Today is Christmas 2008, but unlike many of my peers, I decided to go ahead and do a little work today. I spent some time creating the international versions of E-commerce For Everyone websites on one of our test domains. It was fun creating Amazon Associate websites for our French, German, Canadian and UK friends. I'm still working on the Japanese version (that one is gonna be a little tricky).
I had a revelation this week while working on the international versions of Amazon Associates. The first revelation is that it's not called Amazon Associates everywhere, it's actually called PartnerNet in Germany (that blew my mind for a minute, lol). Another revelation I had is that Babel has come a long way (your translations rock now). A third revelation is that even though it took me 20 minutes to do, I didn't need someone else who spoke Japanese to sign-up for the Japanese version of Amazon Associates.
I have to say that this month has been awesome for sales, I broke my monthly sales record too, so that is always encouraging. I'm even more excited now at the prospect of making lots of international revenue. I've primarily focused on the United States as my main source of sales, but if this recession has taught me anything, it's that I should diversify my already recession proof business. I'm excited by the prospect that internationally, there is still so much growth opportunity.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Northern Lights Library Network Event
Media Center Staff…and other interested people:
Before you leave for the Christmas holidays, mark your calendars, register, and begin making arrangements to join us for a spectacular workshop in late January to learn about games and gadgets in an informal setting, and to spend some quality time with fellow Destiny users acquiring new skills and applying new applications to your Destiny system.
Sunday evening, Jan 25, 2009,
Games and Gadgets
(with hors d’oeuvres buffet)
4pm - 8pm…or whenever
Monday, Jan 26, 2009
Meet Your Destiny in the Sandbox
(with breakfast and lunch included)
8:30am-3:30pm
Who is invited: All members of the North Star Library Consortium
All Minnesota Destiny users
Anyone interested in networking with colleagues about enhancing media center services
Cost: Registration is required, but there is no cost to attend. Please use this online <http://nlln.org/Reg1-26-09.html> registration form to register.
Location: Arrowwood Resort and <http://www.arrowwoodresort.com/> Conference Center, Alexandria, MN
Lodging arrangements can be made directly with Arrowwood by calling 866-386-5263 and request the Northern Lights Conference rate of $79.00.
Laptop Computers: It is strongly recommended that you bring a wireless-enabled laptop computer. This is hands-on event and to be fully engaged you’ll find a computer is a great benefit.
Content: This is the fun part. This Conference will largely be built on the interests of the participants.
A planning wiki is available at: meetyourdestiny.pbwiki.com <http://meetyourdestiny.pbwiki.com/> . Check it out. Add your thoughts, ask your questions, make suggestions, share great ideas. Do you want to know about e-book devices, or see World of Warcraft in action, try a WII, or learn how to make your Destiny Homepage glitzier or how to add e-books to Destiny or how to set up a gaming event? What are your interests? Deepest questions? Things you’d like to know more about because it seems everyone else does?
This wiki is open for you to contribute. Add your areas of interest, gadgets you might bring, games to share, topics you’d like discussed, suggestions for the flow of the day.
This Conference will be participant created and produced. This will be the perfect setting and perfect combination of knowledgeable practitioners to learn with and from. We must have a minimum of 35 registered participants by Jan 16 to ensure we will have the Conference, so register early and start contributing to the planning wiki.
Weather issues: In the event that we are unable to have the conference due to bad weather, we will simply cancel. It will not be possible to re-schedule the Conference. Arrowwood will honor lodging cancellations made for weather-related reasons if you contact them prior to the date of your reservation. Please include a cell phone or home phone number on the registration form so that we can contact you on Saturday or Sunday if necessary. This is the only reason the registration form asks for a home number. Past experience has shown us this is important in the event of changes or cancellations.
More information: is available on the Northern Lights Library Network webpage at: nlln.org <http://nlln.org/> and on the online registration <http://nlln.org/Reg1-26-09.html> page. Also on the planning wiki at http://meetyourdestiny.pbwiki.com <http://meetyourdestiny.pbwiki.com/> . Anyone can contribute to the wiki, but you must be registered with pbwiki to log in.
Contacts: Feel free to contact the Conference organizers: Patricia Post at CMLE (papost@stcloudstate.edu) or Ruth Solie at NLLN (rsolie@nlln.org) if you have questions.
We’re very excited about this event and look forward to having an energetic group of fun and talented people, on a winter weekend in a lovely setting, to play some games, share some gadgets, and figure out our Destiny! We hope you will join us!
Before you leave for the Christmas holidays, mark your calendars, register, and begin making arrangements to join us for a spectacular workshop in late January to learn about games and gadgets in an informal setting, and to spend some quality time with fellow Destiny users acquiring new skills and applying new applications to your Destiny system.
Sunday evening, Jan 25, 2009,
Games and Gadgets
(with hors d’oeuvres buffet)
4pm - 8pm…or whenever
Monday, Jan 26, 2009
Meet Your Destiny in the Sandbox
(with breakfast and lunch included)
8:30am-3:30pm
Who is invited: All members of the North Star Library Consortium
All Minnesota Destiny users
Anyone interested in networking with colleagues about enhancing media center services
Cost: Registration is required, but there is no cost to attend. Please use this online <http://nlln.org/Reg1-26-09.html> registration form to register.
Location: Arrowwood Resort and <http://www.arrowwoodresort.com/> Conference Center, Alexandria, MN
Lodging arrangements can be made directly with Arrowwood by calling 866-386-5263 and request the Northern Lights Conference rate of $79.00.
Laptop Computers: It is strongly recommended that you bring a wireless-enabled laptop computer. This is hands-on event and to be fully engaged you’ll find a computer is a great benefit.
Content: This is the fun part. This Conference will largely be built on the interests of the participants.
A planning wiki is available at: meetyourdestiny.pbwiki.com <http://meetyourdestiny.pbwiki.com/> . Check it out. Add your thoughts, ask your questions, make suggestions, share great ideas. Do you want to know about e-book devices, or see World of Warcraft in action, try a WII, or learn how to make your Destiny Homepage glitzier or how to add e-books to Destiny or how to set up a gaming event? What are your interests? Deepest questions? Things you’d like to know more about because it seems everyone else does?
This wiki is open for you to contribute. Add your areas of interest, gadgets you might bring, games to share, topics you’d like discussed, suggestions for the flow of the day.
This Conference will be participant created and produced. This will be the perfect setting and perfect combination of knowledgeable practitioners to learn with and from. We must have a minimum of 35 registered participants by Jan 16 to ensure we will have the Conference, so register early and start contributing to the planning wiki.
Weather issues: In the event that we are unable to have the conference due to bad weather, we will simply cancel. It will not be possible to re-schedule the Conference. Arrowwood will honor lodging cancellations made for weather-related reasons if you contact them prior to the date of your reservation. Please include a cell phone or home phone number on the registration form so that we can contact you on Saturday or Sunday if necessary. This is the only reason the registration form asks for a home number. Past experience has shown us this is important in the event of changes or cancellations.
More information: is available on the Northern Lights Library Network webpage at: nlln.org <http://nlln.org/> and on the online registration <http://nlln.org/Reg1-26-09.html> page. Also on the planning wiki at http://meetyourdestiny.pbwiki.com <http://meetyourdestiny.pbwiki.com/> . Anyone can contribute to the wiki, but you must be registered with pbwiki to log in.
Contacts: Feel free to contact the Conference organizers: Patricia Post at CMLE (papost@stcloudstate.edu) or Ruth Solie at NLLN (rsolie@nlln.org) if you have questions.
We’re very excited about this event and look forward to having an energetic group of fun and talented people, on a winter weekend in a lovely setting, to play some games, share some gadgets, and figure out our Destiny! We hope you will join us!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Library Clerk - Houston
Library Associates Companies (LAC) seeks a part time Library Clerk to work on a temporary reclassification project at a global energy company located in Houston, TX. This position will work part-time, approximately 3 days per week, for a period of 4-8 weeks, possibly longer. The primary responsibility of the position is to conduct a shelf inventory of approximately 25,000 items working off a printed shelf list, while taking notes in two teams of two.
