Claiming My Seat on Technorati

To have my blog listed on Technorati, I need to prove I am who I am. By posting this super secret code, E5QK2GXQWY3W, I am on the verge of legitimacy!!

Transliteracy

I learned a new word today from Bobbi Newman aka Librarian by Day. Transliteracy. Please check out her wonderful post that offers great resources for any of you who want to jump on this bandwagon with me. Transliteracy.com defines transliteracy as "the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks."

This slideshow from her post sums it up quickly:

Libraries and Transliteracy

View more presentations from Bobbi Newman.

If this interests you, be sure to become a fan of the Facebook Page too. Thanks Bobbi!

Feral Learning

Be sure to go and check out my latest post on ALA Learning about Feral Learning. Come on, with a title like that you HAVE to be curious...

Great Way to Tell Your Patrons About Holds

Allen County Public Library puts out the best videos for patron education. Be sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel. This one explains the holds process beautifully. Works pretty much the same way here at the Library System of Lancaster County! No email notification... YET - but patrons do get a phone call or letter. LOVE the self service Hold Shelf. A lot of places do that now.

GoogleGoogleGoogleGoogle

Yes, I do love Google, but the purpose of the title is to direct you to http://www.googlegooglegooglegoogle.com/ You may find this helpful when you're doing extensive research and need to see 4 results at once. Plus, if you click the W, you can do a Wikipedia search and if you click the Green Arrow, you can type in any Website address. So you can use this really to see any 4 sites on one screen if you ever need it. If you're as sick as I am with multi-tasking, your mouth will also drool...
Thanks Tekzilla!

POWER Library is about to take a HIT!

This just in from the PA District Library Centers Listserv - are you ready Pennsylvania?! This is going to hurt a lot of people...

December 22, 2009

Dear Library Community:

I am writing to update you on the status of the POWER Library.

The contracts for the POWER Library databases will expire December 31, 2009. The Pennsylvania Department of Education issued an RFP for POWER Library Databases, and the proposals are currently being evaluated by agency staff. Our goal is to complete the selection process in time for the POWER Library continues into 2010 without interruption.

Because of the reduction to the Library Access line item in the 2009-2010 budget, the scope of the RFP was limited to the following categories:

• General full-text periodical database
• Newspaper index
• Business Reference
• Combination of the above databases

Within the current the economic conditions, we are hoping to continue to provide high quality databases of general interest to the public at large and to our K-12 students in particular. However, it is reasonable to expect most subject specific databases will no longer be available after December 31, 2009.

We have heard from all types of libraries about the importance and value of the scope of POWER Library offerings. We will seek to make additional databases available as options and opportunities present themselves.

Thank you for your input and your support of the POWER Library.

Susan Pannebaker

Susan Pannebaker Director
Bureau of Library Development
Office of Commonwealth Libraries
Pennsylvania Department of Education
333 Market St. Harrisburg, PA 17126-1745
Phone: 717-214-4047 Fax: 717-787-2117
spannebake@state.pa.us http://www.education.state.pa.us/

Social Media ROI: Socialnomics

Yep, still singing the same song here, BUT are you listening?

LSLC is on Facebook!

Library System of Lancaster County

Promote Your Page Too

FINALLY!! I've been waiting for the day when we would get a Facebook page together for the Library System. Well, it has finally happened. This was surprisingly more work and more difficult than I thought it would be to set up. I'm so grateful to my wonderful Library Trainers network out there that gave me great advice. Our Community Relation Coordinator, Mary Ann Heltshe-Steinhauer and myself put it together and she will be in charge of it. I'm also grateful for the wonderful video tutorials found at John Haydon's blog (you can subscribe to his video podcast there).

Go on, check it out and PLEASE become a fan. I'm anxiously awaiting our fan count to hit 25 so we can get a vanity URL and make life easier for linking.

Senator Brubaker Visits the Libraries

Watch PA State Senator Mike Brubaker's latest "A Conversation with Senator Brubaker" Cable Television show. You will need Windows Media Player to see the show.

In the half hour show he gets a tour of the Eastern Lancaster County Library from director, Donna Brice. We get to see the dynamic Heather Smith during story time also.

Next, he tours the Litiz Public Library with director, Susan Tennant. I like the smiles from the staff at the circ desk as they walk by. But the best is meeting the young 7 year old boy who is told by Senator Brubaker that he is the Senator's boss. The Senator says "Did you know that you're my boss?" and the boy answers "I am?". And the Senator states "...I work for you". He then pulls out his card and hands it to the boy telling him to give him a call when he needs him. The boy looks at the card and says "You're Senator Mike!". How adorable.

Then he interviews Library System Administrator, Susan Hauer who explains the difference between the System and the individual libraries.

Favorite quote from the Senator during the show... "Libraries are not an optional service, but an essential service".

