Infoblog

This George & Joan podcast came about as a result of a conversation they had at ALA Midwinter with Gina Milsap, director of the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. The library acted as neutral convener of a special program that helped citizens interested in running for local offices gain a working knowledge of the political process. The library didn't actually present the program: they brought in the folks representing all the pieces of the process to discuss how it's all done.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 4:40 PM in George and Joan | Interesting Libraries | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this latest edition of Thinking Out Loud, George and Joan take a look at a recent Pew Internet presentation, How libraries can survive in the new media ecosystem. As George points out, the Pew Internet & American Life Project has been around long enough gathering data that they can now identify distinct trends - which makes them a treasure trove of valuable information for libraries.

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In this Thinking Out Loud podcast, George and Joan take a look at the final report (PDF) from the Metropolitan Library System in Illinois' LSTA grant project The Customer Focused Library. Among the findings:

• Only one third of the people who come into a library stop at a service desk


• Two thirds of the people who come into a library have no idea what they came in for

Posted by eileen o'shea at 2:35 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink

In honor of the holiday season, Infopeople is pleased to offer this special George and Joan, Thinking Out Loud podcast, A Library Carol. We hope you enjoy it, and that it makes you smile, think, and ponder (but hopefully not cry!). Be sure to stay tuned at the end for a little something extra.

Thanks to Andy Havens, Martin Helmke, Chuck O'Shea, Larry Olszewski, and Joyce Leahy for their most excellent assistance in the making of this podcast.

Wishing everyone in libraryland a very happy holiday season and a transforming new year,

--The Peeps at Infopeople

Posted by eileen o'shea at 9:07 AM in George and Joan | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

These are tough economic times, and libraries haven't been spared. But as George & Joan point out in this podcast, these aren't the first tough economic times and they won't be the last.

What can libraries do to help their customers AND keep their services and doors open? Recent reports say that library usage is actually UP - but budgets are smaller. Tune in as George & Joan examine these issues and more. They have some ideas that may help you and your library!

Posted by eileen o'shea at 3:38 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink

In 2007, OCLC was awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to explore attitudes and perceptions about library funding and to evaluate the potential of a large-scale marketing and advocacy campaign to increase public library funding in the U.S. The findings of this research are available in the OCLC report, From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America.

In this podcast, George & Joan take a look at the report, its findings, and what it all means for libraries both now and in the future. One jump-out-at-you finding that George notes: there is zero correlation between the people who use libraries and the people who vote in elections for library funding.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 3:53 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, George & Joan talk with Fred Baerkircher, Adult Public Services Manager at Twinsburg Public Library
in Ohio. Fred spearheaded an ambitious gaming program for his library and he did it on a shoestring! Find out all about it in this podcast. Be warned: it may make you want to start a gaming program at YOUR library!

Here is a citation list for more reading on gaming and libraries. Sites mentioned in this podcast include:

• GT System


• Steam Community


• Valve Software

Posted by eileen o'shea at 2:59 PM in Gaming | George and Joan | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's no denying that changes in technology, information availability, and the deference paid (or not!) to experts have changed the face of reference forever. That's a good thing! In their recent webinar, Infopeople's podcasting pundits Joan Frye Williams and George Needham shared their provocative views of the role of the reference librarian in today's world, along with examples of the good, the bad, and the ugly in the library community's ongoing effort to reestablish reference as a high-value service (full disclosure, Joan wrote this copy!).

And now here it is as an MP3 download!

Posted by eileen o'shea at 5:28 PM in George and Joan | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

Update (08-06-08): Yikes! The last part of this podcast was cut off (editor's blunder, mea culpa!). The link is now to a full and complete version.

In their latest podcast, George and Joan discuss the book, The New Age of Innovation by C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan. George read a review of the book in Information Week. George and Joan discuss some of the big ideas that the book discusses such as getting away from the idea of mass production and mass customization to start treating all members/patrons as individuals, and harnessing the power of the patron to create unique experiences.

