7 posts tagged “class assignments”
Just turned in my final paper for the semester, so I am now officially half way through getting the MLIS. Feels like I've been doing this forever. Anyway, good to get something done. Hopefully will have some time to have a little R&R and work on some projects before the summer term gets rolling on June 2. Gives me all of about a week and half. Sheesh. Most looking forward to hanging out with Dr. B -- a last hurrah before his imminent departure for Deutschland. I cannot get myself to accept that.
I remembered that today was World's AIDS day, which reminded me it's been 16 years since Freddie died. Of course, so have countless others in the interim. Yesterday, Smile and Paul Rogers (I shan't call them Queen, as that band passed away with Freddie. Smile works, since that was Brian and Roger's pre-Queen band with a forgettable singer) released a song to support Nelson Mandela's campaign against AIDS. I probably shouldn't dis it b/c it's for a good cause, but seriously, this is a lame power ballad that reminds me of the equally bad track Brian did with Meatloaf (!!) for the Special Olympics in 1987. Judge for yourself. Hope this isn't reflective of the album they are currently recording.
Little One started piano lessons this week. Should be interesting to see how she takes to it. I always regretted never having properly learned how to play an instrument. At various times I learned piano, oboe and guitar. I was encouraged to try stuff, but when I wanted to quit, I wasn't pushed to continue. I can understand why parents don't want to push their kids to learn music against their will, but, on the other hand, a bit more encouragement through the rough spots might be all it takes. Look at me, she's only just started, and I'm already trying to figure out how to convince her to keep at it!
Working on my final projects for school. This time next week, it'll be all over. But I've a long week ahead. The minutae of the cataloging assignment is driving me to distraction. As for reference, I have my guide basically finished; now I need to come up with a 20 min instruction session on how to search for stuff using Academic Search Premier (a popular database). I'll be working midnight shifts for most of the next two weeks starting tomorrow night, so that should give me time to pull it all together.
Been pretty busy lately, sadly with some unnecessary computer issues. I think I've solved the issue now. In a nutshell, I noticed that my CPU usage was running at 100% whenever I was online, so I was freaked out that maybe I had some virus or trojan horse. Decided to go the safe route, wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall XP. Much to my dismay, the problem was still there even after this drastic measure. So, I began to suspect the new WiFi adapter I got for the machine, and indeed when I used a cable to connect to the Internet, I had no probs with CPU usage. Turns out, the problem is with the software that the adapter installs to manage WiFi connections -- it's totally unnecessary since XP has the same abilities built in. Once I killed the software, my CPU usage looks fine. What a bloody waste of time!!!
Still with me? Good. On to more interesting topics. Discovered something disturbing yesterday regarding my class work. Basically, one of my classmates in my reference class has blatantly and extensively plagiarized my work. This is dealing with the project I have mentioned in an earlier post where my partner for the group was AWOL until just before the project was due, so I submitted it as a solo project with the instructor's permission. We were all to post the assignments to Blackboard, so that everyone could learn from each other, too. Well, while I posted on time, several people/groups posted after the already extended due date. I was curious what the guy I was to have worked with would come up with. He posted 10 days after it was due, and when I started looking through what he submitted I was aghast. It was my paper!! We're not talking borrowing a few ideas here or there; it's 90-95% my work, mostly not even paraphrased, but copied verbatim. Even more confusingly, at the end of "his" paper and within the same document comes my paper, including my title page indicating date of submission, etc. I don't get it.
Now I'm not quite sure how to handle the situation. I don't know what sort of agreement, if any, he came to with the instructor. My first inclination is to blow him out of the water and have him slammed for violation of academic integrity. On the other hand, I could be generous and send him an email saying I noticed that his paper was basically just a copy of mine, and I wondered what was going on (i.e. give him a chance to explain himself). It's all too weird. In any case, one thing I'm discovering through this coursework is that there are definitely some librarians-in-training who really don't cut the mustard.
Hope to post some pix tomorrow and anecdotes about Halloween. Watch this space!!
Missed the Neil Young concert this evening. I really wanted to go, as the reports from the tour and setlists I've seen sound fantastic. But I just couldn't see paying $60 for a nosebleed seat. It's just not right. Oh well, I've got the new album and there'll be other shows.
L'shana tova!
I spent the better part of today pondering an assignment for my Reference class. It was an ethics assignment where we were given a scenario and asked to respond. The scenario was a high school honor student comes into the public library and asks the Young Adult Librarian for assistance in finding the URL for a essay mill website where she could purchase an essay on Joyce. The Librarian helps her find the URL, and then he calls the Library Media Specialist at the high school, with whom he has a close working relationship, and alerts him to the transaction, including revealing her name. The question we were asked is, what would you do if you were the YA Librarian, the media specialist, and how would you have handled the situation in a university library?
