Loose Cannon Librarian - Latest Comments

Re: Top Tech Trends at PLA

brother toner — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 04:07:07 -0000

There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points here. Keep working ,great job!

Re: Library Monsters and Lady Gaga

Caramelsto — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:59:46 -0000

Bookworm suggests itself. ck

Re: Liveblogging- Mary Ellen Bates at Greenwich Library

woodworking project plans — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:11:28 -0000

Claimed blogs- people who are serious about their blog.

Re: On stereotypes and the echo chamber

Woodworking project plans — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:00:23 -0000

We can’t afford to be the museum of the library, in a lovely Carnegie building that smells of wood polish and books.

Re: Liveblogging- Mary Ellen Bates at Greenwich Library

sports online betting — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:44:59 -0000

that's really made it. Thanks for sharing this kind of stuff.

Re: TV writers spend a lot of time online…

Ellenacates — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:07:45 -0000

Phenocal

Hi,
Thanks for the illustration, it really helped me on my knowledge.
Thanks again.
http://phenacolfatloss.blog...

Re: Library Monsters and Lady Gaga

jane nearing — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:12:32 -0000

It's been used other places, but I like INFORMAVORES

Re: Guest Post: Building Local Economies, One Library at a Time

Mick Jacobsen — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:39:13 -0000

Very nice post!

We are trying to do this at mpow with http://business.skokielibra... to situate the library as valuable business resource but also allow businesses without (or even with) a web presence to add a page describing themselves. Beyond local businesses we have http://skokienet.org/ for community involvement.

It is always important to be positioning ourselves as an invaluable resource to our community.

Re: Guest Post: Building Local Economies, One Library at a Time

E.L.O. — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:36:07 -0000

There also is a non-profit that provides extensive support for this type of community organizing: http://amiba.net -- definitely check out their info. The Southeastern (CT) Alliance http://www.southeasternalli... joined with them.

Re: Coneheads

kate — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:59:35 -0000

Ann, that's hilarious! Cooper was (thankfully, we're free of the cone) not so swift with the scooping - he accidentally scooped a lot of dirt and grass and snow, but he was confused about why these things were rolling into his chin. *sigh* dogs. heh.

Re: Coneheads

Ann — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:12:08 -0000

There are so, so many reasons I love this post. One, I have lived with many dogs that had to navigate life with a conehead and although confusing it did provide hours of comic relief in my household. And two it reminds me of my friend Bob, who also has spent some time with a canine conehead who he then nicknamed "Scoopy" for all the things the dog managed to scoop up into his cone: twigs, dirt, rocks, a sock and a clump of grass.

Re: Coneheads

kate — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:35:33 -0000

Abby: I should hope so - in those exact words, please!

Kit: Thanks! Also, I should have known I could count on you to bring up cones within cones! Oh, how do we even know that the table is there? Ultimately, we're all operating within our own limitations, I suppose. Even if Cooper knew he had a cone, he still doesn't have thumbs. Nor does he understand how door works.

Re: Coneheads

abbyks222 — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:17:50 -0000

One also hopefully has a person in their life or workplace that is willing to say "dude, you have a cone on your head"

Re: Coneheads

Kit O'Connell — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:33:26 -0000

I love this post. I've been aware of my cones lately... I think. But what if around the cone you are aware of is a larger, more sinister and hidden cone???

Re: Library Monsters and Lady Gaga

Brian Herzog — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:34:30 -0000

You know, if we wanted to structure the quiz itself along the same pop trend lines as using "nation," we could call it the "What does Glenn Beck think of you?" The first question would be "do you use your public library?" and if they answered "yes" then the result would be, "YOU'RE A COMMUNIST!"

Variations on a toned-down civic theme could be:
-What kind of tax payer are you?
-Do you get your money's worth from your taxes?
-How local are you?

I kind of liked the emphasis on local community, but couldn't think of a catchy name. Beyond library questions, questions could be about using local parks, eating locally, whether or not they vote, etc. Although, a more library- or at least reading-centric quiz idea could be better. And wow, coming up with questions is tough. I don't know of any quiz writers, but I'll look around.

Re: Library Monsters and Lady Gaga

kate — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:57:26 -0000

Brian, you're right about "Nation" - now that you've mentioned it, I see it everywhere (must be the Colbert bump). I knew a family of library users who kept trying to convey to me how much they liked libraries and I suggested they were superpatrons, which they liked, but they wanted a word that conveyed the ravenous fandom they were feeling. InfoNation could work - it has the added bonus of being a funny play on words.

Quizzes could be really fun to write, but not every question is going to be useful for information-gathering. I think to get people to take them, they'd have to be not so library-specific, but they could connect to library materials.
"Which [genre] author are you?"
"Which Oscar nominee are you?"
"Which Jane Austen heroine are you?"

Questions could be about borrowing habits, what the quiz taker wishes the library had more of, favorite type of library chair, favorite library programs and so forth. Does anyone have a favorite quiz-generator?

Re: Library Monsters and Lady Gaga

theanalogdivide — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:33:25 -0000

This is a great approach to this perennial question, Kate. Blame my anthropology background, but there's always a point where surveys cease to yield useful data simply due to them being surveys. Taking these "side door" tactics - where the responder may let their guard down a bit more - may be the way to go.

But how do we design the survey to get something useful? I'd love to talk about this more with everyone who comments here (hi, Brian!) to see what we can all come up with.

Re: Library Monsters and Lady Gaga

Brian Herzog — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:57:41 -0000

I like calling the monsters in the library "patrons" - or "superpatrons" if they can use library services autonomously. Considering how diverse patrons and their needs are, any nickname would have to be a fairly generic, like "Little Monsters" or Jewel's "Everyday Angels" - "bookworks" or something wouldn't cover everyone. Using the word "Nation" seems to be in vogue these days, so how about "The Info Nation" - ambiguous and broad but catchy. I also like the idea of a quiz - count me in.

Re: yes, and…

Andy W — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:54:24 -0000

After attending one year of law school, you might as well have something to show for it!

Re: yes, and…

kate — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:30:24 -0000

Heh. It's a great lawyering technique! Do you think librarians secretly want to be lawyers? :)

Re: yes, and…

kate — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:28:41 -0000

Thanks, Jessamyn! Lovely to see you, however briefly, in Boston.

Re: yes, and…

kate — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:26:54 -0000

Your friend is just confirming Gretchen Caserotti's theory that people with performance backgrounds make good librarians! Keeping things moving is crucial. Thanks for the improv insight!

Re: yes, and…

Andy Woodworth — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:15:21 -0000

The "Yes, but" technique is something they teach you in law school when arguing before the appellate. You don't want to correct a judge or justice, but you always want to steer them to your point. It's an acknowledgment with a finely tuned caveat at the end of it. =)

Re: yes, and…

jessamyn — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:38:55 -0000

I think this is a grat point. It's so easy to downplay or minimize stuff with the "yes but..." approach and you can convey the same information, often, by adding data and being helpful, not giving people the "why not" approach. Thanks for a thoughtful piece.

Re: yes, and…

ccr in MA — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:22:30 -0000

I know someone who does improv, and I asked him once to explain the fact that he was going to improv "practice". He said that it was to practice techniques for improv, such as that you never say "no" to anything someone else suggests. Otherwise, it stops everything!