j's scratchpad

The Massachusetts Open Source Project, which includes selecting an open source ILS system for three Massachusetts library networks, will be holding information sessions on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at the Palmer Public Library and Thursday, October 29, 2009 at the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium offices in North Andover, Massachusetts. Staff from MVLC, NOBLE and C/W Mars library networks will be giving presentations as well as discussing the recommended open source ILS system, Evergreen.

There’s MassLNC Development Site for further information on the project:

http://masslnc.cwmars.org/

Here’s more information on the project:

http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/images/mvlcconnections0908.pdf

For directions on the two meetings:

http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2009/10/08/ma-open-source-info-session

h/t to the Swiss Army Librarian

Posted by Rich

The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the America Library Association are coordinating the “I Love My Librarian 2009 awards for deserving school, academic, and public librarians nationwide. Nominations close Friday, October 9.

WBUR’s Here And Now program had an interview with Cushing Academy’s Headmaster James Tracy about his decision to get rid of books and install computers and other electronic devices:

http://www.hereandnow.org/2009/09/rundown-922/

Also the Classical Bookworm blog had a posting on the Cushing library decision:

“I give the headmaster points for acknowledging that they can do this because they are richer than God, as the saying goes. I do wonder whether encouraging students to read books for pleasure carries much water when you’re getting rid of your book collection. Teens are notoriously adept at spotting when grownups are not walking the walk.”

http://tinyurl.com/m6e5s4

The posting includes a link to a live interview:

http://tinyurl.com/y9rs2tw

Posted by Rich

Kristen emailed to say last year’s InfoCamp in Seattle was a great success with more than 200 attendees and lots of exciting things. To start the excitement this year, there is a shipshape tweet for Talk Like a Pirate Day about the gathering, as well as useful info on the wiki. Admission to the event at Cleveland High School building, 5511 15th Ave S, Seattle, Washington, is $10 for students and $50 for everyone else.

Too bad I don’t think I can be in Seattle in a few weeks … That sounds like a lot of fun!

I hate to post on top of Rich’s contribution about the front page Globe story on Cushing Academy’s changes to their library, but I want to make sure word gets out that the Special Library Association’s $50 discount on the 2010 Annual Conference registration ends today, Friday, September 4. The conference is in June 13-16 in New Orleans. With the discount, members pay $395 and nonmembers pay $875. (The price difference alone is incentive to join SLA, no?)

The September 4 Boston Globe is reporting that Cushing Academy is getting rid of their library books and installing electronic media equipment which includes a $12,000 cappuccino machine:

“This year, after having amassed a collection of more than 20,000 books, officials at the pristine campus about 90 minutes west of Boston have decided the 144-year-old school no longer needs a traditional library. The academy’s administrators have decided to discard all their books and have given away half of what stocked their sprawling stacks – the classics, novels, poetry, biographies, tomes on every subject from the humanities to the sciences. The future, they believe, is digital.”

“When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of the bookless campus. “This isn’t ‘Fahrenheit 451’ [the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel in which books are banned]. We’re not discouraging students from reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology.’’

“Instead of a library, the academy is spending nearly $500,000 to create a “learning center,’’ though that is only one of the names in contention for the new space. In place of the stacks, they are spending $42,000 on three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet and $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels. Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine.”

For the whole article:

http://tinyurl.com/mnn986

Posted by Rich

Ignite Boston 6 will be on Thursday, September 17, from 6pm to 9:00pm at the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology auditorium 245 Summer Street, Boston, next to South Station and on the Red Line. There is no cover charge or any sort of fee.

Since there is limited space at the venue, you must be 21 years of age and RSVP to have an opportunity to get into the event. By RSVP’ing you will also have the chance to win $300 worth of O’Reilly books of your choosing. You must be present to win. There will likely be other items like tee-shirts and other promo items for those who alert us ahead that they plan to attend. If you plan to attend, and do not RSVP you will be put in the ‘wait-list’ queue.

For more info:

http://igniteboston.eventbrite.com/

Posted by Rich

Bill Dedman, owner of the Power Reporting: Resources for journalists is offering the website for anyone who take it over:

“If a university journalism program or nonprofit association is interested in using this domain as an aid to journalists or journalism, drop me a line. Contact Bill Dedman. I don’t think whoever takes over the site has to make it what it was. The name is flexible enough that it could be used for public records, crowdsourcing, computer-assisted reporting, etc.”

For more info:

http://powerreporting.com/

Posted by Rich

The 25th Computers in Libraries 2010 Conference, April 12-14, 2009, Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia, is calling for speakers. The topic is Information Fluency: Literacy for Life:

“Information fluency goes beyond literacy (the ability to read and write), information literacy (the ability to find, evaluate and use information), media literacy (the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a variety of forms), and digital literacy (the ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information). It extends to other types of literacy necessary to grow, learn and live – cultural literacy, global literacy, news literacy, scientific literacy, economic literacy, social literacy, health literacy, multimedia literacy, computer literacy, social online literacy, and more. Information, and fluency with it, permeates every part of our lives. Developing skills to become fluent with information is the key to our success individually as well as in groups, teams and communities.”

“This year’s tracks and themes encompass: People (skills, organizations, roles); Learning & Literacy; Places (virtual & physical); Digital/Virtual Library Services; Research Implementation and Implications; Social Media; Innovation; Community Building; Integrating Systems & Strategies; Information Discovery & Search; Technology Planning; Managing Content & eResrouces; Web Tools & Leading Edge Technology; Intranets & Portals; Search Engines, Case Studies of Internet & Intranet Librarians, Library Automation & Infrastructure, Managing Information and Knowledge Assets, eLearning & Training, Web Design & Development, Streaming Multimedia, Managing Digitally, and more. Speakers are knowledgeable, authoritative and focus on practical applications, “how to” solutions, and case studies as well as technical and managerial issues. Please consider sharing your knowledge and ideas; send us a proposal to speak. Below are some of the topics we hope to cover, but don’t let this list limit your imagination! We look forward to hearing from you.”

Proposal Deadline: September 15, 2009

For more info:

http://www.infotoday.com/cil2010/CallForSpeakers.asp

Posted by Rich

Jenny Levine of the Shifted Librarian library blog started to use WordPress’ Lifestream plugin which allows her to post feeds from her major sites such as Flickr, delicious, Twitter, Google Reader, and Youtube onto her blog. It also allows her to add any other RSS feeds not listed.

This looks like an interesting experiment using blogging software, RSS feeds and social media.

For more info:

http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/

Posted by Rich