It's official. After all the kerfuffle (here and here), and now that the PLA presentation is over, I finally took the plunge and became a member of the American Library Association. I considered joining a few different divisions, but ultimately went just with YALSA so that I could cast votes for all of the great stuff that Beth Gallaway and other enthusiastic supporters are doing within that group. Plus, I want to go to their cool gaming events this year and next!

So we'll see what this year of membership brings. My reasons for joining are still the same, except that now I can add Leslie Burger's upcoming presidency, the forward strides the organization is taking with the upcoming Library 2.0 course (a self-serving reason, I know, but I would see it as a positive step no matter who was acting as faculty for it), the great support we've received (both in-house and externally) for the ALA TechSource Blog, and the truly interesting ALA person that just might try blogging (she's still great, even if she doesn't manage to blog, and she gives me hope for continued progress at ALA because she "gets" it).

More pictures when my card arrives via snail mail!

A couple of weeks ago, when MLS hosted a new special interest group devoted to gaming, it became apparent that we needed a better way to connect librarians who are already doing this with others that have questions about how to get started or what's working well. (Actually, this was a very visible need after the 2005 Gaming in Libraries Symposium.) One of the most common questions I'm asked is, "Where is there a list of libraries that are doing this already?"

We've had trouble moving the discussion forward on the Gaming in Libraries website due to a lack of staff time and resources, so I ended up deciding that we should just put all of the wiki-style information on Meredith's already-oh-so-wonderful LibSuccess site. It made sense to take advantage of such a great, existing resource and that way, we'd be part of a larger community.

So, today I finished editing the Gaming section to add entries for every library that came to the March Gaming SIG at MLS that is doing some type of gaming (video, board, card, etc.) and that gave me some info about it. In each entry, I included the type and size of the library in the hope that if you're doing any kind of research, you can find someone at a comparable library and talk to them about their experiences. Or find a library with which you would like to partner. Or give a library a shout-out for the great work they're doing. Or whatever.

Obviously this is just a small subset of gaming libraries in the world, so please feel free to add your own library to the list. I didn't want to take the liberty of adding other libraries I know are doing this (yo, Ann Arbor District Library, et. al.!), because I figured they would want to describe their services in their own words. If you feel like the entries should be in a different format, different order, or if an important piece of information is missing, please feel free to add/modify/change/wish/dream by editing the wiki page yourself! (Loooooooove that about wikis!)

And you librarians that were here for the Gaming SIG, now is your chance to get a login and start adding all of the great information you shared during the session! Let's build out this resource and make it something really useful!

Hmmm... after reading through The Institute of Internet History, I'm starting to wonder if those people who think "Library 2.0" is nothing new might have a point after all. Maybe librarians just haven't taken full advantage of the technologies available to us in the past.... [via Dave Farber's Interesting People mailing list]

I missed this when Rochelle first posted it, but I love the idea and I think it would be great if it takes off!

Time to Get Going on the Fortune Cookie Project

"A few weeks ago, I proposed the Library Fortune Cookie Project, a campaign to plant positive messages and signage in libraries during (and before) National Library Week. I started a Flickr group, but, sadly, there's only one posting. I hope it's because everyone is waiting for National Library week, and not because there's a dearth of positive communication in libraries. Kevin Smith, known as ashkev on Flickr (aka the Fiddling Librarian) made the inaugural post and said that his library is on board and ready to go. I'll communicate with ALA's Public Information Office about getting some support for the project, but hope that you'll consider jumping in right now." [Tinfoil + Raccoon]

I'd like to suggest adding this sign to the Flickr group - how about it, Mr. Sauers?

Back in November, I posted this picture with the wish that I'd get to talk about it someday. Luckily, I can finally start talking about it, even though nothing is official yet.

This is the full view of the Zephyr wall on which a couple of colleagues and I came up with a new LSTA grant idea for FY2007 at the request of the Illinois State Library. The idea I pitched to them became the basis for the "Developing a Statewide Technology Toolkit" grant you can read more about at the bottom of this page.

I recently wrote up a more detailed, three page explanation for the Illinois Library Systems Directors Organization, and last week they decided to submit the idea in this grant category. Basically, it offers every library in Illinois a chance to enhance its website and services with blogs, RSS, and instant messaging in an effort to level the web-based playing field in the State.

The first year of the grant is devoted to research and development, during which time a project coordinator will be hired to choose blogging-based, open source software for participating libraries to implement. This will also give them a starting point for RSS feeds for their content. In addition, we'll give each library a Flickr account and get them started using instant messaging for communicating with patrons (not just internally).

