The Redneck Librarian

Zotero 3.0 Is Here!

2012-01-31T10:22:00.000-05:00

Zotero 3.0 has officially arrived. Zotero 3.0 marks a major departure from previous versions, most notably with the new ability run outside the Firefox browser. Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, this standalone version of Zotero contains all the great functionality of the old Firefox-based Zotero but now enables users to integrate Zotero into browsers other than Firefox like Google Chrome and Apple Safari. To all you Firefox lovers out there, no need to worry! Zotero continues to work within Firefox, and even if you choose to run the standalone version, it will talk to Firefox, too.

Steps and Strategy: It’s About a Niche and Productivity (from Small Business Trends)

2012-01-30T08:54:00.001-05:00

Small business owners often shoot from the hip, do what others will not do and sometimes attempt to accomplish monumental tasks in small amounts of time with limited resources. I respect the ambition. We have things like the telephone, the car, the ipod because of this frontiersman like ambition. But there is a process to everything.

8 Reasons Why Students Should Blog : @ProBlogger

2012-01-25T12:54:00.000-05:00

8 Reasons Why Students Should Blog : @ProBlogger

Students should be worried about their job prospects. Competition is rife and the top advertised jobs receive hundreds of applications. Work experiences are not just being challenged by a surge of candidates, but even degrees are being questioned. Do only post-graduate degrees now hold credibility?

tags: students blog tips

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Library Marketing Video from BYU

2010-07-22T11:14:00.010-04:00

Library as place evolves.

Barefoot Sunday Local church collects shoes in Soles4Souls program.

2010-06-07T11:16:00.000-04:00

Live Gulf Oil Spill Tracker

2010-05-27T10:17:00.002-04:00

People never learn. I was in Santa Barbara a year after the spill there and it was still bad -- and it was after the clean up. This is much worse.

Transforming Librarians' Roles

2010-01-07T09:52:00.008-05:00

An excellent article from David Stuart at Research Information advocating programing skills for the virtual library. His view htat "the traditional vision of the library as a provider of physical documents has been superseded by the library as a provider of access to information – virtual and physical" is right on the money. Among the skills he advocates are the use of APIs and mashups.

Want to give something really weird for the holidays?

2009-12-18T09:11:00.005-05:00

AbeBooks' Weird Book Room is a great source of everything that's bizarre, odd and downright weird in books. They have over 100 titles about every oddball aspect of life you could possibly imagine and a few things you couldn't possibly imagine. Among the Titles are The Who's Who of British Beheadings, 50 Ways to Use Feminine Hygiene Products in a Manly Manner and The Beverly Hillbillies Bible Study. Enjoy!

10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010

2009-12-11T11:44:00.004-05:00

Here's a great article from ReadWriteWeb by Ravit Lichtenberg on the evolution of social media:

Today, it is impossible to separate social media from the online world. Facebook reached 350 million users last month -- 70% of whom are outside the US -- and it accounts for 25% of the Web's traffic, nearly one in five people on the web use Twitter, and 94% of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools. The social media conversation is no longer considered a Web 2.0 fad -- it is taking place in homes, small businesses and corporate boardrooms, and extending its reach into the nonprofit, education and health sectors. From feeling excitement, novelty, bewilderment, and overwhelmed, a growing number of people now speak of social media as simply another channel or tactic. Here's some highlights:

Social Media Innovation Will No Longer Be Limited By Technology
Mobile Will Take Center Stage
Many "Old" Skills Will Be Needed Again
Women Will Rule Social Media
ROI Will Be Measured -- and It Will Matter

Don't Feed the Cockroachs -- Cool Video!

2009-12-04T15:45:00.004-05:00

The University Libraries Preservation Committee is proud to present the recently completed "don't feed the cockroaches" video

A Permaculture Will Emerge

2009-11-04T11:50:00.009-05:00

From the Oxford English Dictionary:
permaculture, n.
orig. Austral.

The development or maintenance of an artificial ecosystem intended to be self-sustaining and to satisfy the living requirements of its inhabitants, esp. by the use of renewable resources.

My wife Marion and I have been looking for a way to expand our vegetable garden and few fruit trees into something that we can use year round and make it as self sustaining as possible. After attending a Brown-bag lunch on "Slow Food: An Idea, A Movement, A Way of Life?," presented by Charlie Headington, who teaches earth matters at UNCG, I did some research and we will be attempting to convert our backyard into a permaculture site using the guidelines provided by Headington and others.

