Infoblog » Infopeople Podcasts

Michael Cart takes a look at the 2009 Book Expo America

Infopeople — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:34:47 +0000

In his latest podcast, Infopeople’s book guy Michael Cart reports on a strangely subdued 2009 Book Expo America, the publishing industry’s annual trade show and convention. And he offers some speculative (and not altogether sanguine) thoughts on the future of the book biz.

Here are cites Michael mentions in this podcast (in PDF format).

George and Joan, Thinking Out Loud: One from the Heart

Infopeople — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:20:51 +0000

In this special podcast, George and Joan talk about something a bit different from their usual content. We’ll let them explain:

Early on we realized that in order to convince librarians to move forward we had to demonstrate a clear connection between our recommendations and established library principles, values, and beliefs. We also recognized that those principles, values, and beliefs are powerful motivators when they are personalized, because everyone has a slightly different take on what matters most about libraries and librarianship.

We found it so useful in our own collaboration to share our professional philosophies with each other that we decided to publish a “This We Believe” statement, in hopes that it might stimulate your thinking as well.

They encourage you to write – and share – your own.

George and Joan, Thinking Out Loud: The future of newspapers and what it means for libraries

Infopeople — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:27:45 +0000

In their latest podcast, George and Joan look at the world of newspapers. Circulation is down all over, and many papers are moving to online-only editions. How does this relate to libraries, and what lessons can libraries learn from the decline (and sometimes fall) of print newspapers?

Mentioned in this podcast: EPIC 2014 and the origins of the word “truthiness.”

Michael Cart on the life and times of John Cheever

Infopeople — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:00:09 +0000

In this podcast, Infopeople’s resident book guy Michael Cart reviews the definitive new biography of John Cheever by Blake Bailey and talks about the life, times, and works of Cheever, truly an American master.

Here is a list of cites mentioned in this podcast (in PDF format).

Michael Cart talks about Reading the World XI

Infopeople — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:34:04 +0000

Infopeople’s book maven Michael Cart reports in his latest podcast on the recent Reading the World XI conference held at the University of San Francisco and muses about the importance of multicultural literature.

Here is a list of cites mentioned in the podcast (in PDF format).

George & Joan, Thinking Out Loud: A Checklist for Strategic Thinking, Part Three

Infopeople — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:14:15 +0000

In this podcast, George & Joan conclude their three-part series discussing a checklist they’ve developed on strategic thinking.

The first podcast addressed the question, “Will it show?” The second podcast asked, “Can it grow?” This third podcast addresses the question, “Does it flow?”

Questions asked in this podcast:
• Is it equitable (not necessarily identical) across our entire service area?
• Is it conveniently accessible to community members?
• Can most members of the community use it without specialized instruction or extensive assistance?
• Is it compatible with tools – especially non-library tools – the community already uses?
• Is the format based on community demand rather than library tradition?
• Does it value “yes” over “no”?

Here is the checklist they’ve been using in this series.

George & Joan, Thinking Out Loud: A Checklist for Strategic Thinking, Part Two

Infopeople — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:00:25 +0000

In this podcast, George & Joan continue a three-part series discussing a checklist they’ve developed on strategic thinking. The first podcast asked the question, “will it show?” This second podcast asks the question, “can it grow?”

How do you decide what activities have a future? And once you make that determination, how can you be sure that you have the staff and resource time to keep the activities going? They ask another important question as well: are you ready for success? There’s a lot of food for thought here.

Michael Cart talks about New York Comic Con

Infopeople — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:00:32 +0000

In his latest podcast, Infopeople’s resident comic fan(atic) Michael Cart brings you the latest news from the 2009 New York Comic Con and muses about whether girls will ever discover the manifold joys of comics and graphic novels.

Here is a list of cites mentioned in this podcast.

Michael Cart looks at the most literate cities in America

Infopeople — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:59:36 +0000

Do you live in one of the ten most literate cities in America? Infopeople’s book guy, the reasonably literate Michael Cart, tells you in his latest podcast. In the meantime, here’s a hint: if you live in California, your chances are about one in ten. If you live in Minnesota, however, your chances are … significantly better!

Here is a PDF of the cites mentioned in this podcast.

George & Joan, Thinking Out Loud: A Checklist for Strategic Thinking, Part One

Infopeople — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:52:36 +0000

In this podcast, George & Joan start a three-part series discussing a checklist they’ve developed on strategic thinking. As they presented their Infopeople workshop on Strategic Thinking, they developed a set of questions they decided libraries needed to ask when allocating resources. This set of questions has developed into a strategic opportunity checklist that they will be discussing during this and their next two podcasts. This first podcast looks at the question, “Will it show?” In tough times, you need to get credit for what you are doing right. So you need to make sure that our stakeholders can SEE what you are doing. Listen as George and Joan discuss how best to go about doing this.