I just found out that all issues since 1872! (except the last year) of Popular Science are available free online from Google Books!   I think this would be another good one to include on your list of recommended websites…

The Denver Art Museum hosted the opening event, which included Imagining the Digital Future: a Conversation, with Howard Besser and Susan Chun, and a tasty reception.   As it so frequently does these days, collaboration was addressed, especially between museums, libraries and universities.  Howard commented that our different focuses sometimes get in the way of our success – universities value research and think long term, museums prioritize fast, actionable results, librarians worship privacy…  When institutional personalities conflict like this it can be difficult to find a common goal, let alone work together.  But collaboration can mean cost and labor savings so is highly valued by funders looking for the most bang for their buck.  Perhaps collectivism is the way to go – giving priority to individual entities in a joint project just makes a mess.

IMLS also mentioned their new wiki, UpNext: The Future of Museums and Libraries, which, with the way we are reinventing ourselves to keep up with technology, declining budgets and shrinking staff, is a very interesting topic for all of us right now.  Every two weeks they’ll introduce a new theme to discuss – I’m looking forward to three of the April themes - New Models & Structures for Collaboration, Planning for a Sustainable Future and Metrics for Evaluating Service & Impact.

By the way, if you weren’t able to get to WebWise, much of the content, including the filmed conversation last night, will be available after the conference via a webcast link from the website.

I’m at IMLS’s WebWise conference this week and saw several interesting demonstrations yesterday that might be of interest to public librarians.  If you aren’t linking to it already, the Encyclopedia of Life is a great resource to add to your recommended web sites.  With over 250,000 pages all vetted by scientists, the site allows kids to add their own text, photos and even artwork.  And there are teaching tools to engage students including a scavenger hunt. 

I also saw demonstrations of SMART interactive whiteboards and the similar Promethean boards – a great way for instructors to increase participation.  This modern version of the blackboard allows you to link to a computer, the web, a projector and a sound system.  It uses touch screen technology or a digital pen and has remotes for students which gives the capability for interactive quizzes (it also compiles the results, saving teachers lots of time).  I’m entranced by this cool tool for schools but I’m trying to think of library applications for it.  I think there’d be a bit of a learning curve, so I’m not sure how useful it’d be for patron classes where you have a different audience each time.  You could use it to highlight library events and resources on a big screen at your entrance…  Do any of you have these in your libraries?  If so, how are you using them?

By the way, the Promethean board has an online community where teachers can access over 17,000 lesson plans, videos and discussion groups (so this is another url to consider adding to your recommended Education sites).

I’m probably behind the times on this, but I just saw an ad for a Blu-ray/DVD movie and wondered how many libraries have started buying these combination discs.   I couldn’t find any at my library and from discussions on various listservs I know that many libraries aren’t buying Blu-rays because while Blu-ray players are backwards compatible and can play DVDs, standard DVD players can’t play Blu-rays. 

That means that we aren’t giving some of our patrons their preferred format.  You might assume that people with Blu-ray players are wealthier and will just buy their own Blu-ray movies.  But that creates more manufactured products which is never environmentally sound.  Shouldn’t we strive to let all our patrons be as green as possible?  If we buy the combos, everyone gets their preferred format, and oddly, these combo movies are sometimes even cheaper than the standard DVD version - as these two versions of Up at Amazon are.

Do you already carry Blu-rays at your library?  Or are you buying the Blu-ray/DVD combinations?  Are there any pitfalls I’m overlooking?

I was at Pitkin County Library on President’s Day training staff there on Reference Roving, a subject I’m passionate about as there are so many unserved users in the library who are too timid to disturb us with their questions. 

The PCL staff are a very welcoming group of people with a lovely library.

Pitkin County Library in Aspen

(and it being Aspen, they even have a view of the ski slopes from the library!)

They seemed really excited to become even more proactive about soliciting questions from confused users in the stacks.

One question they did have though was how to help users who want to do something complicated on the computer, but don’t know how to use one. They do have computer classes they can refer people to, but those cost money, and staff just don’t have the time to do these computer tasks for the patrons. I mentioned that at Douglas County Libraries, we had some great volunteers that would make appointments with people to train them on computers, and then I came across a study that talked about older Americans who retire to rural areas and are a huge help in their new towns.  Have any of you started using seniors to do computer tasks for your patrons or help alleviate the burden of teaching users how to get on the web?  How has that worked for you?

