Blog o' Randomness

IL 2011: Closing Keynote: The Great Gamification Debate

2011-11-20T23:41:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Liz Lawley, Director, Lab for Social Computing, Rochester Institute of Technology

Internet Librarian 2011 Closing Keynote

View more presentations from Elizabeth Lawley

Gamification is the application of gaming mechanics to non-gaming environments.

Lee Sheldoen – “the multiplayer classroom”. How to use game mechanics in the classroom – instead of grades, exp points. Students are doing better, more engaged, better grades, hand in more assignments.

Gamifyforthewin.com – Ian Bogost – gamification is bullshit. “–ification is simple, repeatable, proven techniques. Is always easy and repeatable, and it’s usually bullshit”.

Earning points in games like Scrabble and Words with Friends, isn’t because you got a 50 point word, but because it was difficult. The feeling of accomplishment is very important.

@ RIT

Microsoft Research gave some money to help them get started, and is continuing to fund it.

Foursquare – gamification that really seems to work. Allows you to reflect back on what you’ve done and think about your accomplishments.

4sq&7yearsago – emails you each day to tell you what you were doing a year ago.

Experience of competence is important. Students should want to do it, not just do it for the reward.

What behaviors did we want to reward and encourage?

What feelings of competence could we engender?

What did we want our students to remember and reflect on?

Bartle’s Player Types – kinds of people who play MUDs. Killers, achievers, explorers, socializers. Too generic a model, overly simplified.

New way of thinking of achievements – apprentice, journeyman, master. Individual and shared (group work).

Just Press Play. Play.rit.edu

Game launched last week at RIT.

“Why can’t students get achievements for being awesome?” Game that overlays students day-to-day activities. Beta launched for RIT’s School of Interactive Games and Media. 720 students.

RFID keyfobs for some activities – go places. Some activities give them cards (faculty collectible cards).

Experiences the students will remember. Humor, playfulness, engaging with people around them. Humanizes faculty for students. Connects students to each other.

Facebook.com/JustPressPlayRIT

Will open source at end of summer!

The platform is important, but also need to spend time thinking about the content, designing the experience. What works for students at RIT won’t be the same for students at another univ. Will have to modify for the kind of content your students will respond to. Put the time and energy into it and you can really transform with the power of games.

Sense that they’ve really accomplished something that matters.

IL 2011: Talk About: eBook Preservation

2011-11-20T13:57:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Goal is to represent our professions rather than our employers.

Sue, I’m a librarian and I’m concerned about:

Usability
Authenticity
Discoverability
Accessibility

What does it mean to preserve ebooks? Just the text? The experience? Links, multimedia

In what format should digital format be preserved? Will it serve us in the future?

Who’s responsible/ who owns them? Library, publisher, aggregator, author? Who has the right to make backup files?

What are the trigger events? Items kept secure until checked out.

Can I move to a different interface? Do I have the right to take my archive files with me and take them to another aggregator? Is the content provider saving items in format that will work in any interface?

Do I have the ability/right to remove a title that needs weeding? Is it completely removed? Or is it stored somewhere else I can access it in case it’s discovered that I do need it again?

Who pays for preservation? Built into price of book? Access fees? Separate access fee? Or just the cost of doing business?

Rolf – publisher

Publisher is involved with beginning, middle and end of content creation.

1-Ownership: perpetual. 2-Publisher owns copyright, library owns product. Challenge is what lies between those 2 statements. Limitations – not everybody will win.

Big issue from publisher perspective is resourcing. Dollars and cents. Who pays for preservation. Publishers have the basic responsibility to participate in all the major digital preservation initiatives. LOCKSS CLOCKSS

Also need to make the investment to protect the version of record. Hard to determine because there are so many dynamic items out there.

Aggregators – a growing and preferred purchasing sector. Every publisher licenses their content to several. Who’s protecting who? Is publisher protecting aggregator who protects libraries? Or something else? What is aggregator’s mission? Contractual issue – preservation doesn’t come up in discussions with aggregators. The legal language is going to be the ultimate protector in how we tighten up issue between publisher and aggregator.

Preservation Before Dissemination

When publisher creates content we need to start thinking about preservation before dissemination. Be strategic. Proactive- plan for change is the most difficult thing for a publisher to do. Still live in book world. Need to be collaborative with aggregators and libraries. Knowing that not everything will be resolved, but publisher needs to wake up and figure out how on a collective level we can create a safer environment for content. Digital preservation is something that every publisher needs to start creating - an operational model that is resourced. Create some standards, have a profound effect on how we can protect the content that you own.

Ultimately, it’s knowledge that your end user will always need.

Ken - aggregator

What does it mean to preserve ebooks?

Light archive – the aggregated databases that exist today, either thru aggregator or publisher. Collection of ebooks on a platform that can be accessed by users on platform.

Dark archive – creating a repository to ensure that if there’s some event that warrants it that there is still the ability of your users to access the content. Closed, tightly guarded. Only reason someone should need to go in is to inventory, make sure it’s all there in case needed.

Is the text all we need to preserve?

Publisher owns copyright and original file. Publisher’s decision for what becomes the item of record.

Portico – take publisher’s original file, create normalized version of file – all in same format.

CLOCKSS – take capture of last user interface version, prior to a trigger event, and preserve that.

Who is responsible for preserving ebooks?

Publisher owns rights to book initially, grants rights to aggregator to release books. Can also grant rights to organization to preserve. Rights can be assigned to others.

What are ebook trigger events?

Publisher exits business or ebook no longer offered anywhere. Publisher has to approve trigger. Not a trigger – if aggregator exits business, because books are still available elsewhere. If library stops paying for access to platform. Same reason.

Weeding ebooks

Platforms were designd to be additive, unlimited shelf space. What is the right treatment? Choose archive as status, actually just hidden, later access can be reenabled. Manually, or ‘checked’ out? Permanently deleting? Entitled to dark archive version?

Who pays?

We all do. Publisher is owner- should preserve book. Consensus seems to be in at least 2 places. Aggregator putting redundancy in platforms and copy in dark archive. Library – up front fees or ongoing access fees. Preservation efforts.

Preservation initiatives- scalable? Sustainable?

Questions

Considered asking digital archivists? Publisher – no, question of scalability. (MY NOTE: not sure I understand the answer)

IL 2011: eBooks and the Future of Publishing, Lending, Learning

2011-11-20T10:31:00.003-06:00

David Bowers and Stephen Abram

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

eBooks from publishing perspective and where we see things going in the future.

David Bowers, Oxford University Press

Individual is the focus.

Libraries – the original Google. People come to libraries to learn. Issues – budgets.

OUP – is not for profit. Univ has been only shareholder in entire history of OUP. Not kicking back profit to people as shareholders. Looking to generate a bottom line, kick back to univ, so they can share knowledge. Oxford Index.

Content Aggregators

Contract with EBSCO ebrary, Miilibrary, eLibrary. Take Oxford data, package into product.

Ereaders –

Typically, eBooks that have been made and distributed to the vendors are electronic copies of traditional print books.

iPhone and app store changing that. Apps can bring more to books. Maybe reader wants something more – a chapter, an article. Ex: look inside all available books about molecular biology from a single app.

Users rent an app from publisher?

Stephen Abram, Gale Cengage Learning

We want to build stuff that helps people learn. That’s what motivates us (people in publishing). 800 librarians on staff.

Biggest project – thinking of the future. what will the textbook look like over time? What’s going to happen with large print. What will childrens books look like?

Textbooks – needs to be device agnostic. Browser independent. Learning management system independent. ADA compliant. Learning style independent. Testing new versions of textbooks in 150 schools in north America. Mobile independent. Use social tools.

Childrens books – 1st experiences in childrens books. What’s the right form of book? Why are there pages? Scroll thru instead, like a video game. Does it have to have the same ending every time? Does everything have to be in the same place every time you open the book? Move the mouse around. (MY THOUGHTS – what do childrens educators/ experts think about this? Is a change every time good or bad? Or is the consistency what kids need?)

Reference – non fiction. We use nonfiction asynchronously. How do we pull info out of multiple encyclopedias about 1 topic? And have it in whatever format we want, and assemble as my own book on the topic I need on the fly. Frame quality information, that has been quality selected, frame it to serve our users.

Questions

Copyright – if you had training in copyright that’s more than 5 years old, it’s no longer valid. Things have changed too much recently. Need to update your knowledge. Laws in US and other countries is changing.

IL 2011: Tips on Redesigning Library Sites

2011-11-20T02:56:00.000-06:00

Monday, October 17, 2011

Making Connections: Conversations, Collaboration and Negotiation in a Library Website Redesign Project.
Michael Epstein - University of San Diego, Copley Library

When working on redesign, conversations were most important. Relationships are as important as tools and tech. successful collaboration with stakeholders. must be able to communicate needs of a library website.

In USD context –

Previous univ wide redesign, library not involved, given templates – very locked down version of page, ‘place your content here’, resistance to being boxed in by templates that we hadn’t been included in the conversation about, this led to benign neglect. Didn’t implement them.

Then, CIO named interim director of library, nobody was happy with old templates, not just library. New redesign. Since CIO was director of library, could have conversation with him about library role in redesign. Instead of entire redesign, doing a few depts. at a time. Library website redesign team formed – librarians and IT.

IT and librarians – defensive at first, one size does not fit all, needed to explain why library is different, needs are diff from other departments on campus. Agreed to look at other library websites. Helped IT see how library is different.

-Collaboration

Daily conversations on content and design. Constant communication was key.

Web advisory group within library.

Univ stakeholders unhappy with new template. Not sure who, just some people from higher up. New consultant hired. Meetings with consultant. Library had place at the table. People interested in branding and uniformity vs. unique dept needs.

Lessons learned:

-Look for opportunities to collaborate with non-library personnel.

-Build relationship thru conversations, negotiations, compromise.

-Communicate unique needs of library users with other stakeholders and other people you’re working with. Can’t assume they understand what you’re working with.

-Be willing to give up some control in return for a truly collaborative approach. It’s OK, you don’t have to do the whole thing. As long as you are both able to express your needs and work things out.

PPLD.org – a redesign case study
Virginia Franklyn - Pikes Peak Library District

Old website about 8 years old, too small.

Project plan – read Project Management for Dummies. Really helped. Drew up project plan with timeline. On a wiki so all staff had access via intranet.

Choose framework.

Looked at WP and Joomla. But decided Drupal was best for them. Big websites use them, like what they needed. Geared toward staff data entry and patron participation. Received so much help from the community.

Had to learn Drupal. Drupal 6 by David Mercer. Drupal 7 is out now, should use that, but Drupal 6 was available when they started.

Did every example in book to learn it. Yes, very steep learning curve, but it worked to learn it. Drupal community is amazing. Drupal southern Colorado user group, library BOFs, consultants. But mostly trial and error. Broke website a lot when in development. Have a sense of humor about Drupal. Don’t have a strict timeline because things will come out of left field. Be flexible.

Website survey – needed to know how to set up site. Catalog/my account. Suggest a book. Find classes/programs. Became sections for site.

Website layout

Usability

Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. How to make a website intuitive. Get user to what they need as easily and fast as possible.

Usability testing after basic infrastructure was built. Usability Hot Team. Doing 3-4 usability tests is optimal. But do at least 1. “Of course, everyone knows usability tests are very important, and must be done.”

2 years and 1 baby later…

Vfranklyn.blogspot.com = blog of how they did it.

Extreme make-over
Marin County Free Library

Moved from a centralized to open control. Moved from proprietary CMS to open source.

3 big takeaways – patience, perseverance, passion for the project.

Integrating social media very important. Big 5 – Blogger, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube.

Free labor – internship program with univ.

Also decided to simultaneously rebrand site. Realized too late it was a terrible idea. Concentrated on content development.

Social media committee. Weekly meetings.

Used Google docs as repository. Constant communication.

Tips:

-When evaluating vendor proposals – get examples with similar budget as yours. So you know what you can really expect to get.

-Get expectations from vendor of when things will be done.

-Wireframes – use different term, like diagrams. Some staff didn’t understand the term and had blocks about it which lasted throughout project.

-Useful tools – content spreadsheet detailing all content, who was responsible, deadline. Google docs.

IL 2011: Drupal vs. WordPress vs. Joomla - CMS SMACKDOWN!!!

2011-11-19T13:09:00.000-06:00

Monday, October 17, 2011

Blake Carver, LISHost
Kendra K. Levine, Librarian At Large

LISHost – 400 sites. 200 WP, 100 Drupal, 1 Joomla.

What is/Why use CMS? Centralize control, free up people to make content, not techie, non-geeky users can set up own pages.

Empowers other people to create content. Timelier, universal changes easier/quicker. Users end up having a nicer relationship with the website. More user friendly.

Goals of a CMS – what’s important to you? Make life easier? Flexibility? Easier for technophobes? Functionality(calendars, widgets)? Get code out of the way so people can actually do work?

Audience question - Used to get rid of webmasters? “any dummy can do it, so don’t need webmaster”. Wrong, still need someone to maintain it.

“CMS removes impediments of keeping website current.”

Blake and Kendra

How to choose:

-Complex vs. simple

-How big is website?

-Learning curve- who’s going to be updating website? can they pick it up quickly?

-Who’s going to use it? Designers/users/webmasters?

-Translation

-Library specific modules/plugins

* Budgets, Personnel, Time

What’s open source?

Get code, modify it, share it back to community.

Free – speech vs. beer vs. kittens

Drupal
-Stared 2001, kid in dorm created bbs, powers 2-3% of sites on internet now.
-Acquia – company created by inventor.

WordPress
-2003, company is Automattic
-Support, hosting, services
-WordPress.com
-14.7% of top websites in world. 22 of every 100 new domains registered.

Joomla
-2005
-“Open source matters” website

All of them-

What makes them great-

Huge developer community, lots of themes, modules, plugins, widgets, scalable, complex yet flexible, regular security updates, tools.

What makes them suck-

Huge developer community – conflicting themes/plugins, PHP versions – servers must be kept up-to-date with current version, modules/plugins/widgets can have issues because of outside changes, security updates.

Smackdown:

-Installation- all pretty easy, one click installs for all 3, DRAW.

-Scalability – Drupal – best at managing huge amounts of content.

-Library specific stuff – depending on what you want, probably Drupal.

-Appearance – WP slightly, theme searching interface is very good. Unless you like to code/modify themes, then Drupal.

-User management – Drupal. Seemingly infinite roles/permissions. WP – not bad, started as one person/one blog, but getting better.

-Customization – all equal. Drupal and WP – lots of modules and plugins. Joomla - not as many, but there, can customize with time/patience.

-Ease of use – WP. Nice dashboard. Drupal, has done a lot of usability testing, working on it.

-Configuration and maintenance – WP. One click install, one click update. Batch update all plugins. Drupal – more intensive, have to do some in shell yourself, can configure every little thing and have to configure every little thing. WP – can, but don’t have to to get it to work.

-Upgrade and security – WP – easier for regular user. Drupal - more difficult, FTP, have to touch files on server. WP – seems to be less secure, not bad tho. Drupal a bit better.

