mlx-o-matic

MLx: about to teach a public class in the @HMCPL Training Center. Basic HTML. This should be fun!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:22:02 -0800

about to teach a public class in the @HMCPL Training Center. Basic HTML. This should be fun!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:22:02 -0800

MLx

about to teach a public class in the @HMCPL Training Center. Basic HTML. This should be fun!

1 hour ago from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: It's Friday the 13th. My superstitious grandmother wouldn't have even gotten out of bed.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:52:03 -0800

It's Friday the 13th. My superstitious grandmother wouldn't have even gotten out of bed.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:52:03 -0800

MLx

It's Friday the 13th. My superstitious grandmother wouldn't have even gotten out of bed.

4 hours ago from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: “Are You Crazy?” aka “A Library’s Journey into the Teen All Night Lock-In” http://ff.im/-boYmy

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:44:56 -0800

“Are You Crazy?” aka “A Library’s Journey into the Teen All Night Lock-In”

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:44:52 -0800

MLx

“Are You Crazy?” aka “A Library’s Journey into the Teen All Night Lock-In” - http://librarygarden.net/2009...

5 hours ago from Google Reader - Comment - Like

MLx: 'Speaking in Lolcats: What Literacy Means in teh Digital Era' (don't miss!) http://www.downes.ca/presentation/232 by @Downes

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:37:12 -0800

'Speaking in Lolcats: What Literacy Means in teh Digital Era' (don't miss!) http://www.downes.ca/presentation/232 by @Downes

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:37:12 -0800

MLx

'Speaking in Lolcats: What Literacy Means in teh Digital Era' (don't miss!) http://www.downes.ca/present... by @Downes

15 hours ago from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: saw the @DixieDerby Girls at @HMCPL today. AWESOME.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:03:45 -0800

saw the @DixieDerby Girls at @HMCPL today. AWESOME.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:03:45 -0800

MLx

saw the @DixieDerby Girls at @HMCPL today. AWESOME.

15 hours ago from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: Flashforward and Grey's tonight. Squee!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:40:46 -0800

Flashforward and Grey's tonight. Squee!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:40:46 -0800

MLx

Flashforward and Grey's tonight. Squee!

16 hours ago from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: RT @rmbyrne Libraries and Online Video - Free Online Seminar with TechSoup & Common Craft http://ff.im/-bnD8W Yay!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:37:31 -0800

MLx: @joshuamneff mmm @esseffen has a good eye.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:58:55 -0800

@joshuamneff mmm @esseffen has a good eye.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:58:55 -0800

MLx

@joshuamneff mmm @esseffen has a good eye.

yesterday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: @annavan just shake it again! ( the 8-ball, not the baby)

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:56:10 -0800

@annavan just shake it again! ( the 8-ball, not the baby)

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:56:10 -0800

MLx

@annavan just shake it again! ( the 8-ball, not the baby)

yesterday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: @joshuamneff link, please!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:47:59 -0800

@joshuamneff link, please!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:47:59 -0800

MLx

@joshuamneff link, please!

yesterday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: RT @MancLibraries: Bookmarked: Online tools - Listerine - manage your twitter lists: http://bit.ly/1ymxMa

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:47:20 -0800

RT @MancLibraries: Bookmarked: Online tools - Listerine - manage your twitter lists: http://bit.ly/1ymxMa

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:47:20 -0800

MLx

RT @MancLibraries: Bookmarked: Online tools - Listerine - manage your twitter lists: http://listerine.syndeolabs.com/

yesterday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: @annavan good luck with that!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:46:14 -0800

@annavan good luck with that!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:46:14 -0800

MLx

@annavan good luck with that!

yesterday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: @Mozeeski I do love this show!

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:46:47 -0800

@Mozeeski I do love this show!

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:46:47 -0800

MLx

@Mozeeski I do love this show!

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: @beepboop ah well, you wouldn't be the first to quickly unfollow me. :p

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:45:29 -0800

@beepboop ah well, you wouldn't be the first to quickly unfollow me. :p

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:45:29 -0800

MLx

@beepboop ah well, you wouldn't be the first to quickly unfollow me. :p

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: Glee!

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:07:27 -0800

Glee!

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:07:27 -0800

MLx

Glee!

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: Google's movie showtimes, digitally remastered http://ff.im/-bktxe

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:36:03 -0800

Google's movie showtimes, digitally remastered

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:35:59 -0800

MLx

Google's movie showtimes, digitally remastered - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009...

Wednesday from Google Reader - Comment - Like

MLx: Turning (appropriately) to Mercy instead of the CMAs.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:16:18 -0800

Turning (appropriately) to Mercy instead of the CMAs.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:16:18 -0800

MLx

Turning (appropriately) to Mercy instead of the CMAs.

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: Taylor Swift on CMAs was like a bad 8th grade skit.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:06:24 -0800

Taylor Swift on CMAs was like a bad 8th grade skit.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:06:24 -0800

MLx

Taylor Swift on CMAs was like a bad 8th grade skit.

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

Google's movie showtimes, digitally remastered (The Official Google Blog)

A Googler — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:45:00 -0800

Did you know you can immediately discover movie times and locations by typing a simple search on Google? For example, search for [where the wild things are] and you'll see times and places to watch the film, or try [glendale 18 los angeles] to see movies playing at your local theater. You can also click on the showtimes search result to get more complete movie listings and information.

Today, we're making a few improvements to movie results on Google, including more detailed movie pages, genre filters and a new map view.

Click "showtimes" in your search results for more detailed information.

When you visit google.com/movies, you'll discover a new, more comprehensive resource with all the information you need to decide what movie to see and where to see it:

Comprehensive movie pages: Deciding what movie to see can take a few searches: What's it about? How are the reviews? Where is it playing near me? Our new detailed layout brings together all the basic information you need with a plot synopsis, trailer, reviews and photos in the same page.
Genre filters: The new movie pages also give you new ways to explore films by genre and find one you're in the mood for. Sometimes, you might feel like seeing a sci-fi flick or a romance, but you're not sure what's out in theaters. With genre filters you can start browsing right away and quickly find the right movie for you.
Map view: After you've chosen a movie, the new map view shows you nearby theaters playing that exact film. You no longer need to do a separate search to find out where you're going.

We hope these improvements will help you spend more time at the movies and less time researching. Visit google.com/movies or click through a "showtimes" result to try them out, and treat yourself to a movie!

Posted by Dan Stokeley, Associate Product Manager

MLx: @conniecrosby that must be it, then.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:34:32 -0800

@conniecrosby that must be it, then.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:34:32 -0800

MLx

@conniecrosby that must be it, then.

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

MLx: @conniecrosby I think our version is Memorial Day?

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:33:24 -0800

@conniecrosby I think our version is Memorial Day?

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:33:24 -0800

MLx

@conniecrosby I think our version is Memorial Day?

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

@jobeaz I got my son a Blackberry...now he understands. #oneofus #oneofus

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:15:52 -0800

MLx

@jobeaz I got my son a Blackberry...now he understands. #oneofus #oneofus

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

@HolmquistAtWork yep, on par with http://bit.ly/46nSOO

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:10:20 -0800

MLx

@HolmquistAtWork yep, on par with http://www.youtube.com/watch...

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

@WeKnowBooksETC he graduated from Ramsey High and always loved Birmingham. Thanks.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:42:54 -0800

MLx

@WeKnowBooksETC he graduated from Ramsey High and always loved Birmingham. Thanks.

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

http://twitpic.com/p4hkm - Don Waitzman, USAF Bombadier, outside his barracks in Italy just before the end of WWII. Thanks, Dad.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:23:53 -0800

MLx

http://twitpic.com/p4hkm - Don Waitzman, USAF Bombadier, outside his barracks in Italy just before the end of WWII. Thanks, Dad.

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

Laura B., Steven Perez, RAPatton and 5 other people liked this

He often told stories of the war, sometimes with tears for the buddies that didn't come back with him. Also, smiles for the Italian women he left behind! - MLx

My grandfather served in WWI, my Dad in WWII. My son is ROTC, will be proud if he serves in WWIII. Thanks to all who serve.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:02:52 -0800

MLx

My grandfather served in WWI, my Dad in WWII. My son is ROTC, will be proud if he serves in WWIII. Thanks to all who serve.

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

Charlotte M and Akiva Moskovitz liked this

Technology Concepts Made Simple – a webinar

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:47:40 -0800

MLx

Technology Concepts Made Simple – a webinar - http://libswithclass.wordpress.com/2009...

Wednesday from Google Reader - Comment - Like

@ERMSquirrel Some say I'm grouchy when I wake up, now there is proof. lol.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:37:49 -0800

MLx

@ERMSquirrel Some say I'm grouchy when I wake up, now there is proof. lol.

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

Technology Concepts Made Simple – a webinar (Librarians with Class)

bckhough — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:01:35 -0800

I love the Common Craft videos. They so “get it”… the way people learn, the things people need to know to get started, etc. I aspire to be like them in the training I put together, too.

TechSoup for Libraries is hosting a webinar next week, during which Stephanie Gerding will be interviewing Lee LeFever from Common Craft. I think it’s one I don’t want to miss.

Now I'm seeing the Twitter home page offering new tweets in real-time. #awesome

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:31:38 -0800

MLx

Now I'm seeing the Twitter home page offering new tweets in real-time. #awesome

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

I just noticed the Twitter web client notified me of new replies as I'm typing in the update field. Cool.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:21:02 -0800

MLx

I just noticed the Twitter web client notified me of new replies as I'm typing in the update field. Cool.

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

@mlibrarianus I checked Twitter from the mobile in bed as Mr. MLx brought me coffee. He's gone to work, kids still sleeping. Life is good.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:06:39 -0800

MLx

@mlibrarianus I checked Twitter from the mobile in bed as Mr. MLx brought me coffee. He's gone to work, kids still sleeping. Life is good.

