The backstory: I’ve been working with a fellow Portland Mainer named Kirsten Cappy who runs the book consulting company Curious City to come up with a program to promote the new book Reunited by Hilary Weisman Graham (out June 2012). We had the idea to send the book out on the road, much like the characters in the story. We asked “how can this work and how can we help out libraries?” My response was: “make it easy and simple for teen libraries and give them a summer reading program in a box”. Simple things for the library to host and give their community something neat […]
Tags Justin Hoenke
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Shirky, of course, advocates that we embrace “as much chaos as we can stand.” In this scenario, staff is encouraged to try out a new thing without regard to the way “it’s always been done.” This is messy, scary, and probably unwanted in most institutions. Ideas above are from: Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky Embracing Chaos by Michael Stephens It has been a little over a month since we began our grand experiment with lending devices to teens (for the first post on this, go here. for the second, go here) and I am here to check back in and […]
(for the first post in this series, please click here) Once I had the idea for lending out iPods with pre-selected apps to teens, I had to do some investigating and thinking about how these devices would be used. I would describe the iPods as “locked down”. By that, I mean that the borrower can’t do much other than use the iPods for their library defined purpose (play or create) and use the internet. To access restrictions, visit your settings on your iPod. Under the General tab, scroll down to […]
We can talk all day about whether or not it’s a good idea to lend out devices to patrons, but in the end action is better than any kind of talk. After listening to both sides of the lending devices story for a few weeks, I decided to say the heck with it and buy some Nooks and iPod Touches to lend out to my teen patrons. My approach to lending out these devices was simple: sure, anyone can go out there and buy these devices and put whatever they want on them, but what about all of the cool […]
UPDATED ON 1/28/12 (see below) *sort of I bought a Kindle for these reasons and for the past few days, I’ve been using it in a few different ways. I bought two books from Amazon totalling $6.99. But most of the space on my Kindle is taken up by a collection of PDF’s. Yes, this is how I’m hacking a Kindle. It’s my PDF collection device. Does your library subscribe to some databases? Chances are, they do, and this will be where you will start your hacking. My current topics of interest include empowering patrons to create “stuff” in […]
I got these two direct messages via Twitter recently from two libraries who were acknowledging that I started following them. They followed me back and then sent these messages. To me, these simple DM’s really warmed my heart and reinforced the idea that customer service is one of the most important things that we can focus on in libraries today. It also acts as a great way to open up the conversation with our patrons. This is something I highly recommend that libraries practice when using Twitter. It really can make our patrons feel welcome. -Post by Justin Hoenke,Tame the […]
Also: Send all tweets with a SMiLE! -Post by Justin Hoenke,Tame the Web Contributor
Thinking about the future has been very common for me in 2011. I’ve asked myself time and time again, “what is my place in libraries?” but I haven’t come to a final answer. I’ve had this feeling that I can’t be a teen librarian forever, but since it is the only position I’ve ever held I’ve had a hard time looking past it. Could I be an academic librarian? A self employed librarian? These ideas have come and gone, but no one answer has really stuck. Until recently… I started thinking about a possible future as a library director after […]
Christoph Deeg has been doing an amazing job touring libraries in Europe with the Zukunftswerkstatt Gaming Roadshow opening up discussion about gaming and libraries. This past week, the Roadshow made a stop at the Mannheim Library and held their program and panel discussion on gaming. If you’re interested, check out this write up of the event here. The roadshow panel discussion brought up a great question: We discussed how interactive games can be used specifically in the culture and knowledge of the role they play in society, which can help libraries, schools or other institutions to technology and how it even […]
Have you ever given your all for a teen program, only to feel less than spectacular about the end result? We’ve all been there. Maybe we don’t attract the attendance numbers we hoped for or that our well thought out plan didn’t go exactly as we expected it to go. It’s got me thinking about life in the library beyond programs. Programming is a great tool for libraries, but it can only get us so far. Real interactions, friendships, and something as simple as saying hello to our patrons is one of the best practices for a teen librarian to […]