BCR's new trainer

I've heard that BCR has hired Michelle Drumm as their new Emerging Technology Trainer.

Last day statistics

It's my last day @ BCR and there's not much left for me to do. So, I've pulled together some numbers (thanks Stephanie) that might be on interest. Basically, the numbers say that in the past 9.5 years I've presented 686 live workshops with a attendee total of approximately 7256. That's an average of 69 workshops and 726 students per year. (Of course, this short year is throwing off the averages.) The number of online workshops and presentations is around 100 but considering that we just started doing those about three years ago, that's not too bad. (I don't have attendee numbers available for the online classes.) Add to those numbers a few dozen conference presentations at the local, state, and national level where attendance was not recorded. (I believe my reference presentation at Computers in Libraries 2000 and the Second Life presentation at IL2006 both topped 400 attendees each.) So, I've met a lot of people and unfortunately, don't remember most of your names. (Don't take it personally, I have a problem when it comes to remembering names until after several meetings.)

I'll just throw out a few other numbers just for fun. Number of BCR bosses: 3. Number of BCR directors: 2. Number of computer bags/backpacks I've been through: 6.

Another two lasts

Yesterday was my last board meeting for the Friends of the Aurora Public Library. I'll continue to be the group's Web master since that's something I can do remotely (and since no one else knows how,) but the bookstore manager duties have been handed over to the capeable hands of Jackie. I know she'll do a wonderful job and be an asset to the organization.

This afternoon I did my last (online) presentation for BCR on wikis. (I've read and heard some interesting things about wikis lately that I'll be blogging about (probably) next week when I get a little free time.) Thanks to everyone that attended my workshops over the past 9.5 years. You all made all the hard work worth it.

The first of the lasts

Today I taught my last two live workshops at the BCR offices. The last one was something like live class #650. (I'll have better statistics about my time at BCR sometime next week.) Other upcoming lasts are my last Aurora Public Library Board meeting, Friends of the Aurora Public Library Board meeting, and online presentation.

"The Move" updates

I'm back from a weekend trip to Lincoln to find a place to live and it was, I must say, an unqualified success. Not only did I find a place to live but I'm getting a house, not an apartment. The price was amazing, it's enough space, and it's only 3.1 miles from my new office at the Nebraska Library Commission.

Today I'm home most of the day to deal with canceling services here at the old house (Internet, cable, tv, water/sewer, and trash) and waiting for the buyer's mortgage broker's appraiser to make an appearance. (Though it looks like I won't be home for that but that's not a problem.) It does turn out that I need to replace the roof and the 30 year-old furnace for the buyer so I'll just need to grin and bear it when it comes to that expense.

So, assuming nothing goes wrong here's what's coming up:

• January 26: Close on the selling of the old house and have the movers pack my fragile items. (I'm packing the rest. NO ONE packs my books but me.)
• January 27: Movers pack all my stuff (with a few exceptions) into a semi and drive off.
• January 29: Close on the house in Lincoln. (I'm hoping I don't actually have to be there for that.)
• Feburary 3: Stuff arrives in Lincoln. I will need to be there to receive it.
• February 15: Last day at BCR
• February 16: Drive out to Lincoln. (I think buying a seat on a plane for my car might cost a little more than I can afford.)
• March 1: Start at NLC

Updates as warranted of course...

Want my job?

BCR has posted the position announcement now titled Emergent Technologies Trainer.

House Update

Things are coming together and the plan is to close on the sale of my house on the 26th. The weekend of the 12th I'll be heading out to Lincoln to find an apartment to which all of my stuff can be sent while I finish my work at BCR.

Winter

Yes folks, winter has arrived in Aurora, CO. This is supposed to last through tomorrow. That should make flying out on Friday morning an adventure.

Library Website Hall of Fame

The Library Success Wiki has a Library Website Hall of Fame section. Two BCR region libraries, Denver Public and BYU, have made the list. None from Nebraska though. I'll put that on my to do list.
Thanks Rosario

Technology to Michael: "You're not the boss of me!"

I'm in the Eastern Iowa Airport (Cedar Rapids, IA) using the free WiFi to get caught up from this four day trip to Iowa City, IA for two days of BCR workshops and an afternoon speaking to the staff of the Iowa City Public Library about the Social Web as part of their in-service day. Today went well and everyone enjoyed it including myself. The previous two days however, if it could go wrong it did. Cases in point:

• For the blogs class, Blogger finally decided to send everyone creating a new blog to the beta version. This meant that many of my handouts didn't match what they were looking at on the screen, didn't match the screen I was projecting and there were new/changed features that I wasn't prepared to discuss.
• In the RSS workshop, FeedXS finally convinced me that it's useless for class purposes and I was pretty much forced to just tell everyone to skip it and ignore that part of the handouts.
• I taught my podcasting class for the first time and, instead of ending up with a short list of things to tweak for the next time out, I need to redo about 50% of the workshop and change the focus for the second half of the class. And, the BCR FTP server decided that it kept wanting to drop my connection so I couldn't upload the students' MP3 files to the server to get to work with the software I was trying to teach them.
• During the wiki class I instructed all eleven students on how to create a Wikipedia account, something I've done many other times. This time, six of them were able to create accounts while the other five got error messages informing them that six accounts had already been created from that IP address and no other new accounts would be allowed for 24 hours. Turns out that to the outside world all of ICPL's computers are represented by one IP address. Great for the network architecture and for security reasons but it causes problems with Wikipedia's security. A good portion of the class was from that point on a demo instead of hands on.

