Infoblog

Library 2.0 Ning is my favorite social network because it promotes serendipitous searching among people who have the same profession as well as an interest in web 2.0 in common.

I invite you to join this group of intriguing people from all over the world and add me to your friends list; see my profile.

Also, if you are a fan of serendipitous searching, check out Steve Nelson's BananaSlug, which was designed to promote serendipitous surfing.

"Directed Google searches return pages most relevant to your search term, based on the pages' popularity on the Web. You may never see some of the pages way down the list that are relevant or interesting, but off the beaten path."

Here's an example using BananaSlug. I tried "learning 2.0" and chose the Great Ideas category. The random word was time. While I found a number of the library programs with which I was familiar, the search brought me others I wouldn't have ever found by using typical search terms...e.g. a blog entry from Training Day.

Posted by gail mcgovern at 8:36 AM in People | Web 2.0 | Web Resources | Permalink

The TED Conference mixes Technology, Entertainment and Design. The 2007 event was March 7-10 in Monterey and its focus was Icons, Geniuses and Mavericks.

As the San Francisco Chronicle put it, "Imagine going to school and learning how to tie your shoe correctly one moment and studying the rise of obesity the next. Then you might hear a 14-year-old piano virtuoso perform and improvise a piece on the spot, followed by a talk on global warming. They are just some of the presentations that the 1,000 or so invitation-only attendees have been treated to each year at the four-day Ted Conference."

You can listen to the fascinating talks, both audio and video, online or on your iPod FREE through iTunes. Examples of those featured are plyaright/actor Anne Deavere-Smith, Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, and rock star/activist Bono.

If you found TED 2007 intriguing, be sure to check out The Big Questions to be answered at TED 2008, February 27 - March 1, 2008 at the Monterey Conference Center.

Posted by gail mcgovern at 11:47 AM in Conferences | People | Podcasts | Webcasts | Permalink

Popular Infopeople Eureka Leadership Series instructor, Arch Lustberg, was interviewed by learning guru, Elliott Masie in October. You can hear/read the 8 minute interview about Arch either as a podcast or download the pdf.

Here's a sample exchange:

Elliott Masie: And you know, in this age of e-Learning and instant messenger and digital communications, which are enormously exciting, you are focusing in on the human, face-to-face communication. Why is that so important? And give me a little spice of your passion about this Arch.

Arch Lustberg: Well, Elliott, face-to-face: the importance of the face is the most important part of my message. The face sends all signals to the audience and face sends signals to the voice and so when I frown and I say to you, “Good morning,” listen to that: “Good morning. I hope you’re having as bad a day as I am.” Now, the face goes neutral and I say to you, “Good morning,” and you say, “What?” But, I’ll open my face and I say to you, “Good morning,” and I am brightening your day and I am brightening my day and I am enhancing my likeability factor, which is what you are going to base your judgment of me on.

Posted by gail mcgovern at 9:04 AM in People | Permalink

We recently received an email from Lauren John announcing the publication of her new book, Running Book Discussion Groups: A How-To-Do-It-Manual by Neal-Schuman publishers. ($65)

Lauren says, "The book is a direct result of online classes that I taught for Infopeople in 2004 and 2005. Infopeople is acknowledged in (where else?) the acknowledgment page and suggestions/ comments from one of my class bulletin boards are included in Chapter Four (pages 50-54)-- "Planning When and Where to Meet" (I got permission first from the librarians, Sandy Smith of Lodi, Deborah Dean of Shasta County, and Pat Koskinen of Oroville who posted)."

To order the book, go to:
http://www.neal-schuman.com/db/4/524.html

It is also selling on Amazon.

Congratulations, Lauren, on this accomplishment!

Posted by holly hinman at 2:27 PM in Cool Tools | How We Did It Good | Infopeople News | People | Permalink

S.R. Ranganathan's Monologue on Melvil Dewey. Primary source material for the true library history buff.

