Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology

A nice meme to cap the year via Kathryn Greenhill:

December: Last night in LIS701: Introduction to Library and Information Science, we discussed our five "context" books.

November: Have you seen these jobs open at the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County?

October: I was honored to be asked by Brian Kelly to write a guest post for his blog UK Web Focus.

September: What a great way to welcome students back to the university library!

August: I keep coming back to this post "I didn't get an MLS to do that."

July: I've been watching for the first reports of iPhones accessing library Web resources.

June: TTW Guest Author Dr. Kate Marek: In keeping with Michael's tradition in TTW, I'd like to use my posting opportunity to call your attention to a fascinating new technology that has just been unveiled.

May: TTW Guest Author Lee LeBlanc: This offer came about because of this. I started talking to Michael about some pretty serious (serious to me that is) ideas I have about libraries, information, college students, and leadership.

April: Wowza but time flies! Thanks to all the folks who read and comment -- and inspire me!

March:Please vote for Jim Rettig for ALA president on March 15.

February: It's true! Jaap and Erik are coming!

January: I'm a tad dumb-founded over this...

(Disclaimer: I included a little bit more than one sentence in some to give better context - did I violate the meme? Also, I didn't count Flickr "Blog This" entries and the like because those didin't include my own words (or official TTW guest author words..))

Posted by Michael at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://sospl.blogspot.com/

Dear Michael:

Stephen Boggs

Stephen - great to hear about your new blog! Keep the information coming. I'm sure it will be helpful to Indiana Librarians - and all librarians who may face uncertain changes as well.

Stephen is director of the New Carlisle Library: http://www.ncpl.lib.in.us/

Posted by Michael at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was just IMing with a trusted colleague and we hit on the influx of librarian and library blogs of late. I was reminded of some notes I made before a talk about blogging last spring. If you are just starting out, here are some things you might want to ponder:

A personal blogging mission statement: what are your goals? Your focus? It doesn't have to be huge but it's a good step to take.

Your blogging voice will develop over time - but be true to yourself and it will come faster.

Some folks don't take to blogging after trying it. That's ok. Write a sign off post and find another tool for your creativity.

Play nice. Cite your inspirations. Have fun.

Posted by Michael at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Clare Leibfarth, Medical Librarian at the Affinity Medical Center Doctors Campus in Massillon, Ohio writes:

Would the readers of the Tame the Web be interested in learning about the conference blog http://65.181.189.143/ConferenceCall2007/ for the Joint Chapter MLA Meeting in Omaha?

This morning I posted an “interview” with MLA President Mark Funk. Previous posts (there are 33) include everything from conference program notes to travel tips to foodie updates. I’ll be taking my laptop and camera with me to Omaha and will be posting “live” from the conference. We will also have a number of conference blog correspondents who will be reporting on the conference proceedings. We’ll also be setting up a conference photo gallery and folks will be posting photos to Flickr.

Mark Funk’s presidential priorities include a commitment to increasing use of social media in association business. We’ve been doing this for a while in the Midwest Chapter!

Thanks for the note Clare! Folks interested in conference blogging click through and take a look at a great example. What an easy way to provide ongoing content and generate online interest before, during and after a conference.

Posted by Michael at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Run don't walk to this excellent post about "what it takes to create a great blog experience:"

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2007/10/the-4-cs-of-blo.html

The description of the C's and the corresponding insights for each are image grabs from a presentation, so please click through and have a look. This could be a great planning document for the library blog.

Posted by Michael at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't miss adding to your aggregator the iLibrarian blog by Elyssa Kroski. Consistently these last few months, she's offered up some concise, useful, well-written posts.

For example:

18 Different Types of Blog posts

A Librarian's Guide to Creating 2.0 Subject Guides

Thanks Elyssa!

Posted by Michael at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Oak Park Public Library just launched their new online book discussion extension for 20s and 30s: genre X

genre X is a twenties and thirties book discussion group facilitated by the Oak Park Public Library. The group meets every fourth Tuesday at 8:00 pm at different bars in the Oak Park area. The genre X blog is dedicated to providing supplementary information for the book group as well as other content that will hopefully appeal to readers everywhere in their twenties and thirties.

Posted by Michael at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Please welcome to the biblioblogosphere http://librarystream.wordpress.com/ from Steve Campion out in the Great Northwest!

My plan is to use this blog to follow the course of social software in general and its value to libraries specifically. I’m the system trainer at a large public library system in the Pacific Northwest, a social web participant, and an avid reader. I hope I can marshall all those hats into an interesting blog. The two postings just below this one link to recent articles I’ve written elsewhere.

Please visit again. I hope to swap stories with you in the future.

Steve, I hope it's not to early to point to you!

Posted by Michael at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was honored to be asked by Brian Kelly to write a guest post for his blog UK Web Focus.

There are definitely benefits to administrative blogging. It might be the library is about to launch a new initiative or fund raising campaign. The use of a blog as a communication mechanism to deliver transparent news and plans seems like a good fit. Properly marketed and utilized - key for an such project - the blog can be a visible means to connect users to library policy-makers. It would also set a good example for others in the library who may not want to participate. Top-down buy-in is so important for technology projects and organizational shifts to occur - and the voice of the director, shared openly and honestly, is a step in a good direction. Human discourse from the top might be very welcome in many libraries, internally and externally. Open comments would allow discussion. This also makes the library and staff visible on the Web.

Read the whole article here:

http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/the-blogging-librarian-pragmatic-connected-and-visible/

Posted by Michael at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some folks have asked about my dissertation. Last I heard it's number 85 in line for the university reader. So I thought I'd share one of the sections here. This is the analysis of the question "Why do you blog?"

To share information or insight

Sharing is important to the blogging librarians who responded. For this category, 76 respondents had this response, which is 40% of the total. A prevalent word in this answer set was sharing. Respondents used phrases such as “to contribute to the profession,” “to serve the profession,” and “to inspire.” Two types of information seemed to get shared. One was of a personal nature: “my research” or my “point of view.” A respondent wanted to make sure his or her ideas were “a matter of public record.”

The other type of sharing was done to help or inform others. Many respondents used words such as trends, technologies, resources, articles, sites, bookmarks, announcements, new tools, “cool” stuff, and news combined with the word share or sharing. One respondent noted: “To transmit information to the local LIS community.” Another stated: “To share thoughts and points of view with the LIS community.”

A subset of this category included a few respondents who blogged to show others how it works, with responses such as “to model blogging,” “demonstrate what it can do,” and noting blogging was serving as a role model for other rural libraries.

To participate in a conversation or community

There is a wide discussion playing out online. For this category, 53 respondents had this response, which is 28% of the total. Respondents used words and phrases such as connect, create conversation, “keeping in touch” and finding community. Examples included finding other “techies,” going outside the workplace for academic discussions, and finding others to talk to about issues in LIS.

Other words or phrases derived from responses in this category included getting feedback, bouncing ideas and collaborating with others, looking for a “sounding board,” getting differing opinions, and “inviting the outside in.”

Respondents noted that they participated in a discussion, a dialogue, an exchange, or interaction, and created community through shared discussions. Respondents published blogs because they could participate in issues and take an active stand. Other keywords and descriptors included: engaging, “communicating back and forth with readers,” and keeping conversations going. Respondents noted they were participating in a bigger community.

To archive information or experience

An archive stores information for later use. For this category, 47 respondents had this response, which is 25% of the total. These respondents used descriptors such as collect, organize, track, and preserve to archive information such as links, bookmarks, issues, ideas, thoughts, prospective writing topics, and notes. There was also a thread of descriptors about rediscovery: blogging allowed “refinding and remembering information already encountered.” A respondent noted their blog was “my private online post-it note file.” To others, blogging served as a comprehensive “knowledge management tool.”

These bibliobloggers chronicle or record their experiences. Events, projects, courses, and plans were recorded for processing, development and learning. Bibliobloggers tended to reflect on experiences, including successes and failures. One respondent stated blogging created a “cross directional document for my experience.”

To enhance my professional development

Professional development involves keeping current, learning, and improving skills. For this category, 45 respondents had this response, which is 24% of the total. These bibliobloggers found blogging to be a way to stay up on current news, issues, trends, and technologies. Blogging is a way to stay informed, or to “stay tuned in.” Others noted that it kept their skills up because of their teaching responsibilities. Another respondent reported blogging helped to keep workshop content current. Respondents blog as a motivation to stay in the know. One respondent stated blogging is a way to “force myself” to stay current. Another noted blogging is an “educational exercise to motivate me to keep up to date with LIS news and technology.”

Other threads of this category were to practice and improve writing skills, to explore, to experiment, to use new tools, and to “explore the field beyond my current experience/institution.”

To express my perspective or identity

Bibliobloggers found blogging to be a mechanism that allows them to comment or state opinions on issues. For this category, 44 respondents had this response, which is 23% of the total. It’s a way “to express feelings” or “to have an outlet.” One respondent noted: “I can’t shut up.” Others publish their blogs to focus thoughts or to develop a voice.

In addition to general commenting, others identified as having “something different to say” and being “the only ones” engaged in a certain kind of activity. One reported: “It’s a way to tell my story.” Some noted that it was also a way to vent frustrations with jobs or the profession.

To promote myself or the profession

Blogging can be a promotional tool. For this category, 22 respondents had this response, which is 12% of the total. Respondents used descriptors such as “to promote myself,” to build a reputation, and to create a “live resume.” One respondent noted that blogging was “better than any resume.” Other descriptors included: raise my profile, promote myself as someone who cares about libraries, promote my workshops, build credentials, and “create a name for myself.”

Other respondents stated they were concerned with promoting librarianship, including “promote our field, provide publicity, and “help people understand what librarians do” such as explanations of “invisible activities.” One stated blogging “let the public hear what it’s like to be on this side.”

To have fun

Blogging is fun to some. For this category, 16 respondents had this response, which is 8% of the total. Respondents used descriptors “have fun,” enjoy, or entertain to describe why they blogged. One respondent stated: “Because I enjoy it. I do it for myself. I don't care if no one reads it or not, I just like having the space to put my thoughts.”

Summary Categories by Library Type

Almost half of academic librarians surveyed noted sharing as a reason they blog, while public librarians chose conversation and community before sharing. The most prevalent response for school librarians was “to express my perspective or identity,” while special librarians stated archiving as their most popular reason for blogging. LIS students noted professional development first, while those not working in a library reported sharing as their reason to blog.

The category “to have fun” had the most respondents in the academic and public library groups. No school or special librarians noted fun in their responses.

Note. Percentage for each category is based on total of 189 valid responses. 20 of 239 responses were not applicable to the study, and 30 of 239 responses were left blank.

Thanks to Stephen Abram for kicking staring me to get this post up (and for a stern talking to in Toronto last February: "Get it done!") - and to Leslie T. Crang who posted his Masters Dissertation in full: http://librarytwopointzero.blogspot.com/2007/09/dissertation-is-now-freely-available-at.html

Posted by Michael at 07:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

http://crownlibrary.wordpress.com/

Posted by Michael at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have some posts in draft mode but I'm putting this one at the top of the heap to get it published today -- because --

It's Blog Day once again! Here are my entries for 2005 and 2006. This year, I'm highlighting more blogs that inspire me, engage me and make me think.

1. Bibliodox: Lee LeBlanc is a library student and IT fellow who has some intriguing things to say about service, librarianship and balancde. I appreciate his voice and have linked to his posts before. Take a look at this post: http://bibliodox.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-could-this-post-help-you.html:

Remember, above all else: please, please, please come into this profession as a leader. Yes, embrace technology. Embrace change. Bring more of yourself to work while giving other people more space to be themselves at work. Embrace new ideas and create a sandbox for people to play in. Use language that includes people. Say yes first. Offer help first. Ask why not first. Help ideas succeed first. Let things happen even if you don't believe in them. How do you know what to believe in? Don't look to me to tell you that (like you were anyway?) Libraries and librarians no longer are a place of refuge from the world. You can't hide out in libraries as the world gets crazier. We need more "radical" libraries and librarians.

2. Librarians Matter: Kathryn Greenhill, who just had the best workday ever, writes about libraries and emerging technologies with a unique voice. I think I've linked to her more than twice in the last month! Don't miss: http://librariansmatter.com/blog/2007/08/23/why-libraries-should-care-about-mobile-phones/

I don’t know about you, but in the last 6 weeks or so, Web2.0 seems to have hit the mainstream in a rather big way - with people who once ignored it, or claimed not to care, suddenly asking me the types of questions I’ve been waiting for them to ask for over a year. It think libraries need to be prepared for a rapid upswing of users who want to get information from our sites via their mobile.

3. Infotangle: Ellyssa Kroski writes clear, concise, well-cited posts about all manner of topics related to technology, web 2.0 and libraries. Her post Information Design for the New Web is a perfect example:

Today’s websites are aiming for intuitive and usable interfaces which are continuously evolving in response to user needs. Website designers are approaching information design differently and designing simple, interactive websites which incorporate advancements in Web interface design, current Web philosophies, and user needs. Information design for the New Web is simple, it is social, and it embraces alternate forms of navigation.

(Disclaimer: I wrote the foreword for Elyssa's new book Web 2.0 for Librarians)

4. McMaster University Library: Musings of University Librarian Jeff Trzeciak: I link to this blog a lot because what Jeff and the staff of the library are doing is truly innovative and at the cutting edge. Checkout out this post about strategic planning for the academic library: http://ulatmac.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/strategic-planning/

The McMaster University Library has just launched a process to review our vision, mission and strategic directions. As a first step we held an open forum for all staff and asked them to read the David Lewis paper, A Model for Academic Libraries 2005 to 2025. The staff were assigned to work in small groups where we asked them to (quickly) brainstorm trends and implications and then develop a vision and mission statement. Then, we asked them to think about the initiatives we should be involved in. Their remarks are attached to this as word documents.

5. And last, but never least, the Bloggers at School Library Journal: Yes, it's a collaborative blog site but I appreciate the voices and the insights into the world of school librarians. The voices include folks like Brian Kenney, Joyce Chen, Chris Harris and Dr. Joyce Valenza. Here's what editor Brian Kenney had to say about the site:

So when we had a chance to redesign our site--and it prominently featured bloggers--I was delighted. I made it my mission to convince some of the writers in our field who I most respected (and always read) to take a risk and come join slj.com. I hoped to create a family of bloggers that would represent everything that SLJ is about: books, learning, technology, education (not that these are mutually exclusive.) And with the addition this month of Betsy, Joyce, and Marc we're finally there.

So Happy Blog day all of you Blog People! Keep the posts coming!

Posted by Michael at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

91%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

Posted by Michael at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bloggers of Library Garden
Originally uploaded by janielianne

Posted by Michael at 08:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'll be showing this in ALL of my classes this fall! :-)

http://www.libraryman.com/blog/2007/08/20/disco-dancing-for-peace-in-the-biblioblogosphere/

(Thanks Libraryman - I needed that!)

Posted by Michael at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great post by Ann Arbor District Library Director Josie Parker on two years in the life of AADL.org.

http://www.aadl.org/node/4722

In my Web 2.0 talks, I usually get the question about letting staff publish blog posts directly to the Web. Wait! Shouldn't they be proofed (well, yes) and shouldn't a manager sign off on each one -- or maybe a committee? :-) Not at AADL. Check out Josie's words on trust:

We trust our staff, and we know that when we expect the best of people that is usually what we get. Allowing staff to post in an unmoderated fashion has worked well and they produce great content. We have had only one incident of profanity posted on the site by a patron and that was during the first quarter after launch. We post all comments from patrons and our responses directly on the site in a searchable database. 96 staff members have contributed unmoderated posts and content to the site. Our rules are simple. Keep it factual, simple, direct and about library related business.

Well said. As we move toward more channels of open conversations via social tools, wouldn't it be a best practice to expect the best of people and trust them? Could that be the most important practice?

Posted by Michael at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Harry Potter 002
Originally uploaded by Canton Public Library (MI)

Posted by Michael at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

http://www.copyblogger.com/blogging-is-dead/

Great discussion of blogging and the shift to social networks:

In truth, the real opportunities for building authority and buzz through social media have only just begun. You simply have to look and see where things are going instead of where they’ve been.

Value will always be key. And I think you’ll find that the migration of pure social chatter off of blogs and onto social networking applications is a good thing for the rest of us who are looking to build businesses powered in whole or in part by blogs.

Also: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/004018.html

Then suddenly, along comes stuff like Twitter and Facebook... et Voila! Suddenly, social networks start being successfully created without the "A-Listers" having to act like "Hubs" [or "Human Social Objects", if you want to get REALLY technical]. Suddenly, the need for A-listers to arbitrate "Who the Cool Kids are" [and who they aren't] is rapidly and thankfully diminished.

The time of the A-List is dead. Thank Christ. Not a moment too soon.

Fascinating stuff. Material ripe for research and pondering. There is great value in blogs -- especially for libraries and librarians -- but I agree with these folks that the other social tools complete the picture of what a thriving LIS community can do online.

Posted by Michael at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Via Janie at Library Garden:

http://www.socialcomputingmagazine.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=12

1. We take responsibility for our own words and reserve the right to restrict comments on our blog that do not conform to basic civility standards.

7. We encourage blog hosts to enforce more vigorously their terms of service.

I'd add here my Points of Unity for Bibliobloggers from ALA TechSource:

The Pragmatic Biblioblogger's Points of Unity

Remember a whole wonderful world away from the keyboard awaits and unplugging benefits the heart, mind, and spirit to return to the mission refreshed. And yes, your readers will wait for you. :-)

Posted by Michael at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Please say hi if you are attending the Massachusetts Library Association meeting!

http://www.masslib.org/conference/2007Conference/index.htm

Here's our program:

Friday at 1:45-3:00pm
Blog's Eye View: Three Industry Bloggers Talk About Library Trends
Jessa Crispin, Jenny Levine, Michael Stephens

Blogs have evolved well beyond the personal online journals that gave the dynamic web application its start. Now, many blogs report on specific areas of interest, books and libraries are no exception The best bloggers are actively reporting on the latest industry trends and innovations within their field, and the biblioblogosphere is spear-headed by a supergroup of several visionaries. Discover what this panel of widely-read bloggers have observed over the years of posting, commenting and tracking. The panel will also talk about their individual sites, and why the blogging medium has been the best tool for them to share their insights.

Posted by Michael at 09:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I got to meet Michelle McLean in person this morning. I got up early and we had a nice breakfast out at Oak Brook. She's from Australia and has been in the States for 3 weeks, visiting libraries and attending CIL 2007. Our discussion was all over the board - and the world. Australian libraries, American libraries, the advent of Web 2.0, LIS education and we discovered we share the SAME birthday - 5/23/65! Thanks for a great morning Michelle.

