Monthly Archives: August 2006

Moving update

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Well, here it is Tuesday afternoon. I’ve been very busy with the cleaning & moving, and the moving & cleaning. Friday afternoon and evening Perry and Nav helped me load the first 10′ truck load. E and Shane then helped Perry and I unload.

Everyone was amazed with my packing skills. I am an expert; no doubt. Nothing moved or shifted, and nothing broke. I also told them that it is a skill I hope someday (soon) to forget I ever knew! I have moved far too many times.

Saturday morning Perry and Ann helped me load and unload the rest of the stuff. E and Shane got here in time to help me take the toolbox off the truck and put the bed together, and more importantly decide that we’d all meet at Esquire at 6 for dinner and drinks on me.

Saturday evening was nice, but I got a really bad headache at the base of my neck/top of my spine. I’ve been getting them on and off for a couple of years now. Sometimes they completely incapacitate me, but this one didn’t get as bad as that. Maybe when I have better health insurance again I’ll see a doctor.

I walked to downtown Champaign and, as silly as it seems, I seemed to see everything a bit differently. I was certainly looking differently then I had when I lived in Urbana. Sort of odd, but it was interesting seeing as it was my first night as a Champaignite.
Richard joined us at Esquire for a bit. Later, Richard and I went to Mike & Molly’s around the corner to see our friend Chris play his last gig with The Invisible. A bunch of GSLIS folks eventually showed up and a grand time was had by all; except that nasty headache. The second band, Terminus Victor, put up an incredible wall of sound for three guys. Their guitarist wore a suit and tie and was a complete spaz. It was really quite entertaining, except for feeling every single note in the back of my neck! I finally left a few songs into the third band, Shipwreck. They were good but I just couldn’t take any more.

I managed to get a bit of sleep, took myself out for breakfast Sunday morning, did some stuff around the new place, and then went and got some things from the old one. In the afternoon, my friend Terry helped me do a lot of cleaning at the old place.

Yesterday, I felt kind of crappy so I stayed here and did a bunch of things, such as putting together the big bookshelves and putting a lot of books on them (in LC order), put together the computer desk, re-assembled the DVD rack and put the DVDs on it, unpacked more CDs, and so on.

Today I did some stuff around here, then I went and did more cleaning at the old place. The only things left to do are the kitchen floor (already did a once over), the kitchen sink, and then a quick look over everything. I have to turn in the keys by 10 AM Thursday. I’ll finish tomorrow and turn in the keys then. I went to Cracker Barrel for lunch and then went and cleaned out my local storage area. That’s $64/mo that can now go towards my increased rent. Yay me!

I still have a lot to do around here. Lots of stuff to unpack, shift around, and even clean a few more things, and, of course, re-clean a few things. But I’m on break right now.

Tonight I’m heading over to Bloomington/Normal for Comedy of Errors at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, if we don’t get rained out. Thursday night I go back for the 3rd play, Julius Caesar.

Nothing seems to be afoot on the job front, which sucks because my current boss needs to set the schedule for fall now. I think I’ll make a call tomorrow to see what gives. There is something afoot on the class front, but I need to see Allen and Dean Smith. Hopefully we’ll work something out.

Well, should probably end this break and do a few more things around here before getting cleaned up to head to Bloomington.

Back soon….

Karen Calhoun interview in LIS578LE Tech Services

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Tonight Karen Calhoun was a guest in Steve Oberg’s Tech Services class. Steve basically conducted an interview based on questions the class sent in beforehand, questions he had prepared and came up based on the discussion, and on questions asked by the class and by the few guests during the discussion.

Being the Tech GA, I was unable to listen as closely as I’d have liked due to some small tech issues and other assorted back channel chit-chat. But it is archived and I’ll listen to it again (as soon as I get myself moved I hope).

Unfortunately, it is not a public “lecture” so I cannot link to it. But if you are/were associated with UIUC GSLIS and have an active LEEP login, that is, can get to your “Happy Place,” then shoot me an email or comment here and I’ll point you to the audio and chat archives. If you are affiliated but don’t have an active login feel free to let me know and I’ll tell you who to contact to get one, and provide the previous info, too.

From what I did hear, I can say that Ms. Calhoun has managed to moderate my views on her report a little more. If she would only have written a few sentences differently, then I think that the overall reception would have been much different.

But there is still way too many (bad) assumptions being made, too many important things being based on mediocre research (at best), and way too much cost shifting happening.

Seeing as much of the generative motivation is how expensive it is to do traditional cataloging, classification and authority control, putting the costs on other libraries, and particularly just shifting it to other areas within the library does not result in a cost savings. In fact, I’m pretty certain that much of what she is advocating will end up costing more than it does now.

