The Wiki http://plsc.pbworks.com Back up in case I cannot connect. Place to outline what I want to cover. Note, everyone has different information seeking behavior. Some of that is influenced by how long you have been doing this, and how you first learned about it. Other things that can affect how you do things include the working culture of your current, and prior, workplaces and the training they have provided and in some cases the structure which they impose. This is primarily based on how *I* do things, and based on the questions I have been asked.

Home Front page. Note the place to log in. If this is your first time trying to log in, you will get (next slide)

Log in To log in, you must be “granted access.” Kim (or IMLS staff) administer the site. To post to the site, you need to have access. I strongly suggest that you request it (if you have not already).

Why bother to have an account? Direct posting Editing Control More direct participation Why bother to have an account? (bullets fly in…) Direct posting - *YOU* get to post to the pages Editing – You can edit your stuff (especially those pesky typos..) Control – You get to control how you appear. More direct participation

Log in Screen Here I logged out, but am logging back in. I like to be remembered – it makes my life easier!

Note that it now knows who I am Note that it now knows who I am. Next to my name is “account” which is where I can change some settings.

Home All Pbworks spaces When I click on “Account” this is what I get. Note, that I also have permissions for another wiki which uses PBworks. The key thing I want you to see here is the “Enable Notifications” and in the Preferences, you get to choose how often you get them. Your choices are: Never Right away At most every 15 minutes At most every hour At most every 4 hours At most once per day At most once per week

Here is what a notification is like … this is as an email.

Profile Also on your profile you can add contact info and stuff. Note that I have also put a photo. (I may change it if I can get a good new one, that one is a few years old.)

What do I use it for? For me the contacts is the most important thing. It is towards the top of the page.

Contacts Includes all of the IMLS staff, and further down, the Census staff This is only the top part of the contact page. First item will open the PDF with the SDC list. I use this frequently. In the next few months, I will look at the second item a bit when we change mentor responsibilities. (More on Mentors later. I promise.) Below that is the list of IMLS staff with whom we work closely…and apologies to the Census folks who really are there, just further down than the screen shot let me show.

Data Elements Definitions Current Discussion Annual Meeting Info Here are the three other parts I use most often from the front page: Current discussion on adding, dropping, and changing wording Meeting info for this event Current (and sometimes below it historical) definitions Data Elements Definitions

For this shot I just scrolled down. I want to note the “Training section” which is where we can (and should do a better job of) place some of the things which we do and which work well in our states. There is some other great info here…. Also note, that while I have cut of the sidebar, much of this information is also located with links here.

Finding “stuff” Use the structure and the links Look at recently changed documents Search

The Navigator This is the box on the right side of the page. If you grab the bar at the bottom of the box, you can make it bigger. It is simply an alphabetical list of all the pages on the site. It also has the folders listed at the top (in Microsoft fashion), and you can click on the arrows to the right to see what is in each of the folders. (I have not played with the “Starred Pages” feature.)

The Sidebar This is a constant. The links here are the same as on the main entry page. It stays the same no matter where you are in the site. (I often use it to get “home.”) We [anyone with editing privileges] can edit the Sidebar. Kim has – wisely in my view – chosen to keep the sidebar in synch with the main page.

Recent Activity This one is at the bottom, can be easily overlooked, and is rather obvious as to its content.

Searching…. This feature works just as you would expect. It returns results for anything in the wiki using the word or phrase you are searching for.

Definitions: A History of the conversation Result of an iterative process Many conversations Some remember Since 2008, history is on the Wiki

History of definitions This is the history of our conversation about different data elements. IMLS staff (Kim) took the discussion from the SDC list and has posted it here, grouped by topic. It is possible to scroll down and read where we were in each year. You will see conversations about data elements *not* chosen, as well as some of the refinements of the current definitions

One question Here is an example of one question and the several answers. In this case the whole conversation took place on the SDC list (note date).

And another Here is another with a series of comments, some by people in this room.

When an SDC posts I did want to show you what it looks like when you post a comment…note the photos.

Where to find it Search box Link from main page: or on the sidebar Where do you find this history?

Definitions for each year They are all on the Wiki Also on the IMLS web site: https://www.imls.gov/research-evaluation/data-collection/public-libraries-united-states-survey/public-libraries-united-1 There are definitions for each data element for each year. In addition to the Wiki, they are on the IMLS web site – which is a very valuable resource as well, but out of my purview for today. When you click on the “Definitions” link you get a page with all the various years, and the definitions for each year that IMLS has done the survey (2003 – 2014). Clicking on “Data Files” brings a table with the data from 1992 in several formats CSV, XLS, flat file, and SAS along with the documentation (field formats, etc.) as a PDF – critical stuff for those doing in depth research.

What questions do you have? (about the Wiki) Michael Golrick State Library of Louisiana mgolrick@slol.lib.la.us 225-342-4917