New Online Class added - Status Discarded: Weeding

Due to the response to the recent Status Discarded online class on weeding, we have added another date:

Status Discarded: The Who, What, When, Where and How of Weeding

This live online class covers why library collections must be weeded. Collection maintenance is essential and should be reflected in the Collection Development Policy. We’ll discuss weeding criteria and then take a look at the options and workflow. We’ll discuss assignments you can give your volunteers and Friends of the Library to make weeding a positive experience for everyone.

Virtual Trainer: Jennifer Bielewski, Lyrasis
Date: Thursday, August 20
Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Location: On your Desktop

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
•FREE for NEFLIN members.
•This program is available to NEFLIN members only.
•You will be emailed access information.

Register today

Upcoming Workshops - Registrations Needed

Library Technologies Interest Group

The Library Technologies Interest Group continues to meet virtually using NEFLIN's Web Conferencing Service (you will be sent access information). We discuss technology topics important to libraries everywhere and this month our focus will be public access computing policies. Join us for this ongoing discussion of the latest in library technologies.

Date: Monday, August 17
Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Location: On Your DESKTOP via NEFLIN Web Conferencing Service. You will be emailed access information after you register.
Register today


Public Libraries and E-Government

Public libraries have seen an increase in patron requests for assistance using e-Government. The rapid increase in demand has librarians in a quandary of emotions trying to figure out how to help patrons and why us? This workshop will be an overview to answer the questions of “Why e-Government?” and “Why Libraries?” as well as a look at some e-Government resources. We will discuss lessons learned from the NEFLIN e-Government grant project. We will have an open discussion of what we are all doing to help patrons with e-Government.

Trainer: Be Astengo, Alachua County Library District
Date: Wednesday, August 26
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 noon
Location: NEFLIN in Orange Park
Register today Need 5 more registrations to avoid cancellation


Kids are Customers, Too

Excellent customer service is important in every area of the library - and even more important when dealing with children, tweens and teens - and their parents and caregivers. Learn how to present a positive attitude even when you are having a bad day. Practice listening and telephone skills in this interactive workshop. Learn about how to handle complaints, defuse angry and abusive customers, and react positively in any situation - even with internal customers. How you communicate with customers of various ages can be challenging but is also presents opportunities to create lifelong customers and library users and supporters.

Trainer: Carole Fiore, Training & Library Consulting
Date: Wednesday, September 2
Time: 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
Location: Tower Road Library, Gainesville
Register today Need 4 more registrations to avoid cancellation


Green Libraries: How You Can Implement Sustainable Practices at Your Library

The workshop will include actions one can take at workThis workshop provides a common sense approach to implementing sustainable practices in libraries. The workshop will include actions one can take at work that will reduce solid waste, water, energy, harmful chemicals and emissions. It will be an action-oriented and process/systems-thinking interactive workshop that will include real examples of how libraries can save significant money by going green. Time for discussion, practice and group feedback will be provided. So come learn how to go paperless in the office, switch to water saving devices, what toxic chemicals to avoid, green meetings, and much, much more!

Trainer: Luis F. Flores, LEED AP - Jacksonville Public Library
Date: Thursday, September 3
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 noon
Location: NEFLIN in Orange Park
Register today Need 5 more registrations to avoid cancellation

See all NEFLIN training at http://www.neflin.org/registration.php

Newberry Receives Grant for Kids Laptops

The Newberry Branch Library of the Alachua County Library District received a $4,000 Community Libraries in Caring Grant from the State Library and Archives of Florida.

Discussions within the Newberry community revealed children in elementary & middle school did not have adequate availability of computers after school. While, students were encouraged to use computers, the majority of students living in homes without the resources to purchase personal computers often fell behind, due to a lack of hands on experience.

With approximately 25% of registered library card holders age 17 and under, the Newberry Branch Library sought ways to offer students greater access to computers. In addition, the library wanted to ensure the computers were safe, provided educational opportunities, and encouraged a simple but interesting way to learn basic computer skills.

The Kids Laptop Connection consists of six Classmate PC’s, educational software, and accessories. Classmate PCs are specifically designed to be used by children for educational purposes, are rugged in design, and have keys sized for small hands.

