D-Lib Magazine

Just discovered D-Lib Magazine, a must read for anyone digitizing a local collection!

http://www.dlib.org/

Meredith Farkas & social libraries

Meredith Farkas' "In Practice" column, American Libraries, September/October 2012, is highly inspiring. While still a relatively new librarian she teamed up with four other librarians to create a free continuing education course called "Five Weeks to a Social Library."
http://sociallibraries.com/course

Excellent Library related blogs

An excellent blog for children's librarians and school librarians,
http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production

If you have a chance take a peek.

What are infographics?

What are infographics and should PR librarians learn this skill? A resounding YES. Images are great way to get things across in this digital age.

A company called Visually creates infographics,
http://visual.ly/marketplace


Locate free tools at smashing apps,
http://www.smashingapps.com/2012/06/12/10-free-tools-to-create-visually-appealing-infographics.html

Awesome "read across" campaign

http://pinterest.com/lawrencelibrary/read-across-lawrence-for-kids-2012/

This is an innovative use of pinterest for a "read across" campaign for kids. It uses the book, Cabinet of Wonders which is set in the wonderful city of Prague. 

For an excellent adult level book about Prague try City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte.  City of Dark Magic will make you want to but Prague on your bucket list of places to visit.

Stop Animation for Library Promotion

One digital librarian (Todd Frei, Wake County Public Library) has created a stop animation film to promote his library and is offering to tailor it for free for other libraries.

http://youtu.be/pfeYXbuF3l8?hd=1

You gotta love the cooperative spirit of libraries!

The animation is fun and charming. A bored young woman is front and center. Then a series of drawings (recognizable characters from literature) appear on a white board behind her. I wonder who did the drawings.

As more and more fields merge, librarians will need to acquire more skills like these (digital production, film, radio, PR).

These are interesting times to be a librarian.

Grants for Libraries

Searching for a Library grant? Need information about non-profits in Texas? Most of this information I've gleaned from the NETLS page.

The Foundation Center has a free weekly RFP (Requests for Proposals) Bulletin
http://foundationcenter.og/pnd/rfp/
Click on the "add me" button.

TSLAC's grant listserv
https://lists.tsl.state.tx.us/mailman/listinfo/grantstx

TSLAC's development blog https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/librarydevelopments/

Library grants blog
http://www.librarygrants.blogspot.com

GrantSpace, a free service of the Foundation Center, offers information and resource.
http://www.grantspace.org

Grantwriters
http://www.grantwriters.net/

Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations (TANO)
http://www.tano.org

Humanities Texas
http://www.humanitiestexas.org/grants

Foundations that give to libraries:

Bank of America (Community Development, Workforce training)

The Barbara Bush Foundation of Family Literacy

Barnes & Noble

Brookdale Foundation's Relatives as Parents Program.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Dobie Awards Guidelines 2012
Dollar General
LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund
McKenzie Foundation
The MetLife Foundation
National Network of Libraries of Medicine, South Central Region
RGK Foundation
Rosie's For All Kids Foundation
Texas Governor's Grant Alert Page
Tiger Woods Foundation
The Tocker Foundation
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Verizon Foundation

Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP)

Beyond Method #5--Tagging

Tagging is putting books in categories. Three services, Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Shelfari, let users create categories for books. They can rate books, share recommended books with others, and put books in categories.

This sound what librarians do, right? Users on the web are doing the same thing that catalogers do only they are going about it in much less formal way.

Answerboards are also becoming increasingly common.

Booklamp uses a mathematical algorithm to pair people with books.

What Should I read next is another online advisory tool that is freely available on the web.

Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, Booklamp, What Should I Read Next can be helpful reader's advisory tools. Since categories are informally chosen, expect some overlap and some disagreement.

Employment 2.0, part 2

Employment 2.0, Part 2

Linkedin for job searchers

To use Linkedin you need to set up a free account and set up a profile. The job portion is not free but may be worth the expense.

Technology Training for library patrons:

Goodwill Community Foundation

Computer Basics is excellent for brand new computer users. The Spanish version (GCF Latino) is excellent, too.

