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July 25, 2007
Energy Savings
I saw a posting today from someone recommending that black backgrounds on websites save energy over white backgrounds. Here's the note:
"Hi folks, sorry for cross-posting, but I thought you would be interested to know about this, since we all spend so much time on Google. There is a black-background version of Google, which uses considerably less energy to display than the white-background version. I just ran some searches on it, and the text displays in grey against a black background, and is pretty easy on the eyes. It makes this email window seem like it's glaringly bright, actually. Interesting idea! -Dawn
http://www.blackle.com/about/
http://www.blackle.com/ "
I was sceptical. I'm no scientist (library scientist?) so I checked the usual sources. Well lo and behold it's true! here's teh DOE site:
"Monitor Energy Information
Display Colors
White and bright colors (especially in backgrounds) can use up to 20% more power than black or dark colors. Look to the right to see the power usage (in Watts) of a sample monitor with different screen backgrounds. Unfortunately, e-mail and word processors tend to use white backgrounds, so your workstation uses considerable power while you are in these programs, which you are during much of the day. Because black-on-white is the most familiar (it's just like the newspaper), selecting alternate combinations may not be appealing. However, you can change your desktop background to something efficient. You can change your background by selecting Start, Settings, Control Panel, Display, and Appearance tab. The "Item" field should say "Desktop". Under color, select one of the colors at the right that has a rating below 65W and then click OK."
20% saving isn't inconsequential over millions of monitors! As a matter of fact, according the DOE site, white is the biggest user of energy.
The various hoax sites point out that the savings are lower for LCD vs CRT displays.
Also, there is updated info on screen savers:
"Screen savers originally were not meant to provide energy reductions, but they now provide a means for energy savings. The use of dark screen savers can mitigate bright backgrounds, reducing monitor power up to 20%. Screen recovery occurs within 1 second by hitting a key or moving the mouse. Nearly all of the standard Microsoft screen savers are efficient. If you supply your own, please try to use one that uses primarily dark colors." (more on the site)
Anyway, I was surprised. I try to be green (don't drive, live in a co-op, recycle a lot, energy efficient appliances, etc.) so I'll work on this too on our family's plethora of PC's.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:50 AM | Comments (10)
July 24, 2007
Changing Information Services Needs of Faculty
The Changing Information Services Needs of Faculty
by Roger C. Schonfeld and Kevin M. Guthrie
Roger C. Schonfeld is Manager of Research for Ithaka. Kevin M. Guthrie is President of Ithaka. Comments on this article can be sent to the authors at
As digital technologies continue to transform the environment for teaching, learning, and research, faculty information needs are evolving steadily. To best serve these needs, colleges and universities need to understand how faculty's needs have been changing—and how they are likely to change in the future.
In the summer and fall of 2006, Ithaka (http://www.Ithaka.org) commissioned an outside research firm, Odyssey, to conduct surveys of the attitudes and perceptions of academic collection development librarians and faculty toward the transition to an increasingly electronic environment. These studies received 4,100 and 350 responses, respectively, and were cosponsored by JSTOR and Portico and in part by Aluka and NITLE. The studies build on similar faculty studies conducted in 2000 and 2003; by examining the librarians' perspective as well, we can gain a fairly balanced perspective of the dynamic environment. Considered together, the findings suggest the need for libraries to take leadership in helping academia's transition to the new environment."
More here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:36 PM
What do CEOs read?
A short NYT article on what CEO's read.... here.
Have you asked your top dogs what they read?
Might provide some insights and it's a natural question for library folk.
I saw one library use the READ posters program from ALA to highlight their trustees' favourite books. Blog it.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:30 PM | Comments (0)
White Label Social Networking Platforms
Are you looking to review the white label social networking platforms? angt to build a private social network but worry about MySpace or Facebook (or they're filtered/blocked)?
There's a list here.
It includes:
Ning
KickApps
CrowdVine
GoingOn
CollectiveX
Me.com
PeopleAggregator
Haystack
ONEsite
A bigger list is here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:23 PM | Comments (3)
Book Helpdesk
Folks have been having trouble finding this video of the book helpdesk from the era when books were first created in their modern form. (This is the one with the translation and subtitles.)
Check it out here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:10 PM | Comments (1)
The Web's Top Takeover Targets
Digg
Technorati
Netvibes
SimplyHired
Spock
Facebook
37signals
Cafepress
Compete
Kayak
LinkedIn
Ning
Pandora
SixApart
Yelp
OK - now think that if there was an open market for library mergers and acquisitions, what would make your library a desirable acquisition target?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:59 PM | Comments (0)
Being Professional on Facebook
Check out this post and this post to discover 12 ways to use Facebook professionally.
The short list:
1. Think of it like personalizing your desk.
2. Look for old co-workers and current connections.
3. Add friends selectively.
4. Add apps selectively.
5. Edit your news feed preferences.
6. Edit your profile and security settings.
7. Incorporate the tools you’re already using into your profile.
8. Join Groups related to your business interests.
9. Limit time wasted on Facebook.
10. Be philanthropic.
11. Ask Questions.
12. Look for events.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:55 PM | Comments (0)
Favourite Quote of the Week
I had the great opportunity to interview 11 wonderful teens from 12-19 at the ALA Gaming and Learning Symposium last night.
These kids were awesome but how's this for a quote:
I asked how they evaluated the content they retrieved through their favourite sources (mostly Google and Wikipedia) when it was for an important task.
Paraphrasing, "I use Wikipedia a lot. I know you're supposed to trust the sites that have a dot gov or dot edu extension, but who are you gonna trust? The government or the people?"
He was 13.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:51 PM | Comments (3)
Useful Tool for Comparing Wikipedia and eBrittanica
Errors in the Encyclopedia Britannica that have been corrected in Wikipedia:
This is some subtle comparative marketing. I wonder what the entry for Wikipedia is in EB? Can anyone tell me in the comments?
"This page catalogs some mistakes and omissions in Encyclopædia Britannica (EB) and shows how they have been corrected in Wikipedia. Some errors have already been corrected in Britannica's online version. For many reasons, this page should not be taken too seriously as a comparison; it's just a little bit of fun. It does not mean one is better than the other."
I can see some uses for this page for research skills training in schools and libraries.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:46 PM | Comments (1)
July 22, 2007
Eli Neiburger's Presentation at the Gaming Symposium
The Payoff, up close and personal"
"Gaming can be expensive. It doesn't need to be expensive, but it can rapidly become expensive."
Some quotes and observations:
Cost per player at AADL:
2004 $35 (8 station tournament kit, food and promotion/prizes - about $9,500)
2005 $6
2006 $6
2007 $5
You can run a gaming event where the players bring their own gaming devices.
You don't have to have prizes.
Quote: "Let's not compare this to the cost per person at the reference desk (grin)"
He is reporting that AADL is averaging a budget of $150 per event. They have a few sponsors too.
Reaching a new audience: average age is 33, 69% of US heads of households game.
Not everyone in our community is a recreational reader. Asked, are we excuding some users?
Provocation: "Gamers may be a larger percentage of your user population than readers."
Only 31% of gamers are under 18, 25% are over 50 - 44% are between 18-49.
80% of gamers report voting in elections.
The numbers of adult women exceed teen boys as gamers.
Pokemon is bigger than ever. Pokemon games have more text in it than any text in the elementary curriculum. High level of gaming sophistication in this population.
Wii is opening up new skill acquisition in gross motor movement (vs. fine motor hand skills).
Gaming connects with teens beyond what other institutions are delivering to them - just plain fun like other library programs.
Recommends that we check out Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets.
Remember that there is a market for gamers as parents.
Try opening up gaming to seniors and Boomers (and the crossover between both)
Example: Wii bowling in Senior's homes where they maybe can't pick up the heavy ball anymore but loved the game. DDR too! AADL finds that they cross all generations at DDR tournaments.
Idea: Capture your events on YouTube! (Search AADL as the tag for examples.)
Advertise as "All Ages" events. Try offering prizes for different levels of achievement and for teams (like parent/child, senior/teen, etc.).
Eli encourages participatory sessions and conversations through content between adults, staff and kids - primary and secondary audiences).
He described Competitions as participation. 10,200 blog comments of their 11,000 comments on all of their blogs at AADL are from teen gamers.
You can find examples of tournaments, rules, styles and blog comments on the AADL site.
AADL does colour commentary and has play-by-play done by the gamers themselves. It is so successful they have to have auditions now!
It's OK to cross market other services and programs but DON'T give them a bibliography!
It's a reward for the website such as clan leaders, single player leaders, final four scores, etc.
'Points' can be regarded as rewards / prizes too.
Scatter gaming periodicals, cheat books, manga, anime, graphic novels around the room.
AADL does not circulate games.
Can a library be a source of 'cred' in their lives?
