WebJunction

Great topic, Bob. Thanks for starting it. And congrats on your new chapter - should be a fun change!

Congrats and best of luck on the new position!

Thanks Chad, Chrystie -- it'll be an adventure. I hope others will soon tell us what they've been up to lately!

Seems very sane to me, maddog. And well worth a Congratulations! on its own. :-)

great pic! thanks for sharing

Woo-hoo, indeed!!

Unless I'm mistaken, circulation means hard copy items, like (dare I say it?) books, videos, dvds. I guess the public is not getting everything on the Internet, as has been so direly predicted.

Any similar good news on door counts?

Just some more fun stat info: we are averaging over 1000 people a day through the doors - more like 1200-1300 on days we're open 10 - 8. That's in a city population of 29K and county of 60K. So we're feeling really busy!

And, we've received word Bill and Melinda Gates are giving us a nice chunk of money to replace our original Gates computers (the VERY original NT's from 2000). That will give us all new equipment in our public computer areas in our new library (which is coming along at a rapid pace - we expect to be moving there in October).

Our website routinely gets over 20K hits each month, which makes me think people are accessing our remote databases (we just count new and return visitors for our stats, but the company keeping track uses views, and charges extra when it goes over 20K!). People are also logging in to the catalog to place holds from home now that they've figured out someone (usually me) will grab those each morning and have them ready to pick up when we open. Some staff get annoyed by this, but I think it's just a nice service to offer, and that's what we're all about, right?

I'm not a big fan of numbers, because they can be manipulated so easily to support whatever claim you want to make, but it is nice to be able to document how busy we really are!

Yay! Congrats, Janie, on your new position.

Pam, it's so good to see you around these parts again! Congrats on the new grant, sounds like it's a critical upgrade.

That sure sounds like success to me! 28 people must represent a solid cross-section of the community. I know you give some more detail about these forums in the [url /forums/click.jspa?searchID=9331&messageID=25099 ]Community Partnerships forum[/url] earlier this year.

I wonder how many other libraries have tried this approach.

That is some great PR indeed! Congrats to you and Kerry!

I was able to get to the story without registering, but the online version doesn't have the color photo --too bad. The homework program sounds terrific. I'm wondering if it takes much extra staff time/effort to provide the help and keep the worksheets current. What a great partnership to have with the local school system.

btw, do you mind if I imbed the url above so that it doesn't push the right rail off the screen? Our software isn't smart enough to text-wrap urls, so it thinks it's one looong word.

'tis done.

Now the Chicago Tribune page requires registration. I assume they give open access for one day before hiding it behind the registration wall.

so, anybody mind if i use this thread to self-promote a bit about WebJunction? our site is refreshed!! what do people think??

and since I am complaining I might as well mention how pixelated the header bar looks, especially where it says "An online community for library staff"

Here's another screenshot of the header as I see it...

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Hey LB, I've been a bit scarce lately. On the road visiting community partners coming into WebJunction this summer. We were in IL this month and your name came up several times in the areas of conferencing tools and also general library advocacy. I'm really looking forward to seeing IL site come together and imagine we'll get to work with you a bit on it as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing your article - sounds interesting and I"d be happy to provide feedback when it's ready for review!

Hope you're (and all're) well!

here's my shameless self promotion and news: i'm a mover & shaker! the special issue just came out this week.

janie hermann and helene blowers (both WJers) are on the list too, so i'm in good company!!

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yAy Chrystie, Janie and Helene!

<img src="http://www.goodwinlibrary.com/bin/congarat.gif">

<h3>CongaRats!</h3>

wooHOO!

{pant pant *drool}

I was ordering a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for my son through Amazon since the release data is on a Saturday and I didn't want to drive back to the library to get it.

Anyway ... Amazon keeps a list of the "Harry-est Towns in America" (those with the most pre-orders per capita). Running down the list I found Lake Villa as #75 ... but #1 among Illinois towns. Huzzah!!!

