LibrarianInBlack

Review of How to Use Web 2.0 in Your Library

I just finished How to Use Web 2.0 in Your Library by Phil Bradley and am quite glad I took the time to read it.  I try to stay on top of things--knowing not only about new trends and service opportunities for libraries, but also knowing about all the little independent small start-up services and resource websites that might help us, in libraries, do a better job for our customers.  And sometimes I forget how much more there is out there in the world that I've never even seen!  Bradley's book was a good reminder to that effect. 

In every single chapter he managed to teach me at least one new thing, show me one valuable new site that I hadn't known about before.  Bradley talks about podcasting, blogging, instant messaging, social libraries, social software--all that good stuff that is making its way into most Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 courses.  Bradley writes effortlessly, making the entire book seem like a conversation that one might have over tea or dinner. 

I would highly recommend his tome to anyone trying to hone some Web 2.0 skills, get lists of ideas of ways to implement these technologies in the library, or just plain expand knowledge of what is possible...if not probable...in our profession.

Text can be fun. No, really...

If you'd like to add something interesting to those event flyers you create for the library or games for the kiddies, you might want to try spiral text, wavy text, and more from the Party Printer.  Fun with words!  You can even create a Rebus (you know, funny pictograph word game--the one below says "Library").  And I'm finding it quite a bit easier to use that Microsoft Office's WordArt, which I am convinced has been sent from someplace very dark to torment all of us.

found via the J-Walk Blog many moons ago

Finding Online Video

Ah, this is another resource that I got from a conversation with Gary Price.  That Gary--he's so full of knowledge his head is gonna pop!

A recent Pew study on online video found that 57% of internet users have watched videos online and most share them with others too.  Gary has a post on ResourceShelf talking about this study and then listing a handful of excellent online video websites that can be of use to library staff in helping our customers. 

One of the confounding things right now about online video is that there are so, so many online video sharing websites.  Almost too many, for those of us trying to keep track.  Gary lists a few, but you may also want to try another of his favorite resources: the Web Video Cheat Sheet, which lists the video sharing sites and some of their features. 

If you're looking for video content itself, Gary suggests that you try starting with Alluc.org (an amazing site with content from popular movies, television, and more--here are their recently available TV shows).  Or try Veoh, another video sharing site that includes everything from silly homemade videos to full-length television shows (here's what I found in a search for "Star Trek"). 

It is crazy to me that this stuff is available online for free--and in more places than just our beloved YouTube ;)   Just imagine how happy your library users will be when you show this to them in the basic internet class!

The ChaCha bubble

When ChaCha (a search engine where you ask professional guides to search for you) first started a year or so ago, many librarians got very upset, or at the very least concerned.  Aren't we the guides that will help people search, and for free?  When was the last time you heard about ChaCha though?  Has it taken the search world by storm like many feared?  No.  It hasn't.  Just like many of the other search start-ups haven't.  It's interesting to me how challenged we become when something new, exciting, and just enough like us to be threatening comes along. 

Personally, I believe that human guided search in real time (e.g. what librarians can do with live chat and IM) is an important aspect to the future of what we do in libraries.   I recommend looking at ChaCha, just as I generally recommend looking at many of the new things that come down the pike in web search and online resources.  As information professionals, we need to know what's out there...if only to decided we don't need it after all :)

NewsNow: Know what's going on every second of the day

Gary Price and I had a long IM conversation the other day (I love those chats with my near and dear dig-space friends).  During this conversation, he pointed me to a news monitoring service that blew my mind.  Gary has been blogging about this from time to time for a while now.  This time around I took the time to take a look and to listen to him.  Maybe you will too :)

NewsNow is a site out of the UK with feeds from nearly 30,000 different news sources, updated every 5 minutes.  You can search all of the headlines, browse by a specific subject (like Phishing and Email Scams), or get a live feed with every new news item popping to the top of the list.  Stories are marked with flags from their countries of origin as well. 

You could use this to check the accuracy of stories that customers come in trying to validate or check up on, or even grab the news feed and post it on the library's current news website so that your customers can see what's going on in their library and the rest of the world--all at once.

Enjoy!

Early U.S. Immigration Resource

The Harvard Libraries, Archives, and Museums have compiled their resources related to early United States immigration in the collection Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930. 

This web collection looks at immigration from the signing of the Constitution all the way up to the Great Depression.  The collection is immense, and very impressive.  You'll find over 6,000 photographs, thousands of pages from manuscripts and archives, 1,800 books and pamphlets, maps, and more.  Bookmark this sweet resource for the next time you have immigration history questions--and it also might come in handy for genealogy searches too!

The collection is part of Harvard's Open Collections Program, which offers "online access to resources from Harvard's libraries to benefit students and teachers around the world." Other subjects covered include Women Working, Contagious Diseases, and Islamic Heritage.