Needless to say it's been a long week and I need a few solid nights of sleep before getting back to the office on Monday and updating the material for those classes before teaching them again in January.

And my last day is...

Happy Go Lucky 269
Originally uploaded by Repoort.

BCR and I have worked out that my last day both in the office and on the payroll will be February 15, 2007. This blog and my travelinlibrarian.info e-mail address will continue to work after that date for anyone wishing to contact me.

Special announcement (Yes, read this one.)

As you may have noticed I haven't been blogging much for the past week and what I have posted has been of little consequence. Well, that's because things are changing in my life that are taking up a lot of my time right now...

I am happy to announce that one week ago yesterday, I officially accepted an offer from the Nebraska Library Commission to be their Technology Innovation Librarian starting 1 March 2007. This means that I will be finishing up a 9.5 year run at BCR in mid-February and moving to Lincoln, NE.

This all that The Travelin' Librarian will continue to travel just not as much, not as far, and mostly by state car instead of United Airlines. (So much for earning premier status...) I still plan on presenting at conferences and, as I understand it, will not be prohibited from accepting other speaking requests outside of Nebraska. (Normal scheduling issues still apply.)

I accepted the position for several reasons. First, the lower amount of travel. Yes, I enjoy traveling but after more than nine years it does start to take its toll. Second, I'm feeling a bit stretched thin with having to cover an eleven-state region. Believe me, I love having worked with all of you in the BCR region but focusing on just one state allows me to work more closely with libraries on special projects and to focus my efforts. Third, there's nothing more Library 2.0 than having the title "Technology Innovation Librarian".

So, please bear with me over the next three months as I blog about movers, packing, and getting my house sold. I'll try to keep up the tech and library posts as much as I can but some of that may have to be put on the back-burner for a little while.

CAL2006: "The Long Tail" and the Growing Social Nature of Information

Heather Clark, BCR

• How technology is changing how we understand information and in the economy
• Book by Chris Anderson, Editor in chief of Wired magazine
• How does this apply to the library world
• Web 2.0
• move from retreival to interaction on the Web
• Original article in 2004
• why the futurs of business is selling less of more
• theory of change in economics
• paradigm shift regarding hits and misses
• The Long Tail
• [long tail graphic from www.longtail.com/about.html]
• the low sellers in total outsell the total of big sellers
• brick & mortar, focuses on the head, selling many of a few items
• amazon focuses on the long tail as the space requirements are lower
• Comp tech is causing a move away form hits to niche markets
• counter to the 80/20 principle
• Long Tail Themes
• Niche markets
• Disaggregation of content
• smaller bits
• new revenue streams
• Tyranny of Geography
• marketing
• shelf space
• Long Tail Principles
• Democratize production
• new tools
• new producers
• increases amount of content/product
• motivation is not necesarily monetary
• "exposure culture"
• Democratize distribution
• amatures can produce and distribute
• aggregators as warehouses
• Internet is central distribution center
• examples
• Amazon.com
• eBay
• YouTube
• Tecnorati
• Connect supply and demand
• connect supply and demand
• social sharing of information
• the hyperlink phenomenon
• filters
• search engines
• social services
• Google page rank
• Amazon recommender services
• NetFlix user reviews
• Libraries have lost the battle when it comes to the distribution principle
• Libraries need to be the connectors
• Long Tail Assumptions
• Ubiquitous computing
• not everyone has access
• not everyone knows how to use ths access
• Entertainment-centric model
• people will purchase w/o tactile input
• Low costs of networking
• storage
• intensive bandwidth
• system maintenance
• "infinite shelf space"
• Positives
• richer culture
• "pull together parallel tribes"
• easier for artisan & global producers to market their goods
• Negatives
• eroding local culture
• loss of shared culture
• archive for future
• physical items still need shelf space somewhere
• truly profitable?
• Libraries are the long tail!
• Long Tail & Libraries: Currently
• collections
• robust & rich
• reader's advisory and reference services
• original recommender sevice
• no matter the format
• built-in fodder for filters
• MARC record
• obsolete outside the library world
• physical serendipity
• Long Tail & LIbraries: Needs Improvement
• making discovery happen readily
• improving OPAC search functions
• link to local
• expediting delivery
• NetFlix model?
• rethinking resource sharing group
• Find it / Get it browser plugin
• Reader's advisory
• recommender services to patrons
• blogs
• patron reviews in OPACS
• copyright implications
• Conclusions
• will it change the economic world as we know it?
• not dramatically in her opinion
• what about libraries?
• how well do you know your community?
• what can a small library serving a small population can gain from this?
• put up a wiki for a local group then let them add content
• academic
• get your local info to your students
• blackboard
• MySpace & Facebook
• Your environment should guide your application of these concepts