Software applications purchased with the computers focus heavily on stimulating children’s minds, encouraging creativity, and developing self-confidence. A total of 14 software applications are available in the Kids Laptop Connection, providing a wide range of opportunities for children of every skill level from pre-K to middle school.

In order to participate in the Laptop Connection program participants must be age 15 or younger. Participants complete an Internet Safety Quiz prior to getting started, to increase their awareness of possible dangers on the internet - such as not providing personal information, to tell an adult if something on the computer makes them uncomfortable, and an overview on how to communicate respectfully using a computer. Upon completion of the quiz staff members educate the child about internet safety based on their quiz results.

Overall, the goal of the program is to provide computer access to children in the community who may not have exposure at home, improve proficiency in computer skills, and increase awareness about internet safety.

How Not to Tweet

A recent post by David Lee King is well worth reading if you are using Twitter, or your library has an account. I am just getting my feet wet and learned a bunch.

I would suggest following David if you are looking for someone who is using it personally and professionally.

Colbert "Nails" Public Library

A recent "Colbert Report" segment details one public library's decision to rescind the library privileges of a 7 year old.

The story, plus video from the Report.
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Dominick Philip loves to read.

He reads at home, in the car, whenever he gets a free minute. His bedroom floor is covered with books. He was so looking forward to the summer reading program at Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity that he marked it on his calendar weeks in advance.

But it turns out, Dominick is a library services thief. At least that's how he is portrayed in "The Colbert Report's" edition of "Nailed 'Em -- Library Crime." Stephen Colbert goes behind the scenes to show viewers this sinister 7-year-old, inclined to steal books rather than borrow from Easton Area Public Library, where he belongs.

Don't be fooled by his innocent smile and studious demeanor. This is a hardened criminal, and Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity had no choice but to make him pay.

Library officials realized he was an intruder after he was pictured in a local newspaper, leading a parade around the library. The cutline gave his hometown -- Tatamy -- which is not part of Nazareth's library system. A library employee left a message at his family's home, informing him they knew about his crime.

As Colbert says,
"I'd say throw the book at that kid, but he'd just read it."

Link Love

So have you searched for yourself on Google lately? Sometimes called a "me" or "ego" search, who hasn't done this? When searching for yourself to see what others would find, results can be varied and aren't always what you want people to see.

To give you greater control over what people find when they search for your name, Google now shows profile results at the bottom of search pages. These results offer abbreviated information from user-created Google profiles and a link to the full profiles. They have also created links to MySpace, Facebook, Classmates and LinkedIn. Learn more here. One Google staffer's profile.

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When you’re confined to the space of a typical whiteboard, your ideas are destined to be small. IdeaPaint turns virtually anything you can paint into a high-performance dry-erase surface.

I ordered a sample about 2 months ago and never received it. I love the idea since space is always at a premium.

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The Google News Timeline organizes information chronologically by presenting results from Google News and other data sources on a zoomable, graphical timeline. You can navigate through time by dragging the timeline, setting the time scale to days, weeks, months, years, or decades, or just including a time period in your query (i.e., "1977"). To see this in action, check out the results viewed by month in the summer of 2006.

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The Newseum displays front pages of 700 daily newspapers from 71 countries in their original, unedited form. Some front pages may contain material that is objectionable to some visitors.

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The Pop Culture Universe database was a multiple award winner in 2008. Worth exploring.

• Value. You get over 250 full text volumes of material—a virtual pop culture library with tons of additional features—for a fraction of the price!
• Fun. Your patrons and students, from the daydreaming young to the nostalgic old, will love immersing themselves in the universe of pop culture, bringing generations together.
• Ties to curriculum. Support the way history, literature, and other areas of social studies and the humanities are taught today.
• Universal appeal. Drive usership with the high interest subject matter of PCU.
• Educational substance. Pop culture is a great way—and PCU is the perfect source—to teach students valuable research skills, media literacy, and an appreciation for the past and its connection to the world they live in.

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How about a Red Box (DVD vending machine) in front of your library? It can provide service when you are closed, supplement your DVD collection, and provide you with some additional funds to buy more DVDs for your collection? A pilot project at Princeton Public Library.

