Productivity

Spending Time Staring at the Computer Screen

/ dwakimoto

I know that I spend way too much time staring at a computer screen each day. It is funny, in an ironic sort of way, that a machine that was supposed to make our lives simpler has taken over so much time in our days. Of course, I’m not against computers or the Internet in any sort of way, but sometimes it is just lovely to have a computer free day. But as this is not possible very often at work, so this post is filled with tips and tools to make staring at your computer screen a little easier.

I’m sure a lot of people already know how to change the background color in Adobe Reader for eye-friendly contrast. But if you don’t, check out the steps and make your eyeballs happy as you start reading the tenth article online.

If you are reading online, you might as well make it something worthwhile. So check out the Foreign Service Institute’s extensive language courses and brush up on your French or learn Japanese.

I am not a huge fan of email. Yes, for certain tasks it is efficient and effective, but I get way too much junk in my inbox each day by people sending messages that are completely unnecessary. I think this should be required reading for anyone who uses email: 8 things I wish everyone knew about email. Really people, could we all agree to only use the “Reply All” button if it is really, really necessary?

If you decide to send less email you might have more time to do actual work. And if you are doing work, you should consider Who judges your work? A good reminder that not all opinions are created equal and should be given equal consideration.

Final tip for the day is comes from the Mashable post, 5 tips for creating the perfect profile pic. Great tips for anyone who wants to update their profile photograph or other online avatars and images.

And for your Friday work break, check out the latest Vlogbrother video made by Hank (& then figure out who is in your Hug Bucket):

Have a lovely weekend, read a lot, give lots of hugs, and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more technology and library commentary and tips.

Libraries, Tech, and DIY

/ dwakimoto

Back to our regularly scheduled programming of libraries, technology and a bit of do-it-yourself fun. Apparently some people consider Spring Cleaning to be an antiquated ritual, but I find that there is something about spring that makes going on a cleaning spree seem like the greatest idea since we turned scrolls into codices.

Before delving into the DIY and technology, we must talk about conference season. Conference season is upon us and that means purchasing airfare (unless you have a teleporter, in which case we must talk). Before purchasing your tickets, check out Lifehacker’s Frequent Fliers Guide to Finding Cheap Airfare for some hints on saving money. Remember money saved on flights equals more money to buy books!

If spring cleaning isn’t your thing in the physical world but you are up to spring cleaning in the digital world, check out Lifehacker’s Top 10 Ways to Declutter your Digital Life 2010 Edition. Don’t procrastinate, declutter your digital life today. Great tips, many of which I am going to implement this spring.

Multiple people have alerted me to the latest developments with the Library of Congress and Twitter. If you’ve not heard, the Library of Congress will archive all public tweets which is an amazing feat and awesome dataset. I look forward to seeing what research comes from using the tweets.

I think this looks like a fun project: Digital Copier & DIY Book Scanning, but I’m with the people in comments who wouldn’t use it to scan an entire book (and we won’t even begin to talk about all the possible copyright issues). Still this might be a good device in a pinch, especially if you don’t have money for a scanner.

And, of course, to end we have this wonderful xkcd cartoon which relates beautiful to the first link about airplane flights.
cartoon of selecting airplane seat

Have a wonderful weekend, have some fun reading and enjoy the last days of National Library Week.

Clutter

/ dwakimoto

Do you accumulate clutter in your life? What about at your library? Just like we need to weed the collection at the library, sometimes we need to take a mindful, conscious look at the clutter in our lives and do some weeding too. We need to weed not only material clutter, but also mental clutter I think in order to be most effective in our work and have the space to think creatively. I find this especially important when I’m trying to create lesson plans, articles, or lectures. Today’s list of tips will help you decrease your clutter, find alternatives to Google (should you want them) and give you a fun video break.

How can you not like a blog called Unclutterer? This is a nice article: How much is enough. Some good tips about organizing and sorting through your stuff (and junk). The only caveat I have is that I don’t think one could ever have too many books. Of course one copy of each title may be more than enough.

Lifehacker never ceases to amaze me and if you are limiting the number of items in your house (see previous link) you may be interested in how to make your stuff last longer. This is a nice compendium of helpful articles and resources for getting the longest life possible out of everything from your clothes to your mp3 player. Helpful at home and good to share with the students in your library trying to stretch the life of their laptop batteries while cramming for final exams.

