Thursday, June 25, 2009

Shenanigans with Shanachies: the OCLC Blog Salon

You've heard the rumors and they're all true:

The Shanachies are going to be the special guests (along with Michael and Jenny) at the LITA President's Program at ALA this year, and then we'll continue the fun at the OCLC Blog Salon.

OCLC Blog Salon
Sunday, July 12
5:30-8:00 pm
Chicago Hilton, Boulevard Room C (2nd floor)

It's definitely walkable from the Intercontinental to the Hilton--but it's something like 1.5 miles--so wear your trainers or hop a quick bus. If you do walk, just head south on Michigan Ave. and you'll see the Towers on your right, across from Grant Park. Go up the big stairway in the front, but instead of heading into the Grand Ballroom (like you did on Friday for the OCLC Symposium), head towards the front windows and make your way to the Boulevard Room C where we'll be whooping it up.

The Shanachies (Erik Boekesteijn, Jaap van de Geer, Geert van den Boogaard) will have all their video equipment at the Blog Salon--so come out and meet them and other like-minded bloggers, tweeters, 'tubers, coders, developers and generally anyone interested in tech/social/outreach/frivolity. You may be in the next Shanachie movie!

The Blog Salon is sponsored by OCLC bloggers (official and less so) and the OCLC Developer Network.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

New Jersey Rules!

Did you see this today? The US Secretary of Education and the Governor of New Jersey did a story time at a public library, and they recognized the importance of children's programs in public libraries to success in education.

I've been waiting my entire professional career to see this kind of recognition! Now it's time to leverage, people, leverage. Follow up with emails and calls to Secretary Duncan's office, thanking him for this exposure and asking him to include public and school libraries in the distribution of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus funds.

State and local funding for libraries is being pummelled across the US. Now is the time for us to grab for the brass ring.

If not us, who? If not now, when?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

What can we learn from Coke?

Coca-Cola Company recently announced that it has created a new type of fountain vending machine that will give consumers unprecedented choices in creating their own beverages. The new machines, called Freestyle, allow people to mix and match in ways that the old six spigot machines can't match. A brief description of the machines and what they represent as technology can be found here.

Bob Evans, a columnist for Information Week, opined this week that there are six lessons that corporate chief information officers can learn from the creating of this new machine. These six lessons apply equally to library officers. The lessons include understanding where the choke points are across your demand chain; effective internal collaboration; keeping in touch with your funders; product co-creation with your users; external collaboration; and being at the table when new ideas are being considered within your environment.

Mr. Evans's full article is here.

Geek the Library campaign is live!


Although aimed at consumers, librarians will also have fun looking through the Geek the Library site and then adding in what you geek.

The ‘Geek the Library’ campaign, made possible by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, highlights what people are passionate about and how libraries can support them, in an effort to heighten awareness about the critical funding issues public libraries face.

Kick-off events happened in Savannah, Georgia, yesterday and will be in Des Moines, Iowa, later this week. Greater Savannah and central Iowa are the two areas selected to begin this community-based campaign pilot set to run through December.

‘Geek the Library’ features local advertising that introduces ‘geek’ as a verb, and encourages the public to talk about what they ‘geek’—whether it’s engineering, superheroes or art. The public awareness campaign illustrates the fact that everyone is passionate about something—everyone ‘geeks’ something—and that the library supports them all.

What do you geek? Submit it to the site!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Today Show Library Report

Truth be told, I haven't watched The Today Show since Dave Garroway and J. Fred Muggs were the hosts. But today (Thursday, June 10), they had an excellent report on the role of public libraries in communities hit by hard economic times. The link is here.

This might be a great piece to share with your funders, Friends, staff, and others who think it's all on the web now!

Friday, June 05, 2009

New York Public campaign: Shout it Out for the Library!

LOVE this new video PSA from the New York Public: "Shout it Out for your Library!" Mario Batali, Amy Tan, Better Midler, Malcolm Gladwell, Barbara Walters and other celebs voice support for the library and reiterate the value of the public library for the community.



Also like the blocker page they have up now about supporting the library monetarily, on NYPL. It's a great way to remind people that while the library is free to use, it isn't free to maintain and run.

Having worked on previous advocacy campaigns with OCLC, I know the challenges of finding the right audience for your we-need-financial-support message. Especially with the down economy, you have to make every marketing dollar count. YouTube and Twitter are great ways to get the word out to new audiences. Using local celebrities isn't all bad, either.