I am!!!! I’m so excited! This will be my first Information Today conference and I can’t wait to meet all the people I’ve only known online and hang out with some of the bloggers I haven’t seen since ALA. YAY!!! Is there anything I should know about the conference or about D.C.? I haven’t spent …
I’ve been doing a whole lot of thinking lately about helping patrons, marketing our services, and just generally about making libraries better. Something Steven Bell wrote recently got me thinking about the idea that there are some librarians who just don’t want to improve libraries: Is there anyone out there who doesn’t think that making …
Wow! I think this is the first time I’ve ever been tagged for a meme. You like me! You really like me! Thanks Nicole! 😉 Four jobs I’ve had: 1. Lemonade stand owner 2. “Girl Friday” (as my boss called me) at a local non-profit cultural organization 3. Child and Family Psychotherapist 4. Library Assistant …
For those who don’t know, I am currently writing a book on libraries and technology. At this point, I can’t even imagine what life would be like if I didn’t spend every weekend doing research and writing. I mean, I do something book-related almost every day, so it’s completely sewn into the fabric of my …
OK, so I’m not a marketing expert by any stretch of the imagination. But I know that we need some serious marketing PR stuff to go on at my library. We have very low reference desk usage stats. I think part of it might be the population (over 50% military) but a lot of it …
I know Michael Stephens and Jessamyn are good at teaching people about technology, but I really think they could learn a thing or two from StrongBad of the hilarious Internet cartoon Homestar Runner. Check out this scene where StrongBad offers an introduction to technology for middle school students. My favorite quote: “Robots are technology shaped …
January 31st is the deadline for submissions to HigherEd BlogCon. If you have some great ideas about how to implement social tools in libraries or are doing cool things at your library, please consider submitting a proposal. One myth I’d like to dispell is that only “BIG names” in the library blogosphere or in librarianship …
“There’s something that’s really bothering me that I want to tell you about… but I can’t…” “There’s someone I think is an egotistical jerk. I’m sure you all know who I’m talking about.” “I want to write about a certain blogger who did ____, but I don’t want to stir the pot.” “Certain bloggers have …
I got my library science degree through distance learning, which was definitely an interesting experience. It’s fascinating to never meet most of your classmates and yet form definite opinions about them since you connect with them through online chat and asynchronous discussion. What was more interesting was how we viewed our professors. I was in …
This may be the longest I’ve gone without writing in my blog since I started it. Sorry ’bout that. All the craziness that went on in the comments section of my blog regarding Library 2.0 really made me want to take a break. I didn’t have the mental energy to defend myself or explain myself …
I think the presentation went really well yesterday! A crazy number of people showed up — 120 at one point. So of course with that many people, the co-browsing didn’t work and I think we may have hurt a few servers trying to all hit them at once, but I was able to talk about …
Just a quick reminder that today I’ll be giving an online talk on Wikis at 3 pm ET. It’s totally free to attend, so stop by if you’re interested in the subject. OPAL is pleased to present Wiki World: An Introduction. To participate, go to the online auditorium at http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0 type your name and click …
I’m not the most patient person in the world (I can just imagine my husband snickering when he reads this). Ok, I’m really impatient. I have a lot of ideas and I want them all to happen NOW. I can sometimes get discouraged by people’s negative reactions to an idea I have. It’s definitely something …
Since the fall, I’ve pretty much been processing my thoughts about Library 2.0 on this blog in real-time. If one is going for ideological consistency, it’s probably not the best way to do things, but it is the most human way. I’ve been learning and reflecting and sharing those reflections with you. Walt’s excellent piece …
In New Jersey, the Camden County Library System did just that. In November, they opened Shelf Life, a decidedly non-traditional branch of the library at the Echelon Mall in Voorhees. They managed to get the space donated by the company that manages the mall and created a hip place for patrons to visit with computers …
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No! It’s Library 2.0! What is Library 2.0? Is it all about technology? It is new? Is it just old? If Library 2.0 were an animal, what would it be? Does any of it really matter? Why do people like to squish things into these neat little boxes as …
You have no idea how happy I am to report that my brilliant husband seems to have found the solution to my spam problems. We’re tried blacklists and they never worked. I required people to register and the spambots were kind enough to register before dumping spams on 60 or more pages. They got really …
As you may know, I’m chairing the Library and Information Resources Track of HigherEd BlogCon, a totally online conference exploring the new technologies being used in higher education. Michelle Boule of the University of Houston is my fabulous partner-in-crime on this venture. The Call for Proposals for HigherEd BlogCon has been finalized, so I’m posting …
Yesterday, Edward Vielmetti, a very committed patron at the Ann Arbor District Library e-mailed me about an amazing idea he has for improving the Library Success Wiki (stay tuned for more on that — it’s so EXCITING!). When I wrote him back, I called him the “AADL Super Patron,” which is very coincidental, since he …
Writing is going well in terms of quantity. I’m nearly halfway done in terms of words written, which I can hardly believe myself. However, given my ineptitude when it comes to citing sources properly, I will definitely have a lot of post-writing work to do. I also haven’t given a thought to what figures and …