In December, my job changed enough that I warned that I might not be able to post as much. With budget cuts, our library has had to reorganize, ultra-organize, and organize again. As part of that ongoing budget battle, my job has changed drastically and I won't have time to maintain this blog.
I will still be sharing items. They are at the right-hand side of the blog. You can easily subscribe to my shared items and receive them all in your own reader.
Here's how:
My public feed URL is
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/Booktender
Just cut and paste that puppy into your own google reader and you'll have access to the items I think are share-worthy.
Thanks for reading and good luck in libraryland!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Trend: Random Acts of Kindness
From http://www.trendwatching.com/
Not surprisingly, brands and organizations that are perceived as kind and downright human are going to thrive in the new social media world. This ties in with the consumer trends to Generosity and Green. But there's a lot more going on here!
"For consumers long used to (and annoyed by) distant, inflexible and self-serving corporations, any acts of kindness by brands will be gratefully received. For brands, increasingly open communications both with and between consumers (especially online), means that it's never been easier to surprise and delight audiences with R.A.K.: whether sending gifts, responding to publicly expressed moods or just showing that they care*.
*R.A.K=random acts of kindness
Consumers want a really human touch
Think about it, your customers complain about having to push too many buttons to reach a real human being. You probably complain about it, too. Check this out:
"71% of people “make it a point to buy brands from companies whose values are similar to my own.” (Source: Young & Rubicam, August 2010.) "
"In 2006, ‘strong financial performance’ was the third most important factor for US consumers in determining corporate reputation. By 2010, financial returns had fallen to the bottom of Edelman’s rankings, while ‘transparent and honest practices’ and ‘company I can trust’ were the two most important. (Source: Edelman Trust Barometer, 2010.) "
Generation G is hitting the corporations in the pocketbook! Right now, consumers are going with brands and organizations they can trust - rather than judging the organization by its financial bottom line. Big change from the 90s and 00s!
Putting it out there
This can make a person nervous. In an earlier post I talked about social network analysis (SNA). The field is taking off like wildfire.
Right now, consumers are being very open about their opinions and other information online. Sharing ideas and opinions is hot. While SNA can be used to target likely consumers for a product, it is also gathering information about the opinions of others about the organization.
"In fact, it’s never been easier for brands to listen and react to potential customers’ needs or desires in innovative or even personalized ways. As much of this happens in real-time, brands can increasingly engage with consumers right at their moment of need, making R.A.K. more relevant, and therefore better received. "
This one really hit me:
Companies being expected to be more open with customers as those customers themselves are very open with everyone else, too. And those same companies being able to react to (or even preemptively defuse) complaints.
The rewards of RAK
"R.A.K. strategy can now be cost-efficiently applied by all brands, because the 'PUTTING IT OUT THERE' effect also guarantees that many R.A.K. recipients will share their experiences with an ever-wider audience."
Do your SNA and apply R.A.K. and word spreads. People are out there on facebook and twitter and all manner of places sharing and sharing and sharing. Hit the right group with R.A.K. and it's all over in no time. Print and other advertising have their place, too. The fact remains that using social media is now the fastest way to improve your reputation - using R.A.K.
The report continues with great tips about how to do R.A.K. right
1. Be genuine - your audience is very saavy. Don't come off fake or computer-generated
2. Be personal, but not too personal. Don't become a consumer stalker. Seeing an ad on my facebook page for an item I viewed online 20 minutes before is unsettling.
3. Be compassionate, not crass Marketing stunts are so last millenium
4. Make it shareable. At least have a "share" button. If a person's friend can benefit from hearing about another's R.A.K., all the better. My friend got a discount? I got a discount!
5. Be generous Not just kind of nice to most of the people
6. Have meaning and purpose. Encourage consumers to engage in their own R.A.K. And then (publicly) reward them for it – leaving them with a great STATUS STORY.
7. Get real. R.A.K doesn't just have to be received online. Real-life is way cool
8. Don’t intrude, or be pushy, or sell. This isn’t about you or your brand, it’s about the recipient. It's all about the recipient. All of it
9. Don’t make R.A.K. too frequent. Keep it really special.
Here's a great US example of how to use social media monitoring to give out a lot of R.A.K
"In June 2010, US cracker brand Wheat Thins (owned by Kraft Foods/Nabisco) launched their 'The Crunch is Calling" campaign, featuring a Wheat Thins van tracking down and surprising tweeters who had indicated their attachment to the crackers. Each selected tweeter was filmed being unwittingly greeted by a whole pallet of the product. The videos were a success, with the campaign’s YouTube channel receiving nearly 1,500,000 views."
As always, innovation is not always about technology.
"And of course, there’s Oprah. As someone who pioneered R.A.K., Oprah understands better than most the power of this trend. Despite previously announcing the end of her Big Give show, in September 2010, on the first day of the final season of the Oprah Winfrey Show, the host announced that she would take the 300 members of her studio audience on a trip to Australia in December 2010. Then again, in November 2010, the show's audience was given keys to the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle."
So, how does an organization decide what their R.A.K will be?
It starts with a shift in attitude.
"R.A.K. strategy may mean a brand is no longer being seen as inflexible and unwieldy, but as more compassionate and charismatic instead. Something which is, of course, priceless and actually enjoyable. For customers and employees. "
...hmmm...are libraries sometimes seen as inflexible and unwieldy? There must be ways for libraries to bounce out of that once in a while. Is fine forgiveness all we can do? There's a real thinker
We know we are compassionate and charismatic...or do we? How do we help front-line staff fight off burnout and stay compassionate? What empowerments might be needed?
Is it time to make time and money so a staff member can be out there scanning media to see what's being said about the library? Jumping in with an R.A.K - even just an answer to a reference query, even just a thanks for noticing the library - and doing it real-time can reap huge rewards.
On my own, I have come to the conclusion that I don't even need to know which library people within 10 miles of me are talking about. What the heck? Why not just respond to any library comment in a genuine, caring, non-stalking way? Libraries are collaborative. This is collaboration on a big scale!
Lots of challenges in this trend - let's get out there and dig the R.A.K!
Not surprisingly, brands and organizations that are perceived as kind and downright human are going to thrive in the new social media world. This ties in with the consumer trends to Generosity and Green. But there's a lot more going on here!
"For consumers long used to (and annoyed by) distant, inflexible and self-serving corporations, any acts of kindness by brands will be gratefully received. For brands, increasingly open communications both with and between consumers (especially online), means that it's never been easier to surprise and delight audiences with R.A.K.: whether sending gifts, responding to publicly expressed moods or just showing that they care*.
*R.A.K=random acts of kindness
Consumers want a really human touch
Think about it, your customers complain about having to push too many buttons to reach a real human being. You probably complain about it, too. Check this out:
"71% of people “make it a point to buy brands from companies whose values are similar to my own.” (Source: Young & Rubicam, August 2010.) "
"In 2006, ‘strong financial performance’ was the third most important factor for US consumers in determining corporate reputation. By 2010, financial returns had fallen to the bottom of Edelman’s rankings, while ‘transparent and honest practices’ and ‘company I can trust’ were the two most important. (Source: Edelman Trust Barometer, 2010.) "
Generation G is hitting the corporations in the pocketbook! Right now, consumers are going with brands and organizations they can trust - rather than judging the organization by its financial bottom line. Big change from the 90s and 00s!
Putting it out there
This can make a person nervous. In an earlier post I talked about social network analysis (SNA). The field is taking off like wildfire.
Right now, consumers are being very open about their opinions and other information online. Sharing ideas and opinions is hot. While SNA can be used to target likely consumers for a product, it is also gathering information about the opinions of others about the organization.
