• 5 ways for libraries to fail at Twitter
• 5 terrific twitter research tools
• How twitter will change the way we live
• Twitter your books to LibraryThing
• Twitter & its value to librarians
• Tweetworthy Twitter Policy
• How Twitter can Make History
• Companies take time to Twitter
• Twitter for Libraries
• Conference twittering
• Twitter Mindmap

Please feel free to recommend other links I should read or share with my students.

Technorati Tags: twitter

We’re happy to announce that later this week we are launching a long-requested feature for group managers: the ability to create subgroups. Subgroups are like a break-out session at a conference. They enable you to create more focused areas than in the main group.

Also, by creating and inviting members into subgroups, you can now send additional weekly Announcement emails to focused audiences.

This is pretty awesome – I just wish they had done this from the start so that I didn’t have to sign up for so many library specific groups – I could have signed up for 1 or 2 and put myself into the appropriate sub groups after the fact. It will be interesting to see where this goes and how people start organizing their existing groups.

Technorati Tags: linkedin

Libraries are seizing on Twitter, the micro-blogging phenomenon, as a new way to reach out to users and to network with colleagues and the wider book trade.

An estimated 40-plus individual libraries and library services, including Manchester, Devon, Bradford, Edinburgh, Westminster and Leeds are now making use of the site. Many individual librarians are also choosing to register.

Very cool!

Technorati Tags: twitter

The keynote talk at SLA 2009 in Washington, DC was made by Colin Powell and I must say it was better than I thought it would be!! I need to start by mentioning that my notes will seem like they’re all over the place- but that’s because Colin kept changing directions in his talk (which is what made it so interesting).

The talk started with a quote from a colleague, “There are no secrets to success it is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.”

Colin Powell has his own librarians for his special collection. He often sends question to his librarian like – “Do you have a picture of me at age 6″ or “Did I ever say this to anyone?” And even though he pissed us (librarians) off by telling people to go to their offices and throw out their research materials and their books a few years ago – he didn’t mean that he didn’t appreciate librarians and what they did – he did it because he had to make a point – things had changed since his staff had started working – and it was time to catch up with technology.

He said he didn’t want them to abandon the past but to shake them free of the past and build on it. To make this change, he bought over 44 thousand computers (spending several hundred million dollars) – and he put one on every single desk in the embassies and state departments – and told them – now lets get into the information age. He had to change the hardware and the software – and the “brainware.”

Colin said, “We had to change because we’re in a new world – in a world of information explosion – information that needed to be turned into knowledge” – and his staff had to understand that all the boundaries that existed years ago were gone – and he wanted them to move faster and faster – he wanted them to get online.

He asked how can we be an up-to-date organization if the stuff on our website is 2 or 3 years old (he was talking about the state department – but I bet we can find some libraries like this too) – it is a transactional world – it’s no longer a lunar world – we don’t measure in months, years, etc – we measure in transactions. He said “I want to beat Google, i want to beat the CIA – I want to be faster and better” – but his staff kept saying we like the old way – updating once a month – or once a year.

His favorite example to give people about the power of the Internet is a time when someone called and complained about a resolution to the UN. While his colleague was on the phone with him explaining his problem Colin didn’t visit his own site – instead he went to Google – it took him 1 second to find the resolution in question and help the man on the other line. You have to move at the speed of light – you have to be faster than anyone else in the world we’re living in if you’re going to succeed.

He then mentioned Clay Shirky’s Here comes everybody (a book that is still sitting on my wishlist). In the book, Clay mentions that in the old days you got a group together by sending flyers – or calling – but doing all that costs money – but now with the power of the information revolution and the technology we have – the cost of adding people to a group or assembling people is zero. An example of this would be the Flash Mobs that you can find videos of on YouTube.

That said, it’s not just Google that’s making us faster, it’s YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

He mentioned that his 14-year-old grandchild was born digital whereas he’s analog and got himself a $59 converter to become digital His grandchild was 4 1/2 before he would sit to have a book read to him – but he knew how to use the computer at 3. His grandkids won’t answer emails or the phone – he has to tweet or text message them to get them to respond. This is what we’ve been hearing from reports left and right about digital natives.

Much to the dismay of librarians all over (who think Google is evil) Colin mentioned that he looked at SLA’s ClickU, but instead of navigating through the SLA site, he just went to Google. He said he doesn’t use bookmarks anymore because Google knows everything. He said, “I’m peddling as fast as I can to keep up with this stuff – it’s exciting and it’s fascinating” – but what does it mean to us as librarians?

SLA may have had the same title for 100 years – but the association is not the same – we are now working in the electronic world – people want to be able to work at the speed of light and what we do is so important because we keep our companies and businesses informed.