Increase the # of RSS subscribers for your library

If your library has parts of your website with RSS feeds (blogs of all stripes, book recommendations, newsletters, etc.) you may want to check out this article: "5 Tips to Increase RSS Subscribers" on GotChance.  The suggestions are good ones, except for #3.  I don't believe that you should display a counter of the number of feed subscribers you have.  I think that all of those newfangled counters will become as uncool as the website hit counters of yore.  However, that is just my Sarah-headed opinion, so decide for yourself ;)

found on the always useful A Feed is Born

Some suggestions for ILS vendors

Jon Udell gives ILS vendors three major suggestions for improving their services: adding a simple search pattern, using xISBN, and creating a bookmarklet. Udell works for Microsoft and is the inventor of LibraryLookup.  Not to denigrate Udell's suggestions, but while I agree that these three suggestions are nice additions, there are so many more basic problems with the ILSes out there that need to be addressed.  I'd like a bookmarklet, but I'd really first like to have a search algorithm that actually works or a hold function that doesn't require nine clicks.  I am not a programmer by nature, but what I have seen of the ILS code for a number of systems has led me to believe that these systems need to be razed to the ground and a new, clean, crisp system built from scratch.  Call me extreme.

BookTour

Via Library Stuff, the BookTour website focuses on connecting "authors and potential audiences of all sorts, from book groups to civic organizations, from bookstores to corporate events."  Libraries could use this service to connect their book clubs with authors whose books they are reading.  Libraries definitely like to host author visits as well, and this site can help those connections to be made.  Nice!

Will Astra redeem Cerulean Studios?

Thanks to fellow blogger extraordinaire Paul Pival for pointing out that a Trillian Astra developer has suggested in a video that the new release will include a web option, similar to Meebo's MeeboMe Widget: the single largest reason that libraries are using Meebo over Trillian and a seriously huge upheaval to the for-pay virtual reference systems.  If users can chat with me through my webpage with this item for free, why would I pay for a reference service to do the same thing? 

Trillian was the first free software that really got libraries into providing IM reference in large numbers, and I would like to see them re-energize their service by providing the types of services that we want to use.  Of course, I realize that libraries are not Trillian's sole audience and I also know that hey--the service is free.  How picky should we be?

Marketing blogger takes on Library 2.0

Rohit Bhargava, Influential Marketing Blog author, wrote a few things about why Library 2.0 is a powerful idea and why he believes it has influential potential for libraries everywhere.  It is always interesting to read how other people view the library world, and this article was no exception.  Check it out!

found via David Lee King

Future of libraries interview

An interview I gave to DegreeTutor on the future of libraries is up in case anyone wants to read it (that's a big if I think :P).  There is an entire series of interviews available, with people like Michael Stephens, Paul Pival, and Helene Blowers.  If you would like to contribute yourself, take a look at the contributor submission page.  What an interesting way to see, all in one shot, what people in the field think about our profession's future! 

Flash drive applications

If you're like me, you bring your flash drive everywhere.  Excuse me, flash drives.  As long as you're hauling data around, you may as well bring some applications with you too--especially if you're taking your flash drive to different computers that aren't necessarily yours.  Found via Tara Calishain's ResearchBuzz, this list of free applications that will run off of your flash drives is an excellent resource.  I think it would be a great list to share with your library users as well--especially those who use the library's computers.  As Tara suggests, I concur that you should read their About page to see what is defined as portable (e.g. what your flash drive has to be able to do to run these buggers.)

Talis Library Platform News

Talis is fast becoming a name to watch in the library world.  Subscribe to the Talis Library Platform News if you want to keep up to date with their activities.

Demise of the Local Catalog

Roy Tennant writes "Demise of the Local Catalog" for Library Journal.  In it, he talks about how the ILS will lose its finding-aid (web catalog) component, and become what it once was: an acquisitions and cataloging system, with a patron database on the side.  Finding aids will become more universal, no longer requiring users to search a dozen library catalogs to find a rare item.  It's an excellent article to read if you're curious about the status of the catalog.

Tennant also alludes to WorldCat Local as a potential solution to the library world's need for a universal catalog.  I have been thinking about WorldCat Local a lot lately.  Why?  My library is one of the libraries participating in the beta project, though our site hasn't launched live for the public yet.  While I think that the idea of a universal catalog is wonderful, and one to be pursued wholeheartedly, so far I see two small potential problems with WorldCat Local working as a universal finding aid.  These are problems that any other group thinking of developing a similar system would need to consider.

One issue I've found using WorldCat.org is that many small libraries, and poorer libraries, have not uploaded their records into WorldCat because of the cost.  Therefore, if I live in an economically disadvantaged area (often rural areas), then WorldCat.org will tell me to drive 50 miles for a title even though my local library does indeed own it.   The library divide grows deeper...