Responsibilities:
* Conduct a shelf inventory of approximately 25,000 items working off a printed shelf list;
* Take extensive notes on inventory & other required items;
* Label books with appropriate tags;
* Reorganize & re-shelve corporate library using newly re-label materials;
* Additional duties as assigned and required
Qualifications:
* Previous experience working in a library setting required, corporate work experience is a plus;
* Knowledge of library shelving and classification standards is preferred (LC/Dewey);
* Excellent attention to detail required;
* Excellent communication skills including the ability to write is required;
* Demonstrated reliability & punctuality is required.
To Apply:
* For immediate consideration please email your cover letter and resume to Brad Rogers at, jobs@libraryassociates.com<mailto:jobs@libraryassociates.com>.
* Please use "Library Clerk - Houston" as the subject line of your email.
Library Associates Companies is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that values diversity in the workforce.
Responsibilities:
* Conduct a shelf inventory of approximately 25,000 items working off a printed shelf list;
* Take extensive notes on inventory & other required items;
* Label books with appropriate tags;
* Reorganize & re-shelve corporate library using newly re-label materials;
* Additional duties as assigned and required
Qualifications:
* Previous experience working in a library setting required, corporate work experience is a plus;
* Knowledge of library shelving and classification standards is preferred (LC/Dewey);
* Excellent attention to detail required;
* Excellent communication skills including the ability to write is required;
* Demonstrated reliability & punctuality is required.
To Apply:
* For immediate consideration please email your cover letter and resume to Brad Rogers at, jobs@libraryassociates.com<mailto:jobs@libraryassociates.com>.
* Please use "Library Clerk - Houston" as the subject line of your email.
Library Associates Companies is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that values diversity in the workforce.
LIBRARY ASSOCIATE - SIOUXLAND LIBRARIES
LIBRARY ASSOCIATE - SIOUXLAND LIBRARIES
Hiring Range DOQ: $18.39 - $19.94 per hour
Deadline for Filing: Friday, January 2, 2009 at 5:00 pm.
The Position
Perform complex paraprofessional library work with extensive public contact. Assist library customers of all ages to locate library materials, use the Internet, find specific information and do research. Coordinate interlibrary loan. Use library and office computer software as well as Internet resources in daily work. May be assigned to Main Library, Branches or Bookmobile. Current position is in Information Services at the Main Library.
Qualification Standards
Graduation from a college or university with course work in library science and a minimum of two years' library experience, or any such combination of education, experience, and training as may be acceptable to the hiring authority. Must be willing to work evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays as required. Ability to perform physical work, including lifting and/or moving up to 30 pounds of library materials frequently and up to 50 pounds occasionally; pushing a loaded book truck, and standing or sitting for long periods of time. Positions assigned to Extension, Circulation or Youth Services must possess or be able to obtain, prior to hire, a valid driver's license.
Application and Selection
Apply online at www.siouxfalls.org or at:
South Dakota Department of Labor
811 East Tenth Street
Department 41
Sioux Falls, SD 57103-1650.
Most qualified will be invited for testing. Special accommodations for application and/or testing or job information in alternative formats available upon request.
Donna Cranmer
Technical Services Librarian
Siouxland Libraries
200 N Dakota Ave.
PO Box 7403
Sioux Falls, SD 57117
605-367-8712
605-367-8754 fax
dcranmer@siouxfalls.org
Hiring Range DOQ: $18.39 - $19.94 per hour
Deadline for Filing: Friday, January 2, 2009 at 5:00 pm.
The Position
Perform complex paraprofessional library work with extensive public contact. Assist library customers of all ages to locate library materials, use the Internet, find specific information and do research. Coordinate interlibrary loan. Use library and office computer software as well as Internet resources in daily work. May be assigned to Main Library, Branches or Bookmobile. Current position is in Information Services at the Main Library.
Qualification Standards
Graduation from a college or university with course work in library science and a minimum of two years' library experience, or any such combination of education, experience, and training as may be acceptable to the hiring authority. Must be willing to work evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays as required. Ability to perform physical work, including lifting and/or moving up to 30 pounds of library materials frequently and up to 50 pounds occasionally; pushing a loaded book truck, and standing or sitting for long periods of time. Positions assigned to Extension, Circulation or Youth Services must possess or be able to obtain, prior to hire, a valid driver's license.
Application and Selection
Apply online at www.siouxfalls.org
South Dakota Department of Labor
811 East Tenth Street
Department 41
Sioux Falls, SD 57103-1650.
Most qualified will be invited for testing. Special accommodations for application and/or testing or job information in alternative formats available upon request.
Donna Cranmer
Technical Services Librarian
Siouxland Libraries
200 N Dakota Ave.
PO Box 7403
Sioux Falls, SD 57117
605-367-8712
605-367-8754 fax
dcranmer@siouxfalls.org
Monday, December 15, 2008
Office Depot Closing 112 Stores
It's been reported that Office Depot will be closing 112 stores. Although not filing for bankruptcy, it appears to be joining the ranks of Circuit City and CompUSA. Office Depot claims that the closing of underperforming stores is in alignment with it's strategic goals.
The move will allow Office Depot to reduce expenses and continue to be competitive in a changing market. New online competitors such as StockMyOffice.com seek to grow their market share in the office supply space. Included in the store 112 store closings are 6 distribution facilities and 2,200 employees that will be added to the current high unemployment rate.
In my own opinion, Office Depot is going to have a tough time moving office chairs, desks and office supplies at an affordable price if they have to support the overhead of stores and facilities that are not profitable on their own. I'm sure the store locations were a good pick at the time, but things change from one minute to the next, and unfortunately, sometimes consolidation is a necessary evil for big companies to stay competitive.
The move will allow Office Depot to reduce expenses and continue to be competitive in a changing market. New online competitors such as StockMyOffice.com seek to grow their market share in the office supply space. Included in the store 112 store closings are 6 distribution facilities and 2,200 employees that will be added to the current high unemployment rate.
In my own opinion, Office Depot is going to have a tough time moving office chairs, desks and office supplies at an affordable price if they have to support the overhead of stores and facilities that are not profitable on their own. I'm sure the store locations were a good pick at the time, but things change from one minute to the next, and unfortunately, sometimes consolidation is a necessary evil for big companies to stay competitive.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
I'm Considering Amazon Turk
It's my understanding that with Amazon Turk, you can put together an on demand work force to do various tasks. I'm considering using it as a marketing method. I figured that I might pay $1 for people to do a 5 or ten minute blog post.
There are plenty of places that offer pay per post, but it could be expensive. This experiment might be the start of a lot of cool new things. Potential the ability to outsource some tasks. I'll post my findings back here.
There are plenty of places that offer pay per post, but it could be expensive. This experiment might be the start of a lot of cool new things. Potential the ability to outsource some tasks. I'll post my findings back here.
WebJunction Minnesota
All Minnesota multicounty multitype library systems and five of the twelve regional public library systems (MELSA, Lake Agassiz, Traverse des Sioux, Great River, SELCO) have agreed to contribute time and effort to making WebJunction Minnesota a one-stop destination for library staff seeking news & information about Minnesota libraries, resources to improve library service, continuing education and more. Liaisons in these systems will help the WJMN Team get the word out, find content, and keep the site fresh and useful for you.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Recession Proofing Your Wallets With Amazon Associates
Want to be recession proof? Earning some extra income in these long recession days is a blessing to anyone who can get it. One of the easiest ways to earn a little extra money to pay the bills is simply to become a virtual merchant by selling products for Amazon. Earn a commission by generating sales for Amazon.
Amazon has a program called Amazon Associates. It will allow you to sell anything in their huge product catalog and earn a commission once an item ships. You might even find that the Amazon Associates program is better then your sales job. Work on your own hours, with no boss other then your own personal motivation. Work more, earn more.