I've heard many stories lately where circulation increased because either the collection had been weeded appropriately and/or the library programs were more relevant to the community and were drawing more people into the library than the year before. Either of these the case for you librarybob?

Either way, congrats!

Nice to see you - I hope you're well.

I'm fine, thank you.

My suspicion is that it may be due to the bad economy ... free reads and DVDs are an easy substitute for bookstores and movie theaters.

(I've long read that library circ increases during hard times. I don't have a cite, though.)

Well, drop on by and we'll open a bottle!

We really do need to find more shameless librarians ...

Most recently, the Chamber of Commerce here has agreed to run a column on "business books at the library" in its newsletter. That's part of my campaign to convince the local conservatives that the public library has a positive ROI for the things they are most interested in.

EDIT:

And I should add that a few of the kids we serve are in a photo on page 25 of the January/February _American Libraries_. Kudos go to Elisa Guefflier and Kerry Reed for their "Grab and Snap Photography Contest."

Welcome back Chrystie, you've been missed.

I am so sorry to hear that Rose has passed. The tribute you wrote is very uplifting. My deepest sympathies for your loss.

Everything is awesome for us right now. We have had a lot of snow this winter so I don't have to whine about missing my snowmobile riding. On the job front I have been given a large promotion (and rai$e - yeah!) at my 9-5 job so that is a huge relief on the old family budget which had been strained for a long time. Things at the library are also going great - we have a nice harmonious staffing at the moment which makes things run so nicely in libraryland. We are currently waiting to hear back from Gatesville about what sort of hardware upgrade matching funds we might qualify for. I just completed the TechAtlas inventory of our PACs...

Chrystie - I'm sure you will be back up to speed in no time. You could always delete all your emails. If there are any important ones in there I'm sure you'll hear back about it, hahaha!

We haven't heard anything back on Gates funds as yet but I imagine it won't be long. I think I heard it was actually a <i>matching funds</i> program this time around so, there may not be many funds available to match...

Excellent news, Bob!

I noticed you reported a ~7% increase in July 06. Has it been trending up this whole time?

Trending up, galloping up ... an average of maybe 10% each of the last few years. *Everything* except VHS tapes (being discontinued) is circing more, with our free DVDs bringing in ever more people.

Part of this is due to population growth and the most recent increases may be due to the poor economy. Books continue to do well, and aren't manga books? :-)

Heck, we've got lots of teens coming and have little extra just for them aside from manga, a small YA collection, and anime.

amazing numbers! Whoo-hoo, Bob. Thanks for sharing.

The official number was 1,019,238.

Now we've had another huge up tick, giving us 104,442 for July, 2008, alone. The previous July was 93,449.

This is the first time we've passed 100K for a month.

awesome!!!

How wonderful!

Heh. I know dozens of people who have written books ... you're going to be fine! Not many of them knew what the book would be like before they finished. Books grow and, often enough, the writer is more a gardener that a god-like creator.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Outstanding, Bob!!

I was so impressed, I created a document showing your fine example: http://www.webjunction.org/technology/website-development/-/articles/content/71851190.

I especially love the virtual bulletin board.

Well done!
JP

On another note (and always hoping that others might post their successes), two very nice things happened within a few minutes of each other this morning. Wikipedia was updated to reflect *my* definition of "social media" (not done by me, btw, but rather by net elder John Lebkowsky) and a local company e-mailed me about inclusion in our new local web directory.

But of course!

Here's the social media entry on Wikipedia. Reading this definition reminds me of a great blog post I read last night on the Social Signal blog. Alexandra reminds us to stop trying to keep up with social tools, and to stay focused on why we use them.

I agreed with her reminder about the broadcast. There's a lot of that going around, though I suppose it's better to have *lots* of broadcasters than to have only a few, it still sort of bugs me when people use the tools more like a soapbox than a conversation enabler. And sometimes I suppose I do that myself, but I try not to.

That's great news! I'm a big fan of local newspapers and I'm glad they are surviving, even thriving.

