sallysetsforth

Manton Dam is located about 70km south of Darwin. It was constructed during World War II, as were many of Darwin's major infrastructure projects, and was Darwin's first reliable water supply. Now it's used as an emergency water source only - the rest of the time it's a popular recreation spot for boating and fishing, and a valuable conservation area.



The short walk to the dam wall is very pretty, and at its end you are rewarded with a lovely view of crashing water over the curved wall. You can climb the steps up to the top of the wall too :)

I'd never tried origami before this year, but in the space of a few months I picked up the bug! I bought a book on origami for beginners (oh alright, it's actually called Origami for Children), some lovely origami paper from a couple of Japanese shops in Melbourne, and an origami-a-day calendar for 2012. A friend of mine also gave me some origami paper that she'd bought in Japan.

My origami paper supplies are still boxed up in the craft room / home office - I can't wait to unpack them! - but I took this photo of one of my early efforts and can share it with you now:



This particular pattern was quite tricky, and I had to go looking for extra tips on the internet in order to complete it. But it's such a pretty little thing, it was worth the effort :)

I'm sure I'll have lots more completed origami projects to share here in future!

Last year my colleagues and I put together a fun library orientation program for students that involved treasure hunts, QR codes, animated videos and more. It was a great project to work on, and I've previously blogged about it HERE.

As part of the online version of the treasure hunt, we used video clips that I created with an online tool called Blabberize. They were silly, and they made students laugh - which was exactly the reaction we'd hoped for. They were also a hoot to play during the conference presentations that we later delivered on this project :)

To create the videos, I used an image of an animal (each entry mode for the treasure hunt had a different animal mascot) that was based on either free clipart or Creative Commons licensed photos from Flickr that allowed remixing and reusing with appropriate attribution. I then "cartoonified" the images using the BeFunky online photo editor. Finally, I uploaded each image to Blabberize, selected a mouth area, and recorded a voiceover.

Here's one of the videos that we used in the treasure hunt:



Note: I've embedded the video that I uploaded to YouTube so that it can be viewed on any device. You can also embed directly from the Blabberize site, but the video is Flash so not everyone can see it properly. It's great that Blabberize offer a conversion to video option!

Any image that has a mouth can be converted into a fun Blabberize video. While I was playing around with the tool, I even "blabberized" myself for the Daily Image 2011 project :)



I'm sure you could think of some creative uses for it too!

I returned to Darwin at the end of April, and also to working on campus again after 6 months of working remotely from Melbourne. It's great to be back :)

On my first day back on campus, my fellow liaison librarians surprised me with a wonderful office makeover! How lucky I am to work with such amazing people, and to be welcomed back in such style!

Sally sets forth = sallysetsforth

I started using 'sallysetsforth' as my username for all things social and online in early 2009. Where did it come from? Well, ever since I first went online back in the '90s I've been calling myself sallyforth or a variation thereof. Usually a variation, because someone always seemed to snatch it up first!

I've always loved the term 'to sally forth'. I first heard it in a song from one of my all-time favourite musicals, The Pirates of Penzance, and was immediately tickled by the idea that my name could also be a verb :) So it became my username of choice, but as I mention above it was often claimed before I got there.

In 2009 I was trying to decide on a domain name, as well as a username for Twitter and lots of other fun things that I wanted to play with online. So I needed a username or identity that was unique. I tried sallyforth - gone of course. Sallyingforth - also gone. Hmmm. Alright, how about sallysideways or sallybackwards? No, they sounded silly. And then sallysetsforth. Yes, that will do nicely :)

When I first started this blog I mentioned that the main reason was to keep in touch with friends and family while I travel. Of course it's become much more than that, and my use of other social media has always been much broader. I'm not just 'setting forth' in my travels. I'm also setting forth in trying new things, learning different skills, progressing in my career, and hopefully having some fun along the way. So sallysetsforth just makes a whole lot of sense really.