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

@ms_tinamarie until we get that time travel app, that is. ;)

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:02:42 -0800

MLx

@ms_tinamarie until we get that time travel app, that is. ;)

Wednesday from Twitter - Comment - Like

The winner of the Google Suggest contest. (Slate Magazine)

Michael Agger — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:44:47 -0800

How to craft a memorable key message in 10 minutes (Speaking about Presenting)

Olivia Mitchell — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:48:53 -0800

A key message is the number one thing you want your audience to remember or do as a result of your presentation. Some experts call it “the big idea”, the core of your presentation or the proposition.

Start planning your presentation by deciding on your key message. It will make the rest of your planning easy and straightforward. Steve Bent, one of my readers, said in a comment on a previous post:

“…[T]hat’s when I had the Eureka moment of the key message for that particular presentation. Then all previous thoughts, notes and parts of the presentation were easy to classify in terms of how relevant they were, and which step they fell into (if any).”

If you’re preparing a presentation on a topic you know well, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to decide on your key message quickly. I’ve trained hundreds of people and there’s not one that’s been unable to come up with a key message within 5-10 minutes!

But in Steve’s words you may have “message commitment issues”. You may be thinking that once you’ve got a key message, you can’t change it as you carry on with your planning. Rubbish! Think of it as an engagement, not a marriage. You can always change your message if you find that it’s not quite working for you.

Or maybe you’re expecting the perfect, clever and catchy key message to come to you fully-formed. If that does happen to you – you’re lucky. But more often a memorable key message is a result of crafting.

There are three steps to crafting your key message:

1. Answer this question

What do you want your audience to remember or do as a result of your presentation? Say your answer out loud. Don’t try and be clever or quirky or catchy – you’ll freeze up. Just say what first comes into your mind – now write that down. It may not be “the perfect” key message. It may need a bit of work. But it’s a start.

2. Craft it

Now that you’ve got your basic key message, craft it so that it becomes easy to say, easy to grasp and easy to remember. Here’s the checklist to go through to craft your key message:

1. Is it as short as possible, but no shorter?

The shorter your key message the easier it will be for you to say, and for your audience to grasp and remember. But there is such a thing as too short. Brevity should not come at the expense of meaning. The length of a Twitter message – 140 characters – is a good guide.

2. Does it convey a message?

The topic of your presentation is not your key message. Check that you’re not confusing the two by ensuring there’s a verb in your key message.

For example, your topic might be “Recording health and safety incidents”. Rewrite that into a key message by turning “recording” into a verb: “We must record every health and safety incident.”

A more subtle example of a topic masquerading as a key message is this “How you can make our workplace safer”. It’s got a verb, but it’s not telling your audience anything. Ask yourself – what’s the main thing I want to tell the audience about making the workplace safer? The answer is your key message, for example: “You can make the workplace safer by looking out for hazards.”

3. Is it in spoken language?

There’s difference between the language we use when we’re speaking compared to when we’re writing. Your key message should be in spoken language. Here’s an example of written language: “Educators should maximize the potential of technology in education”. In spoken language it would be:“Teachers can make better use of technology”.

4. Is it specific and concrete?

Your audience should be able to “see” your key message. If it’s full of jargon or abstract, conceptual words they won’t. For example this message “Implementing urban design principles will ensure that this roading project is sustainable” could be transformed to “Adding cycleways and walkways will reduce pollution.”

5. Is the relevance to your audience clear?

One effective way of ensuring this is to include the word “you” in the key message. For example “The forestry sector entered the Emissions Trading Scheme in the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.” will probably be gobbledegook for an audience of foresters. It could be transformed to: “You can now earn carbon credits from your forests.”

6. Does it say something your audience doesn’t know

Your audience is there for something new. Don’t give them clichés and platitudes. A course participant came up with this key message “People are our greatest asset”. Yawn! I asked her specifically what she meant. She came up with this key message “As we’ve grown, we’ve needed different types of people.” Much more interesting.

This doesn’t mean that you have to come up with something clever. There’s a risk that if you come up with something clever, your audience won’t get it. Or there’ll spend the next few seconds working out what you meant and so miss what you said next. In a spoken presentation, clarity trumps clever.

3. Test your key message

There are a number of tests to check that you’ve got a memorable key message.

First, can you remember it! You need to be able to say it without looking at your notes. Test yourself.

Then say it to a friend – see if they can say it back to you. You may find that they say it back to you in a way which is easier to grasp. In which case change it.

An hour later, ask your friend if they can still remember.

Then find another friend and see if they can still remember it a day later. If they can, well done – you’ve got yourself a memorable key message.

“Are You Crazy?” aka “A Library’s Journey into the Teen All Night Lock-In” (Library Garden)

justinthelibrarian — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:00:57 -0800

This week, we’re pleased to have a guest post from two wonderful librarians:

Justin Hoenke is the Teen Librarian for the Cape May County Library.
Melissa Brisbin is the Media Librarian for the Cape May County Library.

Thanks for sharing this with LG readers! -PB

Justin: I’ll start off by saying this. It’s been two weeks since our Teen Library Lock-In ended and I’m not sure if I’ve recovered yet. My brain is still a bit fuzzy and I still don’t think I’ve caught up on sleep. If I tend to ramble or get lost when I’m talking, we’ll just blame it on that. You got my back Melissa?

Melissa: I’ll watch your back if you watch mine. I’m still sort of in a sleep-induced coma.

The Initial Idea

Justin: My Teen Advisory Board kept on talking about how they wanted to spend the night in the library. I thought they were sort of crazy at first, but the longer I thought about it the more it seemed like a really great idea. And I had this feeling that the teens would freak out and love the program.

I did some research on how these types of events were structured. I must say that without the guidance of the teen librarians at both the Corvallis-Benton County Library and the Willingboro Public Library I wouldn’t have ever got our Library Lock-In off the ground. I borrowed bits and pieces from their lock-in programs and created an outline and a permission slip. With these two things in hand, I had something to give my directors.

Melissa: One of the biggest concerns we had when constructing the Cape May County Library Teen Lock-In was how to keep our participants entertained and out of trouble. We decided that the best way to go about this was to implement activities such as an Library Olympics and a scavenger hunt, combined with an ongoing marathon of Harry Potter movies, crafts, and computer access, as well as continuous usage of our video game systems, such as the Wii, Playstation 3, and Xbox.

Justin: The idea was to start the lock in right after our weekly game night ended. The games would already be set up and I thought gaming, especially Rock Band, would be a good community building game where the kids could get to know one another. After the scheduled events such as the library Olympics and the scavenger hunt, things got a bit looser. We had one room dedicated to a Harry Potter movie marathon, the video games still set up, one room for tabletop gaming, and crafts in the children’s room. We wanted to have some structure to the program but at the same time let teens be teens and have some random (and very supervised) fun.

Planning

Justin: Once I got the OK from my directors to have the lock-in, I knew that I had to assemble a REALLY good team of librarians and library associates to help run the event. I sort of felt like I was putting together “The A-Team” of Library Lock In staff members. I knew I had to have the right blend of people who the teens could identify with and not feel intimidated by. I ended up with 7 (counting myself) chaperones for the thirty teens that had signed up. That’s roughly 4 teens to every chaperone, which is something I thought was manageable.

Making it all work

Melissa: As an example of one of our planned activities, I will highlight the obstacle course, which like the scavenger hunt, was created to promote fun activities that would also reflect library usage. For instance in the obstacle course, all participants were told to carry a book on their head, paperback of course, and then proceed to the next activity. Teens had to carry a book on their head, walk with the book while wearing box shoes, crab walk with a book on their stomach, jump down an aisle while still carrying the book and find works written by a variety of author(s), and finally dig though a box filled with scrap paper in order to locate a library card that had a Teen sticker on it. All participants worked in teams and were timed. For the winners, we planned an award ceremony that was similar to the Olympics, complete with medals for first, second, and third place.

The Focus

Justin: Call me a hippy, but I’m all about good and positive vibrations. I always wanted to make sure that both the chaperones and the teens all respected each other and created a positive community.

Melissa: We also wanted to stress to teens the importance of good behavior, and how exceptional actions would be acknowledged and rewarded. We implemented a Good Behavior Chart. Teens were awarded stickers that they could post next to their name in order to win an array of prizes at the end of the night. I have to admit at first we were not sure if this idea would work, or if teens would see the idea as somewhat immature and childish. However, like teens have a tendency of doing, at least for me, they proved to be an exceptional group of young adults. They really went above and beyond to help out the librarians and each other. There was definitely on ongoing competition among the teens, but it was never malicious. They were all super positive and a lot of fun to hang out with.

The Actual Event

Justin: I got into work the day of the event at 4:30 and made sure all the loose ends were tied up by the time we started at 7pm. The first few hours were a bit hectic in getting all the teens together and in one place. Once that was done, we started off on the scheduled events. Some teens didn’t want to join in, so that was a bit difficult in explaining to them that they had to be there and once these things were done they’d have a bit more freedom.

Melissa: Once we were finished with the scheduled events, the Teens were allowed to be in either one of three rooms. They were great about telling us where they were going and we didn’t experience any problems with them disappearing. Most of teens just meandered between games, movies, crafts, and lots and lots of conversations.

Justin: We asked the teens at the beginning of the program to always tell at least one chaperone where they were going. We told them that this was one of the most important things they could do throughout the night. They were amazing

The Aftermath

Justin: The alternate title for this section is “This is what we’ll do differently the next time around.”

