Nice Nhet

Our class in LIS 260 went on a fieldtrip at UP Los Baños, Laguna last September 13, 2008. This was a part of our learning experience to be able to appreciate how an open source web-based application is used at UP Open University (UPOU) in particular the Moodle.

 I have to admit, I am super, very-very, to the max EXCITED!!! Try to imagine me waking up as early as 3:00 a.m. without having a good night sleep and arriving at the meeting place (UP Lib) around 4:30 a.m., only to discover later that we are scheduled to leave at 6:00 a.m. Hahaha!!!

 For the first time I saw the UP Library to be dark, silent and creepy. I really can’t bare myself looking around the trees imagining that I would see a “white, floating, long-haired woman.” Yiiiiiih…. After an hour (5:30 a.m.), I finally saw my classmates coming one by one. Yehey!!!

 Looking back, if we put together all the happenings within that day it was indeed a great experience like a fruit salad. Each and every ingredients composed the delicious and colorful endeavor. Although it’s hot and with a bit of hassles at first, we were able to explore UPLB happily and arrived home safe and sound.

 This event really made the class closer with one another. I had the chance to talk with my other classmates whom I don’t usually talk to inside the classroom. It was a nice feeling that I was able to exchange laughter, jokes and smiles with them outside the campus. The kulitan and picture-picture moments gave more sparks in the trip.

 Thanks to the following:

• Ms. Audrey and Mr. Larry for accommodating and touring us at UPOU.
• Prof. Primo for giving us an overview of the Moodle and how it plays an important role in the UP Open University.
• IRRI Cafeteria for the delicious and affordable breakfast.
• Kamayan sa Palaisdaan sa Bae for the sumptuous and super delicious lunch with the floating cottage effect and live “harana” band.
• To our Kuya drivers for the safe trip (with steaming aircon) Smile!!!
• To Melvin and Jem for organizing the tour and most especially;
• To Ma’am Sharon, without her UPLB trip will not materialize.

 This fieldtrip really developed camaraderie and socialization among the class. This is something that I will treasure.  

Looking back many years ago, library’s information retrieval systems has evolved and improved dramatically. From the traditional type like catalog and indexes, here we are with the fast and reliable computers. This technology in the library makes the searching easy and fast.

 

Classical information retrieval is text retrieval kind of IR. These are usually the library patrons and more on recall based searching. You usually need bunch of references in a particular topic and could possibly offer one correct answer and small or limited pieces of information only.

 

However, in the Web information retrieval we are searching more using different task and with high precision. No more exhausted searching. Web-based searching is a magic to everyone. It is available anywhere and anytime and with unlimited searching. it has a great impact to everyone and has help the world of business, entertainment, academic etc.

 

Web-based information retrieval in the library contributes to fast delivery of information to the users.

 

Personally, I enjoyed searching using the web but it doesn’t necessarily mean that I will forget the books which are more reliable. I may say that web-based searching is an additional reference but we should not be dependent on it because not all information found in it is 100% reliable.

 

Looking at the overall picture, web-based searching is more challenging, easier and faster compared to the traditional one but at some aspects books and printed materials are more dependable in a research.

 Digital media refers to electronic media that works on digital code. It is also defined as the creative convergence of digital arts, science, communication, social interaction, education, technology and business for human expression. Examples of digital media are cellphones, compact disc, digital video, digital television, internet, World Wide Web, video games etc.

Through the WWW, various and overflowing information emerged in different forms like audio, video, 3D presentation, animations etc. Access of information becomes more interesting and creative for the researchers. With the information explosion, most libraries started to equip their services and think of ways to meet the present demand. The Digital media opened the door for the digitization in the library.

A good example was a project called National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) in the Library of Congress for the collection and preservation of digital information. To lead this effort, the congress passed the Public Law 106-554 which is a special legislation appropriating $100 million to the Library of Congress with the goal of developing a national strategy to collect, archive and preserve the growing amounts of digital content, especially materials that are created only in digital formats.

