Contributors Michael Stephens

4147 posts

Ten, no, Eleven Reasons for Vidcasting in the Library

I love the ideas about applications of video in library settings. One of these days we’ll see an official “video podcast” from a library show up in the next incarantion of the iTunes MEDIA Store. David King has a great post about integrating video into Library Web sites. He lists ten things librarians might do with video, including: Videocast of bibliographic instruction, downloadable when a student needs it Tours of the library Showing what a meeting room looks like Wonderful ideas that make use of the medium. The BI videos could be very helpful for “training on demand.” At SJCPL, […]

The Year of the Digital Citizen

Via the BBC: 2005 was arguably the year citizens really started to do it for themselves. Raising mobiles aloft, they did not just talk and text, they snapped, shared and reported the world around them. Fascinating little article that touches on braodband in the UK, videoblogging, news, and more. Also reminds me of this fellow that snapped his picture with his Treo while the plane he was on was de-pressurizing, and this piece at USA Today about video sharing Web sites.

A Patron’s Perspective On Library 2.0

Via Maison Bisson (Who also wrote about L2 here.) A reprint of an incredible article written by a library user: The University’s Reading and Writing Center is housed in the library, and the planning board for the library has just completed designs for bringing in a coffee shop, similar to Starbuck’s, onto the library’s ground floor. The entire building now is wireless, meaning you can take your laptop into the coffee shop, drink a cup of Joe, and surf the library at UCLA, or the Sorbonne, or Harvard — at least in principle. You can also pop in a DVD […]

Update: Defining Library 2.0: Is it More than Technology?

Before Holiday break, I posted a list of ten L2 Events of 2005, strictly my opinion and very much a “brain dump.” Steve Lawson, librarian blogger from See Also commented: “I think that “Rock the Shelves” and the Gaming Symposium are fantastic, but I’m not sure how they fit the L2 meme. I have been thinking of L2 as the library version of Web 2.0: lightweight, social computing applications to meet users’ needs when, where, and how they need it. If we include innovative programs for young people like gaming and music, where do we draw the line? Is a […]

Nice Wrap Ups for 2005 & Some Predictions

Such great blog reading this last few days as 2005 rolled into 2006. 2005 was an incredible year professionally, acdemically and personally. Thanks to all I worked with, presented with and just plain got to sit and talk with! I am looking forward to 2006: the end of my PhD coursework, starting my dissertation, more blogging here and for ALA Techsource, publishing the Library Technology Report I’m working on and a few presentations here and there. Here are some nice wrap ups I came across in my aggregator: David Warlick on year end reflections. Steve Lawson on 2005 and technologies, […]

Top 11 Trends for Organizational Learning

Via Clio Institute Blog again! (Go Gail!) http://learningcircuits.blogspot.com/2006/01/top-11-trends-for-organizational.html Google Blogs Wikis Open Source IM/VOIP (Instant Messaging/ Voice Over Internet) Ambient Information Mobile Phones as Content Inputs/Outputs Podcasts Computer Games driving educational simulations Growing Training Budgets More Decentralized College Programs Can I say how HOT this list is and how important it is for library folk to be experimenting and implementing services based on these trends. Now is a great time to start that committee or team to discuss this list. Even if it’s a small group, it’s a great starting point. From a training standpoint, it’s time to make classes […]

Peer Reviewed Blogs in Academia

http://acrlblog.org/2005/11/28/academias-conflicted-reaction-to-blogging/ The conflicted reactions to blogging in higher education are discussed in a good article at Slate titled, “Attack of the Career-Killing Blogs.” It suggests several reasons while academic blogging is looked down upon, including departmental jealousy, that it’s considered a waste of time that should be spent on serious research, and that it falls outside the traditional peer-review journal system. Blogs however, seem to fulfill in many more ways the “fruition, not a betrayal, of the university’s ideals.” The article then considers that if a major objection to academic blogs is that they lack peer review, how might a […]

Superpatron: Technology Advisory Board & Book Covers

Via Jenny, John Blyberg and Jessamyn: Superpatron is a blog by Edward Vielmetti – check it out! I have followed his blog and discussions about his home library in Ann Arbor for some time. Now, as a library patron he starts a blog! This is a milestone and we should watch closely as this blog grows. Librarians – how would you feel if you had a blogging patron discussing your library and services? And that patron was using all the available tools to share their library experiences with the world: current checkouts, holds, etc. Wow! http://vielmetti.typepad.com/superpatron/2005/12/welcome_to_supe.html The post that caught […]

Libraries, Data, Learning & Stories

Via Rock Star Librarian: “I actually was told by one librarian that libraries aren’t the corporate world where things are planned out by relevant statistical data.” Libraries may not be corporate but librarians sure as heck should be looking at statistics and qualitative data. We should examine community data, library survey data and ask users for their input — their stories — to build services and buildings of the future. Just saying. We should also gather stories of successes and learning from our staff! This reminds me of this recent post at the Clio Institute Blog. Click through to see […]