November, 2008

Thanks to Jean Montgomery, from the Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation in Michigan, for leading today's MaintainIT webinar, "Free and Open Source Software in Libraries". Thanks also to the many participants. It was great to hear about all of interesting free and open source software products being used in libraries.

To prepare for a webinar in December, I'm trying to gather information about the experiences libraries have had with creating, maintaining, and using mobile labs (webinar info here - http://tinyurl.com/5t2zne ). If you have created a mobile lab, would you answer a few questions for me?

(Sometimes technology doesn't work the way we expect. A great post from Alison Pruntel was lost in our spam filter, so I'm re-posting it now. Enjoy! -sarah)

TechSoup's GreenTech initiative is hosting a free webinar TOMORROW on how to change your printing ways. Learn about tools you can use to make the world a bit more green. Here's to more trees and fewer stacks of paper clogging my desk! Check it out:

Sarah, Brenda, and I went to the California Library Association conference in San Jose this weekend, where we saw Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman and several other amazing speakers.

While Brenda was giving an awesome presentation on MaintainIT bookclubs, I snuck out most treacherously (sorry Brenda!) and listened to Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind. 

I was posting some new library grant opportunities, and reading this award description made me think of the MANY libraries involved in the MaintainIT Project.

Today I ran across a great tip on the sys-lib list about communication. While simple, it's good to be reminded of what this Systems Librarian in Missouri shared:

Three is a magic number -- bears, pigs, wishes, and now... WEBINARS!

 This week, three MaintainIT webinars are scheduled. Participate in one, two, or all three if you like!

The Tech Static, a new collection development resource for technology titles, published its inaugural issue today. Included in this first issue was an announcement regarding the new MaintainIT Cookbook, Joy of Computing - Planning for Success. Hooray!

The dirty secret of librarianship is the amount of paper we use.  Well, it's not really a secret.  And the fact that we offer a shared resource (i.e. books) based on paper saves untold numbers of trees every year.  But we do use a lot of printer paper, and it costs us in time, money and nagging guilt.  If you need some help taming this beast, TechSoup Global’s GreenTech Program is hosting a free one-day online event on Wed. Nov. 12th: Reduce Paper Use: Greening the Planet and Helping Your Nonprofit’s Budget. 

TechSoup is running a promotion TODAY! What does this mean for public libraries? Read on...

We're very happy to report that the latest Cookbook is now available on the MaintainIT web site! "Planning for Success, a guide for the overworked librarian" is packed with resources, ideas, tips, and techniques from over a hundred librarians from across the country.