Winner = Drupal and WP.

Drupal – big, powerful, good for a lot of pages files, WP - easy to set up, your mom can do it.

Questions –

Another criteria – what if person who picks and installs the CMS you choose leaves? Is there someone else to support? What about Plone?

Which is easiest to learn when previous person leaves? Depends on complexity of your site, not dependent on platform you choose.

RFP – what limitations shouldthey look out for? How technologically advanced are your staff? Size of lib/staff?

WP – hosted on .com or on own server? Limitations to hosted – can only use their themes, if you want to do lots of customization, have to host your own.

Final thought from Kendra - Not one right answer – it’s what is right for your situation.

IL 2011: iLibrarian: Virtual, iPads & Mobile Devices

2011-11-18T16:39:00.001-06:00

Monday, October 17, 2011

Willie Miller Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI)

iLibrarian (2011 Internet Librarian)

View more presentations from Willie Miller

Indiana Univ. Fall 2010, iPad learning community. Gave faculty iPads - go play. Figure out how to use them in teaching. Univ. funded initiative.

Library instruction with iPads.

Mobile research – library’s mobile site.

Journalism – use several different news/media apps. Compare how different apps display/discuss the same topic.

Collaborative concept mapping – Popplet – work together on project. One group used this as presentation instead of doing PowerPoint.

-Measuring outcomes

209 respondents to survey

Just started in Spring 2011

“all tools you need are right there and customizable”
“convenient and fun”
“easier for collaborating”
“time wasted when iPad wasn’t working properly”
“I’m faster writing notes on paper than with an iPad”
“found myself wanting to play with the apps rather than focus on course material”
”can get lost in the iPad and not focus on group work”
“checked my email and Facebook rather than participating because it was easier to hide”

-Best practices

Plan activities in detail and test technology – be able to troubleshoot problems.

Convey expectations – the amount of work expected.

Monitor activities carefully – make sure they’re on track, not checking email/Facebook.

Curate resources – keep everything in one folder – "this is the work for today".

Cultivate mobile information literacy.

Consider device limitations. Ie. Database searching not for iPads. iPads load pdfs slower than PCs.

Library on Demand
University of La Verne

Linda Gordon

Supplemental, not replacing in-person contact with students and instructors. Maximize our outreach during busiest 1st 2 weeks of semesters.

Optimize outreach activities.

Optimize student learning preferences.

Darryl Swarm

Pilot program – one campus, 5 classrooms, get feedback from staff, students.

Phase II – add campuses, one at a time.

Phase III – individualized/specialized instruction.

Kitt Vincent

3 facets of pilot program

1-Technology

Adobe Acrobat – standard that can be used in the future, already licensed to the univ. 200-250 students at one time. Screen sharing.

2-Users

Faculty at remote sites.

3-Staffing

Campus staff as project support.

Lessons learned:

-Skype – logins wiped every night.

-Hardware acquisitions – takes forever to go thru the proper channels to purchase microphones, etc.

-Leadership changes/commitment/monetary promises.

-Naming conventions changed throughout the project.

-Hardware durability – dropped in classrooms.

IL 2011: Transliteracy & 21st Century Skills for Library Users

2011-11-18T15:00:00.000-06:00

Monday, October 17, 2011

Learning for Life Online at the Boston PL
Jennifer Koerber, Web Services Librarian, Boston Public Library

-Choosing a structure

Blog? What if people join then abandon their blogs? Tons of dead blogs. Wiki? Chaos. Ning – ad based, closed. Moodle – would work well as part of an overall training program. Lot of work to set up.

Take a few tools, put them together to create the platform. WordPress site, Facebook page – that’s where people already are, wouldn’t have to come up with a whole new blog. Twitter – another convenient tool for pushing the lessons out. In person events at branches, off site, other conferences – trainings, social meetups, unconferences.

NTIA grant – laptop lending program and training.

Decided to wait until laptop program started to launch Learning for Life Online.

Each entry - Intro, what is it? How is it useful? Suggestions for trying it out, helpful resources.

No formal registration – drop in program, no way to scale it to a large city if having to register.

Track outcomes – Google analytics, Facebook shares, followers, Twitter stats.

Colorado Public Computer Centers
Jaimie Hollier, Project Coordinator, Colorado Public Computer Centers, Colorado State Library

BTOP – 80+ new and enhanced Public Computer Centers. And trainings – how and why they need to be online. Jan-June – trained over 3000 people.

Lessons learned:

-Digital literacy is a functional building block toward transliteracy.

-Partnerships are paramount to success. Too much to do, too many people to reach, too little funds.

-Step back and take a look at the big picture. Instead of ‘we’re teaching email’, should be ‘ we’re teaching people how to connect to their families’, teach something that means something to the people, otherwise they won’t remember it.

-Follow and inform national policy. People care that libraries have a place, tell people.

Digital Core – FCC. Working with IMLS, Microsoft and E-rate. Getting people out training on digital literacy.

Digital Promise. How do we make learning better thru technology?

Digital Literacy.gov – not fulfilling the need it was supposed to be for, NTIA knows that. So they’re working on it, keep an eye on it.

IL 2011: From Training to Learning: Institutionalizing Innovation and Creativity

2011-11-17T16:01:00.001-06:00

Monday, October 17, 2011
Nancy MacKenzie and Lisa Hardy, Calgary Public Library, Alberta, Canada

Calgary Public Library - 800 employees, 18 branches, serves city of Calgary, a little over 1 million people.

Organizational structure – barrier to change, need to figure out how to create a space in the structure to innovate.

2 initiatives at Calgary PL.

1st Learning Initiative: Librarian Led CPL Supported Training

Opportunities

1-Explore relationship between traditional reference and community info question.

Librarian – lead the exploration, articulate the unique contribution of the library, have courage.

CPL – provide the space and structure to start the conversation.

2-establish organizational direction in working with our communities in different ways.

Librarian – identify opportunities, personal learning requirements, provide leadership and direction.

CPL – create structure that supports innovation, creativity and leadership, and success in and for the community, alignment with strategic directions – how what librarians are doing aligns with organizations directions, measure success – identify strategies and measures.

3-Provide real leadership opportunities for librarians.

Librarian – seeing what needs to be done and doing it.

CPL – Leadership Action Team (LAT), provide opportunities to emerging leaders, mostly librarians but not exclusively. Series of workshops, traditional staff development day. develop valuable public speaking skills, participants say being able to work with CEO is a great benefit.

Emerging leaders training program – develop managerial skills.

Formal project management training – planning, project reporting, timelines, alignment with strategic directions.

Coaching – managers learn about effective listening, following intuition, less about problem solving and direction and more about supporting people in their training.

4-Support librarians in taking responsibility for their own learning- in a system supported way!

Librarians – identify what their learning needs are, come up with strategies to share and further system learning.

CPL - $$, structure and time.

5-Explore the relationship between who we are in the community and who we are as a community.

2nd Learning Initiative – Future Action Think Tank

Engage staff in thinking about future of libraries, sharing ideas, influencing innovation and being a part of change instead of just having change happen to them.

Future Action Team runs the think tank.

Staff engagement very important. How do you plan an event for everyone?

-Pre-conference – blog, ”what is a library future?”

Engage staff and spark curiosity. Encourage conversations. Open tumbler blog. Whatisalibraryfuture.tumblr.com -feel free to read and contribute.

Imagine the Future – 1 day event, scheduled for Dec. 7. Needed to do something different from previous traditional leadership training, which was too formulaic and didn’t encourage innovation.

-Futures Fair – departments present on what they do, like IT, etc.

-Field Trips – send staff out to different organizations to talk about Collections, Services, Spaces, Staff & The Workplace, Technology. Asking other organizations who serve the same community the library does, to further understand the community. 80 staff. $5000 budget. Return midafternoon. 1 hour of reflection time.

-Tackle Teams – informal groups, formed based on common interest in a topic. Read, discuss share with peers, provide a channel for them so ideas will be heard throughout organization.

To attend, Staff submit ‘expression of interest’, why they want to come and participate. Not just required attendance like previous training.

IL 2011: 20 Steps to Better Web Services

2011-11-17T14:58:00.010-06:00

The Librarian in Black.

Monday, October 17, 2011
Sarah Houghton

We are broke
Free=useful, maybe we’re becoming too reliant on free stuff. Maybe we should learn and do things ourselves.

#1 – Where to put your website
WordPress.
Blogger – still flexible platform, small, easy.
Drupal – if you have lots of time to learn it. Super flexible, make it look how you want it to. Open source. Good for larger site needing a big redesign.
Squarespace – Almost free. For around $500, did entire city website, CMS that works, mobile platform hosted. Easy to learn. Even staff who hate technology and websites are learning and blogging.

#2 – Images
Gimp – image editing program. Like Photoshop. Open source, free. Intermediate to advanced people.
Picasa
Picnik – in browser photo editing. Simple photo editing tool. Flickr uses it.
Flickr
PictoBrowser – Flickr slideshow.
Openphoto.net – high quality photography. For finding stock photos that aren’t illegal for you to use.
Creative commons search in Flickr.

#3 – Hot Topics
Addict-o-matic – pulls in items from many sites – Twitter, Bing, Google blog, YouTube, Flickr, etc.

#4 – make ur codez priteeez
beautifyer – java, css

#5 – Surveys and polls
Google forms – excel spreadsheet with results.
Polldaddy – simple polls, see percentages, easy to embed in website.

#6 – Slider
Wow slider – rotating slide show, doesn’t use flash – good. 10 minutes to have one up and running.

#7 - Translate
Google translate – free, it works, language of your choice. Put it near top of page, users will never get to the footer. Audience comment – do not use for medical info, terrible.

#8 – Remote assistance
LogMeIn – remote access to pc or mac. Email with link, gives permission to drive their computer. Free. Make sure they know after the session is over you can’t be in their computer anymore.

#9 - Wireframing
Balsamiq – mockup websites. Premade graphics as placeholders.

#10 – Test your mobile stuff
W3C – mobile OK checker, simple, easy, it works.

#11 – Stats
Google analytics – free, simple, easy. Insert tiny snippet of code into your site. Don’t need any skill.

#12 - Skype
Use for online ref/chat. People are using it anyway.

#13 – Social management
Tweetdeck – monitor multiple twitter accounts. Alerts.
Namechk – check for already used user names, when setting up profiles.

#14 - Webcast
Slideshare zipcast – for webcasts, like WebEx but free, live video feed plus slides and chat. Had up to 200 people on at same time, no load issues. Archives.

#15 – Video
JayCut – browser based video editing tool. Upload video, edit, then download finished product.
YouTube - video editing has gotten better.
Animoto – create video of still photos add animation, music. Free pro account to non-profits.
Xtranormal – give it a script, makes an animated movie.

#16 – Audio
Audacity – audio editing tool.
Podbean – host audio.

#17 – Learning environments
Moodle – good, hard to learn and implement. Good for full feature online class.

#18 – Infographics
Visual.ly – build your own.

#19 – LibraryThing
Strong, simple.

#20 – Google
Really good free stuff.
Docs
Plus – might be able to integrate into our websites.

Internet Librarian 2011: Better Late Than Never

2011-11-17T14:34:00.010-06:00

It's been a month since I enjoyed yet another great time at Internet Librarian in Monterey, California. Since then I have been crazy busy both at work and at home, so haven't had any time to share my experiences there. I've finally decided to get this done, before the next one sneaks up on me. First an overview of some things, then I will post my notes from the sessions I attended.

On Sunday morning, October 16, Michael Sauers and I presented our pre-conference on Webcasting and Podcasting. We shared how we run the Nebraska Library Commission's NCompass Live online show with a small, but very lively, group of librarians.

Webcasting & Podcasting: From Planning to Post-Production

View more presentations from Christa Burns

On Tuesday evening, I attended the Great Web 2.0 Face-Off. A hockey themed competition to see who knew the the best collaborative tools out there. Yup, you read that right. And it was Awesome! I think I learned something, but it was hard to tell thru all the laughing. I hope they keep this on the program!


Lisa, Michael and Blake - The Blue Team!

Ruth, Jeff and Amy - The Red Team!

On Wednesday morning, Michael and I once again did his monthly NCompass Live Tech Talk, LIVE from the conference. A few friends, who brought their friends, and even one of our pre-conference attendees, had a lively discussion about many issues floating around the conference that week.

And, there was also a bit of non-conference fun...

Rotisserie Chicken Truck at the Farmer's Market!

Hanging on the beach.

And seals, of course.

Shopping and dinner on Cannery Row.

Next up...what I learned at Internet Librarian!

Considering my personal brand

2011-09-21T16:09:00.000-05:00

For Thing 3 of CPD23, we were asked to look ourselves up online to see what comes up in search results.

I actually egosurf every now and then, just to see what's out there. In the past, it was interesting to see webpages from my old job, over 10 years old, still with my name on them. Some website clean-up was in order there, I think. :) I also used to find, pretty high in my search results, information about a Presbyterian minister with my same name.

Today, things are very different. I have profiles/accounts in all sorts of social networking sites, and they are what comes up now when I look up myself. First result is my Facebook page, 2nd is this blog. Then, in order, there is me on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, SlideShare, MySpace, speaking at Internet Librarian 2011, Vimeo (oh yeah! I forgot I had an account there. Heh.), my Google Profile..

Hey, that next one isn't me! There appears to be a Christa Burns in Portland, OR at Portalnd State University. Cool.

Oh, there I am again. The last search result on this first page is my WebJunction profile.

Page 2 of the search results starts out with me - Flickr, LinkedIn (again?), T is for Training. But then, other Christa Burns' start creeping into my results, and now it's a mixture of all of us.

So, how do I feel about this? Perfectly fine. I put myself out there, on all of those sites, on purpose. Sometimes, just for my own use, sometimes to connect with friends and family, and sometimes for work/professional reasons. Some people keep their personal and professional online personas separate. I don't. For me, it's just too much work to do that. Should I create 2 accounts everywhere? Who do I share what with? What if my work colleagues find out that (gasp!) I went to the zoo??? Really? I can't be bothered. I have a job, but I also have a life. I am not my job, I am Christa. So, you will find me online speaking at library conferences, promoting Nebraska libraries, participating in serious library discussions. You will also find me online playing D&D, visiting my mom, dressed in my Halloween costume, playing with my cats and ferrets.

Mango margarita with jalapeno infused tequila at Mi Casa, Breckenridge, CO. Yum!

And I don't share anything, anywhere, that I won't mind people seeing. It's the internet. People will see, somehow, anything you put online. I personally feel that the illusion of' 'privacy' doesn't really exist on the internet. If you're going to be online, you must understand that people will see you and your stuff. If you have a problem with that, don't put yourself online. Pick and choose wisely. So, you will find a picture of me online drinking a margarita. It's OK, I'm a grown-up, I'm allowed. But, you won't find a picture of me doing a naked handstand on a bar in Cancun. You're welcome.

Investigation: CPD23 Blogs and their bloggers

2011-09-21T14:39:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so I lied. I didn't catch up with CPD23 last month like I said I would. [insert typical blogger excuses about life and work and whatever here] But, I'm back now and I think I'm ready to go. So, let's do this!

