H. Demonstrate Information Technologies
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Introduction to Core Competency H. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of current information and communication technologies, and other related technologies, as they affect the resources and uses of libraries and other types of information providing entities. The World Wide Web has been in existence for over 10 years. No one has been able to index the information on it although librarians have tried for years, see Carole Leita and Karen G. Schneider's Librarians' Index to the Internet and Marylaine Block's Neat New Stuff on the Web. For today's young people, and those to come in the future, the Web has always been there. For them the Web is the ultimate reference collection but is just as impenetrable as the traditional library's print reference collection. Librarians were needed then to make sense of the print collection and are needed now to make sense of the Web. Locating worthwhile resources amongst the billions of documents on the Web is time consuming and tricky. Librarians have the skills to do this. But why rebuild the wheel each time, each search? Web 2.0 is a layer of Web accessibility tools that are useful for lifting out and making immediately available documents and information on the Web that may otherwise be buried forever. In order for Web 2.0 social software to be effective, users have to actively engage with the site in some manner from answering a web form, placing a bid on an auction site, messaging with someone in real time or by email, posting or watching a video, posting comments on a blog, adding to a wiki, using feeds to get news pushed to your email, posting your own photos and tagging others', creating a homepage on sites that requires no knowledge of html, creating e-portfolios, taking classes online using course management systems. Public libraries use Web 2.0 social computing to reach out to individual segments of their patron-base creating different sites for teens, adults, and seniors with content tailored to them. One good example is SJPL Almaden Branch Blog run by SLIS graduate, Mana Tominaga. My competencies in the technologies are sufficient to carry me into 21st century librarianship, though I will always need to learn more. I can provide evidence of knowledge of, and experience in, the following Web tools and technologies. Server-side scripting refers to dynamic programming languages in which the server executes the script (server-side) rather than the client computer's browser (client-side). The client computer's browser requests to run a script directly on the Web server that generates dynamic HTML pages. Examples of server-side scripts are the following:
Client-side scripting refers to computer programs on the Web that are executed client-side, by the user's browser, instead of server-side, on the Web server. Examples are the following:
In LIBR 240 Web Tools and Technologies, I learned server-side and client-side scripting, which I used to create the ALASC Scholarship site. You will recognize the server-side endings on the URLs. Of particular interst are the Scholarship Form, Scholarship Poll, and the Discussion List. I used a simple text editor called Pico to make these server-side scripts work on the senna and slisgroups servers. During my first semester at SLIS, I created the Open Access Pathfinder and the Webliography using Dreamweaver, a Web design software. Like all sites that link to other sites on the Web, this site needs constant upkeep. I hand coded Reading 101, creating an online version of the class I taught at De Anza. If this course were a real online class, all forms would be working. Currently, while the site is informative, it is not interactive. Currrently I host two websites where I try to upload all the Web design work I've accomplished so far. KristinHome.com is located on the 1and1 server, a commercial Web host, and I have a homepage on the slisgroups.sjsu.edu server. What this means is that on slisgroups, I know how to activate the server-side scripts on the using PICO, but at 1and1, I have not yet figured this out. Another problem is that the slisgroups server does not have the SWISH-E search program loaded, so I can not get the search function on my homepage up and running. The Web being what it is, you are more credible if your URL indicates an institutional host server than a commerical host. I have administrative login to the ALASC Blog that enables me to uploaded postings and am constantly challenged to keep the postings current. I am on the editorial board of Library Student Journal created by Library and Information Studies students at the University at Buffalo and have administrative login to the Editor's Blog. I recently attended the Public Library Association (PLA) Spring Symposium in San Jose as an ALASC volunteer. I was given administrative privileges to upload to the PLA blog with reports about the symposium workshops. The purpose of the blog is to create a forum for discussion and keep the workshop momentium going. At my workplace I'm a member of the Web design team. I used a content management system called Teamsite to create The First 75 Years: 1930 - 2005, a history of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) from its founding in 1930 to the present day. I also work on the Teen Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pages, uploading the teens' questions and the physicians' answers. |