Monday, January 07, 2008
Advocate in 2008 - Wait, don't tune me out!
I have posted this over at Library Garden today and I am shamelessly reposting here b/c I haven't posted anything here in a long time and also b/c this is important!!!
And why does this matter for pimping your library? If we don't advocate we won't have libraries to pimp! (Simple logic.)
You might think this doesn't really apply to you, or that it won't really affect you, or (most likely) that you do care but you don't have time for it . . . but the truth is, we all must be advocates for libraries all the time, especially here in NJ, and what better time than 2008?
2008 provides us with the easily rhyme-able number 8 and is a "great" year that provides us with many ways to call for action:
Advocate in '08!
Be Great in '08!
Communicate in '08!
Demonstrate in '08!
Personally, I really love all of these, but we have to do much more than just come up with cute rhyming mottoes.
I know you have been bombarded with information about contacting Governor Corzine's office to request that the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (NJKI) be fully funded. As you probably know, NJKI was funded for $3 million dollars. Then, it lost $1 million of it's funding. If it isn't fully funded we will lose it on February 29. BUT PLEASE, stick with me here.
By now, you have all seen this:
Special Message from New Jersey Knowledge Initiative staff:
"Access to RefUSA (and other databases) may end on February 29, 2008 due to a cut in state funding for the NJ Knowledge Initiative. To help keep this resource for NJ, please call Governor Corzine's office at (609) 292-6000 and ask that the Knowledge Initiative be fully funded for 2008."
You might not think it really matters if you call. You may think this really isn't your fight - that this is for the State Library and for NJLA and Pat Tumulty and others to do. Well, this IS all of our fight and making a phone call DOES matter and only takes literally about two minutes.
You pick up your phone and dial the number. Someone answers. You literally say, "I am calling to request that the Knowledge Initiative be fully funded." The person says okay I'll put down the message. You say thank you and hang up. THAT IS IT. I'm not kidding. I don't mean to be condescending, but sometimes it is the simplest things that we don't do.
For those of you who have placed the call, and I know there are many of you, thank you! I also appreciate everyone who has echoed my testimony that this is a very quick and simple thing to do.
Does it matter if you do this or not? Well, yes. They are counting all the calls. I personally have always believed that one person can make a difference. I can't promise that your call will be the one to put us over the top, or that this phone campaign will definitely work, but I personally would feel terrible if I didn't call at least once and we lost the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative.
Do you know what NJKI is?
There is information here. There is also an article from the Daily Targum that is very informative here. Also, SJRLC Connections provides a lot of good information. You can find information from NJLA and the New Jersey State Library.
You might think if you don't work in or use an academic library, a special library, a scientific or business environment or governmental agency that this doesn't matter. If you work in a public library, you probably use and know the popularity and value of at least ReferenceUSA. If you work in a school library you may not use the resources of the NJKI. Does this mean you don't need to call? No, saying that this isn't a resource you use and so you can ignore these pleas is like the old refrain, "First they came for the Communists, but I wasn't a Communist so I did nothing." We all know how that ends. (I know, it's controversial and possibly incorrect, but....you get my meaning here.)
Now, I am not picking on school libraries - many school library staff have called, and this may sound extreme, but if we do not learn how to, and commit to, doing a better job of speaking up about our value, we literally will not be around anymore.
Even after this NJKI challenge passes - whether we win or lose - there will always be other issues to face. Please think about the ways in which you can become a true advocate for libraries in 2008.
Hopefully, we'll be able to say Celebrate in '08 and beyond!
And why does this matter for pimping your library? If we don't advocate we won't have libraries to pimp! (Simple logic.)
You might think this doesn't really apply to you, or that it won't really affect you, or (most likely) that you do care but you don't have time for it . . . but the truth is, we all must be advocates for libraries all the time, especially here in NJ, and what better time than 2008?
2008 provides us with the easily rhyme-able number 8 and is a "great" year that provides us with many ways to call for action:
Advocate in '08!
Be Great in '08!
Communicate in '08!
Demonstrate in '08!
Personally, I really love all of these, but we have to do much more than just come up with cute rhyming mottoes.
I know you have been bombarded with information about contacting Governor Corzine's office to request that the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (NJKI) be fully funded. As you probably know, NJKI was funded for $3 million dollars. Then, it lost $1 million of it's funding. If it isn't fully funded we will lose it on February 29. BUT PLEASE, stick with me here.
By now, you have all seen this:
Special Message from New Jersey Knowledge Initiative staff:
"Access to RefUSA (and other databases) may end on February 29, 2008 due to a cut in state funding for the NJ Knowledge Initiative. To help keep this resource for NJ, please call Governor Corzine's office at (609) 292-6000 and ask that the Knowledge Initiative be fully funded for 2008."
You might not think it really matters if you call. You may think this really isn't your fight - that this is for the State Library and for NJLA and Pat Tumulty and others to do. Well, this IS all of our fight and making a phone call DOES matter and only takes literally about two minutes.
You pick up your phone and dial the number. Someone answers. You literally say, "I am calling to request that the Knowledge Initiative be fully funded." The person says okay I'll put down the message. You say thank you and hang up. THAT IS IT. I'm not kidding. I don't mean to be condescending, but sometimes it is the simplest things that we don't do.
For those of you who have placed the call, and I know there are many of you, thank you! I also appreciate everyone who has echoed my testimony that this is a very quick and simple thing to do.
Does it matter if you do this or not? Well, yes. They are counting all the calls. I personally have always believed that one person can make a difference. I can't promise that your call will be the one to put us over the top, or that this phone campaign will definitely work, but I personally would feel terrible if I didn't call at least once and we lost the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative.
Do you know what NJKI is?
There is information here. There is also an article from the Daily Targum that is very informative here. Also, SJRLC Connections provides a lot of good information. You can find information from NJLA and the New Jersey State Library.
You might think if you don't work in or use an academic library, a special library, a scientific or business environment or governmental agency that this doesn't matter. If you work in a public library, you probably use and know the popularity and value of at least ReferenceUSA. If you work in a school library you may not use the resources of the NJKI. Does this mean you don't need to call? No, saying that this isn't a resource you use and so you can ignore these pleas is like the old refrain, "First they came for the Communists, but I wasn't a Communist so I did nothing." We all know how that ends. (I know, it's controversial and possibly incorrect, but....you get my meaning here.)
Now, I am not picking on school libraries - many school library staff have called, and this may sound extreme, but if we do not learn how to, and commit to, doing a better job of speaking up about our value, we literally will not be around anymore.
Even after this NJKI challenge passes - whether we win or lose - there will always be other issues to face. Please think about the ways in which you can become a true advocate for libraries in 2008.
Hopefully, we'll be able to say Celebrate in '08 and beyond!
Labels: advocacy, amy kearns, libraries, nj libraries, njki
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 1:01 PM 0 comments
Friday, July 13, 2007
For those in NJ - Help Shape the Future of NJ Libraries!
From an e-mail from Peggy Cadigan, Consultant for Innovation and Communication, at the New Jersey State Library. (I'm so happy to see this come out of the futures conference that was held - my app is already in!)
Subject: Participation in NJSL Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future - applications needed by August 15, 2007
Norma Blake, State Librarian, has instituted a "Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future" to continue the groundbreaking work begun by the Mid-Atlantic Library Futures Conference. The State Library recognizes that it is imperative to have input from the people who are shaping the future of New Jersey's libraries.
