LibraryThing Local

Would anyone or several of you be interested in adding our branches and book type events into LibraryThing Local? I edited the Central venue and added Alabama Bound.

http://www.librarything.com/local

Virtual Tours

You sneaky devils. I didn't know some of the virtual tours were already up. Should we blog about them to let patrons know they're available? I can do it or Richard, Hunter, or Michael could since they did the work.

40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blog Content

Great blog entry with good info.

Library Confessions: Pay Online

Here is a video promo for paying online.

Any suggestions?

Entertaining Insights into the BPL Blog?

Did you know that there are blog analyzers that purportedly offer insights into writing styles used in blogs?

Wonder how the BPL blog stacks up? Read on.

Note: I cannot vouch for the scientific veracity of these tools, so consider them shared for their entertainment value only.

Readability Test - Determines the grade level of the blog's writing. The BPL blog shows as being College Undergrad readability.

Blog Rating - The BPL blog is G Rated!

Genderanalyzer – Determines what sex you write like: Genderanalyzer thinks http://bplolinenews.blogspot.com/ is written by a man (81%). This must be from Hunter’s testosterone laden press releases :)

Typealyzer – provides a Myers-Briggs type analysis: The BPL Blog is an ESTP. (Considering what Genderanalyzer said I thought our blog might be an ESPN :)

According to Typealyzer, "ESTP - Doers are the active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities. The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus."

Local Authors Expo - Any Comments?

We now have two versions of the Local Authors Expo video the "Winter Wonderland" version



and the "Monster Truck Parody" version

Telling the Story

Telling the story of the library,using various means, was mentioned over and over at IL2008. The video story above was shown as an example. I thought it was great!

For a summary of my notes from the IL2008 conference click the link below.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df7m9gcx_3224tps3td4

Il2008 Pecha Kucha

There was one Pecha Kucha ,a presentation format in which ideas can be quickly and informally shown, session at IL2008. The format was interesting.

Watch it here:

Meeting October 29th

Hi all,

Well Oct. 29th is the 5th Wednesday of the month so you know what that means...time to get together again. We will discuss our latest completed project and Richard will share a few of the nuggets he got at the Internet Librarian Conference. The meeting will be in the Board Room at 9 a.m.

Please let me know if you can attend.

Thanks!
Melinda

BPL Video used as training example

Wilmette Public Library, Illinois
http://great8wpl.wordpress.com/

"Libraries and YouTube
Check out one of more of the following videos to see how libraries are using YouTube! Note that not only are libraries making videos themselves, they are involving patrons through video contests and other programs. And though informative, the videos are also quite entertaining!

- Demonstrating the value of your library… Zombies in the Library, by Allen County Public Library

- Providing library instruction… Tour the Library, by Harper College Library

- Promote literacy through book talks… Story Tubes

- Educate patrons and staff about library departments… TS: Technical Service, by Arlington Heights Memorial Library

- Promote special programs at the library… Teen Summer Reading @ Birmingham Public Library"

Jim Pate's Crossword

I was just wondering what everyone thinks of the idea of putting Jim Pate's crossword puzzle on our blog every month. I don't even know if it's doable. I've been looking around the Web, but most of the sites I've seen for building crossword puzzles are for printed puzzles. I'm sure such a thing exists, I just haven't ran into it yet.

The Reader is online but not his crossword. I know I look forward to doing them every month, and also do other online crossword puzzles. I just thought it might add an element of fun to the blog.

Listen Now Feature on Public Blog

Hey, I just got back from vacation and noticed the Listen Now feature. Who's doing this and what is it for? For people with bad vision? Just curious.

Local Authors Expo - A Monster!

Springville Road Library Rock Band Video

BPL Twittering discussed by New Hampshire State Library

Twitter: Reaching Patrons with Micro-blogging

Yesterday I wrote about how blogs are becoming more mainstream and how mainstream media are using blogs. Today, let's take another look at micro-blogging. Micro-blogging is abbreviated blogging -- posting short messages less than 140 characters in length. Why do people use micro-blogging services like Twitter? This video explains it so much better than I ever could!

Even after that great video, it might be hard to see how Twitter fits into your life and why you'd personally have a reason to use it. I'm not sure we should be asking ourselves if we'd find a use for micro-blogging in our personal lives, rather, can we incorporate micro-blogging as a publicity tool to reach younger patrons? As librarians, our job is to notice how technology fits into other people's lives and figure out how we can incorporate library information, events, and promotion into their lives as seamlessly as possible.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was a reluctant Twitter user (Twitterer?), and had to find things that were of interest to me before I was inclined to use it. The more I started researching Twitter, the more interested I've become in the phenomena of micro-blogging. Here is one of the major tools that really opened my eyes: Twitter Search. This site acts as a full-text search for real-time Twitter posts. Visit the site and do a search for a major political candidate. When you get the results, notice how many minutes apart people are posting. Chances are you'll get a page of posts all written in the last 5-10 minutes. And most interesting, notice how many updates you get every couple of minutes!

