tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21354126244988594652011-11-25T00:02:06.858-08:00Explorations in the world of libraries, technology and the information industry.bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.comBlogger731100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-43502044646575024352010-02-18T16:01:00.000-08:002010-02-18T16:13:38.453-08:00

Hi-We are forming teams-If you have a group, want to start a group or join a group, please add the information to this post

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-86763056256259122782010-02-09T10:35:00.001-08:002010-02-09T10:41:32.930-08:00

Looks like you can link to cover images and content (maybe not reviews) using Google Books.Part of the Google library project (is that what they are calling the book project?), there is a sections for libraries to link to the various content- Here is the link for pulling in the cover images.

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-24189776479841735002009-06-25T09:29:00.000-07:002009-06-25T09:31:59.016-07:00

This site does some nice stuff with CSS:it is run by Stu Nicholls CSSplay. He also has some page templates that look clean and easy to use.

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-72171340600113972492009-03-19T11:30:00.000-07:002009-03-19T11:32:02.203-07:00

interesting graphic representation of information searches:Map of Knnowledgefrom the article:The map includes both the sciences and the humanities in a hub and wheel arrangement, with the humanities at the center and the sciences arrayed around them. The arrangement fell out naturally from the data and is not contrived, said Johan Bollen, the leader of the research team.

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-79200566322703629942009-03-19T10:48:00.000-07:002009-03-19T11:23:45.047-07:00

Interesting application:LibGuides--Not sure if this is exactly what you'd call a template- but it is very clever and timely.Basically a plug and play form for libraries to create web ready reference guides- seems to be very popular among libraries- at least judging from the Web4lib listserv.from the Springshare website:All institutions using LibGuides are connected in a global content network

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-27981442205201202052008-12-10T09:39:00.000-08:002008-12-10T10:12:03.480-08:00

EIN test link

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-58001814943887544862007-11-18T13:18:00.000-08:002007-11-18T13:28:02.105-08:00

Stumbled, rambled or somehow came across this little video representation of what happens when a searcher scans a page of Google search results from Daniel Chudnov's blog- new to me, but I imagine probably one of the established bloggerati. Not knowing a thing about fractal geometry, I perhpas missed some of his reference, but I was struck by the conclusion which aptly showed how meaningless a

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-88447786692766435172007-10-15T19:27:00.000-07:002007-10-15T19:31:04.800-07:00

Not having as much time to read my listservs, I am going to note those things that I need to come back to. For instance, :this on web4lib concerning open source ILS's. Bob looks at which U.S. public & academic libraries currently run open > source ILS software, and how Koha and Evergreen usage stacks up.> > "There are a number of ways one might measure the impact of open > source ILS software on

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-87452227112338784372007-09-24T17:25:00.001-07:002007-09-24T17:25:44.517-07:00

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-83855891001254289032007-09-22T12:06:00.001-07:002007-09-22T12:29:26.712-07:00

I've realized that the right side of this blog is becoming quite crowded with the stuff I'm picking up as I surf the internet (and, although that is an old, hackneyed phrase, I think it aptly describes the process of the to and fro-ing you do as you swing from link to link).My latest finds come from trying to solve a problem with a Quick Link select list; the website managers would like the link

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-13720180401820491012007-09-14T16:37:00.000-07:002007-09-14T16:46:22.210-07:00

Here are two resources for creating forums (discussion groups- good for collaborative conversations):phpBB: "Since its creation in 2000, phpBB™ has become the most widely used Open Source forum solution."Informe.com, a free forum hosting site: "On the first day of 2007 we present you our free forum hosting service, Informe.com. Our project is powered by world's most popular forum engine, PhpBB,

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-23536242551139577332007-09-14T12:32:00.000-07:002007-09-14T14:43:35.865-07:00

Interesting site, code4lib. I followed a link to a presentation given by Erik Hatcher for the Library of Congress on August 1, 2007 about Solr, a search engine for libraries, based on open-source Lucene. In it he discusses the development of a new search engine utilizing the Java based Lucene open source software with Solr (originally developed by CNET, and open-sourced) layered above. The