1. Demonstrate metrics for winning and substance for players.
2. Rank has its privilege... You can track your improvements on your scores in tournaments (You can see this AADL)
3. Don't put them in your commercial or ads without permission (I don't want the cool kids to know I'm here.)
4. Are there positive social values to being at the library? They will come to other events -not just gaming.
5. AADL broadcast their tournaments on cable access TV.
6. Some kids who are too small or whatever can't excel at physical sports at school or gym class but can excel at gaming tournaments and 'win'. It can be a life changing experience in the neutral library space (confidence and self-esteem)
7. You can make points for reading a book, teaching an adult how to play, playing yourself....
Kids (and most gamers) recognize that gaming can be 'hard' but it's also 'challenging'.
Eli showed a preview of a cool 10 minute video of his events and users. Cool. Made it real. I'll look forward to seeing the final cut (about 30 minutes) on his website and YouTube.
My fave quote from the video: "I don't think of the library as being oild-fashioned anymore."
Eli announced that GT System will be available free to all libraries to manage gaming events. See it here. http://gtsystem.aadl.org
Vision: Open possibilities - United under this system -- You can even do synchronized tournament days between libraries! (Launch plan - July 2008)
Eli's slides are here: http://aadl.org/files/techsource.pdf
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:49 PM | Comments (1)
Scott Nicholson's Gaming in Libraries Study
Dr. Scott Nicholson from Syracuse University reported - for the first time and ahead of the NYT interview! - the results of his gaming in libraries study.
Based on a survey of 400 randomly selected libraries from a total sample of 9210 NCES libraries, Scott got a 95% response rate.
He reported some of the data today at the ALA Gaming and Learning in Libraries Symposium in Chicago.
Some highlights (all data is plus or minus 5%):
Do you support gaming in your library?
77% of libraries support gaming!
18.5% said no.
(Mostly children's section with board games and chess clubs as well as public computers to play online and web-based games. It's nothing new we have always supported recreational activities.)
43% of Libraries run gaming programs.
(For most of the data the trend was that the larger the library, the more likely they have programs.)
90% board games
45% traditional games
24% physical games
21% physical games
20% summer reading
19% card games
7% computer games
4% roleplaying games
4% other
20% of libraries circulated games.
6% circulate console games.
82% of libraries allowed games to be played on the computer.
Support is stronger for analog games.
You can find more about the survey above here.
Unpublished) SurveyMonkey survey
313 libraries (Diverse range: PL, AL, SL, Special and urban, rural, suburban and, small med large)
64.2% circulate PC games
33.6% circulate console games
27.9% circulate board card games
6.4% circulate handheld games
3473 gaming programs run in 2006.
179 unique programs
Average 33 people per program (0ver 90,000 people in this set, 66,000 unique!)
10% were educational games
50% were competitive games
62.71 % were console games
46.63 % were board games
17.42 % were computer games
Sample Types of Games:
Dancing (DDR)
Traditional board
Modern board
Console musical performance
Console racing
Modern card
Console party
Console shooting
And lots of others
There was list of titles of games too.
He presented a list of reported goals of libraries in gaming initiatives:
Entertainment
Added service
Underserved users
Community hub
Culturally significant
Gaining New users
Publicity for library
Introduce users to library services
Developmental assets
New literacies
Top reasons:
1. Attract new and underserved users
2. Build community hub
3. New service for active users
4. Entertainment
What happened?
Library reported outcomes:
Better reputation 78%
Repeat visits 76%
New connections between users 75%
Used other services 68%
Improved social connections between library anad users 66%
Additional publicity for library 50%
Users request more services that are participatory 42%
plus many more positive outcomes!
(Although 10% reported some annoyance with other patrons. 1/2% reported reputation suffered.)
Conclusion: These are popular and positive programs for libraries.
Scott reported that this census will be repeated in 2008.
You'll be able to find the report here soon.
Oooooo - I've already got a hard copy! Nyaahhh.
And our prize at the session was a copy of Wits and Wagers board game. Wheee! It was like being in Oprah's audience.
Syracuse will be building a gaming research lab as well as a 3 credit graduate level course in Gaming for Libraries in 2008. Scott is writing a book about this too.
One topic that came up in the questions was inter-generational gaming programs as an idea.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:15 PM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2007
Make Your Own Poster
There are lots of generator applications. You can find lots at the Generator Blog here. Here's my new tat.
One of my recent favourites is BigHugeLabs "Motivator: Create your own custom poster—Inspire! Motivate! Mock!"
You can find it here.
Put your imagination caps on!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:33 PM | Comments (2)
Powerful Learning
Ok, I loved this picture over on Blue Skunk.
Will this Texas kid ever forget this lesson?
What's the trick to make learning stick like this with the stuff we teach?
Can we create safe learning experiences to judge electronic content quality?
Can we create a safe experience to identify a predator?
Can we help them to 'know' when content is better?
Is there a nice way to create a Scared Straight program for the web?
Can we share these ideas?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:26 PM | Comments (0)
Connecting to NextGens
We had Don Tapscott as one of our keynoters at the SLA Conference in Toronto a few years ago. His consulting firm has some data on what Next Gen's want as reported by YPulse.
Here's part of their summary with my comments:
They want the internet
- In the U.S., 77 percent of Net Geners said they could live without TV. Only 23 percent said they could live without the Internet.
Are we positioning libraries weel wnough as centers for the Internet? Not just access to PC's but the peripherals too - printers (color too?)?, unfiltered access?, disability compliance?, expert help? training?
It's not all about money
- While 34 percent of U.S. Net Geners said they would like to "make lots of money," 66 percent said they want to "pursue your passions."
Are we building our collections to reflect the passions of the new generation? Beyond the usual and important print? Graphic novels? gaming? Realia? Art? Creation of music? Self-publishing? Do we know what they are passionate about? Is stamp collecting still the number one hobby?? (grin)
The N Gen will job hop, some
- 72 percent of U.S. Net Geners said they would work for one or two companies, while 28 percent said they would work for a variety of companies.
This might imply that career collections and links and job finding tools and training might be ready for some re-thinking.
They want to be smarter
- 69 percent said they would rather be smarter than better looking.
This is great news! Can we use this psychographic in marketing our collections and services? They're not too shallow.
They are content creators
- 64 percent of U.S. Net Geners regularly add or change things online...this percentage shot up to 95 percent of Indian Net Geners and 94 percent of Chinese.
Are we collecting our community's creations? Do we know what MP3's are out there? Are we collecting local poetry and novels? Do we encourage self published works in our collections?
They demand integrity
- 70 percent of females and 80 percent of males (across all countries surveyed) said "If a company makes untrue promises in their advertising, I'll tell my friends not to buy their products."
Are we exploiting our authority, quality and trusted brand?
They want to help make your products better
- 60 percent want a two-way relationship with the brands they select, helping with product and service development and improvement
Are we using this demand to our advantage? Do we use our teen committees, genealogists, seniors groups, mom's, etc. well. Are we getting the most out of their ideas and input and conversations?
Anyway, it made me think, a little.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:02 PM | Comments (0)
The Social Newspaper
I pointed to this Bivings study last year. It's amazing to see the changes as newspaper content gets even more socially driven and enabled.
American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?
Posted on July 19th, 2007 by Erin Teeling
Here are two charts from the report:
The full report is here.
Newspapers often try to be local and community oriented - like libraries. They are undergoing extreme challenges right now. We might learn something from their lessons and strategies.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:59 PM | Comments (0)
A Friday Laugh
The Internet Crashed Today - globally - all of it!
See the video here!
Thank you Onion.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:51 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2007
Making Sense of Users: One Person’s Experience
An article worth reading if you're into understanding the real needs of users is this one from the July/August issue of Online:
Making Sense of Users: One Person’s Experience
By Jill O'Neill
It reports on a personas exercise at the 2007 Buying and Selling eContent conference.
Interesting and besides I collect everything about archetypes and personas.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:35 PM | Comments (0)
Public Libraries Challenge
I love the book Freakonomics. I love the authors' blog too.
Stephen J. Dubner asks this question this week:
"If Public Libraries Didn’t Exist, Could You Start One Today?"
What are the powerful forces shaping today that might make starting the public library harder or easier?
Anyway, it's worth a quick read - read the comments too.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)
Academic Libraries Challenge
OK, review the following charts.
Total Academic Circulation 1995-2003
Total Reference Queries 1995-2003
Library of Congress Reading Room Visits FY 1996 to FY 2004
The O'Reilly Radar (yes that O'Reilly) has a challenging post here called "If Libraries Had Shareholders" authored by Peter Brantley, director of the Digital Library Federation which represents some interests of the ARL.
I like his final question:
"These are fascinating results. They do not reflect on the total value of libraries, and they surely do not pass judgment on the highly skilled information specialists that staff them. They do suggest that something momentous has changed in the fundamental environment that libraries operate within. And one has to think: if libraries had shareholders, would they, like newspapers, be in the midst of a gut-wrenching, brake-screeching exercise in redefinition?"
I suspect that having a powerful answer to this query will be real important in the next few years.
Do we really know where and how fast digitization and licensing are taking us? When hundreds of millions of books are online (and we have the metaphoric scenario with articles online) soon, are we ready for the sea change.
Stephen
p.s. Note that Public Library use and circulation increased over the same period. I am not even saying it's correlative, just interesting.
Posted by stephen at 7:11 PM | Comments (1)
Springfield and the Simpsons
Is your library in Springfield? Hell, even if it isn't, can you be Springfield for a week/day?
