Blog

One year into Shelf Help, here’s what we’ve learned about making library systems feel less like a black box.

Implementing a daily virtual co-working hour during remote work transformed our isolated library systems team into a collaborative unit that achieved 100% voluntary participation.

At the 2013 CUNY IT Conference, we demonstrated how affordable single-board computers like Raspberry Pi can transform academia through creative projects ranging from RFID pet feeders to classroom web servers...

I installed Ubuntu but panicked when I couldn't install Adobe Digital Editions for my e-reader—until I discovered how to use Wine and Winetricks to get ADE working perfectly.

Linking to Aleph OPAC searches requires removing session IDs from URLs and using specific parameters like find_scan_code—here's how to create persistent, proxied links.

I enhanced EZproxy's needhost.htm with a Google Form that lets users report access errors—collecting browser data automatically and emailing me the results for quick troubleshooting.

Migrating from Drupal 6 to 7, I hit a wall when user contact forms wouldn't follow my Pathauto URL patterns—until I discovered the Sub-pathauto module fixed it perfectly.

Our library instructional videos turned out exactly as envisioned—short tutorials students can email to themselves, created through collaboration across campus departments.

Reviewing 239 student citations revealed that 62.8% came from websites, not library databases—making me question whether we should teach Google skills before database searching.

Four librarians used the campus film studio's teleprompter and green screen to create Google-style instructional videos—short, sweet tutorials under one minute each.

After 3 weeks of design iterations, my RefWorks flyer is ready for campus-wide distribution—including 4 workshops scheduled at different times to accommodate all schedules.

Leading my library's e-book project, I created a CUNY Academic Commons group and used my beloved whiteboard to storyboard a stop-motion promo video about heavy textbooks vs e-readers.

Becoming RefWorks Administrator with only 3.8% faculty adoption, I'm planning workshops that start by auto-generating bibliographies from 50+ citations to show the tool's magic immediately.

I finally get it—dressing professionally isn't vanity but necessity when you're younger than students, helping them identify you as staff who can actually help with research questions.

Student feedback revealed they want more videos in my library workshops because 'they seem to catch my attention'—proving The Simpsons clips work better than I expected!

Teaching terrifies me—my heart races facing all those blinking eyeballs—but students love my Simpsons clips for demonstrating critical thinking concepts in library instruction.