According to the Delicious list, there are now 783 blogs registered to participate in 23 Things for Professional Development. WOW! And for Thing 2 I'm supposed to explore these blogs and get to know their writers? Where the heck do I start? Well, when in doubt, start at the top. So, I started looking at the most recently added blogs.

I've been involved in running one of these 23 Things programs myself in the past, and we currently have an ongoing program like this at MPOW. So, I wasn't surprised to find many of the blogs started with great fanfare and energy about participating in this great project, but then sadly abandoned. It's just the nature of the beast. It seems like a great idea at the time, but then various factors conspire to prevent you from working on it. It's OK. It happens. I think, just having heard that these kinds of programs exists is a success. Maybe it wasn't possible to jump fully into this one, but maybe when the next one comes along, the time will be right.

So, on down the list I go. Now I've decided to do a quick and dirty comparison of posts from local, Nebraska, participants and participants from other countries. I'm curious to see what people from completely different places will say about the same things. Now, I didn't go thru all 700+ blogs, of course. :) But, I did read thru 5-10 from the list. And I was happy, and I realized not really surprised, that librarians from all parts of the globe seem to have the same issues, concerns, problems, ideas, etc about the topics presented to them in CPD23. Very cool! Now, there are local flavors to the posts of course. Recognizing people and places mentioned in Nebraska-centric posts is a very different experience than not having any idea what posts from other countries are talking about. But, the best part about it? It made me want to learn more about locations I've never been to before! And before I knew it, I was sucked into the internet, surfing away.

Finally, I had to drag myself up and out so I could write this post. I'm sure I'll end up back there again someday, though.

Catching up with CPD23

2011-08-08T17:45:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago, I heard about a new 23 Things program from a friend and colleague of mine, Bobbi Newman. It's called 23 Things for Professional Development. It's like many 23 Things programs you may have participated in, but has a new twist - rather than being about new technologies and resources you can use, it's geared towards your own personal professional development. I thought that was pretty cool! A different take on the 23 Things concept and something very useful to everyone.

So, I'm participating in 23 Things for Professional Development. Yes, I'm a bit late getting started. (Insert standard 'OMG it's been so crazy at work and at home!' excuse here.) But, that's OK because they built in a 'catch-up' week just for me! Well, not just for me I suppose, but for me and anyone else like me who hasn't got started yet, has fallen behind, or just found out about it. Yay!

Another cool thing about this 23 Things program - it's being run by a group of librarians in Cambridge, England! But, it's for anyone in the world who wants to participate. A worldwide 23 Things program for library folk? I couldn't miss out on that! That's something I'm really looking forward to - learning from library people across the globe.

So this is your early warning - I will be playing catch up with this program this week, so there will be posts every day. Crazy, isn't it! :)

Thing #1 - check!

Camping in Kansas

2011-07-18T10:09:00.001-05:00

Well, library camping, that is. Last Friday, I attended Library Camp Kansas at Kansas State Univ. in Manhattan, KS.

It was hot outside, but the sessions inside were very cool. :) These are my random notes from the sessions I attended.

Lightning talks

Shuu.sh – filter out people who tweet too much. Rated 1-11. Tweet more, rated 11, text is smaller.

Gimlet – State Library of Kansas – like libstats, for people who don’t have a tech team. Free for site. Reports - $10/month

Scoop.it - Buffy Hamilton. Curate, collect, aggregate resources on specific topic. Magazine style dashboard. post to FB, twitter, tumblr. Free. RSS feed.

IMDB to MARC Converter. Amazon record to MARC converter. -Kate Wise, Kansas Weslyan Univ.

Breakout Session #1 - Rethinking lifelong learning

Heather Braum – traditional education is ages 5-22. Libraries are like education, but 0-grave. In past, could get job, and just do it till you retired. Didn’t have to keep learning new things. Now we learn and learn and learn.

Research saying younger people prefer to learn in short quick bits, like how they multitask. Older people remember learning in longer sessions, like hour long lectures. Libraries have all of these types of people they have to help – how do they do it?

What do you geek?

‘Databases’ – users don’t know what it means, are intimidated by the word, don’t know how to use them. Call them ‘apps’ instead? People know that word.

Public library in Virginia – advocacy – library as part of education. Got legislators involved in thinking of libraries just like schools, as far as $ is concerned.

CLASS – Salina Public Library, KS. Community Learning and Skill Sharing. Semester long classes.
Salina PL – went to river festival. Caught people reading anything – book, magazine, Nook, etc. gave them buttons. Promoted the library.

Atlas of New Librarianship – know your community and serve their needs. Let some things go. Only 3 people using VCR tapes? Get rid of them, move on. Sell the tapes to those people.

People who have a good library experience in elementary school, will be more likely to use college/public library. Not intimidated, understand what a librarian is for.

Library Journal article – libraries as creation places.

Focus on what we can do to impact our community. Let go of things that don’t work. Put $ and time towards things we can do. Don’t dwell on ‘libraries are going away’. Change what we do.

Breakout Session #2 - TED Talks in Libraries – Heather Braum

What is TED? Technology Entertainment Design. Inspiring, educational, challenged to give the best talk of their life in a short time – 20 min max. Captures and curates what people are doing in society.

Originally conf in CA. thousands of $$ to attend. 2005/6 – starting releasing videos online for free.
Local TEDx events. Licensed thru TED.

TEDx Oklahoma City – application form – why should we invite you? They wanted a cross section of people. So they choose who got to go.

Breakout Session #3 - Outreach

Govn’t docs. Relationship between public libraries and university or state libraries who have gov docs. Do the public libraries know about the gov docs that the state or university library has?

Outreach for public libraries to help university students who are overwhelmed/intimidated by university library? Community college/distance ed students are going to the public library for help now. What can public library/university library to do work together to help the students go where they should be – ie, the university library.

CIL 2011: eBooks & Their Growing Value for Libraries

2011-03-22T16:22:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Amy Pawlowski, Web Applications Manager, Cleveland Public Library
Sue Polanka, Head of Reference and Instruction, Wright State University Libraries
Ellen Druda, Librarian, Internet Services, Half Hollow Hills Community Library
Rosemarie Jerome, Librarian, Half Hollow Hills Community Library
Bianca Crowley, Biodiversity Heritage Library Collections Coordinator, Smithsonian Institution

Sue Polanka and Amy Pawlowski

Cleveland PL - started in 2003 with 1000 titles, now have 55,000.

Public Library Future
Library Journal report - 72% of public libraries offer eBooks.
5% circulate preloaded ereaders. 1/5 of US pop read 2 books a week.

Academic Library Future
94% of academic libraries offer ebooks.
by 2020, 80% of budget will be econtent.
87% of students say online libraries/databases have an impact on their learning.
50% of students find etextbooks have an impact their learning.
65% of academic libraries offer or plan to offer services via handheld device
by 2015 25% of textbook revenue will be etextbooks.

Value for Libraries
24/7 access
Econtent meets users where they are - distance ed, virtual reference, mobile websites, self service research - LibGuides
no shelf/storage space needed
free ebook collections - provide links, add records to your catalog (will cost $$)
Stay current/relevant by providing service to growing demographic - by 2015 30 million US will own eReaders.

Economic Impact
collection development budget will have to shift from print to econtent.
cost effectiveness - print - cost of book, shipping, processing, cataloging - ebook - cost of book and cataloging.

Position Your Library
Public Library
Find/create a consortium purchase to afford it.
Know the products/platforms and how they work.
Create programing around devices
Collection development plan - must add new titles regularly.
Figure out how it will fit in your budget - is it part of materials, databases, something new?
TRAINING - for staff.
MARKETING

Academic Library
Must be viable on campus
Future is eContent, not just eBooks
Understand your limitations - vendors, DRM, formats - work together towards a sustainable future
ALA task forces on Digital Content - get involved, watch what they're doing.
Library Renewal - created by librarians.
Brand our content so patrons know its being purchased and provided by the library.
Digital textbooks - make sure your faculty knows they're coming.

eBooks and Reading Clubs
Ellen Druda, Librarian, Internet Services, Half Hollow Hills Community Library

Traditional book club readers have trouble with technology, not really interested in eBooks/eReaders.

3 groups of readers
- tech-savvy eBook readers
- Traditional book club readers
- everyone else

Want to pull readers together.
Need staff training first.
Laptop. Sony reader, iPad Color Nook. One-on-one training for patrons - works best with their users.
Marketing campaign - "Ask Me About eBooks". Staff wear buttons. Provided with script so they know what to say.

used iDrakula - updated Dracula story - communicate with text, email, etc, instead of letters like original. discussion group - Skyped in author, Bekka Black. mostly attracted teens.

Nook - brought in a Barnes and Noble rep to show it off.

Book discussion summit to be held in April - try to get all types of readers together.

The Evolution of a Summer Reading Program
Rosemarie Jerome, Librarian, Half Hollow Hills Community Library

For years, did it all on paper - registration, review slips - 2-5 people typically registered each year.

Went digital for registration - over 50 registered.

Reviewer's blog - available to everyone.

Skyped in author Jennifer Egan. 40 registered, over 100 reviews on the blog.

Books on the Go
2011 marketing plan to combine summer reading program with eBooks. hhhlibrary .org - Readers' Connection.

Fishing for the Right Content in a Sea of Free E-books
Bianca Crowley, Biodiversity Heritage Library Collections Coordinator, Smithsonian Institution

Add titles weekly, all for free.

Work with the Internet Archive to scan, digitize, store their items. Send metadata along when scanning is done. Use non-damaging scanner.

Entire BHL collection is public domain. Open access. Can re-use, re-purpose for your own use - encouraged!

Can download eContent items from Internet Archive into your own catalog. Created search based on LCSH subjects. Need to be careful about what it will bring in - some great items, some bad hits. Need to refine search terms and try again.

Looking for more digitized repositories that they can add to their catalog.

CIL 2011: Empowering the Reader in a Digital World

2011-03-22T12:01:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Al Carlson, Tampa Bay Library Consortium
Chad Mairn, St. Petersberg College

Al Carlson

The book is the content, not the package.

"Diagnosing the DVD Disappointment: A Life Cycle View" - as every new device has come out its rate of adoption has become faster.

History suggests that libraries won't be ready - we never have been ready!

Chad

Dedicated eReaders

Kindle - not library friendly.
Nook - digital lending, but one book to one person one time.
Sony eReader - see it most often in library.
Kobe
Skiff eReader - flexible display, hasn't really caught on.
HPs Flexible Display - mylar sheet can hold video display with no power.

Good for extended reading.

Non-dedicated eReaders

iPad
Kindle for PC
Stanza
Nook - app for pretty much every device
Android ereading apps

Good for quick bursts of reading.

OK to have both!

ePublication Formats

Main ones we use - EPUB, PDF, AZW(Kindle)

Dueling formats - hard for patrons to see the difference between EPUB and AZW. And they don't care. They just want to read.

Dueling DRMs - Adobe ADEPT, Apple's FairPlay, Amazon's proprietary.

DRM is software lock that controls access to a file, need special key to unlock it.

Good or Evil? Yes.

Librarians Against DRM.

Al

How will/does ePub affect Public Libraries?
Access - website becomes the library.
Delivery - instant home delivery. no need to visit the library.
No overdues.
Storage - costs a lot to keep books around. can put entire collection on a 1 or 2 terabyte drive - costs about $60.
Ownership - stored, checked out from, and returned to their server. Do we really own the books anymore?
Publishers reluctance to sell to libraries - term limits, limited range of vendors.

eTextbooks
Chad

75% of students still prefer print textbooks.
CoreSmart - download and use for 180 days.
Amazon.com - limited.
Courseload - etextbooks and course management system, browser based
Flat World Knowledge
Inkling - trying to go beyond the book, adding,

The Kno, textbook tablet - $599.
NOOKStudy

Browser based books - truly device agnostic.
HTML 5 - content stored offline, access via the cloud.

Books in Browsers 2010 conference. Internet Archive.

How should libraries respond?
Al

No rule that says libraries cannot convert EPUB to AZW for patrons, or mention calibre.

Live Demo
Kindle, calibre on computer already, DRM free book. book in EPUB format. use calibre to convert to kindle format so patron can read it. Took about 2 minutes.

What about DRM?

Is it legal to strip DRM? depends on who you ask. hasn't gone to supreme court yet.
not illegal to know how. Libraries can be the place with the least DRM or the least annoying DRM.

New model for patron - SHRED

Search, Holds, Rental, Electronically purchase, Donate to the library

Possible Academic model
Borrow or buy ebook, add notes in Photoshop like layer, return or sell back, retain the notes, sell notes to next student who buys book.

Libraries - be aggressive with publishers about getting ebooks in the format you want.

CIL 2011: EBook Publishing: Practices and Challenges

2011-03-22T11:18:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Ken Breen, EBSCO

1997 – ebook on CD with 127 page print manual on how to use it.
1998 - NetLibrary was founded. Last year EBSCO bought NetLibrary.

NetLibrary – next year, brand and name will be retired. Will become eBooks and eAudiobooks on EBSCOhost.
Ownership – 3 models - single user, 3 users, unlimited users/per book.
Consortia by number of libraries in group.
Lease – 1, 7, 14, 28 day lease.
Subscriptions – continue audiobooks, will consider ebook.
TitleSelesct will be replaced with EBSCOhost Collection Manager (ECM). Purchase, patron driven, EBSCO experts.

Leslie Lees, ebrary

Founded in 1999. Over 3700 institutional customers, 19.2 million end users. Acquired by ProQuest.
Subscription model – over 50,000 titles. Patron Driven Acquisition. Short term loans.
DASH – Data Sharing Fast – upload PDFs and add metadata.

Bob Nardini - Ingram

Coutts info services, academic arm of Ingram.
2008 study – academic libraries - 43% of ebooks are held in print too. Print and ebooks are living in coexistence, and we are a part of the biblioecosystem.
Signed agreement with OCLC to ILL ebooks.

Mike Shontz – OverDrive

Our role is as an library advocate. Create a marketplace where libraries can make an informed choice.
Will be more DRM free ebooks in the future.
Libraries must interact with the publishers to tell them what we want/need.

Questions:

Adobe is main mechanism for DRM. Ebrary – we have proprietary software, but rights are determined by the publishers. Publishers are more willing to give looser DRM on their own systems but not on 3rd party aggregators.

Publishers you work with? Differences between OverDrive – public libraries and others who are more academic based.

Downloading pages? Ebrary – tries to support downloading a chapter – have to work with publishers. Ingram – started with 10, now up to 60. EBSCO – working with publishers to up to 60 pages.

When will be able to loan ebooks? Ingram – signed agreement with OCLC for ILL. ebrary – have short term loan.

