Heather's Learning Blog

Library 2.0 PR article

2008-10-17T13:36:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-15T14:49:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-10-10T10:06:00.001-05:00

Work Like a Patron Day

2008-10-08T15:36:00.004-05:00

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

2008-10-07T09:49:00.003-05:00

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

2008-10-04T17:26:00.003-05:00

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

2008-10-01T18:47:00.003-05:00

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

Happy Banned Books Week!

2008-09-29T16:47:00.001-05:00

Click To Play

Old favorites are new again...

2008-09-29T10:58:00.001-05:00

via last.fm (Thing 19)

#20 & 21: Podcasts

2008-09-29T09:47:00.005-05:00

Here's the blog of a cool, funny podcast done by teens at the Cheshire Public Library: http://cheshirepodcast.blogspot.com/

I found it by searching Podcastalley for "public library teen." Here's the page on Podcastalley for subscribing to this podcast: http://podcastalley.com/redirect.php?pod_id=18455

I'm still learning about podcasts and subscribing to them.

I experimented with subscribing to just this podcast's blog, but that did not give me the actual audio content in my Reader -- just a description of each episode. I still had to click through to the actual blog and click on another link before I reached the audio files.

However, when I used the Podcastalley page to subscribe, my Reader showed both the descriptions for each podcast and a small audio player directly in the Reader post where I could listen to the podcast from within my Reader.

This is the address I had to paste into my Reader in order for this to happen: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/Bfgf

Escape!!

2008-09-25T13:48:00.000-05:00

#19 Web 2.0 Awards

2008-09-23T15:17:00.003-05:00

I've mentioned this site before, but I just have to mention it again:

Geni is a social networking service for family trees. I created an account and started a tree for my family, inviting my mother and a few cousins. They, in turn, invited a few more. In the past few weeks it has snowballed and over 100 members of my extended family have accepted invitations to join the family tree. They are all adding the information they know about various ancestors. All I did was create the bare bones and now I have this great, rich resource in case I ever get the genealogy bug. It's also nice because whenever a new member accepts an invitation to our tree I get an email telling me exactly who they are and how we are related ("Jane Doe, your third cousin once removed, just accepted an invitation from Joe Smith your maternal uncle.").

The purpose of the site is not for researching your family tree, but for compiling the information once you have it. As my family's example shows, it takes advantage of the collective knowledge of the masses (in this case your extended family) the way all good social networking sites do. My family is pretty spread out over the country and we don't ever really have reunions of extended family, so I never would have had the chance to ask that third cousin once removed what she knew about our shared ancestors if it weren't for this tool. (Heck, I didn't even know she existed, much less her name or email address. That, in itself, would have taken me a lot of research to uncover. Through the power of social networking, I'm now in touch with many relatives I didn't know I had. And it barely took any work on my part!)

#18 Google Docs

2008-09-23T15:11:00.003-05:00

My husband and I used Google Docs while planning our wedding and keeping track of RSVPs and thank-you notes. It was super helpful to be able to share documents this way.

For some reason, I only recently thought to put the spreadsheet I'm using to keep track of which ELL participants have completed what Things in my Google Docs. Now I can update the list from any computer.

The other Google feature that I use daily is the Calendar feature. My husband and I share our calendars and we can share some events with other family members too. It helps to keep track of who will be using our family lakehouse during busy summer weekends.

Prizes

2008-09-23T15:10:00.002-05:00

I have to say, I'm a little sad that I'm not eligible for the prize drawing!

#16 & 17: Wikis

2008-09-23T14:38:00.005-05:00

Wikis are probably one of my favorite of the Web 2.0 tools. I can envision dozens of uses for wikis in libraries: internally, we can use wikis to write and update policies & procedure manuals, for instructions on special projects (summer reading, etc.), and more. For the public, we could use wikis to create fast, simple staff recommends lists, collaborate on assignment-specific pathfinders for school projects & visits, and more.

