The Blah, Blah, Blah Blog: 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

NEFLIN Blog goes on Holiday

Well another year is coming to a close, and the NEFLIN Blog is going on Holiday. We will be back in 2009 with more great content.

Until then, here are a few best of 2008 year-end lists:

Most Searched Items on Google in 2008

Time's Top 10 Everything of 2008 (Warning: Serious Time Sucker!)

AFI's 10 Best Films of 2008

LifeHacker's 20 Top 10's of 2008

I'm headed off for two weeks of vacation and wanted to wish everyone a wonderful holiday. See you in the new year.

Stephanie

Learn to make one of these tiny tags during 23 Things @ NEFLIN, beginning January 12, 2009.

Book Repair classes from NEFLIN

DEMCO representative Deb Urschlitz will present a practical, hands-on Book Repair seminar where participants learn and practice basic repairs for both hard and softbound books. Emphasis is placed on becoming familiar with techniques and materials for economical in-house repair of materials that must be available for frequent use. Additionally, protective measures, which will extend the life of new materials, will be demonstrated and discussed. This workshop is useful for anyone involved in repair of library materials and participants will gain skills that can be shared with other staff or volunteers. All attendees will receive a supply kit. Two sessions available.

Date: Monday, January 26
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: Tower Road Library, Gainesville
Or
Date: Tuesday, January 27
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 noon
Location: NEFLIN

Register today

Bonus: Stay for "How to Create Inviting Spaces in Your Library", Tuesday, January 27 from 1:00 - 4:00 pm at NEFLIN. Register here.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

No Delivery Dec 22 - Jan 2

Don't forget there will be no Statewide Courier Delivery from December 22 through January 2. Delivery drivers will not be picking up or delivering any orange bags during this time. If you have any questions, please contact (800) 622-8252 or deliver@tblc.org.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

NEFLIN Winter Class Schedule

The Winter Workshop Schedule (January-February-March) is online - download and print the Workshop Schedule or see the list of workshops to register.

Among the highlights:

For Everyone:
Putting Library 2.0 to Work in Your Library - January 16 in Ocala
Book Repair with DEMCO - January 26 in Gainesville or January 27 at NEFLIN
How to Create Inviting Spaces in Your Library - January 27
New Models of Customer Service - February 3
Web 2.0 and Library 2.0: Collaboration and Participation - February 6
Becoming a Library and Information Professional: All About Graduate School
February 9 in Gainesville
February 10 at NEFLIN

Publisher 2003 Level 1 - February 19
Presentation Skills: Be Amusing and Other Myths - February 25
Best Practices in Information Literacy - February 27 in Gainesville
Word 2003 Level 1 - March 10
Copyright Law in the Digital Age - March 27

For Youth Services:
Finding Books for Teen Readers - January 8
Storytelling for Library and Media Center Staff - January 28 in Ocala
Teen Services Boot Camp: For Newly Enlisted Teen Librarians - February 26

For Administration:
Telling Your Library’s Story in the News Media - March 4
Building Staff Success with Mentors and Mentorship Programs - March 6 in Starke
"I’m Here for the Interview...": Hire the Best by Improving Your Interviewing Skills - March 24

Virtual Training:
Social Networking Tools Inside the Organization: SLA Webinar - January 6 - February 2
How to be an Effective Meeting Facilitator: SLA Webinar - January 21 - February 17
Promoting Library 2.0 Services Using Blogs and RSS - Live Online - January 22 - 23
Best Practices for Setting Up Wikis: SLA Webinar - February 18 - March 18
Virtual Tour of UF Digital Collections - February 19 via NEFLIN Web Conferencing
Web 2.0: Social Software Applications for Libraries - LIVE Online -February 25 - 26
The Year in Web Searching: News, Updates and Changes at Google,Yahoo!, Live Search and More: SLA Webinar - March 3 - 30
Making the Most of Social Bookmarking in Your Library: Live ONLINE - March 5
Podcasting for Libraries: Live ONLINE - March 19

Interest Groups:
Media Specialists Interest Group - January 16
Disaster Planning Interest Group - February 5
Library School Interest Group - February 10
Library Programming Interest Group - February 20 in Starke
Library Technologies Interest Group - February 23 via NEFLIN Web Conferencing
Bookmobile and Outreach Interest Group - March 30

For Technical Services:
AACR2 and MARC for Print Serials - February 12 - 13
Book Blitz II - March 16 - 17
Library Collection Analysis Using Excel - March 23

NEFLIN's Web Conferencing
NEFLIN's Web Conferencing Moderator Training - January 29, February 24, March 26
Experience a Virtual Open House at NEFLIN (Registration not required)
January 22, February 12, March 20

College of DuPage
Targeting the Ages: Programming that Hits the Mark - February 13

See all NEFLIN has to offer at www.neflin.org

Best Careers for 2009: Librarian

The latest U.S News and World Report lists the 30 best careers in 2009, which includes Librarian.

