LibrarianInBlack

IL2007: Running a Gaming Program

IL2007: Running a Gaming Program
Presenters: Josh Weiland and Maryann Mori from the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library

Their library services a population of 174,000.  They had no budget whatsoever.  They're hosting open play nights every other week as well as tournaments.  They used an acronym to explain their successful gaming program: SQUARE.

S: Search for answers.  Gaming publications like GamePro, TIps & Tricks, EGM, and Game Informer.  Gaming books: LTR Gaming & Libraries, Gamers...in the Library?!, and Game On!: Gaming at the Library.  YALSA listserv for gaming information.  Use web search engines and just see what we resources are out there.  Joystiq.com is a good web resource to tap, and also RedOctane.com (lots of games and peripherals).  CheapAssGamer.com: deals, sales, etc. 

Q: Question others.  Talk to people at local gaming stores, including used gaming stores.  Talk with technology staff and younger staff (SARAH'S NOTE: ALL STAFF, NOT JUST YOUNG AND TECHIE) at the library too to see how much they know about gaming.  Talk with other libraries that have conducted gaming programs as well.  Talk to your community teens to see what they would like as well, and gear the program around their needs and wants.  Ask about room requirements (lighting, size, noise barriers), equipment needs (computers with adequate RAM/connection, display devices with RCA jacks, screens, electrical outlets, power strips, and extension cords).  Game Considerations: think abotu the ESRB ratings and what is appropriate for your audience, great games like Guitar Hero, Dance Dance REvolution, Karaoke Revolution. 

U: Use what you've got.  Borrow equipment from your staff, from attendees.  Provide temp-stickers that teens can use to label their equipment.  Ask for funding from Friends groups, local agencies, businesses, and even state and library grant agencies.  If you can start small pilot programs on the cheap, then you can use the popularity of those programs to justify the funding requests.  Think about whether or not you should buy next-gen equipment or what's popular right now.  Remember the cost of the consoles themselves and the accessories (multiple controllers). 

A: Anticipate the big day.  Make advance plans.  Have big boxes where all the stuff for each platform belongs.  Make sure you reserve any equipment you need the day of, and test it ahead of time.  Advertise the event everywhere and anywhere.  Be clear about the operating guidelines of the gaming night and get head counts or registrations ahead of time so you know how many people to anticipate.  Send out attendee reminders.  Serve refreshments.

R: Relax.  Try to let everybody pitch in and help with the program.  Plan to join in on the fun.  Decide how you want the room set up.  Keep copies of game guides handy.  Have a microphone available for getting attendees' attention.

E: Evaluate and Expand.  If the event isn't successful, think about why--is it a bad day and time?  Get input from attendees before they leave.  Find funding from every place you can.  Once you move beyond Open Play, get into tournaments.  Get other library systems or branches involved.

IL2007

IL2007: Best of ResourceShelf

IL2007: Best of ResourceShelf
Presenters: Gary Price

Below are some of the items mentioned by Gary during his session.  There are dozens more resources listed on his site, www.tinyurl.com/2alsln.  http://www.tinyurl.com/2alsln

Ask's SmartAnswers: including the federated National Wedding Registry
Board Tracker: discussion boards federated searching
The USGS's Earthquake Global Search
Asks's life real time earthquake indicator (just do a search for "earthquakes")
Terrafly: just search for an address and get an amazing amount of local information
SkylineGlobe.com: similar local information search
Copernic Desktop Search + Copernic Mobile which lets you search your local documents from any mobile device and view any docucment in mobile format
Metavid: lets you keyword search congressional transcripts and find the right video clip immediately
Alluc.org: metalisting of free television shows online
TVGuide.com: another great video directory
Nexidia: transcription of spoken audio
Light Reading: list of 80+ video sharing sites
TVeyes: free service with keyword searching of open ewb video, can also search for stations by area and set up RSS feeds for ego searches
Reuters Labs: search for people's faces in video clips
Podscope: keyword search words in podcasts
Podzinger (which is now EveryZing): another transcription/search service for audio
Public Radio Fan: list of public radio stations and podcasts
Podlines (from Phonecasting.com): This is awesome.  Just plop the URL of a podcast into this site, and then within 5-`0 minutes they provide you with a phone number that to give to people to call to listen to the podcast.  This has huge potential in libraries - have a "Dial-Best-Of-The-Web" or "Dial-A-Bedtime-Story" etc.!!!!
Wize.com: consumer information and opinions in a federated search, showing both expert and user reviews
Farecast: airline and hotel info along with predictions for price fluctuations

IL2007

IL2007: World of Warcraft Versus Second Life

IL2007: World of Warcraft Versus Second Life
Presenters: Cindy Hill, Mary Auckland, Lori Bell, and Liz Lawley

Cindy Hill talked about an immersive world that Sun Microsystems is in the process of creating.  Sun Microsystems has 46% of the employees not having a physical office space.  Sun wanted to experiment with using a virtual world to keep the employees connected.  As people work off campus, there is a fear that there is a death of brainstorming, a lack of social fabric, a lack of an identity as an employee, a lack of recognition for remote employees.  The physical facilities became more collaborative and flexible.  IT became more flexible, and everything was identity/person-based, not location-based.  Their virtual world, MPK20, offered all employees a space to hold business.  The library staff at Sun had a lot to do with the project, which shows a great deal of foresight on the part of Sun's leadership (or maybe that's just my personal professional bias).  This area creates a sense of contact, person, and place.  What brings people into Second Life is interaction and self-expression.  The library needed to think about archiving interactions and documentation that occurs in the virtual world, as that is all company intellectual property.  She showed us some screen shots of this interesting take on virtual worlds.  There are a number of videos on YouTube with information about the project).  This was so exciting to me.  As an oft-times telecommuter, I enjoyed hearing about the possibility of retaining that sense of community regardless of wherever I am physically.  One more tool to make people's lives easier.

Mary Auckland talked about World of Warcraft.  A huge variety of people play WoW--6 million players, spending an average of $20 per month.  It crosses generations, genders, geospace, and cultures.  She says that she appreciates the fact that she can be known for who she is and what she does--not what she looks like or how old she is.  She has been taking instruction from a 14 year old.  She noted that her communication skills have changed as she played, including learning in-jokes, lingo, abbreviations, etc.  She says that she plays to relax, but also to sharpen her mental abilities.  She brought home the fact that gaming involves a lot of text.  Progression through the levels requires a lot of reading, reading hints and tricks on websites, and simply reading the information about their own characters and general information by tapping external websites like the WoWWiki.  It was an interesting talk, and because of the popularity of the game I think libraries should support this through appropriate equipment in the libraries and game guides at the least.

