THE BEST OF INTENTIONS--NOT!

There is a very good article in the latest issue of Journal of Hospital Librarianship by Michelle Helliwill [Eastern Kings Memorial Community Health Centre, Kingsville, Nova Scota, Canada]. In "Comfy Chairs, Lovely Books, andn No Librarian: What Is the Professional Standard for Setting Up a CHIS? [Consumer Health Information Centre]," she uses a good example of how to get the message across that a library must have a librarian.

"Imagine the following: A librarian, working in a busy hospital, sees a need to help patients sitting for long waiting periods at the walk in clinic. He gathers a small committee including representatives form HR, laundry, and information systems. They decide to set up a room for patients--it will have some bandages, perhaps some pain relievers, throat lozenges, and other materials, including a reference book on common ailments. It will be open three or four days a week, with a volunteer who has first aid training. The call it a 'self-serve' clinic.

"This seems like a ridiculous scenario, and it would never be allowed to happen. Indeed, what physician, nurse or other health care practitioner would even agree to entertain such an idea? Yet the undertaking of a 'patient library' that leaves out the librarian in the planning or the management of this service does occur." She calls this "the good intention room."

Sound familiar? I've also used the argument that you wouldn't hire an amateur to manage the organization's books, so why would you do the same for your information resources?

This is a sample of the good articles in the Journal of Hospital Librarianship--which costs a whole US$40 per year (4 issues of over 100 pages). You should check it out.

URL for the Journal: http://www.haworthpress.com/store/product.asp?sku=J186

TRANSLATING HARRY POTTER

If you’re having a spot of trouble figuring out some of the words in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—hint, trainers are tennis shoes—this site will help. The (very) Best of British : The American's guide to speaking British has over 1000 words and expressions that differ in usage between the USA and the UK, in seven categories: home, slang, people, motoring, clothing, around the house, food and drink, and “odds and sods.” There are lots of similar sites, but I like this one because it is enlightening and a lot of fun to read.

URL: http://www.effingpot.com/

PROVING YOUR WORTH

Libraries: How they stack up is a great marketing piece from OCLC. It has a series of visual comparisons of library as other types of enterprises. For example, libraries as economic engines vs. retail video, athletic footwear, and magazine advertising. Another good one compares visits to US libraries (1.1 billion) vs. tickets sold to all major sports (204 million). There’s even one comparing library circulation to Fedex and Amazon—of course libraries beat them both, after all, this is from OCLC. It’s a bit out of date (2003), but the trends should be the same now. Although it is based on public library statistics, it wouldn’t be hard to adapt the idea for your own library.

URL: http://www.oclc.org/reports/2003libsstackup.htm

GEEK ONLINE

The How-To Geek is a useful site if you don’t have your own computer guru handy. There are short articles on subjects such as: increase size of Windows Vista taskbar previews, change Outlook startup folder, change the default font in Excel 2007, and more (many of which I can’t even understand the description, much less the answers). Not everything is about Microsoft, either; there are hints for Foxfire, Apple, Linux, and other platforms (though most are MS, probably since we need the most help with it). You can even subscribe through RSS to get notice of the latest additions.

URL: http://www.howtogeek.com

AFRICAN JOURNALS ONLINE

“AJOL is a database of journals published in Africa, covering the full range of academic disciplines. The objective of AJOL is to give greater visibility to the participating journals, and to the research they convey.” Journals must be scholarly, peer reviewed, have full contents available electronically, provide document delivery service through AJOL, and published within Africa to be included. There are over 270 journals in the database now. In 2005, 12,000 people signed up (it is free) to use the service and received over 2600 document deliveries (price based on your country, ranging from free for “low-income” countries to US$16 for “high-income” countries—based on the criteria of the World Bank).

This looks to be a very useful and reasonably priced service if you need information from or about Africa.

URL: http://www.ajol.info/

WHICH WIKI TO USE?

If you’re contemplating creating a wiki, you are probably confused as to which software program you should use. Never fear, WikiMatrix is here to help. This site, from CosmoCode, a German software company, allows use to make side-by-side, feature-by-feature comparison of the most popular wiki programs. You can also print out all the data for just one or two wikis. Points of comparison include: cost, storage, limits, spam and security features, support, common features, special features, linking, syntax, usability, statistics available, output formats, media and file handling, and examples of formats. It is most impressive—and free. Highly recommended.

URL: http://www.wikimatrix.org

INFORMATION ETHICS WEBSITE

“Information Ethics is the first site of its kind in the UK. Its principal role is to offer a point of reference for members of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) to relate their practical experiences to the Institute’s Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Practice, providing editorial commentary on key issues and facilitating member discussion of ethical dilemmas in the workplace.”

There are also links to news or events, the principles and code, case studies, resources,, and a blog, CILIP Information Ethics. The editors of the site are Jonathan Gordon-Till and Sylvia Simmons, the principals in InfoResponse Associates. The site is also a joint venture with Oxford Business Intelligence.

It is wonderful to see something like this, with all the resources in one place. Is there anything like this is in the USA? If you know of a site, let me know.

URLs:
Information Ethics: http://www.infoethics.org.uk/CILIP/admin/index.htm
CILIP Information Ethics blog: http://oxbizint.typepad.com/cilip_infoethics/

WRITING FOR THE PROFESSION—LONG POST

On 10 July, Stephen Abram and I did a one-hour webinar for the SirsiDynix Institute. The podcast is available at http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/archive.php. You can also download the slides.

There were some unanswered questions at the end of the event. Abram posted his answers on his blog, Stephen’s Lighthouse (http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2007/07/the_sdi_session.html). Here are mine. I have deleted some that will make no sense to someone who hasn’t heard the podcast.)

2. What are the roles of library oriented listservs in writing for the profession?

First, remember that “listserv” is a trademarked program—use “electronic list” instead.

I consider the lists still to be viable formats. Stephen thinks they are antiques, superceded by blogs and wikis, etc. However, I get a lot of information from them I subscribe to about 15 of them, including sla-dsol—the one sponsored by the Solo Librarians Division of the Special Libraries Association. But I subscribe to over 70 blogs, so…

What’s written on the lists is definitely a part of the literature and part of sharing and passing on information within the profession.

3. How do you get around vetting constraints? The Director of my library has asked that all writing that we do needs to be vetted by her. I would prefer not to have to take comments and edits from someone not directly involved with the article topic.

I’ve never faced this situation. I would find out if everyone in the parent organization is subject to the same constraints. If so, you’re stuck. If not, point this out to her and get the policy changed.

In the meantime, you could write on your own time and speak as an individual, not as a representative of the organization. She shouldn’t be able to muzzle you completely. You may not be able to write articles, but you can blog—from home. Just say that you are a librarian at xyz type of institution and put no details in that could identify you.

Personally, if I faced this situation, I’d be looking for another job. I don’t like people looking over my shoulder and I hate “censorship” in whatever format it appears.