I link to where I read the article on Stephen Abram's blog. Read Stephen's blog post about this before heading over the U.S News. His "stay positive" message is appreciated.

Monday, December 15, 2008

I Love My Librarian Award

Iona Malanchuk is 1 of 10 national recipients of the I Love My Librarian Award, sponsored by the New York Times.

Iona is the Head of the Education Library at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Congratulations Iona!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Link Love

Let's start off with a great computer tip that I have used dozens of times in the past week!

“Tired of Clicking Over and Over on your Address Bar Trying to Highlight the Whole URL?”

Press F6 or CTRL+L. (Thanks LibraryStuff.net)

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Web 2.0 Services for Smaller, Underfunded Libraries

The Librarian in Black recently gave this presentation, available as a PDF.

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KidZui Brings its Child-Safe Browser to Firefox

Readers of this blog know of my affinity for the Firefox browser. Here is another reason to use it.

"Once installed [as a Firefox extension] and activated by a parent, it locks the child (or anyone else for that matter) out of accessing non-Kidzui approved sites, or other areas of the computer, by taking up the entire screen. A password, which is chosen by the parent, is the only way to exit the KidZui browsing experience, essentially turning your computer into a kid-friendly Internet kiosk."

Check it out!

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Magazines have been added to Google Book Search

From the official Google blog:

"You can search for magazines through Google Book Search. Try queries like [obama keynote convention], [hollywood brat pack] or [world's most challenging crossword] and you'll find magazine articles alongside books results. Magazine articles are tagged with the keyword "Magazine" on the search snippet.

Over time, as we scan more articles, you'll see more and more magazines appear in Google Book Search results. Eventually, we'll also begin blending magazine results into our main Google.com search results, so you may begin finding magazines you didn't even know you were looking for."

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My two favorite TV shows debut in January... Lost and 24.

The season seven premiere of "24" is Sunday, January 11. Wet your appetite with the Season 7 Trailer

The season five premiere of "Lost" is Wednesday, January 21. Season Five Trailer

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Unshelved's Pimp My Bookcart Contest has a Winner

You can look at the winning entries, but here are two photos of the First Prize bookcart. Mmmm, I'm getting hungry.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

E-Rate Workbook

For those who did not attend one of the statewide E-Rate workshops this fall, or would like to have the Workbook that was provided in electronic form...here you go.

(Before you click the link be aware that the Workbook is a large PDF containing about 250 pages.)

Link to E-Rate Workbook

For questions about the E-Rate, please contact Dan Lhotka at the State Library.

"Information Literacy for Life" Archived Replay Available

The streaming video replay for the College of DuPage program "Information Literacy for Life" which first aired on November 21 is now available here.

Alex Hodges, Instruction Coordinator at American University in Washington, and other experts explore how school librarians, public librarians, and academic librarians can collaborate to create comprehensive information literacy programs that span a user's lifetime. You'll get the foundation for starting a local dialogue based on national principles. The program is 90 minutes long.

See links to many other available College of DuPage program replays here.

And don't forget that NEFLIN also has many of these programs on DVD and VHS for our members to borrow through the Multimedia Lending Library. Search by Vendor using "DuPage" as the Search Term for a list of the titles.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Congrats Harold George

Harold George of the St. Johns County Public Library System was recognized by the St. Augustine Record as one of eight members of the community who "enrich the lives of people around them through their good deeds."

32 Days until 23 Things @ NEFLIN Launches

Are you ready?

The 23 Things @ NEFLIN program will provide NEFLIN members an opportunity to jump into the 2.0 world and experiment and learn about the new and emerging technologies that are changing how information is used and created on the Internet today. We will include many Web 2.0 tools in this program, including Blogger, Flickr, YouTube, and PBWiki - which we learned as we went. We want you to share your ideas on how these tools can be used in your libraries.

Registration begins Monday, January 12, 2009 and is open to all staff at NEFLIN member libraries. Everyone who registers by Monday, February 16, 2009 and completes all 23 things by April 15, 2009 will receive a prize and be entered to win one of several larger prizes.

We hope you'll come play with us.

The 23 Things @ NEFLIN Program is a modification of the Learning 2.0 Program designed by Helene Blowers, Technology Director, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County and replicated by more the 250 libraries worldwide.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

College of DuPage Replays Available

Monday, December 8, 2008

E-Government Site

The Information Institute at FSU has put together a great website if you are looking for local, state, or federal e-government information.

While the site states it is for public librarians, many of these resources are useful in a variety of settings for a variety of needs.

On a side note, NEFLIN is working with the Alachua County Library District on an E-Government project this year. Expect more news and information you can use as we get into 2009.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Blog Post of the Month

The November Blog Post of the Month reminds you that training is available at the time and place you need it. This list of Online Training Opportunities that Stephanie has put together details the wide variety of topics available on your desktop.

