Contributors Michael Stephens

4147 posts

Is your library emotionally healthy?

Read this excellent article…and look deep within yourself and your library’s culture… http://liscareer.com/cunningham_eiq.htm This isn’t really a tech article but many of the points could be applied to how your library handles technology — or doesn’t handle it! Excerpt: These are some great questions to ask in an interview: Describe the morale in the library.? How does the staff socialize together? What are some of the frustrations of the professional and paraprofessional staff? ????? How is information communicated in the library? How are executive decisions made and communicated? How do departments communicate in the library?? Are there mechanisms set up […]

Mobile Life Survey Results!

Via eContent: http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=7131 AvantGo has released the results of its 2004 Mobile Lifestyle survey. The September survey of 3,260 AvantGo users, conducted entirely via PDAs and smartphones, was a self-administered survey completed over a two-week period and delivered on mobile devices via the free AvantGo service. Respondents were self-selecting. AvantGo, is a service of iAnywhere, which is a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. The results revealed that 85% of Pocket PC owners and 82% of Palm owners plan to stick with the same operating system with their next purchase. According to the AvantGo survey, the “top 12″ features of an all-in-one […]

ILI Sessions

Here’s a breakdown of sessions I’m involved in: Workshop 2: Successful Technology Training 10:00 ? 13:00 Michael Stephens, St. Joseph County Public Library (USA) This energetic, fast-paced workshop teaches how to plan and implement successful technology training that is centered on the user and defined by user needs. Delegates will learn three methods to analyse and define users? technology needs, a ?sure fire? test to ensure measurable outcomes and objectives, simplified task analysis for breaking learning down into steps, a toolbox of strategies to make technology learning fun and interesting, and two approaches to demonstrate and reinforce learning. With theory […]

“I read your blog” or GRE Horrors

Bumped into a new SJCPL librarian outside the building this afternoon. He’s starting the MLS program via IUPUI. We talked GRE, math horror stories and about the mysteries of UNIX. He started the conversation with “Did you just take the GRE?” Mind racing I thought he’d been at the testing center or had seen me racing away from it after commiting to my scores (don’t ask! — i almost laughed out loud at some of the math parts)…. “I read your blog” he said. Coolness. At least the GRE is over! Now I am working on a big paper — […]