Here is a selection of projects I’ve done, including learning objects, presentations, and papers.
APA Citation Style Exercise and Self-test
I’ve been working on a number of interactive learning objects. Here are two: the first is a drag-and-drop citation building exercise, the second is a multiple-choice self-test.
These were made using Hot Potatoes JMix and Quandary, both from Half Baked Software out of the University of Victoria. It took some JavaScript hoop-jumping to remove the scoring functionality, as these were intended as exercises, only, but other than that they were fairly easy to make! Hot Potatoes products work very well with Moodle, among other learning management systems.
University of Guelph-Humber Proper Citation Tutorial Welcome Video
I wrote and produced this welcome video for the University of Guelph-Humber’s Proper Citation Tutorial, an excellent tool and resource for Guelph-Humber students to use throughout their time at school. The tutorial addresses plagiarism policies, the differences between quoting and paraphrasing, and proper APA and MLA citation style for a wide range of sources. While the tutorial itself is only available to Guelph-Humber students the welcome video offers a solid overview of its features. The video appears on the main page, before the student logs in.
Guest Lecture: Book Publishing and Collections Management
Here are the slides and notes from a guest lecture I delivered to the Vendor Relations class at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University in April 2012. I also delivered versions of this lecture at the University of Toronto; I will be delivering an expanded version at U of T in February 2013. If you would like to see my notes please click the bottom right corner to view the presentation in a new window, then click “notes” at the bottom of the screen.
Google Scholar Preferences — Library Links
I designed and created a Camtasia walk-through on how to customize Google Scholar to link directly to material available through the University of Toronto catalogue. Through zooms, pans, highlights, pointers and a closed-captioned voice-over I provided a quick and straightforward overview of this feature including both how to activate it and how to use it.
Reference Interview, PsycINFO Training
I helped to script, storyboard, execute and edit an instructional video on how to conduct a reference interview by phone. This was a group project, part of an Introduction to Reference course at the University of Toronto, and I played the role of the reference librarian. As a good portion of the video is spent walking a student through PsycINFO, including using advanced search techniques, this video is also a tutorial on using this search service.
Reading Map
I used SpicyNodes, an online, interactive data visualization tool, to create a reading map. Using a representative title at its centre, I produced this guide to accompany a class presentation on Christian apocalyptic fiction. The guide is a useful resource for librarians who, like me, were previously unfamiliar with the genre. I continue to refine it, including a soon-to-be-added node for the popular Left Behind series.
Examples of Publishing Houses
This exercise was produced for my Ryerson University course. 
I developed the concept and a schematic to illustrate different sizes and structures of typical publishing houses. Students move through three publishers of increasing size, noting the number of books published per year and its impact on the size, structure, and chain of command in the production department. The intent of this learning object was to draw students’ attention not only to the existence of the production department but also to how the department adapts to changing scale in the publishing house as a whole.
Who Works with Production?
This exercise was also produced for my Ryerson University course. I developed the concept and schematic for an interactive, amusing illustration of 1) the many departments in an average, mid-sized publishing house, and 2) the sorts of questions they would have for the production department, which is in many ways the hub of the organization.
Students hover over one of the yellow circles, each representing a department, which results in a “bloop!” noise and a white circle in the middle with examples of questions that department would ask production. A second interactive exercise flipped the dynamic, illustrating the sorts of questions the production department would ask other departments.
Fast, Cheap, and Good — Choose Any Two!
Here is an additional exercise from my Ryerson University course. I enjoyed this one. I developed the concept and a schematic to illustrate the production adage that it’s difficult to create a product quickly, cheaply, and well — choosing two often sacrifices the third.
Students click any two of the three buttons; the third button disappears with a small explosion and both an explanation and examples appear below. Students can then reset the boxes and try different pairs which yield different results and examples.
Self-Publishing Platforms
I recently wrote a paper comparing two self-publishing platforms: Feedbooks and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). I was to write from the point of view of a collections librarian who has noticed that self-published books are starting to gain some credibility and wonders if either or both of these platforms might be good to look to for collections development. My conclusion? Neither source would make effective use of a librarian’s time. Have a look at why.
Prison Libraries: An Annotated Bibliography
I contributed to an annotated bibliography of useful resources for practicing librarians who have a role in the prison library system or who are considering it. It was fascinating. Kim Parry, Emily Thompson and I broke down our recommended resources into three sections: 1) programs (written by Kim), 2) collections development and management (me), and 3) the digital divide (Emily).
Collection Development: Cookbooks
Do you have cookbooks in your public library collection? I’m quite certain you do. Do you think your library could do with a little more breadth? “300 Potato Recipes” and “The Gluten-Free Edge: Get Skinny the Gluten-Free Way!” (Actual line from this book: “It’s true! A gluten-free diet can help you shed those stubborn pounds for good—and you don’t even have to have celiac disease to benefit.”) not addressing all of your patrons’ needs? My project for Collection Development, Evaluation and Management: recommend 20 small/alternative press and 20 non-English language cookbooks to augment a library’s “mainstream” collection.