CAL2006 Conference

Friday and Saturday I'll be attending the Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) 2006 conference here in Denver, CO. I'll be of course posting to my blog about it as much as I can. Additionally:

• I will be presenting my Tech Terms session on Saturday @ 2pm. At this point I don't know what room I'll be presenting in. (Heather Clark of BCR and Steve Lawson of Colorado College will be performing a special introduction to my presentation. This is something you're not going to want to miss.)
• My latest book Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Guide will be available for purchase at the BCR booth at a conference discounted price of only $24.00. (Cash and checks only.)
• At 3pm on Saturday during the ice cream social I will be signing my book at the BCR booth.
• At CAL's request I've set up a conference wiki on which will be posted conference updates and session reviews during the conference. Be sure to check it out if you're not attending the conference.
• Yesterday I worked with the folks running the conference to standardize on the tag "cal2006" when it comes to posting flickr photos and blogging. So, if you're looking for photos or other blog posts just search on that tag.

I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone at the conference so be sure to find me and say hi.

They're popping up all over

They're popping up all over
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

These just appeared yesterday down the street from the BCR offices.

Idaho Library Association Conference

I'm in Moscow, ID for the 2006 Idaho Library Association Conference. I'm here to present my Firefox Search Plugins and Tech Terms sessions and to man the BCR booth. I'll blog more as things happen but know that you can keep an eye on the flickr set that I'll be adding to over the next two days.

Idaho Library Association Annual Conference

I'll be at the Idaho Library Association Annual Conference next week. Details can be found in the BCReview Newsletter.

Fall speaking schedule

• October 4-8: Idaho Library Association, Moscow, ID
  • Tech Terms
  • Firefox Search Plugins
• October 21-26: Internet Librarian 2006, Monterey, CA
  • 22: Integrating RSS Into Your Web Site (Pre-Conference)
  • 23: The Second Life Library 2.0: Going Where the Users Are
  • 24: Flickr & Libraries
  • 25: Book Signing (Information Today, Inc. booth)
• November 9-12: Colorado Association of Libraries, Denver, CO
  • 11: Tech Terms
• November 13-15: University of Nevada, Las Vegas Law Library, Las Vegas, NV
  • 14: Web Page Creation Basics (XHTML)
  • 15: Introduction to CSS
• November 26-December 1: Nevada State Library Gates Workshops
  • 27: Computer Security (Salt Lake City)
  • 27: Setting up a WiFi Netowrk (Salt Lake City)
  • 28: Technical Support in Your Library (Salt Lake City)
  • 30: Computer Security (Moab)
  • 30: Setting up a WiFi Netowrk (Moab)
  • 01: Technical Support in Your Library (Moab)
• December 5-8: Iowa City Public Library
  • 6: Blogs (BCR Workshop)
  • 6: RSS (BCR Workshop)
  • 7: Podcasting 101 (BCR Workshop)
  • 7: Wikis (BCR Workshop)
  • 8: The Social Web (Staff in-service day)

BCR 2.0

BCR (MPOW) launched its new Web site this morning and the recently launched BCReview is now a blog powered by Blogger. Be sure to check it out and send any comments that you may have on the new look.

My Busy Day

Backroom Disaster (3)
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Yesterday I decided to take a day off from BCR, sleep in, get some stuff done around the house, have lunch with my SO, then head over to the Friends bookstore (which I manage for those of you who don't already know that) and shelve the new paperback Science Fiction and Fantasy books. Instead, I got a call at 8:55am from the board president saying that there was a problem at the store with the new shelving and that I needed to come over right away. What I arrived to find is pictured here.

It seems that we weren't very smart about filling our new 7' double-sided shelving unit. The thing is stable enough assuming you balance the load. We, on the other hand, put too many books on the one side and not enough on the other. Overnight gravity decided to raise its ugly head. Luckily, since it did happen over night, no one was around to be underneath the resulting pile.

All of the shelves survived, but the eight of the end pieces that hold the shelves to the uprights will need to be replaced. (A few close-ups of the damage can be found in my flickr account. Just click on the photo in this post.)

Should we have added additional anchors to the shelving? Of course. We've got more shelving on the way and we've already talked to the plaza's maintenance guy. He's got a plan to run beams from the shelving to the walls to give us the needed stability. Still, we'll not put as many books on the shelves as we have previously.