Here's the plan:
Get all your staff to make themselves as a Simpson Character. Go her and follow the instructions at SimpsonizeMe.com.
Wear badges, make signs, be one with your bright yellow skin.
Post all the pictures on your website and in the library.
Get everyone to match the role to the character (reference, director, circ, whatever)
Have a contest for the best Bart, Lisa, Homer, Maggie and Marge costume.
Tie all this into the big premier of the Simpsons' Movie (July 27).
If libraries are going to be a bunch of Lisas serving a raft of Barts and being funded by Homer, we might as well have some fun with it!
Got your Harry Potter glasses yet? Of course you do.
Have some fun!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:52 PM | Comments (1)
Wireless Electricity
OK, we know so many libraries have gone wireless. Now we also know that wireless communications isn't being completely wireless. Just look at all the extension cords and libraries with too few electrical outlets! Just count the users sitting on the floor by the one outlet in the column. But wait! There's hope . . . From the FutureWire blog
MIT Demonstrates "Wireless Electricity"
"The ability to direct and transmit electrical power through the air, without wires, took a further step from the theoretical to the practical in June when a group of MIT researchers demonstrated their "WiTricity" concept.
The technology works by transmitting electricity as a magnetic field oscillating at a specific frequency. Through "magnetically coupled resonance," the "receiver" can capture the electricity, making for an efficient and safe method of over-the-air transfer.
Wireless transmission of electricity has been understood in theory since the work of Nikolai Tesla in the 19th Century. Safe, efficient and cost-effective wireless electricity could hold countless beenfits, from eliminating the need to install costly copper wiring to lowered reliance on batteries for small devices. However, despite the success of WiTricity, the technology has a long way to go before it is deployed commercially... not to mention the need to better understand side effects such as interference and possible effects on health and the environment.
Source: Self Service World"
Wow. (Tongue planted firmly in cheek) The cel phones cause voices in my head and foil hat folks will go crazy with this one!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:18 PM | Comments (0)
Trends in ILL
ARL Releases White Paper on Interlibrary Loan
"ARL has released a white paper on interlibrary loan (ILL) written by Anne K. Beaubien, Director, Cooperative Access Services, University of Michigan Library. The paper analyzes trends in ILL activity in US academic and research libraries over the past two decades. ILL activity has increased over this period, primarily due to growing requests for returnable items (e.g., books, audiovisual items, microfilms) as opposed to non-returnables (e.g., copies of journal articles, conference papers). The author finds that ILL transactions have increased due to several factors, including a growth in Web-based discovery tools as well as efforts by libraries to simplify the ILL process and improve delivery options, thus decreasing the turn-around time for requests. Additionally, many research and academic libraries have been hard-pressed to maintain adequate collections budgets in the face of skyrocketing prices, so they must rely more on ILL for little-used materials. The paper also provides a description of current ILL practices for borrowing requests.
The white paper is freely available on the ARL Web site at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/ARL_white_paper_ILL_june07.pdf
While this paper is just over 3 pages long, and covers ARL libraries ILL stats, it does imply some insights into the trends and challenges for resource sharing in the coming years. i believe that this will be one of the next hot spots in libraries and consortia.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:08 PM | Comments (0)
The Future of Librarians
OK, what do you do when some of your favourite colleagues are interviewd about ehe future of librarians (not libraries) by DegreeTutor.com. Why, you point to it of course!
Find the interviews here.
Gene Ambaum is the co-creator of the library comic strip Unshelved.…
Daniel Lee is a Research Librarian at Navigator Ltd, a research-based strategy firm, and is President-Elect for the Toronto Chapter of the Special Libraries Association.…
Michael Hart invented the eBook, and founded Project Gutenberg, one of the world's largest online collection of free eBooks whose copyright has expired in the USA Book listings.…
Jenna Freedman coordinates reference services and Zine Librarian at Barnard Library and blogs at Lower East Side Librarian.…
Michael Stephens is Assistant Professor at Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and is author of Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software. He blogs at Tame the Web.…
Steven Bell started the Blended Librarians Online Learning Community, Designing Better Libraries, writes for the ACRLog and the column Pencils Never Crash and is the co-author of the Academic Librarianship by Design, now available at the ALA store.…
Jeff Barry, is a librarian, book designer and writer living in Buenos Aires, Argentina.…
Eric Lease Morgan blogs at Tech Essence, LITA and is the creator of the Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts. Still, he considers himself to be a librarian first, and a comupter person second.…
Paul Pival is the Distance Education Librarian at the University of Calgary and he blogs at Distant Librarian.…
Chris Zammarelli works as a library assistant at The Brookings Institution, writes the "biblioblog" Libraryola, the Banned Bookslut column for Bookslut, is a co-webmaster of Library Underground, and webmaster for SLA's Government Information Division.…
Loriene Roy is the president of the American Library Association. She is the Professor of the School of Information in the University of Texas at Austin, and together with her students runs a national reading club for Native American children.…
Martín Harfagar is the founder of the TrasAñihué Community Library on the remote island of Añihué, in the south of Chile. The library's users are a handful of settlers who live with no electricity or running water.…
Chad F. Boeninger is the Reference & Instruction Technology Coordinator at Ohio University and the Business and Economics Bibliographer the university's Alden Library.…
Raymond Barber studied School Administration and Library Management; he now works for H.W. Wilson and is a collections editor at Standard Catalogs.…
David Lee King is the Digital Branch & Services Manager at Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library in Topeka, he's written and spoken at conferences about websites, digital experience, working with techies and other technology-library related topics. H…
Helene Blowers is the mind behind Library Bytes, co-author of Weaving a Library Web: A guide to Developing Children's Websites, and currently is probably most well known for project Learning 2.0.…
Phil Bradley blogs at Phil Bradley and, on a lighter note, Phil Bradley - Frivolity. He's also the author of How to Use Web 2.0 in your Library.…
Nicole Engard is a Metadata Librarian at Princeton Theological Seminary and the mind behind What I Learned Today, a blog in which she shares her tips and tricks with others.…
Jessamyn West blogs at Jessamyn.com, Librarian.net, Metafilter, and co-editor of Revolting Librarians Redux. She does public speaking on library technology topics as well as adult education and outreach for technology to her community's local libraries.…
T. Scott Plutchak is currently the director Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences at the University of Alabama and blogs about libraries and librarianship.…
Glorianna St. Clair just starting her ninth year as the Dean of Libraries at Carnegie Mellon University. Previously, she held administrative positions at Penn State University, Oregon State University, and Texas A&M University.…
Sarah Houghton-Jan is the Web Services Librarian for the 12-branch San Mateo County Library in Northern Cailfornia. She's the one behind Librarian In Black, a blog about technology and training in libraries.…
Ben Bunnell has an a MLS from the University of Michigan, as well as an MBA, and worked for two years as a business research librarian at a venture capital firm before ending up at Google on their Book Search project.…
Karin Wittenborg has been the University Librarian for the University of Virginia since 1993, at which point her library was just beginning to archive digital collections. Her library is a partner in Google Book Search.…
Laura Solomon currently is at the Cleveland Public Library as the Web Applications Supervisor, helping equip libraries with tech tools they need to serve virtual customers. She blogs at Library Geek Woes.…
Meredith Farkas is a recognizable name to anyone who reads Information Wants to be Free, Techsource, or her American Libraries technology column…
Tim Spalding is a graduate student in Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan and is the creator of LibraryThing, a social networking site for bibliophiles.… Read more »
Cool crew. If you know anyone trying to decide about libraianship as a career, these might be nice places to start. I also recommend Infonation.ca from CLA.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:53 PM
Popular Images of Librarians
The inimitable Ruth Kneale has posted her 2007 SLA presentation from Denver conference.
Spectacles - How Pop Culture Views Librarians!
It's delightful and just cathartic. It's so much more fun when we can laugh at our image and know it's, well, wrong (despite some of us actually having buns, spectacles and sensible shoes).
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:39 PM | Comments (0)
The Future: Sooooo Last Century!
This article won't be online for long (I think it will go behind the wall this Saturday). It's on the Philadelphia Inquirer website (Philly.com).
The Future:THE ULTIMATE HAS-BEEN
by John Timpane, Associated Press
"A 1957 Plymouth Belvedere buried in a time capsule under the courthouse lawn in Tulsa, Okla., for 50 years was unearthed last month. The original intent was to crank the engine one more time, but it turned out to be a muddy, rusted-out, oversize paperweight."
It is a nice tongue in cheek look at what the future might have been. I love it.
I was promised a rocket pack that would allow me to fly! I was promised space travel to the moon and Mars. I was promised a personal helicopter in my driveway. I was promised peace in our time.
I was ripped off for the future I was assured would happen.
Then again, I got a world wide web, Tang, Iraq, Afghanistan, pens that wrote upside-down and cel phones.
I want my future back!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:30 PM | Comments (0)
Standing in the Future
Here's a recommended posting from Paul Williams' Idea Sandbox Blog Don't Like The Way Things Are At Work?