This past summer one of our teen employees started a Teen Recommendations wiki. She put lists of recommendations for specific situations (while on a plane trip, while on the beach, with your mom, etc.) as well as "read-alikes" (If you like LOST, you'll like...). We are discussing ways the Teen Advisory Board is going to continue this project. It's a great, simple way to let more than one teen contribute and it has the added bonus of being separate from the "official" library website. It makes a distinction between the "recommended by librarians" lists and the "recommended by teens" lists. And the teens can work on and edit the look and feel to make it more their own.

Practicing what I preach...

2008-09-23T14:35:00.003-05:00

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be leading this ELL train ride and I haven't been posting my own thoughts on the Things. My only excuse is I've been busy writing new Things and helping the other 50 participants with their questions, suggestions and concerns. But please, do as I say, not as I do!

Web 2.0 for Boomers too

2008-09-11T10:29:00.002-05:00

From news story about the "Entertainment Trends in America" Report:

According to The NPD Group, a leading market research company, online activities once mainly popular with teens and young adults, are now enjoying active participation by baby boomers, too. Recent consumer surveys of U.S. consumers show that 61 percent of baby boomer Internet users (age 44 to 61) had visited sites that offer streaming or downloadable video (e.g., YouTube and TV network Web sites), while 41 percent had visited social networks (e.g., Linked-In, Facebook, and MySpace).

"There's an ongoing misperception that certain Web activities are the exclusive domain of young people," said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for The NPD Group. "That misperception could cost the entertainment industry, in terms of lost opportunities to target valuable consumers."

It could cost libraries too...

Thing 14: Twitter

2008-09-08T12:43:00.005-05:00

This is one of those things that I read about a lot, know is important to be aware of, but have absolutely zero interest in, personally.

I've read that Twitter was helpful for attendees at recent library conferences, who were able to follow other attendees' tweets from presentations that they couldn't attend or to see others' opinions, in real time, during a presentation. I think I would find that distracting (reading tweets while trying to follow a presentation), but I understand why some people would like to participate this way.

I've started following a few libraries and librarians and have found that the tweets I'm interested in either duplicate blog content I've seen in my RSS reader, or is information I would rather get in my RSS reader.

If I were use microblogging personally, and follow the tweets of friends/family, I suppose I would find it fun. There is a similar function in Facebook called "status" where friends say what they are "doing now." Many of my friends use it to out-obscure-film-or-song-reference each other, which is amusing. But I don't need these witticisms pushed to my mobile device as soon as they are written. I'm satisfied with finding them, after the fact, when I check my facebook every few days.

One professional use that I have found useful/interesting: I subscribed to the RSS of a Twitter search for "Evanston Library." Anytime someone writes a public Twitter post with those words, I see it in my RSS Reader. There have only been a few so far, but I think it is good to keep an eye on what people are saying about us in this forum. It supplements my regular Google Alert, which sends me a daily email with any new website or blog posts that mention the library.

More about Things #11 and 12

2008-09-02T15:36:00.005-05:00

Some people have been discussing LibraryThing for Libraries on their ELL blogs and I've heard a few discussions wondering what it would take to implement LibraryThing for Libraries in our catalog.
From my understanding (and I'd love to hear discussion from some of the more knowlegeable EPLer's about this), the first hurdle to implementing LibraryThing for Libraries (or any system of patron-generated tags or comments) is that it would have to be a CCS-wide decision. We don't have a stand-alone catalog. We are a member of the CCS consortium and get our ILS ("integrated library system"--cataloging, circulation, etc.) through this consortium.
I can't imagine that LibraryThing for Libraries has not been discussed by CCS members. Does anyone know if there's a plan in the works to include LibraryThing (or any) tags, recommendations, etc. in CCS?
To see an example of LibraryThing for Libraries in action, look at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library or Lincoln Trails Library System catalogs.

Thing #12: Libraries using 2.0 tools

2008-08-30T11:42:00.000-05:00

I would love to see EPL and/or CCS do more with social tools within our catalog and website. It would be very cool if we could:

incorporate patron-generated tags into our catalog records.

allow patrons to write reviews and rate books within the catalog.

create official library blogs on a variety of topics.

