Final Research Paper- 3D Printing

So I finally finished my final assignment.  I finished writing and editing and all of that fun stuff last night.  Today I had to transfer it all over to Google Docs, which was interesting. I have never used Google Docs before except to receive genealogy records from cousins. So now I know how to send records with Google Docs!  Hopefully I did everything right and it all saved right.  It makes me kind of nervous having it just say it saved it to the drive and not having a save process to go through like Microsoft Word or Pages for Mac.

Anyway, the paper itself is on 3D Printing.  3D Printing has been around for a while- around a decade. However, it has been incredibly expensive for any 3D printer that was reliable in any way.  Recently, the cost has steadily gone down. Reliable 3D printers can be bought by individuals for their homes, even thought they are not quite cheap enough to be widely owned on an individual basis yet. However, the cost is not so high that libraries cannot afford to own one for their patrons.

This paper describes what 3D printing is and gives a brief description of various options in how it prints and materials used.  Advantages and disadvantages are also discussed as well as the potential application of the technology in libraries.

I am sharing the link below. Please let me know if it does not work.  As I said, never shared stuff with Google Docs before.  I set it to anyone with the link being able to view it.  So I hope that is correct.  Let me know if it is not!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QGUvUrESDXMGwFhUl20wD2u-MKxxckCUYwoQdDgtuX8/edit?usp=sharing

Profile Picture

Also, completely unrelated to anything except me finally figuring out some stuff, I figured out how to add a profile picture. I hope every time you see it that me yelling in your face in my profile photo is scary and, well, in your face. ;)

Creepy Technology Moment for the Day

This isn't really library related. But it is technology related.  I am sitting here doing my homework (yes, right this minute), and my phone buzzes and tells me that my mom is nearby at the chicken place getting dinner for the family.  Yes, it said "Melissa is nearby at Chicken Express getting dinner for the family."  It would have been less creepy if she "checked in" and it just showed me her check in, but the fact that it knew that she was checking in near where I currently am at and it actually buzzed my phone to notify of this was pretty creepy.  And it was correct. Chicken Express is right across the street. And she is indeed there picking up dinner.

3D Printing

Last night I started researching for my final paper. I decided to go with 3D printing. I found lots of disturbing issues with 3D printing. I would write more about them, but the only way I can discuss it is with a therapist and dolls. ;)

CMS Interview with Local Librarian

The following is based on an interview with a local librarian. The interview was conducted through e-mail after I initially met with the librarian in person to request an interview. There was no follow up interview due to time constraints.  The librarian implied they would email more information later, so I will update this post if I receive more information.

Interview Transcript

Questions I sent:

How and where did you hear about CMS?

What were your motivations to adopt CMS for its current use (library website or any other purpose)?

What were your decisions making criteria? And what is the name of the CMS you are using now? 

What are the important benefits or advantages of the CMS you are using now over the old system or another CMS system that you have used in the past? 

Have you used any other CMS besides the one you are using now?

How was the learning curve?

Response Received: 

I learned about CMS in library literature & talking with other directors. We use an outside source for our website design & to update the pages. The site is designed so that a staff member can add some content but not change any of the design elements. Content added is mostly program dates and some services. I will have to contact the web designer to find out the name of the program. 

Reflection on Interview

The response that I received to my interview questions was definitely brief and wanting for details. However, that can be attributed to time constraints and some confusion on who needed to answer my questions. The librarian that I originally requested an interview with was more than happy to help and has helped with multiple projects before.  However, once she received my questions she realized that there was someone else at the library better suited to answer these particular questions.  She forwarded my questions to an IT person within the library system.  Unfortunately this took a tad longer and there was not time for him to answer the questions, so the original librarian, who is the library director, answered them to the best of her abilities.  

I did learn that the library does use a CMS for their website. I found it interesting that the librarian I interviewed learned about CMS from other directors and library literature rather than school, but she went to school in a time probably before CMS was popular.  Their system is set up where staff members within the library can make specific changes to the website, but the main website is managed by a web master, which is the way that most websites I have talked with people about are run.  I used to work for a race track and their website was the same way. It was designed and maintained by a web master, but it was set up where staff could go in and change certain things that were updated on a weekly basis.  

I do wish I could have found out more about the learning curve and a comparison between this CMS and any former CMS or other means of managing the website. I hope that I receive a follow up email that provides that extra bit of information. I have heard that this library in particular uses Joomla, but the director did not confirm that for me, but I do expect to hear confirmation back from her soon, most likely after the holiday.  I would also be interested to hear what the web master has to say, even though the site is updated by staff.  Most importantly though, I would like to hear a comparison between the current CMS and the previous website management system.  