Lori Bell discussed the differences between Second Life and World of Warcraft.  She noted that SL and WoW are probably the two most-used games right now.  Both have a lot of accounts.  In SL everything is user-created--the beauty is that everything is always changing, but there is clunky software and a lot of updates.  In WoW the graphics and avatars are very detailed because they are company-created.  In Second Life you can play games,  bu

Liz Lawley spoke about her experiences in a number of games, including Second Life.  She spoke about the strengths and weaknesses of each environment, the differences between games and virtual worlds, the "grind"--both IRL and in games--and the importance for all organizations to learn from the popularity and success of games to make a better service or product...libraries included.

IL2007

IL2007: Gaming & Libraries: Engaging Strategies

IL2007: Gaming & Libraries: Engaging Strategies
Presenter: Jenny Levine

Jenny Levine started the presentation by talking about all the different types of games that exist, and the completely wrong stereotype of gamers.  The demographics of gamers have changed dramatically in the last decade.  More people play online games than use social networking sites!  Women who are 18 and older represent a higher portion of gamers than boys age 17 and younger.  Pew's study in 2003 of college students and found that all of them had played video games--every single respondent.  If you are an incoming freshman, your average is having played 10,000 hours of games.   The average age of a gamer is 33. 

Levine showed some photos of gamers on Flickr--families playing wii tennis, a young girl with an amazing Guitar Hero record, kids beating adults, adults beating kids, and the famous photo of Stephen Abram playing a 7-year old kid at bowling on a wii at ALA.  She then showed a YouTube video of Erickson Sports' Nintendo Wii Bowling Championship (game 1).  This was a wii gaming championship at a retirement community, and the video rocked :)  And proves the point that gaming crosses all boundaries.  Levine spoke about some qualities of gamers: that they are willing to experiment and keep trying, are good at prioritizing, have an inherent distrust of bosses. 

Levine then went through several differnet games--talking about the educational value in each (counting and turn-taking in Candyland, statistics and cooperation in Civilization).  bout 75% of libraries support gaming, 80% allow users to play games, 20% circulate games.  78% of participants said that the reputation of the library was better for them after gaming.  She then talked about how to justify gaming projects to your library.  She suggests that we read the book Everything Bad is Good For you by Steven Johnson (I echo that recommendation--it's excellent!).  She talked about how we, as librarians, don't judge people's reading habits.  If we judge people's preference for format and/or content by limiting gaming, then we are doing exactly what we refuse to do with the book form.  We got a great list of examples of educational games, games that work well to teach socialization and creativity skills.  Go to www.CognitiveLabs.com/word_shoot.com to see Word Shoot, a word where you have to type words in to be able to shoot the tanks -- educational?  Yes! 

The Carvers Bay Branch Library in South Carolina serves a poor rural community.  They got a grant for a new library based on their desire to focus on gaming in the library.  They have a huge bank of gaming PCs.  Everyone gets 200 hours of gaming per week, but if you get a library card you get more hours, book reports and book checkouts get you more hours too. 

She talked about ways to involve gaming in your library.  Develop collections for gamers, offer game nights, put out non-electronic games at game nights, UIUC and Stanford are preserving games (as is the Library of Congress).  The Champaign Public Library did trading cards for each librarian, kids collect them all and get a prize.  Easy!  Instead of asking people what their favorite books are, ask what games they like too (and then do readers advisory based on their gaming preferences).  You should also have gaming equipment available in the library.  At this point Jenny listed what a number of different libraries are doing with gaming. The Downers Grove Library tool their paper-based quiz about how to use the library (that they use with students) and made it into an online quiz and the students responded much better.  The University of Calgary is modifying Half-Life and have recreated the library inside the game.  One library created library games - where you shelve books, an there is a user-interaction game where players have to answer patrons' questions, put their materials in the book drop, and keep them happy.  Oh, so, so, real to life!

Jenny talked a bit about cost.  It can be totally free if you have the public bring in their own equipment.  You can have local business donate equipment, prizes, trophies.  The Nintendo DS is offering a lot of games that are increasingly educational.  In one you are a lawyer, in anotehr you are a surgeon.  Cooking Mama lets you cook items virtually.  She also mentioned several games geared toward baby boomers and older gamers: Big Brain Academy, Brain Age, and such. 

The Ann Arbor District Library is making their tournament software open to every library in the country.  Just go to the website and sign up.  Kids in every library can compete against each other--one central leader board plus game-specific boards.  She also recommends the Gamers in the Library book, a new book that she recommends for anyone interested in implementing any aspect of gaming in their libraries.

IL2007

IL2007: Gadgets, Gadgets, & Gaming

IL2007: Gadgets, Gadgets, & Gaming
Presenters: Aaron Schmidt, Barbara Fullerton, Sabrina Pacifici, Erik Boekesteign, Jaap van de Geer

The presentation started out with the gadget session.  Below is a list of the gadgets they covered.
Wi-Fi Detector Shirt: www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/991e/  shows signal strength and the animated decal is removable.  $29.99
Asustek Internet Radio (AIR):connects using a standard LAN connection and provides access to 10,000 radio stations $27
Biggest Storage Capacity: 64 gigabit chips could be used to make 128 gugabyte cards
Archos 404 camcorder: $300
Palm Centro: $399 without any service agreement, $99 with instant discount and mail-in rebate and a two-year agreement.  Has a two-inch touchscreen and Palm OS
iPhone: price has been cut to $299-$399
Wireless SMS Keyboard: makes SMSing easy, not ready yet for purchase
Mandylion Password Manager: Managers up to 50 login records, keyfob that looks like a car remote control, generates crytopgraphically strong passwords, has tamper-resistant features and lockout alarms, Windows only, has a self-destruct feature, $49.99
Cable Cat: keeps your mouse cable from getting tangled $7
Canon Snap Concept: not on the market yet, but a really small camera that you wear as a ring, with a one-button interface
Sunray SX2: solar powered golf cart, recharges its batteries in the sun through roof-mounted solar panels, www.cruisecarinc.com, $7,000
Blackjack Cell phone: mobile OS, 1.3 pixel camera, calendar needs work, phone is good, can download media, $199
Meebo Firefox Sidebar: free add-on to Firefox that lets you IM through your browser sidebar
Touchscreen Wireless Patient Forms Clipboard: bacteria resistant touchpad to use in the doctor's office to fill out your medical forms, www.phreesia.com, free to participating doctors
MyGo Cane: Potential to replace seeing eye dogs, cane with a wheel at the bottom, has a smart sensor and a camera, made of waterproof material and will be height adjustable, not yet unavailable
Format War Update: Blu-ray Disc is outselling HD-DVD 2-1
e-ink Based eBook Readers: Sony Reader PRS-505, thin and flat, 192MB, $300, www.jr.com
iGo Everywhere85: for mobile users, can charge all your devices together through one device, $129.99
Vudu: Broadband set top box, movie rental service through the internet, works like Netflix but through downloadable media, $249 for the box and $0.99-$9.99 for movies
Star Wars footwarming slippers: $34.99, www.thinkgeek.com
HP: Cloudprint: lets you print mobile, can go to any printer in the US that runs HP and print out the documents you've sent to your account, no charge
SKitch: screen grab tool, OSX only, is in beta only, and is free (Jing is a good alternative for PC users)
iPod Video Goggles: project a virtual 24 inch TV-screen, no cables or battery or power packs, connect your video iPod to it, $199.99
Instant Messaging: there is not much difference between the 35-50 different applications, no charge
Wireless iTMS: wirelessly enabled iPod you can download music from the wireless iTunes store wherever you have a wireless connection
Pop-open Cafe: a mobile cafe--possibility of running a small library branch out of something like this
Recycling Washer and Dryer: compact design, can carry it around, not for sale yet
Gidget Gadget Case: recycled MP3 cacses made out of old billboards, $28
Wattson: monitors energy use, collects stats online, $300
Solar Charged Electro Bike: Marcus Levison-Hays Electrobike Pi, can run on pure pedal power, pedal/electric, or fully motorized, $7,200
Canon Rebel XT: uses 35% less friendly than their other models, is self-cleaning, 13 percent lighter, $480
Blackle: all black interface to Google that uses less power when viewed on CRTs
GreenPrint software: eliminates wasteful pages in any printout, saves time money and trees, also has a PDF writer, average family saves $90 in paper and ink yearly, $30-$75
Staple-less Staplers: dog and cat shaped $5.99 and $7.99
One laptop per child: designed by MIT's Media Lab, hand-cranked power, wireless, etc., $200/computer