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I was recently in a meeting with staff from the Miami-Dade Public Library. They used a great example...instead of telling a County Commissioner that library staff answered 10,000 reference questions this week, they say we helped 3,000 look for work, 1,000 apply for food stamps, 3,000 find information they needed, etc.

Also, they use "Customer or Potential Customer", instead of users and non-users.

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Summer movies, tv, and books I enjoyed.

Movies: Star Trek, Up, Public Enemies.

TV: Burn Notice, Royal Pains.

Books: Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Increase Access to your Electronic Resources

Since you are already paying a lot for your electronic resources, why not also make them available via
Google Scholar?

When your patrons search Google Scholar, and find full-text articles in databases that you subscribe to, a link can appear in Google Scholar.

Flagler College has done a nice job of explaining what they did with some screenshots to boot.

Here is the info from the Google Scholar site about how to set up these "Library Links". There is no charge for participating in the Library Links program.

NEFLIN Virtual Training in August

Marketing Library Services Using Web 2.0: Live Online
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace...It's more than having a lot of friends. Social networking sites are a great way to connect with not only existing library customers but new customers as well. Learn about the latest tools available to market your programs and services. These tools are free and require little technical skills. Then learn how to develop a simple marketing plan that ensures you use these tools in an effective way. By the end of the program, you will:

be familiar with the most useful Web 2.0 tools for marketing libraries

have ideas for using Web 2.0 tools for marketing your own library services

have a written plan for marketing your library services using technology tools

Virtual Trainer: Lori Reed, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County
Thursday, August 6, 2:00 - 3:30 om
via NEFLIN Web Conferencing Service

Library Technologies Interest Group
The Library Technologies Interest Group continues to discuss technology topics important to libraries everywhere. This month our focus will be public access computing policies. Join us for this ongoing discussion of the latest in library technologies.
Monday, August 17, 10:00 am - 12:00 noon
via NEFLIN Web Conferencing Service

Advocacy Series: Live Online
Libraries play an essential role in the community. We know this, but it is now more important than ever to have effective library advocates to share this message in the community. Register for one or all four. Virtual trainer: Jenny Liberatore, Lyrasis

Advocacy #1: What is it?
What exactly is advocacy? And how do we become advocates? The first class in the advocacy track introduces the concepts and practice of advocacy and lays the foundation for the next three classes. Tuesday, August 18, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

Advocacy #2: Community
Work with your community to start building an advocacy network. This two-hour distance learning session offers ideas for informing others about library program, upcoming events and required resources, and will help you find the support available in your community. Tuesday, September 22, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

Advocacy #3: Media
You must possess certain skills and tools to successfully use the media to promote your library and shape public opinion about libraries. This two-hour distance learning session teaches what media attention can and cannot do for your library. Tuesday, October 20, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

Advocacy #4: Public Officials
Learn how to attract your public officials' attention. This live online class discusses how to pinpoint your officials' priorities, shape the message you want to communicate, and draw officials into your library to raise the visibility of your resources. Tuesday, November 17, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

These classes are FREE and available to NEFLIN members only.

You will be emailed access information.

See all NEFLIN Continuing Education events at

http://www.neflin.org/

E-Government Webinar

On Tuesday, August 11, the State Library and Archives of Florida will offer the first in an ongoing series of free E-Government Webinars.

Join us at 10:00 a.m. to get tips, tools, and best practices from Nancy Fredericks, E-Government Services Manager at Pasco County Public Library Cooperative.

Also, the ALA Office for Research & Statistics has published a new issues brief, U.S. Public Libraries and E-Government Services, which highlights how public library technology supports public access and use of e-government information and resources. The issues brief draws from national data published in the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study.

For more information contact Stephanie Race at the State Library.

JPL and ACLD in the News

Jacksonville area residents and surrounding counties found the Main Library at their doorsteps on July 1. The Jacksonville Public Library is featured throughout the 2009 AT&T phonebook publications, including the front cover of the White Pages, inside back cover of the Yellow Pages and in the beginning of the Attractions section of the Community Information Pages of the 2009 Jacksonville Beaches, FL directory.

