Starting My Collection (IRLS675-Unit 1)

The assignment:

Gather a small collection of digital objects, perhaps 15-20 items. These might be digital images,

sound files, text files and other digital documents. These may also be digital surrogates (e.g.

photographs of physical objects). The collection should be of interest to you, and it should be something you know a little about. It should also be reasonably diverse, so the same terms or tags would not be used to describe each of the items. These should not be hypothetical items or catalog description records only; you should have the objects in hand (or, more accurately, on disk). You will enter this collection into Drupal in a couple of weeks providing both hierarchical and faceted access based on a simple taxonomy of terms and tags you will develop. You will also enter this collection in other repository systems over the coming weeks.

Using these guidelines, I have decided to create a repository of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) music. I just made a mix cd of about 20 songs, so I will use these songs as the basis for my collection. I would imagine that LGBTQ people, professors/students in gender & sexuality studies, and those in the music industry would find this collection useful and interesting. The LGBTQ community is very diverse, so choosing accurate language and tags will be very important in managing the collection.


Types of terms that will be used include:

• Subject Identity Terms: This would refer to the identities either explicitly or implicitly portrayed in the song. For instance, "gay male," "lesbian," "transgender," "polyamory," etc.


• Genre: This refers to the category of music the song belongs to. For instance, "Country," "Hip Hop," "Rock," "Bluegrass," etc.


• Identifying Features: This would be basic information including "Song Title," "Artist Name," "Album," "Year," etc.

Project Management (IRLS672-Unit 12)

I enjoyed Cervone's "How Not to Run a Digital Library Project." It was written in a conversational style and was unique among the articles for this week.

His DON'T tips included:

-not bothering to understand project requirements

-forgetting to plan because it's too time consuming

-committing to a budget and schedule before knowing what you're actually supposed to do

-using WAG as a best guess

-adding more personnel when a project is running behind

-ignoring the critical path

-not worrying about the project's potential downfalls

-adding things to the project once it's already in motion

-and believing you don't need outside help at all

Project management seems to be quite complex because you need to be a jack-of-all-trades, a psychic, and a good leader/coach/mentor. However, if done right, project management can provide the needed results on time and on budget.

First DigIn Course Nearly Complete! (IRLS672-Unit 11)

Looking back on this summer semester, I can't believe how much information we got through and how far I've come. I went from vague recollections of DOS to pwning the command line! Actually, I have a loooong way to go, but I think I'm off to a good start. We've gone through linux, nano, hmtl, websites, servers, tech plans, databases, php scripting, and will soon be covering project management. Not bad for a summer course!

This class showed me that digital librarianship may be a bit more complicated than I initially thought, but it also showed me that I can accomplish a lot when I put my mind to it. I'm determined to not have to rely on an IT department every time I need a tiny thing. I think all librarians should have some of this tech knowledge in order to be empowered, not threatened, in the digital age.