Richmond Public Library has now joined the blog world, too!
Richmond Public Library has now joined the blog world, too!
I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten so Google-dependent that I sometimes forget about all of the other search tools that are out there. Search-22 is a handy resource when you want to look beyond Google for information on the web. There’s also a Search-22 news multisearch engine (it actually serves as an interface to 24 news search tools).
Ha! Libraries made front page on CNN.com. This is a topic we’re going to cover at NEST so here’s a preview of a few of the things we’ll be talking about.
CNN.com – Libraries offering audiobook downloads – Aug 26, 2005
Found this on right here on our own blog, in the comment section. Winchester Public Library has started a simple blog for patron information. The interface is clean and helpful, and all the resources you need are right there.
Congrats to Sue in Winchester for taking the initiative and really going after getting into her patrons’ space!
Check it out at www.winchesterlibrary.blogspot.com
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.
A quite interesting blog about the future and current usage of e-books, both hardware, software, content, and issues surrounding them. For those of you interested in e-books, this might be a very good resource for you.
From Jeff Hixon’s post on Kanlib-l:
Here is a link to a guide for the 13 digit ISBN’s that will be implemented by January 2007. If you need an excuse to upgrade your library automation system, this would be a good one. Older versions of most automation systems will not support 13 digits, so an upgrade will be required to make your software compatible.
Most automation vendors no doubt already have this on their radar. Be aware that you’ll probably have an update coming, however.
No informative links today, no time to look for informative stuff! Here’s a week in the life of your NEKLS tech folks:
Power Outage takes down NEKLS services – emergency action needed to keep all 20 785 KanREN libraries internet up.
Power Outage kills DNS server. Not discovered ’til next day. KanGuard affected. Phone rings off hook.
New DNS server put in place – running whole new version of BIND. Eek!
KanGuard server moved to rack – some interfaces don’t come up (but are not discovered ’til next day) minor emergency ensues.
Public Library hit by lightning, network equipment and automation server affected. No good backups. Perform emergency data recovery on HD from old server and recover automation data. Hooray!
All that in 3 days! Sheesh. I’m ready for the weekend. 
The Ann Arbor (MI) library website features seven blogs. There are book blogs and library news blogs. There is even a catalog blog! The library’s director, Josie Parker, was quoted in a recent issue of Library Hotline, “We wanted our web site to be interactive with the public, and chose blogs as the major form of communication.”