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-21588204329525627232007-09-14T10:36:00.000-07:002007-09-14T10:53:39.450-07:00

This is probably old news but it was new to me, so IRC seems worth a mention. It's apparently something like IM. Here's what the IRC Primer, found on Code4Lib has to say:IRC (original code was written by Jarkko Oikarinen) is a multi-user, multi-channel chatting network. It allows people all over the internet to talk to one another in real-time. It is a functional replacement and improvement to

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-43431256062434559912007-09-13T17:45:00.000-07:002008-12-12T21:35:13.798-08:00

OK- that was hard- and it never did upload from the Flickr url, so I'm not sure what went wrong. Now will try to get this into my profile where it can live for all eternity- this was on a boat on Lake Tahoe- a lovely day.Update: I did manage to put this into the profile, although not through the Flickr url. I cut and pasted the url from the blog into the profile- several times without success

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-67110478832161005342007-09-13T12:14:00.001-07:002007-09-13T12:14:40.465-07:00

first presentationhttp://www.spresent.com/view/?p=-1

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-77504355697163177102007-09-12T17:05:00.001-07:002007-09-12T17:15:14.156-07:00

Buying the student version of Adobe CS3 for my Dreamweaver class was probably the best investment I have made recently. CS3 contains the latest versions of Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash and more. I spent today getting familiar with some of Photoshop's features, watching the training videos provided with the software. Also. did some exploring in Flash, which has this cool thing called Zoomify.

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-80533033534713870902007-09-12T10:35:00.000-07:002007-09-12T10:42:32.644-07:00

Courtesy of a link provided by Donna Mazziotti in the PubLib listserv, here is a link to a blog posting that contains photographs of the world's most beautiful libraries, and they are stunning. The blog itself is called "Curious Expeditions: Travelling and exhuming the extraordinary past" and seems to be the chronicle of two travelers roaming the world. It's stylish, well written and has great

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-72491734995169732502007-09-11T13:06:00.000-07:002007-09-11T13:12:05.936-07:00

I really like the learning approach of 23 Things. Technology is really a hands-on experience and you can't begin to understand the possibilities of some of these tools until you've experienced them. And, as I said earlier, since Web 2.0 is all about free, easy, fast and fun, I think many people who were technophobic before attempting the Challenge, may have been surprised to discover how much

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-52412974281413415532007-09-11T12:55:00.000-07:002007-09-11T13:06:20.747-07:00

I left this until last because it's the tool I dislike the most. But I summoned up the courage and opened a twitter account. I can see the appeal for those who enjoy texting, or IMing, but at this moment, I have no need for such a tool. We did use IM frequently while I was working in Tech Support and it was a very handy way to communicate with someone while on the phone with someone else- a

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-77916009919960515522007-09-11T12:40:00.000-07:002007-09-11T14:17:11.519-07:00

This whole blog is about that topic, so I think for the writeup on this item, I will point to a few of the articles that I have enjoyed reading on this subject.On the future of virtual referenceLibrary 2.0 Course SyllabusSpecifically, this module of the course, Library 2.0, lists some great articles for further reading.10 Programming Concepts Librarians Should know, form the blog of Ryan

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-45680047042819347342007-09-11T12:09:00.000-07:002007-09-11T12:40:45.391-07:00

Technorati collects and ranks blogs. They've recently redone their main page to sort the blogs into categories making it easier to browse by subject.I think what they say about linking is a key concept underlying the Web 2.0 "movement":A link from one weblog to another helps provide context around an argument or point, and it is essentially a "vote of attention" from one blogger to another. By

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-72493084606594106862007-09-11T11:51:00.000-07:002007-09-11T12:02:44.757-07:00

Bad things: you must log in several times. I couldn't figure out how to "save as" in the Docs program; the spreadsheet is clunky and updates were slow. Good things: they are free to registered users, the Docs exports in a variety of formats including Word, and I think I will stick with Excel for spreadsheets.

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-70668592010154585362007-09-11T11:19:00.001-07:002007-09-11T11:46:03.751-07:00

I am disappointed with Google maps- I thought it would be intuitive and simple, but it actually isn't. I created a map of Berkeley, and was going to add locators for the various library branches, but I am still struggling to figure out how to control the appearance and scope of the map- it keeps switching to the Google earth view, and sometimes goes off altogether and I wind up in Wichita!