As far as I could tell, we only had to get rid of one book due to damage from the collapse, and that was a book that wasn't in very good shape to begin with.

Systems/Network Administrator Position

BCR (MPOW) is looking for a Systems/Network Administrator. The pay is good and no travel required that I'm aware of.

What Can U Plug Into a USB?

What Can U Plug Into a USB?
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

This past week in Iowa I presented "What Can U Plug Into a USB" six times in two locations. (PPT available soon, I left it on my laptop at home.) The photo shows all of the items I had with me to pass around. (The version in flickr contains notes naming everything for those interested.) For the attendees of the sessions I ran a contest to guess which of the items presented were fictitious. I don't know who won yet, but I did promise to post the answer here...

There was only one fictitious device in my presentaion and that was the George Foreman iGrill. Yes, everything else I showed was real, believe it or not, including the lava lamp.

As soon as Michelle lets me know who won the copy of XHTML and CSS Essentials for Library Web Design I'll post that information to the blog.

Also, I have scheduled a WebLive version of this presentation through BCR for the morning of Friday, September 29th, 2006. Watch the BCR site for registration information. (Everyone is welcome, but seats are limited so BCR members will receive priority registration.)

One other note for those that were wondering about my trip home: I did make it to the airport on time to check in for my flight but due to the VERY stormy weather, we didn't end up taking off until 8:10pm. Pictures of the storm and all of the other pictures from the trip can be found in my flickr account.

Just call me Sparky

As I write this I'm sitting in seat 10C on a United flight from Reno, NV to Denver, CO after aproximately 24 hours in Nevada. I think Murphy came with me on this one...

It started yesterday morning with my leaving my bag at my house instead of bringing it with me to the office so I could go straight to the airport for my 3pm flight. That created the necessity to go back home to get my bag.

After checking into my hotel in Reno I was off to Sparks, NV (a Reno subburb) to find the Sparks branch of the Washoe County Public Library. This short trip was to make sure where I needed to be the next morning to teach my class. I went in, introduced myself to the librarian at the reference desk and said that I was confirming this was the branch I was looking for. She confirmed as such and even pointed me to their meeting room as that's where training was generally held. I thanked her and headed back to my rental car. A few feet short of the car I reached into my pants pocket for the keys and found only lint. I'd locked the keys in the car.

Luckily I have a AAA membership so I pulled the card out of my wallet, and, since I was in Nevada, and not Colorado, figured it would be better to call the national 800 number instead of the local 303 number. I dialed and was immediately put through to AAA Colorado. It seems that their system is "smart" and figured out that I must be calling from Colorado due to the caller ID on my phone. I informed the person on the phone that I was not in Colorado but in Nevada and his response was to ask me if there was a land line I could call back from as that would be "faster" than him putting me through to AAA Nevada. (Look, I understand how the system works, but in an age of cell phones, what's the point of having both local and "national" numbers when, if you're calling from a cell phone, your actual physical location becomes irrelevant to the system?) I was eventually promised that someone would be around to help me "within the hour" and 1:15 later, someone did arrive. It took the lock guy exactly five seconds (I timed him) to get into the rental car.

That's the end Thursday for me and I ended up having dinner at the hotel as I didn't want anything else to go wrong.

This morning I awake early, find a Starbucks, have some java, and arrive back at the Sparks branch at 7:00 in anticipation of my contact person showing up to let me in at 7:45 for my 8am class. At 8am, I'm starting to get nervous as no one else has shown up yet. The phone calls to both BCR and my contact's office number start at this point. I leave a voicemail for my contact and the folks at BCR confirm that I'm in the right place as far as they know. At 8:30 I get a phone call from one of the students (who got my cell number from BCR) wondering where I am. Well, I'm at the Sparks branch but all the students are at the Spanish Springs branch, which, by the way, is also in Sparks. (At this point, I'm sure the total confusion was my fault.) Off to the right branch I head to start class 45 minutes late. (This is the first time in nine years I've not started a class on time.)

After class, a wonderful lunch with some systems folks, and a much needed bananna frappaccino at the same Starbucks from the morning, then off to the Reno airport for my 4:30 flight home. The flight home by the way, is going through San Francisco (no need to draw you a map I'm sure) and gets me into Denver at 11:50pm. At about 4:00 I head to the mens room and notice that at the next gate over is a direct flight to Denver leaving at 5:00pm, getting me home about 8:00pm. I ask if I can switch flights (I've only got carry-on) and I'm granted not only a seat on the dirct flight but an exit-row seat in economy plus. (Mondo leg room here I come!)

So, I'm in that seat. The seat that doesn't want to stay in it's "full upright and locked position" (real fun during takeoff,) and a reading lamp that won't stay on, or off, for anylength of time.

I need a vacation...