Do you have enough words in you to fill up facebook, WJ discussions AND your column? Super!

Another activity that won't work with a Kindle: using them as percussive instruments in a parade! (well, maybe it would work once, but probably not covered by the warranty!)

Welcome back, Pam. It is nice to meet you.

Sharon

Here's my latest TribLocal column.

It's on library ROI. I hope this column also makes the print edition.About the ROI

I dunno. It's their copyright (though of course anyone can link to it until link-rot sets in).

If you ask, they may well be pleased that one of their columns had value. I can pipe up, of course, but you're the ones who see the value at WJ.

It doesn't hurt that OCLC is a non-profit!

Bob,
I've reposted the article here: http://www.webjunction.org/demonstrating-impact/-/articles/content/84700922.

Thanks again and keep us posted on future pieces!

WooHoo to rising circ stats ... we are in the same position and it does feel good!

Lookie Here

http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2006/07/movin-on-up.html#links

Very exciting, Janie!!!

Isn't it cool that we get to learn about it so instantly in a variety of communication channels? I love hearing about the successes of our community members.

nahhhh, just fat old hambone on the end of a rope!

Now THIS is lovely:

[url http://www.metrocast.net/~maddog/images/lakesunset.jpg ]http://www.metrocast.net/~maddog/images/lakesunset.jpg[/url]

Hey Bob, I am so excited to hear that there are other lib professionals venturing into the online community arena. The more examples we have out there, the more spaces & needs I think we'll be able to fill - for each other!

I think we're onto something here. Let us know how it goes...

I know I'm not a veteran online community person, but it does seem to me that community building is more about the content, response, sense or feeling of community, programming, etc. The technology can certainly hinder or help you out in these areas - but it's not the most important thing.

Don't worry folks - I'm not giving up on my advocacy for a better messaging system for us all - I'm just realizing that the community is so much more about the people/connections/assistance we're giving each other, than it is about the tools we have (or don't have) for that.

That said, everything will always fall to the borrom of the thread list anyway, as the default view is to list all posts chronologically, and not in threaded order. So go ahead and reply to yourself if you'd like.

BTW, we know you're not self serving - just "shameless"!!

I often wonder if why it is that some people take to online conferencing and some do not. I have seen ventures falter and fail that seemed like a sure thing. Publishers, writers and celebrities who maybe did not really want a 2 way conversation with their readers and fans, office types who were too used to the old email-go-round, etc.

Likewise I have seen communities spring up around what seemed at the time to be the weakest of pretenses. I guess you just never know.

You can point their browsers to conferences but you can't make them post...

Harry,



-CRH

So Bob, how goes the situation with NSLS and CoPs?

I'm afraid I'm posting here too often, but here's a link to an article published in Mindjack:

[url http://www.mindjack.com/feature/12ocvar.html ]http://www.mindjack.com/feature/12ocvar.html[/url]

If I wasn't interested I would not have asked. There are prolly others just as CURious who may come along later so please do not feel you are over posting when you share your experiences.

In our town we are in the middle of setting up a VPN between the library, town hall and the schools. I have my fears that once we have the technology in place the users may not embrace it.

Do you have any sort of VPN associated with your library?

Harry,

I fear that your question may not be found by the networking folks in this thread, but it's a good one.

Maybe post something about libraries & VPN in "connecting" to see if you get a few more responses??

library bob,

we want to write a "library of the month" feature about your program. when do you think it will be far enough along to write up a feature about it??

congrats! sounds wonderful. writing in an online classroom environment (conferencing, asynchronous) was my very first online community experience. boy, was i converted quick!!

Will there be any sort of chat element tied to the conferences? Scheduled live chats with an engaging moderator might be a good way to lure the kids to participate in the actual conference discussions. Most of the YA I know do not tend to think conferencing is that cool. They seem to prefer the immediacy of the chat room environment...