Re. #3: I know that Joomla (our website content management system) allows us to have RSS feeds to the various categories/subcategories of our website and the front page of our website (and the main pages of each main section: Research, Books/Music/Movies, etc.) works kind-of like a blog. The newest items--what Joomla calls "articles"--can be made to show at the top of the page, but they don't automatically. This, and the fact that blogs can (and should) have a more distinct voice is the reason I think that we should have additional, "real" blogs. For example, Brian (sorry to single you out Brian, but I just think your blog idea is so good) could put his picture book reviews on the kids pages of our website -- and there is certainly an argument to be made for including more content like this within our website -- but the voice & feel of "Mr. Brian's Picture Book Picks" is so great, I think something would be lost if that text was simply included in the layout of the official EPL site...

Food, glorious food!!

2008-08-29T11:18:00.008-05:00

Alright. I'm wasting my day off doing this silly Internet meme (found via my sister-in-law's blog):

"The Omnivore's 100" (my answers are below)

I spent about 8 years as a vegetarian until one day, out of the blue, I decided to order prime rib while out to dinner with my now-huband and my mother. Needless to say, their eyes got huge and they watched in wonder as I devoured the whole, bloody thing. I didn't get sick at all and I haven't looked back since.

In Japan, James and I would often find ourselves sitting at the bar of a restaurant as the chef put something strange and gooey down in front of us with a chuckle of "Challengy." For the most part, I'm up to the challenge. Only a few times did I have to whisper the code to James that meant "You have to take this off my plate right now or I'm going to vomit on these nice people's table and shame us."

So I guess that makes me an omnivore.

[This items I've eaten are in bold. Those I'm not sure of are in italics. You're supposed to cross-out the things you'd never even try, but I'd like to believe I'd try anything once...Not sure what something is? This is a perfect example of when Wikipedia helps!]

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp--not sure if I've had carp, but I feel like I've eaten just about every possible kind of fish. If it's available in Japan, I've had it.
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush--I prefer hummous.
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle--I'm about 98% sure I've had black truffle, but I'm being very strict with my bolding. Only things I know for sure...
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese --Pretty sure I've tried some head cheese on a smorgasbord
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda -- sound delicious though!
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat--I've eaten goat. Not curried, though.
42. Whole insects--Ate something in Japan that looked like a centipede on a stick, but there was some argument as to what it really was.
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more--At a wedding in Scotland we had some pretty amazing whiskey, but I didn't ask the price.
46. Fugu--Sorry to say, we never did go for Fugu in Japan...
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi--YUM!!!!
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle --I feel I must have had this kind of egg noodle dish at some point in my life, but can't say for sure.
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV--Probably, but I'd have to ask Philip for sure. It seems that at least one of the fancy beers he's given James and me must have been above 8%
59. Poutine--Okay, this one sounds pretty gross. But it's probably delicious.
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads--This is another that sounds a little too nasty for me. I will (and have!) eat any part of a fish. But there are certain parts of mammals that sound a bit too gag-inducing. If I had to, I could probably do it though.
63. Kaolin--why?? who does this?? where??
64. Currywurst--Maybe I have, in Germany or Switzerland, though I was mostly vegetarian when I was there...
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis -- at a wedding in Scotland they served me "vegetarian haggis." It was oats shaped to look like everyone else's boiled intestines. Yum.
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette -- Probably, in Korea, without knowing it. But I can't be sure.
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu -- No, but I have had shochu and soju.
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse--I've even had raw horse! I've heard rumors that there are secret restaurants in Japan where one can pay thousands of dollars to eat an American derby winner.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa -- sounds yummy.
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor -- my mother and mother-in-law think I'm crazy, but I don't really like lobster. Give me just about any other food from the sea first...
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Being Wired or Being Tired: Ten Ways to Cope with Information Overload

2008-08-28T15:47:00.002-05:00

From the Librarian in Black, Sarah Houghton-Jan, herself. Of course, I need to schedule in some time to really read this article on how to better schedule your time...