RLG membership approves move to combine with OCLC

On Friday, June 9, OCLC and RLG announced that RLG member institutions have approved a proposal to combine operations with OCLC, clearing the way for two of the world's largest membership-based information organizations to become one beginning July 1.

RLG's online products and services are being integrated with OCLC's, and RLG's program initiatives are being continued as RLG-Programs, a membership-based organization that operates as a new division of OCLC Programs and Research to support architecture, standards development and best practices.

Staff from both organizations have been meeting since the proposal was announced in May to begin planning for the integration of systems, products and services. RLG's online products and services will be integrated with OCLC's as appropriate. For example, RLIN, the RLG Union Catalog, will be integrated into WorldCat, delivering economies of scale and reach that will benefit members of both RLG and OCLC.

An FAQ that includes information on the combined organization as well as updates on some specific products and services is at http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/oclcrlgfaq.htm. The FAQ is updated as information becomes available.

Rosario Garza
Acting Executive Director
BCR / 14394 E. Evans Ave. / Aurora CO 80014-1478

Internet Librarian 2006

The official information about the conference is now available on the InfoToday site. Here's what I'm doing:

Sunday, October 22nd
Workshop 19 — Integrating RSS into Your Web Site
1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Michael Sauers, Internet Trainer, BCR
RSS feeds are an excellent way to receive information from the Internet today. What many people don’t know is that you can receive that information and easily repurpose and republish it on your Web site with little technical know-how. Imagine automatically posting up-to-date local or industry headlines on your library’s home page. This is what you can do in just a few simple steps. Our expert Internet trainer shows you how to do just this. This workshop also covers additional RSS tools and services, including one that will create feeds from content without its own feed and another that will turn your text-based content into a podcast automatically.

Monday, October 23rd
Session C105 — The Second Life Library 2.0: Going to Where the Users Are
3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Lori Bell, Director of Innoation, Alliance Library System
Tom Peters, CEO, TAP Information Services
Michael Sauers, Internet Trainer, BCR
In April 2006, the Alliance Library System put out a call for librarians interested in participating in a project to set up a library presence in the virtualreality world of Second Life. By the end of the month, more than two dozen librarians from around the world were meeting at a brand-new virtual library to staff the reference desk and discuss collection development, online programming, and library services. Since then, the response has only grown, and Second Life citizens are taking advantage of all the library has to offer. Our speakers provide an overview of Second Life, the creation of the library, and the services that are now being offered in this completely virtual environment.

Tuesday, Octboer 24th
Session D203 — Flickr & Libraries
1:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Michael Porter, OCLC Western
Fiona Hooten, National Library of Australia
Lluisa Nunez, Universitat de Barcelona
Michael Sauers, BCR
Flickr is a treasure-trove for library professionals interested in community, connections, innovative software applications, and marketing. With a strong library-centric focus, this session starts with a brief look at libraries and librarians with Flickr accounts and then explores the largest and most active library/librarian photo group on the Internet, the Flickr “Libraries and Librarians” group with more than 550 members on six continents and 2,600 images. Entertaining recorded stories share observations and comments from speakers on other continents, including how participation turned into a partnership that created a mashup between Google maps and images in the Libraries and Librarians Flickr Group. A dynamic demonstration of third-party Flickr applications using Open API/Ajax, as well as tips and tricks, round out the program. This is the ultimate library professional’s Flickr guide.

MPOW Hires New Executive Director

On behalf of the BCR Board of Trustees, I am very pleased to announce Brenda Bailey-Hainer as the new Executive Director of BCR effective July 17, 2006. The Board of Trustees had to choose among several highly qualified candidates for the position. Brenda will bring to her new position an impressive track record of accomplishments working with library networks, nonprofit organizations, state government and library consortia. Brenda has an excellent understanding of the current operating environment for library networks and an appreciation of emerging information technologies. She has successfully secured grant funding for several statewide projects and has marketing, public relations and sales experience. As a current member of the Board of Trustees, Brenda has a good understanding of BCR, its mission and strategic goals.

The Board of Trustees looks forward to working with Brenda Bailey-Hainer and the staff of BCR in building upon BCR's success as a library network.

Steve Rollins
President, BCR Board of Trustees

Found RSS Feeds

I started another series of online RSS workshops today and the first homework assignment is to find five feeds that the student is interested in. Here are the results. (All of the students are in Wyoming so the information might be a bit Wyoming-centric.) I'll post more as the come in.

