Stephen's Lighthouse: February 2006 Archives

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February 28, 2006

Does the web save the time of the user?

Steven points to another interesting article.

Application of Ranganathan's Laws to the Web by Alireza Noruzi, Department of Information Science, University of Paul Cezanne, Marseille, France

Abstract

"This paper analyzes the Web and raises a significant question: "Does the Web save the time of the users?" This question is analyzed in the context of Five Laws of the Web. What do these laws mean? The laws are meant to be elemental, to convey a deep understanding and capture the essential meaning of the World Wide Web. These laws may seem simplistic, but in fact they express a simple, crystal-clear vision of what the Web ought to be. Moreover, we intend to echo the simplicity of Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science which inspired them."

It a good question. It reminds me of a question Jane Dysart and I used to ask in seminars: "Is the library an extension of the web or is the web an extension of the library?"

Somewhere in the answer to these questions is the context of our position and impact in our communities.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:26 AM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2006

Creating Your Own Cartoon Character

OK, there were a few comments on how to create your own Simpson character. It's easy.

However, you can can create a lot of fun things. Visit or subscribe to The Generator Blog.

However, to make a Simpson Character, go here. It is at DevilDucky.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:06 PM | Comments (4)

February 24, 2006

Flickr Mashups

Looking for ideas and examples of what a mashup looks like?

Check here.

Ten Best Flickr Mashups by Michael Calore 24 Feb 2006

Retrievr
Spell with Flickr
Tagnautica
Flappr
Captioner!
Fastr
Colr Pickr
FlickrFling
Flickrball
Flickr Sudoku
plus a bonus of honorable mentions

Another reason to love Webmonkey.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:58 PM | Comments (0)

The Library 2.0 'Bandwagon'

Longish post, sorry.

My cool uber-blogger friend, Steven Cohen, blogged about Library 2.0 today at Library Stuff. Here's a snippet:

"Note: Don't see this post as me jumping on the L2 bandwagon, because it isn't. I still don't get how it's different than anything we've done in the past. Call me a skeptic, but until I'm shown otherwise, I will not be smoking from the L2 hooka. IMO, L2 is just smoke and mirrors."

Skepticism is a great quality. Steven is right to ask these questions. This follows in a grand tradition of librarians who have questioned new technologies. This is what critical thinking looks like.

So let's think about what we have always done:

S. R. Raganathan parlayed his 5 laws of library science into library fame:

"Books are for use.
Books are for all; or, Every reader his book.
Every book its reader.
Save the time of the reader.
A library is a growing organism."

Part of that growing involved a move to grow beyond just 'books' and into all modes of information, service, community and entertainment. We evolved but didn't discard the past.

Walt Crawford and Michael Gorman updated or more accurately added to Raganathan with these 5 rules:

"Libraries serve humanity.
Respect all forms by which knowledge is communicated.
Use technology intelligently to enhance service.
Protect free access to knowledge.
Honor the past and create the future."

I like to use both sets of five as touchstones to see if a shift is taking place. Is the Library 2.0 conversation just old hat? Have we always done this? Is nothing changing? Is the stuff we are debating in the 2.0 context really no different than anything we've done in the past?

I think things are shifting under 2.0 and here's why.

1. The users are moving into the control position. Libraries are no longer able to drive the good bus 'library' alone.

Examples?

How about LibraryElf which lets users build family or individual alerts from the ILS completely outside of the library's knowledge or management. Is that a change?

How about LibraryThing? Communities of book owners catalogue (in MARC!) and share their personal collections online and ultimately build a social recommendations engine of readers. They connect to recommendations and reviews on the web. Have libraries always done that? Connecting home collections and readers?

How about the interesting stuff that Ed Vielmetti does? He is the AADL library end-user who has created mashups for his local library to use. He displays these at his blog, Superpatron. Have libraries always had users programming things from their websites and ILS's? Is this a change with noting?

How about Amazon and its over 130,000 registered API coding folk? Is it normal day-to-day practice to have this many coders internationally working with book data? Is this something libraries have always done or will permit easily? Will we be comfortable when it starts happening in our space? Will we notice? I already see users extracting catalogue records, their holds, reading lists, etc. and showing them on their MySpace pages, Blogs, RSS feeds or websites. Is that business as usual? Are we thrilled to have them do this? Often I hear concerns that they should be restricted due to 'privacy' concerns and laws.

Are we comfortably ready for the OS/OA coder community, the Ed's and Elf's of the world. I think that Library 2.0 based in the Web 2.0 trend is a sea change. Yes, just like the story of the bricklayer I believe that it is based on the strong foundation of an amazing past built by library workers. But it's not smoke and mirrors. It is real and it's happening for real.

To those who say that libraries have "always done this" they are only partially right. Yes, we have always served people and their learning, community, information and entertainment needs. That's our foundation. We are good at it. However, the Web 2.0 / Library 2.0 opportunities offer new and materially different ways to build our services. Some are so necessary that we could be sidelined in certain user spaces if we don't adapt. Some, but not all, of these changes include:

- the transition to a hybrid container space. Those libraries that continue to be more or exclusively comfortable with physical containers like CD, DVD, book and magazines (anything we can label or barcode) versus streaming media, MP3's, article aggregations, e-books, talking books, and the like will likely find some challenges in their future. When some of these physical containers become extinct or focus on narrow markets . . . do we follow?

- the transition to the interactive web. We are already seeing libraries who have made the leap to truly conversational, transparent communication with their communities, usually through blogs. When we see some libraries and their directors getting hundreds of blog comments to their postings weekly and, sometimes, daily, things look changed to me.

