Archive for 2008
Pop Goes the Book!
It started as a blog…
Now it’s a book! (with a blog about the book that came from the blog. You follow?)
A big congrats to (New Jersey’s own) Sophie Brookover and Liz Burns on the publication of their new book, Pop Goes the Library!
To get all the juicy, poppy details, complete with links to great pix, back story on the book, links to the book wiki (yup, there’s a book wiki too), point your browser to:
http://www.popgoesthelibrary.com/2008/08/fun-friday-presenting-pop-goes-library.html.
Trailer: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The first trailer to the next Harry Potter film!
Funny Video: Diluting the creative process
Thanks to branding guru extraordinaire Tom Asacker for sharing this great video. We’re in the process developing a new QandANJ.org commercial so this piece is particularly relevant in my world today.
All Together Now. SLJ’s 2.0 Program Begins today, July 21
Some news from Michael Stephens…
Greetings! As some of you may know I am working with School Library Journal and Brian Kenney for two months running a version of Helene Blower’s Learning 2.0 for SLJ staff and readers. Brian wants to open it up far and wide, so please pardon this shameless request for some link love or distribution in your channels to get the word out. I would like to see participants come from everywhere – the US, Canada, UK, Australia, etc etc… 🙂
Brian Kenney announced it here: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/850000285/post/1860029586.html
SLJ’s 2.0 Program Begins July 21
Have you heard of 23 Things, the self-guided program for learning about 2.0 web technology? It was developed by Helene Blowers a couple of years ago at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and since then has been adopted across the country by public and school libraries, districts, and even entire states. It consists of a number of “things,” or small exercises, that you do online to expand your knowledge of the 2.0 web and social networking, from blogs and podcasts to wikis and Twitter.
For a while now (and prodded by our Technology Editor, Kathy Ishizuka) I’ve realized it would be a great idea if all of us here at SLJ went through a “23 Things” like experience. After all, we are always writing about different 2.0 applications, shouldn’t we experience them as well? Walk the walk, talk the talk, and all of that…So I resolved that we’d do it this summer.
Then I got to thinking: if we’re going to do it, why not open it up and invite everyone to join us?
So that’s what we are going to do. But Iwe’re not going it alone; we’ve asked 2.0 guru, Dominican faculty member, and season trainer Michael Stephens to join us for the ride. Beginning Monday, July 21, Michael will author a blog here on SLJ.com that will lead us through the different exercises, offer guidance, answer questions, and even provide a little hand-holding. We’re calling it “All Together Now: A 2.0 Learning Experience.”
There’s no need to sign up–just show up. Again, we’ll begin on July 21 and wrap things up in early September.
My “Gearing Up” post is here: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/290000629.html#530030053
Our work will begin the 21st of July! Starting Monday, I’ll put up a post here — the first of our “things” – with instructions to explore. The first thing is getting a blog and trying out blogging.
I’ve worked with a lot of libraries doing these programs and folks sometimes confess they are scared to dive in. These tools seem too new or hard to use. This program is designed to alleviate those worries. Work at your own pace. Work with a colleague or friend. I kid you not, this is a perfect time and a perfect place to experience these things. These rules will help:
Explore. Try things out. Don’t worry about “breaking” anything! Ask questions. There are no dumb questions. AND It’s okay to make mistakes.
The blog address for the program is: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/290000629.htm
Thanks for the heads up on this Michael!
Seeking Examples of "Programs on a Shoestring Budget"
Next month I will be giving a presentation called Implementing High Impact Programs on a Shoestring Budget for the Nevada Library Association at their Annual Conference in Las Vegas. I have many ideas to present based upon my own work at PPL and have also found some great ideas from other public libraries, but I want to make sure that I am not missing something truly fantastic that has not passed my radar.
My presentation is focusing on public library programs for adults and teens with a technology element, but I am also compiling programs that are based in the arts and humanities. Programs from academic libraries would lend a nice balance.
My concept of “shoestring” is that you either did it for free (other than staff time) or ideally spent less than $250 on the program if you are a small library serving under 30,000 people. If you are a larger library a budget limit of $500 would still be a shoestring.