This is an open invitation to anyone currently working in a New Jersey library who has an interest in the future of libraries to apply for a possible appointment to the Task Force. The Task Force will comprise members from different types of libraries and from different job titles. Applications will be reviewed by a panel selected by the State Librarian and appointments made following the review process. The goal of the Task Force will be to make recommendations about how libraries can respond in the future to the information received at the conference and the challenges presented. How can local libraries and the State Library respond to projected demographic changes, growing diversity, an aging population, and technological advances?
We expect that this task force will require a short-term commitment. It is expected that the task force will meet once a month for six months, beginning September 2007, culminating in a report to the State Librarian by March 2008. The report will be presented at the April 2008 NJLA Conference.
If you are interested in serving on this panel, please complete page two of the application which can be found at http://www.njstatelib.org/News/Blue%20Ribbon%20Panel.pdf and return it by August 15, 2007 to:
Peggy Cadigan
Consultant for Innovation and Communication
New Jersey State Library
185 West State Street
P.O. Box 520
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0520
You may send the application as a word document e-mail attachment or fax it to: 609-633-3963.
Contact Peggy Cadigan with any questions. 609-278-2640, Ext. 113 or 609-292-4161, pcadigan@njstatelib.org
Subject: Participation in NJSL Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future - applications needed by August 15, 2007
Norma Blake, State Librarian, has instituted a "Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future" to continue the groundbreaking work begun by the Mid-Atlantic Library Futures Conference. The State Library recognizes that it is imperative to have input from the people who are shaping the future of New Jersey's libraries.
This is an open invitation to anyone currently working in a New Jersey library who has an interest in the future of libraries to apply for a possible appointment to the Task Force. The Task Force will comprise members from different types of libraries and from different job titles. Applications will be reviewed by a panel selected by the State Librarian and appointments made following the review process. The goal of the Task Force will be to make recommendations about how libraries can respond in the future to the information received at the conference and the challenges presented. How can local libraries and the State Library respond to projected demographic changes, growing diversity, an aging population, and technological advances?
We expect that this task force will require a short-term commitment. It is expected that the task force will meet once a month for six months, beginning September 2007, culminating in a report to the State Librarian by March 2008. The report will be presented at the April 2008 NJLA Conference.
If you are interested in serving on this panel, please complete page two of the application which can be found at http://www.njstatelib.org/News/Blue%20Ribbon%20Panel.pdf and return it by August 15, 2007 to:
Peggy Cadigan
Consultant for Innovation and Communication
New Jersey State Library
185 West State Street
P.O. Box 520
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0520
You may send the application as a word document e-mail attachment or fax it to: 609-633-3963.
Contact Peggy Cadigan with any questions. 609-278-2640, Ext. 113 or 609-292-4161, pcadigan@njstatelib.org
Labels: 2.0, amy kearns, application, futures, libraries, nj libraries, njsl, task force
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 2:19 PM 0 comments
Saturday, July 07, 2007
"New" Librarians in the News
Two articles today in NY papers on "new" librarians, one in The Sun and one in The NY Times. What do you make of these takes on "us"?
Labels: amy kearns, librarians, news
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 2:39 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Librarians as CHANGE AGENTS - Fantastic!
Wow, talk about BLING.... this is fantastic!
Helene Blowers put this in on her blog and in her flickr stream and I came across it this morning - wow! She got this from the ALA conference - I'm jealous!
Li-brar-i-an. noun. A change agent: ensures knowledge and information are free and accessible to all.
You can go here and order some for yourself even! Kinda pricey but maybe for a whole organization....
Labels: amy kearns, badge, bling, change, conference, librarians
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 8:20 AM 0 comments
Online Summer Reading Program
If you happen to feel jealous of those kids doing summer reading programs (and/or maybe jealous of their parents and/or children's librarians), here's your chance to get involved with some summer reading!
Some folks are doing an online Summer Reading Program! It's a blog, and there is a MySpace and a facebook for it - you can join and post your goals for summer reading, your books and your reviews. It's very casual and I think it looks like fun.... If you are already reading and posting books/reviews, etc., you can just keep posting there and you'll be linked on the SRP blog.... or you can send reviews to the blog.
I have joined as libraryamy (my gmail id) and created the facebook group. See the blog for blogger and MySpace info.
Some folks are doing an online Summer Reading Program! It's a blog, and there is a MySpace and a facebook for it - you can join and post your goals for summer reading, your books and your reviews. It's very casual and I think it looks like fun.... If you are already reading and posting books/reviews, etc., you can just keep posting there and you'll be linked on the SRP blog.... or you can send reviews to the blog.
I have joined as libraryamy (my gmail id) and created the facebook group. See the blog for blogger and MySpace info.
Have you/could you consider setting up something like this for your patrons!? It's pretty darn simple, quick and easy (AND FREE!) to do and requires really very little work from YOU!
Think about it ....
Happy reading!
Happy reading!
Labels: amy kearns, blogging, books, online, reading, summer reading program
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 5:53 AM 0 comments
Friday, June 22, 2007
Paper Dolls for the Electronic Age
Apparently, Star Doll is the paper dolls of the electronic age!
Yesterday two kids, both age 9, a girl and a boy, were doing this at the library. I have seen other kids using it too.
It seems pretty harmless and kinda fun. It's free (mostly). It has male and female stars, actors and actresses, celebrities, singers, model, royals (!?) and more, that you can "dress up."
It has "New, free dolls" like Gardening (? - took me to a game of catching fruit in a basket), (some guy named) Darin (who has an icon next to him that says, "real celeb," so I guess he is"real"), and Angelina Jolie (with, uh, tattoo!?), and the "Most popular dolls," which of are of course, Rihanna, Paris Hilton (not a very good rendering in my view), and Avril Lavigne (who also has one of those "real celeb" icons next to her. Wait, aren't the others "real celebs" too!?)
It has some games. You go "shopping," with "stardollars." You get 25 "stardollars" when you sign up but if you want to BUY more you can with a credit card or PayPal (of course).
Now, you might say, as I did for a moment when I dug around in here, that the images are all of the "perfect," anorexic, skinny, and beautiful. Well, it's not like they're not seeing it anywhere else. This is what the 'stars' look like and this is a virtual world where you go shopping for them and dress them up. It can't be any worse or any better than any other star-related thing. Now, okay they ARE in their under-things when you start - but aren't all paper dolls!?
AND, what kid isn't going to want to buy more virtual clothes for their virtual dolls - rampant consumerism brought to the virtual world! They have money to spend (in a lot of cases) and I'm sure shopping online can be as much of a draw as "real" shopping (heck, I personally have been paying - yes paying - to buy and give virtual gifts on facebook)!
The kids using it yesterday were very excited and delighted to print out their creations and show them to their friends!
There is a "12 and Under" or "13 and Over" choice when you sign-up for your free account. The difference is that those not 13 or over have to get parental permission to become community members. You can make your own "MeDoll" (Choose from hundreds of hairstyles, skin tones, eye-colors, noses, mouths and more!), there's a Message Center, Diary and Guestbook.
They seem to have some "filters" and protections in place. From the FAQ's:
And from Stardoll RULES:
(Expelled!? hee hee)
There are Stardoll Safety Tips and a Parent Guide.
The Stardolls Online Safety Guide for Parents includes this:
"Encourage your child to be conscious" !? I hope so!
But, overall, not a bad way to handle that, I would say.
Now excuse me please, I have to go change Kirsten Dunst!