I wasn't planning on watching the whole video, but it drew me in and left a warm feeling in my heart for the wonderful libraries we have here in Lancaster County. In these trying financial times, I think it is truly amazing how the System and the libraries are working together to keep the doors open and the programs coming despite drastic cuts.

Thanks Senator Brubaker for your support!

Did You Know 4.0

Library 101!!!!

It's here... (hey, who's that at 1:23m?) Well done David and Michael. You two really DO rock!!

The Fun Theory

Learn all about The Fun Theory here.

The Fun Theory

Learn all about The Fun Theory here.

Final PA State Budget Passes in House - Senate Approval Expected

I received this in my PADLC listserv this morning from Glenn Miller, Executive Director of Pa LA. I appreciate his positive tone, but what a slash to library funding in our state of Pennsylvania. I hate to see what's coming out of this. Reposting here:

"Good morning, faithful library advocates

On the eve of Day 100 of the state budget impasse, a deal has been sealed…finally and without any further significant changes. The State House debated the final deal last night and passed it by a vote of 107-93. Easy passage in the Senate is expected since both Republicans and Democrats there already have signaled their support. The final Senate vote could occur Thursday evening or Friday. The Governor will sign the budget soon thereafter.

At some later point, we can re-hash the excruciating details of this never-ending roller-coaster of a budget. For now, I know that people are anxious to have the specifics, so here they are:


(Click picture for a larger view)

I hardly know where to begin to describe all this. I know that these end results will not be pleasant at all for library staff, for services, and for library users. At the same time, I also know we recognize—all of us—that this is the worst economy in Pennsylvania since the Great Depression and that state coffers lost a mind-numbing $3.2 billion in revenue just this past year.

We will work with Deputy Secretary Clare Zales to try and minimize the damage to statewide programs and begin planning to rebuild services and funding. The hit to the Public Library Subsidy was bad but not as severe as it could have been. We will also work with Clare Zales to see if it possible to accelerate the payment dates for state aid.

Looking at the big picture can be dangerous because it tends to mask the real pain of specific program cuts. Nevertheless, it is fair to note that during the eight months of this year’s budget roller coaster, our overall funding levels ranged from a potential highest total (all programs) of $81 million (Rendell/House Democratic plan) to a potential lowest total (all programs) of $42 million (Senate Republican plan.) In the end, fortunately, our overall funding of $68 million ended much closer to the higher number than the lower.

There is no doubt in my mind that the outcome would have been much, much worse had it not been for your relentless, positive, and articulate advocacy on behalf of your library and your community. We know that legislators heard our voices even in the face of this budget’s tidal wave of red ink. I realize that it may not feel like it right now, but your advocacy made a huge, positive difference. Thank you seems wholly inadequate.

But think about this: every program that we saved, every job that can be retained, and every budget dollar that was secured during this struggle puts us further down the road toward recovering from this recession-ravaged budget year.

Again, I truly appreciate all of your great and ceaseless efforts. Let’s do our best to rest some and recover and re-energize ourselves for better days ahead.

Glenn R. Miller
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Library Association"

Google Celebrates the 57th Anniversary of the First Barcode Patent

Where would we be without the barcode? It's everywhere! Especially if you work in a library. I was a little confused when I opened my Firefox browser this morning. My home page points to Google and this is what I saw:

I found a great post on the horizons blog! which gives a good summary of what Google is celebrating today. Go read it :-) And yes, that really does say Google using code 128 according to TechCrunch.

Library 101 - the Final Lyrics

Michael Porter and David Lee King are almost done with their Library 101 Project. I can't wait to see the final web site. Read all about this at Libraryman and help out by submitting an essay!

23 Free Webinars for Nonprofits - October 2009

See my post on ALA Learning to get all of the details.

Barnes and Nobile Book Fair at Manheim Twp Pub Library

Katrina Anderson, Director of Manheim Township Public Library, sent out the following request:
"Please help support Manheim Township Public Library by spreading the word
about our upcoming Barnes and Noble Book Fair.

On Saturday, October 10th, all day, if anyone goes into their local Barnes and Noble, anywhere across the country, and mentions that they want their purchase to benefit the Manheim Twp Public Library in Lancaster, PA, B&N will donate 10% of the net sale to our library. Please ask all your friends and relatives to do their holiday book shopping at B&N on that date, where ever they are. I’m
sure you have robust e-mail lists that you could use to help us spread the word.

Barry Levine will be at B&N- Lancaster on Saturday from 12:30 -4 :00 pm
signing his new photo-journal, The Woodstock Story Book, and on Sunday, Fall Fest, he will present a slideshow and program at the twp administration bldg at 1840
Municipal Drive, Lancaster.

Thanks for helping to spread the word about our Book Fair."

