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10/31/2008

Seth Godin on Great Librarians



Thanks Nancy Dowd for posting this small gem from Seth Godin's recent talk to librarians in New Jersey. This is one event that makes wish I had been in Jersey last week. :)

10/30/2008

Innovation in Action

Jason Hyatt over at LibraryLearner.com has posted a great little presentation with some tips for igniting simple innovation is libraries. Take a look …




10/29/2008

24/7 Innovation thoughts

Good stuff from 24/7 Innovation by Stephen Shaprio:

“Innovation emerges when people are allowed to give free rein to their creative talents within a set of simple rules.“

“Innovation is about connecting the dots. Lines, not boxes. And technology's greatest power in driving innovation is connecting the various dots and boxes that exist in the business landscape, such as customers, employees, suppliers and intermediaries."

“Reactive innovation does little to differentiate a company from the competition, and just delays the sinking of the ship. Innovation must be pervasive and perpetual: everyone, everywhere, all of the time. Innovation must be seen as the key currency within the company."

Stephen Shapiro’s innovation blog

10/28/2008

Chris Taylor on L&P

My heart smiles broadly when I see how much fun staff are having learning with Learn & Play … and this recent video from CML Deputy Director, Chris Taylor, sharing her thoughts from the administrator’s perspective makes my arteries dance too!



Please join me in giving Chris a shout out and then check out her blog, We Say Play. Oh, and don't forget to add some CML Flair from the Pieces of Flair app on Facebook.

10/27/2008

Innovative Environments conference

Is it me, or do the week's fly by faster once school starts? It seems like ever since the last week in August, my schedule has bounced from one conference to the next. It's hard for me to believe that November will be here *already*, as in the end of this week. So the fact that OLC's Innovative Environments conference is next week, shouldn't surprise I guess... but it does!

The panel of speakers are great for this conference and I'm looking forward to being part of it. But I must say, I'm regretting my time slot as a speaker in the first break out session, because I'd love to hear the other three speakers (Joe Branin of OSU, Andrew Pace of OCLC and Stephen Abram) to myself. I hope in way they capture some of these talks on vid-cast so I can see what miss.

Anyway, if you're in Columbus area next week (Nov 5th & 6th) I believe there's still time to register for the conference. I'm really looking forward to it... and the best part is (at least for me) is that my participation doesn't require extensive travel :)

10/23/2008

IL Presentations

Internet Librarian was a great conference this year (as usual) but what made it especially memorable for me was the fantastic job that Team CML did with their presentations.

Between all the Digital Services team members attending, we gave six talks between us. Three talks were part of Sunday’s pre-conference offerings and three were part of the regular conference schedule. :)

Pre-conference talks:



Conference track talks:


All in all another great conference. But I have to admit that this one was a bit different for me. What can I say, but... "Thanks team!"



10/22/2008

The Pomegranate: The ultimate hand-held device or ... *

Ever imagine a hand-held device that could not only capture images and audio, but could also project video on the wall, translate your conversation on the fly into more then 50 difference languages and brew a cup of coffee to boot? Take a look at the video promo for this imaginary product. Makes me wish the Pomegranate phone was a real ... the coffee part would sure come in handy...



Here's the rest of it's capabilities in video. :)

* Hats off to the Nova Scotia board of tourism for producing such a clever and innovative marketing campaign that makes the future of convergence computing devices seem much closer.

PS: I've also vacationed in Nova Scotia and can attest ... the scenery and tourism opportunities are fabulous.

10/18/2008

Congrats Columbus !

Staff stickers just arrived Yup, the stickers arrived just this past week...

Congratulations CML !!!

And, congratulations to the entire Columbus, OH community. This one really reflects your use and support of the library. Thanks for making the Columbus Metropolitan Library #1 again. :)

HAPLR results

10/14/2008

Quite honestly...

... this is one of my **most** favorite things that I've ever seen a library do.

mosaic5686252


Mosiac created @ Big Huge Labs from photos of University City Regional Library's Family Portrait Day (photographer Ian Nguyen, PLCMC)

I know, I've mentioned this before on LB, but it's so good I have to highlight it again!

10 Tips about 23 Things

Finally saw the printed version today. I like the retro artwork :)

School Library Journal Article - Oct 08


Online version here.