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-60966976573707613642007-09-11T10:12:00.000-07:002007-09-11T10:47:05.920-07:00

I have been doing various things with podcasts over the last several months, so I'm going to try to summarize my explorations and discoveries.I downloaded Juice, a "premier podcast receiver, allowing users to capture and listen to podcasts anytime, anywhere" but was leary of using it for fear of overwriting the stuff already on my daughter's iPod.Here's how it works, according to the Juice Help

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-32042504625400066002007-09-11T09:57:00.000-07:002007-09-11T10:09:29.242-07:00

The opportunity to teach someone else about using these Web 2.0 tools presented itself following m niece's wedding in August. Because our family is scattered across the US, getting and sharing photos from the wedding would be difficult. Her photographer put the professional photos on Shutterfly,and for the rest of us I suggested that we put ours on Flickr. I created a little tutorial using Wink

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-91461878036343024162007-09-10T20:19:00.000-07:002007-09-10T20:25:07.364-07:00

I just changed my search expression (for the YouTube widget that posts random videos on your blog) from "Lake Tahoe" to "Manchester, Vermont" and have gathered a very strange crop of videos- lots of which have to do with soccer in Great Britain (you know- Manchester United et al- not surprising, although I thought it would filter to be a boolean "manchester AND vermont- apparently not, although

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-89109911651555852532007-09-10T19:57:00.000-07:002007-09-10T20:10:21.625-07:00

Just got to say that I really enjoy my Flickr badge (over there on the right hand side of the blog). It shows random, ever-changing photos from my Flickr site and reminds me of the portraits and the newspaper photos in Harry Potter, where the photo subjects would be moving around and waving- talk about interactive!You can get one here. I love Flickr!

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-63924861431152646592007-09-10T09:45:00.000-07:002007-09-10T09:54:46.137-07:00

I don't think we'll be offering Google any serious competition any time soon with this tool. After spending a frustrating amount of time trying to create a searchroll by importing some of my bookmarks (as opposed to manually entering up to 25 urls in a tiny scroll box window), I revisited the site today, armed with a list of ready reference sites, courtesy of a PubLib subscriber. I cut and

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-40538992509989107172007-09-07T13:07:00.000-07:002007-09-09T16:42:12.041-07:00

OK- I am determined to get InfoPeople's flash drive so I am going to focus on completing the 23 things, which I am copying here from the InfoPeople blog, so I have it all in one place. I am also adding links to the relevant blog posts, and outside sites where appropriate.The 23 things list:1. Read this entry (that's right, the one that you are reading now), and this FAQ to find out about the

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-54747301961024851872007-09-07T12:44:00.000-07:002007-09-07T13:02:18.184-07:00

Spent alot of time this morning going through my listservs and came upon some interesting stuff at PubLib, one of which was a blogger's wish list for his next ILS upgrade. Although I suspect that many of these features already do exist in some systems, it is instructive to have the Library 2.0 elements in a list form.Also a post about a project called MaintainIT: "In true grassroots fashion, the

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-33432952437025596042007-09-07T12:30:00.000-07:002007-09-07T12:43:56.866-07:00

I'm taking a class (through Diablo Valley College's online program) on building dynamic websites using Dreamweaver with ASP, ColdFusion and PHP. The training methodology is one that I prefer: the lessons are embedded in the actual hands- on creation of an interactive web site. All three server-side languages will be presented as part of each lesson, thereby providing exposure to more than one,

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-82168471112816891142007-08-30T10:37:00.000-07:002007-08-30T11:23:13.380-07:00

Courtesy of a posting on the PubLib listserv, I was led to an interesting self-publishing site, called Lulu. It claims to be "fast, easy and free" and it looks as though all those claims are true.Basically you upload a word processing document, choose from a list of formats the desired size and style of your book, select or upload cover art, and hit convert. Your word processing document is

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-91885834463466236372007-08-02T12:00:00.000-07:002007-08-02T12:11:13.458-07:00

