Ruth [☕️ 👩🏻‍💻📚✍🏻🧵🪡🍵]

Threadcovered. Pieces prayers. Builds libraries from pixels. Hopes in rotting logs & knotted vines. Hella left, hella Mennonite, hella disabled. Bury me in a bog. She/her. 🕊

dayjob: technical librarian

Ham callsign: KC3AF

Glammr.us admin team (mod).

AKA ruthbrarian on the olde site.

website: https://ruthtillman.com
a/s/l: late 30s / F (cis) / central PA
research: labor, library systems, linked data
hobbies: 🧵🪡, 🎲🐉🕵🏻‍♀️✍🏻,🎮,🌿,📻

Public Key

npub1a0zqd4cv6c8wdt28gq55dlwfy7tjxvy3ucm66f3zwzltv94zzj9q05z5ww

NIP-05 Address

platypus_at_glammr.us@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqswh3qx6uxdvrhx44r5q22xlhyj09erxzg7vdadyc38p04kz63pfzsve005g

Author Public Key

npub1a0zqd4cv6c8wdt28gq55dlwfy7tjxvy3ucm66f3zwzltv94zzj9q05z5ww

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Last Notes

2024-09-19 22:53:21

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OK I SENT A DM. Cleared first with M to be sure he didn't hate the bat or mushroom (how COULD he, but he ~~has~~ gets to look at me so he gets minor veto power/input into where it might be coolest)

2024-08-07 19:43:39

"Heidelberg University Library selects OCLC's WorldShare Management Services as its new library services platform"
🍿 if I had a super power, it'd have to be the ability to observe this kind of thing as it rolls out.
https://www.oclc.org/en/news/releases/2024/20240807-heidelberg-university-selects-wms.html

2024-08-06 16:40:17

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Also did you know that if someone like a public library or community college wants a linked result in the WorldCat.org interface, they'd need to pay? One person who looked into it told me it was around $2k for their community college library.
Public and community college libraries definitely have spare thousands lying around!

2024-08-06 16:35:55

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Meanwhile, did you know that while OCLC has 501c(3) status, the CEO makes over $2.2 million a year? https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/310734115
I didn't! I thought he still made something more like $1.75 million. Shows how behind the times I am. Thanks, @npub1qmg…s6k5 !

2024-08-06 16:33:29

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Through some sheer good luck, I managed to be able to compare/contrast one change re: linking to libraries who don't pay for Web Visibility https://www.oclc.org/en/web-visibility/web-visibility-subscriptions.html
Spoiler: it's gotten worse for FirstSearch subscribers and I'm hot mad that it didn't get better for everyone else instead.

2024-08-06 16:30:48

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It includes some fun stuff like the wild EBSCO linking -- at the time this photo was taken, we didn't have any of these.
Also a colleague (I won't name them but they can self-identify if they want--just OCLC is spiteful) and I figured out how to fix these and I've got info about it here.
https://cdn.masto.host/glammrus/media_attachments/files/112/916/022/474/341/426/original/babf399e4f020467.png

2024-08-06 16:28:58

If you were looking for a little lunchtime reading, I FINALLY published the initial review I'd written of the new WorldCat.org
This was originally intended for spring 2023, but life happened and it happened very hard.
However, we're coming up on the 2-year anniversary and now I've got more data about things like referrals.
I'll also never forget that they released this, with no beta for us, on the first day of our (and many others') fall semester. Impeccable.
https://ruthtillman.com/post/whats-up-with-worldcat/

2024-08-05 15:02:12

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oh wow, what a nice Pro Publica page: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/310734115
Prichard David (President & Ceo): $2,217,001
[that's Skip]
In 2017 it was only about $1.5 million. Cost of living's gone up though!

2024-08-05 14:01:21

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it's the "®" that gets me.
Well, that and they're suing a librarian for allegedly sharing metadata.

2024-08-05 13:59:43

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I mean I already knew this, I even boosted Coral posting about it 2 weeks ago, but it's in the footer of an email and I just...

2024-08-05 13:59:25

"Because what is known must be shared.®"
-- OCLC has me in stitches today

2024-08-03 15:18:13

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Maybe it’s that my childhood proved so thoroughly to me that I’m not? But I don’t understand the need to believe that one could be as good at a sport as someone who’s at a worldwide event. It’s fine. Be secure in who you are. 🤷🏻‍♀️

2024-08-03 15:15:46

We’re in the magic window of time when the temporarily embarrassed millionaires all turn to “if I had ever learned, I should’ve been a great proficient.”

2024-07-31 14:38:38

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love a story that begins with "and there was SUPPOSED TO BE a flag set that meant 'do not actually call the mail subroutine'"
:gritty:
oh yeah then what happened next? :gritty:

2024-07-31 14:35:19

Oral history editing inspiration: I hear these mouth noises so no one else ever has to hear them again

2024-07-30 14:11:51

*tells Excel to make a column YYYY*
*types 2020 in to column*
Excel: 1905!