4. (We did a section on “How” to write.) “How” to me means “how to find the time?” Can you share some of how you both manage this? (I’m a Mom of a 71/2 year old—difficult just to balance work--but would love to find time to start writing!

It’s a bit hard for me to answer, since I am childless (except for my 53-year-old—my husband—and 2 cats) and most of my writing happened after I quit my 40-hour-per-week job. But writing, like everything else, requires the following:

Commitment: if you really want to write, you’ll find the time.

Good time management techniques: don’t procrastinate, limit interruptions, etc. (Blatant plug warning! For more on time management, see my book, Time Management, Planning and Prioritization for Librarians, Scarecrow Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8108-4438-9—or available from me).

Patience: don’t start with a book; start with a blog posting, an article for the newsletter of your professional organization—or OPL. Something small. Once it gets easier, and your child gets bigger, you can try the tougher stuff.

5. My concern about all of the blog content is how it will be preserved for the future; so much of our exciting discourse these days published in blogs and I’m afraid it will all be lost.

Yup, that is probably what will happen—unfortunately. Some bloggers are collecting their posts into books, both self-published and commercial, but most of it will go away. I wish that weren’t true, but we have to face reality; no one is archiving the Web.

But don’t let that stop you from blogging. Before the information disappears, it will have informed, helped, or improved the profession.

6. What if your employer won’t let you use your real name for a personal blog?

You can use a pseudonym or be anonymous, but how can the employer control what you do on your own time? I’d ask the higher ups if this is “kosher” and try to get it changed.

7. Would you recommend a para professional to write when the opportunity presents itself?

Of course. Many (most?) paras have as much or more to give back to the profession. You are the ones down in the trenches doing the dirty work and probably have more direct customer contact than most of the professionals. Write, and write often.

(You are planning to go to library school someday and earn the “big” bucks, right?)

9. What are some of the best RSS Aggregators?

I don’t know about best, but I use Google Reader. It’s easy, free, and being improved on a regular basis. Unfortunately, there is no real customer support, but you can ask questions of other users on their forums—but I haven’t encountered any problems. You can always ask other librarians (on the lists) for their advice.

10. What are some of the pitfalls you’ve encountered in writing for scholarly publications?

I’ve only done this twice. Why? To put it bluntly, they’re a pain in the butt. The article will be sent out for peer review and that take a while. It may be rejected, sometimes without even saying why or giving you a chance to rewrite. There’s a terribly long time-lag from when you write the article to when it’s published—like a book, only even longer sometimes. You almost always have to transfer copyright to the publisher (which I refuse to do). And you often have to pay for reprints of your own article.

However, if you are a faculty member, you have to do it to get tenure and promotion. Note that many faculty stop writing after they are made professors—guess why?

11. When writing an article, how do you find the best periodical to publish in? Looking at the magazine publishing schedule and their topics per issue is useful, but how do you target the most appropriate periodical for publishing?

It should be relatively obvious where your article is appropriate. Get a list of library journals (Emerald and Haworth have a zillion of them) and pick one. I’d try for one that is widely read; that you would read.

Even better, however, would be to choose a periodical that your users (or better yet, those who fund your library) read. We spend too much time and energy talking to ourselves—we need to talk to them!

(I told Abram, president-elect of SLA, that I won’t be happy until I see ads or articles by and about special librarians in Time, Fortune, Business Week, Journal of the American Medical Association, American Bar Association Journal, and the like. Let’s see if he delivers….)

12. There are plenty of librarian blogs out there. I’ve noticed a fair bit of overlap (e.g., who doesn’t link to CommonCraft videos?) What are ways to market your blog and differentiate it from the others (if you’re not a “mover and a shaker” who is known in library circles)?

Overlap is not necessarily bad. Everyone doesn’t follow 70 blogs like I do, or 700 like Abram does. The more places a piece of information or debate appears, the better, I say. The object is to get the information out there. There’s a lot of overlap in books, too.

The best way to market your blog is by writing something people want to read. It will be found by other bloggers and passed on. You can also write to some of the more influential bloggers and tell them you have a blog—they’ll publicize it for you. That’s how I found out about a neat new blog from Nina Platt, Strategic Librarian—I read about it on Stephen’s Lighthouse.

You differentiate yourself by having something different to say. If you don’t have a ‘voice” or “point-of-view” that is different, you probably shouldn’t be blogging.

(What are CommonCraft videos? I guess I’m “out of the loop.”)

13. How do you overcome the attitudes of a “disinterested” patron audience? Is there a good way to market to the “disinterested” so that the role of the library and librarians, as well as new technologies, are highlighted?

The way to market to anyone is frequently, in different formats, at different time, in different voices. I once read that it takes seeing and “ad” eight times before the average person takes action. Your “disinterested” audience just may not need what you have—right now. But tell them anyway—eventually they will get the idea.

Send out electronic newsletters, print newsletter, and emails. Put marketing information in various places in your library. Put the same flyers in the cafeteria or break rooms, even in the rest rooms. Carry them with you. Create different marketing pieces for different audiences.

(Blatant plug alert 2! Check out my book, The Visible Librarian: Asserting Your Value With Marketing and Advocacy, ALA Editions, 2003, ISBN 0-8389-0848-9, for more marketing tips.)

14. I am the PR person for the library. I write press releases which sometimes is like writing for a black hole because I often write good news and the newspaper is interested in bad news. How can I make this work better? I also write our library newsletter.

Ask if you can have a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly column. Give up on the big newspaper in town and get published in the smaller, regional ones—if you have any. They are much more likely to pay attention to your press releases. (I sent press releases about a local Meals on Wheels group to the big daily paper, a county daily, and a regional weekly. The regional weekly printed the release almost untouched. The county daily sent a reporter and photographer and did a front page story. The big daily ignored me completely.)

Also, make the headline and first paragraph relevant to what’s going on in the community, not in the library. Write about something that the people need, not what the library has.

15. Is there a format to follow for proposals and queries to publishers?

Most publishers have a proposal form and guidelines somewhere on their website. Otherwise, call and ask for one. If you use their form you improve your chances of a positive response.

16. If you think you might need funding for a potential research article, which is better to do first: get the funding/grant or get the article proposal approved?

I’d get the funding, write up the research, then find a place to publish. You should be able to find a journal that’s interested, just maybe not the one you had in mind at first.

17. A colleague and I are planning on writing an article on Library Blog readership. What way would you suggest to approach blog writers for assistance in writing the survey for the study?

Pick out a couple of bloggers you respect and ask for their advice. Find out what questions they would like to know the answers to. Then pick out some more, run those questions by them, and ask if there are any more questions you should include. Repeat until you have a good-sized list. Then delete half the questions (a long survey will not be filled out).

I can’t give more advice without knowing what you’re trying to accomplish. Feel free to ask me off-line (via email).