CIL 2011: Innovative Marketing Tools and Strategies

2011-03-22T10:10:00.001-05:00

Monday, March 21, 2011
Speakers: Stacy Bruss and Nancy Allmang, NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)

Nancy Allmang

Audio Podcasting
Started small - $20 microphone. Podcasting for Dummies, Audacity. They use a PC - said they had a hard time finding free music to add. (Personal Note: Recommendation from audience - "there is plenty of royalty free music available, just Google it.") Heard that Macs come with Garage Band and free music to use. Coworker took podcast home and used his Mac to add music.

(Personal Note: You do not need to purchase a Mac to find music for a podcast. Go to Creative Commons and search for music. NTS: Attend "Podcasting & Tools: Endless Opportunities!" on Wed. for more info - 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM)

Video Podcasting
Contracted with staff at NIST who knew how to do this. Cost $5000 and 7 months! (Personal Note: Um...what?!)
But, they learned how to do it themselves. Bought a MacBook Pro, video camera, microphone, took class at Apple store to learn how to use MacBook to do it. Best length is about 1 minute. Do voiceover later, don't record audio during filming.

Stacy Bruss

New staff do day and a half orientation - library gets 10 minutes. Use videos to help them remember about the library.

pptPlex - plugin for PPT 2007 and 2010. Allows for zooming presentations. Allows you to repeat images, words, ect, but doesn't feel like it. (Personal Note: It's Prezi for PPT.)

Digital display - 7 seconds is best length of time for each slide/screen to be shown - tested by walking by display and seeing how long it took.

CamStudio - to capture actions on your desktop - keystrokes for accessing a database, for example. Use PowerPoint to loop it.

Market the same item using all of your marketing channels - not every customer knows or is exposed to all of your channels.

Repeat marketing messages. Repeat them again when you think you've repeated it enough.

Prezi - used with digital display.

Xtranormal - create video cartoons with text script that you enter.

CIL 2011: Promoting with Web 2.0

2011-03-21T14:04:00.001-05:00

Monday, March 21, 2011
Speaker: Curt Tagtmeier, Fremont Public Library, Mundelein, IL

Article in Sept issue of Computers in Libraries.

Medium sized public library - offer free services galore - YouTube, iLike.com, Twitter, Mobile Joomla, Meebo, Blogger/Dapper - the library staff think it's Awesome!

How can patrons benefit from all of these free things without needing multiple logins? Keep patrons in a place sponsored by the library?

Facebook! Why should libraries be on Facebook? Because that's where the people are.

Fremont Public Library on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/fremontlibrary

111,000,000 US users, 100 million mobile users, 500,000 apps, average user has 130 friends, average user is connected to 80 community pages/groups/events.

Facebook offers the best of many social networking sites in one - photos/Flickr, status updates/Twitter, videos/YouTube, IM/Trillian, private messages/email.

Mobile potential - for patrons and library staff - library staff can update page and patrons can view updates from almost anywhere.

Facebook Zero - can use FB on non-smartphones.

Mobile Site: A Case Study - created a mobile site using Joomla - looked just like an iPhone app, but wasn't. Lots of headaches by creating it themselves. Nobody used it. For smaller library - too much work for too little payoff. Now just a static site.

Secrets of Facebook Success - Be unique, practical, innovative, fun. Don't just duplicate your website, don't only feed info about programs. Facebook page needs to be different, interesting, useful. Feed in articles you find that might be useful to your patrons. Look at what other libraries are doing. Read up on apps that might be useful to your library/your patrons.

"Facebook Marketing for Dummies" new book just came out. Great info.

Things you might not know about Facebook:

- can embed an RSS feed into your library's page - your library blog.
- can create customized links on side of page using FB Markup Language - widgets, calendar.
- Administrators of page can now post as a page instead of as themselves - comment comes from library, not you. (Personal Note: I LOVE using this!)
- apps can be added to page - Goodreads app, for example, YouTube - share a video playlist of trailers for new DVDs at the library.
- iLike.com - share playlists of new music recently purchased by the library. Podcasts - sign up as an artist, iLike provides streaming player, can listen to it directly in Facebook.

Future apps:

- Dapper.net - extract info from any web site using data mapping. rss feeds, Google gadgets. Just started experimenting with it.
- Use Facebook as a Reference services tool - embed Meebo into FB page for IM reference.
- embed library catalog.
- Wall as discussion board - Facebook Book of the Month Club - great idea, not working so well yet, that will happen, just have to try and see what your patrons like and use.
- Book trailer videos
- Twitter vs. Facebook - Twitter is active communication, Facebook is passive communication. Followed famous authors, retweet their posts, patrons liked seeing what authors were saying.

The 87th Annual Masters of Library Science Croquet Tournament

2011-01-12T00:10:00.000-06:00

Learned of this from a fellow FriendFeed librarian. Awesome!

Free copy of "With a Little Help" for libraries and schools

2010-12-07T11:43:00.004-06:00

Reposted from Cory Doctorow’s Craphound.com

Get a free copy (libraries, schools)

If you’re a teacher or librarian and you want a free copy of With a Little Help, send an email to givewalh@gmail.com, which is staffed by my awesome donations coordinator, Olga Nunes. Be sure to include your institution’s name, address, phone number, and any notes. Once Olga has vetted your request, your name and institutional address will be posted to the donations page so that potential donors can see it.

If you enjoyed the electronic edition of For the Win and you want to donate something to say thanks, go to this list and find a teacher or librarian you want to support. Buy a copy for them and one will be printed and shipped, and we’ll put a note up next to their listing saying that they’ve gotten a copy, and thank you by name. “If you don’t want to be publicly acknowledged for your generosity, let us know and we’ll keep you anonymous, otherwise we’ll thank you on the donate page.”

I’ve done this with four of my titles now, and gotten more than a thousand books into the hands of readers through your generosity. I am more grateful than words can express for this — one of my readers called it “paying your debts forward with instant gratification.” That’s a heck of a thing, isn’t it?

Funky Photos: Pixlr vs. Aviary

2010-09-30T21:00:00.006-05:00

I've never done much photo manipulation, except to clean up or make bad pictures look better. So, experimenting with these 2 photo image editors was new for me.

I started out with this picture.

This is our neighbor's cat, who likes to stalk birds and rabbits in our yard. And lounge around like she owns the place. :)

First, I used Pixlr. I tried a few of the Filters and Adjustments. I really liked the Default options that I could use to quickly see all the different things I could do to my photo. I ended up turning my pretty kitty evil.

I accomplished this look with Adjustment - Curves - Color Negative.

Then I tried Aviary. I found it more difficult to use than Pixlr. That may be because it has so many more features. I did manage to get into the Filter Layer in Peacock. I tested out a bunch of the effects and morphed my cat into this crazy thing.

It looks like a kaleidoscope effect, but it's called Inversion.

In the end, I did like using Aviary. But, I really had to read the instructions to learn how to use it. Pixlr was much more intuitive. I could just click and play around to teach myself how it works.

These free image editors are a great resource for libraries. They're a fun, easy way to jazz up program posters and fliers - just take a plain photo, change it with an interesting effect, and watch your patrons do a double take.

Meet sexy shirtless men @ your library!

2010-07-15T10:32:00.003-05:00

Over the last 2 days, Old Spice has run a hugely successful Twitter/YouTube marketing campaign. How they did it is amazing. I'm worn out just reading about it!

But, before it was over, New Jersey librarian Andy Woodworth got Sexy Shirtless Old Spice Guy to give a shout out to libraries. YAY!

Vote early and vote often!

2010-06-16T15:35:00.015-05:00

My colleague, Michael, posed the question "How many computers are in your house?". I wanted some clarification on the question, so I created my own poll.

EDIT: Of course, after I posted and promoted this poll, I realized I didn't have Zero as a choice! So, here's a second poll you can do to give accurate responses.

New, improved poll:

Old, original poll:

Revisiting Flickr

2010-05-31T18:02:00.021-05:00

New York Public Library
Originally uploaded by Photos o' Randomness.

I posted my first picture to Flickr on October 18, 2006. As of today, I have 1,884 items in my Flickr account - mostly pictures, but a couple of videos, too. It's not a huge amount, but it's pretty respectable for a little over 3 1/2 years. So, obviously, I have found Flickr to be very useful - I use it to share what's happening in my life with family, friends and colleagues.

And, as Jeff Dawson mentioned in the WebJunction webinar,
Library Images: Engage, Inspire and Tell your Story, I've also found it to be a "great conversation starter". For me, it's about the places and conferences and events I've been to - things that I've experienced and wanted to share.

As I was watching this webinar, it reminded me about something I've started thinking about a lot lately. Libraries and marketing. Libraries' need for promotion, Promotion, PROMOTION!

Of course, libraries advertise their services. We've been doing that forever, right?

But, what new things can you do to market your library more? How can new promotion help increase recognition and use of your library? Lester Public Library has done an amazing job using Flickr as the center of their marketing program. I was very impressed with the creativity shown in the photos from the library's Flickr account. There are tons of examples that other libraries can use to tell the stories of their libraries and communities.

I thought the Library Director as Tourist set of pictures was a great example of how a library's Flickr account doesn't have to be only pictures of library events. Showing how the library, and its director, are part of the community really puts a human face on the library and makes people feel closer to the library.

Michael Porter, from WebJunction, gave some really concrete whos, hows, and whys of using Flickr at your library. Libraries are fun, interesting and engaging. Flickr is a quick and easy way to share this with your community. Be creative and share your library's story. The more you do, the more your community will notice and become personally invested with your library.

Don't forget - a picture is worth a thousand words.

Free copies of FOR THE WIN for teachers, librarians, youth workers, and others!

2010-05-14T15:31:00.003-05:00

Reposted from Cory Doctorow’s Craphound.com

Are you a teacher, librarian, youth worker, or someone else who could use a copy of my new young adult novel FOR THE WIN?

As I've done with my previous three books, I've set up a matchmaking service for people who need copies of my books and people who want to buy copies of my printed books as a way of paying me back for the free, downloadable versions I make available on my site.

If you work at an institution that could use a free copy, please send your details to freeftwbook@gmail.com. The book launches tomorrow, and the website and free ebook editions direct potential donors to the list of institutions that need copies. Previous donation programs have resulted in hundreds of hardcovers being donated to worthy institutions by generous readers.

Please pass the word!

In the virtual future, you must organize to survive

At any hour of the day or night, millions of people around the globe are engrossed in multiplayer online games, questing and battling to win virtual “gold,” jewels, and precious artifacts. Meanwhile, others seek to exploit this vast shadow economy, running electronic sweatshops in the world’s poorest countries, where countless “gold farmers,” bound to their work by abusive contracts and physical threats, harvest virtual treasure for their employers to sell to First World gamers who are willing to spend real money to skip straight to higher-level gameplay.

Mala is a brilliant 15-year-old from rural India whose leadership skills in virtual combat have earned her the title of “General Robotwalla.” In Shenzen, heart of China’s industrial boom, Matthew is defying his former bosses to build his own successful gold-farming team. Leonard, who calls himself Wei-Dong, lives in Southern California, but spends his nights fighting virtual battles alongside his buddies in Asia, a world away. All of these young people, and more, will become entangled with the mysterious young woman called Big Sister Nor, who will use her experience, her knowledge of history, and her connections with real-world organizers to build them into a movement that can challenge the status quo.

The ruthless forces arrayed against them are willing to use any means to protect their power—including blackmail, extortion, infiltration, violence, and even murder. To survive, Big Sister’s people must out-think the system. This will lead them to devise a plan to crash the economy of every virtual world at once—a Ponzi scheme combined with a brilliant hack that ends up being the biggest, funnest game of all.

Imbued with the same lively, subversive spirit and thrilling storytelling that made LITTLE BROTHER an international sensation, FOR THE WIN is a prophetic and inspiring call-to-arms for a new generation

Nebraska Library Snapshot Week

2010-05-04T10:24:00.002-05:00

Lincoln City Libraries - Bennett Martin Public Library
Originally uploaded by Nebraska Library Commission.

From May 10 to May 16, 2010, librarians across Nebraska will be documenting the activities that take place in their libraries. Join them by collecting statistics, comments and photographs to provide proof of the invaluable services that Nebraska libraries provide to their communities.

Check out the Nebraska Library Snapshot Week website for more information. To contribute to the project, you can upload your photos to the Snapshot Week group on Flickr, and submit your statistics using the online form.

If you have questions about participating in Snapshot Week, contact Emily Nimsakont, NLA Webmaster.

CIL 2010: Using Technology, Creativity & Partnerships for Success

2010-04-20T01:06:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Speakers: Paul Coyne, Louise Alcorn

Paul Coyne - QR Codes

QR Codes – “Quick response” code

Need a phone with camera and QR code reader software.

Take a pic of QR code. Phone will decode QR code and present info in code.

QR code software is free.

Create your own QR code: QR Code Generator. Also free!

Bridge the gap between the physical and the digital world.

Younger students/readers use their cell phones A LOT. Many publishers tapping into this.

Libs using QR codes – directions, SMS a librarian, initiate a call to librarian, link to article - Huddersfeld Univ. Univ. of Bath – in OPAC.

Brooklyn PL – created codes for all 60 branches – addresses, contact info, etc. FREE!

Inventive Investigative curious playful.

QR codes can extend life of print content for mobile audience. Provide contextual info about the content (book, article). Engages researcher. Bridge the gab between static print world and dynamic digital world.

Users – more engaged, better informed, higher quality decisions about your services and content.

Easy to use and create

Already in play – libs, publishers, conferences.

Complementary to augmented reality.

“Bright Ideas in Dark Times” – Louise Alcorn

Free does not mean lesser value.

Dark times – things are bad, budgets/staff are slashed. Library use up. Not just at pub libs. At academics too. Our challenges are also opportunities. Every challenge is an opportunity for marketing. Patron: I need a job! Librarian: Look at all this stuff we have!

Creative Response:

Technology – market that you have wifi – they can come in with their own laptop to apply for jobs all day and no one will bug them. Online learning for new job duties cause co-workers have been fired. Resumes. Faxing service.

Collection Development – cooking for/with kids – cant afford to go out to eat, how to make a budget – public lib and college, audiobooks for commuters cause only job they could get is a long commute, gardening – grow own food.

Programming Ideas – resume writing, cover letter writing, more kids in childrens' programs because parents can't afford other activities anymore, fitness books – parks and rec., Mary Barnett Memorial Library – 2009 year of “Home Grown - Hand Made.”

Partnerships – rotary, parks and rec, economic dev.

CIL 2010: Bridging Community, Research, Skill Building & Entertainment With World of Warcraft & Libraries

2010-04-20T00:45:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Speakers: David Lisa, Michael Porter, Bob Beck
World of Warcraft in Libraries presentation - Computers in Libraries 2010

David Lisa

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a social network. Made up of people playing the game. Banding together to accomplish more in game content.

Who plays WoW? All ages, groups, economies.

Why do they play? PC environment, good economic value – flat monthly fee to do as much as you want, fun.

Does it require skill to play? Not really.

Build real life skills? Leadership – to found and maintain guild. Organization, management, diplomacy – leading parties.

Convergentsystems.pbworks.com – conference held within WoW.

Nickyee.com – The Daedalus Project – how game affects players in their real life.

