I had a staycation last week. It took me two days just to catch up on email I received while I was gone. And the only reason I was able to do that in two days is because I had booked the days off as meeting-free so I could attend an online conference.
Said conference was the 2020 Indigenous Mapping Workshop. I was not able to attend many of the sessions but the ones that I did rekindled my affection for web-maps and inspired me to make two proof-of-concept maps.
The first one is of bike parking in my neighbourhood. The location and photos were collected using a web form through Kobotoolbox.
I then downloaded a csv from the site and paired with this leaflet-omnivore powered map.
The second map I made was a more mischievous creation in which I used Mapbox Studio to rename the world.
Other things I did this week: chair our monthly Information Services Department meeting, selected a set of duplicate books as part of a larger weeding project, ordered a lot of books using ExLibris’ Rialto, did a LibraryChat shift, contributed to some collection management work, did some OJS support, attended several meetings, and wrote many emails.
One day I would like write a piece that applies the concept of technical debt to library services / the library as an organization.
I didn’t do much reading this week but I did read one article which I think has an exceptional title: Public Libraries Are Doing Just Fine, Thank You: It’s the “Public” in Public Libraries That is Threatened
This is a project that is close to my civic interests:
Introducing the Civic Switchboard Data Literacy Project!
We’re pleased to announce the receipt of an IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant, which will support the next piece of Civic Switchboard project – the Civic Switchboard Data Literacy project! This project builds on the Civic Switchboard project’s exploration of civic data roles for libraries and will develop instructional materials to prepare MLIS students and current library workers for civic data work.Through the Civic Switchboard project, we’ve learned about common barriers to entry that libraries are navigating with civic data work. We regularly heard library workers say that they feel unqualified to participate in their civic data ecosystems. With this barrier in mind, the Civic Switchboard Data Literacy project will build and pilot instructional material that MLIS instructors can integrate in coursework and that can be used in professional development training in library settings.