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@davidwitteveen
Ops Report Card: applying IT best practices to library systems teams
I used to joke that my career goal was to not be running a help desk when I’m 50. I was the IT Manager for the University of Melbourne’s student union for many years. I only decided to become a librarian after my department was centralised and I was offered a voluntary redundancy for that role. When I actually turned 50, I was the Team Leader Customer Support for OCLC in Australia and New…
AI in the Library - Clarivate's Alethea
Yesterday I saw a presentation about an academic AI tool that sounds like it might actually help students learn, rather than just answer questions for them.
Yesterday I saw a really fresh and useful idea on how AI tools can actually help students learn, rather than just regurgitate answers at them. Summary and sources I work in a university library. We’re starting to get vendors pushing generative AI tools at us. Most of them are basically Microsoft Copilot, but using academic sources. You ask the tool a question. It turns your question into a…
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Starting the ALIA Continuing Professional Development scheme
I started working at La Trobe University Library a year ago next week. I finished my Masters in Information Management about 6 months ago. And this month, I finally got around to upgrading my ALIA membership to the Professional level. Which means it’s time for me to get started on the ALIA Continuing Professional Developement (CPD) scheme. Basically, this scheme is to encourage librarians to…
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A late #AusLibChat
I missed the last AusLibChat for personal reasons. But I'd actually written out my answers beforehand, so I thought I'd share them here.
I missed the last AusLibChat for personal reasons. But I’d actually written out my answers beforehand. Rather than waste my answers, I thought I’d share them here. The topic was Decoding Selection Criteria. You can read the other responses on Wakelet. Question 1 – “A high level of digital literacy”. How would you demonstrate this requirement? A1: Google the definition of digital literacy. Look…
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Applying for a job when you don't meet all the requirements
Applying for a job when you don’t meet all the requirements
OCLC’s Melbourne office are advertising for a Customer Project Manager to help implement their library management system. Now, I used to work for OCLC, but I don’t any longer. So this is not an official statement. But… now is an excellent time to apply for jobs you’re interested in, even if you don’t meet all the selection criteria. Because employers are desperate. There’s a worker shortage.…
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Serendipity: a case study
Serendipity: a case study
I was trying to write a joke about astronomy yesterday, and ended up researching the ethics of marketing to teenagers. In library science, this is called serendipity: the accidental discovery of useful information while you were searching for something else. It’s when your searching the library shelf for a book on machine learning, and stumble over one on fuzzy sets, or when you look up the…
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MIDYEAR MILESTONES
I set myself three goals at the start of the year: Finish my Master of Information Management degreePass my probation at workA personal health-related goal, which I’m not posting here I didn’t want to get too ambitious. The last two years have been draining, and I wanted to keep my goals for this year achievable. Which was probably a good idea. I caught COVID in March, and four months later I…
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How to begin well...
How to begin well…
I’ve been at La Trobe University Library for three and half weeks now. It’s been exciting, but also exhausting. There’s so much to learn, and there’s a backlog of tasks from since the previous incumbent left. Which has meant I haven’t had a lot of spare brain capacity to step back and think about how i’m approaching my new job. But it’s something I do want to think about. My manager and I are…
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New Year, New Job
New Year, New Job
After 4 years as Team Leader Customer Support for OCLC ANZ, I’ll be starting a new job in February. The role is Discovery Specialist at La Trobe University Library. It’s exciting (new job! new opportunities! progress on my career goals) but also slightly terrifying – I’ll be supporting a system I have never supported before. So there will be a lot to learn. Fortunately, Ex Libris have their…
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Book Guardians
I had to intervene with an aggressive tram passenger last Saturday night. He was threatening to punch another passenger. I told him not to. It ended about as well as I could have hoped: no one got hurt, and the aggressor got off the tram. Afterwards I did some reading about bystander intervention and de-escalation techniques. I was even thinking about writing a blog post about it. Library…
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AI flashcard, robot bosses, and a museum in your home.
AI flashcard, robot bosses, and a museum in your home.
Some freeform blogging. Some bits and pieces, mostly. I’m currently knee-deep in uni work and assignments. I used to roll my eyes at RMIT’s Information Management course being part of their School of Business, and the business subjects that were compulsory because of that. So it’s a bit embarrassing to find myself using things I’m learning in my Business Analytics and Knowledge Management…
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RUNNING ZERO-PREP RPG SESSIONS
RUNNING ZERO-PREP RPG SESSIONS
I haven’t updated this blog since February. And this post has nothing to do with libraries. 2020 was not a good year. I spent most of it in lockdown because of the pandemic. I was separated from my partner for 8 months because of travel restrictions. Two people I cared about passed away. And I took a leave of absence from my Masters degree because I just couldn’t concentrate. Roleplaying was…
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Uni returns next week...
Uni returns next week…
Uni returns next week.
I have four subjects to go until I finish my Masters. And I’ve doubled my study load, from one subject per semester to two, to try and finish my Masters by the end of the year.
I’ll still be working full time, so it’ll be interesting to see how I cope with the workload.
The truth is, I’ve spent the last two years aiming at and working towards my placement at the…
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My placement with the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project
My placement with the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project
This is a repost of the blog entry I wrote for the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project’s Safe and Sound blog.
Glasgow is a long way from Australia.
Yet when I had to choose a library for the industry placement part of my Masters of Information Management at RMIT University in Melbourne, my heart leapt at the possibility of doing it at the National Library of Scotland.
Blame Iain Banks,
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cardiParty: The Museum of Broken Relationships
cardiParty: The Museum of Broken Relationships
(I wrote this review of last Friday’s cardiParty as part of an assignment for my Masters. I thought I might as well repost it here.)
Last Friday I attended a tour of the Museum of Broken Relationships organised by newCardigan.
NewCardigandescribe themselves as “a social and professional group for people who work in galleries, libraries, archives and museums – and for those who like hanging…
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The Dangers of Donations
The Dangers of Donations
Interesting article from the University of Melbourne’s Pursuit magazine about how China and Russia are using museums and galleries as a way to expand their soft power in diplomatic relationships:
TREADING SOFTLY IN POWER DIPLOMACY
(This white paper defines soft power as ‘the ability to influence the behaviour or thinking of others through the power of attraction and ideas’ )
The soft…
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A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies
A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies
I read this short story about libraries, and reading, and escape last year. It came across my Twitter feed again, so I reread it.
“He reached towards the book and the book reached back towards him, because books need to be read quite as much as we need to read them…”
A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies by Alix E. Harrow.
(I love this story, but there are a few…
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