Usage statistics? Can’t wait!

We just wrapped up our two week, 29 session Library Orientation experiment and now it’s time to gather the evaluations, compile the statistics and report out.  Will I use a spreadsheet?  A handout?  A PowerPoint presentation?
After seeing The Unquiet Library’s August Monthly Report, I think I’ll use Animoto.

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Tango on the Table: Snazzing up the wiki

My Social Software workshop is running on Wednesday so it seemed like today was fine time to peek into the Blogs, Wikis & More wiki to make sure the links were working order and that the PBwiki transition to PBworks didn’t gum up anything.  Instead, I tackled the pressing problem of unattractive graphics.
For a couple [...]

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I’m a sucker for a pretty GIF

I have a crush on my redesign of our Online Students and Faculty Resources page (which is neither “wordy and dull” nor in need of fixing, btw!)
All of the images are Microsoft clip art, amazingly.  They came out pretty crisp looking and I only had to do minimal editing to make the images square or [...]

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ALA Scholarship For A Day

Do you know a college student from a racial/ethnic group that is underrepresented in librarianship?  Do they also happen to be interested in possibly maybe becoming a librarian when they grow up?  Well then, the  ALA Scholarship For A Day sounds just about right for this unique individual!  Scholars have the opportunity to attend a [...]

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You could go to book club, chess club or…

Apparently, library programming is a bit more sophisticated at the Henry Carter Hull Library.  My options at my local public library are much much sorrier, I’m afraid, even as cool as CPL has become– money management workshops and family story time.  Sandra Cisneros will be talking about The House on Mango Street as part [...]

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Male Pregnancy Is Good for a Laugh, but…

I’m generally pretty sure that every single student, instructor and staff member at my college has already seen http://www.malepregnancy.com.  I show it to every Study Skills class that I see in the library, I use it every time anyone ever even mentions evaluating web sites.  It’s easy to find, it’s graphically interesting and it gets [...]

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Sweet Embeddable You

Close to the end of last semester, I organized a Blackboard + Librarians meeting where my colleague Christine Kickels,  the Faculty Development Coordinator, and I attempted to rally the troops behind increasing the Library’s presence in Blackboard.
Currently, Blackboard shells here contain a default button called COD Library.  This button goes to a tremendously wordy and [...]

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Chicago Public Library is Slowly Begining to Get it

My friend Joy Austria, editor of First Monday Podcast, pointed me to this Chicago Public Library ad from a new campaign they’re running. I think it’s phenomenally awesome and can’t wait to start seeing it and other ads from the campaign on the sides of buses, on billboards and pasted onto the sides of [...]

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They’re called “must-listen” for a reason, so hop to it

Jason Kucsma, Emerging Technologies Manager at the Metropolitan New York Library Council, recently gave First Monday Podcast an excellent recommendation in his blog techMETRO, by including it in his list of 4 “Must-Listen Podcasts for Tech-Curious/Savvy Librarians“.
More than just a mouthpiece for the authors published in each issue, FM Podcast benefits from hosts Joy Austria’s [...]

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An honor and an honorarium

Hey, librarians of the experienced speaking and presenting persuasion!  I need your help!
This morning I got a call from an out-of-state library network asking if I’d be interested in holding an all-day workshop on Library Secrets– I guess one of their members saw my presentation at LOEX of the West.   Naturally, I was completely flattered [...]

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