What I Learned Today…

• Zazzle
  Custom T-Shirts, Posters, Art and more…

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• RSS Readers – e-mail

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• Twitter Guide Book – How To, Tips and Instructions by Mashable
• Six technologies soon to affect education

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I have been asked to give a few workshops on the value of Twitter to libraries and librarians. So far, I have collected a series of articles and guides and wanted to share the list with you all.

• 5 ways for libraries to fail at Twitter
• 5 terrific twitter research tools
• How twitter will change the way we live
• Twitter your books to LibraryThing
• Twitter & its value to librarians
• Tweetworthy Twitter Policy
• How Twitter can Make History
• Companies take time to Twitter
• Twitter for Libraries
• Conference twittering
• Twitter Mindmap

Please feel free to recommend other links I should read or share with my students.

Technorati Tags: twitter

• Mac4Lin
  The goal of this project is to bring the Mac OS X user interface to POSIX Operating Systems (GNU/LInux, FreeBSD, openSolaris etc.).
• Freeciv
  Freeciv is a Free and Open Source empire-building strategy game inspired by the history of human civilization.
• Lupo PenSuite
  The Suite includes over 200 highly selected portable programs and games (7-Zip, Audacity, CCleaner, eMule, FileZilla, Firefox, Foxit Reader, GIMP, IrfanView, Miranda, Notepad++, Opera, Thunderbird, µTorrent, VLC and many more). Over 5 million users have downloaded it.
• LiberKey
  LiberKey installed on your USB key (or mini external hard drive, a music player such as iPod…) can be connected on any PC. Immediately you have under hand all your familiar tools, without any installation on the host PC.
• Open Source ? Open Libraries
  Open Source ? Open Libraries is a consortia of libraries, library systems, and other organizations committed to pursuing Open Source Software (OSS) alternatives for libraries.
• Open Access. Chapter 6 of Scholarly Communication for Librarians. – E-LIS
  In-depth overview of open access, covering definitions (open access publishing, open access archives, gratis and libre, open access works versus open access processes), major statements and declarations, types of open access, major initiatives, trends, advocacy and lobbying.
• OpenCourseWare Finder
• CrowdEye
  CrowdEye is a new generation of search engine which looks at the worldwide web in a new way. By tracking discussions on Twitter, we can help our users find out what?s important to them right now in real time. CrowdEye has created innovative technology to scan through tweets, retweets, twitter links and more.
• Collecta
  The web is alive with real-time information. So why search a stale archive? Collecta monitors the update streams of news sites, popular blogs and social media, and Flickr, so we can show you results as they happen.
• ROARMAP
  Registry of Open Access Repository Material Archiving Policies

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Today I got an email from LinkedIn announcing that they will be adding subgroups!

We’re happy to announce that later this week we are launching a long-requested feature for group managers: the ability to create subgroups. Subgroups are like a break-out session at a conference. They enable you to create more focused areas than in the main group.

Also, by creating and inviting members into subgroups, you can now send additional weekly Announcement emails to focused audiences.

This is pretty awesome – I just wish they had done this from the start so that I didn’t have to sign up for so many library specific groups – I could have signed up for 1 or 2 and put myself into the appropriate sub groups after the fact. It will be interesting to see where this goes and how people start organizing their existing groups.

Technorati Tags: linkedin

Librarian (and library) twitterers have been recognized by BookSeller.com:

Libraries are seizing on Twitter, the micro-blogging phenomenon, as a new way to reach out to users and to network with colleagues and the wider book trade.

An estimated 40-plus individual libraries and library services, including Manchester, Devon, Bradford, Edinburgh, Westminster and Leeds are now making use of the site. Many individual librarians are also choosing to register.

Very cool!

Technorati Tags: twitter

• OmCollab
  omCollab is a powerful, Enterprise 2.0 collaboration product completely built on open source software. It provides a web portal environment to create, share and search Microsoft Office content, files, shared bookmarks, blog posts and wiki articles across the enterprise. omCollab integrates some of the most powerful open source software applications into a single collaborative environment. It enables organisations to drive innovation, collaboration and community building.