The second issue I'm seeing is WorldCat's difficulty in dealing with multi-branch systems.  WorldCat only recognizes zipcodes for the central location of that system.  So, if I live in City B, and think of my library as the City B Library, and enter my zip code as the starting place, WorldCat may tell me to go to a library many miles away, in a neighboring system, instead of to City B Library.  Why?  Because it only recognizes the location for my system's City A, not B, C, D, E, F, G, and so on.  This is not as big a problem for college libraries, where all the branches are confined within one small geographic space.  But for large city libraries or county libraries, with multiple branches scattered dozens of miles apart, it becomes a serious problem. 

I am sure that the second problem is not insurmountable--after all, some thoughtful programming could settle that, I'm sure.  I am not so sure about the first problem though.  Until there exists a world catalog in which the inclusion of records is free, I cannot see WorldCat truly functioning as a full World Catalog...only a catalog of the advantaged, unfortunately.

iLibrarian: Australian library consultant blog

Here's a relatively new tech/library blog for you: iLibrarian, described as "news and resources on Library 2.0 and the information revolution."  And here's the RSS feed.  It is written by a library consultant from Australia named Judy O'Connell.  Nice to have your voice in the mix, Judy!

found through Peter Scott's Library Blog

The Future is in Web Services

"Well of course," said the Sarah.  Of course the future is in web services.  It's just too bad that a good deal of the directors and administrators in libraries, the people who decide on budgets and staffing, haven't realized it yet.  Oh, they may say they realize it, but have the followed up on empty words and speeches with actual funding and staff?  Actions speak louder than words, and U.S. libraryland is eerily  silent on this count.

Richard Wallis, on panlibus, writes about a near article by Richard Ackerman in the Library Journal NetConnect supplement, "Library Web Services."  Ackerman's articles doesn't tell us anything we don't already know: he talks about some of the wonderful services libraries can offer, as well as the general service areas we should be paying attention to.  Wallis's response talks about Talks's new product Talis Keystone, which takes data in library systems and filters it so it can be used by other, non-library systems too.

What makes me sad is that both Ackerman and Wallis have missed a key point: if the future is in web services, how can libraries take advantage of that with their current staff configurations?  How many libraries in the U.S. have a honest-to-goodness computer programmer on staff?  How many have staff with Computer Science degrees?  How many staff do they have devoted to the library's hardware, software, and network?  How many staff do they have devoted to web services? 

In the smallest libraries, perhaps all of these are the same one person.  But in larger libraries, especially multi-branch systems, I have seen a dearth of technology staff combined with ever-increasing demands on those staff for new services and resources.  While yes, I speak from experience in working in two county library systems with a dozen branches each, I also speak from experience in teaching, training, and speaking to library staff all across the U.S. 

Very few libraries have stopped to take a look at reallocating staff resources to match the ever-increasing load that they are putting on their technology staff.    If any library is doing any kind of technology or organizational planning, this is something that must be addressed upfront.  To not do so is to condemn your library to poor tech services for your public.  Just look at the libraries that are doing amazing things with technology--the libraries we all point to as role models: Ann Arbor District Library, Hennepin County Library, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County, on and on.  What do these libraries have in common?  They have allocated staff to IT and web services -- a lot of staff. 

This probably meant a few less library assistants, or one less reference librarian, and that's sad.  Ideally, our public would see the rising circulation, programming, and educational needs as well as technology needs and offer us up some more funding for additional staff.  But on a cost-benefit analysis, you can't do much better than investing in tech staff.  How many library branches, that get more traffic than your largest branch, can be run 24/7 by a handful of FTEs with no infrastructure costs?  And let's not forget--our online branches serve all of our users, wherever they are, and it's not dependent on physical proximity or open hours.

To not address the need for web services staff in our libraries is a crime against our customers.  Yes--all the other areas of the library are very important too.  But which other area is growing as fast?  Which other area demands so few resources for such a huge benefit?  If you want to make your stakeholders happy, to impress your political bosses, support web services--it is an area that will deliver immense returns, if only given the chance.

Discord Over Dewey

A new article on the Dewey-less Perry Branch Library in Maricopa County (Arizona) has been published in the Wall Street Journal.  "Discord Over Dewey" by Andrew LaValle is probably a bit sensationally titled, but does a good job of exploring the concerns and praise for this library's choice of item organization.  Jessamyn West, Ross Singer, Karen Schneider, and I are among the people quoted. 

I wish the Perry library luck.  I hope that their high circulation figures continue past this initial "new library" frenzy.  I hope that their users find specific titles easily.  I hope it turns out well for all involved.  Without seeing the library's exact organization system myself, I still must admit some concerns about users being able to find the exact book they're looking for without having to scan scads of shelves for it.  I feel that providing an easier-to-use finding system is crucially important to libraries--and something that our cataloging and processing teams, in cooperation with reference librarians, should be responsible for. 

In my head, this goal can be achieved pretty easily through two things: better keyword-based signage on your physical items (shelves and book spines) and better tagging and keyword search functionality on the online catalog.  Do those two things, keep Dewey, and I think you'll end up with happy users of both the browsing and searching kind.

