This is a great visual of collaborative 2.0 tools by Robin Goodhttp://www.mindmeister.com/12213323Reminds me of this visual I found yesterday --- but with links!  

At the last SPLAT meeting, Memo brought up the topic of QR2 codes -- here is some more information from Ning Library 2.0http://library20.ning.com/profiles/blogs/qr-codes-for-libraries-some?xg_source=activity

A few weeks ago Boise Public Library hosted an excellent program about leadership and what effective leadership means in our times. Philip H. Eastman II lead the talk, which is based on his book "The Character of Leadership: An Ancient Model for a Quantum Age." The 7 characters of leadership include rather revolutionary ideas about what great leadership really entails. Firstly, as Eastman said you have to love people to be a leader/manager. The 7 characteristics are:

Faith: Lead based on a clear set of positive core values that are demonstrated through your leadership actions.

Justice: Lead by doing what is right even when it is difficult and costly; leading in a selfless manner and fostering a personal and team accountability.

Temperance: Lead with a personal humility, passion and self-control.

Hope: Lead by sincerely and convincingly articulating a bright future, especially when the immediate circumstances are bleak.

Wisdom: Lead by effectively applying your accumulated knowledge and experience to current situations.

Love: Lead by demonstrating a genuine concern, care and compassion for people.

Courage: Lead by boldly seizing opportunities and firmly dealing with challenges.

I was really inspired by this compassionate approach to leadership. To learn more visit there website at www.characterofleadership.com

This is a great hour-long overview of what did and didn't happen at ALA Midwinter in
Boston in January 2010.  Four techys give their 10 minute overview with a
few Q&A's.  You will hear about

• www.thecopia.com -- a new social e-book platform
• www.blioreader.com -- a new ebook platform designed for the visually impaired
• Mobile Discovery Tools: MyLibrary, Polaris Mobile PAC, OCLC/Red Laser, Library Thing/Local, SyrsiDynix BookMyne
• Augmented Reality -- what it is and how it might be used by libraries
• Discovery Systems
• Failing to Win -- a cultural shift in viewing failure as a part of success, rather than a negative
• Finally, flexibility, deconstruction, serendipity, and community as growing trends in the transition of the library world as well as the world as a whole.
• Two more apps: Foursquare and GoogleBuzz

Get your favorite beverage or snack and enjoy! Listen

Whoa! This awesome parody is just so great, and pretty funny. I found the link on the blog Library Cloud and I think that the point is that even when embracing new technology, always ask your users and always respond to their needs.

Hanging out in the Handheld Librarian Conferences today, and I wanted to share some web tools for creating a mobile site for your library! Chris Haefele shared his work with the attendees.  
 

Chris' slides: http://www.slideshare.net/chaefele/building-a-mobile-site-one-block-at-a-time 

 His Mobile Site Generator: http://www.hiddenpeanuts.com/msg/  You can use these pre-made frameworks:   http://code.google.com/p/iui/  

http://www.lib.montana.edu/~jason/files/m/   
And check out Library Anywhere, which will convert your Online Catalog, for a fee, to a mobile page!    http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2010/01/library-anywhere-prices-public.php

The browser wars are far from over, though some have gone by the wayside, but for the most part there are strong contenders you should consider to be your top choices. This is, of course, my own personal picks, but I think you will come to agree based on the sheer number of useful applications these two beauties bring to the table:

Firefox: without a doubt one of my all time favorites. Not only can load it like a Christmas tree with your own set of adornments, but you can make it blink prettily at you
because of the thousands of add-ons ("installable enhancements to the Mozilla Foundation's projects") available at its Christmas shop, Add-ons for Firefox. These add-ons allow you to take control of just about every aspect of the web page you visit: from ways to stop annoying ads (check Adblock Plus), to making things disappear (like my all-time favorite Nuke Anything Enhanced). These are two examples of the thousands available at their Add-on site. It's like the iPhone app saying: there's an app add-on for that. It is nothing short of the "make it mine" browser: configurable, stable, updated, able to be loaded on a thumb drive, and free.

Chrome: Google's Chrome browser is swiftly making mincemeat of other browsers. It's also quite fast, has a super clean interface, and until recently, it also comes with its own way of taming websites based on your preferences. Like Firefox, Chrome has add-ons, though they're referred to as "extensions." Don't like advertising cluttering your screen? Get Adblock! See? The Chrome browser has similar applications too; thousands, actually. The "most popular" extensions on the Chrome extension page is 2,386!

There are dozens of browsers out there to fit your particular tastes, but for the casual yet discerning user, Firefox and Chrome have the technical support and framework to ensure consistent development and experimentation; they will make your browsing/searching experience that much better.

And what are these browsers (and their companies) learning about us users? One, we like to make things conform to our own unique specifications. Two, we're picky, and the more choices we have about something the better. Three, we see the web as a highly mutable environment different, but each one of us wants to control our own little slice of web real estate, no matter what that piece looks like. Four, we like to have our say about what we like and what we don't like. And that extends to what we use to view the web. What's in your computer?

