Categories TTW Ephemera

472 posts

The default category. For uncategorized articles or articles that don’t fit elsewhere.

Collaboration in the Classroom

http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-just-want-to-say-one-word-to-you.html So, if you’re an administrator, what are you doing to foster collaboration among your staff, and especially your teachers? And I’m talking more than just PLC’s, although that’s not a bad start. What are you really doing to fundamentally change the structure of your school(s) from one of isolation (close the door and teach), to one of sharing and collaboration (knock down the walls)? Is it unacceptable to share in your institution? If you’re a teacher, what are you doing to foster collaboration among your students? And I’m talking more than putting them into groups of four and having […]

Beyond 2.0: Playful Teamwork

        http://beyond2point0.blogspot.com/ From February 23 to May 4, 2009, the Virginia Beach Public Library will offer Beyond 2.0 – Playful Teamwork, a life-long learning and team collaboration experience for library staff. The program is designed to: enhance business practices through the use of technology to improve internal operations and communications and enhance services to citizens contribute to a fun, playful workplace that inspires collaboration among library staff members expand library staff’s knowledge base foster implementation of web 2.0 skills The Beyond 2.0 program is be comprised of two parts: A learning based blog A staff collaboration opportunity […]

The Transparent Library: Dear Library Directors

… As people find information “on the fly” or “just in time,” how can we still play a role? We’re excited to see new ways libraries are offering reference: texting, Meebo, and outreach to places like Panera Bread. It’s not time to stop those innovations. Could your reference staffers be doing their jobs in other channels? In other spaces? We were impressed by Columbus Metropolitan Library, OH, and others that have changed imposing reference desks to friendlier stations where staff and users stand beside one another. The reference interview these days should be all about collaboration and context. But remember […]

News from Australia

Katy Watson shared this comment on this post. I wanted to send it out via the blog feed: The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) is shocked by the destruction the Victorian bushfires have caused to lives, townships and communities. We thank all the Australians and Australian libraries that are supporting these devastated areas and encourage everyone to donate time and money to assist those affected. Donations can be made to the Red Cross bushfires appeal. The information below has been kindly supplied by John Murrell – Public Libraries Victoria Network President. Victoria’s Devastating Bushfires The horrific bushfires across Victoria over the weekend have devastated the lives of […]

Trader Joe’s & Libraries

Great post from David Armano who looks at a customer-created video “commercial” for Trader Joe’s and urges the most cool grocery store not to crush the initiative. Instead, he offers sage advice that librarians should take to heart as well for content created by the public about their institutions: Listen There are close to 100 comments on the video and over 33,000 views of the video. Track all mentions and embeds of the video and listen to how people are responding to it. If Trader Joe’s isn’t using a conversation monitering service, go with the the tools available out there […]

Coffee in the Library?

From Library Garden: Thank you for coming–we love to share our space and are happy to have you here. As in many libraries (and I suspect in yours), we have a policy here that states: No Food or Drink in the Library. We hate to tell our patrons no, but have no choice—this is a sensible policy as food and drink stain furniture and carpets and destroys library materials. In this age of the ubiquitous Starbucks cup, coffee cop is one of the worst parts of our jobs. http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2009/02/open-letter-to-visiting-professionals.html I just left a comment. Take a read and see what […]

Fitting their Workflows: University of Queensland Library

Keith Webster, University Librarian and Director of Learning Services at The University of Queensland, shares this sign and the thinking behind it with TTW readers: (emphasis mine) During 2008 we conducted a number of studies into the academic lives of students, particularly their interactions with people, place and technologies.  We had students keep log-books whilst they wrote term papers; we invited them to design workshops, and we asked them to record their activities in our libraries on one day during the second semester.  We had thousands of responses!  We also ran LibQUAL+ for the first time.  From all of that data, a number of themes […]

Our Main Purpose

From Chapter 3 “Human Rights, Democracy and Librarians” by Kathleen de la Pena McCook & Katharine Phenix in The Portable MLIS: If librarians don’t keep touching base, looking back, remembering the big picture of our main purpose, which is to keep information freely flowing, take tax dollars, and give our communities (in the broadest sense) what they want and what they need, we will lose it all. We will overdue fine our public until they don’t dare come in, buy books the loudest patrons clamor for until we have created a library just for the few and the loudest. We […]