Here's a very reasonable scenario of what the Amazon Associates program could do for you each month. I've attached a screen shot of my earnings for the first 11 days of the month. So far only $336.44, but that's more then enough for a car payment. With the remaining days of the month, I'll make enough to pay the electric ($150), water ($15), internet ($60), website ($30), marketing ($100), Savings ($200+ remainder of commissions). The beauty of the Amazon Associates program is that you can spend as little or as much time as you like, so while most of you won't quit your job just yet, you can work in your spare time from anywhere with internet access.
There are different ways that you can promote Amazon products like a blog or website. It's important to have a professionally designed website that is ready to attract online shoppers. Don't worry if you don't have technical or web design skills, there are lots of free scripts available and even some professional designers that make Amazon Associate e-commerce websites. E-commerce For Everyone is one of the few developers creating innovation solutions for Amazon Associates. While the recession has negatively affected many sectors of the economy, online shopping is one of the few sectors that has seen continued growth.
There is no question that in the near future online shopping will far exceed brick and mortar shopping carts. With broadband access being rolled out world wide at a break neck speed, savvy businesses will be ready to do business online in the global marketplace.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Testing Microsoft’s Writer beta
This is the first blog post I create using the new Microsoft Writer beta. The application seems to be very clean, and gives the user a nice blogging platform.
I haven’t used it with all of my blogs as yet, but I think it’ll work well. The cool part about this application is that they’ve decided to add plugins. I didn’t actually have a lot to say in this post more then I wanted to check out it’s capabilities, and formatting.
The program is still in beta, but even for a beta it seems rather solid. I used a similar blogging program called Elicit, unfortunately they went out of business and took the licensing server with it, so it eventually stopped working.
Another little nicety about the new Microsoft blog tool is that it has a built in updater, so I don’t have to manually check.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Review of 3:10 to Yuma
3:10 to Yuma is a great western starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Crowe stars as a ruthless gangster who is wanted by the law. Bale stars as an ex-Union solder, now disabled, has been forced to become a deputy threw a series of circumstances, and is tasked to bring Crowe to the prison train leaving for Yuma at 3:10.
There is plenty of action and dialogue in the movie. You never felt bored at any point with this movie. In fact, there is lots of action and gun battles as Crowe's gang tries franticly to free their boss.
I'd recommend seeing this movie right away if you haven't seen it. My understanding is that this is a remake of an older movie.
Information Technology and Computer Related Books
Looking At A Cheap All-In-One Printer, Scanner and Fax Machine
As a small start-up business, I find myself need to do the typically office administrative work like printing, making copies of documents, and every now and then sending out a fax.
I didn't want to spend too much money either, so I came across this multi-function unit. This one is the HP Deskjet F4280 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier (CB656A). Looks like it prints some decent documents. I don't really need anything fancy because I'm not going to be printing any images from a digital camera or anything. The last time I went to the UPS store to print and fax some documents, it ended up costing me somewhere around the neighborhod of $30.
After realizing how much I spent on one trip to the UPS store, I realized that I could have purchased my own equipment if I made two more visits in the rest of the year. I figured already that I would need to print and fax, so I might see about getting a deal on this one. Another cool part about the device is that it can scan too, so that comes in handy for making copies of receipts or any other business documents, and then store them on a server. This particular one is less then $100, so I figure it's a good deal. You can buy one from Amazon too if you want free shipping.
Internship - Hennepin County (MN)
This is a good opportunity for those considering a Spring 2009 internship that haven't finalized their plans.
Job Title: Literacy Specialist Internship - Northeast Library
Closing Date/Time: Fri. 01/02/09 5:00 PM Central Time
Salary: See Position Description
Job Type: Internship
Location: Northeast Library, Minnesota
Department: Library
Literacy Specialist Internship
Hennepin County Library
Hennepin County Library - Northeast Library is offering an internship opportunity to develop programs, services and resources to support literacy initiatives at the Library. This is an excellent opportunity for students in early elementary education, youth services librarianship, or youth development.
Commitment:
Winter semester 2009, 120 hours - part-time, flexible weekday/weekend/daytime/evening.
Wage:
This is an upaid position. The Intern will receive academic/internship credit through the college or university where enrolled.
Location:
Northeast Library, 2200 Central Avenue NE, Minneapolis and Northeast Middle School, 2955 Hayes Street NE, Minneapolis.
Job Duties:
At the school you will lead book clubs two Fridays a month over the lunch break.
At the library you will observe and lead storytimes, assist with storytime preparation, assist with collection management, observe and possibly lead other book clubs, offer informal literacy activities to children in the library, prepare for your book clubs, and observe and assist with reference services to all ages.
Requirements:
This is an excellent opportunity for a student completing a bachelor's or master's degree in elementary education, youth development, library science or a related area of study. Ideal candidates will be creative, reliable, patient, adaptable and possess the ability to approach and engage youth, and will possess a strong commitment to literacy and libraries.
To Apply and for Questions:
Send cover letter outlining qualifications for this position, resume and contact information for two references to:
Tom.Grund@co.hennepin.mn.us
- OR -
Tom Grund
Hennepin County Library - Ridgedale
12601 Ridgedale Drive
Minnetonka, MN 55305
(952) 847-8518
For more information contact Susan Woodwick at smwoodwick@hclib.org or (612) 630-6903.
Job Title: Literacy Specialist Internship - Northeast Library
Closing Date/Time: Fri. 01/02/09 5:00 PM Central Time
Salary: See Position Description
Job Type: Internship
Location: Northeast Library, Minnesota
Department: Library
Literacy Specialist Internship
Hennepin County Library
Hennepin County Library - Northeast Library is offering an internship opportunity to develop programs, services and resources to support literacy initiatives at the Library. This is an excellent opportunity for students in early elementary education, youth services librarianship, or youth development.
Commitment:
Winter semester 2009, 120 hours - part-time, flexible weekday/weekend/daytime/evening.
Wage:
This is an upaid position. The Intern will receive academic/internship credit through the college or university where enrolled.
Location:
Northeast Library, 2200 Central Avenue NE, Minneapolis and Northeast Middle School, 2955 Hayes Street NE, Minneapolis.
Job Duties:
At the school you will lead book clubs two Fridays a month over the lunch break.
At the library you will observe and lead storytimes, assist with storytime preparation, assist with collection management, observe and possibly lead other book clubs, offer informal literacy activities to children in the library, prepare for your book clubs, and observe and assist with reference services to all ages.
Requirements:
This is an excellent opportunity for a student completing a bachelor's or master's degree in elementary education, youth development, library science or a related area of study. Ideal candidates will be creative, reliable, patient, adaptable and possess the ability to approach and engage youth, and will possess a strong commitment to literacy and libraries.
To Apply and for Questions:
Send cover letter outlining qualifications for this position, resume and contact information for two references to:
Tom.Grund@co.hennepin.mn.us
- OR -
Tom Grund
Hennepin County Library - Ridgedale
12601 Ridgedale Drive
Minnetonka, MN 55305
(952) 847-8518
For more information contact Susan Woodwick at smwoodwick@hclib.org or (612) 630-6903.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Job posting - Washington State
King County Library System, Washington State
Lead Library Assistant II- Full Time
Job number: 2008-272
King County Library System, Auburn/Muckleshoot/Algona-Pacific Cluster
Application Deadline is December 15, 2008
Library Assistants are usually the first point of contact in KCLS libraries. As customer services representatives they provide basic information about KCLS materials, programs and services. This position directs the work of Library Assistants at multiple branch locations. Performs circulation services to patrons and resolves problems and answers questions of patrons.
REQ: A typical way of obtaining the knowledge, skills and abilities outlined above is with a high school diploma or GED, supplemented by some post-secondary training in a related field, plus 2-4 yrs experience in library operations, policies and procedures. Application deadline is December 15, 2008. $21.434 per hour plus excellent benefits. Send completed KCLS application and supplemental questionnaire (available on our website) to:
HR, King County Library System
960 Newport Way NW
Issaquah WA 98027
425-369-3224
Fax: 425-369-3214
www.kcls.org <http://www.kcls.org/>
EOE
Thank you,
Susan Hang
Human Resources Technician II
King County Library System
960 Newport Way NW
Issaquah, WA 98027
425-369-3224
FAX: 425-369-3214
Jobline: 425-369-3222
www.kcls.org <http://www.kcls.org>
Lead Library Assistant II- Full Time
Job number: 2008-272
King County Library System, Auburn/Muckleshoot/Algona-Pacific Cluster
Application Deadline is December 15, 2008
Library Assistants are usually the first point of contact in KCLS libraries. As customer services representatives they provide basic information about KCLS materials, programs and services. This position directs the work of Library Assistants at multiple branch locations. Performs circulation services to patrons and resolves problems and answers questions of patrons.
