The Newman Library at Virginia Tech released LibX, an easy-to-configure browser extension that brings together previously disparate toolbars, extensions, and scripts for searching library catalogs, embedding links to library materials in Amazon and other web pages, and various other goodies. In about half an hour, without any special inside information beyond a little detective work to suss out the URLs for various services, I was able to create a toolbar for the University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh, where I’m a student.

Cool.

You can install my Pitt library toolbar by clicking this link. (Support for the “Reload this page using SSL VPN” and “Follow this link using SSL VPN” features for off-campus access is limited, since our system isn’t exactly supported.) If you find any problems, please let me know.

Learn how to make your own LibX toobar on the LibX site.

Jon Udell writes an interesting post about the bridge between education and career. He talks about “rickety bridges”, such as job fairs and brochures, between people choosing careers (students) and the actual career. (Of course, there are internships, mentorships, etc… but usually you’ve already more-or-less decided on a path by then, so I think he’s really onto something.) He says,

Thanks to personal online publishing and to an emerging cultural ethos of transparency, there is an exciting new possibility in the world. A young person today who is interested in software can find out what it is like to be a software developer — by evaluating products, by reading the accounts of people creating them, by making contact with those folks, and by contributing to real projects. I hope it will also become possible for young people to find out what it is like to be a psychologist, homebuilder, forester, teacher, retailer, or city planner. If we want to inspire the next generation we need to open windows onto our worlds, share our knowledge and passion, and invite them in.

This is just the kind of environment I’ve found in librarianship. (This idea makes Michael Gorman itch all over, I’m sure.) Of course, not every librarian has a personal website or blog, but then again, not even every software developer does either. And, software development lends itself to happening online in some ways that many library-type projects don’t. But I’ve found so many stories and ideas online from people from many different kinds of libraries and library jobs, and it’s what really persuaded me to go to library school.

I’m glad to be working in this profession.

Well-designed tests are one of two kinds:

• multiple-choice (or true/false, etc.) questions with unambiguous answers, like the SAT
• short answer or essay questions where you actually get to express a thought in writing

I have a class this semester that has quizzes that are not well designed.

First of all, they are mostly multiple choice, but the instructions are as follows:

Choose a, b, c, d, or all that apply.

Wha? That makes 16 possible answers for every question, only one of which is “right”.

On top of that, the answers are often ambiguous. If one interpretation of the answer would make it right, is that enough to make it “apply”, or should it be the only or primary interpretation of the answer?

For example:

A bibliographic record
a. a surrogate record
b. a metadata record
c. a description of an information package
d. a catalog card

What is the appropriate relationship between the question (”A bibliographic record”) and the correct responses? Should they be equivalent terms (a,b)? Definitions (c)? Examples (d)?

I circled all four, and wrote next to card catalog “It’s an subset—do the terms have to be perfectly equivalent?” I got it marked wrong; next to a, b, and c was written “intellectual info” and next to d was written “a thing”.

Well yeah, I knew that. In a short answer question, I could have said it beautifully. Unfortunately, the structure of the quiz (”or all that apply”) forces me to consider each multiple choice answer as a true/false statement. A surrogate record is a bibliographic record? True. A metadata record is a bibliographic record? True. A description of an information package is a bibliographic record? True. A catalog card is a bibliographic record? True. Oops, I mean… not true? There’s little room for nuance in a binary choice.

Likewise,

Chirographic refers to
a. physical handwriting
b. the “shadow style” used by Leonardo da Vinci
c. hand-typed manuscripts
d. manuscripts

I chose a; a and d together was the “correct” answer. How am I to interpret “manuscript”? I have several good dictionaries that have definitions of manuscript that include typewritten material, so not all manuscripts are hand-written—and the question reinforces this by including choice c, hand-typed manuscripts. So, does d mean all manuscripts, or just the hand-written ones, which could be properly considered chirographic?

Sigh.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter; these are worth a tiny portion of my grade. But really, they’re awfully designed.