SnapShot PA

I was impressed when New Jersy Libraries did their Snapshot: One Day in the Life of New Jersey Libraries. Now I'm excited because my very own state of PA is going to do the same thing on 10/28/09. See the site - Snapshot: One Day in the Life of Pennsylvania Libraries. For those of you in any kind of library at all in PA - PLEASE complete the survey when they turn it on. Take pictures, make videos. Let's tell Gov. Rendell and the rest of the state politicians what we do. Maybe then they'll think twice before making such drastic cuts to the budget!

Pimp My Bookcart!

Here's a great opportunity from the comic strip Unshelved: Pimp My Bookcart contest.

The site states:
"An annual contest run by the library-themed comic strip Unshelved to see who can best pimp, trick, or otherwise improve a standard book cart. Libraries and schools often stage kids and/or teen programs to generate entries. Prizes are provided by Unshelved"

See the current list of entries. Here's my favorite so far.

Go ahead, get creative, build a program around it, win prizes. Please comment below if you do enter so I can check it out!

Voice Over Artist Among Us

Congratulations to my co-worker, Jennifer McMorris, for her great voice over work in this video. From the YouTube page:

"This is a video that will be shown to visitors in over 25 Lancaster Hotels... It will play on a dedicated channel in over 3,000 hotel rooms 24 hours a day, seven days a week ! Credits: Written By Bill Simpson VO Narration by Jennifer McMorris Produced, shot and edit by Derek Lau Additional camera operator - Dylan Stern Courney Motion Graphics Intro/Outro by Allen Clements and Joe Krzemienski of Postage VFX PLEASE RE-POST !!! "

Great work Jennifer!

Milanof-Schock Library Upgrades Training Lab

Congratulations to the Milaof-Schock Library for their Training Lab upgrade. John and Jordan, in the IT department here, are rolling out the new machines. Aren't they pretty? What a difference!

Why Libraries Rock

It's Blogathon Day for the Louisville Free Public Library. They were victims of a terrible flood that put over 4 ft of water into their basement and destroyed so much. See how you can help at this wiki. All of the details are there as well as links to other blogs participating in today's Blogathon.

So, why do libraries rock you ask?

-free
-fun
-programming
-family activities
-computer access
-computer training
-reference staff to answer ANY question you have
-community building
-dvds
-books and more books
-electronic databases
-summer reading program with PRIZES
-did I mention free?
-help with job searching and writing resumes
-from birth to grave, they are there!
-continuing education
-expanding knowledge
-travel to foreign lands without leaving the building
-new technology trainingdiv>

Well, I could go on and on, but I think I'm preaching to the choir here. Please take a moment to add YOUR comments on why libraries rock and help out the LFPL by donating and/or passing along this information.

Blogathon for LFPL - I Need Your FEEDBACK!

I recently posted about the flood at the Louisville Free Public Library. Andy Woodworth of the Burlington County Library System in New Jersey is organizing a blogathon for the LFPL. See more information about it at the wiki he set up or on his blog.

I have signed up to participate in this blogathon and today I found a great way to do so. With permission, I am totally copying Amy Kearns idea from the Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative Blog.

The theme of the blogathon is "Why Libraries Rock" (well that's the PG version, see the wiki for the true theme...) Rather than just hear my own take on why libraries rock, I'd love for the readers of the blog (and that can be anyone, anywhere!) to leave a comment below sharing why YOU feel libraries rock. I'll add my thoughts and all of your contributions into the post for Monday August 31st (blogathon date). It can be one word, a sentence, a paragraph, whatever moves you.

Thanks for pitching in and I look forward to reading your comments!

Learning Methods Need To Change

I just posted a very cool video showing how important it is to change the way we impart information over at the ALA Learning Blog. Go check it out.

Check out the ALA Learning Blog

I'm excited to announce the launch of a new blog, ALA Learning sponsored by the Learning Round Table of the American Library Association. See the press release here. I'm honored to be one of the contributing authors to this blog. Plus, I'm in great company. Add us to your reader or bookmark us to stay on top of the latest in continuing education and learning for library workers.

Save POWER Library

Glenn Miller, Executive Director of PaLA sent out a note to the PASYS listserv. I am recopying it here and urge everyone to follow these steps. Note I have added this to the top right side of this blog and my emails have been sent. PLEASE click the link and do the same!

"Good afternoon, library supporters.

Pennsylvania’s library community has done a superb advocacy job throughout this ongoing state budget crisis. Our challenge now is to keep up the pressure and broaden our reach.

While much of our energy has focused on the Public Library Subsidy, other important library programs such as POWER Library, the Access PA Database, and Ask Here PA, are under attack, too, and may face elimination unless we raise a ruckus.

PaLA has launched a new email advocacy tool in support of POWER Library. You can help spread the word and educate your POWER Library users that the service may be eliminated unless we speak up forcefully.