Don't despair if a webinar has already been provided, because many are archived for later viewing. Check 'em out!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Standardizing Your IT Infrastructure

This seemed like it was going to be over my head when I registered but the ideas were really quite interesting.

Standardizing Your IT Infrastructure is another chapter from the MaintainIT Planning for Success Cookbook being covered by the one-hour webinar. Some of what was covered -

Standardization that minimizes cost, reduce burden on IT staff, avoid compatibility issues, and improves communication. The more variety you have in hardware and software the harder it is to troubleshoot problems.
Standardizing hardware makes cloning equipment easier.

Tips for Standardizing

Buy in quantity (or buy groups for sections within the library)

look for state or cooperative purchase discounts
look for quantity discounts
considering the Total Cost of Ownership - is it more cost effective to have all the same equipment because of the savings in staff time

Buy business-class computers
Plan ahead
Make technology inventories and track your assets

try TechAtlas (it's free from WebJunction)

Make purchases centrally
Accept donations selectively

refer to qualified refurbisher or recycler if you can't accept it
seek donations from a reputable refurbisher
be sure to get the software
remember the accessories (keyboard, mouse, monitor)
delete personal information

Adopt standardization policies
Use systems management software suites

Help IT department handle routine tasks
more cost effective on the larger scale

FETC Registration Opens

Educators, administrators , media specialists, and educational-technology experts from around the world are making plans to attend the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) Jan. 21-24, 2009, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

Experience more than 200 concurrent sessions, attend nearly 80 Professional Development Workshops and visit the 250,000-square-foot exhibit hall featuring more than 500 companies displaying their products.

For more information on FETC 2009, including registration details and lists of sessions, exhibitors and ticketed workshops, visit www.fetc.org.

LIFE Photo Archive Hosted by Google

Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

According to the Google Blog, "Only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published. The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints. We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos."

This collection is definitely worth taking a look at.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Food for Fines

On my last visit to the St. Johns County Public Library in Ponte Vedra I noticed an interesting sign. In lieu of cash, the library was accepting non-perishable food as payment for overdue fines.

Food for Fines allows patrons to bring one sealed non-expired, non-perishable food item to the library in exchange for each $1.00 in overdue fines. All food collected during Food for Fines will be given to the St. Johns County Food Bank for local distribution to those in need.

What an innovative way to encourage patrons to 'pay' their fines while supporting the community.

Monday, December 1, 2008

New Workshop Schedule

The January - March Workshop Schedule is now available online. Space is limited in many of these workshops so register early.

Highlights include:

Laura Gasaway and Copyright Law in the Digital Age back by popular demand
A full schedule of Cataloging Workshops
Book Repair in Orange Park and Gainesville
A virtual tour of the UF Digital Collections
Web Conferencing Training - learn to host your own webinar

And there's much, much more...

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

NEFLIN Office Closed for Thanksgiving

The NEFLIN Office will be closed on November 27 & 28 for the Thanksgiving holiday. We will return on Monday, December 1st.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

The staff at NEFLIN

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Search Alerts Help You Find Quality Information

One of the many things I learned at the Library 2.0 workshop taught by Anthony Shamoun was how to create a “Search Alert” for articles in the Florida Electronic Library (FEL). A Search Alert allows you to have articles on any topic e-mailed to you, or you can receive them through an RSS feed.

I have been interested in reading articles on “Library 2.0”, and not just from finding them randomly on the web. Why not have them sent to me?

So, I did a search on Library 2.0 from the FEL main page.

Then I clicked the “Create a Search Alert” link in the upper right hand corner of the page.

A window opened up and asked me for either my e-mail address (to send me future articles) or subscribe to this RSS feed (using an aggregator like Bloglines).

That’s it.

I tried both for a few weeks, and definitely like having the articles show up in Bloglines (just a personal preference). Try this out and let me know what you think.

How to Make the Most of Open Source

Open Source software has always been a concept that I understood but feel like I have lots of questions about. Yesterday I sat in on the Free and Open Source Software in Libraries program hosted by MaintainIT and was quite pleased with how much I learned. The content was pulled from the Free and Open-Source Software chapter in the newest cookbook, Planning for Success which is just chock full of information.

The discussion was led by Jean Montgomery, Network Administrator for the Upper Penisula Regional Library Cooperative in Michigan.

I was surprised at the number of things I use that are actually open source. Firefox, Java, Flash and ShockWave.... there's a big list at Free and Open-Source Software for Windows .

Open Source ideas from the presentation and sources mentioned during the program.

