This is a couple of months old, but it is worth highlighting:

Unlocking the Passion Paradox

Kenneth Eikenberry illustrates the benefits of being passionate about your work, and how one can encourage and develop those passions.

From the post:

When you are passionate about an activity, event or situation, your satisfaction, success and productivity all skyrocket. If you want those benefits more of the time, it isn’t enough to wait for that passionate feeling; you must look for the opportunities, because until you look, you won’t find your passion.

He extols the benefits of having a good attitude, especially looking for the positive aspects of one’s work, as well as seeking out opportunities to apply your strengths through volunteer work or hobbies.  I can certainly vouch for these methods; they can certainly make a difference in your life, as well as providing benefits to others.

found via Library Garden

As the economy continues to remain weak and budgets tighten for public libraries, here is a study that should encourage any community of the value of high speed internet access via their libraries:

Internet Use and Job Search (pdf)

In a nutshell, the rate of “discouragement” (giving up hope for finding work) is reduced by 50% when job seekers have high speed internet access, and is reduced by 30% when job seekers have access to dial-up internet.

This provides a justification for providing high speed access to the community, in that it will encourage not only a higher rate of employment, but also less desperation in those still seeking employment.

To take this one step further, I would suggest that providing training and support (perhaps through volunteers among job seekers) might improve a community’s results beyond the scope of the study.

found via LISNews, who found it via NPR

The American Antiquary Society has a great visual reference on the Anatomy of a Catalog Record:

found via Catalogablog

Eric Leese Morgan demonstrates how to quickly make a 12-page book by making a few cuts in the pages and fitting them together:



About ten years ago I created about 20 handmade books of about 25 pages each.  I don’t thing this method would have been effective for that particular effort, but it is certainly something to keep in mind when one wants to put something together that looks decent and works well.

BBC Languages is fantastic web resource provided by the British Broadcasting Corporation, and is filled with audio language resources.  These include 12-week beginning lessons, a Quick Fix section containing “essential phrases”, and teacher’s resources.

found via Librarian in Black

The State of Ohio has launched an iTunes site that is designed “to share educational resources, professional development materials, and student videos which have been produced by members of higher education, the K-12 community, and community partners free of charge with unlimited access.”

There is a wide range of material available, and it is great to see them open to everyone, with the only requirement being the iTunes software.

Launch the site within your installed iTunes, and see a model for what other states, educational institutions, and libraries can do with their media content.

discovered via the OhioLINK Digital Resources Management Committee (Drmc) list

One of the more frustrating things about open source software is the fact that many projects have little-to-no documentation.  William Shields, a software developer from Australia, posts about his experiences and concludes that he isn’t going to patronize projects that don’t pay attention to their documentation.

He is correct.  Any mature software project, whether open-source or proprietary, should have resources available to provide information, specifications, options, and assistance to users.  This doesn’t mean that every piece of software needs a manual and a call desk; there should be options available to provide assistance.

For a smaller, lesser-used product, a brief overview and contact information for further questions may suffice.  As the user base grows, group maintained resources (wiki, lists, forums) can allow those with more experience aid novices.

The ultimate goal with any software is for people to use it, and use it effectively to improve their lives.  Good information on using the software is part of that picture.  When you find an open source project that needs documentation, consider how you might be able to add your knowledge and experience to the project (i.e. when life hands you lemons, make lemonade).

found via What I Learned Today…

The Ohio Library Council has announced that they are canceling their annual conference due to low expectations of attendance.  The organization surveyed library directors throughout Ohio and determined that most libraries simply don’t have the funds to participate.

Is this the beginning of a slew of cancellations, or will it be limited to areas where funding is being drastically cut?  ALA 2009 apparently did well, but will smaller, regional conferences survive?

Watch for conferences to scale down, or even combine with other events, over the next couple of years in order to provide more “bang for the buck”.  If you are a speaker/presenter, look at how you might be able to benefit conferences in your area… they might need all the help they can get.

found via Save Ohio Libraries and The Limnal Librarian

Talon is a Firefox add-on that enhances the way you can grab images from your web browser.  The neatest aspect of this is the ability to create an image that contains the entire web page you are viewing.  The benefits of this for presentations and training guides are plentiful.

Talon was created to work with online image editor Aviary, which is also well worth exploring!

Want to grab that web page screenshot without installing Talon?  Simply add Aviary.com/ to the beginning of the URL you wish to copy.  Example:  Aviary.com/http://saveohiolibraries.com/

found via TechCrunch, nearly a month ago

What is the future of the library? is a video that presents the library as a solution to the digitial divide, providing access and empowerment to those who otherwise would not have the access or the ability to effectively utilize the internet.

At first the video may seem to be all about buzzwords, but by the end you should have some thought-provoking questions forming within your mind.  I recommend at least two viewings, and quite a bit of time to think about where we might be headed.

This is a great example of asking excellent questions in order to move the conversation forward.

found via The Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarian

The Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies is a British site “established by Jane Hart as a place to keep track of learning trends, technologies and tools.”

Most impressive, at first glance, are the lists of free tools and resources:

• 25 Tools every learning professional should have in their toolbox – and all for free!
• 100+ Free Website to find out about anything and everything.
• 100+ Language Learning Websites.
• Top Tools for Learning 2009.

Although the focus of the site is education, most of what is featured can benefit both library staff and patrons.

found via MLxperience

Notes from last month’s OLE (Open Library Environment) Regional Workshop are on LibShare, and they are interesting to scan through, especially the comments.

I found this through the Disruptive Library Technology Jester blog, and looked into it because of two quotes he included with his post:

• With print items, we’re trying to give people access; with electronic trying to keep them out.
• Isn’t it interesting that users from other libraries have borrowed print books delivered to them, but must travel to another library to get access to their electronic items.