Please help save POWER Library. By adding the following link to your website you can help your users contact their State Senator, State Representative, and Governor Rendell with a clearly worded message in support of POWER Library. We encourage all library websites to join in this statewide effort.

If you are able to help, please forward the following instructions to the person(s) responsible for maintaining your website. They can easily copy and paste this sample HTML code.

1. Near your POWER Library icon on your website, add some text such as "ALERT – Online Services of the POWER Library to End: Take Action!"

2. Hyperlink the text to http://www.palibraries.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=64

Thank you for assisting with this and helping to save POWER Library. Our plan is to expand this advocacy service soon to include other library programs in jeopardy. Stayed tuned!

Glenn

Glenn R. Miller
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Library Association
220 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 10
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055"

Enjoy the Ride - Music and Life

WOW! Thanks to Nannette Miner from the Traning Doctor for pointing me to this short animated clip. If you're aiming for success, don't forget to enjoy the ride - enjoy the music!

Promote Your Library during the Dog Days of Summer

Check out the great promo video from Arizona State University. Makes me want to go to one of their libraries immediately. Though it would be quite a commute for me. Why not make your own video, upload it to a video sharing site like YouTube and put it on the front page of your Website? Don't worry about it looking as professional as this one, just do it!

Social Media Revolution

Yet another testament to the importance of Social Media. This time, sources are cited for the information. This all comes from Socialnomics.

Here's the video - WATCH it!



Here's the blog post that shows all of the sources.

Still think it's a fad? Shame on you!

Disaster at the Louisville Free Public Library

You have probably already heard about this by now, but I've had on my list of things to do to write a blog post detailing various links to help the Louisville Free Public Library in their time of need after a devastating flood. Rather than rewrite the details, Sarah Glassmeyer does an excellent job of it. Steve Lawson from LSW is collecting donations. Here are some Louisville news reports and photos from Greg Schwartz. How devastating and a reminder to all of us to be prepared! My heart goes out to LFPL.

Our Cataloging Department Rocks!

We use Mindtouch's DekiWiki as our Intranet here. I was so excited when we implemented it over a year ago. We have a lot of work to do to increase its usability, but it's a definite improvement over our old static web page Intranet that only one person could update!

When I present on using Web2.0 technologies, I always stress the need for collaboration and agreed upon standards before rolling out something new. This, of course, doesn't always happen, but it's a nice ideal to strive for.

Well, the Cataloging Department here where I work put together an Intranet Team a few months ago and the 4 members of that team have been working very hard to create a streamlined experience for anyone stopping by their area of the Intranet. It's really too bad that I can't share this with the world, but we do have a password protected Intranet for obvious reasons.

So, to ALL of you who read this blog and work within this library system, I STRONGLY URGE you to check out the new and improved CDTS area on LILLY (the name of our Intranet). To the rest of you, let me try to explain the improvements in word:

1. First page of entry includes a table that links to all of the other areas making it very easy to find what you're looking for
2. Clean look not cluttered with a lot of text. Concise and to the point (Okay, when do I get a lesson from the team to help me on that one!)
3. Do not have to rely on the left nav bar to find things as that can be very confusing.
4. No reference to attachments at the bottom of a page; instead, links within the text of the page that take you to the appropriate doc/spreadsheet/pdf whatever instead of having to figure out what each attachment relates too (those of you who work with wikis KNOW what I'm talking about)
5. A link to a Suggestion Box asking for feedback (yes, I am singing out loud on this one)
6. A "Fun Stuff" link that takes you to a page that utilizes the Social Media aspect of a wiki with YouTube videos, RSS feeds of fun blogs, etc. (Remember, these are catalogers, so this is HUGE - just kidding...)
7. All of the staff's contact information is listed and easy to find and it looks like they may even be adding their pictures to it - kudos for TRANSPARENCY! (I immediately decided to copy that idea and will be adding my pic and bio to the Training area, I am more than an email address and phone number - duh!)
8. Incorporated the use of Google Forms for people to submit processing requests, etc
9. Could go on, but I'll stop now...

I truly enjoyed helping the team to get started and reviewing with them in the end. HOWEVER, they did all of the work and came up with so many innovative ideas I had never thought of. I've learned a lot by their example and as all things Web2.0 will be 'borrowing' those for my own area :-)

Heather Mansfield Has Spent 7,280 Hours on Social Media Websites

Why should you care? Because she just wrote an awesome blog post detailing the 10 insights she has gained through her experience. There's so much good stuff in this post that I'm reeling. Go read it, but here's her list just in case...

