Linearseat Library

UMUC and online education

Moku — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:55:25 +0000

It seems like University of Maryland University College is exactly what I thought it was. Just another money making online education program competing with for profit schools like Strayer and Phoenix. Their tuition per credit is pretty high and it seems people can afford it if they get financial aid or in the case of military members they are able to milk the government. A friend of mine is taking some online courses and I thought she was crazy when she should just go to her local community college. It is pretty ironic that UMUC would find themselves still credible if they eliminated proctored final examinations.

University of Maryland University College President Aldridge resigns

Senate chair request UMUC enrollment, workplace records

In the DC area they blast ads on the radio about the latest degrees they are offering like cyber security and homeland security. Their business degrees may be very tempting but their business school and MBA program are not AACSB accredited.

My advice is to go to local community colleges and accredited state colleges if you want a college degree.

ALA accredited master’s programs fully online

Aol Instant Messenger (AIM) is starting to royally suck.

Moku — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 01:08:10 +0000

My current 7.5 version of AOL Instant Messenger is starting to aggravate me. It currently doesn’t play any sounds. I tried to update to the new version and that really ticked me off since it requires a first name and last name to start operating. I just entered some nickname initials and then proceeded to try it out and what I found was like going backwards in time to a totally minimalistic and unintuitive crappy interface. I don’t need a huge box on my screen. They seem to be trying hard to be Twitter or something? Even the settings made me want to cry because there practically wasn’t any settings selections other than turning one option off or on. Anyhow I uninstalled and loaded back AIM 7.5 and it still has no sound. I also deleted the name I entered earlier so my screename would display. Thanks AOL.

The new mail AOL Mail doesn’t seem that bad though. Nothing drastic and the settings selection there are an improvement.

Anyhow if they don’t fix AIM 7.5 for me I’m probably going to eventually drop it and AIM. What a shame. If AOL had a brain they would promote their service using screenames, with good privacy settings, and let people go about their business online anonymously if they want to.

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2012 Calendar (basic design) word template

Moku — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:13:23 +0000

Looking for a nice basic 2012 monthly calendar for Microsoft Word? I couldn’t find one that I liked that was similar to the one I used to download in the past so I took the 2010 calendar (basic design) template and updated it to 2012.

2012 Calendar (basic design) – Word 97 format

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How to open .dotx files

Moku — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:24:20 +0000

I recently wanted to open and print out a Calendar template file from the Microsoft Office template site, but most of the templates were for Office 2007. I needed to open an Word 2007 template file which has the extension .dotx which is a proprietary Office 2007 XML file. Unfortunately I couldn’t load the Office 2007 compatibility pack to my locked work computer which is running Office 2003. Like most IT departments, mine is totally behind in updating pc’s with patches in software and operating systems by several years.

Fortunately you can go to http://www.officelive.com or go through your Hotmail account and access your Live Skydrive or Office Live section and upload your .dotx file to view and print the file.

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Outsourcing public libraries

Moku — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:27:03 +0000

http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/887000-264/lssi_controversy_still_brewing_in.html.csp

It seems LSSI is being considered to run the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library to save money. I think more public libraries should be privatized to save money. Some public libraries that have too many employees with maxed out salaries and sit on their jobs as if they’re entitled to a job for life. California city and county government job salaries all seem to be highly inflated.

Librarians should wake up and start thinking of their jobs as business professionals rather than public service workers. Rude and unproductive librarians and library staff should be fired. New public librarian positions shouldn’t only be for young adult and children’s librarian jobs while the older librarians sit in their offices or go on paid vacations to useless library conferences.

I don’t think LSSI is one of the better private library services companies, but then it’s definitely moving forward and changing the library landscape. The library workers will get paid less, but then a job is a job and those who want to work will work.

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Library budget cuts

Moku — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:32:38 +0000

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/23/libraries-face-increasing-budget-cutbacks.html

Libraries are always the first to go when government budgets get tight. Anyhow I think it really helps get rid of a lot of dead weight and the ones who think it is just a cushy job. Even if everything is digitized they need catalogers to organize it and make it accessible. Of course who needs catalogers or librarians when we have Google. Fortunately Google searches are turning into crap since most of the top links are mostly there because of search engine optimization techniques and paid advertising.

