Notes and photos from the field

Well, summer reading is almost over. I'm sure many of you are breathing a sigh of relief and are ready for some R&R. Please, before you drop, send me some stories and some pictures. I know there are great ones out there and I'd love to help spread the work about the work you've been doing. Any or all three of your programs--the more, the merrier!

You, not me.

A very old draft that never got posted. Still a blog snippet form David Lee King and Seth Grodin worth reading, though.
Do many of you read David Lee King's blog? He's frequently thought-provoking and certainly worth adding to your bloglines account, or whatever aggregate you're using. I was behind in my reading and did some catching up today.

A posting on Dec. 18th has interesting implications for us. David quotes from Seth Grodin's blog about promotion and what gets the attention of people, promoting me or you? Do our users want to know what we are doing or do they want to know what they can use? Do we have a new database or can business owners now gather better demographics by using the XYZ database at CCPL? Should we more often think of how to show what the benefit is of what we have and do?
Read the post and let me know how you think we could use this.
David Lee King

Book cart drill teams

annual36083
Originally uploaded by ALA - The American Library Association

You have got to look at this set on Flickr. It's great and quite amusing. Some pretty fancy teams here.
Where's our drill team?

Insect-i-gami

Results
Originally uploaded by Lester Public Library

Great Catch the Reading Bug summer crafts. Take a look at this library's photostream.

Google even more popular?

Today's ReadWriteWeb posting has this:

According to the latest data from Hitwise, Google gained yet another percentage point on its biggest competitors last month and now accounts for more than 69.17% of U.S. searches. In the U.K. and Australia, Google's market share has climbed above 87%. This increase comes at a time when, according to Hitwise, more and more Internet users are also relying on search to navigate to key industry categories.

Google ReadWriteWeb

What does that mean for us?

Concentration?

I recently had a conversation with several people about being able to sustain concentration for serious, prolonged reading and how I feared I was losing that ability. Twice this week I've read the theory that our technology usage patterns are creating this shift, so I'm certainly not alone in my musings. Some organizations are creating email free Fridays, so that employees have a full day without instantly compelling distractions.

"in an article in the current Atlantic magazine headlined "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" author Nicholas Carr writes, "What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski."

Information Age

Now, I don't Twitter, don't have a Blackberry, don't have a cell phone with email capability, and I still share these thoughts. I'm not saying that I'm becoming a technophobe, but feeling this shift personally, I can't help wonder where it leads us. Your thoughts?

Nic Butler goes national

Yesterday Nic sent me a link to an NPR blog by Fred Childs. Nic corresponded with Mr. Childs about a very early concert in Charleston that may well have been one of the first performances of a Beethoven symphony. Childs had spoken of one in a Kentucky tavern in 1817, while Nic had evidence of a concert here in Charleston in 1805. Child's was fascinated and quoted a section of their email correspondence, as well as posting an image of the newspaper clipping that helped to document this claim. It's a great story and one that vividly illustrates the long and prominent cultural life of our city.
I know you want to read it for yourself. Performance Today

Thanks, Nic!

How cool is this??

Found this, unposted, from quite a while back.

Just read about a new (to me) site that lets you load a file and then share it. Text, pictures, video, audio all work. You name the web site you've created (they call it a drop), load the file, choose if you want others to view only, view and add or view, add and delete. Then you set how long you want the file to be viewed, by selecting a delete date. You can password protect, if you want to.
I haven't tried it yet, but there lots of practical apps, seems to me. Maybe a way to host podcasts? Store a presentation so you don't have to carry a laptop or even a USB drive, work on a project with others....
Check it out.
Drop.io

Play time

OK, Tech Trek 2.0 mentioned, over and over, that play was good. Here's your play site for the day. New to me, anyway.

Librariandressup

Too busy?

Another short gem from Seth Grodin blog, aptly named, Seth's Blog. If you're not familiar with Seth, take a look. He's a marketer and a good, common sense writer. Thought provoking too. One of the non-library blogs I read that almost always has implications for libraries.

"Two Seconds."

Sometimes, busy people need to remind themselves (and us) how busy they are by shaving off the last two seconds of what would otherwise be a pleasant interaction.

Seth's blog

Donors recognized

june 30 021
Originally uploaded by staff_lines

On a recent trip to my hometown, my sisters and I stopped into the library. We wanted to see their "Katharine's Tree," a tree etched into glass with the names of donors to the library. My mother was one of those names, so there was both a personal and professional side to this trip.
I like the transparency of this display. Doesn't block the light or the sight lines for the staff or the public.

CML I love this sign!

CML I love this sign!
Originally uploaded by tscrobinson

Have to admit that I came across this by reading Tame the Web (Michael Stephens), not by searching Flickr. Great sign!