The gentlemen from the Delft Public Library in the Netherlands (Erik, Jaap, Edo, and Geert) had matching Library Bureau of Investigation t-shirts (in two styles--black with a matte silver and black with a shiny silver).  They were also kind enough to bring me one of their shirts (in a girlie cut too!).  My goodness.  What a flattering piece of happiness!  They told us how they used a device to send out automated SMS messages to anyone who went through the library's entrance giving them instructions on how to use SMS to enter a contest to win a prize (the iPod Touch).  They offer a screen on their library's wall, called the Library on the Run, that lets users download content (audiobooks, eBooks, whatever) through BluTooth.  This is something that they are currently experimenting with.  They are next looking at creating a mobile website with the ability to download all of this content.  Next they showed a video of the Dutch libraries and some of what they are doing.  Some of the subjects highlighted are services for mobile phones, making places for people to socialize and what they need to do digitally, and gaming.  Next, they showed us a movie of their tour of libraries from the east coast to the west coast: www.shanachietour.com.  They showed mini-movies of their experiences in different cities with different libraries, endign with a live taping here at the conference center for the last stage.  I WANT TO MOVE TO EUROPE NOW.  PLEASE?  :)

Shanachie Tour: The End is Just the Beginning

I have had the immensely good fortune to meet a number of wonderful people here at the Internet Librarian Conference, and to rekindle old friendships too.  One of the most exciting experiences I've had is to speak with the gentlemen from the Shanachie Tour.  Three (and then four) gentlemen (Erik Boekesteijn, Jaap van de Geer, and Geert van den Boogaard) from the dok library (Delft) toured around the U.S., from New York to Monterey, and stopped at libraries along the way to see what innovative projects the U.S. libraries have managed to produce.  The result is amazing.  Go to the tour's website, read all about it, watch the videos, look at the photos, and be a better librarian for it. 

I think I want to move to the Netherlands. :)  Beyond my own personal fascination with this project and the participants, I also believe that the product of their work--the video interviews, the ideas, the cooperation--will affect many more libraries than we could even predict right now.  If you read what I write regularly, and sometimes click on things and sometimes ignore me, that's fine.  Just don't ignore this project, this idea, this amazing experience.

IL2007: Creating Library Services for Teens in Second Life

IL2007: Creating Library Services for Teens in Second Life
Presenters: David Lee King and Kelly Czarnecki

David talked about the Topeka and Shawnee County Lirbary's project with SL.  Jean Gardner discussed Second Life with some area high schools and other organizations and their first project in Teene SL was to work on a project with a charter school called Hope Street Academy in the community.  The goals for this project were to collaborate, emphasize teaching and learning, share this information at conferences, and encourage future collaborations.  They decided to do a pilot projects having students do book reports through SL, but that didn't work for the following reasons.  They had problems with communicating with Linden Labs.  They were never billed, and didn't respond to emails and phone calls.  The background checks part for older students in the class took some time, and the creation of accounts within SL took longer than expected too.  By the time the project was ready to go, the timing wasn't the best for the school.  The library adapted their goals to the school's goals.  They decided on a new project: for the students to plan a new landscape at the school.  The organizes filled the avatars' inventories with landscaping items and let them go at it.  Lessons learned include that classroom teachers need training beforehand including in-world experience and that students need to be more motivated to complete the projects.  23 students were in-world outside of school time, which is a huge success.  Two of the 18 year olds were interested enough that they opened up accounts on the main SL.  They've worked with homeschol students since then, teaching students to build objects to specific dimensions (art, geometry) and to demonstrate their use of texture and scripts.  They feel that they have had great success with this initial interest, and have heard from other schools interested in participating in a similar project.  Other area libraries have also shown interest in doing similar projects.  King noted that projects like this cost significantly - lots of staff time, and $4930 in SL fees (which they were never billed for), figuring out who handles the money, managing a project with multiple institutions was a challenge as was managing staff needs for computer configurations. 

Kelly Czarnecki did a live demo within Teen SL.  She talked about their island within Teen Second Life, Eye4You.  The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County is funding the island now, but it was originally built by the Alliance Library System.  They have a machine that was created by the teens that lets teens pay their fines live through this little machine.  The teens at the library have spent a lot of time creating objects and functionality within the space.  The library staff have tried to make the entire island teen-driven, not driven by library staff members.  She highlighted a teen greeter named Daniel who shows teens how to navigate in SL and start within the island and the world at large.  She also noted a teen from Greece who gave a spontaneous presentation during their college fair about how he runs his own web design business.  One of the teens has a band and wants to see if Second Life can be like MySpace in how it launches musicians' careers.  Being present in Teen SL lets teens experience contributing to a larger organization.  Czarnecki recommends an article: "Digital Preservation of Video Games and Virtual Worlds," or another article entitled "Your Guide to Virtual Worlds."

IL2007

IL2007: How to Lose Your New Tech Librarians & Tech Training

IL2007: How to Lose Your New Tech Librarians & Tech Training
Presenters: Jenny Benevento, Michael Stephens, and Sarah Houghton-Jan (me!)

I really enjoyed presenting to this group! The presentation that Michael and I did, Building Your Techie Team: Tips for Training Staff, will soon be available here on this post. As soon as I get the file :) is available here: Building Your Techie Team .    Below is the write-up of Benevento's presentation on losing tech librarians.