After you get done with all that organizing, you might want to take a break and check out Zenhabits’ article on Becoming Google free. Now I happen to be a fan of Google; I adore Chrome (best browser in my opinion) and Gmail (I was so excited when my university switched over to Gmail), but I can understand not wanting to have all your information stored with one company. I am waiting to hear an update on how it is working out for Leo before dropping Google’s applications.

Finally, when you need to take a break from organizing, watch this fantastic video; really, watch it to the end and enjoy.

Have a fantastic weekend. I hope your life becomes or continues to be uncluttered, that you take the time to read some books, relax, and come back next week for more tips and tech to apply in the library and in life.

Positive attitudes, creativity, and Fridays

/ dwakimoto

Some weeks make it easier than others to have a positive attitude. Luckily for me, this week was a great week and having a positive attitude really wasn’t that difficult. First, we got the overhead lights working again in the archives thanks to our awesome electricians. That was enough to keep me smiling all day (we haven’t had working overhead lights for months due to some truly interesting electrical wiring issues). Everyone liked the cookies I brought in to celebrate having lights in the archives and to thank the electricians. It is finals week on campus which means next week is break week and I’ll be able to get a ton of work done. The weather is absolutely glorious in the Bay Area this week. Plus, I just accessioned the first faculty collection in the archives which makes my archivist heart happy. But in case your week hasn’t been going as well, at least we can all be happy it is Friday!

I am really enjoying reading the blog, zen habits and thought the post How to be a positive person, in under 300 words was wonderful. Being positive doesn’t mean sticking your head in the sand and ignoring what is going on in the world; it means that you don’t get discouraged and cynical when setbacks and challenges occur. Besides, just as colds and yawns are contagious, so is a positive attitude. If for no other reason, go look at the post because it ends with my favorite quote about why it’s worth having a positive attitude.

I like reading books that are outside of my professional areas of interest and research areas and seem to read a lot of business and marketing books. I found out about this this book, Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity while reading Seth Godin’s latest, Linchpin. Hugh MacLeod’s Ignore Everybody is fantastic–short, funny, great cartoons, and even better advice. For a taste of it check out this snippet on his gapingvoid blog.

If you are finding it a little difficult to focus at work because of the lovely spring weather, check out Lifehacker’s Keep Your Daily Momentum Going with a 10/15 Split. I am a fan of taking a few minutes each day to organize what I need to get accomplished during the day. What methods do you use to keep organized and stay productive?

Another great way to keep your momentum going and actually get things done is to Keep Projects Manageable by Limiting Scope and Features. This post reminds me a lot of the Cult of Done Manifesto. Both give very good advice and it is freeing to “laugh at perfection” because “done is the engine of more.”

Before leaving you to watch a great cartoon, here is my one piece of shameless self-promotion: my first peer-reviewed article, Information Literacy Instruction Assessment and Improvement through Evidence-Based Practice: A Mixed Method Study, has been published! I’m very excited and just wanted to share. And I have to give public praise to Hanna over at …fly over me, evil angel… who graciously reviewed multiple drafts of the article and gave great feeback–thank you! Please check out the entire issue; this is a great publication that is truly advancing library and information science research.

Finally, here’s something to make you smile and give you a short break today (because you deserve it), the wonderful Simon’s Cat “Let me in!” short:

Have a lovely weekend and read a lot (and if you are looking for a quick, fun, library-related read, check out Pearl North’s Libyrinth).

Wild World of Information

/ dwakimoto

Today is a very exciting day for me (and I hope for you too, although probably for different reasons). Today is the kick-off event for the Faculty Learning Communities at my university and I’m facilitating the learning community on teaching with technology. It is exciting and anxiety-producing and all that other stuff. I’m also excited to talk, or I guess more accurately write, more about information today.

First up is this rather disturbing article: As the Internet Replaces Print Publishing, Urge to ‘Unpublish’ Means Censoring History. Archivists have to deal with issues like this all the time and they are only amplified with digital data. More information is being produced than ever before, but if it isn’t properly preserved and managed, all that digital information can be lost. On a positive note, at least this issue is getting more attention outside of library and archives journals. Hopefully this means we’ll actually make progress in preserving digital data and not “unpublish” the past.

