I had a sit down last week with a librarian working closely on an IM Reference project. I asked what kind of IM interactions they get at their library. She had this list, which may be similar to what other libraries have encountered as they begin projects like this. * Kids seeing if someone is actually “there” * A few questions of the “Are you hot?” variety * A lot of informational questions about the library: hours, etc * Some gosh darn spiffy* reference questions I think it’s important for training to understand we may get a few questions like […]
Monthly Archives: April 2005
70 posts
Reinventing Libraries: People, Place and Purpose This was the first of three workshops co-taught with Sharon and Dan Wiseman of Wiseman Consulting. We began the day with some ground rules — one conversation, suffering is optional, etc — and then Sharon presented some groundwork on the roots and traditions of libraries, librarians and our collective history. Sharon noted it’s amazing how many libraries started as Ladies’ Libraries back in the day. Then we worked through these questions: What is happening in Libraries (down the street and around the block) What is true and not true about Libraries (Our roots, traditions, […]
Sherri also has a post about playlists and music, and I downloaded the article she pointed to for my growing collection of social software citations. Hot! Anyway, here are my musical links: Michael’s iTunes Library: Allows you to see some of my favorites, guilty pleasures and clicks through to ITMS! Michael’s AudioScrobbler Page
Via an email from Stephen Abram: (Thanks!) http://blog.uwinnipeg.ca/schwagbag/archives/2005/04/imers_not_digit.html Now it’s still very early, and the survey has only been up for 2 days (20 responses so far), but I’m noticing a peculiar trend in the responses: 90% of respondents currently use IM, and 90% have never used the UNLV Chat Reference service. The next question asks “if the service were offered, would you use Instant Messaging to ask a librarian for research help?” Again, 90% responded ‘yes.’ This is good stuff to ponder. Sherri does mention the VR service has not been promoted too much, which happens a lot. But […]
UPDATE: IMAOLScreenName.ppt: A Handout for getting ScreenNames
The new issue of LJ Net Connect is out! What started as a blog post here on Tame the Web as Libraries Doing Cool Things with iPods is now “The iPod Experiments.” This says a lot to me about the crossover between LIS blogging and reporting here in library land. In fact, the genesis was the original post at engadget about South Huntington’s iPod Shuffles! Thanks to Joe and Ken at South Huntington PL for talking to me about their ground-breaking sevice! Thanks to Brian Kenney at LJ for being so cool about my fascination with iPods in Libraries. Keep […]
This is TTW’s 500th entry since March 2004! To give it some substance: Three Things that are HOT right now: Libraries that get the balance between technology, space and people and plan accordingly to meet the needs of all who seek information. Librarians who experiment with new techie stuff and report to the LIS Blogosphere how it goes. (That’s a big piece of what a learning community is all about) Technologies that are used as tools, not like carnival attractions in our organizations!
I was sad to realize PLA and CIL are scheduled for the same time next year! I just got a mailing from PLA and went to enter the dates in iCal – and OH! I know plans are made for such big conferences years in advance… but this is too bad for folks that might want to attend both!
This is an important one…one to ponder… http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2005/04/does-non-dynamic-library-have-future.html But it’s not just about giving people what they want. Leadership is about creating a vision that you can share with the board, with elected officials and business people, with the library’s clients, and most of all, with the library staff. (One of our side discussions during this meeting was about the importance of not blaming the staff for not being willing to change. If the leaders cannot explain the change and provide a reason for it, the problem lies not with the staff, but with their leaders.) Thus, the importance of […]
An e-mail this am from Chris Kupec: “I’m going to an OverDrive demo today. I’ll ask the rep what she thinks of this: iPodlounge: Apple takes lead in flash market, continues domination During its second quarter conference call with press and analysts, Apple revealed that the iPod shuffle was the No. 1 selling flash-based MP3 player worldwide in February with 43 percent market share. The iPod shuffle is expected to be the top-selling flash player in the coming months, but NPD Techworld (which calculates the sales numbers) has not yet released reports for March. Apple?s iTunes Music Store remains the […]