Jenny started her presentation by discussing the problems of tech-savvy librarians leaving libraries.  Because of the librarian shortage (!!), libraries should be more careful about keeping tech-savvy people in our profession.  Some of the items she listed that contribute to negative environments for techies (please note, this is a NOT to do list):
Ignoring technology corporate culture: learning to respect both technology and library culture equally
Charge for everything--don't give anything away
Discourage Professional Excitement
Adopt technology just because of the buzzword aspect
Adopt a Kafka-esque system of bureaucracy
Hop on Internet trends two years after they happen and 18 months after your technology person suggested them
Include the workplace luddite on all technology projects
Put the techies in the basement with the archives
Just because you got to promoted, you are a great manager
And your MLS means you know more than anyone else without that degree
Treat non-MLS holders like students
Underpay your technology staff
When you hire them, tell them they will be able to work on tech even though you know they won't be able to
Demonize technically-advanced people in public
Don't fund projects
Tell techies that you want new technology, but reject all change that they suggest
Go out of your way to say that all technology is evil
Don't make an effort to understand even the bare minimum of tech work, but ask them to know parts of your job
Tell techies "That's not how we do it here; we've never done it that way."
Equate all technical knowledge--it's all interchangeable; all techies know everything.
Never train your techies, but have them train everyone else
Expect all tech requests to happen immediately
If you are in this situation yourself as a techie, it's best to get out.  Stick up for yourself, ask your administrators to reap the benefits of your passion.  Ask them to think about what they are losing out on by not letting you do the projects you are interested in.

IL2007

IL2007: Virtual Worlds & Libraries

IL2007: Virtual Worlds & Libraries
Presenters: Lori Bell and Shawn McCann and Jeremy Kemp

This session started with a discussion from Lori Bell about the importance of administrative leadership and support for involvement in Second Life.  She defined traditional online resources in libraries as being two-dimensional and text-based while virtual worlds are extremely vibrant, multi-dimensional, and multimedia.  She mentioned ALA's Banned Books Week presence in Second Life, complete with a pirate ship where people who wanted to ban a book had to walk the plank.  Lori listed two types of virtual worlds: MUVEs (Multi-User Virtual Environments) and MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).   She compared real-world and virtual communities.  Second Life is being used to facilitate meetings and education, has nearly 10 million registered avatars, and has an off-shoot--Teen Second Life.  She listed many reasons that libraries should be involved in Second Life.  The Library presence in Second Life has grown rapidly sent the group rented a shop space in April of 2006.  Many people come into the Information Island Archipelago to get answers to questions while they are in Second Life, both SL-related questions and other real-world questions.  SL allows for community partnerships, opportunities to work with groups and organizations you might not get to work with in the real world.  There are many spaces within Second Life in which people can gather information, meet friends, and enjoy each other. 

The second presenter was Shawn McCann.  He works for the McMaster University as their Immersive Learning Librarian.  He  explores games and virtual worlds and their intersection with higher education, comes up with ways for the library to support games and virtual worlds to their students, and also does "normal library duties" like instruction.  He noted that many libraries right now are reactive to the entire gaming environment, and we should be proactive (SARAH'S NOTE: THIS COULD BE SAID ABOUT MOST TECHNOLOGY ISSUES IN LIBRARIES).  There is a lot of literature about gaming, the benefits of gaming, the effects of gaming on health, etc.  72% of Americans play computer and/or video games of one type or another.  We can support gaming in libraries through collections, library services, and spaces.  Libraries can offer circulating game collections, circulating consoles, reference services in virtual worlds, instruction about virtual worlds, support student collaboration in virtual worlds, and offer gaming equipment and labs for students to use.  The Library of Congress funded a game preservation project to archive games of all sorts that appear in a digital format.

Jeremy Kemp's presentation was about the Second Life implementation at the San Jose State University SLIS.  He discussed the student-instructor interactions, how students use SL as a learning tool, and why it has been an important project for the library school.  I also saw him present at the Future of Libraries Conference in September, though, so you can look back at that post as well to get more of a sense of what the San Jose School of Library and Information Science is doing with Second Life.  They have a virtual campus, classes in SL, advisor meetings in SL.  How cool!

IL2007

IL2007: Cool Tools for Webmasters

IL2007: Cool Tools for Webmasters
Presenter: Darlene Fichter and Frank Cervone

Darlene Fichter and Frank Cervone gave us a list of tools that web developers should have in their toolboxes.  A popular repeat program at most ITI conferences (if not all--Darlene gets around!), this one was well-attended.  Nearly every seat was filled in the Steinbeck Forum, the largest room.  Darlene said she would post this entire presentation on her blog, so go there for complete details.

Sketchcast (www.sketchcast.com): This tool lets you draw and your digital drawings pair up with a voice file for a "cast."  This reminded me of the Common Craft "Plain English" videos.

JingProject (www.jingproject.com): captures screen images, lets you share them.  Sits in a browser toolbar, lets you select what you want to grab.

JustInTimeDemos: Lets you create quick screen demos of how to do particular tasks

Picnik (www.picnik.com): online photo editor, includes plugins for IE and Firefox which makes it convenient for editing screen captures.  It also captures the full page, not just what is captured within your screen resolution and lets you send images to social networking sites like Flickr and Facebook.

Kerpoof (www.kerpoof.com): storytelling application that lets you quickly create pictures, stories, or movies by choosing background scenes, characters to place in the scene, add talk bubbles, animation, etc.  Public and school libraries should bookmark this site.

Slideshare (www.slideshare.net): easy way to share your slides and you can add voice overs.  Others include Scribd (supports keyword searching), SplashCast (good for image and music heavy PPTs), Zoho Show (can edit slide show online), and SlideAware (good stats)

Thumbalizr (www.thumbalizr.com): Capture an image in set sizes (widths, heights)

Visual PageRank (www.iwebtool.com/visual_pagerank): Shows outbound links from any given website in Google

IBM Unstructured Information Modeler: Lets you analyze completely unstructured data sets, create and classifies categories automatically, and you can use it up to 10,000 records).  Basically an AI clusterer.

DiffDaff (www.diffdaff.com): Graphical interface to let you compare the differences in two different directories.  Compares when files were made, so you can see which is the most current side by side.

LogView (www.tucows.com/preview/504173): Lets you look at a server log real time.

SOAP Sonar (www.crosschecknet.com): Tests and analyzes web services - lets you see what is happening when your Web 2.0 technologies are interacting (analyzes problems).  Semantic and syntax checking.

Evolved (www.home.no/evolved): Text editor that adapts to a large number of programming languages (highlighting basic elements, content tags, etc.)

Perl Express (www.perl-express.com): This lets you do PERL programming much easier - free and open source integrated development environment.

Photo Slideshow: lets you turn a bunch of photos into a flash slideshow.  You get a webpage (in flash) with all the images in a directory that you can move to the web.

