Picture it: the late 1990s and/or early 2000s: Me: ”I don’t borrow DVDs from Blockbuster, I just get them free from the library.” Friend: “What, really? The library has DVDs? FOR FREE??” When libraries started collecting videos, I was a kid and so I don’t know the impact that had on borrowing. But I do
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Jane Hart from the Internet Time Alliance has several great suggestions in 10 Steps for Working Smarter with Social Media. The article is geared towards trainers, but applicable to other situations. As Ms. Hart points out, too often “over-engineered” training is given, although a simpler solution may lead to better learning and productivity. Among her
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With the announcement by OverDrive of HarperCollins’ new restrictions on the lending of HarperCollins’ e-book titles at the end of last week, the library world has been taking another longer look at e-books and the challenges that they confront us with. Already in the last week Trudi and Ann have commented on e-books and libraries,
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Usually I’d skip this type of posting on one of the listservs I subscribe to, but the subject caught my attention. Washington State Library surveyed the libraries in that state on their state-wide licensing project. What struck me were the screenshots of the survey tool, created in Survey Monkey. It could serve as a model
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Screencasting is all the rage these days, but how do you choose which tool to use? If there is no institutional preference and your budget is very low (as in need something free), check out Olivia Sparks’ great review of some of the most popular free options. She’s with Arizona State University Libraries. There are
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In my last post about weeding, I had mentioned one of my new favorite things — Awful Library Books — a site which takes a hilarious (sometimes sobering) look at the woefully outdated and/or no longer relevant items still to be found on public library shelves. The brains behind the site are Mary Kelly and
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Although this video was produced a few years ago, you might have missed it the first time. It is well worth the few minutes to view! It was produced as a contribution to the EDUCAUSE book, The Tower and the Cloud: Higher Education in the Age of Cloud Computing, edited by Richard Katz and available
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It’s the middle of January and I suspect that many public library staff are still coping with the whole eBooks and eReaders onslaught from this past Christmas. At least that is the case for Regina Public Library (RPL). A good portion of our clientele seems to have purchased or received a dedicated eReader (Kobo, Sony
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OuiBox (warning: music autoplays) is not only an online word processor and a way to connect to various social media sites but it claims to have the ability to help you fill in facts as you write! We’re not there yet but the fact that this was posted to Reddit with a subject line of
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They’ve been in the news the past year or two, and there’s no way to escape it. E-book readers: a must-have or a no-thanks gadget? Some people remain conflicted (e.g. see What I Learned Today), even those who love gadgets. Others embrace them wholeheartedly. Earlier this year, Campus Technology examined e-book readers for academic reading,
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