Tales of a Librarian

Can’t resist a quick post on this… on the BBC news website today there is a story of a bunch of VERY dedicated librarians fighting to keep their library open, by taking their clothes off!!! Made me smile… just hope my employer don’t get any funny ideas if they get into financial hardship!

Hi. A really useful article from Freepint on writing content for the web. Looks like I don’t need that training course after all!

This is a really insightful and useful article about preparing content for the web. It’s not something that I am responsible for in my day to day work, and it probably doesn’t apply to blogs in the same way as web pages, but it is really interesting to hear how content needs to be presented entirely differently than one would write an essay, etc.

It contains really useful and practical tips, so if you are interested, it is well worth a read.

Along similar lines is the plan english campaign - a campaign to eliminate jargon and establish a culture of writing public information in plain, easy to understand english. This is a far cry from what we were taught in University, and indeed what I am used to. I know that people within my work have attended plain english courses as a requirement for taking part in projects with clients, so as a movement it really seems to be gaining momentum.

A warning to all librarians on the perils of sticky labels… see post from ‘This is Broken‘ blog, via Librarian.net. Made me laugh…

I finally got round to registering with my local library last night, it was the first time that I had been in to it. It’s just a really small community library, with a little bit of everything: fiction, non-fiction, plenty of kids stuff, cds and the possibility of ordering in ps2 games (much to my partner’s delight!). They offer interlibrary loans and a free request service (i’m not entirely sure how the two differ), so that is also really useful as there are many books that I would like to get my hands on that are not on the physical shelves of the library.

It’s really great to have a library so close to where i live - it is literally about a five minute walk away - and it is open til 7pm through the week - so that means that i can visit it no probs after work. There is also a couple of larger libraries in the area, so no doubt i shall be visiting them at some point to find out what they are like too.

The library catalogue for the whole of the area is available to be searched online, and it has some really neat user functions which make it really handy to use. They allow a user to log in and make requests for items (as mentioned before) so that I can have any book in the area sent to my local library for collection. You can also make a book list (kind of like amazon’s wish list) so if you see books that interest you but you don’t have time to take them out just yet or if you just want to keep a note of them then you can do it this way. It also has lists of books that have won awards recently so if you are not sure of what you would like to read you can get some inspiration from these…

I can’t wait to get my PIN number in the post (neccessary to log in) so that I can start using the online service. I also took out some books when i registered last night (well, it would have been rude not too!!) - about gardening!!, so i shall be green fingered by the time that i return them (or at least that is the theory!).

It just got me to thinking about the whole range of ways in which the libraries could incorporate web 2.0 technologies into their websites to bring the library back into the community - people could use discussion forums centred around the library and so forth to discuss the latest books (like online book clubs I guess), or just to comment about certain books, rate them, make recommendations etc. Another good addition to a catalogue like this would be to provide some functions for those who do not know exactly what they would like to borrow - so providing some kind of electronic/online equivelant of browsing shelves by grouping books into categories - these could even be provided by a folksomy, so that users can be inspired about which books they read next. New books could also be given a promotion on the site, or a monthly/weekly collection on certain types of books could also encourage people to read beyond their boundaries - librarians could choose certain related books, with a theme such as ‘crime week’, or ’sci-fi’, or even a specific author, or non-fiction title, such as cookery, a specific country, etc. This might help circulate older, existing stock too.

I haven’t found out yet if there are any book clubs in the area - but again this is something that i think that i would find quite interesting, so long as i felt that the books that they usually tended to read were the kind that i would enjoy… I will have to look into this.

So, overall, I am very impressed so far with the library service in my new locale and can’t wait to give it a thorough testing-out. I’ll keep you updated!

Technorati Tags: public library, catalogues, opac, library service

Hi, I’m conscious that i haven’t really posted anything for what would seem to be a very long time (i.e. nearly a month), at least it would seem to be a really long time compared with all the mainstream library blogs that I have been keeping up to date with via newreader, which seem to have an almost supernatural ability to write a freakish number of blog entries per day/week. Where do they get the time?

Anyways, I have come across various things in the news of late that has sparked an interest, but I have to apologise that I have not reported them here. It has been a very busy month for me (having bought [nearly bought, should I say] my first house), and basically I have just had other things on my mind. I am human after all. Now, if this had been a blog about finding the best mortgage offer, or what colour I should paint my new bedroom walls, or how much money i could possibly spend in one shop (which will remain unnamed), then this blog would be positively busting with posts, all of which tinged with a slightly crazed stressed subtone which seems to have been everpresent since i first decided to go ahead with the offer. Hmmm… probably not healthy.

As far as work has gone, I have been getting more involved in more aspects of it, such as proof-reading/editing, different kinds of searching, and also involved in information projects. I am also involved in my own little project which intends to compare our information service with another free one that is often quoted as a reason for users leaving our service (if i have already mentioned this - please forgive me). It has been rather slow in the uptake, but I conducted a brief website evaluation, and search facility evaluation last week, which i hope to incorporate into the project along with more statistical information (numbers of items added to stock, same items, different items etc.).

I am however, still unsure of what form it will take - report, essay etc. Obviously, my natural tendency is to write in essay form, but i will have to speak about this with my manager. I think that we will be having another meeting about my chartership in the next couple of weeks so i will mention it then.

It was also quite interesting to see a post on LIS-CILIP-REG about a chartering librarian who was asking whether other people had a blog and if they were using it for chartership, i replied and let him see this one, and from his response i think that a good few other people also are blogging their way to chartership. I somehow doubt that this one will be of much use to that effort though, i’m rambling a bit…

Finally, since it is Friday and I am heading home soon, what about this light hearted post which reports that playing the game ‘the World of Warcraft’ can actually advance your career and make a positive addition to your CV? It’s from Wired Magazine, read it here. A couple of my friends (who are incidently, also a couple) are completely addicted to this game. I, so far, have managed to avoid being sucked into it (apparently, people have died from playing the game for so long and forgetting to eat, sleep, answer the call of nature etc…). Having said this, I have been given a demonstration of its prowess by my very enthusiastic friends, and do most definitely fancy getting me one of those black flame hooved horsey things!

The social aspect of a game like this is also amazing. For example, one of my friends admits that she now speaks to her brother (who lives miles away) far more often because she does it through the game, where they meet up and help one another complete various challenges. They are also in contact and friends with a whole host of people from around the world with whom they can choose to carry out the various challenges of the game. It does look really great. My only fear is that if we get the game then I will either a) never see my partner again or b) be involved in endless fights over who gets to play a la my two aforementioned friends!!

Oh well, enough for me. Ta ta for now folks…

Technorati Tags: world of warcraft, cv, blogging, moving house