The reason we cannot do this on the entire lot (aprox. 1/2 acre) is that we live in a development that has a homeowner association and the covenant forbids any changes that detracts from the overall continuity (read it as everything must look the same) of the neighborhood.

I will be posting our progress as we convert to a permaculture. The first step will be a major one. Our backyard is on the north side of the has a pronounced slope in two directions. The east-west slope is approximately 10 degrees and the north edge as and increasing slope as it enters a wooded area and drops down to a small stream bed. We will have to do some terracing in the yard to create growing space, as well as clearing out the underbrush in the woods to make it more usable.
________________

Here is Charlie Headington's reading suggestions for Permaculture:

Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison
Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemingway
Weedless Gardening by Lee Reich
Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza
The Basics of Permaculture Design by Ross Mars
How to Make a Forest Garden by Patrick Whitefield
Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture by Rosemary Morrow
Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren

________________

This is a list of useful websites I have found so far:

Earth Matters ~ Resources for Sustainable Living
Charlie Headington, Ph.D.
Permaculture Principles
This site explores the 'essence of permaculture' in a simple and clear way, expanding on the work of co-originator of the permaculture concept, David Holmgren.
Gardening for Keeps
Mother Earth New
Introduction to Permaculture: Concepts and Resources
By Steve Diver, NCAT Agriculture Specialist

2009-11-04T11:29:00.007-05:00

I recently started using Cooliris on my desktop. I have found it to a fun and useful tool for images and videos on the Internet. It works inside Facebook, Flickr, Picassa, and many other sites. It's easy to use and has a great 3D look. You can use it to search Google, go shopping, see images from you computer, surf channels, and even create your own personal wall.

Gardening for the Table

2009-04-07T15:33:00.004-04:00

Now that spring is finally here, even though the weather report is calling for frost tonight, it's time to plant your veges. Many gardeners (including me) more often than not by plants from local stores. While this is easier it does cost more money. You also have to start earlier for some veges and for some seeds, you need a place to start indoors and and some way for them to acclimate to the outdoors. This year I'm trying some things from seeds in addition to plants. I have started seeds for the flower garden in a seed starter kit from Walmart. I know, they're not food, but bear with me a moment. I have included in the kit some marigolds. Why, because when planted in the vegetable garden, they keep the bugs away form the other veges, especially tomatoes.

Now there is a site called The Dinner Garden that "provides seeds, gardening supplies, and gardening advice free of charge to all people in the United States of America. We assist those in need in establishing food security for their families. Our goal is for people to plant home, neighborhood, and container gardens so they can use the vegetables they grow for food and income."

Think of it as the 21st century version of the WWII victory garden. Even though the site is only a few months old, it is becoming popular and has received seed donations from seven states.

Verizon: Fast, wireless Internet coming to rural America

2009-04-03T15:47:00.007-04:00

Finally! I will be able to dump the Internet cable and the land line. See the full story from the Christian Science Monitor.

Just for fun.....

2009-03-30T12:22:00.004-04:00

Here's a fascinating seven minute film of the streets of Barcelona in 1908, taken with a camera mounted on the front of a streetcar. The film was done by Antoni Gaudi.

How Much is a Trillion Dollars?

2009-03-20T15:03:00.005-04:00

This from the Digital Inspiration Blog:

Courtesy the credit crisis and big bailout packages, the figure “trillion” has suddenly become part of our everyday conversations. One trillion dollars, or 1 followed by 12 zeros, is lots of money but have you ever tried visualizing how big that number actually is?

For people who can visualize one million dollars, the comparison made on CNN should give you an idea about a trillion - “if you start spending a million dollars every single day since Jesus was born, you still wouldn’t have spend a trillion dollars”.

Another mathematician puts it like this: “1 million seconds is about 11.5 days, 1 billion seconds is about 32 years while a trillion seconds is equal to 32,000 years“.

Now if the above comparisons weren’t really helpful, check another illustration that compares the built of an average human being against a stack of $100 currency notes bundles.

A bundle of $100 notes is equivalent to $10,000 and that can easily fit in your pocket. 1 million dollars will probably fit inside a standard shopping bag while a billion dollars would occupy a small room of your house.

With this background in mind, 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) is 1000 times bigger than 1 billion and would therefore take up an entire football field - the man is still standing in the bottom-left corner.