Have you checked out Venice yet Bob? It's the new open source platform that Eric Bowersox developed for [url http://www.electricminds.org ]Electric Minds[/url]. It is free to download and not too hard to set up. Documentation is a bit lacking but I am sure Eric would be more than willing to answer any questions you may have. The source code is located at [url http://sourceforge.net/projects/venice/ ]http://sourceforge.net/projects/venice/[/url]

It has been running flawlessly for us for nearly two years now. It has a cool paperclip function which enables file attachments on posts, it's linear and it's FREE...

We at our library feel this is old news by now, but I forget that not everyone knows about it! So here's a great piece about an award we have received, and a nice photo of the 3 people who got to see Laura yesterday: [url http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/03archive/102103a.htm ]http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/03archive/102103a.htm[/url]

We knew 3 people would be invited and couldn't decide who to include with our director and trustees chair, so held an essay contest about How the Bozeman Public Library Affected Your Life. Chuck's essay was so moving, he was the hands-down winner. You can read his essay: [url http://www.bozemanlibrary.org/esssaywinner.pdf ]http://www.bozemanlibrary.org/esssaywinner.pdf[/url] (with Acrobat Reader).

Well, congratulations indeed!

Congratulations to the library for the honors and to Chuck for his willingness to embrace change and reap the benefits!

I'll see what I can do to get Alice involved in your forum. Perhaps you'd like to email an invite and/or info to [url mailto:mtb@mtlib.org ]mtb@mtlib.org[/url] and I'll forward it to her.

I have emailed you about the Library of the Month, too.

Nice! And to what do you attribute your successes?

Go ahead, we're supposed to be shameless here!

WOW! That is quite a circ number for that size population. Have you added new things, like DVD's, books on CD, etc? Do you also count traffic through the doors? We have alot of traffic but much of that is strictly internet use and doesn't do anything for circulation.

Now the pressure is on to keep up those stats!

This isn't self-promotion, unless you think of this as my promoting the WJ...

Check this out: Max Anderson (sigurdis), the moderator for Funding & Advocacy, is famous at work for his work at the WJ.

Congrats, Max! Who knew you were a film producer too!

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Check out this post in Library News: http://www.librarystuff.net/2004/10/webjunction-article-about-techie.html

and this one from Tame the Web: http://www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/archives/000400.html

That equipment is always parked in <a href="http://www.electricminds.org/~maddog/pix/bethafix.jpg" target=_new><h4>The R Removal Equipment Shed</h4></a>

Oh, the trials of fame on the blog circuit! Check out these comments about Betha's WJ blog article.

http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2004/10/techfocused_lib.html#comments

I think it may be worth starting a new thread here about collecting good Blog/Library resources. Anyone interested?

Well here is the new thread on library blogs ...
http://webjunction.org/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=1123

Thanks Betha, I appreciate that. Everyone likes to be recognized. I'm really happy that I could point him to some of the libraries that he talks about. I thought it was a great article.

Nice article Chrystie - congratulations! I especially like the part where you said <i>Online communities can form or function around anything. They do talk, about summer vacations, pets, and new job offers.</i> A site like this is such a great resource to connect with other librarians and tech people. It has become a great knowledge base and source of problem solving for libraries everywhere, but it is how we interact as people that make the place truly live and breathe.

While I am thankful to have a place to connect with my peers for discussion and problem solving, I am also most interested in how we interact as human beings in the first place. That is why I value the strictly social areas as much as the rest of the forums. I think it is important we get to know each other first before diving straight into that thorny database problem or hardware malfunction. This is why I start topics that are more or less online word games or art galleries. It gives us more insight into <i>who</i> we are talking to rather than just <i>what</i> we are talking about...

With my Director's approval, I've started a weblog dedicated to library support staff: <a href="http://librarysupporter.blogspot.com/">http://librarysupporter.blogspot.com/</a>.

And speaking of human interaction, if anyone would like to become a contributor I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks, librarybob.

And guess what turned up in <a href="http://www.bloglines.com/public/LibrarySupporter">my Bloglines</a> this morning?
<a href="http://webjunction.lishost.org/">BlogJunction</a>! Congrats on joining the LIBlogosphere, WJ!