Anyway, there's the story behind my username :)

P.S. It's the first of June, and like the glutton for punishment that I am, I have signed up for yet another attempt at blogging every day in June (this will be the third year!). I'll probably struggle, since we have a visitor staying with us for the next couple of weeks and time is always hard to come by at the best of times ... but my blogging needs a kick in the pants, so I will do my best to keep them coming for the next month. And maybe even make a dint in my overflowing drafts folder!

In February this year, I was fortunate to be able to attend VALA2012 in Melbourne. This was my second VALA conference, having also attended VALA2010. And just like last time, I found VALA to be an amazing experience in terms of content, presenters and attendees.

My attendance was funded by my employer, Charles Darwin University (CDU) Library, this time around (I paid my own way in 2010), so after the conference I put together a summary of some of the major themes of the conference as they applied to academic libraries for our management team. I picked out three top themes, but also cherry picked a bunch of other interesting topics that I thought were relevant to my workplace.

For me, the top three themes that came out of VALA2012 were:

Research data - There was a big focus on increasing the role of academic and research libraries in providing research data management services to assist researchers to organise and protect their data. Liz Lyon (UKOLN) noted that many research grants now require research projects to have data management plans in place as a condition of funding. Libraries can take a leadership role in this. Libraries and librarians need to re-skill for research, to meet the skills shortage in data informatics.

Organisational objectives - A challenge for the future: if the library doesn't work towards achieving organisational objectives, and measure (demonstrate) progress against those objectives, then its parent organisation has every right to question the library's existence and funding. The director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told library staff "don't stay in your library if you want continued support" - they now have embedded research support in every institute, and their services are evaluated by their clients. The Guinness Archivist stressed the importance of being clear on the organisation's mission, and applying metrics re: value to the institution.

Staffing & professional development - There was much discussion about staffing models, especially related to the online/physical divide. If the majority of our collection is online, the majority of our spending is on online resources, and (in CDU's case) the majority of our students are studying online, then why do our staffing models still lean so heavily towards the physical collection and on-campus services? Librarians need skills in strategic management. Understanding emerging technologies is important for all library staff, not just liaison librarians. Informal learning sessions (eg. lunchtime sessions, technology petting zoos) should be encouraged and participation recognised/acknowledged.

Other themes raised at VALA2012 and worth noting/considering:

The catalogue - There was debate at both VALA2012 and Library Camp 2012 about the future of the catalogue. Is it for users, or is it really just inventory control? Is it a special resource, or just another database of metadata? There's a lot of data duplication in the current system - why not point to records rather than store them, they could be added straight into discovery systems. And then we could use a simpler inventory system, or even stop lending materials out(!). Another question: Why isn't our catalogue content discoverable through Google?

Streaming media - University of Tennessee, Chattanooga has similar student numbers to CDU but mostly internal: 82% of library visits are online, more than half of on-campus bandwidth use was streaming media (mostly video). Curtin University has a videostreaming libguide - they say that faculty expects the library to take up the challenge of providing streamed video content (and pay for it).

Gaming - There were some very compelling arguments for gaming as a literacy tool. And for professional development (eg. library seminars held within World of Warcraft).

Content creation - In the past, libraries brought the world to their communities. In the future, libraries will bring their community to the world (through local/special/rare collections and community-created resources). What would the library look like if we spent half our collection budget on creating experiences for our community?

Access - Experiences create expectations, young people expect to be able to access media from anywhere. Services already exist to share books and journal articles on a 'fair use' basis outside database subscriptions. We need to understand that we can't always control access, and that libraries are no longer the cheapest and easiest way to access content.

New interfaces - People are now accessing content using touch-based interfaces (smartphones & tablets), gesture-based interfaces (XBox Kinect), and voice-based interfaces (iPhone4s). Libraries should be considering this when designing services and resources.

