A Wandering Eyre

The deadline to apply to be a participant in the Five Weeks to a Social Library program is tomorrow, December 1st. You will find the application here. It is going to be awesome.

I believe in this project because it is important that continuing education and training be offered FREE online to librarians. It can be free. It will be free. We are setting it free.

–Jane, accept no substitutes

*title changed to be correct, wow am I ever a bad spellr!, thanks John.

Oh, wow. I think I need one of these. The hilarity that could ensue. The fun that could be had.

–Jane, Mwahahahahaaaaaa

Creating Passionate Users, always good for some thought provoking questions, talks about using seduction to get users involved. Involving the brain in a service or learning experience will results in better participation from our users and an encounter that is satisfying to our customers.

I think the concept of learning through gaming also works in conjunction with the idea of seduction. Engaging the brain through a scenario of locating a half hidden item is standard game plot fare. In an RPG, one is often asked to locate hidden items, people, or missions. You never know what is waiting around the corner, fame and fortune or a troll hoping to make you its second breakfast. This is just one of the reasons why RPGs are so very much fun.

How does this concept apply to library instruction or staff training? What can we do to create either an incentive to learn or a mission in which the students derive the path and define the experience themselves? Rewards for learning are a classic method. See the Learning 2.0 program at PLCMC. I think it is almost easier to develop staff training with incentives because there are a lot of things a workplace can offer employees who attain a higher level of expertise, money, time, items. Classes for the community (whether that be faculty, students, or community users) can be harder. Letting a class guide the learning process by giving up control as the instructor can be an invaluable tool in getting a class to participate.

It has become cliche to many to offer candy as a reward in classes, but what about gift cards to Starbucks? It worked great for Steven Cohen at Internet Librarian! Are there things we could give them that are “free” for us? I know that some libraries are creating tutorials that resemble games. I like to be entertained and this sort of idea is appealing to me. It is all about me, right?

Are you seducing your users or driving them away? We can seduce our users in many, many ways. We can offer unique services, great customer service, nice spaces, the resources they want, the technology they need, no restrictions, no fines, control over their own experience, and the list goes on…

–Jane, a little seduction

Congratulations to Nelsonville Public Library which has a shiny new OPAC on the Koha platform. i accidentally mistyped Austen and it could not find what I was looking for until I corrected it. My OPAC does not do that either and it is quite a bit uglier and less explanatory.

–Jane, more cowbell

As a friend pointed out to me earlier today, there is a huge difference in asking to speak and being asked to speak. If you are asked to speak at a conference, then there should be some compensation. If you are submitting a proposal, you might expect less in the way of payment. I would.

I like how Information Today cares for their speakers. If you speak at one of their conferences, they wave your registration. A nice gesture that, for many of us, goes a long, long way.

–Jane, money always makes people irritable

I am trying to speak at more conferences. There are a couple of reasons why I am submitting proposals, not the least of which are my tenure requirements. I enjoy presenting and teaching, which is nice, but my library does not fund everything I do. Rachel Singer Gordon released her Speaking Fee Survey about a week ago and it is very interesting though the comments were not unexpected.

As a librarian who is currently woefully underpaid, trying to get to more conferences to speak is daunting, especially when I am not being compensated for my time or knowledge. This year I can only swing my conference schedule because of ALA TechSource (press passes) and the Emerging Leaders Program (money from LITA!). I would do both of these things anyway, but it is nice to get the boost.

I am giving a preconference at the Texas Library Association this year. It was an opportunity I felt I could not pass up. But. Though I am not a member, I work in Texas and therefore can not be paid for my time. I do not have to register to attend the conference, but I do have to pay for all travel out of my own expenses. I was told I could be given a gas card which is better then nothing, as they say.

Money and our profession is a bit of a sore topic for me lately anyway, but I hate the way academia (not just libraries) take advantage of underpaid workers who need to have certain things on their resume to advance.

–Jane, le sigh

The Laughing Librarian has a little ditty about the OPAC that is amusing. One of the first images is the “My OPAC needs more Cowbell” picture created by a friend and housed on my Flickr account. Nice.

–Jane, home today

Prescription

Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

A prescription from a friend. I would like this job, please.

Every other thought Mr. Rochester has these days is about the new PS3. The other half of his thoughts are about his beautiful wife. Riiight. Today he sent me a true gem from Tom’s Hardware, Top 10 Reasons Why to Buy a Playstation 3 on eBay.

As a sneak peek, I give you #3:

From the auction: “Help me afford my Turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken, wrapped in bacon, filled with ranch dressing and cheese. It sounds delicious. I want one, and I want to invite Stephen Colbert to dinne[r]! Make it happen!”
Yours for: $5700

–Jane, sounds like a deal

As a purveyor of information, I think I have developed a habit that my friends and relatives may perceive as bitchy. Whenever I receive a forward in my inbox about some kid dying with cancer or (just today) 23,000 UPS uniforms missing and believed to be stolen by terrorists, I have to check the story on Snopes. After I have confirmed or, most often, found the story to be false, I Reply To All and let John Public know they should not be fooled by the latest falsity.
I have, only once, found the details in one of these emails to be true. The one email I received that was true was about a statue made by an Iraqi whose origins seemed very far fetched. Alas, my disbelief was short lived.

I will go on record to say the following:

• I will not stop “replying to all” with a message that the email you just sent me is no more than a figment of someone’s imagination. You sent the urban legend to me and everyone you know. Everyone deserves to know that it is not true and that you willy nilly send forwards to people. (though the majority of your contacts probably already knows that)
• I rather dislike urban legends that are created for the sole purpose of either making people cry or afraid.
• I really hate email forwards of this nature.

–Jane, on record