We had one incident at the lock in that sounded the alarms. During a game of hide and seek/manhunt, two teens collided with each other. One had glasses on, so the other teen got quite a big gash on their head. It was big enough that stitches were needed. We had to call their parents at 1am and let them know what happened. They came to the library and we had to go to the Emergency Room. I accompanied the teen and the parent there, and 20 minutes later, the teen was all stitched up and ready to go. The parent let the teen come back to the library. I feel like I lucked out on this one. Incident reports had to be filled out and the overall mood of the lock-in really changed after that.

Melissa: Yes, everyone really mellowed out, such as a lot less horsing around, and became more interested in hanging out, talking to one another, and playing video games.

What We Have Learned and What the Teens Taught Us

Melissa: The overall of theme of the entire Lock-In was camaraderie. It was evident from the beginning that there was a relatively wide range of ages and maturity levels, as well as groups and interests. However, throughout the night, it became extremely evident that all the teens were just interested in hanging out with each other in an array of activities. The entire Teen Lock-In produced a fantastic sense of community atmosphere. In all, this event was A LOT OF FUN WITH A GREAT FLOW AND POSITIVE INTERACTION. It was a fantastic opportunity to librarians to get to the teens and vice versa. We have received a great response from teens, parents, and administration. We will definitely plan more Teen Lock-Ins for the future, using the knowledge and lessons we have learned from our initial experiences with this program.

Justin: I thought 30 teens would be manageable, but now that I think about it the next time around I’d limit it to 20, possibly 25 teens and maybe have it twice a year. I also may reconsider having any kind of hide and seek activities since we had a bit of a snafu this last time. But it worked so well and the teens loved it! Agh!

P.S. For those wondering where the title comes from…The most common response to “We’re having an all night sleepover at the library with 30 teens ages 12-18 was “ARE YOU CRAZY?”

P.P.S For more photos of the lock in, click here for our Flickr gallery

CBS Picks Up 'Shit My Dad Says' Twitter Sitcom [Lucky Schmuck] (Gawker)

Azaria Jagger — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:20:15 -0800

Twitter To Rollout A New API For Location-Based Trends (TechCrunch)

MG Siegler — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:23:52 -0800

On the verge of rolling out its new geolocation feature, Twitter is thinking ahead. One potentially powerful use for it will be to showcase trending topics happening in specific places. The overall Trending Topic area has long been getting out of control with spam (which Twitter is now working to clean up), but location-specific trends could be very interesting. And Twitter clearly knows this as it has announced a new feature for third-party developers to use: Trends API.

In a post on its API announcement Google Group, Platform team member Raffi Krikorian writes that at least at first, this will only be open to specific locations in the world. For example, he cites San Francisco and London as two potential places that will be serviced by this. São Paulo is another mentioned in a tweet. Krikorian also notes that:

At a high level, there will be two new endpoints:

an endpoint to give a listing of all locations that trends are
available for, and

an endpoint to actually allow you to query by a specific location.

Twitter is using Yahoo’s Where on Earth IDs (WOEIDs) to tag the locations they have information for. Doing so gives them a way to use IDs rather than language-specific names for places. More on Yahoo’s GeoPlanet (which this is a part of) here.

It would also seem that at first these trends will only be available for real-time data. That is to say that there will not be daily and weekly data for location-based trends, Krikorian notes. (Twitter showcases these on its main page.) He goes on to say that may come in the future.

Find out more on Twitter’s API wiki here and here.

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How to Make Employees Social Media Ambassadors (Latest Activity on SocialCity - PostRank (PostRank: All))

(author unknown) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:08:00 -0800

As companies start to dip their toes into the social media waters, we have seen them implement a couple of different approaches. Some companies start with a small group of employees who are identified as brand ambassadors or official representatives of the company in social media networks. Other companies, such as Zappos and Best Buy, have given their entire employee base access to platforms for participating in social media, thereby making all the employees spokespeople of the company.

The Creative Underground has an excellent blog post on using your employees as brand ambassadors… and while it was written more from the perspective of empowering all your employees to be brand ambassadors, I think it rings true for either approach to social media.

That’s right. Instead of just one or two people being social media representatives of the company in the Twitterverse and elsewhere, what if all of them were? I know. Your first thought probably is: “Ha. Good one. We’d never get anything done.” Hear me out. There are rules to this concept working in practice, not just in theory.

1) Cover your you-know-what.
Namely, adopt a Social Media Policy. I’m talking about a formalized document that establishes some guidelines on ethics and privacy. While you may already have a corporate communications policy of this sort, it’s very smart to be clear that social media is part of that policy too. I could write a blog post on this very subject alone but Sharlyn Lauby, president of Internal Talent Management, already wrote an insightful post that covers it: http://mashable.com/2009/04/27/social-media-policy/

2) Train them.
This is a step that can separate the purely compliance-minded from the folks who see this as an opportunity to turn employees into communicators. This isn’t a stage made up purely of “Here’s what you can say, here’s what you can’t say” dialogue. While you may speak to that, training also describes being able to show employees how you’re opening up the doors to them as representatives of the company and letting their voices be heard in a very centralized area (more on this in the next step).

3) Give them a centralized area all their own.
Now that you’ve set some parameters – and your employees understand those parameters – put a dedicated page on your site that allows them to post, share links, communicate with themselves and the outside world, etc. Want an excellent example of how this is done effectively? Zappos has 198 employees Twittering from one area of their site, including the CEO, who has more followers on Twitter than anyone else in the company. That’s an important point in itself – it’s easier to reinforce a culture of openness and transparency if management is actively participating in the same social media tactics as its employees and not just monitoring their posts.

4) Sure, you need to monitor – but reward influencers too.
Let’s say you’ve got people Twittering aboard a main area of your site and while some of it isn’t offensive (you know what to do if it is), it may not be the most useful stuff in the world to know either. Yet maybe there are other employees tweeting about useful company products, taking a position on an industry development, sharing useful article links and more. As those people are doing that, they’re building influence for themselves and for the company by association. How do you know they’re influential? In the case of Twitter, take a look at a nifty tool called Twitalyzer and you’ll get a clear picture of how it encompasses the total package of an employee’s tweeting influence, including how many links they post, how many Retweets they make, how often they tweet and how many times that person has been referenced on Twitter.

I’m not a big fan of trying to force people to blog, post and chat about nothing but the company because that just isn’t natural. People need to be allowed to wander off the ranch and post some fun, non-offensive things that give the company personality. But do set up a reward system that shows you appreciate the quality of their communication. That doesn’t even have to be monetary but can be a seat at a newly formed and exclusive Social Media Committee, for example (one that encourages creative ways of communicating in the social media universe, not merely about compliance). Want to show you’re not all business? Reward the funniest Tweet of the Month too.

I didn’t say this is for everybody. Many companies are only comfortable with 1 or 2 individuals being their official representatives, which is fine. But if you want to open the door up much wider for turn more employees into company ambassadors of your brand in the social media universe, it can work. And when it does work, you don’t just have talk among your own walls but interaction that can be meaningful with the people who may buy your product or service. Those people can build upon a positive conversation that revolves around your brand.

Link to original post

School Librarians Lead the Social Networking Pack Among Educators (School Library Journal Breaking News)

(author unknown) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:05:00 -0800

6 Tips For Using Google Wave On Your First Project (WebWorkerDaily)

Will Kelly — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:00:31 -0800

As Google is issuing Wave invites in a steady trickle, those fortunate enough to have an account are trying to figure out how this new tool might fit into their workflow and help them better communicate and collaborate with their teams and clients.

While the small number of people who actually have an account right now is probably going to be the first hurdle for many teams who would like to try it out on a live project, I count myself among the lucky ones who got a Google Wave invite early and spread my nominations amongst some colleagues and clients.

One of my clients to whom I sent a nomination wanted to try it out on our current project, so I thought I would share some of the early lessons we learned and some tips from my initial dip into using Google Wave for a real client project.

Set suitable expectations. Despite the months of buzz, and blogosphere- and Twitterverse-wide clamoring for Google Wave invites, the product is still in preview and has some rough edges. Therefore, it does all parties good to be realistic, even if everybody is psyched to be the first kid on their block to use it on a live project. If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll also encounter bouts of slowness, messages to refresh Google Wave, and perhaps even the random browser crash. Your project team’s level of tolerance for such things might vary.
Do a dry run with a Wave. The Wave concept is definitely a new model for many. It took me an impromptu “dry run” with my client for us to truly grasp the Wave concept and see how it could shape our online collaboration. For example, I could see how Wave could be used to keep all project information and communications online and out of our already cluttered inboxes, and it was great to able to see my client paste text as well as type into a Wave in real-time.
Take control of your Waves. It’s easy to get a little excited and end up creating Waves for all sorts of things, but you need to take control of the conversation in Google Wave, instead of letting Google Wave take charge of your conversations. For my project, we decided on one Wave per project document, for the sake of organization.
Use folders and tags. While the Inbox Zero and GTD crowd have yet to full plant their stakes in Google Wave, I must say that the use of folders and tags is prudent, especially because while the Wave platform breaks so much new ground, but folders and tags are concepts are familiar to many. I ended up creating a project-specific folder for all the Waves associated with the client project. My use of tags also came further into play as a tool to fine-tune my own organization. A simple tip is to remember you can resize the navigation pane to accommodate your folder list as it grows. By default, your folder list may not fully appear in the navigation pane.
Consider whether to use live editing or attachments. Google Wave melds email and word processing together. Thus, it is important to decide whether you want to collaborate on documents directly in Google Wave or via file attachments. Unfortunately, at this time Google Wave lacks version control for file attachments (thus putting the feature at the top of my wish list for a Google Wave extension). My client and I decided to work with file attachments for the project documents and write directly in Google Wave for direct communications with each other.
Have a Plan B. It’s cool to get jazzed as an early adopter, but if Google Wave isn’t enhancing productivity and communications, be sure that you have a fall back plan in case it end up causing more problems than it is worth.