Just announcing a couple of things "in development":

1) We're investigating downloadable non-copyright music sources with the intent of putting a convenient link on one of our web pages. I'd give odds on us *really* doing this at something less than 50/50 -- but, heck, you gotta look.

2) Our youth services department is using a wiki for internal book reviews -- every wiki member can add to/alter pages, so a given book can have several reviews and associated comments. That will likely be expanded to whoever's interested within the local library system, and after that to the world.

Not that we're ambitious or anything ....

Well, that won't likely be for several, perhaps many, months. This is because we don't know what traction we'll get at the library system and hence how our youth services department will feel about "going public."

I, personally, wouldn't give a rip but then I've been working online and in public a long time. Some folks are shyer.

(On the other hand, I <b>could</b> make it a goal....)

Right now, the department is doing reviews on our internal forum. That means "one at a time, one person at a time." A wiki requires a different mindset.


Message was edited by: librarybob

That's great! I'm glad you guys are embracing the wiki-world. I think we have a lot to learn about how that technology can serve us (as developing professionals) and serve our patrons (with constantly updated info!).

Sorry to hear that. I hope she's much better!

I'll likely go in for the exhibits ... maybe make it to the WebJunction get together.

My wife has a new job, so I'm not sure what hours I'll have available.

By the way, I got an attaboy from one of the local mayors regarding our local web directory, http://www.lvdl.org/webdir/

Next up, likely, we'll be offering to put the minutes from local organizations online. We'll offer this to the villages, schools, and townships as well, but I'm really aiming at things which local taxpayers will think directly helps them.

(By the way ... the "bold" button on the response box appears to be broken.)

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librarybob

<bug>SWAT</bug>

I wonder if our dev team knows this code.

lb, sorry for my silence of late ~ been busy round these here parts as well.

i am always inspired by your consistent efforts to demonstrate the value of the library to your community. you mentioned in our web seminar last winter that you think of your community as an ecosystem. this is a powerful way of gaining some new perspective on our work, I think. you seem to not get discouraged; perhaps because your ecosystem is stable and your place in it is well acknowledged?

another thing I've thought of lately: is it ever useful to just quietly "be" a library? i.e., checking out materials, doing children's summer reading programs, answering reference questions, helping folks get online? sometimes i think we get caught up in a flurry or even a fight mode (which has it's place - but maybe the quiet time can be just as useful?)

something for us all to think about ... when we have a moment.

right on! that is awesome.

On reflection ... yet another note, I suppose ... I should report that this library's circulation hit a new monthly high of 82,530 (17% higher than last August's). This is due, in the main, to an expanded summer reading club.

And great staff members!

Sorry ... I've been about rather less often lately.

Busy with, ah, stuff. :-)

My latest strategic gambit is to start a "Community Services Forum": quarterly lunch meetings for the people who provide various human services within my library's catchment area. Examples are schools, local governments, county health department, police, park districts, Chamber of Commerce, service clubs, etc.

There are several purposes. The "obvious" is to help the people who interact with the public get to know each other ... this leads to better services and, perhaps, a better bang for the tax dollar. The "not quite so obvious" include making sure that library staff have access to various local experts (rather important some times) and building up the perception that the library "is important and necessary" among the various politicos. This will be important in 6 - 10 years when we need to expand our building.

Speaking of which, we've been working with an architect to determine what, exactly, can be put on our *rather* wet site (we back up to a small lake and wetlands). We completed a new parking lot, across a street, last year ... with the impact of that being that we *can* build up to 70,000+ square feet if we get a parking variance ... which we should be able to get since we're now zoned for office space (which needs parking for all office staff through the business day).

I wish I was a "pro" off line ... I'm a bookish sort IRL (in real life) and find that I have to force myself to do things which would otherwise be out of character. It's part of the gig when you get into the management end of modern public librarianship.

I'm a reference librarian by training and disposition. :-)

Our latest news is the successful completion of the world's first authorized CLUE® tournament on Saturday evening.