1. University of Wyoming Headline News
2. NOAA's NWS RSS Library
3. News from www.casperstartribune.net
4. Wyoming State Library
5. President George W. Bush's featured speeches and remarks (Podcast)
6. nHumanities
7. USA Today.com--Top Headlines
8. Library Journal: Features
9. Billings Gazette-Wyoming headlines
10. Librarians Internet Index - New This Week
11. E! Online Latest News
12. NPR Topics: News
13. Wayne Besen - Daily Commentary
14. MSNBC.com: U.S. News
15. Public Relations and Publicity Blog
16. TheDevnerChannel.com - Irresistible Headlines
17. The Weather Channel - Your Local Weather - Laramie, WY
18. Pollstar news
19. American Idol Recaps Feed
20. Library Marketing - Thinking Outside the Book
21. Library Link of the Day
22. Lisjobs.com
23. New York Times Book Review
24. PBS Now
25. ACLU.org Free Speech Action alerts
26. Quote of the Day
27. PC World Latest News
28. NPR Talk of the Nation
29. NPR Books
30. Beyond Best sellers (Madison Public Library)
31. Google Scholar
32. Universe Today
33. Discovery
34. New York Times
35. The Write News
36. Military RSS Feeds (directory)
37. BCR: The Third Indicator
38. BCR: Continuing Education
39. Wyoming State Library News
40. SI.com - NFL
41. SmartMoney Trends in Investing, Saving and Personal Finance
42. Word of Mouth Marketing
43. NYT: Thomas L. Friedman's Column
44. Library Marketing-Thinking Outside the Book
45. Stephen's Lighthouse
46. Salon
47. Texas RV Travel : USAer Blog
48. Tribe.net: Camping
49. Alum Creek
50. Carla Nayland Historical Fiction
51. Yahoo! News: Top Stories
52. NYT > Art and Design
53. News from www.codyenterprise.com
54. washingtonpost.com - Military News
55. RSS Feeds at the Minneapolis Public Library (directory)
56. Buzz Design
57. World Cafe from WXPN
58. Casper Star Tribune: Latest news
59. Science@NASA
60. Cosmetic Surgery
61. New York Review of Books
62. Reader2 - new books
63. Girl Genius Online
64. PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories
65. PC World's Techlog
66. GameSpy PC

Second Life at Internet Librarian

In a last-minute squeak-through I, Lori Bell, and Tom Peters will be presenting on the Second Life Library 2.0 project at Internet Librarian 2006. Probably in the last session of the "Digital Strategies" track on Tuesday. Here is the draft session description. (As soon as a final one is release I'll be sure to post it.)

The Second Life Library 2.0: Going to where the users are
Lori Bell, Director of Innovation, Alliance Library System
Tom Peters, CEO, TAP Information Services
Michael Sauers, Internet Trainer, BCR
In April 2006, the Alliance Library System put out a call for librarians interested in participating in a project to set up a library presence in the virtual reality world of Second Life. By the end of the month more than two dozen librarians from around the world were meeting at a brand new virtual library to staff the reference desk, and discussing collection development, online programming, and library services. Since then the response has only grown and Second Life citizens are taking advantage of all the library has to offer. This session will present an overview of Second Life itself, the creation of the Second Life Library, and the services that it is now offering in this completely virtual environment.

Internet Librarian 2006

Consider this the first official post for the Internet Librarian conference in Monterey, CA this October. The e-mails have gone out and it looks like I'll be presenting on flickr on day two. I've got to admit that the others I'll be sharing my time with are a bit intimidating.

D203 Flickr & Libraries
Michael Porter, OCLC Western, Fiona Hooten National Library of Australia, Lluisa Nunez Universitat de Barcelona
Michael Sauers, BCR
Flickr is a treasure trove for library professionals interested in community, connections, innovative software applications and marketing. With a strong library centric focus, this session starts with a brief look at libraries and librarians with Flickr accounts and then explores the largest and most active library/librarian photo group on the internet, the Flickr "Libraries and Librarians" group with over 550 members on six continents and 2600 images. Entertaining recorded stories share observations and comments from speakers on other continents including how participation turned into a partnership that created a mash-up between Google maps and images in the Libraries and Librarians Flickr Group. A dynamic demonstration of third party Flickr applications using Open API/Ajax, as well as tips and tricks, round out the program. This is the ultimate library professionals Flickr guide.

My initial plan is to assume that the others will be all serious when it comes to how libraries use flickr so I'm going to show a lot of the fun stuff you can do. (Trading cards anyone?) Though, before finalizing this plan I'll be sure to contact the others to confirm my assumption.

See you in Monterey!

Job announcement

BCR Executive Director

Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR), located in Aurora, Colorado, seeks a dynamic and experienced executive director to head the library services network and to investigate, develop and coordinate BCR services to meet the needs of library members.

BCR is located in Aurora, Colorado. The position includes a pleasant working environment, excellent benefit package and is available July 1, 2006. The starting salary is negotiable from $102,000.

More information about BCR, including a complete description of this position, its requirements and how to apply is available at http://www.bcr.org/about/recruiting/.

For full consideration apply by March 27. Finalists will be interviewed in Aurora on May 15th and 16th by members of the BCR Board of Trustees and by BCR staff. EOE.