With the help of their partners from different organizations, they have come up with the following goals:

1. Identify and collect at-risk born-digital content.

2. Build and support national network of partners working together to preserve digital content.

3. Develop and use technical tools and services for preservation.

4. Encourage public policy to support digital preservation.

5. Show why digital preservation is important for everyone.

Apropos to this technology, the need for digital media management system arises and becomes very useful for big organizations handling large chunk of digital data. Since media needs to be stored, indexed and managed having good digital media management software will help in archiving, retrieving, tracking and manipulating the digital data. It is a matter of choosing appropriate software that fits your requirement.

Having a digital library is having a network of multimedia system giving the clienteles fingertip access. The following are the ADVANTAGES of the Digital Library:

1. NO PHYSICAL BOUNDARY- users need not to go the library physically.

2. ROUND THE CLOCK AVAILABILITY- can be accessed at any time.

3. MULTIPLE ACCESSES- same resources can be used at the same time by a number of users.

4. STRUCTURED APPROACH- provides access to much richer content in a more structured manner.

5. INFORMATION RETRIEVAL- able to search term, word or phrase of the entire collection.

6. PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION- exact copy of the original can be made any number of times without any degradation in quality.

7. SPACE- has the potential to store much more information and requires very little physical space.

8. NETWORKING- provides the link to any other resources.

9. COST- maintaining a digital library is much lower than traditional library.

Putting up a digital library is not always favorable and rewarding. Aside from the computer viruses, lack of standardization for digitized information, health hazard nature of the radiation from the monitor etc. here are some DISADVANTAGES:

1. COPYRIGHT- digitization violates the copyright law since the content can be freely transferred without the knowledge of the author. The challenge is to how a digital library distributes information while protecting the copyright of the author.

2. SPEED OF ACCESS- the speed of access decreases as more and more computer gets connected to the internet.

3. INITIAL COST IS HIGH- the infrastructure cost like hardware, software, leasing communication circuit is relatively high.

4. BAND WIDTH- there is a need for a high band for transfer of multimedia resources but the band width is decreasing due to its over utilization.

5. EFFICIENCY- finding the right material becomes difficult due to large volume of digital information.

6. ENVIRONMENT- many people find reading printed material easier than reading on the computer screen.

7. PRESERVATION- due to technological developments, digital library can rapidly become out-of-date.

With the aforementioned positive and negative aspects of digital media in the library, I have reflected that we should take the challenge and be open to this technology. Like in business, we should meet the present demands of our customers to be effective. They are the blood and the reason for our existence. Digital media makes the searching easier and more accessible to the researchers that leads to customer satisfaction. It brings us closer to the world and it widens everybody’s horizon in researching in just a few clicks. It is really a great technology to maintain.

Through this, the role of the librarian becomes more challenging in terms of packaging and repackaging of information, for electronic publishing, for reference purpose etc.

At Marikina City Library, we have Computer Section where users may avail 30 minutes of Internet searching for free. This section is strictly for “online researching” only and is really in demand and always occupied. Sites like friendster, youtube, etc. are not allowed to be opened here. Aside from the fact that they may enjoy it for free, users find online researching fast and easy rather than going to the card catalog, get the call number, go to the selves, scan and browse the content etc. Yes, we also encounter problems like viruses invading the computer unit, overloading of some AVR, malfunctioning hardware etc. but we have Management Information System (MIS) department to maintain and troubleshoot these problems.

We are also working out on purchasing ten more computers to meet the growing demand for Internet searching and have prepared for making the library a Wi-Fi zone so that researchers may bring their laptop and do the searching in their respective tables.

On the other hand, traditional library should be maintained because other clienteles prefer printed materials right before their eyes or they are not versed or comfortable with digital media. We should make sure that we meet their needs as well. In addition, printed materials are also useful especially when there is no internet connection or when it is brownout.

For me, the library should pursue digitization and have this technology but NOT totally to replace the traditional library.

 

References: http://digitalpreservation.gov/library, http://liswiki.org/wiki/Digital_library

 

We were required to attend as per instruction of our professor in LIS 260, Ma’am Sharon a forum entitled “Strategies of Effective Searching of Information” last July 16, 2008. The rain was continuously pouring at that time due to typhoon Helen but it never hinders us to attend the much awaited forum.