Thing #11: LibraryThing vs. GoodReads

2008-08-28T08:58:00.004-05:00

I've found myself using GoodReads much more than LibraryThing. Again, I think this is mainly because most of my friends were already on GoodReads. However, it seems that LibraryThing uses tags much more efficiently and the edit screens are simpler and easier to use. Also, the tools they have developed (and are developing) for public libraries (pulling LT tags into the catalog, etc.) are pretty awesome.

Jeru, N|u, Ainu...

2008-08-27T18:32:00.003-05:00

Fascinating article from the Guardian on the 10 most endangered languages in the world. Found via the NYTimes' Paper Cuts: a blog about books.

Social Networking for Genealogists

2008-08-27T16:39:00.005-05:00

A pretty cool website I've been playing around with (and reading about on quite a few blogs) is Geni.

I joined last week, invited a few of my family members, they invited a few more and voila! My tree now has info on more than 50 people. And I'm in contact with a few of my mom's cousins who I rarely spoke with before.

This is definitely a Web 2.0 tool I'll be sharing with our patrons.

Learning new technology

2008-08-27T14:48:00.005-05:00

Check out this post at Tame the Web re. libraries, learning and technology

"If we learn to learn, it doesn’t matter that this week’s hot technology is Twitter and next week’s even shinier tool is something else. We can still figure it out, use our foundational knowledge to make sense of it and decide if it works in our situation. I teach blogging in many of my classes but the real skill I want my students to get is that they can master any technology/system I put in front of them....If we adapt to change, we aren’t thrown every time the world shifts. That’s one of the most important things I think we could do for students in LIS education - show them that everything will change."

Thing #10: Social Networking

2008-08-26T10:42:00.007-05:00

I've had a MySpace page, a Facebook account and a LinkedIn account for at least a year each, but the only one I really use is my Facebook account. MySpace seemed too pop-up ad-y, and I haven't found much use for LinkedIn in my professional life yet. Probably the biggest reason I use Facebook more is the critical mass of people that I know and care about are on Facebook as opposed to the others.

I'm in charge of the library's Facebook page (there is a distinction in Facebook between an individual having an "account" and an institution having a "page," if you are interested). IMO, the primary purpose of the library's page is to reach our online patrons outside of the library's website. We use it to announce events and resources and as another forum where patrons can contact us. I think it is important for a library to reach out to patrons online. While crucial, it's not enough to just have a great website. We need to be present in other online spaces where our patrons can find us...

My Money, My Library

2008-08-21T09:19:00.003-05:00

My Money Blog has a post this week titled "Utilizing the Public Library to Accomplish Some Goals." It's always great to hear about adults rediscovering the resources and services of their public library. Be sure to read all the comments!

Thing #9: One of the things I miss about Japan

2008-08-19T09:55:00.004-05:00

It's been two years since my husband and I returned from living in Kashihara City in Nara prefecture in Japan. It's hard to believe that we've been back as long as we lived there. We did so much, met so many wonderful people, and traveled to beautiful and interesting places.

Of course I miss the cherry blossoms and the beautiful hikes to mountain-top temples. The bike-ride to work through rice fields and small neighborhoods. Our friends and the festivals they took us to....

But another thing I miss about living in Japan is the television. I was happy to see the recent reality tv show on American television, "I Survived a Japanese Gameshow," highlight some of the best aspects of the goofy, bizarre gameshows we used to watch. One of my favorite genres of shows to watch were talkshows. They seemed to always include a panel of celebrity guests "oooh-ing" and "aahh-ing" as they watched video clips of each other eating or visiting the sets of movies.

But perhaps the best television in all of Japan are the English-language training shows. Here's a classic from the early 1980s which uses muscle-memory and real-life situations (because, as you know, all tourists in America need to watch out for muggers wearing handkerchiefs around their noses!). Brilliant!