Archivists will have no trouble identifying with the issues presented in this next article: Archives and electrons. It extends, yet again, the seemingly never-ending debate over history and digital sources versus traditional physical archival sources. That some historians stood up and testified that sources outside the archives are just as important, and sometimes make the researching and writing of history possible, was definitely a “Yes!” moment for those of us who work in archives and also in history. Again, like I’ve said before, the world is not binary (even if binary code is) and we don’t have to give up analog for digital or vice versa. Instead, we can use what makes sense for each project and program.

Not about “unpublishing” or debates over digital archives, but instead about finding fantastic, usable sources: 25 sources for Creative Commons content. I think anyone who has read posts on this blog understands how much I love Creative Commons and this list makes me happy. Now I have even more places to look for great Creative Commons content.

This article is just lovely: Students wary of sourcing Wikipedia from the Spartan Daily at San Jose State. As I teach information literacy to first year students and we often discuss Wikipedia, this article just made me smile. Wow, students acknowledging that Wikipedia may not be accurate, my teacher heart is happy. With that insight, we can move on to more interesting discussions about discernment, crowdsourcing content, and Web 2.0 conundrums.

In a different vein, I got asked yet again by a colleague if I sleep. Why do I get asked these questions? Do I really look that haggard? It is actually possible to be highly productive and also get enough hours of sleep so as to avoid all those nasty illnesses and health complications that come from not getting enough sleep. The real reason, I think people ask me if I sleep is because they can’t believe I don’t procrastinate and I must have to “burn the midnight oil” to get my work done. I contend that if you actually are passionate about your work, and really focus for 8-9 hours on work a day, you have more than enough time to sleep, eat, relax, meditate, and do whatever else you need or want to do. So I fully support Lifehacker’s It’s National Procrastination Week: Let’s Celebrate by not Honoring it. Just don’t procrastinate–it only hurts you.

And something else from Lifehacker that truly makes me smile: Naps can Seriously Improve All-Day Learning Abilities. Let’s hear it for nap time! This just supports my argument that I’ve been making since I got back from Bolivia that we really need to get the siesta mainstreamed in the United States.

Finally, something fun from The New Yorker The Subconscious Shelf. Check out the photographs of readers’ bookshelves and the analyses of what the shelves say about the readers.

Have a lovely day, a fantastic weekend, and don’t forget to read a lot. Because, as Seth Godin writes in his new book Linchpin “It’s not an accident that successful people read more books” (p. 126).

Changes in the Library

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Today’s post is short and sweet, so I’ll just get to it and stop the introductory remarks. Or as the Doctor would say, “Allons-y!”

First, go read this great post, Don’t Forget about Us. It is quite crazy that marketing departments, corporations and just about every advertisement agency focuses on the 20-40 year old demographic, but libraries often do not focus on this group. This is an unacceptable gap in our service and a great opportunity for libraries to become more relevant to a very important segment of the population.

If you have never watched one of the Common Craft “in Plain English” videos, you are in for a special treat. And if you have, you already know that Common Craft has a wonderful gift for explaining even complex issues in a jargon-free and humorous way. This video has been making the RSS feed rounds and is called “Staffing the Library of the Future in Plain English.” Check it out below:

I hope you have a fantastic weekend, read a lot and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library fun.

Self-Improvement Friday

/ dwakimoto

I dislike self-improvement books whose authors take themselves too seriously, although I love finding out information about self-improvement if the authors are funny. But I do like the idea of self-improvement because, really, when you get right down to the crux of the matter you can only really improve yourself. This really isn’t as self-involved as it may seem (and yes I promise that it has something to do with technology and libraries, if you will bear with me for a moment) because improving yourself can be interpreted as broadly or as narrowly as you wish. I happen to believe that improving yourself includes helping others, being selfless in giving, and also learning to do the tree pose in yoga.

So for this Friday’s post, I decided to finally round up all the posts, feeds, and tidbits of information about improving yourself. Let me know what you find is the best advice for improving some facet of life–I’d love to hear about it.