Paul summarizes some of the change concepts in Rolf Smith's book, The 7 Levels of Change: Different Thinking for Different Results. Check out the book and the posting:
LEVEL 1: EFFECTIVENESS - Doing the Right Things
LEVEL 2: EFFICIENCY - Doing Things Right
LEVEL 3: IMPROVING - Doing Things Better
LEVEL 4: CUTTING - Doing Away With Things
LEVEL 5: COPYING - Doing Things Other People Are Doing
LEVEL 6: DIFFERENT - Doing Things That Haven't Been Done
LEVEL 7: DO THINGS THAT CAN'T BE DONE
We all end up in situations that can feel insurmountable. When we look back on them, our retrospective coherence tells us we made the right decisions but while we're in those situations it just feels soooo ambiguous.
That's certainly a good description of library land's challenges right now - ambiguous. So, let's stand in the future and look back on what we did today to create the desirable and exciting future we want.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:41 PM
TIME's 25 Websites We Can't Live Without
Are these the 25 websites you can't live without?
Amazon.com
BBC.co.uk
CitySearch.com
Craiglist.org
Del.icio.us
Digg.com
EBay.com
ESPN.com
Facebook.com
FactCheck.org
Flickr.com
Google.com
HowStuffWorks.com
The Internet Movie Database
YouTube.com
Kayak.com
NationalGeographic.com
NetFlix.com
Technorati.com
TMZ.com
USA.gov
TelevisionWithoutPity.com
WebMD.com
Wikipedia.org
Yahoo.com
Congratulations to Time and CNN for avoiding the temptation to name their own sites.
I doubt this list is close to perfect but they're still certainly models for where our public expectations are and show some of the features being asked for by our world.
Having never used Craigslist until last week and renting an apartment in another city within days from a posting there, I can testify that I couldn't have lived without it now but could have before!
And, honestly, don't ask me how Kayak.com beat Expedia, Travelocity or Hotels.com! To each his own. I am shallow enough to love Gawker.com and PerezHilton.com!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:21 PM | Comments (1)
MySpace - Facebook Cage Match
MySpace doth protest too much? Their recent press release claiming to be the king of social networking sites is a bit disingenuous.
From Mashable:
"comScore’s latest Media Metrix report indicates that MySpace is losing ground to Facebook for the high school demographic. While MySpace still holds the lead overall, Facebook has increased its number of US visitors under the age of 18 (about 2.5 times), while MySpace has dropped about 30% for the same age group. Not entirely surprising, MySpace is seeing growth for every other age demographic, as is Facebook."
"What’s this mean? It could mean that MySpace has reached its saturation point for the high school crowd, and every other age group is still playing catch up. With Facebook opening its doors beyond college students and alum, and the applications offering more personalized features, better inherent tools for connecting to each other, Facebook could be the new MySpace. Facebook has, after all, just reached the 30 million member mark.
This also goes against what some have speculated to be a key differentiating factor between MySpace and Facebook, tagging MySpace as a place for high schoolers and Facebook being the place for college students. How this will tie into studies such as Boyd’s which have noted case studies for the socioeconomic differences between the two networks is also yet to be determined, given the current shift in user demographics."
I wonder if the Murdoch purchase of Dow Jones and WSJ will ultimately affect MySpace. it is already chock-a-block with ads. I hear the average age is 32 there now so it's a prime market for RRSP's and 401K's. Hmmm.
There are other competitors in the space, especially Bebo internationally and Ning for targeted networks.
Then again, when Facebook hits their monetary stride, things could change again. And don't tell me everyone will abandon social networks because of ads. I still remember the pre-ad web search engines and Internet and don't see it being any less popular or smaller for its commercialization.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:03 PM | Comments (0)
If You're Truly Local...
I love this posting from ALA - unscrupolously re-printed here:
Loan and Network Your Teens' Creative Content with "Community Reserve"In Audiobooks
The other day, my boss asked if I knew any local teen bands, singers, or hip-hop artists.
"Yeah," I replied. "Why?"
"So libraries can loan out their MP3s."
"Wait, huh?"
If you had the same response as me, then you might not know about OverDrive's Community Reserve service. Overdrive-subscribed libraries can upload teens' full albums, rough demos, or bedroom recordings. They'll be available to not only your users, but also those of all other libraries who subscribe to Overdrive.
That doesn't just go for music, either. If local teens publish an eBook or audiobook--or if they produce their own videos--that digital content can be uploaded as well. The major downside is, of course, that since there is no additional cost to the library to add this content, the content providers aren't getting paid. Also--for audio and video at least--Overdrive is still locked into using Windows Media (.wma & .wmv) files, which aren't compatible with teens' iPods (yet, gosh darnit).
But, despite all the setbacks, if teens are looking for new ways to distribute their content, this can be an opportunity for them to do just that. Whether they'll be interested considering what they can already do with iTunes, iMeem, Myspace, Last.FM, iLike, Purevolume, GarageBand and other promotional services remains to be seen. If you are already utilizing this service, I'm really interested to see how it's going.
******************************************************************
Cool. So how many libraries out there are collecting links to local bands' MySpace sites?
Are you ready to collect this local history, oral history, and more? Does something have to be old or antique to have value? Probably not.
You have a tool to make this content discoverable in your OPAC. You can build webpages of locally interesting stuff. I kow some libraries host scanning parties where local citizens bring in their historic pictures and scan them for the library's repository. It doesn't have to be teen content. Although I love the idea that a major band is discovered and promoted by their local library before they sign a major recording contract! Then again, maybe the open access movement to libraries is like Indie bands to music.
This could be a byproduct of your searches to discover local bands for a Rock The Shelves event....
Hmmmmm
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:54 PM
Tag - You're it
Tagging is a very important trend in our information organization world. It's a major tool for collecting electronic content and then making it discoverable again.
Mashable has a great list in their post: The Tagging Toolbox: 30+ Tagging Tools
And this posting from Philipp Keller's blog looks at Tag history and Gartner's hype cycles. It's an interesting profile of the coming tipping point.
If you want to learn more about the range of tagging tools out there, this is a good place to start to move our experience and knowledge beyond Connotea, Del.icio.us and Flickr tags.
It's just a feature of a wider information experience and it's ultimate vision is still being invented and realized, but it's certainly professionally and personally interesting and has great potential.
Just play.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:46 PM | Comments (0)
Leadership
Here's a link to a good posting on 99 ways to become a better leader. It is organized into a nice list of tips on:
1. Planning & Strategy
2. Team Building
3. Communication
4. Build Trust & Confidence
5. Time Management
6. Being Responsible
7. Never Stop Learning
8. Become a role model
9. Know When to Be Real
10. Give Back
We can always learn more about leading versus managing...
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:41 PM | Comments (0)
Typos
Here's an interesting website:
Typographical errors in library databases
Might be useful to train people in data entry accuracy, searching skills, and more.
I certainly see the genealogy / geneology typo / misspelling a lot. The wrong spelling generates over 3 million hits in Google alone.
Hmmmm
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:29 PM | Comments (0)
Free your content! RSS for Libraries
Free your content! RSS for Libraries
Presented by:
Paul Pival - Distance Education Librarian, University of Calgary, and
Meredith Farkas - Distance Learning Librarian, Norwich University
Tuesday, August 7, 2007, 11 a.m. - noon Eastern / 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. Pacific
RSS feeds – for the Library User and the Library Professional
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for syndicating content on the Web. It's a common thread behind almost all social technologies. Blogs, wikis, social bookmarking sites, Flickr, podcasts, and many other Web 2.0 sites all have RSS feeds that allow consumers to receive content without having to visit the site where the content actually lives. RSS separates content from presentation, allowing the content to be reused in multiple places and combined with other content to create unique resources. Another great feature of RSS is that it's actually easy to utilize, even for people with little technical background.
Register below to take part in this FREE webinar.
Paul and Meredith will describe what RSS is and how to use it in a variety of ways in libraries: to make it easier for users to find out about your collections and programs, to push subject-related content to patrons, and to publish dynamic content on a variety of pages. There are many tools that make generating RSS feeds, subscribing to RSS feeds, displaying RSS feeds, and mixing RSS feeds an incredibly simply proposition for those with little technical knowledge. In addition, the presenters will show you how to use RSS to easily keep up with the topics you are interested in without having to visit multiple Web sites each day.
Register for this SirsiDynix Institute webinar at:
https://events.livemeeting.com/SirsiDynix080707Reg.htm
If you have missed previous SirsiDynix Institute events or are unable to make this one, we have an extensive archive posted at http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/archive.php.
You can check out past events at any time.
For more upcoming 2007 SirsiDynix Institute events, go to http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/.
This is one of our most requested topics. Great speakers. Time for some Summer learnin'.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:26 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2007
ALA Great Debate
I had the opportunity again this year to participate in ALA LITA's Ultimate Debate. This year the topic was "Are Libraries Innovative Enough" with me, Karen Schneider, and Joe Janes. We were ably moderated by Andrew Pace.
Quite a few people blogged the discussion so it must have engaged a few folks!
Here's a link to the LITA Podcast of the event.
Note that you can choose to download the entire mp3 file to your computer (thereby preserving it for your own use conveniently, instead of just playing it online) by right-clicking on the little graphic and then left-clicking on the "save as" option in the context menu.