So why do I think micro-blogging is a trend to watch and try out? Two reasons: It is quicker to write a short post (and we are such busy, multi-tasking people!), and second, it is easier to send a short message on increasingly popular mobile devices.

If you are curious what other business or organizations use Twitter, check out this short list for a few examples:

The Nashua Telegraph
Seacoast Online
Birmingham Public Library

Why not create a Twitter account, take a minute each day or so to publicize an event or new book, and advertise your Tweets with a gadget on your blog?

http://nhais.blogspot.com/2008/09/twitter-reaching-patrons-with-micro.html

Teen Read Week

Anyone interested in doing a 30 second video using the psa here?

Need help ASAP

I have to create a budget for our group ASAP. Please let me know of any equiment, softward, and services that need to be included in our annual budget. I will include the equipment we just requested as well as a pro account for Mapwing.

Thanks for your help!

Melinda

The Story of a Sign

This video, winner of this year’s Cannes Film Festival for online short films, reminds me of the importance of crafting the messages we send in words or images.

Like they say, it’s not what you say but how you say it.

Wi-Fi Sci-Fi Library Video

1-2-3 Play with Me Video

Michael, Hunter, Janine and I have collaborated on this one. Please review before it goes to the public blog.

Thanks!

Tell a Book Story

Let's use the sincerest form of flattery here. I think we can do better with this concept.

Any ideas for "story time" with books?

BPL videos to be shown at City Hall

The Birmingham City Hall has television screens showing videos created by City Hall. I was asked to send our summer reading video and our Food For Fines video to be shown there also. So, if you drop by there, you may see the fine work that you all created. Congrats!

L2 Crew Rocks!

Thanks for the wonderful summer reading "rap up" video. I played it for the library board at this morning's meeting. It was a great way to demonstrate the success of the summer reading program. The board really enjoyed the presentation and especially liked the video clip of Umdabu. Thanks again for your hard work.

Ning for libraries

Roselle Public Library is using Ning as a social networking tool for their staff and public. It looks like a really cool idea. I created an account so I could get in and see what it is all about. If you want to use my name and password to take a look around it is my email address and test1234.

http://rosellelibrary.ning.com/

Let me know what you think.

50 Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice

"Check out this comprehensive list of 50 Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice. It's chock full of good advice, day-to-day practice, tools to streamline your processes, and an abundance of comments with even more good tips from the peanut gallery."

Food For Fines

A Food For Fines video is ready. Goes on the public blog next week.

Good news!

Mrs. Sirmans approved our request for computers (laptop and desktop) and a room of our own. Robert is putting together a list of needed hardware and software which will be sent to Phil Teague for approval. Hope is searching for a secure room for us to set up our equipment. I will keep you all posted.

Minutes from July 30th meeting online

The minutes are available on our wiki.

1,2,3 Play with Me photos

I have posted some 1,2,3 Play with Me photos on the shared photo drive. The title of the folder is Family Place. I thought they might be helpful in creating the "commercial." Please let me know if you need any additional photos or information from me. You guys are awesome!

L2 Crew Meeting Tomorrow

We have a change of plan for our meeting tomorrow. We will meet in the Board Room at 9 a.m. See you there.

The Conversation Prism

To see a larger image click the prism.

The Conversation Prism was created to help organizations "visualize the immense landscape that is social media" & "consider where they need - or need not - to be."

This image does a great job of showing that conversation is at the heart of ever expanding social software. I found the image interesting and worth considering.

Follow this link for more information about the concept and this link on how it could be used.

Food For Fines Promotion - Ideas?

I am working on a YouTube video promo for the Food for Fines - JCLC's September Food Drive.

Any suggestions or ideas you may have would be appreciated.

Panel Success –Thanks to Robert & Hunter

From the comments I have heard, the L2 panel discussion when over well at the JCPLA Staff Day.

Hunter started us off with podcasts and virtual tours. He got some practical questions about both subjects.

Robert came next with Blogs. You could tell with the comments during his section that many were interested in blogging.

Finally, I covered online photos and video.

Thanks to Robert & Hunter we got a good round of applause at the end.

I Can't Make Our August 7 Meeting

My notes from our last L2 Crew meeting is in my car, so I can't remember if the date for our next meeting is Thursday, August 7. If it is I'll be on weekend time and won't be able to attend. Which is not good because I'm supposed to be chauffering you guys to Five Points West. If I'm right about the date, do y'all want to pick another one? Maybe the following Monday or Tuesday?

Sorry for any inconvenience. I'm lost without my desk calendar.

More Virtual Tours

The virtual tours are coming along.

The application we are using to generate the tours has taken some time to learn and the process of doing all the steps needed are more complicated that we originally planned.

We hope you can see that we are getting the kinks worked out.

Try these!

