Electronic Resources and Libraries Conference

This is the conference mentioned at our December meeting. According to the site, Electronic Resources & Libraries (ER&L) "provides a forum for information professionals to explore ideas, trends, and technologies related to electronic resources and digital services." Sounds like fun. The next one is to be held at UCLA in February of 2009.

NextSpace from OCLC

NextSpace, a magazine produced by OCLC, is worth browsing. The current issue is about Web 2.0 trends and other interesting topics.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

NCCPL Libraries use the following LMS:

ITP - Angel Learning System
Saybrook - eLearning through Spectrum
Saint Mary's - Blackboard
PGSP - Docutek

Keeping up with LITA

LITA, the Library and Information Technology Association, publishes their own blog with developments from the field. Couldn't hurt to check there every once in a while, right?

Web 2.0 Challenge

Want to be savvy? Challenge yourself to learn all the latest in Web 2.0. Web 2.0 basically consists of the social and interative features you can now use on the Web and that our patrons seem to adore.
Several library sites have set up their own Web 2.0 learning challenge (calling it Learning 2.0, 23 things, or whatever) to inspire everyone in the library world to get up to speed with the latest tools on the Web. And it is actually fun.
I am a big fan of Infopeople, who give a lot of workshops and also set up their own 23 things learning challenge. Although the formal challenge has ended, you can still go through each step to learn something new. And now there are more than 23 things, so you can learn even more. Check it out!

Educause 2008

Educause has posted an ebook to its site, The Tower and the Cloud, which looks at how technology developments are impacting academia.

Cloud computing is another name for Internet-based tech development.

Facebook at NCCPL Schools

How prevalent is Facebook use among your students and faculty? Are librarians at your library on Facebook?
I would say that at ITP the numbers of students, staff and faculty on Facebook are fairly small and still reflect the the field's tendency to be less tech-oriented. But I think it is growing. Especially as there are collaborative projects and groups that promote a sense of community that is not geographically dependent.
I wasn't an early adopter on Facebook but joined last year. A few friends found me and I found them. The lovely thing that happened was that many students and faculty at ITP found me! It is proof positive that we are part of their sphere and it was a nice feeling.
There is still the dance between privacy and social connection. I haven't had problems with students or faculty because of this connection. I consider my work fairly public and so I am not so concerned with people knowing who I am and where I work. Not having a secret life, I consider it an extension of my work to go where my patrons are.

Will Google wash my dishes too?

I know Google has a lot in development. Maybe the custom search engine has been around and I just now discovered it. Nevertheless...
Take the topic you are most passionate about and make a search engine that filters on the terms and sites you want to search. Here is my search engine for Transpersonal Psychology. Check it out!