Information Week has started a blog to further expand on the book's ideas.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 5:16 PM in George and Joan | Podcasts | Reviews | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, George and Joan and their guest Jennifer Baker take a hard look at what libraries count, how they do it, why they do it, and ask whether the info we gather is accomplishing what it should. Jennifer Baker has been a public services librarian for 12 years, seven of them in California. She has worked in most areas of the library at one point or another as a shelver, circulation clerk, library secretary, children’s librarian, reference librarian, adult services librarian and branch supervisor. She has worked for county systems and municipalities with service areas as large as 1 million and as small as 6,000. She is currently the director of the St. Helena Public Library in Napa County.

George, Joan and Jennifer cover a lot of ground in this podcast: do hash marks on reference sheets do any good anymore, are we actually measuring the real things we do, and how relevant are the numbers we gather? What's the history behind the sorts of statistics libraries are mandated to collect each year? George makes special note of Jim Collins' monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors, which is a response by Collins to questions raised by readers of his book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 1:27 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this latest edition of Thinking Out Loud, our intrepid pundits explore issues raised by Barbara Fister in her April 15, 2008 article in Library Journal entitled, What If You Ran Your Bookstore Like a Library? Key thoughts they examine: The erosion of distinctions between enterprises; How can libraries approach some of the issues affecting bookstores these days? What can libraries teach bookstores?

Also discussed: The McDonaldization of Society, and John Scalzi's blog post Why YA. For the latter, George encourages you to be sure to read the comments as well as the post.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 1:40 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In their latest podcast, George and Joan take a look at the future and they see a lot of good stuff happening! What they're talking about:

• The IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellowship Program


• The recent Eureka! Leadership Institute in California

Posted by eileen o'shea at 6:06 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In their latest podcast of Thinking Out Loud, George Needham & Joan Frye Williams take a look at the Public Library Association's 2008 conference (it was paperless, so as G&J point out, it is a very rich website!). Some highlights: the exhibit hall (ChiliFresh.com, STImaging.com, MusicPump) and the Minneapolis Public Library's Game Center. They cover a lot of ground, so be sure to tune in!

Posted by eileen o'shea at 3:02 PM in Conferences | George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the latest Thinking Out Loud podcast, George and Joan take a look at the report Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future (PDF format). This report was conducted by the Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (CIBER) in the UK.

The report looks at the information seeking behavior of young people and what that means for libraries in the next 10-15 years. As George says, demographics are destiny so it's important to look at how young people are looking for information.

Needless to say, George and Joan have a lot of thoughts on the report and its findings, so be sure to listen! This podcast is 19 minutes long.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 2:07 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this latest session of Thinking Out Loud, our intrepid podcasters George & Joan look at TIME magazine's issue from Mar 24, 2008, 10 Ideas That Are Changing the World (among the ideas: the end of customer service and the new austerity) and they also talk about the Extinction Timeline, found on Ross Dawson's blog, rossdawsonblog.com, and created jointly by What’s Next and the Future Exploration Network. Of special interest to libraries: the year 2019, in which Dawson predicts the extinction of libraries! It's well worth a listen.

UPDATE: Sorry, folks. I seem incapable of typing (or for that matter, pasting, a file name correctly today. I have finally, absolutely, fixed the link to that latest G&J podcast. Sorry for any inconvenience! --Eileen the bad typist

Posted by eileen o'shea at 1:46 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

Everybody has an opinion! Michael Cart weighed in on the state of reading today in his last podcast, and now in their latest edition of Thinking Out Loud, George Needham and Joan Frye Williams continue their take on the state of reading, a conversation that they started in their last podcast. This time out the look at the recent NEA report, To Read or Not to Read, and other trends affecting how and what people read. Also mentioned in this podcast: Book Glutton and Bibliocommons.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 4:15 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, George Needham and Joan Frye Williams take a look at current trends in reading. Specifically, George talks about his Kindle and they both riff on what the Kindle and other e-book readers of its ilk affect how and what we read.