If you haven't visited her blog, take a look for in depth coverage of library visits and CIL:

http://connectinglibrarian.blogspot.com/

Also, take a look at her Flickr sets for each library she visited:

Posted by Michael at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

http://feelgoodlibrarian.typepad.com/feelgood_librarian/

Some people think anonymous blogging is lame. It’s the only way I know how to protect myself, my library and the poor patrons whose stories I tell here. But I am telling you now, there is nothing anonymous about this to me. That’s why I’m reading this one, to emphasize that I have a voice, I have a body, I am an individual person. This is me, sharing my personal experiences, receiving your feedback. There is nothing anonymous about walking through this life knowing that

You have changed the way I feel about myself in the world, knowing I am heard, feeling I am making a contribution not only to my patrons’ lives, but to librarians, people I respect and am proud to be one of, and to a career that I have loved since my first memories of a library at six years old. Through the cancer, your good thoughts and prayers lifted me up.

Posted by Michael at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Jenimi:

Chris Harris on "Five Reasons Not to Blog:"

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6430167.html

1. “I want to give them a piece of my mind!”
2. “Oh, the stories I could tell.”
3. “I think I can find some time at school…”
4. “Nobody will find out that it’s me.”
5. “It’s OK, I will keep it private.”

Posted by Michael at 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6430408

Jessamyn weighs in on preserving our digital history, especially blogs:

Librarians get it: the content we steward is shifting from print to digital. Our libraries require more hard drive space in addition to more shelf space. Patrons need to know how to click and type as well as how to read. And, yet, what of posterity? How will our paths and trackings through the digital realm be accumulated, organized, even archived?

As a blogger, I write and link to other things online, and it's become increasingly difficult to write essays without using hyperlinks. At the 2006 Society of American Archivists conference, I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard, though I became concerned for the future of preserving digital information. As archivist Thomas Lannon said, “This 'unfixedness' of blogging in its electric form is what gives the technology the power of immediacy but also its weakness in impermanence.”

Posted by Michael at 08:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Leonard Kniffel responds to Brian Kenney's editorial I blogged about here.

"What Have You Done for Me Lately?"

The first thing I did after reading Kenney’s article was to look at the March 2007 issue with these objections in mind. March was the issue, after all, that made some school librarians go ballistic because there were no school-librarian bloggers interviewed for the cover feature. In the ALA news section, there were: “Target to Sponsor El Dia de los Ninos,” “School Libraries Count! Survey Begins,” “Army Librarian Creates Story Time Program,” and a piece about children’s author Ilene Cooper winning the Prairie State Award. Of the 14 stories in the section, most were library-type neutral—an article about ALA member libraries receiving the Oprah books, a list of the petition candidates for ALA Council (which included a number of school librarians BTW), etc. etc.

In the March U.S and international news section, there were 18 stories. One was about a high school band at a program at the county public library. Another was about middle school students celebrating Martin Luther King Day. Another was about a school library refusing to remove Lovely Bones from its shelves. And still another was about county schools and public libraries keeping Harry Potter on the shelves. The remaining news stories involved a range of libraries—government, national, academic, and public.

Posted by Michael at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jessica down at Williamsburg Regional Library writes to let me know they've launched their Blogging for a Good Book blog to augment the library's Looking for a Good Book readers’ service. From the About page:

Read a new review every day, Monday through Friday! The staff of the Williamsburg Regional Library in Virginia bring you short reviews of books, movies, and more!

Launched in April of 2007, Blogging for a Good Book is the newest facet of the Looking for a Good Book readers’ service. A different staff member picks favorite reviews for each different week. Subscribe to our RSS feed to find good reviews, or click on the categories on the righthand side to see everything in your favorite area.

I'm impressed and hope this blog thrives. You can see a lot of thought went into the look, feel and content of this blog.

Posted by Michael at 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2007/03/the-pragmatic-biblioblogger.html

This post at ALA techSource a few weeks ago illustrates what will probably become the model for my dissertation. I was trying it out there and since then it's been cooking in my brain.

Try this on for size, as will I, by putting it out here:

The Pragmatic Biblioblogger Model describes multiple types of librarians who share similar desires: to comment, to connect, to create community. The pragmatic biblioblogger model describes a librarian who authors a professionally-focused blog beyond the scope of their job to constantly find, share and offer advice to others in the LIS profession. Constantly scanning via the tools of continuous computing, the pragmatic biblioblogger seeks to redesign library services in an era of enhanced technology. The pragmatic biblioblogger opens comments and engages with other bloggers to discuss and examine events, new technologies and the LIS profession with a common goal: improving libraries.

Posted by Michael at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Via Will Richardson:

Edubloggercon2007–This first-ever, international, one-of-a-kind “meetup” of educational bloggers will take place on Saturday, June 23rd, at the Georgia World Conference Center in Atlanta just before the start of NECC.

All are invited–whether you yourself blog, are just an educational blog reader, or even just want to hang out with an interesting group of people. The event is free, and you can indicate that you are coming (and see who else will be there) at the Edubloggercon wiki. This event will be unique in that it is going to be organized by the participants in real time at the wiki. We have access all that day to the large Open Source Pavilion room at the Conference Center and there will be free wi-fi: beyond that is up to you. So come join the discussion and help us plan a fun and stimulating experience.

Is it time for a nationwide unconference-style meet up of all the voices of the Biblioblogosphere, dear Blog people? :-)

Posted by Michael at 06:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Brian Kenney weighs in on the recent bloggers article in the March issue of American Libraries:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6430153.htmlM

I don’t envy Leonard Kniffel’s job at all. AL has a huge array of issues to cover and serves many different constituencies, all of whom, I bet, are screaming for more ink. And I cringe at the idea of someone performing a similar analysis of SLJ’s content (yes, we are way overdue on a feature about middle schools).

In part, the argument is as simple as “no taxation without representation.” The American Association of School Librarians represents one-sixth of ALA’s membership—and many of its members support ALA by joining other divisions as well. They want their piece of the pie.

Read the whole piece. We'll be seeing Brian on campus at Dominican next week for the Lazerow Lecture. I urge anyone in the area to attend! I'll be sharing this editorial with my classes as well to spark conversation. I know I have at least 10 school librarians-to-be in my 701.

OH! And I KNOW where Joyce is! She's here: http://joycevalenza.edublogs.org/ and, like me, she is in depths of her dissertation. :-)

Posted by Michael at 07:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More good blogging news from Battle Creek, MI. The local Battle Creek Enquirer did a nice article about how the Gerda Weissmann Klein blog is connecting both students and senior citizens who will have the opportunity to hear this extraordinary Holocaust survivor on April 16 in Battle Creek, Michigan.

http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/NEWS01/703270315/1002/NEWS01

Phyllis Rice, Chris LeFils and Esther Smith have been discussing Klein's 1957 book, "All But My Life," on an online blog with high school students.

"Part of the goal of the class, which is about the Holocaust and World War II, is to understand where people of different generations are coming from," said Scott Durham, a Lakeview High School government teacher. "It's like an online book club."

There is also a video clip about blogging in Lakeview HS teacher Scott
Durham's room at http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/VIDEO/70326009/1002/NEWS01

My colleague and UNT cohort member Dr. Margaret Lincoln also reports that they had requests from over 3400 students from all over the state of Michigan to attend Gerda Klein's talk in Battle Creek on April 16 but the W.K. Kellogg Auditorium can only accommodate 1900. In response to this demand, Merit Network, in collaboration with Internet2, Battle Creek Public Schools, Lakeview School District, Calhoun Intermediate School District, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Klein Foundation are making the Internet/Internet2 broadcast stream available free of charge.

Posted by Michael at 09:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

remoteImage.jpg
Originally uploaded by heyjudegallery.

Posted by Michael at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

http://dulissa.wordpress.com/

Welcom LISSA to the Biblioblogospere! I am so happy to see this blog devoted to the students and GSLIS happenings. I can't wait for more Dominican blogs!

Also, our Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences blogs at http://www.dom.edu/ican/deanblog/index.asp?smonth=current.

Posted by Michael at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was glad to discover some new (to me) biblioblogs this weekend.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blogs.html

Check out Bowllan's Blog by Amy Bowllan, Brian Unbound by Brian Kenney, Digital Reshift by Chris Harris and Practically Paradise by Diane Chen. It's nice to see more school librarian voices joining the conversation.

There's also more new features (like some smoking HOT podcasts) to discover as well at SLJ!

Posted by Michael at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

http://mlincoln.lishost.org/

Dr. Margaret Lincoln launches another book doiscussion blog at her school! Check it out!

This Weblog brings together students, teachers, library media specialists and adults in our community. Through a reading of the memoir All But My Life by Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein, we will participate in joint discussion and sharing of reflections. The project will culminate with an author visit to Battle Creek, Michigan on April 16, 2007.

Posted by Michael at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scrotum Graph at Technorati
Originally uploaded by mstephens7.

Posted by Michael at 06:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Feel Good Librarian writes:

http://feelgoodlibrarian.typepad.com/feelgood_librarian/

As a customer service person, I am usually not comfortable asking for things. I am used to providing assistance, helping and encouraging people. I anticipate needs, ask follow up questions and provide current, historical and background information. Now, however, I have a request to make.

Here’s my request: my surgery is Wednesday the 21st. If you can spare a good thought or a prayer, stand in front of your statue, touch your beads, light a candle or just think, “Gosh, I hope the FGL is ok,” I would appreciate it. I’m extremely ecumenical when it comes to blessings.

I have always appreciated the FGL's candor, wit and insight into reference services in a public library. Her voice is pure and true. So I'll be thinking of you, FGL, now and on the 21st and ask TTW readers to please send your thoughts her way as well.

Posted by Michael at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Take a look at the incredibe Kankakee Public Library blogs for coverage of Japp and Erik's visit:

http://kpllibrarymusings.blogspot.com/2007/02/falling-in-love-with-dutch.html

http://lions-online-shesaidhesaid.blogspot.com/2007/02/dutch-invasion.html

It's nice to see this type of coveage on library blogs! The folks at KPL are truly on top of the blogging game!

Posted by Michael at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At the OCLC Symoposium, we used an audience polling mechanism that allowed on the spot feedback and answers. I was able to contribute a question as was Howard Rheingold. The OCLC folks sent me the results that were displayed in the room so I could include them here. It's fascinating and might be viewed as a reliable data set/cross section of the profession. We had between 350-400 people in the room. One bit of data that would help is a breakdown of what types of librarians were present.

Over half of the crowd said "no" (my work is not yet done) but the leading group that did offer blogs were the academic folk, followed by special libraries and then public. School media folk must have not been present in too great numbers. This seems to follow the graph that Amanda Etches-Johnson put up last summer detailing the types of blogs included at her Blogging Libraries wiki.

Howard Rheingold's questions included:

Interesting answers as well... folks are starting to read Biblioblogs and other blogs more and more. Anecdotally, I can verify this: the increasing number of conference presentations devoted to 2.0 tools, online courses and most importantly the Learning 2.0 programs at various libraries and library systems have lead a lot of folks to get aggregators and start reading that way.

We probably could have guessed that most folks are using established tools such as mailing lists, etc, but 36% is rather notable as well for use of MySpace or Facebook. Possibly a higher percentage of academics might mean they are all using Facebook. Just this week there has been an insurgence of folks joining Facebook mand "friending" me. I think it might be the Abram effect!

Conclusions? I think we'll see these numbers change again as more folks find how useful the online communities of practice represented by Biblioblogs, wikispaces and learning programs can be. I'd urge the curious to explore the tools and maybe adopt one or two for use if it works for them.

Thanks to OCLC and Howard Rheingold for allowing me to publish the questions and data here.

Posted by Michael at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I heart this:

I am a "browser" - I love wandering around the library stacks seeing what catches my eye, and my daily cruise through our "new books" section has led me to some great reads. In the same vein, one of my favorite things to during those rare "downtimes" in the office (like when I'm eating my lunch!) is to open up my Bloglines account and see what some of the other bloggers are saying. I rarely fail to find an insight, an idea that we can use here at PVLD, or a link or reference that opens up a whole new train of thought for me. That's how I found Seth Godin's blog - nothing to do with libraries but some great riffs on marketing and customer service in the era of web 2.0.

Take a look at a well-presented, open, honest Director's Blog: http://pvlddirectorsblog.typepad.com/kathy/

Posted by Michael at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Desire makes us nervous.

With damp eyes and stiffened muscles, with policies and credentials we gouge and shovel our way through, rediscovering patterns both organized and beautiful.

more

Posted by Michael at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://cplpatron.crios.info/

Another Dominican GSLIS styudent launches a blog, this time dedicated to discussion about the services and presence of Chicago Public library. Christopher Rios writes at his About Page:

I love CPL and I am constantly trying to find new and better ways to use its resources to their fullest. I have also found myself frustrated by certain aspects of its functions and services and feel that there is definitely room for improvement. My hope is that employees at CPL will read this blog and a discussion will ensue about what practices are currently working and what practices could be changed or implemented to improve services. I am also hoping that other patrons will read this site and say to themselves, “Hey! That’s a good idea!” and request those services from CPL, or give CPL that pat on the back it needs every once and while. Buy your local branch librarians a gift or bake them some cookies. (It’s good to be nice to your local librarian.) If you are also a CPL patron please send in your stories (good and bad) and suggestions and I’ll be sure to post them up on this blog.

Wowza! He's going to gather stories about CPL. This will be a blog to watch - IO hope some of the CPL librarians and administrators add their voice as well if this takes off.

Hey Chris, check out the postings at the "Great Chicago Libraries" blogs about visiting CPL:

http://librarytravelschicago.blogspot.com/2007/01/thoughts-on-my-library-travels-on.html

Posted by Michael at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Inquiring Librarian writes:

http://inquiringlibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/12/true-confessions.html

I recently checked out David Allen's Getting things done from my local public library, thinking I could use a little help calming down the craziness that my life seems to have turned in to. Probably predictably, I turned it in late having only read the first 2 chapters. Oh, well.

So what does this mean for libraries? I think it means that we need to make sure to allow our staff to step up and get involved in projects as deeply as interests them. There are many of us out there who get motivated by understanding and buying into the big picture. Don't "protect" your staff from those high-level discussions - allow them to participate as much as they see fit. Sure, there are lots of folks in library-land that are just interested in the paycheck. We need to meet their needs too. But reward those who think beyond the next five minutes - they're going to be running the place soon enough.

Emphasis is mine and it's oh so important that staff understand "the big picture" to help move the library forward. Be honest. Talk to me openly as a an employee/contributor who has the potential to innovate, meet user needs now and, yes, someday, move into a position of leadership. Simply, this is succession planning. I'd certainly want upcoming managament folk to be clued in to the culture and bigger library landscape, having participated in the creation of services or service enhancements. It scares me when I hear some folks move into managament positions strictly because they've "been here 15 years."

Posted by Michael at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.mchron.net/site/edublog.php?id=P3407

From Indiana University South Bend Professor Ken Smith, who blogs about weblogs in higher education:

A little theory of blogging. Here goes: somebody creates a new tool or technique, such as blogging. In time, some people realize that it is powerful, and they make it a way of life for themselves as individuals, then as members of a small community. As the community grows, a culture is created, which solidifies the power in the lives of many people, even if they are still a small portion of a wider society.

When they figure that out, they are shocked by how much they themselves have to change.

Posted by Michael at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Allow me to point you to:

http://senna.sjsu.edu/slisapps/wordpressmu/lmain

It's a blog devoted to discussions within an LIS school about trends and methods for teaching LIS in the 21st Century from the San Jose branch of the SJSU School of Library and Information Science. It is a fledgling blog but this type of transparent activity may become the norm as LIS students come to expect a voice from their schools.

Anecdotally, I've heard a bit of community is springing up around "The Wanted Librarian" blog here at Dominican... just a few comments, but as Brian Want blogs more and his readership widens, we may see more interaction. (Disclaimer: Brian is my grad assistant.)

Library yarns just went up as well - another Dominican GSLIS student blog. :-)

Posted by Michael at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday I spoke to a class at Elmhurst College about Web 2.0, libraries and future trends. The class, Great Chicago Libraries, is a course offered to Elmhurst College Honors Program students and is taught by Donna Goodwyn, Associate Librarian, Susan Swords Steffen, Library Director, and Peg Cook Reference/Instruction Librarian. The highlight of the course is multiple library visits. Each visit was blogged and YouTubed as well. Take a look at:

http://www.greatchicagolibraries.blogspot.com/

and get a load of this list of "Library Visit Blogs:"

• Bensenville Public Library
  
• Brookfield Zoo Library
  
• Carol Stream Public Library
  
• Des Plaines Public Library
  
• Galter Health Sciences Library Blog
  
• Great Chicago Libraries J. Thoma
  
• Harold Washington Chicago Public Library Visit
  
• Helen Plum Memorial Library
  
• J Term 2007
  
• John M. Flaxman Library SAIC
  
• Library Travels
  
• Milwaukee Public Library
  
• Northwestern Library Visit
  
• Oak Park Public Library Maze Branch
  
• Riverside Public Library
  
• Rolling Meadows Public Library
  
• Roselle Public Library
  
• Rudolf G. Schade Archives
  
• Schaumburg Township District Library
  
• The CorkBoard
  
• The Field Museum Library & Archives
  
• The Marion E. Wade Center
  
• The Newberry Library Genealogy and Special Collections
  
• The Newberry Library Visit
  
• Thoughts on Libraries
  
• Villa Park Library Visit II
  
• Villa Park Public Library
  
• Westchester Public Library

And as we've heard about before, a couple of the students didn't get past the first floor of the Newberry but they did get a good idea of what the library offers.

I was somewhat surprised that we were shut down; especially after reading on their website that they are "open to the public." I understand the importance of their materials, but it's not like we were asking to go into the stacks. We just wanted to see the library.

We spent some time discussing the Newberry's policies and public "face" as a group. It was fascinating.

Thanks to the students and instructors for a great session!

Posted by Michael at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey Library Bloggers! Need some inspiration? Try a post like this on for size:

http://www.libraryforlife.org/blogs/lifeline/?p=2651

Including:

5. Children’s toys and games! Yep, that’s right. The Children’s Services Department offers more than books! You can find everything from dinosaurs and zoo animals to games like Sorry and Life. (And did you know you don’t even have to come in to benefit from our children’s area? You can call up to hear a story read over the phone, or visit the Children’s Department website to explore TumbleBooks, which are online children’s books with audio and pictures.)

2. iPods! (And audiobooks to go with them.) You can rent iPods to play your own music and audiobooks…You can rent audiobooks to play on your own iPod…Or you can rent both! (Call the Sights & Sounds Department at 282-4609 to find out more!)

Posted by Michael at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My holiday break is waning. It's been wonderful but it's almost time to get back to school. As I pack and prepare to head back to Dominican, I note some nuggets of gold in my aggregator. Happily, I can point my students to these wonderful blog posts next semester!

David King on Invited Participation I linked to this already, but this is a series to watch.