While my initial entry into Google Wave on a real client project was really just scratching the surface of this new collaboration platform, I do see a lot of potential. However, with its rough edges, it may not be the collaboration platform for everyone just yet. Personally, I am looking towards more Google Wave extensions and gadgets going live, because my initial experience tells me that they are going to be key providers of critical functionality and user experience.

If you’re looking for more info on Wave, check out the report “Google Wave Explained” over on our subscription research service, GigaOM Pro.

Have you tried using Google Wave on any of your current projects? Share your experience below.

Academic Library Manifesto (hangingtogether.org)

Ricky — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:46:46 -0800

“Support for the Research Process - An Academic Library Manifesto” [PDF] was just released by the RLG Partnership Research Information Management Roadmap Working Group. You don’t need to nail it to your library’s door, but you might want to think about how many of these things you currently do, how many you could do, and what you could stop doing (or streamline) so that you can better support your institution’s research mission.

Talking about expected library technology competencies (Neal-Schuman Library Technology Companion)

John — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:30:00 -0800

I had a nice opportunity recently to talk about my findings on expected technology competencies in libraries and how we can (corporately and individually) grow our skills.

I gave a Technology Spotlight presentation at the Academic Library Association of Ohio's Annual Conference in Wilmington, OH on October 30. You can see my presentation and handout here.

I then spoke at the Michigan Library Association's Annual Conference in Lansing, MI on November 4. The presentation and handouts are here. That was a great trip for me, in part because it gave me an opportunity to visit my old stomping grounds as an undergraduate at Michigan State University.

Both presentations were entitled "Are You Ready to Roll?: Expected Technology Competencies and the Library Worker." That is the key question for all of us with technology, I suppose: are we ready to roll? Are we ready to take on the challenges that come with working in libraries today? We all come into our jobs with skills and abilities and knowledge in various related and not-exactly-related areas. Can we find ways to keep track of new developments and to add to our skills as we go? I think we can, and that combining a personal assessment like the survey I did last year (and many other options out there) with some goals to grow our knowledge can get us on the right track. I hope these presentations may be of some help to you as you look at your technology skills and desires for professional growth.

I should also include in here a presentation I did back in August on similar ground for the Ohio Library Support Staff Institute.

Keep learning, keep succeeding!

If they don’t spot him, we’re doomed. (FAIL Blog: Epic Fail Pictures and Videos of Owned, Pwnd and Fail Moments)

Cheezburger Network — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:00:51 -0800

Career Fair Fail
Homeland Security, Terrorist

Picture by: dunno source Submitted by: dunno source via Fail Uploader

Google Talk to Add Video Conferencing (Google Operating System)

Alex Chitu — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:41:00 -0800

Gmail Chat, the web-based version of Google Talk, added last year voice and video chat. The feature is now available in iGoogle and orkut, but it will probably be added to other Google services, as well.

SFGate reports that Google will improve the service significantly in the coming months.

Gmail's voice and video chats are now limited to one-to-one communications, but Google wants to broaden that capability to more than two participants and make it more robust all around for Apps.

"This [current Gmail capability] is the first step in a much broader set of features we hope to roll out over the next six to 12 months around video [and voice] chat capabilities," said Rishi Chandra, a Google Apps product manager. "It's a great opportunity for us to push that space along."

It's not clear whether Google plans to integrate Marratech's video conferencing software, acquired in 2007.

Other features that will be added to Google's services: "intelligent meeting scheduling in Google calendar", "intelligent workflow in the [Google Docs] applications", "lots of new functionality being developed especially around formatting" in Google Docs.

{ via Justin Uberti }

Puppy Dog Eyes, Definish of (Cute Overload! ;))

(author unknown) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:29:41 -0800

“So-called ‘puppydog eyes don’t exist!” you say. “PROVE IT” you say. “Prove it with photography from various Sender-Inners!”

OK then. Here goes:

CASE CLOSED!

Maverick theAnatolian Shepherd Dog by Kristin S. Black and white pup eyes look up by Amanda M. Irish Setter pupples by Paige P. Snow puppydog eyes by Amanda G. Bailey M. sent us puppy Stuart’s eyes. “Higgs Waking Up” is the work of Aurélia M. Jack the Pup is by Phoebe E., and finally, Gavin the Bermese Mountain Dog Puppulence is by Corliss. Final pup added last minute: Beagle mix by Martha P.

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Pups

[extracted from Puppy Dog Eyes, Definish of via feedly]

We Are All Connected

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:08:07 -0800

melodysheep: "We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

http://www.symphonyofscience.com

Lyrics:

[deGrasse Tyson]
We are all connected;
To each other, biologically
To the earth, chemically
To the rest of the universe atomically

[Feynman]
I think nature's imagination
Is so much greater than man's
She's never going to let us relax

[Sagan]
We live in an in-between universe
Where things change all right
But according to patterns, rules,
Or as we call them, laws of nature

[Nye]
I'm this guy standing on a planet
Really I'm just a speck
Compared with a star, the planet is just another speck
To think about all of this
To think about the vast emptiness of space
There's billions and billions of stars
Billions and billions of specks

[Sagan]
The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it
But the way those atoms are put together
The cosmos is also within us
We're made of star stuff
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself

Across the sea of space
The stars are other suns
We have traveled this way before
And there is much to be learned

I find it elevating and exhilarating
To discover that we live in a universe
Which permits the evolution of molecular machines
As intricate and subtle as we

[deGrasse Tyson]
I know that the molecules in my body are traceable
To phenomena in the cosmos
That makes me want to grab people in the street
And say, have you heard this??

(Richard Feynman on hand drums and chanting)

[Feynman]
There's this tremendous mess
Of waves all over in space
Which is the light bouncing around the room
And going from one thing to the other

And it's all really there
But you gotta stop and think about it
About the complexity to really get the pleasure
And it's all really there
The inconceivable nature of nature

How to Achieve Your Goals by Changing the Way You Surf the Web (Dosh Dosh - PostRank (PostRank: All))

(author unknown) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:38:00 -0800

Everyone has their favorite way of using the internet. Many of us search to find what we want, click in to a specific website, read what’s available and click out. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because it’s efficient. We learn to tune out things we don’t need and go straight for what’s essential.

This goal-oriented way of surfing the web is largely based on short-term results. For example, finding facts to write a blog post, doing a comparison before making a purchase and reading a news site to find out what’s happening right now.

If you do all this everyday it becomes like an unconscious habit. You go to the same familiar sites, click from link to link, extract what you want, linger a little for online chit-chat before drifting somewhere else.

So, how is this related to achieving your goals or being successful? Let’s use the topic of internet marketing and making money as an example.

If you’re a online marketer or business owner, you want to maximize your profits and sphere of influence. In order to achieve that, many things need to be done: on the practical side of things you need to get more targeted web traffic, optimize your sales page, promote your brand, increase your opt-in subscribers, network with peers, build links, provide customer service, create content/products, test your design/interface etc. All of these tactics are all directed towards the end goal of getting more customers and making more sales.

In order to reach this goal, incremental improvements to your business or strategy must be made everyday. You need make small tweaks, adjustments and innovations consistently to build on your success. These gradual step by step improvements will help you to reach your objective. But how do you constantly improve and stay on track to reach your income goal?

Image Credit: El Fotopakismo

A simple way to do this is to surf or use the internet with greater awareness in order to actively archive/assimilate what is beneficial. Awareness doesn’t refer to a serene zen-like consciousness of the websites you visit but rather, the awareness to connect what you do or experience online with the ultimate success of your business or goals. It should all link back to that final end.

And the way you do this in practice is easy: Maintain an all-purpose swipe file and record what you find interesting or useful when you surf the web everyday. To set this up for use while surfing the web, sign up for a free online bookmarking site or install a browser addon. Anything that allows you to bookmark webpages and/or write down your thoughts with just one or two clicks. You want to make it as easy and as hassle-free as possible.

Some of the tools you can use include evernote, delicious or the simple scrapbook addon for Firefox. It’s important to use tools that allow you to easily tag, categorize and search whatever you archive while also keeping your collection private.

Continuing with the online marketing example, I would be using these tools to record the following things while I surf the web:

Web design/usability – Things I focus on include the overall design of the page, font type, site navigation, placement of ads, widgets, custom site features or plugins among many other things. These are details you can easily pass on to your coder or designer on the same day.

Graphics/images – See a particular ad banner or button you like? bookmark the page and make a note of it. Or download it and put it in a folder. You may not have the rights to use it but its easy to find someone to create something similar to it.

Sales page/Pre-sell pages – I spend a lot of time looking at sales/pre-sell pages everyday because I’m interested in how people sell. What words/images they use and how they arrange everything to make a coherent pitch. I’ll bookmark whatever I find appealing and make a note of what I like about it (important). This doesn’t just include lengthy Clickbank style salespages but e-commerce sites/marketplaces and blogs.

Strategies/tactics – This involves marketing tactics that I find to be particularly ingenious. Examples include linkbait methods, product launch tactics and general public relations/advertising stuff. Much of these strategies can be found not just from the direct observation of marketers but from analysis of current news stories.

Possible collaborators/JV partners – Whenever I come across a marketer, webmaster or business owner who has a product, site or service aligned with my interests, I will archive their contact details. This also includes people I comes across randomly on Twitter or those I discover via a targeted google search using keywords relevant to my business/product/niche focus. The goal here is to extend your sphere of influence by eventually leveraging another person’s reach.

Copy and Content – This includes specific lines from sales-pages or emails/newsletters I receive while being on various mailing lists. Examples include email titles, email content, sales page titles, sales copy, adword ads, chapter listings and book titles on Amazon, language style/lines used by forum users in a specific niche etc.

