Library
Do No Harm
Since I listened to the Incendium Radical Library (IRL) cardiCast episode I can't stop thinking about the collecting policy they have adopted (time stamp 17:49). IRL have broad frameworks they align the library with, so when accepting new donations or looking at acquisitions they look at how these items could harm the wider community and balance that against the good they could do. In Annelise's words: "I guess like the frameworks of this library is social justice, anti-oppression, intersection
DoDeDoDo Web – Reference STAT(S)!
Back in July I wrote about an RFID location based enquiry tracking system (DoDeDoDo) and two months later I’ve moved on from prototype to production and they are working relatively ok. There are some bugs to work out before I present a new write up and I’ve modified the code slightly to make it easier to troubleshoot and added an LED because blinky lights are awesome. In the meantime I created a locally hosted, web based solution for staff in the workroom that I’m pretty happy with and wanted to
Looking Forward, Looking Back
In trying to figure out what I want to learn in 2018 I looked back at what I had learnt in 2017 and it turned out it was quite a lot. The way I learn best is through practical projects. The mixture of real-world applications, deadlines, and passion really drive my learning. Inversely, I find learning something for the sake of it frustrating, which is why I tend to struggle in purely academic settings. Sitting down and learning a programming language while not having a project seems a bit useless
A State-Wide Koha ILS
This is a blog post I've been meaning to write for a long time now. For those who don't know, a lot of public libraries in WA are currently moving, have moved, or looking at moving to new LMS providers. Legacy systems that most of the state were using are becoming end of life and it's time to move to new, web based services. Along with this is a push to form some sort of 'one library card' system. The South West Consortium have already done a small scale version of this. Something that has becom
What I learned in 2016
This post is for the GLAM Blog Club set up by newCardigan. If you aren't in Melbourne check out CardiCast for some great GLAM talks. My professional ethics are something I will stand up for 2016 started off pretty rough for me professionally, over my December/January break some internal censorship of the library I was managing went down. I returned after the decision to remove items from the collection had been made, a decision I deeply opposed both in principle and application. Censorship i
Symposiums, Symposiums, Symposiums!
Last year I was asked to convene the ALIA WA Symposium 2016. I agreed, because, hey you’ve got to try these things out at least once. I also wanted to use the opportunity to try something different and ‘be the change I want to see’ (Rundle, 2014) . Fast forward a good twelve months and the event seemed to be a success, with only minor technical glitches. A good committee, help from the ALIA groups, and a lot of hard work helped bring this experiment to life. While I intend to write a paper about
What If... Stargate SG-1 had a librarian?
Like Uatu I watch our universe and many alternative realities , and like the Watcher before me, I have decided to recount to you a tale of one of these worlds. Recently I have been peering into the reality that is Stargate SG-1 . By 'peering' I of course mean binge watching every episode back-to-back. Late one night I started thinking about dream jobs and I wondered 'does Stargate Command (SGC) have a librarian?' If they did what would they do? What would the JDF look like for that? David La
Covert Censorship, Overt Libraries
“Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it.” ― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta The Censorship is Coming From Inside the Library! When I took over as Branch Librarian for an established public library at the beginning of 2015 I knew there would be challenges. If you’ve read any of my previous posts you’ll most likely be familiar with my love of comics so it comes as no surprise that I’m very defensive of the medium. A month or two into my new job I discovered
Let My Comics Go!
Comics for life, yo In case you didn’t know, I’m a bit of a comic nerd. Every public library I’ve worked in I’ve made it my personal goal to leave the comic or ‘graphic novel’ (they’re comics people, be proud!) section better than I found it. Starting with something as little as begging the collections librarian to take me shopping, to arguing to have an adult comic section, I’ve always pushed for comics in libraries. For years I’ve been looking at ways to improve the way we organise and displ
DIY Arcade Cabinet
It took a weekend of swearing but it’s alive! A while ago I got the wonderful idea to run an adults event teaching library clients how to turn a Raspberry Pi into a retro arcade cabinet. The event went quite well as I had the funds to give clients their own Pi to take home (they’re not that expensive and I limited to 10 Pis). Limited Pis meant encouraging groups so I ended up with families coming along, couples, friends and even one group of four gentlemen who wanted to try their hand at pro