What is Toluu?
Toluu is a free service for sharing the feeds you read and discovering new ones.		 Get Invite

ALA TechSource Blog

Insightful, important, and discerning reports and commentary about technology for, and used by, libraries.


We've Moved to a New URLMay 27 2008

The new ALA TechSource blog is now live.  We've successfully made the switch to Drupal (which always makes me think of the cartoon character Droopy Dog).  The new URL for the blog is http://www.alatechsource.org/blog.  Come on over and check it out. 

 

Because we think we have figured out a way to control all of the unwanted and distracting spam comments that inundated this now former TechSource blog (famous last words), the comments option over at the new blog has been turned on again.  Please feel free to share your comments, reactions, and additional information via the comments feature.  We really want this blog to be a conversation.   

 

Several new people recently have joined the ALA TechSource blogging team, too, including Robin Williams, Jason Griffey, Kate Sheehan, and Cindi Trainor.  TechSource also has a new editor, Dan Freeman, who officially began last week.

Register for GLLS2008!May 13 2008
Registration for the 2008 ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium is now open! Last year we sold out at 300, and this year we expect the 350 spots to go quickly, so we encourage you to sign up early.
Call for Presenters for GLLS2008!May 7 2008
We're in full swing for planning the second annual ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, which will take place on November 2-4, 2008, in Oak Brook, IL (a western suburb of Chicago).

There's some preliminary information on the site about registration, the location, and keynote speakers, but we've also just posted the official Call for Presenters. If your library is doing something innovative with gaming, if you're doing research around gaming and libraries, or if you have ideas to propose and share, please submit a proposal. We want to offer another great program chock full o'the best sessions, and that could include you!

The deadline for submitting your proposal is June 15, 2008, and we'll respond by July 1. Help us make GLLS2008 even better than last year's event!





Today the Users, Tomorrow the ObjectsApril 22 2008

Stan FrebergAbout forty years ago Sunsweet Pitted Prunes ran a famously funny TV ad, written by Stan Freberg.  It featured a stuffy British character actor complaining about the fact that prunes contained pits and were wrinkled.  Once you have a prune pit in your mouth, there is no graceful way to extricate it.  All wrinkled fruit is abhorrent.   

Then he is offered a new Sunsweet pitted prune.  He displays some interest and enjoyment, then reminds the off-screen pitchman that the prunes still contain wrinkles.  Cut to the punchline: "Today the pits, tomorrow the wrinkles. Sunsweet marches on." 

I was thinking about that classic commercial today as I pondered how librarianship marches on.

Today the Users

Remember those genteel discussions we used to have about what to call the people who darkened the doorways of our physical libraries?  Calling them patrons was rather patronizing.  If we called them customers, that contained a whiff of filthy lucre.  To call them clients straddled the fence between business and the professions, which made us uncomfortable, as fence straddling is wont to do.  Referring to them as users made them sound like they were information addicts.  Perhaps they were. 

Then the Internet and the Web ca

Student -Centered Digital Learning at Loyola's Information CommonsApril 19 2008

Loyola University Information Commons

Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting and speaking at the new Loyola University Information Commons on the campus of Loyola University just north of Chicago. It was a blustery, rainy cold day along the lake, but the space and the library folk were warm and inviting. Before the visit, I checked out the Web site for the Commons, eager to read about the project. From the Overview and Philosophy page:

The concept of an Information Commons (IC) is part of a national trend which has three objectives:

  • First, focusing on the needs of undergraduates
  • Second, providing a one-stop shopping experience for all types of information needs: library research, technology, and more, and
  • Third, considering how and why we access and use information.
The Information Commons idea is also a response by libraries to the current trends of technology in higher education, globalization as it relates to information, e-learning, and the need for flexible hours by s