I Went to New Orleans and All I Got Was...
...a great SLA Annual Conference. Plus a helluva lot of humidity...
Now that it's been two weeks since the conference ended, it's time for a recap! Well, not a recap per se - I won't put you through every session I went to - but I will hit some highlights. It was a long conference this year - four and a half very full days - but it was good!
Saturday: Board Meeting #1! This was followed by the 2011 annual conference planner's meeting. 2011 is shaping up nicely! I'm pleased to be working with the divisions that PAM is cosponsoring with, and I'm excited about our sessions. I'm also extremely pleased that the Arizona Chap...
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Random Musings from the Desert - June 30, 2010 Tags: sla2010 slapam slait conferences
Sudden Thoughts And Second Thoughts
Sign of the Times
Here’s an interesting new blog started by the Chronicle, “Campus Cuts“. Too depressing maybe? On the other hand, when posts to this blog grow few and far between that will be a good sign. If you do need some cheering up stay away from the Chronicle and just stick with this.
Something is Just Wrong About This
I know it’s great to do marketing for libraries and to toot your horn and all that stuff. But is there such a thing as an inappropriate gesture? When I saw this press release from Capella University it just sort of rubbed me the wrong way. I think it’s great that the libr...
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ACRLog - May 21, 2010 Author: StevenB
IA Summit 10 - Richard Saul Wurman Keynote
This year marks the 11th annual Information Architecture Summit. Our theme is meant to inspire everyone in the community—even those who aren’t presenting or volunteering—to bring their best ideas to the table.
As busy practitioners, we rarely have the chance to step back and think about the future of our field—we’re too busy resolving day-to-day issues. By gathering and sharing practical solutions for everyday challenges, we can create more breathing room to plan for what’s to come.
Subscribe to the Boxes and Arrows Podcast in iTunes or add this page to your Del.icio.us account:
iTunes ...
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Boxes and Arrows - April 12, 2010 Tags: Big Ideas Forerunners Podcasts
Pay Attention!
What are you actually accomplishing when you're doing five things at once? Maybe not as much as you think.
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Freakonomics Blog - March 2, 2010 Author: By FREAKONOMICS Tags: Uncategorized
Five lessons from my e-book experiment
five lessons from my e-book experiment
1. The weight is a nice advantage
2. Page turning is less irritating than you’d think
3. Being able to search a book is very useful
4. Text formatting can be annoyingly sloppy
5. Availability of titles is the biggest problem
"The result of the experiment? I’m back to reading books on paper. I’ll explain why in a moment but here are five things I learned from my e-reading experiment."
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LISNews.org - February 2, 2010 Author: Blake Tags: Ebooks Electronic Publications
Day in the Life of the Hedgehog Librarian: Last Thursday
I'm coming to this party a little late but I'm going to try and keep track today. Times are approximateThursday9 a.m. Desk time for four hours. Log into Horizon, Intranet, Meebo, Email, Google Reader. First patron is in just after doors open, dad looking for Clifford videos.9:30 C brings down holds from Tech Services. All of them are "mine" (chapter books): a new Tiara Club book (too insipid for words), Powerless by Matthew Cody (great cover, superhero kids losing their powers), and one of the Mother Daughter Book Club Books (sigh). 9:45 : Questions about books on shadows and electricity. Patron decides Ma...
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Hedgehog Librarian: Prickly, Nocturnal, InfoDiva - January 30, 2010
Get Instant Answers via Tweet
I like the idea, but. This interesting, but. Wow this would be useful, but. I kept having these thoughts as I looked at Twuition at http://www.twuition.com/. It’s a neat tool, BUT…
As you might have guessed from the title, Twuition is a Twitter tool. It’s an autoresponder that scans the tweetstream for specific hashtags and then responds to the twitterer directly. At the moment it can do five things, including find things near a given zip code (or city/state), provide a local weather report, and translate text.
To test it I sent a Tweet that included the hashtag #whatisthenationaldebt. And sure enough, a...
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ResearchBuzz - January 29, 2010 Author: admin Tags: News mobile twitter
Five Things you should know about climate change
Read the full story at Ars Technica.
Writing about vaccines, evolution, and even dark matter has ended up setting off contentious discussions here at Ars. But no area seems to bring out impassioned arguments as reliably as climate change. Covering the latest scientific results can bring forth cries of scientific fraud, conspiracies, and denialism; considering policy implications can be even worse.