“WoW as a Library Service” – Bob Beck

Inspiration – knitting group. Sit around and talk about all their projects. Same thing in WoW.

Administrative buy-in
1. Game demo – Dalaran – seeing people milling around in the streets – admin wanted to be there.
2. Location & equipment – use 10 basic Del laptops. WoW doesn’t need very high level computers.
3. Patron access questions. Use 10 day free trial. Patrons can bring in and use their own laptops.

WoW licensing - One client per PC used - ~$80/PC.

Man in military uses WoW to communicate with son back home. Aww.

Playing program – mini-raid - Lvl 1 chars. PVP – 1st person to win 3 duels, etc. RP – talk about char backgrounds.

Free Play – gets people talking, sharing.

Social programs – Meet & Greet – expected 30, 60 showed. Food. Laptops out if they want to log in. but mainly just social. How To – macros, customizing user interface, addons.

librarywow.blogspot.com

Libraries & Librarians Guild – Michael Porter

MP doesn’t like elves, fairies, trolls, etc. Went into game because needed to do research on a book – technological communities. Became intrigued with way you interacted with the game. Fascinating the way you navigate the world. Started having fun learning how to play game. Social engagement became intriguing.

Use Ventrilo to talk and be social.

Wow is a specialized web browser – you pay for access to an intranet.

Social aspect – wanted a way to connect librarians. To talk shop. Have to put real name and library in guild notes.

Libraries and Librarians of Aerie Peak

Computer History Museum - will have pics of the guild in exhibit.

Bank – contribute to the community. Develop trust – have access to more things in the bank.

Libraries = content + community. WoW is same.

CIL 2010: Reaching Reluctant Learners

2010-04-19T13:52:00.005-05:00

Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Speakers: Jill Hurst-Wahl, Sophia Guevara, Veronica Rutter, Andrea Simyak

Andrea Simyak: Backward design

Step 1. Identify your outcome. What’s the point?

Step 2. Create an assessment. How will you know they learned it? Time frame for proficiency?

Step 3. Determine necessary skills. What are current skills of trainees?

Step 4. Create lesson plan. How will training be done? Make sure the training works in your library. Tailor to how your employees best learn. Just because something worked at another library, doesn’t mean it will work in your library. Adjust to what you staff and environment can do.

Technology Tapas – adapted 23 things program. 25% completion rate “pretty good for a 23 things program” (NTS: what are the typical completion rates? How does ours compare?)

Step 5. Provide Instruction. Adapt and adjust as you go. Is it working? If not, change how you’re doing it.

Step 6. Administer the assessment. Trainees can demonstrate what they’ve learned. Is more training needed? More advanced training needed? Implement what they’ve learned in the library?

"Turning Fear Into Passion" – Veronica Rutter

(Ren & Stimpy! “No sir I don’t like it” horse. Hee.)

“it's your job and you have to do it” won't work to motivate.

Know your audience – find something they already find appealing and interesting. Nothing wrong with silly. Humor gets people to start thinking. Laughter kills fear.

Social networking doesn’t appeal to everyone. Threatening. Invasive.

Flickr group – “Looking Into the Past” group. Compare new thing to old thing that people know. NY Times in paper vs. online.

Make it EASY. Do it yourself, as if you’ve never done it. Write down every step. Screenshots. On directions, make a spot for them to write down user name and password. Not secure, but they will remember it and be able to use the service again.

Tangible Reward. Never underestimate the power of prizes! Something to admire on a shelf – mug, etc.

1. Utilize preexisting interests
2. Make it easy
3. Provide a reward.

“Connecting with the Boomer Learner” – Sophia Guevara
Presentation via SlideShare

Boomer – digital immigrant – have an ‘accent’ when using tech, because they didn’t grow up with it.

How to get them interested?

Tech 101 classes for those who are interested. Also offer one-on-one training for those who need more personal help.

Classes – homework before – create their own account. In class, buddy up - connect with someone else who might have same question they have.

One-on-one – offer to become a technology mentor. Be very patient and understanding.

Gather feedback. Measure impact.

Survey. Continue connecting with them after the training. Observe their evolving relationship with technology.

“Tips for Reaching Reluctant Learners” – Jill Hurst-Wahl

Reluctant learners are really reluctant users! “I don’t know why I would need to learn this. I’ll never use it.”

Using social media is like breathing. We want them to do it as if it was an expected normal activity. Just like the telephone.

Show the benefits. We tend to think about the tools, not the benefits.

Make it personal. How is it going to help them in their personal life.
Work-related reason. Get job done faster. Stay connected with co-workers better. Collaborate with others like them in the world. Expand their network with others in their field.
Glimmer of interest. Find anything that person is interested in.
Offer your services. Use your knowledge to help them out. Anytime.
Sneak them in the back door. Don’t tell them what they’re doing. Don’t call it “social media” if they hate social media. Call it something else. Find another term for it. Not “wordprocessing”, instead “taking notes”.
Work to get them breathing – to make it natural for them

CIL 2010: Crafting Online Personas

2010-04-19T13:32:00.004-05:00

Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Speakers: Craig Anderson & JP Porcaro

CA: So wait, anyone can see this?

It’s OK. Just control your persona.

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

JP: 8bitlibrary.com only launched 4 months ago. Alexa.com says it's one of the higher traffic library blogs

Have a clear vision for what you want to say. To brand yourself.

Think of twitter/FB as form of professional development/contact. Everything you post builds your personal brand.

CA: learn to filter yourself. Know your audience. Don’t post anything on the internet that you wouldn’t be comfortable having on a 25 foot billboard in times square.

JP: There will be some times when something you say, not everyone will agree with. And that’s ok. Just be true to yourself and your personal brand.

Responsible Citizenship: another part of RC is showing up. Being where the people are. Being involved. Being online is another part of where we are. Librarians play a certain role in community and should be there.

How to reconcile being employed somewhere and being ourselves online? Technical subversion – just do it anyway. Its what’s happening. You should also be building your institution and institutional values. Need to work it out on a personal level.

We’re setting up for the future a new form of professional development.

Beyond Privacy Settings:
1. Your behavior online can dictate your level of personal privacy
2. Your online presence shouldn’t be taken lightly.
3. RC: version 2

Mutually Assured Embarrassment.

CIL 2010: Analyzing, Evaluating & Communicating the Value of Web Presence

2010-04-19T11:55:00.009-05:00

Monday, April 12, 2010
Speakers: Michael Porter & Amanda Clay Powers

MP: Improve the value of using these social tools. Attitude has changed.

Oliver Blanchard - smroi.net – having a social media presence nowadays is merely the equivalent of what being listed in the yellow pages meant 10 years ago. It simply isn’t enough to be there.

Must use social media tools effectively. Jason Falls - socialmediaexplorer.com

Create Goals. Measure objectives. Measure. Strategies. Tactics.

We don’t have the time to create a business quality ROI report. Data is more anecdotal, but still just as relevant.

YouTube – Social Media ROI: Socialnomics

ACP: Simple metrics to show every month – we did it, we got this response.

Analyze a twitter feed – Miss. State Univ. Lib guide

Facebook Insights – Page, not group. Lots of data – demographics, interactions, etc.

Rave at MSU library – lib embraced it. Took their own pics, posted them that night. Students engaged with the library from it. Lib was first ones on campus to have pics up. 10 minute study break. Sunday night. Big spike in FB stats.

New auto e-mail from FB - weekly FB activity.

No longer trying to prove that twitter/FB are a good idea. It’s a done deal. So, what is the data good for?

It’s not all about numbers, it’s about building relationships. We’ve never had this ability before – knowing what our patrons are thinking about. We need to be there, answering their questions.

Get your resources noticed – ex. US Grant papers on MSU website. Track people tweeting about it, build a picture of info being shared.

No instant answers. What can we do with this info?

Are we being retweeted? Who? Why? What gets liked? By who? Why? Who’s engaging with you?

"What are you doing that's sticky?"

Host a tweet-up at your library. Janie Hermann – increased twitter/FB activity/followers.

Feed FB stats into google analytics.

Twapper Keeper – to archive tweets, hashtags

I'll be on the bus, Wil

2009-02-03T22:28:00.002-06:00

Frosty the Dancing Snowman

2009-01-06T19:44:00.003-06:00

It wouldn't be Christmas without Mom's flasher, stripper Frosty.

There are more Christmas pictures and video to come.

I might be blogging again. Maybe. I dunno. We'll see how ambitious I get.

Happy (late) Birthday To Me!

2008-06-18T17:53:00.002-05:00

Last month I turned ::coughcoughcough::. ;)

In addition to that, it was a very busy month. We had parties and BBQs and concerts and fishing every weekend! On my actual birthday, May 17, we attended Ed and Vanessa's surprise wedding.

So, I ended up not doing anything special for my birthday. No dinner out. No party for me. But, that didn't bother me at all. I wasn't really feeling the urge to celebrate this one anyway.

But then I thought, I should do something special for myself. Make this birthday a good one, one I will want to remember.

So, John and I got tattoos together!

Sound like a spur of the moment thing? Nope. We've been talking about it for a long time. And I decided that this was a perfect way for me to get over my birthday annoyance.

So, last month, we headed over to Iron Brush Tattoo. John has 3 previous tattoos that were done by the amazing tattoo artist, Tyson Schaffert, owner of Iron Brush. So we both wanted our new ones to be done by him.

Well, due to the fact that Tyson is an amazing artist, he is very much in demand. So, the next appointment he had available was June 11. Oh well, no tattoo for me on my birthday, I'll have to wait a month.

And the wait was totally worth it, don't you agree?

My new tattoo - on my left ankle. It goes all the way around .

John's new tattoo - on his left forearm.

Notice the similarity?

Yup, they both have the same celtic knot symbol as the basis, but done how we each wanted it to look.

John wanted a metallic look. He drew it up himself in blues and yellows. Tyson recommended the black background, to really make it pop. When it was done, John came out to show it to me. I think he was upset about how I looked when I saw it. I liked it, really, I did! But, I said, where'd the red come from? John told me that in the middle of doing it, the idea to add the red just popped into Tyson's head. He asked John what he thought and John told him to go for it. And of course, it came out awesome, because Tyson is awesome.

For mine, I had a picture of a tree of life tattoo, to show the kind of realistic branches that I liked. And I had the basic celtic knot symbol. Not being as artistic as John, the design was all in my head. I described what I wanted to Tyson, and he drew it up for me. When he showed his drawing to me, all I could say was WOW! It was better than anything I had pictured. He added the leaves, I hadn't even thought about those. He said he'd done wood before, but not tree branches like this. If that's true, I'd say this is crazy good for his first time!

And yes, it hurt. I limped around for a few days. We're both slathering on the Lubriderm. And now the hellish itching stage has begun.

And just to make an already exciting day even better - on the way home, the tornado sirens went off! Yay!

But no matter. I am now sporting a beautiful piece of original Tyson art.

It's a celebration of my birthday, a representation of my Irish heritage, and a symbol of the love that John and I share. And I will wear it proudly forever.

Wil Wheaton is my Hero

2008-04-29T21:47:00.005-05:00

Ms. Pac-Man, ghost chompin'
Originally uploaded by WilWheaton.

Read what Wil said and be enlightened.

Efficiency

2008-04-03T10:58:00.002-05:00

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

I think I'm full

2008-04-03T00:02:00.004-05:00

I have a love-hate relationship with RSS feeds.

RSS is a great invention. I love not having to jump all over the web to read the blogs and news and cartoons that I like. RSS is one-stop-shopping for information junkies like me.

And I'm always finding new feeds to add to my Bloglines. Some I come upon by accident. The intertubes are full of serendipity. Some I find out about from blogs I'm already following. Some come from friends and colleagues. It's a never ending process.

And that's the problem. There's just too many great feeds out there. And I NEED to follow them all!

But keeping up with them all is pretty much impossible. I actually have two Bloglines account - one for work-related feeds and one for personal feeds. If I had them all in one account, I'd probably lose my mind trying to read everything all day long. So to try and stay slightly sane, I only read the work feeds at work and the personal ones at home.

Is it really helping though? A quick glance thru both of my Bloglines says no. Lots and lots of unread items. I may have to do a wipe - mark everything read and start clean.

But can I do it? What if I miss something important?? What will I do???

BAM BAM!

2008-03-31T23:21:00.010-05:00

I've been doing this Book a Month Challenge since January. And it's been going well. At least, the reading part. The reviewing and blogging part...not so much.

So, you're going to get a twofer today - two BAM reviews in one! Are you totally thrilled? I thought so.

First up is my BAM for February, for the Heart theme - The Ghatti's Tale: Book One: Finders-Seekers, by Gayle Greeno.

I've always been a scifi/fantasy fan, and this book has a little of both. Mostly fantasy at the time of the story, but scifi in the past. Colonists from earth came to the planet Methuen over 200 years ago. Most of their technology has been mysteriously destroyed over the years. Now, they live as the natives, and have developed a new native ability.

There is also a race of large cats native to Methuen, called ghatti, who can speak telepathically to humans, if they choose to bond with them. I wish I could talk to my cats, in any way at all. Would make my life so much easier.

Anyway, telepathic humans and ghatti are being murdered. One pair of Bondmates, a woman Doyce, and her ghatta Khar'pern, have been chosen to find out who is doing this and why. Doyce has a special interest in the murders because her intended fiance has become one of the victims.

I was thoroughly engrossed in this story and the characters. This is the first book in a three book series. And now I need to find the other two books, because I have to know what happens next!

The BAM theme for March was Craft. I choose a book related to my chosen craft, librarianship - Seneca Falls Inheritance, by Miriam Grace Monfredo. Now, I have to come clean here - I have read this book before. But it was over 10 years ago. And when the Craft theme was announced, it popped right into my head as the perfect book. So, I gave in and re-read it.

The feminist in me loves this book for the independent Glynis Tryon, helping organize the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. The fact that Glynis is a librarian doesn't hurt either. She's a smart, stubborn, educated woman struggling to solve a woman's murder in her small town. The New Yorker in me feels very much at home in Seneca Falls, a city I have actually visited myself.

Even 10 years later, I still find this book both educational and entertaining. I have 3 of the sequels to this book, too. Wonder if I have time to read them before April's BAM?

Technomagic?

2008-03-30T22:28:00.007-05:00

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
~Arthur C. Clarke

A classic quote from a legendary author.

And it is a quote that I've always loved. But the more I look at it and think about it, I have to wonder if it still applies to our world.

I'm watching the Transformers movie while writing this. Huge robots from outer space coming to Earth. Does anyone think they are magic? Of course not.

"I bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?", says a nonchalant Sam Witwicky.

More technologically advanced than us? Totally. But magic? Don't be silly! Never even enters anyone's mind.

Now if the Autobots had shown up 500 years ago, I'm pretty sure they would have been seen as demons and anyone who helped them would have been burned as witches.

But I can't imagine today picking "magic" as an explaination for some advanced alien race I have never seen before. I've been exposed to way too much scifi and fantasy in my lifetime (thanks, Mom!) to not have an open mind about anything I might encounter. At least, I hope I would.

