The company I work for – Evanced Solutions – is offering a very exciting chance to win the following:
- A free copy of Camtasia Studio by TechSmith
- A free one year subscription to a new or existing product
- A $1000 scholarship to attend ALA Annual Conference in Washington D.C.
All you have to do is create a 3-5 minute video or presentation about why you love Evanced Solutions and/or our products.
Details here: http://evanced.blogspot.com/2009/12/we-love-evanced-video-competition.html
Kill-O-Watts are these handy little machines that you can plug appliances in to and get a reading of how much energy they actually use.
The Canton Public Library (Michigan) checks them out to library patrons for one week at a time. They are a hugely popular item at the library. Read more about the Kill-O-Watt project at CPL here:
http://www.cantonpl.org/blog/green/environment/kill-watt-energy-meters-available-check-out-cpl
I gave a presentation on November 5 at the Michigan Library Association Annual Conference with the very amazing Christa Robinson and Joel Wiese. We talked about green and sustainable strategies for public libraries. You can view our presentation and see resources here:
http://mylibraryideas.wordpress.com/go-green/
Have suggestions for other vendors, blogs, books, websites, etc. that we should add to the page? Leave a comment or email me!
Scott McLeod posted 10 Questions About Books, Libraries, Librarians, and Schools today on his blog Dangerously Irrelevant. He has presented these questions at a few library conferences in the last month to varying reaction.
It seems that some have loved his comments, while others have scorned his questions saying he knows nothing about libraries and librarians.
I recommend you click the link above and read the questions. Here are my thoughts:
a) These are questions. He’s playing devil’s advocate. He’s pushing librarians and educators to move beyond their comfort zones and ask themselves hard questions.
It seems to me that librarians approach the issue of technology and how it may or may not replace us in one of two ways. The first is with “kid gloves”. We approach the concept gently, not making eye contact, moving slowly. We sit in committee meetings and we discuss and discuss and we shoot down progressive ideas that might make us increasingly relevant or, worse, we form a COMMITTEE that never sees the light of day again. The second method of dealing with these tough questions is to get depressed, to go meetings and library conferences and sigh and say “Well, this is just the way it is” and whine.
There is a group of young punks doing their best to push forward and get out of the box, but they face barriers. Barriers including administrators, educators that just don’t understand or fellow librarians who don’t make an effort to help build on basic ideas and turn them into realities not just in one library, but in many.
b) One of the responses that Scott McLeod received said something about him not spending a lot of time with teacher librarians, because if he did, he would understand the profession more effectively. To that I say, thank goodness he asked these questions. Let’s assume Mr. McLeod doesn’t spend a lot of time with librarians and has only met one in his life and she was mean and had a bun in her hair and carried a yardstick. If that’s the case, then these questions tell us that this is what our profession looks like to those on the outside. This what educators think, this is what schools think, these are the questions parents are asking.
But even if Mr. McLeod was buddies with the Librarian of Congress and the President of YALSA and every information literacy instructor in the country, you have to admit he’s asking good questions. Why? Because he’s not a librarian. He’s someone who, as an educator, interacts with librarians and uses the services they provide, but he asks good, hard, demanding questions that we either do not ask ourselves or do not ask ourselves in the right way or with the right perspective.
Read the questions. Your gut reaction will probably be less than pleasant. But then go back and read them again and don’t take it personally. He’s not saying we’re talentless hacks, or being replaced by tech – he’s asking that if in the worst case scenario, how can librarians prove their value and work with old-school librarians to think in a more innovative way.
Mark Henson (Chief Imagination Officer of Spark Space) just blogged about why service oriented folks need to take time to focus on themselves once in a while. During that time to focus on themselves, they can recharge and often will learn more about providing great customer service.
You’ve all seen burnt out librarians. They’re mean, surly, and treat everyone like they’re an idiot. Because, honestly, who are these people that come into a library and insist on asking dumb questions??? And when you’re not trying to dodge those mean people and avoid eye contact, you’re mumbling to your co-workers “Y’know, I think that Janey Sue might need some time away from the desk…”
Mark’s going to be taking some time out to relax and learn more about customer service. Check out Mark’s live blogging from the Customers 1st Conference – looks like it’s going to be great! You can follow him at http://www.sparknewthinking.com/
Yesterday, CNN.com ran a great article on how reading to dogs benefits early readers…
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/10/22/dogs.irpt/index.html
…should any of you be encountering skeptics to the benefits of such a thing. (Kids! Books! Dogs! All good things in the world! What’s not to love? But just in case…read the above and share…)
Mick Fortune wrote an interesting blog post about the lawsuit by 3M.
He also shared the actual complaint, which is an interesting read of you’re a dork like me.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – librarians will run around like they’re on fire if they think legislation will take money out of their pockets, but then something like this lawsuit happens and well…*taps microphone*…uh, is this thing ON??????
If 3M wins the lawsuit, they basically will become the only game in town when it comes to RFID. That could change pricing, that could change supply (and demand).
More later…
Saw this interesting tweet today: RT @ikeafans: haha! RT @Leask: Best Salon comment ever: “getting lost in the IKEA? … Christ, it’s more efficient than the library.”
So, that makes me think two things – the person who made the original comment just goes to a really crap library or maybe libraries should take a clue from Ikea about organization.
I hear you moaning now – geez Chris, first libraries want to become more like bookstores, now you’re saying libraries should be more like Ikea. You’re killing us! Killing us!
