Aaaarrrgh! And not in the POTC way.

Yep, I'm back in school all right, and getting frustrated as hell.

The most frustrating assignments I've had so far in school (this time) have involved somebody trying to teach me how to search databases effectively. The main thing I've learned from both projects is how bad I hate doing these things. Speaking as an information seeker, I absolutely detest the whole concept of "controlled vocabulary." You have to think of the exact words that the indexer used, or you're simply SOL. It always makes me feel like there's a magic word, and I want to yell "PLEASE, dammit!" at the screen; I guess my brain figures if "please" is the magic word, as our mamas always taught us.... Yeah. I wish it worked like that.

As a person who might theoretically someday be the one doing the indexing, I understand that no one can think of every possible combination of words. Still, Google seems to do a fine job. Librarians are apparently supposed to hate Google, but I'll tell you what-- they are a hell of a lot more effective than these damn databases. I think it's at least partly because the people who code the pages put in a LOT more... dunno what the computer speak is for "keyword" but that's what I mean-- words that will catch the attention of the search engine. They are also better at ranking hits, apparently by inferring meaning from your search statement. The databases I've used-- well, if the word appears once, in a completely different context, in an article that has nothing to do with your desired topic, it might appear at the top of the page. Yeah, I know they can show up in Google, too, but it sure doesn't seem to happen as often, and I don't think I've ever seen it at the top of the page.

Further confounding the issue are questions like "What kinds or types of words won't be in a CV (Controlled Vocabulary) and thus would make a search on uncontrolled fields the thing to do?" Uh, you got me. No clue whatever. She goes on to elaborate parenthetically, "I don't mean title words or author's names; think about the kinds of words we have been experimenting with in the labs and lectures." I feel like an idiot, but I still have no idea what "kinds" of words she means. Nouns? Verbs? Verbing nouns? Shit, I am irritated. "For what types or kinds of words might it be particularly important to search on fields that have controlled subject vocabulary in them?" (Her emphasis.)

To add insult to injury, one of the final questions is, "How can we (librarians) help searchers to use the added-value of CV subject expressions?" Hell, if I could figure out how to use them myself, I might be able to help someone else with 'em.

Her final question is"What did you learn from this assignment?" I'm going to be as polite as I can, but I somehow don't think my answer will be what she's looking for. She seems to like me, though, so I don't think she'll chuck me out on my ear.

I called in to work and said I'd be coming in late today; it worked out because the computer network is down and my supervisor can't process ILL. That means that half my job isn't ready to do. Heh. Anyway, I'd better get back to this damn thing and try to finish it. When I get home from work tonight I have another lit crit to do. Sigh.

(no subject)

It was a raucous day at work today. Being back in the workroom, I missed most of it, thank god, but everyone out front agreed that it's definitely a full moon.

The director of the library kicked a guy out for watching live-action (with real moving action) porn on the computer in front of her office door, where she could see it from her desk. Another guy went verbally ballistic because we didn't have an internet connection for a couple of hours-- he thought we should shut down all the computers till the internet was back up. Never mind those other silly people who want to do something besides surf the net. He was so pissed that he chewed out two different librarians upstairs, went downstairs and chewed out two OTHER librarians, and finally called the head of the entire county system to complain. Several other people apparently went ballistic over random other things today, but as I say, I missed most of it, being in the back.

Still, one of the librarians who was in the work room looked at me and said "Are you sure you want to be a librarian?" and I had to say, "Well, some days I do wonder. While being an architect was stressful, at least no one pissed in the chairs in the office." Which is true, and it's also true that we had that exact problem last week. Another librarian chipped in that once she had to put on gloves and pick up fecal matter in a library where she worked, and everybody in the room was laughing about all the things they don't teach in library school.

"So," I asked. "Are you saying that when we get our MLS they should hand us a pooper-scooper with our diploma?" Laughter and agreement ensued.

One reassuring thing, though.... another student in the information-seeking class came to me today to see if I could help clarify the questions on the assignment I've been bitching about. She helped me some, I helped her some. We were both terribly relieved to know that others seemed to be having the same problems. She was debating writing to the teacher with questions, and I encouraged her to do that, on the theory that if that many of us don't understand, maybe the teacher needs to know there's a problem. Besides the help we were able to give each other, we were also able to get help from one of the librarians in the work room. (I think everybody was hiding out in there as much as possible today.) Between all of us together, we may be able to cobble this thing together. My mood is considerably lighter at the moment. Of course, I haven't gone back and tried to actually finish the damn thing. I'm going to enjoy this feeling as long as I can. Heh.

Okay, off to fix dinner. Then I'll try to finish the Damn Thing.