. Would a librarian trained in the US be particularly qualified/desired for any specific type of position?

5. Can you share any anecdotes about working in, or using, academic libraries in both countries?

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

Please help me find a book published in Argentina, now out of print.

ipsative — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:42:25 -0800

Hello dear Mefites. I am looking to buy or borrow this very-hard-to-find book: Ramacciotti, Sandra and Rodil, María Victoria (2006): Economics: Glossary of Metaphorical Usage - Glosario Económico - Financiero Uso Metafórico de Voces. Buenos Aires: Editorial Quorum. I have already contacted the publishing house (Editorial Quorum). Answer: it is out of print and they can't help me out because they don't know if/when a new edition will come out. I am guessing: never.

I have already made an international interlending request at my university, but the book has been on my list of open orders for almost three months.

I think it's time to start looking elsewhere....

Ideally I would like to buy it, as I could really use it to write my thesis. If somebody were to find it in a public or private library somewhere, I would let my the interlending people in my library know about it, so they could attempt to get it for me.

Thank you so much for your help!!!!

Take me to the library ...

bwonder2 — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 08:00:48 -0800

I am working on a short translation and I need to access some already-published texts on the subject of the piece. I've exhausted the libraries in my city, as well as the bookshops and friends, and I want to know if there is some kind of online "library" service where I could post what I was looking for -- copies of specific page numbers in a book, or copies of index or contents pages that I could then follow-up with a request for copies of certain pages. Does such a thing exist? Thank you.

It's a letter. It's a book. It's a floor wax. It's a dessert topping.

Devoidoid — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 07:21:29 -0800

Is there an official term to describe this style of correspondence, essentially a single long letter written in segments over months and years? We're cataloging a piece, actually several, of correspondence. It's all from a single author to a single recipient. The first letter is dated, has a salutation, the pages are numbered 1-4 and there's a signature on p.4. The next letter, however, has a date on its first page, but otherwise simply picks up where it left off with page 5, no greeting or signature. And it goes on like that for over a hundred pages, continuous pagination, only interrupted by the date on which that section was written.

Please tell me there's a word for this!

I know that California is broke, but this is getting ridiculous.

ablazingsaddle — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:16:48 -0800

I have an extra $15.00 tacked onto my library fee. This is apparently a collections agency processing fee. Is there any way to not have to pay this exorbitant processing fee? The LA Public library says that they sic collections agencies on people with fines exceeding $50. The problem? My fine was significantly less than $50, and less than two months old. I'm willing to pay the initial fine - it was my fault that I forgot to return my library books before going out of town - but the added $15 is unfair. And crazy. Oh, and unfair.

Does anyone have experience negotiating with the Los Angeles Public Library? I will also note that I have not received a call from a collections agency, and this fine was charged last Monday.

Software for creating an equipment library

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:55:09 -0800

I'm about to start running a community college multimedia lab, aimed at providing kids with the resources to make videos. I'm looking for software that'll make it (relatively) easy to administer. Specific hopes and dreams inside… I'm about to start running a community college multimedia lab, aimed at providing kids with the resources to make videos. I'm looking for software that'll make it (relatively) easy to administer. Special needs inside…

Looking for advice on software to help run a college multimedia lab. The lab functions as an equipment lending center and computer lab for kids taking the video production courses (or kids in other courses who need to make videos for class).

Right now, the lab has a reasonable amount of equipment, but no way to keep track of it. That means stuff gets lost, it's hard to know what's available, and often kids can't get equipment because no one can find it. I want to change that with a complete inventory and check-out system.

The catch is that because this is an urban community college, we've got pretty much no money. That might improve in the future, but for now, I'm looking for software that'll make this all possible… and will come free-to-cheap.

The easy part of what I'd like to do is:

• Create a document listing all equipment owned by the lab
• Have fields in the document listing whether equipment is checked out or on site
• If on site, it should list where in the lab the equipment is stored
• If checked out, list who checked it out, including their contact info and promised return date
• Said document should live online, accessible to authorized people's smartphones

All that could be done with a Google doc. But here's the fancier things I'd love to do:

• Include high-resolution pictures of all equipment
• Sort and display equipment by type, so students could see what lights we have, what tripods, etc.
• Automatically text or e-mail people who've checked out equipment when their due date is approaching

Finally, I'd love to have an online database of how-to articles, perhaps even a Wiki that students could update as class projects, documenting footage ingestion, equipment procedures, etc. I was thinking I'd do that with this page's advice, but further thoughts are welcome.

So! Does anyone have any thoughts on the best way to do all this? Any advice appreciated, as I'm an experienced video producer, but a total n00b when it comes to library administration.