The reference desk - UNSW replaced their reference desk with a help zone that could be easily converted into student space when not staffed (their library stays open beyond staffing hours).

Trove API - The Trove API will be released around Easter, and it looks like there will be great opportunities to integrate Trove content into our own online environment.

Tablets and mobile devices in teaching - It was noted at the University of Adelaide that student use of tablets and mobile devices in class allows teachers to use lecture theatres but still do hands-on activities.

Discovery - The National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has an integrated discovery service, where if an item is not available in full-text online, there's a button right there to request ILL (the button is colour coded to indicate delivery time).

Many of these themes were raised across multiple presentations, as well as at Library Camp 2012 and in conversation. So the links I've used here are not intended to be a complete reference list. This list of themes / topics was compiled for my own workplace, so the subject matter reflects that. And of course I couldn't attend every presentation, so for that reason too my takeaway messages will probably be quite different to those of other attendees.

I would like to make special mention of a presentation that I especially enjoyed from a colleague at my previous employer, the Victorian Parliamentary Library, about semantic tagging. My colleagues there also delivered a VALA Showcase presentation on their open source reference software. I didn't include them in the above list since the content matter didn't directly apply to my current work - but both presentations were terrific, and I'm so proud of the work that's being done there.

Abstracts for all of the presentations are available on the VALA2012 website, and it looks like many of them (or perhaps all of them) already have the papers uploaded and video recordings of the presentations available. I strongly encourage you to check them out!

In a burst of sanity a few weeks ago, I convinced myself to stop working and get out of the house for a day! Warrandyte is one of our favourite nearby locations for a day trip, so Tim and I took ourselves there for a break from our too-busy lives.

I love visiting Warrandyte for its beautiful location alongside the Yarra River, as well as its wonderful collection of shops and cafes. On this particular day, we stuck to the riverside shops - but there are many more more places to visit and explore there.

First we visited Warrandyte Lollies & Treats, where I had a lovely time squeeing over the hard-to-find sweets. I bought a Perky Nana bar :)

Then we stopped in at Ratty & Moles Riverbank Antiques. It was an exercise in temptation, but I walked away without buying anything (we're trying to downsize!). I took this photo from the main entrance, looking back up towards the street:



We next visited Yarra Cottage Books, one of my favourite second-hand book shops. For lunch we stopped in at The Bakery, which has outdoor seating looking out over the riverside.

We finished our excursion with a walk along the Yarra River. It's always a popular spot, with long walking trails. Plenty of people were enjoying themselves - walking dogs, feeding ducks, picnicking, and paddling.





All in all, a great day for enjoying some natural scenery and recharging the batteries.

Oops, it looks like I've let a couple of months pass by between blog posts again ...

We had a tough start to the year. I still haven't decided whether I want to talk about it here, so for now I won't.

Then came the lead-up to the University first semester at both of my workplaces. My workload was (too) intense. I'm not sure if I want to talk about that here either.

Thanks to the professional development money from our team's Vice-Chancellor's Award, I was able to attend VALA2012. I also attended Library Camp 2012. I will *definitely* talk about that here - coming soon :)

There was a little bit of crafting, though not as much as I'd like.

We enjoyed a weekend away in the Rutherglen / Beechworth district. Gosh, I wish we did that kind of thing more often!

And I finished my final Uni subject over the summer semester. I've already got my marks back, and am proud to say I've now earned my Master of Information Studies. With an average mark of Distinction, thank you very much ;)

Wow. What a crazy couple of months it's been.

Sometime it's seemed like a string of disasters ... but there have been highs as well as lows. I haven't blogged (and probably won't blog) in detail about some of the things that stressed me out at the time - partly because I'm a bit of a slack blogger (did you notice?), but mostly because I prefer not to vent on my blog. So I've waited until I've got a bit of distance on recent events, and can now provide you with a brief summary of the ups and downs of the last few months.