"In fact, it’s never been easier for brands to listen and react to potential customers’ needs or desires in innovative or even personalized ways. As much of this happens in real-time, brands can increasingly engage with consumers right at their moment of need, making R.A.K. more relevant, and therefore better received. "
This one really hit me:
Companies being expected to be more open with customers as those customers themselves are very open with everyone else, too. And those same companies being able to react to (or even preemptively defuse) complaints.
The rewards of RAK
"R.A.K. strategy can now be cost-efficiently applied by all brands, because the 'PUTTING IT OUT THERE' effect also guarantees that many R.A.K. recipients will share their experiences with an ever-wider audience."
Do your SNA and apply R.A.K. and word spreads. People are out there on facebook and twitter and all manner of places sharing and sharing and sharing. Hit the right group with R.A.K. and it's all over in no time. Print and other advertising have their place, too. The fact remains that using social media is now the fastest way to improve your reputation - using R.A.K.
The report continues with great tips about how to do R.A.K. right
1. Be genuine - your audience is very saavy. Don't come off fake or computer-generated
2. Be personal, but not too personal. Don't become a consumer stalker. Seeing an ad on my facebook page for an item I viewed online 20 minutes before is unsettling.
3. Be compassionate, not crass Marketing stunts are so last millenium
4. Make it shareable. At least have a "share" button. If a person's friend can benefit from hearing about another's R.A.K., all the better. My friend got a discount? I got a discount!
5. Be generous Not just kind of nice to most of the people
6. Have meaning and purpose. Encourage consumers to engage in their own R.A.K. And then (publicly) reward them for it – leaving them with a great STATUS STORY.
7. Get real. R.A.K doesn't just have to be received online. Real-life is way cool
8. Don’t intrude, or be pushy, or sell. This isn’t about you or your brand, it’s about the recipient. It's all about the recipient. All of it
9. Don’t make R.A.K. too frequent. Keep it really special.
Here's a great US example of how to use social media monitoring to give out a lot of R.A.K
"In June 2010, US cracker brand Wheat Thins (owned by Kraft Foods/Nabisco) launched their 'The Crunch is Calling" campaign, featuring a Wheat Thins van tracking down and surprising tweeters who had indicated their attachment to the crackers. Each selected tweeter was filmed being unwittingly greeted by a whole pallet of the product. The videos were a success, with the campaign’s YouTube channel receiving nearly 1,500,000 views."
As always, innovation is not always about technology.
"And of course, there’s Oprah. As someone who pioneered R.A.K., Oprah understands better than most the power of this trend. Despite previously announcing the end of her Big Give show, in September 2010, on the first day of the final season of the Oprah Winfrey Show, the host announced that she would take the 300 members of her studio audience on a trip to Australia in December 2010. Then again, in November 2010, the show's audience was given keys to the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle."
So, how does an organization decide what their R.A.K will be?
It starts with a shift in attitude.
"R.A.K. strategy may mean a brand is no longer being seen as inflexible and unwieldy, but as more compassionate and charismatic instead. Something which is, of course, priceless and actually enjoyable. For customers and employees. "
...hmmm...are libraries sometimes seen as inflexible and unwieldy? There must be ways for libraries to bounce out of that once in a while. Is fine forgiveness all we can do? There's a real thinker
We know we are compassionate and charismatic...or do we? How do we help front-line staff fight off burnout and stay compassionate? What empowerments might be needed?
Is it time to make time and money so a staff member can be out there scanning media to see what's being said about the library? Jumping in with an R.A.K - even just an answer to a reference query, even just a thanks for noticing the library - and doing it real-time can reap huge rewards.
On my own, I have come to the conclusion that I don't even need to know which library people within 10 miles of me are talking about. What the heck? Why not just respond to any library comment in a genuine, caring, non-stalking way? Libraries are collaborative. This is collaboration on a big scale!
Lots of challenges in this trend - let's get out there and dig the R.A.K!
Monday, March 7, 2011
26 Checkouts and Charlie Sheen
You can't swing a cat without hearing about what 'ol Charlie Sheen is up to for the past week or so. Here's hoping appropriate help is found for him.
In libraryland, you can't swing a cat without running smack into HarperCollins limiting checkouts to 26 on their e-books. Since everyone else in libraryland is writing about this, I will also.
HarperCollins? Your idea is a huge FAIL.
For more erudite discussion on the matter, see:
Update on the HarperCollins Issue
In libraryland, you can't swing a cat without running smack into HarperCollins limiting checkouts to 26 on their e-books. Since everyone else in libraryland is writing about this, I will also.
HarperCollins? Your idea is a huge FAIL.
For more erudite discussion on the matter, see:
Update on the HarperCollins Issue
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Location!
Sources for this post are listed here
More than ever, 2011 will be all about location, location, location. Geo-location and augmented reality are finally hitting the US. Using your mobile to find out more about your location and to let your friends know where you are located has been popular in Japan and Europe for a couple of years now. Geo-location has finally started to take hold in the US.
Products such as Foursquare and Gowalla let your friends know where you are. Feeling the thrill of being the first to know always fills that basic human need for self-esteem. You can share your review or opinion about a location and post it on those services to guide others. The virtual rewards for number of check-ins at a certain place are fun. Just yesterday a friend of mine ousted another person to gain the title of "Mayor" of our closest bus stop!
Quora, a place where questions and answers on any topic can be shared, is tied to your location when you sign on using your Facebook login. Quora automatically has suggestions for question categories that might be of interest to you, based on your Facebook apps and location.
QR codes have also hit the big-time here in the US. QR codes are small squares that, when read with a mobile phone, tell you more about the location. QR codes in stores may give you a coupon. QR codes in libraries might link to the library's mobile site.
There is a flip, but interesting, side to this. Whether you are scanning a QR code, answering questions on Quora, logging in using a facebook login, or posting via Foursquare, your data is being gathered. This year Social Networking Analysis (SNA) is going to make big leaps forward. Organizations want to know who comes to a geographic area, where else they go and what their interests are. This information is vital to any organization's marketing attempts. SNA is going to make it easier than ever for organizations to give the right message to the right people at the right time. SNA will allow us to find more information about the customers that come to our buildings and to the system as a whole.
Expect to see a whole slew of SNA tools coming on the market. Consider using them to analyze your customers' demographics. You may find that a huge segment of your customers with mobile ride the bus, play Farmville, and spend a lot of time at the movie theater. Or maybe they tend to go to the zoo, are members of a religious group, and spend a lot of time at a specific sports bar.
Now imagine what you can do with this information. Would you dare promote the library at that particular sports bar? (I, personally, have always wanted to do a barfly booklist.) Do you and the zoo cross-promote? (Would it be possible to put a QR code on the lion's cage and have it lead to resources about lions in the library?) Is there room in your library for a Farmville-fan meetup? (Farmville collectibles not included)
Lots of opportunity for libraries. Let's get out there and analyze!
More than ever, 2011 will be all about location, location, location. Geo-location and augmented reality are finally hitting the US. Using your mobile to find out more about your location and to let your friends know where you are located has been popular in Japan and Europe for a couple of years now. Geo-location has finally started to take hold in the US.
Products such as Foursquare and Gowalla let your friends know where you are. Feeling the thrill of being the first to know always fills that basic human need for self-esteem. You can share your review or opinion about a location and post it on those services to guide others. The virtual rewards for number of check-ins at a certain place are fun. Just yesterday a friend of mine ousted another person to gain the title of "Mayor" of our closest bus stop!
