Open Source Software

As you will see from the very long post below, I published a document made in Google Docs on my notes from ALA Conference in June. Overall, I think open source software will be the hot new thing that will overtake the proprietary market. I have to say that Google Docs was easy to use although I did miss the auto-edit/correction feature of Word (as annoying as it can be when it does what you don't want) and liked that I could even save it as a pdf.

Open source has so many advantages. I will definitely recommend it to customers with Macs who need to use library PC's. And more and more library systems are embracing the customization and flexibility of open source catalog databases. The software companies need to wake up and find a new niche because no one will want to pay exorbitant prices for software that continuously needs to be updated if they can get current and easy accessible free stuff online. I'd even be willing to say goodbye to auto-edit.

ALA Notes

YALSA Beginner's Guide to Teens in Libraries

Friday, 6/22/2007 , 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Amy Alesio, Teen Coordinator at the Schaumburg (IL) Township District Library

Nick Buron, Queens Borough Public Library

This was an excellent preconference. Amy and Nick are very passionate about YA service and I'm still digesting it all.

Have your definition of teen and know it – can vary system to system – what is our mission for these kids?

Demographics – how many teens; who are they; where they are

School – graduation rate; college entrance; military

Social Services – foster care; assistance

Hang out – where – talk to them to find out

Great @ door when schools out and then 15 minutes later=are you settling in – give them the 15 minute window to unwind and then crack down

Amy had a 20% increase in programs after using MySpace

Goodreads.com

Find a way to say yes – don’t always say no

Follow up with teen service (or any for that matter) – Here’s the information you asked for, now go get an A – Let me know what grade we got (from a HCPL LA)

Interact while walking side by side to the stacks – don’t just want in front – use the opportunity

Bad behavior – "Selected" themselves to be kicked out – teens will live up to your expectations though

TAG project - $100 (can be fictional) what would you buy – make them stick to the budget – better idea of how material selected and get a feel for budgeting – work with Materials to actually let them buy a certain amount of material

PLA -LD Who's In Charge? I Am?! How to Be the Person in Charge; How to Train Your Staff to Be in Charge

Saturday, 6/23/2007 , 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Brett Lear, Jefferson County (CO) Public Library

Ann Bever, Assistant Manager, Dallas Public Library

Mary Jo Giudice, Branch Manager, Dallas Public Library

Marcia Trent, Branch Administrator, Dallas Public Library

Not a lot of new thoughts here but a very worthwhile session.

lead by example - be there, 1st in last out

buy donuts

get to know staff - listen - base approach on personality - find the best way to communicate with each person (don't' schedule morning meetings with a night person)

be accessible

confide in a plant or pet

solve problems quickly when possible

put yourself on hold - detach - avoid hurt feelings - end with laughter

give feedback generously - no such thing as over communication - monthly staff meetings, use of white and bulletin boards, put signs in bathrooms, kitchen/lounge, taped to tables

lead means to let go of the reigns - make staff part of process

management - directing resources and people - art or science of achieving goals through people

coach and mentor - hire for attitude, train for aptitude

don't just make decisions for staff - what do you want to do

ALSC Libraries + Lobbying = Success

Saturday, 6/23/2007 , 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Kathleein Reif, Director, St. Mary's County Library, MD

Maria Salvadore, Salvadore Consulting, DC

Emily Sheketoff, Associate Executive Director, Washington Office ALA

I hadn't anticipated attending this session, but another I tried to get into was so packed, I couldn't get in the door so this was my second choice and very interesting. Much of this was a review but sometimes hearing it in another way helps bring it home.

what do we want to achieve - am I asking the right questions - who is the right person to do the asking

keep message fresh - use stories shared w/passion

build local partnerships - get informed, get active

3 R's - Relationships, Resources, Results

relationships make the world go round - be in the community listening

how does my library help solve a problem - are we doing what we say we are doing - why does what I do matter

talk about your services in their language - not in library language

resources - never enough staff or money so get over it and do what you do

All staff need to know the marketing speech - 5 minute, 30 second and 90 second - why are we important - educate staff and customers

We are a trusted profession but if we don't make ourselves heard $ will be cut

results - significant programs & statistics - passionate stories of success

form relationships w/ local legislators - face-to-face best method for getting what matters to you across - keep it brief - connect it to the constituents

be specific, informative, courteous and follow up (shows you can and pay attention even if you don't get the desired result)

non-traditional allies - chamber of commerce, medical groups, children's literacy groups, authors, community leaders

use the media - we are the feel good story

Mario Ascencio’s REFORMA party

Mario has been a librarian in the DC area and passionately involved with REFORMA for years. His parties are always an interesting mix but this had a more library flair, celebrating his inauguration as president of REFORMA.