It can be really difficult for anyone not well-versed in the debate to get any sense of the science at all, something that’s clear from the huge gap between the scientific community’s acceptance of climate change and ...
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Environmental News Bits - December 2, 2009 Author: Laura B. Tags: Climate Change Research
Library News & Notes 10/30/09
Rowland Institute at Harvard
Library News & Notes
October 30, 2009
Quote of the Week
“The real point of honor is not to be always right. It is to dare to propose new ideas.” P.G. de Gennes
(Source: materion)
Internet Sites of the Week
Books/eBooks
E-Books: Formats and Future
See also: The E-Reader Explosion: A Cheat Sheet
(Source: inkyelbows)
Is Book Sharing Really a Threat to Publishing?
(Source: Digital Koans)
Latest battle in book price wars
A Look at the Vook
Making your bookshelves Google searchable
(Source: Erika McNeil)
Most People Use the Web to Talk to People Nearby
Safari Books Online 6.0: A Clo...
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rihlib News - October 30, 2009 Author: rihlib Tags: Uncategorized
First Day of New United Kingdom Supreme Court
Today was the first day of business for the new Supreme Court in the United Kingdom, now that country's highest court.The House of Lords no longer exercises any judicial function as the highest appellate court of the United Kingdom since July 30th, 2009.There is even a blog devoted to the infant institution: UKSC Blog.For background:It took 142 years, but at last Bagehot has got his way -The birth of the supreme court is not just for show. The removal of judges from parliament is a victory for liberty and law (The Guardian, July 30, 2009): "There was no mob to be seen or heard in the House of Lords this week. No sign of a ...
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Library Boy - October 1, 2009 Author: Michel-Adrien
How to Write a Regency Romance: A Tongue in Cheek Series
It's become too serious of late, so it's time for some frivolity. This will be a multi-part blog series over the next few weeks.I now offer you, based on my years and years experience reading historical romance novels, suggestions on how to write one.* I'll mostly be focusing on so-called "regency romances." Many of these suggestions, though, play over nicely into modern/paranormal/etc etc etc. I make these points not to insult the authors, whose books I read, suggest, buy, pass to friends, etc.; nay, friends, I come only to amuse.Let us begin.We'll start with something easy--the Top five things You Should Mention in...
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Hedgehog Librarian: Prickly, Nocturnal, InfoDiva - August 24, 2009 Tags: incredibly-patient-mother Romance Series
Five Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media
five things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media: Lawyer, writer and blogger Nicole Black advises fellow professionals about important core...
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beSpacific - July 14, 2009 Author: Sabrina I. Pacifici - Tags: Marketing
Five Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media
LLRX (Law and Technology Resources for Legal Professionals) has recently published an article called five things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media by Nicole L. Black. The author, who is a lawyer, writer and blogger, advises fellow professionals about important core techniques and goals to consider before jumping on the ?social media? bandwagon.
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BC Courthouse Library Society News - July 13, 2009
Five Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media
Lawyer, writer and blogger Nicole Black advises fellow professionals about important core techniques and goals to consider before jumping on the “social media” bandwagon.
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LLRX.com - July 11, 2009 Tags: Black, Nicole L. Features Law Firm Marketing Technology Trends Websites, blogs, wikis & extranets
Mac & iPhone Tidbits
Great quote:"If we had a dime for every blog rumor about an Apple tablet we've seen, we'd have at least enough for a large soy-based coffee beverage from Starbucks."-- Dan Ackerman, "five things still missing from Apple MacBooks" from CNET.comMacWorld reviews iPhone 3.0.For iPhone OmniFocus users (and if you have an iPhone without OmniFocus, let me encourage you to check it out--it's the best task-management tool I've ever seen):"The Coolest Feature You’re Probably Not Using"-- Brian, The Omni MouthGoing from 3G to 3GS?"How to Avoid Paying the iPhone 3GS Upgrade Tax"-- Brian X. Chen, Wired.comIn Other News...Rebecca Blak...
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geeky artist librarian - June 17, 2009 Author: Starrlett
Five Tips For A Better ALA Conference Experience
It’s now mid-June and the ALA annual conference will be upon us in no time at all. If you plan to be in Chicago now is the time to start thinking about your conference strategy. I hope you followed my advice on getting the hotel you want (see the third item) - and that you actually got it. Now that the hotel is out of the way I’d like to share five ideas for having a better conference experience. I’m certainly not the first blogger to offer their tips for having a better ALA conference experience, but these tips are based on an experience I had for the first time at the 2008 ALA in Anaheim - and no - it d...