REQ: A typical way of obtaining the knowledge, skills and abilities outlined above is with a high school diploma or GED, supplemented by some post-secondary training in a related field, plus 2-4 yrs experience in library operations, policies and procedures. Application deadline is December 15, 2008. $21.434 per hour plus excellent benefits. Send completed KCLS application and supplemental questionnaire (available on our website) to:
HR, King County Library System
960 Newport Way NW
Issaquah WA 98027
425-369-3224
Fax: 425-369-3214
www.kcls.org <http://www.kcls.org/>
EOE
Thank you,
Susan Hang
Human Resources Technician II
King County Library System
960 Newport Way NW
Issaquah, WA 98027
425-369-3224
FAX: 425-369-3214
Jobline: 425-369-3222
www.kcls.org <http://www.kcls.org>
Monday, December 1, 2008
Google Gmail Notifier Doesn't Recognize Google Chrome As A Browser
Every once in a while internet users will notice an incompatibility within Google's programs. Today, a user discovered that Google's Gmail Notifier is not compatible with Google Chrome.I thought this pic was worth at least one laugh. I'm sure it won't take long for Google to fix the problem, but it would be good for all of their applications to be compatible.
Google is one of the few companies that doesn't get to make an honest mistake because they seem to be under such very strong public scrutiny.
One of the first things I noticed when I started using Google Chrome was that it was a very fast browser. One of the major things that it was clearly missing was the ability to add some kind of add-on or plugin. I'm sure future versions will carry the feature. Another thing I'd like to see resolved is the ability to login to my bank. Right now only Internet Explorer and FireFox are supported.
More Blogging MLA... Introduction to RDA/FRBR
No, we're not talking about Recommended Dietary Allowances, nor are we talking about a particular child rearing method, although one says FRBR like "Ferber." We're talking serious insider cataloging baseball talk. And nothing says "cataloging" like a bunch o' acronyms.
RDA, or Resource Description and Access, is the "new" AACR2r (that's Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd Edition, Revised), bringing library cataloging standards right into the 1990s. Uh, I mean the 21st century. FRBR, or Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, builds on an entity relationship model for cataloging resources. Until I went to this session, I confess, I did not really "get" FRBR. I've read quite a bit, I generally think I'm pretty quick to figure things out. But for whatever reason, I did not have a good understanding of what FRBR did. After 45 minutes with Chew Chiat Naun, Principal Cataloger at the University of Minnesota Libraries, I had a true "ah-ha!" moment, when it finally all clicked together. Here's my attempt to explain:
Basically, a catalog, or metadata, record for an item has some information that is unique to that particular item and some information that may be shared by other records. FRBR is an attempt to notice those differences in the information, and make distinctions between them by introducing different language to describe them. Let's consider the first book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosophers's Stone. The basic intellectual concept of the story is the work. Once that information is put into a tangible form, it becomes an expression of the work, with potentially different manifestations of the work: The book with the U.S. title, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the audio book (which might be on CD or as a digital download), the large print edition, and so on. Eventually, we get to the item, the specific manifestation that Library A gives the call number, Juv Fic Row and barcodes with 3030222169788.
Then we look at what information is shared between all manifestations. Name of the creator, title, date of copyright, and basic topical controlled vocabulary terms would be shared. What is unique to the manifestation? The carrier (print book or audio CD), descriptive information that goes along with the carrier (the book's dimensions and number of pages, for example), publisher. What is unique to the item? Call number, barcode, local notes. RDA uses the framework provided by FRBR to restructure the elements of describing the various manifestations of an expression of a work. All that perfectly clear? That's what I thought.
Anyway, back to the session. I had my ah-ha moment about midway through the session. In a perfect world, we would have library catalog systems that would allow us to take full advantage of this entity relationship model and we could link all this information together. For example, J. K. Rowling writes other books too and is involved with other works (the movies, etc.); rather than copy her name into every metadata record for something she's been involved with, there should be a name authority record for her (actually, there is), and we should just plug in the identification number for that authority record into the information for the manifestation we're cataloging (that part, we can't do yet). Same thing with publisher. Have the version published by Scholastic? Look up the publisher authority record and put the number for Scholastic into the record (nope, can't do that yet either).
So, I had the epiphany that we should work toward an "HDTV" moment for library cataloging, where we move from the flat-file model we have now with metadata records that literally contain all of this information over and over again, to a "virtual" bibliographic/metadata record that fully makes use of the relationships between these information pieces and uses linking data to bring the user a uniform display that looks like what we're used to seeing. No reason we can't do that. Just need the will and some reinvestment in time and energy.
Anyway, the session went over some more nitty-gritty details of RDA changes, like moving from "main entry," to "preferred access point," no longer using GMD (General Material Designation) to media/carrier/content, and no more "rule of three" regarding access points. And, at some point, there's gonna be a whole lotta trainin' goin' on.
RDA, or Resource Description and Access, is the "new" AACR2r (that's Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd Edition, Revised), bringing library cataloging standards right into the 1990s. Uh, I mean the 21st century. FRBR, or Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, builds on an entity relationship model for cataloging resources. Until I went to this session, I confess, I did not really "get" FRBR. I've read quite a bit, I generally think I'm pretty quick to figure things out. But for whatever reason, I did not have a good understanding of what FRBR did. After 45 minutes with Chew Chiat Naun, Principal Cataloger at the University of Minnesota Libraries, I had a true "ah-ha!" moment, when it finally all clicked together. Here's my attempt to explain:
Basically, a catalog, or metadata, record for an item has some information that is unique to that particular item and some information that may be shared by other records. FRBR is an attempt to notice those differences in the information, and make distinctions between them by introducing different language to describe them. Let's consider the first book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosophers's Stone. The basic intellectual concept of the story is the work. Once that information is put into a tangible form, it becomes an expression of the work, with potentially different manifestations of the work: The book with the U.S. title, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the audio book (which might be on CD or as a digital download), the large print edition, and so on. Eventually, we get to the item, the specific manifestation that Library A gives the call number, Juv Fic Row and barcodes with 3030222169788.
Then we look at what information is shared between all manifestations. Name of the creator, title, date of copyright, and basic topical controlled vocabulary terms would be shared. What is unique to the manifestation? The carrier (print book or audio CD), descriptive information that goes along with the carrier (the book's dimensions and number of pages, for example), publisher. What is unique to the item? Call number, barcode, local notes. RDA uses the framework provided by FRBR to restructure the elements of describing the various manifestations of an expression of a work. All that perfectly clear? That's what I thought.
Anyway, back to the session. I had my ah-ha moment about midway through the session. In a perfect world, we would have library catalog systems that would allow us to take full advantage of this entity relationship model and we could link all this information together. For example, J. K. Rowling writes other books too and is involved with other works (the movies, etc.); rather than copy her name into every metadata record for something she's been involved with, there should be a name authority record for her (actually, there is), and we should just plug in the identification number for that authority record into the information for the manifestation we're cataloging (that part, we can't do yet). Same thing with publisher. Have the version published by Scholastic? Look up the publisher authority record and put the number for Scholastic into the record (nope, can't do that yet either).
So, I had the epiphany that we should work toward an "HDTV" moment for library cataloging, where we move from the flat-file model we have now with metadata records that literally contain all of this information over and over again, to a "virtual" bibliographic/metadata record that fully makes use of the relationships between these information pieces and uses linking data to bring the user a uniform display that looks like what we're used to seeing. No reason we can't do that. Just need the will and some reinvestment in time and energy.