- Are there new 2.0 tools that allow us to be device independent and serve PDA users, and engage the mobile generation? Seeing MySpace go .mob is an early indicator of a shift in the community of users.

I also see that the Library 2.0 conversation is about going beyond outreach and into just 'reach'. That's exciting. When our 'reach' is into the social networks of the communities we serve we have a greater chance to offer information and services to improve research, learning and knowledge acquisition. 2.0 could be largely about achieving a new balance for our bricks, clicks and tricks strategies. If the vast majority of our library use is happening virtually, are the people who animate the information there too? 24/7? We have to ensure our reference librarians, other user support staff and teacher-librarians are available to virtual users as much as they are to physical users.

I love the concept of mash-ups. I know libraries always provided their branch addresses on their websites. Some even provided maps or directions on how to get there. It might be just me, but those libraries that have adopted one of the API's, like the one from Google Maps, to plot all of their branches on maps and photos and give users the functionality to draw a map directly from the patron's home to the branch of his or her choice, are cool. It might not be a big leap from traditional library service, but it is an improvement. It's also real and being done now. It uses 2.0 tools to improve current services.

Another big thing that seems to come out of the 2.0 discussions is user-driven comments, reviews, ratings, etc. Have we always done this? In the way, but certainly not on the scale, of the Amazons, Chapters.ca or Barnes and Nobles of the world. Are we comfortable with adding this sort of feature to our product mix? I don't know, The jury's out with my conversations often involving the fearful aspects of bad grammar, cuss words, trash talk, libel, etc. Loads of reasons why not while the rest of the world has already added these features.

The role of visualization tools in the 2.0 discussions is another key thing to learn. When we see some libraries experimenting with tag clouds and visualization tools like Grokker, AquaBrowser, Vivisimo, KartOO, etc., we see us moving beyond our list orientation. Yes, we've always displayed results somehow, but 2.0 gives us a opportunity to really enhance display and navigation. It's not business as usual. What we've always done is to tend to prefer ordered lists over nearly every other form of display. There may have been historical reasons for this but it's no longer necessary to exclusively value a list display format over a variety or mix of other kinds of results display.

Another related aspect of the 2.0 changes is the issue of user created content. This is an integral part of what's happening in the read-write web. How ready are we for collecting, storing, discovering and providing access to user created content. There have been some great experiments, notably the U.S. election page harvests at the Library of Congress and some public library local history projects. What's the ratio of user created content in our libraries versus the web at large? It's a rhetorical question. The addition of Wiki comments and reviews by OCLC to OpenWorldCat has not gotten the traction it deserves.

Anyway, I think if libraries are truly about supporting society, we need to look closely at the social networking aspects of the 2.0 technologies. Yes, we have always been part of the social good and our communities. Is the context of society's social networks changing? I believe it is. They are no longer bound merely by our physical proximity to our colleagues, neighbours and family. As libraries take up and build things that integrate social tools like blogging, MySpace, The Facebook, PubSub, Pandora, del.icio.us, etc. we will find ourselves practicing in a different way, in a different context and in a wider space. It will still be built on the strong foundation of those who came before us. It just won't be exactly the way we've always done it.

2.0 is 'smoke and mirrors'? I think not. It's a great title for a conversation about how Libraryland needs to adapt to the wider changes happening in our communities.

For now, start your brownbagger conversations with these questions:

1. How static is our web presence?
2. How much interactivity do we have with our community of users and the community at large?
3. How much non-text do we have in our web presence?
4. Any 2.0 tools we should play, experiment, or pilot with?
5. What's our real role in the greater social context? Hard one!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:50 AM | Comments (3)

My New Favourite T-Shirt

I just received my special order t-shirt. It has a one-of-a-kind tag cloud of Stephen's Lighthouse right on the chest!

I think I may break the staff suit and tie rule at the SirsiDynix SuperConference to wear this one sometime. Or maybe I'll save it for the New Orleans themed party.

You can make your own tag cloud t-shirt at Snapshirts.

Life can be fun!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:43 AM | Comments (2)

February 23, 2006

Stephen As A Simpson

OK, Since everyone else is doing it, here's Stephen as a Simpson character:

They even had a wintry Canadian background!

D'oh!!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 5:18 PM | Comments (4)

MySpace Defined and Explained

For a reasonable exposition on the MySpace phenomenon (Thanks blogging friends), go read "Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace" by Danah Boyd for the American Association for the Advancement of Science on February 19th, 2006.

Read it here.

A quick preview of the conclusion...

"Youth are not creating digital publics to scare parents - they are doing so because they need youth space, a place to gather and see and be seen by peers. Publics are critical to the coming-of-age narrative because they provide the framework for building cultural knowledge. Restricting youth to controlled spaces typically results in rebellion and the destruction of trust. Of course, for a parent, letting go and allowing youth to navigate risks is terrifying. Unfortunately, it's necessary for youth to mature."

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 5:01 PM | Comments (0)

What are post-millennial expectations?

OK. I am hearing this term at school and teacher-librarian conferences - POST MILLENNIALS. These K-12 folks are already hitting these people's lives. Arrghhhh. Another demographic!

Anyway, by some theories the generation of the Great Depression were formed by the world they lived in, the war generation (WW2) were influenced greatly by their world, and the Sixties period of more education and prosperity created a Boomer bulge. The GenX'ers grew up as the first generation that always had computing, and the Millennials always had the web. Does the environment shape generations? What about the post-Millennials?

