Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology

BLOG : Word of the Year

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/11/30/words.of.the.year.reut/index.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4059291.stm

(BBC LinkVia and IM from skagirlie across 25 feet in our office...)

Most cool. Blog is the most searched word on the Interent for 2004.

Blogs have arrived! Is your library blogging? Is your library organization blogging? You should be!

Teaching RSS to Reference Librarians

Someone who saw the presentation on Teaching Weblogs Steven and I did at IL2004 wrote this to me:

I'm new to the public library world  -- I've been trying to get folks excited about the possibilities of RSS & XML. The problem was that I didn't have a lot of concrete examples of how public libraries could use these tools, and I'm not techie enough to implement things on my own (yet). Now I'm really psyched. I had no idea that public librarians were doing such fantastic things. I was bouncing off the walls after I attended the RSS and blogging sessions at IL2004. Anyway, when you do teach blogs & RSS to library staff, which feeds get staff the most excited? In particular, I'm interested in the feeds like ResourceShelf that even the stoggiest librarian will see as an excellent use of his/her time. Do you have any feeds you would strongly recommend to use in a demo to reference librarains at a public library (beyond ResourceShelf, and maybe NYTimes)?
 
Yes! Public Librarians are doing incredible things with RSS on their Web sites. I am constantly tickled to see more libraries offering their new and important content this way.

I have done a bunch of Intro RSS training sessions for the librarians at SJCPL. Here's a breakdown of the class design:

Learners:

Reference Librarians, Managers, Administration: All need to know for different reasons as well as staying in the know. I also tell them it's a great way to know what new things might becoming our way AND folks that use RSS can speak up in meetings with ease: "SFPL is implmenting RFID and ..."

Objectives:

Librarians will understand the basics of what RSS is and how it works.
Librarians will locate and subscribe to feeds of interest via various web sites.

Useful Resources:
KCPL RSS Page
Free Range Librarian's RSS Category
Steven Cohen and Jenny Levine's RSS PPT
What is RSS and Why Should I care?

Strategies:

We did the training in the SJCPL Technology Training Room.

To get them excited, we looked at the feeds available at:

BBC News
Reuters
Weather
Wired
USA Today
Yahoo News Feeds

And I told them to look for feeds that they were interested in. Not library-related necessarily, but something to show them how cool it can be. We were using NetNewsWire, a program for the Mac that has simple ease of use and a fun interface.

Exercises:

Using these directories:

LIS NEWS

Library Weblogs (http://www.libdex.com/weblogs.html) - Peter Scott’s directory of LIS Weblogs

blogwithoutalibrary.net (http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links.html) -LIS Weblog author Amanda Etches-Johnson’s list of LIS Weblogs

The Internet Courses: Weblogs (http://www.hi.is/~anne/weblogs.html) - Dr. Laurel Clyde’s directory related to her work with LIS Weblogs

Deliverables:

Librarians will locate feeds they are interested in. They can pick and choose from all. They were to report back with a list of feeds they were reading and send me a sample of a post they liked!

Presenting with Confidence

Via Library Stuff:

http://www.librarystuff.net/2004/11/presenting-with-confidence-10-tips-for.html

Here's my Ten Things I've Learned Presenting at Library Conferences.

Oh ALA... Look at what ALIA Does!

Via Librarian.net...

http://www.librarian.net/stacks/001025.html

Get a Load of That!

This evening I finished an update to the whole TTW site I sent it up... a CSS error was quickly fixed by Aaron and TTW 2.0 is ready to go! Take a look..let me know if you find something crazy or wrong!

Tame the Web

Ten Cool Things about iPod Photo ( A Review)

Jenny urged me to write a review of the new iPod Photo at IL 2004. So here's a brief one as I take a break from blogs and virtual communities.

I'm an iPod freak... and the thought of not only carrying my 32 GB of music files around but my 12 GB of digital pictures makes my knees weak. I ordered and received the new iPod right before IL2004. So, here goes Ten Cool Things about the iPod Photo:

COLOR

'nuff said.

CD COVER ART incorporated into the Now Playing screen!

Or the FULL SCREEN mode!

SPACE! 60GB of room for MP3, AAC, and all the digital pictures, contacts, calendars, and more one may want to store on it! Room for 5596 images..including some shots from IL 2003!

SUPER VIDEO OUT as well as the regular video out on the companion dock included in the box!

SLIDESHOW MODE that shows you the current piucture as well as what is coming next!