Anyway, the session went over some more nitty-gritty details of RDA changes, like moving from "main entry," to "preferred access point," no longer using GMD (General Material Designation) to media/carrier/content, and no more "rule of three" regarding access points. And, at some point, there's gonna be a whole lotta trainin' goin' on.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Scholarship for Continuing Education
Have you thought about how valuable it would be for your career to attend national conferences such as ALA, SLA, ISTE, AASL, or others? Or even a statewide conference, but the money just isn't available? This scholarship will require some advanced planning - the deadline for applications for events between 1/1/09 and 9/30/09 is January 15, 2009 - but your career will
thank you for it.
The Metronet Board has created a scholarship for library staff in the seven-county metro area in honor of Lars Steltzner who passed away this summer. Lars was a true believer in libraries of all types and believed that if one library is strengthened, all are stronger. He was a great supporter
of media specialists and librarians just beginning their careers and was always generous with his time and knowledge. His service on the Metronet Governing Board was greatly appreciated.
The Lars Steltzner Scholarship will be given annually to one staff person from a Metronet member library who is early in her/his career (five years or less). This scholarship of $500 may be used for expenses for a continuing library education event or a national or local library conference. Recipients are eligible to receive the scholarship once in their career. A
plaque listing scholarship recipients will be in the Metronet office.
Click here for a <http://www.metrolibraries.net/res/steltzner_schol.pdf> pdf with details and application form. If you have questions, please contact the Metronet office at info@metronet.lib.mn.us.
Remember, the deadline for events 1/1-9/30/09 is January 15, 2009.
thank you for it.
The Metronet Board has created a scholarship for library staff in the seven-county metro area in honor of Lars Steltzner who passed away this summer. Lars was a true believer in libraries of all types and believed that if one library is strengthened, all are stronger. He was a great supporter
of media specialists and librarians just beginning their careers and was always generous with his time and knowledge. His service on the Metronet Governing Board was greatly appreciated.
The Lars Steltzner Scholarship will be given annually to one staff person from a Metronet member library who is early in her/his career (five years or less). This scholarship of $500 may be used for expenses for a continuing library education event or a national or local library conference. Recipients are eligible to receive the scholarship once in their career. A
plaque listing scholarship recipients will be in the Metronet office.
Click here for a <http://www.metrolibraries.net/res/steltzner_schol.pdf> pdf with details and application form. If you have questions, please contact the Metronet office at info@metronet.lib.mn.us.
Remember, the deadline for events 1/1-9/30/09 is January 15, 2009.
Branch Out 2009
Those of you that attended the MLA Conference – thank you. I hope you all had a great time as I did!
Now that the conference if over… I hope you’re making plans to attend the Branch Out Conference in August (4th and 5th)… You’ll be receiving e-mails periodically throughout the next several months as a reminder… Also… as time permits, periodically check the Branch Out Web site as we update conference information. www.branchoutmn.org <http://www.branchoutmn.org/> Tell you non-SSPiN co-workers about the BranchOut Conference too… attendees, although encouraged to be members of MLA/SSPiN, are not required to be…
Have a great Thanksgiving…
Chris Lang, Office Administrator
Plum Creek Library System
Now that the conference if over… I hope you’re making plans to attend the Branch Out Conference in August (4th and 5th)… You’ll be receiving e-mails periodically throughout the next several months as a reminder… Also… as time permits, periodically check the Branch Out Web site as we update conference information. www.branchoutmn.org <http://www.branchoutmn.org/> Tell you non-SSPiN co-workers about the BranchOut Conference too… attendees, although encouraged to be members of MLA/SSPiN, are not required to be…
Have a great Thanksgiving…
Chris Lang, Office Administrator
Plum Creek Library System
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Job Posting - Walden University Library
Library Technician Position
Walden University, which offers graduate degrees at a distance in education, business, public health and the social and behavioral sciences, as well as bachelor degree completion programs in business administration and information systems, is seeking a detail-oriented person to join our team as Walden University Library Technician. The Walden Library Technician works in the Office of Student Development and reports to the Director of Library Services. This position is located in downtown Minneapolis, MN and will begin as soon as a suitable candidate is found.
Under the leadership and supervision of the Director of Library Services and collaboration with library services staff, the Library Technician will coordinate the library's document delivery service and support the work of the library's teams.
The Library Technician will verify citations, search library databases, verify invoices, cancel and place document requests using ILLiad, reconcile statements, send library bills for processing, interface with students regarding requests, and other responsibilities described in more detail at https://sh.webhire.com/servlet/av/jd?ai=737&ji=2300248&sn=l. Applications must be submitted through the web site.
Qualifications for this position include a BA degree and experience in a library or equivalent setting (i.e., library vendor or consortium), M.S. Word, PowerPoint, Access, and Excel proficiency required.
Sue Davidsen
Director of Library Services
Walden University
155 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612-312-2500 or 800-925-3368, ext. 2500
susanna.davidsen@waldenu.edu
Walden University, which offers graduate degrees at a distance in education, business, public health and the social and behavioral sciences, as well as bachelor degree completion programs in business administration and information systems, is seeking a detail-oriented person to join our team as Walden University Library Technician. The Walden Library Technician works in the Office of Student Development and reports to the Director of Library Services. This position is located in downtown Minneapolis, MN and will begin as soon as a suitable candidate is found.
Under the leadership and supervision of the Director of Library Services and collaboration with library services staff, the Library Technician will coordinate the library's document delivery service and support the work of the library's teams.
The Library Technician will verify citations, search library databases, verify invoices, cancel and place document requests using ILLiad, reconcile statements, send library bills for processing, interface with students regarding requests, and other responsibilities described in more detail at https://sh.webhire.com/servlet/av/jd?ai=737&ji=2300248&sn=l. Applications must be submitted through the web site.
Qualifications for this position include a BA degree and experience in a library or equivalent setting (i.e., library vendor or consortium), M.S. Word, PowerPoint, Access, and Excel proficiency required.
Sue Davidsen
Director of Library Services
Walden University
155 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612-312-2500 or 800-925-3368, ext. 2500
susanna.davidsen@waldenu.edu
Monday, November 24, 2008
Amazon S3 has Akamai Laying off 7% Of It's Work Force, Maybe.
Seems like only yesterday (cause it was), that I was blogging about how Amazon S3 would be changing up the content delivery network market. In yesterday's post, I had the foresight to say that things in the cdn market were going to be shaked up by Amazon S3.
Today, it was announced that Akamai would be laying off 7% of it's workforce. Now, they didn't exactly say that the layoffs were related to Amazon's S3, however, I can't think of a good reason that Akamai would be down sizing it's business. Sure the economy has been affecting many companies, but Akamai's main business customers are the large companies who continue to use Akamai's cdn services regardless of what the economy is doing. That said, Akamai's business should really be recession proof.
My educated guess is that Akamai is using the economy as an opportunity to dump their employees while trying to save face. The same way many companies did during 911. I think that the reality has finally hit them, that Amazon S3, is making their over priced service irrelevant. I know, it's a bold statement, however, it's just my own educated guess (which most of the times turn out to be true).
Today, it was announced that Akamai would be laying off 7% of it's workforce. Now, they didn't exactly say that the layoffs were related to Amazon's S3, however, I can't think of a good reason that Akamai would be down sizing it's business. Sure the economy has been affecting many companies, but Akamai's main business customers are the large companies who continue to use Akamai's cdn services regardless of what the economy is doing. That said, Akamai's business should really be recession proof.
My educated guess is that Akamai is using the economy as an opportunity to dump their employees while trying to save face. The same way many companies did during 911. I think that the reality has finally hit them, that Amazon S3, is making their over priced service irrelevant. I know, it's a bold statement, however, it's just my own educated guess (which most of the times turn out to be true).
Sunday, November 23, 2008
10 Reasons Why Amazon Associates Is Better Then Your Traditional Sales Job
As more people begin to use the internet as a primary way of earning a living, we've seen a rise in affiliate marketing. If you haven't heard it defined before, then affiliate marketing is an internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts. In plain english, companies are willing to pay you a commission, every you generate a sale for them.
