What Other People Think About Reading And Libraries

The links below were posted a week or so ago on Lifehacker, but I waited a bit to mention them in order to give time for the comments to build up.

The three posts all have to do with libraries and reading. However, because the questions are being asked and answered by non-librarians, it feels so much more real and interesting than the results of a survey a library may conduct. It also reminds me that librarians aren't alone in advocating for and caring about libraries.

Anyway, for your reading pleasure:

• How Often Do You Visit Your Local Library?
• The Best Uses for Your Local Library (That Aren't Just Books) (Link corrected - thanks Jim!)
• My Secret to Reading a Lot of Books

The third one was particularly interesting to me: I talk to a lot of people about books, but very few people about reading (except for occasionally asking a stranger, "how do you like your ereader?"). It made me wonder if this would be a good idea for a library program: sort of a "reading tips" workshop. I imagine most people are comfortable with what they do, but I'd be very curious to hear about other peoples' reading habits, how they track what they read, where they hear about books, etc.

Then again, that could also be painfully dull.

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Reference Question of the Week – 3/27/11

Instead of a reference question, here's something in honor of April 1st:

Yesterday, Lifehacker posted an April Fools QR Code Internet Scavenger Hunt - the point is to find and decode a series of QR codes hidden on various websites. But the trick is that you not only need to decipher the clues, but use reference skills to search and find the right websites.

It was fun, and the information provided in the clues is remarkably similar to library reference transactions - cryptic and obscure, but usually enough to go on.

So test out your reference skills - it's fun. It's also a very good example of how a library can use QR codes for an enjoyable and engaging project.

It would have also been interesting to sort of track peoples' search techniques and strategies, to see if librarians are any better at something like this than anyone else.

Bonus
The article also linked to a handy online QR code decoder - neat.

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