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• Inkscape
  An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.
• GovFresh
  GovFresh is a live feed of official news from U.S. Government Twitter, YouTube, RSS, Facebook, Flickr accounts and more, all in one place.
• Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data
  This unique book is geared to help any library keep its website dynamically and collaboratively up-to-date, increase user participation, and provide exemplary web-based service through the power of mashups.

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Better late than never, that’s my opinion Sorry it took me so long to get this summary up.

The keynote talk at SLA 2009 in Washington, DC was made by Colin Powell and I must say it was better than I thought it would be!! I need to start by mentioning that my notes will seem like they’re all over the place- but that’s because Colin kept changing directions in his talk (which is what made it so interesting).

The talk started with a quote from a colleague, “There are no secrets to success it is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.”

Colin Powell has his own librarians for his special collection. He often sends question to his librarian like – “Do you have a picture of me at age 6″ or “Did I ever say this to anyone?” And even though he pissed us (librarians) off by telling people to go to their offices and throw out their research materials and their books a few years ago – he didn’t mean that he didn’t appreciate librarians and what they did – he did it because he had to make a point – things had changed since his staff had started working – and it was time to catch up with technology.

He said he didn’t want them to abandon the past but to shake them free of the past and build on it. To make this change, he bought over 44 thousand computers (spending several hundred million dollars) – and he put one on every single desk in the embassies and state departments – and told them – now lets get into the information age. He had to change the hardware and the software – and the “brainware.”

Colin said, “We had to change because we’re in a new world – in a world of information explosion – information that needed to be turned into knowledge” – and his staff had to understand that all the boundaries that existed years ago were gone – and he wanted them to move faster and faster – he wanted them to get online.

He asked how can we be an up-to-date organization if the stuff on our website is 2 or 3 years old (he was talking about the state department – but I bet we can find some libraries like this too) – it is a transactional world – it’s no longer a lunar world – we don’t measure in months, years, etc – we measure in transactions. He said “I want to beat Google, i want to beat the CIA – I want to be faster and better” – but his staff kept saying we like the old way – updating once a month – or once a year.

His favorite example to give people about the power of the Internet is a time when someone called and complained about a resolution to the UN. While his colleague was on the phone with him explaining his problem Colin didn’t visit his own site – instead he went to Google – it took him 1 second to find the resolution in question and help the man on the other line. You have to move at the speed of light – you have to be faster than anyone else in the world we’re living in if you’re going to succeed.

He then mentioned Clay Shirky’s Here comes everybody (a book that is still sitting on my wishlist). In the book, Clay mentions that in the old days you got a group together by sending flyers – or calling – but doing all that costs money – but now with the power of the information revolution and the technology we have – the cost of adding people to a group or assembling people is zero. An example of this would be the Flash Mobs that you can find videos of on YouTube.

That said, it’s not just Google that’s making us faster, it’s YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

He mentioned that his 14-year-old grandchild was born digital whereas he’s analog and got himself a $59 converter to become digital His grandchild was 4 1/2 before he would sit to have a book read to him – but he knew how to use the computer at 3. His grandkids won’t answer emails or the phone – he has to tweet or text message them to get them to respond. This is what we’ve been hearing from reports left and right about digital natives.

Much to the dismay of librarians all over (who think Google is evil) Colin mentioned that he looked at SLA’s ClickU, but instead of navigating through the SLA site, he just went to Google. He said he doesn’t use bookmarks anymore because Google knows everything. He said, “I’m peddling as fast as I can to keep up with this stuff – it’s exciting and it’s fascinating” – but what does it mean to us as librarians?

SLA may have had the same title for 100 years – but the association is not the same – we are now working in the electronic world – people want to be able to work at the speed of light and what we do is so important because we keep our companies and businesses informed.