Hmm...maybe it would be more interesting to come across something that I can't explain away so easily. Is anybody ... any thing ... out there?

Decoding my DNA

2008-03-30T22:21:00.003-05:00

My Flickr DNA, that is.

A while ago, I don't remember when, I added Flickr DNA, from fd's Flickr Toys, to my Flickr profile. It's a pretty cool app that I should check on more often, because the information it shows about me and my Flickr changes over time.

There's some basic info about me. Most recent photos. My favorites, sets, contacts, and groups I'm in.

But there's also some really fun things in my DNA, too. Like my "most interesting photos".

Flickr uses a secret algorithm to categorize photos with the most "interestingness". I have no clue how it works, but for some reason, pictures from Second Life, and John with our ferret Twitch on his head always end up at the top of my interestingness list. Go figure.

Another cool thing about my Flickr DNA is at the very bottom, where i can "ego surf".

Following links to Technorati or Google Blog Search, I can find out who has used pictures from my Flickr. It's very humbling to find out that all sorts of people, all over the world, are looking at pictures I have taken. And that they think the pictures are worth using on their own blogs!

Me, too

2008-03-04T22:06:00.003-06:00

Gary Gygax, 'Father of D&D,' Dies at 69

The Most Wonderful Thing About Tigger...

2008-02-26T22:50:00.005-06:00

Tigger
Originally uploaded by Photos o' Randomness.

...is that he was the very first picture I uploaded to my Flickr.

It's been over a year and he's all grown up now. Physically that is. Mentally...not so sure about that.

Since that first set of pictures of my Mom's kittens, I've done an OK job of adding to my Flickr. I know having the account has made me take lots more pictures than I used to. But, that's not always as great as it sounds.

You see, I sometimes take so many pictures, that I don't get them uploaded to Flickr very quickly. Or at all.

For example, right now I have all of my Christmas photos on my computer. Yup, they're off the camera, but that's as far as they've gone. I'm sure I'll get to them. Soon. Maybe.

Oh, and another wonderful thing about Tigger? He's my Thing #5. :)

I knew it!

2008-02-22T11:48:00.007-06:00

Christa's Desk
Originally uploaded by Nebraska Library Commission.

Messy desks are a sign of genius.

Just ask Albert Einstein.

Or me. ;)

Time to learn something

2008-02-20T14:53:00.002-06:00

So, now I'm finally posting on the second "blogging required" project I got myself into this year - Learning 2.0 at the Nebraska Library Commission!

The program actually started last week, but we didn't have to blog anything until this week. And those of you that know me, please don't be shocked that I didn't procrastinate this until the very last day. I'm sure this crazy proactiveness (yup, I am an accomplished wordsmith, too.) won't last. I'll be back to my lazy self soon, don't you worry.

I just finished watching the online tutorial Seven and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners.

First, it is a great explanation of what we are trying to do with Learning 2.0. Really helped me understand what I can do, and what I have already been doing without realizing it. Lifelong learning isn't something you have to consciously do. You don't have to sit down and say, "OK, now I am going to learn this." It just happens! Pretty cool.

I think the hardest habit for me would be #3 - View problems as challenges. Well, at the start it's hard. It's much easier to just be annoyed and get upset about problems that crop up. I do that real quick. Just ask anyone who's heard me muttering in my office. But then, I take a few deep breaths, and dive in to solve the problem. It all works out in the end....usually.

The easiest habit for me is a no-brainer - #7 1/2 - PLAY! I do that all the time! I enjoy trying out new things, figuring out how they work, finding all the tips and tricks I can online. It may be my downfall some days, though. I can get TOO involved in learning something new and fun. Then mundane things like cleaning the house or weeding my e-mail can get pushed way to the bottom of my to-do list.

But then the dust bunny creeps out from under the couch and starts harassing the cats and I have to go broom it into submission.

#7 1/2 + #3 = It all works out in the end.

BAM!

2008-01-31T22:48:00.004-06:00

One week ago today, I joined BAM! No, it's not some spicy chef-worshiping cult.

BAM is the Book A Month Challenge, created by Katie, the Young Librarian. Each month, Katie reveals a theme. Then you read a book that relates to that theme, and post a review of it.

So, I just learned about BAM a week ago. Yeah, not much time to figure out what to read, and read it, and write a coherent review of it.

The theme for January is Time. And guess how lucky I am? I was already half-way thru a book that fit the theme!

For Christmas, I received two biographies by Wil Wheaton. Yes, THAT Wil Wheaton. Wesley Crusher himself! Sometime last year, I don't remember when, I discoverd his blog. And then his Twitter...and then Flickr. Makes me look like a stalker, doesn't it? But no, I'm not. He puts himself right out there, just like the rest of us.

So, I started with Just A Geek:Unflinchingly honest tales of the search for life, love, and fulfillment beyond the Starship Enterprise. Wow, that's a freakishly long title. We'll call it Just A Geek from now on. It's a collection of some of the posts from his blog, but with updated info and commentary by him.

Now, you may only know Wil Wheaton as an actor. But I've discovered that Wil is also a great storyteller. I started just reading his blog, jumping around seeing what he has been saying over the years. He is funny and smart and he can definitely make you all teary-eyed if he wants to. Which is why I asked for all his books for Christmas. I have to read Dancing Barefoot next. And I still need to get his newest one, The Happiest Days of Our Lives.

My favorite part of Just A Geek is when Wil looks back on his old blog posts with a new perspective. Time changes things. He looks back and see events very differently. Sometimes he had to wait until years later to understand what was really happening. And other times, you learn that the real story wasn't really told in the first place. Looking back on his life helps him come to terms with what really happened and share the truth with his readers.

Yes, there are some Star Trek stories in there, which made the Star Trek fan in me squee. And yes, he is quite the geek, another plus from the geek in me.

Wil Wheaton is now working on writing fiction. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Worst. Blogger. Ever?

2008-01-29T22:49:00.000-06:00

Did I win? Did I win?!?

I tried to be a bad blogger. Really I did. But, I just couldn't be the world's absolute worst blogger.

This space has been full of loads of silence for over 2 months. It turns out that's not good enough.

Nope. Instead that title went to the guy at that blog that posted only one word a day:

Be

sure

to

drink

your

And then....nothing. He just stopped blogging. Drink your what??? It's a mystery now. No one knows. Except the guy behind....oh, what was it now? bigprize.com? importanttrophy.com? Something like that. I can't remember the exact URL. But I'm sure you'll be able to Google it.

So, now that I'm a complete failure at being the World's Worst Blogger, I suppose I'll have to actually start using this thing again.

Oh, and there's also the fact that I've committed myself to a couple of new projects this year that require me to blog about them. Silly me, being all involved in things and stuff.

So....I'm baaaack. It's randomness time!

Almost forgot....

2007-11-12T20:04:00.000-06:00

http://annoyedlibrarian.blogspot.com/

I was almost too annoyed today to admit it. I'm so annoyed with myself. Ugh.

Recess for grownups

2007-08-08T21:50:00.000-05:00

Today I was part of the first Lincolnite Recess , a gathering at the Starship Memorial Adult Playground (aka the ugly parking lot at 14th and Q), for some fun and games.

We jumped rope...

...threw the frisbee around...

...played four square...

...blew bubbles...

...and left our mark with sidewalk chalk.

It sounds like this will become a regular event. I sure hope so!

See everybody's pictures on Flickr and the first video, too.

I'm a real photographer now!

2007-08-07T09:28:00.001-05:00

Atlanta Sunset
Originally uploaded by Photos o' Randomness.

Like this picture? Me too.

And apparently so does Schmap. They publish online travel guides.

And they picked this photo of the Atlanta airport from my Flickr to be in the most recent edition of the Schmap Travel Guide for Atlanta! The airport is in the Sights & Attractions section - Attractions & Landmarks.

So, I've had my first photo published! w00t!

They didn't pay me anything for it, but I don't care. It's still very cool.

I'm glad something good came from this picture. It was from our hellish trip home for Christmas last year.

I wonder what terrible event my next published picture will come from?

I am a rock goddess!

2007-07-21T11:26:00.000-05:00

But I have to wonder...

Was beating my boss really a good idea?

Opening quote on the screen: "It takes a REALLY long time to drive the van through Nebraska". HA!

Watch the World

2007-07-19T10:13:00.000-05:00

Wow. Just wow.

This is why I find Second Life so amazing...powerful...full of incredible possibilities.

When I first started watching this, I couldn't figure out why people were commenting about how great it was. Sure, it's a nice machinima, showing the creation of a cute mountain village in Second Life.

But, then....about half-way thru, I realized what he was doing.

I literally gasped out loud. By the end, I had tears in my eyes.

I highly recommend viewing the highest quality version, if you can.

It will blow you away.

Grand March of the Librarians

2007-07-16T23:32:00.001-05:00

We're baaaack!

Yub Yub!

2007-06-17T15:48:00.000-05:00

Is it a wookie? Is it an ewok? No, it's a girl!

After about 18 hours of labor, Shannon gave birth to Jordan Paige at exactly midnight on Father's Day. 7 pounds, 19 3/4 inches. I wasn't sure, but midnight does fall on Sunday because the hospital goes by military time. So, she was born officially at 00:00:00 on June 17.

Happy Father's Day, Andy!

She doesn't say much so far. Just winks at everyone. Still trying to decipher the code she is obviously trying to send. Is one wink "I need a clean diaper, please." or "Some lunch would be nice now, Mom"? More research is needed.

I suppose an explanation of the title of this post would be helpful. Let's see...how to go about this without offending anyone?

Andy is...well, to be blunt...he's hairy. Legs, chest, back...there's hair everywhere - and lots of it, too.

So, there has been some worry (ok, I suppose relentless harassment would be a more accurate description) about how his child might turn out.

Would it be a baby ewok? They are cute, but I don't think Shannon really wanted to spend her time shaving her baby every other day.

Of course, their friends have been very understanding, even giving them a package of pink disposable razors as a shower gift. Just trying to help.

But, in the end, it was much ado about nothing.

No furry back. No baby beard. No ewok war cries of "Yub Yub!" to look forward to.

Well, that last one might still happen, if certain people have their way. ;)

You can see more pictures of Jordan on my Flickr.

Giant Plant Invasion!

2007-06-10T22:36:00.000-05:00

OK, so I actually brought it upon myself. They didn't just suddenly invade.

First we have the 4 foot tall, from base of the 'foot' to the top of the leaves, Elephant's Foot plant:

It gets bigger and bigger every year. I think I'm on my third or fourth pot. But I've been able to slow down the growth a bit by putting it on the shady front porch, rather than in the full sun in the backyard. Yeah, I learned that lesson real quick the first summer I put it out.

The other giant is my pregnant onion:

This poor thing was filling the 12-inch pot it was in from rim to rim. I finally gave in to re-potting it when a swarm of ants came out of it the last time I watered it. EW!

So, John and I went to Earl May to pick out a new pot. However, we couldn't find any 14-inch pots, so it ended up in a 16-inch - diameter and height. The main center of the plant itself is about 13 inches tall. Yea, now it will have to grow even bigger!

Post idea courtesy of Adventures in LaLa Land :)

Good gamer karma

2007-05-23T20:54:00.000-05:00

I am so impressed by this sweet, sad story.

Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind the hugely popular World of Warcraft (yes, we play it...a lot. :) ), joined with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to grant a young gamer's dream - a trip to Blizzard headquarters. The developers worked with 10-year-old Ezra, who has a brain tumor, to create a character and quest that will be added to the game in a few weeks.

I think I need to go spend some time with Pfeffa, my Draenei Shaman. It's Children's Week in WOW, and I can get my own good karma on by taking an orphan adventuring with me.

I love my WOW. :)

Zombies!

2007-05-22T09:06:00.000-05:00

Never underestimate the importance of your local library. Someday, it could save your life!

Happy Birthday....

2007-05-17T10:50:00.000-05:00

....video games!

I may be old, but I'm still cool.

Because I'm younger than video games!

w00t!

Happy Cinco de Mayo Free Comic Book Shannon and Andy Baby Shower Day!

2007-05-03T22:31:00.000-05:00

Wow. I wasn't sure if that title would even fit. But, it had to. Because that is what this Saturday is!

May 5, 2007 is Cinco de Mayo Free Comic Book Shannon and Andy Baby Shower Day!

What is Cinco de Mayo Free Comic Book Shannon and Andy Baby Shower Day, you ask?

Well, isn't is obvious? :)

Cinco de Mayo is the Mexican national holiday marking the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It is traditionally celebrated with mucho margaritas and guacamole.

Free Comic Book Day is always on the first Saturday in May, which happens to be May 5 this year. Stop by your nearest comic book shop and pick up some free reading material. I think I'll get the Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century...or The Lone Ranger/New Battlestar Galactica...or The Unseen Peanuts. It's so hard to decide!

AND....

The most important thing happening this Saturday is...

Shannon and Andy's Baby Shower!

At Shannon's request, myself and a few of her friends are throwing her the standard Margarita Party Baby Shower. Yup, it's a Fetus Fiesta!

Bright red, green, yellow, purple and orange striped lanterns and tablecloths! Fruity party toothpicks for the Mexican hors d'oeuvres! Flowery parasols for the margaritas! (Yes, Shannon will be drinking virgin margaritas.) Salsa! Guacamole! Tropical fruits in a chocolate fountain!

Everything a good baby shower needs.

And don't worry. Despite Shannon's vehement protests, there WILL be pictures.

Bad blogger!

2007-04-30T22:10:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am a bad blogger. It has been over 2 weeks since my last post, and I have lots of blogging ideas saved up. But first I have to tell you why there has been such a lag this time.

The day after my last post, April 11, my grandmother died. She was my father's mother, and my last living grandparent. A pretty hard hit, needless to say.

On my dad's side of the family, grandparents are Mimere and Pipere, the French endearments for Grandma and Grandpa. Mim and Pip if you're really in a hurry. From here on, she will be referred to as Mimere, which I called her all my life.

It was one of those 'it's a blessing' deaths. She had not been doing so well lately. It was almost expected, but still a very sad shock.

So, first I had to figure out if I could get to Florida for Mimere's wake and funeral. Work was no problem - I can have 5 days of bereavement leave if I need. Working for the state definitely has it's perks.

Next, on to travel. At first, I was feeling lazy, so I only checked on flights from Lincoln to Orlando. As I expected, they started at about $600 round trip. While I was grumbling about this, John suggested that I check Omaha. Bah. I don't feel like driving all the way up to Omaha. But I figured, what the hell, and checked anyway. And it's a good thing I did! The cheapest flight from Omaha to Orlando? $187! Yup, you read that right - $400 cheaper than Lincoln. WOW! So, yeah, John drove me up to Omaha on Monday, the 16th.

It was a strange trip. Mimere has passed away, so there is of course all the sadness that brings. But, at the same time, I was seeing family that I hadn't seen in years. So, there were the typical big hugs and happy reunions. At first, I felt kind of guilty being so happy to see everyone. But then I realized that Mimere would have liked it that way. Everyone enjoying our time together. So, we did.

