In Pursuit of Library Elegance

Mar 21st

Posted by Heather Braum in Computers in Libraries

John Blyberg, Darien Library

Erica Reynolds, Johnson County Public Library, Johnson County, KS

Based on book “In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas have something missing” Matthew May.

The book spoke to Erica about how design could be done better.

Overall thought: Elegance & excellent solutions: when design works really well, you never notice it. Precious little resources left to libraries; we’d love to stomp all over our problems. If anything, we should subtract, take away. Author, Matthew May is a Toyota consultant.

 

What is elegant?

1. symmetry: simple rules create effective order.

  • Look @ nature
  • math: the more complex a solution, the more easier it is to be wrong.
  • Circ More >
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Promoting with Web 2.0

Mar 21st

Posted by Heather Braum in Computers in Libraries

Speaker: Curt Tagtmeier

Adult Services Librarian

Fremont Public Library (the library Facebook page); Library Website

Mundelein, IL

Highlights of his presentation can be found in the September issue of Computers in Libraries magazine.

Free Services such as:

  • YouTube
  • iLike.com
  • Twitter
  • Mobile Joomla
  • Meebo
  • Blogger/Dapper

But Stop…

  • how can patrons enjoy the benefits of these services without always being asked for a password?
  • how do we keep the patrons in one place sponsored by the library?
  • Is there one service?

Facebook!

Why? Because that’s where the people are at.

Grandparents are on to see their kids’ photos. Everybody uses Facebook.

Stats about Facebook….

  • 111 million in the US (30% of Facebook; 50% log in on a daily basis.
  • Average user has 130 friends More >
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A letter in support of Kan-ed (from a school librarian)

Mar 16th

Posted by Heather Braum in Library Advocacy

The following letter was written by my mom, Carol Braum, a high school/middle school librarian. Kansas HB2390, a bill to abolish Kan-ed, was introduced on Monday. Kan-ed is a vital and important statewide service for libraries and K-12/higher education. Here’s the advocacy alert from KLA. My letter to elected officials will be posted later this week. If you are a Kansan, I strongly urge you to contact your elected officials about this bill, asking for its defeat. Read the KLA legislative alert to find out what Kan-ed does for libraries. 53 impact stories are also available from Kan-ed, describing what this service does for More >

The time for libraries is NOW

Mar 14th

Posted by Heather Braum in Library Advocacy

Fantastic slideshow created by Ned Potter (@theREALwikiman). For all professions and students, governments and businesses struggling with information overload, did you know there’s a profession already available to help with all your information needs? The time for libraries is NOW. Check it out!

The time for Libraries is NOW

View more presentations from Ned Potter

Managing Professional Information Overload presentation

Mar 4th

Posted by Heather Braum in Presentations

2 comments

“Struggling to keep track of all the content you need to read, watch, listen to, and share professionally to stay up-to-date, but can’t manage it all? Learn about five free, online tools, including Evernote and Diigo, that can help you manage professional information overload.”

These are the resources from a presentation I gave at the District 1 KASL Workshop on Saturday, March 5, 2011.

Tools for Managing Professional Information Overload  View more presentations from Heather Braum.
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