How did professionalism get pitted against tradition?

A post from several days ago on Library Garden, written by Tyler Rousseau, "Librarian 2.0- The new professional or the responsible one?," hit home with me.  I encourage you to go read the whole thing, but here is a snippet to whet your appetite.  He is discussing how we got to a point where librarianship isn't about serving the users anymore, how we've lost sight of that goal.

But how did we get to this stage? Why do we have professional librarians who refuse to keep up with the professional and technological requirements? How did we reach a point where the patrons’ needs were less important than the traditional way of doing things?

All along, the job of a reference librarian has been to find the information patrons need. We are in the business of connecting people to the information they require... so why care about the format that information is found in?

All I can say is "right on."  And I think that librarians being stretched too thin staff-wise has contributed to the unwillingness to take on anything new.  It's just too much...not because people aren't smart enough to get it, or even afraid.  But they're overloaded and don't want to make that situation worse.  Now, we could argue that some of the new technologies actually save time (and they do), but the learning process takes time that these staff feel they do not have to give.  Just think about how many times someone has said, "Oh, I'd love to go to that training but it would be too hard to get someone to cover the desk.  I'll skip it this time."  It makes me cry. 

So, what did the FBI do with the Patriot Act?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has received, upon request, 1138 pages of FBI documents discussing the misuse of those special secret warrants (National Security Letters).  Read more in EFF's Report.

Cory Doctorow's Commentary on How DRM Becomes Law

Cory Doctorow offers a look at how DRM becomes U.S. law in an Information Week article.  He "looks at the back room dealing that allowed entertainment companies and electronics companies to craft public policy on digital rights management."  It's sad that libraries weren't at that table.

Electronic Community Engagement Stories

Michael Porter is writing a book for ALA Editions and needs your help.  He is focusing on electronic community engagement and wants to get stories from real people in real libraries.  So, first off: congratulations Michael!  And second off, go read his post to find out more if you're interested in sharing your stories.

Open Library: all the world's book information in one place

The Internet Archive launched a demo of its Open Library, a project whose aim is to gather information about the world's books (yes, all of them) and turn it into a huge wiki.  The Open Library will also have links to any free copies of the book in question (hurrah!) and wiki users can go in to annotate or simply review the book.  It's already at half a million books, so it's in good shape for the future.  Congratulations to the project's founders: Aaron Swartz and Brewster Kahle.   

Just as people thought Wikipedia wouldn't make it, and we've seen that site thrive, I think the same will happen here.  People like to talk about their opinions, and people have quite a few opinions about the books they're reading.  The books that I found didn't have a lot of data yet, but that's ok--it's just starting.  There is also a problem with authority control (which you'll have with any wiki).  For example, here are all the results for "lovely bones."  I think that libraries definitely need to be aware of this resource, and to include it in their reference repertoire.  Check it out and see what you think, and if you're interested in keeping up with what's going on or contributing to the process overall, they have a list just for librarianship aspect of the project.   

Book cart pimping = library publicity

Librarians got a mention on Boing Boing (one of the most-read blogs ever) for Unshelved's first book cart pimping contest.  Rock on.  Any time you combine librarian + pimping, people pay attention :)  And publicity for libraries is a good thing. 

The future for California libraries' statewide chat reference

Here in California, we're in limbo.  We don't really know what the fate of our statewide chat (QuestionPoint) reference service is.  Being on the State Advisory Board for the service, one would think I know (and people have assumed that), but I don't.  So, back to the limbo.  All funding for coordinators for our QuestionPoint statewide chat service has been slowly taken away since the first year of the project.  From 1 1/2, to 1/2, to no staff at all. 

As a result of the lack of a coordinator, there is no coordinated PR for the project.  Most libraries do something like a bookmark and leave it at that due to a lack of enthusiasm.  There is also no staff training and there is no staff support.  There is no question-follow up coordination (well, not by us--QuestionPoint has taken it on in a gesture of goodwill).

The project has never really been adequately funded, in my opinion.  There seems to be copious amounts of money for the stuff (the software) but no money being dedicated to staff to run, support, and publicize the stuff.  Until now, though.  Now we're not even sure about the software.

For this year, which we're already two weeks into, we don't really know if we'll even have state funding for the software.  If not, and CA libraries are forced for the first time to pay for their QuestionPoint subscriptions, I predict that at least 70% will cancel their subscriptions.  There's no way I could recommend forking out that amount of money for a service that has no coordinator or PR.  And unfortunately, so many of us have seen such low usage as a result of the lack of funds dedicated to the project over the years, that we're now convinced that it won't be used -- no matter what.  And other states have proven that that is not the case.  Get a coordinator in place and all of a sudden usage increases.  Surprise?  No. 