Ideas for social currency – Any interesting piece of information you come across can be bookmarked as ideas for a blog post, shared on twitter, posted to your email list, weaved into a product or used as a conversational topic in your favorite online community in order to build influence/reputation. Generally this category involves information I consume while reading news sites and not stuff I research on purpose. In other words, this is random zeigeist data (popurls.com/google trends and news/twitter trends/digg frontpage) that can be used towards multiple purposes.

Notes on Creating and Using Your Swipe File

Image Credit: felipe_gabaldon

Keep everything organized. Use tags appropriately so everything is in the right category and can be easily pulled up for reference. You don’t want a long chaotic list of webpages you can’t use. You want them to be action-friendly examples that are highly specific. Very useful when you want to hire someone and need to show what ad banner image, design style or site feature you want.

Don’t steal (at least not overtly). Keeping a swipe file doesn’t mean you should just copy and paste whatever you bookmark and use it for your site. One or two lines of copy might not hurt but try tailoring it to suit your persona/style/website. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. Find a good idea and instead of just applying it to your business, think about how you can improve on it even more.

Don’t stay within your niche. For example, you specialize in sports news, don’t just bookmark other sports-related websites. Read widely. A lot of the best sites in terms of content structure/delivery/display will be outside of your niche. Once you find them you can easily transplant their methods to give you a competitive advantage over other sports sites that just follow what everyone else is doing.

You should probably get the hang of this method by now. To clarify once more, I’m not talking about specifically doing research to find and archive data. This isn’t some competitor analysis method where you sit down for an hour and start going through all the websites or people in your industry in order to swipe their greatest hits.

The technique I’m proposing in this article simply involves changing the way you naturally surf the web everyday by developing a much greater attention to detail and aligning what you see or do online with a long-term end goal. Your switch is always on and you’re always looking to build on your current success. Always. All the time.

Develop a Web Surfing Pattern that Makes You Take Action

Image Credit: eriwst

If you’re really serious about building a profitable online business or becoming influential/successful in whatever you do, you should always keep your mental energy focused and your activities directed.

This is especially the case when you spend a LOT of time working online. Sure, you can relax from time to time but keep the line taut. If your online activities are always random and short-sighted, you’ll just jump from one link to another. This becomes a huge time-sink. While Wikipedia and Youtube or your favorite forum/social news site is a fun place to hang out, they aren’t always beneficial. Your attention and energy is limited so use it wisely.

Of course, if you’re only interested in killing time, you can use the internet anyway you want. But if you’re trying to become rich, influential and successful, you need focus. Eventually this unwavering attention will lead to success because you’re always tuned in towards constant improvement while keeping track of your goals. Every single time you click a button to archive something, you’re reminding yourself of what you want.

While the field of internet marketing was used for this example, this purposeful web surfing mindset can be thought of as a self-actualization tool. A well organized swipe file could be thought of as a constantly evolving vision board of some sort.

Like a vision board, your swipe archives are a constant reminder of your objective and tasks to be done. After all, you’re constantly collecting inspiring/interesting material you experience while web surfing and arranging them so they motivate you to move towards your specific goals. Be it to lose weight, learn spanish or improve your website. This is different from the old way of casually surfing the web without any particular focus on a long-term end goal.

So two things to put into action immediately after reading this article:

Consciously connect whatever you do online with your ultimate goal. Structure the time you spend on the web so that it always flows towards that objective.
Develop the habit of archiving whatever you experience on the web in order to use them as references/methods to improve what you are currently doing.

Keep this focus in the center of your mind and actively swipe whatever helps you reach your objectives. Do this consistently every day and you will develop a natural web surfing rhythm that will in the long run help you to accomplish your goals.

For more awesome tips on achieving success, subscribe to dosh dosh today!

How to Achieve Your Goals by Changing the Way You Surf the Web

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Message to Google: You Call It Rank, I Call It Authority (Chicago Librarian - Design, Technology & Culture from a Librarian living in Chicago)

Leo Klein — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:56:45 -0800

Dangerously irrelevant libraries (Blue Skunk Blog)

Doug Johnson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:48:52 -0800

Famous Authors Narrate the Funny Pages (11/4/09) (McSweeney's)

(author unknown) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:46:59 -0800

The Only Way to Become Amazingly Great at Something (Zen Habits)

Leo — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:56:28 -0800

“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.” - Albert Einstein

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

Very often you’ll see blog posts or books teaching you to “master” a skill in only 10 days, or 3 days … in fact, it used to be 30 days but the time frame to master something seems to be shrinking rapidly.

I’ve even seen tutorials claiming to teach a skill in just a few hours. Pretty soon we’ll be demanding to know how to do something in seconds.

Instant mastery of skills and knowledge! Hey presto!

Unfortunately, the reality is something a little less magical. Or maybe that’s a fortunate thing.

There’s only one way to become good at something:

1. First, you must learn it by reading or listening to others who know how to do it, but most especially by doing.
2. Then do some more. At this point, you’ll start to understand it, but you’ll suck. This stage could take months.
3. Do some more. After a couple of years, you’ll get good at it.
4. Do some more. If you learn from mistakes, and aren’t afraid to make mistakes in the first place, you’ll go from good to great.

It takes anywhere from 6-10 years to get great at something, depending on how often and how much you do it. Some estimate that it takes 10,000 hours to master something, but I think it varies from person to person and depends on the skill and other factors.

Want to be a great writer? It’s possible to be great within a few years, if you have the God-given talent of Fitzgerald or Shakespeare, but most of us toil for over a decade and are still trying to get better. We’re still learning, to this day, and if we look back on our first few years of writing — of any kind — we’ll tell you we sucked (for the most part) back then.

Want to be a great blogger? Same deal. I’ve been doing it for almost three years, and I’m still only competent. Gruber’s been doing it for, like, 7 years and he’s still only … well, he’s pretty great by now. You have to do it, make mistakes, learn, really begin to understand it, and someday, if you stick with it, you’ll be great.

There’s no one who is great at his profession who hasn’t been doing it for at least 6 years — no designer, no programmer, no carpenter, no architect, no surgeon, no teacher, no musician, no artist … you get the point. I dare you to name one. Most have been doing it for over a decade, and are still looking to improve.

It takes desire, it takes drive, it takes lots and lots of doing.

So here’s the thing: don’t get discouraged if you’re just starting out. Have fun, like we all did in the beginning. If you have fun, you’ll learn to love it, and THAT’S when it clicks. When you love something, you’ll want to do it all the time, sometimes late at night and often, you’ll jump out of bed and want to do it before you move your morning bowels.

THAT’S how you get great. By loving it so much your morning bowel movement takes second seat.

“Everybody has talent, it’s just a matter of moving around until you’ve discovered what it is.” - George Lucas

Find that desire. Do it, don’t just read about it. Don’t buy a single product or book or magazine that claims to teach you something in minutes, hours, days. They’re lying to your face, with a hand in your pocket at the same time.

Do it, keep doing it, then keep doing it some more. It’s the only way to get great, but the good news: anyone can do it. It just takes some time and some doing. Hey presto.

When the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”
~Author Unknown

—

On mnmlist: The sweet science of less mail & Simplicity is the path, not just the destination

Bulk-follow that excellent Twitter list with TweepML

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:06:14 -0700

Twitter's new list functionality is great, but I wanted to be able to follow people from the list page instead of being forced to click through to their profile. Back to TweepML, the original Twitter list creator to see if they could help.

Just as I hoped, their generator allowed me to point to a list on Twitter, in this case @annavans librarian list found here. Enter the URL of the twitter list in the first box on the list creation page under 'Optional' then submit. Here's the list I created in about 15 seconds. Yay!

Thanks, @annavan, for being my guinea pig. :)

Hey Jude: The Chart

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:28:00 -0700

By Love All This, via The Meme Generation and Kung Fu Gripp e

It just made me happy, k?

It was never my wallpaper of choice, anyway

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:26:38 -0700

“Bliss" and "After Microsoft" by Charles O'Rear

Forrester: XP to vanish by 2012

Forrester Research has stamped Windows XP with an expiration date of 2012. In a report published last week, Forrester Research makes a strong recommendation for businesses to plan to completely migrate from XP by 2012.
With driver issues and all-around bad press about Vista, the assumption is that most businesses opted to stick with XP. In fact, Forrester's research does back up that assumption: 75 percent of SMB computers are still running XP. The hesitancy for corporate IT to roll out the latest OS is, of course, steeped in fear of a new set of technical headaches. Also, it's not surprising that many WinTel outfits are gun-shy after witnessing or experiencing the problems of Vista. Read more...

I'd bet library installations of Windows XP are higher than for small businesses at 75%. Wonder how soon our ITS department will begin testing?

edit /neo insert /library101

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:57:00 -0700

Michael Porter and David Lee King, (also known as David Lee King and Michael Porter) debuted Library 101 at Internet Librarian 2009. In addition the AWESOME video and essays on Librarianship, they've published 101 Resources and Things to Know (RTK).

Relieved they've given it a Creative Commons license (otherwise I would have had to steal it), I'm adding it to our New Employee Orientation page on our Intranet as first item in the Librarianship topic.

Thank you David and Michael for producing this inspiring work!

My Top 100 Libr* on Twitter

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:21:14 -0700

Alec Couros shared 100 Featured Personal Learning Professionals on TweepML where you can find shared groups of Twitter users and automatically follow them in bulk. I just had to create my own list, too! I've created a list of 100 people I interact with on Twitter who are either Librarians, Library Trainers or work in a library.

For the most part these people make up my primary Personal Learning Network on Twitter.

Because you can point to a page of Twitter users when building a list, I used TweepSearch to find people I follow with libr* in their bios. It was awfully hard to narrow down the people I follow. TweepML only accepts lists up to 100 at this time, I just know I've left someone out. Feel free to browse my PLN or follow them all in bulk.

Create your own list and share it, too!

It's not magic... it's an algorithm, silly.