Stream music from my pc to my android phone over local wireless.

cthuljew — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:30:43 -0800

I want an app that I install on my Droid 3 phone that'll find my computer on my home wireless network and which I can point to my music folder and stream. I've found a couple services that involve setting up local servers, web apps, and what have you. But ES File Explorer can find my Windows PC on my wireless network and transfer files without any hassle, and I want a music player that can do the same basic thing, but present my music as a tagged library, like the default Android music player. The idea here is that I can have my phone in my pocket, and walk around my apartment doing chores or whatever, but still have my entire music library available through my headphones.

I realize this is an absurdly specific request, but I vaguely suspect something like this exists, but is gonna be basically impossible to find via Google. Even a suggestion for a slightly more involved app (as in, one that requires a desktop application or something) is fine if it's elegant and fairly trivial to set up. Thanks, hivemind!

Where can I find this old pamphlet?

mattbucher — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:50:32 -0800

I am looking for a copy of a 1938 pamphlet called "Gratitude" written by Dr. Harry L. James of Chicago. There was a copy on Ebay, but it's sold now. Any chance I could find another copy (or PDF) of this thing? I would also be interested in any other pamphlets or works by Harry L. James. He had an innovative (for the time) method of treating epilepsy via mail. Might his pamphlets be listed in any research databases or is there some way that I could access them through a library database?

To suit or not to suit?

trillian — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 07:32:04 -0800

What to wear to a non-librarian library interview? I've done a little searching and found similar questions, but this is a slightly different situation. I have a job interview tomorrow morning for an admin asst.-type position at the nonprofit foundation that supports the local city library system. It's an office job and doesn't really involve anything "on the floor." My favorite suit doesn't quite fit right now (cue new year's resolution), and I wondered if it might be more appropriate anyway to wear tailored pants, a nice shirt, and a jacket/blazer. (Note: I'm a 30-something woman, and I'm also trying to not appear overqualified.)

Birmingham on Christmas Day: options?

Wordshore — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 15:07:48 -0800

Birmingham, England. Christmas Day. Is *anything* open at all? Looking for places to eat (if possible), and anything to do in terms of entertainment and culture. Ideally near or in the city centre, as public transport will be off and taxi fares exhorbitant. So far, have just got a few chains of Wetherspoon pub, and the occasional corner shop.

Is the demand for digital librarians stable or expanding?

jsturgill — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:12:25 -0800

Is there demand for digital librarians trained in data management, exposing electronic collections, digital archiving, and so on? What credentials are necessary? Could a two-year program have me hit the ground running with a focused, relevant MLIS?

I'm currently an English major in a tech job. I would love to be a librarian, but it has appeared to be a dangerous career choice for most of my life and so I never did pursue it. I'm in a state of flux at the moment and looking for a more fulfilling job than my current one; going back to school for something like this would be a very welcome change, assuming the career prospects were not terrible. Also assuming I could gain entry into a decent program.

Speaking of which, if I did this, where would I want to go to school? What are the costs?

Should I change my career from education to the library field?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:03:45 -0800

I am currently very unhappy in my career (education) and would like to change to a completely different career (librarian). Please advise whether this would be a smart thing to do. I am an assistant professor at a small college with a masters and a doctorate in psychology, and I hate everything about my job--the need to entertain my students in order to get good evaluations, the work on 6-7 committees, and the large amount of administrative work. I'd love to become a librarian in a public library. However, I spent 10+ years in school to get my three degrees and have over $50,000 in debt.

Is it worth it to go into more debt to follow my dream? Are there library jobs out there, or is the library field as bad as the education field? What would I need to do in order to become a librarian? (i.e., Which degree(s) would I need?)

Blind me with science.

deludingmyself — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:24:02 -0800

Help me discover recent 'Best Seller' scientific journal articles to read in 2013. Thanks to a graduate course I'm taking, I just rediscovered "The Hallmarks of Cancer," a fantastic review article published in the journal Cell in 2000. (That's right, it's a scientific article with its own Wikipedia page.) I read this in college in 2003, and it's one of very few papers that stuck with me from my undergrad days. As of 2011, it was also Cell's most-cited article, and so popular that the authors revisited it to put out a sequel to it the same year.

I want to read more papers like this across multiple disciplines. Not necessarily great research, but fantastic "state of the field" review, synthesis, and novel thinking on how all the different pieces come together, and what that might mean going forward. Note: I'm biased towards the life sciences, but interested in other fields, too.

I've seen this thread and a few others, but don't want particular article recommendations or journals to subscribe to, just a methodology for how to find things. I've got a knack for good search strategies when I'm looking for a particular topic or piece of information, but when I'm just seeking "papers that are amazing," I'm not sure how to go about it.

Obviously I could just turn to a publication like Annual Reviews, but I'd like suggestions on other ways to discover fantastic (and ideally fun to read, at least for a huge science nerd) scholarly articles online, regardless of their publication. Are there end of the year "top 10 lists" I'm not aware of? Great indexing sites? Other strategies you use to find good reads that aren't just within one specific sub-discipline? I'm vaguely aware that I might be able to use impact factors to hunt down most-cited papers, but not sure of the best way to go about that. Thoughts?

