My Graduation Photo!

Who needs a cap and gown...

‘Followers’.

Why would a man in strange spectacles and head-wear (“hyphend”) be interested in following a little bunny’s ramblings about libraries, viâ Twitter, when he is miles away in Tennessee, U.S.A.? He’s ‘following’ 5,000+ other people as well! All ideas gratefully received. Perhaps he has discovered how empty his life is without bunnies.

‘23 Things’ Party.

Well, what a lovely evening we socialite bunnies had last night! A chance to meet new bunny chums in the Div. School, have our photographs taken, and show off our Bodley Court Dress; we were the envy of the Secret Bodley Bunny Base!! Thank you to the ‘23 Things’ Team for making a fuss of us, and the Cross Ref. sponsor for funding the course. So sorry not to win the I-Pod, but better luck next time. N.b., naughty Madhuri Bunny, next to a large glass of wine...

Science Poetry Competition in 'Outline'.

Inspired by p. 3 of yester-day’s Outline (444), our bitter, twisted, ex-N.H.S., Bunny Keeper has penned the following haiku.

Useless nurse fails to

wash her hands around the ward.

M.R.S.A. Death!

We bunnies take our paw-washing very seriously. In fairness, “Useless nurse” could just as easily be replaced with “Useless quack”.

Entrance Hall Enquiry Desk Duty.

Thursday after-noon, and our Bunny Uncle Keeper is posted to the Main Enquiry Desk. We play ‘Spot the Special [Collections] Reader’ when it is quiet. I peep over the desk to watch the readers coming in, and Shabana and Govinder Bunny hide downstairs, to confirm which Reading Room the reader chooses. Who needs television?!

I am available to dispense ‘medication’ discreetly to Bunny Uncle, when the inability of readers to ‘swipe in’ gets too much for him, and home-time seems an age away...

New Bodley Book measures delivered.

Receiving our bespoke Bodley Book-measurers at last, we bunnies play at being ‘measured’. Govinder Bunny holds the measurer, and Shabana looks on and giggles. I am an F-size (octavo) on tippy-toe! Uncle Jeremy is a B-for-Bunny-size, when his ears are at full mast.

Bunny Reminiscences.

Whilst mentioning Special Collections, I thought I would show a picture from our Bunny Scrap-Book. Here’s Govinder Bunny, in full turban (“ironic Taliban-black”), with a dandy-ish plume, in the late Oriental Reading Room, pointing at her Keeper’s and her favourite book, Z Cat. 281, Sprenger’s ‘A catalogue of the Arabic, Persian and Hindústány manuscripts, of the libraries of the King of Oudh,’ 1854. Libraries long-dead, with their destruction in the 1857 ‘tamaasha’, it is such a poignant volume. Every 13^th December, we bunnies and Keeper raise a glass of something special, and have a bunny cuddle, to mourn the merger of the most romantic Reading Room in Oxford.

Sorry about the picture quality, it’s a scan from a print from an old camera.

“Sound, Camera, Action!”

Sometimes, when the Porters are not watching us, we sneak into the Special Collections zone before the readers are allowed in, and play at being Bollywood stars, standing in front of the C.C.T.V. camera, and reciting our favourite lines of dialogue. Govinder and Shabana watch, as I pretend to be Kajol, in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Please don’t tell the Superintendent!

Bodleian Party!

Hurrah, we’re going to a party! My ‘Bunny Log’ has been registered officially, and we are being presented with certificates and Amazon voucher on Wednesday 28^th, at the Div. School. Must press my best saree, and comb my ears. Or perhaps it’s dress uniform? Better find some nice jewellery. Hope I can take a few bunny chums, and our Bunny Keeper had better accompany us as well.

A Message from our Sponsor...

Here we are last Wednesday evening, setting up a temporary Cuddle Corner, and starting the carton of yummy hot chocolate our Keeper bought us as a present, to celebrate the completion of our 23 Things course!

It’s more a ‘morning chocolate’, being dark and not sweet, but it tastes as good as from the Paul's stalls at railway stations, etc.

Bunny Library Administration: The Thin Cute Furry Line.

Dearest Bunny Friends,

Thank you for reading this, and, if you have been, any other posting(s), especially if you have bothered to sign up as a ‘Follower’. It is at times like this when a bunny’s nose gets moist with emotion, and one’s furry cheeks dampen. I had no idea anyone would take any notice, and am so sorry not to have had time to read everyone else's. We bunnies have all had a wonderful time learning about ‘Web 2.0’ and how to keep a ‘Bunny Log’ webby-diary, and I hope you have enjoyed learning a little about the rôle of bunnies ‘behind the scenes’ at the Bodleian Libraries. There is so much more to tell, but I am looking forward to a rest. I know Madhuri Bunny will be anxious to describe the excitement of a Reading Room at the cutting edge of information provision in Trinity Term, so watch out for the ‘Radio Tele-Tweet’ service. I look forward to having the time, at last, to read others’ postings, and displaying some holiday snaps and further news from the Secret Bodley Bunny Base soon. Take care.

With Love and Bunny Hugs to you all,

Konnie.

xxx

“Are we there yet?”

What a wonderful way to learn about ‘Web 2.0’! May I thank those who suggested the idea to Bodley’s Cabinet, and the ‘23 Things Oxford’ Team for organising it all. ‘We’ve been on a journey,’ as the youngsters say these days. Now if I want to get my Amazon voucher, I had better get busy recording my reflections on each ‘Thing’.