This wasn't really my idea (nor my cup 'o tea), but rather that of our Board treasurer, who's also the guiding force behind our Library Foundation. He's also run many events for his parish.

This took several months of negotiating through Hasbro's legal and marketing folks. They've allowed many Monopoly® tournaments (and the library just south of us made several thousands of dollars last year), but no CLUE® tournaments.

We held it in a nearby mansion, Tir Na Nog. We ran three rounds of play through the day, with the last round playing at about 5:30. As it happened, kids won through the elimination rounds and the last round pitted 4 junior/senior high kids against each other.

We introduced the "suspects" at that time (all dressed in character):

Colonel Mustard: State Senator Bob Churchill
Mr. Green: Township Supervisor Dan Venturi
Professor Plum: me
Miss Scarlett: Library Board President Caroline Jacobson
Mrs. Peacock: Lake County Board Chairman Suzi Schmidt
Mrs. White: Library Friends President Cathy Thilmany

A grand time was had by all. There were two stories in the Sunday Daily Herald (and I expect there will be coverage in three more newspapers).

I don't think we made any money, though (not enough people at the end of the day) but I think we know what to do next time: elimination rounds in the library over a couple of weeks, silent auction starting in the library for a week prior, have the final two rounds start at 5:30 rather than just the final round (to keep more people on site). The catering coast a bunch and we had way too much beer/wine/pop left over.

Anyway, it was a First for CLUE® and hopefully a First for the Lake Villa District Library Foundation.

Of course, some of the "important things" happened "on the side." State Senator Geo-Karis made a substantial donation to the Foundation. Library Board Pesident Jacobson was able to talk to County Board President Schmidt about the library helping the county purchase forest preserve land if any comes available very close to the library (and there is one parcel, with a resort, that may). Those things are easier to talk about informally, eh?

I've been thinking about an example I heard recently of an online community being used to (among other things) mobilize a huge in-person, physical funding effort for a national non-proift. They use regular online conferencing and blogging to support a volunteer base that does a major grassroots funding effort (like a walk) that raises millions of dollars a year. (Inquiring minds may want to know: I'm talking about SHARE and the March of Dimes.)

Since I heard about that I wondered if we could use our network here at WebJunction to orchestrate a nation-wide awareness-building or fund-raising effort for libraries. Bob's Clue (cute circle R) game is certainly an inspiration to do stuff locally - I also wonder if we could get together to do somethign (similar?) nation-wide.

Hmmm. Perhaps this is a project for our Demonstrating Impact focus - in Jan. Anyone else have some ideas along these lines? Or, think it could fly?

I suppose I should report on the "Community Services Forum" meeting we had on the 15th.

We sent out something like 100 invitations and wound up with 15 organizations sitting around the table ... a good first showing because these people all want to come back in February and indicated that they wanted to bring others. Among the attendees:

2 high school districts
1 grade school district
2 parks departments
1 forest preserve district
1 Chamber of Commerce
1 Kiwanis club
1 Lions club
1 Local Republican Club
1 crisis intervention center
2 youth services agencies
1 public library
1 university extension service

A bit of a side note: I'd been asked that previous week to be part of a panel interview for a new school superintendent. One of the questions dealt with "working with the community" -- an important requirement at any time but doubly important due to their need to pass a referndum. The person being interviewed asked whether or not there was a local forum where various organizations could meet and discuss shared issues.

My 5 seconds of glory came when two mayors and the township supervisor looked my way ... so I could say that the first meeting would be that next Tuesday.

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librarybob

Had the wrong day of the week ... d'oh!

I gave a presentation on Saturday December 3rd for a local job networking group. It was at 8:30 a.m. on a cold winter morning ... and so I was shocked when nearly 90 people turned up!! It was a great way to promote what libraries can do for jobseekers.