One of the more popular affiliate programs available on the internet today is the Amazon Associates program. Associates can earn great commissions for helping Amazon sell any of the millions of items in it's product catalog. Remember what the Avon Lady used to do, when she came around with her brochure to sell the latest schwag of the day. The Avon Lady would get a commission each time someone purchased an Avon product from here. Take the same concept, fast forward to present day, and replace the catalog with a website and you've got the Amazon Associates program today.
If you've ever had a job as a sales person, then you might feel right at home selling items for Amazon. Lets compare working a traditional sales job to the Amazon Associates program.
Traditional Sales Job:
Amazon Associates Resources:
Here are a few example Amazon Associate websites that are earning money on a daily basis as a result of doing some simple branding and marketing:
One of the more popular affiliate programs available on the internet today is the Amazon Associates program. Associates can earn great commissions for helping Amazon sell any of the millions of items in it's product catalog. Remember what the Avon Lady used to do, when she came around with her brochure to sell the latest schwag of the day. The Avon Lady would get a commission each time someone purchased an Avon product from here. Take the same concept, fast forward to present day, and replace the catalog with a website and you've got the Amazon Associates program today.
If you've ever had a job as a sales person, then you might feel right at home selling items for Amazon. Lets compare working a traditional sales job to the Amazon Associates program.
Traditional Sales Job:
- You have a minimum quota you have to make just to keep your job.
- You have a boss breathing down your back to get stuff done.
- You've got to be at the store during certain business hours in order to make your sales.
- You can only sell what is instock at your store.
- You have to deal with problem customers, returns, customer service
- Might have to train on a product just to be able to sell it.
- Takes long to move up in the company even though you've been outperforming everyone else.
- You may not feel like selling the items the store you work for offers.
- Your entire market might be just a small town
- So much non-sales related work, like taking inventory, loss prevention, cleaning the store, etc.
- There is no minimum amount you need to sell.
- You don't have to hard sell anyone to make a purchase.
- You are free to work on sales when it's the right time for you. No clocks to punch in or out of.
- You are the boss, no one breathing down your neck, making sure you got the job done.
- You are not limited to selling only what you have in your store, instead you have access to Amazon's million plus product catalog.
- You don't need to train to sell Amazon products. You can use your existing knowledge to focus on what you can sell well. For example if you've ever worked in a hardware store like home depot, then you'll find it easier to sell tools and hardware from Amazon's hardware department, making good use of your current experience.
- Amazon Associates who perform well, easily move up to the next commission tier. You don't have to worry about seniority or politics holding you back from earning more. If you produce sales, then you can enjoy higher amounts of commission per sale.
- Because of Amazon's huge selection of brand name products in every sales category, it will be easy for you to find a niche market for you to focus your sales campaign on. You can sell the products that you feel comfortable with offering, and feel good about selling such a quality product.
- Because Amazon is a global retailer, you are not limited in your geographic areas. You will be able to setup a website selling quality Amazon products to customers around the world. With the internet as your global marketplace, you can showcase your website to millions of online shoppers.
- The Amazon Associates program is free and easy to use. Amazon handles all of the logistics as far as order processing, order fulfillment and customer service, so you can spend your efforts in the areas that really pay off like establishing your brand, and marketing your website.
Amazon Associates Resources:
- Amazon Associates Central
- Amazon Forums
- Amazon Video Tutorials
- Amazon Associates Blog
- E-commerce For Everyone
Here are a few example Amazon Associate websites that are earning money on a daily basis as a result of doing some simple branding and marketing:
- OnlineToolsandHardware.com
- WeKnowPhoto.com
- EcoFriendlyShoppingOnline.com
- StockMyOffice.com
- InsideandOutHomeDecor.com
- SportsDirectMegaStore.com
- GlamorousBeautySupply.com
- OrderItOnTheWeb.com
- Consoles-Store.co.uk
- AllPhoneDeals.com
We're Switching To Amazon S3
I've been having so much fun using Amazon S3, that I've decided to use it to host all static objects for our clients. It helps to deliver a higher performing website, it's easy to use, and makes easy work of keeping your website contents backed up.
Amazon recently announced a new web service called CloudFront, here's what they have to say about it:
Amazon recently announced a new web service called CloudFront, here's what they have to say about it:
I think making these services available to small businesses is going to level out the playing field when it comes to delivering content using the kind of bandwidth necessary for a pleasurable site interaction. Fast load times have been a hallmark of larger websites that have been using traditional content delivery network services such as Akamai. It will interesting to see the new face of cdn's in the next five years. We might seen a significant amount of consolidation, and value added resellers similar to the existing Amazon Associates program.Amazon CloudFront is a web service for content delivery. It integrates with other Amazon Web Services to give developers and businesses an easy way to distribute content to end users with low latency, high data transfer speeds, and no commitments.
Amazon CloudFront delivers your content using a global network of edge locations. Requests for your objects are automatically routed to the nearest edge location, so content is delivered with the best possible performance. Amazon CloudFront works seamlessly with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) which durably stores the original, definitive versions of your files. Like other Amazon Web Services, there are no contracts or monthly commitments for using Amazon CloudFront – you pay only for as much or as little content as you actually deliver through the service.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Video: Collection of Your Favorite Cartoon Shows
Here is a collection of all those old cartoons you loved as a kid:
Silver Hawks
Silver Hawks at Amazon
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors at Amazon
Centurions
Centurions at Amazon
BRAVESTAR
BRAVESTAR at Amazon
Captain Power
Captain Power at Amazon
Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers at Amazon
Real Ghostbusters
Real Ghostbusters at Amazon
Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget at Amazon
M.A.S.K
M.A.S.K at Amazon
He Man
He Man at Amazon
Voltron
Voltron at Amazon
Thundercats
Thundercats at Amazon
Transformers
Transformers at Amazon
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe at Amazon
She-Ra
She-Ra at Amazon
Jem
Jem at Amazon
The Snorks
The Snorks at Amazon
Gummi Bears
Gummi Bears at Amazon
The Smurfs
The Smurfs at Amazon
Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock at Amazon
Care Bears
Care Bears at Amazon
Rainbow Brite
Rainbow Brite at Amazon
Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake at Amazon
The Monchhichis
The Monchhichis at Amazon
Alvin and The Chipmunks
Alvin and The Chipmunks at Amazon
Ducktales
Ducktales at Amazon
Tale Spin
Tale Spin at Amazon
PUNKY BREWSTER
PUNKY BREWSTER at Amazon
Shirt Tales
Shirt Tales at Amazon
Scooby Doo
Scooby Doo at Amazon
Like this post? Read more about what PuReWebDev has to say.
Silver Hawks
Silver Hawks at Amazon
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors at Amazon
Centurions
Centurions at Amazon
BRAVESTAR
BRAVESTAR at Amazon
Captain Power
Captain Power at Amazon
Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers at Amazon
Real Ghostbusters
Real Ghostbusters at Amazon
Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget at Amazon
M.A.S.K
M.A.S.K at Amazon
He Man
He Man at Amazon
Voltron
Voltron at Amazon
Thundercats
Thundercats at Amazon
Transformers
Transformers at Amazon
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe at Amazon
She-Ra
She-Ra at Amazon
Jem
Jem at Amazon
The Snorks
The Snorks at Amazon
Gummi Bears
Gummi Bears at Amazon
The Smurfs
The Smurfs at Amazon
Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock at Amazon
Care Bears
Care Bears at Amazon
Rainbow Brite
Rainbow Brite at Amazon
Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake at Amazon
The Monchhichis
The Monchhichis at Amazon
Alvin and The Chipmunks
Alvin and The Chipmunks at Amazon
Ducktales
Ducktales at Amazon
Tale Spin
Tale Spin at Amazon
PUNKY BREWSTER
PUNKY BREWSTER at Amazon
Shirt Tales
Shirt Tales at Amazon
Scooby Doo
Scooby Doo at Amazon
Like this post? Read more about what PuReWebDev has to say.