2024-07-30 13:24:20

Filename: Copy_of_original_data_DO_NOT_OPEN_IN_EXCEL.csv

2024-07-30 00:13:08

*editing interview transcript* *reluctantly removing kitten content*

2024-07-29 16:25:42

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Learned yesterday from Abigail's post on the main TL about "moderate drinking" not actually being actively good for you that the measurement of moderate drinking translated to anything from 5-60 drinks a month which is absolutely fucking wild to me as those are completely different levels of drinking (I am generally 4-5).
Moderate trails feel exactly the same.

2024-07-29 16:23:57

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so sometimes I deal with high anxiety situations (walking over a shark tank) by saying "well if this goes sideways, it'll be a really wild story for someone" but... yeah, that's one I hope nobody will ever have to tell you.
Also "moderate" is such a weird designation. There are more than 3 levels of trail difficulty and moderate covers anything from just above easy to just below hard. I hate that. (I have other ways of trying to figure it out)

2024-07-28 22:07:42

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:gritty: why are you people like this.
stop the gray. no more gray. you have lost the right to use gray.

2024-07-28 22:07:14

I very nearly didn't buy something from a site because the "Add to Cart" button was an "aesthetic" shade of gray that's remarkably similar to the grayed-out look that conventionally indicates you cannot perform an activity.
The purchase button was the same.
I gave it a go anyway and it totally worked but folks really just nearly lost a sale.

2024-07-26 15:34:01

Typo of the day: stabbatical
:blobcatknife:

2024-07-25 14:07:01

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I saw a moose up close once in Sweden and... oh my god.
Ideally I'd choose neither but oh gosh so big.

2024-07-23 12:17:54

The two times I saw platypuses, one in the zoo and three in the wild, I was really struck by how my mental idea of their size was all off I’d thought of them as between large cat to beaver in size.
Non-Aussie friends, adult platypuses are 1.5lbs to 5.5lbs in size. (0.7-2.4kg) 17-20 inches long (43-50cm).
Tiny creatures.

2024-07-22 20:37:56

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"Interviewee: And they, they just kind of said you're moving to Memphis."
I will not elaborate

2024-07-22 20:12:39

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"And so when I got the records out of a mess" -- transcription software heard WMS but it said what it said.
(actually WMS seems to be in the delightfully tense state of being either a mess or not a mess, but there's not enough you can do about it)

2024-07-22 20:03:33

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Some of our workflows in libraries are much more human mediated than they should be (not because of us, because of our constraints).

2024-07-22 20:02:25

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one thing in an interview that hurt my soul a little was a description of needing to update all the items that were also managed in the compact shelving annex's software and exporting all the barcodes from the annex software, importing them to Voyager as a Pick & Scan job to change the item locations/statuses.

2024-07-22 19:27:39

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different interview: "That's a thing they've really complained about with Obama, because the order of search results changes"
ok that's a new one for Alma...

2024-07-22 19:09:01

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unironically love this interviewee describing "unleashing" a MARC record 😂 💯

2024-07-22 19:03:07

"And you said you migrated from Voyager to Omaha?"
...it's a transcription typo, but it sounds nice.

2024-07-22 12:00:50

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Now please enjoy a photo I spent some time digging up last night… This is nine years ago when my husband was sad and so I took him to meet a bunch of my friend’s baby goats.
https://cdn.masto.host/glammrus/media_attachments/files/112/830/028/144/945/534/original/734ce74034630cd8.jpeg

2024-07-22 11:55:35

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(obviously nothing is fully true for everyone every time… like you might also limit who follows you to 10 people and post everything locked and be in the kind of relationship with those people where they all know what you were going to post and have chosen it and it’s cool because you actually know them in real life or whatever and this is just an extension of your friendship)

2024-07-22 11:52:09

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So if you’ve just been thinking “well why doesn’t everybody go into their configuration and set up 10,000 filters for all the things that they never want to see” the answer is because they may actually want to see it from you. Give yourself some fucking credit. And give them some fucking care.

2024-07-22 11:52:08

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You are under no obligation to make following you a desirable* experience. That’s why unfollowing and blocking exist, but you can opt in and make it easier for some folks using these tools we have.
* speaking broadly. What different people desire will vary… And it’s also ok for people not to be interested if you are posting through sleep deprivation like I have been.

2024-07-22 11:52:08

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For example, some people I follow on here are people I find vaguely interesting and others are friends of many years standing. And whether I am going to click that CW will vary widely. But if I just filter everyone then I miss what my friends are saying too.

2024-07-22 11:46:29

A meta-observation: why CWs are preferable to expecting everyone to individually set up filters for your posts… Beyond the implication I how I phrased it:
these have always been designed as an opt-in mechanism. they allow the reader to know that a post exists without reading it.
Your followers may actually want to see your opinions on current events!! But they may not want to see the opinions of people everyone their followers boost. Or not see them today. 🧵

2024-07-20 16:38:39

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no I need it 😭

2024-07-20 16:37:01

Hi is there tuna fish?
https://cdn.masto.host/glammrus/media_attachments/files/112/819/789/664/626/279/original/e5b08fa6c865b065.jpg

2024-07-19 16:57:08

Haha oh gosh, I just got a text reminder appointment for my biopsy. Tomorrow. 7/18. 9am. Welcome back online, hospital system?