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/ComputerBasics

http://gcflatino.org/tecnologia

Palm Beach County Library

http://www.pbclibrary.org/mousing/mousercise.htm

New Jersey State Library has a technology training website:

http://getjobs.njlibraries.org/computerresources.html

Employment 2.0, Part 1

Employment 2.0, Part 1

Are resumes dead? Richie Norton and many others tend to think so.

On the other hand, employers are still accepting traditional or semi-traditional resumes.  Tips for offering job help to patrons: 

1)Hold a Resume Workshop.

2) Offer online resume help (Jonesboro Public)

3) Teach 21^st century tools (LinkedIN or VisualCV)

4) Partner with workforce agency

5) Create a job help website

6) Rethink your computer policy

VisualCV

If you want a resume that’s more than a sheet of paper, think about using VisualCV. VisualCV is more of a portfolio than a resume. Incorporate images and work into your VisualCV. I can see this being a useful resource for web design or broadcasting majors.

www.visualcv.com

For ex) http://www.visualcv.com/deemcguire

      e x) http://www.kevinalanhunt.com/

Emurse.com

Emurse.com is more of a traditional online resume.

Job searching websites:

http://indeed.com/

http://careerbuilder.com/

http://bixee.com/

There are also job websites for job specialties.

Dice.com for IT related jobs.

DWYA.com lists several specialties and websites that are good for each type of job search.

Cvworkforce.org is another good source (though some links are defunct) for specialty job searches.

For twitter fans there is, Tweetmyjobs.

www.tweetmyjobs.com

Users can be notified by phone when new jobs are posted. Tweetmyjobs.com aggregates job postings from 7,000 companies.

(Continued)

Customizable homepages

Netvibes, Pageflakes, iGoogle, MyYahoo


Although I have occassionally used iGoogle and MyYahoo it has never been a regular habit. Netvibes seems to offer more because it offers templates: debut, news, social, productivity, finance, hi-tech, and design.


Design seems useful for the web designer who wants to hear the latest information pertaining to their industry.


You can also create your own dashboard on Netvibes. I created one for Creative Writing, Journalism, and Economics.


Netvibes indexes 16 sources for each topic you choose. This is still the open web since there is no access to password protected sources. I think its a little more useful than a "reader" e.g. Google reader or the "reader view" available on Netvibes.

PageFlakes is no longer running.  Phil Bradley gives excellent commentary on the demise of this customizable homepage or startup page.

http://philb.com

Look for the new Lariat List that will be coming soon!

Lariat Reading List

Here are some great reads from the 2011 Lariat Reading List.

 

Belfer, Lauren. Fierce Radiance.

Billingsley, ReShonda Tate. Holy Rollers.

Bognanni, Peter. House of Tomorrow.

Borodale, Jane. Book of Fires.

Burke, James Lee. Glass Rainbow.

Cisneros, Carlos. The Name Partner.

Cowell, Stephanie. Claude and Camille: A Novel of Monet.

Donoghue, Emma. Room.

Ferraris, Zoe. City of Veils.

Fortier, Anne. Juliet.

Franklin, Tom. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.

Gardenr, Lisa. Live To Tell.

Hornung, Eva. Dog Boy.

Hurwitz, Gregg Andrew. They're Watching.

Koryta, Michael. So Cold the River.

Larson, Leslie. Breaking Out of Bedlam.

Mosley, Walter. Last Days of Ptolemy Grey.

Orringer, Julie. Invisible Bridge.

Pickard, Nancy, Scent of Rain and Lightning.

Simonson, Helen. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.

Stevens, Chevy. Still Missing.

Stuart, Julia. The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortise.

Vantrease, Brenda Rickman. Heretic's Wife.

Verdon, John. Think of a Number.

Zepeda, Gwendolyn. Lone Star Legend.

 

Although I haven't read any of these yet, Fierce Radiance looks most interesting to me! Maybe that's just because I'm a former pre-med student.