Posts tagged with "Public Libraries"
Friday, 25. September 2009, 17:16:44
Public Libraries
Can you imagine library without books? If you cant, the story that I am going to tell you will help you visualize it.
The Fisher-Watkins Library, part of the
Cushing Academy School, an elite peparatory school located near Boston decided to get rid of their books, give them to local libraries and embrace a digital future.
"When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of the bookless campus ( in front of the Boston Globe newspaper )
Here is briefly what the library
plans to do:
* monitors that provide students with real-time interactive data and news feeds from around the world
* state-of-the-art computers with high-definition screens for research and reading
* quiet cyber-carrels
* open classroom space
* faculty lounge
* cyber-café in a convivial setting for formal and informal student and teacher interaction
In addition the school administration is spending $10,000 to buy 18 electronic readers ( Kindle and Sony Reader).
I know of school districts which have given laptops to all of their students, but never heard of libraries without books.
Simply put, we are not there yet. There are still professors and students out there that strongly prefer books, instead of various electronic gadgets and the e-book industry and electronic reader manufacturers are not ready for the digital only world.
Via: Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/04/a_library_without_the_books/?page=2
Thursday, 10. September 2009, 19:14:28
Public Libraries
My first post in September is about getting a library card simply because September is library card sign-up month, time to remind the public that getting a library card involves 5 minutes but opens numerous possibilities.
The American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all.
Libraries play an important role in the education and development of children. Studies show that children who are read to in the home and who use the library perform better in school and are more likely to continue to use the library as a source of lifetime learning.
ALA has prepared a lot of supporting campaign materials for libraries, like
press kit,
fact sheet, library theme
photos and
ideas on how to promote library card month.
As a librarian I can think of more than 52 ways to use a library card, but if you cant come up with more than 10 than read the
suggestions from the American Library Association.
Wednesday, 26. August 2009, 18:55:53
Public Libraries
Two libraries over Dover Town Library in Massachusetts and Sacramento Public Library started the first QR codes applications for customers. What are QR codes? Quick Response (QR) codes are two-dimensional barcodes that can be read by mobile phone cameras and after that provide users with URL, text, phone number or SMS message.
See our past coverage of QR codes
here.
Sacramento Public Library has ‘gone live’ with our first application of QR codes! ...On our library blog, Grand Central, we now have a QR code posted in the sidebar that, when scanned, will load the contact information for our SMS reference service directly into the user’s phone.
Look at the picture above and see how
Dover Town Library in Massachusetts advertised their QR code on their summer reading website.
If you have a late model cell phone you know how much fun QR codes are. To scan the codes you need a QR Code reader software and to create code you have to have a QR Code generator. Click
here to get more details.
Friday, 21. August 2009, 17:00:23
Public Libraries
I was browsing through my list of blogs and
found an interesting post from
Steven Bell at the
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian blog which paints a grim picture of graduation rate among college and university students.
Thirty percent of college and university students drop out after their first year. Half never graduate, and college completion rates in the United States have been stalled for more than three decades.
... Four-year schools have their own set of academic retention problems, but the dropout problem is most acute in the nation's community colleges.
For any community college or university is somewhat normall to have 5% or 8% drop out rate, but when this affects half of the students enrolled, educators and college presidents have a lot to work on. Libraries also need to participate actively in the process and provide college students with the necessary study materials, reference databases and free or low cost classes to help them with their student work.
Thursday, 20. August 2009, 16:46:46
Public Libraries
Gary Price from Resourceshelf
found an interesting article from the Guardian, which talks about
"
The Library Books Nobody Wants to Borrow". The article documents the efforts of two librarians running a blog called
Awful Library Books to expose "the dark underbelly of library collections, as well as a host of (anonymous) suggestions from fellow librarians"
Your “awful” librarians for this site are Mary and Holly. We are public librarians in a medium sized public library in Michigan and the opinions expressed are totally our own. We do tend to articulate our particular library’s collection objectives when making comments. Our criteria for inclusion of titles are simply anything that amuses us. None of the books presented are particularly awful (okay, maybe some are). These books are just odd, outdated or maybe should be reconsidered under a current interpretation of collection policies. In no way should the opinions of Mary and Holly be interpreted as a standard for every library.