What if you've never known a world without:

The Facebook
MySpace
IM and Texting
Online Gaming
TiVo
Meebo or Trillian
Flickr
Blogging
Netflix
Blinkx
Podcasts
MP3's
Cel phones
Smartphones
Viral video
School websites
Online application forms
Txt voting for American Idol
and the rest.

How does that shape your generation?

We have to keep an eye on our Millennials for most 5 year strategic plans. We better keep an eye on these post-Millennials for anything we're creating for kids and teens...

Hmmmmm.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:37 PM | Comments (1)

Generational Timelines

I find it useful to think in timelines in order to decide how long things take to change, mutate, grow, decline or whatever.

For instance, if I use myself as an anchor in time, I can note that I was born in 1954. I have a life expectancy (on the usual tables) to live until about 2030. Then again, I do plan to beat the actuarial odds.

My father was born in 1931 and had an actuarial table-based life expectancy at birth to live until about 2007. He's planning on beating the odds too.

One of my grandfathers was born about 1898 and lived until the nineteen-seventies.

Now, my kids were born in 1985 and 1988. And this is where it gets interesting. With improvements in healthcare and other changes, they might realistically live into the 2080's and beyond.

If I am planning to build an information architecture for long term community techologies and services to support these folks, my lifepan and personal experience isn't long enough and my father's experience isn't long enough either.

I need to look at the experience of my grandfather to see what a timeline of 80 plus years of change looks like. Subtracting that from my kids' birth years and I find myself back at the beginning of the last century. Hmmmm. What change occurred for him and his family in the first 80 plus years of the 20th century?

Faster train engines
Radio
Ubiquitous electricity
Airplanes
Telephones
Indoor plumbing
Computers big and small
Interstate highways system
Fast Intercontinental travel
Television
Satellites
Mall shopping
Space travel
Refrigeration
And, sadly, few awful wars and new military technologies
and on and on.

So, in much the same way as the electricity and wiring infrastructure that was built at the beginnng of last century mostly survived, we are tasked with building the new infrastructure for an information and knowledge-based society.

Therefore, when I frame my thoughts about what is going to happen over the lives of my kids, I worry that I am not thinking far enough out. Now, one of my colleagues accused me of being a bit too Jetson's but I think it's still worth framing the question in this timeframe occasionally. I can buikd a scenario that acknowledges the amount of change that occurs over a period that transcends our own experiences. That energizes me and scares me at the same time.

Are we thinking in the right timeframe? When we're building our foundation for the next generation of libraries are we building a foundation that can support all that which may happen? It seems pretty clear that flexibility and nimbleness are the key. Are we building that into our systems or are we striving for a last century model of stability?

Hmmmm.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:59 PM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2006

Canadian Library Association Conference

The preliminary program has just hit my mailbox for one of my favourite conferences, CLA. And not just because I am speaking there or I am past president. I am Canadian and it's great to see so many innovations in my own country such as:

The Alberta Library
The ASIN (Atlantic Scholarly Information Network) Portal
The 8R's President's Task Force
The proposed Knowledge Ontario (Ontario Digital Library)
The work of the CNIB
The Ontario Scholars' Portal from OCUL
and more

It's great to see Canadians holding up our end of the canoe!

Check it out here. Loads of non-Canadians always some and it is beautiful Ottawa, our nation's capital, this year. Bring the whole family.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 5:26 PM | Comments (0)

Is MySpace Scary....?

OK - I'll answer it first - YES!

And, it also exciting, dynamic and a place to look for the community metaphors we as libraries are trying to create.

Hypothesis: If something truly creates a sense of community people will flock to it, engage and stay. Is MySpace an emerging model?

So, here's some questions and data that I picked up from Jeremy Wright's Ensight blog:

Jeremy assembled a few quick ‘facts’ from the information that MySpace is releasing about once every month or two:

"MySpace is Bigger Than Blogging: There are now nearly as many MySpace accounts as blogs (about 30M vs about 100M. More of them are started every day than blogs (about 250,000 vs about 100,000). There are more posts per day being made on MySpace than on all blogs combined (about 1.5M vs about 1.4M)!

MySpace is Accelerating Faster Than Blogging: Considering it is much newer than blogging, this should be obvious. While it is currently smaller than blogs, at the current rate of growth and acceleration, it will be larger than blogging by this summer. That is ALL of blogging.

MySpace’ers Network. Fast: It isn’t that unusual to find MySpace accounts with thousands of connections. While many (outside of MySpace) might think that these connections are useless, the truth is that they represent the ability for networks to form quickly, and when graphed they do show that certain people are more likely to connect nodes and groups of nodes than others."

He asked a few great questions too. You need to read them here.

Wilfred (Bill) Drew who is Associate Librarian, Systems and Reference at Morrisville State College Library has been experimenting / piloting with MySpace and Facebook accounts for the library to participate in the student space. This is a very good initiative and I find Bill's irregular reports on his learnings very useful.

In short, I feel that we spend too much time focusing on Google and its ilk as a competitor or model. Many sites have much higher traffic - including the Yahoo! properties, MySpace, the Facebook, et al. Many sites are infinitely more engaging. And we, as libraries are about so much more than search and technology! What the more popular sites have in common is that the build a sense of community and libraries can do this too and have done it for a long time. When you look at some of the combinations of new technologies we see at MySpace's homepage - Browse, Search, Invite, Rank, Mail, Blog, Favorites, Forum, Groups, Events, Games, Music, and Classifieds. So many of these are aligned with things we're doing in libraries, virtually and physically. They connect people based on things that they share in common - neat!

