The MLxperience

"24" meets "The Office" in Office 2010: The Movie

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:53:51 PDT

#ala2009 realtime, in my sidebar

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:32:36 PDT

Once again I'm unable to attend the American Library Association conference, but I do like to follow along virtually as best I can. This year I have several new features to play with: Both Friendfeed and Twitter upgraded their search capabilites, I like it so much I've created a search that loads in my sidebar. It's based on a Yahoo! Pipe created for last year's conference. I see tweets, blog posts, videos or bookmarks that are being posted with the conference hash tag, #ala2009. These items come in realtime, see the example below the post.

I'm using a room at FriendFeed to import the feeds, but for Twitter's search I asked that the results only have links but not include retweets. I wanted to pull informative items from Twitter users who are not yet using Friendfeed and don't think I'm getting too much redundancy.

If you think this might help you follow the conference virtually, drag this [#ala2009] bookmark to your Firefox Bookmarks Toolbar and edit the properties to load in the sidebar. Clicks open in the right pane in a new tab.

'Awful Library Books' a huge hit, next up: dumpster diving for discards

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:47:19 PDT

Noted at Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly's Site of the Day, and Boing Boing, it appears we have a new library blogosphere darling in "Awful Library Books," by Michigan public librarians Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner. With a nudge to understanding collection development and a push of humor, they've put together a great blog. Bravo!

The Power of Dialogue

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:33:38 PDT

From The Power of Dialogue by Scott London

The Greeks may not have invented dialogue, but they introduced the idea that individuals are not intelligent on their own, that it?s only by reasoning together that they are able to uncover the truth for themselves. The Greeks understood that if two or more people are unsure about a question, they can accomplish something together they can?t do on their own. By questioning and probing each other, carefully dissecting and analyzing ideas, finding the inconsistencies, never attacking or insulting but always searching for what they can accept between them, they can gradually attain deeper understanding and insight.

That's what dialogue is: a form of discussion aimed at fostering mutual insight and common purpose. The process involves listening with empathy, searching for common ground, exploring new ideas and perspectives, and bringing unexamined assumptions into the open.

Create a Realtime FriendFeed Search Sidebar in Firefox

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:35:08 PDT

I've been poking around at how to virtually follow next week's ALA conference and discovered that with FriendFeed's new real-time search capabilities I can create a sidebar for Firefox which keeps me up to date on my favorite tracking terms.

Notice that is pulled the result zero seconds ago? It works just like their embeddable search box (see below) but in your sidebar. Customize the width to fit your needs, links open in the right pane. Use the input field to change search terms on the fly!

Just like you can do with the embeddable home page, try dragging this FriendFeed Realtime Search to your Firefox bookmarks toolbar. Right click, choose Properties and enable the "load this bookmark the sidebar' option. You may also easily create your own at Friendfeed by choosing choosing their share/embed option on a search and add "&embed=1" after the url field. Manually create the favorite in your bookmarks folder, choosing to load it in the sidebar.

It works with hashtags and all the advanced filtering tools such as searching by number of likes or comments, users or services.

What is the future of the library when information is everwhere?

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:01:46 PDT

[youtube link]

A couple of other library bloggers have noted this video by Guy Adam Ailion, and I've just now gotten a chance to study it - I'm really glad I did.

Ailion is working on his Master's in Architecture with a concentration on its' relation to a digital society and explores interesting new ways that libraries can be involved in communities such as "urban information bar" or "theater of knowledge."

Interested, too? Follow Ailion's research at "Everywhere is Here"

Kafka's Pest Kontrol available at the Johnson County Library

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:26:24 PDT

Kafka's Pest Kontrol, originally uploaded by jocolibrary.

The Johnson County Library system has rolled out a advertising campaign produced pro bono by Barkley Advertising Agency featuring literary references as if they were local businesses. Patrons in and around Overland Park, KS can find out more at What's with the trucks?.

Check out their Courier Trucks flickr set for more images.

From the Kansas City Star:

If delivery trucks driving around Johnson County emblazoned with ads for peculiar businesses prompt some double-takes, they’re doing their job.
Benjamin Button’s Diaper Service?
Kafka’s Pest Control?
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s Pharmacy?
No, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are not entering the CVS-Walgreens War.
Four literary themed trucks are part of a new ad campaign for the Johnson County Library. Officials hope the trucks will spark interest and bring even more readers to their doors.
Since the campaign began last week, the newly decaled trucks have been transporting books among the system’s 13 libraries.
Barkley Advertising Agency, a locally based business, offered its service — valued at $33,000 — free of charge. Company vice-president Tom Demetriou offered the pro bono work because he wanted to remind people of the sanctuary found at libraries, where the community is intrinsically bound by stories.