10/13/2008

Getting ready for IL

It never fails … I always seem to find myself a week before any major conference totally reworking all my slides and crunching to pull together some new thoughts before my flight out. I do it to myself, I know. Whenever I submit a conference talk idea 6 months or so in advance, I always draft a description for a talk that I either haven’t given before or just have a few sketchy ideas about. This way I force myself to do something new.

This year’s new talk is a twist on a subject I’ve spoken on before, innovation. But instead of tackling innovation from the wild seeds/ ideas aspect, I’m aiming to develop a full talk from the “fresh practices” perspective. If you’re attending Internet Librarian, why join me for the Innovation & Change track. I’m not only leading it off with my fresh practices talk, but also moderating the track for the full day. Here’s the track...

Tuesday, Oct 21st
B201 ◗ Innovation: From Best Practice to Fresh Practice
10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Helene Blowers, Director, Digital Strategy, Columbus Metropolitan Library

B202 ◗ Fostering Creativity & Innovation in Your Staff
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Paul de Villo, Web Services Manager, Tom Kozak, Library Assistant &
Tom Cole, Librarian, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County

B203 ◗ Embedding Libraries/Librarians in Learning
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Deb Wallace, Managing Director, Baker Library Services, Knowledge & Library
Services, Harvard Business School
.
B204 ◗ Who Moved My Ultrafiche & 8-Tracks?
Insights for the Future
3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Dan Lester, Head, Network Services, University Libraries, Boise State University

B205 ◗ Ubiquitous Computing & Libraries
4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Chris Peters, Technical Analyst, Techsoup
Michael Porter, Community Product Manager, WebJunction


In addition to I & C track, I’m also doing pre-conferences on Sunday. Project Management in Practice with CML colleague Macrina Gilliam, Digital Services Project Manager and an encore presentation with Michael Porter on Innovation through Un-marketing. Looking forward to all. :)

10/10/2008

Learn & Play - " I say learn, you say ..."

Inspiring!! let me repeat... INSPIRING!! (that was more of shout, wasn't it? ... Good !) Wy? Because it's really the only word I can think to describe all the awesome things that I see when I take a look at the Learn & Play program and see what all the CML staff are doing.

Just read a few of the blogs from the over 400 participants and you'll see what I mean. Or, take a look at the videos created by Gerald2.0 and LibraryJoy. Here's the latest - an interview with Rock Me Like a Librarian.



There's lots more interviews and videos too. Check them all out here.

You say "Learn & Play" ... I say "INSPIRING!!"

Thanks CML!!!

10/08/2008

IDEA2008 Recap

My brain’s still spinning from all the interactions and events from the last 48 hours… so before I forget many of the big ideas that struck me, I thought I’d recap the memorable concepts and ideas that stood out to me.

The Idea Conference put on the Information Architecture Institute has to be, hands down, the best two day conference event I’ve attended in the last three years. What made it the best, was the exposure to different thinking and different disciplines. And, given that “information architecture” is right up the MLS / MLIS degreed alley, I was surprised not to see any other library professionals attending (that is outside of Michael and I) this event. To top it off the conference was hosted at the Pritzker auditorium @ the Chicago Public Library!

Anyway… for anyone interested in attending a great conference, be sure to put IDEA2009 on your radar. I don’t know the location for next year’s event, but secretly I’m hoping for it to be some where on the east coast, so travel isn’t so far. [ x fingers ]

Anyway, here’s the high level recap of some of the ideas that caught my attention. And although many of these I kind of touch on in some of my talks, I enjoyed hearing them from another perspective …

  • David Armano = Critical Mass = Logic + Emotion (blog) >> Infinite touch points : Micro-interactions : 3 Us (usefulness, utility & ubiquity) : “Social experience is built upon micro-interactions” - - Slides, David’s blog

  • David Gray = XPlane >> Books & Browsers : “we’re still in the age of scrolls on the internet” : “Internet has done a really good job at making a huge file cabinet” – we can tag and refile things, etc: Big Opportunity is for Internet to figure out how to support creativity : interleafing -- David’s blog Hoping slides are posted soon on his Slideshare space