18. Why do you recommend Lulu.com as a self-publisher over others? Is it from personal experience?

We didn’t mean to recommend it. It was just an example and, frankly, I just mentioned it so you’d know why you couldn’t find Walt Crawford’s latest book at the bookstore. (Balanced Libraries: Thoughts on Continuity and Change, http://www.lulu.com/content/737992)

19. I was wondering about finding collaborators for articles, I’m a new solo librarian.

Pick out someone who you admire and think would add to the article, then ask. If he or she says “no,” ask someone else. Repeat until you’re successful.

20. Many academics write for general audiences in places like Harper’s, New Yorker, etc. Is there a place for librarians to do this? Or examples of librarian’s do this?

Hmmm. The only example of librarians in the “mainstream” media that comes to mind is the wonderful article in Inc. on Highsmith and its librarian (The Smartest Little Company in America (http://www.inc.com/magazine/19990101/707.html). But I don’t read Harper’s, New Yorker, etc.

NEW BLOG: STRATEGIC LIBRARIAN

This is a web log created by Nina Platt Consulting, Inc. as a means for communicating all things related to using strategy to develop and lead libraries. It will focus mainly on law firm libraries but most of what you find here could be used with other libraries as well. Platt is the former library director of Faegre & Benson LLP, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

One of her first posts is The Knowledgeable Librarian (Do you know what your librarian knows?). She lists the skills she feels a law firm library director needs, in the categories of business skills, organizational knowledge, and technology. She’s looking for more input, so give it a read and see what—if anything—you can add.

URLs:
Strategic Librarian: http://nlplatt.wordpress.com/
The Knowledgeable Librarian post: http://nlplatt.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/
do-you-know-everything-you-need-to-know/

STICKER SHOCK

This great site from Cornell University's Engineering Library (Ithaca, New York), compares the cost of some of the scientific journals to other expensive items such as a car, motorcycle, or cruise.

This display was inspired by a similar exhibit at the Health Sciences and Human Services library at the University of Maryland. It is wonderful. You should consider doing something similar for your library.

URL: http://astech.library.cornell.edu/ast/engr/about/StickerShock.cfm

CAN YOUR CHILD DO ALL THESE THINGS?

I found these technology standards on the Internet (from Livonia Michigan schools). It was a real eye-opener!

Prior to completion of First Grade, students will:
Use all the letters on the keyboard
Will correctly use the shift, backspace, delete, and spacebar keys on the keyboard
Use a word processor to type at least a sentence
Print a document

Prior to completion of Second Grade, students will:
Use a word processor and be able to change the font, font size and font color
Use a drop down menu
Open a document
Save a document
Use the library system to find a book--YEA!
Use the Internet for guided research

Prior to completion of Third Grade student will:
Be able to copy and paste within a document
Use spell check
Insert a graphic into a word processing document
Use the Internet to communicate

DATABASE OF US STATE DATABASES

The Government Documents Roundtable (American Library Association) is putting together a wiki of state agency databases on business, people, agriculture, and more. This site will attempt to collect links to them in one place. They hope to add search capability at a later date. Only the following states’ sites are active as of today, but this looks to be a great idea. Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming

URL: http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases

MEDICAL LIBRARIANSHIP BLOGS

There are two good sites for finding lists of medical librarianship blogs. One is the LISWiki page with lists of blogs around the world put together by David Rothman [Community General Hospital of Greater Syracuse, New York ].The second, and shorter one, is on the mla-hls website (Medical Library Association, Health Libraries Section), divided into blogs about hospital and clinical library services and blogs of interest to library staff. If you know of others, post them to one or the other list.

URLs:
LISWiki: http://liswiki.org/wiki/Medlib_Blogs
mla-hls: http://mla-hls.wikispaces.com/Blogs

ACT FOR LIBRARIES

This is “a website designed to help all library advocates, from teens to trustees to town officials, strengthen their libraries and their communities, … with a focus on the New England states. This website draws on 14 years of advocacy experience from Americans for Libraries Council and its program arm, Libraries for the Future, as well as the Council's national network of passionate librarians and library supporters. It was developed through the generosity of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.” Next, they will focus on libraries in the Gulf Coast states.

URL: http://www.actforlibraries.org/

CRITICAL COMPENDIUM

“Every day we post links and a few lines from or about reviews from newspapers, journals, magazines and web zines. You will also find a sizable list of links to book review sections around the world. We also don't link, for the most part, to sites that require subscriptions.”

URL: http://criticalcompendium.com/index.html

RELIGIOUS PODCASTS

This searchable database includes all of the following--and more.

Ancient Religion,Baptist Podcasts, Bible Study, Buddhism, Catholic, Christian, Evangelical, Agnostic, Atheist, Pagan, Hindu, Islamic, Jehovah Witness, Jesuit, Jewish, Krishna, Mormon, Native Religions, Kabbalah, Christian Science, Unitarian,
Religious Music, Christian Rock, Gospel Music, Hymns, Religious News, Sermons, Theology Discussions and Lectures, Youth Sermons.

URL: http://www.religious-podcasts.net/

EUROPE DIRECT--ANSWERS TO EU QUESTIONS

I just watched a fascinating video on Europe Direct, a free information service for question about EU matters in any of the official EU languages. For instance, you can ask questions on any European Union policy, find out practical information on dozens of subjects (“for example, how to get your qualifications recognised or how to complain about unsafe products”), get contact details of organizations you need to work with, and get advice “to help you overcome practical problems with exercising your rights in Europe.”

You can get help by phone (a free call in the EU), go to their website, visit one of their information centers, email, or chat online. For more information, see their website.

URLs:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG5tx9y47Lo
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/

LIBRARY BLOGS AROUND THE WORLD

Infobib has guest articles from library bloggers all over the world on their LibWorld page. Currently available are articles on Spain, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, France, Australia, Denmark, Iran, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Netherlands, Austria, and Belarus. They are VERY interesting.

URL: http://infobib.de/blog/features/libworld

KEEPING WITHIN THE LAW

Paul Pedley [The Economist Intelligence Unit, London, England] has launched a new venture. Keeping Within the Law is a subscribers-only service “covering legal issues for the information stakeholder community.” It includes: 12 monthly e-newsletters, in-depth news stories, and a daily blog. For free, you can see just the headlines of the e-newsletter. The cost is £225 per year and it is available from Facet Publishing only. If it’s from Pedley, it will definitely be a quality service.

URL: http://www.kwtl.co.uk/

ONLINE MAGAZINE FOR JULY/AUGUST 2007

The latest issue of Online magazine is a good one. There’s a nice article on “teachable moments”—those occasional opportunities to teach clients—at the point of need and when they are most approachable—techniques for better searching (and the value of the librarian at the same time. The author, William Badke [Trinity Western University, Langley, British Columbia, Canada]. writes of these, “when it works well, a light comes on. We can only hope it will stay shining through the next search and the one after that. Making at least some attempt to raise skill levels is the way to help our patrons out of mediocrity.” Online 31(4):43-45

There’s an interesting story on libraries in SecondLife (Who’s on Third in Second Life? From Library 2.0 to Library 3-D, by Lori Bell and Kitty Pope [Alliance Library System, East Peoria, Illinois, USA], Tom Peters [TAP Information Services, Blue Springs, Missouri, USA], and Barbara Galik [Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, USA].