Quora, a place where questions and answers on any topic can be shared, is tied to your location when you sign on using your Facebook login. Quora automatically has suggestions for question categories that might be of interest to you, based on your Facebook apps and location.
QR codes have also hit the big-time here in the US. QR codes are small squares that, when read with a mobile phone, tell you more about the location. QR codes in stores may give you a coupon. QR codes in libraries might link to the library's mobile site.
There is a flip, but interesting, side to this. Whether you are scanning a QR code, answering questions on Quora, logging in using a facebook login, or posting via Foursquare, your data is being gathered. This year Social Networking Analysis (SNA) is going to make big leaps forward. Organizations want to know who comes to a geographic area, where else they go and what their interests are. This information is vital to any organization's marketing attempts. SNA is going to make it easier than ever for organizations to give the right message to the right people at the right time. SNA will allow us to find more information about the customers that come to our buildings and to the system as a whole.
Expect to see a whole slew of SNA tools coming on the market. Consider using them to analyze your customers' demographics. You may find that a huge segment of your customers with mobile ride the bus, play Farmville, and spend a lot of time at the movie theater. Or maybe they tend to go to the zoo, are members of a religious group, and spend a lot of time at a specific sports bar.
Now imagine what you can do with this information. Would you dare promote the library at that particular sports bar? (I, personally, have always wanted to do a barfly booklist.) Do you and the zoo cross-promote? (Would it be possible to put a QR code on the lion's cage and have it lead to resources about lions in the library?) Is there room in your library for a Farmville-fan meetup? (Farmville collectibles not included)
Lots of opportunity for libraries. Let's get out there and analyze!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
What's Coming: Mobile
2009 was the year twitter took over the world
2010 was the year facebook took over the world
2011-2021 looks to be the decade of mobile.
While we may consider many things to be mobile computing, in this case we are mostly talking about 3G and 4G devices. Laptops, netbooks, and most e-readers rely on wireless signals. Mobility in the foreseeable future will mostly likely be defined as devices using 3G, 4G, and whatever comes next.
There are currently approximately 1.2 billion owners of mobile handsets world-wide. These handsets are increasingly becoming computers in their own right. Connectivity is of great importance to these handset owners. And more owners are soon to come. Remember: By 2020, most access to the internet will be via mobile or whatever comes next. Some predictions, including my own, see it coming much faster.
For mobile users, apps are the preferred way of interacting with organizations. Mobile websites are simply less desireable than an app. Customers want to get in and out of the interaction as quickly as possible. Squinting at a mobile site or waiting for it to load just does not accomplish what the consumer wants. Organizations with apps will have the upper-hand in the eyes of mobile customers. And remember, the number of users is increasing by leaps and bounds.
Expect to see a convergence between mobile handsets and the capabilities of tablets. While at this time we can not imagine making a call from a tablet, future innovation could make this feasible.
We're heading for exciting times with mobile connectivity. Be watchful and be ready to innovate.
2010 was the year facebook took over the world
2011-2021 looks to be the decade of mobile.
While we may consider many things to be mobile computing, in this case we are mostly talking about 3G and 4G devices. Laptops, netbooks, and most e-readers rely on wireless signals. Mobility in the foreseeable future will mostly likely be defined as devices using 3G, 4G, and whatever comes next.
There are currently approximately 1.2 billion owners of mobile handsets world-wide. These handsets are increasingly becoming computers in their own right. Connectivity is of great importance to these handset owners. And more owners are soon to come. Remember: By 2020, most access to the internet will be via mobile or whatever comes next. Some predictions, including my own, see it coming much faster.
For mobile users, apps are the preferred way of interacting with organizations. Mobile websites are simply less desireable than an app. Customers want to get in and out of the interaction as quickly as possible. Squinting at a mobile site or waiting for it to load just does not accomplish what the consumer wants. Organizations with apps will have the upper-hand in the eyes of mobile customers. And remember, the number of users is increasing by leaps and bounds.
Expect to see a convergence between mobile handsets and the capabilities of tablets. While at this time we can not imagine making a call from a tablet, future innovation could make this feasible.
We're heading for exciting times with mobile connectivity. Be watchful and be ready to innovate.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Blogography for upcoming posts!
It's all about predictions and trends this time of year! With that in mind, I've combed my feeds to see what's going to be hot, hot, hot!
Just to be all official, and to allow you to probe further, here is the blogography for this round. Anything new I come up with along the way will be thrust into the current post, with apologies
Just to be all official, and to allow you to probe further, here is the blogography for this round. Anything new I come up with along the way will be thrust into the current post, with apologies
10 Biggest Trends in Web 2.0 in 2010 from iLibrarian
10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011 from iLibrarian
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Social Media Trends for 2011, Part 1
Armano admits he is not always accurate. Who could be when predicting the future? Interesting ideas here.
It's The Integration Economy, Stupid
Companies will go even farther in their use of social media to promote their brands.
Tablet & Mobile Wars Create Ubiquitous Social Computing
24/7, real-time
There could be a real fistfight out there as tablet computing and mobile innovations hit the market
Facebook Interrupts Location-Based Networking.
Facebook has the data, they have the consumers, they could force geolocation services like Foursquare into the background
Average Participants Experience Social Media Schizophrenia.
Keeping track of all of one's social media personas may drive average users to distraction. Addiction may break out
Google Doesn't Beat Them, They Join Them
Google's attempts to become a social place haven't served them well. What they do very well is indexing. Apply that to social data and you've got real power for research
Social Functionality Makes Websites Fashionable Again
Existing websites add social capabilities to their sites
Six Social Media Trends for 2011 from Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog
It's The Integration Economy, Stupid
Companies will go even farther in their use of social media to promote their brands.
Tablet & Mobile Wars Create Ubiquitous Social Computing
24/7, real-time
There could be a real fistfight out there as tablet computing and mobile innovations hit the market
Facebook Interrupts Location-Based Networking.
Facebook has the data, they have the consumers, they could force geolocation services like Foursquare into the background
Average Participants Experience Social Media Schizophrenia.
Keeping track of all of one's social media personas may drive average users to distraction. Addiction may break out
Google Doesn't Beat Them, They Join Them
Google's attempts to become a social place haven't served them well. What they do very well is indexing. Apply that to social data and you've got real power for research
Social Functionality Makes Websites Fashionable Again
Existing websites add social capabilities to their sites
Six Social Media Trends for 2011 from Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog
Top Tens 2010, Part 2: The Most Contagious
Forgive me, Contagious. I have cited you below but I have also sometimes cut and pasted. I do encourage my reader to follow the link at the bottom of the post. Consumer trends create innovation. And there are some great innovations out there. How can you innovate using these trends?
Remember, innovation is not only technology. Sometimes simple training is enough.
Movements: Twisting the news, organizing the web
Real-time Less 360, More 365
Viral: Sites Worth Sharing
Stories: Narrative, transmedia and a thumping great yarn
Demos: Just tell us what it does
Devices: More than just mobile
Projects not Campaigns: Do something useful for a change
Facebook: World domination, one Like at a time
Remember, innovation is not only technology. Sometimes simple training is enough.
Movements: Twisting the news, organizing the web
- Newsjacking
- Members of the Twitter community take on assumed identities in order to pass comment on current affairs.
- The Web of Intent - apps that allow the user to customize their experience
- It Gets Better - people working in all social media to create messages that offer hope
- Soft paternalism - replacing the stick with the carrot in order to skew the decisions of the populace towards a favourable outcome.
