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Laura J. Smart

@ljsmart.bsky.social

340 followers 310 following 520 posts

Secret agent smartypants. Original infodiva. Metadata maven. Foul mouthed. Opinions mine all mine. Baketigweyaang Deshkan Ziibi #ldnont photo alt text Laura J. Smart wearing hot pink computer glasses in their office @ UWO. Bookshelf in background

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Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · Sep 1

I was today years old when I learned MY NAME is on a urinalysis tool. (No, YOU’RE an analysis tool!)

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 9h

e) ethics - did we stick to our values as we did the work? f) FAIR data management - our discussions can clarify the data dictionary and paradata needed for our DMP and promote sharing the data with others.

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 9h

d) grounded research. New questions emerge as we gather data. We can do a 2nd review of the raw data to answer those questions if it exists. We can design a new study if it doesn't and build upon it. e) theory building - our chats may show ways to frame new topics 🧵/3

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 9h

a) inter-reviewer consistency. We discussed how we interpreted our data gathering rubric when questions arose or outliers appeared. b) data handling. Raw data needs review and normalization. c) methods. Reflexivity can help us see our biases and we can include this in results/discussion. 🧵/2

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 10h

Research lead pro tip: use a chat client that allows you to export transcripts easily if your team uses DM for comms. Today in #metadata #librarian land - spending WAY too long working around MS Teams. I want to content analyse it for themes for many reasons pertaining to research validity 🧵/1

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 10h

Lack of transparency from vendors is a big problem, among other big problems with transparency in AI metadata. I'm 3/4 through leading a research project evaluating the enhanced eBook Central records which should be getting submitted for pub in early Dec. I'll post when it's available.

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Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 17h

This is amazing work. Added to my Zotero library on the topic. Many thanks to the folks who have put in so much effort for this group and to the shoulders of giants in info retrieval research upon which we demonstrate utility for searchers.

Violet Fox 🦊 @violetbfox.bsky.social · Apr 3

Could you use help explaining the value of #cataloging & good metadata to your admin, coworkers, #MLIS students, etc.? Happy to share this set of resources put together by an ALA working group chaired by @magsjoy.bsky.social. All of these & more are available at hdl.handle.net/11213/22872. 📚

A flyer for a set of documents "Demonstrating the value of cataloging". Six folders are labeled "talking points for administrators, top 5 reasons why you need a cataloger, annotated bibliography, resources list & acronym cheat sheet, side-by-side comparisons of good administrators bad metadata, and introduction to metadata zine. At the bottom text reads you can find these resources at the link in the post, and they were created by the ALA SAC Devaluation of Cataloging Working Group, 2025.

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Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 19h

I very much wish I had known how much IUD insertion hurt before I had it done with only “take some ibuprofen before your appointment.” The need for this is screamingly obvious. Kudos to LHSC

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 19h

There has been AI generated metadata in eBook Central MARC records within Clarivate Alma’s central shared records zone for over a year already. I’m assuming the announcement is pertaining to a service sharing records outside of Alma.

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Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 1d

Tasty and a good pun. I am here for it.

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 1d

This is what we call being viciously polite. Read carefully. Transformative? Yes! Transforming the US to a fascist authoritarian state. He might be an oligarch but Carney is no ass kisser. Elbows up mofos!

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

"You are a transformative president" -- I regret to inform you that Mark Carney is kissing Trump's ass

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Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 1d

today in #metadata #librarian land: managing e-resource maintenance tasks for Ontario Council of University Libraries, weekly authority jobs, and leading research team meeting

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 1d

this is Western Research’s bibliometrics baby and the Libraries handle via our IT and Joanne Patterson in our schol comms unit

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 1d

yeah, the common acronym for this is worth a giggle from our inner 12 year old. :-) Very glad I have little to do with it beyond push/pull of data with the library platforms.

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 3d

“ kiss my shiny metal ass” — Bender, Futurama

bender from futurama is standing in a room with his arms outstretched

Alt: bender from futurama is standing in a room with his arms outstretched

media.tenor.com

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 4d

A very long letter for my U.S. friends posted at www.infodiva.com/RCF . Nothing new if you're following me here but I'm still trying to keep my friends still on that Zuke platform updated. It's a voice crying into the ether, barely read, but I'm a diarist at the core, it soothes me in hard times

Report from the Canadian Front

Observations from Baketigweyaang, Deshkan Ziibi

www.infodiva.com

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 5d

today in #metadata #librarian land: I spent it all in xslt land. DSpace output is kind of crap. Alma transforms are crap. MarcEdit helps a lot but can only do so much when things like dc:contributor AREN'T INCLUDED in the MODS output. It's Friday eob and I'm calling it beer o'clock.

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 6d

PSA Canadian teachers and faculty. Beware of vendors asking you to pay for book chapters to put on course readings. Under Canadian law "fair dealing" you're allowed to use content like that for educational purposes.
www.carl-abrc.ca/influencing-...

CARL Statement on Chapter Course Readings Services and Copyright - Canadian Association of Research Libraries

This statement is also available in PDF and EPUB formats Recently, a company representing a consortium of Canadian academic publishers has been contacting libraries and instructors to promote an on-de...

www.carl-abrc.ca

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 6d

My sweetie runs ribbon printing presses for an awards company. We now refer to anything shitty as “8th place” (typically those ribbons are brown)

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 6d

And publishers insist the value they bring to the scholarly community life cycle justifies the astronomical subscription fees

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Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 7d

I miss the days when one could let it run in its own window while working away on work-work in the other. Repeating it every other year or so gets tedious

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Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 9d

K forwarded me a copy of the Star Trek NG technical manual. I have confirmed that they basically eat poo.* 82% of the replicator raw material is reclaimed from waste water.
*not really at a molecular level. I’m just acting 12, laughing, being a jerk. Now starting season 3 of the rewatch

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Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 9d

Reprehensible. Don’t think for a minute that the local higher ed administrators would not follow suit. I admire the courage it takes to put this out to the public.

Florence Ashley @floralashes.bsky.social · 9d

"Why would it bow to antidemocratic pressures by placing a professor on leave without their request, consent, or involvement? That any university would do this is beyond comprehension and is cause for alarm about the future of academic freedom in Canada."

What Happened to the University’s Commitment to Free Expression? Charley Kirk, uAlberta, and Me | Centre for Free Expression

I was shocked when the University of Alberta administration informed me, one of its law professors, that I was being placed on non-disciplinary leave for my social media comments in the wake of Charli...

cfe.torontomu.ca

Laura J. Smart @ljsmart.bsky.social · 9d

I am not optimistic about our admin when it comes to pass here. Glad we have a strong union.

Reposted by Laura J. Smart

Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 12d

#Metadata #librarian nerds rejoice! Read all about the @visithmml.bsky.social authority file! Authorities from names and works in all the Christian and Muslim manuscript traditions represented in HMML's collections. Read more:
hmml.org/stories/shar...

Creating Relationships — Sharing the Past to Build Toward Future Scholarship

“HMML Authority File (HAF) is a new open-access database created as part of...”

hmml.org

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Reposted by Laura J. Smart

sher12.bsky.social @sher12.bsky.social · 12d

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