Management 2.0 and the Trumpeter in the Attic I heart this: "Today for the first time I heard the phrase "Management 2.0." I guess I knew that was coming." but this is the gem: "My management theory is that a good manager acknowledges this essential dysfunction and constantly works around it. That work effort can take many forms, from meetings that encourage all voices to be heard, to modeling good time management and planning, to teaching people how to set aside their personal differences in order to achieve an objective. I have also learned how to listen to silence. As a manager, I tend to think silence is very instructive. "

Greg Schwartz on balance, life unplugged and reducing information intake. "As part of reducing my information intake and self-imposed pressure to "keep up," I reduced the number of feeds in my Bloglines (current count is 128) and cut out many of the podcasts that I was listening to, including most of the library-related content. Again, tough decisions, but better for my overall state of mind."

Laura Savastinuk guestwriting at Library Crunch on "Serving our Communities" "As I was taught in library school and as I believe as a practicing librarian, Librarians are here to provide information service and access, not to pass judgment on this information or those who seek it. Libraries need to be neutral zones, not a place for librarians to dictate what is worthy information and what is not."

Thanks Bibliobloggers!

Posted by Michael at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If your library is interested in video blogging, don't miss Arlington heights Public library's vlog for a prefect example of how to do it and do it well.

Posted by Michael at 02:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If your library is interested in video blogging, don't miss Arlington heights Public library's vlog for a prefect example of how to do it and do it well.

Posted by Michael at 02:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm always glad to see Dominican GSLIS students blogging..I was sad that lisDom's Laura Crossett graduated just as I was arriving. Here's a new one though: The Wanted Librarian.

From his inaugural post:

Smugly, I admit that I dig the title not just because of the word play on my surname (Want) but also because I'm often something of an "outlaw" in my approach to life. :) While I initially fretted that no one would read the musings of a librarian-newbie, I decided that, as an educated and well-read guy, I'm capable of engaging in discourse on libraries, information, technology, culture, and everything else that finds its way into the library blogosphere. Though it sounds trite, we all have our unique experiences and perspectives that inform our individual voices. And I decided that my voice, too, was worthy of being heard....even if I am just a first-semester LIS student.

As my friend Will (a librarian in Dallas) told me the other day: "You're already a librarian." Someone told him that when he started graduate school, and he found it sage counsel to pass on. While I may not feel as though I've earned the noble title of "librarian" yet, his words have reminded me that I have obligations and contributions and a membership to the community, even at this early stage.

Welcome to the Biblioblogosphere, Brian!

Posted by Michael at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.libraryforlife.org/blogs/lifeline/?p=2504

Excellent use of software to create a visual blog post. Well done SJCPL!

Posted by Michael at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm submitting the first draft of my research proposal this week... here are the research questions:

Research Questions

What do librarian bloggers feel is the impact of blogging on the professional library community?

Posted by Michael at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via SmartMobs comes a link to a presentation concerning blogging as reflective practice:

It certainly is a masterpiece about the meaning of reflection in relation to organizations and how social software could help people cope with all the changes. Teemu states that in education, the worst thing we can do is to hang on in best practices. Reflection creates future practices, while best practices are just past practices!!

Coping with change is most important in our information organizations. Blogging (or using wikis) might be a useful tool to chronicle that shift. I'm reminded of the voices of the PLCMC Learning 2.0 participants as they encountered change and a shift in their own thinking.

Checkout the paper for more insight.

Posted by Michael at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From "Blog Epitaphs? Get Me Rewrite! Rumors of Blogs' Demise Are Exaggerated, But a Lot Less Obsession Would Be Healthy" by Jason Fry, WSJ:

If blogs are hard to pin down, so are bloggers. A common caricature beloved by editorialists is the pajama-clad navel-gazer who deems the minutiae of his or her life worthy of a world-wide audience -- and there are such bloggers. (Some of them are quite entertaining, too.) But there are other caricatures: the snarky soapbox blogger trying to parlay attitude into life as an author or talking head (and earn some money via text ads), or the political ranter digging up obscure dirt. When even the caricatures don't mesh, that's a warning sign about generalizations. The Chicago Tribune might have done well to check in with its very own stable of bloggers -- one of whom, Eric Zorn, swiftly dismantled his own colleagues' editorial the next day. Bloggers within the big-media tent should count as a breed in their own right, as should bloggers who strive to become the authoritative source on Niche X, corporate blogs with a rotating cast of authors, and all the other flavors of blogs and bloggers developing out there by fits and starts. That's a lot of camps, all with different goals, styles and strategies.

Posted by Michael at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ahhh..another numbered list....at Occam’s Razor:

http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/10/top-ten-blogging-tips-insights-from-a-novice-blogger.html

From a novice blogger...some fascinating advice:

Tips / Insights Summary:

Nobody will read my blog

Each point is discussed...it's worth a read no matter where you are in the blogging cycle. File under "ethics" as well.

Posted by Michael at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fascinating stuff! I called the post "Tag Cloud" but Davids Rothman and Pattern noted it's a word cloud! Thanks for the heads up.

http://www.daveyp.com/blog/index.php/archives/146/

Hot Stuff: http://161.112.232.18/hotstuff.php

Posted by Michael at 08:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via David Warlick:

http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/issues/november-december-2006/blog-rules.html

Here's the advice for independent teacher bloggers:

DEALING WITH INDEPENDENTLY BLOGGING TEACHERS

Urge teachers to blog and provide staff development.
Produce a document that describes the legal implications of blogging and suggests proper and responsible practices.
Deliver the message: “Don’t be stupid.”

The proactive take is nice. Urge your teachers to blog but educate them about best practices, etc. Same can be said for a library's independent blogging librarians.

Posted by Michael at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Take a look:

http://www.davidleeking.com/2006/11/14/single-greatest-point-of-value-from-blogging/

Thanks for the pointer David Lee King!

Posted by Michael at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A shout out to Jennifer Graham and her blog "jennimi" on her one year anniversary of blogging.

http://jennimi.wordpress.com/2006/11/30/one-year-and-then-some/

It’s been an interesting endeavor. Sometimes it sucks me in and I have to leave for awhile to get things done. Sometimes I absolutely love it. But always I am cognizant of the fact that I am, in my tiny tiny lower case j way, participating in the web’s creation, not just observing or reacting to it. I also have begun to see how this process allows librarians to reach out to more people with our knowledge, curiosity, problem solving urges, welcoming spirit, and information organizing ways. It allows us to learn from one another, and to give everyone a look into the diverse world of the librarian - once stereotyped as prudish and cold. I try to be as warm and welcoming as possible here - to bring a human touch to the digital world. Same way I’d be at a reference desk or in a classroom. Blogging has truly helped me see what an exciting time it is to be a librarian.

I am still fascinated by the individual and collective voice of librarianship in the blogosphere. What a nice reminder of why we do what we do.

Posted by Michael at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't say it enough! Blake is the MAN for working so hard to keep TTW and the other hosted sites, blogs and wikis going at good ole LISHost, which turns 4 today! Thanks Blake!

http://lisnews.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/01/1719209

Posted by Michael at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Goodness but I love numbered lists!

Are you starting your library blog? Take a look at:

http://www.avivadirectory.com/successful-blog-launch/

A fave:

2. Don’t get seen naked: Never launch a blog with fewer than 5 posts. In the blogosphere you typically get just one shot at impressing a visitor or fellow blogger. Too many new bloggers throw up two posts and then start working on promotion. In the world of blogging, you are selling yourself and your writing. If you can’t give people a fully dressed picture of what your blog is all about and what type of writing will be on it, then why should they throw a link your way, or subscribe to your RSS feed? When someone links to you or subscribes they’re giving a vote of confidence that your site is worthwhile, so give them something to grab on to, and let them know your space won’t be “just another abandoned blog.”

Posted by Michael at 07:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dr. O'Connor, my dissertation chair and professor at UNT, and I have had some cool talks about blogs (of course), flickr and tags over the lst couple of years. I was pleased to see he has launched a blog called "Hypotheses non fingo" where you'll find discussions of visual representations, photocutionary acts, and ultra high resolution images.

http://memestate.typepad.com/hypothesis_non_fingo/

I did have to look up what the title means! "Hypotheses non fingo" : "I feign no hypotheses" -- Isaac Newton

Posted by Michael at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Allison Beasley sends a wonderful listing of new social Web library goodness at Kankakee PL:

Hello library friends,

At the Kankakee Public Library, we’ve started some exciting new things that we’d like to share with all of you. Also, check out our new webpage logo J

New RSS feeds/Blogs
She Said/He Said (Admin Blog) Director Cindy Fuerst and Assistant Director Steve Bertrand duke it out - discussing and debating the issues facing today’s public libraries.

Library Musings (Staff Blog) The opinions expressed on this blog are not necessarily the those of the Kankakee Public Library, its board, or the City of Kankakee. Now you want to read it, don’t you?

Kankakee Public Library News KPL events, book discussions, closings and well…news.

Podcasts, Vodcasts & Streaming Media

Flickr Pictures of authors and speaker events, programs, and a fair share of embarrassing staff photos (don’t forget – Flickr is an RSS feed, too!)

Well Done KPL! I don't know where to begin but this is amodel that many libraries should examine. With a post like "Poop is always #1 with Us!, it's got to be good!

Posted by Michael at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

my new work blog
Originally uploaded by Michael Casey.

Posted by Michael at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Laura Cohen has an incredible post at her L2 Academic's Perspective blog:

http://liblogs.albany.edu/library20/2006/10/blogs_id_like_to_see.html:

I want directors blogs to demystify top management. I want these blogs to reveal a director who is working to forge a library that offers collections and services that users need and want. I want directors to reveal their thoughts about what they envision for their library. I want directors to show that they are reading interesting articles, attending conferences from which they learn, observing what other institutions are doing, and tuning into the issues of the day. I want directors to use their blogs to reflect on plans or ideas the library is considering, and to welcome comments before something is implemented.

I can't agree more! Blogging breeds transperancy which breeds honest, open conversations. I even believe staff would greatly benefit from a blogging director as plans, procedures and the long range thinking of the library become more open and honest. Don't hide in your office, library director ... join the conversation.

I wrote this about blogging directors as well: http://tametheweb.com/2006/09/why_dont_ceos_library_director.html

Posted by Michael at 06:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been lax in my duties announcing this blog:

http://www.rusq.org/

I'm happy to be serving on the Editorial Advisory Board for Reference & User Services Quarterly, the official journal of the Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association.

Its purpose is to disseminate information of interest to reference librarians, information specialists, and other professionals involved in user-oriented library services. This Web site serves as an online companion to the print edition.

This summer I worked with the folks at ALA to get the blog going. I'm pleased with the result. Watch for more content as each issue comes out and check out editor Diane Zabel's post about a recent survey of RUSQ readers: http://www.rusq.org/index.php/2006/10/03/a-hard-act-to-follow/

Posted by Michael at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My LIS753 students all get weblogs to try the medium and post their thoughts on technology and libraries. If I had my way, students starting the program at Dominican would automatically get a blog and wiki sponsored by the school. In general, I'd like to see more LIS students trying the waters of biblioblogging. These notes from Michael Habib are fascinating and are helpful for thinking about blogging:

http://mchabib.blogspot.com/2006/10/why-robert-and-maryam-scoble-gave-me-t.html

“Pick a niche you can own (be different)” Maryam pointed out that Robert always says that there are two types of bloggers. One type has a desire to change things and is writing for an audience. Robert fits into that category. The second kind are those bloggers, like Maryam, who blog just for the sake of it. Either way, it is important to hit a unique market.Robert discusses the importance of branding your niche so that people begin to relate you and you niche.I have tried to do this with Academic Library 2.0. While I cover many related topics, I always come back to this one. As Robert was discussing this, I began to think of how social networking services increasingly need to focus on niche markets.

Posted by Michael at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One Day in History
Originally uploaded by mstephens7.

Posted by Michael at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Please see:

http://www.copyblogger.com/headline-swipe-file/

:-)

Posted by Michael at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6388635.html

A reader writes in about a staff member blogging about the library: "She discusses work, of course, including other staff and problem patrons using some pretty stiff language, and I’m afraid she’s seriously going to offend someone and the library is either going to get pulled into a lawsuit or a union problem. The blogger writes at home on her own time, and the library doesn’t have a policy in place preventing staff from speaking publicly about the workplace, but I think this is a ticking bomb. What should I do?"

The answer is rather good, and includes this:

The most important thing is to listen to staff, trust them, empower them to speak, and teach them the what and why of library policy so they can speak effectively about it. Sure, let a thousand flowers bloom, but be sure you teach which seeds should be planted.

Instead of "library policy," I would use (and have used this line in talks): "Educate staff as to the mission and vision of the library and trust them to be the collective voice of the library - the humanity, if you will."

Posted by Michael at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Things I'm reading whilst Waiting for the Refrigerator Repairman:

The Library 2.0 Roundup: http://scruffynerf.wordpress.com/2006/10/19/library-20-roundup/

Excellent clearinghouse of posts, discussions, articles and suck from LIS student Jennifer Macaulay.

The State of the Blogosphere: http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000443.html

As you can see, growth in the numbers of blogs tracked by Technorati continues to grow briskly. While the doubling of the blogosphere has slowed a bit (every 236 days or so, here's the historical data) , interest in blogging remains considerable. About 55% of all blogs are active, which means that they have been updated at least once in the last 3 months.

More on Millennials: http://www.web2learning.net/archives/673

Nicole realizes she's happy to be a Millennial: I don’t feel so bad anymore - you can all think I’m a young’un if it means I get to be lumped in with a group that has “better team skills, speaking and articulation skills, problem-solving and process management skills.”

Posted by Michael at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/

Phil Bradley, Paul Miller and I chided Brian Kelly about the fact that he was the one who didn't have a blog amongst the panelists during the Library 2.0 session at Internet Librarian International. It was all in good fun. Paul Miller emailed this am to let me know Brian had entered the Biblioblogosphere. Take a look.

Welcome to the UK Web Focus Blog. As my tenth anniversary as UK Web Focus at UKOLN arrives, it is clearly time for me to set up a Blog to support my role as a Web adviser to the UK higher and further education and cultural heritage sectors.

Your feedback is welcomed.

Welcome Brian!

Posted by Michael at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.wpl.ca/site/home/innovation_award_2006.asp

The Waterloo Public Library has been shortlisted for a provincial award that recognizes innovation in public library service. The announcement was made by Culture Minister Caroline di Cocco at the official launch of Ontario Public Library Week.

The winner of the Ontario Public Library Service Award for Innovation will be announced in February 2007, in Toronto.

Get Blogging: http://www.wpl.ca/site/ebranch/blogging_tips.asp

Rock on Waterloo!

Posted by Michael at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Woody Evans, author of the Phones are "Everyware" article at LJ, reports he'sgot a whole new look at ISHUSH. Take a look:

http://woodyevans.com/blog/index.php

Posted by Michael at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I met Troy Swanson at Internet Librarian and this week he sent me some links to their Blog Development Blog:

I wanted to forwarded some info about our PodCasts and Web site that I hope you might find interesting. I have posted a couple of things to our "Blog Development Blog". Here are the links.

"PodCasts Added" http://www2.sls.lib.il.us/MVCC/blogdevelopment/archives/001492.html
"Building Pressures" http://www2.sls.lib.il.us/MVCC/blogdevelopment/archives/001491.html

Good stuff. And I noted that Steven Cohen mentioned these developments as well and pointed to the Moraine Podcast policy:

http://www2.morainevalley.edu/default.asp?SiteId=10&PageId=1496

Library PodCast Policies

They fulfill the library's mission by "providing information literacy instruction and support across the curriculum" and "collaborating with faculty and others to develop innovative services and programs."
They enhance the classroom experience by providing expert views on challenging and timely subjects.
They provide an opportunity for students and community members to participate in library events even though they may not be able to visit the events in person.
They act as an ongoing record of library events for future use.
These events are hosted by the library in the spirit of public discussion, open debate, and intellectual growth. The views expressed by panel members, lecturers, or audience members are their own and are not necessarily the official views of the Moraine Valley Community College board of trustees, staff, faculty, or administration.

I like this because it ties the use of podcasting to the library's mission. It's not just cool and it's not just HOT, but in an interactive, pod-plugged-in world, this is a way to meet the mission via a new tool. Ponder adapting this policy for your own podcasts and videocasts.

Posted by Michael at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From John at Pop Goes the Library, in his introductory post:

http://www.popgoesthelibrary.com/2006/10/hi-everybody-shouted-like-dr-nick.html

I currently work as the Young Adult Librarian and Systems Administrator for the Franklin Township Public Library in Somerset, NJ. (I'm also part of the reference staff and the webmaster) I'm pretty new to librarianship--I never worked at a library until I was in my Master's program, and I just completed the program this last year--so I'm filled with ideas of things that libraries could and should be doing (i.e., better marketing).

At some point in my recent past, I worked for science fiction publishers like Tor Books and Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. I've had the opportunity to meet and work with virtually every science fiction and fantasy author that I liked. Once I left publishing to become a computer programmer (librarianship was my next, and hopefully last, career stop) I found that missed it, so I started my own magazine Electric Velocipede. I've been publishing it for a little more than five years and ten issues (#11 coming out next month). To tie this into the library world, I'll be making an 8-page zine out of one sheet of paper later this week with my teens as part of Teen Read Week.<

Someone said to me lately, about my Ten Things I Know About Libraries post, that I'm pretty optimistic about "#6 Libraries will benefit from the next wave of MLIS grads." This post makes me feel more on track. John, a new librarian, brings his previous experience and love of Sci Fi to his position at the library. The Zine part is a useful, "try this" ( or steal this idea) example as well.

Welcome to the Biblioblogosphere John!

Posted by Michael at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phil Bradley's Library Weblog Feeds
Originally uploaded by mstephens7.

Posted by Michael at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://worldblogbraries.blogspot.com/

The Internet Publishing class is using a blog this semester to openly plan and discuss reworking the World Libraries web site.

Posted by Michael at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a quick, very nice example of school library blogging and Flickr in action:

The Pescosolido Library at The Governor's Academy in Byfield, MA has a blog and a Flickr account. Jennifer Brown, one of the librarians at this grade 9-12 Independent School, wrote share some URLs:

http://thepeskylibrary.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peskylibrary/

Thanks Jennifer! Keep it up!

Posted by Michael at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I saw your recent post on Tame the Web about the KLA Conference blog. I thought you might be interested to know that the Midwest Chapter / Medical Library Association will be meeting in Louisville October 9-10 – and we are just starting up a blog to cover the conference. As the chapter newsletter editor, I’m doing most of the posting here before the conference to get things rolling. And believe me, I am learning a lot on a very steep learning curve! We are also planning to post photos, but the technical aspects of that are yet to be finalized. That means, I haven’t figured it out yet!

I invite you to visit the blog and a feed is available.
http://65.181.189.143/ConferenceCall/2006/09/welcome.html
http://65.181.189.143/ConferenceCall/

Thanks!

Clare Leibfarth
Medical Librarian

Clare - Great work! The blog looks good and seeding it before the conference is a good idea, especially that post about FOOD!

Guess what -- the picture thing will be snap (pun intended) if you get a Flickr account for the conference or allow your conference bloggers to post to their own Flickr accounts and then either "blog this" or paste in the Flickr code. We did less than an hour of exploration/training at KLA and the group was doing well. Take a look at what the folks in Kentucky are doing with Flickr: < a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentuckylibrary">http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentuckylibrary for inspiration.