I was a little disappointed that many questions from the audience focused on whether ALA, our associations or library schools were innovative enough. It felt a little like we were trying to find someplace else to 'blame'.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:08 PM | Comments (1)
ALA SDI LIVE Session
I did a few SDI Live session in our booth at ALA in DC. It wqs called:
Bigger Brains for Libraries: Increasing Our Capacity to Learn and Adapt
You can find the PPT slides here.
Congratulations to the folks who won copies of my book.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:59 PM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2007
The SDI Session on Writing for the Profession
Here's a link to the powerpoint slides for the session that Judith Siess and I did this month. A lot of people, judging by the questions, seemed to miss the announcements that the PPT's will be available on the SDI website as well as in this blog. They're there now. It should be in iTunes soon too.
There were quite a few questions that I think I can respond to here, as promised.
!. What was the result of the Sky vote?
Most people chose blue. Every answer was right since the sky can be almost any colour. I think that all the answers are right. My point was that it is a matter of your perspective and context. Therefore, your writing should not preclude your won personal perspectives and context. What is right for a special library environment may be poorly suited for public or school libraries. Just as saying the sky is blue is an incomplete answer and is almost always wrong at night, the more perspectives we get the more powerful our writing is - and our contribution to the discussion.
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2. What are the roles of library oriented listservs in writing for the profession?
I think it's just another place to write. I've seen it used to gather information and good questioners assemble the responses and share them with the discussion list. All of us know these are just straw polls and not 'real' valid surveys but they still provide insight and opinion and can move our learning forward.
Also, e-mail submissions to listservs also get posted online, and could be considered a publication outlet.
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3. How do you get around vetting constraints - the Director of my library has asked that all writing that we do needs to be vetted by her. I would prefer not to have to take comments and edits from someone not directly involved with the article topic...
Get political. You're not doing yourself any favours by not building a great relationship with management. Even the world's best authors and reporters get edited (and hate it too).
These folks can become references! It's hard to work as a team but it's a skill that can make us better. Even if the advice is awful, we learn how to deal with that too.
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4. 'How' to me means --"how to find the time?" Can you share some of how you both manage this? (I'm a Mom of a 71/2 year old--difficult just to balance work--but would love to find time to start writing! --Thank you.
Some people find it easier to take little gaps of time and use them and others must get away to a quiet place. It's a matter of personal style. I can write in a noisy room, TV blaring, directly onto my laptop and my wife wrote over 30 books with our two children nipping at her heels. She did tend to write late night or make notes in playgrounds. I don't need as much sleep as her. Both of us found that it's just a matter of making time and setting prriorities. Sometimes the kids took the place of a writing deadline. That's OK too.
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5. My concern about all of the blog content is how it will be preserved for the future - so much of our exciting discourse these days published in blogs and I'm afraid it will all be lost.
I agree. Those who assemble key blog postings in books are useful. Protecting your archives and backing them up or using Google cache for a while is short term. It's a real issue. Some libraries are addressing it but it's a game of whack-a-mole!
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6. What if your employer won't let you use your real name for a personal blog?
That's regrettable. If your personal blog is unrelated to your employment then who gave them permission to intrude on your personal life? If you're using it as a platform to criticize the employer then they likely have cause for concern. Is there a way to have a blog and work under a set of guidelines or philosophies? Can it be positioned as a pilot or test? That conversation needs to be had.
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7. Would you recommend a para professional to write when the opportunity presents itself?
I guess I don't understand the question. I'd involve any other professional that's needed - writing, editorial, ghost writers, researchers, or any other professional that works in your field or library - HR, finance, technicians, etc. I recommend that everyone contribute from their own perspective. (I have to admit that I hate the term paraprofessional -everyone is a pro in my eyes.)
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8. What's the title of Walt Crawford's book?
Balanced Libraries. Walt tells us that it's selling successfuly on Lulu here.
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9. What are some of the best RSS Aggregators?
Check out our next SirsiDynix Institute on RSS in August! I blogged about it today.
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10. : What are some of the pitfalls you've encountered in writing for scholarly publications?
I haven't written a great deal for scholarly publications. I've done maybe a dozen articles. What I find is that there is enormous pressure to get it in on time and it generally takes 12-18 months after that to reach print. I find that appalling and avoid it now since my work is often out of date by the time it reaches print and the reader's blame the author not the horrendously, embarrasingly slow publishing cycle. I'm aware that some people's jobs require them to publish in the right place or perish and that's their environemnt but most of those environments have experienced folks to mentor others. Seek a mentor.
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11..When writing an article, how do you find the best periodical to publish in? Looking at the magazine publishing schedule & their topics per issue is useful, but how do you target the most appropriate periodical for publishing?
Get copies through ILL and read them. Ask their readers who may be in your workplace. There's no right answer. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. There's nothing wrong with asking several. There are different reasons - for instance prestige may trump circulation in some cases. Are you targeting readers that are like you or more like your users? You know what you read but ask your users what they read.
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12. There are plenty of librarian blogs out there. I've noticed a fair bit of overlap (e.g. who doesn't link to CommonCraft videos?) What are ways to market your blog and differentiate it from the the others (if you're not a "mover and a shaker" who is known in library circles)?
Be interesting and make sure folks know about it. More subscribers come from links and references to your blog than ads and marketing. Being a regular poster and providing value to the people you want to attract is a basic rule. It sounds simple but it's not! Also, give yourself time to be discovered and known. It's not likely to happen overnight! Word of mouth is the best method, I think. Ask friends who blog to link to you. Let people know you're there.
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13. How do you overcome the attitudes of a "disinterested" patron audience? Is there a good way to market to the "disinterested" so that the role of the library and librarians, as well as new technologies, are highlighted?
If you're audience is disinterested then find out what interests them then craft your writing to bring them in. That sounds obvious but it is important to know what they want to hear verus wat we want to tell them People hate being told thigs but when you wrap it up in their interests... (For example - don't tell them abouot research services if you can wrap it up in their hobby or field and connect it to their success.) Develop equity with them. Magazines survey their readers constantly to determine what interests them and they also do polls and interviews and have advisory boards. It's often about the 'hook". Is your title engaging? Are you telling your audience stuff to draw them in? Are there pictures and good layout to make it more accessible? Is the tone and language right? Is your font pretty? Design isn't trivial. These are all things to review and adapt to engage the audience in your messages.
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14. I am the PR person for the library. I write press releases which sometimes is like writing for a black hole because I often write good news and the newspaper is interested in bad news. How can I make this work better? I also write our library newsletter. Thanks.
It's a start. To my mind, a great press release tells a story. Remember back to our literature training. Stories have conflict, denouement and resolution. Are we telling a story that is engaging. What is the pain we salved? What is hte conflict we amelioriated? Are we ready to tell stories that have a little excitement to them. Good news stories can be bland. Newshounds need a 'hook', something to make your story engaging. Are you providing everything they need - story ideas, connections to real users or politicos or celebrities (local or otherwise), pictures (hi-res, etc.)? The press is just as time constrained as we are. If you offer something pre-digested and easy, it has a better chance. Are you in their space to be found - like LinkedIn? Keep up the good work. It's hard to get stories to stick and when you do, you're my hero. Lastly, develop relationships with the key reporters at local and commnuiuty newspapers. When was the last coffee you had with them? Are you showing interest in their challenges first? Have you had a press event or tour for them to change their perception of the library? Who did the tour? (trustee, users, kid, librarian?)
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15. Is there a format to follow for proposals and queries to publishers?
Some publishers (book or periodical) have guidelines on their websites. The basic books on getting published usually have an outline too. Many libraries have good collections on getting published. Most should since this is on the top user goals on sites like 43Things.
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16. If you think you might need funding for a potential research article, which is better to do first: get the funding/grant or get the article proposal approved? Thanks.
Get the money first unless you can afford to commit your own funds. Of course, most of the work is in the planning and not the doing so you're well along the way by the time you're writing grant proposals. Sorry - Catch 22.
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17. A colleague and I are planning on writing an article on Library Blog readership. What way would you suggest to approach blog writers for assistance in writing the survey for the study?
Are you sure a survey is the best place to start? Would interviews be better? I would talk to Michael Stephens (TameTheWeb) and ask him about his survey and his recent dissertation on this topic. Walt Crawford did some analyses on library blogs too. I am sure you've done a lit search on this topic but a few interviews might help. Looking at the blog trackers like Blogfluence and Bloglines etc. might give you some data to review and inform your questions. As with any survey, what are you trying to gain insights about? What will the answers look like? I think most bloggers respond well to e-mail and phone interviews. They'd like questions in advance to think about. They'd appreciate seeing the results so they can improve their blogs.
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18. Why do you recommend Lulu.com as a self-publisher over others? Is it from personal experience?
Sorry. By mentioning a source, it was not a recommendation. I just mentioned it as an example of one of the self-publishing sites. There are plenty of articles and reviews of thjese sites by searching the literature. I know two folks who've used it and their books looked wonderful.
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19. I was wondering about finding collaborators for articles, I'm a new solo librarian.
