Yearly Archives: 2009

Don’t miss Dominican GSLIS Alum Leah White’s article in LJ: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6652439.html So what do the survey results tell us? “A good rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t stop a face-to-face conversation between patrons, then you have no justification for stopping a technology-mediated conversation,” observed one library worker. “If you would stop a face-to-face conversation (e.g., in a Quiet Zone), then naturally cell phones would fall under the same policy.” Library users voiced strikingly similar opinions. Users agreed that cell phone conversations should be kept to a minimum and should be conducted respectfully. Most respondents said they understood the need to […]

Via The Shifted Librarian: I’m knocked out by this model of service and engagement with young people. My brain is also reeling pondering the implications of Mindkeepers and Mindspotters as library employees – another reason to scan the horizon for trends impacting our profession and changing our jobs. This makes me hope the libraries that have treated their teen users as second class citizens take notice. There is much promise and potential here.

  Michael Schmidt, Librarian in Adult Reference at Glendale Public Library in Glendale, Arizona, writes: Just thought I’d pass this your way. I attended your talk at Burton Barr in PHX a while back and when the call for National Library Week projects went out in my library I was thinking about some of the things you talked about. Here’s the result: patron photos and comments on the banner of our homepage. Give it a few secs once it loads. You can click on the banner to see all photos and complete comments. Keep the faith! http://www.glendaleaz.com/library/  

Stephen Abram notes: I think that this list from the Blue Skunk Blog is worth reading: “Personal Network Member Bill of Rights and Responsibilities 1. I have the right not to be social 24/7 – either online or in person. 2. I have the right to time for reflection and responsibility for doing so. 3. I have the right to use only the tools that suit my learning style. 4. I have the right to stop using a tool when it is no longer useful. 5. I have the right to not be on the cutting edge all the time or feel […]

I am currently developing screencasts for an exciting new project mpowwill roll out in the near future. While looking at a stupidly designed, but very useful database, I thought “Why would any patron watch a tutorial on how to navigate this mess?  They want an answer to a question, not a walk through of a resource.” This idea was quickly followed by “I am going to design screencasts that answer common, representative questions.”  For example, using LegalForms by Thomas Gale (not the database I referred to as stupidly designed) I can show how to find a customizable job application in one […]

50. Today, the org chart is hyperlinked, not hierarchical. Respect for hands-on knowledge wins over respect for abstract authority. Today, bloggers from all over the world are responding to the 95 points of the Cluetrain Manifesto, which is ten years old: “Cluetrainplus10 is a project to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the manifesto. On Tuesday April 28, 95 bloggers around the world will each write a blog post on one of the 95 theses.” I chose #50, above, as one I might comment on because it speaks to the model I’ve been working on in my talks “The Hyperlinked […]