Even though it seems to some of us like blogging, RSS, and IM have been around forever and most libraries have adopted these tools, the truth is that the overwhelming number of libraries in this country, let alone in Illinois, have yet to make that leap. This grant will give them the tools (and will take into account hosting the software on servers installed regionally), training at their own institution, website templates designed by usability experts, and tons of documentation (best practices, sample policies, PR materials, and more). Year one will include pilot projects to create, tweak, and finalize everything before the toolkit is rolled out to all libraries (of all types) that want to participate in year two. Illinois libraries will be able to pick and choose which pieces they want to implement, but for the majority of our libraries (which are smaller institutions), this should jumpstart them towards a web-based presence that is more usable for patrons, more efficient for staff to update, and more shifted to go where their users are. In other words, it should help them start down the path to Library 2.0 faster and in ways they otherwise can't pursue on their own due to lack of staff, time, and resources.

There's a lot more in the idea we proposed (this would be the visible tip of the iceberg), but details have to be hammered out and agreed upon by all of the regional Library Systems before I can say more. Two things I want to say here, though. The first is how impressed I am that the Illinois State Library is willing to entertain such proposals that dream BIG. ISL staff - you "get it" and you ROCK! This would be a huge boost for Illinois libraries!

Another point I want to make is that the more we collaborate regionally, the more we can enhance library services by evolving the wheel, rather than reinventing it. I'm pretty impressed that the Illinois System Directors "get it," too!

So what's next? A committee of Systems staff will write the full proposal, which we'll submit in a couple of months. Then we have an excruciating wait until September to find out if we've been awarded the grant. If we get it, we start in October.

We'll take all the well wishes we can get, including crossed fingers, good luck charms, and lit candles. I'll try to share as much as I can about the proposal and [hopefully the eventual] implementation as things progress.

Don't you wish you worked at an Illinois library? ;-)

Among the many things keeping me more than busy these days is a commitment I made to be on the RSS Advisory Board. You can easily look up the controversy surrounding it, but my intent in joining as a "non-techie" was to help make RSS easier for the end user. We're in the middle of a vote for a big step forward in this area.

In my presentations and RSS class, I always say the white-on-orange RSS/XML button is about the worst way to represent what it actually means and means absolutely nothing to pretty much everyone, so I am happy to have voted yes to try and change this.

Support the Common Feed Icon

"In an effort to make the concept of syndication easier for mainstream users, the next versions of the Internet Explorer and Opera browsers will identify RSS and Atom feeds with the same icon used in Mozilla Firefox. Since the market share of these browsers tops 95 percent, the icon will become the de facto standard for syndication overnight when the next version of Microsoft Windows comes out later this year.

The common feed icon has been adopted by hundreds of web sites in the last 60 days. I've been experimenting with it on Workbench and like the results....

As technology reaches mass adoption, the technical details that matter so much to dorks like me fade into the background. This is already beginning to happen with syndication, in spite of several years of "tastes great/less filling" between advocates of different formats....

...The use of a common icon and jargon-free language like 'subscribe to a feed' have the potential to make things considerably easier." [Workbench]

I point this out mainly because there does seem to be a movement towards using this icon , so it's something libraries need to be aware of. If you're currently offering RSS, you should consider using this icon since we hope to standardize on it and you'll want to use something that your users see elsewhere, especially in their web browsers. I'll be changing the buttons on TSL to reflect this.

There's an interesting discussion about tagging and OPACs over on the WEB4LIB mailing list. Start here and work your way through the thread (so far the subject line hasn't changed so it should be relatively easy). Some interesting comments and pointers to the PennTags project at Penn State the University of Pennsylvania, which I didn't realize incorporated tagging into the catalog. Rock on, Michael Winkler and Penn State UPenn!

In addition, make sure you stay current on what Davey P. is doing with his OPAC, in particular the pewbot which provides Amazon-like suggestions (read more about it here and here).

Earlier this year, John Blyberg did a great job surveying some of the really great experimenting we're seeing with taking OPACs to the next level. Could 2006 be the year the OPAC finally begins to truly evolve? Let's hope so.

Ironically, I'll be writing more in the near future about the various things I am working on that have kept me from blogging here, but one of those things is a commitment to an online course for ALA about Library 2.0 using Library 2.0 tools. My co-presenter for the course, Michael Stephens, has already posted about it over on the ALA TechSource Blog so you can read more about it there, but now we're moving forward with the actual development of the course, which will start in May.