YALSA Trend Setters in Teen Literature

Sunday, 6/24/2007 , 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

This was a packed session and I had to find a spot on the floor. One of the panelists was Perry Moore who was the producer and force behind the recent Chronicles of Narnia movie. I really enjoyed his passion and look forward to reading his new novel, Hero. There was a lot to absorb and few notes but here are the highlights.

6 Trends

1. Books for older teens

2. Adult authors writing for teens

3. "Feminization" of literature - feature of women characters in fiction and NF, ethnically diverse role models

4. International authorship

5. New/Noteworthy forms - GN, series, continuations, diaries/letter forms, scripts, epic pagination, American ethnic experiences, companion novels, combined forms, contemporary realism

6. Content trends - genre fiction, fantasy, humor, biography

YA Taboo - falseness

AFL -FOLUSA Street Lit

Sunday, 6/24/2007 , 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM

After how packed my first session was, I went into this early and boy was I glad I did. This room was tiny and by the time we started, every space on the floor and out the door was occupied. With Terri Woods, T.N. Baker and Darren Coleman speaking and signing books, I'm surprise it wasn't worse.

I don't have many notes from this session as they talked about their lives and how and why they write. It was fascinating and hard to write while they were talking. Terri Woods sequel to True to the Game is due out in November - fans will be so happy! She was the most passionate speaker of the panel and I was drawn to her story about how she turned to writing - She looked around one day and saw that everyone she knew was dead or locked up and that no drug dealer was coming to save her so she had to help herself.

They all acknowledged that Street Lit is a controversial genre but that they write about what the kids are exposed to so no wonder they are drawn to these books. Some of the librarians in the audience said that they pair the books with classics from Maya Angelou, Claude Brown, Richard Wright. It may not be instantaneous but over time, they have found it has worked.

YALSA Video Games as a Service: Hosting Tournaments @ your library

Sunday, 6/24/2007 , 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Eli Neiburger, Anne Arbor District Library

This final session of my weekend wasn't as hands on as I had hoped. The purpose of this session was more why you should do it and the successes that the presenters have had. Eli is putting out a book with AL Editions and that will contain the details as to how to put on tournaments.

Let's play in the sandbox

I've always loved playing in sandboxes. There's something so relaxing about the movement of sand but this is so different. So much of 2.0 is about playing that I'm not sure how you can define this step as The Sandbox plus it's not really relaxing.

That said, I do like PBWiki. We have started a branch wiki using this site and going through this Thing has helped me understand how we can better manipulate it. However, knowing how to technically use something and discovering how to use something to improve what you do really is the difference. I think that wiki's can have real potential but it's not playtime in the sandbox. As we discovered with our branch project, we need to find the REAL useful application of this to get everyone on board and actually make it useful.

Wikitriguing

Wikis are one of the more intriguing and potentially useful Things of this program so far. I feel that the best description of them is that they are a web page which can be easily manipulated by anyone who can type. This lends to many useful applications. I really liked St. Joseph County Public Library's one for subject guides. Their librarians are able to take what most library's do on paper and make them organic and linkable. I checked out the HP page and ended up right at their catalog when looking for more information on a read-a-like. How useful is that - to be interested in a title and be led right to where you can actually locate a copy?

http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page

Examples such as this are showing how this technology is being implemented as a tool to improve what we do. Our branch has a brand new wiki and we are exploring what we can do with it. So far we've used it to coordinate a branch brunch so everyone knows who's bringing what or changing their mind. We've limited ours by password so it could potentially be used to track problems or discuss issues we are encountering. Most often we use email but this process can loose the train of thought so I think the wiki might be of use if we can get everyone on board. This is another drawback of technology though - it's only helpful if it's actually used and doesn't create more work.

del.icio.us?!?

Del.icio.us was a term that I didn't fully understand until I did this Thing. The term is bandied about so much but I did at least know that it was one of the new "social networking" sites out there. I definitely see the appeal of bookmarking your items where they are easily accessible but I've been doing that with Yahoo! Bookmarks for a while. I can see my stuff anywhere but can't share the whole list.

