May 2009
3 posts
Is a public library film festival via YouTube... →
I have no idea, but I’d sure love to know the answer to this! Anyone?
Usability Tip: Call it what it is →
Perhaps my one greatest pet peeve of the library world: It’s not a reference desk, it’s a help desk.
Most people wandering into a library have no concept of “reference” and are potentially scared away by the term.
Everybody knows what ‘help’ means. Reference is help. Call it what it is.
“A Short History of Internet Scare Stories
2004: “Your children are being...”
– http://www.walkingpaper.org/1971
My question is, now that the over-35 crowd is on Facebook are [some] public libraries still maintaining their No-Facebook/MySpace policies?
April 2009
4 posts
Librarians Support Communities of Users
Are librarians useful in social media?
I had a job interview recently with a really exciting small niche social networking site. One of my interviewers mentioned an interest in my library experience, but said he wasn’t sure how it would apply to the position. This was really thought provoking for me—lots of people understand that librarians have valuable skill sets, but they’re not sure...
1 tag
“Serving customers is a day-in, day-out, ongoing, never-ending, unremitting,...”
– Leon Gorman, former CEO & Chairman of the Board of L.L.Bean
(This is my favorite work-related quote. I keep it at my desk.)
4 tags
Work-related odds and ends
I had a job interview today, which got me thinking about All Things Work. Here are a few odds and ends left over from my thought processes and interview prep:
Things I am most proud of in my career:
Running computer workshops for totally green beginners—I’m responsible for dozens of senior citizens learning how to use a mouse, get around Windows, and eventually be able to download photos of...
“Why would Google want Twitter? We’ve been arguing for some time that Twitter’s...”
– Sources: Google In Late Stage Talks To Acquire Twitter (Updated)
March 2009
6 posts
2 tags
WatchThis video is an excellent example of the power of social media for SHEER AWESOMENESS.
Music videos are one of the most popular things on YouTube.
ASL interpreter makes an absolutely killer sign language mashup.
Lots of people who wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to ASL are now talking about it.
These are some of the comments on the video over at YouTube:
Excellent Signing! I am...
Google To Start Behavioral Ad Targeting -... →
Starting today, Google will start using cookies to serve ads alongside its search results that are based on your browsing history.
Google already does something similar with the text ads displayed within the Gmail interface, but I see this new development as a potential privacy issue, especially for users of shared/public computers.
You can opt out of Behavioral Ad Targeting over here: ...
@jamievaron is desperate to work at Twitter. →
I can’t decide if I think this Jamie Varon person is incredibly cool or incredibly pathetic. There are one or two places I would want to work enough that I would consider such a stunt, if it weren’t for my crushing fear of Other Peoples’ Judgement. Or is it Judgment?
(Also, I’m slightly too paranoid to post my resume in public.)
4 tags
Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and... →
Hey, Libraries! It seems like it would be crazy-easy to throw one of these free mp3 audiobooks onto a small/inexpensive device (an iPod Shuffle, perhaps?) & circ it. The license doesn’t specify anything about such usage, but clearly they encourage educational use. The restrictions they specify involve commercial use and attribution.
In other news, The Picture of Dorian Gray somehow...