By looking at the number of hits ( 30 000) that the blog gets per day and the fact that it is running only since February of this year, I can assume that many collection development librarians are interested in reference tool that will highlight low circulating and unpopular books. Will database vendors look into something like that?
Knowing what books not to buy is a way for many libraries to save money, spend resources on much needed repairs or more usefil programs and materials.
Wednesday, 12. August 2009, 16:44:29
Virtual Reference, Public Libraries
How long can we go before talking about another interesting discovery by
Sarah Houghton-Jan at the Librarian in Black blog. This time Sarah writes about
My Info Quest, a new text messaging reference services in the US provided by group of US and international libraries.
Users text questions to a number and librarians respond. The service is free, provided through Altarama software, available from 8am-10pm Monday-Friday and 9am-5pm Saturdays, and the first of its kind. The project is accepting new library members if you are interested.
Altarama is an Australian company, one of the pioneers providing virtual reference through
IM and
SMS.
If the service is free, libraries have nothing to lose, so why not try it and expand the reference services at your library and offer it on cell phones with text messages.
Thursday, 23. July 2009, 05:30:00
ALA, Public Libraries
Last night I had a few hours on my hand and read online most of the posts in Library Journal from the recent ALA Annual 2009 Conference in Chicago ( July 9-15).
For me two posts were quite interesting: "
ALA Conference 2009: Top Provocative Tech Trends" organized by LITA ( Library & Information Technology Association) and
"Ubiquity of Mobiles Greatly To Affect Libraries.Here is my take on these issues:
Mobile phones are not going to outstrip desktop computers any time soon but with the development of a new faster wireless connection (
LTE) libraries will have to prepare for the challenges of providing services trough mobile devices.
How soon IT Departments in libraries will start storing data in the cloud is hard to predict but this is a trend that will definitely develop over time.
Open source software is not absolutely free and it is not going to displace software vendors from libraries although many librarians will discover the advantages of using it.
To see the videos from LITA's 2009 Top Technology Trends via Ustream click
here. More information about other presentations at ALA 2009 is available at
Library Journal News blog and on the
ALA Conference Materials Archive wiki page.
Friday, 17. July 2009, 05:20:00
Rare Books, eBooks, Books, Public Libraries
We are not exactly a place for book lovers but as a blog which covers all sorts of electronic resources we are obliged to write about a post with the intriguing title of "
100 Places to Connect With Other Bibliophiles Online" that we found via
Librarians' Internet Index.
Thanks to online book clubs, book trading networks, social media sites just for librarians and book lovers, kids' networks and more, connecting with your fellow bibliophiles and gnashing about favorite books is easier than ever. Thanks to these sites, you don't have to wait for your friends to hurry up and finish the book you just read: chances are, there's someone out there who's dying to talk about it too.
I personally was not impressed with the librarians section, but the list is an attempt by the
Online Education Database (OEDb) site ( the creator of the list) to compile resources for bibliophiles under the categories of social media, book collectors, blogs, recommendations, organizing and sharing titles, novelists and writers, sites for children and teens, trading and selling and for those who love to read.
Read the list and let me know what you think and if more sites should be added.
Tuesday, 7. July 2009, 19:20:06
Public Libraries
Everyone from a high school students to working adults to busy CEOs had to take SAT, ACT, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT and GRE at some point of their lives.
In the old days this worked with imminent visit to the local library to get a test book, nowdays this includes
bying a software or logging into the free database
LearningExpress ( available free of charge at many public libraries).
ReadWriteWeb blog
put together paid sources for standardized test preparation that I find useful and want to share with you
* Watermelon Express ($20) detailed performance analysis, projected scores, online forums and customized review pages. (Mobile applications are currently available on the iPhone, Blackberry and Android)
* Grockit ($40 per year for unlimited access) This service emphasizes the group learning experience and students invite friends from Yahoo, Gmail and Plaxo to join in the site's games.
