Library Stuff

What’s this? It looks like Audible is putting out some RSS deliciousness (there’s like 30 of ‘em). Audible librarians of the world, say it with me: Suweeeeeeet! (link via Joho the Blog)

I was talking on the phone this afternoon with a prospective author for an Internet Spotlight column (keep those ideas coming) and the subject of virtual reference came up. I kinda “poo-pooed” the idea as one that has been written to death (I think we need to beyond just “virtual reference” – take a look at the stuff Michael Stephens and Aaron Schmidt have been writing about – they’re taking it the next level). The author then started talking about Jybe and other software that can be used in reference transactions and my interest was piqued.

This evening, del.icio.us led me to Zeemo, which has two products out. The first one is a news aggregator and the second is a live forum/searching tool. The forum tool reminded me of my earlier conversation and looks very useful:

“Zeemo is a system (client server based) that will let you find information, chat with other users and share your files. The overall benefit of Zeemo is, that it makes it easier to find and retrieve information and simplifies communication with other users”

Take a look at the screenshot page. Is anyone familiar with Zeemo? I think I’m going to try it out at the office tomorrow with some co-workers and see how well it works.

So, who’s using del.icio.us, where do they come from, how old are they (and more)? Ericka Menchen did a 70 user pilot study (far far far from enough subjects, but interesting nonetheless) and posted her findings. (link via Indefinite Articles)

Michael Fagan IM’d me this afternoon with a neat but subtle addition to Feedster search. You can now search other Bloglines users OPML file (if its public). So, if you want to search the feeds that I read in Bloglines (which I don’t use anymore – the list is way outdated) for the keyword RSS, you would perform this search:

http://feedster.com/search.php?q=rss&inopml=ezraej

where ‘ezraej’ is my Bloglines ID. I don’t think that Bloglines offers this service (I know that I can search my own subscribed feeds, but not others). The trick is finding the ID for the person whose subscribed feeds you want to search. Useful? I think so.

Marylaine Block on using weblogs in libraries. Good advice:

“I really think weblogs are too valuable a tool for libraries NOT to use them. But library directors need to understand that a weblog is a commitment to the user group it serves. It’s not a frill, to be done on the fly when a librarian happens to have a spare moment — that guarantees that blogs will updated shortly after hell freezes over or librarians finish reading all the professional journals that have been routed to them, which ever happens first. Don’t start a blog unless you’re willing to make maintaining it an important part of librarians’ job descriptions and evaluations.”

I love library OPACs that go beyond the typical boring “here’s your book.” Ever use the public computers at Borders? If so, you know what I mean. If not, check them out as they may give you some ideas as to how to improve your public display.

A perfect example of going beyond the OPAC comes from the North Shore Libraries in New Zealand. Mike Copley, Assistant Librarian and Web Developer sent in a note showing off his OPAC display. They have added two features that I absolutely love:

1) A “dynamic” library map that shows where the book is located.
2) A “book reviews” link which takes the user to book reviews on their library web site.

Take a look at a sample OPAC result.

I’m sure that there are more libraries with similar initiatives. I heard from a few Texas librarians who have done book reviews on their web site but did not link to them from their OPAC. I’d love to start a list or directory of these “enhanced” library OPACs. Send yours in (stevenmcohen [at] gmail [dot] com and put “Library OPAC” in the subject line) and tell me what makes it so special. Maybe we can build a wiki or a blog based around this topic…

So, I’m in the beginning stages of gathering information for a book that I will be co-authoring (more on that by the end of the summer) and I will start writing after the first of May. I’m trying to clear my writing plate so that I’ll be able focus as much time as possible on the book. As some of you know, I am the contributing editor for the Internet Spotlight column for Public Libraries magazine. I’ve been more of a contributor as of late as I have had no article submissions from the library community.

Does anyone want to send in an idea (and then an article) for the next column (which will be due in two months)? For those not familiar with the column, it focuses on how public librarians can use the Web to better their professional development as well as work with patrons on research.

If you are interested, please contact me. Thanks.

Two new online tools came across my aggregator today via del.icio.us:

1) Maple – “Maple is a powerful yet easy to use bookmarks manager extension that adds advanced bookmarking capabilities to Firefox. Maple stores your bookmarks online on our servers so you never lose them if something nasty happens to your computer. Maple can categorize your bookmarks by assigning them tags. This makes it easy to find and access your bookmarks with the advanced search engine.”

2) Spogger – “Spogger is a platform for real-time visual information and news provided and managed by the user community.”

Ivan Chew is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogging librarians. He writes about stuff I’m interested in and blows me away with his posts. For example, today, he posted an interview he did with Wendy, a librarian from Ngee Ann Polytechic Library who spoke about her Readers’ Choice blog:

“RL: How does Readers’ Choice work?

W: We give the Ngee Ann Co-op vouchers to anyone who submits a review. Their reviews don’t necessarily have to be published, but reviews must be on books found in the Ngee Ann library. We have a deal with the Co-op to give out the vouchers.”

Congrats to Chrisina Pikas for making the move to get her PhD. Wow, now I’ll know 2 doctor librarians…