studying LT members' use of tags

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studying LT members' use of tags

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1circadia
nov 19, 2006, 5:15 pm

Hello Thingamabrarians!

My name is Abby Bass and I am currently working on my masters in Library Science at the University of Washington. As part of a research methods class, my fellow classmates and I are conducting a survey of LibraryThing members, focusing on their use of tags within LibraryThing.

We have created an anonymous survey that is posted at the following URL. Please take a moment to follow the link below and answer our questions. We greatly appreciate your participation and input! If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at arbass at u dot washington dot edu.

The survey link is here:

https://catalysttools.washington.edu/survey/arbass/29382

Thanks again,
Abby Bass

2Precipitation
nov 20, 2006, 5:05 pm

Hi! I am also working on an MLIS (at Valdosta State University in GA). I am taking research methods next semester. I have heard that it's a killer.

3circadia
nov 21, 2006, 1:11 pm

Hi -- yes, this class has not been one of my favorites as a MLIS student. It's too bad, because it could be really interesting and useful, but the person who's teaching it got it dumped in her lamp 3 weeks before the quarter began. Hence the course has been rather disorganized and very much rote lecturing from other people's powerpoints. Although that seems to be a common problem in my particular program . . .have you found similar issues? After a year in this program I'm very curious about what other MLIS programs are like.

4circadia
nov 21, 2006, 1:11 pm

Hello again all Thingamabrarians,

Thanks so much for participating in our survey. Due to the unanticipated, overwhelming response, we are closing the survey this morning (11/21/06) at 10:45 AM Pacific Standard Time. If you attempt to take it after this time, you'll receive a message that the survey is unavailable. We've gotten many, many great responses, and we fear that if we receive any more, we won't have time to thoroughly code and analyze the rich, wonderful data you've so generously provided us.

If you wanted to take the survey, but didn't get a chance, we apologize. Please let us know if you'd like to see the results. We're planning to prepare an executive summary that will somehow be made publicly available to all interested parties. We will definitely send our results to Tim & Abby in hopes that they may post them on the blog.

Again, many, many thanks to everyone who took the time to complete our survey. Without your participation this research would not have been possible. Thanks also for your patience with my multiple cross-postings – I apologize again for any annoyance this may have caused, and promise not to do it again (Hopefully you won’t view this message as spam, too!).

Thanks again,

Abby Bass

5Precipitation
nov 22, 2006, 11:27 am

Our program in non-thesis, so we are required to take thirteen courses (six core, seven electives). I am wrapping up classes six through nine right now. Next semester I am taking ten through twelve, and I will take "capstone" in the summer to graduate (if all goes well). I have found the program a bit too easy so far, to be honest. I don't really feel that I am being prepared for a career, but the librarian here says that that's the way it is; you learn on the job. Here are the classes I have taken:

Foundations in Library and Information Science
Cataloging and Classification
Multicultural Youth Literature
Online Searching
History of Books
Management
Advanced Cataloging
Information Sources and Services
Services for Patrons with Disabilities

Foundations was pretty much a waste of time, and the cataloging classes were not as in-depth as I would have hoped. The only challenging class I've taken is Online Searching. The History of Books class was very enjoyable; I took it over the summer, and it required the reading of a book on the history of libraries per week for six weeks followed by analyses. Management was a joke, and Information Sources and Services was, again, not as in-depth as I had hoped. I am looking forward to finishing so I can get a job and really start learning.

6becbart
nov 22, 2006, 5:55 pm

Sounds like the management and research methods classes are generally useless! I just finished my MLIS in May and found that learning on the job is definitely what happens - what we were taught was generally theory rather than application (with the notable exception of the Access to Electronic Resources course). Precipitation: one of my favourite courses was also History of the Book as I got to do in-depth research on a fascinating topic.

From my experience at a library school outside the U.S., we had the same issues of profs being told only weeks before the semester that they would be teaching a particular course. It generally ended up being a massive waste of time as they were inevitably non-electives.

As for the job aspect, I am immeasurably glad that I had the opportunity to be an intern at my university's library before getting my current job as a school librarian. I am essentially a solo librarian and would have had no clue what I was doing otherwise. Take advantage of coworkers when you have them! Ask questions, and ask more than one person the same thing. Libraries are very interesting organisms and it seems that everyone has a different opinion. Makes work exciting, lol.