 

I am fortunate that the City Government of Marikina shouldered the forum expenses amounting 200 pesos each participants. I am with my two (2) officemates and we are on official business.

 

I am so excited and set a very high expectation in the forum. The topic is very timely for my LIS 260 and for my profession. I also assumed that aside from the usual searching technologies that I know, I will add something advance in my list thru this forum.

 

Summing up the event, I came up with the following comments:

1. The speaker just read her PowerPoint presentations and was not able to explain the content thoroughly.
2. The transition in each slide was too fast. Therefore, important details were not given emphasis and clarifications like the Information Literacy Program, Web Harvesting, EBSCO, Pathfinder etc.
3. The questions raised by the participants were not answered by the speaker satisfactorily instead, she diverts her answers in other issues and connects it to the raised concern.
4. The forum was not able to attain their stated objectives which are as follows:
   1. To learn the new techniques in searching information.
   2. To know the research tools in searching information.  For me, no NEW techniques and tools were presented and it was not explained well to the participants.
5. It seems like the speaker was in hurry to finish her presentation and it was obvious that she was not prepared for the forum. Even the PowerPoint presentation was not that impressive. She even included her son’s photo commenting “anak ko yan, gwapo no? which is not necessary in this formal event.
6. No kit or handouts were given instead, she offered a CD copy of her presentation with additional 50 pesos payment and making side comments like “di naman kami katulad ng PAARL na maraming pondo.” Business? We were supposed to get that copy for free because we already paid 200 pesos.
7. Lack of certificates. Unfortunately, I am one of those who were not given the (low cost or xeroxed) certificate which is needed as our attachment and proof for attending the forum. They told us that they will email our certificates later. Well, there was lack of coordination between the organizers to reproduce additional certificates since the anticipated number of participants increased.
8. No evaluation sheet or feedback form was given for our comments and suggestions. This will indeed help them to improve next time.

 This was actually my very first time to attend a seminar displeased and disappointed because I cannot extract anything new and updated on the content. The 200 pesos payment for two-hour forum (which is actually reading of slides only), with children snacks and photocopied certificate is for me too much or expensive.

 

My 200 pesos would have bought eight kilos of rice where I could enjoy eating with my family for two days or my allowance for one day or 10 hours internet surfing in a computer rental shop.

 

Maybe because I expected too much and it was not achieved, it was really not worth the pay. I am sure that I am not the only one feeling this. There are others who came a long way outside Manila leaving their loaded work, filing a leave of absence, ignoring the heavy rain, having a long trip and paying the expensive fare, I am luckier!

 

The title should have been BASIC Strategies in Information Searching. Their title and objectives were really deceiving to the real content being presented.

 

Eyeing on their objectives, “to learn NEW techniques in searching information” was really interesting. Sadly, I may say that they fail to meet their own objectives. I should suggest that the speaker of this topic must be a Librarian 2.0 or someone more expert in this field. The speaker must also be equipped and capable of answering the participants’ queries.

 

After the forum, I told myself I should have spent my day at the UP Registrar’s office for my campus I.D or should have cataloged many books or have uploaded my new reading assignment. Sorry to say, but I really wasted my time in the said activity.

 

Our ordinary class with Ma’am Sharon and recently with Sir Robert was incomparable with this forum.

 

But looking at the experience positively, I learned the following:

 

As organizers we should:

1. Invite a speaker expert in the subject matter.
2. Give a clear title to the forum.
3. Make sure the “fee” you are to give suits the type and quality of the forum that you will have.
4. Make sure that all the participants will get certificates after the forum.
5. Ensure that the participants will learn something new and will look forward for another forum.  

As a speaker:

1. Make sure you can meet the participants’ expectations base on your profile.
2. Prepare a very nice and interesting presentation.
3. You must have mastery on the subject matter you are to discuss.
4. Know your participants for you to know the level of your presentation.
5. Avoid too much side comments when delivering your presentation. It makes some of the participants irritated.

Sorry I’m a bad girl :)