Chit Chat

On Weakness: Identify, Cope, Accept Mistakes Will Happen, Acknowledge, Correct, Apologize, Learn and Move On.

November 12, 2009
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On Weakness: Identify, Cope, Accept Mistakes Will Happen, Acknowledge, Correct, Apologize, Learn and Move On.

Yesterday morning I stood in front of a group of people and told them to admit their weaknesses, which of course has me thinking about mine. I did this during a time management workshop, so the example I be used for myself is how bad my memory is and how I cope with that.  Tuesday another of mine was brought to light on this blog so what better place to admit it than here? (Don’t worry this isn’t going to become a tell-all platform for my over-indulgences in coffee and chocolate. ) I can’t spell. Well clearly I’m capable of writing, but I am not good at spelling. I’m sure my grade school teachers and my Mother would be horrified to hear me publicly admit it. If it weren’t for spell check built into word processors and many web browsers I’d be in real trouble. I often look up words, both in a dictionary and in a thesaurus (ok and Google). It’s also very common for me to leave out words or not notice when a correctly spelled word is not correctly used. No I don’t make the there their they’re error, but I might not notice that I’ve used you instead of your.

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Put Down the Phone and Pay Attention

November 5, 2009
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Put Down the Phone and Pay Attention

Last week I (and many others) spent a lot of time documenting the Internet Librarian conference, photos, tweets, blog posts, facebook updates. Did the act of digitally documenting the events change anything? Did the process of lifestreaming change my (and others) behavior, perception of what was happening and memories of it. Will we remember it better or worse? A recent article from CNN Do digital diaries mess up your brain? looks at the effects of lifestreaming.  Just knowing others are watching you may change the types of experiences you choose to have, from books to movies to where you eat and what you wear. “If we have experiences with an eye toward the expectation that in the next five minutes, we’re going to tweet them, we may choose difference experiences to have, ones that we can talk about rather than ones we have an interest in,” he said. It also detaches you from what’s happening at the moment. If you’re focused on tweeting what’s happening, you’re not fully engage in what’s happening. But recording everything you do takes people out of the “here and now,” psychologists say. Constant documenting may make people less thoughtful about and engaged in what they’re doing because they are focused on the

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Yes I am a Digital Branch Manager, No I Do Not Regularly Build Bonfires of Print Books in My Backyard & Dance Around Wearing Warpaint

September 9, 2009
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Yes I am a Digital Branch Manager, No I Do Not Regularly Build Bonfires of Print Books in My Backyard & Dance Around Wearing Warpaint

Not regularly, actually, not ever.  I keep seeing the perception that by going digital, being aware of and, gasp! even using technology means that librarians and libraries are throwing aside traditionally services in favor of sexy new toys like Twitter.  That in order for a library to have a Facebook profile first we have sacrifice 100 books to the Social Media gods. As a Digital Branch Manager I have nothing against books, heck, I think we should have more books. At home, in my personal library, I probably have more books at home than some of my “traditional” peers.  Do not get rid of the books. I do think libraries need to develop along with the society they serve. I don’t understand the people who want libraries to continue to be about the book; solely about the ink and paper book.  The world is evolving at an amazing rate, nothing is standing still. Why shouldn’t libraries move forward?  If we stand still how will we serve our patrons as they move forward? So many people see the addition of new services as a threat to the old.  I don’t think anyone is planning to throughout the baby with the bathwater.

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The Louisville Free Public Library needs our help

August 7, 2009
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On Tuesday the Louisville Free Public Library was hit by a flash flood caused by a storm that dropped 7  inches of rain in 75 minutes.  Damages are estimated at $5 million, their servers, bookmobiles, offices, processing room and more were covered by 6 feet of water. How can you help?  The easiest way to is to head over to Steve Lawson’s blog and donate via PayPal (he’ll write a check to the  Foundation on September 1st) his goal is $5,000 and every little bit helps, donate what you can. (I think Steve is a trustworthy guy and so do a lot of other people) You could even win a prize by letting Abigail or Jambina know you donated. You can also send a check: Library Society of the World Clubhouse, PO Box 7893 Colorado Springs CO 80933 Make the check payable to Steve Lawson Or The Library Foundation Attn: Flood 301 York St. Louisville, KY 40203 (502) 574-1709 News Coverage Talks Flood Response with Louisville Library Director Craig Buthod Updated: Louisville Libraries Hit By Flooding; Main Library Closed Indefinitely Main Library hit hard by flooding I know I alot of people have already covered this but I want to

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There is something to be said for brand loyalty

July 1, 2009
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There is something to be said for brand loyalty

I don’t normally blog about customer service issues (although I have been known to tweet complaints) but I feel like I should blog this, in part because I am not so angry I can’t see straight, which is usually a hint for me that blogging is not a wise decision and because its about brand loyalty which in light of returning my iPhone I am thinking about. I’ll provide some background, but if you’d like to get to the point it’s don’t buy a camera from Casio and think hard about Customer Service. My first digital camera was a Sony, but my second was a Canon Powershot and two subsequent cameras have been Powershots.  I love taking photos and I know I am working my way towards an SLR. Last October I traded in my Canon PowerShot SD870 IS  (great point & shot by the way) for the Canon SX10 IS, love it! But found I missed having a small point & shoot in my purse handy in case I wanted to take a photo of something.  Having sold the SD870 (I so regret this) I looked at my options, I didn’t want to spend a lot as I already

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photo by Beth Tribe

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