Categories TTW Ephemera

Michael and I have been pondering ways to get feedback and input for our column in LJ. Weeks ago, we made a Twitter account and a few people even found it and followed us. Now, we’d like to promote it just a bit. We’ll be looking for ideas, insights and whatever you’d like to share a few times a month. Thanks! http://twitter.com/TransparentLib

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6582321.html Evergreen began in a similar way. In 2004, when it was obvious their legacy ILS could no longer support the needs of their 270-plus library consortium, Georgia PINES, the resource-sharing network of Georgia Public Library Service, held focus groups in which librarians were told, “Pretend it’s magic, and describe what you’d like library software to do.” (Disclosure: I work for Equinox, the support and development company for Evergreen.) Librarians then helped custom design the product to do the things existing software had not done well, whether it was reindexing large amounts of data, presenting book jackets in search results, […]

An expose of the long history of Walt Disney World in Florida. It was both fascinating and hilarious at times. AND there were many nuggets about planning, organizations and a guest-centered focus. Here are the passages I highlighted in relation to libraries: “Not long before opening, Operation also considered not allowing the hotels to have their own parking lots….[the managers of the project got together] to compile a list of reasons why off-site parking would fail–guest services reasons, arguments that Operations could understand.” Sometimes, looking at the negative impact on guests (users) of a new policy might sway admin decision […]

Via Warren’s SLJ Learning 2.0 blog: One twitter tool I have found facinating is monitter. The page has three columns where you can enter search words you want to monitor on twitter – your library name (or your name!) perhaps. Then as it finds tweets containing those words, the column will fill up and add those tweets as results. I went immediately, added some location data and some keywords: Of course, I see my tweets, but also some interesting things: folks discussing the Hesburgh library, our local CBS affiliate, and some discussion about my hometown Mishawaka, Indiana. Check this one […]

My sincere apologies to all who attended the Institute today as we encountered technical difficulties and had to cancel the program. My Mac, OS 10.5.5, and Safari 3 just could not play nice with MS Live Meeting. I’ll post the rescheduled date as soon as we iron it out. The slides and links will remain here.

Check out the video tutorials from the good folks at Franklin Park Public Library: http://www.franklinparklibrary.org/index.php?q=tutorials

Nicole writes: A few weeks ago I got to to Kansas and train the NEKLS librarians on how to use the Koha ILS. While many libraries have been migrating to Koha (or choosing to migrate soon), NEKLS is the first that I’ve seen create a website for all of their libraries (and anyone else) to learn from as they train their staff on the new system. So, congrats to NEKLS on going live with their new Koha 3.0 ILS!!! Keep up with the process on the NExpress website and Facebook page.

Twitter breaks down barriers in the Classroom: As an experiment, Parry made Twitter a class assignment and got his students to engage in microblogging as homework. He observed how Twitter became the link that connected conversations inside and out of class. “Because the students had the shared classroom experience, when something came up outside of class that reminded them of material from class time, it often got twittered,” he notes. “This served as a reinforcement/connection between the material and the ‘real world.’” He also discovered that it changed classroom dynamics in a positive way, encouraging more respectful and productive interaction between students […]

Brian Mathews writes:   Just to be clear, this isn’t an instructional session, it’s a celebration. It’s a “welcome to Georgia Tech” event. It’s a chance for students to have fun in the library and to meet their fellow dorm mates and peers. It shows that we don’t have to be so serious all the time– that we are approachable. We want them to see the space, live in it for a few hours, and hopefully feel less intimidated later in the semester. Plus it is a fun bonding experience for staff too. I mentioned last year that we designed […]

Tomorrow is my SirsiDynix Institute webinar: Taming Technolust: Planning in a Hyperlinked World Aug 26, 2008 | 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Michael Stephens offers ten steps for technology planning in our fast changing, ever-evolving information world. More Info | Register Now If you have time, please join in.