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« Previous Entries Next Entries »From the “to blog” folder
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007When I find a post or article interesting and think I might want to comment on it, it goes into the “to blog” folder. That folder is getting pretty darn full, and I think it’s time I accept that I’m not going to blog all of these things and maybe should just point to some [...]
No more f2f meetings… EVER!
Saturday, July 21st, 2007Whenever I go on Twitter, it seems like Michelle is at a meeting or on her way to another meeting. It’s amazing the girl gets anything done with all those meetings! So I can completely understand her intense dislike for in-person meetings. I think everyone has been to meetings where they feel like they just [...]
Through her eyes
Sunday, May 6th, 2007I have always enjoyed reading books and articles about certain places written by foreigners. Whether it is the British writer Jonathan Raban writing about America, the early 20th century British adventurer, Freya Stark, writing about “Arabia”, or American journalist, Adam Gopnick, writing about Paris, there is something special in their writing that comes from seeing [...]
Well, I said yes.
Thursday, April 26th, 2007Last night, I got an e-mail asking if I’d like to join the LITA Top Technology Trends panel as one of their experts. And it didn’t take me more than 2 seconds to decide that I was going to say yes. Wow! What an honor to be included with such a distinguished group of professionals! [...]
What about Library Association 2.0?
Monday, April 2nd, 2007One thing I have loved about the whole Library 2.0 movement is the push to stamp out the “but we’ve always done it this way” attitude. I am a strong believer in questioning the common wisdom. So often we do things because of tradition, not because it’s the best way to do it. I think [...]
Five Weeks to a Social Library: Highlights from Week 4
Saturday, March 10th, 2007Wow! I can’t believe we’ve just finished Week 4. It’s definitely a bittersweet feeling. I can’t imagine waking up in a little over a week and not finding new posts from my friends in this program. I have gained so much from my interactions with them, more than I could have ever imagined. I only [...]
Lead, follow or get out of the way
Sunday, February 18th, 2007I always tease Roy Tennant about how so many geek girls (me included) — and probably geek boys too — are totally crushing on him. He doesn’t really “get it”. I think his recent post in TechEssence, “Open Letter to ILS Vendors” is a great example of how smart, pragmatic and (as John Blyberg puts [...]
CIL 2007 Wiki (like you weren’t expecting it!)
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007I just wanted to give people a head’s up that the wiki for this year’s Computers in Libraries conference is up and people are already starting to add content. I’ve already got my schedule online and I’m really excited about speaking at the conference and seeing some of the terrific talks on the roster. I’m [...]
Now it can be told!
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007I’m so happy to finally be able to publicly congratulate Dorothea Salo on her new job as Digital Repository Librarian at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I knew Dorothea enjoyed her job at George Mason, but like me, she is not a city person and I know how city life can wear on someone [...]
A new (and needed) blog
Monday, January 29th, 2007On a happy note, a friend of mine has recently started a blog in an area of librarianship that doesn’t get enough discussion in the blogosphere: access services. Mary Chimato is the head of access and delivery services at NCSU, and started Circ and Serve because she saw a gaping hole in its representation on [...]
‘Age’-old hangups
Monday, January 29th, 2007I have received many e-mails in regards to the first article in my tenure as a columnist for American Libraries, “Balancing the Online Life” (wish I could link to it, but it isn’t online). Most of them have been very positive, but I did get a few complaints. All of them were from librarians who [...]
Encouraging participation in the wiki world
Sunday, January 14th, 2007David King is in the middle of a terrific series on his blog about inviting participation in Web 2.0/social software tools. Here are the ones he’s come out with so far: Inviting Participation in Web 2.0 Part 2: Passive Invitations Part 3: Active Invitations Check out the comments too where people are making some great [...]
It’s not just the OPACs that suck
Saturday, December 30th, 2006I have a confession to make: I do not use my local public library. I have been in there twice. The first time I went in to get a library card and browsed around to see if there was something I might want to take out. I discovered that the selection of new books was [...]
Loyalty, user experience and things that just work
Sunday, December 17th, 2006Loyalty, foolish consistency or whatever you wish to call it I am an incredibly loyal person. When I find a product, person or service I like, I will stick with it/them for as long as I can. Although I haven’t lived in Florida for two years, I still get my hair cut by the same [...]
A day in the life of a distance learning librarian
Thursday, December 14th, 2006This morning, I received an e-mail from a librarian who is applying for a position as a distance learning librarian. She asked me what a distance learning librarian does. I would guess that every single person with the title (and some without it who work with online learners) have somewhat different job responsibilities. I’m the [...]
Genre Fiction ID System
Thursday, October 5th, 2006My dad (Jody Gorran) is a crazy entrepreneur. He has had more businesses (and business ideas) since I was born than years that I’ve been alive. From a hair salon, to treasure hunting, to water beds and gel matresses, to solar panels, to a housing development, to home security kits, to online scrapbooks and many, [...]
Why transparency is important (or, how to lose your customers)
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006Let me preface this by saying that when I first started my job over a year ago, I was a big fan of EBSCO. Students found their interface easy to use, they were always improving their interface and offerings, and our local Rep was really responsive to our e-mails and questions. But something has changed. [...]
Things I wish I’d known about before I finished my book
Friday, August 18th, 2006I must apologize for not writing much lately. I really believed that when I finished my book I would have lots and lots of spare time, but then the speaking engagements came rolling in and the professors in the graduate programs at Norwich suddenly “got religion” regarding information literacy. All good things, but they take [...]
Public libraries using 2.0 technologies
Wednesday, August 9th, 2006I got an interesting question from a reader that I really wanted to open up to the community on my blog rather than pretending that I’m knowledgeable enough to answer this question by myself: I have been reading your blog and since you have expertise with wikis I am seeking your advice. I am applying [...]
Selling RSS to the busy clinician or faculty member
Saturday, June 24th, 2006I recently revamped the subject guide for our Information Assurance (basically Info Security) masters program. One thing I did was mix together several info security news feeds into one using RSS Mix and syndicated it on the Web page using Feed2JS (which we now have installed on our own server — makes it MUCH faster). [...]
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