Pageonce

I found another great site yesterday as I was reading my favorite blogs. This site is called Pageonce. It is your personal Internet assistant. You can find all the websites that you visit on a regular basis and basically place them in one central location instead of having to visit each site individually. The sites are updated on a regular basis so there is no worry about not having the most up-to-date information. Some of the typically website categories include: financial, such as your bank accounts; shopping, such as your Amazon account; utilities, such as your power bill or cable bill; social, such as Facebook or MySpace; travel, such as airlines or hotel information; and email such as Gmail or Hotmail.

ScrnShots

For those of you who take a lot of screenshots I discovered a Web 2.0 app that will store all of your screenshots. It is called ScrnShots. I just discovered this afternoon from reading a favorite blog of mine. It looks like it would serve a good purpose. Instead of having all those screenshots all over the place you can store them in one central location.

Library Blog Entry: Libraries in Social Networking Software (BPL Mentioned)

Wow. I was reading this blog entry and was really digging the information when I noticed that BPL was listed at the bottom of her article as a library with a good MySpace profile. Aright, Melinda!

Libraries in Social Networking Software
By Meredith Farkas May 10, 2006


I’ve been listening and quietly taking in all of the talk about social networking software and the library’s place (if any) in that software. I’ve raised a few questions on e-mail lists about whether or not we are invading our patrons’ space by building presence in MySpace and Facebook (perhaps) and whether it is at all ok to ban the use of MySpace because it is not an “academic site” and “people are using it a lot” (ummmm… no). I’ve devoted a whole chapter in my book to social networking software and plan to speak about it at the Vermont Library Conference next week. But I didn’t realize until Friday, after discussing the subject with Casey Bisson, that I’d never actually discussed my thoughts on social networking software with other librarians. I guess I’m at the point where I’m forgetting what I’ve written for my book vs. for my blog. (Frankly, I’m lucky my brain still functions at all.)

I think I tend to ride the fence between unrelenting enthusiasm for technology and healthy cynicism. Anyone who knows me knows how excited I am by social software. I wish playing with social software and thinking about how to use it in libraries could be my full-time job. But at the same time, I’m really pragmatic about technology implementation in libraries. I hate the idea of implementing new things at libraries because they’re “cool” and not to serve a specific purpose. So I often question why librarians are doing the things they do with social software. So this is the orientation I am bringing to the discussion of MySpace and Facebook and where libraries should be in all this.

-snip-

In conclusion, I do not think that there is anything inherently “cool” or useful about having a profile on these sites. Just like any social software tool, it’s what you do with it that matters. And many libraries aren’t really doing anything with their profiles. Sorry this is so long! This is what you get when I’m forced to staff the reference desk at night in a nearly empty library during exam week when no one comes to the reference desk in THREE HOURS. Your reward for reading through this long post is a treasure trove of links to blog posts and other useful resources about the place of libraries in social networking software. I think these posts will offer you some really good food for thought. I would love to hear your thoughts on the role of libraries in MySpace and Facebook and appropriateness of the library building presence in these sites. My opinion of the place of libraries in social networking sites is constantly evolving, so I’m totally open to comments and criticisms.

Useful Resources on Libraries and Social Networking Software
Libraries with good profiles
Brooklyn College Library
Bennington College on Facebook (won’t be able to see unless you have an account and are added as a friend)
Denver Public Library eVolver
Hennepin County Public Library
UT Austin
Morrisville College Library
Birmingham Public Library

L2Crew Statistics May-June 2008

Twitter
June 47 followers (subscribers)

Cumulative statistics for podcasts:

May 2008
number of podcasts 25
number of downloads 749
number of items streamed 527
combined total 1282

June 2008
number of podcasts 25
number of downloads 861
number of items streamed 550
combined total 1419

Cumulative statistics for YouTube:

May 2008
videos 43
videos viewed cumulative 29209
subscribers 53
channel views 5293

June 2008
videos 43
videos viewed cumulative 31447
subscribers 57
channel views 5637

Cumulative statistics for blip.tv:

May 2008
Videos 8
videos viewed cumulative 1607

June 2008
Videos 8
videos viewed cumulative 1925

Cumulative statistics for Slideshare (PowerPoint presentations:)

May 2008
Number of slideshows 10
Number of views 4097

June 2008
Number of slideshows 10
Number of views 4834


Cumulative statistics for flickr:

May 2008
Total photos 1194
Total site views 34,349
photo views 84,562
photostream views 34,287
photo sets views 5803
combined view total 136292

June 2008
Total photos 1324
Total site views 36,993
photo views 93,552
photostream views 36,937
photo sets views 5803
combined view total 136,292

BPL News Blog:

May 2008
Average daily number of visitors 65
Average daily number of visits 73
Aggregate item views 583 views of 84 items
Email subscribers 61
RSS subscribers 42

June 2008
Average daily number of visitors 53
Average daily number of visits 60
Aggregate item views 399 views of 51 items
Email subscribers 61
RSS subscribers 37

Virtual Tours so Far

Hello, my friends,

We have been feverishly working on the virtual tours here at Central. They are not final yet, but we do have some pretty good first editions of the Central East buildings.

I hope everyone's having a great summer!