As is traditional on my dad's side of the family, we embraced our Irish heritage with lots of eating and drinking. After the wake on Tuesday, we all went to Lee & Rick's Oyster Bar. A dive, but the best kind of dive! If I didn't have to get up early the next morning for the funeral, I could have stayed there all night eating dozens and dozens of oysters. The crawfish and Killian's wasn't bad either.

There was a full Catholic mass funeral the next morning at Mimere's church, St. Andrew's. My Uncle George did a beautiful, funny, moving eulogy. My sister and I both did readings. I was first and very nervous. I think Sarah did better than I did - she sounded much more confident to me. But she said I did good, too.

After the burial, the senior ladies at Mimere's church served us a delicious potluck lunch. Of course, we brought our own beer!

Then it was back to the hotel to hang out by the pool all afternoon. Where there were babies, chips and dip, and...oh yeah...more beer. :) We had a great time just hanging out and catching up.

Eventually my sister and her husband had to catch their flight home, and my Uncle Don and Aunt Terri had to start their drive home to Cape Coral.

Some of us who were left took the hotel's free shuttle over to Universal CityWalk for dinner. After wandering around for a while, we ended up at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. I (and my Uncle George) were warned about the spicy Jambalaya that we ordered. Are you sure you want it? Sure! Bring it on! Yeah, it wasn't very spicy at all. But it was delicious. Oh, and since I was the youngest one at the table (it's about time!) everyone decided that I HAD to have a balloon hat. Awesome.

We all had early flights back the next morning, so it was an early night.

It's been a couple of weeks since this all happened. But, it took me this long to put it all together. I'm not that good at writing about stuff like this. I still get sad...I always will. I miss my Mimere. And I miss family in New York and Florida. Hopefully, I'll see them more often - not just for weddings and funerals. :)

Now I'll try to be a better blogger. I promise.

Photo Credits: You can see more pictures from Florida on my Flickr and on my sister's Flickr!

Do ya get it?

2007-04-10T20:44:00.001-05:00

Blatantly stolen from the Travelin' Librarian.

Librarians are hiding something!

2007-03-30T10:40:00.000-05:00

Oh no! Our secret is out! And Stephen Colbert has trademarked it!

Does that mean it's his secret now?

Magnum, A.L.

2007-03-21T09:56:00.001-05:00

If only this were a real TV show. I'd definitely watch crime solving librarians, wouldn't you?

A Boy Named Sue

2007-03-06T22:42:00.000-06:00

Do you know how to tell the sex of your ferret?

No?

Well, apparently neither do the people at PETCO.

When we first got Twitch, last May, we asked if the baby albino was a boy or a girl. The employee flipped Twitch over to check and said, "It's a boy." Great! He's our Mr. Twitch, little Twitch Man.

Or...maybe not.

In December, we got Zen, a chocolate ferret companion for Twitch. He was about the same size as Twitch, so we figured that was perfect. He was just born in September, and Twitch was born last February, but that didn't matter, right? They're the same size, they'll get along great!

Hmmm...it's been a few months. Twitch is a year old now, full grown. Zen is 6 months old...and he's a giant! He must be twice as big as Twitch, and he's not done growing yet!

Well, Twitch was probably the runt of the litter. He's albino, maybe they run smaller? Yeah, he was the runt, but he's our little runt. We love him all the more because he was the runt. He's just too cute!

Tonight, John decided to take a closer look. The "boys" were playing on the dining room table. John flipped Zen over, and saw what looked like a belly button in the middle of his tummy. Then he flipped Twitch over. Hmm...no belly button. That's weird. Well, maybe it doesn't show as well, because he's albino.

Check Zen again...then Twitch. Then Zen...and Twitch.

Finally, John exclaims, "Twitch is a girl!"

What?!?!

You must be mistaken! He's our little boy! Annissa and I are in complete denial.

John jumps on the web, where you can find the truthiness about everything.

One page said "Sexing ferrets is very simple. If you find what looks like a very obvious belly-button (this is the male part), it's a boy! Girls don't have one.". Another added the detail "if there are two holes down between the back legs, it is a female. If there is only one between the back legs and a hole on the belly, it is a male."

I looked myself. Twitch doesn't have a belly button. But, "he" does have two holes between "his" back legs.

Holy belly buttons, Batman! Twitch is a girl!

Wow. Very weird. This is going to be hard to get used to, after a year of our "boy" Twitch.

Poor John. He thought he was making some headway, but the boys are still outnumbered in our house. And he was the one to discover it.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

2007-03-02T09:42:00.000-06:00

When I was a child, there was a long shelf of Dr. Seuss titles in the children's room of the Saratoga Springs Public Library. (Well, there probably still is, but I haven't been there in a long time, so I can't really say. And, I'm not going to make it up. So, we'll just have to be content with what I remember from ::cough cough:: years ago.)

Anyway....like most of the children's section, the books were a mess - some on the floor, some on top of the bookshelves, and some actually on the shelf - but backwards or upside down. I was lucky to grow up in a library with children's librarians who believed in letting us run wild in the children's room. It was great having the freedom to explore and discover all the great books that were hidden there.

Why am I reminiscing about my childhood in a library? Because today, March 2, is Dr. Seuss' birthday! Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

But that's not all - there's more!

It's also "Read Across America" Day. This year is the 10th anniversary of the nationwide effort to celebrate the importance of reading.

And it gets even better!

This year is also the 50th birthday of The Cat in the Hat! Did you know that Dr. Seuss used only 236 different words to write The Cat in the Hat? To recognize this momentous event, there is a nationwide read-aloud of The Cat in the Hat scheduled for 2:36 p.m. ET this afternoon.

So, grab a copy of The Cat in the Hat, and a kid (preferably a kid you know)...or a friend or a sibling or a spouse or a significant other or whatever you have. Read it to them, or have them read it you!

So, what have I missed? Is there anything else going on today? What else do I have to celebrate?

Goin' to the chapel...

2007-02-25T19:53:00.000-06:00

...and we're gonna get married!

I just had to use the best gettin' married song ever to make our big announcement. Which means you've probably already guessed, but I'll say it anyway.

John and I are engaged!

He totally surprised me. I am so clueless. He's been grumpy and down this past week or so. I thought he was bored or upset, but he said he wasn't. Turns out he was trying to figure out how to do it! And he wanted to ask my mom for her permission/blessing.

Last night I was on the phone with her and he decided that was his chance. As I was finishing up talking to my mom, he asked for the phone. I was confused, but I gave it to him and he asked her permission. So sweet and old fashioned. She said he didn't have to ask her, it was my decision, but he said it was just the right thing to do.

Well, obviously she said yes, and then I said yes. And there was much crying and hugging and kissing.

There is a ring...well, a diamond actually. John has a family heirloom diamond that has been passed down thru his family, with each new owner putting it into a new setting for themselves. His grandfather gave to his grandmother. Then his grandfather passed it on to John's dad. And John's dad passed his ring on to him. And now we will take the family diamond and put it into a setting for us.

No other plans yet. It's all new for us, we're just enjoying the moment for now. And I'm not the type of girl who has always thought about what her wedding would be like. I'm starting from scratch here.

I'll post updates as our plans progress. Wish us luck!

Meet your ancestors

2007-02-19T15:22:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure if these two things are connected, but if it is, it's pretty cool.

Cool Thing #1

I just discovered this new web site called Geni.com (Thanks, Michael!). It's a web site where you can create your own family tree.

But, the best part is that you can invite other members of your tree to add to it too! So, I invited a bunch of my family members to join.

I started the tree quickly one night, with about 20 people. Since then, people on both my mom's and dad's sides of my family have added to it. Now there are over 100 people in my tree! Thanks to my Aunt Gina, I now know that my twelfth great-grandparents on my dad's side were John and Elishua Crowell. How cool is that?!

Cool Thing #2

February is Black History Month. Why is that cool to me? Well, it is said that way back somewhere I have a black ancestor! I think I'm something like 1/64th black. Nothing major, but still very cool.

I wonder which ancestor on my tree she is?

March of the Librarians

2007-02-12T22:06:00.001-06:00

A look at the bi-annual migrations of the mysterious librarian.

Annissa's Car Encounters of the Bad Kind

2007-02-10T12:44:00.000-06:00

Annissa has had a bad time with cars this week.

On Tuesday, John got a phone call from her. She was going to be late getting home from school. Why?

"I got hit by a car."

Anyone with children knows how John felt at that point. He asked where she was, 33rd and W - only a few blocks from our house, and drove down to see what was up.

Turns out a Lincoln city parking enforcement officer had hit her! The SUV the officer was driving was stopped at a stop sign. Nissa saw the car, saw that it was stopped, and started crossing 33rd. The officer decided that was the time to go, and turned from W onto 33rd, and hit Nissa. She saw the car coming at her and yelled and put her hand out. She didn't get knocked down, but did hurt her arm trying to stop the car.

Since it was a Lincoln city officer, the police were called and an accident report was filled out. The driver said she didn't see Nissa, so no citations were issued. But, I'm sure she'll be suspended for a while anyway. Good.

And the ambulance chasers are already on Nissa's tail! We got the first 'advertisement' in the mail on Friday. "I want to help you resolve all the civil issues surrounding this accident. Please call me immediately". You can just feel the desperation oozing from the paper. So sad.

Annissa's second car encounter happened on Friday. In the mornings, she goes out to start the car so it is warmed up before John takes her to school. Friday morning, she came back into the house, almost in tears.

She yells up to John, "Dad! What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I started the car and it went backwards!"

It turns out John had accidentally left the car in gear when he backed it into the carport the night before. John couldn't help chuckling when he realized what had happened. But Nissa was very upset and scared. She thought she had done it and she had no clue how. Poor kid.

But, the car is OK. The spoiler hit the table at the back of the carport, but there was no damage.

And Nissa is OK, too. Probably doesn't want to drive any cars for a while, but that's just fine with us. :)

FREE KITTENS!

2007-01-30T19:40:00.001-06:00

Stray Kittens on the porch
Originally uploaded by karindalziel.

Looking for a new friend? Or two? Then you've come to the right place!

My friend Karin has two kittens living in her backyard who need a home. She already has 4 cats, and we have 3 plus 2 ferrets. So, we're pretty much maxed out.

But, I bet you aren't! Look at these cute faces, I know you just can't resist!

If you live anywhere near Lincoln, and want a cute friend, please contact Karin and save these kitties.

Thanks!

Hattie! Hattie! Hattie!

2007-01-24T21:02:00.000-06:00

The triumphant chant rang out over the Saratoga Race Track.

Hattie! Hattie! Hattie!

Tonight was the premiere of the Fried Chicken episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

Why should you care?

Because Bobby Flay challenged Jasper Alexander of Hattie's Chicken Shack in my hometown, Saratoga Springs, NY.

And lost! Whoo Hoo!!

Flay never had a chance. Jasper's lightly floured, juicy chicken, from a recipe created by Hattie herself in 1938, versus Flay's double batter-dipped chicken with a honey-chili powder sauce.

The decision was unanimous. All three judges overwhelmingly picked Jasper's fried chicken to win.

John says the next time we're in Saratoga, we're going to Hattie's.

Yea!

Hattie! Hattie! Hattie!

I AM blogging this!

2007-01-23T23:35:00.000-06:00

I'm a little behind the times on this one. But, my friend and colleague, Allana, just pointed me to David King's recent series of posts on inviting participation in Web 2.0. Definitely required reading for any web content creators, like me. I am eagerly awaiting more posts in the series!

But, his first example of an unintentional invitation is great! It's from last August, when he celebrated his second blogging anniversary. Hmm....I wonder if I'll ever have one of those?

Watch the video. Read the lyrics. Click the lyrics!

WARNING!
This tune will get stuck in your head and you will not be able to get rid of it!

Bet you didn't know librarians were so talented. Rock on!

Happiness is a warm gun?

2007-01-17T22:21:00.000-06:00

Well, Nebraska’s Concealed Handgun Law took effect January 1, 2007. Luckily, a new sign has appeared at the entrance to the building where I work:

NOTICE
Carrying a concealed handgun is
PROHIBITED
in or on this place or premises.

Those in control of this property have prohibited permit holders from possessing or carrying a concealed handgun on these premises. Unless otherwise authorized by law, violation of this prohibition is a criminal offense.

Posted Pursuant to the Nebraska Revised Statute §69-2441

I feel safer already. NOT!

Flickr madness!

2007-01-13T17:12:00.000-06:00

So, I went a little crazy with Flickr this week. Uploaded a bunch of pics - mostly from our Christmas trip to NY, but a few others too. Here's the lowdown on what you can see at Photos o' Randomness.

Library Bags
I finally added the rest of my library bags pics. All OCLC bags - 9 of 'em! You can see all of the library bags I own in my Library Bags set. I think they reproduce on their own.

Mom's!
There's Mom and Annissa putting lights on the tree.

And the little bit of snow that finally fell on December 30.

Christmas in NYC
The day after Christmas we drove down to my sister's house in Beacon. Had a yummy fondue dinner - they got two fondue sets for their wedding, so we had cheese and broth. Then chocolate fountain for dessert! Yeah, I should have taken pics of that. But I was just too busy stuffing my face!

On Wednesday, we took the train into New York City. John, Annissa and my Mom had never seen NY at Christmas, so we had to see it all.

First was Grand Central and the new holiday light show. The inside of Grand Central was a giant kaleidoscope. It was amazing. People just stopped to stare up and watch the snowflakes and NYC scenes spinning and rotating all over the walls.

John wanted to see the NYPL lions. But they aren't wearing the wreaths. I remember them having wreaths around their necks at Christmas. Too bad - they're not as Christmasy now. But still just as impressive.

The Tree, of course.

Then, we waited in line to get into FAO Schwarz. Yup, there was a line around the building to get into a toy store. But, it was totally worth it. Next year, I'm asking for the stuffed Mammoth. It's only about 10 feet tall and $12,000.00. Oh, and John wants lots and lots of Legos.

All the big names have holiday light shows. Cartier had a cascade of huge jewelry boxes falling down the front of the building.

Every 15 minutes the largest red gift box over the door would open slowly and play “Carol of the Bells". Saks 5th Avenue had a dancing snowflake light show coordinated to Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas music on the facade of their building. And if you could tear your eyes away from that and look across the street, you would see more snowflake lights falling down the side of the Rockefeller Center building.

It was a long day, with lots of walking, but it was totally worth it. You can see more pics in the NYC set.

Snowy Saratoga
On Saturday afternoon, Mom, John, Annissa and I went into Saratoga just to walk around and see the city. The little bit of snow was just right.

But we can't go to Saratoga without a trip to Ben & Jerry's. Even if it is nighttime...in the middle of winter.

See it all in the Saratoga set.

Snowy Iowa
This was just too cool looking not to take a picture of.

Only in Upstate NY

2007-01-03T22:13:00.000-06:00

So, we're going thru security this morning at the Albany airport to catch our flight back to Nebraska.

John's bag goes thru the x-ray machine, then Nissa's. I'm next and I hear the machine go BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Hmmm....I wonder what that's all about? Is my bag coming out soon? I peek back to take a look.