1. Early adopters get the most glory and tend to be the best at social media. (THAT'S RIGHT!)
2. Approaching social media with fear and trepidation can harm your brand. (I AGREE!!!)
3. People who are mean and grumpy online are likely mean and grumpy in real life too. (AIN'T IT THE TRUTH!)
4. Some schmoozing is required. (OF COURSE!)
5. Good community builders are optimistic, friendly, and obviously enjoy using social media. (SO GET THE RIGHT PERSON TO DO IT!)
6. Race and class divisions are played out on social networking sites and must be considered in your social media strategy. (DON'T FORGET!)
7. You have to be persistent and give your social media strategy time to produce results. (BE PATIENT!)
8. Training is essential to a successful social media strategy. (YOU KNOW MY THOUGHTS ON THIS ONE!)
9. The Web is evolving faster than you can imagine. To stay competitive, you have to keep up. (MAKES MY HEAD SPIN!)
10. Social media is going mobile. (SO GET MOVING!)

And the winning sentence from her whole post was under number 5...
"It's not the profiles or sites themselves that are powerful, it's the human being behind your organization's social networking profiles that will make or break your social media success."

I can't agree more Heather. So, be sure the right person is doing this and that they have a strategy and KNOW what they're doing.

Clap, clap, clap Heather. Keep up the great work at DIOSA Communications!

(Yes, I know, too many exclamation points in this post, but I told you at the beginning, I'm reeling...)

Top Tech Trends at ALA 2009

I got a chance to experience some of ALA 2009 virtually today during my lunch hour. The Top Tech Trends presentation by LITA was actually broadcast live on Ustream and it was blogged live using Cover It Live. Very impressive - weeks later I feel like I was there. Loved seeing all the comments in one spot as I watched the video. Now it's your turn, check it out. If you don't have time to watch the video, just scan through all of the Live Blogging and you'll see the trends discussed.

Get Famous at the Ephrata Public Library

I love how the Ephrata Public Library is bringing their community together while advertising their library. On Wed 7/29/09 from 10am to 10:30am they are producing a commercial shoot for The Big Read. They are inviting anyone from the public to come to the library during that time to be a part of the commercial.

How did I find out about this? Though I'm sure they have posters in the library about it and have advertised in other ways, I received an invite through Facebook! They created an Event Page titled "Big Read Commercial Shoot" and invited all of their fans. Here's the text on the page: "Come to the library and be part of our commercial shoot for The Big Read! It shouldn't take more than about a half an hour -- but you'll get to be on TV about 1,000 times during September and October. The commercial is running on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, MTV, CNN, MSNBC and more!"

I think this is an excellent use of Facebook and wish I could go!

Where to find all of the ALA Annual "Stuff" Online

On my list of things to do is to look over all of the "stuff" ALA's Annual Conference generated this year. Presentations, videos, tweets, blog posts, handouts, etc. Luckily, the AL Direct Special Post-Annual Conference Issue pointed me to a great Q&A on the ALA Professional Tips wiki to get me started. I am reposting the info here...

"Q. I've just come back from the ALA conference in Chicago and am trying to pull together my trip report. With efforts at "going green" there seemed to be fewer handouts--or at least fewer copies available. Can you tell me where I can find the speaker' presentations and handouts? The presenters said they would be "on the web." But where?

A. Good question! How handouts and other output from the Annual Conference are disseminated varies considerably from division to division, or from one program planner or speaker to another. A couple of years ago, ALA instituted the Conference Materials Archive in order provide a central place to collect the handouts or other conference content--or at least links to that content.

But there is great inconsistency as to whether materials are there. The ALA Library will seek out handouts when possible, but here are some of our tricks for when they are not on the wiki:

• We use the online PDF of the 2009 Annual Conference Program Book (big file--almost 9MB) to identify the sponsor of the program and exact title
• Then, we do a search of the ALA website, to see if the unit has posted the content
• The next step is a general web search or a check the division's blogs and podcasts
• Finally, we try a search for the specific speaker to see if the material has been posted on the speaker’s personal or institutional webpage or blog

To complicate matters even more, with the exception of the very few contemporaneous blog posts, there is a time lag between the program presentation and the posting or publication of the content. There is also always the possibility that a presentation is not recorded or written and may only be captured when the presenter uses the content in a substantially revised form in a publication a year or more later.

We are looking into ways for using ALA Connect for these materials and would welcome comments. "

A Librarian Tribute to Michael Jackson

What can I say? I'm a child of the 80s, of course I was a Michael Jackson fan. Here is a shaky video of a librarian in a French Media Library dancing his heart out in true Jackson style as a tribute. "Billie Jean" is one of my favorites. I like how it starts from nowhere and then people start to get more and more into it and by the end they are whistling and cheering. He truly was and is the King of Pop - all over the world - and for ALL professions!!