I'm a remote student, so assume I have excellent database access, but won't be walking into a library.

Bladdered bat book...?

gillyflower — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 06:27:09 -0800

What's this novel? I just got a reference request to identify the book/series that has vampires and "bats with big bladders under their bellies". Vampire books are not my forte. Complete question inside. Help? Question as I received it:

"he is looking for a book with wrymfrees or wrymfries or wrymfres----big bats with big bladders under their bellies; their owners are vampires and humans jump from one parallel to another by using a black hole in the wall. They go out and kill the vampires and bats before they cross over. He knows there are at least 2 books in the series."

Knowing the tastes of this particular library patron, he doesn't normally ask for vampire-related fiction; he's more into Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms and other series fantasy, so it's possible this is less "current vampire fiction" and more "esoteric fantasy from recent past decades". Google searches on the purported name of the bats are yielding dead ends with all creative spellings, and I am loathe to even try to navigate the world of vampire books out there. Any pointers would be helpful--don't feel you need to provide a full bibliographic record!

How can I part with my precious books? No, really.

corb — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 11:29:43 -0800

All my books are assembling in one house. Help me figure out what is a reasonable amount of books to keep, and which books I should stoop. Also, how to emotionally handle letting go of lots and lots of books. I have, quite literally, over 5,000 books. Some of them have been in different apartments and houses, others were in storage. The last time they were all together, I existed with books stuffed everywhere, double stacked, books on top of the bookcase, books on top of the books on top of the bookcase, books on top of wardrobes, and over 10 dedicated floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

I'm bringing them together again, as well as combining my books with my fiance's books. However, he is (reasonably) concerned about books living attractively inside their shelves. Books can live in the office, bedroom, and living room, but that is it.

At the moment, my collection closely resembles a miniature library in terms of depth and breadth -books in terrible shape and books in great shape, books three hundred years old to books bought yesterday.

Many of them I don't read, but what keeps me from getting rid of them is that someday, someone in my household (including kids as they age) might want to read them, and it would be wasteful of me to throw them away. Or we might need to reference them. (Who knows when you'll need a biography of Archibald Grimke! Or a guide to wildflowers of North America! Or to learn to speak Russian!) Also, some of these books I tell myself would be expensive to replace (even paperbacks add up in these quantities), others would be extremely difficult if not impossible. (I legally received some unclassified discards from the NSA library, for example)

Also, I've tried stooping some books, but with the varied interests, they are not all finding good homes, and I have strong moral aversions to throwing away books unless they're truly abysmal.

What is a reasonable amount of books before you become a book-cat-lady, what are good sorting mechanisms, and how do I let go of books, emotionally and logistically?

What's this humorous SF mystery?

exceptinsects — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:30:38 -0800

What's this humorous SF mystery? A library patron is looking for a novel she read a few years ago. She says it was a darkly humorous murder mystery about a detective in space, possibly a mining colony. The victim was a very tall, very ugly woman (possibly a prostitute?), and the killers kept having to move the body to different places outside the space station, hilarity ensuing.

Ring any bells? She thinks it was probably a male author.

Political affiliations of MPs

estlin — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 08:38:24 -0800

Research help: I'm trying to find political affiliations for specific members of the British House of Lords in the 1850s and 1860s. I understand that because Parliament is so much bigger than the US Congress, it's harder to have definitive lists of everyone. I'm just hoping for a roster or something from one of the years in that period that lets me quickly learn whether, say, Lord Colchester is conservative or liberal. As of now, I'm doing a lot of detective work - eg reading through a biography, learning that the person voted against a piece of legislation, looking up that legislation, and only then knowing affiliation.

I'm an American college student and so have access to scholarly resources! Thank you.

I need a way to manage a collection of physical objects online. A digital library!

GilloD — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 20:13:22 -0800

I've been put in charge of a small catalog of games, books and other knick knacks. I need a way to catalog, store and manage the checkout of these items. Suggestions? I previously wrote an inventory management system in PHP that did a bit of this, but the design was a wreck and it was usable by me and, uh, me. I'd like something a little more open ended.

Needs:
I need to be able to add different TYPES of items (Books, Games, Magazines etc.)

Multiple users need to be able to login and "check out" an item.

Only some users need to be able to manage the actual catalog (i.e., an admin class)

Wants:
Dispatch e-mails when an item is "overdue", automated e-mails of these sorts in general.

An ability to request items (Bonus if we can vote on them!)

An ability to add digital items for download

The project management package Podio feels close, but is also not quite intended to suit this purpose. I'm looking for other similar solutions- A simple DB with hierarchical user categories and batch jobs/processing.