keeping-up

Many of you may be familiar w/the first Cookbook released by TechSoup’s
MaintainIT Project. Well, now they have released another! It includes practical
tips and techniques and stories from libraries around the country.

Download the FREE Joy of Computing: Recipes for a 5-Star Library here: http://maintainitproject.org/cookbooks

Find out what libraries and library supporters had to say about wireless, time
and print management, and laptop checkout programs. Kudos to the following Kansan contributors, whose experiences were included to help make this Cookbook a practical and handy resource:

Sharon Moreland, Tonganoxie Public Library

Kim Priest, Mary Cotton Public Library

Ken Werne, Johnson County Library

Jamie Kelley, Marysville Public Library

The MaintainIT Project will continue to create guides focused on supporting public computers. You can share your challenges and successes so libraries can learn from *your* experiences, too. Remember, what may be, “that’s nothing!” to you, may be an “aha” to someone else! Email my friends Sarah, Chris, and the rest of the team if you’re interested in being involved: maintainit@techsoup.org.

I spent some time at the Centralia Community Library yesterday, working with Sonny on various things, including getting her library’s equipment inventoried using the free WebJunction technology planning tool, TechAtlas. It was so slick! We ran the automatic inventory tool, which captured information about the hardware (how much RAM? how much hard drive space? what type of processor?) and also about the software versions. We then manually added other details for the computers, including purchase date, service plan parameters, etc…. We also manually entered the fax machine, the hand-held scanner, the printers, and the photocopier. It’s great to have all of that information in one place. As we all know, keeping up with technology can feel overwhelming. I think having an up-to-date inventory is such a powerful step towards feeling on top of things.

If you want to learn more about TechAtlas, there are numerous resources that can help:

• *The TechAtlas for Libraries Blog has current information.
• *A free online course, WebJunction’s TechAtlas for Libraries
• *ME! I would be glad to work with you to take advantage of the TechAtlas tools.

So far, I have seen libraries really taking advantage of the inventory capabilities of TechAtlas. It can, however, also help a library create a technology plan (e-rate compatible). Lots of potential for NEKLS libraries….

Not yet for the faint of heart, Internet Explorer 7 was released this week. Those of you with hearty constitutions and a penchant for braving the unknown can get it from Microsoft’s website. I’m installing it now and no bad effects yet. Of course, we all know that I’ll use it once every… 2 weeks or so since I use a Mac.

They claim it’ll have better security and more resistance to spyware. I’ll believe it when I see it (which means I may not ever believe it).

IE 7 Released

Here’s something that I have been reading about that some of you may find relevant….
If you want to learn more about
* Blogs
* RSS
* Wikis
* Social Networking Software and SecondLife
* Flickr
* Social Bookmarking Software
* Selling Social Software @ Your Library
then consider applying for an upcoming free course, offered entirely online: Five Weeks to a Social Library. This is the first time this has been offered, but I have a feeling this is going to be a course with a lot of impact. The creators of the course are currently some of the most exciting thinkers in the world of library technology use.

The class will be limited to 40 participants and the intended audience is “those librarians who have the most to gain from learning about social software and who would not otherwise have access to conferences or continuing education.” The participant applications are due December 1st and you will find out by January 1st whether or not you have been selected to participate.

If any NEKLS library members apply and complete the course, I’d love to know, so I can hear all about it and also so I can interview you about the experience for a NEKLS newsletter article. Go for it!

It has been 2 1/2 weeks since NEKLS Tech Day 2006, so I feel like I have had some distance and space to think about things and start to plan for next year. It has been thrilling to see the response from some of the attendees. We had eval forms and got some good feedback on those, but even more telling has been the response in the “blogosphere.”

• For example, From a KC Librarian created an audioblog entry while at the gas station on his way home!
• It’s all about connections! At Tech Day, A The Book of Nature was able to meet The Goblin in the Library….
• Erica and others from Johnson County brainstormed possibilities and applications in their community.
• We think that David liked us so much he decided to become a Kansas librarian

Thank you everyone for being there and for sharing your ideas and excitement on your blogs! If you have ideas for next year’s Tech Day, please share them with us. Liz and I will both be going to the Internet Librarian conference in October and we’ll be scouting out potential keynote speakers there.

Not that many of you would need this kind of instruction, (you can skip this if you’re not uber geeky). But if you’re like me, and you occasionally have to poke at a *nix box, this might help you out on those “my brain’s fried how do I do that again?” days.

learn UNIX in 10 minutes

Finally! An explanation that I think might be workable.