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:17:43 -0700

I've used several methods of ranking my incoming feeds in the past, and this week Google Reader brought us Popular Items and Personalized Ranking. Sorting by "Magic" also works as an updated recommendation engine, offering articles from feeds that might not be in my reading list.

The ranking algorithm was designed to prioritize the posts from subscriptions you frequently read and the posts that are popular among your friends and other Google Reader users. Google Operating System

Cool. But, come on, Google, treat us like adults. Exactly how are you deciding what to drop in my reading list? We know you dropped the "Don't be evil" clause, so it's obviously not magic.

Possibly related: What is Pay Per Click Internet Advertising?

Honored to be a part of ALA Learning

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:10:48 -0700

Though I'm proud to have been asked to contribute to ALA Learning (sponsored by the Learning Round Table of the American Library Association ) I did warn them that I'm not really a blogger and just like to post funny pictures. Fortunately for all of you, there are others who can actually do the writing part.

From the press release:

ALA Learning Round Table Chooses New Name, Retains Mission
The name may be changing, but the mission of the “Learning Round Table of ALA” remains the same. The American Library Association’s round table dedicated to quality continuing education for library workers has changed its name from CLENERT to LearnRT.
Under its new name:
LearnRT will continue to promote quality continuing education for all library personnel, helping you network with other continuing education providers for the exchange of ideas, concerns and solutions.
LearnRT will serve as your source for continuing education assistance, publications, materials, training and activities.
LearnRT is your advocate for quality library continuing education at both the local and national levels.
In addition to the name change the Round Table is sponsoring a new blog/website, “ALA Learning” (http://alalearning.org), which will feature training and learning news, information, best practices and thoughtful discussion from leading trainers and staff development practitioners in the library field.
Contributing authors include:
Peter Bromberg
Maurice Coleman
Betha Gutsche
Marianne Lenox
Bobbi Newman
Lori Reed
Paul Signorelli
Jay Turner
Stephanie Zimmerman
Membership in LearnRT is only $20, in addition to ALA membership dues. Among the many membership benefits, LearnRT members enjoy, through a unique agreement with the American Management Association, the following valuable AMA benefits: Preferred pricing on all AMA seminars-least a 10-percent discount. Unlimited access to AMA’s Members-only Web site – an ever-growing library of both timely and timeless information on practical issues of management. Access to case studies, how-to articles, trend pieces, best practices, profiles of leading executives and companies, best-selling book excerpts, author interviews and recent research results. Interactive self-assessments that reflect the abilities and knowledge of today’s high-value managers. Exclusive discounts and special offers on AMA products and services. Thirty-percent discounts on “Last-Minute Seats” at numerous selected AMA seminars announced each month.
To become a member of ALA’s Learning Round Table complete the ALA membership application: http://www.ala.org/ala/membership/joinrejoinrenewadd/default.cfm.
(Please note that we may be listed as either CLENERT or LearnRT in various places until the name change has fully circulated throughout ALA.)
For more information about LearnRT contact Pat Carterette, president of LearnRT, at (404) 235-7124 or by e-mail at pcarterette “at” georgialibraries.org.
For more information about ALALearning.org contact Lori Reed, managing editor, at (704) 350-5421 or by email at webmaster “at” alalearning.org.

Lankes: Putting learning and knowledge at the center of librarianship

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:09:55 -0700

R. David Lankes' Inventing the Future of Librarianship was the keynote at Knutpunkt 2009, Linkoping, Sweden. See the bigger picture at his Participatory Librarianship Starter Kit.

Lankes is an Associate Professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies, Director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, an OITP Fellow, and one very smart guy.

Congratulations, you've reached the End of the Internet.

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:35:18 -0700

I marked "all items read" in Google Reader, then clicked my Next Bookmarklet. To my horror, I landed at the end of the Internet:

SWOOSH.

Procrastination: The Infographic Video

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:32:26 -0700

Procrastination - John Kelly via Design You Trust

The perfect chart for explaining the digital learning curve

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:24:36 -0700

Needles and haystacks and such. at Indexe d:

Dealing With Technophobia Among Learners

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:22:46 -0700

Peter's Online Typing Course - Online Typing Lessons for Everyone!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:08:35 -0700

BBC: RAW Computer Literacy

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:07:32 -0700

Interactive tutorials for adults

5 Great Tips for Social Media Training

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:48:33 -0700

From Creating New Jedis With Social Media Training by Kaitlyn Wilkins, guest blogger at Jason Fall's Social Media Explorer:

Find the Best Candidates.

Not everyone who claims to be interested in receiving training is the best candidate, or truly has bandwidth to apply what they’ve learned. Provide all-office training opportunities on high level subjects, but use a screening process to make sure you have the right people in the room for high level immersions.

Assign Homework.

Waaa waaaa. You never get as much time for training as you’d like, and assigning your trainees homework can help make sure they walk in the door with a baseline exposure to platforms or ideas. One of my favorite things to do is to ask everyone to visit Peter Kim’s great wiki of social media campaigns and then write a paragraph case study to deliver to the group. It gets people thinking about social and forces them to visit a treasure trove of great examples, driving home the point that this is something almost every brand under the sun is engaged with.

Make It Hands On.

Could I make you a kick ass deck breaking down how Radian6 works? Yes, but watching me click through the slides would make you want to punch me in the face, if you were still awake. Go through the trouble of getting everyone laptops, and make sure your training is a mix of lecture and application. Structure the application time, and make sure you have enough trainers to help all the trainees in the room maximize the time you given to experiment.

Use It or Lose It.

Training a group of people on social media, having them walk out the door and not apply it for months (or ever…) is not a win. Make sure that the people you provide in-depth training to can immediately apply what they’ve learned on the job.

Stay Connected.

Create a big tent that people who have gone through social media training can come together under. A wiki, weekly calls, or ongoing training opportunities is a great way to keep everyone’s wheels turning.

IMAGE: By Tatiana Popova on Shutterstock.com

GRRF - The Last Lecture [Demo Noir]

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:15:54 -0700

GRRF - The Last Lecture from Lumalin Productions on Vimeo.

For software developers, live product demonstrations are a way of life, and that means that "live product demos gone horribly awry" are also a fact of life. But what if the world's most disastrous software demo was faked, foisted on a set of unsuspecting computer science students as a piece of performance art?

That thought is what led University of California-San Diego student Tristan Newcomb to produce a half-hour of surreptitious theater that he calls "The Last Lecture." Students stare at the stage in disbelief, amusement, and horror as a software developer comes to class with his two assistants and proceeds to demonstrate a new videogame in spectacular fashion—software crashes, lag problems, puppet videos, and falling computers all coincide with the presenter's personal breakdown in which he questions his life's work and worries ceaselessly about his death (a death in which no Kermit the Frog will welcome him to the afterlife). Ars Technica: Horrifically bad software demo becomes performance art

This would be a great concept for a train-the-trainer piece, too. Heh.

My five most useful skills achieved through informal learning

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:13:17 -0700

Part of my personal learning process involves reflection, so I thought I'd share at alalearning.org. My five most useful skills achieved through informal learning are:

Accessing
Listening
Authoring
Visualizing
Presenting

For details, please see the full post Learning the 80%.

Useful list of 100 Free Library 2.0 Webinars and Tutorials

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:38:10 -0700

The Lonewolf Librarian points to College @Home's 100 Free Library 2.0 Webinars and Tutorials and while some may call this type of thing link baiting, I can't help but see the value in this type of list!

The categories are:

Getting Started
Usefulness
Social Libraries
Communication
Data
Online Learning
Specific Tools
Collaboration & Distribution
Improving Appeal and Service
Staff
General

Get links to all 100 guides here.

How to (Hopefully) Make Yourself Indispensable At Work

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:44:27 -0700

I"m on furlough this week so found this post from Dumb Little Man about making yourself indispensable at work quite timely considering we may be facing even more budget woes. Today has been especially frustrating since I heard the news that one of our branches caught fire last night and I'd like to be able to help. Here are some pics on our Flickr account and here's some news footage of the fire. Hopefully there will be more news soon.

So....on a positive note, here's the short list of Dumb Little Man's five suggestions for making yourself indispensable at work:

Do Your Job – And Do It Well
Mind Your Manners
Be Enthusiastic (Even When You Have to Fake It)
Be Proud of Your Work
Say “Yes” to Opportunities

Read the rest....

The B-52's - Love Shack

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:16:00 -0700

Love Shack by The B-52's

The Pretenders - Private Life

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:07:00 -0700

Private Life by The Pretenders

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:01:00 -0700

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) by Eurythmics

Did You Know 4.0

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:55:32 -0700

[video link]

This is another official update to the original "Shift Happens" video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, visit http://mediaconvergence.economist.com/ and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/.

Content by XPLANE, The Economist, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Laura Bestler. Design and development by XPLANE, http://www.xplane.com/

Why I will not renew my ALA membership next year (Library Trainer)

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:32:20 -0700

Created May 26, 2008

last 1 comments, out of 15

MLx says:

May 26, '08 at 16:58 PM

Lori, if anyone should be considered an Emerging Leader, it's you. I'd love to see this program (and more scholarship opportunities) open to non-MLS members.

add comment

Are you happy?

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:57:30 -0700

Limited edition prints of this powerful poster are available from the artists, Alex and David Meiklejohn, at HeadUp.

[via ffffound]

The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:51:59 -0700

The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions

The Next Big Thing: Cheap, dual E-Reader that looks like a normal book

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:22:22 -0700

Times Online Tech news: For the Smarter kind of Bookworm

Asus, inventors of the netbook, is about to shake up the ebook world with the arrival of the world's cheapest digital reader.

The world of ebooks is about to start a new chapter with the arrival of the cheapest digital reader on the market. Asus, one of the world’s biggest consumer electronics businesses, confirmed last week that it is planning to shake up the market in the same way it did when it launched the first netbook — the low-cost alternative to the laptop.

