New UX Blog Posts, and at least someone's enjoying the snow (Pets of WHSLA)!

MLA's User Experience (UX) Caucus has two new blog posts that I recommend checking out, especially if you happen to be a user of APA PsycInfo in the EBSCOhost interface:

• Controlled vocabular field codes and their discontents in EBSCOhost APA PsycInfo: This post discusses the frustrating limitations of controlled vocabulary field codes in EBSCOhost's APA PsycInfo (such as the fact that "there are zero field codes that search exclusively in the Subjects field associated with the APA Thesaurus"!). 

• Mismatched MeSH in EBSCOhost APA PsycInfo: This post explains and provides examples of how MeSH terms associated with records in EBSCOhost PsycInfo don't always match those in MEDLINE.

For those that celebrate, I hope everyone had a safe holiday last week! We received quite a bit of snow over in Madison, Wisconsin. While my husband and I weren't thrilled, our Irish wolfy, Hazel, took some enjoyment from the blizzard. Below is her sitting atop her throne.

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has a great week!

Looking for the good news?

 Focusing on the good

If you're feeling like everything is awful, it may be time to look at some positive news. Here's a few websites that focus on that and seem to not be all about the click-bait. 

• Good News Network
• Daily Good
• Positive.News

Positive/Gratitude Journaling

Personally, I am working on letting things go to go with my search for a more positive outlook, so I have recently picked up the journal linked below. My goal was something that I could do in 5 minutes or less and that had lots of prompts so I didn't have to figure it out on my own. 

• NSFW Title Journal-my new gratitude/letting it go journal. My personal favorite is being able to choose an A-Hole of the day. 
• Also Considered: Let that Sh#t Go Journal
• And this one which isn't sweary at all 3 Minute Positivity Journal

Gus on porch unbothered by the world

Pets of WHSLA: The Sassy Hazel

 I figured I would continue the Pets of WHSLA series for my first post, as well! Let me introduce everyone to the photogenic Hazel. 

 An Irish wolfhound mix, Hazel's occupation is being a full-time couch potato (a career which she takes very seriously). She also has a side-hustle being a model, and features pretty heavily in my slide shows for health sciences students (especially her goofier photos).

When she's off the clock, she enjoys hiking and getting the occasional pup cup at a coffee shop. 

Hazel and I are so excited to be contributing to the WHSLA blog! Thanks to everyone for reading, and I hope everyone has a great day! =)

Pets of WHSLA: Lilo and Gus (plus the chicken ladies)

 As my first post on the blog, I'll continue the popular Pets of WHSLA series with my cats: Lilo and Gus

(Attempting to fit in the same bed with mixed results)

They are brother and sister from the same litter and 11.5 years old. They generally sleep a lot, but romp around with each other plenty and keep us on their schedule. Lilo will remind our son when it's time to go to bed and stare at his door if she didn't get in there before he shut it, so she can go snuggle with him. Gus will stare at the bare spot in the 3/4 full food dishes to let us know that he is just wasting away with hunger.

  

And of course both cats love helping me work from home...

Bonus pets: we also have five chickens who like to observe us and the cats through the kitchen door.

Their names are: Love, Tiny, Tornado, Hen Solo, and Princess Leia

Pets of WHSLA: Bishop

Thank you to Michelle Harrell for sharing this blog post. 

Pets of WHSLA: Bailey

Submitted by Karen Hanus—

Bailey only came to live with me in the last two years, but we couldn’t be closer even if I’d known her from puppyhood.  She follows me everywhere, goes berserk even if I just walk out to go to the mailbox, and can’t stand to be separated from me.  It’s kind of sweet, but can be annoying!

 

She’s a 10 year-old Chocolate Lab, but my iPhone thinks she’s a Weimaraner or a German Shorthaired Pointer. Go figure.  Maybe I should do one of those Embark DNA tests on her; maybe the iPhone knows something I don’t!

 

Bailey loves long, thin plush dog toys.  She gravitates toward whatever is the last one I bought her.  But she still has her favorites. They’re all in a crate and she will dig through it on her own looking for that specific one she wants. Surprisingly, she’ll also put toys back into the crate!  I’ve never had a dog that’ll pick up after themself before. 

 

She demands belly rubs and will bark incessantly when she thinks she deserves a treat. But, I’m a pushover, so I give in. Her favorite treat is pumpkin mix. I will give it to her in a Kong if I want to keep her busy more than two seconds. She can be a handful, but I still love her! 

 

Pets of WHSLA: Stanley and Buddy

 Meet Stanley and Buddy, two happy pets in Kari Z's house. 

Pets of WHSLA: Pookie and Sammy

Thank you to Eileen Severson for this post about her family's two cats: Pookie & Sammy. 

"We have two cats, Pookie and Sammy.  We adopted Pookie when he was about 6 months; he is now 11 years old.  He can be very affectionate and “meow-purr” when being petted and having his butt “smacked” (cat owners—do you know what I mean?).  He likes bopping me in the head in the early morning indicating he’s hungry.  He is VERY talkative when he wants food or to go outside and honestly can be rather annoying.  We have a little shelter for him outside to protect him, but he did go on an adventure in October.  I was letting him out of the shelter to have him come inside and he took off after another cat that I didn’t see in the yard.  I tried chasing them, but I didn’t have shoes on, and it was dark.  That was October 1.  He didn’t make it home until Oct 20.  His tail was injured, and he lost 5 pounds.  He’s better now and we’re much more careful with him.   