Yesterday two kids, both age 9, a girl and a boy, were doing this at the library. I have seen other kids using it too.
It seems pretty harmless and kinda fun. It's free (mostly). It has male and female stars, actors and actresses, celebrities, singers, model, royals (!?) and more, that you can "dress up."
It has "New, free dolls" like Gardening (? - took me to a game of catching fruit in a basket), (some guy named) Darin (who has an icon next to him that says, "real celeb," so I guess he is"real"), and Angelina Jolie (with, uh, tattoo!?), and the "Most popular dolls," which of are of course, Rihanna, Paris Hilton (not a very good rendering in my view), and Avril Lavigne (who also has one of those "real celeb" icons next to her. Wait, aren't the others "real celebs" too!?)
It has some games. You go "shopping," with "stardollars." You get 25 "stardollars" when you sign up but if you want to BUY more you can with a credit card or PayPal (of course).
Now, you might say, as I did for a moment when I dug around in here, that the images are all of the "perfect," anorexic, skinny, and beautiful. Well, it's not like they're not seeing it anywhere else. This is what the 'stars' look like and this is a virtual world where you go shopping for them and dress them up. It can't be any worse or any better than any other star-related thing. Now, okay they ARE in their under-things when you start - but aren't all paper dolls!?
AND, what kid isn't going to want to buy more virtual clothes for their virtual dolls - rampant consumerism brought to the virtual world! They have money to spend (in a lot of cases) and I'm sure shopping online can be as much of a draw as "real" shopping (heck, I personally have been paying - yes paying - to buy and give virtual gifts on facebook)!
The kids using it yesterday were very excited and delighted to print out their creations and show them to their friends!
There is a "12 and Under" or "13 and Over" choice when you sign-up for your free account. The difference is that those not 13 or over have to get parental permission to become community members. You can make your own "MeDoll" (Choose from hundreds of hairstyles, skin tones, eye-colors, noses, mouths and more!), there's a Message Center, Diary and Guestbook.
They seem to have some "filters" and protections in place. From the FAQ's:
Why do asterisks (****) appear in my text?
At Stardoll.com we expect everyone to behave well and mind their language - just as we do in real life. If someone types in a rude or dirty word, our automatic "Bad Word - Filter" will replace the word with a series of asterisks – which might be nice in real life too ;-).
And from Stardoll RULES:
When you are at Stardoll you must not:
Swear or use sexually graphic terms or be racist
Bully other Stardolls or in other ways make them feel uncomfortable
Ask other Stardolls for their (or give out your own) password, email addresses or other personal information, including photos
Type your password anywhere except in the log in box on www.stardoll.com
Break the law at Stardoll or talk others into breaking it
Claim you belong to the Stardoll Staff
Anyone that breaks the Stardoll one-stop rules will be expelled.
(Expelled!? hee hee)
There are Stardoll Safety Tips and a Parent Guide.
The Stardolls Online Safety Guide for Parents includes this:
Remember that the positive aspects of the Internet outweigh the negatives.
Internet is an excellent educational and recreational resource for children.
Encourage your child to be conscious and explore the Internet to its full
potential.(These tips are based on tips from American www.safekids.com (National Center of Exploited and Missing Children) and from European www.saftonline.org, Safety Awareness, Facts and Tools)
Kids’ rules for online safety (print out and put up close
to your computer at home) www.safekids.com/kidsrules.htm
(emphasis added mine).
"Encourage your child to be conscious" !? I hope so!
But, overall, not a bad way to handle that, I would say.
Now excuse me please, I have to go change Kirsten Dunst!
Labels: amy kearns, games, kids, online, virtual
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 9:42 AM 0 comments
Spitting Watermelon Seeds to Achieve the Work/Life Balance
There has been a lot of talk about finding the work/life balance.... here is a good reminder on a Friday from FastCompany... Some Spitting Distance on Work/Life Balance. It has to do with a watermelon-seed-spitting contest!
Really, you try seeing how far you can spit a watermelon seed and attach
anything but fun to the outcome.
The take-away?
What other pointless activities can you devise to remind yourself that we
should not take our jobs so seriously?
Labels: amy kearns, just for fun, work/life balance
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 9:36 AM 0 comments
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Tipmonkies!
Wow I just found this great site today, thanks to being on Twitter... on my Twitter list is this person who goes by "TechTools," and is located in DC and describes (her/him/it)self as
Well they have certainly turned me onto lots of great stuff, and today was no exception!
Tipmonkies has "Ten Great Tools to Help You Twitter Better" and that's just what I need (not)! But anyway, what a cool site: Tips for Better, Safer Computing. Hmmm.. not sure about the "safer" but I think I can definitely be "better" by checking this out....
Some of the things posted, for example:
The Dalai Lama's Top Ten
This awesome thing called JOTT
A thing about carrying NYC Subway lines on your iPod
and more!
I know I'm going to be checking it out regularly!
tracking yummy, cool, visionary tech tools to help us grow and fulfil our lives
in: art, tech, free, fun, and destiny. find your life's purpose with me.
Well they have certainly turned me onto lots of great stuff, and today was no exception!
Tipmonkies has "Ten Great Tools to Help You Twitter Better" and that's just what I need (not)! But anyway, what a cool site: Tips for Better, Safer Computing. Hmmm.. not sure about the "safer" but I think I can definitely be "better" by checking this out....
Some of the things posted, for example:
The Dalai Lama's Top Ten
This awesome thing called JOTT
A thing about carrying NYC Subway lines on your iPod
and more!
I know I'm going to be checking it out regularly!
Labels: amy kearns, blogs, cool sites, tech tools, tips, twitter
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 6:33 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Support Emergency Legislation to Remove Municipal Libraries from the Levy Cap . . .
Go! Do it! NOW!
Support emergency legislation to remove municipal libraries from the levy cap . . . THERE IS A VOTE TOMORROW!
I just wanted to share the link to look up your legislator - it is EASY! You can look on the right side by alphabetical list, municipality, district, etc...
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp
You get your district and you click on that to see the people and contact info.
I JUST CALLED them - I have always e-mailed in these cases but today I CALLED because I had just been in one of the webinars on WebJunction for the Spanish Language Outreach Program with some people who talked about advocating. PHONE CALLS ARE MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE than e-mails!
It only took me about 5 minutes!
The people are nice! They want these calls.
I identified myself as a librarian living and/or working in the district and asked for them to support the emergency legislation to remove municipal libraries from the levy cap. I said there is a vote tomorrow. They already knew what I was talking about! They took my name and seemed very interested to hear from me.
You either leave a message or talk to an assistant who takes the information.
REALLY - it took me less than five minute total for me to call three people!
PLEASE CALL!
Original message from Pat Tumulty:
CRITICAL UPDATE, MUNICIPAL CAP LEVY EXEMPTION.
We need your assistance right now to contact your NJ State Senators. Not tomorrow. Right now. Please ask your state senator to support emergency legislation which would allow an adjustment to levy cap calculations for local public library funding.
When the new municipal cap levy legislation was passed this year, municipal libraries were included as part of the calculation for the levy cap. This, unfortunately, created an inequity for the 245 communities which support municipal libraries. Communities which support county libraries have library expenditures excluded from the municipal levy because county libraries are funded by a dedicated tax and, therefore, outside the levy cap.
New Jersey League of Municipalities, the New Jersey Library Association and the NJ State Library have been working for a month on what we hoped would be a solution to this issue by adding language to state budget bill. Unfortunately, we were told last Friday, that this solution would not work and that we would need legislation. We must correct this inequity before July 1 because urban communities begin a new budget year on that date and would become subject to the levy cap. All other communities will be impacted with the budgets beginning on Jan. 1, 2008.