Thing #8: hockney-ized blossoms

2008-08-18T08:30:00.000-05:00

hockney-ized blossoms
Originally uploaded by norborgheather

Here's a picture of my husband and me, a la David Hockney.
This was taken a few years ago, when we were living in Japan. My (then 7 year old) niece came to visit just in time for cherry blossom season. We lived in one of the best blossom-viewing areas of Japan. It was so beautiful!
We look super silly in this picture!

Thing #7: Flickr!

2008-08-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

me in asuka
Originally uploaded by norborgheather

Here's a picture from my Flickr account.

My husband, James, and I lived in Japan for two years. This is a picture of me after a long hike in the mountains to see the beautiful fall colors. Our apartment was about a 15 minute walk from here.

What did Julia Child and my grandfather have in common?

2008-08-15T09:50:00.002-05:00

They were both spies! I've always known that my grandfather was in the OSS during WWII, but the stories are (naturally) conflicting about what he was actually doing. Apparently, Julia Child was also a member of the OSS. As was Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg.

This from an AP story yesterday:

"The secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives."

Searching the National Archive's Archival Research Catalog shows, sure enough,

Norborg, Christopher S., Caf-3
ARC Identifier 2182055
Textual Records from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Office of Strategic Services.
(06/13/1942 - 10/01/1945)
Archives II Reference Section (Military), Textual Archives Services Division, College Park, MD
File Unit from Record Group 226: Records of the Office of Strategic Services, 1919 - 1948

I'm going to request his files and see, once and for all, if those stories of helping the Norwegian resistance are actually true...

Fun with "Spell with Flickr"

2008-08-08T14:10:00.004-05:00

The countdown begins! Only 4 days until

(Made at Spell with Flickr! Thanks Christie for the link!)

Odd-Fish in Time Out

2008-08-05T12:19:00.003-05:00

This week's Time Out Chicago has an article about my husband's upcoming debut novel, The Order of Odd-Fish.

ELL Thing #6 Finding Feeds

2008-08-04T16:14:00.002-05:00

I've used Google's blog search and Technorati to look for blogs, but I've found that the best way to find blogs of interest to me is through other blogs.

For example, a few years ago I started following librarian.net and Tame the Web. These led me to the Librarian in Black and the Shifted Librarian, which in turn led me to Library Bytes and so on, and so on. With work-related blogs, I am a pretty harsh critic. If a blog doesn't have posts of interest to me for 2 or 3 weeks in a row, I usually delete them from my feed. There are about 10-15 I've followed for a long time and a rotating cast of 10-15 others.

Right now, here's a snapshot of my Reader (the number in the parentheses is the number of posts that I haven't looked at yet):
David Lee King (2)
librarian.net
LibrarianInBlack (8)
Librarians Matter (1)
Library Garden (1)
Library Link of the Day (3)
Library web chic
LibraryBytes
LISNews.org (42)
ResourceShelf (45)
Tame The Web: Librari... (21)
The Shifted Librarian (1)
walking paper
What I learned today
Catch and Release
Digital Reference (2)
Free Range Librarian (1)
myliblog (5)
Superpatron - Friends... (1)
Swiss army librarian

ELL Thing #5 RSS and Newsreaders

2008-08-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

I've had a Google Reader account for about a year now and I find it super helpful. My feeds are organized into 4 categories: friends, work, ELL and other.
A lot of my friends don't update their blogs very often. Google Reader lets me quickly see if they have any new posts, without wasting time visiting each blog over-and-over. Without a reader, I'd probably not bother with these blogs.
The largest of my categories is work, where I have all the librarian and library-related feeds that I try to follow. Right now I follow about 25 work-related blogs, and there are 145 new posts in that category since I last checked it on Friday. Obviously, I don't read every one of these posts. But I do scan their titles and mark things I want to go back to later.
From the way I use my Google Reader, I've learned that it's really important to give your blog posts a descriptive title. If there is no title or a generic title like "Something New," I just ignore that post.

The Best Days video

2008-08-01T14:34:00.001-05:00

I'm in love with Animoto right now.
It just took me about 2 minutes to make this little video. Login, upload a few photos, choose a song (or upload one) and, voila!, this free webservice makes a snazzy photo video for you!