A Competency Index for the Library Field

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:59:08 PDT

WebJunction's Betha Gutsche has put together "A Competency Index for the Library Field" which looks to be extremely useful for planning staff training, learning or development for libraries:

Call it an index, a guide, a dictionary, a menu of competencies. The purpose of this compilation of competency statements for library practice is to help libraries of all sizes and types build the foundation of competencies that will help them to develop staff skills and knowledge and ultimately to help meet the needs of the community.

Download the PDF and re-purpose it to your advantage. And please let us know what you think.

Required Learning: Clay Shirky's How Twitter can make history

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:40:20 PDT

Filmed May 2009: "While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics." TED Talks

Most Relevant Protest Song, Ever: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:05:47 PDT

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
by mallox

"Gil Scott-Heron had it right. The revolution will not be televised; rather it will be broadcast through broadband connections all over the world. Live video shot by cameramen paid by big studios are out, and the amateurs with handhelds and free blog accounts are in." [Simple Odyl]

In the week since the 2009 Iran Elections, a 1971 poem-turned-protest song has never rung so true or been so quoted. See the Google News search: "the revolution will not be televised" + "Iran" for lots of examples of the poem's longevity. Mainstream media can't keep up, Twitter and Facebook become the live communication tools of the New Millennium.

Google Classic

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:13:49 PDT

Via The WalkingDude

Can Zemanta make my blog posts more interesting? (It won't take much)

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 08:35:54 PDT

My friend Lori Reed recently bookmarked Zemanta, an add-on which help provide links, related stories and images to blogposts and emails. Still working out the formatting issues, but it's perfect for a blogging slacker like me.

I've registered my preferences, and so far I like i.I'm noticing that each time I edit this post and add more content I'm offered more related articles, links and images to add. Might be interesting to see what it does in the long run after it reads my OPML and Twitter friends...we'll see.

The Future of Google is a robot living in your house

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:37:49 PDT

I imagine this is what it'll be like when robotics advance to this point, but there's no second episode to ROOMMATES - Episode 1 from The Defenders of Stan. They killed him.

Attending #Pres4lib?

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:35:55 PDT

Really looking forward to Pres4lib, an unconference for library speakers in trainers, which will be held in Princeton, NJ, tommorow. Through the awesomeness of technology I'll be attending virtually at uStream, Twitter and Facebook. I do have a class at livestream.com/hmcpl in the afternoon, but otherwise I'll be plugged in for the Lightening Talks and the Battledecks.

Thanks to Janie Hermann, John LeMasney, Peter Bromberg, Amy Kearns for bringing this outstanding learning opportunity to those of us who aren't able to attend in person!

Heave, ho! And up she rises!

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:16:35 PDT

Check out this hilarious instructional music video by Joan Giannone of The Mentor Group on roving librarian skills.

Love it!

Pick One [furlough edition]

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:42:33 PDT

Coincidentally, I never thought I'd look forward to a week without pay, but we're off to the beach! For the most part I'll be unplugged, uncorked and unclothed for the next week or so.

Excellent.

9 Videos on Google Search by their Engineers

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:37:15 PDT

From the Official Google Blog: Search Engineer Stories:

My fellow engineers and I wanted to give a peek into some of the challenges we face and how we're trying to make search even better. We created a series of short videos so you could hear straight from the engineers. Here's mine, where I talk about a change to spell suggestions. -Patrick Riley, Google Software Engineer

Personalized Suggestions

Longer Snippets

Shared OPML Comes to Google Reader (Featuring The Usual Suspects)

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:35:55 PDT

We lost Dave Winer's share.opml.org, in January 2008, but with this week's roll out of Bundles, Google Reader users can finally share groups of favorite feeds in an OPML file again.

Importing an OPML gives a user individual control over each source, not a group feed like Shared Tags.