WebJunction is an amazing resource. Self described as an "online community for library staff", it has resources, training courses and a community of members that can interact in various ways, such as forums, discussion boards, wikis and blogs. On the home page today is an article describing exactly how libraries can use Twitter, the new micro-messaging tool. Also there are links to many great

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-53962953976215726312007-08-02T11:45:00.000-07:002007-08-02T12:00:06.457-07:00

I'm taking (well, auditing really) a class called Developing a Library Technology Plan, offered by InfoPeople and taught by Lori Bowen Ayers. The class is most meaningful if you have an actual plan to develop, as it points to great resources and clearly outlines a process for developing such a plan. In fact, at the end of the class, you actually have created a technology plan, so therere is a

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-53283404806954170672007-08-02T11:08:00.000-07:002007-08-02T11:37:41.667-07:00

I recently joined an excellent discussion list,web4lib, hosted by Webjunction. The stated purpose of the list is:"The Web4Lib electronic discussion is for the discussion of issues relating to the creation, management, and support of library-based World-Wide Web servers, services, and applications." and the audience is:"Web4Lib is specifically aimed toward librarians and library staff involved in

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-39576180543367715012007-07-20T12:10:00.000-07:002007-07-20T12:35:00.705-07:00

I read about a public library in Maryland (Howard County Library) that has moved to an Ubuntu Linux based application (known as Groovix) for its public access computers. Excerpts from the article:"After I saw the Groovix deployment, with RealPlayer and other media support, there was no turning back. We begin piloting in January and it went effortlessly." De Groff tested the operating system on

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-22275592383660305482007-07-11T17:33:00.000-07:002007-09-08T19:21:08.180-07:00

This was a surprise to me- I thought the Yelpers were just into food. Anyway, I checked out the Yelp reviews for the Berkeley Public Library, and discovered that everybody loved it- along with some interesting comments. Here's one excerpt:"the berkeley library has the goods! the earnest nerdy librarians, a solid fiction room, dvds, cds, even a respectable foreign language books section. they can

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-25727551931059797632007-07-11T13:56:00.000-07:002007-07-11T14:31:10.720-07:00

The AADL has a great catalog, which we are reviewing as part of this week's exercise in the eBranch course. Among the many interactive features, it has reviews by patrons,tags and comments as well as many ways to browse the catalog. The tags feature is very well done- it first presents a page of the top 500 tags, then, in a sidebar, lists the top 10 tags, the 10 most recent tags, 10 random tags

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-32530094344253096542007-07-09T16:29:00.000-07:002007-09-07T13:53:40.663-07:00

Flickr is a must for libraries- I liked the Hennepin Library's "Bookspace" series, in which patrons submitted photos of themselves reading books. It's fun to look at pictures, and people who attend library events will feel more a part of the library if they see themselves on the libray website- in fact, they'll probably tell their friends and relatives to take a look, too. I really liked Westmont

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-64118503521029701732007-07-09T15:16:00.000-07:002007-07-09T15:56:12.502-07:00

Last week's exercise on multimedia content on library websites led to all sorts of dabbling, including figuring out how to email photos from a cameraphone to Flickr, how to post photos from Flickr to my blog (here's a link to Flickr's page telling you how to do this- all very simple, which is why Flickr is so popular) and how to set up a podcast receiver. I installed Juice but have not figured

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-75030629202893706302007-07-09T14:43:00.000-07:002007-07-09T15:01:56.222-07:00

I have reviewed the Denver Public Library's site before, but found something new on this latest visit (the definition of a good website- something new each time you visit): a link to multimedia stories, available for free through a vendor, August House. I listened to and watched a charming story called The Drum. Interactive features include an option to read the story, with a button to click if

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-12506893424719836102007-07-08T16:49:00.001-07:002007-07-08T16:49:02.009-07:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Same group with me, originally uploaded by bonnieknight. The weather was lousy but the graduation was great.