Computers in Libraries 2006

Yes, I will be attending CIL06 this year in Washington, DC (March 22-25). I'm ariving on Wednesday afternoon, attending the sessions on Thursday and Friday, presenting a post-conference workshop on Saturday morning and flying home Saturday evening. Here's the official description of my workshop:

Integrating RSS into Your Web Site
Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Michael Sauers, Internet Trainer, BCR
RSS feeds are an excellent way to receive information from the Internet today. What many people don't know is that you can receive that information and easily repurpose and republish it on your Web site with little technical knowhow. Imagine automatically posting up-to-date local or industry headlines on your library’s home page. This is what you can do in just a few simple steps. Our expert Internet trainer shows you how to do just this.

I'll also be covering some RSS basics including using an aggregator and creating RSS feeds using free tools along with other more advanced topics such as FeedBurner and Feed2Podcast.

For more information on what the workshop will cover check out my del.icio.us account under the cil06 tag. (A special thanks to Michael Stephens for helping me wrap my head around the workshop's topic.)

If you'll be attending (or not) be sure to check out Meredith's conference wiki. I'm also assuming the the flickr tag will be CIL2006 since last year it was CIL2005.

Flickr 101 presentation available

BCR’s free webinar “flickr 101” is now available as a recorded session. The recording is one hour long.

To access the recording, do the following:

1) If you have not viewed or attended a BCR webinar, you must run the wizard found at the following url: http://208.185.32.63/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=qt

This will ensure that your computer is set up for viewing the slides and listening to the audio portion. The audio portion requires that you have speakers or headphones connected to your computer.

2) Once you've run the wizard, follow this link: http://208.185.32.63/launcher.cgi?room=BCR_Training_2006_0203_1201_31

3) Login with the following information: Room ID: BCR_Training Participant: your name (or leave blank)

The recording should start automatically once you click on “enter”.

If you have any questions about the presentation itself and the information in it, contact msauers@bcr.org. Thanks.

Flickr 101 Web Session

My next free, online session from BCR, Flickr 101 will be held on Friday, February 3rd from 10-11am MST. Non-BCR members are welcome to register but BCR members get priority seating. There is a limit of 25 available seats. (Registrations details available via the link.)

Hello from Blogging 101

This post is being entered as an example for my workshop being held now at the BCR offices.

Book appearance

I sent the story in myself so I know this guy is serious. (Despite the colorfullness of his e-mail.)

Congratulations! I have chosen your plate, BCR.ORG, to include in the second edition of “What Does That Mean?” The final deadline for submissions is February 28, 2006. The book will be ready for shipment in June or July.

If you have family or friends that would like to be included in the book, have them go to www.vanity-plates.com to fill out the form. They must respond by February 28^th, 2006.

I can’t guarantee that they will be in the book, but I am very interested in getting as many good stories as I can. Your plate, BCR.ORG, WILL be in the book.

I will keep you posted as things progress. The new book will be bigger and better than the original. We expect to be able to include some color pictures and we will have more license plates than the first edition. I will contact you if we need a picture of your plate.

You can read the original book online at www.vanity-plates.com and you can also see over 1,000 entries that have been submitted so far for the new book there. The first edition is available for purchase at Amazon.com

Thank you for your participation in this exciting project.

Sincerely, Denny Cowhey

Computers In Libaries 2006 discount registration

Please excuse any cross postings.

Once again BCR is sponsoring discounted rates for the upcoming Computers in Libraries conference, March 22-24, 2006, at the Hilton Washington in Washington, D.C. These discounts are being offered in cooperation with Information Today, Inc.

Staff from BCR member libraries may attend using BCR's group registration rate of $185 for the three-day event (regular price is $399). Discount prices of $99 for the Internet@Schools East conference (regularly $199) and $199 for the combo of Internet@Schools East and Computers in Libraries general conferences (actual price is $429) are also available. No discount rates are available for pre- or post-conference events.

More information about the conference is available on Information Today's Web site at http://www.infotoday.com/cil2006/.

For more information about the discounted rates, contact BCR's Stephanie Jauregui at sjauregu@bcr.org, (800) 397-1552 or (303) 751-6277, X127. To receive the discount you must send your registration and payment (please make checks out to Information Today, Inc.) to: BCR, 14394 E. Evans Avenue, Aurora, Colorado 80014-1478, by February 1, 2006.

Firefox Search Plugins presentation

The recording of my Firefox Search Plugins presentation is now avialable for your viewing pleasure. Please be sure to run the participant wizard first if you have not done so previously.

