Learn CSS

     I know HTML... In fact, I first learned it a decade ago when I was a nerdy little book-wormy, band-geeky teen. However, nowadays HTML is pretty bare-bones while CSS is used to flesh out the aesthics of a web page.  If you don't know the difference, CSS stands for cascading style sheets, and instead of coding each page, you can use CSS to give a cohesive, over-arching look to your site. See how cool CSS is at CSS Zen Garden.
     My work learning CSS has basically been the way I learned to HTML code, and how I like to learn a lot of technology; I give a cursory glance at the instruction manual as it flies to the floor. I'm first a do-er and then a researcher. Doing things first gives me a better understanding of how the whole thing works so I can have a clue when I read the manual/watch the tutorial/browse the FAQs/troubleshoot.

     So in that vein, here's how I'm working on my CSS skills, and how you can, too:

• Tweak someone else's code. I suggest building a website on Weebly, because it gives you a generic HTML/CSS template, lets you edit it and has a preview window. So, you can pick apart the code, changing the CSS, previewing it and thereby learning what happens when you change this or that. Trial and error. In Weebly, you can do this under the Design tab. Pick a template and then hit "Edit HTML/CSS" to the bottom right.

• Look at your favorite websites' CSS coding to see how they did it. To view the CSS on any website, right-click (or control-click for us Mac users) and "View source" or "View page source." This brings you to the HTML. The CSS will be in between the head tags... Look for something that ends with .css and has quotes around it. Then, cut that section out and paste it to the end of the website link you were looking at.

• Now that you've seen CSS in action and understand, check out some tutorials. Here's some: 
• Webmonkey - Tutorial, sample codes, and crib sheet.
• CSS Zen Garden pathfinder

• Write some of your own CSS!

Thanks to Bridget for the Webmonkey link. I'll try to re-do this sort of format down the road when I attempt javascript.

YourNextRead (dotcom)

     I love free things, in particular freeware. I also love anything that allows user input. I even have an "I <3 Folksonomy" t-shirt. (Okay, no, but I'd like one).
     The other day, I discovered YourNextRead.com. It has a great, fluid interface and allows people to share recommendations by adding a title, or even simpler, click a thumbs up or thumbs down icon.

     This website was founded 2009 (or so says LinkedIn) and I consider that somewhat young for a site that requires user input and tagging. It doesn't seem to have many users (less than 300 followers on Twitter) and that limits its usefulness. More users = more (and better) recommendations. Also, more users mean better, more frequent site updates.
     I think this site has potential, though. It reminds me of NoveList, but I like it better because a. direct user-input b. FREE! Reader advisory and a free book recommendation site... Hm, does anyone else think public library?
Here's just a few casual thoughts on what YourNextRead could do to improve its site and perhaps become a NoveList competitor:

• The site mines data from Amazon too exclusively. Let's get some other sources for reviews on that right sidebar. 
• You're not Amazon's pimp. Stop sending users directly to Amazon when they click on a book. Clicking on a book's image should lead to a unique YourNextRead page with metadata and options for obtaining the book (Google, Barnes and Noble, eBay, Paperback Swap, WorldCat, etc)
• That metadata should contain genres, such as those listed on Goodreads. Since YNR already has some (albeit pretty poor) Goodreads integration, perhaps those genre categorizations can be imported.
• That metadata should also include tagging options. Netflix doesn't just categorize its movies now, it tries to better suggest options to its users by including descriptors such as "witty," "quirky," or "dark."
• Eliminate the doubles. I don't want to see the recently reprinted edition as a recommendation for a classic book.

     I would really like to see YNR take off and be used in public libraries. Often when I'm looking for recommendations on NoveList or Amazon, I'm lead down too simple a path. A work by the same author or something in the same genre doesn't usually express why I liked the book. Suggestions from people often grab those things that aren't quite obvious, such the writing style, how deep the characters are, if some concept or place in the book is currently in vogue. I think this site can capture that part of the human reader-advisory touch (especially if librarians sitting on the reference desk added a couple recommendations each shift in their downtime...5 minutes tops) in an easily accessible database, saving me the trouble of trolling blogs and discussion threads looking for suggestions from like-minded individuals.