Stephen
p.s. Yes I am aware of the worries about privacy and safety in these spaces and think that the community will eventually deal with the issues. It's important but doesn't rise to the point where we can ignore it. Like most of the Internet, you can't regulate too soon. We'd probably still be using Gopher and Archie if we had. ;-0

Posted by stephen at 12:57 PM | Comments (2)

SirsiDynix SuperConference Executive Track

The ever popular 2 day (March 5-6) Executive Track at the SirsiDynix SuperConference in Nashville this year (March 5-8) is looking great. If you're a SirsiDynix customer you really should consider making sure that your organization's leadership is there to hear the vision of how technology will impact our communities - learning communities, research commnuities, neighbourhoods and more. Follow the link for more but here the outline of what's going on:

Sunday March 5
Opening General Session
Patrick Sommers, SirsiDynix Chief Executive Officer

Welcome & Launch: Knowing Our Communities
Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet and American Life Project

Comparing Ourselves in an Internet Age
Bob Molyneux, Chief Statistician, SirsiDynix
Stephen Abram, VP, Innovation, SirsiDynix

Knowing Our Communities: Breakout Sessions
Public Library Communities: the SirsiDynix Personas Project
Mary Lee Kennedy, founder of the Kennedy Group and Director, Harvard Business School Library
Stephen Abram, VP, Innovation, SirsiDynix
Academic Library Communities
Alane Wilson, OCLC & Editor, 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan

Inspiring Our Communities
Deborah Jacobs, City Librarian, Seattle Public Library
Theresa M. Fredericka, Executive Director, INFOhio
Mary Lee Kennedy, Director, Harvard Business School Library

Executive Networking Reception

Guest Keynote: Lessons from the Sea
Linda Greenlaw, Author, The Hungry Ocean

Monday, March 6
SirsiDynix Product Trends Overview
Patrick Sommers, SirsiDynix Chief Executive Officer

Supporting Our Communities
Recognizing Opportunities & Building Relationships
Patricia Martin, President & Founder, LitLamp Communications Group, Inc., & Author, Made Possible By: Succeeding with Sponsorship

Networking & Influencing Action
Donna Scheeder, Law Library of Congress
Ken Roberts, CEO, Hamilton Public Library
Ernie Ingles, Vice-Provost, University of Alberta

Engaging Our Communities
Jenny Levine, The Shifted Librarian
Aaron Schmidt, Thomas Ford Memorial Library

Shaping Our Communities
Search Engine Lessons: Trends & Ideas
Chris Sherman, Associate Editor, Search Engine Watch

Bringing it All Together & Sparking Ideas for Our Communities!
Stephen Abram, VP, Innovation, SirsiDynix

And with meal and networking receptions and plenty of interaction, this promises to be a great event. I hope to see many of you there.

Stephen
p.s. The rest of the conference is pretty cool too and I hope see lots of session blogging going on here and on the official blogs too.

Posted by stephen at 12:08 PM | Comments (1)

Playing and Learning: Making a Sandbox for Librarians.

I've been asked a load of times how library workers can learn all these newish technologies. I don't know why it's easy for me and difficult for others. I do a few things.

1. I play.
2. I surf sites, blogs, and articles that friends recommend.
3. I schedule it.
4. I don't stay committed if it isn't fun or engaging.
5. I don't feel the need to learn every feature and nook and cranny of the site.
6. I share. I don't feel guilty is it isn't directly applicable today to my current needs.

Read my recent article on using 43 Things to play and learn.

I think that the social web site 43 Things is fantastic! We could use it well to drive our play and progress on learning new things.

The basic idea is that there are tons of websites (even tons of web/library 2.0 sites) to review and play with and loads of stuff to learn. I try to personally follow a policy that I only need to learn in 15 minute increments (although I'll give more time if I am engaged or interested). Maybe I just have a short attention span! Anyway, just like kids in the sandbox we can try new games and vesions of games every 15 minutes. So, in this article I provide 38 samples of things and sites you might like to try. You've probably already done many of these already but mihgt find stuff to learn in the list. 43 Things appears to be ready-made for those of us learners who like to engage in self-discovery and tracking our progress. I think that we’re a profession of inveterate list makers and love to tick off our accomplishments. (Admit, you keep lists!) So here’s my real suggestion - but Beware this could be a year long or lifelong project! I want you to go to 43 Things and register and list what you want to accomplish this week/month/year. You can make it private or share it with others. Just try it! Can’t think of 43 things to do? Congratulations you're very relaxed - ask a few others. Review my few suggestions of 38 simple things to try, add others that meet your needs, or add a few personal ones like balance my life with some vacation trip planning, or go to a play or buy a CD on the top 40 (this year's top 40!). Either way, you'll have a framework to simply, cheaply and easily track your progress.

BTW - You'll do great!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:49 AM | Comments (2)

Awesome!

We just finished the SirsiDynix Institute panel conversation this morning about the 2.0 Meme - Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and Librarian 2.0. I just want to say that Michael Casey, Michael Stephens, and John Blyberg, are awesome!

We had a great conversation about mashups, web/library 2.0, librarian 2.0, and the future. There were some good ideas and I can't wait to do this again.

I can't thank the panelists enough for their time, vision and the great example the set for us all. They've all agreed to comment more on their blogs.