"Dear Ms. Patron" A model response to library book challenges

2008-07-31T11:32:00.000-05:00

This thoughtful, well-reasoned, and thorough response to a book challenge should be required reading for all librarians, library staff and board members.

I will definitely be adding Mr. Larue's blog to my RSS Reader.

Speaking of which! Next week's topic for ELL is RSS and feed readers. Stay tuned!

Our Travels

2008-07-30T19:27:00.000-05:00

Books into Movies: the next Harry Potter film

2008-07-30T15:46:00.000-05:00

I've been wondering what the film for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be like. A lot of the plot involves Harry and Dumbledore sitting around the penseive, watching clips from the past about Voldemort, which doesn't seem like it will make for an exciting movie. But this trailer is pretty creepy. I'm excited...

Pardon me while I play the proud wife for a moment...

2008-07-28T14:28:00.000-05:00

My husband's first book, The Order of Odd-Fish, is coming out on August 12. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited and proud!

There have been a few reviews so far. Today he emailed me this one, from Booklist:

The Order of Odd-Fish.
Kennedy, James (Author)
Aug 2008. 416 p. Delacorte, hardcover, $15.99. (9780385735438).
Delacorte, library edition, $18.99.
(9780385905244).

The basic plot of Kennedy's first novel is fairly standard fantasy fare—Jo, a 13-year-old girl who gets whisked off to a strange world, discovers that she is a child of destiny and must combat evil forces bent on the destruction of the world—but it's so dizzyingly arrayed with Monty Python–inspired window dressing that one might not notice. Jo is a squire to an order of knights dedicated to "fiddling about" and studying such topics as "the philosophy of napkins." Talking cockroach butlers, a Russian colonel who takes orders from his digestive tract, and a villain called the Belgian Prankster, who wants to either destroy the world or tell the worst joke in history, are just a few of the blatantly weird characters that veer the story into the ludicrous at nearly every turn. Some might find it difficult to sustain interest in such determined high jinks, but in small doses, this is quite hilarious, and readers with a finely tuned sense of the absurd are going to adore the Technicolor ride.
— Ian Chipman

I consider myself as having a "finely tuned sense of the absurd," so I guess I'm the right audience!

Other reviews:
Pop Thought
The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy Delacourte Press, release date August 12, 2008

This was on display at the Delacourte Press table. When I picked it up and thumbed through it, the woman behind the table offered me an advance proof of the book. I don’t know whether she saw my press badge or if she’d have done that for anyone, but I’m grateful. This was a fun book.

Jo Larouche had lived for thirteen uneventful years, except for having been found in a basket as a baby with a note warning “This is a DANGEROUS baby.” Her ordinary life is abruptly interrupted, and she is launched into a world of talking cockroaches, floating heads, and knights who joust from the backs of ostriches. She struggles to find her place and fit in (this is a book for teens, after all) and largely succeeds, except that many of her new friends live in dread of the return of the dangerous baby. As she struggles to discover just how she is dangerous, and to whom, she partakes in a series of wacky, but increasingly dire, adventures.

I spent the first half of the book shaking my head as first-time author Kennedy piled weirdness on top of weirdness. I was prepared to dismiss it as mere weird-for-weird’s-sake when suddenly the plot kicked in. All at once, the book transformed from a fun-but-inconsequential voyage of self-discovery to a grand epic with real peril and devastating consequences. All of this without young Jo Larouche losing her charm or her supporting cast losing their endearing eccentricity.