The Assembly, under the leadership of Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, will consider emergency legislation to exempt municipal libraries from the cap legislation TOMORROW- Thursday, June 21. We have every indication that there is support for this legislation.
We are less certain of Senate approval, and we have learned that the Senate will cancel next week’s scheduled meetings and recess for the Summer. Therefore, it is imperative that this legislation pass tomorrow.
We must have this emergency legislation enacted in the Senate before the Legislature goes on summer break.
Please contact your State Senator’s legislative office today and tell them you support emergency legislation to remove municipal libraries from the levy cap and that it must be enacted before summer recess.
Pat Tumulty, Executive Director
New Jersey Library Association
ptumulty@njla.org
609-394-8032
Support emergency legislation to remove municipal libraries from the levy cap . . . THERE IS A VOTE TOMORROW!
I just wanted to share the link to look up your legislator - it is EASY! You can look on the right side by alphabetical list, municipality, district, etc...
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp
You get your district and you click on that to see the people and contact info.
I JUST CALLED them - I have always e-mailed in these cases but today I CALLED because I had just been in one of the webinars on WebJunction for the Spanish Language Outreach Program with some people who talked about advocating. PHONE CALLS ARE MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE than e-mails!
It only took me about 5 minutes!
The people are nice! They want these calls.
I identified myself as a librarian living and/or working in the district and asked for them to support the emergency legislation to remove municipal libraries from the levy cap. I said there is a vote tomorrow. They already knew what I was talking about! They took my name and seemed very interested to hear from me.
You either leave a message or talk to an assistant who takes the information.
REALLY - it took me less than five minute total for me to call three people!
PLEASE CALL!
Original message from Pat Tumulty:
CRITICAL UPDATE, MUNICIPAL CAP LEVY EXEMPTION.
We need your assistance right now to contact your NJ State Senators. Not tomorrow. Right now. Please ask your state senator to support emergency legislation which would allow an adjustment to levy cap calculations for local public library funding.
When the new municipal cap levy legislation was passed this year, municipal libraries were included as part of the calculation for the levy cap. This, unfortunately, created an inequity for the 245 communities which support municipal libraries. Communities which support county libraries have library expenditures excluded from the municipal levy because county libraries are funded by a dedicated tax and, therefore, outside the levy cap.
New Jersey League of Municipalities, the New Jersey Library Association and the NJ State Library have been working for a month on what we hoped would be a solution to this issue by adding language to state budget bill. Unfortunately, we were told last Friday, that this solution would not work and that we would need legislation. We must correct this inequity before July 1 because urban communities begin a new budget year on that date and would become subject to the levy cap. All other communities will be impacted with the budgets beginning on Jan. 1, 2008.
The Assembly, under the leadership of Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, will consider emergency legislation to exempt municipal libraries from the cap legislation TOMORROW- Thursday, June 21. We have every indication that there is support for this legislation.
We are less certain of Senate approval, and we have learned that the Senate will cancel next week’s scheduled meetings and recess for the Summer. Therefore, it is imperative that this legislation pass tomorrow.
We must have this emergency legislation enacted in the Senate before the Legislature goes on summer break.
Please contact your State Senator’s legislative office today and tell them you support emergency legislation to remove municipal libraries from the levy cap and that it must be enacted before summer recess.
Pat Tumulty, Executive Director
New Jersey Library Association
ptumulty@njla.org
609-394-8032
Labels: advocacy, amy kearns, funding, nj libraries, politics, vote
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 1:28 PM 1 comments
Monday, June 18, 2007
If you doubt the power and ability of the Internet to connect us as people . . .
read this post by Karen G. Schneider in response to the passing of Michael Stephens' dear dog, Jake.
I am sitting here crying at my desk at work.
I am sitting here crying at my desk at work.
Labels: amy kearns, love, pets, social networking
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 3:52 PM 1 comments
Friday, June 15, 2007
Not Able to Attend ALA? Here's an Alternative...
This is posted many places but I want to be sure that no one misses it! This is FREE folks - and doesn't require leaving the comfort of your own home!
Not able to attend ALA but still want to find out what's going on in cutting edge technology and social software!? Well check out the BIGWIG Social Software Showcase...
From their page:
The Social Software Showcase is an online unconference occurring around and during the time of ALA Annual 2007. On this wiki, you will find eleven wonderful presentations on cutting edge technology and social software by librarians and leaders in the field. Regardless of where you are in the world, you will have the opportunity to discuss the presentations here in this space.
We will also be having a face to face roundtable discussion with some of our presenters at ALA Annual in Washington D.C. on Saturday, June 23rd, from 1:30-2:30 in the Renaissance Mayflower Cabinet Room. If you are in D.C. please come and join us.
This wiki will be a work in progress as we iron out a few things, including the embedding of the presentations. But we'll be ready and running before ALA! [end]
This is a revolutionary way of presenting information! Please do check it out.
The presenters include the VERY excellent:
Michael Casey - Library Crunch
Michael Porter, aka Library Man! - Libraryman blog
Jessamyn West - Librarian.net blog
Karen Schneider - Free Range Librarian , her post on this
AND MORE!
You can read another excellent post on this for some more information on the Information Wants to Be Free blog here.
The Bigwig Social Software Showcase is here!
Check it out! :-)
Happy Weekend!
Not able to attend ALA but still want to find out what's going on in cutting edge technology and social software!? Well check out the BIGWIG Social Software Showcase...
From their page:
The Social Software Showcase is an online unconference occurring around and during the time of ALA Annual 2007. On this wiki, you will find eleven wonderful presentations on cutting edge technology and social software by librarians and leaders in the field. Regardless of where you are in the world, you will have the opportunity to discuss the presentations here in this space.
We will also be having a face to face roundtable discussion with some of our presenters at ALA Annual in Washington D.C. on Saturday, June 23rd, from 1:30-2:30 in the Renaissance Mayflower Cabinet Room. If you are in D.C. please come and join us.
This wiki will be a work in progress as we iron out a few things, including the embedding of the presentations. But we'll be ready and running before ALA! [end]
This is a revolutionary way of presenting information! Please do check it out.
The presenters include the VERY excellent:
Michael Casey - Library Crunch
Michael Porter, aka Library Man! - Libraryman blog
Jessamyn West - Librarian.net blog
Karen Schneider - Free Range Librarian , her post on this
AND MORE!
You can read another excellent post on this for some more information on the Information Wants to Be Free blog here.
The Bigwig Social Software Showcase is here!
Check it out! :-)
Happy Weekend!
Labels: ala, amy kearns, social software, technology, unconference, wiki
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 7:57 AM 0 comments
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Back to the Future
Tomorrow morning I will be at the follow-up meeting to the Mid-Atlantic Futures Conference at the Princeton Public Library. I'm psyched that we're having this - it will be interesting to see what happens - I'll definitely be blogging about it, here and/or over at LG.... Also, the stuff from the programs is finally available.... you can check those out here.
Also, the blog for the Futures Conference continues here.
Also, the blog for the Futures Conference continues here.
Labels: amy kearns, futures conference
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 10:09 PM 0 comments
Thursday, May 31, 2007
8 Things Meme
Okay Mary and I have both been tagged by Ty over at the Rock & Roll Librarian.
