January 2009
43 posts
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Setting the record straight on libraries →
Here are 10 myths about libraries and librarians.
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Using Images to Tell Your Story →
When searchers look for information or entertainment, they’ve come to want a little eye candy along with all those lines of text. What are some of the best ways to give them what they want?
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10 Irrational Human Behaviors and How to Leverage... →
I couldn’t help but love Chris Yeh’s Outline of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions. It’s a fascinating look into the surprisingly predictable psychology that powers human actions and reactions and I think there are some definitive lessons we can take away from the piece and apply to web marketing
December 2008
80 posts
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Unshelved comic strip
→
I got an ebook reader for Christmas!
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Web Sites Could Be Given Film-Style Ratings →
Britain’s Culture Secretary Andy Burnham says he is pushing for new standards of decency to be applied to the Web and says giving film-style ratings to individual Web sites is a possibility, London’s Daily Telegraph reports.
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There’s Lots of Tech Help, Yes, on the Internet →
The NYTimes has a great article that highlights technology troubleshooting Websites and tips for how to determine if the site is good or not.
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Boston Public Library System Hires Ad Agency →
Though libraries may increasingly become relics in the Google-driven Web 2.0 era, Allen & Gerritsen positions the Boston Public Library system as the ultimate search engine and portrays its librarians as “heroes of information” in a new campaign.
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OMG, We’re Not BFFs Anymore? Getting ‘Unfriended’... →
Now, people who have accumulated hundreds, or in some cases more than a thousand, friends are cutting loose some of the ones they have lost touch with or who were little more than acquaintances from the start. It’s a shift from the days when users, eager to boast about their online popularity, added new friends with abandon, whether or not they really knew them.
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Role of school libraries changing in 21st century →
“As an information coach, we teach students and faculty how to use the Internet, databases and online information tools,” Marshall said. “And as a learning consultant, we work with the teachers to plan higher level learning and real world experiences.”
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Book about fascinating facts about libraries and... →
The popular book, “Library World Records”, about fascinating facts about libraries and books around the world, has just been published December 2008 in paperback format.
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Online v. print reading: which one makes us... →
It’s no mystery that publications have been taking a beating as more and more people read their news on the Net. But there’s a catch. The online info may be instant and abundant — and in many cases free — but it may come at a cost, says a new study published in the Journal of Research in Reading.
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New European online library re-opens after... →
European Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr said the website was working after its server capacity had been quadrupled and it had been stress-tested to deal with user interest.
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Technology: The Year in Review →
These are the technologies that I think librarians need to be aware of, examine, and find uses for in their library.
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City mulls fees for Internet use at library →
In budget study sessions, the council rejected closing the library on Fridays, which would have saved an estimated $100,000. Still on the table is the possibility of adding fees for Internet use by nonresidents, which could add up to $25,000 in new revenue.
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"We Love Open Source Software. No, You Can’t Have... →
Librarians are among the strongest proponents of open source software. Paradoxically, libraries are also among the least likely to actively contribute their code to open source projects. This article identifies and discusses six main reasons this dichotomy exists and offers ways to get around them.
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Worst SEO Mistakes →
We cover some of the worst SEO mistakes. Some of these will cause the search engines to ignore yo, others will cause potential visitors to ignore you, still others may make your site disappear from the search engine results pages entirely. We’ll go over each practice and explain why you shouldn’t do it. We’ll even tell you what you should be doing.
Happy Holidays!
Tumblin’ with CraftySpace is on holiday… see you on Dec 29th!
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Providence Public Library Would Convert Five of... →
The Providence Public Library (PPL) Board of Trustees yesterday approved 10–1 a recommendation that PPL called “a sustainable Library System” including a Central Library with fewer hours and four branches, and “the conversion of five smaller facilities to City or community-owned and operated Neighborhood Learning Centers.” The proposal still faces community resistance, however.
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Gates Foundation supports broadband in libraries →
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is revisiting its commitment to American libraries by awarding $6.9 million in grants to upgrade public libraries in seven states to faster Internet connections.
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21 Sites To Find Out What’s Hot Online →
Is it important for you to stay informed of daily news? Do you try to always be up-to-date with what people are talking about throughout the world?
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The Evolution of Search →
A look at the History, Vision, Innovators, and Future of Information Accessibility.
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Parents should supervise children on library... →
Two months ago, the Cambridge public library board rejected calls to install filtering software on its public internet computers because the technology would block access to some legal information.
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Critics Say Newbery-Winning Books Are Too... →
Now the literary world is debating the Newbery’s value, asking whether the books that have won recently are so complicated and inaccessible to most children that they are effectively turning off kids to reading.
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Successful online communities don’t develop... →
You can’t develop a strong online community overnight. Online communities need time to develop - behind every username is a real person. People don’t build strong relationships with others at first sight - it takes time. Just as real world relationships take time to develop, so do those that form online - and arguably they take even longer.
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Ttechnology Advisory →
I’ve always thought that if I ever got to write a job ad for a library, or at least for my public library, it would simply say, “Must like books and computers.”
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Drupal4Lib - One Year Old! →
[T]he original motivation for starting the List remains the same, namely to provide an easily accessible environment to get helpful and reliable information on Drupal in a library context.