I really liked the article by Mary Ellen Bates (editor of Online) on Blog Searching with Technorati on page 56. I can’t wait to try it myself. Her editorial, Silos, Us, Them, and User-Generated Content (p. 5) is wonderful as well. She asks, “Is there a[n information] silo for information professionals and a different one for library users?” “Despite our best efforts [and those of Library 2.0], information silos are likely to continue, and users, whether they generate content of not, will need our help to find what they need in whatever silo it’s stored.”

Check the Online website to see which of the articles from this issue are available free (July/August) wasn't up when I posted this.

URL: http://www.infotoday.com/online/

BLOGGING LAW YOU NEED TO KNOW

Jeff Behrendt of Aviva Directory has a great article on 12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know. They are: Whether to Disclose Paid Posts, Is Deep Linking Legal? The Legal Use of Images and Thumbnails, Laws that Protect You From Stolen Content, Domain Name Trademark Issues, Handling Private Data About Your Readers, Who Owns User-Developed Content and Can You Delete It? The Duty to Monitor Your Blog Comments, and Liability, Basic Tax Law Issues in Blogging, Limited Liability Laws and Incorporating, Spam Laws and Which Unsolicited Emails are Legal, and Are Bloggers Protected from Journalism Shield Laws?

If you blog, you should read this very carefully—I certainly learned a lot from it.

URL: http://www.avivadirectory.com/blogger-law/

DO YOU HAVE JUST A FEW MINUTES TO READ?

Try a selection from Classic Short Stories. There are many selections here, all in the public domain, from authors like Poe, Twain, O. Henry, de Maupassant, Chekhov, etc. There are indexes by title and author (with word count), a dictionary of archaic or little-known words from the stories, and links to other short story sites. Now you’ll have no excuse not to have something to read.

URL: http://www.classicshorts.com

THE FUTURE OF DESIGN BLOG

Inhabitat is a blog about design, technology, and materials “that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.” From Jill Fehrenbacher, “freelance designer, green deign consultant and architecture grad student at Columbia.” Interesting site.

URL: http://www.inhabitat.com

FREE PHOTOS

Uncle Sam’s Photos is a collection of over 190 photo collections taken by the US Government and free to use. From Alex Upton who has used the photos and thought others would like them collected in one place. Thanks, Alex.

URL: http://www.unclesamsphotos.com

IS THERE AN EMBASSY IN (INSERT COUNTRY HERE)?

Next time you are asked this question, turn to the online Directory & Search Engine of the World's Embassies & Consulates. Answer "whose embassy?" and "in what location?" and you're taken to list. You can also search alphabetically by nation and there are 34 pages of embassies inside the USA and an alphabetical list of US embassies worldwide, United Nations peprmanent missions, and links to other resources (international telephone directory, global reference desk, maps of the world, and international voltage directory).

I wish there were more contact information, but at least there are links to the embassies's websites. It seems to be sponsored by ads and links to international real estate, employment, and yacht websites. That's ok, I can ignore them to be able to access this information.

URL: http://embassyworld.com/

ETHNOLOGUE: LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD--ONLINE

New from SIL International [Dallas, Texas, USA], is the electronic version of Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Everything that is in the 1272-page hardcover book (cost US$80) is available for free online. This includes articles about 6,912 living languages (number of speakers, region, alternate names, dialects, use, etc.) and links to entries in the SIL bibliography on the language. Everything except the maps and statistical summary tables, it seems. What a neat resource!

URL: http://www.ethnologue.com/

MAKE YOUR OWN EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE WEB PAGE

Dartmouth College and Yale University medical librarians and other staff have created the EBM Page Generator. In just a few easy steps (mostly adding links to your own electronic databases), you can create your very own EBM web page. At the top is the EBM Pyramid that shows the increase in quality of evidence from background information to systematic reviews.

Now you have no excuse for failing to have a web page portal to EBM information!

URL: http://www.ebmpyramid.org/

GOOGLE'S PUBLIC POLICY BLOG

Did you know that Google has blog on public policy? such as censorship, anti-trust, etc.
Interesting.

URL: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/

KEEP UP WITH EMERALD MANAGEMENT JOURNALS

Emerald, a journal publisher, now provides RSS feeds for its approximately 180 individual titles, including many in the field of librarianship.

Some of the titles you may want to watch are: (bolded titles seem most interesting to me)

International Journal of Career Management, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Librarian Career Development, Strategy & Leadership, The Learning Organization, Women in Management Review, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Journal of Communication Management, Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Journal of Knowledge Management, Measuring Business Excellence, Journal of Health Organisation and Management, Journal of Management in Medicine, Leadership in Health Services, Aslib Proceedings, Campus-Wide Information Systems, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Information Management & Computer Security, International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, International Journal of Web Information Systems, Internet Research, Journal of Documentation, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, OCLC Systems & Services, Online Information Review, Records Management Journal, Electronic Resources Review, International Journal on Grey Literature, Reference Reviews, Reference Services Review, Library Management, Performance Measurement and Metrics, The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, The Electronic Library, Library Hi-Tech, Library Hi-Tech News, New Library World, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers.

You received weekly abstracts of the Table of Contents. You can’t see the articles online unless you have a subscription to the journal, but you can order them for approximately £20 each.

Thanks to Library Boy Michel-Adrien Sheppard [Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario] for pointing out this resource.

URLs:
Emerald Feeds: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/
JournalRSSFeeds.do#58
Library Boy: http://micheladrien.blogspot.com/

IMPORTANT--BOOK SIGNING AT ALA

Stephen Abram and my co-author, Jonathan Lorig, will be signing our latest book, Out Front with Stephen Abram: A Guide for Information Leaders, compiled by Judith A. Siess and Jonathan Lorig, ALA Editions, 2007, at ALA. Come by the Renaissance. The signing will be at the Mayflower Grand Ballroom on Saturday, 23 June, right after “The Ultimate Debate: Do Libraries Innovate?” starring Stephen, Joe Janes, Karen Schneider, and Andrew Pace from 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Y’all come!

UPDATES TO THE CYBERSLEUTH'S GUIDE TO THE INTERNET

Get updates for Web addresses that have already changed in the newest edition of
The Cybersleuth's Guide to the Internet.

URL: http://www.netforlawyers.com/updates_06-07.htm 

UNCONFERENCES, ANYONE?

Betsy McKenzie [Suffolk University Law Library, Boston, Massachusetts, USA] has a great post on Out of the Jungle on unconferences. She refers to the blog, Unconference, by Connie Crosby and a book about them being written by wiki, which is so like an Unconference.

