Library 2.0 PR article

From a recent Library Journal article:

The rules of marketing have changed. Do libraries know that?
Corporate PR-types used to control the message. Sitting behind a desk, they'd write a carefully crafted press release and then send it off to newspapers and upload it
to their web site. The attention the company got might barely justify the
salary of the PR professional.
Today's world is fundamentally different.
Neither news nor brand identity are controlled through press releases or
carefully choreographed newspaper articles. Brands are molded and shaped by the
audience—and the audience is everyone. People talk. And people listen.
Social tools, social media, and social engagement are the norms for many
large advertisers that have populated sites like Facebook and Twitter with
brand-focused pages and interactive techniques. Are you following your
favorite brand?
Are libraries catching up?

An amazingly awesome library photo idea

The staff of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County are so awesome and inspiring! Check out last year's Family Portrait Day at the Library! More pictures here and here.

ha!

Work Like a Patron Day

Interesting idea, found via the walking paper blog:

"An absolute gem of an idea from Brian Herzog: Work Like a Patron Day

That’s why I’m proposing “Work Like A Patron Day” on October 15th. In honor of the day, I think library staff should (when possible):

• enter and leave the library through the public entrance (not the staff doors)
• use the public restrooms
• use the public computers to do your work
• reserve public meeting rooms for meetings
• follow all library policies

This would be an amazing way to assess what works in your library and what’s unusable. To his list I’ll add:

• sit in the chairs/use the furniture meant for the public
• use only the patron interface for searching your catalog
• pay your library fines (no waiving them the day before!)
• use a database you’ve never used before

If this seems like it would be a challenge, you really ought to think about why you’re continually challenging your patrons. If it seems easy, congrats, you just might have an easy to use library!"

(emphasis mine)

What do you think, EPL? Should we try it??

Look who's on Twitter

Driving to work this morning, I heard a story on NPR about the future of the Smithsonian Institution. The new head of the Smithsonian talked about their efforts to learn from younger people who are knowledgeable about Web 2.0 and how the Smithsonian can use these tools to reach out to younger genearations.

Smithsonian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/smithsonian

Local museums on Twitter:
Field Museum: https://twitter.com/fieldmuseum
Adler Planetarium: https://twitter.com/adlerskywatch

Basic Tech Tips from a NYTimes blog

Check out this post at the NYTimes blog "Pogue's Post": Tech Tips for the Basic Computer User. Some of these I never knew, such as this one:

You can hide all windows, revealing only what’s on the computer desktop, with one keystroke: hit the Windows key and “D” simultaneously in Windows, or press F11 on Macs

and I consider myself relatively well versed in the world of keyboard shortcuts and mouse tricks...

News blogs

My good friend John Huston is a reporter for Pioneer Press in the western suburbs. He recently started their Oak Park-centric blog The News Peg. This led me to look at the list of other Pioneer Press blogs. It doesn't look like any are Evanston-specific, at least not yet.

I like blogs from news sources because they are often less formal, smaller stories or tidbits that won't make it into the actual paper, can be more time-sensitive (especially for a weekly vs. a daily) and, of course, allowing comments can spur conversation.

Some other newspaper-based blogs I subscribe to:
PaperCuts, the NYTimes blog about books
The Caucus, the NYTimes blog about politics and the election
The Stew, Chicago Tribune food blog