Archive for the ‘libraries’ Category

This is How It’s Done

My friend Royce Kitts is the director of the Tonganoxie Public Library in nearby Tonganoxie, KS. The library has redone its website, and it looks fantastic! Check it out! The site has a definite look to it, but it’s not overdone. It’s comfortable and appealing. It’s easy to find things. I love the picture of [...]

Why Libraries Kick Ass

I’m writing this to participate in the Louisville Free Public Library blogathon, to raise awareness (and hopefully some money) for the Louisville Free Public Library, which was recently hit with flash floods, dumping over four feet of water into the library and causing over a million dollars in damages. Why did I donate money to [...]

LSW for LFPL

Because I am a huge geek, one of my big inspirations for the naming & iconography of the Library Society of the World was a comic book superhero group like the Justice Society of America. But in the real world, we’re not superheroes, we’re just regular people doing our best in life. Still, there are [...]

Impractical, Unfeasible, Unfundable Ideas for Libraries

Yesterday, I drove to Wichita to present at the Kansas Library Association/Mountain Plains Library Association conference on “Impractical, Unfeasible, Unfundable Ideas for Libraries.” This was a presentation based on one of the best sessions of Library Camp of the West that I participated in. I expanded the premise a bit to be: in these times [...]

Computers in Library Patrons

The future of library technology is here! SMS services? Facebook apps? iGoogle widgets? Bah! You may as well ask for a steam-powered velocipede! My place of work, the Johnson County Library, is premiering its new technology initiative for patrons: the brain chip! Welcome to Tomorrow. It’s an exciting place.

the goblin on the air

This coming Monday, I will be a guest on The Walt Bodine Show at 10 a.m., on KCUR, our local NPR station. The topic will be “Libraries in the 21st Century,” which I’m always pretty excited to talk about. Not only can you listen to it on the radio, you can stream it live online [...]

Going Out West

I’m leaving this morning to drive to Denver, CO to attend the one-day unconferece Library Camp of the West. I’ll get to hang out with my friends Steve Lawson and Laura Crossett, as well as some other great library folks. This will also be my first time going across western Kansas and going to Colorado [...]

BLT, Easy on the Malaise

It’s been almost a month since I last posted here (and I said I intended to post more, ha ha!), but the fact is, I’ve been feeling…well, bored with Libraryland. I still love libraries, I still love being a librarian, but I don’t have anything to say about libraries or librarians. So, don’t expect to [...]

Moving and Shaking in Kansas (& Elsewhere)

Congratulations to fellow Kansan David Lee King, who has been named as one of Library Journal‘s Movers and Shakers for 2008. David is doing amazing stuff at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library (and inspiring others at the library to do amazing stuff), as well as blogging and speaking nationally about library progress. Thanks [...]

Et in Arcadia Ego

Steven Cohen links to this piece by Dave Gibson, “Our Public Libraries Are Being Turned Into Video Game Arcades,” in which Gibson laments the increase of video games and movies in public libraries. He sees it as part of the dumbing down of American youth. “It is little wonder that our nation’s literacy rate continues [...]