Star Wars 501st at Helen Hall Library

These lovely people dressed as a stormtrooper and an Imperial Officer were kind enough to appear at a Youth Services Open House for Helen Hall Library today. Eliseo and I decided we could get away with squeezing in for a picture.


The stormtrooper had to microphone everything he said and his whole suit was really amazing.


As we directly walked up to them (versus me hovering like a weirdo), he mic-ed that he really liked my shirt. I could tell they hadn't noticed Eliseo's shirt, so I pointed it out to both of them. Once they took a look at it, they both laughed pretty hard and said his shirt was really great. It was funny that the stormtrooper guy actually had to mic his laugh. That made both of us ridiculously happy and giddy.


Yay!


(Also, I have decided the new haircut makes me look like a hippie.)

Posts

I am in the process of writing a pretty intense post (or likely collection of posts) for Barn Tour amazingness!  Barn Tour pictures to come in the next few days!

SeaWorld Weekend

Eliseo (the husband) and I drove to San Antonio this past weekend to go to SeaWorld.

I didn't take many pictures with my phone, but I took a lot of pictures with the disposable cameras we bought. We actually bought four (108 photos) and I will get them developed soon!

I did, however, take lots of pictures of octopuses to send to Maggie:

After we spent ourselves (and our money) at SeaWorld, we drove to Austin to see some family! Seeing Brad, Melissa, and CeCe is always so fun.

NOW WE ARE HEADING HOME

I miss my kitties so much. Maggie went to sit with them and roll around all over the place with them while we were gone. She sent lots of pictures! I think this is my favorite of the pictures she sent: my General Disarray.

Posted this with my phone!

Marston Science Library of the University of Florida

This link takes you to their photosets, organized by month, of some of the renovations that took place.

It's great what a redesign of work flow, new paint, new furniture, new carpet, and NEW COMPUTERS can do for a library!  It appears the staff handled the reconstruction and renovations quite well.  The layout of their main floor now features a centralized and combined reference/circulation desk.  I personally love when libraries have an information desk hub at the center of the library and everything else extends radially.  They also added "much-needed" group study rooms.  For maps and images they installed scanners and Adobe PhotoShop licenses in two special workstations.  All of their renovations have contributed to creating a more user-centered environment.


Bonus fact:
The Marston Science Library has a sculpture designed by John Henry outside the front of their library:

Because of this sculpture, the library is sometimes referred to as the "French Fry" library.  I like that as part of their renovations, the new signage kind of resembles curly fries. :)

Marine Biology Annotated Bibliography

We had to create a resource guide (or annotated bibliography, depending on the mood I'm in) on the topic of our choice.  Naturally, I chose marine biology.  Our resource guide was to include 20 resources, 5 of which had to be traditional, print resources, e.g., magazines, books, etc., and 5 of which had to non-traditional resources such as wikis and blogs.

When I began brainstorming for this assignment, part of me was worried I wouldn't find enough resources that I felt were worthy for this annotated bibliography.  Boy, was I wrong!  I came across more resources than I knew what to do with!  It was amazing.  Personally, I can't stand doing resource guides, but I can't help but appreciate their benefits and helpfulness when it comes to a quick-access summary of resources focused on one topic.

So, this is my marine biology annotated bibliography: link!

Marston Science Library of the University of Florida

The Marston Science Library of the University of Florida is a great example of how libraries are changing to improve their services.  The idea of adapting a library to create a user-centered space is more common than ever as we move into a different time of libraries.

Their website: link!
Their newsletter with some details on what was renovated: pdf!

Class

So, for my Information and Access Services in Science and Technology (SLIS 5630) class, we have to create a user-centered blog.  Essentially creating a blog for users that are interested in science and technology from an information access perspective.  As information professionals, we have access to so many different resources and media through which we can share information with our audience.