The crux of my response was that the YA Librarian cannot assume that the student intended to plagiarize. I responded that I would help her find the site, but I would also suggest alternative sources of information she could refer to. I also said that I would call the media specialist, but I would be careful not to reveal the student's identity. The media specialist, I said, should work with staff on conducting a lesson academic integrity, proper citation, and the problems with plagiarism. University librarian should behave the same with regard to the patron, but no word-up to faculty about the situation. Instead, include plagiarism in your programming on library instruction.
Several classmates sort of came down hard on me. One suggested I was being Big Brother like (as well as ageist!?). Their argument is you don't know, you can't assume, you are obligated to simply give the info requested. End of transaction. So I thought a lot about this. What was missing in my initial response was making explicit that I intended to talk with the student (it's called a "reference interview") to find out her intentions, not just start off by accusing her of wanting to plagiarize. That would indeed be foolhardy. In the course of that interview, I think you can do a lot to promote an understanding of how to distinguish between reputable sources and questionable sources and the importance of citing. You can do that without being patronizing or accusatory. That seems to me to be fully within the bounds of ethical practice in terms of maintaining privacy and reserving judgment, while still fulfilling your educational role. So I posted a rejoinder that effect.
This interaction reveals some of the limitations of this online format. If I had been having a normal f2f (face-to-face) discussion with classmates, I could have immediately responded to their comments and clarified my position. Instead, several posts were allowed to develop in which I was being lightly roasted before I could gather my thoughts to respond.
A retraction is in order: Ice Queen never actually asked to have one of our suitcases. BH was asking me how to respond if the question arose. Turns out IQ was responsible enough to go out and get her own new suitcases. And now, they are gone! It felt so nice to come home and feel like it was really my (our) home. And the silence was beautiful.
Apparently, on the way home from the airport, Little One told BH: "I already miss Ice Princess. Do you miss Ice Queen." It really was nice for her to have a playmate around. And it did wonders for her Farsi-speaking ability.
Took the "quiz" for the class this morning, so the summer semester is now officially over for me. In the end, I learned stuff, but that, I am sorry to say, was really despite the professor, not becaue of him. Now I have three weeks off before I delve into the next semester, when I will be taking Reference and Cataloging. Until then, plenty of projects that have been put off to get done: multiple years worth of taxes in multiple countries, seeing if I can fix my dead laptop, getting a large external, networked hard drive, buying a bike, setting up the stereo better and seeing if I can get radio reception. Oh yeah, and relaxing and spending time with BH and LO. Where did the summer go?
15-page paper due on Monday. Hmm, good time to, uh, clean the house and do laundry. That's productive, right? After that I headed over the bridges to work at the Long Beach PL, just for a change of pace. I get restless studying in the same place. Unfortunately, the San Pedro PL, which I can walk to, does not have any outlets to plug in laptops (except in the children's reading area - brilliant). Anyway, hadn't been in the LB lib in a long time. Forgot my card, so I couldn't access the Internet, which was probably for the best. Something soothing about looking out the window and watching the light rail train go buy. Isn't that what a city is supposed to be like?
Writing about federated search, which is what libraryland calls search engines that can search multiple sources at once, e.g. subscription databases, the Web, digital repositories. Meant to be a sort of one-stop-shopping for all your information needs, and, as one author puts it, a way for libraries to "out-Google Google." It has its problems, to be sure, but, overall, it seems like a good thing. But, it's expensive, so many libraries can't afford it.
Ice Queen has being doing herself up to go out for her last Sat. night in LA. The stench of hairspray permeates every nook and cranny. Too hot to sit inside anyway. In the end, she looks like a Barbie Doll--literally, like a piece of plastic. Got the matching personality and IQ, too. My kinda people - NOT! Just a few more days....
I'm at work and my mind is wandering. Too many things to do and feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. My niece (wife's brother's daughter) visiting from Oslo got in a car accident last week while driving my car. Didn't think to call me. Nobody hurt, thankfully, and no apparent mechanical damage, but, what a hassle. She's trying to deal with it without going through insurance, and the other party seems to be amenable. But I need it in writing, just in case.
Meanwhile, I send my parents' their passports to Canada which they forgot. Express Mail. Turns out, it never left CA. Now the PO is not even sure where they are. AARGGH! All b/c I did not fill in a customs form. Guy in the mailroom did not tell me I needed to do that.
Trying to arrange interviews with some librarians for an assignment. Everyone has been amenable and kind, just the scheduling is tough, working FT and all (and having a car have to go in the shop for body work after the accident). Gonna interview someone at Harbor College, than San Pedro PL (I hope), and, most interestingly, the librarian at KUSC, a local classical radio station. Very curious about the latter.
In good news, the College has agreed to pay $1000 worth of my tuition for next semester. That's about half of what it'll cost. Not a bad perk at all. Makes the measly hourly pay a little more digestable.