Free and open-source software uses license agreement that allows you to view and modify the source code. More information on licensing agreements at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL

PC MANAGEMENT:

Powerline http://code.google.com/p/powerline/

INTEGRATED LIBRARY SYSTEMS:

Northeast Kansas Library System KOHA catalog - NExpress http://catalog.nexpresslibrary.org/
Sharon Moreland's Guest Blog entries http://www.maintainitproject.org/blog/sharon-moreland
Butte Library KOHA catalog - http://catalogue.buttepubliclibrary.info/

CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS/BLOGS/WEBSITES:

Wordpress websites - My Kansas Library on the Web (statewide) http://www.mykansaslibrary.org/
Wordpress website - Butte Library www.buttepubliclibrary.info
edublog - Eastern Maine Community College blog http://emcclibrary.edublogs.org/
Joomla http://www.joomla.org/
Odiogo http://www.odiogo.com instantly does text-to-voice for blogs
Ideafry http://ideafry.com

OPERATING SYSTEMS:

MaintainIT Library Spotlight article,Marian Wynn using Ubuntu on public computers http://www.maintainitproject.org/spotlight/marian-wynn

ANTI-VIRUS:

Clam-Win http://www.clamwin.com/
AVG http://free.avg.com/ (only available for single computer use for home and non commercial use)
Avast http://www.avast.com/

CONTENT FILTERING:

OpenDNS http://www.opendns.com/
FreeShield http://www.freeshield.com/
KanGuard content filtering (statewide) http://skyways.lib.ks.us/KSL/libtech/kanguard/

OTHER:

Flowgram http://www.flowgram.com
CCleaner is a free download that does a really good job of cleaning cache, Temp, browsers, etc in one click http://www.ccleaner.com/
code4lib discussion list http://www.code4lib.org/
Library Success stories http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Open_Source_Software
Open source for beginners http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/beginners.xml
SourceForge http://sourceforge.net/

Monday, November 24, 2008

Congrats to the Distinguished Alumnus Among Us

Congratulations to Sol Hirsch, Director of Alachua County Library District. Sol recently received the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award from Florida State University College of Information.

Wrapped Like a Giant Christmas Present

The Union County Public Library is ready for Christmas. Mary Brown, Director of UCPL, states in their library blog that the new building under construction is now "wrapped up like a giant Christmas present".

You can follow the progress of their new library's construction from ground breaking to grand opening.

Looking good, Union County!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Information Literacy for Life

Another high quality College of DuPage program brought to us courtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida. The panel brought together three librarians from very different institutions and backgrounds to explore how school librarians, public librarians, and academic librarians can collaborate to create comprehensive information literacy programs that span a user’s lifetime. They provided a foundation for starting a local dialogue based on national principles.

I especially liked the ideas they provided for how school and academic libraries can build relationships and the benefits to both organizations.

And near the end the suggestion to start with the smallest local organization rather then jumping right into the national organization. So you might consider connections within the NEFLIN region or looking to FLA for potential connections.

Don't miss the strong list of resources to supplement the discussion.

If you missed the program you can request the DVD or VHS from the MLL or you can request the replay information to watch it on your desktop at your convenience.

What I Miss About Reference

It's that never ending challenge. When I read things like the Swiss Army Librarian's Reference Question of the Week I remember what I loved about doing reference.

I've been reading his posts for a while but just recently read why he chose this title for his blog. I loved his reasoning for why and think it's an accurate description of what you all do -

If I had to summarize the job responsibilities of a librarian, “swiss army knife” comes pretty close. We’ve got to be ready to handle any request that comes along, from directing someone to the restroom to researching the propulsion physics behind the space shuttle. Not to mention check books in and out, shovel the walks, design websites, change light bulbs, give presentations, tactfully interact with unruly kids (and adults), balance million dollar budgets, and ensure that everyone has unmonitored access to whatever information or resources they need. Like a Swiss Army knife, librarians need to be ready with whatever tool is needed for the job at hand.

I can't say that I miss the unruly folks or changing light bulbs. But the hunt for information is always fun (maybe that's why I enjoy letterboxing?)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

History Research Competition for Students

ABC-CLIO will Award More Than $60,000 in Cash & Prizes to Teams Researching Top 10 People, Events, Places Shaping History

ABC-CLIO has launched its annual research competition for secondary students at the National Council for the Social Studies 88th Annual Conference in Houston. The publisher will award more than $60,000 in cash and prizes for teams of secondary students working in collaboration with their social studies teachers and school library media specialists.

The topic for the inaugural competition is "Select the top 10 people, events or places that have shaped the course of history." Coached by their teacher and/or school library media specialist, student teams will identify their choices and then defend them and present their research findings to ABC-CLIO in an electronic format such as a slide show, online essay, video or animation, or an audio podcast.

Details and registration information can be found at www.abc-clio.com/historyuncovered .
Deadline to apply is March 30, 2009.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Courier Delivery Holiday Schedule

Going on vacation? So is your Courier Delivery driver!