- If you like something and it's not available, twitter the company and they'll send out more asap
- Talk to the Old Spice Man real-time on twitter
- TV No longer just the box in the corner
- Connected TV - "Imagine this – you're on the couch at midnight catching up with True Blood through an HBO app, simultaneously checking baseball scores through an onscreen MLB widget. You dive into two-screen mode to tweet a comment on the show's cliffhanger ending, then download the series for a friend via Amazon. You turn the TV off with your smartphone and go to bed. Pretty smart, right?"
Interactive TV
('scuse the formatting problem)
"If connected TV is content you want, when you want it, interactive TV describes the ways in which broadcasters, software developers and content providers are seeking to retain viewers beyond the half-hour broadcast slot, sharing content and buzz with peers through apps and check-ins to shows"
Experience: Connecting the online with the offline- Yes, people really do leave their computers and meet up with others
- In other words, brands that best tell their stories using multiple formats get a great ROI
- Video, please!
- "Think of it this way – how many times did you hear friends or colleagues declare allegiance to specific devices, with their own proprietary formats, this year? "
- Brands partner with non-profit organizations to improve their image - and benefit the non-profit.
Facebook: World domination, one Like at a time
- 2009 was the year twitter took over the world
- 2010: Facebook
Top Tens 2010, Part 1: Social and Searching
Some of these are counted by number of views, some by keyword, and some by "fastest rising" (aka: trending) and you can be pretty sure each source has its own unique algorhythm
Youtube Top 10
#1: Bed Intruder Song
#2: Tik Tok Kesha Parody
#3: Greyson Chance ‘Paparazzi’
#4: Annoying Orange Wazzup
#5: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (Old Spice)
6: Giant Double Rainbow
#7: This Too Shall Pass OK Go
#8: The Twilight Saga Eclipse Trailer
#9: Jimmy Surprises Bieber Fan
#10: Gymkhana Three, Part 2
Twitter
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul
Google
chatroulette
ipad
justin bieber
nicki minaj
friv
myxer
katy perry
twitter
gamezer
facebook
Yahoo
BP Oil Spill
World Cup
Miley Cyrus
Kim Kardashian
Lady Gaga
iPhone
Megan Fox
Justin Bieber
American Idol
Britney Spears
YouTube 2010 from Stephen's Lighthouse
Youtube Top 10
#1: Bed Intruder Song
#2: Tik Tok Kesha Parody
#3: Greyson Chance ‘Paparazzi’
#4: Annoying Orange Wazzup
#5: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (Old Spice)
6: Giant Double Rainbow
#7: This Too Shall Pass OK Go
#8: The Twilight Saga Eclipse Trailer
#9: Jimmy Surprises Bieber Fan
#10: Gymkhana Three, Part 2
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul
chatroulette
ipad
justin bieber
nicki minaj
friv
myxer
katy perry
gamezer
Yahoo
BP Oil Spill
World Cup
Miley Cyrus
Kim Kardashian
Lady Gaga
iPhone
Megan Fox
Justin Bieber
American Idol
Britney Spears
YouTube 2010 from Stephen's Lighthouse
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
E-Readers and the People Who Use Them
Lots of end-of-the-year buying advice and a little bit about the e-book market
***************************
BSIG has discovered that heavy readers tend to be dedicated e-readers also. This is even affecting paperback sales.
The The New York Times finally caught on to the fact that e-books and romance readers are a match made in heaven. Romance sales are the fastest growing segment of the e-book market. When “Maybe This Time,” by Jennifer Crusie hit the market, Amazon sold as many e-books of the title as they did hardback
Even with the bad press about iPad as an e-reader, surveys are showing that it may outsell Kindle this year. It will be interesting to check after the holidays and see if this is true. On the other hand, I suspect that iPad buyers are wanting a dual-use device. Ereading is only one of the things the iPad does
*********************************
Oh snap! The New York Times estimates 1.3 million e-readers will be sold over the holidays. I tend to agree with those who say the dedicated e-reader may only be an interim device but WOW what an impact!
And get this: eBooks Ready To Climb Past $1 Billion sold. Is this moving faster than MacDonald's hamburgers in the early years?
The Association of American Publishers reports that e-books amount to 9% of trade book sales. This is a 112% increase over last year
***********************
NookColor
Tim Carmody at Wired.com's Gadget lab says: "Nook Color is the only “reader’s tablet,” straddling dedicated e-book readers like the Kindle and multipurpose tablets like the iPad. I was expecting tradeoffs. I wasn’t expecting its advantages."
Sarah, at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, has noted that the iPad (10") was difficult to use as a daily commute reader because of its size and heft. Carmody has found the 7" NookColor to be much easier to handle than an iPad. He also noted that the keyboard is the easiest to use of any software keyboard he has used.
Books are easy to buy from Barnes & Noble. Even better for libraries, the device is compatible with Overdrive. If you want to read a magazine, you can get full color, including ads or read only in article mode.
****************
Lots of evaluations and suggestions for e-reader purchases out there. It is expected that Kindle will remain the most popular for quite some time to come. I can't help but wonder if we are promoting our e-collections enough. If we did, and somehow noted tactfully that Kindle can't be used with Overdrive, if the Kindle would remain on top?
Recommended ereaders:
The Digital Reader:
For the book-buying public: Kindle
If the reader wants to be able to use library e-books as well as purchase books: Nook or Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-950 are recommended.
Teleread
For Kids: NookColor
For Adults: Kindle 3 or Sony Daily Edition
Both sources clearly do not recommend:
Nook - software still has kinks, Kindle is cheaper
Kobo - if you only want wifi, it's good. Teleread expects the Kobo to improve, so keep your eyes out
Sony - Anything other than the Sony Reader Daily Edition
iPad - heavy, limited battery life, and hard to use outside. The bookstore is also limited
eReader holiday guide
The New York Times estimates that over 1.3 million ereaders will be sold over the holidays. Are you ready? Do your patrons know which ones are compatible with your service
Holiday Gift Guide To eReaders – eBookNewser
NOOKcolor: Hands-On Review and Thoughts for the Future
Dedicated ereaders the choice of heavy readers, says BSIG study
“Which ereader device should I buy?”
Survey shows Apple iPad will soon be bigger than Kindle for ebook reading
***************************
BSIG has discovered that heavy readers tend to be dedicated e-readers also. This is even affecting paperback sales.
The The New York Times finally caught on to the fact that e-books and romance readers are a match made in heaven. Romance sales are the fastest growing segment of the e-book market. When “Maybe This Time,” by Jennifer Crusie hit the market, Amazon sold as many e-books of the title as they did hardback
Even with the bad press about iPad as an e-reader, surveys are showing that it may outsell Kindle this year. It will be interesting to check after the holidays and see if this is true. On the other hand, I suspect that iPad buyers are wanting a dual-use device. Ereading is only one of the things the iPad does
*********************************
Oh snap! The New York Times estimates 1.3 million e-readers will be sold over the holidays. I tend to agree with those who say the dedicated e-reader may only be an interim device but WOW what an impact!
And get this: eBooks Ready To Climb Past $1 Billion sold. Is this moving faster than MacDonald's hamburgers in the early years?
The Association of American Publishers reports that e-books amount to 9% of trade book sales. This is a 112% increase over last year
***********************
NookColor
Tim Carmody at Wired.com's Gadget lab says: "Nook Color is the only “reader’s tablet,” straddling dedicated e-book readers like the Kindle and multipurpose tablets like the iPad. I was expecting tradeoffs. I wasn’t expecting its advantages."
Sarah, at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, has noted that the iPad (10") was difficult to use as a daily commute reader because of its size and heft. Carmody has found the 7" NookColor to be much easier to handle than an iPad. He also noted that the keyboard is the easiest to use of any software keyboard he has used.