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ACRLog - June 16, 2009 Author: StevenB
Twitter as Platform – 5 Essential Peripherals for Librarians
I love Twitter. It has taken over my passion for blogging (sorry people). Our library has used it to promote Podcamps, Reading, The June 8th 9th Nova Scotia Election, and that’s just a start. I also notice a wide range of people trying Twitter once or twice only to reject it because they do not understand it, it doesn’t work for their needs or they just do not want their persona “out there” into the public.
One important way to understand Twitter is that it is just a way to leverage a computer and/or the Internet for social interaction. That’s right – Twitter is the ̶...
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The Other Librarian - June 11, 2009 Author: Ryan Deschamps Tags: Community Development Trends ideas search engines technology internet tools twitter world wide web
Orange Health Alert by Norma Last week I checked out a book from the local library called "Food Cures," published by Reader's Digest. The cover says, "fight disease with your fork." You wouldn't be allowed to say that on an actual food product by law, but you can say anything in a book title, even if it's false. In fact, if you open that book, there's not a single study cited. But there are five things you can do that may help you live a longer life--and I've mentioned them many times.1) You can't beat good genes. That's still the number one factor in good health and a long life, and you didn't have a thing to do with it....
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Collecting my Thoughts - June 3, 2009 Tags: aging books family health tips
Wolfram Alpha is the new Wolfram Alpha, not the new Google
The big search engine news story this week was the launch of the new Wolfram Alpha search site, by some hyped to be the new Google. Pandia is not convinced that Wolfram Alpha will make a major impact.
It isn’t. Wolfram Alpha is not an alternative to Google or any of the other major search engines; it is another type of search tool that complements Google. They themselves call it “a computational knowledge engine.”
The name refers to the founder, former particle physicist Steven Wolfram.
In short Wolfram Alpha is a fact finder that is especially fond of statistics. Ask it for the distance to the moon and i...
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Pandia Search Engine News - May 24, 2009 Author: Per and Susanne Koch Tags: All (summaries) Online search tools and services
Last Five Things you've read
I am trying to get back in the swing of things and am looking for some good books to read. So I...
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Worthingteens - March 17, 2009 Tags: Book Discussions
Little Audrey by Ruth White
five things you should know about this book:1. The Audrey of the title is the author Ruth White’s older sister. The book is told from her point-of-view when she was 11 years old in 1948.2. The story takes place in a coal mining camp in Virginia. Audrey lives there with her parents and three sisters. Audrey had four sisters, but baby Betty Gail died when she was only seven months old.3. There is no running water in their house. Oftentimes they don’t have enough to eat because their father spends his paycheck on alcohol. It’s not uncommon for him to be gone all weekend on a drinking binge.4. From pg. 99: “I think of ...
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book bits - December 24, 2008 Author: Westwood Public Library Children's Department
Shanchies tour Perth
I spent the day with the Shanachies - a pair of librarians from DOK (the library concept centre) in Delft in the Netherlands. Their mission is to “make stories, tell stories, keep stories”.
Here’s the groovy trailer made by Robin Slierendreg for their Downunder Tour:
ShanachieTour Down Under: Trailer from Jaap van de Geer on Vimeo.
I learned a lot from them. Mainly about library staff thinking creatively, forming partnerships and just getting on and doing what needs to be done. I hope to mention more about some of their initiatives after I see their 4 hour workshop at the State Library of Western Aus...
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Librarians matter - November 16, 2008 Author: Kathryn Greenhill Tags: Uncategorized
Books I'd like to read
It's been another little while since I've done one of these lists, so here goes, a two part massive list for your reading and collection development pleasure. Part One today with Part Two I hope next week.Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World by Don TapscottThe Net Generation Has Arrived.Are you ready for it?Chances are you know a person between the ages of 11 and 30. You've seen them doing five things at once: texting friends, downloading music, uploading videos, watching a movie on a two-inch screen, and doing who-knows-what on Facebook or MySpace. They're the first generation to have literally...