  • Elliot Malkin >> Eruv (I found this talk on orthodox Jewish social space fascinating) : Cemetery 2.0 : really great projects and studies at his project site Dziga

  • Jesse James Garrett = Adaptive Path >> augmented reality/data abundance/virtual indentity : Aurora concept browser videos ( watch ‘em all, lotsa great interaction concepts here) Adaptive Path blog

  • Alberto CaƱas = IHMP >>“feathers & beaks” : “knowledge is formed by concepts and propositions” : concept maps : “ The key in knowledge construction is building upon what a person already knows” : IHMC C-Map tool

  • Jason Fried = 37 Signals >> “We're always scratching our own itch. If we need it, we figure hundreds of companies do too” : “We don’t pay attention to our competition, we pay attention to customers” : plans, personas, flowcharts are "holdovers from other disciplines." : need, just, only, easy = 4 letter words that shut down innovation - SVN blog

  • Aradhana Goel = IDEO >> Social Trends / Technology Enablers / Business Trends : Crowdsourcing – leverage the power of employees : Nomadism – defined by not what you carry, but by what you leave behind : Free - $$ is being replaced by attention, reputation & network - Talk on Ustream.tv (recorded thanks to D. Armano)

  • Bill Deroughy = Ziba >> Language of Interaction - Slides, Blog

I missed the last talk ( and half of Bill Deroughey’s – that’s why no notes) so I could catch a flight home. Am hoping to make next year’s event if possible.

Final Thought >>> Highly Recommend !!! this conference for anyone interested in “out of the design” thinking. :)

My Flickr shots : IDEA2008

Until next year …

PS: According to my stats, this is post # 777 - isn't that a lucky number or something ?

10/06/2008

Thing #13 Del.icio.us. It’s like putting away / pulling out toys …

I’ve been a fan of Del.icio.us for several years now and still fondly remember how liberating it felt during those first few months to be able to tag/bookmark websites without being chained to a local browser. I guess it’s still liberating in way, but it’s a norm that I have long gotten used to.

Today, whenever I do find myself promoting the use of Del.icio.us to others I often liken it to the analogy of a “toy box.” For me Del.icio.us is the perfect tool to tag interesting finds that you may stumble across during the day so that you can pull them out and play with them later. In essence it's my “toy box.” Where I store my toys, so that when I have 10 or 15 minutes free in my day, I don’t spend those precious few minutes searching the web for something new discover. Instead I just jump on over to Del.icio.us and click on find that I recently tagged “PlayTime” or “MustBlogThis” and use my time to explore these finds more. :)

Try it!

Image: Slide 32 from my presentation, From Players to Guides.

10/05/2008

Good news for Public Libraries

Harris Interactive recently released the results of their nationwide Harris Poll conducted in August. The results show some nice trends and stats. Here’s a few I found interesting …

  • Among those that have library cards, “Echo Boomers (those between 18-31) are more likely to have one over other age categories (70% versus 68-65%)” *
  • Over one-third (35%) of people with a library card have used the library 1 to 5 times in the past year and 15 percent have used it more than 25 times in the past year.
  • Almost all Americans (92%) say they view their local library as an important education resource. Seven in ten agreed their local library is a pillar of the community (72%), a community center (71%), a family destination (70%), and a cultural center (69%)

View the full report here.

* Side Note: Echo boomers? That’s a new one to me...

Reflections on Library Leadership

I so rarely look at my blog referrals these days (confession: in my early blogging days I used to look at the these daily) that I was surprised to find a post of mine referenced on the Palinet Leadership Network. Although I’m flatter greatly by the nod to some of my thoughts, I have to admit that I consider myself far from expert on leadership … I feel more like a constant student who's perhaps is just gutsy (or stupid, depending upon how you look at it) enough to post my personal motto. Either way, I find that when I stick my thoughts out here on my blog, it makes a difference – at least to me. By putting my personal statement here, it creates a stronger motivation to actually try and live by.

Anyway… my ramble about leadership does have a point, I promise. Take a look at Palinet’s Reflections of Library Leadership conversation guide. There are some great view points in here to ponder and a great list of articles and blog posts to explore this subject more. As a student, I'm really enjoying reading many of these.

PS: What a great use for wiki ... conversation guides.