April 2012
2 posts
3 tags
OnePager template for library websites →
This is *awesome* for small libraries, and a vast improvement over what many currently have. Check it out!
1 tag
Browser Extensions for All →
This library/boilerplate solution for cross-browser extension development shows a lot of promise. As it develops, it will likely lower barriers to entry for would-be extension developers and allow Greasemonkey enthusiasts to build more secure, functional scripts. If you’ve ever “wished there was an extension for that,” take a look at BabelExt.
February 2012
1 post
6 tags
A New Map →
Every Public Library & Branch in Wisconsin, mapped by street address. Includes phone numbers and links to the WorldCat Registry.
January 2012
2 posts
6 tags
WI Libraries Total Operating Expenditures Maps
This is another experiment with Google’s Fusion Tables.
DPI lists 393 libraries in their 2010 public library statistics.
Of those, almost two thirds (63% / 249 libraries) had total operating expenditures below $300,000.
About 31% (121 libraries) had total operating expenditures below $100,000.
Quite a deal, if you ask me!
7 tags
Cheaper Than Netflix (mostly)
A map of the FEW places in Wisconsin where having a public library is more expensive than a Netflix subscription ($95.88/yr). Libraries in small communities can be costly on a per capita basis, but are generally well worth it (which is to say I’m just sharing an interesting map, not trashing these libraries). And hey, they seem to be well used!
Based on DPI 2010 “Resident Support...
November 2011
14 posts
1 tag
Tiny Public Library in Kansas Uses Digital... →
appsandstacks:
Joan Weaver and Rosetta Graff aren’t exactly reinventing the small town public library, just … well, reinterpreting it.
Weaver and Graff are library director and librarian respectively of the Kinsley Public Library in Kinsley, which, with a population of roughly 1,450, is the largest town in Edwards County, in wheat-growing central Kansas.
Before the Internet, the public...
2 tags
Libraries and Museums Become Hands-On Learning... →
thelifeguardlibrarian:
world-shaker:
A new competition sponsored by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has just announced 12 winning libraries and museums that will receive $1.2 million in grant money help push the boundaries of what these institutions look like, specifically helping to create facilities that are better...
3 tags
For Librarians, Buy Librarians →
Naomi @ I Need A Library Job has compiled this list of INALJ list members, friends, and family who sell handmade items on Etsy… just in time for your holiday shopping. Good idea.
6 tags
Chinese Government Building Hackerspaces? →
As a follow up to my post on Libraries as Incubators, and Retiring Guy’s post on hacker/maker spaces, I found this story today about the Chinese government’s proposal to build 100 community hackerspaces.
3 tags
Why everyone hates the IT department →
Most of us can identify with some side of this issue. The article is about corporate IT. Is it different for libraries? Newly minted MLIS’s should have some modicum of IT knowledge. Does this allow for more collaborative, less authoritarian IT departments? A fuller integration of IT functions? Does it create institutional antagonism to have IT services handled by separate organizations...
3 tags
Citizen Journalism & Traditional Journalism - What... →
“So what does the world look like when journalism is everywhere? We are beginning to find out. And while it may be a frightening prospect if you are a traditional media company, there is a lot to be optimistic about if you are just interested in the news. A world where everyone is a journalist may be a bit more chaotic and a bit more complicated than the one we are used to, but it will also...
4 tags
Wary Of SOPA, Reddit Users Aim To Build A New,... →
1 tag
Retiring Guy: Status Report on Wisconsin's Public... →
Paul Nelson is a prolific blogger, adjunct professor, former director and co-author of a new book on managing small public libraries (that he apparently has too much class to openly pimp on his blog). Should be a series worth watching… fire up your RSS readers if you somehow aren’t already following the blog.
The Occupy Wall Street Library Regrows in... →
“The damage to the library’s archives of zines, writings, art, and original works is devastating and irreparable.”
IMO, this is a much larger problem than the destruction of a replaceable book collection, even if that was reprehensible.
6 tags
Libraries as incubators: Some thoughts and links
When I was at the Wisconsin Library Association’s annual conference a couple weeks ago, I made a choice not to attend a session called “Library as Incubator Project,” and I have come to regret that choice because I have been thinking about libraries as incubators (of various sorts) ever since. Their session was described:
The Library as Incubator Project seeks to learn how...
4 tags
In case you missed it: WPR on the importance of... →
Kathleen Dunn from Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 10:00 AM
After ten, Kathleen Dunn’s guest stresses why libraries are vitally important to their communities.
Guest: Roberta Stevens, Immediate Past-President, American Library Association.
2 tags
Designing conference posters →
If you have ever considered submitting a poster for a “poster session” at a conference/event, you need this guide.
Thanks to Jim Schultz at UWM-SOIS for the link.
4 tags
On The People's Library as a sign of the maturity... →
…compared with the anti-corporate globalisation and then anti-war movements of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the libraries reflect the “maturity of a movement” that had “been shell-shocked by the whole Bush era” …
Also of interest: ALA has issued a statement expressing “alarm” at the destruction of the OWS library.
2 tags
On what this blog is
For several months, in the back of my mind of have been thinking about what to do with this blog. I used to blog frequently under a pseudonym as an undergrad but for some odd reason, I clam up when my name’s attached. Maybe it’s the two years I spent reading articles about what not to do in your job search, including comical examples of words coming back to bite people.
On the other...