Books are easy to buy from Barnes & Noble. Even better for libraries, the device is compatible with Overdrive. If you want to read a magazine, you can get full color, including ads or read only in article mode.
****************
Lots of evaluations and suggestions for e-reader purchases out there. It is expected that Kindle will remain the most popular for quite some time to come. I can't help but wonder if we are promoting our e-collections enough. If we did, and somehow noted tactfully that Kindle can't be used with Overdrive, if the Kindle would remain on top?
Recommended ereaders:
The Digital Reader:
For the book-buying public: Kindle
If the reader wants to be able to use library e-books as well as purchase books: Nook or Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-950 are recommended.
Teleread
For Kids: NookColor
For Adults: Kindle 3 or Sony Daily Edition
Both sources clearly do not recommend:
Nook - software still has kinks, Kindle is cheaper
Kobo - if you only want wifi, it's good. Teleread expects the Kobo to improve, so keep your eyes out
Sony - Anything other than the Sony Reader Daily Edition
iPad - heavy, limited battery life, and hard to use outside. The bookstore is also limited
eReader holiday guide
The New York Times estimates that over 1.3 million ereaders will be sold over the holidays. Are you ready? Do your patrons know which ones are compatible with your service
Holiday Gift Guide To eReaders – eBookNewser
NOOKcolor: Hands-On Review and Thoughts for the Future
Dedicated ereaders the choice of heavy readers, says BSIG study
“Which ereader device should I buy?”
Survey shows Apple iPad will soon be bigger than Kindle for ebook reading
eBook Sales at 9% of Trade Book Sales from No Shelf Required
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Big Changes Afoot!
My posts will be even more sporadic than usual for a while. But I wouldn't want to deny anybody of the awesome thrill of perusing items I have shared via Google Reader.
The items will remain on the right side of the blog, but now you can easily subscribe to my shared items and receive them all in your own reader!
Here's how:
My public feed URL is
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/Booktender
Just cut and paste that puppy into your own google reader and you'll soon enjoy the full richness of my comments on various items I share.
Or just bookmark it. Your call
But don't remove Libraryland Roundup from your readers! While sporadic, I will be back to summarize and opinionize as I can.
Total WINNAGE my dear reader! Act now!
The items will remain on the right side of the blog, but now you can easily subscribe to my shared items and receive them all in your own reader!
Here's how:
My public feed URL is
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/Booktender
Just cut and paste that puppy into your own google reader and you'll soon enjoy the full richness of my comments on various items I share.
Or just bookmark it. Your call
But don't remove Libraryland Roundup from your readers! While sporadic, I will be back to summarize and opinionize as I can.
Total WINNAGE my dear reader! Act now!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Who is Using Social Media and Watching TV?
Television
If you are watching Fox News while reading a newspaper and like procedural dramas, Dancing With the Stars, The Good Wife, and NCIS, you're probably between the ages of 55 and 63.
If you're watching Fox's animated comedy block, Glee, and NBC's Thursday comedy block, you're probably between the ages of 30 and 40
Apparently, if you are between 41 and 54 or under 30 you're not watching anything? Or are you watching everything? No explanation was given.
Oh Those Kids!
Social media apparently has no influence on academic performance. No information on whether it affects work performance.
Social Media
Who's Using All That Social Media? Women and the Young
Social media is still more popular with the young than other groups
Women:
What's Up With Senior Citizens?
The AARP and Facebook via Stephen's Lighthouse by admin on 6/15/10
Women Dominant on Social Networks
If you are watching Fox News while reading a newspaper and like procedural dramas, Dancing With the Stars, The Good Wife, and NCIS, you're probably between the ages of 55 and 63.
If you're watching Fox's animated comedy block, Glee, and NBC's Thursday comedy block, you're probably between the ages of 30 and 40
Apparently, if you are between 41 and 54 or under 30 you're not watching anything? Or are you watching everything? No explanation was given.
Oh Those Kids!
Social media apparently has no influence on academic performance. No information on whether it affects work performance.
- Web users spend 22% of their time engaged with social media
- Three quarters of Internet users worldwide visit a social network or blog when they go online — that’s a 24% increase over last year.
Who's Using All That Social Media? Women and the Young
Social media is still more popular with the young than other groups
Women:
- Women are bigger users than men (30% more time than men)
- North American women lead the pack – 90.3% of them visited a social networking site in April 2010, followed by online women in Latin America (83.6%) and Europe (83.4%)
- Social networking sites now capture the greatest share of all women’s total time and attention online (16.3%)
- 45+ female segment is driving the greatest proportion of growth for the social networking category in both visits and time spent
What's Up With Senior Citizens?
- Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled—from 22% in April 2009 to 42% in May 2010 - and they really, really like it
- During the same period, use among those ages 65 and older grew 100%--from 13% to 26%.
- “Young adults continue to be the heaviest users of social media, but their growth pales in comparison with recent gains made by older users,” explains Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and author of the report. “Email is still the primary way that older users maintain contact with friends, families and colleagues, but many older users now rely on social network platforms to help manage their daily communications.”
Women Dominant on Social Networks
How the World Is Spending Its Time Online
via iLibrarian by Ellyssa on 6/16/10
Older Adults and Social Mediavia Pew Internet Rss Feed: Reports on 8/27/10
Study Finds No Link Between Social-Networking Sites and Academic Performance
via iLibrarian by Ellyssa on 6/16/10
Study Finds No Link Between Social-Networking Sites and Academic Performance
Average Age of Old Media Users / Viewers
Friday, October 15, 2010
Genre Talk and Reader's Advisory
New RA site for sequels and more
You do have to sign up for this, so I'm not sure how useful it will be on desk
Gene Hackman writes a western
Why Steampunk Is An Important Trend
We've been saying this for a little while now. My nephew reports that it is very popular among his fellow engineers at Iowa State. In fact, after finding a nixie tube in the basement of the engineering building, he is considering making a steampunk clock.
Some quotes:
The idea is essentially a fixation with Victorian technology. A romantic mix of steam, metal, gears and mechanical engineering. But it’s not what it is but what it represents that fascinates me.
The reason that Steampunk is interesting is that it is highly relevant to our times. It is a response to the realities of modern life, especially the fact that parts of our lives are out of control. (scroll down this page and you will see a trend toward finding ways to relax.) It is a counter-trend to the fact that life, especially in developed nations, is atomised, fast-paced, over-loaded with information, choice and needless innovation.
Steampunk is to consumer electronics what Punk music was to Disco music. It makes the hidden visible. You can play with it, fool around with it, subvert it, hack it and touch it. Most of all anyone can do it.
That’s what I think is missing nowadays. We want to understand how things work but most of all we want to touch things and use our hands as well as our brains.
The best analogy I can think of is old cars vs. new cars. Used to be you could go in and fix problems by yourself - it was mechanical. Today with the electronics, only the brave dare do it themselves!
You do have to sign up for this, so I'm not sure how useful it will be on desk
Gene Hackman writes a western
Why Steampunk Is An Important Trend
We've been saying this for a little while now. My nephew reports that it is very popular among his fellow engineers at Iowa State. In fact, after finding a nixie tube in the basement of the engineering building, he is considering making a steampunk clock.
Some quotes:
The idea is essentially a fixation with Victorian technology. A romantic mix of steam, metal, gears and mechanical engineering. But it’s not what it is but what it represents that fascinates me.
The reason that Steampunk is interesting is that it is highly relevant to our times. It is a response to the realities of modern life, especially the fact that parts of our lives are out of control. (scroll down this page and you will see a trend toward finding ways to relax.) It is a counter-trend to the fact that life, especially in developed nations, is atomised, fast-paced, over-loaded with information, choice and needless innovation.