SLIDESHOW MODE 2 plays on my TV in 16X9 mode!

TRANSITIONS! Right to left wipes...

SLIDESHOWS can include music as well while the pictures show. I chose a playlist and a gallery of pictures from London and let it play for friends over the holiday!

GREAT CLARITY of those pics as well on big TVs

Details:

CABLES included: RCA video to iPod, Firewire charge, USB 2.0 charge..nice!

Includes Dock, CD, Apple ear buds and cool packaging!

Does this sweet device have an application in libraries? YES! What if libraries circulated music collections on iPods..now they could also add images, such as a slide show of the library as promotion, artwork in the public domain, a series of images of a digital collection, etc... Ponder this..it just could work!

Back to my paper!

Top Ten Tech for Libs

Via walking paper...

http://www.walkingpaper.org/index.php?id=128

Aaron gets it! Take a look at these and note the attention to costs involved and the fact that staff time is a consideration. File under tech planning friends!

Holiday Break (to write a paper!)

TTW posts will be on hiatus (unless I jot down a quick one in a moment of inspiration) while I finish my research proposal due Sunday night. My topic? The Blogosphere as virtual community. I'll be back next weekk -- but guess what - I head to Texas on Thursday for class... the last of the semester!

It's snowing hard here in northern Indiana. I'm glad to be home a few days to write and be with the boys.

Library Toolbars

Rob turned me on to this:

http://wesley.stanford.edu/library/toolbar/

Cool stuff! Maybe every library will start programming their own toolbar to assist users with searches and locating books!

WiFi Spots in South Bend/Mishawaka Indiana area

All St. Joseph County Public Library Locations
Panera Bread -North Main Street, Mishawaka (FREE)
Borders, 4230 Grape Road Mishawaka, IN 46545 (T-Mobile account required)
Holiday Inn Express, 6701 North Main Street, Mishawaka (FREE)
Burger King, Downtown South Bend at Main and LaSalle (FREE)
Carlton Lodge, 420 West Univesity Drive, Mishawaka (FREE)
South Bend Marriott, 123 N. St. Joseph St, South Bend (STSN)

Oh Skagirlie!

You Rock!

http://www.skagirlie.net/wpblog/

Library Blog in the Netherlands

http://bibliotheek.pivot.cc/index.php

Courtesy of my friend Rob Coers.

Ik kom nog even op de ILI 2004 terug, omdat Michael Stephens, helemaal doet wat wij wij ook zo graag doen en willen doen :-) As usual geeft hij na afloop van een conferentie een "ten things i've learned".

One of My Coolest Moments

..of Internet Librarian 2004 was presenting with Jamie Wilson from Tower Hill School in Wilmington, DE. It was his first presentation ata conference and he was smashing! Scott told the audience and they erupted with applause... it was most cool.

It made me remember my first time at CIL 2000... how exhilirating it is to get up in front of peers and have something to say...and have them listen!

Greg Schwartz on Library Blogs

Much discussion today at SJCPL about blogs... I took a look back at this:

http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=767

because Greg had such cool things to say in his talk.. If you haven't read this one in awhile -- or you never have -- take a look! (And it's at WebJunction!)

Aaron's Stats from LJ!

LJ, Nov 15, 2004

Let's look at a simple ROI:

400 questions divided by 7 months is an average of 57 questions per month for virtually no huge cost -- just the staff time whatever the cost may be. For this type of outreach and what might be called "good buzz" (ala Jenny), that's priceless!

Twelve Things I Learned at Internet Librarian 2004

Wrapping up today with IL2004... for your consideration:

As evidenced by the great group of people in our Make Learning Stick: Creating 5-Star, User-Centered Training & Instruction workshop, library folk are embracing their new roles as trainers and teachers.They had great questions and all participated. Scott Brandt gets this stuff and can explain it well. Instructional design for librarians is HOT right now. Are you developing classes? Are you teaching colleagues? You soon could be!

Internet Librarians are poised to "own the future," according to keynoter Lee Rainie of Pew Internet fame. My favorite part of his stuff is the fact that Pew looks at how people use and interact with Internet technologies...not just the technologies themselves. It's about the people first folks!

Internet Librarians are easy to talk to and you can learn stuff. Have a glass of wine and chat someone up at the reception. It's fun!

We must never stop learning and looking at how quickly our libraries are changing.We may be talking RSS, blogs and IM now but what will we be talking about at IL 2010?