Each year, a theme is selected and an accompanying photo of a community resource that serves as an anchor to its residents. The library was selected to represent this year’s education theme. The visibility gained through the distribution and use of the phone book sheds light on the value of community resources such as the library. The monetary value of the advertisement exceeds more than $100,000 dollars. The Library Foundation will provide visibility of AT&T during the Foundation’s annual fundraising events including the annual literary festival, Much Ado About Books.

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The Department of Children and Families (DCF), The Partnership for Strong Families (PSF), the Alachua County Library District (ACLD) and Casey Family Programs officially celebrated the opening of “The Library Partnership- A Neighborhood Resource Center” Wednesday, July 8th.

The grand opening caps off a year of planning by representatives from many community agencies. DCF Circuit Administrator Ester Tibbs says, “The well being of our community really depends on whether families have opportunities to provide a better future for their children. That’s what this center is about – creating those opportunities for parents and their children do well.”

The Library Partnership is a concept unique to Gainesville, with the public library working in close collaboration with social service agencies to create a new kind of resource for families in northeast Gainesville. It is the only such partnership in the state.

In addition to the services provided by outside organizations, the library will also offer homework help in the fall and plans to add GED and literacy classes to its services. The library will be a critical partner in helping people access vital eGovernment services and information. The computer resources available at the library provide onsite assistance with accessing necessary online forms and applications used by many of the organizations providing services at the center, which removes the barrier of additional transportation and time.

According to ACLD Director Sol Hirsh, “Public libraries have relevant services to benefit persons in every role throughout a community. Often, the challenge for libraries is the delivery of those services. This collaboration brings public libraries to the place where social service referrals are being made. This is the ultimate form of outreach.”

This project is based on research showing the negative impact of foster care on children when they become adults. The goal is to keep children with their families and to help those families succeed by providing a safe place where people can seek help in their own neighborhood. It is hoped that this innovative approach will mobilize the community to support both the families in need and the agencies assisting them.

This project would not be possible without the contributions of many community organizations:

• The Alachua County Library District received $93,300 in funding from an LSTA (Library Services and Technology) grant—federal funding that is administered by the state. Using this, ACLD was able to purchase a collection of about 13,000 items for the library.
• The ACLD Friends of the Library provided a total of 704 books, 269 hardback and 435 paperbacks– all in like-new condition. The total estimated cost for purchasing these titles would have been over $11,000.
• The ACLD Foundation donated $15,000 to assist in the purchasing of materials for the Library’s Snuggle Up Center, to support the United Way Success by 6 campaign.
• The Department of Children and Families will fund the operation of the Resource Center with the assistance of Casey Family Programs.

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These two items are in the latest FLA News Digest. If you can read the news digest, you are an FLA member. If not, join the fun!

The BIG Read

Three NEFLIN libraries have received Big Read grants by the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS). The Big Read is an initiative from the National Endowment for the Arts designed to revitalize the role of literary reading in American culture by uniting communities and inspiring students to be lifelong readers.

• Nassau County Public Library residents will be reading the Maltese Falcon
• Putnam County Schools students will be reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• Suwannee River Regional Library residents will be reading The Call of the Wild

Each library system will use its grant money to sponsor a series of programs and events based on the book they have chosen. Here is a look at what Nassau will be doing.

23 Things Revisited: Join the Online Discussion

Still abuzz over NEFLIN’s 23 Things project?

Join this online discussion to share your feedback. Hear from the participants about what their experiences were like. Which things were your favorites? Least favorites? Which things were most useful back on the job? Register to be sent access information.

Virtual facilitator: Jennifer O’Neill
Thursday, July 23, 2:00 - 3:00 pm

23 Things @ NEFLIN Exceeds Expectations

NEFLIN started out this program by having the creator of 23 Things, Helene Blowers, speak at the NEFLIN Annual Meeting in September 2008. Helene talked about how she was trying to get her staff involved in understanding many new technologies in a fun, creative way, but was having little success. She came up with the 23 Things idea and…fast forward to today. The 23 Things has since wound its way around the world with hundreds of libraries in dozens of countries have completed the program.

