I started looking a bit at my chosen next gen catalog, MyLibrary over spring break. The more I examined the MyLibrary resources, I found I was a bit disappointed. Right now MyLibrary seems geared to the academic environment. In fact, it’s currently only been adapted to universities like Notre Dame, University of Rochester and Mississippi State University . So while it is an interesting product, I’m aiming for employment in the public library arena and it, on face, doesn't have the same attraction as products like Chilifresh or Evergreen.
Something happened today to put things into some perspective. I had to charge my cell phone today. Putting my cell on the charger made me think back to an XKCD panel tracing the use of lithium batteries.
It made me realize that a lot of technology and technology applications begin in a more rarified environment and are adapted to a broader audience. While the comic made technological adaptation seem negative, I am hesitant to entirely condemn the practice.
Just as cheap lithium batteries have found use in more trivial items, they also have expanded use in items that improve quality of life (like hearing aids that are comfortable to wear). Monroe pokes fun about the proliferation of cell phones (and I can’t chastise too much having stood in plenty of grocery store lines where I am the captive audience to some stranger’s life) I am thrilled to have one at hand when my car’s battery is dead or some other disaster I am unprepared to meet on my own. It isn’t just about the adaptations, but how we decide on a personal level to apply those adaptations to our lives.

So ultimately, while I’m going to be analyzing MyLibrary for both the class and IOLUG presentation, I’ll also be looking for public library uses for the application.

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Ada Lovelace Day was March 24th, a day where bloggers honor women in technology. I wanted to honor my mom.
My mother is not a great techie. She didn’t start learning about using email until two years ago. When I was growing up, my mom was very involved in the school that my sister and I attended. When the school got it’s first computer lab, my mother was hired to be the lab aide. We would ride into school in the mornings with her and help with turning on the twenty-odd Apple II’s. Thanks to my mom, I got early exposure to computers and grew up without distinguishing technology as a gendered field.
Happy Ada Lovelace Day, Mom.

I am still really enjoying the work laptop. The mobility of it, especially the ability to get internet access has been extremely helpful for school projects. Example, this week I had to get a prescription filled. Instead of waiting the hour and a half at the store, I drove down to the Panera Bread and tried out their wifi connection and worked on homework for my Audio and Visual Resources class. I had absolutely no problem with connecting.
Still feeling the success of the Panera experience I took the laptop with me to the IUPUI library on Wednesday. I had a group project meeting online at 7 pm at the same time had a group of friends who have seen very little of me over the past month and were hoping I could meet up with them at the Rathskeller after the meeting. I got to the library early and went to my favorite study carrousel on the fourth floor. Turned on the laptop and found four different network choices. I had no idea which one to pick. I tried a trial and error approach, selecting one network at a time. Each one provided a nice little warning message that dissuaded me from pursuing a particular option any further. I couldn’t help but be a bit leery; this laptop isn’t a personal toy. I need to keep it in good running order so I can complete any and all jobs that my company.
I ended up shutting down the laptop and walking over to the tech station to see if there were handouts for using the IUPUI wireless network. The boxes where the self-help sheets are supposed to be stored were all empty. I ended up logging on to a campus workstation to access the internet, so that I could find out how to access the internet.
Luckily I wasn’t extremely frustrated by the situation. I could (and did) access the workstations provided. But what if the situation had been slightly different. It definitely makes me think hard about how we store and access information. I know that in my office, we constantly talk about how things will function when we go paperless. At the same time, I’m not sure that I agree that the day will come any too soon. Maybe I’m not very forward thinking, but paper will always be that lowest common denominator – that one piece of technology everyone had an ingrained knowledge of how to use.