Posted by carole leita at 9:19 AM in Odds & Ends | People | Permalink | Comments (0)

Marylaine Block, Writer, Internet Trainer, “Librarian without Walls” gave a presentation on "The Possible Future for Reference" on November 7, 2005 at CLA's annual conference in Pasadena.

On her handout, available as a web page at http://marylaine.com/ref.html, Marylaine provides this synopsis:

In a Google world, information is a commodity: free, fast, and good enough for the casual seeker. How does our superior product compete? For newbies, by personal contact (in person or virtual), serious handholding, training, and capitalizing on our trustworthiness (when it matters that the answer is right, ask a librarian). For sophisticated users with complex knowledge needs, by personalizing information, contextualizing information, adding value to information, reformatting information, creating information, continuously updating information, and (at long last) marketing the fact that we do all of the above.

Infopeople is pleased to offer this podcast edition of her talk. For those willing to brave a large download, we also have a video version (190MB) available in Quicktime format.

Listening to her presentation (about an hour) and following the links on her handout page while you listen would be a very good use of your time if you're interested in the future of reference.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 10:38 AM in Keeping Up | People | Podcasts | Training | Permalink | Comments (0)

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will remember that Carole Leita had hip replacement surgery last November. Yesterday she demonstrated her total recovery by going with me on a 14-mile hike along the West Fork of the San Gabriel River, north of Azusa.

Although we did spend some time discussing Infopeople business (we can’t stay away from it!), the hiking time was primarily recreational. We can strongly recommend the route we followed to anyone who wants to get away from urban Los Angeles and enjoy a day with nature. The trail is accessed from the Azusa Avenue (route 39) exit on the 210 freeway. Simply take route 39 for 11.5 miles north of Azusa, and park in the marked parking lot. Walk back across the bridge and through the gate onto the paved fire road. The road follows the river up to Cogswall Dam and Reservoir, which is 8 miles one way. Even though John W. Robinson’s Trails of the Angeles rates the hike as “strenuous,” we found it to be more like what the ranger in Arcadia told us it would be – “really a walk.”

We were surprised to find that wild flowers were not only still blooming, but appeared to be at their peak – the canyon was filled with many different varieties, including Mariposa lilies, wild columbine, monkey flowers, lupine, poppies, and forget-me-nots. Because of the flowers, the canyon was also filled with many different varieties of beautiful butterflies. My faithful German Shepherd, Mac, went with us and was able to make almost all of the hike off leash because there were almost no other people on the trail. He particularly enjoyed the wheelchair-accessible fishing platforms, which provided him with easy access to really good doggie swimming holes. We’re going to try to gather more of “the Peeps” for an autumn trek in the same place.

Posted by at 7:42 PM in Infopeople News | People | Permalink

With sponsorship from the Office of Information Technology Policy (ALA), Infopeople recently delivered its first national webcast. And for this auspicious occasion, who better to feature than our own Mary Minow! Mary gave a one-hour presentation on copyright. If you missed it, you can watch the archived version.

And not being one to leave it at that...Mary is still answering questions from that webcast on her blog!

Posted by at 10:33 AM in People | Permalink

State Librarian Susan Hildreth will deliver periodic webcasts through Infopeople beginning March 9, 2005. Each webcast will feature Susan's thoughts on a topic of her choice, as well as news from the State Library and from other libraries around the state. Webcast viewers will have the opportunity to interact with Susan via live chat. Future webcasts are scheduled for August 3 and December 7, 2005. Like other Infopeople webcasts, the State Librarian webcasts will take place from noon to 1 PM. For more information, including access details, go to the webcast page on the Infopeople website.

Please note that for the State Libarian webcasts we have increased our maximum number of simultaneous connections to 150 from our usual 80. Like other Infopeople webcasts, the State Librarian webcasts will be archived for viewing after the live event.

We believe that California is the first state to feature the State Librarian in webcasts.

Posted by at 9:17 AM in Infopeople News | People | Permalink

Congratulations to our creative, innovative and inspiring leader, Holly Hinman, who was named CLA's Member of the Year!