Delivery will be closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday, Nov. 27, and Friday, Nov. 28.

Additionally, due to high fuel costs, Delivery will take a hiatus from Dec. 22, 2008 to Jan. 2, 2009. Ceasing Delivery for just two weeks will save the program thousands of dollars and will get their budget back on track.

This hiatus means that Delivery drivers will not pick up or deliver any orange bags from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2. They will resume our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 5. These dates were chosen because it will cause the least amount of impact and inconvenience to participating libraries. Because of the holidays, those two weeks are Delivery’s slowest time of year and many libraries are closed.

If you have any questions, please contact us at (800) 622-8252 or deliver@tblc.org.

Online Training Opportunities

More and more really good content is available for free right on your desktop. Don't forget to check the NEFLIN workshop schedule for additional training as well as the LE@D courses available to NEFLIN members.

Challenging the Assumptions of Legacy Librarianship with Joan Frye Williams and George Needham
Wednesday, November 19 at 11am

Administration and Statistics in WorldCat Resource Sharing (Solinet Live Online)
Thursday, November 20 from 2-4pm - registration required

Evaluating and Implementing Web 2.0 Tools in Your Library (A MaintainIT Webinar)
Thursday, November 20 at 2pm

Information Literacy for Life (College of DuPage)
Friday, November 21 from 12-1:30pm - registration required

ALA Connections Salon: Political Connections with Guests from the ALA Washington Office
Friday, November 21 at 2pm

Free and Open Source Software in Libraries (A MaintainIT webinar)
Monday, November 24 at 2pm

PowerSearch (Gale Product Training)
Monday, December 1 at 1pm

Implement an Online Help Desk Using Event Tracker (A TechAtlas Webinar
Tuesday, December 2 at 2pm

Bite-size Digital History (A WebJunction Community Webinar)
Wednesday, December 3 at 11-11:30am

Town Hall: Focus on Tough Economic Times (A WebJunction Community Webinar)
Thursday, December 4 at 1pm

Gale Virtual Reference Library (Gale Product Preview)
Friday, December 5 at 11am

A Casual Conversation with John Budd, author of Self-Examination: The Present and Future of Librarianship
Friday, December 5 at 2pm

PowerSearch Plus & InfoTrac Collections (Gale Product Preview)
Friday, December 5 at 2pm

Libraries and the Bilingual Child: Understanding Issues of Language Acquisition (A WebJunction Spanish Outreach Webinar)
Monday, December 8 at 1pm

Health & Wellness Resource Center (Gale Product Training)
Monday, December 8 at 1pm

Laptop Labs: Creating, Maintaining, and Using Them (MaintainIT)
Tuesday, December 9 at 2pm

Top 10 Tips for Effective Application Training in the Virtual Classroom (A WebJunction Learning Webinar)
Wednesday, December 10 at 3pm

Using WorldCat on the Web: WorldCat.org (Solinet Live Online
Thursday, December 11 from 10-12n (registration required)

Learning for Learning Professionals: Competencies, Strategies and Resources (A WebJunction Learning Webinar co-sponsored by ALA's CLENERT)
Thursday, December 11 at 2pm

Web 2.0: MySpace? Yes!
Thursday, December 11 at 4:30pm

The Collaborative Mind: Tools for 21st Century Learning (SirsiDynix Institute)
Friday, December 12 at 11am

Town Hall: Focus on Tough Economic Times (A WebJunction Learning Webinar)
Friday, December 12 at 2pm

Town Hall: Focus on Tough Economic Times (A WebJunction Learning Webinar)
Thursday, December 18 at 2pm

Have you missed a program mentioned in a previous post? Can't make one of these live? Many are archived and can be viewed at your convenience.

Want to host your own webinar? NEFLIN members can use NEFLIN Web Conferencing Software to host online programs and training. Learn more at a Web Conferencing Moderator Training Session.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Tinkering in the Techie Toybox

David Lee King just provided a presentation on this topic for the SirsiDynix Institute. The Techie Toybox or Technology Petting Zoo are fascinating ideas.

Check out this online presentation and links David provides. You can also see what is in his library's Techie Toybox.

Are You Teaching Web Safety?

New Federal Law Requires Schools to Teach Web Safety

Signed into law October 10 by President Bush, the Broadband Data Improvement Act (Public Law 110-385) requires schools receiving federal e-rate discounts on telecommunications services and internet access to educate their students “about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking sites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response.”

Learn more...

Monday, November 17, 2008

Planning for Success - Library 2.0

I just listened to another great MaintainIT webinar - Web 2.0 Collaboration Tools and Libraries. If you're interested in learning more about how libraries are integrating 2.0 tools into their services, this is the program for you. The program is facilitated by Lori Reed the Employee Learning & Enrichment Coordinator for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County in North Carolina and includes several guests talking about their experiences with Web 2.0 in their library.