At this point, Colin started jumping all over with his topics (which was fun to watch and listen to). Some great quotes though:

• “I love this new world and I find it so exciting”
• “I always want to see what’s in the front windshield not the rearview mirror”

He talked about the flattening of the world. We’re competing in everything – students don’t need to come to America for superior education anymore – they can get it elsewhere. People aren’t coming to our medical facilities – cause there are great services all over – it’s a flat world. That said, he wants people to come here and stay here – to study because they learn about us – they learn that we’re not a Hollywood sitcom or a Michael Moore book.

He told us to remember that the followers always get the work done – in order to get that work done you have to give the people who work for you a sense of purpose – and that has to come from the leader – and it has to come from a leader or who is passionate – and infectious and they have to see that passion coming out of the leader – you can’t just talk the talk – you have to walk it – you have to invest in your people – that’s why he bought those computers – leaders have to give followers the tools to get the job done – leaders have to compliment – a simple handshake or a handwritten note – it means the world – people thrive on this simple kind of attention – when you show them that you believe in them. A leader also has to be able to prune the organization – because the good followers know who the bad ones are and they’re waiting for a leader to do something.

He mentioned that it may look like nothing is going right in the world right now – but a lot is going right – we just don’t think about it right. More people are living under democracies than ever before – we have fewer enemies – we are now working with many countries that were once our enemies (Russia, China).

In short, he thinks this is a time of great opportunity.

Overall an amazing talk and such an energetic man. I’m very happy that I got to be there for that talk!!

Technorati Tags: colin powell, sla2009, sla09

If your library is using Drupal or Joomla you might want to help another librarian by answering these 5 questions about why you chose the system you chose.

I was going to answer the survey, but it assumes that I’m talking about my experience in a library – and I never used either in a library, but have used both. My preference (if I can only pick between those two) is Joomla – but neither is really perfect.

Technorati Tags: joomla, drupal

• Backbars
  Backbars on social link-sites is a GreaseMonkey script to turn the headlines and comments of social link-sites into ambient bar charts (of votes/diggs/views/users?) It works on Reddit, Delicious, Digg, Hacker News, and Stack Overflow (and MetaFilter now!).
• Produle
  Create Flash Widgets

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This sounds pretty darn interesting:

The Handheld Librarian 2009 – An online conference about Mobile Library Services

More people than ever are using mobile devices for a wide variety of purposes including communication, internet access, text messaging, and entertainment. It is important that libraries provide services on these devices as use increases.

The first ever Handheld Librarian Online on July 30, 2009 is the place to learn about these and other topics related to using wireless and handheld devices in your library. The program — sponsored by Alliance Library System, LearningTimes and Infoquest — will include a variety of ways to collaborate, network and learn from a great group of experts in the field. In addition to live interactive webcasts, we will have a collection of available resources, discussions boards, and access to the recording of all live events for one year after the conference.

As most of you know, I just made the jump to a smart phone – and like a lot of others I’m drooling over the new Kindle DX – this might be the place to learn more about how to use these tools effectively.

• Library a la Carte
  Librarians have enough to do and maintaining static HTML pages is tedious and time-consuming. The Library à la Carte tool enables librarians to easily and quickly create dynamic web pages that integrate Web 2.0 features, such as chat and RSS feeds, with traditional library content, such as catalogs and article databases.
• LibData Project Site
  LibData is a library oriented web based application which provides authoring environments for subject pathfinders (Research QuickStart), course related pages (CourseLib) and general purpose web pages (PageScribe).

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• Family Tree Magazine

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That’s right!! My book is finally ready for you to order multiple copies hehe

Make sure you share this information with your local libraries and colleagues – there is a lot to learn in here about how to improve the services your library offers.

Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data
Edited by Nicole C. Engard   ·   Foreword by Jenny Levine   ·   ISBN 978-1-57387-372-7

As web users become more savvy and demanding, libraries are looking for new ways to allow patron participation and keep their websites dynamically and collaboratively up-to-date. Mashups—web applications that combine freely available data from various sources to create something new—can be one very powerful way to meet patrons’ expectations and provide exemplary web-based service.

