Monthly Archives: April 2009

23 posts

Libraries & A Culture of Innovation

Stephen Abram points to a thought-provoking article at Report 103: http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2009/04/libraries_and_a.html “A Dozen Ingredients for a Culture of Innovation” http://www.jpb.com/report103/archive.php?issue_no=20090407 I pulled out some highlights from some of the sections that speak to me. Please read the whole piece, take it to your staff meetings and ponder how you might incorporate these ingredients in your institution. 1. Top Management Buy-In If top management do not embrace innovation, they can hardly expect their employees to do so either.  2. Trust 3. Priority of Innovation (Often Confused with Time) If you want a culture of innovation in your firm, creativity and innovation […]

Cheers & Jeers at the Transparent Library

Jeers to the librarian mind-set that in troubled economic times, learning, curiosity, and play must take a back seat. Now is the perfect time to find ways to extend services with free open tools. Cheers to libraries like Roselle Public Library, IL, and Lafayette Public Library, CO, for creating user-centered communities for their patrons with Ning, a free DIY social network site. Cheers to the American Library Association (ALA) for embracing Twitter and promoting the use of hash tags like #ALAMW09 that conveyed streams of Midwinter Meeting information to folks all over the world. And cheers, too, for launching ALA […]

Thanks British Columbia Library Conference!

The plenary session went well yesterday morning. I was so fired up by the crowd of librarians, library staff and library trustees. I’m also pretty fired up by this great Northwest city and the chance to explore a bit. THANKS to all who made this conference and my visit to BC such as success! The updated version of “The Hyperlinked Library” includes some local examples and some new material. Download the slides here: https://tametheweb.com/hyperlinkedlibrary/HyperlinkedBCLC.pdf

Carrie our intern

Carrie our intern, originally uploaded by STDL. Schaumburg Township District Library writes: Carrie completed her internship from January – April of 2009. She was instrumental in developing the library’s presence on Flickr I’ve been lucky to be Carrie’s practicum advisor for this semester. She’s done a wonderful job helping to implement STDL’s Flickr presence. Click through to check out their images.

Cheers & Jeers

By Michael Casey & Michael Stephens We’ve been writing the Transparent Library for two years, so it’s time for some more thumbs up and thumbs down. Jeers to the five board members at Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, KS, for voting yes to restrict four books about sex. This does not help library users-who shouldn’t have to face barriers in seeking such books-or public perception of their community. Cheers to the director and librarians at the Topeka library for fighting the good fight to maintain a well-balanced, useful, and inclusive collection for all. Cheers to the library in Fox […]

See you in BC!

The end of semester crunch is almost upon us, but tonight I leave for Vancouver, British Columbia for the BC Library Conference. I’ll be presenting the plenary session on Friday morning. I’m excited to get back to the great Northwest (“the stars still shine bright…the mountain still high”) and excited to meet the good library folk out there. If you are attending, please say hi. Also, you can follow BCLA on Twitter and via #bclaconf.  

American Library Association launches ALA Connect

From an ALA Press Release: CHICAGO – The American Library Association (ALA) is now providing members a common virtual space to engage in ALA business and network with other members around issues and interests relevant to the profession. ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org) has launched its first phase of operation, in which every ALA group will have the ability to utilize the following tools: • Posts (which are like blog posts) • Online docs (which are like collaborative, wiki-like pages or Google Docs) • Group calendar (for listing meetings, deadlines, etc.) • Surveys (for asking multiple questions at once) • Polls (for […]