I already posted 8 things over on LG, but I'm going to try to come up with 8 more here.... I hope Mary will do the same! I didn't tag anyone from that post but I will tag 8 more people from here!
Oh, here are the rules:
Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
1. I hate to walk around barefoot. Even in my own house. When I go to someone's house (like my sister's) and they make me take off my shoes it makes me very uncomfy and upset!
2. My middle name is Jean and it is after my father who was named Eugene. I was the first born and I was given the female version of his name as my middle name. I used to really hate this middle name. But now I really love it. However, I think it is prettier to spell it Jeanne. I might give that as a middle name to my own daughter someday. Jeanne I mean, not Jean or Eugene.
3. I love to read. I mean really, really love to read. I would almost rather read than do anything else. I know that's not a really surprising admission coming from a librarian, but it's just true. I really like to read non-fiction especially and I read a lot of it.
4. I had a crush on my husband when we were in high school before we knew each other! We went to different high schools and he is older than I am but I would see him around and thought he was sooo cool! We didn't meet until many years later and now we're married!
5. I majored in Philosophy in college because I loved taking the classes so much and just couldn't stop taking them! My sister also majored in Philosophy six years later.
6. My mom is the Children's Librarian in Glen Rock.
7. I hate that sound that Anthony Hopkins made in the movie The Silence of the Lambs and if you do it around me I'll scream and run away!
8. I have been to Canada, France, England, Italy and several places in the U.S., but I really want to go to Greece!
And I'm tagging: Kathleen at Library Nation; Laurie at Infodoodads; Emily at Library Revolution; Jill at Library Marketing - Thinking Outside the Book; Phil at Phil Bradley's Weblog; Amanda at Blog Without a Library; Michael at Library Crunch; and Nancy at The "M" Word - Marketing Libraries! There - I did it!
I already posted 8 things over on LG, but I'm going to try to come up with 8 more here.... I hope Mary will do the same! I didn't tag anyone from that post but I will tag 8 more people from here!
Oh, here are the rules:
Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
1. I hate to walk around barefoot. Even in my own house. When I go to someone's house (like my sister's) and they make me take off my shoes it makes me very uncomfy and upset!
2. My middle name is Jean and it is after my father who was named Eugene. I was the first born and I was given the female version of his name as my middle name. I used to really hate this middle name. But now I really love it. However, I think it is prettier to spell it Jeanne. I might give that as a middle name to my own daughter someday. Jeanne I mean, not Jean or Eugene.
3. I love to read. I mean really, really love to read. I would almost rather read than do anything else. I know that's not a really surprising admission coming from a librarian, but it's just true. I really like to read non-fiction especially and I read a lot of it.
4. I had a crush on my husband when we were in high school before we knew each other! We went to different high schools and he is older than I am but I would see him around and thought he was sooo cool! We didn't meet until many years later and now we're married!
5. I majored in Philosophy in college because I loved taking the classes so much and just couldn't stop taking them! My sister also majored in Philosophy six years later.
6. My mom is the Children's Librarian in Glen Rock.
7. I hate that sound that Anthony Hopkins made in the movie The Silence of the Lambs and if you do it around me I'll scream and run away!
8. I have been to Canada, France, England, Italy and several places in the U.S., but I really want to go to Greece!
And I'm tagging: Kathleen at Library Nation; Laurie at Infodoodads; Emily at Library Revolution; Jill at Library Marketing - Thinking Outside the Book; Phil at Phil Bradley's Weblog; Amanda at Blog Without a Library; Michael at Library Crunch; and Nancy at The "M" Word - Marketing Libraries! There - I did it!
Labels: 8 things, amy kearns, just for fun, meme
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 1:29 PM 7 comments
What's Your Morning Routine?
So this morning I was thinking about my "routine."
This is what I do everyday. I even get up early to do it before work.
What's yours?
I get up. I get my coffee and breakfast. I turn on News12NJ, I put on the computer.
First, I sign into Trillian and Google Talk.
Then I sign into my work email and read those.
Then I read my personal emails by going through Trillian and Google Talk.
NOW I next sign into facebook and check that out. (This is new and is taking up a new, additional amount of time.)
Next I go to hungersite.com and click on all those. This is such a habit for me. Then I go to iwon.com and click for my 100 points - I have been doing this for a long time and I have never won anything and I don't know why I keep doing it - but it is my ROUTINE!
I always go to my bank accounts online just to make sure everything I expect to be there is there. ;-)
Then I click on my bloglines notifier and look at all the updated feeds - some I read, some I mark for later. A few I have to go directly to their blog from there for one reason or another.
Then I check around on all my blogs, etc., or places where I have commented, etc. and look for comments, posts, etc...
Usually I also go to flickr also just to check out any other new things that I may have missed - even though I have several people's flickr streams in my bloglines - which is fantastic!
I used to also then check northjersey.com and nj.com and stuff for local and NJ news that I might need to know before arriving at work, i.e., if anything major has happened in Clifton, Paterson, East Orange. Then I sometimes check Glen Rock and Ridgewood just out of curiosity, but lately I haven't been doing that. I don't get a morning paper and even when I was, I never had a chance to read it.
This whole process is now taking around up to an hour!!!
Too much!? I kind of like this routine. It sort of "sets me up for the day." I don't feel "right" if I don't do it. However, I could anticipate adding more and more things until this routine was just unmanageable - or until I was getting up at 4 a.m. in order to complete it before work! I guess perhaps some things might drop away as I add other things. Not sure.....
Again, this is one of those "balance" issues in life.
What are the important things you must check in the morning before you get on with your "real life"?
This is what I do everyday. I even get up early to do it before work.
What's yours?
I get up. I get my coffee and breakfast. I turn on News12NJ, I put on the computer.
First, I sign into Trillian and Google Talk.
Then I sign into my work email and read those.
Then I read my personal emails by going through Trillian and Google Talk.
NOW I next sign into facebook and check that out. (This is new and is taking up a new, additional amount of time.)
Next I go to hungersite.com and click on all those. This is such a habit for me. Then I go to iwon.com and click for my 100 points - I have been doing this for a long time and I have never won anything and I don't know why I keep doing it - but it is my ROUTINE!
I always go to my bank accounts online just to make sure everything I expect to be there is there. ;-)
Then I click on my bloglines notifier and look at all the updated feeds - some I read, some I mark for later. A few I have to go directly to their blog from there for one reason or another.
Then I check around on all my blogs, etc., or places where I have commented, etc. and look for comments, posts, etc...
Usually I also go to flickr also just to check out any other new things that I may have missed - even though I have several people's flickr streams in my bloglines - which is fantastic!
I used to also then check northjersey.com and nj.com and stuff for local and NJ news that I might need to know before arriving at work, i.e., if anything major has happened in Clifton, Paterson, East Orange. Then I sometimes check Glen Rock and Ridgewood just out of curiosity, but lately I haven't been doing that. I don't get a morning paper and even when I was, I never had a chance to read it.
This whole process is now taking around up to an hour!!!
Too much!? I kind of like this routine. It sort of "sets me up for the day." I don't feel "right" if I don't do it. However, I could anticipate adding more and more things until this routine was just unmanageable - or until I was getting up at 4 a.m. in order to complete it before work! I guess perhaps some things might drop away as I add other things. Not sure.....
Again, this is one of those "balance" issues in life.
What are the important things you must check in the morning before you get on with your "real life"?