Posted by Michael at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Conference Blogging Team would like to announce the KLA2006 Conference Blog. To view conference session reviews, leave comments, view pictures and more, check out these sites.

http://kla2006.blogspot.com - Blog
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentuckylibrary/ Pictures

Posted by Michael at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great interview over at Library Garden:

http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2006/09/blog-based-library-websites-interview.html

Well we are getting lots of great comments about how up to date our site is. People really like seeing the latest news on the front page in reverse chronological order. And, of course, one big benefit is being able to offer an RSS feed through Feedburner. We like to stress that we can bring the news about the library to you on your schedule rather than you having to come to us all the time. One drawback has been that we have found that not a lot of people are acquainted with RSS feeds and we have to explain how to subscribe a lot.

Read the whole thing! There is some great info about making the conversion to a blog-based Web site.

Posted by Michael at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks to Helene Blowers for linking to Matt Gullett's new to me blog Youth Tech: http://youthtech.wordpress.com/

Matt is the Technology Education Librarian at ImaginOn: The Joe & Joan Martin Center. I'm also happy that he'll be presenting with Kathryn Deiss in our Public Library track at Internet Librarian in Monterey!

From the About Page:

This is a site/blog that will post, converse, write and communicate about issues that involve youth (teens, tweens & tods) and how best to interact, educate, entertain, relate and learn. We hope to post on broad themes and specific issues that will be of interest to educators and learners within the following institutional situations: schools, libraries, media & technology centers, museums, community arts centers, youth clubs and beyond.

A belated welcome to the Biblioblogosphere, Matt!

Posted by Michael at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Director, are you Blogging??

Via the Church of the Customer Blog:

If CEOs blogged, they would save considerable time on hundreds of weekly emails that ask roughly the same types of questions. That's part of Debbie Weil's thesis in The Corporate Blogging Book. “Why not do it more efficiently?” she writes. “Instead of a one-to-one message, why not a communication from one to many thousands?" She describes the pro's and con's of corporate blogging with plenty o' pointers on how to do it well and not screw up. I read an early copy of the book and it's excellent.

So what about Library Directors? I know of a few that are blogging (see below), but I think it would be nice to have a few more -- in fact, I'd hope that more directors will be inspired AND the next wave of folks that move into admin positions would welcome the chance to speak directly to their users!
__________________________________________________________________________________________

How cool would it be if the local newspapers syndicated their headlines with an RSS feed so that you could subscribe to them? And blogged "live" from government meetings? And posted dozens of photos (all the ones that didn't make it in this week's paper) on a Flickr account, especially if there was breaking news? OK, we're biased because we want them to do it so that we can feed the headlines, blog posts and photos onto our own Darien Community Matters blog, providing the most balanced, accurate and up-to-date information possible. And I guess that you could say that we're becoming Web 2.0 missionaries..... because we (that's me and Assistant Director Melissa Yurechko) invited Josh Fisher, editor of the Darien Times over to discuss it, as the first of a series of meetings with the local news media.

Louise Berry, Director, Darien Library, Director's Blog

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I wonder why many directors do not blog?

Could it be:

No Time?? Possibly, but wouldn't being able to communicate library news and important details about the business of the library to the most people with an easy to use mechanism be a useful tool? It would also set an example, that top-down buy-in that is important for technologyyy projectss and organizational shifts. Here's David King's take on the Time thing as well -- it deserves another link.

Fear? Are you afraid to put yourself out there? Afraid that a typo might slip through. It's time to let that go.We certainly don't have to publish our home phone numbers, but some human discourse from the top might be very welcome in many libraries, internally and externally. Folks don't care about a typo or two these days -- and heck, you can always go back and fix it.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I, as the administrator, and the one whose job is on the line, am willing to take a risk here. Why are others so risk averse? It costs us very little. Other libraries are doing it without problem, we are not first, and I'll be blasted if we will be last!

Michael Golrick, City Librarian, Bridgeport, CT at his blog Thoughts from a Library Administrator

__________________________________________________________________________________________

"I have nothing to say." Oh, yes you do! Tell your story, your day to day adventures, your thoughts on the library and its collection. Blog your plans and strategies. This isn't top secret work (well, yeah, some stuff is private), but blogging creates a level of transperancy that could benefit many libraries.

That's what the marketing/PR Department is for. Well, I'd hope that PR was blogging too, in a human voice, not the language of marketing that people can recognize these days so easily, BUT the voice of library administration carries a lot of weight too. Here's what the Cluetrain says oh so well: "But learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about "listening to customers." They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf."
__________________________________________________________________________________________

I spend an awful lot of time soliciting and then responding to feedback and suggestions from our users. Lately, the written suggestions in the box asking for "newer" and "better" DVDs have outnumbered the requests for specific books or authors by nearly 12 to 1. My response to the requests for newer, better DVDs has always been that we buy what Blockbuster doesn't -- the hard-to-find TV shows -- the series, the old shows & films, the BBCAmerica & PBS films -- and not the drivel (Oops. I'm showing my bias. Sorry) that appears in the theaters. However, when people request a specific title, whether book, music, movie, or magazine, we'll usually buy it.

I've just finished a lengthy analysis of our collection, including what we buy, how much it's used, and what our users ask for. The not-surprising conclusion I've come to is that DVD and Books on CD are used far more than our print collection. For example, one copy of a bestselling book by John Grisham got 59 circs during the period I was reviewing, while The Sopranos DVD recorded 354 circs. A Book on CD version of the same Grisham novel logged in 153 circs. Clearly, the format of choice is not print. In examining our reference questions logged in that period of time, requests for specific movies or Books on CD outnumbered specific requests for print materials by 5 to 1.

Patricia Uttaro, New and views from the Director of the Ogden Farmers' Library...

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Finally, and I am sure this is not the case in most places, what's a blog? Directors, if you haven't spent some time with the new tools and these new conversations, now is the time. Ask someone on staff to show you some blogs. Then ponder how you and your library might use the medium to further your mission, reach out to users, and give human voice to the library.

(This post has been cooking a long time. Don't miss Jenny Levine's post and the Blogging Directors Wiki page.)

Posted by Michael at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In 2 weeks I'll be at the Kentucky Library Association conference speaking and working with their newly forming conference blog team. What an excellent resources this will be:

http://hyku.com/blog/archives/001253.html

Posted by Michael at 07:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm glad to see my colleague Jeff Trzeciak blogging at http://ulatmac.wordpress.com/. Take a look at the blog and follow the links as well to the Transformation blog, an example of a group of librarians putting Library 2.0 thinking into practice via planning.

Jeff sums a lot of it up in his first post: (bolding is mine)

As partners in teaching, learning and research on our campuses, libraries are at the heart of today’s changes. Our challenge is to establish the University Library as an unparalleled service provider in an increasingly complex world of information and access.

Goal: Improved Evaluation Through Data-Gathering

I'm impressed with the foresight here. Couldn't your library try the same? Watch this model closely!

Posted by Michael at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

IMG_7640
Originally uploaded by Rob's.

Posted by Michael at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's Blog Day again! Here is my list from last year at this time. And Meredith Farkas has already posted her list here.

Five new(ish) biblioblogs you might want to take a look at:

The Ubiquitous librarian: A fascinating voice from academic libraries! Brian Matthews blogs thoughtfully and posts some things that just make me say WOW! Check out his posts on gaming.




The Green Kangaroo: A strong voice from our association! Mary Ghikas, Senior Associate Executive Director at the American Library Association, blogs about associations, ALA and what she's reading. I am so glad we have this personal presence from ALA in the Biblioblogosphere.

Library garden: A group of voices from the same state, sharing and trying to make libraries better! One of my favorite group blogs. I love the harmony of these distinct perspectives of New Jersey librarians. Simply: they've got it going on! This is a model I'd like to see more librarians follow.

The Liminal librarian: A voice of experience from a widely published author and speaker. Disclaimer: I co-author a CIL Department with Rachel! Another presence I'm fond of, for her unique perspective and take on jobs, NextGen, GenGen and other important bits about how we work together in libraries.

What I Learned Today...: A true, pure voice of reason when some folks just don't get what it's like to be on the Cluetrain! Nicole Engard on Web 2.0 and everything else related to library web management. Her honesty in verious posts about that certain ILS vendor is important and needed as vendors wake up to a shifting world.

Update:: I can't choose just five! Don't miss these three as well:

Michael Habib's LIS: Michael is a student who is writing some amazing stuff on Academic Library 2.0 and where college and university libraries should be going. I will be excited to see Michael's thesis and where he lands for his first job building communities online. Check out his Blog Day post here! It was this post that inspired me to come back to this one and add three more blogs.

Hey Jude: Making fortunate discoveries - Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and more … Fascinating stuff from a librarian in Australia, writing about information literacy, teaching and school libraries. For example: So we need to reflect carefully on the new synergy in the opportunities that we have before us. Why am I saying all this? I’m churning ideas about the future of school libraries. Literacy remains a prime and fundamental purpose. Web 2.0 tools and techniques coupled with the trademark ‘social networking’ provides the framework for knowing ‘what’s next’ for organisational frameworks for school libraries in Web 2.0.

David Rothman: I was honored he let me post his essay about RSS and medical libraries here at TTW and tickled when he launched his blog.

There are many others..and also blogs outside of our realm I am often inspired by:

43 Folders
Church of the Customer Blog
Social Customer Manifesto

Take a look at any of these that strike your fancy! I know there are so many more blogs I could have mentioned as well! I appreciate all of the voices out there...keep those posts coming! Thanks to all who blog about libraries! Rock On!

Posted by Michael at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Checkout the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative blog by Peter Bromberg! More Cooperatives and state associations need to be blogging and this is one good example of how to do it!

Posted by Michael at 07:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a great collection of essays and blog posts...wonderful content. Take a look:

http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/bestof.html

Topics include MySpace, social networking, blogs, etc. Thanks Danah!

Posted by Michael at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.sjrlc.org/web20/handouts/brainstorm.shtml

I believe in the "wisdom of crowds" so I asked the folks at my blog workshops last week to brainstorm blogging best practices and implications. Peter Bromberg captured the debrief on a flip chart that he's put up on the SJRLC site. And all of the handouts are here.

Posted by Michael at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.zephyrinnovation.com/

I've been lucky to spend some time working and talking with Kathryn Deiss, who just took an incredible position with ACRL. I've learned from her, been inspired by her and look forward to future collaborations! And -- she's started a blog! From her about me page:

I have a deep belief in human creativity and our ability to innovate. For 16 years I have been facilitating learning for librarians, libraries, and other non-profit agencies. Sometimes this has been individual learning (workshops, institutes, etc.) and sometimes it has been organizational learning where larger groups are learning together. In almost every instance I have learned much from the people I work with and I have been inspired by the amazing and endless creativity of both individuals and institutions. However, many have told me and it is also my observation that while creativity might be natural to us all, creating institutional innovations is not as easy or natural under the press of everyday work. I hope this blog can serve as a “day trip” to the world of innovation and creativity research, practices, and cool stuff for eager travellers. It is by no means the last word on these topics but more a little foray into corners where neat stuff is happening.

(And what a snazzy weblog designed by none other than Jessamyn West, who spiffed up TTW and many other biblioblogging projects! Jess, take a BOW!)

Posted by Michael at 09:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few weeks ago I posted a TTW Mailbox entry from David Rothman on RSS. The email was just so good I asked if I could blog it and David said yes. Now he's blogging himself! Take a look:

http://www.davidrothman.net/

He reformats and reposts the RSS stuff here: http://davidrothman.net/2006/07/04/recap-my-notes-on-rss-for-clinicians

Welcome David to the Biblioblogosphere!

Posted by Michael at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm working on my research proposal for my dissertation and after many permutations, I'm focusing on public library Weblogs and their social function. Currently, I'm trying to get a grip on the methodology section and I contacted Amanda Etches Johnson, Biblioblogger, speaker and academic librarian at McMaster, about using her wiki as one of the sources to gather PL Weblogs for content analysis. Amanda reported the numbers above to me and gave me permission to blog them. Thanks Amanada!

I note last April she reported on the "state of the biblioblogosphere" --maybe it's time to do that again, eh Amanda? But first -- if you have a library Weblog, please add it to the wiki!! I would love to see the numbers go up!

I am also fascinated by the fact academic libraries and public libraries are almost neck and neck. Let's see what happens with the next wave of submissions. (Note that Amanda informed me her numbers were grabbed "quickly" and they are approximations!)

Posted by Michael at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.libraryforlife.org/blogs/lifeline/?p=1470

Joe, my esteemed colleague at SJCPL, is in NOLA, and today he posted to the SJCPL Blog. Go Joe! I like this form many reasons, including the fact it's transparent, it promotes the library's staff development initiatives and it makes for interetsing reading.

I'd urge other librarians blogging from ALA to post to their library's blog as well.

Posted by Michael at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Margaret Lincoln posts at the Nigh Blog:

The June 2006 issue of An End to Intolerance (AETI) features an article titled The Great Blog: Sharing Elie Wiesel's Memoir, Night.” Cold Spring Harbor student JP Rourkis contributed this excellent write-up of the project that linked high school students from New York and Michigan in a meaningful learning experience focusing on the Holocaust.

AETI is an international, student-produced magazine that is part of the Holocaust Genocide Project (HGP). Not only was HGP honored as a Program of Excellence by the New York State English Council in 2005, but the organization has been also recognized on the Facing History and Ourselves Website and on the Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation Website.

http://www.iearn.org.il/hgp/aeti/aeti-2006/full.PDF

Posted by Michael at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Caught this in Mark Lindner's post about his blog's page views. Nice little bit at the end about joining the biblioblogosphere and "why we do this..."

And, yes, I fully know that this little event really is no great shakes in the grand scheme of things, or even as important as stopping to appreciate the beauty of a flower or the smile of a puppy, but it gives me a small little glow anyway. If anyone had told me back in January 2005 that I'd have well over 500 posts and 20,000 page views in less than a year and a half I'd have told them they were crazy and probably quit immediately on the offchance they were right. I'm glad they didn't.

Who knew what would come of all of this biblioblogging? I sure didn't!

Posted by Michael at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via the American Libraries Direct Newsletter:

http://blog.marketingprofs.com/2006/06/w_why_blog_post_frequency_does.html

Daily posts are a legacy of a Web 1.0 mindset and early Web 2.0 days (meaning 12 months ago!). The pressure around posting frequency will ultimately become a significant barrier to the maturity of blogging. Here are 10 reasons why.....

Posted by Michael at 06:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://wplbookclub.blogspot.com/2006/06/librarians-book-club-blog-gets.html

One of my favorite examples fr blog workshops and the Roadshow! Well done, Christine!!

Waterloo librarian Christine Brown draws inspiration from a variety of sources for her online book club blog. The blog has been picked up by the American Library Association as part of a course on Internet technologies.

Do you know what a washing machine, hot air furnace, privy seat and moustache adjuster all have in common? Probably not. But then you're likely missing out on Christine Brown's blog, an online publishing tool that offers a huge array of information, including hyperlinks related to "cool websites."

Posted by Michael at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A blog to watch...fascinating:

Put simply: Instead of trying to make your library seem cool, be a librarian and do cool things.

This concept developed out of my experiments with blogs. I was using LiveJournal to communicate with friends and discovered the journals of several students. By “be-friending” them and following their lives, I was able to find a natural and meaningful channel to help them. This process was later streamlined and evolved into: The Ubiquitous Reference Model. I am trying to push this concept further in both the physical and virtual context.

This blog asks you to rethink the role and traditional values that librarians hold. This blog seeks to break the stereotype and explore the possibilities of a new identity. This blog asks you to step outside the library and become ubiquitous.

Posted by Michael at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wooohoo... take a look and comment if you'd like!

http://heleneblowers.alablog.org/blog/_archives/2006/5/23/1978472.html

Posted by Michael at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Library Bloggers are Cordially Invited to Join
ALA President-Elect Leslie Burger
At a Reception to Honor Gulf Coast Librarians
Affected by Hurricane Katrina

Saturday, June 24, 2006
10:30 pm - Midnight

Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel
Bienville Suite
27th Floor
Two Poydras Street
New Orleans, LA 70140

R.S.V.P. by June 14, 2006
800-545-2433, ext. 4258
rsvp@ala.org

Posted by Michael at 04:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't miss:

http://medlibrarian.net

I met Mary and Darren at CIL and they had a lot of good things to say, so take a look at their blog!

(but, why no comments?) OOPS! I misread the about page! Comments are open. Forgive me, med Librarians!

Posted by Michael at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a pointer and a note:

http://blog.njla.org/

File this under how to do it GOOD for state level library associations!

Posted by Michael at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jenny welcomes Mary Ghikas to the Biblioblogosphere! And I, too, am just tickled!

Cluetrain Manifesto #3 & #4:

Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice. | Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.

Mary Ghikas on the Biblioblogosphere from her first blog post:

As I've explored the "biblioblogosphere," I've been struck by several things. First has been the vitality and generosity of the professional exchange taking place. I have shamelessly grabbed references to other blogs and web sites, to interesting papers and new books to read. Second has been the reflectiveness of many posts -- the thoughtful consideration of context, of related issues and concerns, of evaluation. Finally, there is the personal voice -- with revelations of frustration, happiness, anger, optimism.

Welcome Mary!

Posted by Michael at 08:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steve Lawson, author of See Also, RULES the SCHOOL today!

Subscribe to TTW Comments

Steve emailed: To get this to work, go to Templates, and create a new index template. I named mine "RSS 2.0 Comments" and gave it the filename "comments.xml". Cut and paste the code below. Save and rebuild and see what show up at http://tametheweb.com/comments.xml
If it looks OK-ish, let me know and I'll subscribe and see how it looks in my aggregator.
-Steve

Steve included the code and I followed his directions and BOOM! comments! Thanks Steve!

Posted by Michael at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Welcome_to_the_Blogging_Libraries_Wiki

I'm late to this party, but WOWZA what a great resource! Thanks Amanda!

Posted by Michael at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Deep in my research proposal this morning at the Mishawaka Panera Bread, Blyberg's statement resonates with me while writing about the social purpose of Library Weblogs:

Early in the website design process, we made the decision that blogs would constitute the nucleus of our dynamic website content. In addition, we wanted to enable commenting on those blogs. We really had no idea what kind of response we would get–of what form that response would take. Just a brief look at our Director’s Blog will illuminate the fact that the blogs promote a constant two-way dialogue between our director, Josie Parker, and the public. Of course, making this succesful requires a director who is courageous enough to regularly face the public head-on. But if you’re not ready to go there, be sure to take a look at some of AADL’s other blogs that are staffed by some very clued-in, bright minds. Virtually every material type garners it’s own blog. New blog entries are added several times a day. Often, blog entries serve to promote what, otherwise, may be obscured by the bigger names. In essense, blogging your material taps into the long tail by putting oft-overlooked titles in front of eyeballs.