LibraryThing: Social Cataloging and Social Networking
Tim Spalding, the creater of LibraryThing, was the luncheon keynote speaker at the Minnesota Library Association conference yesterday. He definitely made some provocative comments, and raised some excellent points, many of which I agree with. Bloggers at SELCO and Kasson Public Library again have summarized his presentation. A few things he said and some commentary, noting that these are huge paraphrases and not verbatim:
I See Dead People's Books This is a group for those interested and involved in entering the personal libraries of famous readers into LibraryThing as Legacy Libraries. Explore the personal libraries of Thomas Jefferson, Willa Cather, and Tupac Shakur among others.
Open Shelves Classification A project to build a new Dewey-like classification system that would be in the public domain (unlike DDC).
- Be afraid of OCLC
Okay, this is a little "inside baseball" talk... I am further convinced that OCLC is evil and ultimately does not have our best interests in mind. They have grown too big for their britches, and the organization that was originally created by libraries to help libraries do what they need to do is now dictating to libraries how to do what they need to do. Their lastest announcement about essentially claiming copyright to the intellectual property in bibliographic records is the last straw, and while they're backpeddling as fast as they can, I say we need to stage a coup and retake our organization. Barring that, we need to take our toys (and intellectual property) and stop giving it to them in what has turned out to be a "work for hire" arrangement. - Choose "bandwagons" strategically
Specifically, Spalding suggested libraries should quit spending time creating Facebook and MySpace pages and hosting gaming events in libraries, just because they are the Latest Things and are Things Young People Do. Just because young people do them doesn't mean the library should too. He actually said something quite funny, but I won't remember enough of it... It was something to the effect of starting a MySpace page for the library and ending up with two teen social misfit friends, a bunch of pedophiles, and the last update being 6 months ago... Okay, he didn't say the 'bunch of pedophiles' part, but one can see it coming. Remember, I went to the library security preconference earlier, where a fair amount of conversation was around using library computers for exchange of child porn. My take: when you're hangin' with your "friends," are you really going to "friend" the library? - Use Web 2.0 where it makes sense
There are certainly places where web 2.0 makes sense, but Spalding suggests that libraries didn't even really get web 1.0 right; why even bother with web 2.0? Okay, I don't go THAT far, but he has a point. We ARE way behind Amazon and Google and... Well, the list goes on... as far as dumping information goes and ease of use and getting "good enough" information. Where we have a strategic advantage is that we know how people USE information, and can get at better information, and of course there's the old what's free and what you have to pay for issue. - Tagging can help us catalog
I agree that individually, tags have a limited use beyond the personal. Your tags aren't going to mean too much to me, and my tags won't mean too much to you. If I tag my picture of a menorah on Flickr with Judaica, that has some meaning to someone else, but wedding gift? Eh, not so much. So, tags in individual iterations are not particularly meaningful. But, in the aggregate? Much moreso. Using LibraryThing for example (of course), he pointed out the use of the tag, chick lit, which incidently is now a Library of Congress official genre heading. Some 86,000+ items tagged cooking, but only 5,800+ tagged cookery. I had a flashback to Sandy Berman and the Good Old Days of Hennepin County Subject Headings - a man ahead of his time. Give the public their own language. And, FWIW, there are real humans who "vet" the tags and do some co-location (i.e. create see references)
I See Dead People's Books This is a group for those interested and involved in entering the personal libraries of famous readers into LibraryThing as Legacy Libraries. Explore the personal libraries of Thomas Jefferson, Willa Cather, and Tupac Shakur among others.
Open Shelves Classification A project to build a new Dewey-like classification system that would be in the public domain (unlike DDC).
Library Security: Everyone's Resposibility
In our library, we're currently reviewing our disaster plan. Library security is a component of disaster planning, so with that in mind, I signed up for this preconference session led by Jeremy Johnson, Hennepin County Library security officer and computer forensics specialist, and Ben Trapskin, HCL senior librarian. Others have already blogged on this session, such as the posts from SELCO, and Kasson Public Library, and those posts provide a nice overview of the session. But, some takeaways that I noted for our library are:
For additional information and discussion, Ben Trapskin created a website/blog for library security called, uniquely enough, "Library Security" (http://securelibraries.com/). I'll definitely be using that in my Intro to Tech Services course when we talk about disaster planning.
- Establish a procedure for handing criminal computer use
While we're an academic institution with different issues in some cases than a public library, we still get our fair share of community users and certainly there may at some point be some student activity that is problemmatic. We would do ourselves a favor by having a process to follow than being reactive after the fact. - Design the library spaces with security in mind
Much of that was done when this building was opened about 7 years ago, but we can continue to think that way. For example, we purposefully are adding additional computer stations in a cluster, to encourage self and peer-policing, but separated from the existing computer stations, to avoid "over-concentration" of people. - Secure our staff areas
We started leaving the doors into our staff areas, such as access to the area behind our circulation desk, unlocked because of all the in and out with carts, etc. Our library faculty offices are in this secure area, and it is not uncommon to have students walk back into this secure area unannounced to visit a faculty member. However, with recent thefts of items from offices on campus, and thinking of what was addressed in this session, we may want to rethink that strategy. - Develop emergency closing procedures
We've had two recent bomb threats on our campus which have necessitated building evacuations. In the most recent one, there was some confusion over a misplaced library check-out laptop computer. Making sure we have emergency closing procedures in place possibly could have addressed this problem. - Use programming to improve the library environment and security
A couple of weeks ago, our library staff had Becky Nordin and Lisa Mohr from our campus Judicial Affairs office talk at a staff meeting about working with students to communicate expectations for library behavior. We talked about making a video to demonstrate okay and not okay behavior, and having an open house and other events to give us opportunities to get campus students "on our side." - Create a student advisory group
Again, thinking along the lines in the above note, how can we get more students to be "on our side" with enforcing and modeling desirable library behavior, like not bringing food in and not talking on cell phones, etc. Maybe we want to work with a focus group of students to talk about our services and environment, and how we can compromise on some of these issues. We may want that group to be an advisory group, or just meet for a fixed period. - Create our own HCL "Welcome to the Library" signage
HCL has signage that has a "friendly" or "yes" side: be respectful, use a quiet voice, etc.; and a "stern" or "no" side: no illegal computer use, no violence, etc. Maybe we want something like that posted at our entrance.
For additional information and discussion, Ben Trapskin created a website/blog for library security called, uniquely enough, "Library Security" (http://securelibraries.com/). I'll definitely be using that in my Intro to Tech Services course when we talk about disaster planning.
Blogging MLA...
I couldn't blog live yesterday from the Minnesota Library Association conference because there wasn't a public internet connection at the hotel and the conference didn't pay for attendee access. So, I'm going to post today on the sessions I attended.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Google Webmaster Tools Doing A Faster Crawl
Want Google to crawl your site faster? One of the fastest ways to make sure Google gets to those deeper pages of content in your site faster is to go ahead and use a Google Webmaster Tools.
For one thing, that's where you'll be able to submit a Google sitemap file. If you don't know what a sitemap file is, you might have just woken up from a 10,000 year old sleep, so, as a basic refresher, a sitemap file is typically an xml based file that contains listings of your page urls, along with a timestamp of when that file was created and last modified. This way, Google not only knows the page exists, but it will know when it was created, and also how frequently its updated.
Inside of Google Webmaster Tools, you'll also be able to set the crawl rate for your website. The crawl rate is basically how slow or fast the Googlebot requests pages from your site. Typically you can set it faster, but only for 90 days at a time, which should be good enough for Google to rip through your site and grab the content for indexing. If you have several million pages of content to get indexed, you should start off with several large sitemap files. The sitemap files should not exceed 50,000 urls or 10MB, so compress your files with gzip compression if they are larger then 10MB. Link directly to pages on your site that are several clicks away from the homepage, by doing that, you foce Google to take a look at that page, and the ones it's linking to.
Another method to get the deeper pages of your site indexed, would simply be to re-arrange your link structure, similar to what Amazon did, making the category pages link to sub-categories and even deeper pages in the heirarchy.
For one thing, that's where you'll be able to submit a Google sitemap file. If you don't know what a sitemap file is, you might have just woken up from a 10,000 year old sleep, so, as a basic refresher, a sitemap file is typically an xml based file that contains listings of your page urls, along with a timestamp of when that file was created and last modified. This way, Google not only knows the page exists, but it will know when it was created, and also how frequently its updated.
