Submitted by Cindi Trainor on February 2, 2009 - 11:12am
 My original intention was to write about LITA's Top Technology Trends Round Table at the recent ALA Midwinter meeting in Denver and our (I'm on the committee) integration of technologies intended to make the session available to remote viewers and engage our in-person audience, then I went to the LITA Town Hall meeting and sat at a table of the most amazing people who, working together, set up many different ways to share the content of the meeting with those not in the room as well as integrate comments from those watching from afar.
The TopTech Round Table has been written up very well by Library Journal bloggers Josh Hadro (Part 1 and Part 2) and Roy Tennant (also a TopTech Trendster) and at the AL inside scoop; I won't recap here. During the weeks leading up to the conference, several TTT committee members tested the live blogging freely available from coveritlive, its twitter integration, media uploading, simple reader polls, and comment moderation. The session's hashtag, #ttt09 was also aggregated into the LITA & BIGWIG Friendfeed room. We were nothing if not prepared. The final stroke of luck was the unwavering wireless connectivity in the room; without it, there is no way that we would have been able to upload photos and stream live video of the session.
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Submitted by Cindi Trainor on January 6, 2009 - 10:03am
 In October 2008, I had the privilege and pleasure of presenting at the Bridging Worlds 2008 conference, which took place at the Intercontinental Hotel Singapore, across the street from the National Library. A few of us took time one afternoon to tour around the library, where we wandered around the Central Lending Library and the Lee Kong Chiang Reference Library. Both were impressive and fairly crowded for a Friday afternoon. Read More »
Submitted by Cindi Trainor on December 2, 2008 - 10:28am
A: Users! 
My library designed and unveiled a new website for fall 2008, and one task we haven't yet attempted is gathering organized feedback through direct observation of students, while they use the site. We'll be conducting user assessments early in 2009, so I was delighted to hear Cliff Landis, Technology Librarian at Georgia's Valdosta State University talk about doing just that at Internet Librarian 2008 in October. During his talk, "Creating the User-Centered Library," Cliff talked about the Odum Library's use of surveys, focus groups, and recorded user observations to gather user feedback that they are using to make improvements to their website. User observations may seem intimidating, but Cliff's assertions that only a few volunteers are needed, only a few questions are necessary, and that it doesn't take a ton of time or planning, have me excited that we're gearing up to do our own.
The Fall 2008 report is available from the library's blog. Read More »
Submitted by Cindi Trainor on November 19, 2008 - 10:06am
Saturday was National Gaming Day, and the kids and I braved the cold, wet weather to check out the Wii games at the Village Branch of the Lexington Public Library. The staff report that the crowd was smaller than other, weeknight gaming events, but they were no less enthusiastic! The kids were playing Wii Bowling when we first arrived; here is the group's reaction to the final score. Next up was Guitar Hero (also Wii). This one was so popular that the kids had to draw numbers to see who would go first. The rocking party was still going strong when we left. The newly-expanded Village branch is located in the Village shopping plaza, on the west side of Lexington. Gaming events are held in the Teen Center; the library also includes a small collection of materials, easily-accessible "airport" restrooms, and a newly-expanded meeting room and computer lab. The four-year-old library, one of six branches in the medium-sized Central Kentucky city, also boasts bilingual (Spanish/English) staff. Read More »
Submitted by Cindi Trainor on October 10, 2008 - 12:58pm
This photo was submitted to the TechSource TechShots group pool on flickr. Head over to flickr to submit photos of innovative uses of technology in your library.
Submitted by Cindi Trainor on October 1, 2008 - 2:40pm
 One of the beautiful library spaces I had the privilege of visiting this summer was the new main Boone County Public Library building in Burlington, Kentucky (map), in the northern part of the state. Read More »
Submitted by Cindi Trainor on August 20, 2008 - 12:25pm
Submitted by Cindi Trainor on August 18, 2008 - 1:29pm
 I have visited a lot of libraries this summer, looking for interesting architecture, technology, and landscaping that would make for good photos. I visited the new Daviess County Public Library in Owensboro, Kentucky, last weekend, and something really unexpected caught my eye--all the electrical outlets were covered with those little plastic dummies that render them harmless to toddlers. Being a parent, I thought this marvelous. Visiting a space that is not prepared for small children can be very harrying to parents; this small gesture (though probably the bane of many library staff member's existence!) may give parents just enough comfort to be able to enjoy their library a few minutes more. As far as I can tell, DCPL is the only library that I've visited this summer that's taken this simple precaution. Read More »
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