The first order of business is creating a reading list, so naturally we're starting to pull together a variety of posts from around the internet (blog posts, emails, mailing list messages, etc.). Therefore, if you have an original piece you have written or want to write about Library 2.0 that you would like to submit for consideration, please contact either one of us (mstephens7@mac.com, jenny@theshiftedlibrarian.com) or leave a comment on one of our sites. I'm stressing the word "original" in the previous sentence because we're more interested in moving the discussion forward, rather than just recycling straight reposts, "me, too," or "what he said" pointers. Linking to someone else is fine, but we're hoping to hear your own thoughts on the subject. And of course, we reserve the right to edit them down if need be, but we'll clear any changes with you.

We'd especially love to hear from those of you who feel that you haven't been heard on this issue, those of you who believe your thoughts have been misrepresented or misconstrued elsewhere, and anyone else that feels strongly about this topic. We'll be inclusive of the whole discussion, which is why we're putting out this call. Here's your chance to join in!

The Librarians' Internet Index is facing a 50% budget cut to its primary funding source for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2006. The wonderful folks behind this great reference resource need your input to help them decide how to try to move forward despite and in reaction to such a drastic cut.

It's a short survey, only a dozen questions, and it should only take a few minutes to complete. It will be available through 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time, Thursday, March 16.

The staff plans to use the responses from this survey to learn how to serve users better and to help justify continued support for the project. If you've ever used the site at all or appreciate all of the hard work these folks do, please help them out by taking the survey at http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB2254CBPRVFB.

2006 SirsiDynix SuperConference
Recognizing Opportunities: When Libraries Seek Partners in the Business Community

sponsorship market

– huge pressure to innovate
– limited resources: time, talent, budgets
– buy or partner?

the growing imperative: collaborate or die
traditional marketing and advertising is being engineered out of dominance
– new filtering devices
– new media
– media numb audiences

trends
– visual culture
– authentic (telling people facts isn’t nearly as influential as telling a story)
– self-expressive

The Big Shift: The Rise of the RenGen

Why libraries make good partners today?
3 key assets
– technology
– talent (“librarians are xenophiles among the Geeks;” deep insights into how users consume information)
– timeliness

Agenda for innovation
1. Youth reading programs, poetry slams, author events are all red hot and ripe for sponsors
2. Sponsored resources – home improvement, investor education
3. On-site sales – Starbucks and Snapple
4. New product trials – software, downloads
5. Small business services

Three important steps
1. Get visual (we’re not competing with the park district, but with culture in general; our newsletters are so bad it’s like being silent)
2. Get new friends
3. What’s in it for you?
          1. Clout (showcase what you give and provide – business community, etc. – so that they see you’re not just a drain on money)
          2. Community
          3. Cash to do the extras (in many cases, we are now fighting for audience at the local audience, and if we can work with local businesses to drive more traffic AND get cash, what’s not to love?)

noted her book “Made Possible by” about sponsorship

Reality check: what it takes to succeed
1. Entrepreneurial culture
2. Really know your user group
3. Know your limits – what is and isn’t for sale and why
4. Know which assets are valuable
5. Can you commit to the discomfort of growth?

therengen.com

Earlier this year we saw the evolutionary job ad for a NextGen Librarian at Wayne State University. Now comes an equivalent version for school librarians.

Western NY Job Opening - Spec. Library Technologies

Genesee Valley BOCES, an educational service agency based in Le Roy, NY (30 minutes SW of Rochester and about 45 minutes east of Buffalo) is looking to hire a Specialist of Library Technologies to work within my department, the School Library System (http://sls.gvboces.org). While the posting is for a school certified librarian, the key word is librarian. We need someone to manage Web 2.0 tool development to support member librarian blogging, podcasting, a Moodle server, Drupal, and other services. The position will also involve training and working with librarians in management of an electronic resources service. Please feel free to send any questions to me at cgharris at gvboces.org or infomancy at gmail.com or by phone at 585-344-7942.

The posting is available online at the GVBOCES website (http://www.gvboces.org/employment/vacancy06-95.htm).

POSITION:
Specialist, Library Technologies

QUALIFICATIONS: Permanent NYS Teaching Certification
Three (3) years of experience with technology training and/or
Web development MLS or library experience desirable.
Seeking motivated person to manage Web 2.0/Library 2.0 presence
LOCATION: Le Roy Services Center
SALARY: $35,000 - $40,000
REPLY BY MARCH 16, 2006 WITH REFERENCE TO VACANCY 06-95, LETTER OF
APPLICATION AND RESUME TO:

Susan Brown
Genesee Valley BOCES
80 Munson Street
LeRoy, NY 14482"

Unmentioned benefit - you get to work with Chris!