Tumblin' with CraftySpace

I presented at the Hawaii Library Association about technologies (largely web services & software) that are free, open source, save time, and/or save money….Some examples of what I cover: software for public & staff computers, staff scheduling tools, team meeting tools, tech support tools, audio & video services, eLearning tools, reference tools, social network tools, website & website management tools, blogging tools, book display tools, free eBooks, and free article resources (+ a lot more).

Too often we have simply launched online services “because they’re cool,” without really thinking if they are appropriate for our audiences, whether we have the staffing or funding to support them, and whether or not they match up with our organizational priorities. Hopefully, I have presented a framework that can assist in providing well-thought-out digital library services.

I get a lot of people contacting me for help with their online community. Most of the time, they are unhappy with the amount of activity taking place – they want to see more. Most of the time, I see the same (or at least similar) problems. Therefore, in this article I want to outline five ways you can easily improve your online community.

Earlier this month, the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America relaunched their website, Whitehouse.gov, using Drupal….In this video, Macon Phillips addresses how they want to create opportunities for citizens to participate in their government. David Cole talks about why they wanted to change their technology platform, what they actually built, and where they are going with that new platform. Nik Lo Bue addresses how he wanted to use an amazing brand experience to visually communicate with citizens using Drupal.

Remember my post from last summer about comments at my library’s website? Here’s a follow-up post to that earlier discussion.

Because of all those comments (some of which were mean, snarky and personal), we needed a good, fair, “official” way to deal with them. So I started poking around other websites with commenting policies and guidelines, and came up with a library version of commenting guidelines.

Doing research in our pajamas is a huge benefit of the Web and modern computers. But committed readers and researchers still want access to local libraries, with their vast troves of books, periodicals, and reference works. The best of both worlds? Tapping into your library over the Web, 24 hours a day.

Drupal has won the Hall of Fame Award in the 2009 Open Source CMS Awards. Drupal previously won the 2007and 2008 Best Overall Open Source CMS Award. As a result of the previous wins, Drupal graduated to the Hall of Fame along with Joomla.

Drupal has won best open source PHP Content Management System for the second year in a row in the Packt Publishing 2009 Open Source CMS Awards. Drupal won by popular vote and a critical selection by a panel of judges. This award reflects the strong support of the Drupal community and our focus on quality which leads to critical acclaim and rapid adoption for large, high quality projects. Drupal won best overall open source CMS in 2007 and 2008.

The precise description of an online community manager varies from organisation to organisation. Some companies will describe the responsibilities of an online community manager very differently to others. Some will offer roles with very similar job descriptions but very different job titles. The issue is this – there is no standard definition as to what an online community manager is, or does. We are all still ‘feeling our way’. In this article, I’m going to outline the role and personality of an online community manager.

In a time of economic stress, when librarians are needed more than ever, yet library budgets are being cut, Marilyn Johnson speaks out in our behalf in her forthcoming book This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. Her message to anyone who will listen is that librarians are the “authors of opportunity.”