Here are the tours:

First floor: http://www.mapwing.com/explore/view_tour.php?t=UVUm4Vpp4nXn45V

Second floor: http://www.mapwing.com/explore/view_tour.php?t=IEI3BNYa3sLNwsE

Third floor: http://www.mapwing.com/explore/view_tour.php?t=IEI33YYsYLLNwsE

Fourth Floor http://www.mapwing.com/explore/view_tour.php?t=l0lJeTzeTTFuzT0

L2Crew Meeting

We will meet July 30 in the Boardroom at 9 a.m. Please let me know if you will be able to attend and if there is something you want added to the agenda. I look forward to meeting face-to-face with all of you again.

Melinda

Blog idea

Would someone like to blog about this? If so, add a note in the comments so we won't have duplicate effort. Thanks crew!

I wanted to let you know about some new developments with respect
to This Goodly Land: Alabama's Literary Landscape, our online literary
map for the State of Alabama (http://www.alabamaliterarymap.org).
If you haven't looked at the home page recently, you should check it
out. We've added a feature we call "This Day in Alabama Literary
History." See what happened on today's date or select any other
month-day combination. (There are still a few blank dates, but we've got
events for over 85% of the calendar year.)
We've also added a video that we made this spring with author Peter
Huggins. Peter talks about the meaning of "place" and recites his
poem "An Airfield in Alabama."
(http://media.cla.auburn.edu/cla/podcasts/peterhuggins.html).
We've just created a blog for This Goodly Land( http://alabamaliterarymap.blogspot.com). We'll be using it to announce
new features (such as the above), new author profiles, upcoming promotional events, etc. We will also use it to call attention to aspects of the site that we feel deserve special notice. You can bookmark the blog site in your Web browser or get updates sent directly to your email address or your RSS feed reader.
We've got 134 author profiles now on the site (up from 60 when we launched in January 2007).

JCPLA Staff Development Day

At our January meeting, we discussed a panel from the L2 Crew presenting at the JCPLA Staff Development Day with the topic being "Marketing the library through Web 2.0."

Our L2 Crew panel is scheduled to share their insights on how these useful (and very cool) Web 2.0 web tools can help "your library" from 3:00 to 4:00 on August 1, 2008.

With this panel discussion being about a month away, we need to decide who will be panelists.

I have no idea as to who originally volunteered in January, so if you would like to help you can be a panelist.

I would be glad to participate in and/or do the introduction for the panel.

Any volunteers?

One Year Anniversary

Hello L2Crew and Happy Anniversary! Can you believe that next month will mark our one year anniversary? To think of all the things we have accomplished for BPL and the things we have learned is quite mind bending. You guys are the best and I have really enjoyed spending time this year getting to know you all and learning with and from you. As Michelangelo said "I am still learning" and I hope to continue to learn with all of you.

However, I know some of you may be ready to pursue other areas of work and I understand that. So, if there is anyone who wants to move on to something else just let me know. We will wish you well and give you a well-deserved pat on the back. Of course ... I am hoping that you all will stay and continue to learn with me and create and explore too.

L2Crew ROCKS! (I sound like a nerd, don't I?)

Melinda

collection of dozens of fact sheets about popular technology topics.

This looks like a great way to present new technology.

7 Things You Should Know About...
The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's (ELI's) 7 Things You Should Know About... series provides concise information on emerging learning technologies and related practices. Each brief focuses on a single technology or practice and describes:

What it is
How it works
Where it is going
Why it matters to teaching and learning
Use ELI's 7 Things You Should Know About... briefs to:

Enhance faculty development activities
Open a dialogue with senior administrators about emerging technologies and their implications for your institution
Stay up-to-date on emerging technologies
7 Things You Should Know About...pieces provide quick, no-jargon overviews of emerging technologies and related practices that have demonstrated or may demonstrate positive learning impacts. Any time you need to explain a new learning technology or practice quickly and clearly, look for a 7 Things You Should Know About... brief from ELI.

March and April Stats

Cumulative statistics for podcasts:

March 2008
number of podcasts 24
number of downloads 338
number of items streamed 436
combined total 774

April 2008
number of podcasts 25
number of downloads 562
number of items streamed 487
combined total 1049

Cumulative statistics for YouTube:
March 2008
videos 37
videos viewed cumulative 22041
subscribers 44
channel views 4502

April 2008
videos 41
videos viewed cumulative 26128
subscribers 54
channel views 4854

Cumulative statistics for blip.tv:

March 2008
Videos 8
videos viewed cumulative 824

April 2008
Videos 8
videos viewed cumulative 1215

Cumulative statistics for Slideshare (PowerPoint presentations:)

March 2008
Number of slideshows 8
Number of views 2612

April 2008
Number of slideshows 10
Number of views 3581

Cumulative statistics for flickr:

March 2008
Total photos 1068
Total site views 30,572
photo views 71,008
photostream views 30,502
photo sets views 5030
combined view total 106,540

April 2008
Total photos 1164
Total site views 32,640
photo views 78,729
photostream views 32,579
photo sets views 5356
combined view total 116,664

BPL News Blog:

March 2008
Average daily number of visitors 53
Average daily number of visits 62
Aggregate item views 618 views of 80 items
Email subscribers 63
RSS subscribers 36
Blog entries 24 by 7 different staff members

April 2008
Average daily number of visitors 55
Average daily number of visits 62
Aggregate item views 476 views of 111items
Email subscribers 63
RSS subscribers 35
Blog entries 25 by 4 different staff members

XO Laptop

Administration has given the L2Crew a XO laptop to work with. If anyone would like to borrow it and try it out, it is located in my cubicle. Just let me know if you take it so I can keep up with it.

