Infopeople Webinar: Digital Preservation: Audio and Video Formats

So in taking a moment to beef up my site, I wandered over the the Infopeople.org website to see what was new and found that they had archived in the webinar section four presentations on Digital Preservation:

• Fundamentals
• Text and Image Formats
• Storing and Managing Digital Collections
• Audio and Video Formats

I just happened to click into the Audio and Video presentation. Key info:

• preservation format should be in WAV and probably in BWV (broadcast wave)
• resolution (96) kilohertz and (24)bit-depth capture is going to be beyond the "limits of human hearing" and while you may ask, why should I capture outside those limits, you may have a collection of animal song (birds, whales) which is outside of human recognition
• video as compared to film is generally captured on "unstable formats" and so digital transfer is a given for video preservation

so I want to be a Readers' Advisory Librarian (wait... I do?)

I just had an interview for a Reference Librarian position in my home town. Who knew that you needed to be able to recommend books to adult readers for the job!?! Well, my home town library appears to cater to a bunch of readers because there's a reader's group (Page Turners), and I was point blank asked why I like adult reference (this was hard to answer because I like people reference- no matter their age, gender, or color), and about my reading habits, (what genre I preferred and what areas of non-fiction which I am "familiar").

Well, I realized that this was an area for growth, because I was flabbergasted. You want to know what I read? I read everything, but only if it is well written. And my tolerance for popular fiction, especially series tends to be very low (as in one book out of a 12 book series low). However, this discovery of where I need to improve has made me realize that I need to be able to talk about books and "recommend" them, but that I don't need to like them. So what are the resources out there besides Novelist?

• First thing to look at might be the catalog of books offer by your library's vendor. In the case of SPL- Baker & Taylor, which would be FC: Forecast
• Library Journal's Reviews
• Bookmarks Magazine
• ALA's Booklist
• ALA bookstore also has a list of Readers' Advisory books (for historical fic, for street lit, etc)
• and finally (at least for this list) the New York Time's Book Review

This would be for Adult RA, because a job description's duty expectations should never be crossed. But I don't believe that.

Watch and Return DVDs

I just had to share. We were getting a lot of DVD donations at my branch and I was feeling so torn because I knew that the cataloging staff did not have the time to add a bunch of single title DVDs (like Andy Griffin shows or a movie starring Brett McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords (whose title escapes me now) which I knew would leap, fly, and zoom off the shelf), but I just felt we would be missing out on providing these resources to our patrons instead of just putting them out to sell and to go home and sit on one person's shelf.

So I went to my sup and I said, "What if I create a "Watch and Return" collection out of these DVDs?"

"Who, what?" she responded.

I held up a "Read and Return*" book and said, "now imagine this," followed by some waving of  the donated DVDs, "but only a DVD."

Then I smiled real big. And waggled my eyebrows. And she said, "sure."

YES!

And guess what? They've been coming back. I like to think that they touch some small part of people, the part that yearns to be an active part of the community, one that depends on trust. Either that, or people just realize, "why should I keep a bunch of DVDs taking up space on my shelves? This is going back to the library and it can take up space on their shelf."

*Read and Return- a paperback book that is not cataloged, nor which has any record in our database. These books serve those who do not have a library card, simply do not care to check materials out, or are surprise titles like our "The Help," which reward patrons for coming into the branch, browsing and finding something that is of interest.

From Jan 2012 to April 2012

I was on hiatus from posting in this blog because for my Social Media class I was required to create a new blog and log my inept attempts at designing a website. There are 19 posts, some hemming and hawing and griping about my limitations and the professional issues, such as dealing with other designers or non-typical hosting solutions. If that sort of thing interests you, check it out, INFO 621 Web Design Journal.
I'll admit, it was very handy in keeping track of what I did and what I need to do for future similar web design projects.