Mary Minnow has written several posts on Library Elf and potential privacy issues. Since my library uses Voyager, I haven’t tried Library Elf out yet, but it’s supposed to create an RSS feed for you to keep track of what you have out, what’s coming due, and where you are on your holds. You can …
My dog, Delta, died on Monday. She’d had heart problems for some time, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her. And she certainly never knew she was sick, energetic as she was. When it came to food, she would run and jump like a puppy. I guess that’s why it’s so hard for …
Early this week, a new librarian named Ellyssa Kroski wrote me to ask my advice on how to get started on the road to professional writing. I’d say she’s already on the right track. 🙂 Check out her terrific post (though calling it a post really doesn’t do it justice; it’s really more of a …
That Jenny Levine. Always looking for a buck. I mean, the nerve of her thinking that if she’s speaking at a conference and flying out to it on her own dime, that she shouldn’t have to pay (registration) for the pleasure of hearing herself talk. It is her sacred duty and priviledge to speak at …
Here are some of the great things I’ve found this week: 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 …
Well, I guess that comes as no surprise, but this time I’ll actually be talking (as opposed to writing)! I’m so excited to be giving a live online talk about wikis for OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries). Participation is totally totally free and all you have to do is download a tiny little applet …
I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about Library 2.0 that I’m not comfortable with. And again, it was thinking back to my former career that gave me my lightbulb moment. In my second job as a therapist, I was part of a large-scale grant-funded program which required that we provide therapy based …
Is your library doing something exciting with social software? Do you know of a library or a librarian who is doing cool stuff with social software? The applications could either be for their patrons or for the profession. I’m looking for the best examples out there to highlight in my book. I’d love to see …
I’m never afraid to try something and have it fail. I’d rather learn from a mistake than learn nothing because I was afraid to make a mistake. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Certainly, in the four months I’ve been at my job, I’ve learned a great deal (in …
Just a head’s up for those on the job hunt, though this is not a position for those who are brand-new librarians. We are hiring a Coordinator of Public Services. Here’s the description and the requirements: Description: Norwich University’s Kreitzberg Library seeks a dynamic, team-oriented librarian for the position of Coordinator of Public Services. This …
The unsinkable Rachel Singer Gordon’s column about the role Gen-X’ers can play as a bridge between the boomers and the millennials. She’s dead-on and this is an article you should clip out and give to the boomer library administrators you know. Heidi Dolamore’s blog, Quiddle. Her posts about her job interviews should be read by …
Michelle and I were talking today about how easy it can be to get penned into talking about limited subject matters in one’s blog. I know I feel funny when I think about writing about things that have nothing to do with libraries or technology, but I find Michelle’s blog’s lack of a single focus …
It’s interesting to watch the lack of dialogue between librarians who are rah-rah Web/Library 2.0 advocates and those who think it’s all a bunch of hot air. It’s like two parallel conversations, with no intersections between the two conversations. The pro-2.0 people don’t defend the concept and the anti-2.0 people don’t seem to acknowledge any …
HigherEd BlogCon is a totally online conference exploring the new technologies being used in higher education. I am thrilled to announce that I am going to be chairing the Library and Information Resource track for the conference and am excited about getting submissions from librarians who are thinking about the future of social software and …
I’m in South Florida to visit family and go to my 10-year high school reunion. The latter event ought to be quite the trip. I was a little… umm…. different back then. Yeah, and that wasn’t even for halloween. I was quite the geek back then. Maybe I haven’t changed so much… 😉 I’ll be …
I’ve talked a lot in the past about the gulf that is growing between libraries that are change agents and libraries that are change averse. Lately, I’ve been seeing a new gulf growing in libraries, that has less to do with one’s attitude towards change and more to do with the skills of one’s staff. …
Today is the anniversary of my blog (Adam laughed at me when I used the word “blogiversary”). Part of me can’t believe it’s already been a year since I first started this blog. The other part of me can’t believe it’s only been a year for all I’ve written and for all that has changed! …
Check out the 15th Carnival of the Infosciences at Ask Nettie Day. This one interests me a great deal because she points to a good number of blogs I wasn’t previously aware of — very much the goal of the Carnival.
My mother tells me that I was terrible about sharing when I was a little girl. My toys were MY toys. I would lick cookies so that no one would ask to have a bite. My dad even has video footage of me at age three grabbing my book away from my best friend Bonnie. …
These days it’s completely impossible to keep up with all of the “Web 2.0” apps out there. I read eHub and TechCrunch and it seems like dozens of social software apps are released in beta (or even alpha!) each day. Social browsers, collaborative editing tools, RSS aggregators, social search, mashups of other social software apps …