This week we had a soft launch for our new internal WordPress blog, running on the P2 theme. I'm hoping it will be a better way to get our local knowledge out of our inboxes and on the web so that all public service workers, even students, will have access to the same information. An... Continue Reading →
Librarian perspectives on working from home, flexible work schedules, and telecommuting
Update 4/13/20: The COVID-19 Pandemic has lots of librarians working remotely, driving some renewed interest in this post that I originally wrote in 2013. Sadly many of the links below have expired in the last 7 years, but hopefully the annotations will still be useful to you. I will try to update this post... Continue Reading →
Bringing Christmas joy to final exams
I'll be honest. I'm as tired of exams as the students are. Our library is a wreck, students are grumpy, and it's either too hot or too cold in the building. It's been a hard, hard week, but it ends tomorrow. If you're in the same boat, let this awesome video cheer you up. It... Continue Reading →
Interesting comments on the future of B&N, reading, and libraries
With Christmas coming soon, I've been thinking about abandoning my Nook Color and going with an Amazon Paperwhite. I've got several years in the B&N Nook ecosystem, but I honestly don't know how many Christmases the company has left. In looking for pundits' thoughts on the future of the company, I found the comments from... Continue Reading →
What can library managers learn from the WordPress official creed?
Automattic, the company that owns WordPress.com, is an interesting study in organizational culture, hierarchy, and work. The Year Without Pants, a book I'm currently reading and learning a lot from, shows the inner workings of this very different (and very cool) company. In the book's pages, I picked up on the WordPress creed, which can... Continue Reading →
Using Twitter to gather customer complaints
While walking our the door to get coffee across the street, I overheard two students saying, "OMG it's so hot in the library, let's go study some place else." We have had unseasonably warm temperatures for a few days (65 degrees today), and the heat in the building is still on, leading to an uncomfortable... Continue Reading →
What if everyone had to do support work
What if everyone in your organization had to do support or customer service work every now and then?
Photography 101 tips, tricks, and tools
The Daily Post at WordPress.com has an excellent Photography 101 series. The tips, crafted by guest photography bloggers, are written with a more general audience in mind. As someone who is newer to the hobby, I appreciate the non-technical approach to the topics. Posts in the series include: Philosophy of Photography Viewing the World with a... Continue Reading →
Get your knowledge out of your inbox and on the web
In his book, Trust Agents, Chris Brogan describes how people can become experts by sharing their answers on the web with more people. I believe librarians should be doing this as often as they can in order to showcase their expertise, and it's something I try to do whenever practical. Brogan describes the process as... Continue Reading →