June, 2010

We are very popular right now...

We have lots of phone lines but with so many people calling trying to make donation requests before today's fiscal year-end, we are a tad bit overloaded. We apologize for the long wait times on phone (and fax) lines for the next couple of days.

I'm part of a ThinkTank that is comprised of librarians and industry leaders interested in green practices in libraries. We've met just a few times, but what seems to surface during each meeting is our desire to debunk green and make it easy.

Is someone at your library following the work of the Knight Commission on Information Needs in a Democracy? Their research and reports provide lots of evidence supporting those of us who argue that our representatives need to support libraries,  good journalism, and a wider ecosystem of adult learning opportunities. If you're trying to build local support for your library, consider forwarding the Informing Communities report or a summary with its ten recommendations to key political players in your area.

Customer Relationship Management involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize processes. For libraries this is an important strategy in marketing, customer service, fundraising, partnering, and technical support. In this free webinar you will learn about CRM and how it can help increase your impact. You will discover that CRM is as much a philosophy as it is a database.

Tomorrow we'll share some excellent examples of Flip-in' Out @ the Library! You'll learn that it really is true that even a five year old can use Flip cameras. See how libraries are using this tool for staff training, library programming, teen engagement, and responding to current events.

I don't envy all the small technical support departments out there trying to maintain 150 (or more) computers and support 60 (or more) colleagues with three to five full-time staff (or less). I imagine that on bad days managing this kind of tech support operation resembles nothing so much as managing a kindergarten class. Do your peers know how to form a line and stay there patiently until their turn comes along?

It seems sometimes like the best web sites for technology trainers change location every hour. I have trouble locating sites that are persistent and reliable with regular updates and new content. This is a shame, because technology trainers in schools, libraries and community technology centers don’t have time to recreate the wheel every time they teach Introduction to Microsoft Word, when hundreds of colleagues around the world have already written that lesson plan.

Another day, another insightful, interesting library blogger. Andy Woodworth published a challenging blog post last week entitled, Why Closing More Public Libraries Might Be the Best Thing (...Right Now).

TechSoup for Libraries relies on experiences from libraries across the globe to inform our content, our webinars, and our work. Without you, librarians wouldn’t have an opportunity to learn from someone else’s experiences.

For years, David Lee King has used his blog, conference presentations and other platforms to preach the value of social media in libraries. Last week, the interwebs were all abuzz and aTwitter with links to fresh evidence that David practices what he preaches. At his day job, David is Digital Branch & Services Manager for the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Libary System (TSCPL).  Therefore, I have little doubt that he's responsible in some way for this beautiful digital artifact, the 2009 Annual Report for TSCPL.

See all upcoming TechSoup webinars plus other free technology webinars at: http://techsoupforlibraries.org/events. TechSoup has produced more than 100 webinars on everything from how to use Flickr and Twitter to disaster planning to how to start your own blog. These and many more are available to view at your convenience, from the comfort of your own desk. And best of all, they are free!