We Really Can Feel Good In Spite Of It All

Times are tough all over. Fortunately, our colleagues across the country have found many things to smile about.


Let's kick it off by embracing our inner-eccentric. No, we're not all eccentric. I'm sure, though, you secretly harbor the opinion that all of your colleagues are eccentric.

From: Quirkiness "R" Us via American Libraries Gigantic Everything Feed by Beverly Goldberg on 4/19/10

The author writes:

"...the characteristic that most differentiates librarians from all the other occupational groups I worked with is a very weird and shockingly offbeat sense of humor. Librarians are very funny in some dark, devious, and totally unexpected ways—not a “gallows” humor so much as Far Side in comfortable shoes. And who wouldn’t wear comfortable shoes after being on your feet all day helping patrons?"


Fortunately, we also have a certain "coolness" factor that has not gone unnoticed by Keith Richards of the Rollings Stones. This quote is from: Keith Richards via American Libraries Gigantic Everything Feed by Leonard Kniffel on 4/6/10

"When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser."

Librarians are also known for their excruciatingly correct manners. Right? The Librarian's Guide to Etiquette has had a number of good exmaples of manners for librarians lately.

From: Victories, Celebrating via A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette by J on 4/1/10:

"Librarians should celebrate monumental workplace victories with Gatorade showers. A meeting that lasts less than one hour? Give the committee chair a Gatorade shower! Faculty members who return books before their due dates? Give them a Gatorade shower! A class in which students make eye contact and respond to you? Give yourself a Gatorade shower! While costly clean-up can be an issue, the rarity of these events should minimize any damages."

and
From: Career Counselor, Being a via A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette by J on 3/8/10

As a librarian, you will occasionally be called upon to counsel someone who is interested in joining your noble profession. Always present librarianship in a positive way to these prospective librarians, and resist the urge to show them your "I ♥ Dewey Decimal" tattoo, your Nancy Pearl doll, or your pay check stub.

And it's always time to laugh at our stereotypes

Picture Description: This is the cover of a "young adult" novel from 1967. The title is Jinny Williams: Library Assistant. The background is an utterly depressing green. You might even say it is oppressive. Gloomy at any rate. Young Jinny herself, however, is dressed in a delightfully conservative red shirt-dress. She smiles as she holds up a black book and reaches for another. As always, a date-due stamp is at the ready.

From: Romance in the Stacks via Awful Library Books by marykelly48 on 4/15/10:

The blogger comments: "Can our young modern girl find love in her local library? Our girl Jinny moves through the stacks looking for love in all the wrong places. Maybe it will be the cute guy downloading inappropriate material from the Internet. Maybe it will be that ultra sexy new librarian who keeps “checking her out”. Maybe she will get a couple of cats and head off to library school and get her MLS. Grab this page turner and find out!"

Indeed, librarianship is full of romance. Jennifer Lohman of the Durham County Public Library recently won what the blog author referred to as a "librarian award." Lohman has been a great proponent of romance novels in libraries. When Sarah, from the blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books heard of this, a photoshop contest was immediately started. The winner is below.

Picture description: Jennifer and her tatooed husband, Lars, are perched on the edge of a table in front of bookshelves. They are gazing into each other's eyes and just about to kiss. I might add that Lars, while hair-challenged on the top, does sport a spiffy set of mutton chop sideburns. The book cover is a parody of old Harlequin romances. The title is Between the Stacks. The teaser on the cover reads: their love was overdue...and the fine was passion!

From: What the Librarian Won: the Winner! via Smart Bitches, Trashy Books by SB Sarah on 4/13/10

Mobile Will Take Over the World - Srsly

It's mobile, mobile, mobile all the time in libraryland. This comes up over and over in the newsfeeds. While at present it looks like all we need to know is how our customers will use moble website, we might as well continue to track this.

Interesting fact: The US is actually behind Europe and Japan in using mobile. Many of the things we are not using now are already considered mundane in those regions.