I am not going to give examples in this post because I do not want to narrow anyone’s thinking on what they might submit. I am taking a fairly wide ranging view on what is considered a “program” and am truly interested to see what other creative programs on limited funds are being offered elsewhere.
Submit your great “shoestring programs” that have had a positive/high impact at your library to janieh at gmail dot com with the subject line of Shoestring Program.
If you have photos, PR materials, etc. to go along with your program that would be all the better. I will give full attribution to anyone who submits and I will share my slides online as well as create a summary post here at the Library Garden.
Oh, and it is my first time in Vegas so feel free to leave me tips on what I should see and do.
Image by Aussiegall found via FlickrCC
A Quick Poll for Libraryland
I was out with friends last night for an MNO (Mom’s Night Out) and we ended up talking about email and how much it overwhelmed us at times. I told them that although I was technically on vacation this week I still checked my email once or twice day and, except for one friend, they all thought I was nuts.
One of my friends, who is senior management at a large insurance company, shared that she checked work email daily and at home in the evenings no matter what — vacations or sickness, etc. The others are all mothers who work outside the home (just like me) but they indicated that they leave work email at work and never check from home — they are two teachers, a nurse, therapist, and a manager in a small company.
So here it is Saturday and I just logged in to check my work email and while I was reading my messages I started to wonder, how many other librarians and library workers check their email from home and when?
I used Doodle, one of my favorite “fantastic freebies“, to create a quick poll that will give us a quick snapshot type answer to the questions “Do You Check Email From Home?”. Just go to this doodle poll and check off all that apply. You can check more than one answer and you can be anonymous if you want. Also, you can leave comments and further explain your email habits. I will leave the poll up for a week or so and then summarize on the blog later this month.
Thoughts on Authenticity
Back in March, at PLA, I remember Karen Hyman talking about authenticity in the lastest issue of Time magazine. It intrigued me enough to cause me to look into the issue of Time and then also interlibrary loan the book, Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II.
While the book is definitely geared towards business I think there are lots of ideas that we in the library field can take and use to our advantage with our customers. Gilmore and Pine talk about why we buy what we buy and that currently, people purchase based on how well the items reflect what the person wants to say or project about themselves. Consumers will consider experience and products more real if they have a hand in creating it themselves. What it boils down to is creating an experience that is true to what you say you are.
Steven Bell echoed these sentiments at the FutureTech for Libraries Symposium in June. He explained that we are in an experience economy and that we need to be aware of the expectations that exist regarding services and technology.
So what does this all mean for libraries? Well, let’s think about a few key questions:
- What expectations do users have about your services? Are they positive or negative? Do you meet those expectations, even the negative ones?
- Are your customers able to personalize their services? Do you offer pointed email advisories? Can they customize their experience on your library’s website?
Gilmore and Pine say “Be what you say you are by finding your very own original way for customers to experience your offering in the places you establish” (p.152). It isn’t an easy proposition. It may take lots of work to make the vision and missions of our institutions to match and exceed positive expectations that people have about libraries of all types.
Important to remember is that “What you’ve done is what you are, and what you do is who you become” (p.218).
Sounds like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” Maybe that is exactly what we need to do.
Goodbye Mr. Carlin
George Carlin passed away yesterday. This makes me sad. Carlin was a comedic and linguistic genius as well as a defender–or perhaps practitioner is a better word — of free speech. Probably best known for his bit on the seven dirty words, Carlin shocked, but did not need to shock, to be funny.
His mind was brilliantly attuned to the absurdities of life, and his gift for language and physical humor allowed him to reflect those absurdities back to us in a way that both challenged and tickled our sensibilities.
George Carlin touched me. Literally. In college I was with a group that brought him to Rutgers for a performance . Before the show began I was charged with guarding his dressing room. The door opened and I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“Hey Buddy”.
“Yes Mr. Carlin”, I replied.
“Where’s the rest room?”
“Right down the hall to the left, Mr. Carlin.”
“Thank buddy.”