Joomla CMS

I have very little experience in web design.  In undergrad, I took a class where we learned to build a website using Microsoft Frontpage. We learned a little bit of HTML coding as well.  After that I built and an a website for a dirt track series.  Then I went years with no involvement in web design in any capacity.  Last semester I took a class that taught us how to create a website from scratch using HTML and CSS.  So, up until this point, I have had no experience with CMS.

I will admit, I had quite a bit of a learning curve with Joomla and it was a rocky start.  First, I had multiple login problems.  Second, I had problems being kicked off in the middle of working.  Not only did I get kicked off, but I could not sign back on.  Finally, after a chat with Joomla customer support, they reset everything and I could logon and managed to stay on long enough to finish most of my work.

At first, Joomla looked very intimidating.  I had no idea where to start.  I decided to watch the tutorial as suggested to us and quickly picked up on the basics.  The basics were pretty easy to use, and I have to admit, it was quite nice to create a page and link it to the menu through Joomla and not have to worry about whether or not the link would work. I just selected what item I wanted that menu button to connect to and Voila!  I also liked the ease of changing the colors of the menu buttons, etc.  Last semester, when creating a page from scratch, we used a free CSS menu builder, and I found it very difficult to get my colors right. I also never was able to get the menu to highlight the active page.  Instead, the home page was always showing as active.  Therefore, I loved the simplicity of the Joomla menu both in appearance and how easy it was to create.  I also really liked how Joomla webpages scale to fit the browser or device the user is using.

I did have some reservations about a CMS before trying Joomla. I worried most of all that all the websites would look the same and it would be easy to see that they were all created using some sort of cookie cutter software.  I admit, at this point mine probably does look like that, but I could see where it would be easy to get a more customized look with Joomla and all of its templates and extensions, and it would probably be easier for most of us than building our custom website from scratch.

I do not work in a library, so it is hard for me to say if Joomla would be a great option for libraries.  However, from my point of view, I could see where Joomla and other CMS's would be a good option for most libraries, especially smaller ones.  It seems like the expense to create and manage a website using a CMS would be much less.  It seems that training would be less intensive, expensive, and time consuming.  I could see where some larger libraries with more intricate websites would have a harder time using a CMS, and if  library had a web developer on staff that knew how to create a website from scratch, I think that is great. But for smaller libraries with smaller budgets and less resources as well as no need for an intricate website, I think a CMS could be a good answer.

Wikis

I decided to try to find a Wiki suitable for my alma mater's library, Noel Memorial Library at Louisiana State University in Shreveport.  This is somewhat difficult for me. I am not familiar with Wikis, but I have learned about them from the readings in class.  I also have never worked at this library or any other library. I am going into this with what I know about the school and library from being a student and a patron there, and one small interview with a reference librarian for a different project.

I decided on Wetpaint for LSUS based on the standards I could determine would be needed by the school.  First, I decided on a wiki with hosting as opposed to one with software.  While the university tries to stay up to date on technology, they can only update computers and software so often. It seemed that it would be better than to have a wiki with hosting rather than one that needed downloaded software that might eventually not be supported by the university's computers.  Hopefully that is not an incorrect assumption on my part.  I also wanted one with a page history.  Since wikis are publicly editable, to my understanding, it seemed important to have a page history to restore a page from should someone vandalize the page.

Another thing that appealed to me about the Wetpaint page was they have a free version, a premium version, and an ad-free version for educational uses, which I would think NML would fall under.  Wetpaint is also aimed at all types of users, rather than development teams, etc, which is nice to have that option should funding or budget cuts result in someone not necessarily familiar with web development having to run the wiki.  It also has unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth.  I am not sure if limitations would be a problem for this library, but unlimited is always better (or so I would think).  I also liked the option of running the wiki under your own domain and the ability to use corporate branding to change the wiki to match the university's other pages, both of which seemed like a nice option for an academic library.  Another aspect of this wiki  useful for the library was the use of a captcha to keep bots from spamming the wiki. For spam reasons, I also found it useful that Wetpaint offers email notifications for when there are changes made to the page.  Also, I noticed this wiki allows the creation of page templates for pre filling new pages. I do not know all the details of this, but for a somewhat small library it seemed like a nice time saving option.  The ability to have discussion forums was also an option that seemed to be needed for a library that caters to college students.

There are no ads allowed on this wiki, but I do not see that being an issue for an academic library.  Perhaps for a corporation it would be a nice option, but I cannot see it being needed for any library.  Being localized is not an option with this wiki, but that also was something I determined this library did not need. I did notice that Wetpaint does not allow free and open source.  I had a hard time determining if this was something this particular library needs.  However, since it is a somewhat small university library that does not maintain a large web presence, I determined it was something that was not necessary.

Overall, I determined to the best of my abilities that this would be the best wiki for NML to use.  It has all of the needed features for this library along with a few that may or may not be needed.  Most of what it lacks are features that this library should not need.