Via Mashable: Dual-Screen E-Reader Is Going to Be Awesome, Super Cheap

Bricks, Mortar and Bits

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:31:26 -0700

Mark Wilson/Globe photo

Remember back in when we couldn't define Library 2.0? I think we finally found it. According the Boston Globe, The Cushing Academy, a Massachusetts prep school, is replacing half of their 20,000 book collection with 18 Kindles.

“When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of the bookless campus. “This isn’t ‘Fahrenheit 451’ [the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel in which books are banned]. We’re not discouraging students from reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology.’’

Lot's of talk about the Globe article over the holiday weekend, it's evolved into the broader question of a library without actual books. The debate hits mainstream with a CNN story on The Future of Libraries.

I couldn't count the number of times I've said "Libraries aren't just bricks and mortar any longer" when teaching Library 2.0 skills. "It's all about reaching the digital patron and going where the kids are" I said. "See this book on my mobile phone? This is what we have to know if we want to progress." There were wide eyes among the older staff, and some reluctance. I tried to assure them that the library buildings as community gathering places would continue as long as we progress with the Information Age. I just hope I'm right.

And the Cushing Academy Library? IMHO They should at least go open source.

Microsoft's Vision of the Future Made Painfully Real

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:40:41 -0700

I liked Tad's FriendFeed original post but the parody by IGN just seems more realistic:

[video link]

The Library is Concerned for Your Health

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:43:01 -0700

Our community is already seeing H1N1 cases, unfortunately a 12 year old boy has died. We're trying to pro-active on the issue by providing the public with alcohol-based wipes for computer peripherals and sanitizing hand lotion.

Our proposed plan states that we'll keep the public informed, so I also created a sign which states that we will follow the guidelines of the CDC, the Alabama Public Health Department and our local Emergency Management Agency. The sign also recommends, per ADPH guidelines, that if you become ill with influenza-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people.

How is your library dealing with the Pandemic?

The Venn Diagram of Social Media

LibrarySupporter@gmail.com (Marianne) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:06:03 -0700

The Venn Diagram of Social Media from BoingBoing.net

[via Kevin Kelly]

Pipes: H1N1 Updates for HMCPL

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:43:19 -0700

Pandemic Planning Guide for Businesses

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:40:58 -0700

Pandemic Planning from The American Library Association [wiki]

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:33:22 -0700

30 essential Mac time-saving shortcuts | TechRadar UK

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:34:02 -0700

Ask, Not Tell » Presenter vs Trainer vs Facilitator

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:01:43 -0700

#ala2009 realtime, in my sidebar

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:03:08 -0700

Learn to teach online…for free…at your own pace

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:45:56 -0700

Ultimate Guide to Delicious Social Bookmarking

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:35:37 -0700

livestream.com/hmcpl

Fri, 22 May 2009 11:22:44 -0700

101 Google tips, tricks and hacks

Thu, 21 May 2009 15:51:58 -0700

Presentation = Speech + Slides

Sun, 03 May 2009 05:20:28 -0700

Survival of the fittest tag: Folksonomies, findability, and the evolution of information organization

Sun, 03 May 2009 04:06:28 -0700

create-consume-remix-share

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:16:58 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Lee Raine on what kids are doing with their personal learning. (BBC, 2005) Based on www.flickr.com/photos/bricolage108/460038655/

Blank Books for Twitter Background

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:37:10 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Feel free to use this to create your own custom Twitter (or any other web page) background using Photoshop or some other image editing software to lay the titles of your books. See twitter.com/mlx for an example.

Image taken from the bookshelf in my office. :)

Subscribe by RSS! (open stacks)

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 11:14:10 -0800

Created May 04, 2008

last 1 comments, out of 8

MLx says:

May 4, '08 at 05:03 AM

I'm usually a reluctant commenter, but in the spirit of the Challenge just want to say I'm glad you're in!

add comment

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:36:00 -0800

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Van Morrison - Into The Mystic

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:12:00 -0800

Into The Mystic by Van Morrison

Drive-By Truckers - Carl Perkins' Cadillac

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:12:00 -0800

Carl Perkins' Cadillac by Drive-By Truckers

Ramones - We're a Happy Family

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:12:00 -0800

We're a Happy Family by Ramones

Maroon 5 - Tangled

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:15:00 -0800

Tangled by Maroon 5

The Killers - Human

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:05:00 -0800

Human by The Killers

Van Morrison - Van morrison - Ain't No Sunshine

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:05:00 -0800

Van morrison - Ain't No Sunshine by Van Morrison

Marianne joined a group.

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:37:24 -0700

Marianne joined the Goodreads Librarians group.

Marianne added 'One Fifth Avenue'

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:35:29 -0700

Marianne gave 3 stars to: One Fifth Avenue (Audio CD) by Candace Bushnell

Marianne added 'Testimony'

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:32:37 -0700

Marianne is currently reading: Testimony (Hardcover) by Anita Shreve
bookshelves: currently-reading

new comment from Marianne

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:35:02 -0700

New comment on Marianne's review of Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse
by Victor Gischler

Best.Title.Ever.

Marianne added 'Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse'

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:33:07 -0700

Marianne added: Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse (Paperback) by Victor Gischler

Marianne added 'The Execution Channel'

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:30:16 -0700

Marianne gave 4 stars to: The Execution Channel (Hardcover) by Ken MacLeod
This this post-apocalyptic terror scared the crap out of me! It's a world of long suffering from flu pandemic, wars, and terrorist attacks when a nuclear explosion kills thousands in Scotland. Expect full-blown nuclear war, say the media.

Technological advances in weaponry and devious cloud computing rule the globe, while citizens cower in refugee camps. Driven by spies, conspiracies and resistance fighters, this war is fought as much by bloggers as it is by soldiers.

Marianne added 'Heartsick'

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:02:58 -0700

Marianne gave 4 stars to: Heartsick (Gretchen Lowell, #1) by Chelsea Cain
Gretchen Lowell is the sickest, vilest, most depraved serial killer since Hannibal Lecter.

I love her.

Marianne, Kent, Max and Diane

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:36:27 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Murray

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:36:08 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Looking at pics

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:35:56 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Sisters

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:35:35 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Marianne and Diane. :)

Max pilots the boat

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:35:19 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Lake Guntersville Yacht Club

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:35:05 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

nograsstomo

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:34:47 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

What a beaut!

Extreme Google

mlx@slideshare.net(mlx) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:56:30 -0700

Originally created for HMCPL Library Staff in 2006

Awards

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:26 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

And the !st place winner in the spare ribs category goes to...Red, White & Que!

Judging Sheet

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:25 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Look at that perfect score!!!

Accepting 1st

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:23 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

The Meat Handlers accept thier silver platter 1st prize. "It ain't the size of the smoker, but the way you handle your meat"

Kent and Will

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:22 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Mmmmm Hulk love BBQ!

Kudzu FTW

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:20 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Announcing the winners...

Waiting on the call?

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:19 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Our team waits nervously in the back thinking this is going to be bad!

Marianne

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:17 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Who me?

Go, mule, go!

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:15 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Harness Races are fun...they ran past all afternoon.

Will

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:13 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

I got your ribs, baby, right here.

Friends

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:11 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Best Sous Chefs

Midway

nobody@flickr.com (_Marianne) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:53:08 -0700

_Marianne posted a photo:

Fair Food. YUM.

Snooze, you Lose!

mlx@slideshare.net(mlx) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:48:55 -0700

How to Back-Up Critical Data on Windows computers

I've moved!

Marianne — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:48:00 -0700

Please find me at TheMLxperience.

Thank you!

More With Less

mlx@slideshare.net(mlx) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:11:09 -0800

Happy Hiatus!

Marianne — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 07:57:00 -0800

I'm going to officially call it, folks. This blog will be on standby for a while due to an amazing amount of work and personal duties that are piling up higher and higher.

Here's hoping you have a safe and productive New Year! :)

~Marianne

Ambient Findability (Slashdot)

Marianne — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 08:37:00 -0800

norburym writes "Peter Morville is an information architect, an advocate of expanding the boundaries of librarianship in an Internet age and the voice of ambient findability. In this new book from O'Reilly, Morville expands on a theme he's been discussing for several years: we live in an age where computers and the Internet are changing how we access information. Digital networks are available

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

PRESS KIT (ALA)

Marianne — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 03:59:00 -0800

The American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library association in the world, holds an annual business meeting known as the ALA Midwinter Meeting.

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

ALA president sponsors forum on education for librarianship (ALA)

Marianne — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 07:50:00 -0800

(CHICAGO) American Library Association (ALA) President Michael Gorman invites library practitioners, educators and students to participate in a half-day forum to explore the big issues in library education as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, January 20 - 25. The program begins at 1 p.m. Friday, January 20, in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

ALA to announce children, teen book award winners; discuss library trends at San Antonio conference (ALA)

Marianne — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 07:50:00 -0800

(CHICAGO) More than 12,000 librarians, publishers and guests from around the world will converge on the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio January 20-25 for the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting.

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

Teacher wins provincial honour (Simcoe.com)

Marianne — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:43:00 -0800

A long history of outstanding contribution to teacher-librarianship in Ontario is just one of the many reasons why Pat Elliott, a resource teacher for the Simcoe County District School Board, has been selected as the province's Teacher-Librarian of the Year.

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

Putting 2.0 and 2.0 Together

Marianne — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 03:05:00 -0800

Family Man Librarian notes in Inner circles in library blogland that perhaps the Library 2.0 rallying cry isn't quite justified.

But I am cautious about the way Library 2.0 is pitched or hailed as A "movement" or "rallying cry" as many seem to do, seemingly without critical evaluation or assessment. More...