What is an unconference? UCs are put together on short planning schedules, through brainstorming with a group of “influencers and innovators” in the field. They might solve some of the problems we all have with the large association-wide conferences, such as:

Programs are selected so far in advance that new issues aren’t covered. All the sessions you want to go to are at the same time. Unofficial sessions can’t be scheduled at the last minute. Too many panels and “talking heads.”

Connie Crosby [WeirFoulds LLP, Toronto, Ontario, Canada] wrote, “an unconference is more informal, nimble and cheap than any conference I’ve been to. The mantra that drives them is the Rule of Two Feet: Any person not either learning from or contributing to a discussion, should use their two feet to move to another group discussion. The other, huge difference, is that the discussions are much more inclusive -- the audience is part of the presentation. They also help shape the agenda and sign up the day of the conference in a discussion session.”

Unconference: The Book is due to be published this year and is being written collaboratively with the use of a wiki. It started in India, but authors are invited from elsewhere. See the wiki for more information and a table of contents.

URLs:

Betsy’s post: http://outofthejungle.blogspot.com/2007/06/introducing-

unconferences.html
Crosby’s post: http://www.slaw.ca/2007/06/01/unconference-the-book/

Wiki book: http://www.unconference.info/wiki/index.php?title=Book

DO YOU HAVE AN INTERNET DISORDER?

David Rothman pointed me to an article in Wired by Lore Sjoberg called Narcissistic Blog Disorder and Other Conditions of Online Kookery. It seems the American Medical Association is proposing adding gaming addiction as a subcategory of "Internet addiction." I didn't even know there was a name for what I have, much less that it is a real disorder--Internet addiction.

Sjoberg proposes these additional disorders. Do you see yourself in any of them?
Narcissistic Blog Disorder
Bookmark Loop Disorder
E-mail Gullibility Syndrome
Atemporal Fad Disorder
Pugilistic Discussion Syndrome
Amusement Identify Disorder

URL: http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/alttext/2007/06/alttext_0620

M.D. SOCIAL BLOG IN THE UK

According to David Rothman’s blog, “Doctors.net.uk is the largest, most active medical network in the UK. Created by doctors for doctors, it is now the most popular, trusted medical channel enabling communication to and between 144,369 doctors, all day every day.”

URLs:
Rothman’s post: http://davidrothman.net/2007/06/20/uk-social-network
-for-physicians-doctorsnetuk/
Doctors.net: http://www.doctors.net.uk

FOR “ACADEMICALLY TALENTED YOUTH”

Cogito (I think, in Latin) is an online community for academically talented youth. There are interviews, projects, articles, Inspired and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, Cogito is being developed through a collaborative effort by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth and eight partners (Center for Talent Development, Northwestern University; Talent Identification Program, Duke University; Rocky Mountain Talent Search, University of Denver; Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, University of Iowa; Carnegie Mellon Institute for Talented Elementary and Secondary Students, Carnegie Mellon University; Center for Excellence in Education, McLean, Virginia; Davidson Institute for Talent Development, Reno, Nevada; and Science Service, Washington, DC. Affiliates of the program are: The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University; the Siemens Foundation, Iselin, New Jersey; the Irish Centre for Talented Youth, Dublin City University, Ireland; The Society for Excellence through Education Jerusalem, Israel; Centre for Gifted Education, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and the American Regions Mathematics League.

URL: http://www.cogito.org

FREE LIBRARY-RELATED E-LEARNING SITES

Library 2.0 has a nice list of Free Library-related eLearning sites drawn from Stephanie Gerding’s Accidental Technology Trainer List. Thanks Steph. (She has a book, The Accidental Technology Trainer coming out from Information Today in Winter 2007.)

URLs:
Library 2.0: http://library20.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?
id=515108%3ABlogPost%3A30994
Gerding’s list: http://home.earthlink.net/~stephaniegerding/
accidentaltechnologytrainer/id2.html

WORLDCAT DOES LISTS

OCLC’s WorldCat now gives you the ability to create lists from “library-owned items you have found while using WorldCat.” You have to create an account, but it’s free and quick. You can create as many lists as you want, share them or keep them private, add and delete items, export the list to your own computer, and add brief (up to 256 characters) notes to the entries. You can even export citations in comma-delimited format and they plan to add EndNote and RefWorks supporting APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, and Turabian styles. How cool! Check out the lists already created by others, too.

URLs:
Other people’s lists: http://www.worldcat.org/webservices/root/search/lists?listquery-book
FAQ: http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/help/ and click on lists

LOOKING FOR A MILITARY RECORD?

Ancestry.com has added a database of military enlistment and draft records. Access is free for a limited time. For more information, see the article from Internet for Lawyers: Internet Legal Research Update from Carole Levitt and March Rosch. (While you’re there, sign up for their free newsletter.)

URL: http://www.netforlawyers.com/ancestry_military.htm

MLA GUIDE TO CANCER INFO BLOG

Ruti Volk’s Medical Library Association Guide to Cancer Information is being updated via a blog. What a great idea!

URL: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/VolkMLAguide/

DO YOU COORDINATE CME?

If you are a medical librarian who serves as coordinator of continuing medical education, you might want to join the CME Librarians and Coordinators Forum. “Its purpose is to foster communication and resource and information sharing for those who handle AMA accredited continuing medical education within their institutions.”

URL: (to join) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cmelibco

SOCIAL ISSUES WEBSITE

Social Issues is from the Gale Group and has articles and “debates” on various US social issues. This would be useful in academic libraries, especially for secondary or undergraduate education support.

URL: http://socialissues.wiseto.com/

POWER NETWORKING FOR INTROVERTS

This is a relatively new site from Marcy Phelps [Phelps Research, Lakewood, Colorado, USA], a professional researcher and trainer who spoke at the recent SLA conference.

This is from her first post. “Welcome to Power Networking for Introverts, a blog for introverts who want to overcome their fear of networking. I'll be posting tips and techniques, recommended books and websites, and information about my upcoming presentations. I look forward to talking with introverts and hope that this blog helps you develop your personal and business networks.”

There’s some good stuff here—take a look.

URL: http://www.introvertscannetwork.com/

FEDERAL LIBRARIES THAT ARE CLOSED OR ENDANGERED

“This public wiki is established as a central place to post information and inquiries about rumored closings and threats to federal libraries.” It is co-hosted by the Washington office of the American Library Association and the Committee on Legislation’s Subcommittee on Federal Libraries. There’s not much there—it should only stay that way!

URL: http://wikis.ala.org/fedlib/

UPDATED MEDICINES INFORMATION DATABASE

“A second version of the EudraPharm database of information on medicinal products approved within the European Union has been released today. The main new benefits of this update are: Inclusion of product information documents in all available EU languages, Inclusion of maximum-residue-limit information for veterinary products, Inclusion of an advanced search function to make information searches more accurate, Inclusion of a new site map to improve navigation. EudraPharm is a long-term project being funded by the European Commission and implemented by the EMEA [European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products], in close cooperation with the medicines agencies of each EU Member State, to provide information about all medicines for human or veterinary use authorised in the EU.”

