December 18th, 2008 Brian Herzog
In addition to this blog, I also write a weekly post for my library’s blog. I don’t feel like I’m spreading myself too thin, but sometimes I have to wonder if there is any connection between my online and real-life activities.
Last week’s post for the library was a Holiday Book Guide. It contained a list of kids books suggested by our Youth Services Librarians, and also links to other websites with end-of-the-year book recommendations. The list of other websites is short, but I tried to find a good mix. However, apparently, I wasn’t reading them very closely.
A couple days ago, I was going through a cart of new books with a coworker. He held up three books and said “hey, I saw all of these on that Boing Boing list of books.” It was then that I realized that, although I had read all of the lists I linked to, apparently I had retained nothing because none of the books he was holding looked familiar.
This must have been a case of me working faster than I was thinking, trying to get a useful blog post up by the (self-imposed) deadline. But it’s also a reminder that websites aren’t just something to link to as information for other people - I need to read them, too.
I guess I need to remember to stop and smell the roses - or in this case, stop and read the blogs.
Tags: blog, blogs, Books, guide, holiday, libraries, Library, post, posting, public, reading See Also
Posted under Library, Random | No Comments »
October 21st, 2008 Brian Herzog
Right now I’m in Manchester, NH, for the 2008 NELA conference. In addition to being an attendee and a speaker, I’m also blogging the sessions I attend for the NELA conference blog (read my posts).
This year there are ten volunteer bloggers, and I think it’s great -
- great that NELA is supporting a blog
- great that people volunteer to contribute
- great that the notes we take during sessions are available for all attendees, people who couldn’t come, trustees who need to see these things, and anyone else who is interested
There are lots of worthwhile conferences and workshops every year, and I go to very few of them. I think it’s important for these conferences to extend beyond the conference dates and facility to reach the people who can’t come. Considerations for “virtual attendance” seems to be getting more common, in fits and starts, but I think it’ll happen.
Along these lines, RUSA has recently asked a small group of librarians to look at this very issue. The goal of this task force is to recommend
a suite of technology-based approaches to virtual membership, virtual attendance at conference, podcasting or videocasting conference programs, the creation of webinars to be hosted by RUSA, and a range of other approaches that would provide resources to our members – both those that attend conference and those for whom conference attendance is a barrier to participation.
Now this is an organization moving in the direction of its members. Thank you, RUSA. I’m not sure what the end result of the task force will be, but just the fact that a large, member-based organization like this is paying attention to the needs of its members is a step in the right direction.
And hopefully, once RUSA develops and implements a good model, it will spread to the rest of the ALA.
But for the time being, don’t be afraid to let your consortia, library associations, or other conference groups know what works and doesn’t work for you, and where your needs are and aren’t being met. That’s the best way to get the resources tailored to our needs.
Update: I forgot to mention that the Internet Librarian conference is also going on right now - check out blog posts tagged with il2008 on google blog search.
Tags: blog, blogging, blogs, conference, Conferences, librarians, libraries, Library, nela, nela2008, new england library association, notes, rusa, sessions See Also
Posted under Conferences, Library, Technology | 1 Comment »
October 14th, 2008 Brian Herzog
The New England Library Association’s 2008 Annual Conference starts this weekend, Oct. 19-21st. This year’s conference is in Manchester, NH, and there is still time to register if you’d like to attend.
To supplement the conference sessions for people who can’t attend, there will be a conference blog again this year. Last year, volunteers posted notes from the sessions they attended, and there were so many positive comments that NELA is doing it again. The blog is sponsored by Plymouth Rocket and is available at http://nelib.wordpress.com.
If you are interested in being a conference blogger, please contact Kathy Lussier at klussier@semls.org with questions or to sign up. Here’s a bit of an overview:
What do you need to be a conference blogger?
