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30
RSS in Plain English
Filed Under Libraries, Technology | 2 Comments
So, I’ve been working on this new blogging class that I’m co-teaching with a colleague. She’s handling the intro on what blogs are and I’m going to talk about using feeds and RSS readers (aka news readers or news aggregators), as well as say a bit about how to start a blog. My goal with this presentation is to keep it as short and simple as possible, with as little text as possible. Seth Godin’s post on really bad powerpoint has inspired me, though I don’t know if I can keep it to 6 words or less per slide!
So, anyway, during my preparation for this class I recently came across a video that’s been making the rounds in tech/web/library blogs. Take a look at it below. It’s perfect. For my class, I should just basically shut up, show this video, and ask if there are any questions!
There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don’t. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don’t know where to start.
Apr
25
Evidence of Change
Filed Under Libraries | Leave a Comment
Speaking of changes in libraries, one of the things I’ve been pushing for has finally happened…the library now has its very own Flickr account! It’s been up for a few weeks now and there should soon be a link on the library’s homepage sending people to the Flickr account. You can also see library photos by clicking “Pics” on this page’s top menu. I’m hoping to start taking some pictures of the library’s collection (Video showcase, new DVDs, new books, new reference books, etc.) to promote those on Flickr.
Apr
25
Coming up for air
Filed Under Libraries | Leave a Comment
The past couple of weeks have been very busy at work, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m getting the opportunity to be creative in so many different ways and I really feel like I’m making a contribution. Besides my regular reference and collection management duties, I’m also working on a lot of programming for the library, including an upcoming event to celebrate APA (Asian Pacific American) Heritage month and the first-ever Thousand Oaks Reads — One City One Book program. I’m actually in charge of creating a separate website for the program so it’s pretty exciting for me. The site isn’t available to the public yet, but as soon as it is, I’ll post the url here. I’m also busy trying to prepare for two new classes we’re offering, one on blogging and the other on Flickr.
With everything that’s going on at work, it’s been a struggle for me to keep up with my feeds. I realized that I’m subscribed to so many feeds that missing even one day of checking my Google Reader account creates a huge pile of content to read through for the next day. With CIL 2007, there seems to have been even more posting from blogging librarians, so it’s been even tougher to keep up.
The topic that really caught my attention from all the CIL-related discussions is change management, which David Lee King presented on. Click here for some good notes on the presentation and here for DLK’s pdf files for all three (!) of his CIL presentations. Mental note: find some way to get over to the CIL 2008 conference!
Apr
10
Note to self…
Filed Under Technology | Leave a Comment
Ever find yourself somewhere without a pen and paper or your laptop to jot down a note to yourself? I find myself in that position a lot. Here’s the solution…www.jott.com. This is really amazing. You call the Jott number, leave a message, then Jott turns your voice recording into text and emails it to you. You can also set up a contact list so you can send messages to friends, family, co-workers, etc.
Apr
4
The Customer’s Library
Filed Under Libraries | Leave a Comment
The Travelin’ Librarian just put up notes from a presentation called ” The Customer-Centered Library: How to stop tweaking and start doing it with new steps for 2007.” It was given by Karen Hyman, South Jersey Library Cooperative, Columbus Public Library, Columbus, NE. A pdf of the presentation is available for download on the PLA Symposium 2007 website. Every library administrator and librarian should be thinking about how to make their library more customer-centered.
I think my Library is doing great in most areas, but the way I see it, there’s always room for improvement, especially if it means making our patrons happier! One thing I’m going to do right now is add another page (see top menu) on this site called “Brainstorm.” This will be where I keep a running list of ideas for ways to improve my particular library’s service to its community. Please feel free to add to this list by leaving a comment. If you’re a library staff person or a library user from the community, please share your ideas on how to make this a better library. If you’re a library staff person and reading this blog, one way to approach this is to note each time you say “No, we can’t…” or “No, we don’t…” to a patron and ask yourself if this is something we can change to improve our services.
Here are the 12 steps to a customer-centered library according to the presentation:
- Care
- Think like a customer
- See the problem(s)
- Change your approach, not the customer
- Abandon victimhood
- Organize your library to support quality service
- Walk through everything
- Get the book into the customers’ hands
- Transform the library experience
- Overcome overdues
- Take the library to the people
- Make something happen
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