2024-07-19 15:03:58

Don't push to prod on a Friday
To be safe, don't push to prod on a Thursday night.
Really, someone might be off so don't push on Thursday.
Consider not pushing to prod on Weds, as that's when everyone is running their security scans.
Don't push to prod on Tuesday for reasons I can't yet think of.
Don't push to prod on Monday, you're still getting over the weekend.
Consider just not pushing to prod.

2024-07-19 12:30:12

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pouring one out for Patrick, the sysadmin at NASA's library who kept insisting his Windows servers were better than our Linux servers (civil servants had windows box, contractors had linux box it was a strange shop)

2024-07-19 12:25:02

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Sirsi's status page shows it as being up

2024-07-19 12:22:56

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Our local catalog is on Linux machines and our Symphony is on Linux too, seems fine.

2024-07-19 12:18:20

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OCLC WorldShare everything is showing as degraded.
Unsure how to tell the difference between that and a normal day 🥁
(actually that was the 17th, fewer things degraded today but it also says ILLiad was up and ummmmmmmmmm -- though that may be Auth or EZ-Proxy, which we also have with them -- this is really a day about networking systems)

2024-07-19 12:17:23

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Alma/Primo seems to be up.

2024-07-19 12:17:16

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ILLiad stuff seems to be out.

2024-07-19 12:14:10

Library impacts from Crowdstrike -- looks like Summon says it's down but I'm getting some results and the site is up. I wish I had my recent count of tests I ran at the end of June -- it looks like it may currently be a little heavy on our book/ebook collections and not all journal articles?

2024-07-17 21:50:05

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thank you, Jessamyn. I talked after with a few folks who hadn't expected to be seen or to engage with it and were pleased to find themselves there.

2024-07-17 20:58:54

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this talk had quite a few drafts and directions as I worked through it. I hope this choice was a good one and is meaningful to folks.

2024-07-17 20:57:14

Good morning, Eastern Australia! Just posted my #VALA2024 talk "The Interdependent Library System: Revisiting Human Aspects of Library Automation"
https://ruthtillman.com/talk/interdependent-library-system/
on my personal website. Getting my slide deck fixed up to send to the conference tomorrow.

2024-07-15 23:37:48

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pulled out of the gate and waiting to taxi out of this joint!

2024-07-15 23:30:29

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now? Hopefully!

2024-07-15 23:25:21

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trying to get out of ORD before weather hits.

2024-07-15 17:04:48

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I hope I will! The trees are so different!!

2024-07-15 16:34:52

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And then spending time with local folks

2024-07-15 16:34:33

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My mood about being back in the States will be greatly improved when I’m in my own space again with my husband and my dog. Not because the US is good, but because everywhere is a lot right now and it’s still where I live. I’ve loved traveling but I do feel some relief thinking about sitting on my own couch or in my own office or working in my garden or sewing.

2024-07-15 15:09:27

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It’s 1:10am Tuesday morning but anyone who realizes this has the good sense to be in bed I hope.

2024-07-15 15:07:45

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Yes y’all Australia gets news too

2024-07-15 15:04:49

Welp, back in the US.

2024-07-13 23:34:09

Mods would like to remind you not to post anything that means we have to deal with Secret Service or other federal agencies, whether on main or any degree of locked.

2024-06-13 16:09:20

I'm wondering if anyone happens to have a couple of buttons (or pictures of buttons) which I had as a kid. I'm interested in using the pictures for a presentation.
The buttons were an OS/2 flavor "Friends don't let friends use Windows" and an OS/2 Warp button. I suppose I'm less interested in these specifics than in buttons with this text from the early 90s.

2024-05-02 18:05:05

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Mennonite Church USA, Presbyterian Church USA, and UCC did so quite a few years back in light of previous actions. https://apnews.com/general-news-78f43c124fea48f3b9d2d53e59666f22

2023-02-14 19:10:53

A day in Sterling:
1. little old man sniffs the concerning wind
2. enjoying sunbeams
3. wants fish
4. complicated blankie
(I’m not unpinning this for now but updating here to say that he’s no longer with us)
https://cdn.masto.host/glammrus/media_attachments/files/109/864/660/171/747/047/original/9217dae811852cc4.png
https://cdn.masto.host/glammrus/media_attachments/files/109/864/660/883/829/845/original/062b7ebb53e8f6c7.png
https://cdn.masto.host/glammrus/media_attachments/files/109/864/661/314/997/316/original/c3325b3bf0a1259e.png
https://cdn.masto.host/glammrus/media_attachments/files/109/864/661/457/901/969/original/66537ca1706d803a.png

2022-10-29 13:25:29

#introductions/#reintroductions
👋 I'm Ruth, a #librarian at Penn State. I work on our library's catalog, which means I come across all kinds of fun, terrible data issues that I enjoy sharing. I care deeply about #labor issues in libraries.
I'm a #quilter, I write sometimes for RPGs, and I do other sewing/gardening as I can find time.
I'm disabled but not likely to talk specifics on here.
I have a small terrier mix named Sterling. (RIP 7/13/23)
I'm impossible to represent in 500 characters.