The future of the public library web site lies in customizing the experience for our users (USERS, thank you), including a local slant for browsable Web directories (thanks to David King), RSS feeds, and a portal feel. Jenny Levine urges library Web developers to generate buzz with their sites -- and to keep those blogs active. It gives our users a reason to return.

Commiserating with two or three colleagues over good Japanese food, Falafel or the Jamba Juice is a great, intimate way to exchange ideas and share yourself and thoughts about libraries. I recommend it!

If the ILS vendors won't give librarians what they want, the users will do it for them. What does that say about the benefits of an Open Source ILS free to all libraries who want to use it thus cutting the cord on these companies? (Things that make you go hmmmm)

WebJunction is there for library folk to exchange ideas, get tips for technology planning and to learn. Don't miss this most cool virtual LIS community. (I just took another look...wow!)

Librarians never need to be out of the loop with the tools presented in sessions like Greg Schwartz's "Making the Most of the Blogosphere." Use Feedster and Bloglines, or the aggrgator client of your choice, to always be the one in the meeting that knows what is happening in the LIS world (and beyond).

Libraries need a "blogging policy" for staff and a "blog style manual" for their own blogs. Admin: Don't be surprised when you find out one of your librarians has a popular blog that people read and learn from or one of your own is anonymously blogging the day to day trials and tribulations of reference work. This is not really a bad thing (although bloggers should abide by a personal set of ethics and protocols). We must educate staff, administration and our users to make them all aware of this new form of Web content. RSS as well! I'm tickled with the handful of Early Adopters at my library that actual got RSS and NetNewsWire and use it.

Internet Librarians want laptops to use all over their libraries, at home and on the road to conferences such as this.

Internet Librarians don't want bloated, irritating virtual reference software.

EXTRA:

A gaggle of LIS Bloggers setting off for wine and food is a force to be reckoned with.

Salinas Libraries

I can't believe coming off of a great week celebrating libraries and technology in Monterey, the nearby town of Salinas is closing libraries:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/11/20/SALINAS.TMP

New Job..New Duties...

I have not written about this yet because I've been so busy with school and the two Internet Librarian conferences but I wanted to post a quick note here. You may have noticed the banner on the lefty hand side now lists my new title -- Special projects Librarian. This came about because while head of Networked Resources Development and Training, I started school and went part time. Then I lost two memebrs of my team to advanced aopportunities at other places! (Way to go Dale and Bob!)

It did not sit well with me to be a PT manager of a department that has 2 FT vacancies so I sat down with the powers that be at SJCPL and a plan for reorganization was born.

I am now doing cool stuff related to technology in the library system, that may include some video production in the future, media creation and content writing. Things are going well. I will still have a hand in Web stuff and Tech training stuff.

Two Cool Wrap Ups from Bloggers at IL2004

David King: http://daweed.blogspot.com/2004/11/my-thoughts-on-internet-librarian-2004.html

Librarian in Black: http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2004/11/recap_of_intern.html

Internet Librarian Wiki

Steven posts this...

And links to the IL2004 wiki:

http://il2004.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome

I'm interested to see how this plays out... take a look.

iTunes in the Library Part 2

Read this:

http://ebybox.aresgate.net/blog/archives/using-itunes-in-the-library/

Ryan Eby starts/restarts his blog with a cool, techie posts about iTunes in Libraries... read it!

Thanks Ryan!

Instant Messaging in Libraries

Aaron and I did our IM program Wednesday afternoon. We had a good group -- many of whom are now instant messaging by the show of hands Aaron called for.

Our PPT is here.

Questions? Comments about this one? IM me! mstephens7mac

Wow...

I am so tired... I will blog some wrap up tomorrow... what a great time it's been here in Monterey! Plan on next year -- October 24-26, 2005!

Thanks to my blogging pals for all the good times...

Tales from the Blogosphere

My friend Jeff from INCOLSA sent me this link:

http://www.indystar.com/articles/2/194889-2202-108.html

Teaching Weblogs to Librarians

Whew! We did it! dear Steven's voice was hoarse but it was a great time!

Questions ranged from why did I choose NetNewsWire as our RSS app of choice at SJCPL to "What about e-mail and listservs?"

Here's the PPT: Teaching Weblogs in Libraries

For David King

Internet Savvy Patrons and Info/Tech Literacy

I did my first session of the day and WOOOHOO was it fun! What a great group of folks present and a I got top share the satge with a school librarian named Jamie Wilson. It was his first conference presentation ever! He did GREAT!