There's a follow up scheduled for Thursday, November 20th at 2pm - Evaluating and Implementing Web 2.0 Tools in Your Library.

More information can be found in newest Maintain IT cookbook - Planning for Success. Take a look at the chapter on Innovation. The cookbook is available as a free download.

And if you're interested in Web 2.0 tools be sure to watch for the launch of 23 Things @ NEFLIN in January 2009. This program will give you an opportunity to explore many 2.0 tools.

Poster Session Proposals Sought

This is your opportunity to share information about current projects, programs, research studies, trending, and just about anything you can think of. The Florida Library Association Continuing Education Committee is seeking poster session proposals for the 2009 FLA Annual Conference to be held in Orlando May 5-8.

More details are available online.
Deadline for submitting an application is February 20, 2009. All applicants will be notified by March 6, 2009.

Poster sessions are sponsored by the Continuing Education Committee of the Florida Library Association. Questions should be directed to Kurt Van Atta, Chair of the FLA Continuing Education Committee.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Book Cart Drill Team on Parade

Mark your calendars so you don't miss the Suwannee River Rollers when they perform during the 24th Annual Christmas on the Square Lighted Nighttime Parade in Live Oak.

Saturday, December 6
Parade starts at 6pm but I hear you can go early and enjoy the arts and craft show and other entertainment.

Curious about book cart drill teams? Watch for the Winter Workshop Schedule - there's a workshop that might interest you.

Link Love goes Pop

I had a number of Pop Culture related items filling my inbox, so I am going to consider this a Pop Culture edition of Link Love.

I finally finished up "Pop Goes the Library" by Sophie Brookover and Elizabeth Burns. Really, really good stuff. I would be glad to loan this to any member if you are interested. The authors were nice enough to also put up a wiki that provides links to the resources listed in their book.

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"MySpace Yes!: Depending on your customers, you might find that MySpace is a better fit than Facebook." Check out this upcoming webinar provided by OPAL in December.

This is just another example of a program that your library could do for your patrons. If you haven't talked to us about using NEFLIN's Web Conferencing service, powered by OPAL, now is the time.

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How about doing some Window Shopping at Amazon.com?

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Variety reports that Meryl Streep is purring over the Vicki Myron book "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World". Streep intends to play the author, who works at the library and observed the impact that a kitten had on the townsfolk once it became the library mascot after wandering in through the after-hours book return slot on a cold night.

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For those who love music videos...prepare to waste your day. MTV has launched a new site that has over 20,000 videos. You can find artists that you didn't even know made a video of a favorite song.

I had to watch a bunch including Christopher Walken and Jamiroquai.

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...and finally, Noah Wyle has reprised his role as "The Librarian" for a new movie to air Sunday, December 7, on TNT.

While I give the first Librarian movie a solid 4 out of 5 stars, the second one left me less thrilled with about 2 out of 5. Here's hoping for a return to the fun and adventure of the original!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Digital Bookmobile at ACLD

This past weekend (November 8 & 9) the City of Gainesville hosted the Annual Downtown Art Festival. This is a lively festival where artists from all over the state, musicians, dancers and even circus acts gather to celebrate and have a good time.

This year Alachua County Library District heard that Overdrive was sending a Digital Bookmobile on tour around the country and ACLD signed up to be part of the fun. Overdrive liked the idea of coming in November when the weather would be cooler in Florida and the Downtown Art Festival was the perfect occasion. The Digital Bookmobile is an enormous vehicle with lots of high tech features inside. It parked across the street from the Headquarters’ library downtown on the perimeter of all the festivities. As people were walking to and from the festival, library staff would hand them an ACLD Frisbee or other promotional material and encourage them to take a tour on the Digital Bookmobile. Patrons were really excited to learn about the new technology, especially to learn that downloads are free with a library card. ACLD had over 30 people sign up for library cards on Sunday alone and according to the Overdrive staff, over 350 visitors touring the bus on Saturday and Sunday. Staff had fun mingling with patrons, watching the circus acts, listening to music, eating delicious festival food and we all had fun seeing some of the popular MP3 and reader products in action such as Sony Reader, Zune and Creative Zen X-fi. ACLD had a terrific and successful visit with the Overdrive Digital Bookmobile and expect to see a lot more Overdrive downloads in the near future.

ILL Taskforce Forming

The Florida Library Delivery service is looking for members of the Florida Interlibrary Loan community to join a taskforce to help modernize the statewide Delivery system.

Applicants should have first-hand knowledge of Interlibrary Loan within their library, the statewide Delivery system and other methods of delivery. Applicants should bring an open mind and be available to meet virtually several times in the upcoming months.