I am reminded that Passionate Users Talk Different. Does this mean that the A-list Library Bloggers are more ~~passionate~~ knowledgeableable about the Library 2.0 concept? Not necessarily.

Among other things, a shared vocabulary helps experts and professionals get a message across more quickly. But it also helps build their passion. More...

Perhaps those promoting the Library 2.0 concept their weblogs they are just more "plugged-in" or more in tune with the needs of thier computer-savvy patrons.

~Marianne

Enthusiastic response to ACRLog (ALA)

Marianne — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 02:21:00 -0800

CHICAGO - Response to the Association of College and Research Libraries' ACRLog has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. In its first week, over 10,000 visits were made to ACRLog. Posts found there were read close to 20,000 times.

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

Physicians find librarians vital (Dallas Morning News)

Marianne — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 20:08:00 -0800

More than one doctor has described a resourceful medical librarian as a best friend.

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

New OCLC Report on Perceptions of Libraries

Marianne — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 04:13:00 -0800

Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005) summarizes findings of an international study on information-seeking habits and preferences.

With extensive input from hundreds of librarians and OCLC staff, the OCLC Market Research team developed a project and commissioned Harris Interactive Inc. to survey a representative sample of information consumers. In June of 2005, we collected over 3,300 responses from information consumers in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Order the print version (purchase) or see the online version (free) here: http://www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm

~Marianne

FG Establishes Virtual Libraries in Polytechnics and Monotechnics (AllAfrica.com)

Marianne — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 05:34:00 -0800

THE federal government has taken a giant step in addressing the chronic dearth of books and journals in the nation's polytechnics, monotechnics and specialized institutions by establishing virtual libraries in that sector.

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

Lascivious Outreach in St. Louis

Marianne — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 01:06:00 -0800

Raleigh Muns, Reference Librarian, University of Missouri-St. Louis, writes the student newspaper as "The Rogue Librarian." A recent Op-Ed piece, Sex and violence in the libraries (mostly sex) speaks of censorship and classical literature:

Most people are unaware that the majority of libraries are secretly seething with works chock full o' sex and violence goodness. Those who seek to remove such literature from our libraries typically pick on obvious choices. For instance, the magazine Playboy used to be a staple of large city public libraries but is rarely found in them today.

...

Willy Shakespeare is rather well known for injecting baudiness into his writings. Unfortunately, his sexiest work, the poem "Venus and Adonis," is seldom read.

Now that's the way to bring 'em to the library!

~Marianne

Library Staff Notice is cautionary, scary tale

Marianne — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 04:02:00 -0800

The Woodruff Library Staff wish to inform your that, unless the edicts of the Dewey Decimal System are adhered to with absolute rigor, certain adverse consequences might occur.

And they aren't kidding! Makes me wonder what the Woodruff Library staff would do to thieves and careless borrowers...

If you dig horror movies check out the five minute film at Google Video. Brought to you by CampusMovieFest.com.

~Marianne

A Great Use of the Wiki Format

Marianne — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 03:36:00 -0800

Mired in Digitization Doubt? Check out Digi-Wik!

In the summer of 2005 I needed to put together a paper on digitizing audio and video for my library: what our needs were, what formats we might use for digitizing and storing multimedia, and what we might need in the future. Gathering this information was more difficult than it should have been.

Via xRefer

~Marianne

Professor Harry Bruce named dean of Information School (UW News)

Marianne — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 06:26:00 -0800

A faculty member since 1998, Bruce has been appointed to be dean of the school effective Jan. 1

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

U.S. Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joins Hogan & Hartson's Denver (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)

Marianne — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 12:49:00 -0800

DENVER----Nov. 30, 2005--Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. announced today that Rebecca W. Watson, assistant secretary for lands and mineral management at the U.S. Department of the Interior , has joined the firm's environmental and energy practices as a partner in the Denver office.

Click here to view the original Webpage.

Sent using R|mail.

A Staff Training Success!

Marianne — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 01:44:00 -0800

Congratulations on your "A" in the blogging course, Stephenie! I'm proud to present The Eclectic Book Club Blog, a new and very active blog for a reader's group in North Alabama. GREAT JOB!

~ Marianne

Shattering Stereotypes at the Speed of "Shush"

Marianne — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:58:00 -0800

Des Moines Register staff Writer Mike Kilen's thoughtful article on on the downtown Des Moines Public Library staff is really worth a read. While he showers praise on the staff for the recent rescue of a kidnapped child, he also seems to begrudgingly admit that public reference librarians are still a vital resource in the information age:

These are tough folks. Forget the shushing, bifocals-and-support-hose librarian. They don't like that image. Librarians are people who endure fickle budget decisions, the Patriot Act, the ever-changing information age and still have time for random arrests. They may be the most unusual public servant left in our time. More...

Posted on the APLS listserve. Thanks, Pooky!

Blogging from the Back Burner

Marianne — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:14:00 -0800

Obviously I haven't been posting in the last few weeks nor have I had time to check my Bloglines feeds. This morning the notifier is nagging at me, but I'm afraid I'll just have to mark those as read.

I'm chair of our United Way campaign and our kick-off was this month - still have reports to refine and data to check before I can turn everything in. I've also done the Defending Public Access workshop for the staff several times in the last few weeks. After today I'm off for a few days of much-needed vacation but will try to get back to regular posting later next week.

An Exciting New Blog for Library Learning

Marianne — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 02:03:00 -0700

You are invited to the unveiling of the Cerritos Library's clioinstitute NEW thought-provoking blog—with an emphasis on creativity, learning, innovation, and organizational change.

We hope you will find our entries useful, and we urge you to share your own experiences and thoughts to help us create a blog consistently full of fresh and intriguing content.

Join us at http://www.clioinstitute.info/blog for fresh ideas from the library world and beyond.

Background

The Cerritos Library established the clioinstitute in 2002 as its learning arm with the purpose of sponsoring thought-provoking events to help libraries creatively pioneer new approaches to lifelong learning.

The clioinstitute was first featured online as part of the Cerritos Library's online tutorial—to assist, inspire and support those who wish to emphasize the role of the public library as a "learning organization" either by building a new "Experience Library" or reinventing elements of an existing library.

http://cml.ci.cerritos.ca.us/

clioinstitute events

Better Together: Creating Partnerships for Community Learning Conference, April 2006*

http://btconference.info

Aimed at California public library teams, the purposes of the event are to:

• create and enhance partnerships with museums, public broadcasters, governmental and other community organizations

• tap into more resources and increase audiences

• increase the learning assets and opportunities available to local communities

Get Real! Helping Libraries Survive and Thrive in Turbulent Times Conference, September 2004*

http://infopeople.org/partners/getreal/index.html

Aimed at California public library trustees, commissioners and system advisory board members, the purposes of the event were to:

• give an update on trends that affect how libraries connects with their communities

• increase effectiveness as planners, policy-makers and spokespersons

• explore how other types of organizations meet - and exceed - the community's expectations

Reenergize Your Library’s Service Environment Workshop, March 2004

http://infopeople.org/WS/workshop/Workshop/155

Aimed at anyone wishing to reenergize a library service environment, the purposes of the event were to:

• explore the FISH! Philosophy

• practice using playstorming techniques

• rethink local library customer service using the Cerritos Library WOW Customer Service Model and FISH!

Imagine it, Explore it, Create it! Conference, May 2003*

http://infopeople.org/partners/imagineit/index.html

Aimed at California public library teams, the purposes of the event were to:

• imagine new possibilities

• explore how to retool current services

• create unique experiences tailored to local communities

clioinstitute is sponsored by the Cerritos Public Library, Cerritos, California

*Funding assistance for these events has been provided by the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

Learning to Blog

Marianne — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 02:38:00 -0700

A fantastic look at what libraries are doing with blogs as learning examples, The Free Range Librarian, K.G. Schneider, has posted her recent conference presentation "virtual handout" on blogging and RSS tools. Check out Blogs: Not Just Another Ugly Neologism

Also, Michael Stevens at Tame the Web has shared his Dominican University's LIS class assignment which includes creating a blog and then making 5 blog posts about libraries, technology and the Web. Wow.

CC: I Am So Gonna Blog This (If Only I Could)

Getting an Interview the Sneaky Way

Marianne — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 02:08:00 -0700

How can your resume stand alone from the rest? How to Write a Resume.org has published these seven tricks for getting an interview. Depending on your target, though, I'd say a few of these are way over the top...

Use different colored paper for your resumes.
Use different sized paper.
Have an inside contact.
Send a Certified Letter.
Send your resume with a gift.
Deliver the resume in person.
Do the "PostIt" trick - pretend it's already been seen (and liked) by an insider.

See the full version here.

This article was found in my del.icio.us inbox, which never ceases to educate and entertain. :)

E-Rate Program Criticized by House Oversights & Investigations

Marianne — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 06:28:00 -0700

Many of our public libraries and schools get their Internet access with FCC administered E-Rate funds, but a new report by The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations calls the program full of "weakness and abuse" and calls for an overhaul of the program.
Via Yahoo! News Asia.

"Man, are public libraries a fantastic resource!"

Marianne — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 02:10:00 -0700

Says David Battino, editor of O’Reilly’s Digital Audio site, and co-author of The Art of Digital Music.

In addition to the expected books and magazines, my local library has a surprisingly good collection of CDs and DVDs. Because the discs are in such great demand, though, finding ones I wanted to try had been an exercise in serendipity.

Then I discovered that by entering my library card number and PIN on the library’s site, I could search for and reserve materials from the entire county library system. The items I request are shipped to my local library, which sends me an e-mail when they arrive. I then have a week to pick them up. It’s like getting NetFlix or Amazon for free, although you have to return the materials after three weeks. (Actually, in many cases, you can renew the materials online as well, so you get more time.) Read more...