New BPL Myspace Page

I was just browsing through BPL's Myspace Page. I have a few new ideas on what to do with it. Does anyone from Central has some newer photos of the Central library that can be added to the Myspace profile? Right now, there's only one photo on the profile. If you have some pics could you let me know!

Thanks!

L2Crew Report Request

Hey Crew. I am to report to Administration and the coordinators Tuesday morning about our group, what we have accomplished, what we are in the process of doing and any concerns and needs for our group. I would appreciate it if you would email me if you have anything you want me to say or any needs you have. I do have the stats and our meeting minutes and will use that info too. Thanks so much.

Wish we could do this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21035249@N03/

Catch The Bug Animoto

Thought of this today. Like it?

RSS feed aggregator

The University of Alabama Huntsville has a library feed aggregator for all the library's rss feeds plus the local weather and the New York Times. This may be something we want to consider for the future.

Take a look at it and see what you think.

Links to databases

When using links to our databases for videos, podcasts and blog entries we need to use the more information link to the database being highlighted. This link will be the least likely to change and will help with keeping our links current.

Thanks guys!

New social software to try out!!!

Hi L2Crew! I just returned from the monthly meeting of the Internet Professional Society of Alabama's (IPSA) where the topic of discussion was social software. Boy, there are a few very cool tools that were discussed that I think we may be able to use some of them.

The first one I want to mention is the one I was the most excited about. It is USTREAM. With this you can create a live video stream and chat at the same time. I can see this being used for programs and classes we do do here. People can tune in from home and talk to us at the same time. It looks very promising.

qik is a way to provide live video streaming from your cell phone camera. I want to look at that one too. blogtv has live streaming and chat as well.

Some things to look at for twittering: Twhirl and Seesmic (in alpha at the moment--- video twittering). Kathy you may want bpl to start following a couple of twitter sites, if we aren't already: metrobham and Bham Pulse. Both sound good.

oovoo is a video conferencing tool that allows people to chat and see each other. It is supposed to be better than skype AND you can record the conversation and use it later. How cool is that?

jott.com converts voice to text and it has an api.

brightkite is a locations based social networking tool.

And get this.....evernote is a way to store a photo and convert any words in the pic to text. AMAZING!

What a great time to work in the library field!

Legal Forms Database Test Video

A preview for an Alabama Legal Forms promo video has been uploaded onto
\\snap\Groups\Photographs\ . To view click on the file named "legal forms.wmv "

Credits will be added before posting.

What do you think?

Suggestions?

New Blogger Feature: Scheduled Posts

Blogger has a new feature that allows you to set a future publishing date for an entry. I stumbled upon it when I tried to post a current entry and it scheduled it for a future date. Guess there are still some kinks to work out. Here's the link.

L2 Crew meeting April 30

We will meet tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. in the Board Room. Please let me know if you will be able to make it or not.

I would like for us to discuss our plans for the library video tours, twitter, branch blogging, and any problems or new ideas you all may have. So put your thinking caps on and let's get ready for a great meeting.

I look forward to seeing you all together again.

~Melinda

Webware Winners

The 2008 Webware 100 are the 100 top Web apps according to Webware users. Here is a sample:

• OpenID - The one-signon-for-all-sites standard gains momentum. Could easily become the Web-wide universal login within a few years
• Miro - An open-source media player and organizer.
• uStream - An innovative live video streaming company.
• RememberTheMilk - Handles the simple job of keeping your to-do list.
• FotoFlexer - One of a group of online photo editors similar Picnik.

You can see all the winners here.

Video by Computer Class

Created in the computer class at Five Points this morning. Patrons participated in video subject selection, making video, photos and editing.

Catch the Reading Bug Video

Are there any plans to do a "Catch the Reading Bug" promo video on YouTube?
There are many ways to go with this title:

• Catching an illness called The Reading Bug
• Turning pages with an eventual discovery that is an insect reading?
• A book montage with titles from Sam & the Firefly to Miss Spider's Tea Party
• Bugging (nagging) someone?
• Someone eavesdropping (using a bug)
• A kid chasing & catching a VW (bug) with books?
• Computer virus - Why isn't little Susie using her computer this summer? The Reading Bug.
• Having people with "bug" antennae on there heads at the library.

For more ideas watch this excellent professionally done “Catch the Reading Bug” psa promoting youth summer reading in Virginia.

GroupTweet.com?

Could we use this ?