We also have to look at this in the light of the recent state library's report about the future of statewide reference, which recommends folding all reference services in to QuestionPoint's software (including an IM module that doesn't even exist).  So--we were told funding would probably be taken away, but now a report came out that says all of our reference should stick with QuestionPoint, so, uh, now what?  And this is the question that California library staff keep asking me.  I don't have the answer, unfortunately. 

I think we can all intellectually agree that a lack of staff dedicated to a project equals a floundering project--not an efficient project.  In fact, if you're not going to fund staff to deal with a project--just don't fund the project at all, because for almost every project I can think of, if you don't have staff, you fail.  And I'd rather have nothing than something junky.  We all know this, and yet, these things happen repeatedly in libraries.  Is it because we'd rather have two sorta-okay projects than one good one?  Trying to give staff all the new projects they want, so we halfway do some of them to meet that goal?  Gotta look good to the funding body?  What is it?

John Blyberg wrote a while ago about the atrophy of some Web 2.0 projects in libraries--that blogs, Flickr accounts, and podcast feeds have been set up--but are floundering, empty, abandoned.  How does that look to the public?  I think it looks even worse than not having these projects in place.  As John says:

These technical elements of L2 must be aligned along our institutions’ field of influence and expertise so that the seams don’t show. Seams send the wrong message, they say we’re being disingenuous and sloppy. In effect, poorly implemented technology amounts to spamming our users and staff with "new features."

Why implement something if you're going to let it die?  Why throw money at something if you're only going to throw half the amount the project requires to succeed?

This approach has always puzzled me--and yet, I see it in libraries all the time.  I simply don't understand the logic.  Perhaps someday, when I'm in the retirement home sipping my peach smoothie through a straw and watching Law & Order reruns on the wireless television implant in my brain, a revelation will  suddenly come to me about why we do this to ourselves and our users.  But until then, I will remain in this state of puzzlement, I suppose.

I've heard from a large number of California librarians on this issue, and a discussion at my consortium's meeting this morning actually drove this post.  I am very interested to hear from other California library staff about what they feel about this project, the lack of funding, and the overall pending reference changes in the state.  What have you heard?  What do you know?  What do you want?  What will work?  What won't?  And please say these things to your supervisor or to the state library too (they did put out a call for feedback, you know).

Update: I have just received word that the California State Library has chosen to fund the AskNow program one more year.  Just like last year, though, there is only funding for the software.  There is no coordinator for another year.  The project continues its slow death with a lack of organization, training, and PR.

Dutch libraries offering chat reference

Librarian Rob Coers has announced that the Dutch public libraries are offering a chat reference service, in addition to their QuestionPoint-based service, that runs on Chatfone.  It's simple IM on a webpage, much like the Meebo widget.  It's interesting to see libraries turning to outside, non-library focused service providers for the chat functions that our users demand from us.

I still think that providing reference by website chat and also by IM are the two most important ways to be available for my users.  IM is what people are using here--and for those who aren't, if they can get to a webpage and they can type, then they can chat with us.  With the addition of email reference services, that seems, to me, to cover all the bases.  It's too bad that such a service hasn't been made available by traditional web-based chat vendors.  I think that libraries would jump on that--buying the first product that provided that integrated type of solution.   

Speaking, teaching, and training

This is a simple post meant to remind my readers, wherever you are, that althought I have a full time job, I am always happy to teach, speak to, or train at your library or other institution.  I have lots of experience training and teaching, and tend to present on issues related to technology training, competencies, Web 2.0 and Library 2.0, technology applications, web services, online marketing and outreach, virtual reference, and eBooks.  If you're interested, drop me a line. :)

AllConsuming: books, music, food, blah, blah, blah

If you haven't taken a look at AllConsuming.net, then do.  Please do.  You will become absorbed into the mother alien.  You will!  I swear it!

No, no, no.  Seriously.  It's one of those site that, once you dabble in it, you're at risk of becoming addicted.  It's best described in their "Huh?" section (their version of FAQs):

It’s a website where you can track and talk about the books, music, movies, food and other items that interest you. You can mark a product one of three ways: I am consuming this, I have consumed this, and I intend to consume this.

You can view popular items in any category, quickly mark any item as something you have a consumption relationship to, and see who else is looking at what (kind of like that Shelfari Facebook app I just blogged about).  Here's the record of Orwell's Animal Farm, for example.   You can see the item's tags (yay folksonomy), average rating, who has consumed it, who is currently consuming it, lists it's on, comments, book recommendations, and more. 

If nothing else, this could serve as a very powerful reference tool for finding book reviews and recommendations.  And that's darn tootin' enough for me :)

SnagIt screen captures

Check out SnagIt (from TechSmith), a screen capture and image editing tool that lets you capture what you're seeing on your screen, edit it, and share it with others.  You can capture text that you can't copy and paste easily, a video of your screen activity (like Camtasia), menus, the contents of scrolling windows, and more.  You can then add colors, effects, shapes and lines, text, you name it.  Then you can email it, IM it, upload it, whatever you like. 