Steampunk is to consumer electronics what Punk music was to Disco music. It makes the hidden visible. You can play with it, fool around with it, subvert it, hack it and touch it. Most of all anyone can do it.
That’s what I think is missing nowadays. We want to understand how things work but most of all we want to touch things and use our hands as well as our brains.
The best analogy I can think of is old cars vs. new cars. Used to be you could go in and fix problems by yourself - it was mechanical. Today with the electronics, only the brave dare do it themselves!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Awards and Lists
As we get closer to the end of the year and early next year expect to see more awards and lists.
Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa has won the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature
Romance Writers of America RITA Awards
Each year the RWA gives out the Golden Heart award to the best books published in a specific category.
It's a very long list! Here are some examples of the multitude of diverse sub-genres that are given awards:
Best Young Adult Manuscript
Best Inspirational Romance
Best Contemporary Series Romance Suspense/Adventure
Best Paranormal Romance
2010 Hugo Award Winners
Congratulations to:
Best Novel: TIE: The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK); The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)
Here again we see a diverse and abundant list of sub-genres. Some examples:
Best Graphic Story
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Best Professional Artist
The votes are in for NPR’s Killer Thrillers; the top ten are:
1. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
3. Kiss the Girls, by James Patterson
4. The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum
5. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
7. The Shining, by Stephen King
8. And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
9. The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy
10. The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Literary Fiction
Here is the Daily Beast’s 10 Best list
Readersadvisoronline's 10 Best List for Fall
Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa has won the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature
Romance Writers of America RITA Awards
Each year the RWA gives out the Golden Heart award to the best books published in a specific category.
It's a very long list! Here are some examples of the multitude of diverse sub-genres that are given awards:
Best Young Adult Manuscript
Best Inspirational Romance
Best Contemporary Series Romance Suspense/Adventure
Best Paranormal Romance
2010 Hugo Award Winners
Congratulations to:
Best Novel: TIE: The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK); The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)
Here again we see a diverse and abundant list of sub-genres. Some examples:
Best Graphic Story
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Best Professional Artist
The votes are in for NPR’s Killer Thrillers; the top ten are:
1. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
3. Kiss the Girls, by James Patterson
4. The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum
5. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
7. The Shining, by Stephen King
8. And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
9. The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy
10. The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Literary Fiction
Here is the Daily Beast’s 10 Best list
Readersadvisoronline's 10 Best List for Fall
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Genre Talk
10 Greatest Works of Christian Fiction
10. Wrinkle in time by Madeleine L'Engle
9. Piers Plowman William Langland
8. Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer
7. Psychomachia Aurelius Predentius Clemens
6. Lion the witch and the wardrobe C.S. Lewis
5. Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
4. Pilgrim's Progress John bunyan
3. Faerie Queene Edmund Spenser
2. Paradise Lost John Milton
1. Divina Commedia Dante Alighieri
Young Adult and Children's books continue to be popular:
No need to be embarrassed about reading kids’ books…they’re great according to the NY Times
Are Vikings the new vampires?
Despite rampant speculation that Zombies are the new Vampires, this author maintains that Vikings are the new Vampires. Odd, since the Vikings themselves are not paranormal creatures, but there you are.
Collection Development: Not Ready For Boot Hill
Western literature is not dead yet! Feeling much better now, thank you!
From Library Journal: The genre emphasizes physical setting—the American West (usually anywhere west of the Mississippi River) and in particular the frontier territories of the 19th century. The popular conception of the genre is that of a thriller–cum–romance novel featuring gunslingers with plenty of bullets flying, published chiefly in paperback, and emphasizing reprints from the great pulp writers like Max Brand and Louis L'Amour.
However, the Western Writers of America (WWA), founded in 1953 to promote the genre, also recognizes nonfiction, poetry, journalism, screenwriting, and modern Westerns as subdivisions of Western writing. Its highest awards are reserved for works that qualify as literature by any standard.
Why should libraries continue to collect what some consider to be a dying genre? Although the popularity of traditional Westerns, primarily stories of strong people (usually men) in a savage land, is declining as their longstanding reader base dwindles, there is still life in the old genre. Many contemporary writers use the trappings of the Western as historical fiction to tackle social issues like the injustices done to the American Indian or the nature of vigilantism. Other authors write cross-genre novels that mix the Western with romance, mystery, sf, or Christian fiction to appeal to a broader range of readers
10. Wrinkle in time by Madeleine L'Engle
9. Piers Plowman William Langland
8. Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer
7. Psychomachia Aurelius Predentius Clemens
6. Lion the witch and the wardrobe C.S. Lewis
5. Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
4. Pilgrim's Progress John bunyan
3. Faerie Queene Edmund Spenser
2. Paradise Lost John Milton
1. Divina Commedia Dante Alighieri
Young Adult and Children's books continue to be popular:
No need to be embarrassed about reading kids’ books…they’re great according to the NY Times
Are Vikings the new vampires?
Despite rampant speculation that Zombies are the new Vampires, this author maintains that Vikings are the new Vampires. Odd, since the Vikings themselves are not paranormal creatures, but there you are.
Collection Development: Not Ready For Boot Hill
Western literature is not dead yet! Feeling much better now, thank you!
From Library Journal: The genre emphasizes physical setting—the American West (usually anywhere west of the Mississippi River) and in particular the frontier territories of the 19th century. The popular conception of the genre is that of a thriller–cum–romance novel featuring gunslingers with plenty of bullets flying, published chiefly in paperback, and emphasizing reprints from the great pulp writers like Max Brand and Louis L'Amour.
However, the Western Writers of America (WWA), founded in 1953 to promote the genre, also recognizes nonfiction, poetry, journalism, screenwriting, and modern Westerns as subdivisions of Western writing. Its highest awards are reserved for works that qualify as literature by any standard.
Why should libraries continue to collect what some consider to be a dying genre? Although the popularity of traditional Westerns, primarily stories of strong people (usually men) in a savage land, is declining as their longstanding reader base dwindles, there is still life in the old genre. Many contemporary writers use the trappings of the Western as historical fiction to tackle social issues like the injustices done to the American Indian or the nature of vigilantism. Other authors write cross-genre novels that mix the Western with romance, mystery, sf, or Christian fiction to appeal to a broader range of readers
Tech Trends
As much as we talk about the 2010 takeover by mobile, we must bear in mind that it is in its infancy. Much like the early home computers, users are not yet using the mobile devices to their full potential. A recent survey of mobile users found that the top uses of the device were (most to least)
Games
Weather
Maps/Navigating/Search
Social networking
Other than Navigation and Search, this is not much different from how we have been using computers for some years now.
And yet you can use mobile to watch television, watch movies, use many productivity tools, for your personal banking and finance, and shopping, shopping, shopping. All of these tools are out there but not yet in high use. As today's kids, the digital natives, mature enough to be entrusted with their own mobile devices, expect some of the less-popular things come into greater use.
TechCrunch has a nice summary of a presentation by Ron Conway about big tech trends. What I have noticed is that many of these trends are about collecting, using, and disseminating collective wisdom about the places, people, and things around us.
Social
Examples: Twitter and Facebook.
People are worrying less about privacy online while wanting financial and other information secure. Users are sharing more each quarter. People want to connect. It also, for better or worse, one of the trends that allows for the creation of "collective wisdom" about any topic.
Real Time -
Examples: Twitter, Foursquare
Collective wisdom is spread right away. You can also find out right away just which Starbucks in a one block radius your friends are actually located.