From the article:

RSS is not limited to delivering the news. Any sort of data that can be broken down and organized with a list can be syndicated with RSS. Examples:

* Traffic information
* Airline delays
* Real Estate listings
* Sports scores
* Weather updates

Read More:
A non-technical explanation of RSS

So, how long is it going to take them to crack your passwords?

Find out here:
Password Recovery Speeds

Mark your calendars! I’m excited to announce that NEKLS Tech Day 2006 will be held on Thursday, August 10th. Details are still, of course, being worked out, but our keynote speaker will be Michael Stephens, author of the Tame the Web blog. His presentation topic will be: “Toward Library 2.0 — Planning, People, and Participation”.

The beginning of a new year means it’s time to be reviewing all that happened in the previous year. Everywhere you look there are best-of lists and more. Technology Review has published a list of what they consider the top 5 info-tech stories of 2005. They include:

1. Municipal wi-fi
2. Silicon photonics
3. Social machines
4. Search
5. Feeds

They are almost all things we have discussed here on the NEKLS technology blog — except maybe silicon photonics??

Digiwik is designed to be a repository of digitization information for use by individuals, museums, libraries, researchers, and any other entities with digitization needs.

Very interesting. I know we have a few libraries who are immersed in various types of digitization projects, maybe this will help them!

Main Page - Digiwik: The Digitization Wiki

Something to think about… if a patron checks out a CD from your library and it has harmful DRM on it, are you liable for any damages that might cause?

The Ann Arbor, Michigan, library system doesn’t seem to think so.

Vacuum - Edward Vielmetti in Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104: Sony rootkit music off the Ann Arbor District Library’s purchase list

Interesting article for new and seasoned bloggers. A primer on how to start, maintain, and perpetuate a blog.

Whee!

The Blogger’s Primer [Content]

Looks like some companies have finally realized the benefit of rural America: it’s cheaper to live there, and the people have familiar accents.

“The company charges $35 to $50 per hour for IT expertise, which may cost around $100 in New York City. While this is no match for outsourcing rates in India, clients benefit from local accents and similar time zones — not to mention the absence of stigma sometimes attached to farming jobs out to foreign countries.”

What does this mean for libraries? It means that (if this idea catches on) a lot of smart people are going to be coming to small towns, and depending on their libraries to provide them with resources they find useful, such as fast internet access (as cable might not be available yet) and up-to-date computer books, whether in print form or through something like an O’Reilly Safari subscription. It’s something to think about.

Wired News: Outsourcing to the Heartland

Technology changes so rapidly that many of us are left feeling overwhelmed. What activities does your technology professional development consist of? How do you keep up? Do you attend classes and workshops? Do you read journal and newsletter articles? More and more organizations are acknowledging that reading blogs can actually be one of the most valuable mediums for professional development.

I personally find myself being increasingly dependent on blogs for keeping up with technology. I use (and recommend) a free Bloglines account, in which I follow a number of great library technology blogs including:
The Shifted Librarian
Tame the Web
Librarian in Black
It’s All Good
and more…. Having them in Bloglines makes it easy to scan through a number of postings at once. What are your favorites?

The NEKLS Tech Blog can also, of course, be read using a Bloglines account

Are you one of those people who creates a list of goals every New Year’s Eve or maybe every year on your birthday? If so, you might enjoy the site 43 Things. At this site, you can input up to 43 goals that you have for your life. Entries range from “overcome my fear of heights” to “read more books”. The point is to provide you with an opportunity to communicate with others who share your goal.

43 Things is just one example of the social technology referred to as folksonomy, which is defined as collaborative categorization. Connections emerge out of shared interests. Library Thing, which allows you to input (and catalog!!) your personal book collection, also includes some folksonomy features. You can find others who have many of the same books that you have. The idea is that you will then discover other titles to read and that you might find friends with whom you could share book titles in the future.

I just returned from the Internet Librarian conference where I had the opportunity to see Jenny Levine present again. She said that in her opinion, folksonomy is one of the coolest things happening in the web world right now. Definitely something to watch and think about!

Sign-up now for one of the upcoming NEKLS Technology Workshops!

We’re working on a spring training calendar, too. What workshops would you like to see? What topics would be most useful to you?

Have you decided to allow instant messaging in the library, but you’re having trouble deciding which clients to download? Do some of your patrons use MSN, while others use AIM or Yahoo? Rather than having to download individual clients for each service, you can install Trillian, which supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. There’s a charge for Trillian Pro, but the basic version is free.

If you don’t want to install software, your patrons can still use IM via e-messenger. It is web-based and allows access to MSN, AOL, and Yahoo messenger.

Google Talk is new on the IM scene. With the popularity of all things Google, some suggest that it may change the IM playing field.