Growth of Mobile Traffic via Stephen's Lighthouse by admin on 4/7/10

“As smartphones like the iPhone and Android take over the mobile Web, the amount of data traffic going over cellular networks is expected to grow 40-fold over the next five years.”

Some highlights from the blog entry:

US traffic growth will compound at an annual growth rate of 117%

“A lot of that data will come in the form of mobile Web browsing, with the biggest contributor expected to be mobile video.”

Novelist Marches On

Preview the new NoveList via Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton-Jan by Sarah on 4/5/10

The new interface will be up later this summer.

You can preview the new Novelist here

A quick scan reveals:

• The first screen looks a lot like Endeca
• The entry for a book includes its appeal factors. If you can identify the customer's reason for liking a book, you can ask which of these appeal factors are why the customer likes the book. This can lead to better suggestions

Phoenix Public Library Launches Mobile Website

Check it out at

http://phoenixpubliclibrary.org/mobile

iphone and droid compatible

Mobile Apps for Libraries

Some highlights about what other libraries are doing

AccessMyLibrary
Cost: Free
This handy iPhone app from Gale uses GPS to find libraries within a 10-mile radius of your location. You can then select a library and access all its Gale electronic resources.

WorldCat Mobile
Cost: Free
Users can search through Worldcat’s collection of 1.5 billion items, find a nearby library, and map a route to a library through the WorldCat Mobile iPhone app.

Libraries and Mobile via Stephen's Lighthouse by admin on 4/6/10

DCPL
The District of Columbia Public Library was the first library to create an application for the iPhone. Their attractive application offers users a catalog search, library hours information, and the ability to place items on hold. They have made their code open source so that other libraries can build their own iPhone apps.

MLN Library
The Minuteman Library Network in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts has created an iPhone apps which allows patrons to view their accounts, search the network’s catalog as well as individual libraries, and renew items.

Duke University
Duke University Libraries offers the most comprehensive university digital image collection specifically formatted for the iPhone. Through DukeMobile, the University’s suite of iPhone applications, the libraries are sharing digital materials from 20 collections - nearly 32,000 images in all

We're Not Surprised Department

Item One
Facebook surpasses Google via Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton-Jan by Sarah on 3/16/10
Facebook is now the #1 most visited website in the U.S., with Google falling to #2. Wow!

Item Two
One Third of Americans Use Library Computers via Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton-Jan by Sarah on 3/29/10

More tidbits:
1/4 of Americans use library computers while traveling - no surprise here!
Half of the teens surveyed had used the library in the past year - HA! And we thought they would only use the interwebs for their research projects.

Item Three
Internet up for Nobel Peace Prize via Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton-Jan by Sarah on 3/12/10

"The internet has been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.
No kidding.
I want to see the internet walk up on stage, collect the trophy, then say “I’m King of the World!!!!!!” The weird thing is, the internet would be right"

Haven't We All Felt This Lately?

Library Clones Librarian
via Swiss Army Librarian by Brian Herzog on 4/1/10











Mr. Herzog has been cloned as part of a bold new experiment in librarianship.  He cites these as advantages:

• multiplying the effect of a library degree
• staff training is streamlined
• communication within the department is excellent
• we all share a single social security number so we also share a single salary
• all of us are covered by a single benefits package
• our wardrobe is interchangeable

The Trends Keep Coming

They've said it before and they'll say it again - at least through 12/31/11.  This is the time when mobile will take over the world.  Most areas of the world, even areas we used to think of as "third countries," use mobile much more than we do in the US.  Here is some buzz to be familiar with:

Bluetooth (3 and 4):  Bluetooth devices will be faster and be more energy-efficient.

The Mobile Web:  Smartphone, Blackberry, Droid and all the competitors.  "85 percent of handsets shipped globally will include some form of browser for using the internet. In mature markets, such as Western Europe and Japan, approximately 60 percent of handsets shipped will be smartphones using browsers.  More smartphones will have relatively large and high-resolution screens, encouraging greater numbers of people to access conventional websites on mobile devices."

Mobile Widgets:  Web applications (apps) that run on the smartphone's homescreen.  If you think we have apps now, it looks like a lot more are coming.  And they will be easier to design.