I got to talk about how information literacy as a goal in libraries csn be achieved through staff training, the Web site, public classes and more.

My PPT for the talk is here!

Making the Most of the Blogosphere - Greg Schwartz

Weblogs offer a wide diversity of topics....

Tools to make blog searching easier:

* Use FEEDSTER

* Also try Waypath

* No two blog search engines are the same.

* Daypop, Popdex, Technorati look at what's hot in the blogosphere

* For finding specfic blogs: Blogorama, Feedfinder at feedster

Greg -- First time I've heard you speak -- well done!

Jenny's Thoughts for Blogging Libraries to Generate BUZZZZZZ

* Blogging humanizes a Web site, that's missing in a lot of library blogs

* Link virtual reference services in your blogs (Does SJCPL do this?) (YES we do!)

* Treat community bloggers like memebers of the press.

* Blog your statitics

* Try a photoblog to let people see how cool things are at the library

* Blog sites related to news stories and tell the newspaper

* If you don't have a blog, get one! It's an information channel.

Steven Cohen requests...

Echoing Brian Kelly, Steven just asked everyone to open up their laptops and blog the presentations in the Blogging track.

UNT to offer 5 more slots for Public Librarians to get a PhD in 2005!!

University of North Texas School of Library and Information Sciences has just been informed that we have received additional funds for a grant to help prepare faculty to teach public librarians. If you or anyone you know is
interested in this opportunity, please read the attached letter. This
Distance-Independent Ph.D. Program provides two years paid tuition, with
travel assistance to institutes and computer broadband connectivity.

The deadline for the application to be complete is December 15;
however, since this notification is coming out so late we will allow the
following exception:

- If your SLIS application, vita/resume, writing sample, and
personal statement have been received at SLIS by December 15, and

- If you have started the graduate school application process to
the point where everything (transcripts, GRE scores, etc.) have been
requested to be sent to UNT by December 15,

- Then, we will grant an extension to the deadline. Everything
for the application process must be requested by December 15, but we
will allow until January 14, 2005 for everything to be received at UNT.
Since there is a break at most colleges and universities during this
time, it is imperative that the process be well under way by December 15
to meet the extended deadline.

If you have any questions about the program, please contact the
Program/Project Coordinator, Michael Pullin, at mpullin@unt.edu.

If you have questions about the application process, please contact the
IS PhD Coordinator, Jurhee Curtis, at jcurtis@unt.edu.

Good Morning Monterey

I have yet to truly adjust to the west Coast. I've hit the bayside trail everymorning before 6am to walk, commune with my music library via my iPod and ponder the day's stuff. Two presentations to think about today.

I also met two neat ladies from Illinois who were walking down to Cannery Row. I said it last night at dinner... I'll say it again... librarians are friendly folk.

Tea beside me, I'm going over some PPTs... See you at the Conference Center!

All the IL News that's fit to blog

Dateline: Internet Librarian 2004

Take a look at this:

http://kinja.com/user/netlib2004/

For a compendium of blogs being written here at the show by Richard Akerman from http://blog.akerman.ca/ who is staying at the Portobello as well.

Marydee Ojala is also posting at http://www.dysartjones.com/

Where are all the laptops at Internet Librarian?

At IL in London, Brian Kelly told our audience:

"The room is wireless, open up your laptops and start blogging and IMing about our presentation..." He joked then that they should say only nice things! But -- how cool was this? We've heard about conferences where virtual communities spring up during the proceedings of folks commiserating in chats, private chats and actively blogging or congrunting.

Is that happening here? I just read this at Library Stuff:

I’m sitting here in David King’s session. I see only four other laptops. One is a blogger. So, 20% of all the laptops in the room are bloggers. Again, the last time I checked, this was the INTERNET librarian conference. Just like the Computers in Libraries conference, I asked D. Scott Brandt, “What do they call this conference again?” COMPUTERS in libraries. Oh well. Maybe attendees want to get away from their computers for a while. Maybe they don’t want to have to schlep their laptops around or have to possibility of having them stolen!

Stolen laptops aside, which is a horrible thing, I would hope that by next year we have many more folks taking notes and blogging and chatting during the meetings...

I stand by my advice: library administrators: BUY YOUR LIBRARIANS A LAPTOP...

Tech trainers: TEACH YOUR LIBRARIANS TO USE THEM!