Posted by Michael at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been reading I Shush lately from Woody E, a Librarian from Texas, and this caught my eye:

This all leads to reader participation in the organization of information. Librarians no longer have a monopoly on this. Computers and people are finding new, sexier ways to it for themselves. For librarians to stay in the game, we've got to incorporate self-organizing, bottom-up, grassroots, folksonomies into the very careful and rather inert records we create. We need moveable records (or, to clarify: portions of records) that make library materials dynamic for our users. iBistro is a step toward Amazon, but we've got to start stepping faster. Tagging & Folksonomy

Also,

Uses for cell phones in libraries

Posted by Michael at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A comment posted for Libraries Using Multiple Weblogs

Well I started with two blogs for our library: one for news about our digital collection and daily messages about in-house matters, the other one for tools, nice websites and other things like that. The management could not agree on the first one because they did not want the staff to feel obliged to visit a weblog. I thought it was an opportunity to get them all moving to online information gathering.

Edwin

Edwin - I am very sorry about this. What if the staff was trained to aggregate RSS feeds -- taught how to access a handful of blogs, LIS news and more via a one stop shop environemnt? What if this made them more comfortable with the technology -- a technology that will shape how content is delievered in the future from the web, dadatabses and more? What if this made them more knowledgable in meetings and in planning session? What if...

Oh well, I guess they are missing out. I hope you continue to point out the usefulness of these tools, the benefits, the changes in the landscape and posts and comments like this one. The LiB says it so well: "Try to make your case as hard as you can. If you believe in a service or initiative enough, you will do everything you can to make it happen--including taking an unpopular position with your administration. "

I think I'd file "We do not want staff to feel obligated to visit a webolg" under yet another reason you might lose your good people.

:-/ is right!

Posted by Michael at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via OPL Plus:

http://yalibrarian.com/

About This Blog: This Blog is updated by two librarians who work with teens. It includes viewpoints about serving teens, as well as day-to-day commentary on what the librarians are learning and experiencing.

Good stuff! This blog will be useful to many librarians working and planning with teens, who might want to add it to their aggregator!

Posted by Michael at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From comment on the OPAL Links post:

Did you mention something about individual library branches having their own blogs? Do you know of any library systems doing this right now?

This question came up at PLA as well. Can you, readers, help me out? Is anyone using multiple blogs for each branch library or department? I like the idea especially if aggregated into a central page. It would certainly be something to explore. Please comment, e-mail me at mstephens7 (at) mac.com or IM me at mstephens7mac.

Posted by Michael at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://michaelgolrick.blogspot.com/2006/04/ala-blogger-round-table.html#links

Michael Golrick has a GREAT idea! Form a Blogger's RT at ALA. I'm in! Pass the word!

Posted by Michael at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Authority in the Age of the Amateur

The Hype and the Hullabaloo of Web 2.0

The Hive Mind: Folksonomies and User-Based Tagging

Posted by Michael at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UPDATE: What a great time that was! Thanks to all at OPAL!!

Here's the presentation.

Here are some extra links as resources:

Cluetrain

Netvibes

Open Source Software at TechEssence

ALA on DRM & DRM Guide for Librarians

Librarians Who IM

Future of Music

Using Bloglines!

The Internet is Entering its LEGO era

Libraries with MySpace accounts

Tennant and Pace on the Future of Catalogues from Panlibus

Rainie on Millennials from SELCO

iPods in Action at Georgia College and State University

Using Evidence to Support our Libraries from Stephen Abram

OCLC Perceptions

Posted by Michael at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/

I am enjoying Library Garden... I like the tone, the focus and the information. Give it a try, especially this post: Use Your Good Judgement

Think about that for a minute. One rule, “use your good judgment” (note, they don’t say “best judgment”; they give employees credit for having good judgment right from day one.) One rule, followed by the encouragement to do anything that the low-level, inexperienced employee deems appropriate to give good customer service. That’s employee empowerment, and it’s that foundation of trust that naturally gives rise to the famous Nordstrom culture of customer service.

Now think about the experience of library customers. What is the experience of the customer that walks through your doors (real or virtual.) How different would their experience be if libraries told staff to “go out and give great service”, and meant it, and supported it, and rewarded it. How different? How different would the customer’s experience be if we ditched the rules? If we valued friendly

Libraries struggling with customer service issues might take a lesson from Nordstrom and this blog!

Posted by Michael at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://techessence.info/

Meredith points to TechEssence where she is writing with some ultra-hot library folk! I heart group blogging! Take a look because from what I've seen this will be a valuable resource for evidence-based decision-making.

Posted by Michael at 02:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rachel Singer Gordon, most cool library author and my writing partner for Computers in Libraries' "Tech Tips for Every Librarian," has started a blog! Take a look and add her to your aggregator!

I am very happy she is adding her voiuce to the collective voice of the biblioblogosphere! I look forward to her insight and thoughts! She's definitely a "cool kid" in my book.

The Liminal Librarian

Rachel writes:

I’m mindful of the temptation to start a blog, then all but abandon it for lack of time, energy, or “something to say” -- one reason I’ve held off this long. I’m not likely to post every day, but I’m not planning on going away anytime soon.

This blog will be devoted to the “in between” -- about avoiding the temptation to view hot button issues in black-and-white, about thinking about whether I can still call myself a librarian, even though I’m no longer working in a library, about generational issues and Library 2.0 issues and about our profession itself as being in a liminal state.

Posted by Michael at 08:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had a question at the PLA session: Are there libraries that have blogs for each individual branch. It was a great question and both Jenny and I couldn't name a specific example. Thanks to Emily Posedel, Web Content Specialist in the Access Services & Training Division of the San Diego County Library, we have one! She writes to TTW:

Thanks for all the examples on how we can redefine the function of an RSS feed on a library site.

Related to the Q/A: Currently a few of our branches have teen blogs. I have them linked @ http://sdcl.org/TeenLounge_blogs.html

Thanks Emily! Do other folks have blogs per branch or area? Please share!

Posted by Michael at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Connie Crosby, Library Manager, WeirFoulds LLP up in Toronto, Ontario, writes that she and Steve Matthews and Michael Lines have just launched the Canadian Association of Law Librarians first conference blog at http://www.callacbd.ca/conferences/2006/blog/

This year, for the first time, the annual conference will be complemented by a collective blog (this one). Bloggers from all regions, as well as those new to blogging, are invited to contribute. We hope to offer descriptions of and reactions to the conference sessions and social events, as well as other aspects of the Edmonton experience, including weather updates and travel tips. Two of Canada’s top law bloggers, Connie Crosby and Steve Matthews, are already on board. If you are interested in contributing, contact Michael Lines at mlines (at) law.ualberta.ca

Posted by Michael at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in February, I did the SirsiDynix Webinar: Weblogs & Libraries: Communication, Conversation, and the Blog People. I got the statistics, survey and audience questions a few days ago from Crystal, who made the whole thing run so smoothly. One of the things she suggested is I might answer some of the questions here as well as share some of the polls we ran through the talk.

The mechanism for the SirsiDynix presentations is very useful: the polls engage the audience and the presenter gets valuable feedback and data!We opened the session by asking what type of library folks were coming from:

The session had between 200-250 people listening/watching. Not all audience members answered the polls or there were multiple folks registered as one. For this question, 166 folks answered. It was midday on a week day, so I think the school librarians couldn't attend, but I was glad to see such an even breakdown between academic libraries and public libraries.

The most fascinating poll to me was the question that asked "Does your library have a blog?"

I actually thought more libraries would have blogs!

At the end of the session, we asked folks how they would follow up:

I hope some of the folks in the 67% decide a weblog might be useful for enhance their library's presence, creating a conversation and building community.

In the data I received from the Webinar were questions we didn't get to from audience memebrs. Crystal suggested I might answer some here:

Questions:

What is the difference between WordPress and Blogger and when would you recommend one over the other?

Wordpress is open source software (OSS). One of the best classes I had at UNT was a class focused on OSS - I moaned about it then but now it just makes so much sense for use to be looking at how OSS can be used in libraries. Wordpress is free to download and install on your server at your library. Blogger is hosted, off-site. You have no control over that server or that site. It is, however, a great way toi experiment or a perfect choice for small libraries that need a hosted solution.

From my article in the February Computers in Libraries "How and Why to Try a Blog for Staff Communication," this passage fits here as well (I wish the articles Rachel and I write were available online!):

Open source software solutions prove to be the way to go for many institutions. With a community of support, various enhancements, available plug-ins, and relatively simple installation, software such as WordPress can be the perfect solution for internal blogging. How can you decide between all these choices? Look closely at your library's resources: staffing, funds, and time. If you do not have staff that can install and configure software on a Web server, you may want to look at hosted solutions first. If funds are an issue, you may want to look at a free hosted Blogger Weblog or a local install of the no-cost WordPress.

Rachel's article this month, which still has not appeared in Ebsco, is all about the benefits of OSS for libraries. Please look for it in the March CIL or online at your favorite leased database!

Do you recommend having a few weeks of blog posts before you go “live” with your blog (ie, tell people it’s there)?

I would suggest a soft opening: put the blog up and add some content then link to it from your opening page (or make it your opening page!). After a few days or a couple weeks, start promoting: fliers, bookmarks, etc. I like the idea of a bit of library schwag devoted to the blog: pens, pencils, etc.

The soft opening does two things: gives time for any glitches to be discovered and gives staff time to get comfortable. Remeber though: the library weblog will be wehre 90% of your new content probably goes. It needs to be foundl. It needs to be interesting. And it needs to be sustainable.

At SJCPL, whenever we had a big program or event, I checked the blog to make sure there was coverage there. I kid you not, no one is going to find that little update you made to a page buried three levels deep in your library Website!

RSS feeds – how do you get one on your blog?

This is an easy one: blog software comes complete with RSS built in! WooHoo. The minute you turn on your library blog, you are turning on an RSS feed as well. Wnat to make sure? Throw your blog URL into Bloglines or Blog Bridge and see what happens?

The second part of the equation is education:

Teach RSS & Aggregators ASAP!

Your staff and users will thank you for it! I kid you not: giving the power to aggregate news, blogs and more into a single place to your staff and users opens up a whole new way to look at the Web. Add a class to your roster that introduces Bloglines, Blog Bridge or the aggregator of your choice. Remember that Web-based aggregators allow folks to check their subscriptions to RSS feeds from anywhere.

Combining an overview of news sites that offer feeds, customized searches in Feedster or Technorati and reading lists like those offered in Blog Bridge or created yourself by simply listing your favorite blogs and sites, this type of training session can really invigorate staff. Library users will benefit as well from learning how to subscribe to their favorite news sites, and throw the library blog’s feed in too for built in promotion!

What are the reasons that libraries do NOT allow comments to their blogs? If you allow comments can that lead to spamming?

Sure. It can lead to spamming. But there are plugins available as well as moderation to prevent blog spam from getting out of control.

My take, however, is turning on comments can be very scary for some librarians. "Oh! What if they start asking us questions?" a librarian said at a recent stop of the Roadshow. That's good - GREAT - if you get questions! But you need to be ready to respond. That's the next step for Library Weblogs: conversation! It is time to enter into networked conversations.

I do have some concerns, though about the impact of blogs on group identities.
When 6 staff members each have individual blogs, is the collective concept of 'the library' somewhat lessened?

This is interesting. I haven't encountered too many library weblogs that use individual blogs for staff members, other than the multiple blogs at AADL. Most seem to divide topics into categories or have individual author names. What I think happens is the group voiice becomes the collective voice of the library. For example, at the SJCPL Blog, you'll find posts about new books, the Academy Awards, Brokeback Mountain and a librarian who participated in a climb of the Hancock Tower for charity. These are all individuals who add their experiences, thoughts and interests. Collectively, it creates the presence of the library. A particular author may really engage a particular reader, but it all happens under the unbrella of the library creating conversation.

Is there a loss of branding and message for the 'library' when each staff member is voicing their views independantly?

No. I think not. IF you've done the education piece: create the goal and mission of the library blog, gather your authors, discuss posting procedures and guidelines and let them go forth and write, armed with knowledge of the mission and comfortable with sharing their voice. Reign in someone who gets outside the mission. This is a learning process too.

What will be the unintended consequences when patrons begin to view their librarians as a individuals and not just as 'roles' (i.e. researcher, children's reference, etc.)? Have any studies examined these issues yet - or is it just too soon?

I think the best unintended consequence (or inteneded!) is that the library will have a human presence. Library users will get to know authors and their interests. That's important on so many levels, especially in this plugged in, social world where so many folks share themselves online. Want proof of how important the hum,an connection can be in libraries? Click on over to the Feel Good Librarian and read about the conversations and connections that go on in that library.

I have not found any studies, but boy of boy is that question ripe for research!

Comments from Attendees:

"I wonder why we are still using e mail to plan our state conference. If I were more knowledgeable we would be blogging our way to success."

"As to getting involved in the LIS side of blogging I was thinking during your talk about those of us who don't have the time/energy/creative juices to write a blog but have the occasional idea that might like to share with the 'sphere. We can still contribute to the conversation by sharing our ideas, new services, etc. with folks who do blog. I've always had positive experiences passing ideas along to LIS bloggers (present company included) who in turn share those ideas with their readers. Something to include in the presentation?"

Posted by Michael at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm heading up to Minnesota this May to talk about Library 2.0. If you're going to be at one of the sessions, please say HI! I just got word that the Southeastern Libraries Cooperating group (SELCO) has started a blog. Take a look: http://www.selco.info/blog/.

It's nice to see more library consortia and systems blogging for their members.

Posted by Michael at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...the thoughts are broken... points to a blog by a candidate for ALA president. Guess what? No comments enabled! And Mark can't find an e-mail.

http://bookmark.typepad.com/the_thoughts_are_broken/2006/03/which_required_.html

I would have commented at her blog, but they don't seem to be allowed. Nice way to engage the constituency. I would have sent her an email, but I couldn't find an email address on the blog anywhere. I may well have missed it as I do get blind on occasion. But I spent at least 5 minutes over 2 separate occasions today looking for such an animal on her blog. So if it is there, I apologize for the next comment. Seems to me to be a classic case of the Old Guard. Yes, she has a blog. So what? So do millions of other people. But it is only being used as a platform to speak at me.

Posted by Michael at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wowza! Libby at SJCPL does a nice twist on the Meme of Four and relates it to what the library offers. Check it out and adapt it for your library blog!

http://www.libraryforlife.org/blogs/lifeline/?p=527

Let me know if you do!

Update:

The LiB reports: I did this for our library blog a while back and tagged other library blogs, though to my knowledge none of them picked it up: http://marincountyfreelibrary.blogspot.com/archives/2006_02_01_marincountyfreelibrary_archive.html#113891940102245290

Posted by Michael at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kathleen at Otter Group posts about how Guy Kawasaki writes a post and her own methods. This is thoughtful and includes haveing someone "edit" the post for clarity etc. I'm reminded of our editorial process at TechSource. I've sent TTW posts/essays to trusted colleagues to make sure the wording, etc is right. It's always good to sleep on a bigger post too and re-read it in the morning.

http://www.ottergroup.com/blog/_archives/2006/2/19/1772355.html

Note: I believ this method is very useful for the essay style posts many bloggers write, but quick pointers and notes are just that: quicker little posts that might not need the editorial eyes.

Posted by Michael at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congratulations to Sarah - ourLibrarian in Black - who just got a new job!

http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2006/03/walking_in_the_.html

WoooHooo!

Posted by Michael at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(David said I could call the post that!)

http://www.davidleeking.com/

Take a look at David King's snazzy new blog, complete with categories and such! WooHoo! My favoriter category right now is the postings devoted to the Experience Economy. Give it a read at http://www.davidleeking.com/category/experience-economy/

I'm reminded of the first time I met David -- Bob Lewandowskli and I timidly approached him outsdide of XandO (now Cosi) in Dupont Circle at CIL 2004. I just had to say "You Rock" to him about his take on library web sites.

Posted by Michael at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://infotangle.blogsome.com/2006/02/20/authority-in-the-age-of-the-amateur/

A thoughtful piece at Infotangle discusses authority of Weblogs. Ellyssa Kroski ponders, for example, how we might judge the usefulness and authority of a Weblog:

Identity of the Author – Seek out the identity and credentials of the author. Be wary of anonymous bloggers.

Content Analysis - Investigate the body of work on a blog, not just the posting you’re interested in.

Posted by Michael at 09:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beyond all of our technobabble in the Biblioblogosphere, which dear friends you know I love, is a voice so pure that I'm more often than not moved by the words. I get chills. This voice shares exactly what it's like in many public libraries today -- working reference and interacting with people.

There is absolutely nothing I could have said to her that would have made any difference at that point. Something personal would have been completely inappropriate and unprofessional, not to mention obviously unwanted. In Reference Interview seminars, we are taught to end with, “Does this answer your question? Please let me know if I can help you further, “ or other wrap-up phrases. But she was so intent on getting the information from that book that I immediately ceased to exist, and those phrases served no purpose. They don’t ever cover this in library training, but sometimes, the best thing to say is nothing.

Thank you Feel Good Librarian.

Posted by Michael at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I roared:

http://www.laughinglibrarian.com/bd_blogga.htm

(Oh No! I watched so many times I have "Blogga Blogga Blake " in my head now! Curses!)

And: Songs for Cheney's iPod at the SJCPL Blog!

http://www.libraryforlife.org/blogs/lifeline/?p=567

Posted by Michael at 08:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

File this with Karen's work on Blogger's Ethics as well. Jessamyn weighs in on the A List and her thoughts on how to be a well-recceived blogger.Thanks Jessamyn!

be gracious with everyone
be consistent
lead by example
encourage, nurture, read and link to newer bloggers
meet bloggers in person whenever possible
keep pissing matches and whining off your blog, take grudges offline
read constantly, offline and online
know what you are talking about and admit when you don’t
make your content presentable and accessible and findable
don’t turn down other opportunities to get your message out and make a good impression
accept the power and the responsibility that comes with where you are, and use it for good

Posted by Michael at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome to the 1000th TTW post in its current incarnation! Thanks everyone!

Abram writes bout two memes making their way around the blogospher. "I will blog because..." and "I will as a school librarian..."

I will blog because it helps me expand my ideas with ideas from other people in the cyberworld who are thinking about the same things that I am thinking about

I will blog because I need to "reinvent" myself as a Library Media Specialist in a changing world . . . once again!

and

I will collaborate with my peers from around the world – you will collaborate with peers in your school.

I will add podcasts, video clips and other multimedia to my presentation and post it to the web - you will share it with your teachers and students.

Can I just say that hotness abounds! Here are my thoughts for this meme and to note the 1000th TTW post

I will blog because:

I like putting myself out there! :-)

Posted by Michael at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Attention School Librarians, don't miss UNT Cohort colleague Margaret Lincoln's coverage of her work with students, blogging and the travelling Holocaust exhibit at School Library Journal. It's fascinating and concrete proof of the power of blogging in schools.

The Night Blog is here.