The program should be available to listen to soon at the SirsiDynix Institute website. Remember these sessions are free and everyone is welcome.

Check out the schedule for more sessions.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:34 AM | Comments (1)

Dvorak and Academic Research

John C. Dvorak is encouraging academics to do more unbiased and non-partisan research internet and computer use. I heartily agree. Read his article here.

Here's a clip:

"Since the appearance of the desktop computer, very little academic analysis has been done on it and how people use it. Yes, there are a ton of surveys done to show that people use computers for e-mail and entertainment. These are usually done on behalf of advertisers looking for an edge. They are not helping us understand the overnight successes of experimental mechanisms.

We need real sociological research done by people who can handle it objectively, so we don't have to listen to the carping BSers blathering on about Web 2.0 or how folksonomies are so important to users and the future. That stuff is all made up and based on speculation and invention."

SirsiDynix has partnered with InfOhio and Kent State University Library School to do a usability study of K-12 student use of online portals and resources. It includes a lot of interesting information so far and I can't wait for the final report. It even uses Eyetools tracking software to guage use.

Our partnership with Florida State University's GeoLib project also gives us some good information on the use of mapping software in libraries. Add this to our FSU/SirsiDynix Normative Data Project for Libraries and you've got a very powerful resaerch platform. We have offered the NDP for no charge to all schools of libray and information science in North America.

Combining this with our Personas project that is nearing completion and we'll have some really useful information to drive portal development for real end users in the public space. I am hoping to announce an academic partner soon.

I try to follow academic resarch that might be useful to SirsiDynix or my own interests. It's pretty hard to dig out though! With so many (not all) academic librarians being requiring to research and pubic there's a good opportunity here to study user behaviors.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:51 AM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2006

One Past, Many Futures

Alane Wilson makes a good point on the It's All Good blog from OCLC.

My CEO, Pat Sommers, is fond of quoting Alan Kay's "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." True.

Alane built on that by pointing out that we all look to the past to predict the future. And the easy part is that there is only one past. Simple to learn and simple to write with simple spin and interpretation providing color.

That might lead us to think to think that there is only one possible future! Not true. At any moment, at any point we can start a new arc to the future. Any scenario is possible, many of the variables are in our control and toolbox. We are not helpless or driven by fate.

Cool.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)

A Great Metaphor

I was re-reading my copy of the librarian's comic book (graphic novel?), Rex Libris, because it has a cool metaphor about change in it:

Here's an excerpt:

Barry: "Once upon a time, there were two bricklayers. okay? Imagine these two guys. . . brothers. The two of them have a pile of bricks each, and they can build whatever they want.

So the first one starts to lay bricks, first in a row then, offset, another row on top. The second broter just stands there and watches for a bit, then he critiques his brother.

"That's exactly how everyone else lays bricks!" He says to his brother. "That is totally unoriginal. I've seen bricks laid like that in every building in the whole city. You copycoat!"

The first brother ignores him and continues to build. Layer after layer of bricks goes up. New patterns emerge in the layout of the bricks. Eventually a building starts to take shape. And people gather round. They gawk in awe. Why? Because even if the elements of the building are old, the sum of the parts is new, innovative, exciting, fresh. See?

Rex: What happened to the first brother? What was his building like? Did he build anything at all?

Barry: "No, not a blessed thing, my boy. You see, to build, you have to use what has gone before or you go nowhere. The sum is greater than the parts. You can build an architectural masterpiece but you have to use the innovations of the past to build the future! Well, sort of. No story is perfect, son!" "

Anyway, this story rattled a few chairs in my attic. When you're building the foundation for major change, and the naysayers say it looks like everything else, keep going. Listen but don't stop. When they say it looks like the way we've always done it well. Keep striving to innovate and create. This little parable reminds me of the backstory to the homily, "Would those who say it can't be done, get out of the way of those of us who are already doing it."

You can buy issue one and two of Rex Libris here.

It practically subversive to add this to your graphic novel collection. Librarians should be lead characters in this genre! Kids should be tricked into reading about us (grin).

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:10 PM

Libraries Change Lives

If you have library user stories perhaps you should submit to this. If it's a great story, maybe you qualify for the SirsiDynix Building Better Communities Awards for Libraries. Five $10,000 US awards!

Stephen

New Womans Day initiative asks readers to share
stories on how the library has changed their life

Womans Day magazine wants to learn how the library has changed lives.

The magazine announced the editorial initiative in its March 7 issue, which reached subscribers last week. In the issue, the magazine declares that libraries are magical places and asks readers to submit their stories in 700 words or less. Stories can be sent to womansday@ala.org from now until May 10, 2006, when the promotion closes.Four of the submissions will be featured in an upcoming issue of Womans Day.

Librarians can promote the initiative in their library by downloading free promotional tools from the ALA @ your library® Web site, http://www.ala.org/ala/pio/campaign/sponsorship/wdchangelives.htm Tools include a sample press release, downloadable logos, sample newsletter copy and flyer.

In the same issue, Womans Day highlights the two winners from last years editorial initiative, which asked people why they would want to research their family trees at the library. The four-page article features librarians Howard Grueneberg from the Urbana (Ill.) Free Library and Shellie Cocking from the San Francisco Public Library guiding the winners through library resources to help them discover new parts of their family history. It also includes a sidebar with tips on plotting family history from ALA member Stephen C. Young of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Young is chair of the genealogy committee for the Reference and User Services Associations (RUSA) history section.

