LibraryTechtonics

In an effort not to get bogged down by the overwhelming weight of The Long Queue, which sometimes keeps me from posting out my weird sense of responsibility to clear out the Queue, I’ve decided to just start peppering them in, totally randomly. It entertains me and gets the job done at the same time, while keeping me in the habit of updating.

Back in July, Lorraine, Nancy, and I participated in the Me and My Shadow program, sponsored by NMRLS (Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System), and funded by the H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant. The basic premise is a librarian exchange program, where librarians visit each other’s libraries, are given tours, and meet with their counterparts in the name of professional development.

While no one came to shadow me (in theory, everyone plays the part of shadow and host), I did visit Memorial Hall Library in Andover. As a participants in the exchange program, we were all asked to write little bits about our visits to the libraries, which are all documented on the Me and My Shadow blog.

I’m hoping that they can continue the visits somehow, even after the grant runs its course. The visits were much akin to a mini-conference in terms of meeting and learning from other librarians, with the added benefit of extra one-on-one time.

In the spirit of the program, here’s and open invitation: if anyone (librarian or not) is ever in the neighborhood of Reading, MA, and would like to drop by RPL for a tour and chat, definitely drop me a note and let me know.

Indeed, another story from NECN, from this morning.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum here in Boston has taken it’s years of concert recordings and begun making them available via podcast on their site. Currently, there is no obvious link to the podcast from the home page, but if you go to the Music section, you’ll see links to it.

According to the news bit, the museum is working with the Berkman Center at Harvard to provide Creative Commons licenses for all of the music, so that people can use them for “creative works.” A look at the actual license shows that the music is essentially shareable and podsafe, but a “No Derivative Works” clause applies, so no sampling, remixing, or changing.

Listeners can download what’s already available, or subscribe to the feed to receive the twice-monthly updates. Liberated Syndication (libsyn) is the host for the podcast.

This is a perfect example of a podcast that libraries can somehow make available to their patrons, or even podsafe music for library podcasts. Other museums also have podcasts (it’s not just kids playing music or talking about their lives, not that that itself doesn’t have some value), and I’m thinking of doing a roundup for the PLA Blog. If you’ve got any recommendations for museum podcasts, gimme a shout.

[Interesting side note: The newscasters on NECN had no idea that iPods have moved into the video age, one mentioning that "I just don't have all of the *gadgets*."]

Watching NECN on Tuesday around lunchtime, I saw a spot on the site HeyLetsGo. Unfortunately, I can’t find the clip on the NECN site… the way they archive seems to be based on how popular they think a clip will be, but they aren’t archived by date, nor do they seem searchable.

The idea of the site, which was brewed using research from MIT’s Media Lab or the Social Behaviors Lab, I can’t remember (while noted in the NECN clip, it doesn’t seem to be in the FAQ or the About Us portions of the site), is to take social networking to the real world using technology, instead of limiting social networking relationships exclusively to the online interaction numbers game.

Events are listed, ranging from free to expensive, concerts and festivals to restaurants and clubs. The home page lists the events of the day, in a handy table broken up by time span, with options to see the events for the next 7 days, latest pics, most popular, and recently added events. If you create a free account, you can post and recommend events, invite people to go with you, and find fun people to meet up with in general. Event popularity is gauged using the Buzz Level rating system, which is based on how many people save an event to their Wish List, or how many people view and event.

Like other social networking sites, you can add friends from within the site, or invite friends from outside the site by typing email addresses or importing your Google, Yahoo, or Hotmail address book. Both the People and Groups are browseable and searchable, and creating a new group is super easy. I could totally see libraries and librarians using this, in conjunction with, say, something like Linked In, to not only network with each other, but let other people know about library events and offerings. Can you imagine the possibilities for book groups alone? There are only 2 listed in the Boston area right now.

I really love the idea of taking social networking to an action level, as opposed to living in a strangely imaginary social construct. It’s like Evite and CitySearch had a really, really sexy baby, without all the ugly ads and really poorly formated pages. I’m even considering moving my Free Stuff to Do in Boston calendar into a more HeyLetsGo format, so that it’s easier to populate and manage And, I could recruit help in the form of group members, so’s I’m not doing it on my own all the time, because sharing is groovy.