Title:	Firefox Search Plugins 02 December 2005
Archive ID:	BCR_Training_2005_1202_1202_31
Description:	The Firefox browser has a built-in search bar allowing users to search such databases as Google, Amazon.com and Wikipedia. What many don't realize is that you can create customized searches that can be added to Firefox. This F³ session will walk you through the creation of a search plugin that, once installed, will allow your patrons to search your OPAC from within Firefox without having to access the library's site first.
Launcher:	http://208.185.32.63/launcher.cgi?room= BCR_Training_2005_1202_1202_31
Participant Wizard:	http://208.185.32.63/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=qt
Room ID:	BCR_Training
Archive Length:	44:48 minutes
Media Format:	QuickTime

"Tech Terms" presentation archive available

The very popular free webinar "Tech Terms: What's new, what's hot, and what you've got to know" is now availabe as a one hour recorded session. It will be available until December 31, 2005.

To access the recording, do the following:

• Run the wizard found at the following url: http://208.185.32.63/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=qt. This will ensure that your computer is set up for viewing the slides and listening to the audio portion.
• Once you've run the wizard, follow this link: http://208.185.32.63/launcher.cgi?room=BCR_Training_2005_1118_1202_34
• Login with the following Room ID: BCR_Training The recording should start automatically once you enter the "classroom."

If you have any questions about the presentation itself and the information in it, contact me. Thanks.

Free Webcast: Firefox Search Plugins

On December 2nd, 2005 at 10am MST I will be presenting a free, one hour webcast on creating Firefox Search Plugins. This session is limited to 25 seats and BCR members are given preference but at the moment there are still 24 seats available. (Feel free to register for one seat and then have as many people in the room as you'd like.) A full description and registration instructions can be found at http://www.bcr.org/training/online/FFF-index.html.

Halloween 2005 @ BCR

Here's the photos. More added as the day goes by.

Free WebLive session

Firefox Search Plugins: Searching Your Library in the Browser

The Firefox browser has a built-in search bar allowing users to search such databases as Google, Amazon.com, and Wikipedia. What many don’t realize is that you can create customized searches that can be added to Firefox. This free WebLive session will walk you through the creation of a search plugin which, once installed, will allow your patrons to search your OPAC from within in Firefox without having to access the library’s site first.

Date & Time: Friday, December 2, 2005 10-11am MST

Limited to 25 seats. Anyone is welcome to register but BCR member libraries get the first seats.

To register go to http://www.bcr.org/training/workshops/register.html

Third session of "Tech Terms" Web session added

The September 23rd and 30th sessions of the Tech Terms Web seminar has filled in less than 48 hours. Due to this overwhelming response, a third session has been scheduled for Friday, November 18th at 10am MDT.

* * *

Do you know what podcasting is? Or phishing and malware? If you want to learn what these and many other tech terms mean, you'll want to sign up for a free BCR Web Conference.

BCR's internet trainer, Michael Sauers, will be doing a one hour presentation on "Tech Terms: What’s Hot, What’s New, and What You’ve Got to Know." If you're not familiar with Wikis, RSS feeds, or BitTorrent, you will soon be hearing about them from your patrons. This presentation will make you more comfortable with these terms.

This free webinar is scheduled for Friday, September 30, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Mountain time. Because a limited number of seats are available, registration is REQUIRED. To register, complete the online form available at http://www.bcr.org/training/workshops/register.html

Free Seminar: "Tech Terms: What’s Hot, What’s New, and What You’ve Got to Know"

The September 23rd session of myTech Terms Web seminar has filled in less than 24 hours. Due to this overwhelming response, a second session has been scheduled for Friday, September 30th at 10am MDT. Those in non-BCR states are welcome to register but preference will be given to registrants from BCR member libraries.

* * *

Do you know what podcasting is? Or phishing and malware? If you want to learn what these and many other tech terms mean, you'll want to sign up for a free BCR Web Conference.

BCR's internet trainer, Michael Sauers, will be doing a one hour presentation on "Tech Terms: What’s Hot, What’s New, and What You’ve Got to Know." If you're not familiar with Wikis, RSS feeds, or BitTorrent, you will soon be hearing about them from your patrons. This presentation will make you more comfortable with these terms.

This free webinar is scheduled for Friday, September 30, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Mountain time. Because a limited number of seats are available, registration is REQUIRED. To register, complete the online form available at http://www.bcr.org/training/workshops/register.html

New RSS feed

BCR has started it's second RSS feed: Continuing Education.

Firefox Search Plugins

I spent some of the afternoon playing around with XML and Javascript to create some new Firefox search plugins. Unless you're a BCR employee and/or are a user of the Aurora (CO) Public Library, they'll only be of accademic interest to you. However, I'm interested enough to be willing to make a few more if you'd like to make a suggestion.

Dual-boot

The trainers at BCR are getting laptops. Since I already have my Tablet and use it to train I figured I'd play with the new company one. I'm planning on making it dual-boot WindowsXP and Fedora. (It'll be my office computer so I'm not yet ready to ditch Windows completely.) If anyone out there has any warnings/suggestions for me I'd be happy to hear them. I'll be doing this the first two weeks of May so I've got prep time.