At this point, Colin started jumping all over with his topics (which was fun to watch and listen to). Some great quotes though:

• “I love this new world and I find it so exciting”
• “I always want to see what’s in the front windshield not the rearview mirror”

He talked about the flattening of the world. We’re competing in everything – students don’t need to come to America for superior education anymore – they can get it elsewhere. People aren’t coming to our medical facilities – cause there are great services all over – it’s a flat world. That said, he wants people to come here and stay here – to study because they learn about us – they learn that we’re not a Hollywood sitcom or a Michael Moore book.

He told us to remember that the followers always get the work done – in order to get that work done you have to give the people who work for you a sense of purpose – and that has to come from the leader – and it has to come from a leader or who is passionate – and infectious and they have to see that passion coming out of the leader – you can’t just talk the talk – you have to walk it – you have to invest in your people – that’s why he bought those computers – leaders have to give followers the tools to get the job done – leaders have to compliment – a simple handshake or a handwritten note – it means the world – people thrive on this simple kind of attention – when you show them that you believe in them. A leader also has to be able to prune the organization – because the good followers know who the bad ones are and they’re waiting for a leader to do something.

He mentioned that it may look like nothing is going right in the world right now – but a lot is going right – we just don’t think about it right. More people are living under democracies than ever before – we have fewer enemies – we are now working with many countries that were once our enemies (Russia, China).

In short, he thinks this is a time of great opportunity.

Overall an amazing talk and such an energetic man. I’m very happy that I got to be there for that talk!!

Technorati Tags: colin powell, sla2009, sla09

I was going to answer the survey, but it assumes that I’m talking about my experience in a library – and I never used either in a library, but have used both. My preference (if I can only pick between those two) is Joomla – but neither is really perfect.

Technorati Tags: joomla, drupal

The Handheld Librarian 2009 – An online conference about Mobile Library Services

More people than ever are using mobile devices for a wide variety of purposes including communication, internet access, text messaging, and entertainment. It is important that libraries provide services on these devices as use increases.

The first ever Handheld Librarian Online on July 30, 2009 is the place to learn about these and other topics related to using wireless and handheld devices in your library. The program — sponsored by Alliance Library System, LearningTimes and Infoquest — will include a variety of ways to collaborate, network and learn from a great group of experts in the field. In addition to live interactive webcasts, we will have a collection of available resources, discussions boards, and access to the recording of all live events for one year after the conference.

As most of you know, I just made the jump to a smart phone – and like a lot of others I’m drooling over the new Kindle DX – this might be the place to learn more about how to use these tools effectively.

Make sure you share this information with your local libraries and colleagues – there is a lot to learn in here about how to improve the services your library offers.

Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data
Edited by Nicole C. Engard   ·   Foreword by Jenny Levine   ·   ISBN 978-1-57387-372-7

As web users become more savvy and demanding, libraries are looking for new ways to allow patron participation and keep their websites dynamically and collaboratively up-to-date. Mashups—web applications that combine freely available data from various sources to create something new—can be one very powerful way to meet patrons’ expectations and provide exemplary web-based service.

In Library Mashups, Nicole C. Engard and 25 contributors from all over the world walk readers through definitions, summaries, and practical uses of mashups in libraries. Examples range from ways to allow those without programming skills to make simple website updates, to modifying the library OPAC, to using popular sites like Flickr, Yahoo!, LibraryThing, Google Maps, and Delicious to share and combine digital content. This essential guide is required reading for all libraries and librarians seeking a dynamic, interactive web presence.

To learn more, browse through the table of contents, links, and book news.

My grandmother whose first name was Bertha was enumerated in 1910 as Brony, which was short for Bronislawa, the Polish version of her name. Ironically, she was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and her father, who had been born in Poland gave the English version of his name–John. When Elizabeth Szucs arrived in the Port of New York in 1906, her name is listed on the manifest as Erszebet Szucs.

Fortunately determining the ethnic equivalent of your ancestor’s name typically isn’t too difficult. BehindtheName.com is a great resource. Type your ancestor’s name in the search box and then from the box on the right, select “Related Names” and you’ll be rewarded with a list of related names from various ethnic backgrounds. The site lists well over a hundred variations of Elizabeth alone from countries around the world.

This is a great tip to share with the reference librarians at your library – so that they can help community members find their ancestors with a bit more ease than I’ve had to far

Technorati Tags: genealogy

That’s insane – most libraries aren’t going to have that many fans – so that means they’re going to have to wait:

This limitation is temporary. All Pages created after May 31, 2009 or that had less than 1,000 fans on that day will be eligible to claim usernames on Sunday, June 28, 2009.

Guess I’ll have to mark my calendar and wait patiently.

Technorati Tags: facebook

Finding content was never this easy

No matter what you’re writing about: books, music, or how to save the planet, we have highly relevant content to enrich your posts.

Images from Flickr, Wikipedia, Getty and other great sources

So, I installed it and started writing an email to a friend about how excited my pups were that they were coming on the trip with us – and guess what? Zemanta found pictures of Coda & Beau for me to insert into my email!!! Check it out:

Technorati Tags: pres4lib, zemanta