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Confessions of a Science Librarian - October 23, 2008 Author: John Dupuis
IL08: Defining and Measuring Social Media Success
Defining and Measuring Social Media Success
Jeff Wisniewski, Univ of Pittsburgh
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
10:30am
How do we measure these new tools and their success.
Outline:
Why be social?
Developing a social media plan
Assessing social media success
Why be Social?
Bad reason: cause everyone else is doing it
; cause kids think its cool
Good:
Innovative ways for libs to connect with users we may never see face to face
To encourage, promote, innovate, learn, adapt
To improve cust service
To discover and deliver what users want
To market without marketing
Your Google page rank is influence...
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Librarian's Rant - October 22, 2008 Tags: Library Stuff il2008
Short Cuts: Things to Do in Kansas When it's Hot by J.E. McCraw
Okay, I know it's been pretty hot, and school's still weeks and weeks away, but the time has come to enjoy the last fabulous bits of summer before fall comes and knocks us back into reality. And so, here you have it - five things to here in the Manhattan area to celebrate the last days of summer (in no particular order):
Go to Call Hall and enjoy some cold and delicious homemade ice cream. My particular favorite is mint fudge swirl, but you really can't go wrong at Call Hall.
Pack a picnic basket and head to Pillsbury Crossing. You can hike, canoe, or just relax by the waterfall and spot some cool wildlife.
Come to H...
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K-State Libraries: Talking in the Library - August 5, 2008 Author: Jenny McCraw Tags: ShortCuts
ACRL: 5 choses à lire...
L'ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries, E.-U.) lance (sur le modèle des "7 things..." d'Educause) une série intitulée "five things You Should Read About...".
Le premier document est consacré aux droits d'auteur et au partage de supports d'enseignement: 5 things You Should Read about Copyright and Sharing Instructional Materials (pdf)
Via The Distant Librarian
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pintiniblog - July 10, 2008 Tags: Droits d'auteur
5 Things You Should Read about Copyright and Sharing Instructional Materials
The ACRL Instruction Session is adopting the Educause "7 things you should know about..." model with a new series entitled five things You Should Read About... The first publication is 5 things You Should Read about Copyright and Sharing Instructional Materials (PDF) and was brought to my attention because it mentions the ANTS (Animated Tutorial Sharing) project I was involved with a while back. I also LOVE the Larry Lessig video they recommend you "read".
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The Distant Librarian - July 9, 2008 Author: Paul R. Pival
5 Things You Should Read about Copyright and Sharing Instructional Materials
The ACRL Instruction Session is adopting the Educause "7 things you should know about..." model with a new series entitled five things You Should Read About... The first publication is 5 things You Should Read about Copyright and Sharing Instructional Materials (PDF) and was brought to my attention because it mentions the ANTS (Animated Tutorial Sharing) project I was involved with a while back. I also LOVE the Larry Lessig video they recommend you "read".
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The Distant Librarian - July 9, 2008 Author: Paul R. Pival
Before the Grand Rethinking: Five Things to Do Today With Payments Law and Ten Principles to Guide New Payments Products and New Payments Law
Before the Grand Rethinking: five things to Do Today With Payments Law and Ten Principles to Guide New Payments Products and New Payments Law
Source: Chicago-Kent Law Review Symposium: Rethinking Payments Law (via Consumers Union)
Not so long ago, consumers were asked if they would like to pay by “cash, check, or credit.” That choice was simple: cash for privacy and immediate payment, a check for the security of not carrying cash and the safety of not-quite immediate payment, and credit for later payment. Today, a dizzying array of payment methods and a variety of associated legal rules mean that a consumer could ta...
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Docuticker - July 7, 2008 Author: Shirl Kennedy Tags: Business and economics Consumer issues
Isn’t it great to be in the library… wherever that is?
President’s Program: Isn’t it great to be in the library… wherever that is?
Sunday June 29th, 2008, 4:00pm - 5:30pm
(I apologize in advance for the level of detail here. I wasn’t able to get online and post right away and so I’m working from my handwritten notes - which are difficult to read at times and a bit cryptic at others. So, while I think a few statements are worth providing, I can’t recall the exact context of them. Rather than trying to guess, I’m simply providing them as-is.)
Joseph Janes, from the University of Washington and columnist for American Libraries, kicked ...
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LITA Blog - July 4, 2008 Author: ndeegan Tags: General information ala audio blog bloggers blogging blogs content libraries mobile text
