Maintain IT Cookbookslibraries, our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 2/17/2008 with 1 comment

Over a year ago I wrote about a project called MaintainIT, a three-year Bill and Melinda Gates funded initiative designed to identify best practices for maintaining public access computers. Well, since then, they’ve been awfully busy. In addition to going around the country talking to librarians who maintain computers, they’ve published two cookbooks, which are …

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Understanding the culture of social networking technologieslibraries, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 1/16/2008 with 6 comments

Andrea Mercado and Kate Sheehan have both written insightful posts about the importance of librarians being aware of the culture of the social technologies they’re getting involved in for outreach purposes. From Kate: It’s easy to become enamored of social networking sites and Web 2.0 toys to the point where they seem like a panacea …

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Don’t take what you know for grantedblogging, free the information!, libraries, reference, Wikis, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 1/4/2008 with 6 comments

As liaison to all of the distance learning programs at our University, I frequently deal with our Interlibrary Loan Librarian. We can’t do traditional book interlibrary loan with our distance learners because the loan times do not allow sufficient time for us to ship the materials to the student and for the student to consult …

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Library Software Manifestolibraries, our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 11/13/2007 with Comments Off on Library Software Manifesto

Roy Tennant has posted a Library Software Manifesto which was adapted from a talk he recently gave. It outlines the rights and responsibilities customers have in the relationship between libraries and vendors and libraries and patrons. This and John Blyberg’s ILS Customer Bill of Rights are two important documents that outline what we all should …

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The long road towards subject guide 2.0libraries, reference, RSS and Syndication, social bookmarking, Wikis, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 10/24/2007 with 28 comments

When I finally got control over the library’s Web presence last year (a long process better discussed in a post of its own), the first thing I did was take down the library “subject guides.” You could hardly call these things subject guides; they were just a bunch of Web links in different areas. Some …

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Be the first lab!libraries, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 8/11/2007 with 3 comments

I absolutely loved Jill Stover’s post about the library as a lab for creative exploration (by the way, if you don’t read her blog, subscribe! It’s a gem!): This “community creativity lab” is where where I see libraries’ future and competitive advantage. I can’t think of any other free, publicly-accessible place (except perhaps for museums, …

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Good library publicity for all the right reasonslibraries

by Meredith Farkas on 7/24/2007 with 3 comments

Way to go Gary Price for getting the electronic and non-book resources libraries offer the attention they deserve in the mainstream tech media! “Steal This Book? Don’t Bother”: Libraries are offering more free search services, database access, articles, photos, eBooks, audiobooks, music and museum passes than ever. Chances are you are buying, subscribing to, or …

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