Inside of Google Webmaster Tools, you'll also be able to set the crawl rate for your website. The crawl rate is basically how slow or fast the Googlebot requests pages from your site. Typically you can set it faster, but only for 90 days at a time, which should be good enough for Google to rip through your site and grab the content for indexing. If you have several million pages of content to get indexed, you should start off with several large sitemap files. The sitemap files should not exceed 50,000 urls or 10MB, so compress your files with gzip compression if they are larger then 10MB. Link directly to pages on your site that are several clicks away from the homepage, by doing that, you foce Google to take a look at that page, and the ones it's linking to.
Another method to get the deeper pages of your site indexed, would simply be to re-arrange your link structure, similar to what Amazon did, making the category pages link to sub-categories and even deeper pages in the heirarchy.
Watching Television Online For Free
Decided to do this post today, because I realize that there are many, many people still watching television, with an actual television set. Now, I know people like to cling on to old pieces of equipment like fax machines, eight-track players, and record players, but c'mon people it's 2008.
If you're like me, then you understand that a computer is useful for a whole lot more then actual work stuff, a computer is a great replacement for a television. I gave up regular television a while ago, kind of like when people started realizing that they could enjoy cd's or satellite versus radio broadcast. I stopped watching regular television, and cable television for that matter, once I realized that I could watch all of my favorite shows online, on demand (sorry Tivo), in high-def, and for free.
First you've got to start off with the right gear. For me, it's an HP laptop with built in wireless and a high-def screen and (optionally) a desktop with a 22 inch wide screen flat panel display. On my desktop, I've got a Logitech 5.1 THX surround sound system, so that the sound you get from your computer can be heard at the neighbors house, lol. Now that your audio and video are in check, you'll need to make sure you've got a broadband connection, matter of fact, if you don't have broadband, leave this page now (chump). Assuming you've got a decent connection, you can start retiring your Television, or better yet, put it up on ebay for some other fool to purchase, you won't need yours anymore.
There are several ways that you can do this, and I'll just list a few.
If you're like me, then you understand that a computer is useful for a whole lot more then actual work stuff, a computer is a great replacement for a television. I gave up regular television a while ago, kind of like when people started realizing that they could enjoy cd's or satellite versus radio broadcast. I stopped watching regular television, and cable television for that matter, once I realized that I could watch all of my favorite shows online, on demand (sorry Tivo), in high-def, and for free.
First you've got to start off with the right gear. For me, it's an HP laptop with built in wireless and a high-def screen and (optionally) a desktop with a 22 inch wide screen flat panel display. On my desktop, I've got a Logitech 5.1 THX surround sound system, so that the sound you get from your computer can be heard at the neighbors house, lol. Now that your audio and video are in check, you'll need to make sure you've got a broadband connection, matter of fact, if you don't have broadband, leave this page now (chump). Assuming you've got a decent connection, you can start retiring your Television, or better yet, put it up on ebay for some other fool to purchase, you won't need yours anymore.
There are several ways that you can do this, and I'll just list a few.
- Use iTunes. Subscibe to various video podcasts, and download shows of all kinds. This is probably the preferred method for those on a laptop, as your connection might not always be available.
- Do the same as number 1, but use a program like Miro. It's free and does the same thing iTunes does (except support mobile devices).
- Go directly to the broadcast networks that are already offering your same Television programs you like. NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, CNN you get the picture. All of them have video available on their websites, that you can watch when you like, not when they schedule you to. Some have already content in HD. Another nice thing about going to the website is that you might be able to subscibe to a video podcast, or just catch up on an older episode in the online archives.
- Visit sites like Hulu. Hulu is actually a collection of legal content provided by broadcast networks. If you ask me, Hulu is one of the best online video sites mainly because it puts everything together in an easy to browse fashion. They have deals with alot of the cable network providers as well, so you'll find all sorts of content on there.
- Everything I've mentioned so far, is for enjoying video totally for free, however, if you live on the internation space station and are not governed by the laws here on Earth, then you might want to check out a site called Watch-Movies.net. Yes, the videos are pirated, but where else are you going to see the Quantum of Solace in divx format before the actual theatrical release, lol. Lots of great movies listed on the site, and typically what will happen is that you don't need to download the movie, as they've uploaded them to places with high bandwidth and little oversight like Google video. This means a fast download for you, and nothing to delete on your computer afterwards, and no peer-to-peer ad/spyware downloading crap.
- Lastly, you could actually buy video access from various video vendors.
Another most useful set of tips that I will bestow upon you would be to make sure you are getting a good amount of usage from sites like YouTube, MetaCafe and others. I probably shouldn't have had to mention those, but I know somewhere out there in cyberspace, is a fool who's been living under a cyber-rock. I hope this little introduction to online video has been helpful. Now try not to get addicted to all this wonderful goodness, I dare you : )
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Yahoo Co-Founder Jerry Yang Says My Bad Dawg
Jerry Yang, co-founder and CEO of Yahoo!, is now stepping down from position of Chief Yahoo!. Seems that fumbling the sale of Yahoo to Microsoft for double the current value doesn't go unnoticed.
I'm still thinking that the time looks right for Microsoft to stop messing around and purchase Yahoo. Yahoo is a great company to be honest with you, and it's a tough situation they seem to be in. You'd think after all the great service Yahoo has given to millions of users, that they'd have a user base ready to back them up, and prevent a hostile take over from Microsoft. Doesn't appear to be the case. Why no love for Yahoo? I mean if there was a threat to Google, I'm sure a community of users would be having a fit.
Yahoo, I really like you the way you are, but if you sellout to Microsoft, it's over between us. Mr. Yang, I know it's difficult when you have a baby that you created, and it's growing and changing, but, sometimes the best thing you can do is let nature take its course. Hopefully, the company you created will be intact throughout the rest of the recession, and then hopefully your stocks will pick up and you won't look like such a mark to your larger competitors. Good luck.
I'm still thinking that the time looks right for Microsoft to stop messing around and purchase Yahoo. Yahoo is a great company to be honest with you, and it's a tough situation they seem to be in. You'd think after all the great service Yahoo has given to millions of users, that they'd have a user base ready to back them up, and prevent a hostile take over from Microsoft. Doesn't appear to be the case. Why no love for Yahoo? I mean if there was a threat to Google, I'm sure a community of users would be having a fit.
Yahoo, I really like you the way you are, but if you sellout to Microsoft, it's over between us. Mr. Yang, I know it's difficult when you have a baby that you created, and it's growing and changing, but, sometimes the best thing you can do is let nature take its course. Hopefully, the company you created will be intact throughout the rest of the recession, and then hopefully your stocks will pick up and you won't look like such a mark to your larger competitors. Good luck.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Google Insight Search
Was ready Andrew Chen's blog about the new Google Insight search. It's basically like a Google trends on steroids if you ask me. It gives the search related keywords to the one being searched on, but also the ability to search different time frames and geographical locations, giving the person doing the search, a great opportunity to view historical search trends. Great new tool from Google.
Some of My Rss Feeds
I've got a few rss feeds I'm trying to promote and get indexed, so I figured I'll drop a little link or two to get things started:
First is my tools and hardware feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ToolsandHardware
Second is my Solar Panel Reviews feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SolarPanelReviews
Third is my Photography and Camera reviews feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DigitalCameraShopping
And last but not least is my Office Supplies feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/stockmyoffice
I've already got a few subscribers per feed. I love making use of feedburner, does a great job of getting content out there. It's also pretty slick for affiliate programs like Google adsense, and other contextual advertising programs.
First is my tools and hardware feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ToolsandHardware
Second is my Solar Panel Reviews feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SolarPanelReviews
Third is my Photography and Camera reviews feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DigitalCameraShopping
And last but not least is my Office Supplies feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/stockmyoffice
I've already got a few subscribers per feed. I love making use of feedburner, does a great job of getting content out there. It's also pretty slick for affiliate programs like Google adsense, and other contextual advertising programs.
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