Flashgallery Generator (flashgallerygenerator.com/main.aspx): Creates a similar slideshow, but it is all XML based so you can edit it on a more granular level once it's created.

Google SiteMap Builder (www.sitemapbuilder.net): Upload an XML file to your server that lets Google index everything on your site.  This makes sure that it captures everything on your site through its spider and dumps out an XML file.  It shows you everything it has found, all the OK URLs, all the unfollowable URLs, and a visual chart of the data.

Open source federated searching: Library Find (libraryfind.org) from Oregon State, dbWiz (dbsiz.lib.sfu.ca/dbwiz/ from Simon Fraser University, and Masterkey from Index data

IBM Omnifind Yahoo! Edition: Free search engine for a website.  Upload to server.  Supports up to 500,000 documents, takes only a few minutes to set up, graphical tools let you configure look and feel, configure synonyms and featured links to increase their relevancy.  Does show a Yahoo! brand on the search screen and results.  Everything is GUI; no command-line stuff.

Google Coop Custom Search Engine (www.google.com/coop/cse): You can integrate the Google search engine into your webpages and make it look less Google-ish.  It does take some programming skills.  The results can be integrated into your frame, but does have a small Google logo over on the right.

OpenURL Referrer Toolbar: A Firefox toolbar for those who have OpenURL Resolvers in their organizations.  Students and staff can download this.  Then, when searching Google Library or Google Scholar, you will see a button when the library owns or has access to the item.

Flog Blog (apps.facebook.com/flogblog/): An application within Facebook that lets you put your own blog content within Facebook. 

Blog Friends: Another Facebook application

Portable Firefox: bundled with portable applications that lets you take bookmarks, extensions, and passwords

Asterisk Logger v1.02: Reveals passwords behind asterisks

Undelete: Recovers deleted files, unerases lost data

Unstoppable Copier: recovers all bytes from scratched data CDs

Simple File Shredder: securely deletes files so they can't be restored

IL2007

IL2007: Web Design on a Dime

IL2007: Web Design on a Dime
Presenter: Sarah Houghton-Jan (me!)

I presented this solo session in the afternoon of the first day.  My presentation is available as a PDF here: Download il2007web_design_on_a_dime.pdf .  The presentation is focused on tools, sites, and services that libraries with little staff, money, or technology expertise can use to improve their library's website.  It was a great session and I was happy to present a second time!

IL2007

IL2007: Facebook and MySpace

IL2007: Facebook and MySpace
Presenters: Aaron Schmidt and Susan Herzog

Schmidt started the presentation by talking about MySpace.  He spoke about the traditional way libraries present information: in difficult to use interfaces that are not geared toward out users' needs.  What makes the library a friendly and pleasant place?  Most of the most popular sites have a social nature--Yahoo!, MySpace, eBay, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, Craigslist, etc.  The Nike ID project lets you design your own shoe images using their generating tool.  We want to let people connect, collaborate, and communicate.  It fosters two-way communication and a humanity to the web.  People express their opinions.  There is a lot of sharing of information and media.  You need an identity in order to participate in this space, however.  MySpace has teamed up with Skype so that Skype account holders can contact their contacts while within MySpace.  The concept of making friends online is very different than making friends in-person.  Few audience members were working on MySpace profiles for their libraries - but that's okay - that's the point of the session, right?  Schmidt showed some examples of library MySpace profiles: Brooklyn College Library, Denver Public Library, UIUC Undergraduate Library, London Public Library, American Library Association, and the Vancouver Public Library. Tips: Use songs.  Avatars should be people - not logos or buildings. Carry over look and feel from library website.  User interaction: contests, voting, etc.  Add a catalog search box.  List library hours.  Students are more likely to be on MySpace than on our own websites, so why not put stuff there?  Register for a free account - be human in your presence, have valuable content to share that changes on an ongoing basis.  Don't accept every friend request/  Consider what content you will include on an ongoing basis.  Have a goal in mind - what you want to achieve.  Will you "friend" authors?  "Social networking is an intellectual freedom issue."  There is an Illinois Social Networking Prohibition Act written by Senator Matt Murphy.   It would probably block library blogs, Amazon, eBay, etc.  Mr. Murphy also had a blog himself.  Many libraries censor MySpace, or have had challenges to site access presented.  Is MySpace really safe?  An article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation cites two studies that show that young people are able to detect unsafe contact, protect themselves, and use good judgment online as well as in-person.  YALSA's "30 Positive Uses for Social Networking Sites."  Henry Jenkins study: "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture."  The Horizon Report on Social Networking.  Ways to get a MySpace profile at your library: have a small pilot project, offer a MySpace tips and tricks class, have a class for parents.  How to get your MySpace account some attention: set your PACs to go to MySpace, have your website URL redirect to your MySpace profile for a week.  There are similar social networks being created within library websites for library users (like Book Space at HCPL and My Library Cafe.  Schmidt also took a moment to say that libraries will need to start having web-content staff members whose jobs are creating quality, ever-changing content for the website or the library's overall web presence.

The second speaker, Susan Herzog, presented on Facebook: "The Facebook Phenomenon: What Our Students Need to Know."  Herzog is from Eastern Connecticut State University Library.  Facebook's neighborhood is a global one.  Facebook is more read than the New York Times.  There are 47,000 Facebook groups.  A million people register every week.  Half of users are not college students.  The average visitor stays 20 minutes.  Students don't use email much - they log in to Facebook and/or IM.  Many users stay logged in to Faacebook all day, much like many digital immigrants stay logged in to email all day.  Facebook friend requests start coming in quite soon once you sign up - from both people you know and others you don't.  Accepting friend requests critically is essential as there are many spammers and other shady characters about in these spaces - there is money to be had, so they will be there.  Students use Facebook in many different ways and for many different reasons, but mainly to socialize--to connect with other users.  Unthinking individuals are placing their schedules, contact information, and other detailed personal information online.  Herzog believes that teenagers and young adults feel a sense of invincibility in real life (driving drunk, etc.) and also online, like on Facebook, and don't think they will have any consequences as a result.  Many colleges and universities have used Facebook to look for student alcohol policy violations (on dry campuses), athlete and scholarship recipient violations, and more.  Some individuals forget that the data they present may/will be read with others.  Schools and employers are examining social networking profiles, like on Facebook, to evaluate prospectivve employees.  What is the library's responsibility with Facebook and other social networking sites?  Herzog suggests that librarians educate students on the dangers and/or consequences of posting personal information in a public place.  Library staff need to be educated about the software so that they can participate intelligently in these discussions.

IL2007

IL2007: New Rules of Web Design

IL2007: New Rules of Web Design
Presenter: Jeff Wisniewski

Wisniewski began by discussing how using research and evidence-based best practices can help to guide web design committees that may all feel that they want different things.  He talked about the mainstay of design principles: that "simplicity rules" (the Google philosophy).  Our users, however, are encountering rich wesites that are personalizable, expansive in features, and those sites don't fit the simplicity principle.  He spoke about how content is most important, but the design aspect affects user experiences a lot.  Research shows that users will forgive problems with navigability or usability if the design is pleasing.  As such, more attention needs to be paid to the design of library websites. 

