Did last year’s “FASTER IM” article fire you up for on-the-cheap virtual reference? Have you launched your own instant messaging “ask a librarian” service and added it to your workflow? Are you ready for the next step? Then read on. And don’t worry, you can use these tips to start IM in your library now if you haven’t already. Last time we discussed IM (April 2006 CIL, “IM=FASTER Virtual Reference on the Cheap!”), I presented the FASTER model, for any type or size of library. This model addresses questions about implementation, workflow, and training: F is for going with the […]
Daily Archives: January 2, 2008
5 posts
This weekend marks the conclusion of one of my classes this semester at Dominican University’s GSLIS. Internet Fundamentals & Design traces the history of the Net, features some simple Web page coding, and covers a whole lot of Web 2.0 exploration, including group presentations on how to implement new technologies in libraries. Yes, group projects, the bane of college students everywhere, are part of the course as well. Heck, we work in groups in libraries, we might as well get folks used to it in library school. What’s struck me in the last few semesters I’ve been teaching is how […]
What Web page comes up when your staff members open their Web browsers on the service desk or at their own desks? Is it the library’s Web site? That’s a good choice, especially if you have constantly updating news on the front page of your library blog. Perhaps you have your catalog, a search engine, or a commercial news site? All are OK choices–but why not build your own info-portal for your staff with the best of all of these worlds? RSS (really simple syndication or rich site summary) allows us to put content from one place into another with […]
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Some images are priceless, capturing a moment, a person, or an event in time. One of the most important things we can do with our online presence is to take advantage of the graphical nature of the Web and the interactive nature of many Web 2.0 sites to make a big splash with pictures–images of our libraries, our programs, and ourselves. A cost-effective way to do this (and one that yields some benefits for outreach and interaction) is to use Flickr–that Yahoo!-owned, image-sharing community site you may have heard about recently. […]
Technology training in libraries is more important than ever. New tools and systems require new training and new methods of instruction. How many librarians have found themselves the “accidental” tech trainer for their organizations in recent years? Whether you chose the job, or the job chose you, you have work to do. Library staff and users look to their technology trainers as guides to new Web tools such as wikis and blogs–and we must meet the challenge. Last year at the Internet Librarian International Conference in London I presented with Rob Coers, an Internet training consultant from the Netherlands. We […]