Blog Archives
Friday Reads – Busy Week Edition
This was quite the busy week. Lots of travel around the county and little time to read. No complaints from me. I like visiting the branches. I went to three branches to talk about our impending Summer Reading Clubs. To make it more palatable I brought cookies/cupcakes and ice cream sandwiches/drumsticks. Yeah. I know how to make people come to a meeting.
My library is about to launch OverDrive and there has been lots of preparation for that. I’ve written a short ‘How to get your computer ready for OverDrive’ sheet for people. I hope it helps. I’ve also been tasked with being the point person for customer/staff education and troubleshooting once the site goes live. I know you’re jealous.
I’ve spent today getting everything ready for another Time Machine program featuring Mr. Chris. This time he’s kidnapping Richard Byrd. It’s for the Moving Henrico Forward: Air, Road, Rail and Water event at the Virginia Aviation Museum this Sunday. The guys did a great job of filming and I’m really looking forward to seeing the reaction from the kids.
On to the posts
Library Renewal is an organization worth watching. The people involved are smart and have a very good understanding of libraries and electronic content. I wish them luck and am willing to help if possible.
I like it when people not directly associated with libraries discuss libraries. I especially like it when technology reporters at great technology sites discuss libraries. This one talks about the Digital Public Library. Watch the video.
The e-G8 was this week and it seems to have been an interesting mix of people. It was held in Paris a few days before the G8. Called by the French President to discuss the internet and how it affects lots of different areas, it got some mixed reviews. I like this write up because the guy from EFF was not the typical attendee.
Readings and Thoughts
Where did this week go? Really? Wasn’t I just watching the Super Bowl? It has been a busy week so I really didn’t get to read as much as I usually do.
The big story on the personal front is the purchase of a new TV and the ordeal that became. It may become a post here…maybe. I’m not sure I really want to rehash all the details of that experience. Let’s just say we’ve purchased (and returned) a few TV’s this week.
I’ve been thinking a lot about library savings calculators at work this week. I really wanted to be able to write a blog post about how much money we save our community but was unable to. I’ve got something written up and just need to hit publish but I don’t like it. So, I’ll have to revise it a bit. What is the best way to tell people that we helped them save over $3.8 MILLION in one month with out coming across as preachy or needy? I also would like to have an actual calculator to give them that uses the numbers we used for the calculations. Unfortunately, I don’t have the technical chops for such an endeavor. I hope I can grab our web developer and get his help with that.
The big topic in my mind this week has been the (surprise) invitation to participate in the LITA (Library & Information Technology Association) National Forum 2012 Committee. This is a really good opportunity to learn a lot, meet some new people and get involved in ALA. It would also mean attending more conferences which isn’t a bad thing but the county doesn’t have the money to pay for it and I don’t have it either. There is also the question of time. I don’t want to commit to something that will take me away from my family or distract me at work unnecessarily. I also wouldn’t want to be ‘that guy’ who volunteered to help then did nothing. I’ve been asking around for some advice and will hopefully make up my mind early next week. THEN I have to get approval from my boss… We will see.
The reading list this week is quite short with only four posts. Some technology related and some Library related. These stuck with me this week so I’m sharing them. They are available for download for different mobile devices here.
- The possibility of incorporating Near Field Communications into library use really intrigues me. This post at Ars Technica explains the technology very well. It’s a bit dense on technical terms but I feel that I understand it more than I did before I read this.
- John C. Dvorak (who is always great on TWIT) discusses a current proposal to develop an “Internet Kill Switch”. It’s a bad idea.
- Libraries in the UK are facing similar, if not worse, problems than we are. The BBC wrote this piece about libraries last week. There is a good video about two people who used the library to start a business and improve a skill.
- Aaron Schmidt provides some advice on library signs. I’m not too sure about the sign matrix he mentions but I do like the design tips.
Weekend Reading 2/4/2011
Another week of trying to keep up with events and developments around the world while working and parenting.
I’ve been more interested in the protests in Egypt than any other protest around the world in years. I’m not sure why but I get the feeling that this is going to be really big. Maybe not but it looks like it could be. It has me wondering what I would do if something similar happened here. Would I be out in the streets protesting? I honestly can’t say. I’d rather not find out.
This week’s Phillips Digest is below and as always can be downloaded in a few different formats here. Maybe one day I’ll have a clever name for these posts…
- This post at gigaom describes the role social media plays in many current events. Social media is not the catalyst of protests. It is a tool used to spread the word.
- ReadWriteWeb gives us a good summary of the past week’s events in Egypt from a technologist’s point of view. They provide links to other posts explaining how the internet was shut off in Egypt, how some people were able to get around that cut off and much more.
- This is an interesting post from the Harvard Business Review comparing rebels and leaders. Good organizations need both. Rebels question. Leaders decide. Many celebrated leaders were perceived as rebels in the beginning.
- Eric Hellman has written a good recap of the recent Digital Book World. Definitely worth a read. The paragraph about Overdrive is especially interesting.
- Bohyun Kim has given me something to think about with her post about tag lines. What do we want ours to be? “A Nationally Recognized Public Library” isn’t going to cut it.