Wisniewski acknowledged that libraries try to be "content agnostic," but we need to emphasize the highest priority tasks for our users - and not give equal weight to everything.  Look at the data of what your users are doing on your website and look at your mission (the purpose of your site).  Then decide what to emphasize.  "Design for what your users are doing."

He talked about "The Rule of Seven."  The number of options that people can wrap their heads around is 7 +/- 2.  There is evidence that shows that this rule holds up, but also evidence that shows that the number of categories doesn't matter as long as you have quality information architecture. 

The three click rule: From your homepage, users should be able to access any content within three clicks?  Or should they?  Wisniewski says that this rule is dead.  Design for "scent" - as long as users feel that they're getting close to their target, they will click through numerous layers.

Another rule that designers have held on to for some time is to design for 800x600 resolution.  However, this has changed to 1024x768.  It's important to also think about people accessing our content on other types of platforms, including mobile media.  Use CSS.  Use percentage-based design.  There is a CSS Media type for handhelds, which libraries should use. 

Most users are using devices with 24-bit color rendering.  Past logic upheld that one should choose from a web-safe pallete to make sure that colors will render accurately on user devices.  The more color information in an image, the larger the file size.  Again, be aware that users will access our information via different platforms--like blackberries, less than 24-bit.

He recommends looking at what our users are experiencing on websites beyond the library website.  You can check other library websites for ideas, but for redesign inspiration, checking non-library sites will prove more fruitful. 

How often to redesign?  Wisniewski recommends: constantly.  The site should be experiencing an interactive, evolutionary rate of change.  Huge, "revolutionary change is disruptive."  Sometimes complete redesigns are needed, but getting into a continuous change cycle will be better for your users.  He recommends testing the efficacy of the placement of a particular feature by putting one version up and looking at the numbers, and comparing it to the numbers for the second version.  This provides evidentiary reasoning for a particular choice.

Wisniewski talked about the movement in libraries away from librarian-speak to plain English (e.g. Reference --> Ask a Librarian).  These style and naming guidelines should be carried through in print media, physical and virtual text and marketing.  Consistency is key!

Web Standards and conventions should be followed: provide a link to home in the upper left, banners should be clickable, have a contact us link, primary navigation should be on the left or the top.  "You're not doing your users a favor if you're trying to innovate in one of these areas."

Does the availability of greater bandwidth mean that we can pay less attention to the optimization of images, etc.?  No!  Mobile devices are connected via slower connections and all users are impatient anyway--as fast as you can make it, do it.

In terms of browser support, Wisniewski says that accessibility is critical and legally required for some libraries.  Using things like AJAX and FLEX, video content, and audio content may not work on all browsers and browser versions.  Does this mean you should not use these technologies?  Yahoo! offers "graded browser support" - "A" grade browsers get the full content of the site, including added features.  Lower grade browsers have less stated support but can still access the core content of the site.

Wisniewski says that you should not provide a text-only version of the homepage.  If you have separated the presentation from the content appropriately, there is no reason to provide a text-only version of the homepage.  CSS support is good enough in modern browsers that CSS should be used for all layout, and that the table tag should be abandoned.

Common wisdom used to be that the very top of the page was valuable real estate.  On most commercial webpages now, though, that space is taken up by ads.  Users suffer from "banner blindness" and don't see what is there.  Don't put anything mission critical or unique in that space, or many users will miss it.

Placing information in pop-up windows is not a good idea.  They will be blocked by many users set-ups.

Flash should not be dismissed outright.  It can be used for animation and interactivity well--creating tutorials, etc.  Mouseover menus raise usability considerations, are slower, and aren't scanable--they require user activity to click or mouse over items to see the full picture of the website. 

Opening links in a new browser window.  For content that is not web-native (PPTs, PDFs, DOCs), open them in a new window.  Always notify users, though, if something is going to open in a new window.

Auto Forward (e.g. breaking the back button) is not a good idea.  Set the auto forward time high enough to allow users time to use the back button if they need to (e.g. 10 seconds).

Scrolling - important items should be kept above the fold.  But studies show that users are willing to scroll if there is important content to be had.  Using the "cut off look" (staggering content, giving people a visual indication that there is more content below the fold) is a good idea.

Images of people on a website have been found to increase trust (include children's librarian photo on the kids site, subject guide creator on the s.g. page).  But if people are really good looking, people interpret the images to be advertisements and not real.  If you can label people - who they are and why they're there - that will increase trust.

IL2007

IL2007: DIY Intranet: KnowledgeBase for People by the People

IL2007: DIY Intranet: KnowledgeBase for People by the People
Presenters: Eleni Gogas and Donna Feddern

Eleni Gogas began the presentation. The purpose of this presentation is to explain how to set up an intranet using a wiki.  The library had been using a network drive instead of an intranet.  In using the network drive they found that files were poorly organized, poor archived, and poor searching.  They also had access to a city intranet, but that was not library specific--it was mostly focused on human resources and other personnel content. 

Using a wiki allows for collaboration, allows for informality and transparency.  It also shows their administration's dedication to moving to a more equitable method of content-creation.

They did not have access to their servers, so needed to find a hosted web-based service for their wiki.  A feature that was important to them was individual staff profiles, password protection, low to no cost, and a low impact on staff time to set up.  They were also looking for a wiki that allowed for blogging as well. 

They decided on Jotspot--it is free, keyword searching within documents, allowed for group directories (staff contact info with photos), and offered RSS and email notifications of new content.  Google acquired Jotspot in 2006, and they have not allowed any new users to sign up.  As such, they are maintaining back-ups on their network drive so they don't lose their data.  There is a Jotspot Help Group to tap for questions.

Other wiki farm options include PB Wiki, Wetpaint (which has ads, which may be a problem for some libraries), and Wikispot (requires wiki editing knowledge--not a WYSIWYG interface). For more info, tatke a look at the Wiki farm comparison chart on Wikipedia.

They set their wiki up and started transferring content into categories: Sstaff development information, forms, articles, blogs, committee and board information, desk schedules, security alerts, etc.  They had some problems with staff members being afraid to edit the wiki, since it was a website--and a lot of staff have the perception that websites are permanent (SO TRUE!).  Eleni tried to stress to the staff that the wiki was like a whiteboard, with a history file--that you could write and overwrite, and if a mistake was made you could always revert to the previous version.  Department heads are responsible for maintaining their department content, and keeping it current.  An intranet is an ever-evolving project, and requires ongoing staff time.  She emphasized the little add-ons you could use: GoogleWidgets, FD's Flickr Tools, a WidgetBox, stat counters, and more.