I tried it for a while and found that its video capture was pretty darn good--good enough to create some quick screen tutorials for staff on certain aspects of our online resources.  Check it out--what harm can it do?!?  You can get a free 30-day trial and individual copies cost around $40 after that.

Instant Podcasts with Text-to-Speech Odiogo

I encourage libraries to podcast, as many users choose to get their information that way.  What I hear more than any other objection is that this will be time consuming--that creating podcast after podcast will suck precious staff hours that no one has.

Well, what about Odiogo?  This is a service that I recently heard about that takes any text, say your blog's RSS feed, and creates each post into a "near-human" audio file.  The MP3s are stored on Odiogo's website, so you don't have to worry about receiving and posting files.  The speech is pretty darn realistic and you get statistics on the number of listeners too.  Better yet, it's free.  That's right: F-R-E-E.  Sweet!  Take a look at their demo if you want to learn more.  This is something I'll be exploring as a possibility for our library's new website.

Digital Audiobook Services through Libraries

Another Library Technology Report is out.  This time it is Digital Audiobook Services through Libraries by Thomas A. Peters.   The book is described as looking:

"'in some depth digital audiobook services that can be purchased or leased. It also looks briefly at a few free online digital audiobook sources.'  "According to the author, who is a librarian and an avid user of audiobooks, 'The purpose of this report is not to convince librarians to implement a digital audiobook service, but to help librarians make an informed decision.'"

I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!

Facebook application for bookies; what makes the social web so *#@$ing awesome

No, not those kind of bookies.  Silly you ;)

Shelfari has designed an application for Facebook that lets members share reading lists, join in online book groups, rate and review books (all of which goes out via the Facebook feeds), putting books on wishlists, and more.  To learn more or to actually use the Shelfari application, go to: http://apps.facebook.com/shelfari/.  If you're a Facebook member, you can use it right away.  If not, you gotta sign up first.

As someone who is overwhelmed right now with the options for online presence, I must admit to being everywhere and nowhere.  I have sites on MySpace, Facebook, Ning, LinkedIn, and more--but I don't have a really active profile on any of them.   I don't use all these lovely groups that people form and then invite me to.  I don't have time, people!  No time!  There--I've said it.

But, while I don't have time, I can see that others do.  And that people will use these tools to connect with others with like interests.  With this tool, you can see who has read and rated the books you've added to your virtual shelf.  That in and of itself is an extremely powerful tool.  You can then see what else those people have on their shelves, and find some other good books.  You can meet people, become friends, form connections.  That is what social software is all about--and that is why I understand why people love this.  It is connection in its rawest form.  It is that thin string that binds us to those we care about and have things in common with.  That precious string is what drives Web 2.0.

Echo Bots = startled coworkers

This is a dangerous toy.  If you are at all toy-prone, or mischievous, or tend to pick on your coworkers, stop reading.

Okay, that didn't stop anybody, did it? ;)

Echo Bots wrap around your computer or whatever else you desire, looking like any other cubicle kitsch.  Except, they use their motion sensors to play back, whenever someone walks by within 1 meter, whatever message you have recorded into their little brains.  I believe one could startle the ba-jeebers out of quite a few library staff members with this.

Am I evil for thinking this is great?

found, a while ago, via popgadget

An unconference

Western Australia is host to "Library 2.0 on the loose"which is a "free unofficial unconference for Western Australian libraryland."  What a nice idea :)  You can find information about the unconference on Kathryn Greenhill's blog, Librarians Matter.  Lucky Australians... 

California Traffic Guide

My California Traffic is a very effective example of a mashup that shows you major highways in California, and the average speed of cars on those highways.  The best way to use it is to use the major region buttons on the left and then check which highways you want to see information for.  I've been using it to watch my commute path lately (part of which you can see to the left), and it has saved me some time.  Yay mashups!

found, a long time ago, via Library Tourguide to Technology

Artwork through tea

As many library folk are tea drinkers, you may appreciate this.  These little teacups, created by Bethan Laura Wood, stain in pretty designs the more you use them.  At 35 pounds (money pounds, not weight), they're a bit pricey, but as a work of art they are more practical than most.

Credit Report Services

Consumer Reports has reviewed twenty-four fee-based credit report services.  The results were not favorable, citing a lot of problems with most services, including confusing and inacurate information, and charging people for information they can freely access elsewhere.

found via beSpacific

Tech competencies: what do we need to know to do our jobs (well)?

A lot of chatter has been happening about the technology skills and competencies that a library staff member should have.  Emily Clasper at Library Revolution talks about the minimum tech competencies for librarians.  David Lee King bumps it up a notch to include competencies that a 2.0 librarian should have.  Jessica at Cool Librarian talks about tech competencies and the impact that varying skill sets have on the different generations, and often position-levels, in libraries.