Lifehacker has a nice write-up on the book Confessions of a Public Speaker. I just started reading this book and think it is fantastic–funny, engaging, and helpful. What more could one want in a book? I get stage fright every time I have to present in front of an audience, which some people find hard to believe considering I teach and often present at conferences. Therefore I find it a comfort to know that a lot of great speakers and performers also get nervous before performing, plus the advice in this book is spot on. So if you hate public speaking but have to do it, go read this book.

Before you get to the public speaking though, you’ll actually have to finish up a project or presentation to have something to present. To help you get to that stage, check out Work Awesome’s Stay on Track with an Idea Embargo. I love this advice, especially because people seem all too willing to give advice at the eleventh hour on projects. I implemented this on the last project I worked on at my library and it went rather well.

One of the endemic issues in librarianship (see I told you I would work in libraries) is the fact that so many librarians are professed introverts. Now, of course, not everyone who is a librarian, or archivist, is an introvert; however, the professions seem to have a great deal of introverts. As an aside, I thought I was a total introvert until I went to library school and suddenly discovered that in my new profession I was definitely one of the more extroverted people in the program. Part of the reason people don’t want to give public speeches and presentations is because they are introverts and some introverts are inordinately shy. So for those of you who are shy and want to push yourself out of your comfort zone, check out the article on How to Finally Overcome Shyness. Great advice.

I didn’t say it would be easy to change, but it is well worth it. As I’ve noted on this blog multiple times, getting over the need to be perfect will free you to do and be so much more than you are now. And if you’re thinking to yourself that is all well and good but does the Waki Librarian actually take any of her own advice, the answer is yes, I do. I’m so far from perfect at speaking in front of groups, or even just one on one at parties. I practice and I continue to present and speak, even though I stumble over words when I’m nervous (or excited), have a tendency to mispronounce words, and sometimes talk too quickly. Communication really is key and by becoming more comfortable (and less shy) you’ll find that you will be spending so much time trying new things and tackling new ideas, that you won’t have time to worry about if you’re perfect in your speech or what everyone else thinks.

If you want even more inspiration, check out this Interview with Linchpin author, Seth Godin. I am a fan of Godin’s work and his blog. His writing is remarkably jargon free and he has powerful ideas that can help, even if you are not in marketing. Be bold, even if your lizard brain is telling you to take the easy way out.

If you’ve heard the hype, but haven’t tried Google Buzz yet, check out Lifehacker’s Google Buzz Explained article. I freely admit that I activated Buzz on one of my accounts and 24 hours later switched it off. I didn’t see it adding to my productivity or ability to keep up with friends and it was making me anxious that there was yet more stuff I hadn’t read every time I opened up my Gmail account. Some people are finding it useful. If you are using Buzz and like it, please let me know in comments. I’m interested to hear what people think about it.

I promised somehow this post would relate to libraries, so check out: Top 10 Tools for Better Reading, Online and Off. I especially like that the first comment on this great Lifehacker post recommends going to a library for Reader’s Advisory! 🙂

Finally, I leave you with a great comic from xkcd:

comic strip of Science Valentine by xkcd.

Science Valentine by xkcd

Have a happy Chinese New Year on Sunday, read a lot, and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more tips, tricks, and fun.

Friday's Bits and Bytes

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Today’s post has the usual roundup of random library and technology goodies. Hopefully these links will help you in your work and play, or at least give you something to read when you need a break from work today.

When I was actually asked by someone at work how I get everything done and whether I actually sleep (Just for the record, I do sleep.), I decided it was probably time to take a look at my schedule and try pacing myself. I’ve never been really good at pacing myself or saying no to interesting projects or to people when they ask for help. But in the spirit of trying to improve, I checked out this post at WebWorkerDaily on the importance of creating buffers in your day and week. I quite like this idea and will try implementing it. I already create buffers when I go on vacation or travel for conferences, but I will have to try to create more buffers during my weekday. Now if only I could get people to stop scheduling back to back meetings…

On the topic of information overload, which I think strengthens the argument for buffers, have you seen this research that shows our brains can only handle managing approximately 150 friends? Interesting research that reminds me a lot of BJ Fogg’s research into persuasive technology and that while technology changes rapidly, basic human pyschology, or in this case the neocortex, does not. Thus another reason for not having thousands of “friends” on Facebook.