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I’m calling this blog The Linearseat Librarian

Moku — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:48:01 +0000

The title Linearseat Library just does not inspire me to write anything. Instead of just Linearseat Librarian I’ll change it to “The” Linearseat Librarian since it sounds better. I guess whenever you refer to yourself in the third person with a fictional name it means you got something up your a$$ or in your head.

Moku

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Name change and some recommended free WordPress themes

Moku — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:45:19 +0000

I decided to change my website name to the url of my site Linearseat.net. I noticed that there were quite a few sites with the word “Librarian” in it and I just didn’t feel like calling myself the Linearseat Librarian. Actually I visited a few librarian blogs and I thought they were all too academic and scholarly, especially the ones with presentation slideshows, and their unfascinating thoughts on library issues. I also visited two male librarian pages and they both had the DIYthemes Thesis WordPress theme. I guess they are seriously into blogging since they plunked down money on a theme that claims to be extremely customizable and SEO optimized. It seems a lot of people have bought that theme.

Here are two WordPress themes that I like and am currently using.

1. Swifthemes http://swiftthemes.com/
This theme is very simple to use and offers many fancy features. I don’t believe it’s extremely fast, but it’s probably fast enough for most people as the name claims itself to be swift. It has an easy to use theme option selection where you can customize colors visually and insert advertisements or adsense code in the most common advertisement placement areas of a webpage. There also is the option to have the blog frontpage be in magazine or traditional blog format. Customized menus can be created above or below the title along with inserting a background image. This theme is highly recommended for beginners who don’t know how to customize themes manually.

2. Thematic http://themeshaper.com/thematic/
This second theme is also highly customizable, but only for those who know how to use css and html. It also has child themes created by other users, which are easily downloaded and loaded into WordPress just like any other theme, but the original Thematic theme must be installed for them to work. The author encourages users to create their own child themes using CSS and their is a forum dedicated to assisting users customize Thematic for their own purposes. Right now it is primarily a 2 column theme with a 3 column version in the works.

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Library Journal’s Star Libraries by state

Moku — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:58:00 +0000

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6705870.html

It’s pretty interesting to see 3 Virginia libraries on the list. Williamsburg and Fredericksburg regional libraries are places where there isn’t really a whole lot to do so the library is a good destination. Fredericksburg has a lot of new housing developments, with a lot of young families with kids, since people move there to commute to Richmond or the D.C. metro area. Falls Church is right in the middle of a ethnically diverse area in a very populous and rich county.

Sometimes I tend to hate rankings and lists because there are probably hundreds of better libraries out there that do things right that really matter. Every library is different and every community or regional library has different resources and needs.

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Top Ten Job Search Engines/Job Hunting Sites

Moku — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:20:24 +0000

Looking for a job? Here is my list of the Top Ten (10) Job Search Engine/Job Hunting sites on the web.

Indeed.com – Indeed is a meta-search engine of most of the major job search engine sites. It generally brings up the best listing of jobs that I am looking for fast and conveniently.

SimplyHired.com – Simply Hired is another good meta-search engine job site. It seems to have maybe a few different sources than Indeed, but it is very similar.

Careerbuilder.com – Careerbuilder has been a very reliable job search engine for a long time. The search interface is very good and you can narrow searches down by category, company, city, and state.

Hotjobs.com – Hotjobs is Yahoo’s job search engine and has always been quite popular.

Craigslist.com – This is a good place to search for local jobs in the area you are living at or searching for jobs in specific states or metro areas.

Jobcentral.com – This is a decent search engine. I do not think it is licensing any other major search engines so you won’t be seeing the exact same thing.

Monster.com – Monster is a another good search engine, although I hardly ever go there. You can also search for their jobs using Jobs.com, since it’s part of Monster.

Dice.com – This is a good place to look for tech related jobs.

Oodle.com – This is another meta-search engine site with probably a couple different sources than Indeed and Simply Hired. It is a classified site and an alternative to Craigslist.

USAJobs.com – If you are looking for a Federal Government job this is the place to go.

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