Sites and Soundbytes

There are ideas that staff have that suddenly take off and are caught up by everyone.  Here at our library, our most recent one of these is "Going Green."  After talking about it for several days, we have more volunteers on staff willing to work on it than any other program before, longer lists of great ideas, and a real sense of ownership and value. 

We are looking at doing programs for the public, but we also want to change some of our own wasteful ways.  So we may just eliminate bottled water from the staff lounge along with plastic cutlery.  We are looking at asking people to tell us whether they need a printed receipt or not BEFORE it's printed.  We are selling reusable library bags at a really low rate that say Go Green!  They are selling faster than any other bags we have ever offered.  20 in 3 days! 

There is much more in the works, and I can claim little credit for it.  My role is this is simply applause and appreciation for the creativity and effort.  It's a beautiful thing when projects work like this.  Look for a special green section of the website coming up soon!  (Again, not my idea, but isn't it a great one?)

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WebTools4u2use is a very handy site.  It is a wiki designed for school library media specialists to learn about online tools.  As a public librarian, there is a lot to love here.  Just the podcasting section full of resources and ideas is worth the click.   The site contains calendars, photo tools, drawing tools, blogs, feed readers, social networking, and almost any other 2.0 topic you can imagine.  If you are working with children or even with adults on technology, you will want to check out this site.  The hours it could save you!

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

eufeeds is a site that offers feeds for 400 European newspapers.  You can browse the UK list from the front page which is handily in English of course, or click on any country and get their feeds.  For any feed, you can visit the website, find out information on the paper, or see more or fewer of the updates.  A nice way to connect with European news.

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you haven't seen the amazing posters done by the Iowa State Library, then you are missing something!  Featuring eye-catching photos, great captions and a spirit of modern library service, these posters really speak to what great library PR can be. 

Take a look at my favorites:  Preschool Reading and Studying Harmonics.  I love the baby in the preschool one and the fact he's not sucking on a board book, but a real book.  But the Harmonics one really makes me smile.  Great juxtaposition of our assumptions and reality.  Well done!

Now just to find a spot for some in my library...

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Gmachina is a website that compiles all of the top gaming feeds into one handy place.  I love sites like these and hope to see more of them in the future.  They offer readers a spot to quickly see what's happening with no guilt of being unable to keep up with feed readers.  If you are gamer, this is a great site for you.

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After two years of planning, the Fox Cities Book Festival was held this weekend.  Almost every event had more people than we expected.  It was a wonderful testament to the power of poetry and books in people's lives. 

I was lucky enough to be the planner of the children's area at the Book Fair on Saturday.  It was a huge success with over 400 people coming through that day.  Books had been donated by School Specialty to give away to children, we had passes to the children's museum, and stories throughout the day. 

It was so much fun.  Best of all, it reminded me of why I loved working service desks.  There is an energy about public service, a connection that is made, a chance for that moment to reach across and make someone's day and even life better if a risk is taken, a smile given, and nothing is expected in return. 

And so I must return to a plan I had a year ago to work rotations on service desks at the library.  It works on so many levels, getting me in touch with the people we serve, understanding workflow and needs.  And, most selfishly, revitalizing my connection to others, energizing my day, and reminding me in every positive way why I am a public librarian and public servant.

What more could one ask from a single Book Festival?  I guess I'll just have to wait for next year to answer that.

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ReadWriteWeb has a great article called Real People Don't Have Time for Social Media. So are you the real folks who don't have time or are you the information professional (anyone else HATE that term?) who has time?

I think it's a matter of priority.  Is social networking online something that you prioritize in your life or not?  And for those of us who rank firmly in the Community Director category and are immersed in social networks, how do we convey the value of them to those who don't participate now?

I have had success with an internal blog at the library I direct and with IM too.  But if I reach much further into the world of social networking, I hit a wall where people get confused, fearful and start to shut down.  How do we make the connection?  How do we share our enthusiasm without threatening people's library work, because that is often how these online applications are perceived. 

I listen, listen, listen, talk, talk, talk, encourage, listen some more, do demos, applaud successes, applaud failures, and listen some more.  That's the best I know how to do.  I'm hoping some of you have ideas to bridge the gap in the profession and get us all speaking the same language and embracing the new technologies.

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No, this isn't a tag system for cooks.  Rather it offers a very nice tag interface that searches across a variety of the top websites that allow tagging.  You can use the tagcloud on the main page or search for any term you wish.  The opening screen is simple, but delight lie ahead.

Search for something as wide-ranging as "library" and you will pull up results from Flickr, Youtube, Digg, Photobucket, Dailymotion, Reddit, and Del.icio.us.  Click to see more in any given service or just browse the array of photos, videos and links before you.

Simple and fast.  This is a nice way to explore tagging and tags across several sites.

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Telegraph does it again with a list of the 110 best books: The perfect library to get everyone talking.  There's something here for everyone on a list with sections devoted to classics, poetry, literary fiction, romantic fiction, children's books, history and more.  The great thing about it is nodding happily along in agreement and then hitting one that for you is all wrong.  What is Lord of the Rings doing in Children's anyway? 

A great list to feature on your library's website and one that may just get people riled enough to comment.

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The James Beard Foundation has announced the nominees for their book awards that feature the best in cook books. 

What a great way to promote the depth and breadth of your cook book collection!

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BBC NEWS has a piece on children using sites like MySpace and Facebook.  More than a quarter of 8-11 year olds have accounts on sites like this, despite the fact that they are below the minimum age.  In fact, 49% of those between 8 and 17 have an account! 

What does this mean for libraries?  Well, we need to be educating both parents and children of the dangers.  It doesn't mean that we need to be the police, or that we need to ban these sites on library computers.  Please!  Not that! 

But we do need to provide information for patrons on the dangers, how to handle them, and how to minimize them.  Children are so trusting online.  It would probably also be helpful to point parents and children toward child-safe models of social networking. 

My son (age 11) plays Roblox online, a Lego-like themed world where you create avatars, chat, build worlds, and interact with others.  We talk about the dangers, how he can protect himself, and the difference between online friends and real-life friends. 

I see programming potential here or at the very least a place where librarians can become expert in guiding families!  How about you?

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

OK, now this really works for me as a concept.  Friendfeed brings all of your different social networking accounts together in one spot.  So for me, all of my blog posts, my del.icio.us links, my StumbleUpon items, my Netflix queue, my GoodReads profile, and much much more are on a handy-dandy list that all of my Friends (both real life and virtual can view.) 

To take a look at my page, just stop by here.  Perhaps I should warn you upfront about my strange taste in films.  Ah well.  The account is easy to set up and adding the different services is quite easy too.  Slick as can be and lots of fun! 

Posted by Tasha Saecker at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)