URL: http://eudrapharm.eu/eudrapharm/welcome.do

LOOKING FOR A WEB APPLICATION?

Try The Unofficial Web Applications List. I don’t know who put it up, but it looks useful. There is a sidebar with the following tasks you may want to do: convert to PDF, edit photos, send large files, make web buttons, translate, use spreadsheet, use word processor, read RSS feeds, scan for viruses/spyware, play Sudoku, etc.

URL: http://www.webapplist.com/

AMA CHOOSES AN “OFFICIAL SOCIAL NETWORK”

The American Medical Association (AMA) and Sermo today announced a collaborative agreement to empower physicians by making their collective voice heard in a way never before possible. By teaming with Sermo, the AMA will be able to address important professional and public health issues in a multi-phase, multi-year alliance aimed at improving medical practice, physician advocacy, and patient care.

This will include: A “Discuss on Sermo” link in AMA print and online publications, including the AMA’s award-winning American Medical News, which reach more than 350,000 physicians. This new link will allow physicians nationwide to immediately discuss, survey, and corroborate opinions about the latest health care news and research.

Plenty of academic and public librarians have stressed the importance of being where their patrons are and having a presence in Facebook or MySpace. This announcement may indicate that a greater number of physician patrons are going to be using Sermo. Perhaps your medical library (or librarian) should, too.

When David Rothman posted this on his blog, one librarian responded, “I just found it odd that some medical bloggers were expressing fear of discussing the cases they see while Sermo seems to do the exact same thing only on a mass scale.”

This all seems rather strange to me [Judy]. Isn't the idea of Web 2.0 to allow people to use multiple, user-chosen tools to interact? AMA is controlling something that shouldn't be controlled.

BLOGS ON ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

The AlternativeEnergyBlog is a gateway to the following Energy Blogs: The Bioeconomy Blog, The Bioenergy Blog, The Geothermal Energy Blog, and The Wind Energy Blog. All are from Gerry McKiernan [Iowa State University, Ames]

URL: http://alternativeenergyblogs.blogspot.com/

LIBRARY TECHNICIAN BLOGS

Compiled from various sources...

Aus Library Technician, http://auslibrarytechnician.blogspot.com, The library life of Australian library technician, Kevin Dudeney [New South Wales Department of Corrective Services, Australia]

The Library Dude! http://librarydude.blogspot.com, The Day by day of a Library Technician in the big bad world, [ACT Library and Information Services, Griffith, Australian Capitol Territory] but changing jobs

LibrarySupportStaff.org, http://blog.librarysupportstaff.org, not a blog, is a great resource for finding blogs and other resources for library techs

Library Technician, http://librarytechnician.blogspirit.com/, Life as a long term techie of the library variety, from Australia

Library Technician Training in Australia, http://www.auslttraining.blogspot.com, also from Kevin Dudeny

Library Technicians: Education, Training, Practice, Career, Jobs, etc., http://lit2542006.blogspot.com, Educational techniques, tools, and trends have a great similarity among many disciplines that have adopted the Information Technology. This blog will adapt what suits the Library profession, with special reference to Library Technicians, from Mohamed Taher [Toronto, Ontario, Canada]

Nova Scotia Association of Library Technicians, http://nsalt.blogspot.com/

Paraprose, http://nclpa.wordpress.com, North Carolina Library Paraprofessional Association (NCLPA).

WLA Paraprofessionals, http://blog.wyla.org/parapro/, Wyoming Library Association

DON’T CALL IT JCAHO!

This just in from Jim Johnson [VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania] via the MEDLIB-L electronic list.

“We were told in an orientation session yesterday not to refer to the
organization as JCAHO because its name is now Joint Commission, and
that they would make a point of correcting us if we show we are not aware
of the change whenever they show up for an on-site inspection.” 

NEW BLOG FOR WOMEN LAWYERS

Ms. ND: Changing the Face of the Legal Profession

“Concerned by the rates at which women opt out of the legal profession, the lack of representation of women in the highest courts and echelons of the legal community, and the role of gender in the progression of many women’s legal careers, a group of female law students from Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley), Cornell, Georgetown, Harvard, NYU, Stanford, UCLA, UT Austin, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, and Yale came together and created Ms. JD in March 2006. Serving women in law school and the legal profession, Ms. JD is an online community that provides a forum for dialogue and networking among women lawyers and aspiring lawyers.” Ms. JD launched at a national conference co-hosted by Yale Law School Women on March 31, 2007. The Chairwoman of the Board and President is Elizabeth Pederson, a third-year law student at Stanford Law School.

URL: http://ms-jd.org/

FREE FILE CONVERSION

Check out Koolwire for a free file conversion service via e-mail. I just tried it and it returned the file in only about 5 minutes--perfect .doc to .pdf.

URL: http://www.koolwire.com/

FOR DIABETICS

SugarStats is a beta-site that "makes it simple to easily manage, monitor and share your blood sugar glucose levels online so that you can better control your diabetes anywhere. Built by diabetics for diabetics." (No sign of who they are, tho.) This looks like it will be a good tool when it comes out of beta. Keep watching.

URL: http://www.sugarstats.com

THE FUTURE OF LIBRARIES, 2010, VIDEO

Andrew Finegan [Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia] has a neat video on the subject of the future of the library. I am collecting the written ones in the series and will print them at some point--or will blog them, not sure which.

URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V67QuW0NeXI
&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Freader%2Fview%2F

TEEN LIBRARIAN JOB DESCRIPTION

Tyler Rousseau [Ocean County Library, Toms River, New Jersey] has a great post on Library Garden, titled Teen Librarians: Who we are and what we are not. It is worth a read for all public librarians.

URL: http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2007/05/
teen-librarians-who-we-are-and-what-we.html

BASIC MEDICAL LIBRARY MANAGEMENT

You may not have seen, or forgotten about, this absolutely fantastic site from the (USA) National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Here is an outline of what’s covered. You can’t go wrong following their advice.
First Steps: Here's a short list of tasks that can give you a quick overview of your new responsibilities.
Administration: Mission Statement, Management, Customer Service and Marketing, JCAHO, Grants and Funding, Technology, and Supplies.
Collection Development and ILL: Books, Reference Resources, Journals, Subscription Agents, Consumer Health, Publishers, Cataloging, Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan, Copyright Law and Guidelines.
Resources: Medical Databases, Meeting Finders, Internet Resources, and Discussion Lists.
Sources of Information: Associations, Consortia, and Libraries.
Additional Resources: Links to books, articles and full-text web sites about Library Management, Marketing, Budget, and Periodicals for Librarians.

URL: http://nnlm.gov/rsdd/management/

DISTANCE LIBRARY EDUCATION ANYONE?

Here are two great sites for information on distance education programs in the USA for the MLS degree. Both are from the Central (New) Jersey Regional Library Cooperative and their “Become a Librarian” initiative.