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-39848319732840480092007-07-06T16:01:00.000-07:002007-07-06T16:03:50.510-07:00

Recipients of a SirsiDynix Building Better Communities Awards:(among others, but these two I want to check out)• Lincoln Trail Libraries System – The library’s “PolyTalk” program is an innovative service to help Illinois libraries of all types reach out to people with limited English language skills. SUNLINK: Florida Department of Education – SUNLINK uses a variety of technologies to improve

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-62974518603115990202007-07-06T15:46:00.000-07:002007-07-10T12:30:13.904-07:00

When I was logged into Second Life this afternoon, the statistics were something like 7 million subscribers, 1 million active and 40,000 currently logged in. As I was aimlessly teleporting around, I noticed that many of the others were speaking German (not sure where I was- one place was the Carribean Jazz Club or some such name, with an avatar wailing “How do I stop dancing?”) so maybe I just

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-5457006188587739222007-07-06T14:10:00.001-07:002007-07-06T14:58:26.799-07:00

As an exercise for the "Building a Successful eBranch" class, we were instructed to review some library sites in these venues, and create some accounts. Here are some of my observations:IM services (Princeton University, Santa CLara University and the St. Charles Public Library)All three of these libraries did a nice job of presenting the IM reference services and linking to the IM providers. I

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-40757337070040509182007-06-23T17:04:00.000-07:002007-06-23T17:13:35.574-07:00

How easy was that? PBWiki is a great site- I really like their instructional videos and setting up a wiki is dead simple. Here's mine: Wikilib. I plan to explore the use of wikis as educational tools, so I will be playing with the plugins and the templates, watching the tutorials and messing about to see how stuff works. I already added the "YackPack" which allows those logged into the wiki to

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-1614324522720650862007-06-23T16:32:00.000-07:002007-06-24T19:37:35.365-07:00

As an exercise for the class, we were instructed to look at six examples of wikis that are being used in libraries. They are being used for subject guides, electronic resource guides, staff information, reference guides and OCLC's user comments system (to be released apparently in September, according to their website). After looking at the examples, I would conclude that wikis are useful as a

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-85831098380887740082007-06-22T18:45:00.000-07:002007-06-22T18:53:17.205-07:00

One of the sites we were to evaluate was the Gameblog of the St. Joseph County Public Library. This is a very lively blog, with an active discussion board, apparently moderated by two staff members who seem very much in tune with their patrons.I was struck by the sensible list of rules that one of the moderators set forth in an initial post to the discussion board. Despite evidence that the

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-46083882796841872102007-06-22T18:42:00.000-07:002007-06-24T19:41:29.316-07:00

I am taking this online class with Sarah Houghton-Jan as the instructor.

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-39786573357045785822007-06-11T15:03:00.000-07:002007-06-12T09:30:01.898-07:00

Charlotte & Mecklenberg Public Library: (besides having a way too long name!) most of the links from the home page were non-functional on my visit this morning, which, in my opinion, is a fatal error. I have just checked back, and they appear to be working now, so maybe I just happened upon a rare glitch- hopefully, because non-working links are a fatal error in my opinion.

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-1009450650990356982007-06-11T14:31:00.000-07:002007-06-11T15:03:35.255-07:00

Some observations from viewing the websites for the suggested libraries:Denver Public Library: I really liked their Kids page, Wonder Web, although when I first tried the kid search, it returned an error. After another few tries, it worked. They seem to be using a product from TLC, Carl. I's quite kid-friendly in appearance. They had great graphics on the kids page, bright colors, good

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-45475605159128186872007-06-06T14:32:00.000-07:002007-06-06T14:53:05.340-07:00

I was reading an article from the New York Times on BookExpo America that mentioned OnDemandBooks.com, which has created the Espresso Book Machine. From their website: "On Demand Books LLC. is planning to become the first company to globally deploy a low cost, totally automatic book machine (The Espresso Book Machine), which can produce 15 - 20 library quality paperback books per hour, in any

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-23497777841141873862007-06-04T18:15:00.000-07:002007-06-04T18:26:12.518-07:00

Not that I need another feed aggregator...I already have Bloglines (too hard to get to), my Yahoo homepage (comes with the SBC DSL line service, and is quite visible and accessible, being on my homepage, but also limited because you just don't want to see all that stuff when you first log in), but somehow, while I was trying to add an rss feed to my blog, I came upon the Google Reader