The “23 Things @ NEFLIN” program ran from January 15 – April 15, 2009. Over 350 NEFLIN members from 40 different libraries participated. By the end of the program 134 staff completed the entire 23 Things. This participation and completion rate are above the usual measures for this program.

The most exciting discovery was from the participants who finished the program. According to an end of program survey, prior to 23 Things @ NEFLIN, participants had done the following:

• Created a blog. 7%.
• Commented on a blog. 10%.
• Contributed to a wiki. 6%.
• Subscribed to an RSS feed. 8%.
• Joined Facebook or MySpace. 13%.
• Listened to a podcast. 14%.
• Watched a YouTube video. 22%.

We can now state that 100% of those who completed the program did all of the above, plus much more. We believe that hundreds of NEFLIN members are now more comfortable with web-based technologies and can better assist their patrons. The “23 Things @ NEFLIN” program is freely available on the web if anyone wishes to do it on their own. Visit the site at: http://neflins23things.blogspot.com/

2.0 for Books - Part 5

21. Flickr can be used to great advantage to engage users in reading and books. One clever contest on the web was the creation of pictures of “book piles” based on a theme. These were very creative. Another cool idea was creating an API for the creation of a visual ‘book wall’ made of book covers. I can imagine a neat pictorial display based on colour matching book covers. Use your imagination to create really neat virtual displays to promote books to virtual users – just like you do in the branches. Don’t forget author pictures.
22. Personal reading lists from library professionals can have great power. How do we promote our staff as the great differentiator of libraries from Amazoogle? For one we need to put their pictures and names on our websites and promote our folks. For another we need to let them blog and sign their posts. And for another we need to encourage them to create professional personal social networking pages in MySpace and/or Facebook. This will help us to promote books by promoting the library world’s great staff and professionals and connecting them to users!
23. The nascent BiblioCommons project in Canada has launched at, among others, Oakville Public Library. Using the collection information housed in the SirsiDynix OPAC real end users will collect their own reading lists, advise others locally, and write reviews and more. It’s exciting to see communities engage with reading around their local library. Watch this one closely.
24. LibraryThing for Libraries also allows you to draw on the collective intelligence of your patrons and LibraryThing members. You can include recommendations and tag clouds. You can let your patrons take part, with reviews, ratings and tags. There are now 50 libraries using LibraryThing for Libraries.
25. Can you leverage the power of the long tail and promote more books in your collections? Of course you can! Author interviews, pictures, videos, book talks, podcasts, webliographies and more all sit at your fingertips. Two things challenge us. On the one side some libraries have long hold lists, and on the other end we have books that haven’t circulated well recently. Web 2.0 can help books circulate. Too many holds and continuing to promote access to something we don’t have available merely frustrates users.

Oh, and also now do the same thing for your DVD’s! Just start with the trailers on YouTube and blog it and maybe those 2-year-old DVD’s on the rack will start circulating again!

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Link to all 25 Things 2.0 can do for Books

P.S. I fixed the numbering of Part 3. It really was #'s 11-15, but it looked like #'s 6-10 were posted again.

Two workshops from Florida Times Union trainers

Public Records Information: Florida's Best at Your Fingertips

Explore the most useful online public information resources in Florida. From the county circuit court clerk’s office to the governor’s office, you’ll connect with resources that can help info seekers research property, criminal backgrounds, licensed professionals, health facilities, schools and much more. This hands-on session also will look at some of the better federal resources online that can be very useful for researchers.

Trainer: Joe Adams, Florida Times-Union
Tuesday, August 4, 9:00 am - 12:00 noon

Using Jacksonville.com

Learn more about Jacksonville.com, the most viewed news Web site on the First Coast. With archives dating back to 1998, there are dozens of ways to ferret out information, including archived obituaries, previous news and databases. A move earlier this year also began better categorizing news and making smaller, more searchable chunks of information available to search. We’ll walk through the site and what resources are available for librarians and researchers.

Trainer: Joe Allen-Black, Florida Times-Union
Tuesday, August 4, 1:00 - 4:00 pm

Need 4 more registrations to avoid cancellation.

See all NEFLIN classes here.