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Small Businesses Struggle With Search Marketing →
Small Businesses Struggle With Search Marketing
Microsoft just released results of a survey of 400 small businesses (SMBs) that shows they continue to struggle with search marketing (how to think about it, how to do it).
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Three Stores Go Live on New ABA E-Commerce... →
These three sites provide a clear example of the benefits the new system provides, and show how booksellers can create websites that are unique, informational, and user-friendly. Drupal provides users much more granular control over their own websites.
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Pew Internet: Future of the Internet →
A survey of internet leaders, activists and analysts shows they expect major tech advances as the phone becomes a primary device for online access, voice-recognition improves, artificial and virtual reality become more embedded in everyday life, and the architecture of the internet itself improves.
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Free Books for Needy Schools & Libraries →
Komenar is donating 1,000 copies of the trade paperback edition of Heroes Arise by Laurel Anne Hill, an illustrated sci-fi novel involving “a quest across an alien landscape,” to public libraries that have bookmobiles for underserved people or programs to bring books into schools.
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Year-round used-book store opens at Mt. Lebanon... →
The store will sell books, CDs and DVDs and VHS tapes in good condition as well as literary-inspired items, such as action figures and notecards.
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Sustainable Technology in a 2.0 World →
This past week I presented the keynote address at the Arizona Library Association’s annual conference in Glendale. The subject was how to keep all of these lovely 2.0 projects running, plan them well, and evaluate them. Perhaps some of you will find the presentation helpful to the project planning and evaluation processes in your own libraries.
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Optimizing Your Website →
If you’re looking for a quick overview of a variety of topics to help you perform search engine optimization on your web site keep reading.
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Building Relationships is More Important Than... →
In link building, the core strategy which will lead to success is building a relationship with the key bloggers and publishers in the vertical markets you are targeting.
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Free Keyword Research Tools - the Ultimate Guide →
I have done many posts on keyword research at Search Engine Journal and figured it’s time to compile all the keyword research tools into one post for further reference.
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Minors may face limits at libraries →
A new proposal … would require parents to mark a box indicating whether their child could check out R-rated DVDs and videos from the county’s 33 libraries. The policy now allows patrons of all ages access to all library materials.
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Book Review: Designing the Digital Experience at... →
David Lee King’s Designing the Digital Experience is an entertaining introduction to web design, usability, and Web 2.0 for the beginner, as well as a stimulus for those with previous experience.
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Don’t be jealous of other online communities—just... →
You shouldn’t compare your online community with other online communities. It will only distract you from making a success of your own. It doesn’t matter how large other online communities are, you can still compete. Jealousy is a destructive pastime. It can be a great motivator, but a terrible time waster. In any case, are you really sure that their community is ‘better’ than yours?
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Submitting to Social Media Sites for Successful... →
In short: Take time investigating the community and contributing to it.
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Apple should add books to the iTunes Store →
Apple should spend some of its vast resources on building out the nascent eBook market. It needs to swoop in and rescue the print publishers like they did the record industry – which had one foot in the grave before iTunes arrived on the scene.
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FBI Compiles List of Most-Coveted Library Books →
Lopresti explained that he is loathe to post the list online for libraries’ convenience in checking their own holdings since that could transform it into “a shopping list” for potential thieves. However, he wrote, WWU would send a paper copy of the list by U.S. mail to any library that requests it…
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ALA’s Emily Sheketoff talks about library issues... →
Emily Sheketoff is one of my favorite ALA employees to listen to. She always comes across as intelligent, sane and someone who has a deep and broad grasp of library issues in this new millenium including library technology issues.
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Webcast: Everything You Wanted to Know about... →
In this live, online webcast, Drupal developers Jeff Eaton and James Walker will guide newcomers through the nuts and bolts of Drupal’s content management system, content management framework, and community.
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5 Tools to Measure Your Twitter Activity →
You might think there has been too much buzz around Twitter this year, but love it or hate it, there is no denying the fact that it is anawesome tool the full potential of which is yet to be discovered.
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Generate Traffic to Your Site by Posting in Forums →
Using forum posts to generate traffic to your web site gives you several advantages that other methods don’t. One of these, of course, is that it only costs you time, not money, and very little of that. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. Keep reading to learn how to get it right.
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The emerging case for open business methods |... →
The future of open business is very likely the future of business in the 21st century itself as the network turns out to be the single most valuable asset to which every business has access.
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Web 2.0 Services for Small Libraries →
Last week I presented a webcast for the Canadian Education Institute entitled “Web 2.0 Services for Smaller, Underfunded Libraries.” … Below is a link to my PowerPoint as a PDF.
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Reading Rooster Recommends →
Reading Rooster Recommends is a children’s book recommendation series on YouTube and TeacherTube sponsored by the SC Center for Children’s Books and Literacy, the USC School of Library and Information Science, and the South Carolina State Library.
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KidZui brings its child-safe browser to Firefox →
KidZui, the child-safe browser maker, has put out a Firefox extension that offers all the functionality of its standalone browser right inside of Firefox.
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New 'Learning Commons' defies commonplace →
In the place formerly known as the library, students perch on long-legged chairs and huddle in purple and black booths. Once a week, they drink coffee and discuss books in the Java Room. They watch a history lesson, school news, and CNN on a 58-inch flat-panel “digital kiosk.”