As promised last week, we've got more quotes and advice on the communications conundrum. This time, we've got some advice for library tech gurus who occasionally have to struggle to make themselves understood. Following are some ideas from librarians and library techies across the country. Look for these quotes, along with other tips and techniques in the next Cookbook!

Do you:

We’ve already posted several times about communication between techies and non-techies in the library. Matt Beckstrom wrote about his communication philosophy, Sarah posted several quotes, and we published a case study about Loren MccRory at Yuba County Library. Well, the great ideas keep pouring in. This first post contains advice for librarians who want to build better relationships with their techies. I’ll write about the flipside -- advice for techies who need to talk with non-techies – in a later post.

We've been hearing a lot lately about the wonders of the state master contract. In most states, the government has negotiated deals with a variety of vendors, obtaining steep discounts that local government agencies can take advantage of. You can buy hardware, software, supplies, even cars off of state master contracts. Not every state has this great arrangement, but most do. Also, the details vary widely from state to state.

Benefits of State Master Contracts:

• Saving money.
  

I went to an hour long presentation at Aspiration Tech on Wednesday night, where Allen “Gunner” Gunn talked about the potential pitfalls of hosting your data online. However, he used this subject as a jumping off point to discuss the broader topics of data privacy, data security, planning and documentation.