As the media specialist in charge of coordinating technology related to Lakeview’s Holocaust unit, I created a blog so students could exchange their views of Night with kids 720 miles away in the English class of Honey Kern at Cold Spring Harbor High School in New York. Lakeview High School English teacher Carol Terburg found the blog to be an effective and engaging teaching tool, giving students the chance to talk to their peers in another part of the country. As a result, kids ended up exploring questions that were essential to their Holocaust lesson without realizing it. For example, one student asked, “How does one dehumanize another person/group?” Terburg says that her students found the blog to be the most meaningful activity related to Wiesel’s book.

Posted by Michael at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.sitepoint.com/print/blog-software-smackdown-review

Just a pointer to a great overview of some blog software. If you are starting to plan for blogs at your library, this might be a good page to investigate.

Posted by Michael at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://acrlblog.org/2005/11/28/academias-conflicted-reaction-to-blogging/

The conflicted reactions to blogging in higher education are discussed in a good article at Slate titled, “Attack of the Career-Killing Blogs.” It suggests several reasons while academic blogging is looked down upon, including departmental jealousy, that it’s considered a waste of time that should be spent on serious research, and that it falls outside the traditional peer-review journal system. Blogs however, seem to fulfill in many more ways the “fruition, not a betrayal, of the university’s ideals.” The article then considers that if a major objection to academic blogs is that they lack peer review, how might a system to judge and review them be put in place.

I would hope that academic librarian's blogs would be counted for tenure, etc in some way. I hope the universities find a way to guage "service" and content contributed to the profession as well as the library itself. Looking at the stats for my survey, over 40 folks of 238 respondents identified themselves as academic librarian bloggers, more than any other position!

Posted by Michael at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Ian McKinney at ACPL:

I especially like the look and feel of the blog closely tied to the ACPL front page. Well done!

Posted by Michael at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A nice post at a newish blog:

http://rhlspace.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-library-blogs-can-do-for-you.html

This post pionts to two great passages from Laurel Clyde's book Weblogs and Libraries. A nice reminder of excellent scholarly work from someone the information science community lost too soon.

Posted by Michael at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love this list! Reprinting all of them as an FYI...New Library graduates, have you thought about blogging and listing your blog on your resume?

http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2005/03/08/BloggingIsGood

Ten Reasons Why Blogging is Good For Your Career

You have to get noticed to get promoted.

You have to get noticed to get hired.

It really impresses people when you say “Oh, I’ve written about that, just google for XXX and I’m on the top page” or “Oh, just google my name.”

No matter how great you are, your career depends on communicating. The way to get better at anything, including communication, is by practicing. Blogging is good practice.

Bloggers are better-informed than non-bloggers. Knowing more is a career advantage.

Knowing more also means you’re more likely to hear about interesting jobs coming open.

Networking is good for your career. Blogging is a good way to meet people.

If you’re an engineer, blogging puts you in intimate contact with a worse-is-better 80/20 success story. Understanding this mode of technology adoption can only help you.

If you’re in marketing, you’ll need to understand how its rules are changing as a result of the current whirlwind, which nobody does, but bloggers are at least somewhat less baffled.

It’s a lot harder to fire someone who has a public voice, because it will be noticed.

Posted by Michael at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been to point folks to the Darien Library Blogs for sometime, and what better time than now, to highlight this post about AV materials:

http://www.darienlibrary.org/connections/movies-music/archives/2005/12/post_1.html

King Kong opens today and it's playing right here in town! Now, the question is, are we determined enough to brave these bone-chilling temperatures and leave the homefires to view the mighty beast? Come on! The reviews are so good, this may turn out to be the rare screen event that launches a classic. Besides, the movie, at more than 3 hours long, will give us ample time to thaw and we can enjoy chills of the spine-tingling variety!

Within sight of the Playhouse, right here at the Library, we've got some great new titles on DVD. Released yesterday were the action-packed science fiction thriller The Island, and from Canada, Saint Ralph, a story of adolescence, endurance, faith, and miracles. Also, now out on DVD is The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Dare I say how much I enjoyed this movie? Yes, it's got some of the crass humor one would expect given the cringe-inducing title, but, this is also a great buddy movie and a sweet, romantic comedy. (Did I mention how funny this movie is?)

Why I like this post:

It taps into a current event (KONG), a local business (the Playhouse), and what the library can also offer for entertainment on a cold Connecticut night.

It highlights new releases with a bit of reviewer's flair.

The voice is just to perfect! "Cold off the UPS truck"

It highlights that the library gets new releases and gets them out to users ASAP.

Well Done Darien!

Posted by Michael at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.universitybusiness.com/page.cfm?p=1084

Ken Smith, who blogs here in South Bend at Weblogs in Higher Education, has published an article about blogging at University Business.

Here's my favorite quote:

Whether it's written by a witty cultural studies professor or a dedicated news junkie, a good blog usually includes links to other websites. The blogger quotes from and annotates other blogs in an informal fashion that many a scholar would nevertheless recognize.

Good bloggers do quite a bit of work to present, perhaps even organize, a body of knowledge for their readers, and they write every day. They respond quickly to news and discussions as they unfold across the web. By practice and by design, there is always fresh content at the top of a blog. Experienced bloggers read widely and know most of the other writers who cover their topic; they list the best of these sites in their sidebar. In time, skillful bloggers build a community of readers and writers who focus on their shared concerns.

I'm certain we've built community here in the Biblioblogosphere and as I go through the mountain of data from the survey, it's even more evident.

There are some good bits and hints in the Smith piece, give it a read!

Posted by Michael at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amongst all the incredible nominees for edu-blogging is a category of LIBRARIANS! The nomineess are: (drum roll)

1. Caveat Lector
Dorothea Salo

2. Infomancy
Christopher Harris

3. Joyce Valenza’s NeverEnding Search
Joyce Valenza

4. Librarian.net
Jessamyn West

5. Open Stacks
Greg Schwartz

6. The Shifted Librarian
Jenny Levine

I'm pleased to say I know 4 of these folks personally!

Here's the link to vote: http://www.pollmonkey.com/p.asp?U=1783125569

Please vote!

Posted by Michael at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Alan Gray of the Darien Library in Connecticut:

President-elect Leslie Burger has returned to blogging. This is good on so many levels. It makes me happy to see our incoming president try one of the Web 2.0 tools on for size. I hope I bump into her someday at a conference and we get to talk about blogs, etc. I'm sure it won't be like when TTW met Michael Gorman in March 2005.

http://burgerforala.blogs.com/burger_for_ala/

I especially like "Talking to Strangers on Buses" - I've done that myself at ALA!

She writes:
I love to chat people up on the ALA shuttle buses. At the Chicago conference I struck up a conversation on a bus with a young woman who is a student at UNC Chapel Hill. I asked her to invite me to meet with UNC library school students sometime in the fall. She did, I went, I toured, I spoke and I came back thinking that the library profession will be in good hands with students like those I met. Thanks to the UNC Chapel Hill ALA Student Chapter for organizing this event.

Posted by Michael at 06:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm working on an article for CIL. I'd love to chat with anyone using internal blogs in new and exciting ways. Please e-mail me at:

mstephens7 (at) mac.com

THX!

Posted by Michael at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

http://schoolof.info/infomancy/?p=104

Infomancy picked up on the prevoious post about Margaret Lincoln's blog project. Here's the entry - and the comment, which does my heart good. (Bolding is mine)

School Library Blogging
Michael Stephens writes at Tame the Web about the use of educational blogging to connect schools in Michigan and New York. What was really great to see in his coverage of an article from the Battle Creek Enquirer, was that the teacher in Michigan knew to go to her school librarian to have the blog set up. Why? Because blogs, like libraries, are about the information and the conversation; not the technology. If you read the article, you will see what I mean about the conversation. I wonder if an essay assignment (with the teacher as the only audience) wouldn’t have elicited the same level of responses?

writing
November 28, 2005 | 5:37 pm

Why they block them? This is so important! I’m the student of NY, and I’d like to communicate with other students using blog power.

Posted by Michael at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Battle Creek Enquirer - www.battlecreekenquirer.com - Battle Creek, Mich.

"It gives students the chance to talk to other students from another part of the country, a place they may or may not be familiar with," said Carol Terberg, Lakeview English teacher. "Mrs. Lincoln (Margaret Lincoln), our librarian, set it up for us. I've asked my students what's been the most meaningful activities with the book and they've said the blog."

Margaret. Lincoln is in school with me at UNT and I'm so happy to see that she's incorporated blogs into her work at the school! What an incredible idea to bring to distant schools together to blog and have CONVERSATIONS!

Posted by Michael at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Aaron has been busy! Take a look at the new Thomas Ford Memorial Library page as well as walking paper. Well done!

And, with much synchronicity, Jessamyn has been installing Movable Type 3.2 here at TTW and coding this new space with me standing by in awe. Please pardon our dust as we continue. This will be the third incarnation of TTW. Dare I call it 3.0?

Here's a look back:

Posted by Michael at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://cosmicvariance.com/2005/11/12/academic-blogger-flash-mob/

"What were we talking about? Everything you can think about to do with blogging. The discussion was framed in terms of academic (and those with other expert knowledge) bloggers, and their blogging. What purpose it serves, who does it, is it a good thing, and in particular…. why are more academics not blogging, and how can we help get more to blog? So we’ve been formulating visions for the future, and also trying to decide how we can help to make it better for everyone."

I love that Karen was involved in this. Read this content-rich post and check out Karen's post as well.

Posted by Michael at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://library.coloradocollege.edu/cal2005/

My IL05 Bonjour IM buddy Steve Lawson, who writes "See Also" is doing a presentation at the Colorado Association of Libraries Conference.

He writes about it here: http://library.coloradocollege.edu/steve/archives/2005/11/teach_an_old_bl_1.html

This is an excellent use of a weblog with CSS enhancement as a presentation. Steve..my socks are offcially knocked off!

Add Steve Lawson's blog to your aggregator - it's a good one!

Posted by Michael at 06:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Ken Smith at IUSB, my favorite hometown blogger!

Ken points to an interview with David Kline, who just published a book called Blog! He pulls out this impressive quote.

After bloggers master the fundamentals of this new medium, they will come to value belonging more than hearing themselves talk. Also, this sense of being a member of something bigger than themselves will drive them to shape their postings to be of service

I truly believe librarians who blog professionally have a great sense of community, especially those who have avoided the ME ME ME mentality and looked toward the greater good. Do you know how many librarians may be looking to us -- the biblioblogosphere -- as a means to understand and keep up with issues in LIS?

Posted by Michael at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via David King:

http://www.blyberg.net

I agree with David: Code Alert for us non-techies but darn good stuff.

Posted by Michael at 01:50 PM | Permalink

Via LIS DOM and Meredith:

There aren't many places in the world where you can get by--get ahead, if you want to think of it that way--simply on the strength of your ideas and your willingness to express them. The biblioblogosphere turns out to be one of those places. I'm immensely grateful for that. I haven't been blogging much lately--the whole life trumps blogging thing that many have experienced--but I still dip in and sometimes dive in to this wonderful set of waterways that all of you have built. One way or another, I plan to keep on tumbling through it, and I hope that next June, one way or another, many of you will all wash up in New Orleans.

Read the whole thing here....

Posted by Michael at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via one of my student's blogs!

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6269278.html

Steven does a couple of surveys and offers tips for library blogs. This struck me:

Despite the rapid proliferation of library blogs I was skeptical about their value and doubted that college students were ready for them. Nevertheless, in fall 2004 I began experimenting with a blog for the Paul J. Gutman Library at Philadelphia University. My skepticism, it turned out, was warranted. In an informal survey, I found that fewer than five percent of the respondents had even heard of RSS (real simple syndication) or news aggregators.

I still believe our work is not yet done with instructing/educating users. In our training workshop, one suggestion was getting away from the whole RSS name (just like not using the word blog either!) and use such choices as "feeds" or "subscriptions."

Bell winds up with this:

One benefit for libraries blogging to courseware is seizing a leadership role for the library in creating awareness about and education in the rapidly evolving technologies of blogging, news aggregation, social networking, and search personalization. In my own academic community, blogging to courseware has produced the added benefit of sparking faculty interest in RSS technology. Several faculty members expressed an interest in understanding how blogs, RSS, and news aggregators can help students learn about their disciplines. For example, a science professor wanted to feed postings from a blog about the everyday, practical applications of scientific principles into his chemistry course, finding it an excellent way to help students make connections between course content and the world beyond the classroom.

Great stuff!

Posted by Michael at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via my Assistant Director at SJCPL:
http://www.clioinstitute.info/blog/

This blog has been created as an e-communication tool of the clioinstitute , a learning arm of the Cerritos Public Library in Cerritos, California.

New resources in each of the clioinstitute clio specific focus areas will be added regularly:
�creativity
�learning
�innovation
�organizational change
So bookmark this page or add it to your RSS feed. Visit often to add your comments and help inspire libraries to inspire communities.

"Inspire Communities!" YES!

A new but possibly very useful blog from Cerritos PL, already I've found some HOT pointers to strategic plans and information for stimulating ideas. Promoting creative thinking, this is some good stuff and one to watch. The hottest thing so far: a pointer to this page at Multnomah where users talk about what they get from the library and what they do there. Echoes of Ann Arbor's conversations/comments in a static HTML format. Pay attention to these type of library sites - it's part of our future!

Listening to You

Posted by Michael at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Jessamyn -

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weblogs.html

What great stuff. I love to read a blog author bio as well as see who is writing! That puts a human element in all this blog stuff. And always remember: you are writing for your "future boss!"

Posted by Michael at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Darlene Fichter and I are presenting a workshop on organizational weblogs next Saturday in Monterey...this is good food for thought!)

http://stephenslighthouse.sirsi.com/archives/2005/08/the_gartner_hyp.html

1. Technology Trigger: A breakthrough, public demonstration, product launch or other event generates significant press and industry interest.

Ponder any of the hot hot technologies we're discussing. When did you first hear about RFID? Podcasts? IM in libraries? Was it at a conference or a big event or in an article... what about BLOGS? Let's ponder blogs and podcasts for this example.

March 2002: CIL...I first heard about blogging..and I discovered some classic bloggers...

2. Peak of Inflated Expectations: During this phase of over enthusiasm and unrealistic projections, a flurry of well-publicized activity by technology leaders results in some successes, but more failures, as the technology is pushed to its limits. The only companies making money are conference organizers and magazine publishers.

Here I'm reminded of a bit I read in a recent issue of Business 2.0 on what technologies to ignore: podcasting, the writers state, "Yes, it�s nice to get MP3s downloaded to your iPod. But where are the revenues? Podcasting will continue, but as a business, it�s the latest iteration of CB radio."

BUT: while the business model may fail or die and return in some new way, user-created content will rule... be ready.

3. Trough of Disillusionment: Because the technology does not live up to its over inflated expectations, it rapidly becomes unfashionable. Media interest wanes, except for a few cautionary tales.

How many librarians started a blog and ceased after a few posts... how many libraries did as well. What about comment spam, broken software and how many folks sat in the conference and thought "I don't have TIME for this at my library...."

At the same time, some folk were realizing how powerful the read/write web might be....

4. Slope of Enlightenment: Focused experimentation and solid hard work by an increasingly diverse range of organizations lead to a true understanding of the technology's applicability, risks and benefits. Commercial, off-the-shelf methodologies and tools ease the development process.

Look at how the various content management systems have advanced and evolved. AADL is not your uncle's Blogger site is it?

5. Plateau of Productivity: The real-world benefits of the technology are demonstrated and accepted. Growing numbers of organizations feel comfortable with the reduced levels of risk, and the rapid growth phase of adoption begins.

Just look at ASIST...ALA TechSource (where I contribute)...PLA... 'nuff said!

Posted by Michael at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6261414.html

The whole cover thing blows me away... wow! I can't thank the group of people pictured there and Brian and the LJ folks for one of the best conversations I've had this year!

Flickr set of the session: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/sets/517913/

I was very happy to work with Brian Kenney on this article and gather the bloggers featured. I was impressed with their insight, candor and ideas for the future. Also, don't miss my interview with The Feel Good Librarian - in its full-length Web version!

Update: Meredith weighs in and I agree: I wish we had more space... the conversation was 2 hours in the making!

Posted by Michael at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is one to add to your aggregator!!

I linked below but here's Michael Casey's blog:

http://www.librarycrunch.com/

I'm intrigued by the twist "Library 2.0"... I just added it to Safari's RSS feeds. Michael - I want to hear more about your work and your library...

UPDATE: I am so excited to read these new voices of the Biblioblogosphere... and just looking at the last series of posts from Mr. Casey, I want to keep reading more. Someday, I want to sit across a table from him and talk all about this stuff! Wowza.

Posted by Michael at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.iasl-slo.org/ac-01.html

From the TTW Comments:

There is a tribute posted on School Libraries Online to Anne Clyde. www.iasl-slo.org Near the top, one can see a link entitled "Vale Dr. L. Anne Clyde". This is a compilation of messages and photos from around the world. Messages are still being added daily. Anne's funeral service was held today in Reykjavik, Iceland with over 200 people attending. - Peter Genco

Thank you Peter.

Posted by Michael at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://theanniversarytrip.blogspot.com/

One of our SJCPL Librarians is touring Europe! To share her travels with her staff at the branch she manages, she started a blog! I asked if I could link to it here as well because it illustrates some wonderful points:

This is a great way to share experiences with the folks back home. I'd like to see this blog on our staff intranet. Now we're talking about creating buy in and buzz for blogging - wowza!

It also illustrates conversation and community building for the staff of her branch. Look: http://theanniversarytrip.blogspot.com/2005/09/here-is-staff-at-river-park-branch.html What a send off!

Finally, it's an education piece. It teaches folks that tech training might not have reached yet that tools such as blogs can be used to share information and fun stuff too.

Posted by Michael at 05:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Aaron, www.walkingpaper.org, Michael, TTW, Jenny, www.theshiftedlibrarian.com

Posted by Michael at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Michael Stephens, TTW, Michael Porter, Libraryman, & Jessamyn West, Librarian.net

Posted by Michael at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Michael at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well Done Maureen!

http://lishost.org/~sjcpl/archives/000393.html

Posted by Michael at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have a slew of bloggers here at SJCPL that write for the Lifeline, but my colleague Joe Sipocz continually rocks my world with posts like this:

http://lishost.org/~sjcpl/archives/000389.html

It's timely, interesting and relates back to the collection.

Posted by Michael at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Luke:

http://www.hcpl.net/ebranch/news/archives/000329.html

Our sympathy goes out to those affected by the disaster.

All branches have free storytimes for children and many branches have programming for teens and adults. Please join us.

Nice set of blog entries for the folks that are relocating to the Houston area. This most local of entries into library web sites offering Katrina information says a lot about the information needs of victims of the storm.

Is your library ready for such requirements? What, heaven forbid, might you need to do if disaster strikes to reach out to your community and beyond?