Blogging with Zemanta

2009-02-18T14:06:00.004-05:00

Image via CrunchBase

I have recently added the Zemanta extension to Firefox. If it works as well as they say, it will make posting much easier. I did find it was easy to add an image and related articles in this post. I'll check on how it works with the ScribeFire extension, then try to "reblog" something. We'll see how easy it is for some of us novice bloggers......

The Moment

2009-01-22T12:37:00.008-05:00

While I was watching CNN Monday night while getting to record Barak Obama's inauguration, I heard one of the anchors request that people at the ceremony to take cellphone photos and email them to the network. They received over 11,000 and created a 360 degree montage of the swearing in ceremony in Photosynth. This is a really terrific image, take a look at CNN Politics.com

ALA Report to Obama-Biden Transition Team

2008-12-23T14:03:00.001-05:00

On December 17th The American Library Association submitted to the Obama-Biden Transition team, a report on the key issues and concerns the library
community. The report, titled Opening the “Window to a Larger World,” Libraries’ Role in Changing America, asked for consideration of these issues:

Broadband build-out and communication policy
"...include librarians as needed partners at the local, state and federal levels for both interim and long-range planning..."
School libraries
"...provide equal learning opportunities to all students..."
Funding for library programs
"reauthorization of the Library Services and Technology Act...full funding for national and federal libraries..."
Access and transparency in government
"Recognize and fund libraries as critical access points for e-governmental services...require all federal agencies to implement open access policies..."
Access and civil liberties
"...return to the rule of law and balance civil liberties with the fight against terrorism..."
Literacy and lifelong learning
"...create a Presidential Early Learning Council..."
Copyright
"...balance the rights of the public and the rights of copyright holders...expand access to materials for the visually impaired..."

The full text of the report can be viewed here.

NC State Library Online Workshop Schedule

2008-12-19T09:05:00.009-05:00

Library as Place
Thursday January 22, 2009; 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Take a look at how users view and use the physical library and discuss
potential ways to creatively address users needs in the areas of
education, entertainment and research. This session will explore
innovative methods public and academic libraries are using to reach out
to their users and bring them inside the library. Topics covered
include the value of physical libraries, virtual life, current and
upcoming trends, meeting patron needs, reinventing libraries, and
trends in library design.

NC LIVE Consumer Health Resources Module
Tuesday January 27, 20091(10:00 AM - 11:30 AM)
Wednesday January 28, 2009 (2:00 PM - 3:30 PM)

This workshop is designed to help participants identify the most
appropriate NC LIVE database for responding to consumer health
requests. Through lecture, demonstration, and hands-on searching
exercises, participants will learn about the strengths, limitations,
and unique features of the core NC LIVE medical and health-related
databases. In addition, selected websites listed under NC LIVE's
Consumer Health Resources will be covered. Instructor will also discuss
important issues in providing health information, the role of library
staff answering questions, privacy and confidentiality considerations,
and problems with medical terminology.

Four Classes in the Advocacy Track:

Advocacy: What is it?
Thursday January 29, 2009 (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)
What exactly is advocacy? How do we become advocates? This session
introduces the concepts and practice of advocacy and lays the
foundation for the next three classes in the Advocacy track.

Advocacy: Community
Thursday February 5, 2009 (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)
Work with your community to start building an advocacy network. This
session offers ideas for informing others about library programs,
upcoming events and required resources, and will help you find the
support available in your community.

Advocacy: Public Officials
Thursday February 12, 2009 (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)
Learn how to attract your public officials' attention. This session
discusses how to pinpoint your officials' priorities, shape the message
you want to communicate, and draw decision makers into your library to
raise the visibility of your resources.

Advocacy: The Media
Thursday February 19, 2009 (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)
Certain skills and tools are required to successfully use the media to
promote your library and shape public opinion. This session teaches
what media attention can and cannot do for your library.

NC LIVE Mental Health Resources Module
Tuesday February 24, 2009 (10:00 AM - 11:30)
Wednesday February 25, 2009 (2:00 PM - 3:30 PM)

Through lecture, demonstration, and hands-on searching exercises,
participants will explore PsycINFO via EBSCOhost and other mental
health-related resources in NC LIVE. The instructor will also discuss
important issues in providing mental health information, the role of
library staff answering questions, and privacy and confidentiality
considerations.

NC LIVE Nursing Resources Module
Tuesday March 3, 2009 (10:00 AM - 11:30 AM)
Wednesday March 4, 2009 (2:00 PM - 3:30 PM)

Learn the basics of providing nursing resources at the reference desk
in this interactive workshop. Databases that will be covered include
CINAHL and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition via EBSCOhost, and
more. The class includes time for hands-on learning at your desktop.