VoiceThread - Free Online Tool Brings Voices of Donors/Beneficiaries Together

Here is a free online tool that brings the voices of your donors and beneficiaries into your nonprofit's storytelling -VoiceThread

Impactix describes this tool very well in their post:
"A VoiceThread is a multimedia slideshow of photos, video, or documents that allows people to easily leave comments and join the conversation. Visually, it’s a slideshow screen surrounded by a mosaic of little avatars of all the people who comment on the image. When you click on the avatar you hear them or see what they’ve written or drawn. People can comment in five simple ways: by telephone, by computer microphone, by web cam, by writing text, or by drawing.

Wondering how you might use this free tool?
-How about getting your donors to add their voices to a story about a common cause they all support, telling why they support it?
-How about showcasing your grantees’ work by asking them to add their comments to a VoiceThread story you create about an issue they’re working on?
-How about showing how real living human beings are affected by the work you do? Ask them to add comments to a VoiceThread about how one of your programs has helped them.
-Honoring someone special? Create a VoiceThread testimonial to them including all the voice of people whose lives they’ve touched
-Trying to build a social movement? Here’s a very visual way to start—tell your VoiceThread story and ask supporters to add their supportive comments. Watch the little avatars multiply!"

Here's a great intro explaining how this all works. And a great Educator Guide that helped me. Wouldn't this be a great tool to rally support for libraries in PA right now?! I decided to throw an example out there to do just that. To see this right in VoiceThread rather than embedded, click here:

How to Stop Guest/Visitor Card Abuse

How many times have you had to get rid of one of your Guest/Visitor Patron Cards at your library because someone jotted down the barcode number to give to friends or use again, etc? If you don't want to keep creating new cards in these situations, here is an idea you might want to implement.

I share this in the Advanced Circ trainings, but thought some of you might not know about it. I first heard of Ephrata Public Library doing this, so thanks to them for a great procedure. Yes, it will take more time, but it will stop a lot of frustration:

1. First, scan all of your Guest/Visitor Cards and click on EDIT and change the INTERNET field to N for ALL of your cards.
2. When giving out a Guest/Visitor Card, scan the card, click EDIT and change the INTERNET field to Y - they can then use the public PC and CybraryN is happy :-)
3. When the Guest/Visitor Card is returned, scan the card, click EDIT and change the INTERNET field back to N - now even if the barcode was written down, if they give the barcode number to a friend or try to sneak in and use it, it won't work. Only the person who has the card in hand will be able to use that number.

For more information about the Guest/Visitor Card, check out the Circulation Manual . Click the plus sign to the left of Chapter 3 Patron Records then click on the section titled "Guest Card Creation for Use with CybraryN".

Ephrata Public Library Twitters

Thanks to Penny Talbert from Ephrata Public Library who let me know they are also twittering - yippee!! What a nice looking twitter page they have - hope you'll go follow them too @ephratapublic...

Director of Manheim Township Public Library Twitters

I found out this morning that Katrina Anderson, director of the Manheim Township Public Library, twitters when I received notification that she is now following me. So, in good form, I followed her back. Plus, see the image below to find out the cool thing they are doing for train riders in Lancaster!

So another Web2.0 breakthrough in my Library System - love it!

Rally for Public Libraries in Lancaster PA

This video was filmed during a rally for public libraries held on the steps of the Lancaster Public Library, Lancaster, PA on June 27, 2009. During July 20-25, 2009, Call Governor Rendell, your State Senators and Representatives. Urge them to Level Fund Libraries as a Priority in the State Budget.

Milanof-Schock Library Launches New Online Book Club

Way to go Milanof-Schock Library! They just recently launched a New Online Book Club using a wiki.
They also launched MSL: Your Reads... ANOTHER Wiki. Go check them out. I'm registered. Makes my heart sing :-)

Think Blogging is Just for Fun?

Look how important blogging is to the youth of Iran. Still think it's just a passing phase?...

Like Social Media, Like Musicals?

Then you'll love this video: A Web Site Story.

What Do You Geek?

From Geek the Library:

"Geek the Library is a community-based public awareness campaign designed to highlight the vital role of public libraries for individuals and communities, and raise awareness about the critical funding issues they face.

Whatever you GEEK, the Public Library supports it all. Public libraries inspire and empower. Everyone is welcome. Almost anything can be explored. And they play an important role for individuals and for communities."

Get your geek on here. Share your own story. Here's an example:



Note this campaign is sponsored by OCLC.

Back From Maternity Leave

Sorry for the long hiatus. I meant to post a message before leaving to deliver my second daughter, but that just didn't happen. Then, I tried to do so from home, but with a 2 year old and a newborn, well, that just didn't happen either. In fact, a lot doesn't happen anymore except total immersion in the lives of two wonderful girls and all the blessings that come with it. I will try to get back to regular blogging here as I can. In the meantime, here's a photo collage of where most of my energy goes these days :-)

Hysterical Satire on Twitter

For you twitter users (or those curious about it), here is a VERY entertaining video, the trouble with twitter:

Self Check Baby!