Conference centers: OFFER FREE WIFI to ONE AND ALL -- we'll thank you for it by coming back again and again!

Steven's Monday Morning! Internet Librarian 2004

http://www.librarystuff.net/2004/11/internet-librarian-monday-morning.html

Internet Librarian Keynote: Lee Raine, Pew Internet and American Life (a congrunt)

Opening Keynote Monday November 15, 2004
Lee Raine, Pew Internet in American Life

(written with SubEthaEdit in tandem with Aaron on two Mac Powerbooks)

Pew charitable trusts funds project with 2 goals:

*wide public interest/news coverage
*work useful to policy makers and tech folk

Studies patterns of social interaction

63% of Adult Americans use the Internet

Internet use is the norm... there is a shrinking minority of those who do not use it.

Usage of the interent segmented in various ways: interests transfer to the online world

"I'm a Data geek."

Expectations shifted...no longer a novely, but a utility

Current Uses

Email is number one

E-Commerce/vast digital library

The digital divide relates to age, employment, socio-economic, education level, disabilty, language, community type, race, parental status

Keep in mind the millions who are on the other side of the information gap. It is groups like this that can help them and remind folks that there are a lot of people on the other side...

Few Pew Findings:

Internet is good for social capital, doesn't detract from social interaction (that e-mail is hot right now)

84% of internet users belong to groups that have an online component

We are more likely to meet other folks -- widening horizons

Expanding social networks

People use the internet more seriously as they become

E-citizens are creating a new town square. Blogs! Discussion groups! Quick to organize on line community

One big impact not measured yet: INFORMATION OVERLOAD , no one is complaining yet

Ten Reasons we need Internet Librarians

1. No one knows better how to manage information
2. No one knows how to track down info
3. No one is better at establishing info standards
4. We have credibilty
5. No one is in a better position than us to teach about info literacy
6. Nobody is is a better position to be a watchdog in systems to sort information
7. We can teach about the process of determining credibility
8. Nobody is more empowered by professional training and creed to articulate freedom of speech
9. No one is better then at having thoughtful constructive role to talk about copyright and infomation something
10. Nobody can be as constructive in helping us think through the new norms as to what info is public and what info is private

Networking at Internet Librarian..and RSS at YOUR Library

David King, who rocks my library IT world and does Web stuff at Kansas City PL, told me over dinner last night (with Aaron, Jenny and Sherree at the Indian place) that Kansas City PL has started RSS feeds for program info, subjects and more (Look at this page). I was thrilled.

Then, this am, unable to sleep too long (West coast travel always gets me), I read Steven's post about Cincinnati PL that greg Schwartz turned him on to last night after dinner.

http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/feeds/

Such synchronicity! And an example of how cool networking can be at a conference like this!

Repost of a thought from February as I relax in my hotel dressing gown in Monterey

One of our cool Reference librarians came to see me right before I left for CA. We talked shop and Macs and music..and I thought back to this post, written at PLA as he described with excitement his plans for a new computer purchase:

Public Libraries should do everything they can to provide a computer -- a laptop -- for all of their librarians. (it's also a pretty snazzy perk in a job where there aren't bonuses and the like...) We have it GOOD at SJCPL, each manager gets a 15" Powerbook and the means to take it anywhere! I am proud of the group that is out here for PLA who brought their Macs. We need to be unwired, in our libraries for sure because you never know when an opportunity or "teaching moment" could appear with a patron or another employee. We need to use laptops at meetings as well. Our most recent managers meeting minutes were taken entirely on a laptop and then emailed to all after a bit of finessing.

I would expand that thought to all librarians on staff at a library -- if possible. Give them the means to take technology with them: home, the coffee spot, conferences... You'll reap a tech savvy staff that are not afraid of teaching someone how to join the wirelss network at the library's cafe.

Addendum: Now in Monterey, this becomes clearer to me. The unwired librarian, attending a conference like this, being encouraged to note take and interact with collegaues (on site and across the globe), exchanging information is a cool cool cool idea.

The Library Blogger's Personal Protocols

Steven posted about Blogging policies and mentioned he didn't have any policies for blogging. Over drinks at the Portobello Bar, I told him I thought we all have some inherent blogging protocols that drive many of the blogs I read and link to as well as my own.

So this morning, I pondered these, which line up so closely with the ones Steven pointed to:

The Library Blogger's Personal Protocols

Respect your organization. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. If you don't agree with a policy at your library, don't badmouth the folks there. Research other views/approaches and post about those! Learn all you can -- they may ask for your opinion someday and an educated opinion on something is much better than hurumphing!