GroupTweet.com is a new site based on the Twitter API, allowing private groups and sending tweets only to group members.

When you want to send a message to the group, send a message to the group’s Twitter account, and GroupTweet.com will immediately send it back out as a tweet sent from the group account, which all members will receive since they are following that account. This way, private message is received only by approved group members, and not published to public Twitter timelines.

Strange but True Book Titles?

Have you ever encountered a strange or very intriguing book title?

Here are some titles from our catalog that I find interesting:

How to Survive a Horror Movie

The Sweet Potato Queens' Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide

The Executioner Always Chops Twice

Al Capone Does My Shirts

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

How to Survive a Robot Uprising

Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining

Six-Legged Sex: The Erotic Lives of Bugs

Outwitting squirrels

Getting Stoned with Savages

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

If I Were An Evil Overlord

The Gallery of Regrettable Food

I think we could use these strange but true book titles in a video or an interesting blog post. Imagine a video of someone frenetically pulling these strange book titles from the shelves until she find the one she needs.

Do you have more strange book titles to add? Anything to add to the idea?

Volunteers for blog entries?

Would one or more of you like to volunteer to write a blog entry for Thursday night's movie and/or an entry for Alabama Bound? If you are interested, would you leave a comment saying so? That way, we won't have duplicate entries. Thanks a bunch crew!

BPL Digital Collections: The Video

A BPL Digital Collections video is in editing and post production.

To preview it: click on the start button then chose run. In the run box type \\snap\Groups\Photographs\Then click on the file “ digital_Collections_003.wmv.”

Any suggestions before it goes public?

February Stats

Cumulative statistics for podcasts:
February 2008
number of podcasts 19
number of downloads 259
number of items streamed 376
combined total 635

Cumulative statistics for YouTube:
February 2008
videos 34
videos viewed cumulative 19705
subscribers 34
channel views 4393

Cumulative statistics for blip.tv:
February 2008
Videos 5
videos viewed cumulative 713

Cumulative statistics for Slideshare (PowerPoint presentations:)
February 2008
Number of slideshows 7
Number of views 2584

Cumulative statistics for flickr:
February 2008
Total photos 1045
Total site views 29158
photo views 66,984
photostream views 29,069
photo sets views 4874
combined view total 100,927

BPL News Blog:
February 2008
Average daily number of visitors 67
Average daily number of visits 77
Aggregate item views 691 views of 87 items
Email subscribers 63
RSS subscribers 36
Blog entries 24 by 5 different staff members

Seeking Staff to Write Reviews for the Blog

I chatted with Melinda this morning about trying once again to get staff interested in contributing to the BPL Latest News, Reviews, & Info Blog. We are going to start adding fiction and nonfiction reviews to the back of the Bookpage, so the more people who write reviews, the better.

Last year I went through the Season's Readings and picked some people who submitted interesting and well-written reviews. I sent an e-mail asking them to think about participating, but got zero response. I've sent the list to Melinda in the hopes that we can convince them to participate this year.

I know that Robert and Richard have been thinking about ways to encourage staff to submit book, audio, and movie reviews to the blog. Robert has thought about some incentives that might spark some interest.

Any ideas would be welcomed.

BPL @ Night Video?

A video for BPL @ Night has been put together.

Overall it came out well. However, it may need something to add more punch, but I am not sure what?

To see it: click on the start button then chose run. In the run box type \\snap\Groups\Photographs\
Then click on the file “ bplnite.wmv” to view.

LinkBunch

Found another great URL tool. Basically, this is how it works. If you want to send a person a bunch of links, you can send them one link which will open all the links you atached to the one "big" link. Click here for more information about this tool.

A link bunch is just that - a bunch of links. Often you find several links on the web that you want to share on services such as instant messengers (Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, etc.) or microblogging platforms such as Twitter (which has a 140-character limit) and Pownce (which only has one link field). With LinkBunch, you take all those links and put them into one "bunch", which is just one single link--which looks like a TinyURL or SnipURL link--and give that around instead. Saves space, looks cleaner and saves a few bytes of bandwidth! :)

BPL @ Night Video

Michael had a terrific idea as a follow up to the patrons creating a video post. He suggested doing a BPL @ Night video.

I can see it now. Looking down a between library stacks and the lights fade out. A question is posed “What happens when the lights go out?” Followed by a fast paced sequence of shots of different BPL @ Night events.

Like this one?
No?
Other BPL @ Night video ideas anyone?

Video Idea For Digital Collections Ad

Got an idea that could be used for the video to advertise the digital collections. With the movie “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” movie coming soon to theaters. How about a treasure finder theme.

Imagine a happy “Indiana Jones” type looking over a glowing object then maybe blowing some dust off. Panning the camera down, we find the glow is from a computer screen that is displaying the BPL digital collections. The screen could quickly show screens of selected pages from the collection.

Sound good? Other ideas?

Patrons Create a Video?