2.0 for Books - Part 4

#16 is not to be found. Just 4 today then. -- Brad

17. Have you checked out MySpace Books? What are MySpace users recommending to each other? Using this as a collection development tool for teens is just a start. Can you add this sort of functionality to your library’s MySpace page? It’s where big groups of users are and they’re readers.
18. Have you seen the new Facebook Fan pages? Are you set to experiment with a fan page for an author or book? Just start with an event and move on from there. Set up your own or use one that’s already there. What are the popular authors in your community?
19. Of course it has become just a normal part of libraries that we have direct access to the OPAC from our MySpace and Facebook presences. This is great and certainly reinforces books as major program at the library. Since so many readers are tied to each other through social networking sites we can be part of this recommendation infrastructure.
20. The web 2.0 trend to Software as a Service and Application Hosting environments allows for a great number of improvements to our user experience for book choices. Enhancements to book and record displays, such as those provided by Syndetics or Novelist, truly make the choices easier for the end user, and especially for the virtual end user.

2.0 for Books - Part 3

11. Blogging is a no-brainer for promoting books. Besides linking to the many great book blogs (biblioblogs) you can do your own. There are a number of great examples of book blogs in libraries. Librarians are recommending books all the time. How cool is it to not only make that personal recommendation in person but to take the time to jot down a few sentences and post it with a book cover and link to the OPAC? If everyone in a library system did that -- and signed their work -- we'd have thousands of recommendations in short order. And we'd have trusted local community recommenders developing personal engagement strategies with our cardholders. Cool. It's all about books.
12. One of the classic 2.0 technologies is RSS, really simple syndication. Instead of having to handcraft new book lists and subject and topical lists, why not use RSS off the catalogue by call number, or through a Boolean search? Connecting individual RSS feeds to users is great. Even better is using RSS to redefine outreach at your library. Just imagine adding RSS feeds of new gardening books to local nursery websites and botanical gardens! Add RSS feeds of specific collections to museum special events! It's only limited by your imagination and the ability to build community relationships.
13. Podcasts are a fun way to connect with your communities about books. It's the poor man's community cable show! I've seen many libraries doing 5 minute book promotion podcasts and building listener bases apace. You might even consider interviewing local authors and poets to promote their works in your collections. Local college and university professors might have interesting perspectives too. It's another option to use 2.0 tools to promote your collections.
14. Wikis are a wonderful new tool that is very 2.0 and free. Build a wiki to organize community book recommendations and promote it to all cardholders. Eventually this sort of tool can inform collection development too. For now, just get community recommendations about non-fiction, hobbies, science fiction, mysteries, romance, and the rest! People love to share and the library is a trusted place to share with.
15. You can even consider using Amazon (and B&N or Borders) to access more user reviews. Several libraries have created API's to link to these and some allow patrons to buy books through affiliate programs and earn a slice of the revenue.

2.0 for Books - Part 2

6. Are we ready to promote eBooks for fiction? What would work here? Is this one of those events -- "Reading on your Blackberry, Treo, or iPhone" -- that will attract another market segment to the library? Is this one of those opportunities to use IM, TXT and e-mail to connect with borrowers?
7. How about audiobooks? What crew needs these? Commuters stuck in traffic for hours might appreciate the ability to borrow and listen through their car sound systems. Can we promote this on drive to work radio and have them borrowing online by noon? Seems like a great place to promote online card registration too!
8. Can our great storytelling folks take out-of-copyright classics and create wonderful podcasts for kids? Can we make the first library podcast stars? Seems as simple as recording a few sessions in the library and posting them online to our blogs. And YouTube a few too.
9. Are we ready for using streaming media in a strategic way? Can we load these into our websites and promote local or bestselling authors? Syndetics already includes author interviews in our enhancement feeds. You can find many authors on YouTube and TeacherTube etc. Seems like a great way to engage people with reading to extend the book experience into author videos, reviews, critiques, etc. What books do we want to promote? If we assemble a quick link list on a blog every day we'd have hundreds in every library quickly.
10. How about movie tie-ins with books. Many of our books have come from or inspired movies. Can you add the movie trailer from YouTube or the studio website to your promotion piece? If we did this and enticed someone to a series of books we hold (Think LOTR, Harry Potter and Trekkers and Trekkies alone!)