Labels: amy kearns, balance, routine, technology
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 9:08 AM 3 comments
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Take a Deep Breath and Read
There has been a lot of talk going on about the flood of information and tools we are in the midst of... even the hard-core bloggers have been blogging about being overwhelmed and finding balance in their lives . . . Well, I have been feeling very overwhelmed myself all of a sudden!
Luckily, this post by The Shifted Librarian (Jenny Levine) really saved me today. I recommend highly that you read it.... Thank you, Jenny.
Thanks to my fellow blogger here, Mary, I have been sucked into the world of facebook. I also highly recommend you check it out. I created a New Jersey Librarians group there and if you are a librarian here in the great state of Jersey, please join us. Just keep in mind what the Shifted Librarian says.
I may be floundering a bit at the moment in this vast sea, but I'm not ready to get out yet.
Luckily, this post by The Shifted Librarian (Jenny Levine) really saved me today. I recommend highly that you read it.... Thank you, Jenny.
Thanks to my fellow blogger here, Mary, I have been sucked into the world of facebook. I also highly recommend you check it out. I created a New Jersey Librarians group there and if you are a librarian here in the great state of Jersey, please join us. Just keep in mind what the Shifted Librarian says.
I may be floundering a bit at the moment in this vast sea, but I'm not ready to get out yet.
Labels: 2.0, amy kearns, facebook, keeping up, librarians, new jersey librarians, technology
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 11:34 PM 2 comments
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Infodoodads gives me HOPE!
I read this message today and went to check out the new blog - it looks great and I plan to keep my eye on it (or, I should say, I have added it to my bloglines)! It also gives me hope - read on....
What's especially nice about this to me is that I have recently been thinking about and talking to some people about just what it is that the current crop of library students are learning.
I graduated from library school in 2003 and it's been awhile (especially when you think of how quickly things change and advance in technology and the world) since I've been in school! I think about how we are all working hard to "catch-up" and help others "catch-up" to all the new technologies and ideas about customer service and so on... if we are currently producing new librarians who will find themselves in this same position then we are fighting a losing battle!
One might think that the "new" librarians are "young" librarians and would automatically be "hip" to the new social technologies, i.e. facebook, instant messaging, flickr, etc., but this is not necessarily true, and it is also not necessarily true that any/all "young people" know about this stuff and/or understand or believe in it in relation to the library world.
Case in point: I mentioned this to my library garden pals and one replied with anecdotal evidence that I was afraid of:
Oh great. What is going on here!? What are the library students being taught about. If we are spending time and effort catching-up current librarians, I think this will have to include some of the library professors as well. Apparently.
However, this blog is a ray of hope to me since there is a student on there and he obviously knows about these things and is blogging about them with some colleagues. I guess you could say that he perhaps knew/knows about those things already and didn't learn them in library school.
You also might say that maybe the students USE RSS and don't know it - like many "lay" people do - If you ask a bunch of people if they use RSS they say no - but if you ask them do you use My Yahoo! and they say yes, then they are using RSS and they just don't know it.
Of course the second point about reading library blogs there is just no excuse about!
So check out this blog to help yourself "keep up" and let's think about doing something NOW about the next generation of librarians being "created" so we won't be fighting against a growing tide of people who just "don't get it."
Note: I just found out that Leslie Burger, current ALA president (and Director of the Princeton Public Library, NJ) is interested in this and is working (I think) on a way to look into this and address it. Yay! :-)
Also: If you want to look at a great and simple way of learning about RSS, check this out.
Greetings,
Several librarians (Margaret Mellinger, Hannah Rempel, Kate Gronemyer, and
Jane Nichols), one librarian to-be (Michael Baird) and myself have been
maintaining a blog dedicated to reviewing information tools on the Net. A
little shameless self-promotion never hurts, and I wanted to spread the
word. :)
We hope our website is useful for librarians and other information-lovers.
Please check it out at http://infodoodads.com/
Have a great day!
Laurie
.......................................................
Laurie M. Bridges Business & Economics Librarian Oregon State
University
What's especially nice about this to me is that I have recently been thinking about and talking to some people about just what it is that the current crop of library students are learning.
I graduated from library school in 2003 and it's been awhile (especially when you think of how quickly things change and advance in technology and the world) since I've been in school! I think about how we are all working hard to "catch-up" and help others "catch-up" to all the new technologies and ideas about customer service and so on... if we are currently producing new librarians who will find themselves in this same position then we are fighting a losing battle!
One might think that the "new" librarians are "young" librarians and would automatically be "hip" to the new social technologies, i.e. facebook, instant messaging, flickr, etc., but this is not necessarily true, and it is also not necessarily true that any/all "young people" know about this stuff and/or understand or believe in it in relation to the library world.
Case in point: I mentioned this to my library garden pals and one replied with anecdotal evidence that I was afraid of:
I did a talk for (a class) as recently as October 2006. By show of hands,
maybe 2 out of 30 in the class had any idea what RSS is, or read any
library blogs.
I found this upsetting . . . (because) RSS IS
an information literacy technology. Perhaps it is THE single best
technology for allowing us to manage the flow, display, sharing, and consumption
of information. As promoters of information literacy, librarians should be
ALL OVER THIS.
Oh great. What is going on here!? What are the library students being taught about. If we are spending time and effort catching-up current librarians, I think this will have to include some of the library professors as well. Apparently.
However, this blog is a ray of hope to me since there is a student on there and he obviously knows about these things and is blogging about them with some colleagues. I guess you could say that he perhaps knew/knows about those things already and didn't learn them in library school.
You also might say that maybe the students USE RSS and don't know it - like many "lay" people do - If you ask a bunch of people if they use RSS they say no - but if you ask them do you use My Yahoo! and they say yes, then they are using RSS and they just don't know it.
Of course the second point about reading library blogs there is just no excuse about!
So check out this blog to help yourself "keep up" and let's think about doing something NOW about the next generation of librarians being "created" so we won't be fighting against a growing tide of people who just "don't get it."
Note: I just found out that Leslie Burger, current ALA president (and Director of the Princeton Public Library, NJ) is interested in this and is working (I think) on a way to look into this and address it. Yay! :-)
Also: If you want to look at a great and simple way of learning about RSS, check this out.
Labels: amy kearns, blogs, librarians, students, technology
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 11:20 AM 3 comments
Monday, May 21, 2007
One Laptop Per Child
The other night I watched 60 Minutes which isn't something I regularly do but I'm glad I did because last night they did a story called What If Every Child Had A Laptop?
Nicholas Negroponte, a professor at MIT, had a dream that every child on the planet had a laptop. He thought that this would enable kids even from impoverished countries to become educated and a part of the rest of the modern world.
He figured if he could help invent an inexpensive laptop he could achieve this dream. He founded a non-profit organization called One Laptop Per Child and he has managed to create a lightweight, very sturdy, inexpensive laptop that he expects will soon cost about $100.00.
The show was pretty amazing - the kids in some places he went to didn't even have electricity or running water but when they got the laptops they only needed about 10 minutes to figure out how to use them! They taught each other and they brought the laptops home and taught their families. Sometimes the light from the laptop was the only source of light in the home! Some places he would like to give the kids laptops don't even have a school. The laptops would be their school.
It might seem like a luxury but would it really be in places such as Cambodia, Brazil, countries in Africa?
Interestingly, the attendance at schools where the laptops were given out also went up - kids were coming to school because they had heard from other kids that school was a good place to be and a place where they got the laptops. These kids started crossing the digital divide.