Open Access & DOAJ

     In library school, people talked a lot about open access. I'm going to say it was far more professors than students, though. Why? Two main factors that cause people to talk about OA are necessity or ideals. 
     Students are in school (duh)... schools that pay for them to have access to journals and information they need. They don't have to think about the need for equal access to information, because they have access. Professors also have this access, but are usually a little older and wiser than their students and understand the general benefit to equal education OA provides. Also, their jobs concern intellectual endeavors, so they usually have time to think about this kind of thing at the office. 
When I'm writing a comprehensive literature review of new reference services, am I thinking about equal information access and how many tens of thousands of dollars my university library is paying to supply me with these journals? No, I'm pretty much wondering which caffeinated beverage is more likely to boost my awareness enough to finish my paper. It's not that I'm not intellectual, it's just that maintaining singular focus on the topic at hand (i.e. caffeine and new reference services) is necessary for survival as a graduate student. And I'm also not thinking about my publishing rights with for-profit journals vs. OA because I don't publish. Most students usually don't.


     However, now that I have graduated and am skint, I need to keep up with library happenings for free. I'm sure this is an issue for many MLS grads. Besides reading blogs and checking out website articles (like through American Libraries or Wired) I need some OA scholarly journals to keep updated with.
     The DOAJ, or Directory of Open Access Journals, is where I started. There are "117 journals belonging to subject: Library and Information Science." I went through this list and narrowed down to the links below. I'll do more posts after I actually really delve into these journals to review, eliminate and make a list of the ones I found helpful (the keepers).

• B Sides 
• Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
• code4lib
• Collaborative Librarianship
• Communications in Information Literacy
• D-Lib
• E-JASL: The Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship
• Evidence Based Library and Information Practice
• The Journal of Electronic Publishing
• JIL: Journal of Information Literacy
• Journal of Library Innovation
• Library Student Journal
• North Carolina Libraries
• VA Lib: Virginia Libraries

     It took a while to go through these, check out some of the articles to see if they were of interest, didn't contain too many international articles, etc. Also, the DOAJ needs to update. Many journals are listed as multiples, there is no end year notation and there have been a lot of name and publisher changes in the list. 

     More to come on open access and how I'm staying updated in library affairs.

What is this?

      So, I just graduated with my MLS last month. I, extremely realistic person that I am, quit my job to do this two year program in one year, figuring I'd get a librarian job STAT upon graduation.
     Um.... Nope. Not so far anyway.
     If I could have done it over I would have worked as paraprofessional library assistant and prolonged the program, doing practicums and special projects to broaden my portfolio and make more connections.
     But I didn't. Moving on.
     While reading about the librarian scene, I often see websites with lists of competencies, taken from experienced librarians and from job postings' desired skills. I haven't seen one that lists the places to gain this knowledge, though. I guess I'm going to try to make this blog sort of a pathfinder, or a documentation of my experience learning this stuff.
     It may just turn into a catchall of all my library-related thoughts, but I think that's okay. When I was researching academic libraries as I applied to jobs, I Googled staff members, and I found one in particular that kept a blog. He's a librarian, but his posts are sort of personal and informal, and made me feel like I got to know him more as a person. And wanted to work with him.
     "Oh wait, can this work the other way around?" thought bubble!
     I read his blog, get to know him, want to work at his library over other places. So, if perspective employers read my posts, maybe they'll get to know me and want to hire me? Let's hope so.
Some of the competencies I'm going to try to gain are found in job ads, this blog post, and Library 101's list of skills. I've already completed 23 Things, thanks to my fantastic information technology professor, but if you haven't, I recommend it. I am really interested in technology, and thinking about another degree in computer science, so I have a feeling I might be blogging some more high-tech skills than that site.
     Alright, stay classy blogging world, or whatever other type of sign off you want to imagine here.