I also find it amazing that she advocates for so much to be done via technology and then admits that much of the needed technology is not available, and may not be for a while.

To be truly fair, I need to go back and listen. But honestly, I doubt little will change. She has some very good points, and she isn’t quite as radical about some things as she seems in the report, but she is going about things in a really dorked up way that can only lead to far worse things than she supposedly really meant.

Many have criticized Thomas Mann for his rhetoric. Well, hers is far more dangerous, IMHO.

One of my friends in the class mentioned how based on her (my friend) business background she is able to see the management perspective much clearer than some, and maybe that it was that perspective that bothered me. Not at all. I agree; things must change. We cannot continue on as we have. But we need intelligent discussion of change that is doable and that still serves the “user.”

Much of the problem is that we have no useful discussion of just who the “user(s)” is/are, in this case. There is so very much research that needs to happen first, and not just about users.
I could keep on going, but I need to relax and rest up. Lots of cleaning and moving tomorrow and the next few days.

Fall course conundrum

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Our Board of Trustees has hosed me up. Again! This time by finally doing the right thing.

Pauline Atherton Cochrane has finally been given permission to teach the Seminar in Classification Systems for this Fall. I believe the teaching by emeriti faculty may itself have been solved by the Board; well after they created the problem in the first place.

Let me make it very explicit that I have no gripe with my department/school. GSLIS (particularly AD Linda Smith) has been very diligent in trying to work this out for all concerned. So kudos to them and especially Dean Smith!

We just found out a few days ago that this course will, in fact, be offered. My problem is that the time conflicts with Allen Renear’s Information Modeling course. I’m excited about all 3 classes I’m currently enrolled in for Fall, but give me a break here. Either of the other two could easily slip for Classification Systems, but Info Modeling isn’t so simple.

Course Descriptions from the full catalog:

590CS Seminar in Classification Systems for the Organization of Knowledge

Efficient and effective libraries and information services need structures for the organization of collections of knowledge and information items. Classification schemes, thesauri, and indexing systems attempt to provide such structures. The similarities and differences of various schemes, and their strengths and weaknesses for physical arrangement, knowledge organization, and computer-based information systems will be the prime foci of this seminar. Traditional and innovative schemes and systems will be examined and compared using normative principles, cognitive approaches to categorization, and disciplinary approaches as evaluative criteria.

Pauline’s personal description:

This time we will tackle the role of classification systems in libraries, on websites, in databases, etc. The final direction of the course itself will be set after discussion during the first class sessions. Possibilities include: looking toward the past or the present or the future — toward being classificationists or classifiers, toward taxonomists or knowledge managers. At the heart of this work is something like a thesaurus turned ninety degress to the right, or so.

590IM Information Modeling

An introduction to the principles of information modeling commonly used to support digital library applications such as collections management and electronic publishing. The course takes a logic-based approach to analyzing and comparing different modeling methods. Specific modeling practices covered include relational database design, entity relationship modeling (ER/EER), document grammars (XML), and semantic web languages (RDF/S and OWL).

I know that description of 590IM scares the bejeesus out of some of my fellow students and current librarians, but c’mon folks … there is no FRBR without a little ERM going on. Then again, the description of 590CS scares some people silly, too.

Well, in my case, they both are critical to my plans, goals, desires, even my dreams. Even my advisor believes so. She tried to she what she could, but it’s now on me to decide. Allen’s out of the country, though. I’d really like to talk to him about this.

Allen does teach 590IM every Fall. That’s a plus. 590CS is one of the courses that Pauline wants to hand off to Kathryn pretty soon, as she only wants to teach for a couple more years at best. Can’t say I blame her for that! As long as it was offered again by Pauline and/or Kathryn, that’d be good too.

I know some might say, “Damn, Mark. What are you crying about? Take Classification Systems now and Info Modeling next year.” Yes, that is the easy answer; no doubt about that.

But. I have to do a major capstone project for my CAS degree. Even if I am going to take 2 years to do this, that means I need to get a good grasp on what I might want to do. And I happen to think that putting off one of the 2 most critical courses to the penultimate semester is a seriously bad idea.

I know that a week ago there was little hope of even getting Classification Systems. So I am happy and grateful. I truly am.  I am also so mad at the Board of Trustees that I could spit!

Bah! I didn’t need this kind of pressure on top of moving, still worrying about what I’ll be doing to make up the work hours I dropped, how I’ll nake up the pay considering I’m moving to an apartment that’ll cost me $120 more a month, and whatever else I have stressing me that I am now too stressed to remember.