The computers have built-in cameras, drawing programs and programs to make music. They have wi-fi two to three times better than the wi-fi in this Dell laptop I'm using right now, according to Negroponte, and are currently in a testing program in Brazil. The computers are waterproof and do not have openings on the sides where sand or dirt could get in.
These laptops have other features I would love - the battery lasts 10-12 hours and can be recharged with the use of a hand-crank if no electricity is available. Who wouldn't love that!?
Interestingly, this laptop which started out as a dream and is Negroponte's completely humanitarian effort, has attracted some competition. Geekcorps - an organization that brings technology to poorer countries, much like the Peace Corps operates, thinks the One Laptop Per Child idea is great but director Wayan Vota isn't sure that the kids can really just teach themselves. And there is another laptop up against Negroponte's. The Classmate by Intel -
Negroponte says that worldwide there are over a billion children who would need laptops, so no wonder other companies want in on this idea. Negroponte says this competition is "shameless," but Intel says it is just the way the business - the world - works. Intel believes that a project like this will require everyone working together and that there are lots of opportunities to work together.
To get his laptops into full production he will need at least 3 million orders. He feels confident he will get that despite the competition from Intel and others who will want to get their products into the hands of a billion plus kids.
If his ultimate goal is really a purely humanitarian one of really getting a laptop into the hands of every child maybe the competition will be good - maybe it will result in an even cheaper, and better, model that really can be distributed worldwide.
Whatever happens with the One Laptop Per Child program, one of my favorite parts of this whole idea is that when One Laptop Per Child comes to the US (there are talks going on already) and if the laptops become available commercially, parents will have to buy two if they want one. One for your child and one for another child. I think that's a great idea and hey you'll still only be spending about $200.00!
I think this program would be great in urban areas in the United States such as the one I am working in now, Paterson, New Jersey. Many of the kids in these schools do not have access to computers everyday, they don't even all have real cafeterias, gyms or science labs in most of the schools! I recently toured some of the schools in Paterson during a seminar for Leadership Paterson, a program I am enrolled in. That was fascinating and I will post on that at another time on my blog, Urban Librarian.
Labels: 60 Minutes, amy kearns, computers, laptops, One Laptop Per Child, technology
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 10:50 PM 0 comments
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Another love letter - this time to Playlists in Bloglines!
It's funny that Mary posted her love letter to Picasa b/c I was planning to post this one to Playlists in Bloglines!
Maybe I am the last to know or use this awesome feature but if not, I have to share!
I love Bloglines. It's no secret and I've never been shy about that. I have always loved it and used it. Last night I was wracking my brain to recall who it was and when and where it was that I was shown all the glorious extra wonderful amazing features of Bloglines besides just reading blogs, but I couldn't recall! So for that I'm sorry! But let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time I used Bloglines to read blogs and feeds. It was wonderful. Then, I found out about all the other amazing features: saving a search and subscribing to that; reading listserv messages; having an e-mail address; having a blog (which is cool even though I don't on there); tracking packages and the weather; and there's even more!
However, I was so enamored with Bloglines that I added about 1,109,333 feeds and even with it's wonderful organizational capabilities, I could NOT keep up! I was too overwhelmed! So, for awhile I stopped reading it. I downloaded the Bloglines notifier and would be constantly reminded that there were now 1,109,334 feeds to read and I will nervously click the message away!
So, I had to start over. I made a new Bloglines account and tried to limit my subscriptions to really, really important things. Still, I was in a period of being out-of-love with Bloglines and we grew apart.
Lately, I have been really wanting to get back into keeping up with the blogs and so on, so I started adding some more feeds in. This caused me to immediately panic, remembering my old ways.... Then I noticed this Playlist button - I kept wondering - what is that?! What does that mean!?
Well, now I know and let me tell you - it is love at first sight all over again! :-)
Playlists allow you to organize your feeds into, well, "playlists" of individual feeds even though they may already be organized and categorized into folders and so on.... this means that you may have a folder (as I do) labeled "librarians" and in that folder are all the blogs from librarians - tons, that is! Well, to read those is still overwhelming! However, if I make a playlist of the ones I feel I need to read FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, then I can pick and choose a few and "play" them first thing in the morning. I can add in some news feeds that I need to see FIRST THING and just look at those - instead of being overwhelmed again by all my feeds!
Then, I can make a playlist for the afternoon let's say - of the blogs and sites and so on I feel I need to check up on again - or for the first time maybe - later in the day!
Hooray! Newly organized and not overwhelmed! I can still keep everything filed according to my preferences, i.e., by groups like "librarians" "libraries" "jobs" "politics" etc., but I can pick and choose individual feeds from within those folders to look at as another separate, different "group" if you will in Playlists!
Thank goodness!
Bloglines, you truly are amazing and my love for you is stronger than ever. I think it is almost becoming possible to ONLY log into you and get almost everything I need in one place now! FANTASTIC! I especially love subbing to the flickr feeds and seeing the newest photos RIGHT THERE in Bloglines without having to log into flickr separately!
Love, Amy
Maybe I am the last to know or use this awesome feature but if not, I have to share!
I love Bloglines. It's no secret and I've never been shy about that. I have always loved it and used it. Last night I was wracking my brain to recall who it was and when and where it was that I was shown all the glorious extra wonderful amazing features of Bloglines besides just reading blogs, but I couldn't recall! So for that I'm sorry! But let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time I used Bloglines to read blogs and feeds. It was wonderful. Then, I found out about all the other amazing features: saving a search and subscribing to that; reading listserv messages; having an e-mail address; having a blog (which is cool even though I don't on there); tracking packages and the weather; and there's even more!
However, I was so enamored with Bloglines that I added about 1,109,333 feeds and even with it's wonderful organizational capabilities, I could NOT keep up! I was too overwhelmed! So, for awhile I stopped reading it. I downloaded the Bloglines notifier and would be constantly reminded that there were now 1,109,334 feeds to read and I will nervously click the message away!
So, I had to start over. I made a new Bloglines account and tried to limit my subscriptions to really, really important things. Still, I was in a period of being out-of-love with Bloglines and we grew apart.
Lately, I have been really wanting to get back into keeping up with the blogs and so on, so I started adding some more feeds in. This caused me to immediately panic, remembering my old ways.... Then I noticed this Playlist button - I kept wondering - what is that?! What does that mean!?
Well, now I know and let me tell you - it is love at first sight all over again! :-)
Playlists allow you to organize your feeds into, well, "playlists" of individual feeds even though they may already be organized and categorized into folders and so on.... this means that you may have a folder (as I do) labeled "librarians" and in that folder are all the blogs from librarians - tons, that is! Well, to read those is still overwhelming! However, if I make a playlist of the ones I feel I need to read FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, then I can pick and choose a few and "play" them first thing in the morning. I can add in some news feeds that I need to see FIRST THING and just look at those - instead of being overwhelmed again by all my feeds!
Then, I can make a playlist for the afternoon let's say - of the blogs and sites and so on I feel I need to check up on again - or for the first time maybe - later in the day!
Hooray! Newly organized and not overwhelmed! I can still keep everything filed according to my preferences, i.e., by groups like "librarians" "libraries" "jobs" "politics" etc., but I can pick and choose individual feeds from within those folders to look at as another separate, different "group" if you will in Playlists!
Thank goodness!
Bloglines, you truly are amazing and my love for you is stronger than ever. I think it is almost becoming possible to ONLY log into you and get almost everything I need in one place now! FANTASTIC! I especially love subbing to the flickr feeds and seeing the newest photos RIGHT THERE in Bloglines without having to log into flickr separately!