The ALA partnership with Womans Day began in 2002 with a series of workshops for aspiring writers led by writers from the magazine. It has developed into a multi-program partnership that has resulted in approximately $4 million in library-related editorial coverage in five issues of the magazine, donated ad space and an online book club featuring ALA members.

The writing workshops will kick off again this year during National Library Week at 10 community college and public libraries throughout the country. Currently, the Womans Day online book club features YALSA members book recommendations for young adults, and beginning this summer, the book club will highlight RUSA members. The book club is available by visiting www.womansday.com/community .

Womans Day is a Founding Partner of The Campaign for Americas Libraries, the ALAs multi-year public awareness and advocacy campaign to promote the value of libraries and librarians in the 21st century.

New Womans Day initiative asks readers to share
stories on how the library has changed their life.

Womans Day magazine wants to learn how the library has changed lives.

Mark Gould
Director
Public Information Office @ your library

Posted by stephen at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2006

Too interesting not to blog

From Gizmodo:

Look here or here to see these stamps in motion!

"The Netherlands has issued a lenticular “video” stamp, using a special printing process on a stamp-sized piece of plastic. Each stamp sells for €.39 (46 cents US), and before you think that's crazy, keep in mind that these are not flat panel displays that we're talking about. How does this work, you might ask? The technique is a variation on those little plastic decoder rings you might have seen as a kid—as you tilt the stamp to the left and right, the series of images appear to play back in sequence. Here's how Outer Aspect, the company that printed these video stamps, explains it:

“Lenticular is a specialised printing process that can show depth, motion, HD video, film or combinations of these. The lenticular material is made up of tiny ridges or lenses (hence the name "lenticular" printing). We take raw images and process them through a computer algorithm, which matches the lens surface of the lenticular material. When the two work together it enables the image to be replayed back to you. The printing is always on the reverse side of the Lenticular lens material, as this is where the focal point is, allowing the images to be replayed back to the human eye as the viewing angle changes.”

This technology can also be used for 3D graphics and lots of other jaw-dropping stuff."

Learn more about this techology, lenticular printing, at Outer Aspect.

Maybe I'll tell you about the photocopier-style machine I saw at the eTech Ohio conference which 3D models (yes - hold them in your hand 3D models!) in 60-90 minutes. Very cool.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:37 PM | Comments (2)

Great Web 2.0

Dian Hinchcliff's blog has a good sum-up of the year's best Web 2.0 explanations. Read it here.

And there is still time to register for our Wednesday, February 22, 2006, (THIS WEEK!) SirsiDynix Web Roundtable: Web 2.0, Library 2.0 & Librarian 2.0, with the esteemed Michael Stephens, Michael Casey & John Blyberg, moderated by me. Find our mote here.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:34 PM | Comments (1)

Presenting Under Stress

Ever have to present under stress?

Community meetings about filters, porn in the library, new branches and removing old trees? Anything? Who says libraries can't be controversial? Ever been sabotaged by an audience member?

It's probably a good thing to be controversial since it can mean you're somewhat relevant if someone in the community gets riled.

Presentation Zen, my favourite presentation skills blog, has a good posting this week on here.

Some helpful links to other sites incude:

• Dealing with difficult speaking situations
• Advice from 3M on dealing with Hecklers
• Dealing with disruptive audience members
• How to handle difficult audiences
• Handling various forms of audience disruption
• Dealing with difficult audiences
• Dealing with difficult negotiators
• Presenting to difficult audiences
• Dealing with tough questions
• Do's and don'ts for dealing with difficult people
• Dealing with difficult people
• Dealing with hecklers and "snipers"
• Advice for stand-up comics
• The BBC on why people heckle

Worth remembering next time you have a crisis.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)

Canaries in the mine

Coming soon in March, Denver Public Library plans to be the first U.S. public library to offer downloadable movies They will be offered from the same site where downloadable eBooks and audio eBooks are offered, and will use a newer version of the Overdrive Media Console and Windows Media Player, Find out more here.

Another nail in the coffin for VHS and DVD.

SirsiDynix Normative Data Project data is showing that DVD passed VHS as the movie format of choice in November/December 2005. I suspect that this next period won't last too long.

The first streaming movies at Denver PL will be documentaries, self-help and travelogues.

DPL is already getting press in the Denver Post and Rock Mountain News.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 1:19 PM | Comments (1)

February 18, 2006

Why are things are the way they are....?

Check out Seth Godin's posting on the reason why things are... Here's a few . . .

"The Reason
By Seth Godin

The reason they teach biology before they teach chemistry in high school is that biology was invented first. Even though you need chemistry to do biology, but not vice versa.

The reason that Blockbuster exists is that VCR tapes used to cost more than $100.

The reason that SUVs have a truck chassis is that the government regulates vehicles with a truck chassis differently.

The reason you have a front lawn is to demonstrate to your friends and neighbors how much time and energy you're prepared to waste.

The reason the typewriter keyboard is in a weird order is that original typewriters jammed, and they needed to rearrange the letters to keep common letters far apart.

The reason we don't have school in the summer is so our kids can help with farmwork.

The reason there's a toll on that bridge but not on that road is that there used to be a ferry on that river, and the ferryman needed to make a living.

What's your reason?"

What are the reasons for some of our library stuff?
Is the reason why MARC records are so long and complicated that information used to be a scarce commodity and we had to describe it to death?

Is the reason we have MARC fields instead of tags because computers used to have to read from left ot right?

Do we have library cards because they came before other recognition and authentication systems like iris scanning or fingerprint recognition?