I'm glad to hear others chiming in on this issue, mostly because my recent publication, Technology Competencies and Training for Libraries, represents a lot of my work with this subject and a lifelong interest in teaching and training. 

Competencies are truly the best way to get your staff up to par and all on the same page with tech skills.  We all have the same stories: staff who just haven't been trained enough; staff who simply don't know what is expected of them tech-wise because no one took the time to write those expectations out; trainers fumbling around haphazardly to train staff without really knowing what the needs are; staff members with the same job but, one relies wildly on the other to do all the tech-oriented stuff, and yet they get paid the same.  If you create a set of competencies, assess the staff on their skills, train them as needed, then reassess, you are in good shape as a library.  You have a continuous training program available, a way to adequately describe people's positions and evaluate them, and best of all--you've built a culture of learning in your institution, and that, my dears, is priceless.

If this is a topic that interests you, you can come see me talk about competencies at a free webinar for WebJunction, Core Competencies for Library Staff, on July 25th at 11am PST.  I hope to see you there!

5 Ways to Get Good Tech Support

As someone who has both given and received copious amounts of tech support, I thought I could offer a few pointers on what works and what doesn't.  If you have anything to add, please leave a comment!

1. Don't be afraid or sheepish to ask for help. If I got a nickel for every time someone came to me asking for help saying "This is a stupid question," or  "I'm sorry to ask you this, but...", well, I'd be rather wealthy.  This is what the tech support people are there for!  It's their job.  You can certainly be nice to them, but don't be afraid to straight-out ask for help. 
2. Ask for help right away. Instead of plugging away for hours to try to figure out a problem, go ahead and tap their expertise early. The earlier you get to them, the less frustrated you will be and the more likely that you will have a pleasant interaction.
3. Explain what you are trying to do when something went wrong and then what happened--exactly. Please don't give the whole story about where you are trying to go with your project and why you are trying to do what you're doing, and why you hate this particular program...  If you can list the exact steps that took you to the problem point and then what happened, including any error messages you saw and screenshots, that will help the tech support person help you.
4. Keep your goal in mind. Remember your goal is to get good tech support and to get your problem solved.  So many tech support people get burned out.  They're dealing with problems all day, never anything nice or a "wow this works great!" Remember that the tech support people are not the ones who built the product that is annoying you; they are the ones who are trying to help you.  They want to help you.  Remembering that, it will serve you well to say thank you when the solution is solved, and to be pleasant to the person during the interaction.
5. Don't turn your emergency into someone else's. This goes out beyond tech report, but it also applies here. When we find ourselves in an emergency, or we left something to the last minute, we become crazed.  As a result, we infect others around us with our craziness.  If you infect tech support with your panic, you will not only get worse service, you will probably become "that guy" -- the person that the tech support people avoid in every possible way.  You don't want to be "that guy," so calm down, get the help you need, and continue solving your emergency.

Tips for dealing with angry customers

Sound Money Tips has a brief article, "Please Angry Customers," with 5 simple tips about how to best deal with angry customers.  While the tips are not earth-shattering, they are a simple good reminder of what to do in these tense situations.  I think the most useful one is #4: "Deal with the person and then with the problem."  That's something we often forget--but if you calm the person down first, dealing with the problem itself suddenly becomes much, much easier.

found via Blogging Librarian

Vertical tab trick in Firefox

Tabs are the nicest feature in Firefox, I think.  So does Microsoft, since they copied the feature into their most recent version of IE. nice in Firefox.  Sometimes you run out of room, though, so you're scrolling over to see all your windows, and that can be annoying. 

Widefox, created by Johnathon Weare, is a Firefox hack that lets you have vertical tabs on the left or right side of your browser window.  This way, you can have more tabs open and easily scan through them to find the right one. 

Websites typically have navigation on the left, as that's just where the human brain wants it to be.  Now, Firefox can be the same way!

found via Technosight

Bunny Theatre

If you haven't checked out Angry Alien's 30-second Bunny Theatre, do so.  Their collection of 30-second animated interpretations of movies has grown tremendously.  It's amazing what people do with their free time.  It would be fun to link to one of these if your library is showing a movie for which they have a version :)

Some good PR for libraries and librarians

Two New York newspapers, The Sun ("For New Look Librarians, Head to Brooklyn")and The New York Times ("A Hipper Crowd of Shushers") decided to write articles about how the librarian image is changing, and how gosh darn hip we are.  Both are about the Brooklyn-based librarian group, Desk Set.  I wonder if they sent out a press release or some such.  It's great that some good PR is coming out about libraries and librarians, showing how we're a profession of technology-gurus and research experts more than anything else...not book-stamping shush monsters.

Cat mouse-cable holder

I want this.

found via Popgadget

Change agent badge

"I am the law. The change law, that is." 