Platform-Independent Mobile AD Tools:  What?  We here at Libraryland Roundup confess that this one is beyond us.  It looks like (AD) is for Application Development (AD). 

App Stores:  App stores will be the primary (and, in some cases, the only) way to distribute applications to smartphones and other mobile devices.  Once again, Libraryland Roundup is a bit behind on this.  App stores already exist.  Perhaps there is a larger "hackers" crowd out there than we know of.

Enhanced Location Awareness:  By the end of 2011, over 75 percent of devices shipped in mature markets will include a GPS.

Cellular Broadband:  Bigger, stronger than ever before

Touchscreens: These will be the dominant user interface for handsets and will be included in over 60 percent of mobile devices shipped in Western Europe and North America in 2011.

M2M: Yes, more and more mobile devices will be talking to each other

Device-Independent Security: Use of mobile will be more secure.

Genre Talk - Paranormal Rocks On!

What Is Paranormal Romance?

Happy Valentine's Day: The Paranormal Edition via RA for All by Becky on 2/14/10

Genre Talk: Horror+Literature Mashups!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?
Paranormal cross-over is part of this, of course

Here's a thinker: What cross-genre books might come out of this?
Steampunk? Horror?

Great lists to skim to become familiar with the genre

USA Today on Classic Mashups

Literary Mashups with Horror via RA for All by Becky on 3/8/10
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and more!

Genre Talk: Steampunk

Could this be the new paranormal? Could this crossover into paranormal?

Classic Steampunk Titles

Steampunk: 20 Core Titles via Library Journal - Genre Fiction on 3/3/10

2009 Bestsellers, Notables, and Misc. Awards

Bram Stoker Awards via RA for All by Becky on 3/31/10
Award for best horror

Reading List Council ~ Best Adult Genre Ficiton 2009 via WebJunction - Readers Advisory by Carol Kubala on 1/29/09

RUSA 2009 CODES Notable Books for America's Reader's Council Book Awards via WebJunction - Readers Advisory by Carol Kubala on 1/29/09

Ellery Queen Mystery Awards

Random Reader's Advisory Info - With a genre thinker!

Lambda Literary Foundations Launches Website
GLBT literature-still looks beta



The 100 Best Crime Books Ever Written
People love a Mystery and people love True Crime. Great list to skim!


Has Genre Become Irrelevant?

PLA and Reader's Advisory

Preconference Program—Opening Doors, Opening Books: Providing Effective Readers’ Advisory Service
via The PLA Blog by pdc_itisme on 3/23/10


"Web 2.0 forces Librarians to trust the reader. With effective readers advisory we must seta side our preconcieved ideas of what we like and find what the reader is seeking. The reader is also forced to trust us to provide materials they will like based on previous reading habits, likes and dislikes and genre preference.

No longer are we forced to see only what people in our Libraries like or what other Librarians say people like. We can see what people are saying on both commercial book vendor websites (in terms of product reviews) but also on social networking sites. There seems to be a decline in print review sources, so we need to be aware of what our audience is saying"

Annual Bestsellers Report

Publisher's Weely's Annual Bestseller Report via RA for All by Becky on 3/26/10

The top 5 by category

Hardcover Fiction Sales, 20091.
The Lost Symbol: A Novel. Dan Brown. Doubleday (5,543,643).
2. *The Associate: A Novel. John Grisham. Doubleday.
3. The Help. Kathryn Stockett. Putnam/Amy Einhorn (1,104,617).
4. I, Alex Cross. James Patterson. Little, Brown (1,040,976).
5. The Last Song. Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central. (1,032,829).

Hardcover Nonfiction Sales, 2009
1. Going Rogue: An American Life. Sarah Palin. Harper (2,674,684).
2. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment. Steve Harvey. Harper (1,735,219).
3. *Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government. Glenn Beck. Threshold.
4. *Liberty & Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto. Mark R. Levin..
5. True Compass: A Memoir. Edward M. Kennedy. Grand Central (870,402).