Thinking about it some more, I believe my last post was a bit over the top. Yes, I think reading and literacy are important. No, I don’t think playing video games is a substitute for reading. Something pushed my buttons, which prompted me to write that post. I realize now what those buttons were.
If I […]
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 […]
In my previous post, I said,
I need face-to-face interaction and conversation. I need spontaneous gatherings. I need occurrences of random escapades and shenanigans. I can get some of that online (the LSW Meebo room is great for that), but nothing really replaces in-person socialization.
Some people may see that as saying I think social software is […]
The Promotions people at MPOW decided they wanted to offer patrons a free CD of recorded storytimes before Thanksgiving, with the idea that parents could put the CD on and keep the kids entertained during a long car ride to wherever they were having Thanksgiving dinner. Discussion and planning followed, readers were solicited from our […]
My teammate Amy is a wizard. Today, she added a line of code to our Library homepage so that when you go there, you can add our Library catalog to your IE7 or Firefox search box. Go ahead, try it. I’ll wait here.
Back? Good, because there’s more. She also created a widget for your iGoogle […]
I think this is my very favorite Unshelved of all time. It is so very full of win.
It’s a funny ol’ world, isn’t it? Just when you think an idea has run its course or become so commonplace that it’s nearly invisible, it comes back into the spotlight, like John Travolta.
There seems to have been a resurgence of blog posting and discussion on Library 2.0–what is it? is it meaningful or just […]
One of the main projects I have at my new place of work is rethinking and redesigning the children’s website. It will be completely different from how it currently is, all new in just about every way.
Now, I understand that there are certain expectations for its design and layout, both from our users and our […]
So, do I really think public libraries are doomed? No, not really. “Doomed” is too strong a word for it. Or to be more precise, if libraries don’t change with the changing times, I think they’re doomed, but I have every reason to believe they will change. But as both a library employee and a […]