* Brightstorm ($99 per test) offers hours of video courses, strategies and practice exams.
* EPrep ($69-$249) also prepares students for the SAT, ACT, PSAT and high school subjects using video instructions. This service takes a more conventional classroom-style approach to teaching.
* Prep Me ( $300-$700) is a learning environment for students interested in taking the PSAT, ACT and SAT. This service offers an initial diagnostic test and then builds a personalized study schedule.
* Knewton ( $890 for 15 teaching sessions) adapts a study plan for students. The company specializes in GMAT, GRE, SAT and LSAT testing and matches videos and lessons to a students "learning arc".
After this blog, our readers cannot say that they don’t have resources to get ready for standardized tests.
Thursday, 2. July 2009, 18:03:54
Search Engines, Public Libraries
Chief Marketing Officers are probably quite happy these days because they don’t have to justify the benefits of having a Marketing & Communication Department considering the success of the new marketing campaign around Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine.
As we all know Bing doesn’t offer anything new in the search engine arena but due to successful brand and marketing campaign ( $100 million dollars will be invested to persuade users to use Bing) it is
gaining market share.
In order to offset Bing's success, Yahoo is planning its own major brand makeover
discovered WebProNews
blog "Yahoo is working on a massive plan to overhaul its brand in order to repair a damaged public image and focus consumers on what defines Yahoo." To this end, Yahoo's chief marketing officer, Elisa Steele, has apparently hired Landor Associates. Landor is a brand consulting firm that's worked with impressive entities like Alfa Romeo, De Beers, Research in Motion, and even the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, so it should have a lot to offer.
So far, nobody is able to find more details about the new revamp but Yahoo's new CEO
Carol Bartz told users on Yahoo's insider blog
Yodel Anecdotalthat "relevance" is the best word she could provide.
Knowledge about major search engines can only empower librarians, so we will keep an eye on this interesting story. To see past our past coverage about Bing, please click
here.
Wednesday, 1. July 2009, 20:08:11
Public Libraries
A recent study " “U.S. Public Libraries and E-Government Services” ( part of the
Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study) revealed that public libraries are the only organizations in the community that can help citizens to access e-government services.
In addition the e-government study found out that
* Public libraries offer an average of 11 public access computers per building
* Nearly all public libraries (98.7 percent) off er public access to the Internet
* Many public libraries (76.4 percent) off er wireless (Wi-fi ) access
* Public libraries off er a number of training classes and/or as-needed assistance on a range of topics, particularly Internet use (92.8 percent), general computer skills (91.3 percent), online Web searching (76.9 percent), and software use (70.5 percent)
If you read the survey further down, your will find out that 60 % of public libraries have inadequate Internet connection, 81% don’t have enough computers and 94 % impose time limits on the use of public PCs.
It looks like computers are on high demand at public libraries and investment in technology for public use always pays off.
Via: Resourceshelf:
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/06/24/new-report-us-public-libraries-and-e-government-services/
Monday, 29. June 2009, 19:31:10
Public Libraries
Isn’t this a shock? Teens are not abandoning TV for the Internet and their iPhones. In fact, they watch 6% more TV ( in the past five years at least) and spend less time browsing the Internet than adults.
These are the findings of the latest research "
How Teens Use Media" conducted by
The Nielsen Company and presented during the annual
What Teens Want conference in New York
* Teens spend 11 hours and 32 minutes per month online—far below the average of 29 hours and 15 minutes for adults
* Teens spend 35% less time watching online video than adults 25–34
* Teens play video games, but are as excited about play-along music games and car-racing games as they are about violent one
* Teens’ favorite TV shows, top websites and genre preferences across media
are mostly the same as those of their parents
To some what is said above might be surprising but for most of the Young Adult librarians this is old news. In general, teens are no different than adults and they enjoy similar games, TV shows and websites, so when library staff prepares programming for young adults they should keep this in mind.