The TSA agent sees me glancing at my bag in the bin and she asks, "Is this your brown bag?"

"....Yes." Damn, they're gonna make me throw out my emergency toothpaste and deodorant.

"Do you have a Peppermint Pig?"

Blink. Huh? OH! "Yes! Yes I do!" I reply, laughing.

"OK." She smiles and sends the bin with my bag out of the x-ray machine and down the ramp to me.

The Christmas that almost wasn't

2007-01-02T20:36:00.000-06:00

We were supposed to have 3 days to do all of the Christmas preparations. But, instead, we spent 3 days trying to get to Mom's.

So, on Sunday, December 24, we:

Slept late
Put up the tree
Decorated the tree
Wrapped ALL our presents
Ordered way too much delicious Italian food from Christina's Pizzeria

Oh, and discovered that almost everyone at my Aunt's house, where we were planning on going for Christmas, was sick with a stomach bug.

Whoa! Stop right there!

The same thing happened 2 years ago, but we went anyway. And then the four of us (Me, Mom, Sis, and Sis's husband) ended up sick with the worst illness I have ever experienced. I literally couldn't sit up on the couch for more than 5 minutes. I had to lay down in bed between bouts of vomiting. The next day, I was totally exhausted, but I had to fly home anyway. It was terrible.

Needless to say, this time, it took us about .000001 milliseconds to decide that we were NOT going to my Aunt's for Christmas. We were all perfectly content spending a relaxing Christmas day at Mom's. She even had turkey, gravy and stuffing in the freezer, so we were all set for our own Christmas dinner.

On Christmas, we got to sleep in, stay in our pjs for most of the day, and have a nice dinner. John whipped up some mashed potatoes, we cracked open a can of cranberry sauce, and we were set.

Late in the afternoon, we did go to my Great Aunt's house for visiting, a second dinner, dessert, and Peppermint Pig smashing. No one was sick there, so it was safe.

After the worst 3 day traveling ordeal ever, it was a very good Christmas day.

Are we there yet?!?!

2007-01-02T20:04:00.000-06:00

You're probably wondering where I've been for the last week. There's a lot to tell, so there will be a couple of posts coming, filling you in on all the gory details.

We did finally make it to New York. It only took us three days, two delayed flights, 1 canceled flight, 1 missed flight, switching airlines, and 1 night in an Atlanta hotel....and a partridge in a pear tree! Well, actually, there were no live birds involved, but we did make it.

Day 1 - Thursday, December 21

As you know, we tried to leave on Thursday night. But our flight from Lincoln to Chicago was delayed, and the flight from Chicago to Albany was canceled. So we were rebooked on a new itinerary for Friday night - Omaha to Atlanta to Albany. Also, in order to do this we had to be switched from United to Delta.

Day 2 - Friday, December 22

We left the house at noon. Our flight out wasn't until 6:30, but we didn't want to have any problems. At check-in, we learned that we need to have our seat assignments done at the gate. No problem. We're hours early, so we can get good seats, even after we eat lunch. Yes, the food booths are before security at the Omaha airport. John was happy - he got his fave Philly cheesesteak.

Then we were off to the gate. And we discovered something new! Did you know that switching airlines and getting your tickets the day of your flight marks you for "Special Screening"? Yup. All three of us got pulled aside for the full pat-down. Much fun.

At the gate, I asked about getting our seat assignments. We had to wait for the agent that would be in charge of our flight. So we waited, and as we waited, we see our flight departure time change. Only about an hour later, but we have over a 2 hour layover in Atlanta. No problem! (I have learned that I really need to stop saying that.)

Finally, the agent for our flight arrives, and I am the first in line. After a long wait for the computer to come up, he checks on our seats.

"Did the United agent call to find out if there were seats available?", he asks.

"Um...no."

"Hmm. They're supposed to do that before they book you on our flights." Uh oh.

"You're sure he didn't call?"

"Nope, he never picked up a phone, just checked the computer, and printed out our tickets."

"Hmmm."

After another long, stressful pause, he apparently decided that he had no choice but to give us seats, so he did. Oh, and then he informed us that we were on standby for our Atlanta-Albany flight. What?!?! The United guy didn't say anything about standby!

So, we can't get our seat assignments until we get to Atlanta. If we have any seats at all. Yeah, we're not happy.

Now we wait, wait, wait. It is the beginning of much waiting for us.

Our Atlanta flight takes off, now about 2 hours late. Sigh. All we can do is hope that the Albany flight is delayed, too. We land in Atlanta about 25 minutes past the departure time of our flight to Albany. Race thru the airport, up to the empty gate, only to learn that it has already left.

It's 10:00pm, and we must rebook our flight to Albany.

Back to the long line of people waiting at the bank of rebooking phones. After much searching, the very nice man on the phone eventually tells me that the next flight with 3 seats available is tomorrow night, at 9:40pm. Yup, 24 hours later. And, because the cause of our delayed flight was "air traffic control" (whatever that means) he isn't allowed to check any other airlines, only Delta. By this point, I am really about to lose it. I make sure that we actually have seats - Exit Row 8 A,B,C. We are confirmed for Saturday night.

But what about tonight?

The guy on the phone can't issue us any vouchers. We must go to a gate agent in the airport. The very nice lady at a gate tells us that, also because the cause of our delayed flight was "air traffic control", she cannot issue us hotel or food vouchers. All we can get is the discounted government rate for the Comfort Inn - $56/night. I'm speechless....shocked....are you freaking kidding me?? We have 24 hours to wait and we get no compensation for hotel or food? The airlines have quite a racket going.

Off to the shuttles to the hotels. The complete lack of organization was stunning! At the Atlanta airport, there are about 12 parking spots for the shuttle vans to the hotels. Each hotel has it's own van. But, get this - the spots are not assigned! So, in the rain, you have masses of people running back and forth to see if the van that has just pulled into a spot is for their hotel. Wow. After about 45 minutes we finally made it onto a van to the Comfort Inn - standing room only, of course.

I think the best part of the day was the hotel. It was quiet and relaxing and dry. John and I went across the street to the gas station for some necessities. Then we all tried to get some sleep.

Day 3 - Saturday, December 23

Let's see - our flight leaves at 9:40pm. Hotel checkout is at noon. That gives us about 9 hours to kill. Sigh.

Check in at Delta. The agent looks at Nissa and asks, "How old is she?".

"14."

"Oh, well, she has to be 16 to sit in the Exit row seats."

ARGH!!!

The guy on the phone last night didn't say anything about an age restriction! He said he had to question me before he gave us the seats - he asked if we could read English, if we could lift a certain amount of weight, and if we were willing to help the flight attendants. But nothing about age! So, the seats we thought we had, we actually don't! We have to be switched - we can only get 2 seats together and one alone. OK, at least we have seats. We can deal. Flying sucks.

Hey, look, our tickets are marked "SSS"! We get to go past all of these people waiting in line at security! Awesome! Um...well...no, not really. We're marked "Special Screening" again. Which means we are now in a line with other people who are also "Special Screening". Which means we all have to get the full wanding and pat-down. Joy.

Had a leisurely, yummy lunch at Paschals Restaurant/La Carrousel Bar. Then took a walking tour of concourses B and C for about an hour. Bought some computer and gaming magazines. Found a nice corner spot at the gate for our flight and set up camp. We had books, DS, PSP, mags, and all the napping we could stand. John first, then Nissa:

After that, it was a very uneventful day. Got on our flight, got to Albany on time. Mom was there to pick us up. Our luggage had arrived earlier in the day, and all 4 bags were there. A short time later, we were all passed out in comfy beds at Mom's house.

Epilogue

John says next year we are driving.

Mother Nature says "No go!"

2006-12-21T23:20:00.000-06:00

So, we left for the airport today at about 3:30pm for our 6:10 flight. I checked the United website before we left, and our flights were on time, but with the blizzard in Colorado, you never know. Slight mist and some fog, but nothing major. Got a good spot in long term parking. Hardly any people in line at the United counter. But, as I searched the monitor, I saw CANCELLED, CANCELLED, CANCELLED. Uh oh. But wait! Our flight wasn't cancelled! It was just delayed. No problem!

Yeah, right.

We get our turn at the counter, and the agent checks the computer. Yup, our flight to Chicago is delayed. But our next leg, to Albany, is already cancelled! ARGH! Bad weather in Chicago and on the East coast. OK, so what flight can we get out on next? From Lincoln, our next option is on the 24th. Yup, the day before Christmas.

But there is still hope! If we drive up to Omaha, we can go tomorrow night. Yea!

So, we're back home tonight. All packed up and no where to go. John is mopey. He wants to be in NY already. I think it is nice to have one relaxing night before all the craziness starts up again.

The next time you hear from me, it should be from NY!

When good chocolate goes bad....

2006-12-13T21:55:00.000-06:00

This is what happens when your mom sends you a year's worth of care packages all at once:

Originally uploaded by Overduebook.

Put the blog in reverse...

2006-12-04T22:35:00.000-06:00

...just for a bit.

I wanted to share our delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

Click on the picture to see what we had.

Thanks to Mom sending me some of my Pfaltzgraff dishes that I got last Christmas, this is the first time that everything was on Jamberry! Yea! Of course, Pfaltzgraff has since retired my pattern, so it's going to be very hard to get anymore Jamberry additions. I just hope that they will make it into a By Request pattern.

Here's a better picture of the TWENTY POUND TURKEY! Poor thing barely fits on the platter.

(Roast Turkey with Rosemary-Garlic Crust. Turkey was rubbed with a mixture of 4 sticks of butter, 2 heads of garlic and 1 cup of fresh rosemary.)

And you won't believe what I heard! On the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, after six straight days of turkey, John actually said "I think I'm getting sick of turkey". Gasp!! Can you believe it? Ha! That's what he gets for picking out a 20 pound turkey. He promised that next year the bird will only be 15 pounds. We'll see.

So, we made the leftover turkey we still had into Turkey a la King on Wednesday, and Turkey Manicotti on Thursday. Then we had Taco Bell on Friday. We ate the last scraps of the turkey on Saturday. It's finally over!

And John can't wait till next year. ;)

TV Alert!

2006-12-03T01:54:00.000-06:00

I know I haven't posted about our 20 pound turkey Thanksgiving dinner (just ate the last of the turkey today) or my floaty pen project (a little bit behind schedule). But I had to get this out first.....

The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines premiers tonight!

Yes, the first one (The Librarian: Quest for the Spear) was ridiculous and campy, but oh so much fun too. You just can't beat Bob Newhart kicking ass and taking names! Makes me proud to be a librarian.

So, I will be curling up on the couch with my popcorn to watch tonight. Will it be Colby Ridge Salt & Vinegar, cheesy from Mom, or Screaming Yellow Zonkers (also from Mom)? What do kick-ass librarians prefer??

Happy Turkey Day!

2006-11-23T20:50:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone is happily stuffed and napping!

Me? Stuffed - yes. Napping - not yet.

We went to John's aunt and uncle's in Seward for dinner today. They smoked their turkey, but only for about 4 hours, then finished it off in the oven. So, the smokyness was subtle, not overpowering like it can sometimes get when you smoke something. Very very yummy! We had lots of fun visiting with aunts, uncles and cousins. We are all exhausted.

But, no rest for me yet. We are having our own Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. John is a turkey fiend, so we have to do our own dinner, complete with a 20 pound turkey. Yup, you heard that right - 20 freaking pounds! For 3 people! Did I mention that John is a turkey fiend? You know the dad in A Christmas Story? Yeah, that's John.

So, tonight we are baking two pumpkin pies, cooking giblets for the gravy, and cooking rosemary-garlic butter that will be slathered all over the turkey tomorrow. Mmmmmm. Of course, the turkey was still frozen tonight, so it is currently soaking in water in the sink so that I can get the giblets out. 20 pound turkey. Sheesh.

In addition to TWO Thanksgiving dinners, I also have a big project planned for this long weekend. I am going to attempt to take pictures of all my floaty pens and upload them to my Flickr Floaty Pen group. I estimate that I have 50-60 pens. At least, that I have found so far. I'm sure there are more hiding on my dresser or in my desk or who knows where. This will definitely be a never ending project.

Tune in next time to see how it all turns out!

Let the games begin!

2006-11-21T20:46:00.000-06:00

It's National Games Week. Here are some ideas from our game shelf....and the overflow onto the floor. :)

I'm stunned

2006-11-19T23:00:00.000-06:00

My beautiful home town has been Disneyified!

I can't decide if I'm offended or honored by this.

I can only hope that visitors to the cartoony Disney version of Saratoga will be inspired to visit the real thing. It's much, much better in person.

A few of my favorites

2006-11-16T22:01:00.000-06:00

What better way for a librarian to start off her blog than with a post about books. Yeah, I just stereotyped myself. I'm allowed.

Anywho...this is Children's Book Week, and to celebrate, I'd like to share some of my favorite books from my childhood. Let's hope I can remember them all!

It will surely sound cliche, but as a child, one of my fondest memories was of going to the old Saratoga Springs Public Library children's room. The library was built into a hill, and the lower level was the children's room. The view out the windows was of beautiful Congress Park, full of grass and fountains and ponds and ducks. I remember my Mom, or my Dad (when Mom worked on Saturdays), taking me to the library with my little sister. We would each pick out our pile of books, and carry them up to the check-out desk, where we would present our very worn paper library cards to the librarian. Curious George, Dr. Seuss, all the usual suspects.

But, the titles I really remember are the ones we owned. They are worn and their bindings are falling apart from re-re-re-reading. There are scribbles in pen, pencil and crayon in them. We loved them almost out of existence.

In no particular order...ok, in the order that I'm remembering them (with help from Mom and Sis):

Hildy's Hideaway by Mabel Watts - Poor Hildy needs to find a place to have her kittens, and every time she thinks she has found the perfect spot, something happens to make her move on.
Princess Snip Snip And The Puppykittens by Steve Allen (yes, the comedian) - A vain princess learns that she isn't the cutest thing in the kingdom.
Peppermint by Dorothy Grider - The story of a baby blue kitten - really!
The Wonderful School by May Justus - I wish I went to this school.
Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss - Icky, sticky, green fun, with a moral.
The Magic Carousel by Dorothy Levenson - Two girls ride the carousel in Central Park, the horses leap off the carousel and take them on a tour of NYC in the wintertime. Beautiful artwork.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Mom says I had to have this read to me every night. :)
Mother Mother I Feel Sick Send for the Doctor Quick Quick Quick by Remy Charlip & Burton Supree - Weirdness. I love it.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson - Magical and mysterious.
Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Read all the books, and now I live there - weird, huh?
The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley - We didn't own these, but every time my elementary school class went to the school library, I checked out the next one in the series, until I had read them all. I should really try to get my own copies now....

And then there were the books I loved that made me cry:

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - The final book, The Last Battle - I didn't want Narnia to end.
The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen - NOT the Disney abomination. The real Little Mermaid is a melancholy tale, with a sad ending.
Watership Down by Richard Adams - The ending still makes me cry. Do I enjoy sad endings too much?