By the way, I realized that while I’ve mentioned the Friends of the Library training I did in Utah last summer, I never linked to it, so now I have

I know I seem to be writing a lot about marketing your library lately, but there have been so many good ideas that will help make the library more enticing and make it easier for our patrons to use. 

I just came across this webpage about using bookstore design in your library.  The staff recommendations idea is great and also the tips re where to locate your displays (especially the statistic that items displayed near the front desk can circulate up to 1000 times more than items on the shelf!), lit displays and colors to use on signage.

And while we’re at it, for all you libraries with a Facebook presence but no My Space one, looks like you made the cool choice (at least according to those arbiters of hip – college students)!

I just discovered The M Word  which has some great tips for promoting libraries. 

Aside from bringing you some really fun library models like Britain’s phone booth library and the donkey library, Nancy and Kathy blogged on Calgary Public Library’s great grocery store ads, ALA’s Library Advocacy Day video (OK, I’m a softie, but it brought tears to my eyes) and social media cards, to name just a few topics.  They bring you library success stories, market research statistics and tons of other helpful news and information.  I especially like their thoughts on who should determine what a “library” really is.

And speaking of helpful research, I was heartened to read on p. 21 of the 12/09 issue of American Libraries that libraries are far more important than park districts to the public (not that I don’t love CO’s open space areas, but I have to admit libraries affect more people than great hiking trails do) – search on “park districts” at the link for this reference.

We just sent out the Call for Participation for the Reference Renaissance 2010 conference, so please look at all the cool things your Adult and/or Youth Services departments are doing and consider submitting a proposal for the August conference by the April 1, 2010 deadline.

We’re looking for reports from the field, panels, demonstrations, and workshops that range in time from a half hour to an hour and a half.  You can also present a research paper or use the really short Pecha Kucha format to discuss your topic.  And later on we’ll make a call for lightning round entries.  Conference tracks include Staffing & Managing User Services; Collaboration, Consortia and Sustainability as well as Virtual Services.  There’s even a Wild Card track for controversial issues or creative and innovative services etc.

Public libraries have responded to the economic turndown in so many helpful ways – but we all need to hear about your ideas and programs.  Tell us what worked and what didn’t and what you’d do differently the next time - don’t keep your brilliant new outreach efforts all to yourself – share the knowledge so we can all make our patrons lives better, without reinventing the wheel.

And if you can’t submit a proposal, remember, the conference is an excellent learning opportunity.  Conference chairs Rivkah Sass and Marie Radford and the planning committee are putting together a great program.

A public school in CA that recently banned the 10th edition of the Merriam Webster Dictionary has thankfully decided to put it back on the shelves.

I thought this was a first but then read that the American Heritage Dictionary was banned by the Eldon, MO library in 1978 and by the Anchorage School Board in 1987. 

Drat, they’ve finally realized what most of us discovered as children – there are lots of wonderfully, colorful words and oaths in the dictionary.

I’m really excited to announce that BCR’s second Reference Renaissance conference will be in Denver August 8-10, 2010.  The conference rose from the ashes of the Virtual Reference Desk conference, but has been expanded and this time includes tracks on Meeting Our Users Where They Are and New Roles and Future Directions for Reference Librarians. 

The Call for Participation should be going out next week, and we really want to encourage public librarians to submit proposals.  I realize everyone’s so busy that preparing a presentation might seem like an overwhelming task, but if you get a few people together and do a panel, you can share the work.  Also, you can submit a Pecha Kucha style presentation (20 slides for 20 seconds each, for a total time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds), or a lightning round (the call for these extremely informal submissions will be made later).

The 2008 conference was wonderful – jam packed with over 80 presentations and talks in six tracks ranging from Virtual Reference to Innovative Service Models to Managing Reference Services, it was an incredible value.  In fact if you’re looking for free library continuing education opportunities, many of the presentation materials are available online (not to blow my own horn, but do a “find” here on “Find Your Market” for the slides and full text of my presentation on how to promote your services to customers).  The proceedings will be published on 2/28/10.

So contact me at jshaffner@bcr.org if you want to stay informed about this conference and I’ll put you on the email notification list.  And when you book your flight, consider staying a few extra days - Colorado is a fabulous place for a summer vacation – our mountain valleys become magical patchwork quilts of flowers.