I have co-authored and/or collaborated with friends, fellow association members, past schoolmates, work colleagues, non-librarians (subject or tech experts, etc.) and complete strangers (at the start). I have found that all it takes is a love of a certain topic, commitment and being asked or asking! It's not for better or for worse, richer or poorer. If it's not workinng out, chalk it up to experience and go your separate ways. I've rarely seen this happen though. I've made lifelong friends by writing with someone I approached out of the blue. Sometimes someone I asked to review an article added so much they became a co-author.
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20. Many academics write for general audiences in places like Harper's, New Yorker, etc. Is there a place for librarians to do this? Or examples of librarian's do this?
I have seen a number of these. I can't recall a librarian one but someone may put one in the comments. ( I do remember the screeds in the New Yorker about card catalogues and lost hard copy newspapers by Nicholson Baker that became books). You're setting the bar high but more power to you. The cover story in these top flight periodicals can pay in the five figures so they're often looking for experience and fame. Joining the associations of professional magazine writers might be a good place to start. Many bookstores and libraries have the basic texts (indeed many of them) on getting published. Good luck!
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21. Hi there! I was wondering if I can get a certificate for my professional development file that I attended today's seminar.
We are quite happy to provide letter from SirsiDynix confirming your attendance. Just send an e-mail to kathryn.dilworth@sirsidynix.com.
__________________________________________________________________
Judy may add additional perspectives on her blog too. [UPDATE: Here's a link to Judy's answers.]
Thank you so much for your questions. If you have more, just use the comments.
Cheers,
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:47 PM | Comments (2)
Facebook Growth
Facebook has announced that they hit 30 million active users on July 10th. Unlike MySpace, Facebook doesn’t pad its numbers with dead accounts: to be counted you have to log in at least once a month.
The above chart shows they've doubled since January. I understand that my hometown, Toronto, has the most users per capita.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:24 AM | Comments (3)
July 10, 2007
Procrastination
Now there's a word I am all too familiar with - procrastination. How did it get the 'pro' prefix, eh? At a minimum it should start with 'dis' or 'un' or something diminishing.
Anyway, I found this article from Psychology Today interesting and a personal kick in the pants. (I am sooo far behind on some projects.)
Procrastination: Ten Things To Know: Is your procrastination hindering you?
By:Hara Estroff Marano
Here are some nuggets to encourage you to read the whole thing (it's short).
1. "Twenty percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators. For them procrastination is a lifestyle".
2. "We don't call people on their excuses ("my grandmother died last week") even when we don't believe them."
3. "Telling someone who procrastinates to buy a weekly planner is like telling someone with chronic depression to just cheer up,"
4. "Procrastinators are made not born. Procrastination is learned in the family milieu."
5. "Procrastination predicts higher levels of consumption of alcohol among those people who drink."
6. "Procrastinators tell lies to themselves such as "I work best under pressure."
7. "Procrastinators actively look for distractions, particularly ones that don't take a lot of commitment on their part."
8. "People procrastinate for different reasons." The three basic types of procrastinators are
arousal ttype or thrill seekers; avoiders (avoiding fear of failure or fear of success); and
decisional procrastinators, who cannot make a decision.
9. "There are big costs to procrastination. Health is just one."
10. "Procrastination destroys teamwork in the workplace and private relationships."
Sound familiar? Anyone you know?
This article asserts that procrastinators can change their behavior. I hope so. See you in therapy!
LifeHacker has a list of useful anti-procrastination productivity suggestions here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:35 PM | Comments (1)
Global Penetration of Gaming - and libraries
I'll be heading to the ALA Gaming Symposium soon. I believe there are a lot of opportunities for libraries in gaming (virtual worlds, quests and sims but not gambling) so it's an interesting space to watch. Many educators and the military have found great value in the way games promote learning success for some people.
So, this press release from ComScore caught my eye:
Worldwide Online Gaming Community Reaches 217 Million People
Online Gaming Web sites Average Nine Visits per Visitor Each Month
LONDON, UK, JULY 10, 2007 –comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the results of a global study into online gaming, showing the number of unique visitors to these sites to have reached almost 217 million worldwide – a year-on-year growth of 17 percent.
The comScore World Metrix study took into account all sites that provide online or downloadable games, excluding gambling sites. The sector attracted 28 percent of the total worldwide online population in May and recorded an average of 9 visits per visitor. Said Bob Ivins, EVP and managing director of comScore Europe:
“With one in four Internet users visiting a gaming site, playing games online is extremely popular. The fact that these websites are pulling in over a quarter of the total worldwide Internet population shows what a global phenomenon gaming has become. The potential of the online gaming arena should be especially appealing for advertisers, as the average online gamer visits a gaming site 9 times a month.”
Yahoo! Games was the largest property, attracting 53 million unique visitors. MSN Games followed in second place, having grown by 16 percent since May 2006 to reach 40 million unique visitors in May 2007. Both properties provide a mixture of strategy, trivia, arcade, and board games, with puzzle and card games proving to be the most popular choices for gamers in both cases. The fastest-growing Top 10 gaming property was WildTangent Network, a US company that makes online and downloadable games, which grew by 398 percent year-on-year to attract 11.5 million unique visitors in May 2007. The site also attracted an average 12.2 visits per visitor, notably higher than any of the other top 10 gaming properties.
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
The popularity of individual properties varied significantly between geographical locations. Yahoo! Games dominated the North American and Asia-Pacific continents, registering 18.7 million and 20.9 million unique visitors respectively. In Europe however, the Yahoo! property proved to be the fourth-most popular gaming site with 8.6 million unique visitors. MSN Games, the second-most popular gaming site in the world, was more consistent in geographical take-up, proving to be either the most or the second-most popular site in every geographical location.
You can find chart of global results in the original release here.
There is a little more analysis at TechCrunch here.
Either way, the symposium promises to be an interesting setting to discuss the role of games in libraries - communities, learning, education, etc.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:22 PM | Comments (1)
July 8, 2007
Just starting blogging?
Well today is the second anniversary of my blog, Stephen's Lighthouse. That doesn't make me one of the early bloggers by a long shot. I learned a lot from them and continue to learn from the over 560 blogs I track daily.
I've tried to be an authentic voice for libraries as well as a good 'noticer'. An old friend tells me that leaders are those who don't just notice things but tell others. Blogging is a natural for that process. So I hope you find the stuff I notice useful and I'll try to keep it going.
Two years ago I wouldn't have believed that I could write over 1,045 postings! You've made almost 1,000 comments (excluding tens of thousands of Splog!). I've tried to approve every real comment - although I do occasionally (and ironically despite my own potty mouth) reject one for inappropriate language or threats. I appreciate the thousands of subscribers, each and every one of you!
I also appreciate my employer, SirsiDynix, who give me free range to discuss or point to anything I notice. That's rare in my experience and it's a testament that I have never received any internal criticism for a posting or been asked to edit anything for a corporate purpose. Cool. I wish every part of libraryland was the same.
I also wish this new list had existed two years ago:
55 Essential Articles Every Serious Blogger Should Read
June 4th, 2007 by Matt Huggins
Matt offers a nice organized webliography of:
Blogging Basics: Getting Started
Building Meaningful Content
Increasing Traffic & Retaining Readers
Linkbaiting, SEO, & Social Networks
Building a Community
Blog Monetization
Miscellaneous Blogging Advice
Nice place to learn and improve your inderstanding about blogging. It's excellent. Thanks Matt.
Despite a plethora of biblioblogs, Libraryland needs more voices and noticers. Join us.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:53 PM | Comments (4)
Two New Seniors' Market Resources
If your library serves seniors, then these two new resources might prove useful:
1. The Brookings Institution, Metropolitan Policy Program - Mapping the Growth of Older America: Seniors and Boomers in the Early 21st Century , by William H. Frey (28 page PDF)
"Analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data on the changing size, location, and characteristics of
America’s senior (aged 65 and over) and pre-senior (aged 55 to 64) populations reveals that:
■ The aging of the baby boom generation makes pre-seniors this decade’s fastest growing age group, expanding nearly 50 percent in size from 2000 to 2010. Poised to create a “senior tsunami” beginning in 2011, this group will be more highly educated, have more professional women, and exhibit more household diversity than previous generations entering traditional retirement age.
■ Pre-senior populations are growing rapidly everywhere, especially in economically dynamic Sun Belt areas previously known for their youth, such as Las Vegas, Austin, Atlanta, and Dallas. “Exurban” parts of these large metro areas, along with smaller metro areas like Santa Fe, NM and Boise, ID, seem to have attracted mobile boomers who wish to live near both work and natural amenities as they approach retirement age.
■ The World War II generation currently entering its senior years is growing fastest in the Intermountain West and South Atlantic states, especially suburban areas there. These high-growth areas tend to have younger, higher-income, more highly-educated senior populations. Despite their low rates of senior growth, northern states like Pennsylvania, Iowa, and North Dakota exhibit some of the nation’s highest senior population shares due to low immigration and past out-migration of their younger residents.