That's what I'm going to say as soon as I get my "change agent" badge, found via Stephen Abram's blog.  These were being given out at the ALA trade show area at ALA Annual.  But never fear if you didn't go to ALA to get one: you can buy them too!  They're $2.50 each, and you have to order 25 at a time.  Stephen suggests that you could use these as rewards for Learning 2.0 programs.  Good idea!  I think almost any committee or group could benefit from wearing these.  Just pin it to a small card with whatever your group does!

Rex Libris movie coming

The librarian-superhero Rex Libris is moving beyond his own comic book and onto the big screen!  Warner Brothers is looking for a screen writer to adapt the comic book.  Variety Magazine talks about it in this short piece.  I think it is fabulous to see a small comics publisher, Slave Labor Graphics, with a comic that is big-screen-bound.  SLG publishes my second favorite comic of all time: Bear (my favorite is, of course, Neil Gaiman's Sandman).

Competencies Webinar: hope to see you there!

Karen Strege (who I have never met) and I are giving a webinar for WebJunction on the subject of Core Competencies for Library Staff.  It's being held on July 25th at 11am PST.  It's free and is also closed captioned, which is great.  You don't have to register, but please do test your computer ahead of time to make sure it will work on the day of the event. 

I'll be talking about technology competencies programs that have succeeded, how to build an effective competencies list, and much more.  While competencies aren't the sexiest topic in libraries today, they are certainly one of the most practical.  If your staff has the skill set necessary to provide excellent service, than your library has positioned itself as a crucial element in your community.  That's what it's all about. 

I hope to see you there!

Sarah's Upcoming Speaking Schedule

Below is my upcoming speaking schedule.  I have a few tentative dates that aren't definite yet, as well, so I didn't list those (read: Please don't panic if you're from one of those libraries). 

Stop by and say hi if you're around for any of these talks!

• July 11 - Core Competencies for Library Staff webinar (WebJunction)
• September 4 - Canadian Education Institute webcast: Online Outreach: 2.0 Marketing Strategies for Libraries (w/ Karen Strege)
• September 26 - Future of Libraries Conference in San Francisco (co-moderator with Anthony Costa)
• October 29 - Internet Librarian Conference: Online Marketing for Libraries: Outreach & PR in a 2.0 World (w/Aaron Schmidt)
• October 29 - Internet Librarian Conference: Web Design on a Dime: Quick Web Tips for Small Libraries
• October 30 - Internet Librarian Conference: How to Lose Your New Tech Librarian & Tech Training (w/ Michael Stephens, Christopher P. Hamb, and Jenny Benevento)
• November 9-11 2007 - Presentations at the Hawaii Library Association

Denver Public Library's Summer Reading Video

Denver Public Library comes through again with a swanky video promoting summer reading.  Not their summer reading program, just plain reading over the summer (which is awesome).  Kitty wishes he could be at Denver PL instead of working a summer job. 

They link to the video from their also swanky MySpace page.  It's a great video, not at all cheesy or library-ish.  It seems like what it is: fun people coming up with a good way to promote the library's coolness.  What struck me most was that it seemed like something a patron made, not something the library made.  I think that quality is a worthy one to strive for.  I wish my library had a way to do this right now.  You probably do too :)

Sarah’s Top Ten Boss Coping Strategies

We’ve all had bosses that we’ve had a hard time dealing with.  And some of us have actually been bosses, and had employees that we’ve had a hard time dealing with too.  As a new manager, I took the time to read a lot of books on rewarding, encouraging, motivating, and disciplining employees.  I also read quite a few books about managing you boss, not only for my own benefit but so I would know what was up when people were trying to “manage” me.  Now, I can’t claim that any of the below are original, nor can I cite the sources for any of these.  I just know that these are the top ten ways to deal with your boss that stuck in my mind, after all that reading.  Take it for what it’s worth, from a long time employee with a tendency to manage her own bosses and a new manager still earning her stripes :)

Sarah’s Top Ten Boss Coping Strategies

1) Know Your Boss's Schedule
Know when  your boss has meetings with his or her own boss.  Know when those governing agency meetings are...when he or she likes to leave work early to get home...etc.  The more you know about what's going on and when, the more you can time your requests for those brief intervals of "oh yes of course" responses.  Watch carefully...they flash by in an instant sometimes.

 

2) Have Your Own Ideas (or) Don't be Bobble-head
Most managers appreciate staff members who have original ideas about what the library can do to improve service to its users.  The more ideas you can have that are original, that show you are keeping up in the profession, that show a devotion to the career--the more likely you are to be trusted with new initiatives or even promoted.  Apparently, other managers want someone who says “yes” to everything that he or she proposes.  If you don’t have your own ideas, though, you merely become a rubber stamp, a tool.  If you are in a position where being a bobble-head is a survival strategy, then that probably isn’t the best place for you to work…particularly if you have a hard time quashing your own opinions. Your boss isn’t manage-able if honest opinions are frowned upon.  If you find yourself already