I don’t know whether this transition was intentional or if, two hundred pages in, Kennedy finally found his voice, but I’m already looking forward to his next book.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Literature
KENNEDY, JAMES The Order of Odd-Fish
Delacorte, 2008 [416p]

The day the impossibly large fish beaches itself and disgorges thirteen-year-old Jo, her aunt Lilly, and the missing building housing the Lodge of the Order of Odd-Fish is a day of rejoicing in Eldritch City, even though Jo and her aunt are considered outlaws. By the time their exile order is rescinded by the mayor, Jo has been named Lilly's official squire and they are happily enmeshed in the affairs of the city and the lodge. All is not well, however, since the shadowy Sisters of Silence and a discredited lodge member known as the Belgian Prankster are on Jo's trail. It turns out that Jo is the Ichthala, the missing piece of a seminal goddess known as the All-Devouring Mother, and legend has it that when Jo has been fed to the recently reassembled body of the goddess, the world as its inhabitants know it will come to an end. Kennedy has worked overtime to create his quirky world inhabited by cockroach butlers, a knight guided by his digestive system, and a plethora of silly lodge members who engage in everything from dithering to smell collection. The narrative is a crazy quilt of action, burdened with subplots involving the Ichthala legend and an aspiring but unsuccessful supper-villain named Ken Kiang, but the author uses sheer force of will to bind it all together for intrepid readers, creating an adventurous romp with singular characters. Fans of humorous chaos will find plenty of stimulations here.

The 7 1/2 Habits

2008-07-28T10:19:00.000-05:00

I think the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners that is easiest for me is #7.5 PLAY! I've never had any problem letting go and playing (sports, games, technology, etc.).

The habit that is most difficult for me is #5 Create your own Toolbox. I've always been good at figuring things out on my own, but remembering where I put the tools I've used is more difficult. I'm hoping that this program will help me organize my personal toolkit a bit better, so that I'm not constantly starting from scratch.

Books into Movies: Brideshead Revisited

2008-07-24T17:03:00.000-05:00

Anybody else disappointed by the electric guitars and Gossip Girl-ization of the Brideshead Revisited trailer? Think I'm going to skip this one. My husband's brain would probably melt if he saw this travesty (it's his favorite book)...

Worrying dogs...

2008-07-24T16:09:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite blogs is Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Every few days they highlight some amazing find from their collection. I love the look on this boy's face as he's being eaten by a dog!

Part of my job is the coordinator for Evanston's participation in Digital Past. So far we have digitized a few items from our local history clipping files and are working on the Concerned Citizens Commitment News, a newsletter from the African American community in Evanston during the 1970s and 1980s. For the past few weeks, Hannah (our wonderful summer employee through the city's Summer Youth Employment Program) has been rapidly scanning issues of the CCC News and last night Russell began using his immense cataloging skills to help me more completely and efficiently process these and get them into Digital Past.

I am also representing the library as a partner in the Evanston Women's History Project. This project is researching significant women in Evanston's history and present. Soon we'll have a EWHP blog to highlight interesting finds and update the public about the project.

ELL officially begins today

2008-07-21T10:36:00.001-05:00

Today is the official start of Evanston Library Learns, the 23 Things program for Evanston Public Library staff that I am in charge of. It is basically a clone of the original Learning 2.0 project at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County, with some ideas and wording from the Library 2.Oakton program at Oakton Community College Library, and some changes based on what our staff said they wanted and needed.

I'm really excited to be heading this program and I hope that all EPL staff participate!!

some days are like this...

2008-07-17T16:31:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Swiss Army Librarian for this comic.

Video is hard!

2008-07-16T12:25:00.000-05:00

I'm excited to be heading up this Learning 2.0 program for the Evanston Public Library. In addition to helping my colleagues learn about new technologies, I know that I am going to learn a lot. It's nice to get time to "play" at work (though, believe me, I understand that finding the time is the main challenge!).

I've recently been playing around with the library's new video cameras and reading up about how other libraries are using video to promote their services. I really don't have much personal experience with video and I have a huge amount of respect for people who do. It's hard!

For Summer Reading Game in the Loft this year, teens can submit video or photo reviews. We haven't gotten many submissions yet, but the ones we've gotten have been great! I really hope that we can continue to offer this kind of contest in the future.

Getting Started with ELL

2008-04-04T16:14:00.000-05:00

There, I did it. Created a blog using Blogger.
It's a lot more simple than it looks. Doncha think??

As ELL continues, I'll post my responses to each Thing here. Why don't you do the same?!