If you only want to see the library stuff, there’s an RSS feed for each separate track and here’s the feed for the Library and Information Resources Track. Remember that the Library and Information Resources track runs from April 10-14.

Here’s the schedule with links to each track’s program.

teaching: April 3-7, 2006

library & info resources: April 10-14, 2006

admissions, alumni relations, and communications & marketing: April 17-21, 2006

websites & web development: April 24-28, 2006

[tags]higheredblogcon, libraries, social software[/tags]

ITI knows how to do a conference right. They constantly show their presenters that they are valued, they know how to schmooze the bloggers, they know how to get people into the exhibits (with receptions and CyberTours), and they treat their attendees well by having free receptions, breakfast, and a neverending supply of cold water. Can you imagine ALA doing any of that? To me, it really is a model for how a conference should be run.

[tags]cil2006[/tags]

Roy Tennant’s brilliant What I Wish I Had Known, a reflection on the things he would have been better off knowing back when he was finishing up library school. It’s important for people to reflect on their mistakes, both to learn from them and (if done publicly) to help people to avoid making similar mistakes. Success stories are great, but I find public reflections on foibles and failures tremendously admirable. Library Journal really does get some great writing out of their columnists.

All the stuff that Chad, Jenny, Michael, Kelly, Beth, and Chris wrote from the Gaming, Learning and Libraries Symposium has blown my mind. I SO wish I had been there and I’m hoping there will be mp3’s of the presentations up soon. I can’t link directly to their posts because there were so many, but if you’re looking at their blogs a while from now, look for posts somewhere between December 4 and December 8, 2005. It’s so cool to see gaming gaining more legitimacy for its use in libraries!

If you didn’t go to Greg Schwartz’s excellent introduction to Podcasting this week (through OPAL), you can listen to the mp3 of his talk and see the very useful wiki he created for the occasion. If you still don’t quite know what Podcasting is all about or how it could be used in libraries, definitely check it out!

OCLC’s Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources is out and I’m very much looking forward to reading it when I get out from under the work on my book. If you also don’t have the time to peruse it now, check out Dave King’s perceptions of Perceptions… (Parts 1&2 and Parts 3, 4,&5). Dave is providing a very useful service for busy librarians. I think one of the best things a library blog can be is a filter.

If you’re interested in implementing large-scale technology projects at your library, be sure to check out John Blyberg’s Lessons learned: aadl.org 3.0. It’s all about what he’s learned from the Ann Arbor District Library Web site redesign and all of the amazing improvements they made. Nice to hear someone talking about Drupal since I’ve been doing some research on it myself lately. My favorite line in the whole post was “Unspeakable things were done to the OPAC! I’ve seen things, horrible things. I’ve been forced to do things I thought I’d never do!” Lots and lots of good advice, especially the idea of having a fall-back plan. This is a post to print out. John is definitely near the top of my list of librarians we need to clone.

On a sad note, the Library Success Wiki got hit really badly today by spam and I’ve decided that I need to require that people register before posting to the wiki. It’s very easy (and obviously free) to create an account on the wiki and I hope it won’t deter too many people from adding useful information. In a healthier wiki community, like the Wikipedia or the ALA Chicago Wiki (well, what it was in the spring), spam would get fixed quickly by whomever in the community noticed it first. But when the majority of it has to be fixed by one person, spam can really get out of hand. I’m really sorry I have to put up these barriers to use, but they were totally necessary if we didn’t want the wiki to become 90% spam and 10% real content.

Update: Well, now the spammers are registering. Just great…

I’m currently doing a survey to attempt to figure out which are the key features that users of social bookmarking services are looking for. I’m hoping to hear from about a thousand influential social bookmarking fans.

Basically we know that social bookmarking has great potential but we are trying to figure out what is holding it back from going mainstream.

Djoeke is trying to get 1000 people to answer her survey question (yes, there is only one question) so if you have any opinions about social bookmarking, please give her your two cents. She’s going to publish the results for the online community, which I’m very interested in seeing.

Always carry a manilla folder with you everywhere you go. In this folder, have a print-out of a spreadsheet. Any spreadsheet will do, but it helps if it has a call number or two on it. When the library director busts you as you’re wandering the stacks with your cup of coffee, produce the manilla folder, pull a random book from the shelf, check your spreadsheet, and replace the book. “Everything’s fine here!” [see the rest of the post here]

I love, love, love this blog! As much as I enjoy my many tech-related blogs, sometimes I just want a laugh. Like Homer said, “it’s funny because it’s true!”

Actually, I’ve discovered a lot of new-ish fantastic blogs lately. I’ll have to share them later on this week. I really think I’m nearing critical mass with my blog consumption. Y’all have to stop writing such great stuff!

Don’t you just love autumn?

Once winter comes and I won’t want to leave the house (which is not so far away in Vermont), I’m sure I’ll write more often.

My colleagues don’t seem very affected by it all, but to people in Vermont, a hurricane is probably as foreign to them as a tsunami.

I’ve lived in South Florida on-and-off since 1989. So I’ve been through my share of hurricanes, including Andrew when I was in high school. Andrew was originally forecast to hit us directly but turned south at the last moment andMiami bore the brunt of its wrath. I remember going to bed the night that Andrew was supposed to come wondering if there would be a roof over my headwhen I woke up. We got lucky. The people of Miami did not.

Right around this time last year, Adam and I were hunkered down in a hotel in New Orleans, having fled Florida just ahead of Hurricane Frances. For 10 days we moved from hotel to hotel in Tallahassee, New Orleans, and Jackson, Mississippi waiting until we could go home. I remember how scary it was not knowing if my friends and family in the area were safe (my parents, living 10 miles west of us, had stayed) and if our home would be intact when we got back. Luckily everyone and everything was fine other than the fact that we had a very stinky refrigerator (word to the wise: when fleeing a hurricane, make sure to completely clean out your refrigerator in anticipation of a long power outage). That same month, we were forced out of our homes again for Hurricane Jeanne, though this time we decided we couldn’t afford to stay in hotels and we stayed with my parents. We lost power and had to bake in muggy rooms devoid of any light thanks to the hurricane shutters. It was so hot and the wind so loud that there was no way we could possibly sleep. The stress one goes through at times like that is tremendous. And these storms weren’t nearly so bad as Katrina. My heart goes out to everyone being affected by this storm.

me in my “home away from home” in New Orleans last year trying to concentrate on school work.

Those hurricanes were the primary reason why I hardly bothered to look for a job in Florida. Adam and I didn’t ever want to go through another hurricane season again. I’ll take 20 degrees-below-zero wind-chills and 5 feet of snow over a hurricane any day. Being here safe and dry, when so many other people aren’t, makes me realize how amazingly lucky I am.