May/June Bookmobile Schedule

NY Times Best Selling Author in Cumberland

Stephen Hunter NY Times Bestselling Author in Cumberland Saturday, April 24 On Saturday, April 24, The Book Center will host New York Times Bestselling author, Stephen Hunter. Mr. Hunter is the author of 15 thriller/suspense novels. His books, Point of Impact, Black Light & Time to Hunt, form a trilogy featuring Vietnam veteran & sniper Bob "the Nailer" Swagger. (The 2007 film Shooter was based on Point of Impact). He is best known for his "Earl Swagger & Bobby Lee Swagger" stories. Hunter joined the Baltimore Sun in 1971, working on the newspaper's Sunday edition for a decade. He became its film critic in 1982, a post he held until moving to the Washington Post in 1997, to fill the same position. In 2003, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. He is a frequent guest on The Tony Kornheiser Show for his movie reviews. Mr. Hunter will give a short talk at 1 pm in the Allegany Arts Council Community Room, 9 N. Centre to be followed immediately by a book signing at The Book Center.

Mary Meeker April 2010 Internet Trends

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Mary Meeker April 2010 Internet Trends

View more presentations from guest1222bdb.

How to Close the Digital Divide? Fund Public Libraries

via The PLA Blog by Kathleen Hughes on 4/13/10

Check out this concise article from the April 6, 2010, online edition of Education Week. It states that '… public libraries may be the only place outside of school where low-income children can use a computer and learn to navigate the Internet' and also argues against library closings as an answer to community budget woes.

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to The PLA Blog using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Art Brodsky: Our Public Library Lifeline Is Fraying. We'll Be Sorry When it Snaps

Art Brodsky: Our Public Library Lifeline Is Fraying. We'll Be Sorry When it Snaps

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Libraries, once considered a necessity, are now seen as a luxury. They are low-hanging fruit for budget pluckers, particularly at the state and local levels of government in communities across the country.

"

What to read next - RA for ALL

Another great resource to find your next great read from the Jan/Feb issue of Public Libraries is RA for All (http://raforall.blogspot.com).

In RA for All, Becky Spratford dishes all about readers' advisory, what she's reading, what her patrons at Berwyn Public Library are reading, and what her students at Dominican University are learning.

May - June AlleUpdate

What to read next- Historical Fiction

The January/February 2010 issue of Public Libraries cover story is on the topic of Reader Advisory. In non-library jargon, how to keep up and where to look to make suggestions as to what to read next.

Reading the Past, (http://readingthepast.blogspot.com). Previews of upcoming historical fiction as well as backlist reviews. Kudos to Sarah Johnson of Midwestern university.

Klickitat and All That

(Originally posted to the Western Maryland Regional Library Learning Journal)  

PLA in Portland and the home of the Quimby family.    Lots of new ideas to think about and its always good to wander amidst people who have the same interests as you so when you suggest something wacky, at least they have a context.  

One idea that struck me in these tough economic times was if we have to limit our collection spending than we need to be as fast and efficient as possible getting items back on the shelves.   The session on "leaning your library " covered this area and reminded me of Frederick Taylor's  time and motion studies, plus the recently in vogue ISO 9000 certification.  Ask at your library, how many people touch an item before it is back on the shelf?  Can you get it back to the shelf in less than 5 touches?

Unfortunately the LITA top ten tech trends was not their best work.  If you think about time, convenience, and independence as the new currency, how can libraries assist our patrons make the most of their daily lives?  Can technology help?    Can technology help us form better relationships with our patrons?

Some good and reasonably priced stuff in the vendor areas as well.  I was pleased to find web based scheduling software for our whole system would cost about $330.  What do you think, would you like centralized scheduling of all staff?  

Also thanks to some good questions, it dawned on me that if patron reviews of books is to succeed (be used by other patrons) in our catalog, we need a lot more reviews and multiple reviews per item.  Which brought me to chilfresh a company that can insert those reviews and comments from patrons around the work into our catalog.

Visiting vendors also helped clarify the path so that our patrons can pay their fines by credit or debit card from within the library and from home.   

Thanks for the invitation to post on the WMRL Learning blog.  

Please share your comments and ideas here or my blog.

Hans Christian Andersen: Google Doodle Celebrates the Legendary Children’s Author

Sent to you via Google Reader

Hans Christian Andersen: Google Doodle Celebrates the Legendary Children's Author

What do The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Cloth and The Ugly Duckling all have in common? They are all the work of Hans Christian Andersen, one of literature's most famous children's authors.

Today, on what would have been his 205th birthday, Google is celebrating his life's accomplishments with not one, but a series of five different Google doodles, each depicting one of his famous stories.

The Danish poet and author definitely deserves the Google treatment: H.C. Andersen is responsible for some of most cherished fairy tales of all time. The Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, and dozens of his other stories have become essential components of our childhoods.

Google's been cranking out the Google Doodles in the last year. Most recently, Google celebrated Pi Day and math nerds everywhere.

Here's a compilation of all of the Google Doodles celebrating Hans Christian Andersen. Can you guess which stories each logo commemorates? Make your guesses in the comments.

---

Reviews: Google

Tags: Google, google doodle, google logo, Hans Christian Anderson, The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling...

John Taube

Allegany County Library System

jtaube@allconet.org

301-697-7384

What to read next-Upcoming Releases

The January/February 2010 issue of Public Libraries cover story is on the topic of Reader Advisory.    In non-library jargon, how to keep up and where to look to make suggestions as to what to read next.

At the top of the list is EarlyWord (www.earlyword.com).  The article says "The brainchild of Nora Rawlinson, former editor for LiveJournal and Publishers Weekly, EarlyWord's goal is to help librarians stay ahead of public demand and identify hidden gems.... it's a Web-based crystal ball."  

Sign up for the RSS feed so you don't miss a thing.  Check it out !