Pookie in the catnip

 

 

Sammy is five months old.  We adopted him in November.  The woman that was fostering him mentioned that he was her “wild one”, she wasn’t kidding.  He is all kitten—curious about EVERYTHING, playing with whatever he can get his paws on--paper, bits of food left on the floor, the Christmas tree, your nose, fingers, toes, and his crabby mate, Pookie, etc.  We are enjoying his antics (except for Pookie), but he can also be exhausting.  When he is tired enough, he can be affectionate too."

Sammy and Pookie

Sammy

 

If you have pets you'd like to brag about, drop Brenda F. or Michele M. a line. 

Pets of WHSLA: Guiness and Campari

Submitted by Jennifer Deal-----Guinness and Campari are our family pets, and they really make life more fun. We adopted them as kittens from a shelter in Milwaukee called Second Hand Purrs. They’re now 11 years old and still love to snuggle with each other. Even though they’re littermates, they have very distinct personalities. 

 

Guinness is our boy cat and he’s (almost) all black in color. He’s incredibly affectionate and outgoing, somewhat tolerant of being dressed up, enjoys belly rubs, and loves showing off his comically large fangs.

 

Campari is our girl cat and the smaller of the two. She’s a feisty and skittish tortoiseshell. She likes spending her time hiding inside of things, up as high as possible, or outside in the sunshine. She’s extremely sweet and loves pets so long as you don’t make any loud noises or quick movements.

 

 

 

Pets of WHSLA: Archie & Veronica

Meet Archie and Veronica, the Suelzer family pets

Archie is our four-year-old yorkie. His unusual coloring makes him a Biewer Terrier and he is really large for his breed, weighing 10 whole pounds.  He joined the family during the Covid pandemic and brought much needed joy to our house. 

 

Archie is always waiting for someone to throw the ball. He loves to take long walks and say hello (in the form of a bark) to all the neighborhood dogs. During the day, he lets us know (in the form of a bark) if anyone walks by the house. He’s a barky little guy.

 

Veronica is a tortoiseshell cat, and she is about the same size as Archie. She joined our family two years ago when she was just a tiny kitten and she was adopted from MADACC. 

 

Ronnie keeps me company while I work. She loves watching the birds and squirrels in the bushes by my office window, she loves climbing everything, and she loves sleeping on my lap when the weather turns chilly.

 

Our pets were named after the Archie comics, and true to the characters, Veronica the cat is on-and-off friendly with Archie the dog.  

 

Submitted by Liz Suelzer

Pets of WHSLA: Scout & Rudy

Scout & Rudy

Owner: Rita Mitchell, Librarian Sr. Advocate Midwest Library, Aurora Sinai Medical Center

 

Scout and Rudy are two boys rescued from two different shelters in the Milwaukee area.  Scout is the grey cat, 9 years old.  He meows a lot – but with inflections.  You can have a conversation with him. His favorite thing to do is play fetch with any human – sometimes he plays well enough to say, “he plays fetch like a dog”.  Seriously, he runs after the stick, puts it in his mouth and brings it back to you. Rudy is the buff or blondie cat, 6 years old.  Rudy loves chin rubs and begs for pets all the time.  If you are lucky, you might see Rudy tap Rita’s shoulder during an online meeting.

Pets of WHSLA: Dale and Bellin

Making sure the new egg chair is worthy of their attention

Bellin

Dale

Dale and Bellin, cat brothers, came to us about a year ago from a Milwaukee area rescue shelter. They keep each other entertained much of the time, and like to wrestle, chase, and pounce on each other via a sneak attack. 

While they don't jump on laptop keyboards at present, they do like keeping warm by sitting on laps when it's cold in the house. Chasing feather toys and zooming down the stairs to attack toy mice are another popular past time, as well as eating snacks, and being wrapped up in fuzzy blankets. 

Brenda

 

Pets of WHSLA: Luna

 

Luna

I’m sure many of us have pets.  In my case, my dog is my only other library co-worker. 

Luna is listed as “library assistant” at my on-site office along with some other dogs and cats that serve as our assistants when we work remotely. She is approximately 3 years old.  She was found with her littermates in Arkansas, two brothers and a sister and was brought to Border Tails Rescue in Northern Illinois.  Last summer, we had a “family” reunion and one of her brothers and her sisters met us at a dog park.  It was so neat to see them run to each other and immediately start playing despite there being other dogs all around them. It was also fun to see how much they looked like each other and yet how different they were.  Her sister definitely had more lab in her and her brother was more schnauzer like. We have no idea what breeds she has in her, but she is 100% made for the libraries of my childhood where silence was expected because she rarely barks.

Luna enjoys long naps and sleeping in.  When we first adopted her, I was sure she would be my morning alarm clock, but she often stays in bed until 8 or 9 on the weekends, sometimes switching to whatever bed still has a human in it but staying in a bed alone if everyone is up.

She enjoys keeping my feet warm while I work and making sneak appearances at our health equity book club meeting.  This is the only meeting when she sneaks on camera for some reason.  Her favorite TV show is Bluey because her human brothers leave that on for her when we go out.  She will sit right next to my ten-year-old while he practices his saxophone so I’m assuming she loves that too.  She loves chew toys, grooming herself like a cat and using her buttons to tell us what she needs. I recently had to take away her “play” button because she would press it repeatedly during work calls. 😉

So WHSLA, show us your pets please 😊.

Dora