I’ve been busy. New house. New schedule. Hosted an Internet Security Workshop at the library. Got to see an inspiring talk by Stephen Abram at my library. Took a part-time faculty position teaching technology tools and resources to library school students this fall. Jumped into Second Life, even though I barely have time for a first life. I even got an office on the SL SLIS campus. Made strawberry shortcake.
Busy busy
May 1st, 2007The Pirate Primer: Mastering the Language of Swashbucklers & Rogues… no reviews yet
April 21st, 2007Pyratecon sounds like an informative and fun weekend of pirate lore and romanticizing villainous cutthroats. The book is probably worth a look Talk Like a Pirate Day – September 19.
Via: CNN | Arrrrr, maties — Pyratecon hits New Orleans
More roadtrip photos
February 12th, 2007Here are more roadtrip photos. Launch Slideshow
Fixed stuff
Star Wars 30th Annivserary Kit for Librarians
February 8th, 2007
Okay, it’s shameless marketing but can you imagine Stormtroopers directing traffic to your storytime? Random House has created an event tie-in kit for Star Wars’ 30th Anniversary for libraries and booksellers complete with Star Wars characters and authors. It’s worth it for the pins alone.
LibraryXO.org Live!
February 8th, 2007
I must have too much time on my hands. I created LibraryXO.org where users can post stories about the library-world and vote for their favorite stories. The idea is similar (okay, identical) to Digg but it’s only for library news, book reviews, and other fun stuff pertaining to libraries, librarians, and people who are just generally turned on by libraries.
Feel free to submit stories, vote, create a profile, interact with other LibraryXO users, comment, and make suggestions on how to make the site better. It’s a work in process and sure to change in layout, design and content as users begin to make it their own.
I’ll probably have an official launch in a couple of weeks… any excuse for a party.
Technical details: Pligg engine using MySQL, PHP, & CSS etc., hosted on LaughingSquid.net.
Silicon Valley Puzzle Day
February 6th, 2007The ever-awesome Emily has helped put together a totally new approach to fundraising for Morgan Hill’s new library set to open later this year.
Silicon Valley Puzzle Day on Saturday, February 24. SV Puzzle Day features crossword puzzle tournaments, ala the movie Word Play, as well as Sudoku and other logic puzzle tournaments, is not to be missed for puzzle buffs of all ages in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Roadtrip photos
February 5th, 2007Here are the photos from my roadtrip to the desert. We did a lot of exploring of abandoned mines and ghost towns in Death Valley and Arizona.
Edited 2/6/2007: picture links fixed
It’s official!
February 4th, 2007I just got back from my roadtrip to Vegas, Arizona, and Death Valley and I checked the SJSU records to see if there was any change to my degree status…
Congratulations! Your master’s degree has been officially posted on our records for the term listed above. Your diploma will be mailed to you shortly
I have my MLIS. Yippee! I don’t have the diploma yet. As long as there isn’t a clerical error or a major typo, I think I’m finished.
My ePortfolio was well recieved even though I think I did way more than necessary. What’s next? I already have a great job as a librarian, so I’m looking at an MPA, finishing a screenplay, or maybe training for a marathon.
Hip Library Programs
January 25th, 2007Sasha Cagen, author of Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics and founder of the movement for people who would rather be single than settle for an unfulfilling relationship gave a presentation at the library last night. The week before, Cagen was a featured guest on KQED’s Forum discussing the whole “51% of Women Are Now Living Without a Husband.” We showed a short video posted on Current TV , had a Q&A, and everyone mingled afterward. A lot of people who never or rarely come to the library attended the program and everyone seemed to have a great time. Thanks Sasha! and just in time for International Quirkyalone Day! Check out the Quirkyalone website for more details.
Last Wednesday, Jon Yang, author of the Rough Guide to Blogging gave a talk on basics of blogging. It was a full house! There were seniors and teens with their parents, and just people interested in starting a blog. I hope they did. Thanks Jon!
Trends for Libraries in 2007
January 22nd, 2007It’s a bit past the peak time for predictions for 2007, but I thought I’d chime in with my picks for some of the top tech trends for libraries to pay attention to this year.
Going Green | Global Warming, energy efficiency, and renewable resources are going to be hot topics, I’m betting even more so than last year. Libraries will have to add more books and resources for the DIYer looking to go green. Workshops on installing solar systems could be popular programs especially as states add more tax incentives and local governments reduce permit costs. Library facilities will also be able to take advantage of LED lighting, reduce energy vampires, and take advantage of new technologies like solar. Before long, I imagine that all government building construction in California will be required to be green. It’s smart policy and it’s political gold right now.
2. The WebOS | Documents, settings, and applications anywhere. The virtual operating system works through a browser through a set of scripts that emulate a computer environment. If library computers have enough oomph, and a little internal know-how, virtual desktops might be a way for libraries to leverage their resources and collections, virtual scripting handling chat, word processing, spreadsheets, integrated catalog searching and even web browsing.
3. Degraded Privacy | Corporate datamines, hackers, spyware and Uncle Sam all collecting even more information. It’s probably time to steel ourselves and our library users to the fact that a lot of what happens online is collected and archived (not by libraries I hope). To lessen the impact we’ll have to educate ourselves about what to do when we find out that our information has been compromised. Preparing Privacy Breech emergency kits just like earthquake emergency kits might be good have on hand.
4. eBooks | With 500 lb gorillas like Sony and Google getting solidly behind ebooks, I’m betting we’ll see some major deals and major initiatives to do for ebooks what the iPod did for music, making it cheap, portable, and easy to use. All it’s going to take is a major publisher with major authors to be bought by the right people. Where are libraries in this? It would be nice to see if libraries could get a seat at the table when it happens.
There are a few more but I’ll post them later.