Calm yourself and read on. I’m not advocating anything…I’m just pondering…
Now, I get lost in Ikea. It drives me nuts sometimes – as crisp and supposedly efficient as the store is, I struggle to find things sometimes. But, let’s play devil’s advocate and chat about what Ikea has that libraries should consider:
Food and Drink
Those Ikea cafes rock and I’ve actually scheduled lunch and dinner appointments at Ikea. Libraries are doing this of course, but I’m just saying. (Having food, coffee and cafes I mean, not having lunch and dinner appointments at Ikea…)
Child Care
Attention public: Children’s librarians are NOT babysitters. Nothing is worse than having people plunk their screaming child into the kids section and then wander off to go look at movies or something. But what if libraries offered child care for adult patrons who want to attend a class at the library or pop in to use the computer? I’m sure some library out there must have at least tried some sort of similar service at one point.
Signs, Signs, Signs
No one reads signs. How often has your library put up signs and they just don’t work? But Ikea puts up pretty large centralized signs – if you want to know where something is, you have to read down the list of arrows that point in many directions, thus providing a sense of layout and where things are.
Bright Colors and Lights
The lighting in Ikea is pretty good. It’s bright and shows off the vibrant colors of the store. It’s not so harsh though that it’s headache inducing – it makes you want to hang out and not leave until you’ve purchased hundreds of dollars worth of stuff.
Yellow Shirts
You always know where the Ikea staff is. Bright yellow shirts make them visible like a brightly lit buoy. You can pick those folks out right away. Are library staff members always so easily visible? Some library people don’t even wear nametags – even if it says “Librarian” or “Circulation Clerk” then you’ve got something to show folks you work there!
Layout
Here’s a great example of how physical space increases purchases. In order to get through Ikea, you have to walk through some areas to get to others. You want to get to kitchen stuff, you have to walk through living room stuff. You go in for a mixing bowl or a wok, but then you see a pretty pillow or picture frame and well, you may as well pick that up too, right? Oh Ikea, you vixen! Same is true for libraries. If you can get people to walk past certain collections to get to other collections, maybe they’ll see something they like, pick up one or two more things and bring those circ stats up, up, up!
Self-Service
At Ikea, you don’t often rely on a staff member to help you get your couch out of the warehouse. They are very willing to help don’t get me wrong, but their model isn’t set up to help you with every little thing. Unless you need a forklift, you and a buddy find the aisle, pick up the couch flat pack, load it, buy it, get it to the car. Libraries are doing this more and more – letting patrons get their own holds and self scheduling for meeting rooms and such (shameless Evanced plug – we’ve got a room reservation software that will help patrons do that).
Culture
Ikea is pretty whimsical and they aren’t afraid to build a community that expresses their whimsy. They aren’t rude or silly, they’re just kind of sweet and fun loving. Most libraries use their website, Facebook, blog, and Twitter accounts to provide very dry library information. We are good at getting fans, making websites, and all that, but it’s okay to express the fun side of the culture of your library. Featuring staff members on your website or giving library users an idea of the “back stage” of the library can be fun and interactive.
Mostly, libraries are doing the Ikea thing already, but I couldn’t help but write down my thoughts on it after reading that tweet. 140 characters can sure conjure up a lot of thoughts!
ciao!
No, not me. Though I am fahbulous.
Mike Rowe from the show Dirty Jobs. Apparently, he’s getting a lot of speaking jobs lately talking about “on the “changing face of the proletariat vis-à-vis the modern-day work ethic and the digital divide”, according to the New York Times and he has a website called Mike Rowe Works, which helps people find technical and trade jobs and education.
General Link: http://www.mikeroweworks.com/noflash.html
Jobs Link: http://www.mikeroweworks.com/job-site/
It’s a well rounded site and like most truly funny people, Mike Rowe is an intelligent and thoughtful spokesperson for the cause of worker education and job seeking. Well, from what I can tell from the article I’ve been reading.
Librarians help people find work, Mike Rowe helps people find work. Librarians help provide training and tools for people to improve themselves with, so does Mike Rowe. Mike Rowe is hot and really funny. Librarians are…er…we’re sometimes hot and usually pretty funny.
Just my suggestion. Please consider it if your state or national library organization needs a speaker. There’s potential for great synergy I think.
There. I’ve said it. I got a copy of “Library Mashups” and I can’t put it down. Twenty minutes after I had it in my possession, I emailed her telling her I loved the book. It rocks.
Engard contributes to and edits the work of 25 contributors in this great book that explores the ways libraries deliver data. By exploring new tools and offering insight into old ones, Engrad and her colleagues really tread on new ground in relation to getting information out to the public.
I was particularly drawn to her information on effectively using Delicious and Youtube in libraries. She is all about using the software when it is needed and is beneficial – not when it is just some clumsy add on to a website or creates no value at all. I felt myself developing more concrete ideas about how these technologies are integrated into existing library webpages and for the first time understood why they can be so useful. Prior to that, I just kind of thought “Oh, and there’s Delicious which is just website tagging that can get really crazy and messy and would be overwhelming to the public at times”.
The idea of externalizing the knowledge that librarians have also really intrigued me. The concept that we should share what we know with our users so that they too can become effective users while also seeing the true value of librarians and librarianship totally rocked. It’s like a peep show – we show the public how much we rock and we help them out by sharing what we know, and then they want more and keep coming back. (I know, I have a dirty mind, but the analogy works…)
I’m still reading and there is so much this book has to offer. For instance, I can’t wait to read about Yahoo! Pipes and ways that you can improve your OPAC. Whether you’re a tech novice or a hard-core programmer type this book will contribute to your knowledge.
Check out Nicole and “Library Mashups” on her website: http://www.web2learning.net/ (It too is a peep show. Of library stuff. Not of Nicole. Dirty blog reading people. Sheesh.)