I've been sharing tags on my links page, but to test the new feature I've created a Bundle from some of the feeds in my Library Trainer tag, I call it "The Usual Suspects." These feeds are from the good folks who participate in Maurice Coleman's T is for Training podcast and learning community. Unfortunately there are a couple of people I couldn't include because their links either didn't include a feed or were library sites, but included in the The Usual Suspects Bundle are:
Here is the RSS, here is its' OPML but go here for a pretty page to see all the options. Check with your feed reader for instructions on importing. If you use Google Reader, go share an OPML file now. :)

Inaugural livestream.com/hmcpl event: Google 4.0

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:35:55 PDT

Today I successfully streamed and archived a class at livestream.com/hmcpl! Focusing on the latest developments in Google Search, I call it Google 4.0. The video archive may be found here and the accompanying HTML used during the screencast may be found here.

I'm not able to embed this clip for some reason, but that's just one of the bugs I need to work out, I've been in testing mode for about a week to figure out Procaster and the Livestream platforms. I've still got a lot to learn but I'm pretty excited to be able to offer sessions both live (with chat!) and in an archive form. It's a free account (otherwise $350 per month) so I'm downloading everything I can!

three howto videos by slide:ology

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Wed, 20 May 2009 03:42:53 PDT

The folks at Duarte, answer some of the most commonly asked questions on storytelling, design, and presentation technologies based on slide:ology:

Storytelling

Slideshare.net

Color and Contrast

25 Tools for Learning Professionals

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:59:19 PDT

25 Tools: A Toolbox for Learning Professionals 2009

View more presentations from Jane Hart.

Jane Hart presents the top 25 tools used by learning professionals for 2009.

I AM A GEEK!

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:26:24 PDT

The Society for Geek Advancement was founded upon the principles that we should all embrace our inner and outer geek and have fun while doing it. As individuals who love learning, innovating and believe in possibility as well as change, the second step of responsibility is to “be the geek that keeps on giving”

The campaign partners with RoomToRead.org, which builds schools and libraries for children in developing countries around the world. Awesome.

Via PR 2.0

The TED Commandments

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:32:53 PDT

Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
Thou Shalt Tell a Story
Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Skae of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee

I just love these guidelines the speakers at TED conferences are sent prior to their talks, they're entirely relevant to almost any speech or presentation one might give!

Image by Rives, transcribed by Tim Longhurst. Via Garr Reynolds.

No Horn Blowing Except for Anger and Libraries

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 09 May 2009 06:00:20 PDT

AND LIBRARIES

Submissions Requested: Successful Library Grants Story and Video Contests
See Your Grant Success Story in a Neal-Schuman Book by Stephanie Gerding and Pam MacKellar. 16 library grant success stories were highlighted in our last Neal-Schuman book, Grants for Libraries: A How-To-Do-It Manual. Now is your chance to be included in our next book! Readers would love to learn about a successful grant your library has received.

Tell us of your accomplishments, both planned and unexpected. Please complete a brief online template by May 31, 2009 at http://home.comcast.net/~winninggrants..

We also have a VIDEO CONTEST! Just submit a 5 minute video about your library grant success story by June 30, 2009 for your chance to be spotlighted in our new book and DVD. Your video could include a tour of a grant project, interviews with grant team members or people who benefited from the grant, tips about grant writing or any part of the grant process. Please limit to 5 minutes or less, and be engaging! More details are available online and you can submit at YouTube in the Library Grants Group.

Thank you!

Stephanie Gerding & Pam MacKellar

ACT NOW: Florida Legislators Plan to Eliminate State Aid to Public Libraries

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 02 May 2009 04:26:16 PDT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (MAY 1, 2009) – On April 30, an appropriations conference committee for the House and Senate agreed to eliminate all funding for Florida’s State Aid to Public Libraries program. This devastating action will result in some Florida library branches closing and will seriously cripple libraries’ ability to serve Floridians. It will be especially damaging to libraries in Florida’s rural communities, as these libraries rely heavily on provisions in the program that help communities with lower tax bases.Florida’s public libraries are asking you to contact Governor Charlie Crist by Sunday, May 3rd, asking him to intervene, to try to persuade legislative leaders to find a way to fund the program at the $21.2 million level. With the budget process on track to end Sunday, the Florida library community has about 48 hours to get legislators to change their minds.

If you know anyone in Florida, please make sure they get this message. If you do live in Florida contact Governor Crist today at (850) 488-7146 or Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com. More legislator contact information may be found here.

Related post: Underfunded Libraries Map