To apply, please complete the application. Applications will be accepted until December 5, 2008. For more information contact

Diana Sachs-Silveira
Virtual Reference Manager
Tampa Bay Library Consortium
813.622.8252 ext 234
sachsd@tblc.org
www.askalibrarian.org

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Webinar - Resurrecting Reference

There's no denying that changes in technology, information availability, and the deference paid (or not!) to experts have changed the face of reference forever. That's a good thing!

Through this InfoPeople archived webinar, listen to virtual trainers George Needham and Joan Frye Williams (pictured) share their provocative views of the role of the reference librarian in today's world, along with examples of the good, the bad, and the ugly in the library community's ongoing effort to reestablish reference as a high-value service. It will be a lively commentary on reference trends and innovations that may get you rethinking, reorganizing, and redeploying reference assets in your library for improved results.

No Registration needed.

Go to http://www.infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/290/index.html

and click on the Archived Webinar button to access.

Volunteers Bring Value - Evaluating Your Volunteer Program

Libraries have historically used volunteers to enhance services and free up staff to provide more complex work. This session will provide tools staff can use to evaluate their volunteer program or start a new program. Participants will explore roles of paid staff as well as strategies to recruit and “employ” volunteers. Other topics to be covered include orientation, supervision, documentation and recognition.

Trainer: Sandy Newell, Library Liaison, State Library & Archives of Florida
Date: Thursday, December 11
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 noon
Location: NEFLIN
Free for all

Register today at http://guest.cvent.com/i.aspx?5S,M3,d10795bf-77f6-4d1d-98fd-628b31747295

Volunteers Bring Value - Selling Your Library

A healthy volunteer program brings more impact that simply having extra sets of hands. When volunteers are recruited, matched, rewarded and educated, they can be a library’s cheerleaders. This session will cover the importance of making the best use of volunteers so that they can tell the library’s story to their friends, neighbors and, most importantly, to community leaders. Find out how well-trained and motivated volunteers can promote the library and impact funding.

Trainer: Sandy Newell, Library Liaison, State Library & Archives of Florida
Date: Thursday, December 11
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: NEFLIN
Free for all

Register today at http://guest.cvent.com/i.aspx?5S,M3,32f2b542-5c53-4861-a6f7-0414c592f3c9

Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library

Current research shows that children who learn six critical pre-reading skills before they start kindergarten become better readers. Children who do not know these skills when they come to school have a much more difficult time learning to read. This train-the-trainer workshop will provide participants with:

An overview of current early literacy research and its applicability to library services for families and caregivers of young children.
An overview of three early literacy workshops designed to help parents/caregivers of Early Talkers (Newborn to 2-Year-Olds), Talkers (2- and 3-Year-Olds), and Pre-Readers (4- and 5-Year-Olds).
Examples of the development of the six early literacy skills for children birth to 5 years.
Hands-on practice with parts of the Talkers and Pre-Readers workshops.
The skills and knowledge to conduct Every Child Read @ Your Library workshops for parents and caregivers in your libraries or as part of outreach efforts.
Ideas on using the workshops to start new partnerships and to strengthen existing ones.

Can’t wait? Check out the Every Child Ready to Read wiki.

Trainer: Susan Bard, Early Literacy Consultant
Date: Monday, December 15
Time: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Location: NEFLIN in Orange Park

Unleash Your Creativity!

Unleash Your Creativity and Improve Your Impact:
Quick and Easy Ideas for Promoting Your Library on a Shoestring

Do you have lots of old books sitting cozily on your shelves? Would you like to see some new faces in your weekly programs? Add some zip to your in-house publicity with a few minor tweaks and turns of your hands. We will show some very simple, low-cost, stress-free ways in which to advertise library services within your library. No PR experience needed - just an open and creative mind with a “can do” attitude. “Bizarre” ideas are good, too!

We would like to encourage everyone to share their own ideas - the successes AND the misses, so please bring ideas and samples—hard copy or electronic file—to share.

Trainers: Domina Daughtrey and Lee Schwartz, Marion County Public Library
Date: Wednesday, December 10
Time: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Location: Bradford County Public Library, Starke

Register today at http://guest.cvent.com/i.aspx?5S,M3,32f2b542-5c53-4861-a6f7-0414c592f3c9

Records Management Update Workshop

This class will provide an overview of laws and regulations regarding the identification, maintenance, access, retention and disposition of public records. The following topics will be covered:

Public Records Law and Libraries’ Legal Responsibilities

Overview of Florida’s Public Records Law
Issues related to access and maintenance of public records
Tools to develop a public records policy
Compliance with public records laws and regulations

The Life Cycle of Records

Basics of Records Management
Records inventory methods
Identifying relevant general schedules and records series
Determining retention and disposition requirements
Changes in records retention requirements related to new GS1-SL General Record Schedule for State and Local Government Agencies

Question and Answer Session

Trainer: Tim Few, State Library & Archives of Florida
Date: Tuesday, December 9
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 noon
Location: NEFLIN in Orange Park

Cost:
NEFLIN Enhanced Members: Free
NEFLIN Full Members: $25
Non-Members: $50
Students: $25

Register for Records Management Update at http://guest.cvent.com/i.aspx?5S,M3,45429215-ae1f-4890-9867-ba7a2dbc8f30

Email Records Management Workshop

This class will provide an overview of laws and regulations pertaining to Florida’s Public Records Law and the management of e-mail.

