Monthly Archives: April 2009
Libraries and the Economy – Part 1
Well, this truly is our heyday! As budgets implode, library use explodes, so how do we provide more with less? Websites can help relieve some of the stress on information desks by linking to resources that answer some of the most … Continue reading
In Praise of Statewide Library Cards
I was living in New Hampshire when I got my MLS, so thought it was the norm for libraries to charge non-residents huge fees to use their collections (the next town over from mine was still pretty small, as was … Continue reading
Health Reference
The College of DuPage did a teleconference this week on health reference. Reference librarians in particular should take note as the speaker, Debra Kakuk Smith, said that just 27% of people go to a health specific site when researching a medical problem … Continue reading
No money to build? Branch out!
I know lots of libraries have put their building plans on hold or have lost mil levies or funding that would let them expand, so I think the time of the mini library has come. We want to be more … Continue reading
REFolution 6
Frances O’Brien of West Virginia University gave her talk on Janus at the Reference Desk: Rethinking Reference Revisited. She quotes Johanna Drucker in her 4/3/09 article in Chronicle Review – Blind Spots: Humanists must plan their digital future – where … Continue reading
REFolution 5
Joe Murphy from Yale University’s talk was Sending out an SMS: Exploring Reference via Text Messaging with Mobile Devices. He sees SMS (Short Message Service) as an enhancement rather than a replacement for traditional reference services. He uses ChaCha … Continue reading
REFolution 3
Russell Palmer from LYRASIS (formerly PALINET) spoke on Google Gems for Reference Librarians. He talked about using Google for a calendar, stock quotes, news, a phone book… He spoke of Google Sets – they let you fill in missing information … Continue reading
Facts on File History Poster
For all Facts on File customers out there – do you baby boomers, remember that wonderful best moments in movies collage poster they had in the seventies (Scarlett and Rhett and the kiss, Rick and Ilsa in Casablanca etc)? … Continue reading
Customer Feedback as Blog Fodder
Thanks to Glenn Harper, from Frankston Library Service in Australia for this great use of customer comment forms. They’ve started posting a monthly pdf of patron input (it looks like any remarks that could be used to identify someone have been stripped, so … Continue reading →