Going on a blogging safari

I've just volunteered to be a blogger at the New England Library Association conference which starts this Sunday at the Radisson in Manchester NH. The safari guide is the Information Technology Section of NELA and free internet acccess for the blog is Plymouth Rocket, one of the exhibitors. That's a bonus in itself as the hotel charges for internet access (can you imagine, in this day and age?). ITS has created a wiki for conference blogging and when you log in you can sign up for specific sessions. Thus far I'll be blogging the Games and Gaming drop-in demo which is scheduled for each day and is an offshoot of Beth Gallaway's Get Your Game On to be held on Sunday afternoon. If you ever get a chance to attend one of Beth's library gaming presentations, DO IT! Hopefully my blogging duties won't interfere with a rock out session on Guitar Hero and my left pinkie finger won't be tired and hamper the operation of that damn orange key. I'm also blogging a Monday session of Libraries as Commons. This safari is also going to allow me to kill three birds with one stone as I'll also be posting photos to the NELA Conference Flickr so I can fulfill my 26.2 Things assignment for the week, I'm a former officer of NELA so I'm happy I have a chance to "give back" by providing this service and finally, to experiment with blogging and Flickr out of the comfort zone of my own library setting.
If you're attending the conference, drop by and say hi but I warn you, I rock at Guitar Hero.

Stephen Colbert loves libraries!!!

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/187342/october-07-2008/the-red-lending-menace

Not a list person

I'm not a list person, have never been, will never be. It works for me. I'm also still a big fan of my At-a-Glance little notebook, no batteries required. I don't even make lists to go to the grocery store. I toured all of the time management tools mentioned here and I can certainly see the benefits if you are a list lover. In fact, I've just sent links of them to a fellow library staffer who had downloaded the Post It Note app for her desktop. I am fascinated with some of the other social sites addressing life goals. It's like having virtual coaches. Good concept, but not for me. The Happiness Project, however...that might be a keeper.

Thing 7 - Feed Me

I'm feeling particularly overwhelmed this week. There's a big black cloud of doom over us and I've noticed a much higher level of anxiety with the public. Frankly, the whackos have been coming out of the woodwork, one patron accused my reference librarian of being "one of those liberal democrats who favor illegal aliens" when he was called to task for cutting the long waiting line for the public computers. He then called the mayor's office, claiming he had been "attacked" and I had to defend the reason we have rules in the library. Even had two staff members, usually congenial, pleasant women, at each other's throats. I feel like I'm the starring lead of an M. Night Shamalyan film. Yep, a real suckfest of a day.
So...in trying to bring some semblance of sanity into my life, I decided to complete this week's Things, desperately trying to approach it with enthusiasm. I've never used Google Reader, choosing to read blogs casually, when the mood struck. I've added Michael Stephens' Tame the Web, Stephen's Lighthouse, Karen Scheider's Free Range Librarian and PLA Blog to Google Reader. Feeling overwhelmed I was tempted to call this post Force Feed Me but I did take a minute to read Stephen Abram's latest post, The Seeds of the Next Big Thing are Being Planted Now. Kind of like taking lemons and making lemonade. So thanks Stephen Abram for helping me keep it together today, maybe I did need to be force fed for my own good.

Just posted an event on Craig's List

Since I had just updated our web page with information about an upcoming Friends book sale, I decided to post it to the events schedule on Craigs List. I registered for an account and created the post. Couldn't have been easier. Just another way to reach potential book buyers!

Job hunting on Craig's list

If anyone's interested, there's a Systems Librarian job at Harvard posted on Craig's list. Who knew?? My husband has used Craig's list to dispose of bikes that are too small, skateboard ramps no longer used, etc. We recently purchased a beautiful Lane bureau for my son through a local posting, all wood, dovetailed drawers, etc. and it was a steal.
I've always thought of Craig's List as a means to dispose of stuff. Had no idea of the volume of job listings. Actually a great improvement over the typical newspaper employment ads due to the amount of information provided in the Craig's List postings and the links to the institution.Have to admit I never knew how comprehensive it is and plan on spending some time checking it out further.

Yelp

I'm a huge fan of Yelp and have posted a few restaurant reviews. I randomly found it while googling a new restaurant and became a huge fan. I haven't had much time to poke around and look at retail and other venue reviews. I've used Yelp as I often have to travel around for meetings and its helped me discover some hole in wall places to grab lunch with friends rather than hitting one of the chains. There are some habitual posters who are real foodies and they haven't let me down yet. I'd suggest Yelp to anyone planning a trip for all kinds of eating, retail and entertainment recommendations.

Social Networking application in the library

Most of the friends on my Facebook page are librarians that I know personally or collegially. Others like Stephen Abram and Michael Stephens, I've followed for quite some time. So aside from keeping out with everyone's antics and activities, social networking can be beneficial in seeing what library innovators are up to. Some potential uses for social networking sites would be for programming ideas, collection development and instruction. For example, maybe a friend has noted in their profile that they kayak, knit, cook, etc. Perhaps they belong to a special interest networking group and there are members who would be willing to visit your library for a program. All of the librarians on my Facebook page are linked with some form of book site like Goodreads and Visual Bookshelf, providing great resources for Readers Advisory and collection development. Finally, social networking sites would be useful in training for staff or patrons. My library recently purchased a number of Playaways and we've been thinking about producing a YouTube video to profile them in real time. This application would be most appropriate in showing patrons how the item works and how to operate the controls.