- Barbara Fisher gives us much to think about in the Library Journal article. She touches on the recent Digital Book World conference and a question someone asked the CEO’s of publishing houses. The problem of easy vs. free is an interesting dilemma we are/will be facing in the eBook arena. She encourages librarians to seek different ways to provide electronic content than what is currently available. How? Don’t know.
- Gigaom reports on a prediction by Cisco on mobile data use. It is staggering how much data is being used now and how much more will be used in a few years. Most of it is driven by mobile video. One stat they include that stands out to me: “Global mobile data traffic in 2010 was three times the size of all global Internet traffic (fixed and mobile) in the year 2000.” We’ve come a long way in a relatively short time.
- This post at ReadWriteWeb caught my eye this week because it may offer an alternative to purchasing new computers as frequently as we do. Our computers are aging and our budget is flat. If we can use this (or a similar service) it may save us some money and keep our computers more up-to-date. It may not. It’s worth investigating.
Things that have gotten me thinking this week
- Harry McCracken at PC-World wrote an article last month discussing the sales of eReaders in 2010. The short of it is that the companies are claiming that they are selling millions of eReaders but few actually provide the numbers.
- Ars Technica writer Matthew Lassar discusses how the political talking heads discuss net neutrality and how both sides are getting it wrong.
- Read Write Web recaps Forrester Research’s 10 mobile trends for 2011. The two that may matter for us are: 4) The “Apps vs. Internet” Debate Will Continue…to be Irrelevant and 6) Mobile Will Increasingly Prompt Users to Interact with Their Environment.
- Another post from Read Write Web gives us some information about the integration of Near-Field Communication and the next iPhone. Possible uses for libraries in the future…use phone for library card. iPhones are not the only mobile devices beginning to integrate NFC. Many more will soon.
- Andy Burkhardt gives us something to think about with his post about Devil’s Advocates. He has some interesting thoughts on the role of a DA and new ideas.
- Andy Woodworth has written a fantastic piece about the need to dream big in Libraryland and the balance between day-to-day necessities.
- Sarah Houghton-Jan provides food for thought about the library user experience via an excerpt from a Steampunk graphic novel.
If you want to read these on the go you can download them in digest form here.
This week’s interesting reading
Due to the shortness of the week and various projects and meetings I only have a few articles this week. They are good ones though.
- Meredith Farkas gives us plenty to think about with her post. She always provides thoughtful commentary on library issues. She lives in Vermont so I like her!
- I continue to try to understand Net Neutrality. This article from The Economist was published in December but I just read it. It’s very informative and provides a good basic explanation of the issue.
- Ars Technica discusses the recent FCC and Department of Justice approval of the NBC Universal and Comcast merger. I haven’t really been following this debate but it looks like this could really shake things up.
- Read Write Web had a 16 year old guest author discuss the implications of technology and personal history. How do we preserve our personal history in a digital environment where there are no physical objects (letters etc) to save?
- Steven Bell at Designing Better Libraries offers some tips for making mundane interactions at the library more memorable and positive for our public.
- Cynthia Thomas at UX Magazine discusses the Experience-Driven Culture. It’s a new concept for me and I think it’s something we would do well to contemplate as we move forward with our strategic planning. I’ll have to learn more about this.
To download these articles in .pdf, .mobi, or .epub click here.
Reading, Reading, Reading
I read a lot at work. It’s part of my job to keep up-to-date with library and technology news. I have been using Google Reader to keep up with my RSS feeds for years. I’ve developed a very long list of feeds and sometimes they can get a little overwhelming. So, this year I’ve decided to experiment with how I read the news and what I can do with the things I read.
For years I read via Google Reader only, but I recently discovered Feedly. It does a great job of making Google Reader look better. I really like the look of it. I guess it’s because it incorporates pictures very well. When I’m at home I use Flipboard on the iPad. The integration with Google Reader is simply awesome. I like it a lot.
Another tool I use for reading is Instapaper. It is my tool of choice for saving things for later. It has a great iPhone and iPad app that I use to read posts/articles I want to give more attention to. A nice thing Instapaper does is allow you to create folders. You can do more than organize content with the folders. You can download them to read on your eReader. They have options for Kindle (.mobi) and Nook, Kobo etc (.epub). It’s a very nice feature! You can also create a printable page if you like.
Because I read so much I sometimes forget what I’ve read. So this year I’m going to experiment with producing a little weekly digest of (what I think are) the best posts/articles I’ve read. I’m doing this for 3 reasons:
- Find things later
- Demonstrate some value to my time spent reading
- Pass along good blog posts and newspaper/magazine articles.
My original idea was to pass this reading list on to my boss and other coworkers but the more I thought about it I figured I’d post it here. Who knows, someone may get some value out of it. I’m using ge.tt for distribution because WordPress won’t let me upload .mobi or.epub files. This is my first attempt so it will improve. I like the idea so I’ll probably keep at it for a while.
Feel free to download my very first Weekly Reading List. It’s available in .pdf, .epub. or .mobi.
