On 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 …
I 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 …
Jennifer Macaulay, who really just has to stop writing such insightful pieces or I will never get anything done, wrote a piece on her experiences as a distance learner a couple of weeks ago. And if I didn’t know better, I would have thought that I had written the entire thing myself, so much did …
In light of what I was writing about wikis and participation, I would like to ask for your help. I have been wanting to have some guidelines on the Library Success Wiki, similar to those that govern the Wikipedia. However, I never wanted to do it on my own for fear that it would be …
David 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 …
I remember when I got my job at Norwich, but before I started, I wondered what the new job would mean for my blog. How would my writing reflect on my organization? Would people ask me to censor myself? Fortunately, it has not changed what I write in the least. My blog is separate from …
My post earlier in the week may just have gotten more comments than anything I’ve ever written. I believe Steve Lawson called it “a great trainwreck of a comments thread.” In addition, I have received a dozen e-mails and IMs from readers of my blog extending their support. One of those e-mails was from my …
You know, I was kind of wondering why everything was so quiet today in terms of comments after the post I’d written yesterday. It seemed a bit… odd. Then I look in Akismet and found a whole bunch of comments that it had eaten. I think I’ve restored all of them, but I’m still not …
I remember a few months ago, my friend Rochelle wrote a terrific post about the Second Life Library 2.0. She basically wrote about her first-time experiences in the Second Life realm and how confusing and off-putting it was for her. She voiced some criticisms of the Second Life Library project, which she made clear were …
Nintendo Wii: Meredith’s Mii Originally uploaded by SirStan. I have a Mii! I have to say, I thought I could wait until the summer or next Fall to buy a Wii, but after playing it at a friend’s house last night, I’m really starting to get the itch! Adam bought me a Nintendo DS Lite …
I am pleased to announce that, after much deliberation, we have chosen our participants for the Five Weeks to a Social Library course! They are a diverse group — geographically, in the type of population they work with, and in terms of their position at their library. Here is the list: Bayer, Dell – Sr. …
I 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 …
I got tagged by both Nicole and David, so I guess it’s my turn to share some stuff about me you may not already have known. I’m pretty open on my blog, so there isn’t a lot that I haven’t shared with you that I’d be willing to share in a public space. Here goes: …
Loyalty, 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 …
This 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 …
I went to an arts magnet school for high school (and yes, it was a bit like Fame with people dancing and singing in the halls — not exactly the typical high school experience, thank goodness). My “talent” was creative writing. In 9th grade, Frank Cerabino, a columnist for the Palm Beach Post came to …
I think I will second Jill Stover’s nomination of Ken Varnum for the title of “great guy”. In response to some comments on his blog regarding library marketing, Ken created WOMBLINK, a way for libraries to easily spread the word about their services (and for bloggers to easily spread the word for them). From Ken’s …
I just wanted to take a moment out while slogging through my book galley (more on that at a later date) to congratulate my friend Casey Bisson on being awarded the Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration for his development of the WPopac, a groundbreaking catalog with WordPress as the front end. Casey deserves a ton …
Last summer, I was talking with someone from the planning committee of the Dartmouth Biomedical Libraries’ Fall Conference. Their theme was “Cool Tools and New Technologies” and I asked her if they were going to have someone speak about screencasting. Her response was “but everyone knows about screencasting already.” Really? Maybe I travel in the …
I just wanted to remind folks that December 1 is the deadline for applications to participate in the Five Weeks to a Social Library course. You can find the application instructions here. We have gotten an incredible number of applications for the course from people all over the world — from all different types of …