25 Things 2.0 Can Do For Books

I read with interest this set of "musings" from Stephen Abram. While I am attending the ALA Conference this week and learning about many 2.0, or even 3.0 things, I thought this would be a good refresher on using new technologies to enhance your book collection.

While the title is 25 Things 2.0 Can Do For Books, I am going to break them into five chunks. It is hard to digest five things a day, let alone 25. Enjoy!

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What have you done for a book lately?

You've probably done a lot! You've cataloged them so they can be found. You've made bibliographies so people can find other books they may like or need for research. You've recommended books to patrons and friends. You've written book reviews. Maybe you've done an index to a book, or edited one, or written one. You've done book talks. Great! Library folks have been doing this sort of stuff for centuries and doing it well.

We do books so well. We just can't get any better, any hotter, any more admired and loved!

Really?

I visit and see so many libraries - physical and virtual - and see so many innovations that excite me and promote books, reading and what we do so well. I also see a lot of folks who claim that new technologies are unnecessary in libraries and especially anything TwoPointOh! I fail to see the distinction and I don't think it's just me. Library practice demands that we look for anything that improves our mandates to promote learning, community, research, and reading.

Of course anyone can improve and do better. That's why we call it information practice. You just keep practicing as professionals - just like medical practice, nursing practice, teaching practice and accounting practice. Professionals get better, though never perfect, with practice. There's no denying that our traditional practice is a great thing. We protect, preserve and serve the human cultural and research record and connect users with the right books, at the right time, in the right place. That's awesome. Then again, good information practice thinking demands that we ask what are the negative issues with the traditional way we practice and how can we get better or complement it?

Traditional practice with books is not as scalable as we might want and our users might want. How do we get readers' advisory to scale as well in libraries as Amazon does on the web? Traditional practice offers a personal touch with a human being. Can we extend that personal touch beyond the walls? Many of our advisory and recommendation activities are largely anonymous or at least lack the personal branding that excites connections betweens readers and advisors. If we really care about books (and reading), can we use the new tools on the web to put our service options on steroids? Why 2.0? Well, because it offers the first real opportunity to use technology to go beyond search, storage and retrieval and actually engage with readers in a scalable way beyond our walls and beyond physical book formats.

25 Things 2.0 Can Do For Books, Just Books

1. How are you doing Book Clubs now? Do you have support for print book clubs? Are there recommended books that you keep in a book club bag? Do you include a copy of the publisher's book club or reading guide in the bag? Do you link to good guides for book clubs on the web for all types of book clubs? What does the virtual book club support look like? Can they share reviews, comments, etc. online?
2. Have you tried an audiobook club? Just license an audiobook for the whole community and let many folks read it at once. If you can't afford the license find one of the many book podcasts or audiobooks that are free on the web and add them to your collection. Have you tried a book club using e-books? Do you have a webpage with your top 12, 20, 30 eBooks and reading guides for each? This seems like a good way to get beyond the not-enough-copies problems.
3. What are your web tie-ins to promote reading and book clubs? How big is your collection of reading guides, book club support, webliographies, blog posts, one-city-one-book ideas from other libraries? Can you mine these for ideas to promote parts of your collection like bestsellers from 2 years ago whose circ is are slowing down? Nothing is sadder than an unborrowed book except for a whole load of the same book taking up shelf space.
4. Who takes Star turns at your library? Have you promoted with names and pictures specific staff or even the director? What would your Blogfluence score be in your community? Who is your Oprah? Are there different folks for teens, adults, kids, men, movies, etc.? Are their reviews and selections promoted inside the library and virtually? Can they be on a READ poster? Do they have personal web pages and social sites?
5. How are you promoting eBooks for non-fiction? If you have a Books24x7 collection of technology eBooks, have you created a GeekZone club to promote the collection? Alternatively, can it be a Tech for Dummies/Idiots club or service for those who want help? How about car manuals online? What's the target market there? Think about your eBooks and use 2.0 promotion tools to get them used.