Location Based Services - Examples: Gowalla, Foursquare, Yelp.
Using these services a person can use their gps-enabled mobile phone to find out what other businesses are nearby. You can do a "checkin" to tell your pals where you are and make a mini review.
This is another trend that spreads "collective wisdom." If you see a lot of people who have checked in at the closest restaurant and left poor reviews, while you see people who have checked in at another neighborhood restaurant have given it great reviews, you use that collective wisdom and most likely are not going to the closest restaurant.
Mobile
2010 was predicted and has become the year of mobile. Mobile devices go with you to give you the information you want right at that moment. Mobile lets you get realtime information using location-based services and social networking. It lets you socially share information, location-based or not, realtime. If other trends are about gathering collective wisdom, mobile is about accessing and disseminating it.
Games
Weather
Maps/Navigating/Search
Social networking
Other than Navigation and Search, this is not much different from how we have been using computers for some years now.
And yet you can use mobile to watch television, watch movies, use many productivity tools, for your personal banking and finance, and shopping, shopping, shopping. All of these tools are out there but not yet in high use. As today's kids, the digital natives, mature enough to be entrusted with their own mobile devices, expect some of the less-popular things come into greater use.
TechCrunch has a nice summary of a presentation by Ron Conway about big tech trends. What I have noticed is that many of these trends are about collecting, using, and disseminating collective wisdom about the places, people, and things around us.
Social
Examples: Twitter and Facebook.
People are worrying less about privacy online while wanting financial and other information secure. Users are sharing more each quarter. People want to connect. It also, for better or worse, one of the trends that allows for the creation of "collective wisdom" about any topic.
Real Time -
Examples: Twitter, Foursquare
Collective wisdom is spread right away. You can also find out right away just which Starbucks in a one block radius your friends are actually located.
Location Based Services - Examples: Gowalla, Foursquare, Yelp.
Using these services a person can use their gps-enabled mobile phone to find out what other businesses are nearby. You can do a "checkin" to tell your pals where you are and make a mini review.
This is another trend that spreads "collective wisdom." If you see a lot of people who have checked in at the closest restaurant and left poor reviews, while you see people who have checked in at another neighborhood restaurant have given it great reviews, you use that collective wisdom and most likely are not going to the closest restaurant.
Mobile
2010 was predicted and has become the year of mobile. Mobile devices go with you to give you the information you want right at that moment. Mobile lets you get realtime information using location-based services and social networking. It lets you socially share information, location-based or not, realtime. If other trends are about gathering collective wisdom, mobile is about accessing and disseminating it.
Monday, September 20, 2010
The Humorous, the Epic, and the Awesome
Zombies:
There may be something to the theory that they will be part of the next genre-bending type of novel!
Jesse Petersen has a quiz up: How Long Would Your Relationship Survive in the Zombie Apocalypse?
Even Libraries are now taking precautions against Zombies
Source:
Forget Overdue Fines!via Oddly Specific - Funny Signs by Cheezburger Network on 7/24/10
The Librarian's Guide to Etiquette is, as always, the definitive resource for ways to handle any awkward situation that you might encounter at the library.
Librarians should routinely participate in team-building games with their library colleagues to increase morale around the workplace. Some suggestions:
Conversation, Making via A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette by J on 8/3/10
Librarians should limit themselves to one "cat story" per day to avoid the risk of becoming a bore around the library workplace. Also, once you are home, limit yourself to one "library story" per day to avoid becoming a bore to your cat.
The Epic:
Kansas City Library's Epic Parking Garage (sorry, lost source)
(picture description: Kansas City Public Library has a new parking garage. The exterior is made to look like books in what I believe is an oxford-style binding. While the titles are difficult to read, Charlotte's Web and the Invisible Man are clearly seen. Sadly, I can not tell if they are in alphabetical order.)
The Awesome:
How Libraries Ensure Ongoing Freedom in America
If there is one moment at the start of our country that probably ensured our ongoing freedom more than any other it was when Ben Franklin talked everyone else into building and opening libraries to the masses. Books were too expensive for most people in those days and therefore a lot of information was being held by a small number of people.
A system of libraries across the newly found America was his solution to making sure the ideal of democracy was kept alive for generations to come. He set the tone by not requiring that libraries leave out other ideas, and in particular political views, therefore making it possible for people to form their own opinions.
There have even been studies in recent years that show a correlation between an active and healthy library and a lower crime rate in a neighborhood.
Libraries are still a place that are completely open to the interpretation of the warm body holding the library card and the books they check out. We can choose to learn more about history or sink into a thriller or just read about a celebrity we admire. There’s no one asking us why we picked that book and so no judgment and we are free to gather a little more information and even be entertained for a little while.
However, libraries still hold two very important things that neither Google nor a Kindle will ever be able to offer us.
The first is that libraries give everyone regardless of income the chance to participate and learn to their heart’s content. No computer or internet service required. The second is they provide the anonymity to do it.
There may be something to the theory that they will be part of the next genre-bending type of novel!
Jesse Petersen has a quiz up: How Long Would Your Relationship Survive in the Zombie Apocalypse?
Even Libraries are now taking precautions against Zombies(picture description: Sign showing an anonymous library's summer hours. They are closed on saturdays and sundays for the ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!)
Forget Overdue Fines!via Oddly Specific - Funny Signs by Cheezburger Network on 7/24/10
The Librarian's Guide to Etiquette is, as always, the definitive resource for ways to handle any awkward situation that you might encounter at the library.
- Play "Pin the Security Tape on the Hateful Patron"
- Give one another "Date Due"-stamp tattoos
- Do "trust falls" from the Circulation Desk
- Host a book truck demolition derby
- Play Dodge-Book (i.e., throwing books at one another)
Conversation, Making via A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette by J on 8/3/10
Librarians should limit themselves to one "cat story" per day to avoid the risk of becoming a bore around the library workplace. Also, once you are home, limit yourself to one "library story" per day to avoid becoming a bore to your cat.
The Epic:
Kansas City Library's Epic Parking Garage (sorry, lost source)
The Awesome:
How Libraries Ensure Ongoing Freedom in America
If there is one moment at the start of our country that probably ensured our ongoing freedom more than any other it was when Ben Franklin talked everyone else into building and opening libraries to the masses. Books were too expensive for most people in those days and therefore a lot of information was being held by a small number of people.
A system of libraries across the newly found America was his solution to making sure the ideal of democracy was kept alive for generations to come. He set the tone by not requiring that libraries leave out other ideas, and in particular political views, therefore making it possible for people to form their own opinions.
There have even been studies in recent years that show a correlation between an active and healthy library and a lower crime rate in a neighborhood.
Libraries are still a place that are completely open to the interpretation of the warm body holding the library card and the books they check out. We can choose to learn more about history or sink into a thriller or just read about a celebrity we admire. There’s no one asking us why we picked that book and so no judgment and we are free to gather a little more information and even be entertained for a little while.
However, libraries still hold two very important things that neither Google nor a Kindle will ever be able to offer us.
The first is that libraries give everyone regardless of income the chance to participate and learn to their heart’s content. No computer or internet service required. The second is they provide the anonymity to do it.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Genre Talk
The Onion predicts the next big thing…minotaurs are the new vampires
Amish inspirationals grow in popularity
New genre: the hyphenate, by Joyce Saricks
Recently, a member of RUSA's reading list group facetiously wondered if hyphenated genres should be included on the list. Saricks notes that librarians have noticed this all along. Cross-over genres are the new thing.