If you missed the award ceremony, don't worry. We're working on making a video available online (perhaps as an archived webcast!) of Holly receiving the award and her acceptance speech. Stand by!

Posted by at 8:36 AM in People | Permalink

I just heard from Anne's daughter Jenny that there will be a memorial gathering this Sunday, November 21, at the LeConte School Auditorium, 2241 Russell Street, Berkeley. Jenny says, "This is an informal gathering for local folks (although some, like Anne's sister Ethel, are coming from afar), an opportunity to speak about Anne's meaning in our lives. It's also a chance for us to record these spoken thoughts for Anne's beloved granddaughters, Sydney and Toby (and others who can't attend because of distance or conflicts)."

The library profession will remember Anne at a memorial scheduled for Sunday, January 16, 2005, at the American Library Association Conference in Boston. You can get the details from Suzanne Calpestri, scalpest@library.berkeley.edu.

The 2005 Berkeley Library Foundation Dinner, scheduled for February 12, will be dedicated to Anne's memory. Details will be forthcoming on the Foundation web site. Of this event, Jenny says, "This is a beautiful, classy event at which you sit at a table with an author-luminary, but BE WARNED: this event is EXPENSIVE and it SELLS OUT."

Posted by at 12:51 PM in People | Permalink

Carole Leita is home again after her hip replacement surgery last Friday. Doctors described her as a "model patient" (we knew she would be) and were so pleased with her progress that they sent her home yesterday. She is walking (with a walker), her pain is under control, and she is in excellent spirits.

Posted by at 11:48 AM in Infopeople News | People | Permalink

Infopeople instructor (among other things) Gary Price at ResourceShelf tells us about a search engine you need to check out -- Say Hello to Clusty.com From Vivisimo.
He's also quoted on the topic in a NYT article about Clusty.

Posted by at 4:32 AM in People | Web Searching | Permalink

Anne Lipow, renowned library trainer and consultant, died yesterday, September 9, around 10:30 PM, after a long battle with cancer. Anne was the founder and director of Library Solutions Institute and Press. She was the author of numerous books and articles, including "Crossing the Internet Threshold" and "The Virtual Reference Librarian's Handbook." Her "Rethinking Reference" institutes were recognized as being internationally significant and contributed to Anne's receipt of the ALA Isadore Gilbert Mudge/R.R. Bowker award for "a distinguished contribution to reference librarianship."

Anne was very special to Infopeople because she was the guiding force in the initial development of the Infopeople training program, and she was responsible for bringing Cheryl Gould to Infopeople. Over the years, she was always there for us, giving us new ideas, advice, and inspiration. The courage and style with which she faced the challenge of her illness was truly amazing. Anne will be greatly missed by all of us and by the greater library community.

If you have some personal comments or remembrances you'd like to share, please click on the "comments" link below. We will be sharing these comments with Anne's family.

Posted by at 3:52 PM in People | Permalink | Comments (95)

Lauren John, the instructor for the online Infopeople course "How to Start, Run and Maintain a Library Book Discussion Group: From Oprah to the Internet," has signed a contract with Neal-Schuman for a book on book discussion groups. The book, which is titled "Running Book Discussion Groups: A How To Do It Manual for Librarians," will be published in 2005. The book is written for public librarians who are interested in either starting new or improving existing book discussion groups. Later this fall, Lauren will again teach her online course, this time specifically for those California libraries participating in the Rural Initiative's Book Club In a Box project.

Posted by at 2:43 PM in People | Permalink

Los Angeles has a new City Librarian. L.A. Mayor James K. Hahn has appointed Fontayne Holmes to succeed Susan Kent as head of the Los Angeles Public Library. Today's L.A. Times carries a nice story (free registration required) about the appointment. Fontayne has been a librarian at LAPL for 30 years and has most recently been the Assistant City Librarian, in charge of a "bond-funded, $317-million effort to renovate or replace 61 branches citywide, the most ambitious library construction program in the country."

Posted by at 10:41 AM in People | Permalink