[CODE4LIB] Recruiting and Retaining Library Staff - survey closing soon

[William Helman]

Survey closes after *November 30th*! This is your last chance to voice your
opinions about working in library IT.


Dear Library Technology Professional,

Would you like to participate in research that may help make library
workplaces more pleasant and rewarding?  We are writing to invite you to
participate in a research study that aims to identify factors associated
with recruiting and retaining IT staff in libraries in the United States
and Canada.  We want to know which factors-and types of factors-are most
likely to attract you to a library IT job and encourage you to stay at a
library IT job.  There are no direct benefits to you, but we hope this
information will help library and other leaders to create workplaces that
are more attractive to library IT personnel.

You must be over age 18 and currently employed in a library IT-related
position in the United States or Canada in order to participate in this
study.   If you consent to participate, you will be asked to complete an
online survey, which should take about 15-20 minutes to complete.
This research is being conducted under the direction of Janet Crum,
Northern Arizona University, Cline Library.

To provide consent and participate in the survey, please visit
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B2RVW77

To thank you for your time, you will be given the opportunity to enter a
drawing for a $50 gift card:

   1. Participation in the research study is not required to enter the
   drawing;
   2. Entries are limited to one entry per person -subjects under age 18
   must have written consent from a parent or lawful guardian; and
   3. Participation is void where prohibited by law


open mailbox, take leaflet, read it
http://whelman.com | http://about.me/williamhelman |
http://twitter.com/thinkpol
--

Re: [CODE4LIB] mobile app

[William Helman]

Hi Kalie,

Two of my graduate assistants and I recently developed a user-centered mobile
web app/interface  for our library. We spent
a lot of time doing focus groups and user testing over the course of two
semesters worth of development time, and have been pretty happy with the
results. One suggestion I would definitely have is to use a web framework
like jQuery Mobile  or
Bootstrapto jump start
your efforts. Then, later when you have everything the way
you want it, you can use a service like PhoneGap  to
wrap it up into native apps you can offer on Google Play or Apple's App
Store.

If you're interested I've presented a few times on it during the lifetime
of the project, and have the (slightly similar) slide decks posted to
SlideShare: Society for Scholarly Publishing 2011 Fall
Seminar,
Internet Librarian
2012
and
recently at an Amigos Online
conference.
That last one was on how we used responsive design techniques to re-purpose
our mobile site to act as the interface on 3 iPad search kiosks I've
installed here at Langsdale.

I've also published our code at https://github.com/whelman/

I'd be happy to talk more about our experiences, just send me an email if
you're interested.

  -Bill Helman

Integrated Digital Services Librarian. The University of Baltimore,
Langsdale Library

whel...@ubalt.edu | 410-837-4209  |
http://whelman.com | @thinkpol 



On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 11:48 AM, Kaile Zhu  wrote:

> Anybody has experience on how to build mobile app for your library?  If
> your library paid for the development, please also share your experience.
>  Thanks.  - Kelly
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] Windows 8

[William Helman]

Like Cynthia that decision is made at the campus IT level. Over the past
year I've migrated nearly all lab and staff PCs from XP to Win7 (keep an
eye out for a related question I'll be posting later today on that topic).
Campus IT is toying with some Win8 images, but haven't been happy with any
of them. Given that they're still finishing up their XP migrations, though,
I seriously doubt we'll be moving to 8 anytime soon, if ever.

  -Bill Helman
Integrated Digital Services Librarian. The University of Baltimore,
Langsdale Library
whel...@ubalt.edu | 410-837-4209 | http://whelman.com | @thinkpol



On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 3:46 PM, Francis Kayiwa  wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 01:01:42PM +, Forrest, Stuart wrote:
> > Hi All
> >
> > Just taking a quick poll...Who is using windows 8 in their libraries and
> of those how many use staff, public, both?? And if not why??
>
> I will join the refrain of wait for 8.1 unless you are using a touch
> device. For the most part even seasoned users (or perhaps *ONLY*
> seasoned users) have difficulty unthinking how to "Start" me up without
> the "Start" button.
>
> (yes to the Rolling Stones tune! :-))
>
> ./fxk
>
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Stuart Forrest PhD
> > Library Systems Specialist
> > Beaufort County Library
> > Beaufort
> > SC 29902
> > 843 255 6450
> > sforr...@bcgov.net
> >
> > http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/
> > For Learning, For Leisure, For Life.
> >
>
> --
> The older I grow, the less important the comma becomes.  Let the reader
> catch his own breath.
> -- Elizabeth Clarkson Zwart
>

[CODE4LIB] Random question - what do you use to limit public access to your Win7 PCs?

[William Helman]

We are an academic library, and currently have two public access PCs that
outside users can take for a spin for an hour a day. They're Win XP running
Steady State, which is an obvious problem.

So -- What do you use to manage limited public access to your Win7 PCs?

Any thoughts are appreciated,

  -Bill Helman

Integrated Digital Services Librarian. The University of Baltimore,
Langsdale Library
whel...@ubalt.edu | 410-837-4209 | http://whelman.com |
@thinkpol

[CODE4LIB] Anyone doing streaming video reserves for online film classes?

[William Helman]

We are in the information gathering stage of a project to look at offering
streaming video course reserves for online/distance multimedia classes the
University of Baltimore offers.  Think Netflix streaming for obsucure films
not on Netflix (such as digitized films from special collections, or
instructor personal copies).  I was wondering if anyone out there has any
experience with this sort of thing?


We currently use Slingbox (http://www.slingmedia.com/), but this will not
scale to what our faculty have in mind.  The most pressing needs (besides
system tools to help maintain fair use), are one that is reliable outside of
library hours and one that lets us upload our own content.


Our partner from campus IT is investigating http://www.kaltura.org/, anyone
have experience with it?


Thanks, and sorry for the cross post.



  -Bill Helman



Integrated Digital Services Librarian - University of Baltimore Langsdale
Library

whel...@ubalt.edu - ph. 410 837 4209 - http://whelman.com

Re: [CODE4LIB] Anyone doing streaming video reserves for online film classes?

[William Helman]

Thanks for all the great advice, folks!  Now to delve into all the great
links you've shared.


  -Bill



Integrated Digital Services Librarian - University of Baltimore Langsdale
Library

whel...@ubalt.edu - ph. 410 837 4209 - http://whelman.com