Reflection: 18 months as a Manager of Technology and Technical Services

It’s taking me a lot longer than usual to write this reflection piece since I’ve been busy with unpacking and settling into a new place.

As usual, this piece is meant to be reflective of my experience. No criticism is meant of my former work place as every organization has its quirks and ways it could improve. If anything, I was grateful for the opportunities I had in helping the library (and to a small extent the city) move forward and improve its services. So, please keep in mind that this piece should be read in a reflective, and positive tone. Now, onwards… Continue reading “Reflection: 18 months as a Manager of Technology and Technical Services”

Technical Services: Rationale and Benefits of a Workflow Review

I have been doing a bunch of work in reviewing workflows and implementing new or changes to existing workflows, especially in Technical Services. In the process, I have been asked not only about the process I went through, but the rationale and value in doing such an exercise, especially for organizations where most Technical Services work has been outsourced. So just thought I’d jot down some thoughts. Continue reading “Technical Services: Rationale and Benefits of a Workflow Review”

Making the Choice: Personal over Professional

This is going to be a relatively short post, but as many people have been asking me why I am leaving my current position, I thought I might as well do a brief post about the whole thing.

TL;DR version: We’re moving and since my current position is not a remote/telecommute job, I am resigning.

For the fuller explanation, read on. Continue reading “Making the Choice: Personal over Professional”

Horizon Primer in Brief: Circulation Rules

I have spent hours mapping out circulation rules the last few weeks in preparation for a pilot project we are about to run at my library. In the process, I have learnt a great deal about circulation parameters and privileges that I’ve put together in a brief primer below. If I missed anything, please let me know. Continue reading “Horizon Primer in Brief: Circulation Rules”

Article: A Practical Guide to Improving Web Accessibility

What’s that? Why yes, it’s another article! Open-access, peer-reviewed article, this time written more for the content creator (as opposed to the developer).

Check it out issue no. 7 of Weave: Journal of Library User Experience.

Copy of abstract

This article is intended to provide guidance on making library websites and other digital content accessible within the constraints of most organizations’ technological environments. Accessibility can mean different things depending on the context, but the focus in this article is on web accessibility, which the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defines as “enabling people with disabilities to participate equally on the Web” (W3C, 2016). Many existing articles provide an overview of the big picture aspects of accessibility, including benefits to the organization, legislation, statistics , and general principles. The focus of this piece is on specific best practices and guidelines, as well as their benefits for content creators, who frequently have limited access to edit digital content and cannot always apply recommended solutions that assume full control and access.

Thank you

So glad this article is now published.

Article: A Practical Starter Guide on Developing Accessible Websites

After years of prepping and months of writing and editing, I finally published my first article!

The article is focused on accessibility and assumes that you are a web developer or can understand web development to at least an intermediate level. The idea was to fill a bit of a gap since so many accessibility guides focus on the most basic, usually content bits, and we wanted to go a step further.

Published July 18, 2017 in Issue 37 of the Code4Lib Journal, authored by myself and Michael Schofield: A Practical Starter Guide on Developing Accessible Websites.

Yay!

happy quokka

Learning to be a Systems Administrator for Horizon ILS

This is one of those presentations that never was, but I thought it would be interesting to write up anyway as a reflective piece. Interestingly, I didn’t find out that I would be the library’s ILS administrator until after I started the job. It didn’t really make any difference, and if anything, I was glad to be doing some of the operational work on the systems side. I have never actually been a systems librarian so I had a lot to learn and I have been grateful for the opportunity. Continue reading “Learning to be a Systems Administrator for Horizon ILS”