In an effort to connect with the freshmen in my class, I polled them about what they do with their phone, and what they do on the web. Well, all of them text and send texts, so here's the assignment I came up with.  

They need to take their initials (mine would be A and V) and go to a part of the library with the As or the Vs and then text me what subject that is. They can, for a bonus, tell me what their initials together stand for, but mine, AV, doesn't exist.  

I am hoping that they will learn the "browsing" technique of information behavior and that they will learn more about the Library of Congress subject heading.  

Also, you're probably wondering if I am using my cell phone for this. I am not! I am using my Google Voice account. Also, all of our students can send an SMS message from their google chat (in their campus mail account).  

Cool stuff! Are you using texting in the classroom or library?

I am currently having an online discussion with some of my wonderful librarian friends about whether or not the newest generation of youth/young adults are the harbinger of the BOOK. What is the future of the book? Here are some perspectives I've heard:

• books look old, like microform readers look old to the 20s and 30s generations
• books are necessary and young adults are just not looking at them enough
• young adults don't consider reading online reading
• students may not be motivated to look beyond the screen
• "whether it's paper or a screen, what matters is whether or not the information needs of these students are being met"
• that abandoning books is like abandoning crucial infrastructure in a city
• information is changing so rapidly that as soon as a book is published that information is now obsolete
• growing up with the screen has changed the way we think

I personally believe that we will be bookless within the next ten years compared to how many books libraries currently do have.  Here are some other places this conversation is taking place, too:

• The iPad tablet replaces (reboots) the book: http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/09/rebooting-the-book-one-apple-i.html
• This group is documenting the progress as we shift from the book to the screen: http://www.futureofthebook.org/

I can see a future where we'll have the "book room" for access to information not available on the web that will look like the "Microfilms Room" or "Microfims area."What do you think? 

Stephen Abram recently posted his slides from a presentation entitled "It's 2010: 20 Technologies to Watch, and How to Cope."  Even without his inimitable live comments, these slides are a goldmine of thought-provoking information, ideas, and humor.  Enjoy!  http://www.slideshare.net/stephenabram1/click-u2010

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported that Stanford is offering the public a peek into its iPhone App development course.  By the way, it's one-way communication, and the professor and students will not take questions from observers.  Here's the link to the article:  http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Wanna-Make-an-App-for-That-/20512/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en Are any Idaho librarians developing custom Apps for their library services?  Is it time to move beyond Twitter?  Just wondering ...

As listed by PC World -- check out Backtype, Evernote, Kosmix, Psterous, and Shout'em .. everything from cloud computing to a secure microblogging network!

So, it looks like library camps and library related unconferences are an increasing trend: http://liswiki.org/wiki/Library_Camp There were just two in 2006, a handful in 2007, more in 2008 and then during 2009 it seems like library unconferences/library camps just exploded! 

Why are they so popular? Because traditional conferences are expensive due to the planning, preparation and other long term expenditures, unconferences make sense. This website for Library Camps and Unconferences explains this trend similarly, and also offers a helpful guide to hosting your own unconference: http://lln.lyrasis.org/node/355  

This site says that the mark of a good and successful unconference is, "In a good unconference, all or almost all participants are participants, not just audience."  

The benefits seem to be resource sharing, networking, the participants power to decide what they want to learn collectively, that the participants are not just audience, but participants (much like the whole point of web 2.0), and of course the major cost savings to just about everyone.  

The STELLA (Science, Technology & Engineering Library Leaders in Action!) unconference stems from how hard it is to attend so many conferences that apply to the specific needs of science librarians: http://www.nuthingbut.net/2008/12/sci-tech-bunching-of-lsw.html  

Joe writes, "science librarians don't neccessarily need to have an umbrella
organization to talk, chat and meet with each other. We can organize
ourselves without the organizational beauocracy." The STELLA unconference is happening now this week in Denver: http://denver-stella.pbworks.com/ 

I'm hesitant to suggest that Idaho libarians need this, but we might. I at least think it's something worth investigating and if you are interested I'd like to hear your thoughts.My thoughts are to put something together that is as free as humanly possible where the spirit is just to share ideas, brainstorm, and come up with some great, great ideas. 

Lastly, here is a link to an article overview on library camps called The unconference: a new model for better professional communication http://www.lianza.org.nz/library/files/store_021/GreenhillandWiebrands_Unconference.pdf 

My film production company Blushing Potato Productions made a short film about how the staff at the Library! at Collister, a branch of Boise Public Library are actually superhereos. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xELfJsotb40

For quite some time now there has been an online movement to show the value of librarians and library workers through a day of hitting the popular answer boards run by search engines such as Yahoo Answers, Wiki Answers and AskVille, etc.

One of the many reasons for this monthly event is to show the relevance of libraries and the quality of answers available from library workers.

It's easy to participate and have fun! Slam the Boards! Blog

To Tweet or not to tweet??? Recently, there was a newspaper story saying that young people (ie. 20-somethings ) were fairly resistant to Twitter and preferred the communication options offered by cell phones. (This article said that older people tended to be more receptive to Twitter.) So, what do you, my fellow librarians, think about this matter?