Submitted by Cindi Trainor on February 3, 2010 - 11:11am
Darien Library has long been known for its “extreme customer service” and for making every Darien experience the best that it can be. When the proposal to expand the old library building fell through, administrators Louise Berry and Alan Kirk Gray applied these same principles to dreaming Darien Library all up again.
Submitted by Daniel A. Freeman on February 1, 2010 - 1:25pm
In the wake of the 2010 Midwinter meeting, there's been a lot of talk about unconferences and online conferences. A rough economy and the inconvenience of long-distance travel, combined with the proliferation of Web 2.0, VoIP and other tools for instantaneous online communication have led to a significant increase in the popularity of online events. Our own Tom Peters has written quite a bit about this topic on the blog and in Smart Libraries Newsletter. Read More »
Submitted by Jason Griffey on February 1, 2010 - 8:46am
On Wednesday, the most anticipated technology product announcement of the last few years took place (video of the event here), and Apple finally showed off their tablet computer, the iPad. The iPad is going to dominate the technology discussion for the next several months, but here's a first-blush look at the tech specs and features that are going to be important for libraries and education. as well as what's missing and what we should be worried about.
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Submitted by Kate Sheehan on January 28, 2010 - 7:14pm
It’s hard not to make new friends at library conferences. This is doubly true in Boston, a city that redefines the term “lost.” The unofficial activity of ALA Midwinter 2010 seemed to be standing on a corner, smartphone in hand, trying to align the map on the screen with the streets (please note: I used to live in Boston, and think it’s a great place. Still, I accidentally went to the airport one morning on my way to the convention center). Post-conference, lots of folks are blogging about the great people they met, either through serendipity or at meet-ups, and I’m reminded that the power of conferences almost always stems from the people who attend.
I’ve been jokingly referring to my time at Midwinter as “a weekend spent talking to angry librarians,” though I think “angry” is too strong a word. I noticed a pervasive sense of frustration among the people I spoke with, many of whom expressed some professional exasperation with their jobs, the profession as a whole, or both. Everyone I spoke to was passionately committed to their patrons, to librarianship, to libraries, but all felt they were swimming upstream in some way or another.
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Submitted by Daniel A. Freeman on January 28, 2010 - 9:19am
The ALA Midwinter meeting provides a fantastic opportunity to reflect on how technology is continuing to transform the library world. Between the exhibition floor and the variety of technology-related events, the conference can provide attendees with an overview of where library technology is, and where it may be going. Of course, for various reasons, many librarians weren't able to attend, and many who did found themselves spread too thin to attend every technology-related event they might have wanted to. Read More »
Submitted by Tom Peters on January 20, 2010 - 3:47pm
Eighteen months ago (11.5 Internet years), during the most recent Petersian Congress (the highfalutin name we’ve given to our triennial family reunion), we ribbed our niece (then 16 years old) about her apparent ability to continue texting messages on her cell phone as she fell asleep. Someone snapped a picture of her in blissful repose with her fingers still poised on the tiny little keyboard. Read More »
Submitted by Daniel A. Freeman on January 19, 2010 - 11:27am
Today, we face a significant time of change that is being prompted by today’s library user. This user no longer visits the physical library as his primary source of information, but seeks and creates information while connected to the global computer network. The change that libraries will need to make in response must include the transformation of the library’s public catalog from a stand-alone database of bibliographic records to a highly hyperlinked data set that can interact with information resources on the World Wide Web. The library data can then be integrated into the virtual working spaces of the users served by the library.
Submitted by Daniel A. Freeman on January 14, 2010 - 3:11pm
As part of our continuing partnership with WebJunction, ALA TechSource presents WordPress for Library 2.0 and Beyond, a Webinar with Joshua Dodson and Laura Slavin on Wednesday, February 10th at noon Eastern.
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Darien Library
