So, what are the experiences we create in libraries and our communities? We know that the top reasons people use libraries are for community, learning, interaction, discovery and entertainment. All of these words describe a form of personal experience. We can find some of this in our list of top reference questions in public libraries. Careers & Employment Entertainment (print, audio, media) Family Health and Fitness Food & Drink Hobbies and Genealogy Home Improvements Parenting Personal Finance, tax & investing Reading choices Quick reference questions Spiritual needs Travel Each of these domains represents a wealth of questions and answers that […]
Daily Archives: August 27, 2008
9 posts
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=5388404&page=1 Frustrated, she logged on to Twitter from her BlackBerry and typed “Damn Internet down in my house. Arrrrrgh. Can’t fix until Thursday. Shoot me.” Twitter kicked in. Wallace didn’t know that Comcast had a digital detecting unit searching the Internet diligently looking for unhappy customers who needed help. Frank Eliason heads that unit for Comcast and saw her rant. “She clearly needed help. As soon as I saw her post I started tracking her down.” Eliason went to great lengths to find Wallace. He located her Web site, found who owned her domain name, tracked down her business partner, […]
Reference Areas at CML, originally uploaded by mstephens7. ONE MORE from Columbus Metropolitan Library. The other thing that knocked me out was this reference area where the library staffer and patron would stand together on the same side and look up information. The desk as “fortress” was nowhere to be seen in this area. I spoke with Jack who told me that both staff and patrons like this new set up. NICE!
Faces of the Library Staff @ CML, originally uploaded by mstephens7. AND… Columbus Metropolitan Library has a print campaign that highlights the staff on fliers, guides, etc. I wish more of it was on the Web! (and photos of the users too…did I say that already? 🙂 ) Here’s the set of images from the visit.
One thing I really got a kick out of at Columbus Metropolitan Library is the use of staff pictures on the front page of tthe library’s Web site. Everyday, a new image and staff pick goes up in this space. I used screenshots in my talk, and urged them to take the logical next step: recruiting library patrons to do the same. I believe it was Helene who told me that when a book makes it to the “Read It” area on the web, the number of holds/requests jumps. Also, one staff member reported being recognized at Target as the […]
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6582321.html Evergreen began in a similar way. In 2004, when it was obvious their legacy ILS could no longer support the needs of their 270-plus library consortium, Georgia PINES, the resource-sharing network of Georgia Public Library Service, held focus groups in which librarians were told, “Pretend it’s magic, and describe what you’d like library software to do.” (Disclosure: I work for Equinox, the support and development company for Evergreen.) Librarians then helped custom design the product to do the things existing software had not done well, whether it was reindexing large amounts of data, presenting book jackets in search results, […]
An expose of the long history of Walt Disney World in Florida. It was both fascinating and hilarious at times. AND there were many nuggets about planning, organizations and a guest-centered focus. Here are the passages I highlighted in relation to libraries: “Not long before opening, Operation also considered not allowing the hotels to have their own parking lots….[the managers of the project got together] to compile a list of reasons why off-site parking would fail–guest services reasons, arguments that Operations could understand.” Sometimes, looking at the negative impact on guests (users) of a new policy might sway admin decision […]
Via Warren’s SLJ Learning 2.0 blog: One twitter tool I have found facinating is monitter. The page has three columns where you can enter search words you want to monitor on twitter – your library name (or your name!) perhaps. Then as it finds tweets containing those words, the column will fill up and add those tweets as results. I went immediately, added some location data and some keywords: Of course, I see my tweets, but also some interesting things: folks discussing the Hesburgh library, our local CBS affiliate, and some discussion about my hometown Mishawaka, Indiana. Check this one […]
Via Linda Braun, I followed the links and found out that many of the characters on one of my favorite TV shows are on Twitter! File this under PR and Marketing 2.0: http://venturebeat.com/2008/08/25/twitter-blacklists-mad-men-characters-some-of-them/  Update: Twitter has responded back to me on the issue. Apparently it wasn’t a spam issue, but rather a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice that Twitter’s support team responded to, co-founder Biz Stone tells me. I guess AMC didn’t like others playing the roll of its Mad Men characters besides the actors who play them on TV. Expect some backlash against the network. Update 2: Blogger Ben Kessler […]