■ In states where senior populations will grow fastest over the next 35 years, “aging in place” rather than migration will drive this growth. In Georgia, for instance, the senior population will increase by more than 40 percent from 2010 to 2020 due to the aging of existing residents, versus less than 3 percent due to migration.
■ Projected boomer aging will cause the suburbs of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles to become considerably “older” than the cities themselves by 2040. Seniors and pre-seniors moving from cities to suburbs outnumber those moving in the opposite direction; those moving into cities are on average more highly educated, more affluent, and less likely to be married than their suburbanizing counterparts.
Today’s seniors and pre-seniors are upending traditional notions of how and where Americans spend their later years. The rise of boomer populations in suburban and Sun Belt locations will create new demand for senior-oriented housing and amenities. As older populations age in place, however—especially in the suburbs of slower-growing metropolitan areas—public policies must respond to the new stresses they will exert on health, transportation, and social-support systems."
"This survey provides an overview of current and future geographic shifts of America’s senior and pre-senior populations, with baby boomers on the verge of entering their elderly years. Overall, it finds that emerging senior populations break with those of the past, not only in terms of their size, but in their educational profiles, their household diversity, their greater gender equality, and potential for economic inequality. These distinct social and demographic attributes will be magnified by the sheer size of the baby boom “age wave,” which will transform
state, regional, city, and suburban populations in both growing and declining parts of the country."
2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has laucnhed a new website on "Data and Statistics on Older Americans" whose mandate is to provide statistics, data and resources to monitor the health of older Americans, and to assess our health protection goals of increasing the number of older adults who live longer, high-quality, productive, and independent lives." It covers Key Aging Statistics and Data Sources with an Aging Focus.
It's an understudied aspect of our user base and these resources and insights may prove very useful. Many of the stats and trends are specific to your local community.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:32 AM | Comments (0)
Latest Ipsos Insight Reporton Internet
Online Video Activities Are Outpacing The Growth In Popularity Of Other Digital Media, While Social Networking Is Quickly Becoming The Dominant Online Behavior Globally According To Ipsos Insight’s Latest The Face Of The Web StudyCategory: Technology, Cable, Media, Consumer Trends
Datasource: Face of the Web
Location: United States
Public Release Date: July 5, 2007
New York, NY — The evolution of Internet users’ digital media and online habits appears to be transitioning to the digital video age, according to the most recent findings from The Face of the Web, Ipsos Insight’s annual study of Internet and Technology trends. Over the past few years, the growth of digital music behaviors – particularly downloading music files online and burning CD-Rs – introduced millions of Internet users globally to the virtues of the digital medium, blazing a path for other entertainment media to follow. At the end of 2006, it appears that online video activities seemingly have taken over the torch as the driving force in the next stage of digital media’s growth, having a profound impact on the way consumers access and view video content around the world.
Indeed, participation in online video activities is climbing quickly in many developed markets of the world. Growth in these behaviors was most prevalent within the U.S., where today well over one-third of recent Internet users (36%) have watched a TV show or other video stream online, compared to 28% at the end of 2005, while three-quarters of these adults have done so in the past 30 days. Brian Cruikshank, Executive Vice President & Managing Director of Ipsos Insight's Technology & Communications practice, explains how consumer appetite for video content has accelerated the adoption of online video behaviors, “In markets such as the U.S., where homes are saturated with televisions and DVD players, video content is a predominant part of consumers’ daily lives. Increasing penetration of broadband access and PC ownership globally signals that the PC will begin to really assert itself as a ‘second screen’ within the household.”
Social Networking A Predominant Activity For Most Global Internet UsersPerhaps even more impressive than the trending witnessed in digital video behaviors globally, is the growing phenomenon that social networking is becoming across the world. Today, about one in five adults have ever visited a social networking website, and an equal percentage (20%) of regular Internet users have visited these types of websites in the past 30 days. Leading all other markets in its love affair with social networking is South Korea, as half (49%) of all adults in this country have visited at least one of these websites in the past, while over half of all online adults have visited a social networking website in the past 30 days. The popularity of social networking in South Korea is largely attributed to Cyworld, one of the oldest and most successful social networking sites in the world. According to Cyworld, approximately 18 million people in South Korea have accounts with their service – representing roughly 30% of the country’s entire population. In comparison, about one in five American adults (24%) have ever visited a social networking website.
The online audience that social networking sites attract are significant, particularly when one considers the various ways for users to interact with others using these sites, such as online chat, text messaging, e-mail, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging, discussion groups, and so on. Social-networking sites clearly solicit a strong relationship with users – beyond the simple transactional nature many sites have with their audience. Adds Cruikshank, “Social networking web sites, such as Cyworld, MySpace, Facebook and Mixi, have emerged as major factors in the culture of communication for adults globally, which is underscored by their popularity with Internet users even among lesser developed markets.”
What’s also notable about social networking sites is the captive audience they are generating online. In most global markets, at least two-thirds of all Internet users that have visited these sites have done so in the past 30 days. Cruikshank concludes, “The frequency of visitation to social networking websites globally implies that many Internet users are no longer simply ‘trying out’ these sites, but rather adopting social-networking as a significant part in their evolving digital lifestyle. What will be interesting to monitor is the affect social networking will have on other online and offline entertainment behaviors that ultimately compete for a share of the consumer’s disposable time. We have already seen some effects of social networking cannibalizing other online activities in some markets.”
Worth a look here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:25 AM | Comments (0)
Al and Me
OK, I was excited. Stephanie and I have been reading his environmental and Internet works for decades. I have his book and the DVD. And I got to meet him in June.
And his speech was great too. He threw out his notes before he went on stage and just talked to librarians.
Cool.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:22 AM
July 7, 2007
Where is Google Trying to "Win"
Here's a neat post that looks into where Google is focusing on winning. The short list of 10 is:
Search
Advertising
Video
Blogging
Mobile
Start Pages
Communications
Social Networking
Photo Sharing
Office Suite
It's an interesting list with lots of competition in every space. Mashable's take on everything Google is interesting and here's their conclsion:
"The Future"
As the most watched, scrutinized, and reported-on company in the web space, Google’s every move is analyzed by competitors big and small. Its rapid expansion into areas beyond search and seemingly insatiable appetite for acquisitions has the company strongly positioned to dominate numerous key parts of the Internet. However, we should be reminded that not everything Google touches turns to gold; for example, the demise of Google Answers and the demotion of Froogle. Stay tuned for what are sure to be hundreds of announcements in the years to come."
I agree. It's worth watching (and all the other sites in the posting). This is a key part of our library environment and the real world of our users. Can we play well with others, integrate into our users' spaces? Are we competing here - maybe but not too much. Libraries are about learning, community, and interaction and personal service. That's a long way from a focus on ads and developing a phone.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:17 AM | Comments (0)
July 6, 2007
All of Google's Known Products
This is a pretty ginormous drawing but did you ever want to see all of Google's known products and services mapped out in one big picture? Check it out here
Neat. Found via Search Engine Land's SearchCap
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:15 PM | Comments (1)
Business Week and Social Networks
I missed this Business Week article first time around (June 11, 2007 - the ALA/SLA maelstom) but it's real interesting.
"Web Strategies That Cater To Customers
Blogs. Podcasts. Video-sharing sites. Social networks. Here's a word of advice for companies scrambling to become a part of these conversations. It's not enough to build a hub in Second Life or create a profile on MySpace.com (NWS ). It's time to shift your focus away from trying out every high-tech platform that comes across your in-box. Instead, home in on your customers. Almost every demographic group you can think of is engrossed in the Web these days, and users are getting smarter about their tools. It won't take long to find the consumers who care about what you're doing—and tune in to what they're doing."
Pay particular attention to this chart The data came from Forrester Research.
It shows, visually, the use of the social networking tools by generation and the penetration of these tools in the U.S.
We all know that libraries are challenged with responding to the needs of a very wide range, demographically, of our users, This chart very nicely creates a starting point for understanding those challenges.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:13 AM | Comments (1)
Podcasting Tools
Are you reviewing or using podcasts to provide training, services or promote your library?
With podcast ready phones and with iPods and other MP3 players selling like Harry Potter, they've started to move into the mainstream.
This posting is an organized list of of 70+ tools and resources for all podcasters. Here ar t he headings.
Podcast Creation Guides
Podcast Hosting, Sharing and Networking (Free)
Podcast Advertising
Audio Tours
Video Podcasting
Mobile Podcasting
Text to Podcasts
Podcasts to Text
Podcast Directories
Live Podcasting
Podcast Hosting (Premium)
Podcast Search
Podcast Forums
Podcast Creation Software (Offline)
Podcast Creation Software (Online)
Miscellaneous Podcast Tools
Pretty amazing growth in a toolkit for a technology that's still pretty new.
Need to learn more? There are podcasts from the SirsiDynix Institute on iTunes for free and webcasts on the SirsiDynix Institute website.
Take a look.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:03 AM | Comments (1)
July 5, 2007
New Library Comic
Have you seen the new library comic in town Shelf Check. There are only 16 comics as of today. I'm waiting for RSS to be added. {UPDATE: Wait for the RSS no longer! Emily Lloyd also posts the strip on a blog at http://shelfcheck.blogspot.com/. Thanks Lisa}
The creator is Emily Lloyd (aka Poesygalore).