Demonstrating Value Evaluating Library Services
Tuesday March 10, 2009 (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)

Funding agencies want to know how libraries demonstrate community
value, benefits, quality and uses of their resources and services. This
class provides guidance on:
What evaluation approaches are available and might best meet library data needs
How to develop an overall evaluation plan that makes effective and efficient use of limited library resources
How to implement the evaluation plan
Evaluation of data analysis strategies
Understanding and communicating the results of evaluation efforts.

Promoting Library Services using Blogs and RSS
Wednesday March 25, 2009 (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)

Attend this class and find out how libraries are using blogs to keep
patrons up to date on library events, staff picks, and news. You will
be introduced to a fun and easy way to create a blog for your library
using one of several free services. You will also learn to jazz up your
new blog with HTML, and explore other technologies such as
news/information syndicators (RSS), wikis, and podcasting. At the end
of this course, you will be able to:
Define terms relating to blogging and RSS
Evaluate blogs based on features, design elements and content
Build a blog from the ground up
Edit your blog using basic HTML
Create and use an aggregated news feed (RSS)

NC LIVE Drug Resources Module
Tuesday February 10, 2009 (10:00 AM - 11:30 AM)
Wednesday February 11, 2009 (2:00 PM - 3:30 PM)

Participants will learn the basics of providing drug information at the
reference desk. Topics include guidelines for drug reference, consumer
health information from MedlinePlus, and specialist and consumer drug
information. The class is interactive, with time for hands-on learning
at your desktop.

For more information and registration go to:
http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/ce/conted.htm

Libraries offer Free Relief from Hard Times

2008-12-17T16:53:00.005-05:00

Here's a video of NBC's Chris Jansen reports on the revival of libraries as money gets tight. It's a really good plug for the library biz!

Librarians are now listed as one of the "Best Careers"

2008-12-15T16:51:00.003-05:00

Forget about that image of librarians as a mousy bookworms. More and more of today's librarians must be clever interrogators, helping the patron to reframe their question more usefully. Librarians then become high-tech information sleuths, helping patrons plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records, often starting with a clever Google search but frequently going well beyond. -- US News and World Reports

New Guidelines for Web Accessibility

2008-12-11T15:11:00.001-05:00

The Wired Campus has posted an article on the World Wide Wed Consortium's new guidelines for web accessibility. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 are design to help in the design of websites that can be read and understood by people with disabilities.

Want to make money & go green? Rent your roof!

2008-12-11T13:59:00.003-05:00

Duke Energy plans to spend $50 million on a project that would rent roof or land space from 425 sites in North Carolina and install solar panels on them. The project will provide power for around 1,300 homes. The company will handle all installation and maintenance. The project is close to being approved and be producing solar power by 2010. My question is, will it lighten the load on my wallet? Take a look at the Fox News video from last month.

NC State Library Opens Career Enrichment Program for Spring 09

2008-12-10T14:58:00.002-05:00

The State Library is pleased to announce that applications for the spring cycle of the 2008-09 Career Enrichment Program are now being accepted. The Career Enrichment Program enables library staff from North Carolina public, school, academic and special libraries to attend selected professional conferences. Supporting the continuing education and career enrichment of library staff leads directly to improved services to the people of North Carolina. This program is now in its fifth year of funding conference attendance and is made available through funds appropriated from the General Assembly through the Department of Cultural Resources to the State Library of North Carolina.

Spring 2009 conferences include:

· Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), Seattle, WA, March 12-15, 2009

· Computers in Libraries (CIL), Arlington, VA, March 30-April 1, 2009

· PLA Spring Symposium (PLA), Nashville, TN, April 2-4, 2009

· LITA Camp (LITA), Dublin, OH, May 7-8, 2009

· Virginia Library Association Paraprofessional Conference (VLA), Richmond, VA, May 17-19, 2009

Applicants may also request funding for a professional conference not listed above (see the Information & Guidelines webpage for further details).

Funding requests will cover three major expenses: conference registration, overnight lodging, and transportation, with a maximum award of $750. First-time attendees will receive priority for funding.

Additional information and the online application form are available at

http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/ce/ceprogram08.htm.

Spring 2009 Timeline: The application deadline is January 5, 2009. All applicants will be notified whether or not they received an award by January 9, 2009.

Questions? Please contact Jeffrey Hamilton at 919-807-7417 or jeffrey.hamilton@ncdcr.gov