Posted by Michael at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000510055412/

http://blogday.wikispaces.org/

BlogDay is August 31: BlogDay is about meeting new bloggers from other areas of interest around the world, as well as introducing your readers to new bloggers. Conceived by Nir Ofir as a way of celebrating our unique gathering of souls here in the blogosphere, BlogDay will take place on August 31 because the date "3108" looks more like the word "blog" than any other..."

The directions go on to state I should choose 5 newer blogs I like and post about them. I've chosen some relatively newer blogs that always seem to inspire me. Here goes:

Blog Day 2005 TTW Recommendations:

Feel Good Librarian: Jessamyn and other folks have pointed to this one but I have to do it one more time. Heavens, but this is what front-line library blogging is about. In fact, FGL is one of the most unique voices of the biblioblogosphere. Read FGL, you'll be happy you did!

::schwagbag:: : Congrats to Sherri on her new job AND on one of my favorite, relatively newer blogs! The content concerning IM, including a survey, detailed training captures and outlines and ponderances on academic library messaging, are priceless.

Wanderings of a Student Librarian: Thoughtful, intriguing and full of useful stuff: look at "How to Read a Journal Article" as an example. I'm also all about gathering the links to student librarian blogs...fascinating!

Edifice Ref: Beatrice gets it big time! She is blogging and promoting new tools for her library, Rhode Island and has taken on the monumental task of setting up a blog for the ASIS&T conference this fall. Well done!

Information Wants to Be Free Ok, Meredith has been blogging awhile, but WOWZA does her stuff inspire me. Take a look at this post about "What is a wiki" and you'll see, she gets it too:

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php/2005/08/24/280/

This is why I am dismayed that some of my colleagues seem to have given up this practice. In response to the question posed in BlogJunction�s post Am I Supposed to Know What a �Wiki� Is? I say YES!!! I can understand reading the email I wrote to WebJunction members and not knowing what a wiki is. There is nothing wrong with not knowing. But, as librarians who must know how to search the Web, how hard is it to look it up? Doing a Google search for �what is a wiki� nets 10 sites on the first page alone that have useful definitions of what a wiki is. In the time it would take someone to send an email pointing out that they don�t know what a wiki is, they could easily change that situation themselves.

So, those are just 5 of many LIS blogs I like to read. What I like about this group is that in each of their own ways they are actively working in our field as practitioners: to make libraries better, to educate users about new tech, to tell stories of the world of libraries, to make the reference desk personal, and improve the image of librarians. Rock ON!

(This is my 700th post to this version of TTW!)

Posted by Michael at 07:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2005/03/brain-of-blogger.html

Two researchers/doctors present this intriguing post. I'd like to see more ciations and links to studies, as one commentor states, but this should be filed under "Food for Thought."

1. Blogs can promote critical and analytical thinking.

2. Blogging can be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive, and associational thinking.

3. Blogs promote analogical thinking.

4. Blogging is a powerful medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information.

5. Blogging combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction.

I can attest to the fact that writing here has helped my thought processes.

Posted by Michael at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA631184.html

I'm a flutter over this quote folks:

"We wanted our web site to be interactive with the public, and chose blogs as the major form of communication," said Director Josie Parker. "The major point is to make the library transparent."

This comes from the AADL Director who is actively BLOGGING for the libraray and engaging the community in an ongoing dialogue. Humans are interacting here folks...not tech and not a faceless PR machine.

Lordy but AADL is on the Cluetrain now.

"They are even being used so that the public can talk with each other. The library is the public forum."

Take note, library admin types..this is a step toward an open, transparent community.

Posted by Michael at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just saying: Here's a nice post to the SJCPL Lifeline by our AV librarian. It speaks to me becuase it's written in Julie's voice. I know she hearts Cusack and it certainly comes through in the post. Just returning from the lake, I spent four hours in the car with The Cluetrain Manifesto and one of the pints is to speak in your own voice when participating in the Web. Well done Julie. Library bloggers - file this one under Notable Examples of Great Library Blogging!

Posted by Michael at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Read Jenny's post about Ann Arbor. I agree! This is truly an example of cutting edge technology used to make the library a human place with a human face. PLs should look to this model of service, use of technology and sense of community when planning their web presence.

And Panlibus agrees: "Just scanning the site gives you the feeling that there are humans behind it. Great site, and yet another exemplar for what can be done, for the rest of the Library world to aspire towards and beyond."

Posted by Michael at 07:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Go. Now. Subscribe. Read. Learn.

http://stephenslighthouse.sirsi.com/

Posted by Michael at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php/?p=253

Meredith writes an insightful post about blogging at work. I was intrigued to read/hear about her interviews recently. Library folk who hire: if you are not looking at a potential employees online presence, you should be! And if you don't know how blogging, wikis and sites such as flickr are changing the profession, you better learn. You never know what types of questions interviewees may ask. For example:

Do you have a blogging policy at the library?
Does blogging count as publishing/contributing to the field at evaluation time?
What collaboration tools does the library use to enhance work?
What tools does the library use for its online presence?

AND speaking of, library administrators, have you looked at this lately? http://www.liscareer.com/cunningham_eiq.htm

Posted by Michael at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are some flickr sets of the incredible experiences I had at ALA. I am now at the lake, PLUGGED in via a new internet service and setting to work on summer courses. I have a few posts about ALA, etc that will be forthcoming. For now, let's have these images tell their own stories...

LIS Blogger's Roundtable for Library Journal

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/sets/517913/

OCLC LIS Blogger's Salon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/sets/517908/

TTW @ ALA

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/sets/518798/

Posted by Michael at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Do you blog?

I have some good things to ponder... and this survey includes IM!

Posted by Michael at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a sample post!

Posted by Michael at 09:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congrats to Rob Coers for being named in the Top Ten LIS blogs of the Netherlands! Here's his blog: http://www.robcoers.nl/blog/

http://blogger.xs4all.nl/ritanila/archive/2005/06/08/42358.aspx

Posted by Michael at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How cool is this: Jennifer Sharkey is blogging the workshop so it is archived and can be looked at as Purdue Libraries move forward with blogs & RSS!

http://pulbloggingrss.blogspot.com/

Posted by Michael at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's where we will be:

(there are frogs all over town too!)

Posted by Michael at 06:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Please add The Feel Librarian to your subscriptions... she never ceases to amaze me by writing about the profession in her own unique way. It's all about people folks! (Sometimes techno-anything gets in the way of remembering we meet a lot of PEOPLE across these desks...FGL reminds me of that!)

Posted by Michael at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good food for thought:

http://www.thenationaldebate.com/blog/archives/2005/02/why_blogging_su.html

Posted by Michael at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/news/story.php?story_id=965

"I write this critique of personal blogging as dean of a school where academic freedom and freedom of speech are constitutive of what we are and what we do. " he says but nowhere in the original piece did he say "personal." I get that personal blogs are MUCH different than the blogs found in the Biblioblogosphere, to use Karen's most cool word, but don't dismiss the whole lot of serious bloggers trrying to make a difference.

Posted by Michael at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a bit from NPR from fellow blogger and IUSB professor Ken Smith:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wvpe/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=773225

"Over time a virtual community is born there on the web..."

"Librarians are using blogs to keep up to date on technology..."

The SJCPL Lifeline is mentioned!

Thanks Ken!!!

Posted by Michael at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks David! Good stuff... (I'm getting caught up after being on the road...)

http://daweed.blogspot.com/2005/05/15-things-you-can-do-with-rss.html

Posted by Michael at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nice chat with Ken Smith Tuesday about our community, blogging, RSS and "not getting blogging." Thanks Ken!

Posted by Michael at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Winnie, an Indiana Librarian, writes in an e-mail about setting up a blog at her library:

It's so easy and a great way to get library news and information out.

http://nchcplreader.blogspot.com/

(Note NCHCPL also IMs....)

Posted by Michael at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://kairosnews.org/blogbib

http://www.grumet.net/writing/web/deep-thinking-about-weblogs.html

Posted by Michael at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Skagirlie:

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/news/story.php?story_id=958

One wonders for whom these hapless souls blog. Why do they chose to they expose their unremarkable opinions, sententious drivel and unedifying private lives to the potential gaze of total strangers? What prompts this particular kind of digital exhibitionism? The present generation of bloggers seems to imagine that such crassly egotistical behavior is socially acceptable and that time-honored editorial and filtering functions have no place in cyberspace. Undoubtedly, these are the same individuals who believe that the free-for-all, communitarian approach of Wikipedia is the way forward. Librarians, of course, know better.

What blows me away here is even as I read this, one of the things on my plate is a two-day consulting gig at the Purdue University Libraries to further explore internal and external blogging with them. Their Dean of Libraries, James Mullins, gets it!

Karen just posted this: http://freerangelibrarian.com/archives/042805/blaise_cronin_gorma.php. Please give it a look.

And FML just posted: http://www.familymanlibrarian.com/?p=882

And this from one of my favorite blogs: http://www.mchron.net/site/edublog.php?id=P3166

Posted by Michael at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nice post at Weblogs in Higher Edcucation. Ken writes about discussing weblogs with a friend who sticks mainly with newspapers, journals, columnists, etc.

I found myself saying that bloggers were performing a different function than columnists. Sure, once in awhile bloggers carry out a direct act of reporting or research that could just as well have been done by a journalist. I think bloggers are processing issues and facts, passing ideas around, turning them over and over, nudging them, extending their reach, recontextualizing them, and otherwise living with ideas and information and drawing them out into wider communities to test them and to see how they hold up.

That's where I see the "Innovator & Commentator" LIS Weblogs thriving: as an engaging method of creating ideas, passing them between the bloggers and developing them as part of a community. Look, for example, at the coverage of IM in Libraries and how much discussion is occuring here, at walking paper, Librarian in Black, etc.

Posted by Michael at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is the two year anniversary of Tame the Web. Inspired to start blogging by Steven Cohen in March 2003, TTW went live via the iBlog software on April 1, 2003 from the Panera Bread in Mishawaka, Indiana via my laptop. Here's that first incarnation. And here are ten things I've learned in 2 years of being a Blogging Librarian:

Ethics and Guidelines Count

Ask Karen, she gets it more than any LIS Blogger I know. Not only are we writing and thinking about libraries but we are promoting ourselves, our jobs and the profession. Next time I bump into Michael Gorman, I'll ask him to not only take a look at TTW but at Free Range Librarian, and Walking Paper, and Dave's Blog and say "Look at these articulate, thoughtful folks who mind their Ps and Qs and work so hard to improve library services." What ethics do you blog by? What guidelines for your work do you use?

Read this post for all of my thoughts on blogging guidelines.

Your Blog = Your Presence (and spell stuff right please)

Typos plague us all. I'm the first to admit it: when I get a little excited and write furiously (with bad wrists, a bad neck and my patented 2 finger method), I make mistakes. I appreciate the IM or e-mail from a colleague that says "Hey you have a typo in that post about iPods at South Huntington." We all need editors.

Don't be sloppy. Take a look at that hasty post and FIX IT. Our blogs represent us -- our professionalism and our interest in LIS. If you put your blog on your resume or CV, it darn well better be well-written and focused. This is a big part of your presence. First thing I would do with a resume that cited a blog is to take a look! (and then Google the person too!)

The LIS Blogosphere is a Thriving Virtual Community

Howard Rheingold's The Virtual Community, published in 1993, defined the Internet as an interconnected computer network utilizing Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) to link people all over the globe in open discussions. He defined "virtual community" as �social aggregators that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace.�

Researchers Henri and Pudelko also argued that all virtual communities are learning communities by applying definitions cited from the work of Wenger who studied social learning theory within communities of practice in the physical world. Expanding on his work and utilizing their typology, Henri and Pudelko define three principal components of social interaction and information exchange within online communities: the goal of the community, the methods of creating the group, and the evolution of the community over time. They also defined descriptors for each component of virtual communities. I think the LIS Blogosphere fits very nicely under their heading of "Community of Practice"

Stems from an existing, real community of practice
Professional practice development through sharing knowledge among members
Appropriation of new practices and development of involvement

Sounds like a lot of what goes on between LISNews, the Shifted Librarian and all of the other LIS Blogs I keep track of.

Much has also been written about the strength of virtual communities in the real world as well as the aforementioned evolution of the community. Never before had it become so clear when many folks in the LIS Blogosphere crossed over into the real world in one place: Computers in Libraries 2005. It was fascinating to meet people I knew via their online presence and interact with them. There was much discussion, merriment, drama, knowledge exchange, learning, and hootin' and hollerin' - just like we all lived in the same town or belonged to the same extended family. We may not always agree..we may not always get along...but what a thriving group of folks. It did my heart good to meet bloggers like Chad and Michael Pate and chat with them in the hotel bar.

Libraries should be Blogging

At my talk on "Optimizing Technology in Libraries" -- absolutely hands down one of my favorites to present - I made a point that one way to create staff buy-in is to blog about a project. From 6 rows back, an audience member said (rather sternly) : "BLOGGING takes time! Who has time to do that?" I must admit I lost a little steam with that and realized our work is nowhere near done as "blogvangelists." (Thanks Will)

Blogs serve a purpose in libraries. The software -- simply a Content Management System (CMS) of sorts -- takes care of the dirty work and let's us focus on CONTENT. What could be more wonderful than that. Sometimes I think the name has a bad wrap. Maybe at CIL I could have said "Let your staff and public know by implementing a CMS and posting to it regularly."

Jenny turned me on to a great term: transparency. That's letting the public know what the library is doing, how we do it and what it means for our users. This is hot stuff. Here's where blogging libraries can really fly: telling stories to their users about their services, programs and everything else we do. AND IT'S EASY!

Look at what libraries are doing with blogs! It's incredible. As LIS Bloggers, we can sell that message and improve services internally and externally.

Librarians Want to Learn and Share

How wonderful is it that we can particpate in communities of practice and exchange ideas and share our best tips. I think one reason LIS Blogging thrives is because we like to see what other folks are doing. We like to stay in touch and informed. We share. This is not corporate cut-throat politics here... it's give and take. Nice.

Look at the resources at WebJunction, the Blended Librarian and LISNews! Lordy but we have some help in what we do. Look at what Aaron does with tech, or what Chris is doing in his library, or David with his Listen Up! blog or the wisdom of The Shifted Librarian.

This stuff isn't copyrighted folks (but there may be a creative Commons license!). Use it! I was so tickled at CIL 2005 to give our training workshop participants a CD with eight ready-to-go technology training classes they could take home. Same goes for blog stuff. Print a post, pass it out at a meeting, use it as a discussion piece. Then blog about it.

Blogging can be a Muse, a Catharsis, an Outlet and a Pure Document of Life

Nardi and friends did some great research and found these four motivations for blogging: blogging to document life experience: ��log your being," blogging as commentary such as a conference or a product, blogging as catharsis allowing writers to protest, shout, explore personal issues, and grief and finally, blogging as muse: �Thinking with computers."

Blog posts found here have been the genesis of presentations and articles. All in all, they document my professional/academic life since April 2003. This blog and the LIS Blogosphere has also influenced my research interests and what may become my dissertation. If..when..I'm in the classroom, I'll be talking about the years that blogging changed libraries! Wow.

Librarians Can Tell Good Stories

I'm all about Joan Durrance's How Libraries and Librarians Help. It addresses how we need to tell our libraries' and our users' stories to better market libraries and keep us relevant. Durrance talks about statistics versus stories and how stories bring that human element to the library.

I think librarians like to tell stories, not only in storytime, but in blogging. We blog stories about technology, the reference desk and support services.

Remember Librarians Gone Wild? Remember the Male Librarian Centerfold? The front line anonymous library blogger is a rare breed these days, it seems to me. I do miss them. Glad to see Ref is still grunting. I'm glad we have The Feel Good Librarian!

Anyone can have a Voice from Anywhere

In the LIS Blogosphere, there's room for loads of voices. I like that part as well. I like the fact that someone in a tiny little library in Podunk, USA who serves 500 people can blog about his or her experiences and add it to the mix. Think of the blogs you read - probably a pretty diverse group of folks from many backgrounds, locales and states of mind. Yes, a lot of us write about technology but still there's a lot of variety from the hardest of the hard coders to softest of the soft skills people person.

Cite Your Sources (Always)

Just sayin'... see below.

Blogging Librarians Make a Difference

How else would so much information move so quickly to folks tuned in and turned on to RSS or bloglines. The Gorman thing exploded in the LIS Blogosphere. Blogs like RFID in Libraries offer news and a whole lot more. I'd go there first and spend some time before even thinking about it!!

What does the future hold then for the blogging librarian? Could we sway ALA elections? Yes. I'll never vote again until I know where each candidate stands on new tech trends in libraries, thank you very much. Could we save a library from closing? Maybe if our posts were picked up by the bigger blogs and media. Can we help librarians and libraries thrive, remain relevant and meet users on their own turf? I hope so.

Henri, F., & Pudelko, B. (2003). Understanding and analyzing activity and learning in virtual communities. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (19), 474-487.

Nardi, B., Schiano, D., Gumbrecht, M., & Swartz, L. (2004). Why we blog. Communications of the ACM, 47 (12), 41-46.

Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. New York: HarperPerennial.

I've proofed this twice. Just want to thank all the bloggers that have touched me, supported me and given advice. You know who you are, you dear souls! Rock On!

Posted by Michael at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

http://walt.lishost.org/

(Via IM w/Steven)

Posted by Michael at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"If you can blog...you can wiki."

I'm tingling!

Posted by Michael at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Jessamyn:

http://vielmetti.typepad.com/vacuum/2005/03/rss_for_the_aad.html

How geeked am I that this gets me going:

Rest assured that useful, flexible, and broad RSS support is a major
design goal of our new website, and we hope our feeds will find good homes in aggregators throughout the district... and beyond! Watch for the new aadl.org coming in early July [2005].

Posted by Michael at 06:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PowerPoint (PDF) (6.6 MB!)

Evaluating LIS Weblogs (PDF)

Types of LIS Weblogs

Bibliography

Posted by Michael at 06:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Stephen, Steven and Stephens:

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/03/09/blogging_is_good_for.html

4. No matter how great you are, your career depends on communicating. The way to get better at anything, including communication, is by practicing. Blogging is good practice.

Well said. One thing that came up in conversation with Mr. Abram at PLA is that a blogger can have a voice in the LIS blogosphere from the smallest, most remote library in the world and still reach a huge audience if they are putting their blogging presence out there. This, to me, insures we get original voices. Original thoughts. And best practices to try out in our own orgainzations.

http://feedster.blogs.com/corporate/corporate_policies/index.html

I like this positive spin of getting employers and emplyees to talk about blogging, its impact on work and the "story" a librarian's blog tells. Nice.

http://www.cbel.com/weblogs_libraries/

Nice directory of LIS Weblogs to add to the mix.

Posted by Michael at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Abram said: "that's a young Michael Gorman."

I LOLed!

Posted by Michael at 07:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.oblog.nl/

Speaking of the UK response to our ALA president's words... Check in with our colleagues in the Netherlands as well... Rob is posting about Gormangate.

(I promise I won't beat this issue anymore!)