In Library Mashups, Nicole C. Engard and 25 contributors from all over the world walk readers through definitions, summaries, and practical uses of mashups in libraries. Examples range from ways to allow those without programming skills to make simple website updates, to modifying the library OPAC, to using popular sites like Flickr, Yahoo!, LibraryThing, Google Maps, and Delicious to share and combine digital content. This essential guide is required reading for all libraries and librarians seeking a dynamic, interactive web presence.

To learn more, browse through the table of contents, links, and book news.

• Senayan
  Senayan is an open source Library Management System. It is build on Open source technology like PHP and MySQL. Senayan provides many features such as Bibliography database, Circulation, Membership and many more that will help "automating" library tasks.

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I have been doing genealogy research for my family for about a year now and I often get frustrated because it’s hard to figure out what name my Italian ancestors used before coming to America. Today I got a great tip from Ancestry.com:

My grandmother whose first name was Bertha was enumerated in 1910 as Brony, which was short for Bronislawa, the Polish version of her name. Ironically, she was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and her father, who had been born in Poland gave the English version of his name–John. When Elizabeth Szucs arrived in the Port of New York in 1906, her name is listed on the manifest as Erszebet Szucs.

Fortunately determining the ethnic equivalent of your ancestor’s name typically isn’t too difficult. BehindtheName.com is a great resource. Type your ancestor’s name in the search box and then from the box on the right, select “Related Names” and you’ll be rewarded with a list of related names from various ethnic backgrounds. The site lists well over a hundred variations of Elizabeth alone from countries around the world.

This is a great tip to share with the reference librarians at your library – so that they can help community members find their ancestors with a bit more ease than I’ve had to far

Technorati Tags: genealogy

Today we are all able to get usernames for our Facebook profiles. I snagged my usual username – which means that you can now access my profile by going to facebook.com/nengard. My problem is that you can’t get a name for your Facebook pages unless you have 1000 fans!!

That’s insane – most libraries aren’t going to have that many fans – so that means they’re going to have to wait:

This limitation is temporary. All Pages created after May 31, 2009 or that had less than 1,000 fans on that day will be eligible to claim usernames on Sunday, June 28, 2009.

Guess I’ll have to mark my calendar and wait patiently.

Technorati Tags: facebook

• LimeSurvey.org
  The Leading Open Source Survey Tool
• Zemanta Ltd.
  Simple point & click enrichment of your blog posts (and emails). In real-time, while you type. We suggest tags, links, photos, and related articles.
• Pixlr
  We bring you advanced online image and photo editing tools, just choose your flavor, jump in and start creating!

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Today I went to Pres4Lib and during the break out on Creative Commons content, we learned about Zemanta from John LeMasney. Zemanta is a plugin for FF that integrates itself into your blog posting and emails and maybe more – and it finds content based on what you’re writing about for you to add to enhance your writing.

Finding content was never this easy

No matter what you’re writing about: books, music, or how to save the planet, we have highly relevant content to enrich your posts.

Images from Flickr, Wikipedia, Getty and other great sources

So, I installed it and started writing an email to a friend about how excited my pups were that they were coming on the trip with us – and guess what? Zemanta found pictures of Coda & Beau for me to insert into my email!!! Check it out:

Technorati Tags: pres4lib, zemanta

• notify.me
  Stay update on the information that matters
• Scheduly
  Scheduly is about managing your appointments online, whether you have a business and you want to communicate more efficiently with your clients, need a system to arrange classrooms reservations, open a study group with your school buddies or just want to share appointments with friends and family.
• Jiffle | Scheduling Made Simple
• CalendarFly
  The FREE scheduling tool that makes life easier for parents, students, teachers, coaches, and everyone else!

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This morning while I was training librarians on how to use Koha, libraries were featured on the Today Show. If you missed it too – you can view it here:

• Weminaria
  Open source screen recording software, free video capture, video recorder, capture tool, desktop recorder, software tutorial, create software demo

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Did you know that you had a phone book on Facebook? I didn’t I have been playing with my new Blackberry Storm and updating my contacts and one thing I found was that I could link my contacts to Facebook friends and ask for phone numbers. When your friend has a public phone number or gives you access to their phone number it goes into your Facebook phone book. Pretty darn cool

Technorati Tags: facebook