Do we still dial our pushbutton phones, what about voice reponse dialing? Where's the dial?

What other mindsets are there in our little world and are they holding our thinking back?

We count objects (books, VHS tapes, DVD's, etc. ) that circulate but possibly of our transcations are now virtual and only unique clicks, etc.

Just a question....

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 2:45 PM | Comments (2)

February 17, 2006

Technology Competencies

A good (short) read at ACRLog is Steven Bell's commentary on the article that appeared in a 2005 issue of T.H.E. Journal titled “20 Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have“.

He reviews if these skills are aligned with the 'educator' skills of academic librarians.

I think it's an OK list but still worry that the primary technology competencies of searching, finding and evaluating are buried in database and web navigation skills. It also, perhaps by design, fails to acknowledge the newish 'content' skills when content mashes up with technology. Perhaps the list nomenclature underrates and undervalues the core skill any educator should (must) now be modeling to teach them.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:04 PM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2006

Some recent numbers

OK:

If Yahoo! get way more clicks than Google, what are they doing right?

Yahoo has a higher information density and more targeted community strategies as well as putting top searches in the front window.

I recently read that MySpace is getting 2.5-3 times more traffic than Google.

MySpace engages members on a vey social level and connects people of like interests.

Alan November recently said at the eTech Ohio Conference that one third of all kids had a blog.

Kids are content creators. How much content do libraries let them create on our sites?

The Pew Internet and American Life study on Generations Online has similar data. It shows a huge growth in social uses of the internet and a generation gap in this demographic.

Interesting. It would make an interesting discussion to ask what library portals can learn from these data bites.

Hmmmm.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:35 PM | Comments (0)

Some recent numbers

OK:

If Yahoo! get way more clicks than Google, what are they doing right?

Yahoo has a higher information density and more targeted community strategies as well as putting top searches in the front window.

I recently read that MySpace is getting 2.5-3 times more traffic than Google.

MySpace engages members on a very social level and connects people of like interests.

Alan November recently said at the eTech Ohio Conference that one third of all kids had a blog.

Kids are content creators. How much content do libraries let them create on our sites?

The Pew Internet and American Life study on Generations Online has similar data. It shows a huge growth in social uses of the internet and a generation gap in this demographic.

Interesting. It would make an interesting discussion to ask what library portals can learn from these data bites.

Hmmmm.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:35 PM | Comments (1)

Internet Voyeurs

Marc Prensky wrote some great articles on the generational shifts.

You can see and link to them here and follow his blog here.

He introduced the concepts of Internet Immigrants (anyone who had to learn the web as an adult) and Internet Denizens (those Gen X, Y and Millennials who have grown up in the web world and have different expectations of things weberific).

I think that there's another profile that I am calling the Internet Voyeur.

Definition: An Internet Voyeur is someone who is aware of the tools, sites and concepts of the new ways of web ecology but hasn't really experienced them personally. They've read about blogs, maybe visited a few; they've heard about, for example, MySpace and The Facebook, or del.icio.us and Flickr but only understand what they look like from afar and on an intellectual level.

Thought: Maybe one of our goals need to be to make our colleagues and staff achieve an experiential level of learning with the potential of these new tools. Voyeurs just aren't going to be able to integrate and see the potential for innovation with these ideas. We need to provide time and support for this type of play.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:16 PM | Comments (1)

Being Truly Teen Patron Friendly

When I was a kid there was a bicycle rack outside the library. The library quietly made me feel welcome by providing a place to put my bike. As a young boy this was my ONLY mode of transportation. If I lost it or couldn't lock it up safely, I risked having my entire life become smaller and my world become less fun, less exciting and just, well, smaller. The library and that bike rack were icons of my growing independence. I had my own bike. I had my own library card. It was somethng that I was proud of in that I was trusted at the library as an individual.

Recently I have been hearing too many stories about libraries thinking about (or actualy doing this) restricting skateboards. I hear from a few kids that some people who are working in libraries have been trying to create a flashpoint around libraries and skateboards. They're either trying to ban their presence, or police kids in a very negative way or just create negative interactions with boys and girls wh skateboard. What's the point of this?

What do libraries want? We want positive interactions with youth so that they do well in school, respect libraries and make them part of their lives, so that they eventually choose to vote for and support libraries as valid and valuable parts of the community. They're the folks we need to engage long term.

So, what's the point of having library staff encouraging negative teen patron interactions? Why don't we have a skatebard rack inside the library? Why would we have our patrons risk their independence if their skateboard is lost or stolen? How wold they get to the library? We should support them. A skateboard box, Rubbermaid storage container or simply a towel bar by the service desk is a simple solution that provides a service instead of a negative interaction. It's welcoming. Buy or get a second hand old skateboard and a few sticky letters that say WELCOME. Why wouldn't we do this? It's a cheap visible proof of welcoming attitudes.

We need to ask ourselves which of our policies really are not working for us and which one's need to be made positive and friendly. Let's make sure we don't extend our authority control issues with information to authoritarian control foci with users. Not good.

Then let's run our policies through a discussion with our teen advisors. Adventurous and visionary libraries know the value of this through experience.

I can see the change. In these Olympic weeks Skiiers have been joined by Snow Boarders. At home, Bicyclists have been joined by Skateboarders. Time to adapt to a new reality.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:55 PM | Comments (7)

February 10, 2006

A Little February Humor, maybe

Here's an interesting indicator of what could happen....

I found this on Gizmodo today.