We are rolling out the self-check machines this week. The pilot study at Lancaster Public Library was a success. Wanted to share some photos of all of the hard work going on here at the System getting 14 stations set up - no easy task!! As you can see, John Ditmore is doing a lot of the work! Be sure to follow the project on LILLY (our intranet, requires login).

I'm a Shover & Maker!!

Check it out here. I want to express my sincere thanks to the Library Society of the World.

Conversants :-) A Participatory Conversation

This is a GREAT idea for continuing your professional development FOR FREE and without any travel! Please read Jill Hurst-Wahl's post detailing this fascinating idea. She is part of the group that is organizing this global event. Here's an intro:

"We invite you to join the movement to create and share information through worldwide coordinated conversations. Library communities and organizations are uniquely poised to employ the latest collaborative resources; the conversations that result from these collaborations hold great promise for students and practitioners across the information professions. Sharing knowledge and expertise via these collaborative conversations as part of a united effort is both beneficial and necessary, so we invite you lend your voice and join us in this unique event. Become a Conversant!
This effort is spearheaded by R. David Lankes with support from the Information Institute at Syracuse University, librarians and library students."

The post has more details and here is a video explaining the idea. I will be following this closely:


Introducing Conversants from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

Google Celebrates Spring AND Eric Carle

googleericcarlespring09, originally uploaded by Slzimm1.

Cool! Google is celebrating the first day of spring today by using a design by Eric Carle. Here's an article with more details. What a nice surprise to see this logo today (Google is my home page, of course!).

Miller Branch Library "Terror in the Stacks"

Gotta love the ingenuity and creativity of the folks at Howard County Library's Miller Branch:

Computer Hardware in Plain English

Common Craft has done it again... Love their videos. This one is "a short explanation of the basic parts of computers and what they do to make computers work. Focuses on the Hard Drive, RAM and Processor."

WebJunction's 23 Things Summit

WebJunction put on one of the best webinars I have attended yesterday. Check out their page in reference to the 23 Things Summit. They had a question and answer style dialog with those who have done staff development learning using social collaboration tools = Learning2.0. This is something I hope to do here one day, so I've been following these examples for awhile. It was nice to have a big gathering in one spot to glean even more information.

This was one of WJ's biggest webinars to date with over 200 people in attendance. The latest trend in webinars is people twittering the event at the same time using a hashtag so everyone can reference the tweets. See the tweets from this event here. There were over 25 pages full of tweets and we trended at the top of twitter for awhile. Between that and the chat log in the webinar and listening to the presenters and taking notes on our intranet wiki at the same time, by the end of 2 hours - I was exhausted. But what a great experience! Be sure to check out all of the resources on WebJunction related to this inspiring online event.

T is for Training #13 Today at 2pm EST

When: TODAY Friday February 27th is the next recording of T is for Training at 2 pm Eastern Time. Please dial or voip in and join us on the call/podcast. I am the guest host and I'm looking forward to help from all of you!

What we probably will talk about:

Ideas and implications of budget cuts on training and staff attendance at training. Are you feeling the impact yet? What challenges are you facing? What strategies do you have for learning with limited staff and a limited budget? Ideas from Lori Reed. See the great discussion on friendfeed.

This great video Marianne Lenox posted to her blog would be a great topic on why being up-to-date on the social web is so important for trainers and the world! The video is Did You Know 3.0. Here's a site with the transcription of everything in the video.

Techniques for doing/exploring everything to stay up-to-date - such as learning new tech skills, catching up on books, anything and everything. From Andrew Schuping's plea on friendfeed.

In relation to the above, do you use any online todo lists for your work? What are your favorites and what are the best ways to use them? Ex. Ta-da and Doris (Thanks to Nicole Engard for bookmarking Doris)

Along the same theme, how do you make the best use of RSS in your work? See this article on Techsoup.

How do you create brief job aids, quick references and other training documents? From point #2 in this newsletter from the Training Doctor: "Now That's a Job Aid: No doubt you are familiar with the US Air plane crashlanding into the Hudson River in New York last month. But did you know that the co-pilot only had 3,200 feet to complete a 3-page emergency landing checksheet – a job aid that is normally begun at 35,000 feet!? There’s a lesson for all of us trainers: brevity, specificity, directness. We don’t know how far the co-pilot got in his checklist, but we DO know he didn’t have time to seal the hatches on the lower part of the plane – contributing, in part, to the plane taking on water and sinking so rapidly."