While many genres have stayed the same for decades, it is true that genre keeps shifting focus. One year one type is popular, the next year another. Michael Chabon, a wonderful storyteller who consistently and elegantly blends elements from several genres in his novels, alludes to this process in “Trickster in a Suit of Lights: Thoughts on the Modern Short Story. He argues that the best writers play with rules and conventions, and that’s how genres change, grow, and stay fresh.
The vampire guy talks about real life vampires
Are zombies the new vampires?
Sarah Statz Cords writes: a good number of new horror books feature zombies. Of course, in terms of sheer output, vampire books are still walloping all competition. She wonders if it was started by the popular spoof Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? She also noted that one of the first articles that wondered about this was an article by Time magazine in April 2009
Amish inspirationals grow in popularity
New genre: the hyphenate, by Joyce Saricks
Recently, a member of RUSA's reading list group facetiously wondered if hyphenated genres should be included on the list. Saricks notes that librarians have noticed this all along. Cross-over genres are the new thing.
While many genres have stayed the same for decades, it is true that genre keeps shifting focus. One year one type is popular, the next year another. Michael Chabon, a wonderful storyteller who consistently and elegantly blends elements from several genres in his novels, alludes to this process in “Trickster in a Suit of Lights: Thoughts on the Modern Short Story. He argues that the best writers play with rules and conventions, and that’s how genres change, grow, and stay fresh.
The vampire guy talks about real life vampires
Are zombies the new vampires?
Sarah Statz Cords writes: a good number of new horror books feature zombies. Of course, in terms of sheer output, vampire books are still walloping all competition. She wonders if it was started by the popular spoof Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? She also noted that one of the first articles that wondered about this was an article by Time magazine in April 2009
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
E-Books: Swimming Into The Mainstream
E-Books, E-Books, E-Books. Tired of it yet? Get some sleep and be ready to face the new day, e-book popularity is rising very quickly. This is not to say that harcover and paperback, audio, and large print are going away. These will be with us for some time to come. This is to say the e-book is becoming more common.
Be ready for the devices used to read e-books to change. We're familiar with Kindle and Sony readers. Other brands are coming out but these two are neck and neck right now - edging out Barnes and Noble's Nook for the moment. Mobile phones have apps that allow you to wirelessly purchase and download a book. Expect device convergence as we go along.
My Experience
I have played around with e-books. I have read them on my pc. I was also surprised to find the kindle app already installed on my Droid! Being of curious nature, I immediately paid for and wirelessly downloaded a book from Amazon.
Reading on a Droid is different from reading on a dedicated e-reader or from an actually book itself. From a readability standpoint, the difference between reading a book on an e-reader and a Droid is something like the difference between reading regular print or large type. On the Droid, I have tried reading in regular light, in the dark, and on an airplane. I didn't find any place to be problematic.
I did switch the book from black type on white background to the reverse. This is much easier on the eyes. I also enlarged the print a bit. I had feared that enlarging the print would cut off the print so I would be shuffling back and forth. This was not the case. If you have astigmatism, the print is no easier to read without correction than a print book. Bummer
A lot of news and research is coming out about who is reading e-books, how reading habits are changing, and even where they read. This is a phenomenon to pay attention to!
How Big Is The Phenomenon?
Random House executives project ebook sales to be more than 10% of its U. S. sales revenue next year
The average number of public libraries providing ebooks is currently 65.9%.
How Reading Habits Are Changing
Preliminary research showed that people who buy e-readers tend to spend more reading. The novelty of using an e-reader will remain a reason for some time.
Another reason is portability. One slim e-reader takes up less space and is lighter than a paperback. A reader on a mobile phone takes up even less space. In the case of mobile, it is also more likely that the reader will always have a book with them. Most avid readers fear not having enough books to tide them over. These devices enable the reader to carry many more books in one small device.
This portability even changes the places people read. One woman reported e-reading in a kayak while her husband fished. She was careful to put a waterproof cover on the book beforehand.
Another study notes that “Screen reading encourages rapid pattern-making, associating this idea with another, equipping us to deal with the thousands of new thoughts expressed every day. In the future, “reading will be more athletic.” Finally, a reading olympics!
Who Reads E-Books
Currently, the e-book customer tends to be older and college-educated. More women than men read e-books. More men than women read e-newspapers and e-magazines. As prices for mobile and e-reading devices lower, it is very likely that the younger readers will join the trend.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Citations I didn't lose:
WSJ – “New Devices Are Changing Habits. People Are Reading More, Even While in a Kayak”
(The ABCs of E-Reading)
Reading in a whole new way:
Random House executive projects ebook sales as more than 10% of its U. S. sales revenue next year
E-reader Customers Are Older, College-Educated Users
Be ready for the devices used to read e-books to change. We're familiar with Kindle and Sony readers. Other brands are coming out but these two are neck and neck right now - edging out Barnes and Noble's Nook for the moment. Mobile phones have apps that allow you to wirelessly purchase and download a book. Expect device convergence as we go along.
My Experience
I have played around with e-books. I have read them on my pc. I was also surprised to find the kindle app already installed on my Droid! Being of curious nature, I immediately paid for and wirelessly downloaded a book from Amazon.
Reading on a Droid is different from reading on a dedicated e-reader or from an actually book itself. From a readability standpoint, the difference between reading a book on an e-reader and a Droid is something like the difference between reading regular print or large type. On the Droid, I have tried reading in regular light, in the dark, and on an airplane. I didn't find any place to be problematic.
I did switch the book from black type on white background to the reverse. This is much easier on the eyes. I also enlarged the print a bit. I had feared that enlarging the print would cut off the print so I would be shuffling back and forth. This was not the case. If you have astigmatism, the print is no easier to read without correction than a print book. Bummer
A lot of news and research is coming out about who is reading e-books, how reading habits are changing, and even where they read. This is a phenomenon to pay attention to!
How Big Is The Phenomenon?
Random House executives project ebook sales to be more than 10% of its U. S. sales revenue next year
The average number of public libraries providing ebooks is currently 65.9%.
How Reading Habits Are Changing
Preliminary research showed that people who buy e-readers tend to spend more reading. The novelty of using an e-reader will remain a reason for some time.
Another reason is portability. One slim e-reader takes up less space and is lighter than a paperback. A reader on a mobile phone takes up even less space. In the case of mobile, it is also more likely that the reader will always have a book with them. Most avid readers fear not having enough books to tide them over. These devices enable the reader to carry many more books in one small device.
This portability even changes the places people read. One woman reported e-reading in a kayak while her husband fished. She was careful to put a waterproof cover on the book beforehand.
Another study notes that “Screen reading encourages rapid pattern-making, associating this idea with another, equipping us to deal with the thousands of new thoughts expressed every day. In the future, “reading will be more athletic.” Finally, a reading olympics!
Who Reads E-Books
Currently, the e-book customer tends to be older and college-educated. More women than men read e-books. More men than women read e-newspapers and e-magazines. As prices for mobile and e-reading devices lower, it is very likely that the younger readers will join the trend.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Citations I didn't lose:
WSJ – “New Devices Are Changing Habits. People Are Reading More, Even While in a Kayak”
(The ABCs of E-Reading)
Reading in a whole new way:
Random House executive projects ebook sales as more than 10% of its U. S. sales revenue next year
E-reader Customers Are Older, College-Educated Users
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
ALA Notable Books and Outstanding Reference Works
Notable Books: The 2010 Selection of Titles
via RUSQ by angie on 6/23/10
Outstanding Reference Sources: The 2010 Selection of Titles
via RUSQ by angie on 6/23/10
via RUSQ by angie on 6/23/10
Outstanding Reference Sources: The 2010 Selection of Titles
via RUSQ by angie on 6/23/10
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