I see potential value for implementing this on the reference desk; all those sites that you need to use, some so infrequently that you never can find them when you need them. Personally though, I think that Del.icio.us looks like a confusing site. The search engine didn't seem so great and I'm still not convinced that tags are better than folders. I think I'm better off sticking with what my good old standby of Yahoo!

Library 2.0 Thoughts

After reading the articles on the OCLC website it reminded me why I have a bit of a problem with "Library 2.0." I thoroughly embrace technology and try to take advantage of it to make my life/work easier but it's not the solution to every question.

Let's remember the 5 laws of S. R. Ranganathan:

Books are for use.
Every reader his or her book.
Every book its reader.
Save the time of the reader.
The library is a growing organism.

See the last one - "a growing organism". Why do we as a profession feel that we must change our thought process when Ranganathan had it all along? Libraries, and for that matter librarians, are ever changing things. If we are not, then we have failed in our professional duties. We may need to change our terminology (book to information regardless of format) and use new ways of getting to the necessary information but the process and the reason for what we do remains the same. We don't have to climb on the 2.0 or 3.0 etc bandwagon to fulfill our mission.

The other problem I have is that it is easy to get caught up in the terminology and being "on the cutting edge" that it can hold us back from fully doing our jobs as librarians. The idea becomes the whole thing and the implementation and purpose gets lost. All these authors sound so enthused but if you don't have the follow through, you end up with frustrated librarians who are giving sub par service through no fault of their own.

I think we need to stop trying to label things and just do what Ranganathan and others defined in the first place - help our users find what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. By remembering this simple theory, the heart librarianship, it's much easier not to be intimidated and afraid of growth or change and to use technology as another tool in our arsenal not the only one.

http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/1.htm

Technorati

Technorati is a very interesting blog search engine. Back on Thing 8, I found a Jane Austen blog whose author has commented here, assisting me in my learning. If you're looking for blogs, this can be a very useful tool but I have so much on my plate that adding anymore info to it might make me melt. I don't like that the search brings you to posts tab first which can be overwhelming and have a lot of false hits.

The popular page is pretty predictable with a mix of celebrity, politics and pundits - Good to gage what's in right now.

Like many of these technology Things, I can see how I could spend my entire life wrapped up in this and forget to breath - So for now, I know how to use the tool and will remember it's out there when I need it.

Not technology but library philosophy

I was just reading the June 15th, 2007 Library Journal editorial (Fialkoff, page 8) on the great library debate of Blockbuster/Borders/Barnes & Noble vs. the library. There was a great quote by John Cotton Dana which supports my long held belief: get them in the door by any means and they'll find what else we have.

"See that your library is interesting to the people of the community, the people who own it... Deny your people nothing which the bookshop grants them... Open your eyes to the cheapest of books..." 1896

Dana was director of Newark PL, NJ 1902-1929

What's your view?

Rollyo - Ooooh!

I tried Rollyo today and it has potential! My "Books & film" search combines Amazon, IMDB & World Cat, my three favorite search places beyond my library's catalog (couldn't make that search work). This might help narrow the search when looking for items in a reference interview - I can't wait to try.

http://rollyo.com/jonesjennifere/books_film/

LibraryThing

I've looked at this site before but have never added books until now. I added a few books, most of which are on my blog, and it was fun to see how many people have already added these to their own library. I think that I could get lost exploring here, especially for titles that I love, so I'll try to restrain myself. In addition, one problem with having this be more wiki like with less authority control is the multiple versions of entries. Searching on Great Tales of English History lends many records most of which don't have complete enough data to see which is which (there are 3 volumes on different time periods) so I'm not sure I ended up with the right one that I wanted.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jonesjennifere

I did try a few cool features that can be added to my blog and ended up liking the random links from my library. The search box ended up searching someone else's collection and I have no idea what happened so I decided I liked the covers with the random links better.

Online Image Generators

I played around with some image generators today. These are very similar to mashups, allowing you to customize images/icons. My favorite is Yahoo! Avatars but I don't think I can do anything with it except in Yahoo! I had previously checked out the M&M site which is fun but didn't save anything there.



Thanks to janefan's comment I've amended this post with my Avatar 7-6-07