Walking in the footsteps of the esteemed UnShelved too.
I'll add this to my favourites along with Blaugh.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:19 PM | Comments (1)
Borrow a Museum Pass?
I love my hometown.
Toronto libraries offer museum passes
Beginning July 3, Toronto Public Library users can borrow a Sun Life Financial Museum and Arts Pass, in the same way they can borrow a book or CD from the collection. The pass provides full admission to a family of up to two adults and five children to the Art Gallery of Ontario and at least four other Toronto cultural institutions.... I hear more museums and art galleries are going to be added too.
What a great idea - cultural sector cooperation!
Read more here.
Cool!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:19 PM | Comments (2)
SirsiDynix Institute Announces 2007 Third Quarter Webinar Schedule
SirsiDynix Institute Announces 2007 Third Quarter Webinar Schedule
Topics include RSS feeds, leadership for libraries and publishing for the library industry
WASHINGTON, June 23, 2007 – The SirsiDynix Institute, a forum for professional development in the library community, announced today the webinar schedule for the third quarter of 2007. All webinars offered by the SirsiDynix Institute are free.
The first event for the third quarter, which will focus on publishing for the library industry, will be July 10. The event will be hosted by Stephen Abram, vice president of innovation for SirsiDynix and chief strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute, and Judith Siess, president, Information Bridges. The presenters will talk about writing for the library industry and offer tips on how to transfer ideas onto the page.
On Aug. 7, Paul Pival, distance education librarian, University of Calgary, and Meredith Farkas, distance learning librarian, Norwich University, will lead a discussion on RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. Pival and Farkas will describe what RSS is and how to use it in a variety of ways in libraries; for example: to make it easier for users to find out about a library’s collections and programs, to push subject-related content to users and to publish dynamic content on a variety of pages.
On Aug. 14, David King, digital branch and services manager, and Thad Hartman, technical services supervisor, from Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, Topeka, Kan., will present on the topic of how to create services that embrace the Library 2.0 concept and encourage customer feedback and participation.
Back by popular demand, on Sept. 4, Pat Wagner, co-owner of Pattern Research, Inc., will talk about understanding library users and a library’s relevance to them.
Finally, on Sept. 18, Gina Millsap, executive director, and Rob Banks, deputy director of operations, at Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library will discuss strategies for leading a library organization whose staff shares a vision for exceptional service and works together in new ways to make it happen.
Abram said: “We have a fabulous schedule for this quarter and are thrilled to have so many well-respected industry leaders who have graciously offered their time and expertise to the SirsiDynix Institute. Their willingness to give to the industry in this way is integral to the mission of the SirsiDynix Institute – free, expert training for all library professionals.”
Additional upcoming SirsiDynix Institute events for 2007 are posted on the SirsiDynix Institute Web site, http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com. Archived events may be accessed at http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/archive.php. SirsiDynix Institute events are held on the first Tuesday of each month; in addition, special events, including international ones, are announced throughout the year.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:24 PM
July 4, 2007
Social Network Aggregator
OK, you knew this had to happen....
There are RSS and news feed aggregators - like NewsGator and Bloglines.
There are IM aggregators like Meebo, Trillian and GAIM.
Now, in alpha test, there are aggregators emerging for the major social networking sites.
Take a look at MyLifeBrand alpha
Here's a post to read about it too.
"MyLifeBrand is a new social networking convergence service, currently in invitation-only alpha testing. This product aggregates Web 2.0 functionality, tools, creativity and a portal for converging business with user generated content. The premise is to offer diverse services where individuals, groups and businesses can take advantage of proximity and community. MyLifeBrand combines social networking, common tools with social media and allows for the integration of networks like Facebook, Bebo, Linkedin, MySpace and others."
With some prognosticators suggesting that Facebook (and F8) has the germ of a Google killer while Google is focusing on killing Microsoft. And those iPhones are the beginning of the edge for device changes. This is something to watch, for sure.
Other emerging aggregators for social sites and Web 2.0 apps include Zude beta (blog post) and Second Brain beta (blog post).
Hmmmm. Compare and contrast. Discuss alternate scenarios. Are these opportunities to create community and personal spaces in the context of the library?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:05 PM | Comments (2)
LibraryThing
As I predicted at ALA, LibraryThing is still growing - and quickly.
Here are the top 100 largest libraries in the US by volume.
LibraryThing has passed Harvard University, the second-largest library in the United States. LibraryThing members have cataloged some 15,731,298 books, putting them 175,000 copies above Harvard's count.
That's cool. Now we all know sheer numbers aren't the only measurement but it is quite a collaborative accomplishment. As they note in their post, there are other ways to review collections, like suitability of collections for purpose, diversity and quality evaluations, depth measurements, etc.are valid views too. If we look at OCLC's WorldCat title measurement it's well over 85,000,000 titles and 1 billion holdings growing at 1 every 10 seconds - yet we'd never call it comprehensive. So LT has a way to go if they count other electonric collections like SirsiDynix's NDP or OCLC, etc. or if the world of libraries started to aggregate their own collections in a thoughtful way...
I wonder how big the Amazon database is? I'll' have to check.
LibraryThing is one of the most interesting library projects to watch. I met the founder, Tim Spalding, at ALA. There's more to this project than meets the eye...
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:41 PM
July 3, 2007
Home Broadband
The latest Pew report was released yesterday and reports this:
Summary of Findings
• 47% of all adult Americans have a broadband connection at home as of early 2007, a five percentage point increase from early 2006.
• Among individuals who use the internet at home, 70% have a broadband connection while 23% use dialup.
• Home broadband adoption in rural areas, now 31%, continues to lag high speed adoption in urban centers and suburbs.
o Internet usage in rural areas also trails the national average; 60% of rural adults use the internet from any location, compared with the national average of 71%.
• 40% of African Americans now have a broadband connection at home, a nine percentage point increase from early 2006.
o Since 2005, the percentage of African American adults with a home broadband connection has nearly tripled, from 14% in early 2005 to 40% in early 2007.
These findings come from a survey of 2,200 adult Americans conducted in February and
March of 2007
Read the report here.
Dial up appears to be heading below 15% - maybe mostly to those who use the internet mainly at work/library?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:11 PM | Comments (1)
Hitting the World
OK, I have a few trips planned for the rest of the summer. Maybe we can meet up?
July 4 - University of Toronto, ON
July 10 - SirsiDynix Institute - everywhere
July 12-13 - Washington State Library Directors - Puget Sound, WA
July 17-19 - SEFLIN - Miami, FL
July 20 - Mississippi State University, Columbia, MS
July 22-24 - ALA Gaming Symposium Chicago, IL
July 27 - SirsiDynix Midwest Users Group, Omaha, NE
July 29 - Meeting Plannners International - Montreal, PQ
Aug. 17-23 - IFLA Durban South Africa
Aug. 24 - SLIC - Johannesburg, South Africa
Aug 28 - Melbourne (1.30 - 4.30 pm)
Aug. 29 - Sydney (1.30 - 4.30 pm)
Aug. 30 - Brisbane (9.30 am - 12.30 pm)
Aug. 31 - Adelaide or Perth
Sept. 9-10 - Little Rock, Arkansas
I will be visiting two more U.S. states on my not-visited-yet-list this year. Arkansas and Iowa - in the Fall. If anyone wants me to visit the three I haven't see yet - West Virgina, South Dakota and Montana - I'd be happy to sing for my supper. Gotta tick off those states!
I am working on protecting the first two weeks of August for vacation and moving my son to Montreal. I'll need to rest up for a busy autumn!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:30 PM | Comments (2)
Measuring your Site's Success
Here's a link to a posting that offers more than 50 ways to track your web site's performance.
"From analyzing your RSS feed to counting page views to visual representations of where your visitors are clicking, there is no shortage of companies looking to help you better understand your web site’s traffic. In our latest “toolbox” installment, we analyze (pun intended) the wide variety of applications and tools available for keeping tabs on how your sites, feeds, blogs, emails, or even your intranet is performing.
As with our other toolbox articles, we encourage you to add other applicable links in the comments area."
Many are quite free and others extend your capabilities into graphical representations and other keen tools like eye tracking.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:27 PM | Comments (0)
Web 2.0 Lists
Here's a link to a posting that endeavours to keep lists of lists for 2.0 type applications. Look to them to learn, for inspiration or just to play for 15 minutes.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:25 PM | Comments (0)
Cool Library Bling
OK - they were giving these out in the ALA trade show area. It's great bling and you can buy them too here.
Too cool. Maybe this is a great carrot for Learning 2.0, 2.1, or 23 Things activities?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:21 PM | Comments (1)
My Humiliation at Wii
OK - this kid at ALA beat me at Wii Tennis.
It was fun though.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:19 PM
Rex Libris
OK, I hear that Warner Brothers is developing the Rex Libris series of graphic novels for the big screen. Here's the link to Variety.
Cool! I've got the full set. And I am really wanting the big action figure (hint to home).
We should start to think about who should play the lead role of librarian, Rex. Any suggestions?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:10 PM | Comments (1)