From 1 – 24 December 2010 ACT Public Library members are encouraged to donate tins or packets of non-perishable food in exchange for fines being removed from their membership record.
See http://www.library.act.gov.au/mylibrary/food_for_fines
A great idea and good to see Brisbane’s lead being followed.
The LIANZA centennial conference is currently running, for information on happenings please check out all their social media applications (linked below):
Confessions of a Book Fiend by Grant Snider
See this Bookseller article http://www.thebookseller.com/news/136117-massive-cutbacks-to-library-services-begin.html
Calling all librarians, want to join a librarian Etsy team?
You may end up making things like this:
and this:
Tim Berners-Lee raises the potential threats to the web in an article celebrating 20 years since he invented www at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=long-live-the-web
Australia is in 20th place. See the full stats at: http://aworldoftweets.frogdesign.com/
If everyone could stop what they are doing and tweet a bit more we could maybe get to be #1
Retrieval will take our audience on a weaving journey deep into the stack of the National Library. It will be an expedition into our collective past. A cyclical journey of deposit and retrieval ensues – of stories past and stories to come.
See the ABC report and video at: http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2010/11/17/3069191.htm
Get tickets from: http://www.cytc.net/index.php/productions/129-retrieval
See the video blogs of the journey at:
Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, said he was “greatly concerned” by developments. “The librarian is not simply a checkout clerk whose simple task could be done by anyone and need not be paid for,” he said. “Those who think that every expert can be replaced by a cheerful volunteer who can step in and do a complex task for nothing but a cup of tea are those who fundamentally want to see every single public service sold off, closed down, abolished.”
Kate Mosse, author of current bestseller The Winter Ghost, said: “Skilled librarians don’t simply say, ‘Go to the third aisle on the right’. They can show people where to start, and that is not the same as a volunteer saying, ‘You might enjoy Danielle Steel’.
A mysterious room has been discovered in the 250-year-old building a room that no one knew about and no one can enter because it seems to have no opening of any kind, not even trapdoors.
Read more: Secret chamber in India’s National Library – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Secret-chamber-in-National-Library/articleshow/6957358.cms
Does no-one there speak parseltongue?
It’s a rainy day and you and your friends are bored. What better way to pass the time than a game of Monopoly! Better yet, why not try the Social Media version? (spotted over at Flowtown) You could be the next social media mogul. Click on the image to enlarge.
Social Media Monopoly
Ayn Rand said: Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.
Mark Zuckerberg says the world is social and his enormous success has been based on man/woman’s desire to connect with each other. Zuckerberg is at the forefront of an astounding social change that has seen privacy replaced by public exposure, this is now our civilisation and our progress.
See the video of him talking at the Web 2.0 Summit 2010 here. See all the other videos including one from Eric Schmidt of Google here.
Ever wondered how Google really works? What amazing mechanics happen in the less than 1 second before it spits results at you? The folks over at the PPC Blog have the answer. Click the image to enlarge.
How Google works
Infographic by the Pay Per Click Blog
Podcasts, slides and photos from the CeBIT Australia’s Gov 2.0 Conference 2010 are now available at:
http://www.gov2.com.au/
LibraryThing has just recently announced that there are now over 40 libraries worldwide using its Library Anywhere app. to provide access to their library’s catalogue. The Library Anywhere app. is designed to enable users to “search the catalog, save items for later, request and renew materials, and more. It can display events listings, ask a librarian links, and other mobile pages, and libraries can completely customize their “homepage”.” It’s also compatible with a wide range of library OPACs.
iPhones using the Library Anywhere app.
Of the 40+ libraries using the app., just one is Australian – Brisbane City Council Library Services. Considering that there are over 40 Australian libraries using the LibraryThing for Library service, this seems to be a fairly low take up rate (yes, yes, even though the service was only launched last month). Then again, even looking at the Brisbane City Council Library Service’s website, there is no link to their LibraryThing mobile app., so I wonder how much use their Library Anywhere app. has had from their patrons so far? Perhaps their promotion for this service is better in the library buildings themselves?