In addition, I will add this interesting tidbit from the same set of responses:

• It used to be about selecting high quality materials, but now have to teach evaluation of available materials.

I think that sums up much of the transition we face in the library world – how to filter useful and usable information in a way that makes it useful and usable for our patrons (aren’t you glad I didn’t say “users”).  We are drinking from the fire hydrant, and the pressure is increasing!

Non-Hierarchical Management is an article by Aaron Swartz on the Palinet Leadership Network, and it is well worth reading.

If you are a manager, read it with an eye towards improving how you work with your team.

If you are part of a team, read it with an eye towards improving how you work with your manager, as well as the rest of your team.  Who knows, you may be in a position to manage someday… read it with this in mind.

Whatever your position, you can improve the quality, quantity, and enjoyment of your work by implementing some of these suggestions.  Even if you are the only one applying these lessons, your attitude and approach will be the better for it.

found via Walt at Random

The debate has been going on for years, and has recently flared up again on PUBLIB : Does a person need the MLIS degree to do the work of a librarian?

LISNews has decided to take a poll (and encourage discussion)….

Comment : I have been thinking about this issue, and related questions, for many years.  Because of budgetary pressure, support staff have been taking on duties that in the past were considered the role of librarians.  Depending on the library (size, budget, structure, role) there are different answers as to what should and should not be done by various people.

I maintain that training is the key.  The better everyone knows everyone else’s job, the more efficient the library will be.  This means that there should be very few “walls” between job duties.  Personnel issues (hiring, firing, etc.) and certain confidential issues (financial accounts, security) should be kept within a walled garden (but never with only one person!).  Otherwise, everyone should know at lease something about all other duties performed in the library.

This leads to another point : training and knowledge need to be respected at all levels.  Understand and respect that which the MLIS librarian knows and applies to his or her job.  There are years of training behind that degree, and those of us who learn on the job (and on our own) would do well to keep that in mind.  Conversely, librarians should keep in mind that support staff bring a great deal to the table, and it is impossible to know just what we have to offer until you open yourselves to our input.

I worked as a technician in a pharmacy for eight years, and was mistaken for a pharmacist more times than I can recall. Each time was a sobering reminder to never allow my actions or speech to exceed my knowledge, because it carried far more weight than my simple certification could bear.

In libraries, we all need to heed that advice.  Understand what you know; more importantly, understand what you don’t know.  Being a librarian doesn’t mean that you know more about someone’s job simply because that job is support staff.  It doesn’t even mean that you know more about esoteric “library stuff” than someone without the degree.

The same goes, as you can guess, in the reverse.  The key is respect.  Respect each other.  Respect the job.  Respect the degree.  Respect the person’s training and knowledge.  Respect everyone, and expect the same in return.

Make that your mantra : Respect and Expect.

100 Free Open Courseware Classes About Open Source Everything is a post on the BSchool.com Blog.  Their list is quite comprehensive, with something for just about anyone.

In addition, the blog has a thing for “100 Free…” lists, from resource for doing business in China, to Ivy League business courses.  They just started up last month, but I think this might be one of those resources that will provide answers for questions beyond the obvious business school related information.

found via an e-mail from Kelly Sonora (affiliated with BSchool.com blog)

A Simple Book Repair Manual is a web-based guide created and hosted by the Dartmouth College Library.  It covers what a library needs to set up a toolkit and make straightforward repairs.

Conservation Book Repair : A training manual by Artemis BonaDea is a pdf formatted book from 1995 (200 pages – complete 12MB pdf here) written by a Conservation Technician (who is now Curator of the Alaska Heritage Museum).

Bookbinding and the Conservation of books : A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, hosted on the Stanford University web site, is exactly as described, a dictionary of terminology.

Add these to your collection of useful links!

found via MetaFilter (warning : as addictive a blog as exists anywhere)

A couple of posts about sandboxes have caught my eye:

• LISNews posted about Peter Morville (writer of Ambient Findability, which if you haven’t read – you should) and his Flickr “sandbox for collecting search examples, patterns, and anti-patterns.”
• Roy Tennant writes about the benefits of libraries having a sandbox to try out new software and technology, in particular he points out the University of Cincinnati’s sandbox.

I have, in a somewhat disorganized manner, been creating and working with sandboxes for several years.  Libology is, at least in its first phase, my effort to make a structured sandbox for my own efforts, with an eye towards demonstrating how various tools can work for libraries.  These have been scattered throughout several other domains, and one of my first tasks will be to combine what I have done so far under one domain.

Web hosting is inexpensive.  A site that can run blogs, discussion lists, wikis, CMSs, and a great many other helpful tools can be had for about $5 per month.  An individual or group, taking things one step at a time, can learn a lot from simply getting a site and setting up various software.  There is no better way, in my opinion, to learn about open source and web 2.0 than to jump in the sandbox and start playing!

The Librarian Song (YouTube video) is, well, a song… about librarians… specifically about how librarians train users (Show it to them, do it with them, and then the user can do it themself).

And above all… it is really funny (as well as slightly risque).

found via Extensible Librarian

Recipes for a 5-Star Library is the latest “cookbook” from the MaintainIT project.  The cookbooks are pdf files that are free to use

The project focuses on public computers in libraries, and their Library Spotlight articles are drawn from real-world examples.  The resources they provide are top-notch and collaboration at their best.

If you work with your library’s public workstations, check out what they have to offer.  Tips and solutions from dozens of libraries await you!

found via Free Range Librarian

The Library of Congress  web site has a collection of webcasts that they use for docent training.  If you would like to learn about some of the collections within in the library, this is a fantastic way to do so!

from ResourceShelf