In mid-April, we are doing a public class here at Five Points on viewing and creating short videos online. The class is going to learn how to view online videos @ youtube.com then upload a short video to the Internet (youtube.com or blip.tv)

This seems like an opportunity to involve patrons in creation of a video we could actually use. The video itself would need to be relatively short due to the length of the class. Do any of you have a great idea for a short video subject?

Reviewing libraries

If anyone is interested in writing reviews about the different branches in yelp that would be great!
Here is a little info: http://www.walkingpaper.org/548
http://mrschu81.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/newport-beach-public-library/


http://www.yelp.com/birmingham-al

Love the Tax Form youTube

Did not think anyone could make taxes amusing! Very nice video--good style, eye catching and to the point! Well done. Thanks.

Tax Video

Richard did a great job with the tax video. Take a look:

Microblogging

You may become all a twitter after watching or you may think twittering is for twits, but you will understand the microblogging craze better after you watch the video.

PC Magazine's Best Free Software

Here you will find a listing of PC Magazine's Best Free Software.

March is National Poetry Month

I've been trying to think of some blogging ideas for Nat'l Poetry Month. I know that the children's depts. are always posting cute poems and haikus from their patrons. How about we have a contest and/or post the poems on the blog? Don't know if we're allowed to use pictures of kids.

Homewood has some podcasts of teens reading their own book reviews. It might interest some of our younger patrons and get them more involved if they were able to record their own poems. I really don't know how podcasting works, though. Would this be possible?

Or we might could just show pics of their poems and drawings.

7 Great Online Image Editing Apps

7 Great Online Image Editing Apps

5 Free Screencasting Apps

5 Free Screencasting Apps

Top 10 Online Video Conversion Services

Top 10 Online Video Conversion Services

Booklet Creator

While surfing through the many, many blogs I read, I came across another "potentially" helpful online tool. It is BookletCreator. Basically it takes a PDF document and creates a booklet from that file.

It reorders pages so that after printing and folding the pages you get a small book.

Click here to see how it works.

Here is the original link.

Blogger Spell Check is Now Working

Looks like they fixed the problem...for now.

Blogger Tips

I found a list of "Top 10 Blogger Hacks and Tips"on a helpful Internet resource called: MakeUseOf.com

The site contains plenty of other useful information as well. Check it out!

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-blogger-hacks-and-tips/

Wish We Had Thought of This

Madonna's "Ray of Light"


St. Joseph County Public Library's "Ray of Light"

February 29, 2008

Any ideas for leap day?

Once every four years, it seems ripe for a blog post or something. It could be just a FYI about the intercalary year or maybe some book/program tie-in?

Spell Check Isn't Working in Blogger

FYI, just in case you haven't noticed, spell check in Blogger hasn't been working for some time. For a while I thought, "Wow, I sure am a greeaaat speller!," but that sadly isn't the case. Just be sure to triple-check for typos before posting to the blog. And any Admins can feel free to correct any typos they see.

Thagg Reads It Forward

Here is a Thagg video for Read it Forward & Project Mockingbird. Comments welcome before it goes "public."

Allen County Public Library Virtual Tours

Take a look at how ACPL did their virtual tours:

http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/virtualtour/GreatHall.html

Virtual Tours

Ms. Sirmans would like our group to take up the project of creating virtual tours of each location and department. Those of you who are interested in participating please let me know and let me know what aspect of the project you are interested in. I anticipate the need for photos, video, text, audio, graphics, and software. So if any of these categories spark your creative juices, let me know.

Also, I just read about SketchUp, a 3D modeling tool from Google that we may be able to use. If someone is interested in experimenting with it, that would be great. Here is the link to the information I came across.

Another excellent L2 idea takes shape

After the meeting last week (a most productive one if I do say so myself), Tressa emailed me with a brilliant idea. She suggested we (more like I) record podcasts of the Board members giving their reflections on To Kill A Mockinbird. (And if that mockingbird don't sing, Hunter's gonna buy you a diamond ring...). Anyway, here is the news (and I ain't talkin Huey Lewis) so far:

Today, I, Hunter Murphy, of sound mind and body, recorded two of the podcasts for The Big Read, from both Kelsey and Matt Layne. They are excellent representations of the power of the novel. One of the readings comes during Atticus' final speech to the jury where he discusses how the courtroom is the only place in society where all men are created equal. Then, the second section is where Scout tells of her daddy saying it's a "sin to kill a mockingbird." Both these sections touch on (if not fully represent) the themes in the book, about the spiritual, moral, and social dilemmas of the pre-Civil Rights society and I think it will be an excellent place to introduce the BPL Board members' reflections. It's shaping up to be an excellent project and I thought you would be interested to hear about it.

Thagg Gets ILL - A Rough Cut

Here is a rough cut of the ILL video. Some editing is still needed before going public. After the edits, the video will accompany Erick's ILL map and a link to Ill’s webpage in a blog post.

Any edits needed or suggestions?

January Statistics

Here are the January statistics for the different projects we work on. Thanks Hunter for the suggestion to make this available to the crew.


