MOBIUS Libraries

An article I find interesting not so much because it says anything new but that it repeats something that was said even when I was in library school, that with electronic communication we have too much information which leads to burnout or being overwhelmed, and all this time there still has not been a consistent approach to managing or streamlining it.

If you want to read something that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about being a librarian... this is it.

This is just a warm and fuzzy piece for a Friday. But this is really cool what people are doing here. It reminds me of a story a I read a couple years ago about a girl lending books out of her locker (seen here: http://www.care2.com/causes/student-runs-secret-banned-books-library-from-locker.html) Hopefully the city in this case will see that the people want/need a library and turn it into one!

I find the "Hour of Power" concept a little new-agey, but I support the ideas of not checking your email in the first hour (Help Desk'ers excepted) and "eat the frog" first thing.

I was amused by the ignoring email in one breath and recommending customer service in the other; was the author not aware of how customer service works these days? Like Christopher, I did like the "eat the frog" concept, though. I also tried a 10 minute version of the "Hour of Power" this morning (light exercise, repeating things I'm grateful for, revving self up for the day), and it has been good for my mood.

Well, he does say "most of us with jobs that don't require constant on-call awareness can trade e-mail for organization and single-focus work," so it doesn't necessarily apply to everyone. I've heard of the doing the hard tasks first concept, but never called "eat the frog"--that makes it sound a little lighter, somehow!

MOBIUS needs to do this only instead of empty cake pans they should be filled with cake and instead of going to other libraries they should come directly to the office. A longtime practice of checking out cake pans at libraries in Kansas, particularly in rural areas, has increased as people look for a way to save money while still providing treats for special occasions. More cake pans are being loaned at the Great Bend Public Library after employees recently moved nearly 100 of the pans from a back room to bookshelves, The Hutchinson News reported.

I've heard of libraries in Missouri that loan cake pans, too. I can't remember where she was from, but remember at MLA several years ago a librarian telling me about all the different shapes and "characters" of cake pans they had--cool idea!

I wonder if any MOBIUS members will be interested in participating in this pilot project.

This seems like a really cool concept (almost makes me want to go back to school . . .almost). The only problems I saw with this article was that the textbooks can be accessed through Blackboard, which is a great tool if professors know how to use it or it can be a nightmare for students if they have a professor who doesn't know how. Also I think its really funny that they stated "periodically" a revised edition of a textbooks come out, but I think most of my undergrad professors only assigned newest editions just so you couldn't buy used textbooks! But I digress. Anyways really neat concept and I'm anxious to see how it all works out.

If you haven't read or seen The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, by William Joyce go and do it right now! But this short little video shows the companion app to go with the book. I love AR and wish I could find more ways to use it in my every day life. Maybe we can create an AR app. so that Jennifer can finally have her backup dancers.

Great article about how to ready an organization for change as well as achieve high levels of performance after the "change" has occurred.

Yay for open access! CBC Global Header Navigation Andraka used free online science papers to invent an award-winning pancreatic cancer testing procedure. (YouTube / Channel Intel) Fifteen-year-old Jack Andraka took home top science fair honours this year for the development of a cancer-testing method found to be 168 times faster, 26,000 times cheaper and 400 times more sensitive than the current gold-medal standard.

The proposed settlement of the antitrust suit against HarperCollins, Hachette SA, and Simon & Schuster will be effective 30 days from approval, with compensation distributed to each state. 49 states (excluding Minnesota) accused the publishers of price fixing.

"Girl wonder beats boy wizard."

Creative Commons weighs in on OCLC's recommendation that its members adopt the Open Data Commons Attribution license (linked in the article) for the catalog metadata they share in OCLC.  While CC commends OCLC for encouraging the sharing of data, it points out that a license, even an open data license, can prove problematic when it comes to reusing and recombining data found within OCLC with other sources.  

Probably more enterprise oriented than we'll ever use, but an interesting website to visit to get an idea of current trends and developments.

I think I have a Tumblr account (?) but obviously I don't use it. Anyone have one? Tumblr got me a job. Being intimidated by the prospect of a "full-size" blog, I joined Tumblr in February 2011. Since then I've shamelessly promoted my "name" and stalked down as many libraries/librarians on the site as I could find. I've connected with libraries, librarians, library students, publishers, writers, readers, Doctor Who fanatics, and cat lovers.

A bit too much of a fan piece but a general description of how librarians can use Tumblr as networking. The basic function is similar to Twitter--namely microblogging, but post aren't limited to 140 characters of text and can include image, videos, and audio clips.

Very interesting concept. I don't know if I really want people calling me at 2 am to chat about Webpacs. By Felicia A. Smith on I recently read an interesting article titled Make Room for Daddy...And Mommy: Helicopter Parents Are Here, which states, "Helicopter Parents hover over their children interceding as soon as the child faces an unpleasant situation or uncertainty. The parents are 'over-involved' in their child's life."

Well, now I know where all our rain went. It all ended up at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, where eight feet of water covered the library's lower level.

I had some friends who live up in Duluth and her pictures at the time were crazy. The zoo flooded and there were animals everywhere too. There were some pics of a seal swimming in a gutter, but they rounded them all up eventually.

Forgive me but the bookseller in me found this amusing and disturbing at the same time. I knew this books was "hot" but really? A British charity has called for a burning of the book "50 Shades of Grey" by E.L. James. Wearside Women in Need, which focuses on domestic violence, has asked readers to drop off books for a planned bonfire on Nov. 5.

This has to be my favorite quote of the day! "I couldn't find anything that turned me on, other than the fact that he gives her a rare copy of 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles.' "

Megan, that's my favorite quote of the day, too.

This was good and something I need to keep in mind. The original Ten Commandments that most people are at least passingly familiar with represent rules for how Jews and Christians should conduct their lives.

A more doom-and-gloom article, although I note that while eBook sales have increased, so have those of hardbooks.