Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 11th, 2008 No Comments »
Drupal is free software that anyone can use to organize content on the web. This could be a wonderful thing for libraries, since it is easily accessible and there is no cost involved.
Libraries are using Drupal to organize information in interesting and creative ways.
Cowles Library (the undergraduate library at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa) has used Drupal [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 9th, 2008 1 Comment »
I graduated from 8th grade in 1986. At the time, we were all asked to predict what we would be doing in the year 2000. I was 14 years old in 1986, and I had trouble imagining what high school would be like, let alone 2000.
The same is true for me in trying to predict [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 26th, 2008 No Comments »
Should libraries allow their users to add content to their catalogs? I don’t think it should be an unmonitored free-for-all, but I think it is possible to allow users to interact with the catalog (such as giving their reviews of materials they have used, or giving ratings).
When a user adds their review to material in [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 6th, 2008 4 Comments »
MySpace is a social networking site for people to find others with common interests and share information.
I found MySpace because I had a need; I was looking for a support group of parents with autistic children. I connected with people all over the country.
Then I started thinking about my job (I work in a public library). How [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 2nd, 2008 1 Comment »
How do libraries measure success? Is it the number of materials checked out, or programs attended? Is it how well libraries can attract donations? There are a number of ways to measure this.
One way is to rank libraries against each other using statistics. Thomas Hennen has created the HAPLR index (Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 16th, 2008 5 Comments »
The internet was initially created so that people could share files with each other. It would not have spread as quickly as it did if people had to pay for it.
What I like about the internet is collaboration. Web sites are created to share information, and we can search freely and quickly.
This sense of collaboration [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 6th, 2008 4 Comments »
My introduction the the internet came when I was in college as an undergraduate. My friend, Will, was very excited to show me what a “chat room” was. It was 1992, and I tried to follow the conversation Will was having with other people. It was very confusing, watching peoples’ screen names and their text [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 28th, 2008 4 Comments »
Hi, I’m Anne. I am in my third year in Dominican University’s graduate program for Library Science. I work in a public library, and have a son who is autistic. My interests are libraries and access for people with special needs (namely, acceptance in public places). I hope to learn a lot this semester about [...]