As “brush with greatness” stories go, perhaps this doesn’t make the top 10, but I was touched by his gentle manner and the way he called me buddy. I remember a lot of his material that night, but one of my favorite bits was his take on license plates:
- New Hampshire’s license plates say ‘Live Free … or DIE!!’ I don’t think I want to live in a state that actually mentions death right on their license plates. At the other end of the spectrum is Idaho’s license plates – they say ‘Famous Potatoes.’ I don’t know, I think that somewhere between ‘Famous Potatoes’ and ‘Live Free or Die’ the truth lies. And I think it’s closer to ‘Famous Potatoes.’
Goodbye Mr Carlin, and thanks for all the laughs.
Michael Stephens Interview with John Blyberg
If you haven’t read it already, get thee over to ALA TechSource and read Michael Stephens’ interview with John Blyberg. Lots of good stuff–I’m sure I’ll be returning and re-reading this piece for inspiration in the future. A points that jumped out at me (quotes are from John unless otherwise noted):
- I’ve come to realize of late that if a change in library services, technology-based or otherwise, isn’t well grounded in our core values and mission, it just looks funny. (Michael)
- [I]nformation use has become an expression of self–that’s not something libraries ever accounted for. When I talk about this, I refer to it as the “information experience” because, for the growing number of us who participate in the hive, we build our own network of information and interaction that accompanies us through our lives. We literally construct highly-personalized information frameworks and place a huge amount of personal reliance upon them. Ten years ago, this wasn’t the case.
- It’s true that we are the voice of authoritative knowledge, but we can package that in ways that are not so paternalistic and present ourselves as partners in discovery. None of this requires technology, but technology has become the nexus of collaboration.
John also discusses how the Darien Library is big on Danny Meyer’s book Setting the Table, which defines and makes a powerful argument for the value of hospitality. In one of those weird bloggy synchronicities, I randomly went from reading the TechSource post to Char Booth’s Infomational post, “Manners v. Hospitality“, in which she also references Meyer’s book (which I have also blogged about in the past.) One of favorite passages is:
“In every business, there are employees who are the first point of contact with the customers (attendants at airport gates, receptionists at doctors’ offices, bank tellers, executive assistants). Those people can come across either as agents or as gatekeepers. An agent makes things happen for others. A gatekeeper sets up barriers to keep people out. We’re looking for agents, and our staff members are responsible for monitoring their own performance: In that transaction, did I present myself as an agent or a gatekeeper? In the world of hospitality, there’s rarely anything in between.”
So when you’re done soaking in the TechSource post, take a look Meyer’s book. I’ll soon have a follow-up post on hospitality and customer service based my experience with customer service training at the Trump Taj Mahal this past week.
Follow-up on Food for Thought at R.I.T.
Jon Jiras was kind enough to send along the following information to post here at LG as a follow-up to the earlier Food for Thought interview. Congratulations to Jon and the entire Food for Thought team on a successful event and for providing a model for others to follow. The comments from participants definitely show the value of a campus library providing such a day — plus the fact that Jon says “steal this idea” with no attribution needed really rocks. I can hardly wait to see what 2009 bring for the FFT Team at R.I.T.!
Post–event update:
2008 Numbers:
Total number of session registrations: 578
Total number of people who registered online: 212
Total number of people who registered in person: 11
Total number of registrants: 223
Staff: 186 ; Faculty: 19 ; Students: 3 ; Other: 4 Unknown: 11
If you count every seat in every session (of our original room assignments) we were over 73% filled and seven of our sessions filled to at or near room capacity.
Three sessions (Create Your Own Website, Optimizing Outlook, and Facebook and RIT) each had over 50 registrants.
An analysis of first names, indicates that 80% of registrants are female.
Extra Helpings Area:
We took a 36″ x 28″ whiteboard on an easel and had one of our artistic staff members use dry erasable markers to mimic a deli menu with “specials of the day” complete with branding by the co-sponsors Online Learning and Information Technology Services. This area saw only limited use. Eighteen one-on-one appointments were made. The questions ranged from setting up access to the campus wide staff portals, resetting passwords, and how to accomplish specific tasks in MS PowerPoint, MS Word, and MS Outlook. rewarding for both the staff who manned the area and the individuals who came to it with questions. Next year, I think we will move this area to the first floor near the entrance and registration desk where it will get more visibility and we can talk it up during the registration process.