For those of you who listen closely, you'll hear Joan reference something called the "ImaginoTransferenceDevice" and if you're like me, you're wondering what the heck that is. It's a term/concept coined by Jasper Fforde, and you can read more about it here.

Next up: they look at the NEA report, To Read or Not to Read - so stay tuned!

Posted by eileen o'shea at 8:44 AM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

Can leadership be taught? In the latest edition of Thinking Out Loud, George Needham & Joan Frye Williams examine this question. George talks about the leadership academies in which he has participated (as a mentor). They also look at the differences between management and leadership, and the never-gets-old debate about nature versus nurture.

It all makes great food for thought!

Posted by eileen o'shea at 12:08 PM in George and Joan | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

Using the book, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant, George Needham and Joan Frye Williams look at the six attributes and discuss how those practices might be applied in libraries.

This 28-minute podcast is part two of a two-part series. If you missed part one, you can catch it here.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 7:36 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

Using the book, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant, George Needham and Joan Frye Williams look at the six attributes and discuss how those practices might be applied in libraries in this 22 minute podcast.

This is part one of a two-part podcast.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 1:11 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this edition of Thinking Out Loud, George and Joan take a look at the state of library education. Is it worth all of the time and effort people put into it? George advocates a serious rethinking of MLS programs and what they teach.

It's food for thought!

Posted by eileen o'shea at 12:10 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In their latest podcast, George Needham and Joan Frye Williams discuss how librarians refer to their...customers? patrons? users? and what those words mean, and how all of those terms have different connotations. As Joan says, it's more than just nomenclature.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 10:09 AM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this podcast, George Needham and Joan Frye Williams discuss George's trip to South Africa for the 2007 IFLA Conference, and the global library community in general.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 10:58 AM in Conferences | George and Joan | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In their fourth podcast, George and Joan examine some sacred cows of librarianship, like the Dewey Decimal System, that are being challenged in libraries today.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 2:14 PM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In their third podcast, George and Joan discuss how change in libraries is often viewed with resistance and suspicion. And in honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day,be sure to take note of their likening of the bringers of change to pirates boarding a ship. Arrrrr!!

Posted by eileen o'shea at 9:56 AM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

In their second podcast George Needham and Joan Frye Williams take a look at libraries that are doing new, exciting, and/or innovative things.

Update on 8/21: Sorry about the lack of a link there, folks! As you can see, it's corrected now.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 12:49 PM in George and Joan | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (1)

I thought I'd share some information about our new podcast series, George and Joan: Thinking Out Loud. If you use a newsreader you can subscribe to the George and Joan feed using this URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/InfoblogGeorgeAndJoan. Just copy or click on the link, and pop it into your aggregator, and you'll know as soon as the next podcast is posted! The George and Joan podcasts will be appearing monthly. You can also find them in iTunes - just search for "Infopeople" and you'll find all of our podcasts listed.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 11:10 AM in George and Joan | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (0)

Infopeople is pleased to announce a new series of podcasts: "George and Joan, Thinking Out Loud." Perspicacious pundits George Needham (OCLC) and Joan Frye Williams (library consultant) will compare notes - in their own inimitable style - on some of the hottest topics in libraries today. First on their list of conversation starters: Do trendy new service models amount to ‘dumbing down’ the library? Don’t miss the opportunity to listen in as Joan and George mix it up in a freewheeling format that’s sure to leave you with plenty to ponder.

If you like this one, stay tuned, because George and Joan will be Thinking Out Loud on the Infopeople site on a monthly basis. Upcoming topics include change and libraries, libraries getting it right, and the decline of deference.

Remember, you can listen to podcasts directly on your computer as long as it has speakers and is running any application that can play MP3 files, including Windows Media Player, WinAmp, and Real Player. Of course, if you have an iPod or any other type of MP3 player, you can download the files and take them with you to listen to wherever you happen to be.

If you have any difficulty accessing this or any other Infopeople podcast, you can get help from the Peep Geeks at ipweb@infopeople.org.

Posted by eileen o'shea at 11:38 AM in George and Joan | Keeping Up | Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (2)