Monthly Archives: July 2009

23 posts

ALA Presentation on Screencasting

I was given the opportunity to be on a panel discussing screencasting for the RUSA MARS Hot Topics Panel at ALA.  The slides will not make much sense in and of themselves, so I am making my  speech notes available as well.  Thanks to everybody who made the long walk to the far corner of  South McCormick Place to watch us. Public Library Screencasts View more presentations from mjacobsen. – TTW Contributor Mick Jacobsen

Takin’ It to the Streets

Don’t miss this post by Aaron Schmidt: http://www.walkingpaper.org/2108 On Wednesday afternoons during the Summer outside of the MLK Jr. Memorial Library in Washington DC you will find a table full of friendly librarians talking to the passersby. The librarians also bring out an assortment of library materials to illustrate what’s available in the library. It is a great program and I’d like to see it go even further. Take a look at the images Aaron shares, highlighting some recent tweet conversations that are perfect examples of the possibilities of engaging with users via Twitter.

It’s Fine to Drop Dewey

By Michael Casey & Michael Stephens We think it’s good news that the Rangeview Library District, CO, is experimenting in one of its branches with an alternative to Dewey. MC: I started highlighting Dewey’s failings when I was helping build and open a new branch library. I asked the many contractors and vendors if they used the library. Many responded that they had gone as kids but that they never continued use into adulthood. Many said they went to the book superstores but had given upon the library. Why? Coffee, collection, and classification. Today’s busy, working adults want to find […]

Congrats to John Blyberg

John accepts his award, originally uploaded by louise.berry. John Blyberg is the 2009 recipient of the LITA/Brett Butler Entrepreneurship Award for his development of the Social OPAC application suite (http://thesocialopac.net), also known as SOPAC (for Social Online Public Access Catalog). SOPAC is a suite of open source software (OSS) tools that brings the power of social computing and Web 2.0 to the library catalog. The current version of SOPAC (2.0) was developed and implemented by Blyberg at the Darien Library in Connecticut. SOPAC has also successfully been implemented on top of Innovative’s Millennium and the Sirsi ILS at other libraries. […]

Mobile Devices & Libraries Experts Speak at ALA

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6670421.html Libraries had better prepare for an explosion in the capacity of mobile devices as well as the transformative increase in user capacity and expectations. This was the message conveyed by a panel yesterday at the American Library Association’s (ALA) Annual Conference on Libraries and Mobile Devices: Public Policy Considerations. After all, explained Jason Griffey, assistant professor and head of Library Information Technology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, cell phones are the most popular and ubiquitous information device worldwide; in 50 countries, cell phone penetration (phones/person) exceeds 100 percent. By the end of 2010, he continued, 90 percent of the world’s population will […]

From Infomancy: “AASL Restricts (Eliminates?) Use of Standards”

http://schoolof.info/infomancy/?p=588 Christopher Harris writes: In the Standards in Action book, there is a great 2-page spread on the self-assessment strand that speaks directly to the student. One librarian asked if she could make copies of the pages to share with students. That led me, as an ethical user of information, to check on the copyright and permissions for the book. What I found was quite chilling. Though these two pages present a letter to students, there is no permission given in the book to allow copying of those pages to share with students. I thought maybe there would be something […]

Dear University Folk – How are you using Facebook?

Don’t miss this guest post by Mike Richwalsky, assistant director of public affairs at Allegheny College at UK Web Focus: http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/facebook-usage-by-us-colleges-and-universities/ I’d like to examine how schools in the US are using Facebook and share some thoughts and experiences I’ve had from managing my school’s presence there. First, why are schools using Facebook? First, it’s where the students are. College students today in the US live and breathe Facebook all day long. For us, using it to reach them makes sense – after all it’s a medium they are comfortable in. Second, it’s free for our institutions to use. Finally, the […]