February 15, 2008
The 2008 Horizon Report by NMC and EDUCAUSE is now out. Haven’t had a chance to look at it yet but here’s the Table of Contents:
Time-to-Adoption: One Year or Less
Grassroots Video
Collaboration Webs
Time-to-Adoption: Two to Three Years
Mobile Broadband
Data Mashups
Time-to-Adoption: Four to Five Years
Collective Intelligence
Social Operating Systems
I’ll be reading this soon to find out some of the applications for education.
No Comments » | 
education, library users, millennials, new technologies, reports | 
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Posted by Gerrit
February 7, 2008
Michael Stephens found a link for a calculator of library services for the individual user. Estimating just what I used (and being conservative) as an Undergrad mine came out $847.35. Almost $900/month! I’m sure there are others who have imaginary debts amounting to more than ten times mine. The James Library at Rockingham Community College built something similar, too.
Michael asks:
An interesting calculator a library in Florida adapted from a Maine library system. Does it cover the right services you want to pay for? What would you add? What would you take away? Do you provide you[r] users with an annual report? How do [you] advertise the good stuff?
I think something that it is definitely missing is private study areas or Information Commons-type collaborative area costs. How much more would it be to use the library’s scanners and media editing programs? How much does it cost to maintain tables, cushy chairs, etc for individual study?
Our library also provides gadgets for check-out like laptops, digital cameras and even a Kindle.
Is there any value added to the library by providing something like this for them to play with and find out for fun what they are getting for free?
No Comments » | library budgeting, library users | Permalink
Posted by Gerrit
February 4, 2008
Nicole Engard writes about a question posted on Flickr:
was just thinking. my sister does -alot- of reading, and spends like $1000 a year on just books alone. most of them she reads once then never looks at again. is there any kind of like…video rental store but for books? would make things alot cheaper, plus once one person has read one the next person can get enjoyment from it etc
I totally agree with Nicole. I hope it is a joke. Brings up an interesting question about libraries and how we are perceived by our users. Surely they must know our services are free? I know there are some libraries who charge for certain services because of budget constraints, but so much of what we do with information implies freedom of use. When I was working at a reference desk a few years ago it was not uncommon for a user to feel like they were interrupting us “just to ask a question.” Of course we would reassure them that that is why we were there. What other things about libraries are not necessarily intuitive to our users?
2 Comments | library users | Permalink
Posted by Gerrit
February 2, 2008
Is Facebook as a business working for libraries? While some question its effectiveness, it seems that there are plenty of libraries which use Facebook as just one more resource to reach their users. Even if only a small percentage of users find their way to the library through Facebook, those users have been served in the way they prefer.
Iowa City Public Library has a great example. I love how it has the app which includes its blogs. Great way to have access to all the library news. University of Winnepeg also has some cool stuff like the meebo app and the WorldCat search.
Aurora University Charles B. Phillips Library has one of the largest fan bases because they used an incentive: good ol’ Phantom tickets. Not bad. I love their banner: what a beautiful library space for collaboration.
Another nice idea comes from Sacrament State University: YouTube library video tour embedding. Deakin University Library has it’s own library catalog app which is pretty awesome.
Know of any other libraries who are using Facebook?
2 Comments | facebook, library promotion, library users | Permalink
Posted by Gerrit
