Implications of Our Graying Profession

Today, on the College Libraries Discussion List, a email firestorm erupted over a simple survey request. A librarian requested that his fellow colleagues take the survey: The Mature Librarian: Over 55. The survey is intended to ascertain mature librarians' feelings about technology, staying relevant in their field, and working with younger librarians. Droves of emails have …

Get the Most Out of Your Graphic Design Team by Using These Tools

I was venting to a friend of mine the other day about not being able to articulate what I want to the graphic designers I work with. I explained that often I have the idea of what I want, but have difficulty expressing that thought semantically. Other times I have no idea what I want, …

Increase Your Productivity With a WiFi Coldspot

Sometimes I need to just disconnect from technology so I can reconnect with myself. If you're like me you probably have calendar reminders, new tweets, breaking news, blog posts, and a whole plethora of various other digital distractions all suffused across your desktop in about 50 tabs. According to Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows: What the Internet …

Beware of Predatory Journals

**I'm very sorry to announce that Beall's list of predatory journals is no longer online. Jeffrey Beall cited "threats and politics" as the reason for the removal. However, there is a version available through the Wayback Machine (but just keep in mind it is no longer being updated). Today I received an email from the Journal …

Snapchat For Your Library

Snapchat has been getting a lot of buzz as of late (Facebook offered to purchase it for $3 billion, but was turned down). It is currently valued at about $4 billion, and I think it will be the social media application of 2014 (here's an interesting story of why teens use Snapchat by npr). What …

Be a Twitter Fly on the Wall

In the past year I have become a Twitter fanatic, attending every Twitter conference session I can get into, and reading as many blogs, articles, and tweets that I can. I predominantly use Twitter for my library and not personally. Anywho while I attended TLA last year I went to an awesome session by Jim …

How Libraries are Doing Pinterest Wrong

Ok, I admit it I am one of the 71% of women on Pinterest. I use it to get travel, culinary, decorating inspiration and I pin whenever I find something awesome I want to remember later. I also pin for my library, but unlike my personal Pinterest account, my library account is much different. I …

Can You Match the Personality Disorder w/ the Alfred Hitchcock Movie Character?

Happy Halloween!! In celebration of the holiday I created a quiz to exercise your neurons. Can you match the Alfred Hitchcock character w/ the personality disorder? Summaries and disorder descriptions are listed below (from the DSM IV). If you want to skip straight to the answers click here. Disorder Descriptions (Taken from the DSM IV):  Dissociative …

Tips for Using Piktochart

Being a visual learner myself, I am a huge fan of infographics.  They have gotten so popular that it seems like you can't scroll down a Pinterest/Tumblr/Facebook feed without seeing at least one plastered on your screen. With their rising popularity has come the prevalence of infographic generators. These handy tools are great for those …

Tools for Creating Your Digital Portfolio

In today's digital job market having a digital portfolio of your work makes it easier for you to stand out among the sea of plain resumes. Digital portfolios are not only useful for job seekers but also for professionals wanting to keep track of their work for their yearly review and for those seeking job …

What Google’s New Search Algorithm Means for Libraries

In the nostalgic garage where Google first operated, Google celebrated it's 15th anniversary with the announcement of Hummingbird. Hummingbird is Google's new algorithm that has been silently implemented for about the past month. The algorithm is intended to produce more relevant results based on natural language search queries and networked relationships (think a more robust …

Mashies Finalists for Library Promotion Inspiration- Part 3

Please view past posts for more background: Mashies Finalists for Library Promotion Inspiration Part 1 and Mashies Finalists for Library Promotion Inspiration Part 2 In my first post I stated that I was going to create library ideas based on each nominee for every category each day. This has proven to be a bit too time consuming so …

Mashies Finalists for Library Promotion Inspiration- Part 2

In yesterday's post I discussed sharing my library tips/ideas based on the top three finalists in each Mashies awards category.  The Mashies celebrate the best in marketing. Since these companies are highly skilled in what they do I think it only makes sense to learn from their genius. Today I am taking on the category oooof: …

Mashies Finalists- A Great Way to Glean Information for Amazing Library Promotion

Yesterday Mashable announced their finalists for the 2013 Mashies awards. The Mashies awards celebrate the best in digital marketing, advertising and social media. The finalists were selected by a panel of experts and include categories like Best Use of Twitter  and Best Branded App.  In my opinion librarians can learn a lot from events that …

Creating a Flipped Video for Your IL Class? Make it Like a Vsauce Video

This semester I proposed to several professors in the English department an embedded librarian program. I was super stoked when they accepted my proposal. It basically just consists of two required information literacy (IL) sessions focused on specific search strategies and topic creation. To prepare for these sessions I combed listservs, websites, journal articles, and …

Streamline Your Workflow with Two Simple Extensions

With the semester in full swing I find it harder and harder to stay focused on the task at hand. Most of my work is done digitally, and I find my self hitting ctrl+t for no other reason than to browse Yahoo or check my Facebook for the 1400th time. I'm surrounded by so many enticing …

Computer Graphics Laboratory Makes Skype Interviews Much Easier

Geared up for my first interview post grad school, I donned my trusty business professional attire, put on my best (but not too eager) smile, and sat down at my laptop. I promptly launched Skype and commenced my digital interview. While I was interviewing I was frusterated by the fact that every time I tried …

Top Ten IFTTT Recipes for Librarians

Ok if you're a librarian then you're probably familiar with the statement "if this then that" (IFTTT). It's pretty much a Boolean search that performs an action in a web application. If you've ever performed an advanced search, run a list in your LMS, forwarded your email to another email carrier, etc then you've used …

A Few Resume Tips for Job Seekers

It can be easy to get caught up in all the other demands that your job search requires that it can be easy to forget about the little things. Here is a list of little things that if done right could make big impacts when it comes to applying for a job. Save Your Resume …

Best Contests for Pinterest

Looking for a way to engage your patrons/customers/students? How about a Pinterest contest?! Pinterest contests can be a great way to engage your audience as well as sneak in digital literacy skill development that is fun and exciting to learn! I have been scouring the interweb to curate a list of past and present Pinterest …