January 19th, 2010 Brian Herzog
Here are a few random notes from the weekend - the best part of the conference is talking with other librarians, and of course the free stuff.
Apps: Past or Future?
Despite not having a cell phone, I still ended up talking a lot about apps at the show. Gale has a great approach for AccessMyLibrary. Check out the Librarian in Black’s writeup, but what I liked about it is the geolocation authentication: it shows you all libraries within 10 miles, and lets you into their (Gale) database - no typing in library card numbers.
At the LibraryThing party, there was lots of talk about LT’s new Local Books app. Some people loved it, and some people didn’t (especially the Android user I talked to, who couldn’t find one for his phone). This also led to an interesting discussion on whether or not apps are even needed - one theory was that if the mobile version of your website is good enough, then you shouldn’t need a separate app. Therefore, a good app does some kind of mashup not possible on the website.
Then again, I also heard that apps are on their way out in 2010.
eBooks: Present and Future
This is an area I’ve been paying attention to, and I still learned a lot. The eBooks that Overdrive offers are in epub and pdf formats, and circulate just like their audio books. But the best part is that they work on the Sony Reader and Nook - I did not know that. Apparently they have lots of both fiction and non-fiction titles, so I’m going to explore this avenue for my library.
Gale also offers eBooks, but I forgot to ask about the format. What I did like was that they aren’t limited to one user at a time - they were more like a database, where anyone can log in, search and use them.
I also saw a demo of B&T’s new eBook software, Blio (pronounced blee-O). I kept hearing they were coming out with something great, but I thought it was a physical eBook device - it’s not, it’s just the software. But the software really was pretty great:
- will work on computers and mobile devices
- it does full-color
- videos embedded in books (so a book on the circulation system shows videos of how the body works)
- quizzes in books for review
- text-to-speech in multiple voices, so different characters have different voices
- can highlight words as it reads, or will pronounce words you click on (to help kids or ESL students learn to read)
- has full-spread view of kids picture books (so it looks the same on screen as in print, with all the pictures and text - the pages even flip as if you were holding the book)
They’re concentrating on the consumer version first - the software is free, but it sounded like books will be on the expensive end, due to the enhanced content. Whenever I asked a library-specific question, the answer I got was, “oh, we’re still working on the details of the library model.”
So, yay for a successful conference. And in this case, successful = two shirts, three books, earbuds, notebook, pencils, pins, and lots of candy.
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Posted under Conferences, Library | 1 Comment »
January 7th, 2010 Brian Herzog
Hey, ALA Midwinter 2010 is in Boston this month. Being so close, I can hardly pass up going, especially since I have a free pass to the exhibit hall courtesy of LYRASIS (steps for getting your own free pass below).
I went the last time it was in Boston, and was slightly underwhelmed. It’s definitely more of a business meeting for the various ALA committees, which I didn’t expect. But this year there are some vendors I want to talk to, librarians to meet, and LibraryThing is also planning an event. Please say hi if you see me.
If you’re not going, the hashtag for Midwinter 2010 is #alamw10 - look for it around the interwebs (twitter, flickr, flickr group).
And here’s the scoop on the free passes: my library is a part of MVLC which is part of NMRLS which is a part of LYRASIS. If you’re also somehow covered under their umbrella, here’s how to get your free pass:
- Go to http://registration.experient-inc.com/ShowALA101/DefaultExhGuest.aspx?CompanyId=2160
- You will be brought to the Midwinter website. Note the Exhibits times. Click “Next.”
- Fill in your contact information. Click “Next.”
- Click “Member” and complete your demographics information. Click “Next.”
- Leave “Your Events” empty. Click “Next.”
- Review your “Registration Summary.” Click “Next.”
- You’re done! You will have a confirmation number; your total will be $0.00. Print your confirmation.
Oh yeah, and exhibit dates/times are below, with the story on the ALA page:
Friday, Jan 15: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Saturday, Jan 16: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday, Jan 17: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Monday, Jan 18: 9:00am - 2:00pm
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Posted under Conferences, Library | 3 Comments »
November 3rd, 2009 Brian Herzog
I’ve mentioned the Library Use Value Calculator a few times, including that the ALA liked it so much they added it to their Tough Times Toolkit (under Making the Case).
Now they’ve gone one better - the ALA partnered with Safeway to take the Library Calculator out of the virtual world and bring it to the breakfast table.
The artwork [pdf] on the back of their cereal box looks great*, and it certainly gets the point across (I think the “get rich” angle is odd, but I guess that’s marketing). It seems fairly intuitive, lists useful facts, and also includes a nice library-related quote from Barack Obama.
Check out the ALA’s webpage, the box itself [pdf], and if there’s a store near you that carries Safeway cereal, look for it. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be any in New England.
*Also good is that it satisfies my cereal box rule: whatever is on the back of the box should be interesting enough to keep you occupied for as long as the cereal inside the box lasts. I mean, those little mazes they put on the back of some boxes might keep me occupied for the first bowl, but what about all the subsequent mornings I eat that cereal? See, if I were president philosopher-king, the world would be a whole lot different.
Tags: @yourlibrary, ala, american libraries association, box, calculator, cereal, get rich, ilovelibraries, libraries, Library, library calculator, library use value calculator, public, safeway See Also
Posted under Library, Marketing | 3 Comments »
October 2nd, 2008 Brian Herzog
Most of the talk about ALA’s new website redesign has died down, but I noticed something this week I want to comment on.
On the whole, I think the new site is a vast improvement over the old one. And with any new site, I understand they’re still shaking out the bugs, and dealing with lots of dead links.
But: for my previous post, I wanted to find information from the ALA about library activity rising in time of economic trouble. A search on Google linked to something sounding exactly like what I was looking for on the ALA site. However, the link was broken.
By searching the ALA site itself for the title displayed in the Google results, I ultimately found the article’s new location. Which is fine, but I have to say I am disappointed with the new website’s 404 page.
When the 404 “Page Not Found” page loads, the most dominate thing on the page is the search box right in the center. So of course I clicked on this to search for the page I wanted. But - surprise - it’s not a functioning search box. It’s just an image of what the search box at the top of the page looks like. Of course the text above this image tells you to use the one at the top, but who reads? I don’t - especially when a dominate image draws my attention away from the text.
So ALA, how about making the search box in the center a functioning search box, instead of just teasing us? It would add utility to the page, and make the 404 page incrementally just that much more user-friendly.
But otherwise, I think this is a pretty good 404 page, as far as they go. It customized and nice-looking, and gives some tips for finding what you’re looking for. It also includes an email address to contact a person for help, which is great. I think I only noticed this because I talked about library website 404 pages before, and gave my library a fancy-pants 404 page.
I don’t understand why it doesn’t show up all the time, but maybe that’s in the works, too.
Tags: 404, ala, american, american library association, association, error, libraries, Library, missing, new, page, pages, public, redesign, revamp, website See Also
Posted under Library, Technology, Websites | 5 Comments »