URLs:
Comparison Guide (costs, credits, residency requirements, contacts):

http://www.becomealibrarian.org/DistanceEdComparison.htm

Read about the Experiences Librarians Had While Getting their MLS through Distance Education Programs: http://www.becomealibrarian.org/DistanceEdExperience.htm

DERMATOLOGY LECTURES ONLINE

DermLectures.com plans to collect about 300 lectures on various dermatological lectures. Twelve categories are now completed; fifteen more are “coming soon.” Lectures are available in Quicktime and Windows Media Player formats; Quicktime format is recommended. Unfortunately, there is no sign of who is behind the site.

URL: http://dermlectures.com

FOR CONGREGATIONAL LIBRARIES

Hosted by the Alban Institute, offered as a gift to congregations by the Lilly Endowment, the Congregational Resource Guide draws on the expertise of the Alban Institute, the Indianapolis Center for Congregations, and other specialists. The site has all sorts of articles and tips, including online tutorials and special reports.

URL: http://congregationalresources.org/

NOT JUST FOR CONGREGATIONAL LIBRARIES

I have often spoken about The Church and Synagogue Library Association as a great source of ideas for all small libraries. The current issue of their journal, Congregational Libraries Today, is a great example of why you should consider joining CSLA even (or especially) if you don’t work in a congregational library.

Consider the following articles:
How to automate your library without spending any money: open source software is creating new opportunities for libraries, even for those of us with little or no money to spend, by Myka Kennedy Stephens, pp. 2-4. (sound like a familiar problem?)
What’s the best way to handle overdue charges? The answer desk, p. 4
Use a “memorial book sale” to enlarge you collection, Proven Ideas column, p. 25
Citation for all: Congregational Libraries Today 40(4): May/June 2007

Also, there are some great sessions at their annual conference, 14-17 July, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
Creating stronger library newsletters, Visual ways to promote your library, Incorporating generations in your library, Ten steps to automating your library, Basic book care and repair, Evaluating library information software, Weeding is good for the soul, and Using the Web to better manage your library. All this for US$295, including all meals ($120 without meals).

Membership in CSLA is only $US35!!! A real bargain.

URL: http://cslainfo.org/

ANOTHER GOOD MARKETING ARTICLE--HOW DOES YOUR LIBRARY LOOK?

I forgot to tell you about another great article in MLS: Marketing Library Services . It is by Julia Cooper [marketing consultant, Columbus, Ohio, USA] and is titled How to Evaluate Your Library's Physical Environment. She writes,"This is an opportunity to rediscover what your facility is communicating and to enhance the environment." She also has Ten Simple Tips to Spruce Up for Spring. This is an article very worth reading!

Citation:
Cooper, Julia, How to Evaluate Your Library's Physical Environment, MLS: Marketing Library Services 21(3):1,5-7, May/June 2007.

GREAT ARTICLE ON MARKETING

Christie Koontz [Florida State University, Tallahassee] has written a wonderful article on customer-based marketing, Identifying and Utilizing Library Stakeholders, in MLS: Marketing Library Services (21(3): 8-10, May/June 2007). To quote, “library managers might not recognize a potentially valuable ally—or, more dangerously, someone who might be a key adversary.” I especially like the table she includes with a list of various stakeholders (taxpayers, users, potential users, staff, school board, funding agencies, and media), their interests, and potential conflicts with the library’s interests. The article is not online, but it is well worth reading—so go to your local library and ask for it (or ILL it).

SLA LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT BLOG

This blog is the Division’s “forum for sharing leadership and management experience, tips, and resources among members,” but you can look at it even if you aren’t a member.

URL: http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/sla_lmd/

BIOENERGY BLOG DEBUTS

The Bioenergy Blog covers key literature on the technical aspects of biorenewable fuels (especially bioethanol and biodiesel). It comes from Gerry McKiernan [Iowa State University Library, Ames] and is a companion to the non-technical Bioeconomy Blog.

URLs:
Bioenergy: http://thebioenergyblog.blogspot.com/
Bioeconomy: http://bioeconomyblog.blogspot.com/

NEW, FREE, INTERNET TUTORIALS FOR SCI-TECH

There are three new Intute tutorials from the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, University of Bristol, UK. You can use them to show your customers how to search the Net effectively and to evaluate what they find.

Internet Physicist, http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/physics

Internet Civil Engineer, http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/civil

Internet for Petroleum and Offshore Engineering, http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/petroleum

LAW PROFESSOR ADDS FIVE NEW BLOGS

The Law Professor Blogs Network has added five new blogs. This makes 49 in total!

Administrative Law, from Drury Stevenson [University of South Texas, Houston] and Cynthia Quinn [University of Hawaii, Manoa], http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/adminlaw/

Civil Procedure, Jeremy Counseller and Rory Ryan [Baylor University, Waco, Texas], http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/civpro/

International Environmental Law, William Burns [Santa Clara University, California] and Richard Caddel [University of Wales, Bangor, UK], http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/intlenvironment/

M&A Law, Steven Davidoff [Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan], http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/mergers/
and
Poverty Law, Ezra Rosser [Washington (DC) College of Law] and Lowell Hull [Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana], http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/poverty/

A RECOMMENDATION SERVICE FOR LIBRARY-RELATED WEBSITES

libSite.org is almost like a wiki of library websites and blogs and such. Once you register, you can recommend sites and the owners of the site will put a screenshot and your recommendation up for all to see. Even if you don’t register, you can rate other people’s sites, save sites to favorites, subscribe via RSS, or download a libsite widget. It’s only a month old, but looks interesting. Provided by chicagolibrarian.com (Leo Klein).

URL: http://libsite.org/

WEBBY AWARD WINNERS 2007

I seem to have missed the 11th Annual Webby Awards. David Bowie (does anyone know why?) and eBay received Lifetime Achievement Awards, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, co-founders of YouTube, were the Person(s) of the Year.

In the law category, LawHelp.org (http://www.lawhelp.org/) was the Webby Award Winner and FindLaw (http://www.findlaw.com) was the People’s Voice Winner. For health, That Guy (http://thatguy.com), Webby Award--Lord knows why; WebMD, (http://www.webmd.com). Complete results are at: http://www.webbyawards.com/
webbys/current.php?season=11

Thanks to lo-fi librarian (http://www.lo-fi-librarian.co.uk) for the heads up.

BEST UK LAW FIRM WEB SITES

According to consulting firm Intendance, the best and worst web sites (of the 50 fastest growing UK law firms) were:

1. Addleshaw Goddard, http://www.addleshawgoddard.co.uk/

2. Wragge & Co., http://www.wragge.com/

3. Maclay Murray & Spens, http://www.mms.co.uk/

4. Linklaters, http://www.linklaters.com/locations/uk/english/

5. SJ Berwin, http://www.sjberwin.com/

Information from lo-fi librarian (http://www.lo-fi-librarian.co.uk/?p=545). Thanks, lo-fi

MAKE A MENU FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS

Brian Mathews of Georgia Tech University has a great post on his blog, The Ubiquitous Librarian, that would be a good marketing vehicle for your library—no matter what kind it is. The title is Chicken Wings and Egg Rolls: The Library Menu Concept and here is an excerpt. Be sure to look at the post and see the actual menu that was created.