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-89542821444694774252007-06-04T17:56:00.000-07:002007-06-04T18:12:56.077-07:00

I must say that I am enjoying my embedded videos. I just checked in to see what YouTube had put up there, and clicked on a rather nice poetry reading. This may be the real use of these things- a constant trolling for new, relevant and interesting content, not necessarily from traditional sources. We have all become accustomed to getting our stuff through "authorized channels"- department stores

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-77857368795997099322007-06-04T14:39:00.000-07:002007-06-04T14:42:59.688-07:00

I was trying to add an RSS feed to my blog, which I was not able to do, but stumbled instead upon this new feature which lets you add videos from YouTube and Google video to your blog. I chose "Flowers" for the title, and roses, daffodils and irises for the subjects. Very odd collection of videos resulted- including a Guns n Roses video and some other things. It seems to change, so I'll keep

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-28227531891302908122007-06-03T21:11:00.000-07:002007-06-03T21:20:52.656-07:00

In my explorations I came upon a site that posts new music videos- it's kind of like YouTube: BaebleMusic.com.

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-66863858575883684312007-05-31T17:06:00.000-07:002007-05-31T17:17:01.395-07:00

As per Infopeople's suggestion, I am reviewing these libraries using Web 2.0 technologies:Charlotte and Mecklinburg CountyAnn Arbor District LibraryDenver Public LibrarySeattle Public LibraryIn particular, I will examine how they are using RSS feeds, podcasting, MySpace and Second Life to reach their patrons. (I'm listing them here so I can take advantage of the hyperlinking all in one place-

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-8499759498706190312007-05-31T14:47:00.000-07:002007-05-31T17:02:21.074-07:00

I have spent some time (way too much time) fooling around with Flickr mashups. Here's a cute one, called FlickIt which generates thumbnail images based on a word. In this example, I set the image size to 85 and the query (or subject) to "book":Images from FlickIt!FlickIt "is the simple yet extremely useful web service for dynamically generating thumbnails of anything."The images are somewhat

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-12975706211021273762007-05-27T13:18:00.000-07:002007-05-27T16:28:33.131-07:00

I uploaded photos from my son's college graduation to share with family and friends. Setting up the account and uploading the photos was a breeze- Flickr's instructions are simple and clear. Sharing was a bit of a challenge, but I now realize that was because it takes some time for the system to incorporate uploaded photos and tags. You can also create a personalized url that leads people

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-78481290004838883832007-05-27T12:49:00.000-07:002007-05-27T13:01:00.188-07:00

I just joined a LibraryThing group (Librarians Who LibraryThing) and in browsing the discussions, came upon a link to a member's blog, in particular a posting on the blog about Google search tips and other search engine advice.As the member explained in the posting, "At my library, we have a blog of search advice specifically related to Google for the students (the idea being, if you can't beat '

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-16278695646567355682007-05-27T11:26:00.000-07:002007-05-27T11:34:59.516-07:00

What Should I Read Next? website suggests items you might like reading based on real readers' recommendations.I searched for London Fields and thesewere the results:A Man Called Intrepid: The Secret War, by William StevensonDorian by Will SelfNight and Day by Virginia WoolfDear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon by Tony FletcherThe Green Knight by Iris MurdochThe Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-42852041138503382932007-05-16T17:56:00.000-07:002007-05-16T17:58:50.602-07:00

on the future:I think it is instructive to look at the battle between Netflix and Blockbuster. Blockbuster was firmly a bricks and mortar establishment, and very successful, penetrating deep in the neighborhoods, almost as ubiquitous as Starbucks. Along came Netflix, and scooped up lots of customers who were too busy to go to a store. Blockbuster immediately (or sort of immediately) responded

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-61081935734277900702007-05-15T11:01:00.000-07:002007-05-15T11:12:27.254-07:00

The Danbury Public Library has added LibraryThing for Libraries to its OPAC as reported on The Thingology Blog. It's an interesting article that descibes both the positives and negatives og the experience. Tagging is described in some detail. The tag browser does take a long time to load- but, according to the posting, they are aware of the issue and working on it. One question I have on tags