I confess I remain to be convinced about ‘Blogs’ in general, and their use by libraries in particular. They are very labour-intensive to maintain relevance and retain readers, and ‘Blogger’ is extremely irritating: “Error on page”, “Your H.T.M.L. cannot be accepted: Tag is not allowed: META”, how I will miss thee! Has anyone been able to print a copy of their pages successfully in anything other than Internet Explorer? It is so tempting to ramble on, as I am doing, about one’s loves and hates of the moment, drifting away from the Blog’s purpose. Like television, it is a great time-waster, and still one never gets to read everyone else’s! However, if one can write something daily for readers curious about their library, I can see the ‘Blog’ has a place in communicating with a library’s patrons.

Perhaps the iGoogle page could be set up on library machines as a standard ‘home page’? I am sorry to say I will not be using mine, because I try to keep ‘leisure’ internet use to a minimum. If one must use different machines, perhaps in jobs outside reading rooms, then this, like the ‘Delicious’ web-site book-marks, would be of great help. But, based at one P.C. in a Reading Room, it is not for me. The same with ‘Flickr’ and ‘Picnic’: very useful if one has time to play around, tweaking one’s photographs for use in publicity, but for the average reader enquiry, it is of little relevance.

Pod-Casts and ‘You Tube’ could have a major rôle in user education. Why can we not have videos and audio descriptions of how the library works (who knows what a “Reserve” is before coming to Oxford?!?), photo-copying/scanning systems, how to place a Stack Request, etc., linked from the Home Page, so readers know what to do before their first visit, and do not wander about lost, helpless, and intimidated? We have an A.S.R. system that allows one to place a request from anywhere in the universe, but instructions on how it works impossible to find! I know several bunnies happy to explain, and we would not demand our own caravans for make-up, etc.,...

If social-network web-sites continue to grow as methods of communication, libraries should add their two penn’orth. However, I have heard interesting rumours of a ‘back-lash’. Like a Bodleian stall at ‘Fresher’s Fair’, there are grumblings by some about ‘intrusion’ into a leisure/social space. Let us see how this develops, but in the mean-time, it is another method of reaching our readers. And I shall leave ‘Linked In’ to those earning more than the average wage; we bunnies have our own social networks.

After cousin Madhuri’s over-indulgence, I do not doubt the popularity of Twitter, and would love to see it combined successfully in a ‘Blog’ or library’s home-page, like the B.B.C.’s ‘ticker-tape’ news service. I think it could be used very successfully to convey urgent and important information to readers, especially in times of emergency. But I would rather see links to web-sites discovered by a librarian written into a Blog entry, with some thought and context.

Finally to Google Docs, Wiki pages, and Open Offices. I put them together, as all are ‘collaborative’. Again, whilst not working like this myself, I can see how useful they would be, for example amending draft minutes that must be circulated for consideration, and a group working on composing a web-page together. If the Bodleian introduces ‘Cloud Computing’ with ‘Slave Terminals’ and programmes available via a central machine, so one does not have a different ‘Desktop’ wherever one sits, I shall be first in the queue!

Well, this entry is evidence itself of the very flaws and benefits of such ‘Web 2.0’ internet technology: rushed, ill-considered, and immediate, but also a collaborative work, and available for all to read who wish so to do. Even those ‘Things’ not thought relevant now might reveal themselves to be of great use should times change, so nothing was wasted. Can’t wait for the next course! Thank you all again.

Blogger ‘Gadgets’, and the R.S.L.’s ‘Wikipædia’ page.

‘Grrrrr,’ and stamping of bunny feet! Tried three different Twitter ‘Gadgets’, and all kept making my Blog disappear: stern messages from my bunny chums at the Seaside Hospital. However, following Bunny Auntie Penny’s excellent instructions, I have installed a gadget to display my Flickr pictures. This was disappointing. They do not scroll along the bottom of the screen as hoped, and I had to change permissions to allow them to show: thanks for the tip, Bunny Auntie Gigi. Thought I had forgotten my Flickr user-name. However, the addition of the ‘gadgets’/‘widgets’ to Blogger is pleasingly intuitive. The ‘click and drag’ to arrange is simple and easy. It’s going to be a good week after all. Perhaps I should start a ‘Daily Bodley Bunny’ gadget, for those who dislike dogs...?

Then I had to try and remember what iGoogle was all about. Logged in to my page and cleared all my news-stories as ‘Read’. Must remember to un-subscribe to all these R.S.S. feeds when this is all over. Again, the gadget instructions were easy to follow, and, apart from a hiccup in the internet link with much ‘hour-glass’ displaying, my Delicious gadget was installed. Shuffled them around to keep the Calcutta weather at top left, and deleted the ‘You Tube’ window to make space. All seems to be working so far. See picture as follows:

Bunny Uncle James has given me some figures about library usage in 2008/9, so I have added them to the Wikipedia R.S.L. page. How long will it be before some know-all living 5,000 miles away says the statistics are invalid? Again, it is all rather easy, and I look forward to a more comprehensive entry about the Bodleian and other Oxford libraries. Took a snap shot before it is changed:

Is that it...?

Executive Bunny Stress.

After a week off for Easter - busy time for bunnies! - I must get this finished by Friday. Hope to put my £10 Amazon voucher towards the 'Cardiac Arrest' series on D.V.D.: a vital part of Medical training. Trying to remember all my web-sites and bunny pass-words. Now got 14 Followers. It's all too exciting...