ACLD All Staff Meeting

I had the pleasure yesterday of participating in an All Staff Meeting at the Alachua County Library District in Gainesville.

I did a brief recap of 23 Things @ NEFLIN and then gave out recognition items to the 57 ACLD staff who completed the program. 57 is really good, since this represented 42% of those who completed the program overall.

Some other thoughts from the meeting:

• Sol Hirsch, Director, read about a dozen letters/postcards/e-mails from the public that expressed appreciation for specific staff or programs at the library.
• Cindy Dorfeld-Bruckman and Paula Worthy celebrated 25 years of service with the library.
• The "Library Partnership" branch is having their Grand Opening today at noon. More on this in the coming weeks as this looks like a model program for a public library and social service agencies to work together in a true partnership that has great potential for their community.

Get a Sneak Peak at the new Florida Electronic Library

On August 1, the Florida Electronic Library will unveil its new look and implement the new Cengage-Gale PowerSearch 2.0 platform. PowerSearch 2.0 gives comprehensive access to authoritative reference and periodical information from a single starting point.

Attend an online sneak peak of the new Florida Electronic Library and take a test drive of PowerSearch 2.0 to see the more visually appealing interface that gives users a Web-like experience and includes features that will appeal to and empower library patrons, students, and other researchers.

Friday, July 24, 10:00 - 11:00 am in the Online Classroom. No registration needed. Click here for access information.

Twitter for Librarians

Monday morning and I just spent one-hour taking a NEFLIN webinar with speaker Nicole Engard. Nicole spoke on Twitter for Librarians.

Some thoughts from the session...

"Twitter syntax". Invaluable. Finally I get what the @, #, RT, etc are for.

Handouts from today's session.

Howard County Library on Twitter.

Twitter gets a bad rap as "today I ate a hot dog" site.

Twitter makes a terrible first impression (Agreed).

Why not just use e-mail? There are 600 people I am following on Twitter, and I don't want to e-mail them all. Forces you to be brief.

Twitter updates can go to your Facebook page.

Twitter is a way to keep in touch with friends, family, colleagues, anything you are interested in.

Lots of (book) authors on Twitter. Can use them to drive traffic to your library's website, blog or Twitter account.

Can put widgets for Firefox, Mac, IE, etc much like Instant Messaging widgets.

TweetDeck. Helps organize your Twitter account.

You can conduct polls on Twitter. twtpoll.com

You can "twitter" your Flickr or your Library Thing.

Twitter Policy (of one company): Our Twitter policy: Be professional, kind, discreet, authentic. Represent us well. Remember that you can’t control it once you hit “update.”

Awful Library Books (just an aside).

5 Ways for your Library to Fail at Twitter.

Good job, Nicole.

I am on Twitter at: neflinbrad

Union Public Library - Grand Opening

What a great day! Yesterday, Patty and I had a wonderful experience attending the grand opening of the Union County Public Library in Lake Butler.

From this (January 23, 2008)



To this (July 1, 2009)



300 residents of the community turned out for a great event to celebrate the opening of this new library. Some interesting facts I came away with:

• This town loves their library!
• They were able to build the library for $82 per sq ft, instead of $175 per sq ft that jobs like this usually run. How? Donations, partnerships with local businesses that provided discounts on supplies, and most importantly labor provided by inmates with the Dept of Corrections.
• The First Christian Church purchased the old library building in 2007 and allowed the library to continue operating there until June 2009. The church paid all the money up front and never bugged the library about moving.
  
• The Library Director, Mary Brown, and the library staff love their library, and the community they serve.
  

Here are some photos I took on NEFLIN's Flickr Page. (Where noted I added a few from fellow photographer Hans Li who got some shots I was unable to get).

Congratulations to Mary and her staff for all their hard work over the past few years to make this new library a reality.

Front Page Article on JPL

The Florida Times-Union wrote their lead article in today's newspaper (and on the main page of jacksonville.com) on the proposed cuts facing the Jacksonville Public Library.

The article does a good job of providing background on the growing patronage of the library system over the past few years, while dealing with a shrinking budget. Hopefully this article will encourage Jax residents to contact the Mayor's office about his proposed cuts to the library's budget.