Lightning Talks:
We had five more requests to present a lightning talk than spots available, so we had to turn down some requests. We secured the use of a 30 inch Chinese gong to indicate when the 5 minutes were up. We set up a laptop with a countdown timer set to 5 minutes that someone in the front row displayed to the presenters. The talks included staff from the following departments across campus: Center for Professional Development, RIT Ombudsperson, RIT Public Safety, Online Learning, Academic Intervention and Mentoring Program, Institute Advising Office, Barnes and Noble @ RIT, Wellness Center, Office of the Registrar, and the Library. We will definitely be offering this again next year.
Since the original blog post there have been some questions asked in the comments and through other channels.
1) Is this available to “steal” with credit?
Sure, that’s why I have provided so much information about the planning and marketing. Help yourselves, no attribution necessary.
2) What were the session titles in 2007?
Social Networking with Second Life, MySpace, and Facebook
Planning and Marketing RIT Events
To Bid or Not To Bid: Auction Tips Online and Offline, or, Why Pay Retail?
New Features of Microsoft Office 2007
New Features of Microsoft Windows Vista (offered twice)
Advanced iPod
Introduction to RSS and Blogging
Introduction to Web 2.0
Origami for the Office
Image Resources to Jazz Up Presentations
Sharing Videos and Pictures on the Web
Organizing with MS Outlook: Calendaring, Contacts, Notes, and Tasks
Self-Publishing with Lulu.com
TechnoStress Relief 101
Art on Campus Walking Tour (offered twice)
Create Your Own Web Site
Optimizing Your Digital Photographs
Wildflowers and Weeds of Western New York
Become a Published Author with InDesign and Photoshop
Easy Creation of Online Tutorials with Adobe Captivate
3.) What was your budget for 2008?
The budget this year was still under $1,000. Several folks have suggested we apply for a grant from the Office of the President, or Staff Council, or some other campus entity to pay for boxed lunches. Which is probably something we will consider.
Here are some results of the 2008 post-event electronic survey:
90 of the 212 registered users filled out the survey.
82% said the Food For Thought website was very good or excellent.
96% said the registration process was very good or excellent.
92% said the variety of sessions offered was very good or excellent
94% either agreed or strongly agreed that the event timing (2nd week of summer quarter) was appropriate
97% said they are likely or very likely to attend again next year.
And here are some of the comments:
The hardest thing about attending Food for Thought was trying to decide what topics to select for the day. There was so much to choose from, great conference.
Excellent program as always. Food For Thought is simply wonderful.
Very successful, love the content, love the idea.
Thanks for another excellent Food for Thought program. It was very well organized and informative.
All the workshops I’ve attended – this year’s as well as last year’s, have been most worthwhile for me.
I know how difficult it is to pull together a day such as this and offer my congratulations for an extremely worthwhile event!!!! Great job.
I truly enjoyed the session on “Understanding RIT’s Students”. This is something that every person on this campus should be required to attend!
It’s a great day and I hope you continue offering it in years to come.
I learned SO much and I’ve used stuff I learned in several sessions already today (and it was only 3 hours ago that I finished the sessions). But it was SO much information in one shot!
Love it. Keep it going!
I am very impressed with all the library’s staff. Good job.
The 1 hour sessions were a bit short. The Lightning Sessions rocked.
More Lightning Talks!
It was very informative, I enjoyed the sessions and learned a lot.
More craft sessions.
Lightning sessions were a nice touch. Do this again.
More sessions offering RIT-specific information – there were several this year, as compared to last year. I think they are very useful.
I would like to see a continuation of topics on how RIT is embracing online communities and usage among our students. RIT & Facebook was an excellent session, I very much enjoyed attending. In general the variation of topics was great.
Library Garden 