This is called a Bandai Unazukin. It is a small 'toy' that can react to your voice and nod or shake its head "whenever appropriate."

Hmmmm - some circulation, help desk and reference staff might find themselves shaking in ther boots! I can imagine this covering some of those midnight shifts!

Come to think of it, it might work well as a psychotherapist too.

It comes in different colors and costs about $12.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 7:46 PM | Comments (1)

Latin and Ranganathan

I don't know why find this cool but Peter Binkley has posted this latin version of Raganathan's Five Laws...

Libri utendi.
Omni libro lector.
Omni lectori liber.
Otium lectoris servandum.
Virescat biblioteca.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 7:31 PM | Comments (0)

Working the Room

A recent article in CIO magazine talked to the challenges of networking for systems folks. BTW, CIO Magazine is a good free print serial as well as a good e-mail newsletter too.

There are a few good tips in the article and SysAdmins and IT folks from libraries could learn from the list. Here is is.

1. Avoid generic networking events.
2. Conceptualize and build a networking model.
3. Focus on vertical networking.
4. Take an MBA short course.
5. Engage in collaborative networking.

There a great list in the comments too - one of the beauties of coments!)

1. Spend 90% of your free time networking.
2. Most of your opportunities will come thru (not from) people in your network.
3. Don’t under estimate using your vendor network. They are great at reconnaisance. It’s their job to know their markets, who the decisions are and where the openings are.
4. Don’t wait to build your network. It takes a long time. It’s a great way to gain knowledge and also get a jump start on searching for a new job.
5. Always end conversations by asking what you can do for the person you are networking with. What you give comes back to you ten-fold.
6. Differentiate yourself in the network to get people to remember you. Develop your tag line highlighting a specialty, capability or fun fact.
7. Network to stay fresh and practice your personal sales pitch. Hiring decisions are sometimes made in the first 5 minutes of an interview. Be prepared for the "Tell me about yourself" question.
8. Follow-up and always do what you say you will do.
9. Protect your valuable time. Don’t overcommit or waste time.
10. Make sure you have plenty of CXOs, HR professionals and recruiters in your network.

Read the full article here.

I know that the networking skills I've learned through professional association involvement have stood me in good stead for many years. I'd add simple tips like:

1. Talk with normal words. Vertical networking means folks don't understand geek or acronyms (and won't admit it).
2. Collect cards and file them. You'll be surprised how important they can be. People avoid putting their e-mail addresses on easy to find websites now to avoid spam.
3. Don't make up your mind about someone you meet too soon. Take the time to learn about them adn their networks. You might find a great contact or a new friend.
4. Don't talk about you and yourself too soon.

In order to get folks to buy into our visions of a world empowered by lbraries and our collections and services we have network beyond ourselves and engage the rest of the world in our powerful visions and get their support - political and financial.

I don't always take my own advice but one tries. Sigh.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:38 AM | Comments (0)

February 9, 2006

What (Academic) Users Want

Pam Ryan at the University of Alberta points to a good article.

"A solid and practical opinion article in Ariadne’s 10th Anniversary issue from Reg Carr, Oxford’s Director of University Library Services & Bodley’s Librarian: What Users Want: An Academic `Hybrid’ Library Perspective.
Worth a full read for certain but here are his conclusions for the near future:

“It is more than ever necessary to understand what library users say they want; and the research which that entails should be an integral part of a professional approach to library service planning.”

“It is essential to distinguish between the different expressions of ‘want’, and to examine the contextual reasons for the differences.”

“Every effort should be made to meet the expressed wants of users (even where these are in conflict), and to take an open-minded, and even-handed, approach to the allocation of scarce resources.”

“Longer-term service planning, allied where possible to the nimble exploitation of new funding opportunities, should be used creatively to follow a development path for the library service which will ultimately ensure its continuing relevance for users, as the technology becomes ’smarter’, and as the present tensions inherent in the hybrid library are progressively resolved over time.”

Read,(Thanks Pam)

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:17 PM | Comments (0)

Mashup Camp

Here's two places I wish I was going:

Mashup Camp

Mashup Camp, a two day event, will take place on Feb. 20 & 21, 2006 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Mashups are where it's at right now and some of the most creative thinking and tools are being incubated. This looks like a great place to dream and learn.

Mix 06

This is a 72 hour conversation hosted by Microsoft in Las Vegas (March 20-22). The sessions and theme look very interesting and there's always something to learn from the elephant in the room. I haven't had time to follow IE7 closely and there seems to more than advancements in browserdom. The competition from Firefox has sharpened old lady MS up I'll bet.

Oh well, can't be everywhere. If you go, let me know what you heard.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:07 PM | Comments (1)

February 8, 2006

Thinking about Web 2.0

Just a couple of quick postings today to point to some stuff that's taking up room in my inbox!

This posting from Don Hinchcliffe on his Web 2.0 blog is useful. It s called "Ten Ways To Take Advantage of Web 2.0". In summary, he lists:

1. Encourage Social Contributions With Individual Benefit
2. Make Content Editable Whenever Possible
3. Encourage Unintended Uses
4. Provide Continuous, Interactive User Experiences
5. Make Your Sure Your Site Offers Its Content as Feeds and/or Web services
6. Let Users Establish and Build On Their Reputations
7. Allow Low-Friction Enrichment of Your Information
8. Give Users the Right To Remix.
9. Reuse Other Services Aggressively
10. Build Small Pieces, Loosely Joined

Worth reading and discussing.... There's loads of room for libraries to play here.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)