Below is a link to the article that appeared in a local newspaper before the event... it took up the better part of a page! The journalist interviewed me for close to an hour. We have been busier this week as a result of this article and the talk.. so it was worth my while to get up at 6:30 a.m. on a weekend!

here's the link

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chrystiehill

Janie ~ your name came up recently in connection with the Tech Atlas project. You really are a busy lady!! Thanks for all you do at WebJunction ... we appreciate it as much as your community is sure to appreciate the work you're doing at Princeton.

Did you say in a recent Advocates meeting that you'll be at Computers in Libraries? Guess what - I will be too. (And there's also gonna be some folks at PLA the same week - for anyone who'll be there.)

LB - you are an endless inspiration for new ways to get the community involved. Thanks for keeping us in the loop on all you happenings.

Congratulations, Chrystie!

And, thank you for the mention! :-)

Librarians, I think, are in one of the few fields where "helping each other" is a cherished opportunity.

I suppose I might 'fess up that this topic is hardly something that came to me in a flash of enlightenment.

There is one in the community I most participate in, there had been one before that at E-Minds, and there had been (and likely still is) one at the WELL.

The second meeting of the Lake Villa Area Community Services Forum was a great success. We had 29 people ... some from organizations not represented the first time (and with a couple people not able to make the 2nd meeting). Most of the time was spent sharing information. That's what it's all about.

wow.

i have a question for you LB - do you know of any library that's purchasing online courses (through materials budgets) for patron use/training? have you considered doing something like this yourself.

does sort of feel like a 2 way conversation. are we the only ones with news? or, the only ones who're shameless?

Good on you, janieh!

Regarding your question, Chrystie ... not yet, for us. We've got some internal interest in online language courses but not much real public demand ... and there's some online language learning content in the NetLibrary package we're now able to deliver.

I think it's a size issue. It's hard for us to make a business case since we've got less than 40,000 residents in our district ... doing something "for one" without at least being able to ILL a "real item" for others makes online courses problematic. It's probably something better done in a consortium context.

Congrats, janieh!

It's so good to know that another tech-background person will likely be coming into public librarianship. We need her.

Speaking of WIFI:

We applied for and hope to get (finding out soon) a grant that will allow us to
"WIFI up" our main and branch libraries AND put a Satellite on our Bookmobile which we plan to use as a mobile WIFI zone for classes at Nursing homes and such.

Well, I am sorry to report that we did not get the grant.
No mobile WIFI for us

Perhaps in the future.

Also, Self-checkout station #2 is being prepared for installation.

Wow Janieh, what's your secret? That's awesome. (Those are some great courses, by the way--maybe THAT's your secret!)

At my library we're following the instruction-tied-to-courses model, which is great when it works, but which is dependent on teaching faculty who can vary demand substantially. Last semester I taught a dozen library workshops; this semester, only two. Hmph.

Our reference staff is small, so doing non-course-related workshops may not be doable for us: some weeks it's hard just to get all the reference hours covered if someone's out for some reason. But teaching is the aspect of librarianship I'm least comfortable doing, therefore I should do more of it--and there has to be SOME way of reaching the students who need help but whose professors don't schedule classes, or who are too shy to approach the reference desk.

And just to keep this on topic, this week I was asked to serve on an ACRL-STS committee. Yay!

Nice work, datamuse. It's good to hear about your work in academic settings - so similar to work in public! I really think that there's way more in common than not when it comes to library services - populations my be different, but the principles of library practice are really the same!

Did anyone see the sirsi-dynix's latest issue of Upstream. They ask all types of "library leaders" for examples of libraries building community. It's great to see a real mix of libraries represented there. Check it out!

Joe, that's fabulous!

I know you'll do a great job. Anyone who is so excited to embrace the chaos of a library in the midst of construction will be able to meet all challenges creatively. Let us know how it goes.

.....Betha

I'm curious as to why a digitization project (or anything equally adaptable for telepresence) would add a great deal of traffic to the library. Indeed, one might think it would lessen such traffic.

Is there any thought to putting the most unique titles online for remote access? They're out of copyright (if there ever was such a concept when they were made!).