nirak.net - Musings of an LIS Student

These last two weeks have been exciting (and hard) for me. At work, the CDRH just finished hosting a TEI workshop given by Syd Bauman and Julia Flanders. After that, we held the 2nd Annual Nebraska Digital Workshop. It was a busy few weeks, planning for food, handouts, events, parties, etc.

On top of that, we have been having server issues at work.

But the big news is, the results from the 2007 Nebraska Library Association election results are in, and I have been elected secretary of the New Member’s Round Table!   The Nebraska Library Association annual conference is at the end of this month, and I’m designing the banner for the NMRT booth (based on Debbie Krahmer’s great web design) and working on the brochures.

I was a little worried for a few days there that I may not be able to do the full time work full time school thing. But I think it will all work out. It wouldn’t be possible without great co-workers, great teachers, great friends and family, and a great husband. Thanks everyone.

karin :: Oct.08.2007 :: Library, School Stuff :: 2 Comments »

I have been chosen as a finalist in CollegeScholarship.org’s blogging scholarship- which means I’m up for a $10,000 scholarship. I’m the only library blogger on the list.

The finalists are listed on this page, and you can vote on this page. I’m Karin Dalziel, in case you forgot. Please spread the word!

I am awed by the quality of the blogs in this list. At the very least, I have a lot more to add to my feed reader now!

karin :: Oct.08.2007 :: Library, School Stuff :: 7 Comments »

I’ve been reading a lot of posts about Zotero lately, most recently this one at ACRLog, which brings up an issue I have not given voice to yet- I don’t talk about Zotero too much at work because we subscribe to, and are busy promoting- RefWorks. I feel sorta like a traitor. But in my own research, Zotero has been an absolute godsend. I truly believe students are better off using Zotero, because they can store, annotate, and, if they install on a portable version of Firefox as I have, take their database anywhere, even places without an internet connection. Not to mention, when they graduate, they can take all their research with them and not have to pay $100 a year.

When I first started at my job, I attended a training session given by a ReWorks representative, and was amazed and excited. It was only a few short months later I discovered Zotero. It’ true that some things - especially resources offered through the university library - are a little harder to get into Zotero, but then, everything outside the library is harder to get into RefWorks.

So that’s where I stand. I still feel like a traitor, and a little sheepish when someone from the library asks me “don’t you use RefWorks?” I meekly tell them I use this really cool free and open source product called Zotero instead.

karin :: Oct.06.2007 :: Library :: 9 Comments »