- Bloggers need some degree of writing ability and must feel comfortable posting with an online form (posting to a blog is as easy as sending an e-mail)
- You do not need your own blog, since NELA will be hosting the conference blog
- Bloggers can post about conference sessions, meetings or events. You can post notes from a session or write about what you took away from the session. We do ask that you commit to a minimum of two posts for each day you are blogging
- If you aren’t a blogger, but prefer taking photos, we have also created a NELA group on Flickr where you can post your conference snapshots. The group is available at http://flickr.com/groups/nela
Even if you aren’t going to blog, please do check it out and let us know what you think. The goal is to make this blog as useful as possible, and all comments and suggestions are appreciated.
And if you’re going, I hope you enjoy the conference. It’s always a great place to network with librarians, learning about what’s happening in the library world (such as Work Like A Patron Day), or attend a panel discussion (such as Library 2.0 For You).
I’ll be there, and if you see me, please say hi.
Tags: blog, blogging, conference, Conferences, libraries, Library, nela, nela2008, nelib, new england library association, public See Also
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August 14th, 2008 Brian Herzog
The library in my hometown has a blog, which I read because it’s well done and because it’s a way for me to stay connected with where my family lives.
I particularly enjoyed one recent post. Someone found a photo in the library’s historical archive that had been later doctored for use in a promotional book.
Check the original post for bigger photos. It is interesting to see how the photo, circa 1900, could be altered so well - as opposed to some of the bad work being done now with Photoshop.
This shows that fun can come from library archive, especially photo archives. Also, too, the subject of the photo is interesting. It’s the dock of Cedar Point, an amusement park in Sandusky, OH. And I am always amazed at how dressing nicely was just a matter of course in that era. People at Cedar Point don’t dress like that anymore.
Tags: archive, archives, blog, blogs, cedar point, historical, libraries, Library, oh, ohio, old, photo, photos, photoshop, public, sandusky See Also
Posted under Library, Technology | 2 Comments »
August 12th, 2008 Brian Herzog
My Library subscribes to a lot of periodicals, but the one I always make a point of checking out each month is CQ Researcher. For professional reasons, I know I should keep an eye on current topics in as many of our periodicals and resources as possible, but CQ Researcher is usually interesting beyond professional reasons.
I like the format, too - the entire slim issue is devoted to a single topic. The most recent issue, August 1st, was devoted to Internet Accuracy.
The section I found particular interesting, titled “How to Evaluate Blogs and Online Information Source,” can serve a good checklist for anyone doing internet research. I wish I could reproduce the whole thing, but here’s me paraphrasing:
- Look closely at the URL - the domain name can sometimes tell a lot of about the nature of the website
- Locate the main website - try deleting everything that comes after the domain suffix (the .com or .edu, etc) and see what the rest of the site is like
- Can a real person be contacted? - if there isn’t an “about me” page or way to contact the author, there’s reason to be suspicious
- Are there additional links? - reliable websites usually link to additional resources, or at least other pages within that site
- Are there misspellings and typos? - lots of grammatical errors can indicate untrustworthiness, because little errors often coincide with big errors
- How long has the blogger been at it? - reliable bloggers usually indicate how long they’ve been writing, and as with anything, bloggers get better over time
- How many topics does the blog cover? - if the blog has too many categories, then this person is certainly not an expert
- What is the blog’s format? - websites that use the default look or theme may indicate that not much effort has been put into the project, whereas a personal brand shows the blogger cares enough to establish an image
I like this list so much that I’m going to co-op it into a post for my Library’s blog - and maybe a bookmark.
The rest of the issue is good, too. The major article talks about the reliability and use of websites like Wikipedia, traditional news outlets, blogs, and what turns up in search engines. There are also sections on where people go for answers (58% go to the internet, 45% to friends and family, 13% to the library), where the most well-informed people get their information (with The Daily Show and The Colbert Report out ranking every other source), and a bibliography, position papers on current topics, and more.
All in all, definitely an issue worth reading. Sadly, their website does not allow open and free access, but check for it at your local library.
Tags: accuracy, blog, blogs, cq press, cq researcher, cqpress, cqresearcher, internet, libraries, Library, public, reliability, trustworthiness, truthiness, website, Websites See Also
Posted under Library, Technology | 2 Comments »