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-31719014717856881332007-05-14T12:55:00.000-07:002007-05-27T16:29:58.914-07:00

This reminds me a bit of getting Girl Scout badges- I enjoyed that too!Anyway, for the record, these are the Things I have done so far:1. Read the entry, the FAQs, and listened to Helene Blowers' presentation. I am also enrolled for the "Developing a successful eBranch" online 4-week workshop as well as "Developing a library Technology Plan".2. Set up my own blog- here it is!3. Registered said

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-28343239232386436422007-05-12T16:50:00.000-07:002007-05-13T12:55:02.563-07:00

I registered my blog with InfoPeople's 23 things challenge and have already learned some new things from the other participants.Looking through the participants' blogs on the InfoPeople's "Our 23 Web 2.0 Things Challenge" blog, I took a look at Stephanie's blog and followed a link to another of her blogs, where I saw that she had this cool Meebo widget for live chat. I went to the Meebo page and

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-63737394686376342042007-05-11T18:01:00.000-07:002007-05-11T18:01:15.795-07:00

TomDispatch - Tomgram: Ward, How the Public Library Became Heartbreak Hotel

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-23475416168134588692007-05-11T17:39:00.000-07:002007-05-11T17:46:58.679-07:00

I just read a remarkable blog post by Chip Ward, former Assistant Director of the Salt Lake City Public Library, posted on Tom Englehardt's blog, TomDispatch.com. The posting is detailed and impassioned, and best read in the original. I can't resist quoting from it, but everyone should read it in its entirety.Here's an excerpt:"In the meantime, the Salt Lake City Public Library -- Library

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-41442486809019518072007-05-11T14:34:00.000-07:002007-05-11T14:46:29.101-07:00

I just finished listening to Helene Blowers InfoPeople podcast on "Web 2.0: What Library Managers Need to Know" . Her presentation is great- very succinct, focused and easy to understand. I was particularly interested in her description of her library's My Space page, and its impact on their teen patrons. Also interesting was that InfoPeople has created its own "23 Things" challenge modelled

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-74101117057536828402007-05-11T14:23:00.000-07:002007-05-11T14:33:29.768-07:00

I have been knee deep in PHP for the past week- found a good tutorial, PHP from the ground up by Tim Ziegler, and have been proceeding to explore the possibilities that PHP offers. It's surprisingly easy to work with, although I anticipate that without a great deal of experience, one would need to keep a manual handy. I am using Yahoo's web server rather than installing Apache on my machine,

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-32658571308339201052007-05-02T14:20:00.000-07:002007-05-02T16:40:33.350-07:00

Many wonderful resources- HTMLSource: HTML Tutorials is an informative and well-organized site with lots of good information on web design (it's amusing as well)Later, looking through the ALA Direct newsletter, I found several interesting resources and articles. Good article on search engines: Search Engine Shootout. PC World tested Google against some other search engines and concluded it was

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-80328839302605799222007-04-29T12:38:00.000-07:002007-04-29T12:48:43.827-07:00

Some useful information on things like podcasts from about.com where I took a four day email class in creating and editing audio files, as well as a class in Web Design. While the instructions are kind of basic, both classes led me to other resources, such as finding a free digital audio editor Audacity. Of course, trying to figure out how to use the program is taking some time, but I have been

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-24499415706423522482007-04-29T12:26:00.000-07:002007-04-29T12:36:22.581-07:00

I have been working on creating a website for a couple of weeks now. I started by creating a domain name and signing up with Yahoo web hosting. Originally I was going to create my pages from scratch, using just the XHTML and CSS coding in a text editor (I have been using Notepad), but then decided that getting a finished product would take a really long time (and would probably be kind of

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135412624498859465.post-1149525001778720272007-04-23T14:15:00.000-07:002007-04-28T17:03:15.955-07:00

Recently I realized that knowing about Web 2.0 current events and actually applying these new things in a library setting are two very distinct things. While doing my customary daily "research" (which involves a random walk through the library blogoshpere, with frequent digressions via hyperlink, until much time has passed and the applications are still not filled in), I stumbled upon a link to

bonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04368200981666242892noreply@blogger.com0