Then Donna Feddern took over and discussed the administration's side of the implementation of the wiki.  They have been soliciting staff feedback on library services and facilities and asking staff to post those recommendations on the wiki.  They are doing things less hierarchically now than in the past.  Some of the other content on the wiki includes craft ideas for teen programming, tutorials for new online services, sharing "found" professional resources with the rest of the staff.  Because the intranet content responsibility has been dispersed throughout the organization, staff who have received the basic wiki training can now post their content to the site.  Staff have asked for a flashier, less simple, design.  But Feddern emphasized that simple might be better - as its bare-bones nature lets staff without HTML experience participate without fear.  So far they have gotten great feedback that the search function is working well and that contributing is fairly easy.

Q&A Period Information Offered: Social Text, Joomla, and T Wiki are three products they recommend if you have staff with more programming skills or can spend some money on the software.

IL2007

IL2007: Online Marketing for Libraries: Outreach and PR in a 2.0 World

IL2007: Online Marketing for Libraries: Outreach and PR in a 2.0 World Presenters: Aaron Schmidt and Sarah Houghton-Jan (dat's me!)

Aaron and I presented this session to kick off the Public Libraries Track Monday morning (PUBLIC LIBRARIES ROCK!).  It was a fun crowd, lots of participation, and a huge room!  Thank you to everyone who attended!

Our presentation is available as a PDF: Online Outreach and Marketing .

IL2007

Why I live in Marin County

  view up Highway 1 
  Originally uploaded by Librarian In Black

Many people ask me why I continue to live in Marin County, California instead of moving somewhere nearer to my job.  A couple of days ago, I had a day that nicely sums up why.

I had breakfast in the kitchen, looking out over a view of Mount Tamalpais and the Mission San Rafael Archangel.

Then I drove out to the Point Reyes National Seashore, and made my first stop at the Point Reyes Lighthouse.  Then I drove out to North Beach, then to South Beach (collectively aka Point Reyes Beach or the Great Beach)--both beautiful long, sandy and pebbly beaches, where I watched a surfer tackling extremely high surf, and at South Beach actually had the entire beach to myself for an hour.  It was beautiful. 

Next stop was Drake's Beach with gorgeous cliffs and rock benches with small tidepools, then to the Drake's Bay Oyster Farm to buy a dozen medium oysters (actually quite large) for a whopping $10.  And yes, I am a vegan, but I don't mind buying my non-vegan husband the things he loves. 

Then it was on home down Highway 1, hugging the coast, driving right by Muir Woods (no time for that today), and on home for an early dinner.

The fact that I can do all of that in one day, and that this barely scratches the surface of this beautiful county, is why I live here.

See me speak at Internet Librarian 2007

I will be attending the Internet Librarian 2007 Conference in Monterey.  I am not attending any of the pre-conferences this weekend, but will be there Monday-Wednesday for the regular conference. 

I am honored to be presenting three times at Internet Librarian 2007:

B101  Online Marketing for Libraries: Outreach & PR in a 2.0 World
Monday, Oct 29, 10:15  a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Sarah Houghton-Jan and Aaron Schmidt
C106 Web Design on a Dime: Quick Web Tips for Small Libraries
Monday, Oct 29, 4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sarah Houghton-Jan
C203  How to Lose Your New Tech Librarian & Tech Training
Tuesday, October 30, 1:30 p.m. -2:30 p.m.
Jenny Benevento, Christopher P. Hamb, Sarah Houghton-Jan, Michael Stephens

If you're interested in my schedule for the entire conference, you can see it on the Internet Librarian 2007 Wiki.

Categories of OPAC improvement options

The Disruptive Technology Jester has written a short piece entitled Schemes to Add Functionality to the Web OPAC.  The article outlines the four basic types of OPAC improvements: enhancements, wrappers, replacements, and full on ILS replacements.  These categories kind of float around in our heads but it is nice to see them outlined clearly.  I have seen a lot of articles that discuss OPAC improvement options.  It would be helpful if someone used these categories and then created a full list of all the different options available to libraries in each category.  I am sure someone will do it.  Sadly, that someone will not be me.  I'm just too tired.  Sorry :)

Ancestry's parent company moving toward an IPO?

Spectrum Equity Investors purchased a "majority interest" in The Generations Network, the parent company of the popular genealogy products Ancestry.com and MyFamily.com.  An IPO is predicted.  Mayhaps a good time for an investment?

found via TechCrunch

Library reference SMS to IM hack

I stumbled upon this page from the American University Library showing their IM reference options, including a MeeboMe widget and a SMS to IM service (I'm sure that I saw it on somebody's blog, or on some listserv -- sorry, I don't remember where).  They have created an SMS to IM service where
users can text a message to a particular number and include the word "askaulibrary" in their message.

Nifty!  Is anyone else doing this?

Bowdoin College Library sopac

Check out the Bowdoin College Library's blog post about their innovative social catalog.  They've folded LibraryThing for Libraries into their catalog, but have done a lot of other intriguing things as well.

Click here for the results list for a search for Neil Gaiman.  Note the "Did you mean?" suggestion at the top.  Also note how the results are visibly separated out by relevancy.  Also note the "More Information" and "Need Help?" boxes over on the right. 

Click here for the bibliographic record for Hanging Out with the Dream King.  Again, note the boxes on the left with the new addition of "Missing or Checked Out?" that gives users options to find the title in other ways if it is unavailable.   I would love to see this feature duplicated in every library catalog in the world.  Also note the option to send the book record via text message, and the item tags at the bottom of the record.

I think I'm in love.

Rural libraries webinar from WebJunction

WebJunction is presenting a free webinar on October 25th at 11:00 am PST: "Bringing People Together at the Library: Rural Libraries as Place."  The webinar is described as follows:

More and more people are accessing information and resources from home and work computers. Does that mean the physical library will go away? NO WAY! In this session we will talk about the evolving role of the physical library space. We will highlight innovative and interesting rural library examples. Join the Rural In Focus webinar facilitator, Brenda Hough, and guest presenter Cindi Hickey, Continuing Education Librarian and WebJunction Coordinator for the State Library of Kansas.

The webinar is sponsored by the Rural Library Sustainability Project.  No advance registration is required.  Go to the WebJunction website to learn more!  There are a lot of archived webinars available on the website as well, and they're not just for rural libraries--we can all benefit from information about outreach tools, library surveys, wireless, and the like. 

save money on your curry with AskCity

You all know that I am an Ask.com-devotee.  Its search results are the best, hands down.  I love Ask and I think all librarians should love it just as much as I do.  One of the features I haven't used as much as the others is AskCity (also known as the Ask Business Search), but I just got one more reason to do so.  Gary Price writes about it at ResourceShelf: coupons from the ever-popular Entertainment coupon book folded in automatically with business listings.  Sweet money-saving goodness!

email newsletter services

Want to start a new email newsletter for your library?  Or switch from the company you're using right now?  From Mashable, check out this list of 30+ email newsletter services, some free and some for pay, all with interesting features that libraries can use to get the word out to their users. 

