One of the projects on which I've been helping, the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route, is up for a major award (no, not like the one in A Christmas Story) in the National Geographic and Geotourism Challenge., sponsored by the National Geographic and Ashoka Changemakers'. Our entry in the challenge can be found here.
If you have been following this story, or if you have an interest in the route and its important role in both improving minority health and learning about US history, check it out and maybe leave a comment.
Showing posts with label Underground Railroad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Underground Railroad. Show all posts
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Friday, October 12, 2007
Ohio Library Council Conference
I invested a good day at the Ohio Library Council Convention and Expo here in Columbus yesterday.
I spent about an hour in the exhibits area. Since Ohio public libraries continue to enjoy above average funding, many vendors and architects come to this conference.
The program I mentioned earlier on It's All Good about the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route came off very well. My colleague Chuck Harmon (who planned the Ohio portion of the route) had put together three moving photo montages with musical accompaniment to showcase the route's first official rides. Mario Browne drove over from Pittsburgh to talk about his involvement with the project and his work with the Center for Minority Health at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health. We had about 40 people in attendance, and a useful and inspiring time was had by all.
LibraryThing's founder, Tim Spalding, did a very good (and very well-attended) presentation called, "Is Your OPAC Fun?" Short answer: probably not, but he had some excellent ideas about what to do to change that. LibraryThing continues to grow and add new features; they have over 285,000 registered users already.
Finally, I went to a presentation called "Crisis Communication: Sound Like a Star on the 6:00 News," by Bob Zajac of Highland Public Relations. He gave some excellent tips on how to prepare for the public relations fall out of a crisis (anything from a fire to a funding disaster to a challenge to your internet policies to an invasion by the June Taylor Dancers). Bob has many years of experience in TV news and public relations, and his ideas were down to earth and told with a nice leavening of humor.
Kudos to OLC on another excellent conference!
I spent about an hour in the exhibits area. Since Ohio public libraries continue to enjoy above average funding, many vendors and architects come to this conference.
The program I mentioned earlier on It's All Good about the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route came off very well. My colleague Chuck Harmon (who planned the Ohio portion of the route) had put together three moving photo montages with musical accompaniment to showcase the route's first official rides. Mario Browne drove over from Pittsburgh to talk about his involvement with the project and his work with the Center for Minority Health at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health. We had about 40 people in attendance, and a useful and inspiring time was had by all.
LibraryThing's founder, Tim Spalding, did a very good (and very well-attended) presentation called, "Is Your OPAC Fun?" Short answer: probably not, but he had some excellent ideas about what to do to change that. LibraryThing continues to grow and add new features; they have over 285,000 registered users already.
Finally, I went to a presentation called "Crisis Communication: Sound Like a Star on the 6:00 News," by Bob Zajac of Highland Public Relations. He gave some excellent tips on how to prepare for the public relations fall out of a crisis (anything from a fire to a funding disaster to a challenge to your internet policies to an invasion by the June Taylor Dancers). Bob has many years of experience in TV news and public relations, and his ideas were down to earth and told with a nice leavening of humor.
Kudos to OLC on another excellent conference!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Underground Railroad Bicycle Route Launched
Just under a year ago I did a blog post about the new Underground Railroad Bicycle Route and the message board that we were sponsoring on WebJunction about this.
The route was officially launched last weekend in Mobile, Alabama, and the first ride left that city to make the journey north to Owen Sound, Ontario. The riders reached Linden, Alabama, the other night, to a wonderful reception they certainly weren't expecting. The article is here: http://www.demopolistimes.com/articles/2007/04/19/news/news00.txt
Follow-up: This morning Chuck Harmon of OCLC (and the person who plotted out the Ohio portion of the URR Bicycle Route) forwarded another newspaper article about the ride. This one mentions the library at which two of the riders stopped. Having grown up in Buffalo, I especially appreciated the reporter's mention of "Lake Eerie!"
The route was officially launched last weekend in Mobile, Alabama, and the first ride left that city to make the journey north to Owen Sound, Ontario. The riders reached Linden, Alabama, the other night, to a wonderful reception they certainly weren't expecting. The article is here: http://www.demopolistimes.com/articles/2007/04/19/news/news00.txt
Follow-up: This morning Chuck Harmon of OCLC (and the person who plotted out the Ohio portion of the URR Bicycle Route) forwarded another newspaper article about the ride. This one mentions the library at which two of the riders stopped. Having grown up in Buffalo, I especially appreciated the reporter's mention of "Lake Eerie!"
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