Low points:

• The CEO of Qantas chucking a hissy fit and throwing my air travel plans into disarray. Fortunately it was resolved before Roxy (our cat) and I left Darwin.
• Rental stress in Darwin caused by a horrible real estate agent, but ultimately resolved successfully by our wonderful landlord.
• Rental stress in Melbourne caused by slack tenants and a slack real estate agent. We did a lot more cleaning than we should have had to. And our poor garden was a disaster area, with weeds as high as the fence in some places. It obviously hadn't been touched in a year.
• The moment when our removalists in Melbourne opened the truck and found that everything had "shifted in transit". We were lucky that only a few pieces of furniture were broken.
• Springtime allergies. The worst I've ever experienced, I spent much of my first two weeks in Melbourne in bed as a result.
• Terrible customer service from an online bookshop (it really upset me at the time). They were in the wrong, but it was their refusal to respond to any of my queries that left such a bad taste in my mouth.
• My Christmas was cancelled, thanks to a bout of the flu (fever, chills, sweats, aches, the whole shebang). I missed Christmas with both my family and Tim's as a result.
• The hail and thunder storms on Christmas day resulted in flooding in our garage - eerily reminiscent of the heavy rains in December 2003 that flooded our garage when we first moved into this house! Those are the only times we've experienced flooding here.

High points:

• I'm slowly getting into the swing of working remotely. It's a little too quiet sometimes, but my productivity has been high. And I need to work at staying connected with my team - happily we all seem to getting better at this already.
• My little work team (the liaison librarians) won the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Exceptional Performance. We were over the moon, and even more so when we discovered it came with a generous amount of money to be used for professional development.
• My prize for the best presentation at the Top End Symposium arrived in the mail - a bookshop voucher, and some terrific National Year of Reading merchandise.
• I've just started doing some casual work at a university in Melbourne, which I'm very excited about. It will be a great opportunity to work with some new people and hopefully get some fresh ideas off the ground.
• The shopping in Melbourne is pretty good, especially when you've been away from it for a while (craft shops, great restaurant food and prices, Haigh's!).
• I loved catching up with some friends from interstate who visited Melbourne not long after I got back.
• I did a temari ball workshop at Kimono House - a craft that I'd been wanting to try for ages! I've put some photos of my first attempt on Flickr, and a blog post will be coming soon.

I wish I could have added more about catching up with friends to this list, but there haven't been a lot of opportunities so far. I'm looking forward to making up for it in the new year :)

Anyway, there you go. I've got my positive face on now, and am looking forward to some time ahead that is a little quieter, yet productive and interesting. Wish me luck!

I've made a few veiled references lately to being busy and making plans, but have been keeping the details under wraps until things were a bit more solid. Well, I think it's pretty well confirmed now, to the point where I feel comfortable talking about it online ...

For family reasons, we're coming back to Melbourne for about six months.

We're already in the middle of packing the house up and arranging the move, which is why we've both been so under the hammer lately. I'm flying out next week, and Tim will arrive in Melbourne a week later, as he's driving down. We'll stay with my mum to start with, before moving back into our house in December.

Tim and I both want to return to Darwin. We enjoy it here, and there's still a lot that we want to do. And I really enjoy my job here. I work with a terrific team of people, and I've had fantastic opportunities to contribute and to make the job my own. It's been a bit frantic and stressful at times too (that's client service!) but the positives have far outweighed any negatives. So when I asked my manager about the possibility of taking leave without pay, I was thrilled and extremely grateful when they made me the counter-offer of continuing to work in my position part-time from home, on a remote basis. I'm really excited that I can keep my job, and continue to work with my team and my clients. And I have heaps of projects to keep me busy!

So, it's a temporary goodbye to Darwin for now, and hello again to Melbourne. I'm looking forward to spending time with family and friends, as well as revisiting some of my favourite places. I'm also looking forward to meeting the challenges of telecommuting, so you can expect some future blog posts on that topic :)