Cumulative statistics for podcasts:
Jan 2008
Number of podcasts 19
number of downloads 176
number of items streamed 347
combined total 523

Cumulative statistics for YouTube:
January 2008
videos 30
videos viewed cumulative 16375
subscribers 28
channel views 4113

Cumulative statistics for blip.tv:
January 2008
Videos 3
videos viewed cumulative 321

Cumulative statistics for flickr:
Total site views 27294
photo views cumulative 60708
photostream views cumulative 27281
photo sets cumulative views 4524
combined cumulative view total 92513

Cumulative statistics for Slideshare (PowerPoint presentations:)
January 2008
Number of slideshows 7
Number of views cumulative 2209

BPL News Blog:
January 2008
Average daily number of visitors 54
Average daily number of visits 62
Aggregate item views 668 views of 59 items
Email subscribers 62
RSS subscribers 33
Blog entries 19 by 4 different staff members

Video: Wikis in plain English

I found a great video that explains in simple terms what a wiki is and how it works. It may be of use for those of you having to explain wikis to staff members.

http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english




Created by Common Craft

Minutes Online for 29 Jan. 2008

We came up with some good ideas during our meeting and I hope we will be able to implement many of them.

Please read and edit. Thanks!

Article: Facebook Fatigue Kicks in as People Tire of Social Networks

Shhh! Can you hear a hiss? That's the sound of naughty facts deflating the social networking balloon a tad.

Whisper it, but numbers from web analytics outfit comScore have confirmed what the chatter in bars and cafes has been saying for months - people are, just, well, bored of social networks.

The average length of time users spend on all of the top three sites is on the slide. Bebo, MySpace and Facebook all took double-digit percentage hits in the last months of 2007. December could perhaps be forgiven as a seasonal blip when people see their real friends and family, but the trend was already south.

Rest of article.

Meeting Today

Hello L2Crew! Don't forget our meeting today at 3:30 pm in the Board Room. See you there.

Library 2.0 and Failure: Interesting Article

"Has Elvis Left the Building?
By davidleeking on web2.0

Gee whiz.
Every now and then, someone decides to share that some new-fangled “library 2.0″
project didn’t work out … and others start claiming “After John Blyberg and
others come out and say that library 2.0 didn’t work and neither did tagging,
etc., the flood gates open.” Huh?

It might be good to remember two
things:

1. If one 2.0 project doesn’t work as expected, that doesn’t
mean that “library 2.0 didn’t work” as a whole.

2. Social 2.0 projects require “Elvis” to leave the building."

Click the link above to read the entire post.

EventKeeper Blog Mentions Richard's Thagg

12/24/2007
http://plymouthrocket.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/so-easy-even-a-caveman-can-do-it/

So easy even a caveman can do it… The Birmingham Public Library blog
makes it easy to see what is new and good at this terrific library. We’ll keep
tuning in in case our buddy Thagg decides to make a snow angel. Be sure to watch Thagg reserve his book.
1 Comment
1. RIc December 24,
2007 at 3:19 pm
Wonder if can teach Thagg to use EventKeeper?

Spy the Big Read

Looking for an intriguing way to spend a few minutes? Why not become a spy for "Project Mockingbird?"

Project Mockingbird does sound like a clandestine operation to foil an evil organization or something doesn’t it? So a Project Mockingbird video is being organized with a spy theme.

For the current idea, we need numerous pictures of spies opening a Project Mockingbird envelope and reading, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Want to be a spy? Photos will be taken. Dark glasses, hats, and trench coats are optional.

BTW: If you have have any brilliant "spy" ideas for the video, let us know.

Photo Credit: j / f / photos @Flickr

We have a date and a time!

The members of the L2Crew will meet in the Board Room on January 30 at 3:30 p.m. I would like for this to be a brainstorming session where we discuss ideas, thoughts, projects, etc. So put your thinking cap on and be thinking about all the things you have been interested in pursuing over the past few months.

Would somebody like to volunteer to be the official note taker?

Also, let me know if you will be able to make it or not.

Thanks and I look forward to us meeting f2f again.

Melinda

Jan. 30 Meeting Take 2

Since most of you will be in a meeting the morning of January 30, can we meet at 3:30 p.m. or is that too late?

How about Jan. 30 For A Meeting?

Hello L2 Crew. How does Jan. 30 look for a meeting? It is the 5th Wed. of the month so I don't think there should be a regularly scheduled meeting then. Is there one scheduled? If there aren't any conflicts and if the date looks good, then I will schedule a place and time. I am presuming morning is better for most of you.

Bebo.com is up and runnin'

Hi,

The BPL bebo website is now up to browsing. As of today, we have 6 friends that wants to join the BPL. Eastwood Library has also set up a page for its viewers.

Happy New Year L2Crew

Happy New Year to each and everyone of you! Thanks for making 2007 a great year for BPL. Our crew has been in existence less than a year and yet we have completed some amazing projects. Let's make 2008 an even better year.

Would you all like to meet f2f and have a brain-storming session? I think it would not only be fun but would be beneficial to us all. I will try to find a date, time, and place for us to get together. Any ideas or suggestions?