But don't be afraid to put your two sense in on something you REALLY believe in.

Play nice. Cite your sources. Link back.

Don't reveal secrets. Write about what your library is doing (I love that part) but don't reveal sensitive data. It's fine to say: "I had a meeting with a vendor of Product X today and here's where I think this is going..."

Blog anonymously...I'm all for it. BUT be careful and don't let it interfer with your workplace. Keep it underground. This stuff can be insiteful reading...I was fascinated by a couple of front line bloggers who blogged anonymously until found out and told to stop by their management! ... just saying...

OR

Blog proudly and let your administration know what you are doing. I turn in conference reports that are a compendium of blog posts from a meeting like Internet Librarian, where I am writing from, -- including notes from sessions, stuff from the exhibits and all the other cool stuff I encounter. Take it as a teaching moment as well: inform your admin what blogging is all about and how the library might get involved... come on folks!

While I'm at it: I'm waiting for the definitive professional librarian's blogs devoted to Audio Visual issues, front line staff development and handful of other topics I haven't found yet in the LIS Blogosphere... maybe YOU have something to say!

Read these too...

The Internet Librarian 2004 Moblog is Here

http://www.tametheweb.com/dc/archives/cat_internet_librarian_2004.html

Feed

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster

Have Treo... Will Travel

http://www.librarystuff.net/2004/11/look-out-monterey.html

Blogging Policies

OH Steven! Coolness...

http://www.librarystuff.net/2004/11/sample-corporate-blogging-policy.html

Settled -- In Monterey

Good day. Good flights. Safe and sound her in Monterey Bay. Most cool was meeting up with Frank Cervone at the SF airport. Last i saw him, we were across the pond! we got to chat all the rest of the way!

Looking forward to some good sessions and some networking!

See you in Monterey!

Tomorrow: I write a paper for school... Friday I leave for the West Coast and Internet Librarian 2004! Hope to see some of you there!

Firefox

Attention Mac users:

Firefox 1.0 is out!

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/index.html

I SEE YOU

After working at a branch yesterday for a Sunday shift I stopped to get gas at the grocery store/gas station/Starbucks complex up north of town. As I was pumping the petrol, my phone signaled I had a text:

"I see you getting gas..."

It was like a movie! I suddenly felt like the whole world was watching me and I hadn't known.

"Who is this?" I replied.

(Here's where every stalker thriller I've ever seen played out in my head..)

Turns out, it was my colleague Maire from SJCPL who does our Web Development. She was getting coffee and thought she'd text me to say hi...

Those Blogs are so hot right now....*

http://www.weblogg-ed.com/2004/11/09#a2875

Blogs are hot stuff for K-12... Let me add: libraries too! Have you started a blog yet?

(Hansel is too!)

Any libraries using iTunes & iPods?

I got this neat e-mail yesterday:

Michael,
Do you know of any public library, or other kind of library, that is running iTunes on a server and allows patrons to listen via a public access computer?  Our Library is looking at possibly providing this service but I have not found any site that is talking about it.

Thanks for your help!

I love this idea! iTunes has the capability nthrough Rendezvous to access a library on another Mac on the network and stream the songs for listening. At my desk at SJCPL on any given day I see other folks libraries: Adam, Kris, Nancy, Mike, Marianne, Joe, etc as well as my own library. There is no copying or "stealing" of the digital files -- just listening!

Patron applications abound.... could a public library make their public use computers into listening stations as well by streaming a huge iTunes library out to them and some headphones? What's the DRM implications here? I don't think there would be if the music on the master iTunes machine was ripped and then shelved as an archive.

If anyone is doing this or has comments... e-mail me! (any libraries circulating iPods yet???)

Planning and Lusting

My article on technology planning is in the new Library Journal! Thanks to all who contributed and offered quotes/insight!

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA474999

IM Article at Red Herring

I can't remember where I got this!! But I file it here...

http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=10870&hed=I%20work,%20therefore,%20IM

Library Managers...

Rachel Singer Gordon has put up an exerpt of her new book The Accidental Library Manager at LISJobs and it is GREAT reading! Rachel's take on all things library always impresses me. I was lucky enough to chat with her over dinner at ALA and we got to cover loads of stuff... including managing and staff morale.

http://www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/archives/nov04rsgordon.htm

Run..don't walk to this one.