Another benefit is that the target audience is not exclusively young. You need to be 13-years old or older to have an account, and the events range from singles meetups to thirtysomething game nights to family days in the park, with everything in between.

I think this is a social networking site that libraries could really get their heads around, especially since, in the end, the networking could and would lead to more traffic into the library for events, or a way for librarians to help get the word out about local events, boosting the vision of librarians as in-the-know. Even if you don’t create and account, check it out, it’s got great potential to be big.

The Massachusetts Library Association (MLA) put out a questionnaire (which closed on August 25) to candidates in this year’s elections, based on MLA’s legislative agenda. So, if you’re voting in Massachusetts, the survey results can aid in your voting decisions.

In the gubernatorial class of candidates, only Kerry Healey and Tom Reilly answered the survey. Other candidates for governor who did not respond include: Jane Swift, Grace Ross, Christy Mihos, Chris Gabrieli, John Hawkins, and Deval Patrick. None of the candidates for lieutenant governor responded to the survey.

Responses from the House and Senate candidates (for Massachusetts state, not for U.S. Federal) both had healthy turnout for responses. Some candidates includ notes on how they have helped and will continue to help libraries in their political careers, while others note that a reason they moved to their district was the library, or that they are big fans of their library.

A big fat thank you to MLA for all the work and such a fabulous resource for librarians and library supporters across the state. Does your state association do something like this? I’d love to do a post for the PLA Blog highlighting other data reports like this from across the country, if they’re out there… drop me a line and let me know.

I wasn’t the only librarian who registered to go to PodCamp Boston. As a matter of fact, I have contact information for some Chelmsford librarians, a tip given to me by another PodCamp attendee within the first hour of PodCamp.

See, my Book Club T shirt, having made me somewhat famous in my first hour at the conference, had prompted people to talk to me, including Bryan Person. He was stoked to see other librarians registered for the event, and since I hadn’t been able to touch base with them before heading to the conference, I metioned I’d love to interview them if I could find them. Bryan asked for my card and my mobile number, and within 1/2 hour he’d found 2 librarians for me to talk to (I need to call them!). I *heart* networking with geeks.

I must say, the conversations I had about being a librarian and about libraries weren’t your typical, “Didn’t Google kill you guys?” sort of chats. The most common question was, “What are you doing here?” in that “What are you hoping to learn?” sort of way. I went to PodCamp because:

1. I’m a geek
2. It was free, and a 10 minute drive from my apartment with free parking
3. I love hanging out with smart geeks
4. The best way to learn about podcasting and the podcasting culture is to hang out with the source
5. Meeting new people is groovy
6. I’m not sure how to fit podcasting into the PLA Blog now that we have the capabilities

It was interesting to give a sort of elevator pitch-style explanation of my job, the love/hate relationship between technology and librarianship, and to have non-librarians be so interested in what I do for a living, and how technology fits in.

There were conversations about kids quoting Wikipedia, the complications and inconveniences of interlibrary loan systems, how the library business is tough to break into, a benevolent “You need a degree for that?” chat, the lament that people don’t ask librarians for help more often, how libraries are dealing with social software and tagging, and more. I even ran into a self-proclaimed “library whore” who not only knew the Dewey Decimal System by heart, but apparently was a huge fan of my library. Most often, the podcasters I talked to were stoked to know that a librarian was interested in the technology, and a few were a bit confused as to why libraries weren’t already doing more with it.

In the midst of the organized chaos that was this unconference, I think I’ve learned more about podcasting and the podcasting race of geeks than I’ve learned about any other given subject at any other conference I’ve been to, virtual or IRL (in real life). I already had a significant number of neat ideas on how to use podcasts at Reading Public Library and on my blog, but my real conundrum was the PLA Blog, and I actually collected a series of really interesting ideas that I’ll probably talk about a bit over on the PLA Blog to wrap up my posts there (read more about my experience at PodCamp Boston 2006).