Love, Amy
Labels: amy kearns, bloglines, blogs, feeds, playlists
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 1:35 PM 0 comments
Thursday, May 17, 2007
VALUING LIBRARIES!
I just came from the HRLC Annual Meeting - it was great!
Thanks to Joanne Roukens for the nice "shout-out" for the HRLC Technology Committee - she said if you want something done get a 'technologist' to do - these people are DO-ERS! :-) Yup, that's us! ;-)
The Strategic Plan for HRLC was shared and voted on by the voting members and several awards were given out. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the whole thing - Ellen at HRLC has my raffle ticket though in case I am a winner! ;-) Of course, I'm never a winner!
The new Strategic Plan continues to address what the membership of HRLC needs most as based on surveying and a day-long planning session, that unfortunately I wasn't able to attend but I heard was fantastic! This of course includes assistance in the areas of TECHNOLOGY, MARKETING and PR, DIVERSE PATRONS, and FUNDING! You can see the plan here. I strongly encourage everyone to take at least a glance at it!
Valuing libraries was brought up several times and is, of course, a major theme and push for everyone! Joanne does an excellent presentation on this and will in fact be bringing it to other states in the very near future. Newly elected NJLA President, Michele Reutty of the Oakland Public Library spoke briefly and said her theme would be "Valuing Libraries, Librarians and Library Staff!" :-) YAY!
Norma Blake from the State Library was there and shared some very exciting new things for New Jersey. I could see that the Futures Conference has had a definite impact and influence and I'm really excited about what is being planned!
Speaking of that Futures Conference - there are photos up on flickr and a blog, and you can, of course, read more about it all at Library Garden!
Thanks to Joanne Roukens for the nice "shout-out" for the HRLC Technology Committee - she said if you want something done get a 'technologist' to do - these people are DO-ERS! :-) Yup, that's us! ;-)
The Strategic Plan for HRLC was shared and voted on by the voting members and several awards were given out. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the whole thing - Ellen at HRLC has my raffle ticket though in case I am a winner! ;-) Of course, I'm never a winner!
The new Strategic Plan continues to address what the membership of HRLC needs most as based on surveying and a day-long planning session, that unfortunately I wasn't able to attend but I heard was fantastic! This of course includes assistance in the areas of TECHNOLOGY, MARKETING and PR, DIVERSE PATRONS, and FUNDING! You can see the plan here. I strongly encourage everyone to take at least a glance at it!
Valuing libraries was brought up several times and is, of course, a major theme and push for everyone! Joanne does an excellent presentation on this and will in fact be bringing it to other states in the very near future. Newly elected NJLA President, Michele Reutty of the Oakland Public Library spoke briefly and said her theme would be "Valuing Libraries, Librarians and Library Staff!" :-) YAY!
Norma Blake from the State Library was there and shared some very exciting new things for New Jersey. I could see that the Futures Conference has had a definite impact and influence and I'm really excited about what is being planned!
Speaking of that Futures Conference - there are photos up on flickr and a blog, and you can, of course, read more about it all at Library Garden!
Labels: amy kearns, conference, futures, hrlc, libraries, njla
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 5:11 PM 0 comments
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Ah, Plugoo!
Previously I blogged about putting the little Meebo-me! widget on your site. But, I have finally realized the reason that Plugoo is superior to Meebo, and now I can't seem to get the coding to work on my new website! This is very aggravating.
Plugoo is superior to Meebo b/c you do not have to be logged into all of your IM accounts or into Meebo, to receive IM's. I had been thinking that Meebo was better b/c once you sign into it you are signed into all the IM accounts you add - so you can be on your Yahoo! IM, your MSN IM, etc....
However, it finally hit me in the forehead today: Plugoo makes all that unncessary. Since Plugoo doesn't require the user (the other person who wants to IM you) to have ANY IM account at all, you don't need to be logged into all of your IM accounts. Whoever sees your Plugoo plug-in can IM you directly from your site and at the least you only need to be logged into is whichever IM service you used to sign-up with Plugoo in the first place!
This is a much better situation. I hate signing into Meebo in order to be signed into the little Meebo-me! widget! I much prefer to be signed in using Trillian which allows me to be signed into ALL OF MY IM accounts at once should anyone want to IM me no matter the system they use, i.e, Yahoo!, MSN, etc... (Though Trillian's failing is it still doesn't yet have the gmail chat available.) I cannot be signed into Meebo AND Trillian and since I prefer Trillian, I want to get away from Meebo. (Of course, if you cannot use Trillian at all, Meebo is a great way to go!)
However, I have tried to put the Plugoo plug-in (I love that) on my site and it caused some problems. I contacted my web hosting service to get help and there were able to "un-freeze" my site so I was back in business. However, I was told the problem was caused by the "object type =" part of the code. I feared that this meant I couldn't have the plug-in, but apparently I can do something to/about this part of the code.
Unfortunately, for the life of me, I can't seem to figure it out, so I'll probably have to contact customer help again for more detailed help about that. Oh, I hope, I hope I can have the Pluggo plug-in on my site soon! If anyone reads this and knows what I'm talking about and can help - pleasePlugoo me Meebo-me!
PS My site is hosted with godaddy and I have to say they are quite good and very responsive!
UPDATE: I sent an e-mail to Plugoo and they have already replied with a possible fix. I'll try it and let them and you know!
Plugoo is superior to Meebo b/c you do not have to be logged into all of your IM accounts or into Meebo, to receive IM's. I had been thinking that Meebo was better b/c once you sign into it you are signed into all the IM accounts you add - so you can be on your Yahoo! IM, your MSN IM, etc....
However, it finally hit me in the forehead today: Plugoo makes all that unncessary. Since Plugoo doesn't require the user (the other person who wants to IM you) to have ANY IM account at all, you don't need to be logged into all of your IM accounts. Whoever sees your Plugoo plug-in can IM you directly from your site and at the least you only need to be logged into is whichever IM service you used to sign-up with Plugoo in the first place!
This is a much better situation. I hate signing into Meebo in order to be signed into the little Meebo-me! widget! I much prefer to be signed in using Trillian which allows me to be signed into ALL OF MY IM accounts at once should anyone want to IM me no matter the system they use, i.e, Yahoo!, MSN, etc... (Though Trillian's failing is it still doesn't yet have the gmail chat available.) I cannot be signed into Meebo AND Trillian and since I prefer Trillian, I want to get away from Meebo. (Of course, if you cannot use Trillian at all, Meebo is a great way to go!)
However, I have tried to put the Plugoo plug-in (I love that) on my site and it caused some problems. I contacted my web hosting service to get help and there were able to "un-freeze" my site so I was back in business. However, I was told the problem was caused by the "object type =" part of the code. I feared that this meant I couldn't have the plug-in, but apparently I can do something to/about this part of the code.
Unfortunately, for the life of me, I can't seem to figure it out, so I'll probably have to contact customer help again for more detailed help about that. Oh, I hope, I hope I can have the Pluggo plug-in on my site soon! If anyone reads this and knows what I'm talking about and can help - please
PS My site is hosted with godaddy and I have to say they are quite good and very responsive!
UPDATE: I sent an e-mail to Plugoo and they have already replied with a possible fix. I'll try it and let them and you know!
Labels: amy kearns, IM, meebo, plugoo, websites
¶ posted by Amy J. Kearns, MLIS @ 3:30 PM 1 comments
