Please visit http://www.lawtechguru.com/archives/2004/03/31_online_presence_considering_blogs_instead_of_web_sites.html and read Jeff beard’s thoughts about how using blogs can increase someone’s presence and then translate the implications to libraries. Good stuff! Concerning the value of blogs for “guerilla marketing,” Beard states: 1) Search Engines Love Blogs 2) Instant “Expertability” 3) Super Easy Updating 4) RSS News Feeds = Extended Reach = Larger Audience = More Hits 5) Built-in Search and Content Management Features Hmmm.. how easy can it be? So — to the librarians out there that cringe when they remeber their libraries’ out-dated and not up-dated Web site…ponder a blog instead! There are great benefits […]
Contributors Michael Stephens
4147 posts
Last week I wrote about 12 Techie Things for library folk to be aware of — to be in the know about in planning meetings and staff meeetings. Nothing pains me more but a bunch of blank looks in a meeting room when someone says they learned about some new technology at a recent conference. Here’s an addendum: Six Resources Every Techie Librarian Should Use: 1. LIS and technology blogs. Oh yeah! Use these directories of LIS Weblogs to locate useful library and librarian?s weblogs that speak to you or focus on interests. Library Weblogs – Peter Scott?s directory of […]
Please visit the Free Range Librarian and read Karen’s reports from the Webcred Conference. This little passage just sent me: But Friday and Saturday were also vacation days for me in the truest sense of the word, because at Webcred I went somewhere new and came back changed. Like many travel writers, I was on a quest, but did not quite know what I was looking for. I observed journalists and bloggers in their native habitat; I enjoyed their colorful costumes and quaint manner of speech; I heard both L’eminence grise and fresh-faced upstarts in both communities share their thoughts, […]
I am organizing a track for Internet Librarian 2005, October 24-26, dedicated to implementing some of the top technology trends in public libraries. My emphasis: practical applications and useful ideas that attendees can take home and USE in their small or medium-sized public libraries (or boost what some of the BIG libraries are doing). Are you a public librarian and implementing RFID? WiFi? A PL Blog with RSS? A Tech Training program that ROCKS? Let me know — Comment here! Shoot me an e-mail (mstephens7 (at) mac.com) or comment here and we’ll talk. The Submissions page is here. FEEL FREE […]
I updated a handout from last year this morning after chatting with Karen about this important facet of Weblog training. I’ll use it in February for a class I just scheduled at the Purdue library. It’s one thing to say to classes “Look at all the stuff you can get to via RSS!” but we must also remember to give folks tools to choose the LIS weblogs right for them. I incoprated some of the excellent work by Laurel Clyde and updated the banner. Take a look — and use it if you’d like! http://www.tametheweb.com/presentations/EvaluatingLISWeblogs.pdf
Aaron, who also made this Winter’s NetConnect with a most cool TOP TEN, posts a most thoughtful bit about his thoughts on the state of VR in libraries. http://www.walkingpaper.org/index.php?id=143 Virtual Reference is not user-centric, he writes. Expecting people to enter into and operate in a little world that vendors have created is a bit naive. VR systems clearly were built with librarian in mind. The benefits awarded librarians vs. patrons illustrates this. Yes. I agree. Who were we planning for when so many libraries jumped on to the RMS Virtual Reference as it sailed toward greatness only to encounter a […]
Could some public library folk who are circulating MP3 players or working with companies like Recorded Books send me an e-mail… I have a couple of questions… mstephens7 (at) mac.com
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/01/20/evil.twins/index.html?section=cnn_tech
The call for speakers is up! http://www.infotoday.com/il2005/ How are libraries and librarians changing to meet the needs of users in 2005? Got something to say? Want a great place and a wonderful crowd to say it to? Ponder a submission for Internet Librarian 2005! I’m still fired up from last November!
This weekend the South Bend Tribune reported that my hometown library has jumped into the digital content arena by aligning with Recorded Books in a $10,000 contract. The service, the paper reports, gives patrons access to 500 titles. “Patrons will be able to download the books to their home computers and then load them into any of the small media players that are Windows-based. Patrons also will be able to go to the library and download books onto their MP3’s or similar players.” Here’s their site: http://www.recordedbooks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=rb.downloadable There are choices now for this type of content: Audible, Recorded, OverDrive. My […]