Who said email was dead? :)

Om: Online Meditation Rooms

Need to chill out?  Try one of these online meditation rooms.  Look at pretty pictures and listen to nice sounds while you relax in front of your PC in your cubicle.  Truly, it just might relax you, and your shoulder muscles, a bit.  You can even download them to your iPod with one click.  Nice.

found via Sites and Soundbytes, via Lime: Healthy Living with a Twist

Bookmarking and Search related Firefox AddOns

If you are a bookmark-fiend like me (I'm well over 5000 at this point), then check out "30+ Firefox Tools for Bookmarking & Search" by Sean P. Aune on Mashable.    Foxmarks is my best friend, but I discovered a new-to-me AddOn on this list that looks good: Enhanced Bookmark Search.  'Cuz, with 5000 bookmarks, I need me a good search (even with my anal-retentive folder system).  There are a lot of good search AddOns too, many of which I haven't tried yet, but soon will.

pointed out some time ago by Stephen Abram

Questions new managers should ask

There was a fabulous SirsiDynix Institute in September, entitled "Dumping the Org Chart: Get 'Er Done: Management for a 2.0 Library."  The presenters were Rob Banks and Gina Millsap from the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, and they did a fabulous job.   You can view or listen to the archived presentations, which I recommend to everyone reading this.

Something that Gina Millsap said has stuck with me since that presentation, and keeps creeping back into my consciousness, particularly as I ready for starting a new job.  Below is a list of questions she recommends that new managers ask their supervisees in order to better understand where improvements can be made and what valuable assets exist within the library.

• What are the top things we need to preserve and why?
• What are the top 3 things we need to change and why?
• What are the barriers to doing your best work?
• What makes you feel valued?
• What do you most hope I do in my position?
• What are you most concerned I might do in my position?

Finding out the answers to the above questions will help any new manager or supervisor to better understand his or her employees as well as avoid many of the trip ups that new managers often encounter.  And trust me, the rest of the  session was just as good and chock full of other great pointers.  Take a listen!

2007 Virtual Reference Symposium presentations available

Presentations made at the 2007 Virtual Reference Symposium are available for people to take a look at.  The Symposium happened over the summer, and taking a look through the presentation list I'm finding quite a few that I am dying to look at!  Maybe you will too.

A new job for Sarah

I am pleased to announce that I recently accepted a position with the San José Public Library as their Senior Librarian for Digital Futures, a new position that I will start in a little over a month.  I do think that I will have one of the coolest job titles ever (at least to me).  I want to thank the SJPL administration for having enough faith in me to include me in your organization. 

San José Public Library has an interesting set-up, with their main library as a shared facility with San José State University.  In addition, the library’s website is also a shared project – which will provide us with some very unique opportunities.   As the library system is in the heart of Silicon Valley, I hope that I can help its digital presence reflect its community.  I am sincerely looking forward to the opportunity to work with such a forward-looking organization, enthusiastic staff, and a real life web team!  I have so many ideas in my head that I’d love to throw out to the staff for discussion and piloting.  Ideas don’t belong in heads, but in reality or at least discussion, right?

I will be attending Internet Librarian later this month during my break between jobs (over a month of no-work time ---aaaaaaaaahhhhhh…..).  My work here on LibrarianInBlack will continue.  I will continue my work on LITA’s Top Technology Trends Committee.   I will continue writing, training, and teaching for libraries all across the country.  My consulting work as an instructor for Infopeople will also continue.

Wish me luck (which I will need at least with the commute from San Rafael to San Jose - 90 minutes to two hours)!  Is there some librarian award for longest commute? :)

How bad is online translation software?

For a laugh, try this site: Lost in Translation, a site that uses the Systran automated translation software to run whatever words you like through various languages to see the funny/sad end-product.  It's kind of like the telephone game, but done by a computer instead of giggling 8 year-olds.  I have actually used Systran before, and quite like it.  But, as with anything, "junk in, junk out" and one small mistake at the beginning can turn into several huge mistakes by the end of this amusing process.

found via Marylaine Block's Neat New Stuff

Accidental Technology Trainer free webinar

WebJunction is holding a free webinar on Wednesday, October 17th from 11-noon PST: The Accidental Technology Trainer. Stephanie Gerding, author of The Accidental Technology Trainer: A Guide for Libraries, will talk about some of the techniques, advice, and tools she recommends in her book.

Google Shared Stuff

Google has launched Shared Stuff, a Digg-like browser bookmarklet (read: code that makes a button do something) that creates a:

"Email/Share button [that] allows you to easily share or email any web-page with your friends. Your shared stuff page is publicly visible and allows you to share stuff with your friends and on the web. Whenever you see the Google sharing button, on our sites or any other, click it to share the current webpage in whatever way you prefer!"

This is being hailed as a Google foray into social networking.  Let's see how it goes!

National Friends of Libraries Week

October 21-27 is the official National Friends of Libraries Week.  Resources are available on the Friends of Libraries U.S.A. website.

Library Online Identites

There is a great article in FreePint this week: "Your Online Identity: Key to Marketing and Being Found," by John McBurnie.  The article discusses using social networking tools to make the library findable by different segments of your user base.  Take a look!

Roommate for Internet Librarian?

I will be at Internet Librarian 2007 later this month and am wondering if there's anyone out there who wants a roommate!  My plan is to drive down to Monterey the night of the 28th, and then leave on the 31st, making it three nights in the hotel/motel.  Happy to split costs, and I don't snore or sleep walk (anymore). 

If anyone is interested, email me at librarianinblack [at] gmail dot com.

What's after podcasting?

Gary Price over at ResourceShelf has written a good post assessing the state of podcasting and looking forward to what is next: cellcasting (call it what you will).  He lists a number of useful resources about cellcasting/phonecasting/mobilcasting, including some free and for-pay services.  This would be one more way to get the library's information out there, in the format and place that the user desires.  Take a look!

How many books did the book-truck truck?

Aaron Schmidt blogged recently about WorldMapper, a resource that gathered book-borrowing data worldwide from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics to create the Books Borrowed map.  But, the data appears to be wrong.  According to their statistics, North America is way behind the average for book-borrowing.  As Aaron notes, as they state it, the worldwide average is 1.160 and the North American average is 0.694.  *frown* 

I think there are a lot of questions to be asked here, and Aaron asks some of them in his post.  Doing his own math, he comes up with 7.1 circs per person.  Soooo...hrm.  I think what strikes me about this is that a lot of people might look at that map, assume it is correct because heck, it's on an official looking website.  A good lesson in source evaluation - thanks Aaron!

10 Reasons Why eBooks Suck

If you haven't seen this yet, please do take a look.  You will probably laugh, sigh, shake your head, and purse your