“I constantly get menus from local restaurants that want to deliver food to my apartment. I used to just toss them out, but now I collect them. I’ve become fascinated with appetizers and like to see the full range of possibility. Sure Pizza is the core, but tell me about the wings, the cheese bread, and those cinnamon sticks.

“That’s how I see libraries. Collections are the core, and we need to make sure they’re fantastic, but what about all the accessories and side dishes? We have a ridiculous (but awesome) mix of stuff: cables, headsets, mics, multi-card media readers, laptops, cameras, video cameras, scanning adapters, gorillaPods, MP3 players, graphing calculators, digital voice recorders, wireless presenters w/ laser pointers, zip drives, USB drives, web cams, external DVD burners, and so on. Plus free black and white printing, color printing, large poster-sized printing. AND… most patrons (and staff for that matter) have no idea about all this cool stuff that we have to offer.

URL: http://theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com/

TWO NEW US GOVERNMENT PORTALS

the
Consumer Health Information for You and Your Family
http://www.fda.gov/consumer
This site from the US Food and Drug Administration has sections on general health information,medicines, medical devices and procedures, vaccines, cosmetics, protecting yourself, food and nutrition, animal health, and radiation-emitting products (such as cell phones). You can also sign up for e-newsletters and other consumer publications. There are links to sections just for women, seniors, teens, kids, and en espanol.

Google U.S. Government Search
http://www.google.com/ig/usgov
Here is a portal to government information, with sections from the American Forces Information Service, White House News, Government Executive, the Washington Post, and top Government stories. And, of course, there's a search feature for images, video, news, maps, etc.

And speaking of Google, try out the new personalization features for your Google page. I use mine as my home page and have included the weather, checking my Gmail and Yahoo! mail (you can check your other mail but I haven't been able to make it work), the day and time, top news, and local weather. I can even check and read my Google Reader RSS feed from the home page. Just go to http://www.google.com/ig and choose from lots of add-ins (not all from Google). I love this!

GOOD 2.0 STUFF FROM DOWN UNDER

Judy O’Connell [Catholic Education Office, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia] created a wonderful presentation called Capture the 20:20 Vision for Libraries for the Annual Weekend School of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa and the School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa in Nelson in April. Her slide show is available at http://www.slideshare.net/heyjudeonline/
capture-the-2020-vision-for-libraries.

She also has made available slides of the beautiful Broadgreen Intermediate School Learning Centre, also in Nelson, at http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/slideshow.php?id=28088. For more from O’Connell, see her blog, Hey Jude, at http://heyjude.wordpress.com

A SHORT AND EASY SEARCH ENGINE TUTORIAL

Per and Susanne Koch of Pandia (Oslo, Norway) have put together a free tutorial on “how to explore the Net more efficiently.” This would be a good tool to use in your classes, or at least to refer to.

From the introduction: “The main problem is not that the search engines and the search directories find too little, but that they find too much. It is hard to uncover the needle in a list of 400,000 hits. That's why Pandia brings you this short and easy search eng

ine tutorial. To get the right answer, you must ask the right question. This Web search tutorial will tell you exactly how to do that! It will take you approximately 30 minutes to read the search engine tutorial through, and you will learn the essentials of Web searching in less than an hour. By improving your searching skills you will be able to find what you are looking for faster and more efficiently. How is that for an investment?”

I think that the best parts of the tutorial are the section on error codes and Pandia's 17 Recommendations for Net Searching. They are:

1. If you have a clear idea of what you are looking for, use a search engine first. If you are looking for general information on a broader topic start with a search directory.

2. Use nouns and objects as query words.

3. Be as specific as possible.

4. If you do not find what you are looking for, search for synonyms. Use the OR operator.

5. Check your spelling! Then check it again...

6. Be aware of alternate spellings or alternative words in various forms of English.

7. Use at least two keywords in a query.

8. Use phrases enclosed by quotation marks in order to reduce the number of results.

9. Use the AND or plus operator in order to reduce the number of hits.

10. Normally use quotation marks and capitals when searching for names.

11. Consider truncating words in order to find both singular and plural versions of nouns.

12. Put the main subject first.

13. State to yourself what you want to find. You might find it useful to write it down on a piece of paper in normal language. Pick out the keywords and use them (and relevant synonyms) in your search query.

14. Do not make your queries too complicated.

15. Consider using field searching to get more relevant hits.

16. Use several search services. Not one of them covers more than a part of the Net.

17. Read the help pages.Admittedly the basic rules are the same, but the variations will affect the results of your query.

URL: http://pandia.com/goalgetter/

SITE FOR CIRCULATION FOLKS

Circulation Services is a site “to foster communication and community among Circulation and Access Services professionals. Far too often, the work performed by circulation staff is minimized by the Library community, especially the professional community.” The site is new and there isn’t much there, but it’s a great idea. It doesn’t say it, but it is a wiki. (No sign of who started it.)

URL: http://circservices.wikidot.com/start

TWO MEDICAL SITES--ONE GOOD, ONE "NO-NO"

Medical Mnemonics.com, the “world’s database of medical mnemonics,” is a neat site where you can search by filters or keywords, browse by category and with charts, add your favorite mnemonics. And you can put it on a PDA. I’m not a medical guru, so I can’t judge it, but it looks neat and useful. (Couldn’t find who set this up.)

URL: http://www.medicalmnemonics.com


Do NOT use this site
MEDgle “is an online information and educational service.” One puts in symptoms and received a ranked list of possible diagnoses. I and several others have tried it and have had bad results. Our conditions were not listed and some of the ones the site returned were strange and even frightening. We should caution our users NOT to use this site.

URL: http://medgle.com

JESSAMYN'S LAWS ON LIBRARIANS AND TECHNOLOGY

No amount of money will make a tech-phobic staff love technology.

No amount of dissuasion will keep a technophile away from technology.

Knowing who you're working with and [the full range of] what your options are is more valuable than any amount of money thrown at your technology problem.

From Jessamyn West, librarian.net, from Tiny Tech Talk, a course on good tech tools for small and rural libraries she did at the Massachusetts Library Association conference.

URL for both slides and printable versions: http://www.librarian.net/talks/masslib/#synthesis

MOODLE, ANYONE? Putting workshops online

I have just discovered a course-authoring tool called Moodle (http://moodle.org). Is anyone using it in the library world? (Moodle comes from Western Australia...)

I'm trying to find a way to offer my workshops on the Web so that 1) I don't have to travel so much and 2) they can be made available to those not part of a group that can sponsor a course like these.
Management Strategies for Small or One-Person Libraries
Time Management for Librarians
The Visible Librarian--Marketing and Advocacy for Small Libraries

Can anyone help? I'd even pay for someone to put my courses on the Web..............