At my library, we recently started up a circulating video game collection. Since we didn’t have a huge budget and we knew the collection was going to be rather small, we opted to go stark naked with security. There’s also an amazing vibe here in Portland, Maine. People really have a lot of trust in each other and everyone has a lot of faith in each other. We put the games out on the shelf in the cases, did our best to monitor things, and went about our business at the library. Recently, we’ve had some stuff stolen. Instead of […]
Monthly Archives: September 2010
26 posts
Good stuff: http://followalibrary.blogspot.com/2010/09/give-your-library-twitter-makeover-for.html Erin Logsdon (@taxonomylady) wrote a blogpost with some great tips how to give your library a twitter makeover for follow a library day. Having a complete profile (Location, Web, Bio) is important for two reasons. One, the text in these fields in keyword searchable, so it will help people find you if the information is complete and relevant. Two, people use the profile information as a contextual way of understanding who you are and the purpose of your Twitter account. Can they ask you a question via Twitter or do you only use the account to push […]
A flurry of work today getting ready for classes! Don’t miss this from the Smithsonian’s Michael Edson: Michael Edson: Fast, Open, and Transparent: Developing the Smithsonian’s Web and New Media Strategy View more documents from Michael Edson. This is a most useful document for designing our own Web and new media strategies for libraries and other institutions. Careful articulation of “pain points” followed by an ongoing, transparent strategic plan seems to me to be a formula for success – especially with layers of administration.
David Wedaman writes: I’ve been reflecting on two different ways of organizing people: the grass-roots organizing committee, and what you might call the generic standing operational committee. Model 1. The organizing committee (think Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, think Norma Rae, think your local Neighborhood Committee to Save the Park) creates ex nihilo; wrests people from their comfortable lives to solve a collective problem (or brings together people already so wrested); is intense and real, is full of arguments, passion; is omnivorous in regards to talents — takes whatever members can give; is ecumenical in regards to methods and modes and […]
http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2010/09/follow-a-library.html Excerpt: What I appreciate the most about this project is their main goal is educating people about the benefits of following a library on Twitter. The group is aiming beyond our little online world of librarians and library folk and I think we should help them. What better way to do your own promotion for YOUR library’s Twitter feed than to play up this internationally organized day. Some off the cuff ideas whilst I continue to recuperate after that unfortunate dog-related injury: Embed the overview video in your library’s blog or Web site and write a little blurb about […]
http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/2010/09/music-in-libraries-were-doing-it-wrong.html I’ve been meaning to post a link to this incredible post by the Librarian in Black. I’ll be using it in my classes from now on as a perfect overview of what’s happening with downloadable music in libraries. If you haven’t read it, be sure to do so and don’t miss the comments. For example: Overdrive & Alexander Street Music are very similar. Overdrive users download a music file in a DRM-protected format that will self-encrypt and be unreadable after the designated circulation period (e.g. 3 weeks). Update: Alexander Street Music offers -streaming- access to classical, jazz, and folk. […]
From Central Rappahannock Regional Library comes this outstanding example of library video production that contains a serious, heartfelt message about libraries and the dedication of library workers in troubled times. Wired writes: For the record, we love libraries as much as the technological advances which now put libraries in your pocket. They are havens, sanctuaries, community centers and places where helpful people who are almost certainly smarter than you hang out just to help you. : No batteries are required for books need. They don’t need connectivity or special equipment to operate them. Read More http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/09/librarians-rock-well-anyway-they-disco/#ixzz0zn503oN5 It’s incredibly witty, contains […]
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Shared with me via email is the response from a university library who would not make an exception for an online student who needed an article and who was without access from home and at work due to unforeseen circumstances: The Library policy states that the Library will not send an article if the article can be accessed online. As you may be aware of that many of our patrons have no access to computer or internet from home, so we are unable to make exceptions to anyone for such kind of requests. I’m trying to understand what this means […]
Please read: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/09/harrisburg Just posted this comment: I use social tools extensively in my teaching and interaction with students. From Facebook office hours to a WordPress/BuddyPress course site developed with an outstanding grad student, I would virtually have my hands tied during this “experiment.” I agree with commenters above: how about a week without phone service so faculty would have to walk across campus to chat with a colleague or ask a question. Or shut down access to library databases for a week and rely on the library’s print collection for resources. I’m much more interested in the connected campus […]