On a completely different subject, check out these 100 educational virtual tours. If you are going to be chained to your desk, you might as well go sightseeing virtually. I’m partial to the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History and the Rare Books Room.

Finally, check out the High Impact LIS Institutions based on citation ranking. Unfortunately my alma mater is not in the top 5, but unsurprising Harvard and University of Pittsburgh are number 1 and 2, respectively.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend full of time for reading. The Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library and technology fun.

Friday Tech Help

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Today’s post is the usual round-up of helpful technology tips, some of which are from slightly older posts hanging around the web (mainly because I haven’t cleared out my feed reader for a bit). I am also apparently still thinking about travel because as I reviewed the links for today, most of them will be helpful the next time you are traveling and need to bring along your laptop or do anything on the Internet (which is, let’s admit it, just about every trip).

So the one item I want to bring to your attention and that isn’t really travel related is the new Friend of a Friend’s Group wiki, explained here. This is such a lovely idea, and I simply can’t believe this hasn’t been done before. Every library could use an extra influx of cash right now. If you have ideas or suggestions, please contribute to this wiki.

Now, on to the tech stuff for the day. Lifehacker has a great article stating that You’re Backing up Your Data the Wrong Way. Really, you have no excuse not to back up your data considering how easy it is and how cheap external storage has become over the last couple of years. Read this article and then go back up your data so if you do face the “blue screen of death,” you won’t lose all of your data.

I think I’m going to have my next Information Literacy class read this Lifehacker article, Internet Survival Guide for Traveling where Privacy isn’t Respected, when we talk about information and power. These are ways that you can protect your data and privacy, even while using Internet Cafes. I wish I had known more of these tips when I was living in South America. I love these tips and will use them the next time I’m traveling.

Finally in the traveling vein of tips, Find the Best Spots in New Cities with these Tools. I love that the first tip is to actually plan ahead, but the rest of the tips are very good too.

And, lastly, here is Lifehacker’s article on How to Put your PC to Good Use while You’re Sleeping. Lots of ideas for how to run maintenance programs while you are sleeping and they won’t interfere with your work.

Have a wonderful weekend, read lots, and the Waki Librarian will be back next week for more library and tech fun.

Resolutions and "Good Enough"

/ dwakimoto

It is January and it seems like everyone has gone resolution crazy. I’m not inherently against making resolutions and I’m especially not against self-improvement, but sometimes I think we get caught up in all the hype of resolutions that we try to strive for perfection. Perfection isn’t always the best resolution. Of course, there are times when perfection is called for, but for a lot of tasks and things in life, good enough is perfect.

Therefore, I bring to your attention this great post, Getting to Good Enough. Seriously, read this and try to apply some of the tips the next time you are feeling stuck and worried that your best effort won’t be perfect.

I am a really big fan of the concept of good enough. There are areas of my life where I want perfection, or I am willing to work a lot just to get a fraction of a percentage better. But, for the most part, there are a lot of tasks that aren’t worth losing sleep or hours of time over. Think of the Web 2.0 concept of prototyping and perpetual beta. It is okay to build, test, revise, and then let it go. In libraryland, this concept could help us get over our fear that our websites need to be perfect and set in stone before we open them up to the public. Or that we need to have agonized over a new program or service for months before seeing if our patrons actually use it. Think beta and get moving.

One of the most common resolutions I have heard this month is that people want to get more organized. Who can argue with that? Organization is key to being effective and efficient at your work and life, but don’t forget The Lost Rule of Organizing. Remember the law of diminishing returns and that good enough really is good enough. This post makes me feel a lot better about the junk drawer in my desk at work and in my kitchen at home.

Finally, because it just wouldn’t be a post without a list, here is Lifehacker’s The Best of 2009 Recap. Lots of great posts and tips in this list.

Remember that you don’t have to be perfect to be great and that if it really is about the journey and not the destination, then you better stop worrying about being perfect and start moving.

Have a very happy 2010, read a lot, and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with reports from the ALISE Conference in Boston (as long as the wifi is working).