Posted by Michael at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nice little weblog found its way to NetNewsWire this am:

http://technogeekery.blogspot.com/2005/02/michael-gorman-on-blogging.html

Note UK Blogger Phil Bradley's post who I got to meet last year in London. He edited my book for the UK back in the day. I was interested to read his perspective.

Posted by Michael at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well done Greg & Karen!

I am loathe to link just to the LJ piece... other suggestions?

Posted by Michael at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Mr. Gorman:

After being struck speechless early this morning when your article and commentary related to it began to pop up on the LIS Weblogs I monitor, I feel the need to write a bit. Maybe I can assist you with the question you posed in Library Journal:

Who are the Blog People?

I realize this is a broad question and your article did not single out librarians as bloggers, but here goes:

I am a librarian and I am a blogger. I love libraries -- especially the public library. I've been with the St. Joseph County Public Library in South Bend, IN for almost 14 years. My library's blog is here. I have worked hard to improve services to our users via my particular passions: staff and public technology training, using new technologies to meet user needs and the juncture of tech, people and libraries.

"Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts. It is entirely possible that their intellectual needs are met by an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs. In that case, their rejection of my view is quite understandable."

In response to this quote, let me tell you a bit more about me. I am a doctoral student at the University of North Texas in the inter-disciplinary Information Science program and I have spent quite a bit of time reading scholarly works and professional articles. Since June I have been gathering information on online communities and the interactions of people within them. I have written literature reviews, proposals for research, critiques of articles and multiple blog posts on my experiences and thoughts about libraries and librarians. The community of practice I have seen spring up within the LIS Blogosphere has inspired me to participate, write better and seek opportunities to show librarians how such a simple thing as Weblog software can ease the dissemination of information and generate knowledge.

Ultimately I want to teach in a library school somewhere, focusing on public libraries, technology and people.

"...technology-obsessed progressives.."

I do like technology. I write about technology. I use it and I teach others how to make their jobs or lives better by using a computer, or a digital camera, or an RSS feed from CNN, or a Web index. I hope I'm not obsessed. I'd like to think I'm passionate. And I recognize the need to balance it all out. Work. Life. Love. Spirit. I call it unplugging.

Overall, it just makes me sad that ALA has yet to get a grip on what's happening in libraries: Blogs - yes. RSS feeds - yes. Instant Messaging as a tool to reach users - yes. Wikis - yes. And finally, online/real world communities of practice -- in this case: groups of librarians working together with the common goal of meeting user needs and meeting our users on their turf, not ours -- interacting, learning and generating knowledge - yes.

I'd love to see ALA look seriously at libraries with blogs and librarians who blog and acknowledge how our profession has changed because of such a simple yet powerful thing.

Michael Stephens

Posted by Michael at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Friday I presented a 90 minute talk on Weblogs, RSS and Wikis for a group of 35 Purdue University librarians. It was a wonderful experience!

My goals for the session:

Demonstrate how powerful blog software can be to meet the needs of delivering content externally and internally in libraries

Provide explanation of how blogging works, what RSS is about and how to use Bloglines to gather content.

Define some of the top tech trends swirling around this whole idea of blogs/rss/wikis... and OSS, folksonomies, etc.

Some of the coolest parts:

* Playing Karen's podcast of TTT on some great speakers and walking to the back of the room while she invoked what technologies are heaeded our way. After the cast, I went back up front and posed a questions: How many of the trends she mentioned have hit on in the talk so far? Quite a few actually as we moved through blogging, podcasting, photo blogging, folksonomies, etc.

* Discussing customizable RSS feeds of new library materials and seeing a lady in the back make a thumbs up! I said ""Thumbs up! You just made my day."

* Having in attendance the Dean of Purdue University Libraries who taught my Library Management class at IUSB in 1995! Throughout my talks these days I emphasis education and buy-in of adminstration is key to successful tech-based initiatives in libraries. How cool to have him there...and on the front row!

* Dining the night before with Scott Brandt and Rebecca Richardson, who arranged the presentation, and covering such topics as the merits and drawbacks of podcasting ("That podcasting is so hot right now..and so is Hansel."), librarians who blog, research studies with titles longer than this whole post!, and some interesting theories concerning reality television.

* The two folks in the back that had been discussing flickr on the way to the presentation and then whooped when I demonstrated photo-blogging and tagging! (and who nodded and smiled big everytime I said "RSS")

* The idea of internal communication enhanced by a blog intrigued many of the folks. Twice, questions brought us back to the slides where I demonstrated how we turned our Intranet into a bunch of blogs at SJCPL!

Here are my materials from the day:

PowerPoint (PDF) (6.6 MB!)

Evaluating LIS Weblogs (PDF)

Types of LIS Weblogs

Posted by Michael at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Give this one a try:

http://feelgoodlibrarian.typepad.com/feelgood_librarian/

a perfect example of what Schmidt and Stephens (2005) call "The Front Line Blogger." :-)

Posted by Michael at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have just started my presentation! Watch for the handouts here soon!

Posted by Michael at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow afternoon I head down to Purdue University Libraries to present a little session on Blogs, RSS, Wikis and implications for libraries to some Purdue library folk!

Read about it here.

See you in the Bookstall!

Posted by Michael at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nice bit of synchronicity. I e-mailed David King's new Computers in Libraries article (as a PDF) to some folks here at SJCPL to highlight how focusing on local content and offering RSS is effective in serving users.

Then, I log on to the Online Social Network Conference and find that one of the attendees has posted a link in the "Library Table" are:

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/2005/01/21.shtml

"Libraries get hip to RSS" -- sorry if someone posted this last month and I missed it.

Posted by Michael at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Weblogg-ed, one of my favorites in Net News Wire...

(I can't stand it...I'm reprinting them all here...)

For Teachers (Librarians), blogging at work:

"So, here's a short list. This is open-text, remember, so we can all play along.

1. Decide carefully if you want to create a public space for your ideas with your name on it. Maybe going anonymous would be better. There are a couple of great anonymous teacher blogs out there, Hipteacher among them.
2. When you write, assume it will be read by the very people you may not want to read it. Think about the consequences.
3. As much as possible, blog on your own time with your own equipment.
4. Tell the truth. If you can't, don't write.
5. Ask people's permission before you write about them in your blog, especially if it revolves around some struggle that you might feel worth reflecting upon or sharing with your audience.
6. If you do use a blog for professional reflection or opinion, my personal wish is that you take the time to present those ideas well. I'm not perfect when it comes to misspellings or errors, but I try to read everything at least twice if not three times before publishing.
7. Start simple, and find your groove. If you just post about news and don't add much in the way of commentary at the start, it will give you time to develop your voice.
8. Again, if you decide to blog openly, don't try to hide that fact from peers or supervisors.
9. If you think people may have an issue with your blog, ask first, and make your decisions based on the feedback you get.
10. If you find yourself looking over your shoulder, don't blog.

Posted by Michael at 09:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Please visit

http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=548

to read about the SJCPL Lifeline in an interview with Joe Sipocz and myself.

Posted by Michael at 02:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I chatted this am with Greg Schwartz, who asked me what i thought of his podcast. "Be honest," he said.

I listened Tuesday while working on stuff at my desk and I enjoyed it. I was tickled to hear Greg do a sort of audio lit review -- ah, that thing I know so well and will certainly be doing more of as I work on my degree -- and he hit points of the article and chimed un with his thoughts. I like that.

I also like the format: 20-30 minutes of news and information for the LIS community with a personal flare and easy-going touch. I would be very inclined to listen to each future installment, like a date with a radio show. HOWEVER: I might not tune in/download a podcast or three every single day but regular (monthly?) installments sound nice: morning tea, a podcast and some inspiring comments.

I'd also like to see the program be chapter stopped -- where I could click ahead to different sections. This would also include a linked Table of Contents I guess...

I'd also like to hear some guests from the LIS community...

My worry for Greg and future LIS Podcasters -- and if I ever have anything I want to "SAY" to you, I'll sit myself down on the G5 and record it -- is setting up unreachable goals and expectations. I would not wish a 20-30 min "show" written and produced once a week on anyone with full time commitments and other things to do.

Just sayin!

Well done Greg -- who also thrills me everytime he says "LIS" or "Library and Information Science" since the IS part is so near and dear to me these days!

Posted by Michael at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was pondering this morning that we have a lot of blogs for library tech folk...and many of the library specialties out there... but I would love to see a blog dedicated to the whole Audio Visual area scene. What's hot in AV? What circulates? How are DVDs doing versus tired old VHS? What are some innovative AV departments doing -- like circulating games? iPods? SACD? DVD-A?

Maybe some librarian is doing just that and I haven't seen it yet...please let me know...if not..I, for one, think there's a place at the LIS Blog table for AV stuff.

UPDATE: Greg sent me this:

http://librarypop.org/ I am liking this!

Posted by Michael at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So true...

http://www.weblogg-ed.com/2005/01/25#a3071

My brain hurts. Sometimes there are just too many interesting, intensely profound ideas floating around out there. What did I do BB? (Before blogs...) ... My zeal for the potential of Weblogs, wikis, RSS etc. is born almost entirely from my reflective self that is constantly amazed at the way these tools have transformed my learning first and my teaching second. This is pure passion for new ideas, for stimulated thought, for dreaming. It is in many ways intoxicating and exhausting. But I really feel like for the first time in my life, I'm getting the most out of my brain.

Posted by Michael at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Please visit http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2004/03/31_online_presence_considering_blogs_instead_of_web_sites.html and read Jeff beard's thoughts about how using blogs can increase someone's presence and then translate the implications to libraries. Good stuff!

Concerning the value of blogs for "guerilla marketing," Beard states:

1) Search Engines Love Blogs

5) Built-in Search and Content Management Features

Hmmm.. how easy can it be? So -- to the librarians out there that cringe when they remeber their libraries' out-dated and not up-dated Web site...ponder a blog instead! There are great benefits to be had.

Posted by Michael at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Please visit the Free Range Librarian and read Karen's reports from the Webcred Conference. This little passage just sent me:

But Friday and Saturday were also vacation days for me in the truest sense of the word, because at Webcred I went somewhere new and came back changed. Like many travel writers, I was on a quest, but did not quite know what I was looking for. I observed journalists and bloggers in their native habitat; I enjoyed their colorful costumes and quaint manner of speech; I heard both L'eminence grise and fresh-faced upstarts in both communities share their thoughts, boasts, and concerns about credibility, authenticity, and trust in the online world.

I have felt the same way coming back from some of the incredibble conferences I've attended and been a part of. I LOVE the fact that Karen crossed over and returns to tell us all about it. I'm reading..waiting for more..

Posted by Michael at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I updated a handout from last year this morning after chatting with Karen about this important facet of Weblog training. I'll use it in February for a class I just scheduled at the Purdue library. It's one thing to say to classes "Look at all the stuff you can get to via RSS!" but we must also remember to give folks tools to choose the LIS weblogs right for them.

I incoprated some of the excellent work by Laurel Clyde and updated the banner. Take a look -- and use it if you'd like!

http://www.tametheweb.com/presentations/EvaluatingLISWeblogs.pdf

Posted by Michael at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have only read a bit, but I LOVE this!

http://blog-bib.blogspot.com/

Take a look!

Posted by Michael at 09:49 PM | Permalink

THANKS to Steven and all at PLA for making this a reality. I'm rejoicing today (and rejoicing for the cool new Apple products as well!)

http://www.plablog.org/

I am interested to see how the PLA Blog plays out. I'll be reading fellow bloggers!

Posted by Michael at 06:09 PM | Permalink

Via Skagirlie, who works across from me and never ceases to find cool stuff about the wonderful web, social stuff and libraries....

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,1011763-1,00.html

Posted by Michael at 09:21 AM | Permalink

Take a look at Joyce Valenza's new blog:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/joycevalenza/

She is a member of the UNT Cohort with me and has done some incredible work in the realm of digital libraries, schools and learning.

Posted by Michael at 08:33 AM | Permalink

Last Thursday I did two training sessions for the official team of SJCPL Blogging Librarians. It was a 90 minute session. I developed some objectives for the training first:

After successfully completing this session, participants will be able to:

� Post SJCPL Weblog entries formatted with bold, italics and inserted hyperlinks.

� Insert special characters as needed with HTML coding.

� Locate and insert images that are �fair use� compliant for Weblog entries.

� Utilize stylesheet and guidelines to insure consistent posts across system.

And then I created a handout to go with it. A general guidelines sheet was developed by our Head of Collection Development who is overseeing the blog and a style guide was created by our Publicity Manager. Armed with three handouts, we discussed blogging, what the mission of the SJCPL blog is and how the team could make their posts effective and consistent and still have their own voice.

A note: blogging for the library via a team approach insures multiple POVs and coverage. One single person blogging for a medium to large library system will probably burn out quickliy.* I think the team inspires each member to blog and blog well.

Take a look at these excerpted guidelines, posted here with the permission of the author, Joe Sipocz, who heads up the Lifeline Team:

Have fun! If it�s a chore for you, your posts will bore people. We want our weblog to be snappy, informative, and interesting. Write about things you love or feel strongly about.

Cite your sources and provide links to them when possible.

After discussion, I took them through building a post. I asked all via email a few days before to come armed with text for a blog post and we would use it to do some live training! We discussed choosing a GOOD title for the entry, that might catch readers eyes (as well as Google's), choosing a correct category and entering text.

Then we used this brief little handout to format text and possibly add graphics. Look at this GREAT post grabbing our computer class banner from another SJCPL page:

http://lishost.org/~sjcpl/archives/000152.html

We also utilized the cover art found in our Web Catalog to insert images of library materials.

Finally, I gave them an assignment to post to the blog before Christams. Take a look:

http://lishost.org/~sjcpl

* A note: But Michael, what if I'm the only one in my little library that blogs? Well, dear library person, just use some of these guidelines and blog as much as you can. Short sweet posts, in my mind, are much more effectrive that large blocks of text anyway!

Posted by Michael at 11:07 AM | Permalink

Steven writes about librarians who blog oh so nicely:

http://www.librarystuff.net/2004/12/does-your-employer-know-that-you-blog.html

Anonymous blogging intrigues me. I've never done it but I read some "front line" blogs every once in awhile and appreciate the candor and honest look at what happens at reference desks all over. And I agree with Mr. Cohen - if you are blogging, let your boss know. My blog is on my resume..is yours? I have also mentioned here I turn in conference reports made up ofd all of my blog entries from that event. It's easy and it keeps me focused on blogging while at the conference. It works for me. Some may want to dgest and write later...that's cool too.

I know one of our adminstrators reads my writing here and it pleases me to know that line of communication is there. The dean of the SLIS department at UNT blew me away when she said : "I read your blog." Wow!

This ties in with ethics as well. Blogging as a practiotioner and as a student I am reporting/commenting on stuff that happens in my library, at school and in the LIS world. I owe it to myself to do the best I can, be honest and watch out for typos.

Posted by Michael at 08:13 AM | Permalink

Just read Steven's post...

http://www.librarystuff.net/2004/12/no-blogging-at-conferences.html

This makes me a little crazy. I don't get it.... But maybe, like Mr. Cohen, I need more information.

Posted by Michael at 10:38 AM | Permalink

Karen posted this yesterday -- probably about the same time I was looking at it and pondering a blog post! Well done Karen!

http://freerangelibrarian.com/archives/120904/ethics_at_last.php

Follow the links in her post to the other links. I'm tickled to see a PhD candidate looking at Blog ethics. I am just forming my thoughts about LIS Weblogs, librarians and information for research and possibly my dissertation at UNT. Just scratching the surface with a literature review, Dr. Laurel Clyde's book Libraries and Weblogs, and a first stab at a research proposal whets my appetite for more!

David Weinberger, in the C-SPAN video, I linked to yesterday tells the crowd at the LOC that blogs are so wonderful because they are in the moment and will have typos ( because of the speed posts are written and published) etc. He also says he would trust the blogosphere as a whole more than the traditional broadcast media! Wow. Give that speech a listen/view, read Karen's thoughts about blogging:

I also feel that as librarians our "code" has to go even farther than in the examples I cite at the beginning of this entry. We are the standard-bearers for accurate, unbiased information. Blogs filled with typos, half-baked "facts," misrepresentations, copyright violations, and other egregious and unprofessional problems do not represent us well to the world. (Karen, you rock!)

and ponder how this immediate form of communication will impact librarians in the next few years:

Conferences
New Products
Publishing in general
Smaller libraries that suddenly have access to the "big news" that might not have trickled down before.

And I agree with Karen - I post hurriedly but I often go back to correct typos. Especially for conference posts, which I turn in at SJCPL as a report.

Are we representing our organizations in the right way? Ourselves? Our common goal? I love the part about having a mission/goal for a blog. Bloggers - what are your priorities for blogging? Your goals for writing? The minute a blog becomes ME ME ME I usually check out, unsubscribe that feed and look for another one.

My thoughts ob LIS bloggers personal protocols are here: http://www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/archives/000568.html and Ten Things a Blogging Librarian Must do are here.

Posted by Michael at 08:08 AM | Permalink

http://www.c-span.org/congress/digitalfuture.asp

Part of the digital future project, give this some time if you can. Nice thoughts about the nature of information and Weblogs.

Posted by Michael at 01:28 PM | Permalink

Dateline December 9, 2004: New York Times story Libraries Reach Out, Online By TIM GNATEK mentions my very own SJCPL! This, my friends, is one more example that LIS Weblogs have arrived and are being noticed.

"Posting electronic versions of libraries' holdings is only part of the library's expanding online presence. Library Web sites are becoming information portals. Many, like the Saint Joseph's County Library in South Bend, Ind., have created Web logs as community outreach tools.

Here's the link (login required): http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/09/technology/circuits/09libr.html?adxnnl=1&oref=login&adxnnlx=1102601642-A0MCaqBVo7Bhh6fYAy3YEQ

I wish they would have linked to us but they didn't. I womder how many folks may seek the blog out after reading about it today? Hopefully, some will be inspired to add blogs to their sites.

Attention: now is the time for all good librarians to begin their blogging experience: blog your programs, your collections, your outreach, your mission -- in fact, make a blog part of your mission to keep your library in the public eye!

This fires me up!

And please visit the SJCPL Lifeline!

Posted by Michael at 09:15 AM | Permalink

Wow! I wish I could be there!!!

http://www.librarystuff.net/2004/12/blogging-at-ala-midwinter-be-part-of.html

I am tickled that a major library organization is starting a Blog!

Posted by Michael at 10:18 AM | Permalink

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/11/30/words.of.the.year.reut/index.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4059291.stm

(BBC LinkVia and IM from skagirlie across 25 feet in our office...)

Most cool. Blog is the most searched word on the Interent for 2004.

Blogs have arrived! Is your library blogging? Is your library organization blogging? You should be!

Posted by Michael at 07:45 PM | Permalink

Oh! Take a look...just got this in my aggregator:

http://www.technobiblio.com

Technobiblio has a new look! Read about the authors! Browse the categories!

Posted by Michael at 05:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)