Overview of Florida’s Public Records Law
Overview of Records Inventory, Retention and Disposition
E-mail Management

How to determine if e-mail is a public record
How to determine the appropriate retention requirements for e-mail
How to manage and file e-mail properly
How to create an e-mail policy

E-mail Uses and Misuses
Question and Answer Session

Trainer: Tim Few, State Library & Archives of Florida
Date: Tuesday, December 9
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: NEFLIN in Orange Park

Cost:
NEFLIN Enhanced Members: Free
NEFLIN Full Members: $25
Non-Members: $50
Students: $25

Register for Email Records Management at http://guest.cvent.com/i.aspx?5S,M3,2955e94e-e1c3-477c-8989-06fd9098fef8

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Gaming in Our Libraries

I love it when we get it right. And I firmly believe that our small investment in gaming equipment was a good decision. The equipment is hardly ever in the office (it's literally moving from one member to the next without coming back to Orange Park) and I've heard wonderful stories about successful activities in your libraries.

Most recently Union County Public Library borrowed the entire set of equipment (Wii, Xbox, proj

ector screens and LCD projectors) to host the Junior Friends of the Library's Library Arcade. They had 40 people attending, including some who were new to the library. If you've ever been out to Union County, you might be wondering, where did they put 40 people PLUS all the game stuff? Mary said they made it work and from the photos, it seems like they had a great time.

There is still one seat left in the Get Into the Game workshop on Friday, November 14th when you can learn how to run a successful event and see the equipment in action at Lake City Community College's gaming event. And Saturday, November 15 is National Gaming Day @ Your Library and the equipment will move on to Bradford County Public Library for their festivities. We would love to hear how your library celebrates National Gaming Day.

Rethinking E-Rate

I know many of you attended the E-Rate training last week. I wonder how many of you are thinking - is this really worth it? I've never had to complete the paperwork but I do frequently hear from those of you who are challenged by the forms, the timeline, and all the requirements.

There's an interesting article on ilovelibraries.org (an ALA publication) about the "pros and cons of why libraries should be tapping the largest available pot of federal dollars." The article is written by Carrie Lowe, director of the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy Program on Networks.

I had no idea that the e-rate provided at least $2.25 billion in federal funds for libraries, as compared to the $220 million from LSTA. If you want to learn more about e-rate, I encourage you to take a read.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming

Attention School Librarians

Your humanities programs from the 2007-2008 school year are eligible for the 2009 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming. Awarded annually, the Sara Jaffarian Award recognizes a school library or media center serving children K-8 that conducted an excellent humanities program during the prior school year. The selected program will receive a $4,000 cash award; a plaque; and the promotion of the winner as a model program for other school libraries.

Sponsored by the American Library Association Cultural Communities Fund and the National Endowment for the Humanities in cooperation with the American Association of School Librarians.

Learn more about the award, and past winners as well as how to apply.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Reverse the Ratchet

Basic Technology Adoption Strategies for Library Workers

A great program offered by the College of DuPage today. If you missed the program you can request the link to the recording or the DVD or videotape.

Steven Bell shared ideas for gaining control over library technology with ways to identify, adopt and leverage the technologies that make sense for staff and that create a better experience for library users. He talked about how having the right attitude can help staff develop a strategy for keeping pace with technology. His Five Step Plan for Technology Adoption works right into NEFLIN's plan to launch the 23 Things @ NEFLIN program in January.

Encourage Play and Experimentation
Identify Compassionate Pioneers

We're looking for pioneers who are interested in sharing their knowledge. Contact Stephanie.

Adopt Reverse Mentoring

Your colleagues will be looking for mentors as they begin the 23 Things program. Be available.

Get Blended
Create a Safe Environment for Change

We hope that all our members will join us in January for this safe opportunity to learn about new technologies and how they can be implemented in your library.

Steven Bell provides a GREAT list of resources.

The College of DuPage programs are made available to all Florida library staff by an LSTA grant from the State Library & Archives. The next program is Information Literacy for Life on Friday, November 21, 2008 at noon.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Monday, December 15, 2008

Friday, December 12, 2008

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Monday, December 8, 2008

Friday, December 5, 2008

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Monday, December 1, 2008

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Monday, November 24, 2008

Friday, November 21, 2008

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

New Federal Law Requires Schools to Teach Web Safety

Monday, November 17, 2008

Friday, November 14, 2008

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Monday, November 10, 2008

Friday, November 7, 2008

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