Via: Resourceshelf
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/06/25/teens-more-“normal”-than-you-think-regarding-media-usage/
Tuesday, 16. June 2009, 20:05:26
Public Libraries
This post is a continuation of our post from yesterday about Library Journal
naming Queens Library to be Library of The Year and a previous post about "
Proposed Budget Cuts In New York City Will Layoff 1000 From Queens Library, Brooklyn Public and New York Public Library".
It is hard to believe but according to Library Journal News blog six-day service is saved in NYC Libraries ( NYPL, BPL and Queens Library) and there will be no layoffs.
However, the negotiations by Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the City Council did not spare the library systems from cuts LJ estimates at about 8%—a major hit in any year other than this one.
Though no official numbers had been issued as of this morning, Jimmy Van Bramer, Queens Library’s Chief External Affairs Officer, told LJ that the library expects the restoration of about $12 million of the $19.8 million proposed cut. He said it was too early to predict how that cut would be absorbed, but it “will mean some reduction in services and programs.
Opening the library doors when the library is needed the most is what our customers want, and our local politicians seems to understand that very well. I am extremely happy for my colleagues who are not going to loose their jobs and Queens communities who will continue using libraries during this recession.
Via: Library Journal News Blog
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6665611.html?rssid=191
Friday, 12. June 2009, 21:14:49
Public Libraries
Only librarians can understand the value of the
National Obituary Archive because very often users call public libraries to request more info about obituaries.
The National Obituary Archive™ is the world's largest repository of obituaries and death records with more than 55 million individual entries on file. Visitors may search the archive freely to learn about the deaths of friends or family or to explore relationships when building family trees or doing genealogical research.
Funeral directors across North America serve as Contributing Members to help us publish obituaries based on information provided by families. To improve the completeness and accuracy of our archive, we encourage families and those familiar with one or more names in our records to correct any errors they find and to purchase lasting, illustrated memorials to replace the basic data from official sources.
Searching obituaries in the National Obituary Archive is free. However attaching a
tribute (statement of affection) will cost you $9.95,
memorials are more expensive. Adding your name to the
guestbook and
correcting a record are still free.
Via: Librarians' Internet Index
http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/26393
Monday, 8. June 2009, 18:23:09
New Websites, Public Libraries
Don’t you get bored to always read about libraries and technology on our blog? I think it is time for our "out of main subject" post, not so closely related to librarians.
TechCrunch found about a
new service from
VirtualDatingAssistants.com specialized in " comprehensive Online Dating Management for busy male professionals"
We charge $480.00 per month for Online Dating Management, which is essentially the comprehensive management of multiple online dating accounts. This means we take care of everything from the creation of your profile to the arrangement of dates with qualified candidates.
Your Virtual Dating Assistant will dedicate approximately 40 hours per month to your account. They have the skills and put in the man hours. You reap the results!
The price is a little hefty, but don’t forget that VirtualDatingAssistants.com is designed to save time for reach clients who can afford a few hundreds to improve their social life.
I guess this service is far from librarianship, but it is an interesting idea and a good example of innovative thinking on the part of one of the co-creators of VirtualDatingAssistants.com, Mark Anderson.
Friday, 5. June 2009, 18:40:00
Public Libraries
OCLC Research released
COBOAT, a new software developed by
Cognitive Applications Inc to help museums exchange data object descriptions and share data. The project was financed by a grant from the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Foundation for the development of infrastructure for museum data exchange.
Configuration files allow COBOAT to be adjusted for extraction from different vendor-based or homegrown database systems of collections information, or locally divergent implementations of the same collections management system. The configuration files available for download are designed for output from the Gallery Systems TMS collections management system.
"We have made every effort over the years to share information about our collections as widely as possible. The availability of these new tools promises to turn existing ad-hoc processes into a streamlined and standardized activity," said Doralynn Pines, Associate Director for Administration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the five museums participating in this effort.
I am sure that I don’t need to go in more details and any cataloger and curator reading this post will go to the OCLC News blog for details.
For readers who are not librarians, I need to mention that it is critical for museums to find a way to share metadata ( data about data) for their collections, so collections are arranged better and more customers are able to enjoy them. Here is more information on
metadata.