Where and How? : The show’s address is here: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/24719 You can listen live by clicking on the show’s page. You can call in, listen to the stream, or come by and chat. It is up to you, but please do come. If you want to participate with your voice on the call, you should probably join Talkshoe before the show. You can catch up with all of the episodes you may have missed by going to the Talkshoe either via the sidebar widget or via the web.
2point-0-ed? Keep up with us via: Our blog, Podcast Feed, ITunes Home, Friendfeed, LinkedIn, FaceBook, or Twitter.

See T is for Training blog for more details. Hope to "see" you there!

On the Next T is for Training

Please see this post on the T is for Training blog and join me as the guest host for this Friday's show. Thanks!

Guest Host on the next T is for Training

The regular host of T is for Training, Maurice Coleman, is taking a vacation next week and has asked me to be the guest host. What an honor, and what a challenge! T is for Training is an "informal podcast dedicated but not obsessed with training in libraries". See the entire show description on the Talkshoe page.

The next episode is #13 and will take place on Friday Feb 27th at 2pm. I will post another link here on my blog with the show details once they are finalized mid next week.

PLEASE JOIN ME. This is not a show where the host drones on and on, and believe me - I don't want to have to do that - SO, the more the merrier. The more people on the call, the less work for me, so please come :-)

Here are some details from the show's blog:

Where and How? : The show’s address is here: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/24719 You can listen live by clicking on the show’s page. You can call in, listen to the stream, or come by and chat. It is up to you, but please do come. If you want to participate with your voice on the call, you should probably join Talkshoe before the show. You can catch up with all of the episodes you may have missed by going to the Talkshoe either via the sidebar widget or via the web.

2point-0-ed? Keep up with us via: Our blog, Podcast Feed, ITunes Home, Friendfeed, LinkedIn, FaceBook, or Twitter.

Hope to see you there!

The 21st-Century Librarian

Seen in yesterday's American Libraries Direct, a video from the New York Times that shows how "school librarian Stephanie Rosalia has transformed into a multi-faceted information specialist who guides students through the flood of digital information that confronts them on a daily basis". Are we offering this type of information to our young patrons?

Peanut Butter Recalls go 2.0

Thanks to Polly-Alida Farrington, technology related consultant and trainer for libraries, for posting about how the US Centers for Disease Control has gone 2.0 to keep us all up to date about the Peanut Butter Recall. Rather than re-state what she has said, just go read her post. Just more proof of how important it is for all of us to be familiar with these technologies. I think the widget would be a cool addition to any library's website.

NJ State Library Uses Storytelling

What an amazing use of stories from the New Jersey State Library in partnership with the New Jersey Library Association. The overview of the project begins by saying:

"Bring your library to life with a story.
The New Jersey State Library is partnering with the New Jersey Library Association to launch a statewide campaign for libraries to collect stories and create multimedia pieces that will portray libraries as transformative and librarians as people in the community who are passionate and involved in the community and making a difference."

I just can't get over the creativity of this project. Plus, they have incorporated TONS of Social Media ideas/applications into the concept. Just look at the "Stay Connected" area of the sidebar on the NEWS page. I see Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIN and Twitter (though it must be a work in progress as not all of the links work yet).

The link for Librarians takes you to a TON of resources (links at top of page) including workshops to tell you how to do all of this stuff. I love the simplicity of the site, the clean look, it's just the basics and all of the tools you need to make it happen.

Plus INCENTIVE - a contest with an amazing prize. I'll tell you, the people who put this together have been watching and learning all of the social media trends and it looks to me like they took all of the best practices and joined them all together in a wonderful way to promote libraries through community.

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!!! That's all I can say!

Wouldn't it be great if a patron did this for your library?

Seen on Logic+Emotion today, here's a great unauthorized commercial for Trader Joe's allegedly shot on a customer's Palm Treo. Hopefully it won't get taken down. Just think how cool it would be if a patron did this for a library. Better yet, why not make your own version for your library and post it to your website or blog? Go ahead, have some fun.

PS - I LOVE Trader Joe's but I have to drive the whole way to King of Prussia to get to one. I sure wish Lancaster had one :-(

In Recession, Libraries are Booming

Yet another news piece on the booming business of libraries in these hard times. CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes reports.

Flashlight Worthy

Flashlight Worthy is a site where 2 humans handpick book recommendations on hundreds of topics. I learned about them when they asked to follow me on Twitter. Go check out the site. There are some very nice lists there.

Huge picture from the Inauguration

Were you at Obama's Inauguration? Well, check out this HUGE photo and zoom in and find yourself. You can look at all the famous people too. Be sure to read the post which details how it was created out of 220 Canon G10 images. I am continuously AMAZED by technology. This is just too cool. Thanks zefrank for pointing this one out.

Make a Mosaic of your Twitter Followers

Why? Because you can and it's cool to see everyone in one spot instead of the sampling you get on your Twitter homepage. Thanks Libraryman for pointing this out.