Via: OCLC News
http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/200932.htm
Monday, 1. June 2009, 20:30:54
Public Libraries
As you know, I work at Queens Borough Public Library in New York City and the proposed
21% budget cut from our mayor is really going to hurt library services and our customers.
If the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) absorbs the full $17.5 million cut, it would have to eliminate nearly 25% of its full-time work force, cutting as many as 272 positions through a combination of layoffs and attrition, according prepared testimony from executive director Dionne Mack-Harvin. The part-time workforce would be cut by half, eliminating 250 more jobs.
...
Queens Library's Tom Galante warned: "We are in the fight of our lives with pending budget cuts that threaten to drastically cut service hours, particularly eliminating weekend service at every community library, and possibly reducing our staff by over 300 positions—a staggering 31%.”
...
Paul Le Clerc, president and CEO of the New York Public Library (NYPL), said that..."Most facilities, he noted, would operate on a four- or five-day schedule, while in smaller cities—he cited San Diego, Houston and nearby Yonkers—offer six-day service. NYPL would lose at least 435 jobs, nearly 20% of its staff."
In total the proposed budget cuts will layoff approximately 1000 jobs from Queens Library, Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library. Many community libraries will be open only half of the time and in times when our customers need us the most to find information about jobs, write resumes, prepare for interviews, the library doors will be closed.
Public libraries have never been busier and public officials need to understand this trend, if they want to be real advocates and representatives of their respective communities.
Via: Library Journal
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6661440.html?rssid=191
Monday, 11. May 2009, 19:13:31
Public Libraries, Library News
In the next year's fiscal budget, president Obama has requested $265,556,000 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which represents an increase of $1,453,000 over 2009 year's budget.
The President requested $213,240,000 for the nation’s 123,000 libraries. Of that amount, approximately 80 percent is distributed through the Grants to States program to the State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAAs) in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and freely associated state, according to a population-based formula. These grants help libraries meet the community needs, use technology to develop new service models and reach underserved populations.
The full table of the president's proposal is available
here. To see what services are supported with the money, go to the IMLS
press release .
In times when library budgets have been drastically slashed, it is good to know that our president values libraries and librarians.
Friday, 3. April 2009, 18:50:50
Public Libraries
Is your doctor into technology? I am sure, he will be interested to hear about the new collaborative online medical encyclopedia, called
Medpedia. According to the rules, only doctors and PhD’s in biomedical and health sciences can edit the encyclopedia. Customers are given the uneasy task to suggest changes and participate in communities of interest.
This release of the Medpedia Platform includes three interrelated services: a collaborative knowledgebase (medical encyclopedia); a professional network and directory for health professionals and organizations; and communities of interest in which medical professionals and nonprofessionals can share information about conditions, treatments, lifestyle choices, etc.
Prestigious medical schools like Harvard Medical School, Stanford School of Medicine, Berkeley School of Public Health, University of Michigan Medical School are contributing in various ways to Medpedia. The project is "funded and managed by Ooga Labs (
www.oogalabs.com), a technology greenhouse in San Francisco".
Via: Information Today's News Breaks
http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/wndReader.asp?ArticleId=52687
Thursday, 26. March 2009, 18:57:56
Public Libraries
"More than three-quarters of parents of homeschool students use the public
library to support their children’s educations", that is what the latest "Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study" revealed. The study funded by the American Library Association and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation examines is the "longest-running and largest study of Internet connectivity in public libraries" started in 1994 by John Carlo Bertot and Charles R.
Here is a link to the whole study.
Another interesting finding this year is that American adults report that "the most common purpose for using public library computers is to meet educational needs" At the same time " 83% of public libraries offer online homework resources and 73% of libraries report they are the only source of free Internet access in their community.
And if you wonder if visits to public libraries are decreasing or increasing, listen to the facts:
" Visits to public libraries grow every year and now top 1.3 billion". To read more info from the brief of the study,
click here.
The study is central for IT managers and anyone who wants to study the relationship between public libraries and technology .
Via: Resourceshelf
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/03/25/roles-of-public-library-technology-in-supporting-education-learning-highlighted-in-new-issues-brief/
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